Are Games Crippled By Easy Modes?

[Novus]

^To my own surprise, I disagree. There's a "hardcore" mod for FFVII that makes the enemies tougher everywhere, the bosses actually a challenge, the stat growth a bit less generous and adds a miniboss at each summon materia you pick up, so interacting with a summon materia starts a semi-difficult fight before you can pick it up.

Difficulty can be done badly (in shooters for example, making every enemy a Supreme Bullet Sponge is just stupid) but when it's done right as above, and you know the game inside out, a bit of added difficulty can be really rewarding.

That's why people created the challenges for FF - No materia, no sphere grid, no junctions, items only, solo character etc. It feels pretty rewarding when you manage to get through the game like that.

To each his own. After I complete a game I have no interest in completing the entire thing again straight away on a new setting, unless you meant the setting was the norm without being unlocked on completion, in such a case that isn't false longevity it is just a regular setting for the game to play on. Between the setting being implicated and more sidequests at the end of the game (or near the end) I would choose the latter option.

When I pay for a game, I want as much value for money as possible and that means as little recycling as possible so I'm getting the richest experience possible. I'm willing to be lax on the recoloured monsters because that is just being resourceful, when it's the exact same area and monsters but with added handicaps, that's just laziness on the behalf of its creators.

If Shademp unlocks a new sidequest in FF7 tomorrow I'm fairly sure people will drop their handicapped playthroughs and rush to that no matter how poor it's realised.

 

[Venks]

If I enjoy a game a lot, then I might play it again on hard just to increase my time with the game. But of course I'd much prefer having additional content to interact with. New missions, new side-quests, and new characters will always be more interesting to me then the same challenge with less mistakes allowed.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Easy mode is bad?

Hahaha!

When I was a kid, I used a cheat whenever I could. All weapons for Turok! Godmode in Starcraft!

It was glorious and I don't regret a thing. Games are fun, and unless you are playing online, play how you want.

"Power Overwhelming" for everyone!

See, to me games like Age of Empires were perfect, because they were really challenging in their normal modes, and they also have a lot of options for the "Let's just fuck around with cheat codes" modes, too that I really miss a lot in current games.

You wanna turn all the birds to dragons? Go for it!
You want an army of spacemen with laser guns? Sure!
Cars with a rocket launcher? Absolutely!
Boats that fly? No problem!
Priests that convert enemy units instantly? Yes please!

I think that the ability to dick around and not be ultra hard core all the time is awesome, and we don't get as much to play around with that these days.



X

 

[Abortedj]

Short answer: no.

Might post a longer answer later, to tired for it right this second.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

See, to me games like Age of Empires were perfect, because they were really challenging in their normal modes, and they also have a lot of options for the "Let's just fuck around with cheat codes" modes, too that I really miss a lot in current games.

You wanna turn all the birds to dragons? Go for it!
You want an army of spacemen with laser guns? Sure!
Cars with a rocket launcher? Absolutely!
Boats that fly? No problem!
Priests that convert enemy units instantly? Yes please!

I think that the ability to dick around and not be ultra hard core all the time is awesome, and we don't get as much to play around with that these days.



X

Gotta love Valve and Bethsda for leaving in the Dev Consoles and releasing the Construction Kits for a lot of their games. Which along with letting players make the game as hard/easy as they want gives games the ultimate replay value.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

The sentiment of games being crippled by being too easy strikes me as gaming elitism to be honest.

There are always meta-games for competition. That r fan-challenges a whatnot if you're really hurting for difficulty. Otherwise I'm not sure how much it really matters if someone is playing games just for manageable fun.

As expressed before, I am very much pro options when it comes to these things.

It depends on the implementation; I don't mind an easy option, but if the entire game was very easy by default (with the insult to have an even easier mode), it feels like a very real waste of money.

Final Fantasy VII is a grand example. I enjoy the game because of nostalgia, and that nostalgia and hindsight helps me appreciate the game for a myriad of reasons other than its gameplay.

However, for what it is, FFVII is stupid easy; the Materia system that it boasts is pretty much lip service because almost every option the game gives you in any Materia combination does the same thing and it does it more than enough; kills stuff fucking dead. There's no reward for clever combinations of stats, Materia, party members, or Limit Breaks because the game is by and large very easy.

If, hypothetically, I was just playing this game for the first time in 2014 (and I got past the other dated limitations), the lack of difficulty would turn me off immediately and I'd consider it a waste of time and money, and this is even without the advantage I have of having played RPGs for many years; FFVII was stupid easy when I first played it at the age of twelve years old.

So making a game super easy by default can be problematic.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have games like Dark Souls where the entire markability of the game is that its difficult, and you have to learn via mistakes and mastering the game, there is no easy option and if you don't like ittoofuckingbadplayanothergame. The game is meant to be hard, but its fair as well. You get better at the game, you beat it. You're rewarded with the catharsis of conquering death and winning. With this being said, Dark Souls is amazingly popular and an amazing game.

It all depends really.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

i killed this topic!

 

[Gym Leader Devil]

I'll get the shovels, someone pick out a nice spot for the grave.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

*dumps a pile of Phoenix Downs on the topic before it can get a proper burial*

I think a lot of the difficulty level depends on what type of game it is. Half (if not most of) the point of an RPG is the RP part. Most of an RPG is about the story the characters are going through, not the mechanics (although having good mechanics is important too). I think you can tell a lot about the difficulty level of a game based on what the game is marketed on. If it's gameplay, it'll probably be "harder" and have more difficulty options then if it's marketed on story or characters.