Dare you play on Easy mode?

[Sabre]

This got quite a few good discusions going in IMs so I thought I might post here.

It all started on SupCom 2. I got frustrated in the campaign, so I kicked it down to easy so I could finish the story. After that I played Red Faction 3, Crysis and Lost Planet. In each game I hit a wall of what I consider unfair difficulty. Ammo, bushes and time limits respectfully. I consider myself a hardcore gamer of above average skill. As such kicking down the difficulty on 4 games in a row seems like a sign of weakness.

So, am I justified by bad game design or have I just lost my skill? What would make you kick down the difficulty? How often do you do it? Are there any games you seem to be having with that others just breeze through? And of course anything related to game difficulty you want to share your thoughts on?

[Minato]

I'd call it 'bad game design' simply because the developers think 'oh, hard mode = enemies have more health, you don't and you carry less ammo.'

It is acceptable to kick down the difficulty to Easy if:

The game's too hard for you.

There's a simply unfair part of the game you're stuck on. (Being able to switch difficulties without restarting the whole game is a godsend for this.)

There's an unlockable you can get only by beating Easy mode.

I've personally gone to Easy mode for Trauma Center and Mega Man 10. Trauma Center is super difficult on Normal and somewhat manageable on Easy. Mega Man 10's Normal Mode is crazy hard and Easy mode makes it patronizingly easy. I'd hate to see Hard Mode. If I ever unlock it.

However, it is unjustifiable and sacrilege if you turn a Contra game on Easy. If you can't handle it on Normal, then you need to practice your 2D sidescrollin' shoot 'em ups more.

[Matt Macdowel]

I'd call it 'bad game design' simply because the developers think 'oh, hard mode = enemies have more health, you don't and you carry less ammo.'

It is acceptable to kick down the difficulty to Easy if:

The game's too hard for you.

There's a simply unfair part of the game you're stuck on. (Being able to switch difficulties without restarting the whole game is a godsend for this.)

There's an unlockable you can get only by beating Easy mode.

I've personally gone to Easy mode for Trauma Center and Mega Man 10. Trauma Center is super difficult on Normal and somewhat manageable on Easy. Mega Man 10's Normal Mode is crazy hard and Easy mode makes it patronizingly easy. I'd hate to see Hard Mode. If I ever unlock it.

However, it is unjustifiable and sacrilege if you turn a Contra game on Easy. If you can't handle it on Normal, then you need to practice your 2D sidescrollin' shoot 'em ups more.

don't remaind me of WaW on the hardest diffecult.

I always play games on easy cause i liked to listin to te storyline and not sit at one spot for days trying to beat the guy...

[Vy'drach]

The only reason World at War was difficult was the massive amount of grenades everyone seems to be able to carry. I personally stick through a game on its hardest difficulty, such as when I got AvP, loaded it up on Nightmare mode the first day, had all three campaigns beat the next day. And Nightmare mode on AvP, to me, makes the hardest difficulty on the CoD games, what was it, Veteran? Anyway, makes that look like people throwing bouquets of flowers for grenades, and using water pistols for guns, simply due to the fact that when you died on AvP's Nightmare difficulty, you had to restart the entire level from the beginning, there were no quick saves or checkpoints. But even that was easy, game difficulty has mostly been falling lately. I remember Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion, where to completely beat the game, you have to beat it on the hardest difficulty, without dying. And the enemies could kill you faster than CoD enemies, and Turok had no Wolverine based regen system of, "Oh, I'm hit, I'll just duck behind this crate for a few seconds and magically heal to full health." And health was not as common as you'd like, I remember being at literally 1 health point, and having to fight my way through about seven monsters in order to get to the next health pickup.

However, if those games are truly difficult, I may have to look in to them. And about knocking the difficulty down, there have been times I was tempted to do that, and the only thing that kept me from doing it was stubbornness, and refusing to be beaten by a game.

[Guest FoXXX]

*Select Death Incarnate*

*/god*

[Vy'drach]

Death incarnate..... why is that so familiar?

[Guest FoXXX]

Death incarnate..... why is that so familiar?

Have you ever played Return to Castle Wolfenstein? Death incarnate is the hardest difficulty level.

[Vy'drach]

Ah yes, I believe it was the same for Wolfenstein 3D, good game.

[ThePointingMan]

Easy is not acceptable, I guess I'll find out how acceptable it is when I get crysis ect though.

[Guest FoXXX]

Easy is not acceptable, I guess I'll find out how acceptable it is when I get crysis ect though.

Crysis is easy and short :(

[Sabre]

Crysis is easy and short

Crysis aint easy. Bloody Koreans keep hiding in the bushes, snipers head shot you from half the map away, and there's more gunships then rockets.

[Guest FoXXX]

Crysis aint easy. Bloody Koreans keep hiding in the bushes, snipers head shot you from half the map away, and there's more gunships then rockets.

Koreans were harder than the aliens!

Also, the alien exosuit and warship were awesome.

[Asper Sarnoff]

Easy mode is for the weak.

Only once did I have to resort to cheating to clear a game, and that was the Lightfoot test of strenght in Adventures, by using an unoficial controller with a turbo function. Later cleared it with a standard GC controller.

[Guest FoXXX]

Easy mode is for the weak.

Only once did I have to resort to cheating to clear a game, and that was the Lightfoot test of strenght in Adventures, by using an unoficial controller with a turbo function. Later cleared it with a standard GC controller.

Test of strength is easy :P

[Asper Sarnoff]

Test of strength is easy

If you're used to mindless button-smashing, yes. If you've so far only played games with a little more substance than that, then you'll struggle.

[Vy'drach]

Kinda reminds me of the official Modern Warfare 2 turbo triggers, and the fact the Infinity Ward developers not only supported the use of a turbo button, but used them as well.

[Fox-Shot]

I use easy mode a lot, not really bad if you aren't good or anything, just means you need practice or don't have the natural talent for it.

I suck at any game.  No matter what, you could not find a game I'm good at.

[Fox-Wii]

I try to play games on the hardest difficulties but I will move down a difficulty level if I can't beat a part.