What if we leveled backwards?

[Mizel]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8661-What-if-We-Leveled-Backwards

I think this idea actually some great potential. I'd love to play a game like that.

Now, I don't think this work well... or at all really with an MMO. I mean the point of most MMO's is getting bigger and stronger and getting better gear. Honestly, Im not even sure how it would work for an RPG either. Because you get stat points and whatnot from an RPG, so again the same concept of getting stronger. Seems like once you got to the end there'd be nothing left to do. Except get weapons of equal craptasticness as the ones you already have? lol

But as something like an action/adventure game- I think it would be really cool. I especially like the idea because it sounds very challenging, unlike most games today.

So, Im wondering how monster level would work. Would you get weaker, but monsters get stronger? I can't imagine that would go so well lol

Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

[paecmaker]

lol, playing halo and in the end facing lots of epic flood and covenant monsters only wielding a simple smg and some ammo (and you cant pick up enemy weapons)

But yeah, having a fps where you dont get better but the enemy does(weapon wise)would actually be pretty interesting to see.

Sometimes games do that sort of thing, you got lots of cool weapons and other things and then the game just makes it you loose them all :p

[Trunks]

RPG wise it would never work lol, same with adventure games I think. It'd be really dumb to start off with all this cool stuff then have it taken away. Assassins creed kind of did it. On the first game you started out with everything, then something happened, can't remember what, but you lost all the equipment. That worked out nicely IMO, but I can't see it working for too many games, especially since you progressively get worse by each level.

Their are plenty of difficult games out their, I think you're just playing the wrong ones or not turnings the difficulty up. Skyrim can even by semi difficult if you turn the difficulty up all the way.

[Mizel]

Their are plenty of difficult games out their, I think you're just playing the wrong ones or not turnings the difficulty up. Skyrim can even by semi difficult if you turn the difficulty up all the way.


Lol “semi difficult” Oh boy, sounds exciting. A SEMI challenge >_< I actually almost always start games off on Hard and work my way backwards if they’re too challenging. It’s pretty few and far between that I come across a game *SO* hard that I have to go back and turn the difficulty down. *shrugs*

But I think this would be a really cool concept. Honestly, the only game story I could see it working for though would be some sort of Apocalypse situation. Not many other storylines would make sense with the general idea.

In general, the concept it cool. Gaming is getting pretty stale recently and I’d gladly welcome something new.

[paecmaker]

Lol “semi difficult” Oh boy, sounds exciting. A SEMI challenge >_< I actually almost always start games off on Hard and work my way backwards if they’re too challenging. It’s pretty few and far between that I come across a game *SO* hard that I have to go back and turn the difficulty down. *shrugs*

But I think this would be a really cool concept. Honestly, the only game story I could see it working for though would be some sort of Apocalypse situation. Not many other storylines would make sense with the general idea.

In general, the concept it cool. Gaming is getting pretty stale recently and I’d gladly welcome something new.

I remember something like that (ok not exactly though) happening in Alan wake, I had this heavy duty lantern good shotgun and a pistol as well as flared and grenade, and what the **** happens. In the next second Im lost in a forest without any weapons and only a small flashlight with few batteries. It took forever to eevn get the kind of things I had before, and the enemies werent simplier :p

[Mizel]

I remember something like that (ok not exactly though) happening in Alan wake, I had this heavy duty lantern good shotgun and a pistol as well as flared and grenade, and what the **** happens. In the next second Im lost in a forest without any weapons and only a small flashlight with few batteries. It took forever to eevn get the kind of things I had before, and the enemies werent simplier :p

See, that's why Im curious to see this kind of game. You'd think if you lost gear and strength and whatnot, that the enemies would HAVE to get easier? Unless you lost gear and strength and made up for it by like... being more stealthy or something?

[paecmaker]

See, that's why Im curious to see this kind of game. You'd think if you lost gear and strength and whatnot, that the enemies would HAVE to get easier? Unless you lost gear and strength and made up for it by like... being more stealthy or something?

Well in quake 4, I played "almost" like that in a part of the game. Normally you have all these bad ass weapons and ammo but in one place I hardly could find any ammo, so one by one my weapons ran out until I was stuck with the most powerfull guns( little ammo and I didnt want to use it) and the weakest pistol(infinite) ammo so I was running around facing hoards of enemies with this small pistol, needless to say I died many times.

[Mizel]

Haha Well at least that kept it exciting a bit, I imagine :P

[Trunks]

Lol “semi difficult” Oh boy, sounds exciting. A SEMI challenge >_< I actually almost always start games off on Hard and work my way backwards if they’re too challenging. It’s pretty few and far between that I come across a game *SO* hard that I have to go back and turn the difficulty down. *shrugs*

But I think this would be a really cool concept. Honestly, the only game story I could see it working for though would be some sort of Apocalypse situation. Not many other storylines would make sense with the general idea.

In general, the concept it cool. Gaming is getting pretty stale recently and I’d gladly welcome something new.

lol, that's just skyrim that is semi difficult, try playing deadspace on impossible if you want a challenge, their are difficult games out there. Dragon Age II on the hardest difficult was really hard too, I had to turn it down to get past one of the first stages. Dante's inferno was pretty challenging as well, only played it for a short while, but watching my friend play it, he kept dieing quite often.

[Mizel]

lol, that's just skyrim that is semi difficult, try playing deadspace on impossible if you want a challenge, their are difficult games out there. Dragon Age II on the hardest difficult was really hard too, I had to turn it down to get past one of the first stages. Dante's inferno was pretty challenging as well, only played it for a short while, but watching my friend play it, he kept dieing quite often.

Man, I didn't ever past it the first DA. The only challenge that game gave for me was trying to *NOT* fall asleep LOL But ohhh man... Deadspace. That's a good example lol That game on difficult made my head want to explode xD

I mean Im not saying they're aren't *any* newish games with a challenge. Im just saying it seems like they are few and far between nowadays :/

[Trunks]

Dragon Age II got pretty intense on the hardest difficulty, definitely required a good amount of concentration, never played the first Dragon Age


I understand what you mean though, but I always though that games seemed harder in retro gaming because their are no save points. Dying 3 times and getting a game over definitely makes it a lot harder in games. I know I die way more than 3 times when I play through almost any game. On the retro games that I can't beat, I could if I actually had continues, just getting a couple hours into a game and dieing then having to start from the beginning wears on you. I lose concentration and start dieing from dumb mistakes, if you want a better challenge you could always restart the game every time you die more than 3 or 4 times, that's really the only difference in games from now and during retro times IMO.

[Mizel]

I def agree with you to a certain extent on that… Not only do you get to save whenever you want, you also restart where you died most of the time AND get unlimited lives. It is muuuch easier being able to save a game whenever vs like every level or every few levels or whatever. I mean games back then had plenty of save points, you just had to do so much before you could save. (Hahaha I remember having to leave my SNES on alllllll night and during the day at school because I couldn’t save or anything :P ) But I mean when I think of say….. Super Mario or Ninja Turtles. I remember getting to bosses and the fights being actually hard. Like I had to try over and over again sometimes. Then I think to games now like Skyrim or Bioshock… I beat BOTH of those end bosses, literally in one shot. Not to mention thinking back to the whole game of Bioshock in general. I probably died 3 times TOTAL on the entire game, on hard….. like Super Mario… man I died all the time in that game LOL But then again you gotta think about the fact that I was a lot younger then, too which could most def be a factor in that.

I just feel like… games back then were meant to be hard and challenging. Worth your money, ya know? I know I beat Bioshock in less then a week, just playing at night after work. If I had paid for that game, SIXTY fkn dollars- Idda been piiiiiissed. As a kid, it took me… damn, probably MONTHS to complete the entire Super Mario game. Again, many things factor into that. Im sure it takes developers a LOT longer nowadays to create a short game then it did back then to create a long game. Im also comparing two completely different types of games….

Even better, and easier to illustrate what I mean, compare Fallout to Fallout 3. Fallout was fkn hard as shiz sometimes lol Im pretty sure I died more in the first few hours on that game then I did in ALL of Fallout 3. I just sometimes feel like games now focus on pretty graphics and the storyline above all else.

All in all, I just miss LONG difficult games. If not even a challenging game, at *least* challenging end fights. I actually enjoy having to attempt to figure out a strategy and die quite a few times doing it. Sort of gave me more of an accomplished feeling versus beating a game thinking… “Wow, that was it. Really?”

[Trunks]

Lol, I can be Super Mario Brothers in about 30 minutes, instant warp to world 5, then only 3 worlds to go after that. If you think about it, the games now days are a lot longer then the older ones. It's just that you have to keep starting over every 3 times you die, most of the games I have the NES and Sega all require you to start from the beginning when you die. Very few start you at the beginning of the level, none of mine except zelda have a save feature. A few have password systems, but those are mostly for RPG's like HyLyde. Also I thought boss fights in super mario brothers were easy too, you just either run under him, or let him jump and destroy blocks and kill them selves. Sonic the boss fights are easier then the levels you just learn the pattern which takes a few seconds then you jump and hit them. A lot of bosses are like that, ninja gaiden 2 is the same way. Boss fights are so easy, but the levels are so hard lol. That game luckily has unlimited continues though. Now I have TMNT and that game seems hard as F lol. I haven't even got to the first boss, only played it for about 10 or 15 minutes though when I tested to see if it worked.

Anyway I thought bioshock was a decent challenge, definitely an amazing game, I 100% that game for achievements. Took over 30 hours to get 100% on one play through. One of those games you can replay and choose different weapons and power ups too, along with the free DLC pack it came with, I thought ti was worth 60. Never played any of the fall outs, not a huge fan RPG's. I never though retro games were that long though, definitely not as long as todays game. Games back then if you went through without getting a gameover it'd only take an hour or two, unless it's an RPG of course. If you haven't played them recently then you may just remember them being harder because you were younger, idk, maybe we just have different talents lol.

Sorry for the unorganized and random thoughts, little cousin is driving me crazy asking 100 questions kept losing my train of though.

[Tails]

Now by leveling backwards do u mean like a leaderboard where we all start at 100 and try to make our way down to 1. I think it would be kinda pointless cuz CoD has made us love leveling up.

[CraeSC111]

Noobs would be amazed at how easily I get owned. They would be jealous of my uber hax which reduce me to 1 health and take away all my stats and gear.

I think it might be a good idea for something like a skill based shooter where you can avoid damage by dodging or something like that and shooting would be kinda hard. Think tribes

[Echo]

Sounds like I would lose interest over time.
RPG games allow you to level up so you can earn new abilities so you can face the harder enemies a head.

[Mizel]

Yea, but think of BA you'd feel if you started the game super strong and geared, and beat it all weak and nekked.