Is the concept of streamlining really an inherently western philosophy? Yeah, I know there were jokes about linearity and stuff with FPS' last gen and stuff, but it just seems like the natural progression of individual games trying to cover more demographics in general. Older games from both east and west were hard as balls because the wider, less adept audience wasn't really taken into account.
I think game journalists being lowkey ableist babies over the lack of difficulty options is another issue entirely.
For a long time though, Japanese games were far more resistant to it. Now that they've made the big time again they've greatly dumbed their games down.
It's unfortunate, and you're right. Games dumbing themselves down to rope in more players when games get more expensive is only natural. That doesn't mean that I have to like it.
So this generation I've slowly weaned off modern gaming and resorted to playing retro games pretty much the entire generation. Until Cuphead and Sekiro, there wasn't a single non-fighting game that I didn't find disappointing in some capacity this generation. For me, it's the worst gaming generation of my life time. Even the game series that I like (Persona, DQ, FF) are a shadow of their former selves.
So yeah, I've mostly retreated from modern games for this reason and fully expect to not keep up with or buy modern consoles in the next ten years. I'm not even sure I will be purchasing a ps5 or xbox 10 or whatever it's called. Honestly, the only system maker that still makes games that make me smile and enjoy is Nintendo. I'm just waiting on the new Switch announcements so I can buy one and splurge on what I've missed out on.
A friend told me that there comes a time to learn to accept change so I won't be mad anymore, and it's unfortunately hard. I'm still very much yelling at the clouds.