Poll: What's Your Deal With Easy Mode

[Olas]

To me easy mode is usually "the game will be really dull" mode. But if it's a type of game you're really inexperienced at it can be a good choice until you get into the swing of things.

I wish more games would give you the ability to adjust the difficulty mid playthrough so that you don't get stuck on 'that one level' but also so that you can turn up the difficulty if you're skill is improving faster than the difficulty curve.

 

[Best of the 3]

I play on easy almost all the time. I get more out of completing something than I do challenging myself. Nothing brings me straight to reality quicker than losing over and over again. That said, when I'm done completing and want to challenge myself I ramp it up.

EDIT: have you played DW on Chaos difficulty? That shit is fucked up. If you haven't already grinded all the way up to highest level and tricked your character out, you'll die in 1 hit. 3-5 when maxed. Fuck that. I ain't got time for that.

 

[vun]

I like easy mode in games that are story driven, for instance in something like Mass Effect I don't want a challenge, I want to experience the story. Basically, I like easy mode in story driven games because I like experiencing most games as interactive stories rather than challenges. I don't mind a bit of challenge in games where the gameplay is fun, though, so something like Dishonored I prefer on at least normal or higher.


That said, I will often play on hard or normal, but I like having the option to play easy in games where I want to experience the story and the setting, but not gameplay, like Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

Edit;
Also, if I want a challenge I'll go play CS or something, I find that sort of challenge more rewarding.

 

[TehCookie]

Easy mode is for the weak! Though what's wrong with being weak? I'll admit I'm a wuss when I play games on easy games because I don't care about measuring up to hardcore standards. I'm not going to defend my lack of skill nor care about who has the biggest e-peen. I play games to enjoy them and sometimes I want it easy and other times I want a challenge.

 

[Talvrae]

I mostelly play on easy, trought sometime i do on higher difficulty, i'm just not that good at games, even if i play a lot of them

 

[Angelous Wang]

Depends on the game.

Some game have great stories and crappy gameplay, so I play easy mode because I'm not playing the game for the gameplay.

 

[Tahaneira]

I like Easy. When I want a challenge, sure, I'll put it up a level or two. But most of the time, I don't want a challenge. I want to kill things/blow off steam by killing things/get killing things out of the way so I can go back to talking to people. If I'm playing a game a second time around, I'll put it on Normal or Hard, but the first time through, I'll almost always have it on Easy, working my way through the story and cackling with glee as I curbstomp my enemies.

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

One of those repeat topics that I always enjoy commenting in.

Starting vgames around high school lead to a lot of egoism and thus normal was the absolute minimum difficulty of any given game. [We all cheated to beat Brood War though no one admitted to it]. Now that I'm much older I still gig my friends if they play on easy, but I tend to do it a lot more often with the seeming trend in less cheat codes outside of changing .ini files. My philosophy has become 'if I like a game I'll play it on harder difficulties to accommodate for my familiarity with it making it easier. I do however want to beat every game I buy, so something like Heroes of Might and Magic with a seemingly very arbitrary difficulty I set on easy right off the bat.

 

[Quazimofo]

Dynasty Warriors games are not about challenge or anything like that. They are about hilariously bad voice acting and mindlessly button mashing through thousands of enemies, and I honestly think that playing on harder difficulties actually makes the game less fun.

This is something interesting that I found about some games. Saints Row 3 for example. The game is very fun, if you enjoy that kind of thing (i do. so much. it's great.). However, playing it on anything harder than normal has the interesting effect of making the game much less fun. Not because the game is hard by any stretch, not because it gets frustrating, but because in increasing the difficulty suddenly you need to actually put effort in to succeed. Because of this, things like running into a crowd of gangsters and kicking them in the nuts so hard they flip over, repeatedly, util they die suddenly aren't viable options because you'll be gunned down. The dicking around and silly shit that makes the game is very difficult to actually do anymore and as such it loses much of its appeal.


More on topic however, easy mode and I have a very simple agreement. I never bash it, and it's there for me when I get stuck or impatient (e.g. dragon age. Got tired of the combat half way through awakening and just kinda plowed through. Makes you realize how story-light that expansion was compared to the regular game. Not unexpected, but still).

It's been some time since I got stuck at a part and needed to make the game easier, but I have no qualms about doing so if it is necessary to progress in the game, since I do not game for the sense of accomplishment (though that does come at times when a difficult task is bested), I play for fun.

Now if only there was a button to make the league of legends community more polite and less meta-focused (OMGWTF NO RANGED ADC BOT!?!?!?! I FEED! or, OMGWTF I CALL ADC BAHT! I FEED!, or they just ragequit. either way is pretty crappy)

 

[themyrmidon]

Not too long ago I would have said that it's for the weak. After suffering through Dragon Age: Origins for many hours (in many aspects, I hate that game) I bumped it down and eased my pain.

 

[sweetylnumb]

I'm bad at games. like really bad. i can usually play medium but i usually go easy so i can actually hear the story without grinding my skull on the table.

But i play up to 40 hours a week of very gamer games so im just as much of a gamer as you co-ordinated guys.

So i think easy mode has its place for twelve fingered retards like me

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm fine with easy mode. I just don't use it. But if you want it? Cool. I won't judge.

 

[Vausch]

The thought of somebody that wants to get into gaming but doesn't have any muscle memory or basic cognition to the controls using a mode that is not on the same difficulty level as what I use infuriates me to the point where I say all developers should never make an easier mode to accommodate said newcomers because it somehow makes my experience worth less.

 

[sweetylnumb]

The thought of somebody that wants to get into gaming but doesn't have any muscle memory or basic cognition to the controls using a mode that is not on the same difficulty level as what I use infuriates me to the point where I say all developers should never make an easier mode to accommodate said newcomers because it somehow makes my experience worth less.

Wait, what? so you have a harder time doing something than someone else does because they put it on easy mode and that somehow devalues your experience? how so? :/

and thats not really fair, some people just have poorer reflexes than others, they still payed for the game, why should they not be able to enjoy it because they are physically disadvantaged?

 

[Something Amyss]

The thought of somebody that wants to get into gaming but doesn't have any muscle memory or basic cognition to the controls using a mode that is not on the same difficulty level as what I use infuriates me to the point where I say all developers should never make an easier mode to accommodate said newcomers because it somehow makes my experience worth less.

Wait, what? so you have a harder time doing something than someone else does because they put it on easy mode and that somehow devalues your experience? how so? :/

and thats not really fair, some people just have poorer reflexes than others, they still payed for the game, why should they not be able to enjoy it because they are physically disadvantaged?

Pretty sure he was taking the piss, demonstrating how absurd the outrage is by spelling it out very literally.

 

[revjor]

It depends on the game. For example, I only played The Force Unleashed on easy because having to hit a stormtrooper with a lightsaber more than once is fucking stupid.

 

[Charli]

I guess the only time I use it is if there's a really obnoxious achievement I want out of the way to fulfill my OCD tendencies. But... yeah, I tend to just take the 'normal', if that's an option mode, or whatever is higher than easy. I try to remember what studio made it and what 'easy/normal/hard' tends to be in their books... And try to pick the average of that.

Sometimes I'll remember that some studios think all gamers are tardmuffins and pick the hardest options. Like Nintendo... Always pick hard when dealing with Nintendo. *Cradles OOT Master Quest disc*

 

[Tahaneira]

The thought of somebody that wants to get into gaming but doesn't have any muscle memory or basic cognition to the controls using a mode that is not on the same difficulty level as what I use infuriates me to the point where I say all developers should never make an easier mode to accommodate said newcomers because it somehow makes my experience worth less.

Wait, what? so you have a harder time doing something than someone else does because they put it on easy mode and that somehow devalues your experience? how so? :/

and thats not really fair, some people just have poorer reflexes than others, they still payed for the game, why should they not be able to enjoy it because they are physically disadvantaged?

Easy. He's joking.

I think.

 

[sweetylnumb]

The thought of somebody that wants to get into gaming but doesn't have any muscle memory or basic cognition to the controls using a mode that is not on the same difficulty level as what I use infuriates me to the point where I say all developers should never make an easier mode to accommodate said newcomers because it somehow makes my experience worth less.

Wait, what? so you have a harder time doing something than someone else does because they put it on easy mode and that somehow devalues your experience? how so? :/

and thats not really fair, some people just have poorer reflexes than others, they still payed for the game, why should they not be able to enjoy it because they are physically disadvantaged?

Pretty sure he was taking the piss, demonstrating how absurd the outrage is by spelling it out very literally.

Oh. In that case, A+ i'll be your gullible twit today what may i get for you sir

 

[sweetylnumb]

The thought of somebody that wants to get into gaming but doesn't have any muscle memory or basic cognition to the controls using a mode that is not on the same difficulty level as what I use infuriates me to the point where I say all developers should never make an easier mode to accommodate said newcomers because it somehow makes my experience worth less.

Wait, what? so you have a harder time doing something than someone else does because they put it on easy mode and that somehow devalues your experience? how so? :/

and thats not really fair, some people just have poorer reflexes than others, they still payed for the game, why should they not be able to enjoy it because they are physically disadvantaged?

Easy. He's joking.

I think.

Well slap my ass and call me mama. I done goofed.