Poll: Will you ACTUALLY be playing Dark Souls 2 easy mode? (if there is one)

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.

But there is no reason to be afraid. The second time around, you will know where there will be foes and monsters, and you will want to either quickly dispose of them or steer clear of them. Most of the time, you can go for either of these options.

Basically, as long as you don't die and don't exit the 'area' or 'level', all the things you killed will stay dead. Move around for whatever reason, and all the low-level hellspawns will be back for their shit jobs, doing the same thing over and over again. The higher-ups will only face you once, and then enjoy some more cozy form of afterlife or non-existence.

Are you afraid of learning new tricks?

Are you afraid of becoming better?

Are you afraid of giving up?

Play Dark Souls, the game that will teach you to become a better human, and a more focused, more goal-oriented, emancipated gamer. Dark Souls is the Mutt's Nutts. Dark Souls is awesome. Dark Souls is good for you.

Far Cry 3, at times, plays and feels a lot like Dark Souls on a friendly island resort, with people not turning into emaciated, undead versions of themselves, but turning different shades of very crazy indeed, one way or another.

While every checkpoint in need of being taken over feels like proper Metal Gear Solid'ing, failing a preset task (not triggering an alarm, staying undetected, otherwise going for a 'perfect' score) feels like making a mistake in Dark Souls. It sucks, it makes you want to die to come again, start again, do better. There are strong hints of Halflife 2 in Far Cry 3, but whenever it goes to the very basic stuff that baffles, surprises and entertains you, you know the folks that made this game have had thorough looks at pretty much everything that came before it.

In a way, Far Cry 3 feels a bit like a prequel to the prequel to the prequel of the very first Rambo movie.

And I like that.

But I'm still going back to playing Dark Souls.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Why yes, yes I would just to satisfy the feeling in knowing many so called hardcore vets out there will be fuming in their own butthurt.

And then I would trade it in and move onto another game that takes my fancy and so on and so forth.

And just as a last note the game is not a gift from the gods, it's not good for you or your humanity but going outside and actually taking on real life challenges and accomplishing real feats is.

For all those in this thread that call the "ignorance", "wimp", "go away I win" cards I'll just shake my head in pity knowing that whatever you say in this thread or any other won't change everyone's view and opinions, though it might change the odd 2 or 3 people it will not change everyone to wanting and seeking out getting themselves thrashed against the sidewalk just to feel the "ultimate satisfying challenge".

 

[skywolfblue]

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.

But there is no reason to be afraid. The second time around, you will know where there will be foes and monsters, and you will want to either quickly dispose of them or steer clear of them. Most of the time, you can go for either of these options.

Basically, as long as you don't die and don't exit the 'area' or 'level', all the things you killed will stay dead. Move around for whatever reason, and all the low-level hellspawns will be back for their shit jobs, doing the same thing over and over again. The higher-ups will only face you once, and then enjoy some more cozy form of afterlife or non-existence.

Are you afraid of learning new tricks?

Are you afraid of becoming better?

Are you afraid of giving up?

Play Dark Souls, the game that will teach you to become a better human, and a more focused, more goal-oriented, emancipated gamer. Dark Souls is the Mutt's Nutts. Dark Souls is awesome. Dark Souls is good for you.

Far Cry 3, at times, plays and feels a lot like Dark Souls on a friendly island resort, with people not turning into emaciated, undead versions of themselves, but turning different shades of very crazy indeed, one way or another.

While every checkpoint in need of being taken over feels like proper Metal Gear Solid'ing, failing a preset task (not triggering an alarm, staying undetected, otherwise going for a 'perfect' score) feels like making a mistake in Dark Souls. It sucks, it makes you want to die to come again, start again, do better. There are strong hints of Halflife 2 in Far Cry 3, but whenever it goes to the very basic stuff that baffles, surprises and entertains you, you know the folks that made this game have had thorough looks at pretty much everything that came before it.

In a way, Far Cry 3 feels a bit like a prequel to the prequel to the prequel of the very first Rambo movie.

And I like that.

But I'm still going back to playing Dark Souls.

I throw an apoplectic fit if a game makes me repeat large sections.

Throw a difficult boss at me? Peachy.

Throw traps or difficult terrain at me? Sure.

Throw complex combat at me? Ok.

But having to redo stuff that I've already proven I can beat isn't fun at all. (For example it was the one of the biggest things I hated about Halo 1, you'd clear out close to 200 covvies, and 2 seconds before you reach the next checkpoint a suicide grunt runs around the corner and bam, 15min of progress goes down the drain) It's not so much difficult as makes the game tedious and annoying. I guess some people find joy in it, but I don't.

It's too bad, because I'd probably like Dark Souls if it had the ability to save out of combat and death return you to the last save. Yeah yeah "It's part of the plot", I don't want to take that away from other people. I just wish it was an optional easy mode, then everyone else can play the game the way it's meant to be played, on hard mode, which would send you back to the last bonfire.

 

[Innegativeion]

No, because that's not why I would buy a game like Dark Souls.

As for the people saying an easy mode would turn them off of buying the game completely? Good god, talk about petty.

 

[kahlzun]

Sure. I almost always play on easy; I like the story or experience, not a challenge.

 

[XMark]

Nope. Never play the easy mode of any game. Usually in a game I go with "normal", trusting the developer to make the most balanced difficulty choices for that mode.

However, challenge is such an essential part of the Dark Souls experience that I would not want to choose anything less than the maximum difficulty level, if such a choice were to be presented.

 

[Windcaler]

If were talking easy mode as a menu selection then no, absolutely not and I may in fact not even buy the game at all depending on what they mean by making it more straightforward and approachable. Im all about making a better tutorial or better explaining the use of the various tools your character can make use of. I will even welcome a system that allows us to "respec" our stats and equipment because I enjoy the PVP side of Dark souls and playing the game for 2 days just to try out a build idea can get annoying. However if the lore or story takes a less "figure out the puzzle" approach and opts for explaining every little thing then Im probably going to give it a pass since I find that less engaging (that and we already have Dragon age, Warcraft, and Elder scrolls that take that approach).

Now if easy mode is in the form of leveling up and upgrading equipment, what Dark souls 1's easy mode is currently, then sure I can get behind that.

 

[viranimus]

its called not agreeing with you....

ok, if I can try an understand basically what your saying is a different mode goes agaisnt what the game is fundamentelly about and for whatever reason you don't like the fact that somone else plays the same game as you and can still win...

its still bullshit

Sorry for the downtime, between holiday and RL been too busy for this.

Now. you are of course entitled to disagree where you wish.

Your description is one of the factors and you ALMOST have it right.

ok, if I can try an understand basically what your saying is a different mode goes against what the game is fundamentally about.

If you would have stopped at this, you would have been correct in describing one of the major factors of it.

By adding

and for whatever reason you don't like the fact that somone else plays the same game as you and can still win...

You change the context and meaning of it, adding an intention that absolutely does not exist. In the process, you MAKE it bullshit by adding this. That is the only bullshit that exists with it.

That is the thing here that those who are getting upset over adamantly not wanting EM are incorrectly trying to add in.

Simple fact is, I do not care how other people choose to play the game. I am not trying to hold it over the head of others that they cannot do it. Its that I want to take pride in doing something uncommon. In fact I do want more people to play it. I have absolutely no problem if more people beat it. But I what I want is more people to rise to the challenge and improve their resolve to overcome it. Not to lower the bar just so more people can do it. That is exactly what EM would do.

Do you see the difference there? Its about wanting people to strive to be better. Not to make the game worse. Thats why wowkillers assessment is woefully incorrect. I do want more people to play it, but certainly not at the expense of the most dominant reason for the game to exist in the first place. Like I stated before, if there were ample places for this niche to be filled as gaming SHOULD have (especially for RPGs) we would not be having this discussion. But BECAUSE it is essentially the only place to fill this specific niche, we want to defend that.

Once something like that is gone, it is never easy to return. Think about this. Souls franchise caused people to gravitate toward it due to its difficulty. You earlier portrayed it as simply wanting to be able to say I beat it, without having to add "on X mode" as a preface. Now ask yourself, How many games out there exist with grueling high difficulty modes? Quite a few actually. Things like Halos Legendary, or say Dragon Age, or The Witcher 2's Nightmare modes. However, when you ask someone about difficult games they do not mention these games. While the modes in question are definitely challenging in their own right, part of the challenge of any game is its barrier to entry. There is a huge difference in the overall difficulty of a game simply by having the ability to adjust it or lower it. In fact if you want to get real technical Souls Normal mode IS easy mode. Thats why certain key items exist that are incredibly powerful Such as Demons "Dozer Axe" or Darks "Dragon King Axe" Or other "named" items, that are powerful essentially only in New game. As you move to NG+ you have to move to upgrading unnamed higher graded weapons to keep up. The difficulty it simply forces you to play through it to scale up the difficulty to your level. In Demon you could go at least as high as NG+ 50 or more and I dont think the limit has been discovered.

We want that challenge. We want the immersion in that precarious world. We want that sense of accomplishment. We dont want that bar lowered because perhaps the biggest reason we gravitated to this franchise is specifically BECAUSE everywhere else the bar has been lowered so far that it was killing life long connection to gaming by constantly tripping over it. While you may be able to make the argument you made that on a completely mechanical level it "MIGHT" not effect others ability, On principle it without question does, and there has yet to be any sort of justification that this franchise should be watered down, when it is essentially the only thing to offer what it does, and there are plenty of wonderful and worthwhile games that offer MORE than what DS does, with that accessible difficulty. Seriously, if you want Dark Souls without the difficulty, Go through Dragon Age Origins, or Skyrim, Or Oblivion, Or Dragons Dogma or so many other quite enjoyable RPGs.

Asking for an Easy mode for Souls, would be like wanting MoJang to make an Aesthetic mode for minecraft that makes everything hyper photo realistic.

 

[malestrithe]

I will play the easy mode of Dark Souls 2 for no other reason than to spite all of the whiny little gamers who will not let this meaningless argument go. I will play the easy mode simply because some elitist gamers think it will diminish the gaming experience. I will play it just to spite every last one of you.

 

[lapan]

If "easy mode" means "checkpoint system that doesn't waste my time with needless repetition" then yeah, I'll check it out, if I buy the game.

As in every checkpoint system ever? I don't know of any checkpoint system that doesn't require you to kill every enemy since the last checkpoint again. In fact Dark Souls is more forgiving than most because it let's you keep items you picked up since then.
Demon Souls on the other side only got one checkpoint per level, they improved on that in DaS though.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Certainly not. I love the difficulty because it makes you develop a strategy to get through things. You gotta be thinking ahead, understand your enemies, and be patient.

 

[Zhukov]

If "easy mode" means "checkpoint system that doesn't waste my time with needless repetition" then yeah, I'll check it out, if I buy the game.

As in every checkpoint system ever? I don't know of any checkpoint system that doesn't require you to kill every enemy since the last checkpoint again. In fact Dark Souls is more forgiving than most because it let's you keep items you picked up since then.
Demon Souls on the other side only got one checkpoint per level, they improved on that in DaS though.

My big problem with the DS checkpoints is that they always place a bunch of filler between the the boss fights and the nearest checkpoint.

The result is that after dying to a boss you have to stab your way through the same bloody guys, run down the same corridor and climb the same ladder before you can have another go at it.

It's not challenging and it adds nothing to the game, it's just tedium that wastes my time.

 

[lapan]

If "easy mode" means "checkpoint system that doesn't waste my time with needless repetition" then yeah, I'll check it out, if I buy the game.

As in every checkpoint system ever? I don't know of any checkpoint system that doesn't require you to kill every enemy since the last checkpoint again. In fact Dark Souls is more forgiving than most because it let's you keep items you picked up since then.
Demon Souls on the other side only got one checkpoint per level, they improved on that in DaS though.

My big problem with the DS checkpoints is that they always place a bunch of filler between the the boss fights and the nearest checkpoint.

The result is that after dying to a boss you have to stab your way through the same bloody guys, run down the same corridor and climb the same ladder before you can have another go at it.

It's not challenging and it adds nothing to the game, it's just tedium that wastes my time.

In almost all of those situations you can just rush by 90% of those enemies if you so please. It usually doesnt take me longer than 1-2 minutes to get back to the boss.

 

[Zhukov]

If "easy mode" means "checkpoint system that doesn't waste my time with needless repetition" then yeah, I'll check it out, if I buy the game.

As in every checkpoint system ever? I don't know of any checkpoint system that doesn't require you to kill every enemy since the last checkpoint again. In fact Dark Souls is more forgiving than most because it let's you keep items you picked up since then.
Demon Souls on the other side only got one checkpoint per level, they improved on that in DaS though.

My big problem with the DS checkpoints is that they always place a bunch of filler between the the boss fights and the nearest checkpoint.

The result is that after dying to a boss you have to stab your way through the same bloody guys, run down the same corridor and climb the same ladder before you can have another go at it.

It's not challenging and it adds nothing to the game, it's just tedium that wastes my time.

In almost all of those situations you can just rush by 90% of those enemies if you so please. It usually doesnt take me longer than 1-2 minutes to get back to the boss.

1-2 minutes of wasted time is still wasted time. With some non-retarded checkpoint placement that 1-2 minutes could be 1-2 seconds.

It's just as bad as having a 1-2 minute unskippable cutscene each time you fight a boss. Actually, it's worse than that because at least with a cutscene I could pick a a book and read while it's playing.

 

[lapan]

If "easy mode" means "checkpoint system that doesn't waste my time with needless repetition" then yeah, I'll check it out, if I buy the game.

As in every checkpoint system ever? I don't know of any checkpoint system that doesn't require you to kill every enemy since the last checkpoint again. In fact Dark Souls is more forgiving than most because it let's you keep items you picked up since then.
Demon Souls on the other side only got one checkpoint per level, they improved on that in DaS though.

My big problem with the DS checkpoints is that they always place a bunch of filler between the the boss fights and the nearest checkpoint.

The result is that after dying to a boss you have to stab your way through the same bloody guys, run down the same corridor and climb the same ladder before you can have another go at it.

It's not challenging and it adds nothing to the game, it's just tedium that wastes my time.

In almost all of those situations you can just rush by 90% of those enemies if you so please. It usually doesnt take me longer than 1-2 minutes to get back to the boss.

1-2 minutes of wasted time is still wasted time. With some non-retarded checkpoint placement that 1-2 minutes could be 1-2 seconds.

It's just as bad as having a 1-2 minute unskippable cutscene each time you fight a boss. Actually, it's worse than that because at least with a cutscene I could pick a a book and read while it's playing.

Well, that's your opinion then. I personally was fine with it and i don't think the game would be improved that much by placing checkpoints right in front of the bosses.

 

[Strazdas]

No i wont. you know why? because i wont be playing Dark Souls 2.

 

[Naeras]

I wouldn't touch an easy mode, no. How hard the game punishes mistakes is part of what makes the game so interesting, along with the razor-sharp combat system and good atmosphere. An easy mode would leave only the combat system, and while it's a pretty damn good combat system, I'd like some challenge with that as well.

That wouldn't discourage me from playing the game if that was sealed away in an easy mode I wouldn't touch, of course. If I can just pick a regular difficulty and get my fix of challenge, the existence of an easy mode doesn't affect me in the slightest.

 

[Dansen]

From now on when ever one of these threads are made I would like this video to be featured in the OP.

I am sick of people misunderstanding why people don't want an easy mode, this video has the clear and logical argument against it and I'd suggest listening to it.

I think easy mode would be a mistake, and anybody who thinks the game is made of fake difficulty is misinformed. I think the reason people don't like the game is because it goes against the current trend of game design. Instead of homogenizing the game market we should try and make different kinds of games with different experiences.