Create a new Difficulty Level for a game you like

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Video games attract all kinds of people, from the casual gamer to the hardcore tournament champion, which is why adjustable difficulty settings have become so integral to gaming that one without them it can actually feel incomplete. Some have even developed controversial 'mercy modes' to prevent people from becoming stuck in one place longer than half an hour.

What new imagined difficulty setting would you like to see and play in a game you really like? It can be super-easy, super-hard, or just plain bizarre.

 

[Pearwood]

System Shock 2 - toned down difficulty a little bit. Game is fun as hell, except the Body of the Many. That is not fun, that makes me want to find a mod to remove psy reavers.

 

[RuralGamer]

I'd develop a sort of casual mode for the Total War games that removes all objectives and just lets you do what you want in an infinite time limit. It would also make the AI a bit more passive (they'd still build nice big armies and develop infrastructure, but they'd be more defensive and less prone to blitzkrieging their neighbours in unpredictable bouts of treachery). Sometimes I just want to be able to take it easy and leisurely play a game over an evening (not a whole game mind you) and be able to zone out and focus on other things as I play.

 

[Jadak]

Removed

 

[TehCookie]

Babby's first DMC in DMC3. Make it easy enough for everyone to beat the game, but add like baby bonnets and bibs to the enemies (or something) to make you feel bad for playing it on that difficulty. I would resign my dignity to be able to beat that game though.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

In any game ever.

Masochist Mode: Mirrored level/game world. Enemies deal 100x more damage than usual. No HUD. Good luck, fucker!

 

[Don Savik]

port over "Poundamonium" from Killing Floor into every game. All npcs are now fleshpounds. Have fUUUUUUUUUUN!!!111 >

 

[Mestraal]

-snip-?

I never found it that hard either, to be honest. Great game though.

OT: Going back a few years but a genuinely hard mode for Kingdom Hearts 2 would be nice. Even Proud mode was a walk in the park with a little grinding.

 

[The Brian J]

Any Pokemon Game:

If one of your pokemon faints in battle, they are gone. Done. Never to be heard from again. They don't get revived, they're gone forever.

If you no longer have any pokemon anywhere, in your box or your party, it's Game Over.

To counterbalance this, poke balls are now $1.

 

[everythingbeeps]

I imagine there's already some games that do this, but I'm in favor of a selectable difficulty mode (meaning it's not the default) where if you have trouble with a certain section and keep dying, the difficulty automatically gets incrementally easier until you finally accomplish it, and then it snaps back to where it was before.

That way you don't have to go through changing the difficulty yourself (which can be a dispiriting thing), and you also don't have to worry about never getting over that wall. Mostly it's less shameful than either lowering the difficulty yourself or having the game (i.e. Super Mario Bros Wii) just do the damn level for you.

 

[mikey7339]

In any game ever.

Masochist Mode: Mirrored level/game world. Enemies deal 100x more damage than usual. No HUD. Good luck, fucker!

That...that actually sounds fun.

 

[Slenn]

Touhou 6: Either one of two things:
An easier difficulty that allows you to see the FULL GOOD ENDING.
or
You're able to see the GOOD ENDING even if you've used continues.

 

[PixelKing]

Marc Ecko's getting up (save the hate)
No more freaking gunships!

 

[Kapri]

"Dante doesn't have to die" mode in Devil May Cry 3.

 

[Shadow flame master]

In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, how about a "Just put the game down" mode. Every enemy would deal 100x damage than they would normally do, Vanitas would have three clones with twin-weiled keyblades in each battle except last, you can actually be de-leveled if you die too much as well.

However, the bonus to beating the game with this difficulty gets you any and all Final Mixes(regular and +) that Square makes.

 

[Pandabearparade]

New Game+ mode for Dragon Age: Origins.

"Tower Defense Mode" in Starcraft 2. Does that count?