Poll: Easy Mode

[T_ConX]

I find it ironic you call the casuals filthy when hardcore gamers are neckbeards.

Joke's on you. I shave daily!

Easy mode is great for non-gamers...

And that's all I needed to hear.

I don't know why people would feel like they need to dictate how others play.

I'm not saying people shouldn't play easy mode. I'm saying people should be ASHAMED if they play easy mode.

 

[TehCookie]

I don't know why people would feel like they need to dictate how others play.

I'm not saying people shouldn't play easy mode. I'm saying people should be ASHAMED if they play easy mode.

For not being as good? Should be people ashamed they can't sing, dance, draw, sew or have a 4.0 That's just a really petty thing to care about. I can't sing but I enjoy it.

 

[DoPo]

I don't know why people would feel like they need to dictate how others play.

I'm not saying people shouldn't play easy mode. I'm saying people should be ASHAMED if they play easy mode.

Feeling ashamed...of what exactly? Hey did somebody change the rules while I wasn't looking? Are games no longer "to have fun" but rather needed "to prove something"? Is that what it is?

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I play on normal first with most of the games I play. The only games I've played on casual were the Mass Effect games, because I wasn't playing for the game, I was playing for the story. But that doesn't mean I didn't go back and play on the harder modes.

Yes, and if there's one thing a player should never feel, it's DISCOURAGED! They should never feel challenged at any point in the game. They should always be told that they are AWESOME! POSITIVE SELF ESTEEM!

The school district in a city near mine recently instituted in no-zero policy. It basically meant that teachers couldn't give students zeros for missed or uncompleted work or tests. The argument for this was that the zeros would DISCOURAGE them and make them more likely to drop out, and so teachers would have to simply exempt the grade from the work altogether.

I'm okay with people playing on easy getting achievements and such, but I think it should be like those silly achievements that are worth zero points. Those I see as like a pat on the back, you did your best, but it isn't like they are getting a truly meaningful reward like a proper achievement with points.

off-topic:
I do agree that the thing with that school district is downright stupid.

I remember about 18 years ago at the tail end of when I still played youth sports, my basketball team got to the final game and won, we all got personal neck medals and a trophy in an award celebration right after the game, then something I thought was really weird happen. After my team got their stuff, the ceremony continued with the losing team and all the other teams in the league lining up to get their own trophies, smaller, but still they all got trophies.

Little did I know that I was witnessing one of the very first institutions of the idiotic "Everyone gets a trophy" policy, so that the other kids don't feel bad or envious that the better players got a trophy.

On a relatively recent note, a couple years ago, I remember hearing from another student in one of my college classes, that her mom wasn't allowed to come to the little sister's high school(as several parents did on occasion) to bring fast food as a special once every week or two treat for lunch. It wasn't because parents were showing up unannounced during a school day, it was because they didn't want the other kids to get jealous because they had to have school lunch and not fast food that they liked better.

There are other schools where I've found out that kids can't bring lunch from home anymore, because such a thing is seen as "flaunting having money", and such a thing might make the poor kids that have to eat the gross government funded lunch feel bad or jealous. Basically, they've made the students that normally brought their lunch, bring money to pay for the crappy lunch.

Lastly, my little nephew likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and also peanut butter cracker snacks, but he can't bring them to school anymore for lunch because one kid in the entire school has a peanut allergy. That is so stupid because the only way the kid could be effected is if someone shoved those things into his mouth. So, a 0.0000000001% chance of happening, if there even is a chance.

I can't stand how PC and soft the world is getting. "You can't do that, it might hurt someone's fragile little ego, or God forbid they might get the tiniest of injuries."

 

[Jfswift]

I'm all for easy mode, it gives players a chance to learn the game mechanics well enough to where they'll eventually want more of a challenge, without ruining the experience. Left for dead is a perfect example of this. Back when it was new I played a few rounds on easy, and it was fun but it left me craving something more. It didn't force me to master it overnight, it was patient and waited for me to grow in skill, presenting me with ever increasing difficulty, once I was ready for it. After many play throughs I reached a point where I was good enough to survive even the hardest difficulty setting.

The same argument could be made for Dark Souls really. An easy mode could be as simple as buffing the player a bit. I'll be honest though, I think Dark Souls is a bad example for this thread. Alot of the initial difficulty is due to an insufficient tutorial and bad level design (namely the fire link shrine and undead burg) I'll bring this up later though in another thread or article since I'm going off topic here.

 

[Ringo_Plumen]

It's a great thing to have, so harder difficulties don't have to suffer. I like being able to play a game on easy mode now and then if I find the game-play to not suit my tastes or if it's buggy as shit.

I'll usually play games on normal/hard but if I'm primarily interested in the story and don't really care much for the game-play (like Spec Ops: The Line, played it purely for the story as cover-based shooters aren't usually my thing, and this particular title even had added bugs and poorly executed cover-based shooting to boot) it's great I can enjoy the story while being able to blast through the game with ease.

 

[Ironbat92]

I'm fine easy mode. I, for instance, suck at fighting games and need easy mode. I might not use it for the next pig shooter or action game, but I understand why it's there and why it's need. I'm not gonna be like the Assassin's Creed III's Developer and say it's ruining the industry.

 

[Vegosiux]

I'm not saying people shouldn't play easy mode. I'm saying people should be ASHAMED if they play easy mode.

Why should they be ashamed?

Slightly related, do you have what it takes for example, to write a book or run a daily webcomic?

I remember about 18 years ago at the tail end of when I still played youth sports, my basketball team got to the final game and won, we all got personal neck medals and a trophy in an award celebration right after the game, then something I thought was really weird happen. After my team got their stuff, the ceremony continued with the losing team and all the other teams in the league lining up to get their own trophies, smaller, but still they all got trophies.

Little did I know that I was witnessing one of the very first institutions of the idiotic "Everyone gets a trophy" policy, so that the other kids don't feel bad or envious that the better players got a trophy.

This...

I can't stand how PC and soft the world is getting. "You can't do that, it might hurt someone's fragile little ego, or God forbid they might get the tiniest of injuries."

And this. Slightly contradictory.

Let me ask you a simple question. Who is the guy with the "fragile little ego", the one playing on easy mode or the one hating on him for it? Because the only ones I see getting butthurt are the self-proclaimed "hardcore" crowd that can't shut up about how everyone not playing games the same way they do is some kind of cancer that will kill the gaming scene FOR-EVER!

So while that "fragile little ego" comment may have some merit, it's directed into the exactly wrong direction.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

The same argument could be made for Dark Souls really. An easy mode could be as simple as buffing the player a bit. I'll be honest though, I think Dark Souls is a bad example for this thread. Alot of the initial difficulty is due to an insufficient tutorial and bad level design (namely the fire link shrine and undead burg) I'll bring this up later though in another thread or article since I'm going off topic here.

After playing a fair amount of Dark Souls, I've come to the conclusion that the game is not, in fact, hard. Winning any fight in the game is a trivial affair assuming you have some idea of what sort of tactic is useful on the particular monster you're facing. The catch is, if you do not know this information, a fight is all but impossible to win. When you couple that with the possible significant loss on death, the game's true character is revealed: it is actually just unfair.

Simply put, the game's only mechanism for teaching the player is failure. There is little actual skill involved in the game as success simply requires application of memorized patterns of inputs and the game is surprisingly forgiving when it comes to timing of such things. What people point to as difficulty in the game I'd explain as simply that the game is really quite terrible at explaining anything.

It is, more or less, the same problem the Witcher 2 had upon release. The player was thrown into a world with almost no information about what was necessary to succeed in any given situation. Once the player discovers how the game is meant to be played, the perceived difficulty disappears. The odd thing is that this was seen as a failure in the case of the Witcher while Dark Souls gets a pass because it was intentional. Strange that the line between broken and brilliant is defined by intent.

 

[gazumped]

I lol at scrubs who think they're actually playing a game on easy mode. You may as well tape your eyes shut with duct tape and auto run forward to victory.

I'm so sick of developers these days catering towards the casual scrubs of today. Look at WOW for example, that's got casual written all over it. I mean srsly, I didn't get into gaming so I could face-roll everything in 2 mins, I play for a challenge and the satisfaction of actually reaching a milestone.

I don't mind the existence of easy mode, just so long whoever is playing on easy mode is CONSTANTLY REMINDED of how TOTALLY PATHETIC they are for doing do.

Oh, and easy-moders should also be barred from getting most, if not all, of the achievements/trophies for level/game completion.

I play easy because I'm shit at (most) video games and even get stuck or get my arse handed to me on easy mode. I'm not too proud to admit that.

Although I think it depends on the game, sometimes it will just feel like I'm punching a pillow so I'll have to go to normal mode to get some resistance but hey, sometimes it feels good to punch a pillow!

I agree that you should get more rewards for playing it tougher, though. Think I'd feel kind of cheated if I was given everything on easy mode.

 

[Vegosiux]

I lol at scrubs who think they're actually playing a game on easy mode. You may as well tape your eyes shut with duct tape and auto run forward to victory.

And I lol at people who think "Full epic, 4 legendaries, world firsts on boss X, Y and Z" is going to matter on their resume...

 

[Jfswift]

The same argument could be made for Dark Souls really. An easy mode could be as simple as buffing the player a bit. I'll be honest though, I think Dark Souls is a bad example for this thread. Alot of the initial difficulty is due to an insufficient tutorial and bad level design (namely the fire link shrine and undead burg) I'll bring this up later though in another thread or article since I'm going off topic here.

After playing a fair amount of Dark Souls, I've come to the conclusion that the game is not, in fact, hard. Winning any fight in the game is a trivial affair assuming you have some idea of what sort of tactic is useful on the particular monster you're facing. The catch is, if you do not know this information, a fight is all but impossible to win. When you couple that with the possible significant loss on death, the game's true character is revealed: it is actually just unfair.

Simply put, the game's only mechanism for teaching the player is failure. There is little actual skill involved in the game as success simply requires application of memorized patterns of inputs and the game is surprisingly forgiving when it comes to timing of such things. What people point to as difficulty in the game I'd explain as simply that the game is really quite terrible at explaining anything.

It is, more or less, the same problem the Witcher 2 had upon release. The player was thrown into a world with almost no information about what was necessary to succeed in any given situation. Once the player discovers how the game is meant to be played, the perceived difficulty disappears. The odd thing is that this was seen as a failure in the case of the Witcher while Dark Souls gets a pass because it was intentional. Strange that the line between broken and brilliant is defined by intent.

Right. I've played Dark Souls a fair amount too and agree that the perceived difficulty is from not having anything properly explained initially (It's not that bad once you've played it a few times I agree). What I don't understand is why From software decided to change the formula from Demon's Souls. In DS you were given the option of a tutorial and then made to play a second one, cleverly hidden in the guise of world 1-1. It was brilliant and effective. Where as Dark Souls just kind of said, F*** it and dropped the player off at the curb with a wooden club and broken shield.

We're getting off topic though, the whole original argument was whether games should have an easy mode and I feel that, yes, they should. The few times I've ever used that mode on any game, it allowed me to learn the moves well enough that I felt prepared and eager to take on harder challenges later.

 

[Zato-1]

If someone here looks down on Easy mode, they clearly have never played FTL: Faster than Light.

On just about every other game I typically play on Hard though.

 

[Denamic]

I generally never play on easy mode. I just get embarrassed with myself. Sometimes, however, I just want to chill and dick around. I've no shame putting Minecraft on peaceful mode sometimes. Games aren't always about the challenge, but when they are, I fucking take them on. Come at me, bro!

 

[CommanderL]

Most games I play on easy My reflexes arnt what they used to be and I play more for fun then the challenge but every once in a while I will crank out some hard mode dark souls isnt hard its just not forgiving If you fuck up it will destroy you

 

[AgentLampshade]

Whenever I finish up a game for the first time (playing usually on the default setting) I like to play through easy mode simply to get a better understanding of the story. If the game is deep enough and held my attention for so long, then I might come back for hard mode.

Exception being the Devil May Cry series, where I instantly launch into the hardest mode available at the time.

My point is that easy mode is there for those who enjoy the story, who enjoy playing a little bit more with the mechanics, rather than the excitement of death and challenge.

 

[everythingbeeps]

It's fine. I don't always play on easy mode, but sometimes I will: I don't play games for the challenge. I play for story, atmosphere, etc., and if a game's giving me trouble on the normal mode, I'll switch to easy. I don't ever touch the harder difficulties.