Poll of the Day > Which is worse for a video game: Too Easy or Too Hard?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Many video games allow you to adjust the difficulty according to your desires, but of course, many don't. Which bothers you more: a game that feels too hard for you personally, or a game that feels too easy for you personally?

I can cope with a game that's too easy much better. It can be a game I play just to relax, especially if I'm tired. Plus, if I want to make it harder, I can do a self-imposed challenge (such as speedrunning, not using the best items, etc.). However, if a game's too hard, I just get frustrated and want to quit. When I take my 30-minute breaks, I want to accomplish something in my games, not just lose over and over again.

What do you think?
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Too hard. If a game is easy but the game play or story is good, I still have fun. If it's crazy hard, I eventually just get annoyed and stop playing.

Too hard because I play games to enjoy my time and have fun. If it's too frustrating to get through a game then it's no longer that fun for me.
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A game that's too easy can still be engaging in other ways. A game that's too hard can easily result from or amplify any underlying design problems.
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Too hard in what way? If the difficulty is "fair", then that's more enjoyable than a game that's too easy.

I can improve to beat a hard game, an easy game cannot rise to challenge me.
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It's worse if a video game is TOO EASY.

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No such thing as too easy to me. I like plenty of games that youd kind of have to actively try to die and i avoid difficult games altogether.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

I can improve to beat a hard game, an easy game cannot rise to challenge me.

This isn't a question about hard or easy games, it's a question about too hard or too easy games. If there is a point of improvement where you're able to beat the game, then it isn't too hard, it's just hard.

If a game is too easy it can still have a good story or a mechanic that is enjoyable to play. If a game is too hard it can ruin or even prevent you from experiencing the other aspects about it that are good.
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Too easy is just a difficulty some games have nowadays meant for casual gamers for them to just enjoy the story only and that's fine, if a game's just too hard (especially if it's just plain unfair) then you may just stop playing entirely since it's too frustrating.
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I don't think I've ever quit playing a game because it was too hard. I have however quit playing a game because it was boring when it wasn't challenging me in any way.

The Touhou games, for example, are extremely popular despite needing very precise movements even on the lower difficulties. And the highest difficulty is nearly impossible, but that doesn't stop people from trying.

Maybe people are confusing difficulty with bad mechanics or controls? A difficult game with good mechanics and crisp controls is fun and it makes you want to grow to eventually be able to beat it.
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I don't have issues with either. If its too easy, but the story or other aspect of the games are good, it's fine. If it's too hard, I'll just keep playing until i get better.

Where it's a problem is too easy but too little content (so you go through it too fast), or too hard but "cheap" (so playing a lot doesn't significantly make you better). Then the game just sucks.

Kungfu Kenobi posted...

A game that's too easy can still be engaging in other ways. A game that's too hard can easily result from or amplify any underlying design problems.

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too easy by far

if im playing a game, i want to play a game. if i just want you to tell me a story i will read a fucking book
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Too hard is worse for me no doubt. I prefer my games to have the right amount of challenge but, if a game is too easy, at least I can reach the ending and be done with it. And I don't think I've ever truly hated a game for being baby-proof. On the flipside, games that are hard to an insane degree make me quit them and drag their name in the mud to anyone willing to listen. It's why I stay away from games like Kaizo Mario and the such.

However, there are games that are too hard for me personally to beat (even with practice) but not hard enough for me to throw in a yellow flag and call a foul. For example, I don't think I've ever seen pass level 4 in Target Earth or Level 3 in Gradius III but they're still games I go back to regularly because they're not hard enough to get in the way of the fun. I know the Game Over will happen but the ride to it is an enjoyable one.

Too hard for sure. I don't mind to easy with a really good story. Or if the gameplay, like the mechanics and stuff, is good and fun to use...

But with too hard, I may quit. It might not be that fun for me...

green dragon posted...

Too hard in what way? If the difficulty is "fair", then that's more enjoyable than a game that's too easy.

It wouldn't be fair, though. According to the question TC posed, it would be too hard... If I'm understanding what you typed...
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This is a hard question actually.

Some games are ruined by being too easy, but...sometimes I'm in the mood for a brain dead game that I can just veg out to as well.

There are a ton of very easy games that I really enjoyed, like the first South Park The stick of Truth game as an example. Was probably one of my favorite games that year, but super easy.

Dark souls 3 also was quite easy compared to the others for me, but I really enjoyed it.

Meanwhile too hard, is relative. For me, too hard usually is because of cheap tactics etc, since I have good eye hand coordination and have played video games for like 40 years. If a game is too hard for me.....it's REALLY hard, and that can be extremely frustrating.

Usually it's too hard in a way that makes you replay things over and over...which is not fun, and can get old to the point I stop playing all together.

So both can end up ruining a game. I would say that Too Easy happens more often for me. It's very rare that I find a game that is so hard it's frustrating. For instance, many people hated Too Human because they died alot and had the death animation. I freaking loved that game, but I could see how if you died alot it would blow.

In the end it's best to have difficulty options, and when they do, I usually go for the next to hardest difficulty (unless that is just normal). In most cases that is just right for me.
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@wolfy42 which did you pick?
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Honestly there is no such thing as "too easy".

"too hard" is fucking garbage. It's basically just there to make you want to stab your eyeballs out of their sockets. Nobody wants to play that difficult.
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I'd rather be bored than stuck.
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I went with too easy as the number of games that are too hard are very small, but quite a few have been ruined by being too easy. It was not an "easy" choice though lol.
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Too hard games are worse especially if you have little time for games. I would not enjoy a game like Silver surfer but I could enjoy a game like Crash Bandicoot.

.Hack// G.U Last Recode is a game that's too easy but with a entertaining story. You can beat enemies with lv.1 equipment. You also level up insanely fast. The only grinding is the side quests which are annoying collectathons.

with games, i want to enjoy, not get into a mad rage.
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DeathMagnetic80 posted...

Too hard. If a game is easy but the game play or story is good, I still have fun. If it's crazy hard, I eventually just get annoyed and stop playing.

This.
Evil Within on the hardest difficulty (1 hit kill).
I got stuck on this one insane part and now I don't think I'll ever touch the game ever again.
I would like to see what happens in the story in EW 2 though.
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I can always self-impose challenges to make a game harder.

When a game is bs hard, it's just not fun. A game is entertainment, not work.

Years ago, I would have said too easy is worse, now I'd say too hard is worse. I like some challenge, but I don't want to sit on the same level or boss for hours on end.

Hard > Easy > Too Easy > Too Hard
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SilentSeph posted...

Years ago, I would have said too easy is worse, now I'd say too hard is worse. I like some challenge, but I don't want to sit on the same level or boss for hours on end.

Hard > Easy > Too Easy > Too Hard

I can agree with this...
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RCtheWSBC posted...

Too hard because I play games to enjoy my time and have fun. If it's too frustrating to get through a game then it's no longer that fun for me.

This exactly
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Game's that're too easy. I prefer a challenge, not to have my hand held at every step of the way.
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2004: "Ninja Gaiden is way too hard even on normal difficulty >:("
2018: "I want 1 hit deaths and once you die in the game you have to start the entire game over again from scratch"

I feel like there was some cultural shift over the years where we have more masochistic gamers, reminiscent of the NES/SNES era.
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streamofthesky posted...

I can always self-impose challenges to make a game harder.

This and people have gotten very creative about challenges. Naked X runs, any of the numerous from Kingdom Hearts 2, limited room entries in Resident Evil...

demonfang178 posted...

streamofthesky posted...

I can always self-impose challenges to make a game harder.

This and people have gotten very creative about challenges. Naked X runs, any of the numerous from Kingdom Hearts 2, limited room entries in Resident Evil...

I really enjoyed the Final Fantasy Tactics Solo Single Class Challenge thing.
Geomancer was my favorite class and I always thought Counter Flood had massive potential but never used it b/c in a normal game, it just "kill steals" from you and means you get to farm less xp and jp from foes.
So seeing it shine in the Geomancer SSCC and the runner's utter shock at how it pretty much single-handedly made his run even possible made me smile so much.

Tactics especially has a lot of challenge ideas, probably why it's rated so highly. I never did anything wilder than a Highest Possible Faith All Physical challenge myself.

Too hard. That implies I can't complete it so I will be pissed.
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Troll_Police_ posted...

too easy by far

if im playing a game, i want to play a game. if i just want you to tell me a story i will read a fucking book

TheCyborgNinja posted...

Too hard. That implies I can't complete it so I will be pissed.

This, at least you can look at and enjoy the story of a game thats too easy.
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Too hard. At least if it's too easy, you can win. If it's too hard, it just gets frustrating and forces you to quit.
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Young, Carefree, Spare Time-having Me: Too easy. I want games to challenge me or I'll get bored.

Old, Family and Full-time Job-having Me: Too hard. I don't have time to replay the same levels and boss fights 20 times over.
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Western game devs have realized and capitalized on the market that most people treat games as either tous or interactive story books and this poll is evidence.

Everybody who voted too hard is literally a casual.
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A video game being too hard is worse, because I'd rather be bored than frustrated.
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bulbinking posted...

Western game devs have realized and capitalized on the market that most people treat games as either tous or interactive story books and this poll is evidence.

Everybody who voted too hard is literally a casual.

Or we're not talking about the same games...When we say too hard, we're not necessarily talking about our games or games we own. We're talking about which we would rather not play. When we think of too hard, we could be thinking about a games from somewhere else. Or from years ago. Or just thinking of a game in general. We're not saying our games are too hard. But that we would rather have a too easy game instead of too hard...
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LinkPizza posted...

bulbinking posted...

Western game devs have realized and capitalized on the market that most people treat games as either tous or interactive story books and this poll is evidence.

Everybody who voted too hard is literally a casual.

Or we're not talking about the same games...When we say too hard, we're not necessarily talking about our games or games we own. We're talking about which we would rather not play. When we think of too hard, we could be thinking about a games from somewhere else. Or from years ago. Or just thinking of a game in general. We're not saying our games are too hard. But that we would rather have a too easy game instead of too hard...

A game thats too easy is nothing but a time sink.

Evenif you play a game thats impossible to win, pushing yourself mentally and sometimes physically to try winning still leaves your body with objectively positive gains than the brain drain that comes from playing a simplified skinners box.

Again, preferring something easy is a casual mentality, not just in videogames but life as a whole.

Most people are casuals though. I dont know why people try hiding it aside from corrupting the groups that want to push their limits.
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bulbinking posted...

LinkPizza posted...

bulbinking posted...

Western game devs have realized and capitalized on the market that most people treat games as either tous or interactive story books and this poll is evidence.

Everybody who voted too hard is literally a casual.

Or we're not talking about the same games...When we say too hard, we're not necessarily talking about our games or games we own. We're talking about which we would rather not play. When we think of too hard, we could be thinking about a games from somewhere else. Or from years ago. Or just thinking of a game in general. We're not saying our games are too hard. But that we would rather have a too easy game instead of too hard...

A game thats too easy is nothing but a time sink.

Evenif you play a game thats impossible to win, pushing yourself mentally and sometimes physically to try winning still leaves your body with objectively positive gains than the brain drain that comes from playing a simplified skinners box.

Again, preferring something easy is a casual mentality, not just in videogames but life as a whole.

Most people are casuals though. I dont know why people try hiding it aside from corrupting the groups that want to push their limits.

Anything video game related is a time sink. And the poll is not about easy or hard in general, it's about too easy and too hard which is an important distinction. I can deal with games like Mega Man 1, Zelda 2, the Souls series, etc. which are generally considered challenging. But stuff like Kaizo Mario is just made to frustrate players and I'd rather not devote so much time to beating it.
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bulbinking posted...

LinkPizza posted...

bulbinking posted...

Western game devs have realized and capitalized on the market that most people treat games as either tous or interactive story books and this poll is evidence.

Everybody who voted too hard is literally a casual.

Or we're not talking about the same games...When we say too hard, we're not necessarily talking about our games or games we own. We're talking about which we would rather not play. When we think of too hard, we could be thinking about a games from somewhere else. Or from years ago. Or just thinking of a game in general. We're not saying our games are too hard. But that we would rather have a too easy game instead of too hard...

A game thats too easy is nothing but a time sink.

Evenif you play a game thats impossible to win, pushing yourself mentally and sometimes physically to try winning still leaves your body with objectively positive gains than the brain drain that comes from playing a simplified skinners box.

Again, preferring something easy is a casual mentality, not just in videogames but life as a whole.

Most people are casuals though. I dont know why people try hiding it aside from corrupting the groups that want to push their limits.

Me putting 5 hours into beating a story I like> Me getting killed and failing to progress for 5 hours.

How dare people be casual and not want to be stressed and have fun? So weird.
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Ferarri619 posted...

2004: "Ninja Gaiden is way too hard even on normal difficulty >:("
2018: "I want 1 hit deaths and once you die in the game you have to start the entire game over again from scratch"

I feel like there was some cultural shift over the years where we have more masochistic gamers, reminiscent of the NES/SNES era.

Some of us got pretty buttmad during the mid oughts when every fucking game that came out was baby town frolics. We grew up with games that challenged us, and then suddenly there were none to be found

EvilMegas posted...

bulbinking posted...

LinkPizza posted...

bulbinking posted...

Western game devs have realized and capitalized on the market that most people treat games as either tous or interactive story books and this poll is evidence.

Everybody who voted too hard is literally a casual.

Or we're not talking about the same games...When we say too hard, we're not necessarily talking about our games or games we own. We're talking about which we would rather not play. When we think of too hard, we could be thinking about a games from somewhere else. Or from years ago. Or just thinking of a game in general. We're not saying our games are too hard. But that we would rather have a too easy game instead of too hard...

A game thats too easy is nothing but a time sink.

Evenif you play a game thats impossible to win, pushing yourself mentally and sometimes physically to try winning still leaves your body with objectively positive gains than the brain drain that comes from playing a simplified skinners box.

Again, preferring something easy is a casual mentality, not just in videogames but life as a whole.

Most people are casuals though. I dont know why people try hiding it aside from corrupting the groups that want to push their limits.

Me putting 5 hours into beating a story I like> Me getting killed and failing to progress for 5 hours.

How dare people be casual and not want to be stressed and have fun? So weird.

If you're just in it for the story then why not read a book?

If the challenge is too much then why not git gud?

Noop_Noop posted...

EvilMegas posted...

bulbinking posted...

LinkPizza posted...

bulbinking posted...

Western game devs have realized and capitalized on the market that most people treat games as either tous or interactive story books and this poll is evidence.

Everybody who voted too hard is literally a casual.

Or we're not talking about the same games...When we say too hard, we're not necessarily talking about our games or games we own. We're talking about which we would rather not play. When we think of too hard, we could be thinking about a games from somewhere else. Or from years ago. Or just thinking of a game in general. We're not saying our games are too hard. But that we would rather have a too easy game instead of too hard...

A game thats too easy is nothing but a time sink.

Evenif you play a game thats impossible to win, pushing yourself mentally and sometimes physically to try winning still leaves your body with objectively positive gains than the brain drain that comes from playing a simplified skinners box.

Again, preferring something easy is a casual mentality, not just in videogames but life as a whole.

Most people are casuals though. I dont know why people try hiding it aside from corrupting the groups that want to push their limits.

Me putting 5 hours into beating a story I like> Me getting killed and failing to progress for 5 hours.

How dare people be casual and not want to be stressed and have fun? So weird.

If you're just in it for the story then why not read a book?

If the challenge is too much then why not git gud?

Because i cant control the book. Why do you people want challenging video games but wont go outside and challenge yourselves?
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bulbinking posted...

LinkPizza posted...

bulbinking posted...

Western game devs have realized and capitalized on the market that most people treat games as either tous or interactive story books and this poll is evidence.

Everybody who voted too hard is literally a casual.

Or we're not talking about the same games...When we say too hard, we're not necessarily talking about our games or games we own. We're talking about which we would rather not play. When we think of too hard, we could be thinking about a games from somewhere else. Or from years ago. Or just thinking of a game in general. We're not saying our games are too hard. But that we would rather have a too easy game instead of too hard...

A game thats too easy is nothing but a time sink.

Evenif you play a game thats impossible to win, pushing yourself mentally and sometimes physically to try winning still leaves your body with objectively positive gains than the brain drain that comes from playing a simplified skinners box.

Again, preferring something easy is a casual mentality, not just in videogames but life as a whole.

Most people are casuals though. I dont know why people try hiding it aside from corrupting the groups that want to push their limits.

We don't prefer it easier. The question was about too hard and too easy. I would rather have a game that test me. But too hard and too easy, which is different from her and easy. Either way, you'll spend time on a game. I would rather not play a game that too hard because it's not fun anymore. A game at hard difficulty it fine. Great in some cases. But I don't want a game where I'm stuck for hours until I finially give up. Again, too hard is different from hard.
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EvilMegas posted...

Noop_Noop posted...

EvilMegas posted...

bulbinking posted...

LinkPizza posted...

bulbinking posted...

Western game devs have realized and capitalized on the market that most people treat games as either tous or interactive story books and this poll is evidence.

Everybody who voted too hard is literally a casual.

Or we're not talking about the same games...When we say too hard, we're not necessarily talking about our games or games we own. We're talking about which we would rather not play. When we think of too hard, we could be thinking about a games from somewhere else. Or from years ago. Or just thinking of a game in general. We're not saying our games are too hard. But that we would rather have a too easy game instead of too hard...

A game thats too easy is nothing but a time sink.

Evenif you play a game thats impossible to win, pushing yourself mentally and sometimes physically to try winning still leaves your body with objectively positive gains than the brain drain that comes from playing a simplified skinners box.

Again, preferring something easy is a casual mentality, not just in videogames but life as a whole.

Most people are casuals though. I dont know why people try hiding it aside from corrupting the groups that want to push their limits.

Me putting 5 hours into beating a story I like> Me getting killed and failing to progress for 5 hours.

How dare people be casual and not want to be stressed and have fun? So weird.

If you're just in it for the story then why not read a book?

If the challenge is too much then why not git gud?

Because i cant control the book. Why do you people want challenging video games but wont go outside and challenge yourselves?

I often do, but I can't fight back hordes of Orkz outside because they don't really exist.

And how much are you REALLY controlling the walking simulator you are playing? You control that story about as much as you control the one happening in your mind when you read.

By the way, the git gud comment was a joke. I am really not serious enough about this topic to insult someone or care what game's they play.

Noop_Noop posted...

EvilMegas posted...

bulbinking posted...

LinkPizza posted...

bulbinking posted...

Western game devs have realized and capitalized on the market that most people treat games as either tous or interactive story books and this poll is evidence.

Everybody who voted too hard is literally a casual.

Or we're not talking about the same games...When we say too hard, we're not necessarily talking about our games or games we own. We're talking about which we would rather not play. When we think of too hard, we could be thinking about a games from somewhere else. Or from years ago. Or just thinking of a game in general. We're not saying our games are too hard. But that we would rather have a too easy game instead of too hard...

A game thats too easy is nothing but a time sink.

Evenif you play a game thats impossible to win, pushing yourself mentally and sometimes physically to try winning still leaves your body with objectively positive gains than the brain drain that comes from playing a simplified skinners box.

Again, preferring something easy is a casual mentality, not just in videogames but life as a whole.

Most people are casuals though. I dont know why people try hiding it aside from corrupting the groups that want to push their limits.

Me putting 5 hours into beating a story I like> Me getting killed and failing to progress for 5 hours.

How dare people be casual and not want to be stressed and have fun? So weird.

If you're just in it for the story then why not read a book?

If the challenge is too much then why not git gud?

The challenge isn't normally too much. It's a very small selection of games most gamers would find too hard as a whole. Other people just don't like a certain genre. Nobody said they play games to hard all the time. Or that we even played a game too hard. And the reason we don't read is because maybe we want a certain story. Not all video games have a book adaptation...
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