Old games vs New games. Can't find the thread, but it was true.
New games have the graphics, which are valued over storyline these days. They create a ton of spinoffs and try to churn out 1 title a year instead of working on a quality product, and they tend to be linear and hold you by the hand to spoon feed you the way to victory instead of letting you explore and get into areas you are not ready for yet on a regular basis.
When people talk about the new Zelda games, I try them, beat them easily and generally enjoy them. but they do not have 1/10th the difficulty of the original NES games. People gripe about the water temple and Great bay temple, etc and on and on with the new Zelda games, but have no idea since they never made it that far in the originals as to what difficulty really is. If those temples were filled wall to wall with enemies like Blue Wizzrobes, Blue Darknuts and Blue Fokka's every step, with almost no way to regenerate health, then they would start to compare.
My friends who were determined to beat every Zelda game like I did without a walkthrough declared Zelda1: Quest 2 impossible, then gave up very early in Adventures of Link.
The Second Quest offers no quarter. It exists to torment you and make you hate life, and possibly hate Zelda, too. I love that it exists. The basic quest is really well-designed and generally fair to the player; the Second Quest is what you get when normally responsible game designers have the chance to take the gloves off and let their inner malice shine through. If this were the entirety of Zelda, it would likely be remembered as another one of those clumsy, unfair 8-bit games that treated the player like crap. Instead, it’s simply a look into Zelda without a sense of fair play
Same goes for other games. I smashed Ninja Gaiden Black and Dark Souls so easily and yawned and my friends gawked in disbelief. They simply did not understand how I could play those so easily. When I told them to try Battletoads for the NES, they predictably gave up after the turbo tunnel. Then I suggested good old Ninja Gaiden 1 for the NES, and they eventually got to the final level, but gave up once they realized it kept warping them back to the start of the level when they died.
It IS hilarious how easy games are in today's world. They are designed to be fun interactive movies and time consuming, rather than challenging.
Old Games were time consuming for an entirely different reason. Yes I can beat Zelda 1 both quests in under 9 hours now, and yes I can beat Adventures of link in under 3 hours, but it took YEARS of mastery and handwritten notes, as well as word of mouth and tips at school.
Ah the days before internet cheating and save states. Basically, the old games were like the UFC of video games. While Modern games are like junior High school wrestling.
