They shouldn't make games harder and harder.

[Gwotyng]

In the old days, sequels were always easier. The difficulty of 2 & 3 make people who love 1's difficulty feel they are betrayed.

[ManoutofTime913]

That's not even remotely true. Blaster Master 2 for example is much harder than Blaster Master 1 because the level design is terrible and there are no checkpoints so you have to start all over if you die.

[TouyaShiro]

I... what. I'm probably biting the hand of a troll here, but what are you even basing this idea on...?

Also, I daresay BMZ2 was easier - if only because Destroyer Mode exists in BMZ1.
(I'm sorry for taking shots at it in half the threads I've posted in on this discussion board, but also not because SCREW that mode)

[Tsuki Zero]

Originally posted by ManoutofTime913:

That's not even remotely true. Blaster Master 2 for example is much harder than Blaster Master 1 because the level design is terrible and there are no checkpoints so you have to start all over if you die.

Actually, Blaster Master was harder than Metafight too! (Limited continues VS infinite continues)

I felt BMZ 1 was "too easy", but not a bad game by any mileage.
BMZ2 was too hard when it shouldn't be (specially evident because of the Gaia System limiting SP HEAVILY with a heft penalty for SP drain, or the Blaster Rifle having its many functions heavily nerfed, or DIV IDO's area having too many instakill traps, one of which made a certain planetoid too insane.)
BMZ3 is where a balance is found: it's neither as easy as BMZ1, lessens the penalty from BMZ2, and makes the Blaster Rifle have multiple functions regardless of Gun Power.

[TheLastLine]

This one is the hardest without a doubt. I died more in the 1st hour of the game than the entirety of BMZ1 and pretty sure I died more in the final area so far than I did the entirety of BMZ2. And I still haven't got through it. Some of these boss fights are literally insane and pretty sure I got instakilled by one of the bosses despite having full health and about 4 Engardes.

[I put on my robe and lizard hat]

I found 1 and 2 absolutely piss easy, with the exception of Destroyer Mode in 1, so 3's difficulty was a welcome addition for me.

Even though it's still relatively piss-easy until the true ending phase.

The bosses have more health bars now, but they still deplete very rapidly if you use the right attacks on them.

[Gwotyng]

The point is not the game is easy or hard, but the consistent difficulty.

When I started to play the sequel, I expected I would have a relaxed platform game experience for light players like the previous game. It is like you order a sweet food in a restaurant, but you get savory one instead.

If I really want to torture myself I would pick other games.

[Gwotyng]

And I think they really should make destoyer mode in all three games and lower the difficulty of the first run. So the light players can enjoy the stories without pressure and hard core players can still have challenges.

[Lancer]

Originally posted by downphoenix:

This one is the hardest without a doubt. I died more in the 1st hour of the game than the entirety of BMZ1 and pretty sure I died more in the final area so far than I did the entirety of BMZ2. And I still haven't got through it. Some of these boss fights are literally insane and pretty sure I got instakilled by one of the bosses despite having full health and about 4 Engardes.

If both main and sub SP are drained you get OHKOd by anything. Otherwise you can only ever take two damage from a hit, and running out of sub SP (iirc) or getting out of the tank doubles damage taken.

[Tsuki Zero]

Originally posted by Lancer:

Originally posted by downphoenix:

This one is the hardest without a doubt. I died more in the 1st hour of the game than the entirety of BMZ1 and pretty sure I died more in the final area so far than I did the entirety of BMZ2. And I still haven't got through it. Some of these boss fights are literally insane and pretty sure I got instakilled by one of the bosses despite having full health and about 4 Engardes.

If both main and sub SP are drained you get OHKOd by anything. Otherwise you can only ever take two damage from a hit, and running out of sub SP (iirc) or getting out of the tank doubles damage taken.

Another thing to note is that the invulnerability frames are short. They are short but usually long enough to get away from danger. Yet in a rush you can forget to account for that.

[TouyaShiro]

There's also Mr. Mug who will OHKO you no matter what if you happen to run into its punch in the ATOM fight. Been tagged by it exactly twice thus far.

Originally posted by LGwotyng:

The point is not the game is easy or hard, but the consistent difficulty.

When I started to play the sequel, I expected I would have a relaxed platform game experience for light players like the previous game. It is like you order a sweet food in a restaurant, but you get savory one instead.

If I really want to torture myself I would pick other games.

I wonder if anyone else aside from you actually holds this view. Far be it for me to speak for anyone else, but I have not really seen many people complain that BMZ2 is too hard and in general I feel like I have seen more positive reception than negative to the increased game difficulty for that entry.

How people feel about BMZ3's difficulty has been more of a mixed bag in comparison, since it threw everyone off with how much of a spike it was compared to the first two. Some did not enjoy it, partly cause it seems like many didn't really notice BMZ2's difficulty increase in comparison, and others (like myself) did, with maybe a little more leaning on the end of dislike due to the sheer amount of topics talking about getting put on blast by the endgame bosses.

Originally posted by LGwotyng:

And I think they really should make destoyer mode in all three games and lower the difficulty of the first run. So the light players can enjoy the stories without pressure and hard core players can still have challenges.

DEAR GOD, NO.
Destroyer Mode was far more fake difficulty than fun, since it involved restrictions of mechanics in a way which sorta sucked the fun out of it. By forcing only one or two vulnerabilities on each enemy in Top View (which is usually the Lv.0 peashooter and something else which may not be efficient against that enemy in normal play), removing the Energy Guard and all Life Ups, and having suicide bullets in Side View, it wasn't pleasant.

I apologise if anything I say above makes me sound hypocritical as I say this, but I would rather not try to impose my own ideas of what sequels should be doing as an absolute, because that is rarely a universal thing for both players and developers, if it even is a thing at all.

[Supernatural Cookie]

Personally, I enjoyed all of the games. Though I will say I found it weird the difficulty curve was in this game. It was both harder and easier than previous games at the same time. The difficulty felt.. super inconsistent with huge jumps and dips. Nothing really illustraits this quite as efficiently as how the second to last boss on the true end was -miles- easier than the final.

[Oguzhan]

Originally posted by LGwotyng:

In the old days, sequels were always easier. The difficulty of 2 & 3 make people who love 1's difficulty feel they are betrayed.

Difficulty is a subjective matter. Also, what kind of logic is that?

[Tsuki Zero]

Originally posted by Oguzhan:

Originally posted by LGwotyng:

In the old days, sequels were always easier. The difficulty of 2 & 3 make people who love 1's difficulty feel they are betrayed.

Difficulty is a subjective matter. Also, what kind of logic is that?

Somewhat subjective, depending on the game. In this it's DEFINITELY subjective.

[I put on my robe and lizard hat]

Originally posted by LGwotyng:

In the old days, sequels were always easier. The difficulty of 2 & 3 make people who love 1's difficulty feel they are betrayed.

Lmao, I didn't even see this bit.

What sequels were easier?
Zelda 2? Metroid 2?
Super C? Gradius 2?
Megaman 2? Megaman X2?

Bruh, what series have you been playing since the old days?

[Varia Z]

The difficulty definitely have gotten higher for each game, but I feel that it generally is pretty fair about about it, especially since Jason's and Sophia's weapons tend to be powerful enough to cheese them all when used well.

BMZ1 having a very useful reflective shield that could counter any ranged attacks, a strong electric ball that can clear rooms in a flash, and an op Wave Beam which can shred almost any enemy on top of having a pretty reliable lvl1 gun which is almost as effect as aforementioned wave beam when used in close range.

BMZ2 having overally a more powerful arsenal than the previous game (seriously, the wide beam can kill almost anything in just 2 hits), just not as spammable (Jason guns deal more damage if you fire it at a slow rate, rather than rapid shooting like in BMZ1). With there also being some pretty strong counter moves that could carry you through the game.

While in BMZ3 Jason has the best gear ever, and can even stack on overshields to make up for the fact that are tougher enemies than before.

While the tanks in the otherhand, have generally stayed more or less the same, except it's harder to manage energy in BMZ2 than the other games. While the last level of BMZ3 has you facing the toughest bosses ever in a nerfed tank, which's only advantage is that you can spam every single sub weapon at the same time without worrying about energy, since they have separate ammo pools.

The only really BS aspects I came across, are places filled with insta death traps like planet Divido or some of the distortion eras in BMZ3. Otherwise Id say the difficulty have generally been manageable in consideration of the tools the player has been given.

But that only as far as the Zero series goes anyhow. As for the orignal Blaster Master Nes game, there were too many bosses with the invulnerability frames, making them a chore to beat even when you have figured them out (not to mention how hard they are to beat in general).

Your weapons also kinda suck, as only lvl 1-3 and lvl 8 are remotely reliable, with even them having their problem as lvl 1-3 is usually blocked by enemy shields/ obstacles, while lvl 8 is inaccurate as heck. The rest of the arseal, including the grenades being very situational with glitch problems, thus boderline useless.

Only thing that plays well is the tank, and it doesnt have much action beyond platforming, which can be fun but yeah.

Tho, not even the tank is fully safe as the homing missiles will sometimes glitch and miss, while the shock ability is inaccurate as heck kinda in the same way as the lvl 8 wave beam. The final area is also just straight up hell with froggin spikes everywhere.. Which all just get worse as the unskippable climb upgrade kinda forces you into them during the platforming sections, making it harder than if you didnt have it at all.

Cant say anything about the other BM games since I have never played them.