Discussion Main / FakeDifficulty

Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Rename, started by Fahrenheit on May 3rd 2010 at 4:43:17 AM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

I'd like to make a request that the name of the page be changed to either bullshit difficulty or unfair difficulty. Fake difficulty implies that it doesn't actually make the game any more difficulty, when all of those do. They just make the game more difficult in ways that are viewed as unfair by the players.

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• "The game requires the player to use skills or knowledge that are either incorrect or have nothing to do with the genre. A football game that requires you to describe the position that Jerry Rice played for a power-up is real difficulty. A football game that requires you to describe the position that Jerry Rice played to get a powerup, and assumes the answer is "Quarterback", or one that forces you to do multi-variable calculus in order to train your starting lineup, is fake difficulty, not to mention just plain silly. (Even if that last one would arguably be kind of cool, at least to the mathematically-inclined.)"

Unexpected Gameplay Change and incorrect information feel like two very different things.

The unfortunate side effect is that newer games seem easier in comparison merely because they're a fairer challenge - this is bullshit and you all know it! Modern games is easier than older ones not only because there is less fake difficulty in them, they are easier mainly due the fact that most middle sized and big developers want more sales than they have got back in 70s/80s (due various reasons) and they will never gonna get them with a hard game today - end of story. Only an indie devs is still making hard games now and they sell exactly as expected - rather badly compare to popular ones, it is that simple.

No, games like Cuphead and Dark Souls does not avert anything here because they are nowhere near as hard as actually hard games from the past such as Battle Toads, Ghost'n Goblins, The Adventures of Batman and Robin, Streets of Rage 3 and so on. Good luck finding at least one modern game from Rare, Capcom and Sega which has mandatory difficulty akin to their own insanely hard games from 80s and even if you will it is 100% gonna be one of their more obscure titles with modest sales figures (at best) which effectively will just prove my point anyway. Sad to see that some of you is wise and honest enough to admit that Resident Evil 4 is not survival horror, but yet you still can easily claim on this same exact site that modern games is just as hard as they used to be overall and everyone who is disagree with this idiotic statement is simply wrong because reasons... Sad and dumb.

Edited by Vishiz

"In a 2D game with no camera control, hiding important details behind foreground elements or Behind the Black counts as fake difficulty if your character should be able to see them."

This doesn't seem fair. Especially in older games, and arguably in ALL games, it's common to use the limits of game mechanics when creating difficulty, even when the character ought to be able to overcome the problem fairly easily. For example: gaps you can't crawl through because there is no crawl move; walls you can't get over just because you can't jump over them - climbing or building steps is not in the game; enemies you can't just beat to death with the butt of your empty gun, etc. In fact, this is basically the whole "genre" of 2D games. If the character were a real person, they could just walk around half the obstacles.

If the above example is fake difficulty then every game has it.

I think it's worth noting that the star in the page image can be gotten by using a homing ground pound to home into the star. (Granted, it's still bullshit because the game doesn't state that the homing ground pound exists and even if you did know, most people don't know it homes into stars...)

Edit: Thinking about it now, what I was complaining about doesn't seem as nonsensical when I thought about what information would likely be provided in a sports game.

I still stand by my argument that a game expecting the player to do something that doesn't match up with the rest of the gameplay shouldn't be considered inherently unfair if the game gives a good enough explanation about how to accomplish what it's asking of the player.

Edited by InsertHandleHere2

Alright, some thought on this page:

• One-Hit-Point Wonder should not be on here, since the entire game is designed with the assumption that you'll be dodging bullets. It's real difficulty, it's just a different kind of difficulty than you find in games with a health bar.

• Similarly, I'm rather iffy on the inclusion of One-Hit KO, since those attacks are usually designed to be dodgeable.

• Ratchet Scrolling also should be taken off, for the same reasons as above.

• Randomly Drops does not seem to actually be fake difficulty on its own, it only does that when it's a mission critical item (in which case Luckbased Mission already covers that)

• Selective Memory is more a Gameplay and Story Segregation thing than anything that belongs here.

• Guide Dang It!, being a player-reaction to difficulty rather than a gameplay element, probably should be taken off. It would be better to mention that Fake Difficulty causes Guide Dang It! in the description.

Edited by muninn Now Bloggier than ever before! Hide / Show Replies

Anyone else feel this might be better off as a YMMV trope? I know the descriptions on this actual page are mostly pretty clear and reading the article it really shouldn't be one, but I find in the end it somehow always ends up on games where it doesn't seem to belong. Given how different people's ideas of what difficulty is "fake" and what is not are, I feel only tagging this as YMMV would do justice to that.

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Question: The "pushing a button" example listed in the description: Would it still count if the player must alter the mechanics of the button in some way before the right number is a possible outcome? (ex: You find a panel, flip a switch, and the next press will be the right number.)

Is the page picture supposed to be a black square or is it just my computer?

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Okay I think I got a new proposed criterion.

Player-induced fake difficulty: Commonly seen in an Online multiplayer game. A dungeon or obstacle you can't get done by yourself and must ask other players for help. Unfortunately, the players are uncooperative or flat out selfish and don't lift a finger to help, making something much much harder than it should be. Does not count to issues caused by a Griefer, because they were not coded into the game.

Edited by Digitalpotato Hide / Show Replies

So how do you line yourself up with that star?

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I'm pretty sure that asking a question related to football in a football game is Fake Difficulty for anyone who doesn't actually watch football.

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