Poll: Easy vs. Hard games.

[supermariner]

easy vs. hard manifested itself in my head in the following way as soon as i read the title

Lost Odyssey vs. Final Fantasy X

they're basically exactly the same game, though the story is different the game basically feels the same. Start off as one guy who's unsure of who he really is, then he meets other guys, then they traverse a part of the map on foot after forming an alligence with the bad guy (though they don't know he's bad yet) and spend the rest of the game walking through the many different landscapes of the world: some icy, some dense woodland, and some cities. Then full world exploration becomes available shorlty before you face the last boss so you can undertake some side quests

can you guess which one i'm talking about?
because i wrote that with a specific one in mind

truth is, they're very different because of the difficulty
FFX representing hard
and LO representing easy

In LO you level up in a way that keeps you always one step ahead of the monsters
and FF keeps you on par with them

BUT FF suddenly perks up towards the end and bombards you with near impossible bosses like the dark aeons and penance
whereas LO let's you breeze through the whole game satisfying feeling JUST powered up enough to always be ready to take on any challenge

which one was more fun? i honestly find it hard to say
but the more rewarding gaming experience was Lost Odyssey, so it;s a tick for easy games in my book for now

(sorry for the over-substantial post)

 

[TheMetalGuy]

Try to play Mass effect 1 and 2 on insanity, that's a great story and challenging gameplay.

 

[timeadept]

Demon's Souls was fun.
Black Ops was boring.
I rest my case.

The "ending" half way through portal was amazing, the ending of Hitman: Bloodmoney was good but lacking.

Portal: *GlaDOS"Remember that time when i was going to throw you into the fire and you were like "NO WAIIII!!!11" and i was like "good bye." that was great..." The first time i saw the furnace i was pumped on so much adrenaline, i knew that i was about to die and the game was over, but when i escaped what initially looked like certain death i genuinely felt like i had beaten GLaDOS, like i had done something i wasn't supposed to and that i could escape this nightmare (though it must have taken me a full 10 min to recover and calm down).
Upon a second play through i realized how slowly the platform was moving and how easy it actually was to escape. In this case, the game was easy but the story well told.

Hitmam: Bloodmoney: Though this game had very little story it had one hell of a finale. Basically

Spoiler: if you"re planning to play it at some point, it's worth it to not spoil the ending

You are betrayed by the only person you thought you could trust in a very subtle and well constructed cut-scene. The credits start rolling and you are at your funeral but you can tell that something is off. I eventually realized that i was not in fact dead, only sedated, all i had to do was wake my self up and... shoot the 8 armed guards. I was armed with two pistols, each holding 9 rounds and no way to fire them individually. Missing two shots meant that i had to reload, with no cover, very little health (so reloading is pretty much a death sentence), and remember, all 8 guys just watched me get up off the alter and were standing no less than 20 feet away at most. It took me multiple attempts to successfully kill all the guards but i did manage it.

I was playing the game on normal but in a game built around stealth you simply aren't meant to fight like that if you want to win. Mr.47's badassadry was pretty well established by this final feat of skill, but the awesomeness of the story was dampened by how difficult it was to pull off and ultimately, how many times i had to replay it.

So yeah, I've had quite the opposite experience of the difficulty weakening the story, and so the game as a whole.

 

[Merkavar]

i prefer a game that is challenging but at the same time a game where im not bogged down on the one hard boss for 50 attempts.

But after i have played the game once i sometimes go back and play it again on easy just for fun and the story.

 

[Squilookle]

The whole point of having a good story is to make the player want to continue through the hard sections to find out what happens next. So I can't choose an answer from the original survey, and since you don't mention story I can't choose an answer in yours either.

 

[Lullabye]

Gameplay must be engaging.
If I wanted to watch a story, there are movies.
If I want to play a game, I can play monopoly.
If I want to play a story, then there's video games.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I like easier games when I just feel like relaxing. But my favorite kind of games are the ones that provide a good challenge, and get you into that "I'm not going to let you kick MY ass, game!" mindset. Like Demon's Souls. A very tough, brutal, and challenging game. But it's not impossible.

 

[putowtin]

I don't get why it can't be hard with a good story.

cause that would take double the effort!!

But really a game needs to be based on a good story line, after that the game mercanics should be put in place allowing the game to be as hard (or easy) as the player decides

 

[DementedSheep]

...is there any reason why being hard and challenging and having a good story are mutually exclusive?
If you can breeze thru a game its boring, if the game has a shit story it?s also boring and I have little motivation to continue other than just screwing about. If a game has either a just really good story or just realy good game play I might be able to stay interested long enough to see it thru. Eh I suppose I would pick a mix, whether I prefer gameplay or story depends on what I am looking for in a game at the time.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

It really depends...If there IS a story, and you REALLY want people to see the ending of it, then at least put in an 'Easy' option. Other than that, I mostly go for a sort of middle ground difficulty-wise. That said, I do love Super Meat Boy...

 

[JaymesFogarty]

Demon's Souls was fun.
Black Ops was boring.
I rest my case.

Demon's Souls was easy. Ninja Gaiden 2 was not. I rest my case.

My case is cooler than your case.
And elaboration is not my strong point.

'Fashionable', 'in', or in this case, 'cool, is completely subjective, especially when you're talking, (or in this case typing) about something which is actually associated with negative, 'unfashionable', 'uncool' stereotypes. (If you don't know what the typical gamer is thought to be, you're probably not a gamer. Hint: obese; ugly; living with their parents.) While on the subject of games, I'd hesitate to use the word 'cool', unless using it in an ironical fashion of course.

If so what if elaboration isn't your strong point? I'm not always so good at finishing off my senten