As I get older . . .

[Naniyue]

  As I get older, I find it easier, especially in RPGs, to just cheat/fast forward/play in easy mode.  I'm 47 with a full time job, not 15 and enjoying summer vacation. And with my backlog of games, I find this to be the route to take, as it leaves me more time for work and other things while still enjoying these games.

  Anyone else in a similar position?

[Jorpho]

Yes, there was a thread about that recently.
https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=36275

[kindlekat]

And with my backlog of games, I find this to be the route to take, as it leaves me more time for work and other things while still enjoying these games.

Yes. Plus-plus.

Before I had less access to things so found it more enjoyable to grind out the pleasure. Now, there's so much adventure in trying new things that I pour in less time for a specific game, unless I really crazily enjoy it and want to absorb more of the "side-quests". But even then, there's a point I don't want to master or repeat the same level for the xth time and savescum my way through.

[Naniyue]

  I already use a couple of the hacks from that thread, but never the 99 lvl 999XXX HP ones, as there's no fun to those at all.

  Yes, with games so prolific these days, there's just no time for me to play each one in the traditional manner, especially if it's one I don't particularly like, but am curious about anyway.

  There are still games I play fair and square, but they must be of particular appeal.

[PowerPanda]

6 years ago, I made a romhack of Final Fantasy Tactics. I had 2 kids, and a job that gave me a lot of free time. Now I have 4 kids and a job that requires me on my A game most of the day, and I play RPGs on easy, if I play them at all.

[Naniyue]

Doesn't Life realize that games are more important? 

[thr]

i'm actually in an opposite position. i used to save-scum, play on easy, and even straight up use cheats when i was younger. now i play my games on the highest available difficulty level by default, and never use cheats. well, unless it's something the game encourages (e.g. Cathedral features unlockable cheats that are actually meant to be used, and much too fun to ignore).

the games generally seem easier nowadays than they used to be in the days of yore, plus i feel i'm actually getting better at this. used to kinda suck with action games, or tough games in general, but now i'm usually unfazed by the difficulty, unless the game is unusually brutal and unforgiving.
been replaying some of my old favourites since discovering retroachievements a couple years back, where fast-forwarding is the only acceptable cheat, so i can't just quicksave-scum my way through tough spots and "have to" play legit. some of the stuff that seemed impossible without cheating back in the day (like, 20-30 years ago) i now find totally manageable playing legit.

maybe i don't always have the time to play as much as i used to, but i feel that really having to challenge myself improves the quality of enjoyment that i get from gaming.

[Ligeia]

I'm like OP, I have very little patience left especially when it comes to trial & error. I hate having to replay segments several times. Heck, I replayed Mario Golf 64 recently and savestates were a godsend, I don't even know how I was able to 100% it the hard way back in the day.

So yeah when it comes to classic RPGs I tend to use cheats & savestates liberally to make the playghrough less time consuming and stressful.

[gamingcat02261991]

Back when I was younger, and this has nothing to do with RPGs, I always had a hard time trying to beat the original Super Mario Bros.. Specifically, trying to reach World 8-4 and rescue Peach from the real Bowser. Nowadays, things are made easier with emulator savestates, etc., even if they prevent save files for games with battery saving from appearing. Not to mention rewind features that allow you to retry from the point where you made the mistake to begin with (like miscalculating a jump, only to either be tagged by a Piranha Plant, a Bullet Bill, a Paratroopa, a Hammer Bro.'s hammer, one of Bowser's hammers, or falling into a bottomless pit in certain levels). Believe me, I'm 31 going on 32, and I've been through the trial-and-error process of games that lacked battery saves in the past.

[realworksuks]

As I get older, I find it easier, especially in RPGs, to just cheat/fast forward/play in easy mode.  I'm 47 with a full time job, not 15 and enjoying summer vacation. And with my backlog of games, I find this to be the route to take, as it leaves me more time for work and other things while still enjoying these games.

  Anyone else in a similar position?

I basically don't do this, but funny I came upon this topic because currently I am playing Bravely Default and the difficulty in that game is just dumb. I can't think of any RPG where you would have to grind so much TBH. It blows FF1 or the DQ series out of the water. Right now after quite a lot of grinding, I came upon this massive dragon boss. My characters have health between 500 and 700 and the boss does an attack which hits all characters for about 400 damage. It's crap. Anyway, the game has 3 difficulty levels and I can't imagine how hard is if normal is this dumb. I have been considering putting on easy.

[nesrocks]

Easy mode / cheat / hacks are there for you. The hard part is gathering your friends to play games (video or card or board) in person.