Easy mode =/= accessibility.

[Strategos]

So, the thought behind adding an easy mode to hardcore titles (discussion is usually centered on From titles) is that more people will be able to play them and therefore enjoy them and everyone's happy except for elitists.

And while at it's core I'm not against that, I feel the conversation is too focused on easy mode. An easy mode is not a catch all solution, it's at best a bandage. The fact that the discussion is centered on an easy mode is like saying the adaptive controller solved games for disabled people permanently.

Alright, it's a fact that 'git gud' doesn't work for everyone, even something as small as occasional mild tendinitis can really, really hurt someones capabilities when it comes to playing a game. Coming off that, would adjusting the difficulty really help people? 'Git gud' works for people like me who don't experience disabilities, it's even a lesson my mum drilled into my head at a young age when I was getting frustrated with finding eggs in Spyro 3. "Just get really determined to find them." But I imagine that wouldn't have been an option if I'd experienced mild paralysis in my hands and couldn't physically reach one because I couldn't operate the controller fast enough.

From games aren't really all that hard, it's just that they smack you when you make a mistake. There's no one piece of the game you can adjust to make it easier. It's really rare for a dev to make an easy mode that isn't just adjusting damage output values. The games will likely still expect players to dodge, parry and counter in order to not see the fail state, and if you fail to do that it may take you longer to die but you'll still see that screen just as often.

Accessibility is more than difficulty, and not all disabilities are equal. An easy-mode is a band-aid solution. What people are failing to take into account is rather than asking for an easy mode, there are more solutions for more problems, there isn't one catch all tool. It's disappointing to see people act like difficulty is the only barrier to entry, when the solution to many people's problems could just be as simple as remapping controls or the option to make text larger.

Accessibility doesn't always mean easy gameplay, sometimes it just means options. Easy mode only helps people with physical or cognitive disabilities, and there's nothing wrong with doing that but the progress doesn't end there.

So while you're making (hopefully polite) requests to developers for easy mode, keep in mind that you're just as well served asking for things like rebindable controls and adjustment of analogue stick deadzones, 60fps (yes a higher frame rate can help people with certain disabilities), support of multiple input devices, an alternate mode of putting in repeated button presses for instance a hold toggle, resizing, recoloring and rearranging UI elements, better tutorials, colorblind modes and ensure that no essential visual information is conveyed by color alone (looking at you, Witcher 3), FOV sliders, in-game map systems, including people with impairments during playtesting, realtime text-to-speech and game speed adjustment and finally, ensure that a list of accessibility features is easily located on the games store page or packaging and ingame.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it'd help a lot more problems than just adding an easy mode would.

 

[Squilookle]

What are you trying to say here? Is it that easy modes don't make a game more accessible? Or that we need easy modes AND a whole range of other variables? If it's the former, then you're not convincing anybody. If it's the latter, then... you think easy modes aren't a bad idea, and might as well have simply said that.

 

[Silvanus]

From games aren't really all that hard, it's just that they smack you when you make a mistake. There's no one piece of the game you can adjust to make it easier. It's really rare for a dev to make an easy mode that isn't just adjusting damage output values. The games will likely still expect players to dodge, parry and counter in order to not see the fail state, and if you fail to do that it may take you longer to die but you'll still see that screen just as often.

It's true that simply changing health or damage numbers isn't going to make the gameplay itself-- the dodging, timing, parrying, endurance-management etc easier.

However, increasing health (or alternatively damage absorption, or healing capability) would result in mistakes being less punishing during a single run. The player would still need to learn to overcome the monster's moveset, but each run would be more forgiving in letting them learn it.

Personally, I can envisage an "easy mode" of sorts consisting of a starting character with several extra points in Vitality and Endurance, as well as a strong starting gift (Such as a ring of steel protection or chloranthy ring). Potentially also buffing the first few bonfires-- in the Asylum, maybe the Burg as well-- to start with 10 Estus without requiring kindling.

This would make the beginning stages a milder learning curve, but since these are all changes that can come about through gameplay anyway, the advantage plateaus. It doesn't end up affecting balance long-term.

Accessibility is more than difficulty, and not all disabilities are equal. An easy-mode is a band-aid solution. What people are failing to take into account is rather than asking for an easy mode, there are more solutions for more problems, there isn't one catch all tool. It's disappointing to see people act like difficulty is the only barrier to entry, when the solution to many people's problems could just be as simple as remapping controls or the option to make text larger.

Agreed here. These kind of things do tend to be overlooked, and can make a world of difference.

 

[skywolfblue]

Easy mode is a good start towards accessibility. It can address a lot of the most common accessibility needs.

So while you're making (hopefully polite) requests to developers for easy mode, keep in mind that you're just as well served asking for things like rebindable controls and adjustment of analogue stick deadzones, 60fps (yes a higher frame rate can help people with certain disabilities), support of multiple input devices, an alternate mode of putting in repeated button presses for instance a hold toggle, resizing, recoloring and rearranging UI elements, better tutorials, colorblind modes and ensure that no essential visual information is conveyed by color alone (looking at you, Witcher 3), FOV sliders, in-game map systems, including people with impairments during playtesting, realtime text-to-speech and game speed adjustment and finally, ensure that a list of accessibility features is easily located on the games store page or packaging and ingame.

I am 100% behind all of those. I think all games should provide accessibility options.
Most of the games that I've played that are designed for PC-first have accessibility options out the wazoo. (World of Warcraft and Kerbal Space program have ALL the accessibility options!)
Oddly enough the console-first games have all that accessibility stripped out. Which I think is odd and backwards. I play consoles mainly but that is one thing I really do not like about console games. (Looking at you Ace Combat 7! Why does a flight game not allow me to set up my own custom controller bindings ARG...)

I sorta understand the "we want things streamlined on consoles" but streamlining should mean better defaults. Not throwing away accessibility options and thus ignoring players with disabilities.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

So while you're making (hopefully polite) requests to developers for easy mode, keep in mind that you're just as well served asking for things like rebindable controls and adjustment of analogue stick deadzones, 60fps (yes a higher frame rate can help people with certain disabilities), support of multiple input devices, an alternate mode of putting in repeated button presses for instance a hold toggle, resizing, recoloring and rearranging UI elements, better tutorials, colorblind modes and ensure that no essential visual information is conveyed by color alone (looking at you, Witcher 3), FOV sliders, in-game map systems, including people with impairments during playtesting, realtime text-to-speech and game speed adjustment and finally, ensure that a list of accessibility features is easily located on the games store page or packaging and ingame.

Yup, completely agreed with this. I'm not disabled and I would still use more than a few of those options if they're available.

I hate "mash" prompts and always opt for changing it to a hold for example. I also love it when games let you move around, resize, and remove certain UI elements, and I really wish more games had that option, especially as I play on a really big monitor, and would like for certain UI elements to not be in the corners of my vision.

Remap-able controls should be in every game and I'm shocked that's still not standard.

 

[Lufia Erim]

You are assuming Easy mode is only for health and damage though.

Easy mode can have, less agressive AI, more items, more bonfires, more i-frames on dodge etc...

Which, for anyone who actually played Sekiro know they already exist in the form of skills in one form or another.

Sekiro actually gives you the tools to make the game EASIER. There are skills AND items to make you all but invisible, you can take out entire sections of enemies in stealth.

You have items that let you take less damage and posture damage. You have skills that restore health on deathblows. Skills to increase healing etc...

Everything is already there to make the game easier without actually adding an " easy mode".

 

[Lufia Erim]

Also, there are some games without an Easy mode,some games without a hard mode and some games without a difficulty setting at all.

Why can't they all exist in harmony? Can't we all get along,

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Problem with From games is that they have all of those "difficulty options" and then don't bother telling you about them. They're legendarily opaque

 

[Dalisclock]

Problem with From games is that they have all of those "difficulty options" and then don't bother telling you about them. They're legendarily opaque

That's half the problem. The fact the game is bad at telling you the really important stuff in-game. When I first played, I didn't realize what the number in the upper-left of my screen meant(Soft Souls) or what the Soul items were. Or about stat scaling on weapons.

The other half is the general jankiness/unfair Bullshit of the souls series. Enemies that can hit you through walls(but it doesn't work for you), arrows that arc to track you, weapons that track to hit you after the point an adjustment should be possible, enemies that spawn out of thin air behind you when you hit the right trigger point, the damn pursuer can teleport you onto his blade to impale you when he should have glanced or narrowly missed you, the jumping controls being shit when you occasionally need to clear gaps by jumping, etc, etc. It's fake difficultly and "My rules aren't your rules" at it's finest.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Problem with From games is that they have all of those "difficulty options" and then don't bother telling you about them. They're legendarily opaque

Clarify please. I've done DS1, 3 and BB and I've never seen difficulty options. Just players to invite in

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Problem with From games is that they have all of those "difficulty options" and then don't bother telling you about them. They're legendarily opaque

Clarify please. I've done DS1, 3 and BB and I've never seen difficulty options. Just players to invite in

Things like spells and ranged attacks generally lowering the difficulty of combat, specific tactics that trivialize certain enemies, hidden gear that alters your abilities.

Everything Lufia was alluding to two posts above mine.

I don't personally find the variation in difficulty enough to declare them to be sufficient, particularly because the game hides most of it, but they are there.

And that's before accessibility options start getting considered. Button remapping should be as ubiquitous as subtitles are for movies.

 

[TopazFusion]

I'll give you a good example of where I've seen this 'easy mode creep' in action; Tomb Raider.

In 'Tomb Raider' (2013 reboot), QTEs where quite oppressive. Fail one, and you were treated to a (usually fairly gory) cutscene of Lara being killed or maimed horribly in some way, and you'd have to try again from the last checkpoint.
In 'Rise', they scaled back the severity of the QTEs to a reasonable degree. And in 'Shadow', they added new settings to the in-game options that allow you to make it so QTEs always succeed, effectively skipping them entirely.

So there you have it. In the first of these 3 games, if you completely fail and struggle to complete a required QTE, you literally cannot complete the game. However, 3 games later, and you now have the option to skip them altogether.

Some people might say this is "dumbing down" or "pandering to casuals", but to me this was a godsend. I don't have particularly good hand-eye coordination and I don't have very good reaction times, so I tend to struggle with this particular (imo) horrendous gameplay mechanic. I hate anything that requires near-superhuman reaction times to accomplish something and progress. (I don't play any From games myself, but I assume blocks/dodges/parries would be somewhat similar)

 

[Silvanus]

Sekiro actually gives you the tools to make the game EASIER. There are skills AND items to make you all but invisible, you can take out entire sections of enemies in stealth.

You have items that let you take less damage and posture damage. You have skills that restore health on deathblows. Skills to increase healing etc...

Are they finite?

This is not to say that items cannot act as a suitable substitute, only to say that modes do something finite items fundamentally cannot.

 

[Avnger]

An easy mode does not represent the totality of accessibility options. However, an easy mode is a tool to include when creating them.

 

[Strategos]

In a classroom of x-grade/course level students:

Accessibility = Using any combination of audio-visual aid, writing/keyboard tools, etc. to help impaired students learn the curriculum presented at a required level.

Easy Mode = Dropping the curriculum a grade/course level or two for certain students because ?reasons? and then saying they ?passed? it like everyone else.


Sure, there are some students who might not be ready for or able to handle a particular grade/course?s curriculum, but that would simply mean they?ve been placed in the wrong one (game/genre/etc.).

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

In a classroom of x-grade/course level students:

Accessibility = Using any combination of audio-visual aid, writing/keyboard tools, etc. to help impaired students learn the curriculum presented at a required level.

Easy Mode = Dropping the curriculum a grade/course level or two for certain students because ?reasons? and then saying they ?passed? it like everyone else.


Sure, there are some students who might not be ready for or able to handle a particular grade/course?s curriculum, but that would simply mean they?ve been placed in the wrong one (game/genre/etc.).

Just to make sure I'm understanding you correctly: what you are saying is that, if players of a particular game are not able to complete it on the default difficulty, they should just give up and play a different game?

I understand that you are applying this to the SoulsBorneiro games, which only have one difficulty setting. I'm just wondering if that mindset of "get good, or play something else" would apply to, say, the Mario series.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

How do we feel about, say, radically altered control schemes? Say, Dance Dance Revolution on a game pad for people who don't have the coordination, stamina, raw ability, or will to stomp up and down on a sheet of plastic at 150 beats per minute?

 

[Strategos]

In a classroom of x-grade/course level students:

Accessibility = Using any combination of audio-visual aid, writing/keyboard tools, etc. to help impaired students learn the curriculum presented at a required level.

Easy Mode = Dropping the curriculum a grade/course level or two for certain students because ?reasons? and then saying they ?passed? it like everyone else.


Sure, there are some students who might not be ready for or able to handle a particular grade/course?s curriculum, but that would simply mean they?ve been placed in the wrong one (game/genre/etc.).

Just to make sure I'm understanding you correctly: what you are saying is that, if players of a particular game are not able to complete it on the default difficulty, they should just give up and play a different game?

I understand that you are applying this to the SoulsBorneiro games, which only have one difficulty setting. I'm just wondering if that mindset of "get good, or play something else" would apply to, say, the Mario series.

I haven?t played a Mario game since Sunshine, but I suppose it would apply there too, along with any other game without difficulty modes regardless of actual difficulty. Even Mario games are far more forgiving and give players more leeway to complete them than was common back in the classic era. To me it?s simply more interesting in terms of game design to allow variables within the mechanics and other in-game systems than merely picking damage/item scarcity/etc. modifiers from a menu screen; at least for the more action-adventure/RPG genres.

Having said that, some genres do still work better with multiple difficulties, like fighting games, racing games, sports games, etc.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Sekiro actually gives you the tools to make the game EASIER. There are skills AND items to make you all but invisible, you can take out entire sections of enemies in stealth.

You have items that let you take less damage and posture damage. You have skills that restore health on deathblows. Skills to increase healing etc...

Are they finite?

This is not to say that items cannot act as a suitable substitute, only to say that modes do something finite items fundamentally cannot.

Definite finite?

Are some consumable? yes.

There are other unconsumable you can acquire in the game.

Can you acquire them from enemies? Also yes, with a good drop rate too.

Can you buy them with gold ( no microtransaction bs)? Also yes. Gold is earn from enemies that drop the consumabled and exp.

Sure if you run out, it'll take a marginal effort from the players part, but still.

 

[Silvanus]

In a classroom of x-grade/course level students:

Accessibility = Using any combination of audio-visual aid, writing/keyboard tools, etc. to help impaired students learn the curriculum presented at a required level.

Easy Mode = Dropping the curriculum a grade/course level or two for certain students because ?reasons? and then saying they ?passed? it like everyone else.

But... most educational systems do have multiple grades, of differing difficulty, depending on the student's capability.

In this analogy, surely arguing against difficulty modes would be arguing that remedial students and advanced students must take the same classes and perform the same tests, capability be damned. Which would be a terrible idea.