I have to agree somewhat. There's at least one reason modern games have these features that us "old school" gamers don't like: the removal of frustrating game mechanics.
In a way, it's like buying a classic car. Nobody buys a classic car for their daily commute because they prefer it "old school". It's great to look at and talk about, but in practice it's a huge pain in the butt to use.
One example, the "respec" feature wasn't around in the 90's and early 2000's. If you messed up your character's specs, you had to re-roll. That could mean losing dozens or hundreds of hours of gameplay, and it's extremely frustrating.
Nobody can honestly say they enjoy developing a character for months, only to restart over again because you reach a point where you can no longer progress (if you put points into the wrong skills).
Eventually, everyone just uses the same template that's known to work, and innovation goes out the window.
My point is that all this "hand-holding" everyone keeps talking about was integrated into games over many years in order to reduce frustrating experiences. Eventually these became the standard. Some of it I don't like, but most of it I do. A game that is less frustrating is more fun.
Last edited by Soylent; 18/08/14 07:08 PM.
