Do we need "easy mode" any more?

[Qeltar]

Personally, no I don't have a use for easy mode. But i'm sure plenty of people want and need easy mode, so I don't see a reason to get rid of it.

 

[Korzack]

I like having the mode in, specially with RPG's, which typically have rather poor mechanics for combat, I'd rather just see what the narrative, story and/or setting have to offer rather than spending ages swearing because I can't master the "dodgy console port challenge"(TM) of "Hold down both mouse buttons and drag in a direction which is perceived as a Very rough guidance as to what I want it to do while spamming Alt gr for no good reason"
If the game's mechanics are fun, or I enjoyed the story or other earlier reasons, I'll just play it again on a harder difficulty - not rocket science.

 

[loudestmute]

Shocking news: Not everyone who plays video games plays them the same way. Some haven't developed the kinesis required to operate a modern controller, some want to experience a story rather than a challenge, and some don't really care all that much about (insert metagame badge system of choice here). Easy mode exists so that these people get to experience many of the same games you do, and removes some of the elements that haven't really helped make games "better" no matter how much we mourn their loss.

Keep easy mode.

 

[revjor]

I pretty much refuse to play a game like Force Unleashed on anything higher than easy. There is nothig worse than having to hit a stormtrooper six times with a lightsaber. Hard mode destroys any imersion in a game with lightsabers.

 

[edudewired]

This really depends, I mean on Just Cause 2 I play on the easiest setting because the fun is in doing stupid stunts not testing your skills, but in games such as Skyrim I'll play on the harder settings.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Depends on what kind of "challenge" it is and what is being "challenged" (my reflexes, my on-the-fly decision making, my patience, my tolerance for arbitrary bullshit?), mostly, I suppose.

I think this is really the most important part of any discussion relating to difficulty. Really, just what sort of difficulty is actually being discussed. So many people like to use terms like "Nintendo-hard" as a positive descriptor but I just don't see it being the case.. and I grew up on the NES. If developers focused on creating better difficulty through things like alternate pathing and scripting, improvements in AI or adaptive difficulty then it is possible that having various difficulty levels could end up a thing of the past. With the way things are done right now, though, having concrete selectable difficulty modes with an easy/casual setting is fairly important.

Personally, I like the way difficulty is handled in things like the EA Sports games. While, yes, the AI just gets stupud cheap on higher levels, there's sliders for almost every sort of game behaviour that you can adjust to your own preferences. In NHL, for example, I like manual passing and shooting as well as referees being fairly strict on penalty calls but I hate having to micro manage stamina and line changes. Because of how difficulty settings work in NHL, I can set up exactly that scenario.