Does making a game 'hard' make it better?

An excellent question OP. I have become more of a content tourist with my time, and certainly appreciate the ease of games like Max Payne 3 and the latest Tomb Raider.

I don't really have time for games that require an absolute dedication to discovering their mechanics before I can actually being to 'play' them. Even then, I appreciate a space for making mistakes and being naive. Therefore, some games that I love (Sins of a Solar Empire; Dawn of War franchise) tend to be underplayed because they rely upon discovering build-orders and requiring an intense focus for the entirety of the game.

Saying all this, there are some games during which inevitable progress ruins the experience. Space Marine, for example, had very few sections that were 'difficult' in the sense that it was a necessarily monotonous mod for Gears of War rather than a game in its own right (a comment which perhaps won't hold up under scrutiny, but drives the kind of point that I am trying to make).

The Portal, Total War, and HL series have, even now, an almost flawless level of difficulty. I can progress through them in a relatively straight line of success and still feel that there are some action parts/puzzles that require some mulling over. For those who have a very limited amount of time and attention to dedicate to gaming, I would say that a game where you rarely die/get stuck at a place for more than three lives/attempts has the kind of difficulty curve that is well-designed (or at least designed for you in mind!).

Finally, the latest game that said it was 'hard' was Dark Souls. And blimey, that was a tedious game. Killed a few bosses, died at a few points and had to march back through a lengthy and easy section prior to it. Equally, Arma 2 DayZ is hard (to stomach) but actually becomes an experience rather than just a ludic challenge: that kind of 'hardcore' mode I can recommend.

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