History Main / FakeDifficulty

* '''Bad technical aspects make it difficult.''' Making a difficult jump is a real difficulty. Making that same difficult jump under an overly complicated control scheme, horrible [[JumpPhysics jumping mechanics]], or [[CameraScrew an abrupt mid-air change of camera angle]]--and therefore the orientation of your controls--is fake difficulty.

->''"This is one of the hardest games I've ever played,'' but for all the wrong reasons!''"''

->''"This is one of the hardest games I've ever played, but for '''all the wrong reasons!'''"''
-->-- '''The Angry Video Game Nerd''' (playing ''The Wizard of Oz''), ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''

You'd never figure this one out without consulting some form of walkthrough.

A hole in a platform game which, despite appearances, is ''not'' bottomless and/or ''does'' have a safe place to land, just way off to the side. The only way to find out is to jump!

[[Administrivia/ExampleSectionectomy No Examples, Please]].

Note also that fake difficulty is [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools not inherently bad]]. If used subtly, it can provide a satisfying challenge in cases where [[ArtificialStupidity the AI might be lacking]]. However, it is obviously preferable for the AI to provide a challenge by playing well than by getting special advantages from the programmer. Moreover, some games (notably {{Platform Hell}}s and Retroclones) get the majority of their comedy/nostalgia from Fake Difficulty and is much of the appeal of them; ''Tabletopgame/DungeonsAndDragons''' [[TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors most popular module]] is packed to the brim with Fake Difficulty and attempts to reduce it have [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks caused complaining from the fanbase]]. In these cases, it's perceived fair game because these games do not lie to the player about being fair challenges (or rather, about the ''nature'' of the challenges they provide), so a prospective player knows what they're signing up for.

* '''The game requires the player to use skills or knowledge that are either incorrect or [[UnexpectedGameplayChange 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 "[[CriticalResearchFailure 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.)

It is important to note that just because a gameplay feature is annoying and frustrating does not make it fake difficulty. For example, placing a large number of {{invincible minor minion}}s between the player and the PlotCoupon is extremely annoying, but they can be avoided by skilled movement -- thus, the difficulty is real.

There are five kinds of fake difficulty, in addition to TheComputerIsACheatingBastard, a sub-category of this:

* TheComputerIsALyingBastard \\

Fake Difficulty was prevalent in many older games, when developers were still learning about how to make fair challenges. It took people to realize that sometimes, a game was hard for all the wrong reasons, before they could see how to make it hard for better reasons.[[UnpleasableFanbase The unfortunate side effect is that newer games seem easier in comparison merely because they're a fairer challenge.]] There are plenty of other reasons for this (such as players being aware of some persistent forms of Fake Difficulty and making sure to avoid them) but that's another article entirely. It still ''does'' exist today, mind you.

* '''The game requires the player to use skills or knowledge that are either incorrect or [[UnexpectedGameplayChange 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 "[[CriticalResearchFailure 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.)

Note also that fake difficulty is [[TropesAreNotBad not inherently bad]]. If used subtly, it can provide a satisfying challenge in cases where [[ArtificialStupidity the AI might be lacking]]. However, it is obviously preferable for the AI to provide a challenge by playing well than by getting special advantages from the programmer. Moreover, some games (notably {{Platform Hell}}s and Retroclones) get the majority of their comedy/nostalgia from Fake Difficulty and is much of the appeal of them; ''Tabletopgame/DungeonsAndDragons''' [[TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors most popular module]] is packed to the brim with Fake Difficulty and attempts to reduce it have [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks caused complaining from the fanbase]]. In these cases, it's perceived fair game because these games do not lie to the player about being fair challenges (or rather, about the ''nature'' of the challenges they provide), so a prospective player knows what they're signing up for.

* [[TropesAreNotGood Badly implemented examples]] of RubberBandAI or DynamicDifficulty\\

* '''The game requires the player to use skills or knowledge that are either incorrect or [[UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay 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 "[[CriticalResearchFailure 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.)

-->-- '''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''', playing ''The Wizard Of Oz''

* RandomDrop - if the dropped item is necessary to continue the game or achieve certain endings. \\

* RandomDrop - if the dropped item is necessary to continue the game or achieve certain endings.

[[VisualNovel/DanganRonpa What the—why is this]] VisualNovel [[VisualNovel/DanganRonpa suddenly making me play a rhythm game]]? I only have one arm, man, that's why I picked up the slow-paced game instead of one of those!

When you play a {{video game}}, you expect to be able to use your skills as a gamer to beat whatever challenges the game throws at you. If the challenges require a lot of skill, the game is hard to win. If it doesn't require much skill, it should be an easy game. However, some games that should be relatively easy are actually quite hard. It could be due to shoddy programming, a GameBreakingBug, poor implementation of gameplay elements or time constraints, or the developers threw in something which makes the game harder, but which has nothing to do with the player's or AI's skills. This is fake difficulty.

* '''Bad technical aspects make it difficult.''' Making a difficult jump is a real difficulty. Making that same difficult jump under an overly complicated control scheme, horrible [[JumpPhysics jumping mechanics]], or [[CameraScrew an abrupt mid-air change of camera angle]] -- and therefore the orientation of your controls -- is fake difficulty.

* '''Bad technical aspects make it difficult.''' Making a difficult jump is a real difficulty. Making that same difficult jump under an overly complicated control scheme, horrible [[JumpPhysics jumping mechanics]], or [[CameraScrew an abrupt mid-air change of camera angle]] - and therefore the orientation of your controls - is fake difficulty.

It is important to note that just because a gameplay feature is annoying and frustrating does not make it fake difficulty. For example, placing a large number of {{invincible minor minion}}s between the player and the PlotCoupon is extremely annoying, but they can be avoided by skilled movement - thus, the difficulty is real.

Fake Difficulty was prevalent in many older games, when developers were still learning about how to make fair challenges. When people realized that sometimes, the game was hard for all the wrong reasons, they decided to make it more of a fair challenge. [[UnpleasableFanbase The unfortunate side effect is that newer games seem easier in comparison merely because they're a fairer challenge.]] There are plenty of other reasons for this (such as players being aware of some persistent forms of Fake Difficulty and making sure to avoid them) but that's another article entirely. It still ''does'' exist today, mind you.

Fake or Artificial difficulty is sometimes used to refer to the raising of enemy stats without improving their AI or giving them new abilities. However, raising enemy stats may force the player to devise new strategies or execute their inputs with less errors. Trial and error and reattempting sections of a game are a natural part of most games, and only excessive or ridiculous examples of trial and error should be considered "fake". Also, difficulty is a measurable statistic that can be categorized into different player skills. Thus the term "fake" difficulty is a matter of opinion which can change from player to player, depending on which forms of difficulty they like or dislike.

Note also that fake difficulty is [[TropesAreNotBad not inherently bad]]. If used subtly, it can provide a satisfying challenge in cases where [[ArtificialStupidity the AI might be lacking]]. However, it is obviously preferable for the AI to provide a challenge by playing well than by getting special advantages from the programmer. Moreover, some games (notably {{Platform Hell}}s and Retroclones) get the majority of their comedy/nostalgia from Fake Difficulty and is much of the appeal of them; ''Tabletopgame/DungeonsAndDragons''' [[TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors most popular module]] is packed to the brim with Fake Difficulty and attempts to reduce it have [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks caused complaining from the fanbase]]. In these cases, it's perceived fair game because these games do not lie to the player about being fair challenges (or rather, about the ''nature'' of the challenge they provide), so a player knows what they're signing up for should they decide to play them.

Note also that fake difficulty is [[TropesAreNotBad not inherently bad]]. If used subtly, it can provide a satisfying challenge in cases where [[ArtificialStupidity the AI might be lacking]]. However, it is obviously preferable for the AI to provide a challenge by playing well than by getting special advantages from the programmer. Moreover, some games (notably {{Platform Hell}}s and Retroclones) get the majority of their comedy/nostalgia from Fake Difficulty and is much of the appeal of them - ''Tabletopgame/DungeonsAndDragons''' [[TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors most popular module]] is packed to the brim with Fake Difficulty and attempts to reduce it have [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks caused complaining from the fanbase]].

[[quoteright:333:[[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flipsvillegrns3_3719.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:333:Gravity follows the arrows. Do you know exactly where to drop to be lined up with the little green star in the back? Neither do we. [[note]]Here's a hint: the spin jump is your friend.[[/note]]]]

NoExamplesPlease.