“It’s okay to refer to a spoiler-free FAQ to attain the true paragon ending, and avoid repeating 40 hours of cut-scenes and gameplay because you didn’t make a backup save before Ilos.”

Ah Mass Effect, how I hate thee, I do believe I made that same mistake.

I do remember checking out a guide for Final Fantasy VII when it was first released, the insane ways about getting all the ultimate weapons, not to mention chocobo breeding just completely swamped my young fragile mind.

Perhaps it was a poor choice of words on my part there, but I wasn’t implying in any shape or form that games are harder than they used to be. Like I say, I grew up on the original Ninja Gaiden. There’s no way I could think things are harder now! ;)

I meant more that game difficulty has evolved to suit gaming’s constantly expanding audience. And yes, that means greater complexity – sometimes this causes more confusion as to what to do than it used to, however. In some cases… not so much. See Simon’s Quest above.

Thanks for helping me clarify that, though. I’ve updated the blog.

(I just got my Internet access back, whoo!)

Complexity maybe, but games are definitely not get harder. From player tailoring to unlimited saves to in-game hint systems to everything mentioned in Kirsten’s latest blog, games are far easier now than they were 20 years ago.

I mean, back then everything was arcade ports, which wanted you to die all the time so you’d put in another 50p. Nowadays, they want you to get through the game so you’ll buy the DLC and check out the sequel :P