@YukoAsho: I have only ever played the Japanese edition, well that was until the collections which allow to try all versions. Personally feel all it really added was more respawns and potentially the speed of a few enemies, which makes the levels take longer but that's about it overall. Suppose it could get annoying when making cautious jumps. Keep in mind I overall find the third game cheap anyway and is one of the few games I do not enjoy replaying.
Played the first CastleVania quite a lot and I really like the game, never found it cheap, but admittedly I have played them fairly often. I'm not new to these games. Akumajō Dracula/ CastleVania is one of my all time favorite franchises. One of the retro series I return to the most often. Initially bought Nintendo handhelds such as the DS to play the newer games as well.
CastleVania isn't quite quite Makaimura/ Demon World Village which has more of that coin munching arcade design. And I like those games also, but am going to admit they are some of the most difficult games around, and they are frankly cheap.
Suppose I keep forgetting about the SEGA CastleVania game that got a lot of buzz for being difficult. Yet after the collection and finally playing it multiple times, I don't think it's that bad. The end-game gauntlet is taxing (I think it's eight bosses back-to-back) so it doesn't give a lot of room for error, however it does provide two health refills along the way. Whether in III this is not the issue by design. The third game is designed to hit the player mid-jump, so a lot of the bad design in the third instalment is down to luck and the player being forced to take leaps of faith. Unless you've memorised every spawn-point timing the third game will kill the player fairly often. It's honestly bad platforming and just thinking about it stirs my blood lol.
I've only played through the first Uncharted, really do need to play the others, but I don't really remember it doing the puzzles for me.
Haven't played the first game since, well the PS3 many years ago, but I recall Uncharted 2 the characters would shout the answer (which also is boldened in the subtitles) if you took too long, and it was not very long till they told the player what to do. And from what I am aware it became more common and quicker as sequels continued. Furthermore the camera would auto-move to the answers fairly often as well.
Heck Assassins Creed is designed around holding a button and the game practically plays itself. The auto platforming and auto combat are infamous in the series.
I understand preferences but to me these elements are no less poor design than the above with the third CastleVania, they're disrespecting the player who is playing the game, breaking the pacing of the experience.
The aspect I was getting at anyhow is hard games can be fun, and does not mean hardcore games for tryhards because they love pain. That's the same as saying all casual games are made for babies who can't hold a controller, neither are true. It varies from game to game.
Some are challenging because you need to click with the gameplay functions, and are designed around the player learning new tricks along the way.
I'm sure some people only want edgy Souls-clones stating "the harder the better" and with that whole I'm better than you because I like dying in games. I've seen these people a few times on forums. Honestly they tick me off, and I don't like people with this stupid attitude, as it makes games with any challenge look like they've got a negative following.
Doesn't stop me having fun with a game with some bite. It's just sad that it puts some people off playing a game like Dark Souls, which admittedly is about mid in terms of difficulty. Releasing the same time as the overly popular Uncharted/ Assassins Creed however made Souls games have the illusion of being "impossible" because they did require patience or observation; whether as Uncharted and Assassins do not. And the sad truth is a lot of modern games did get streamlined to the point they're taking the game away from the player, as they don't trust the player to get the job done.
Sure I like challenge, that's different from enjoying artificial difficulty. Overall I enjoy games that are well designed and don't insult the player, games should be fun. And while fun is subjective I think CastleVania wouldn't have as many sequels as it did if they're solely cheap. Challenge can be fun if managed the right way and designed so the player can look at a situation and come out on-top.
But it's the same with modern games, I like Animal Crossing, and a few on these forums know I've praised the series for years. And games don't come more casual than Animal Crossing. Why do I like AC, because it's well designed and fun. Letting me enjoy the game and have full control of my actions.
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