🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sat, 24 Sep 2016 09:11:35 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:

>I've never claimed to be the greatest gamer in the world, but I don't
>think I was that bad. But these days, man, it is increasingly obvious
>that my age is catching up with me. Forget keeping up with the kiddies
>in online FPS matches, I have noticed my skills flagging even in
>arcade racers; if I get much above 180mph, I just don't have the
>necessary reflexes anymore... so sad. There's no point in my grinding
>to get the super-cars because I'll never be able to handle them at top
>speed :-(
>
>Of course, given how my generation has grown up with, still plays and
>will probably continue to play games until we die - and that we make
>up a significant chunk of the market - I wonder how long before
>developers start noticing our declining abilities and make adjustments
>to the gameplay in our favor. "Easy, Normal, Hard, Over 50" difficulty
>levels, maybe? ;-)

I realize this is mostly in jest, but I think what you're describing
started about 10 years ago. There are very few truly punishing games
out now. Even the hard ones like Dark Souls are really just "grindy".
When you die you get put back to where you started. Levels in most AAA
games are linear, objectives are pointed out (and usually blinking).

Was STALKER about the last FPS to give you a GAME OVER, leaving you
screwed if you died and didn't save? That kind of stuff is pretty much
gone.

I'm better at a lot of the truly difficult arcade games than when I
was a kid, but a lot of that may be due to accessibility. I know some
guys here hate old games, but I suggest firing up MAME and play
Robotron for half an hour per day to dust off the old reflexes! :-)