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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 7723681" data-attributes="member: 6801286">Yeah, the game seems to have tapped a very specific (but apparently large) sub-group of gamers. So yes, perhaps niche is the wrong word. And I agree that it will be very influential (in many ways it already is right now). And to think reviewers totally dismissed Demons Souls when it came out. Funny how that perception can change.I think that's a fair point. I think multiplayer games such as Battlefield and Counterstrike can be very discouraging, because if an unexperienced player were to step into it, they would have their butt handed to them by far more experienced players. I think Team Fortress 2 does a far better job at this in that regard. The various classes provide some what of a learning curve. But even that lacks a proper tutorial to tell the player how to really play the classes. I think a lot of game designers (and also gamers) make the mistake of thinking that a smooth learning curve equals the game being too easy, but far from it. Its more akin to providing a poor manual with your game. A game should have a smooth learning curve, regardless of the intended difficulty of the main game. Even the Dark Souls game fail a bit in that regard. Several of them start out pretty hard, and then loosen up later on. But both of those are multiplayer games. In general, single player horror games tend to be quite linear. And having to replay the same section multiple times can quickly drain the suspense and fear from such a game. This was the case with Fatal Frame 3 for example, which had a really tough final boss that was pretty frustrating. I didn't feel like the added difficulty made it a scarier game. [video=youtube;gpsdSd_MrvA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpsdSd_MrvA[/video](Fatal Frame 3's final boss fight was mostly made difficult due to the insta-kill attack of the boss, and the blurry screen)Of course, maybe that also depends on the manner in which the game is made more difficult. On the other hand, the horror game Obscure was pretty difficult, and it did add to the menace and dread of enemies for that game. So it all depends on the execution I suppose.</blockquote>

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