On Difficulty Levels

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Oh right, and speaking of creative difficulty setting names, how about creative difficulty setting descriptions? One of the things I loved about the first two Myth games (created by Bungie somewhere between Marathon and Halo) were the awesome descriptions for the difficulty settings. It's a trend they continued with the Halo games (or at least in the first Halo), though I'm not sure if they started it before Myth.

Damn, now I wanna install those and play them again. Look what you made me do, Yahtzee!

 

[asbrandr]

One of my favorite silly names for a difficulty setting occured in the jrpg for ps1 called Legend of Mana. In it, the option for changing the difficulty mid game came as a sort of query similar to the following:
"Do you want your game to be easy?" yes/no
if no "Do you want your game to be normal?" yes/no
if no "Do you want your game to be hard?" yes/no
if no "Do you want your game to be a nightmare?" yes/no
if no "Do you want a future?" yes/no
here if you select "no" then you get "No Future" mode which is the game's hardest (every enemy encountered is lvl 99 with maximum hp and stats. and it was STILL beatable!! love that game.

 

[Jonsbax]

The problem I have with difficulty settings is that too often they don't get hard enough, for example in Kingdom Hearts 2, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resistance: Retribution, just to name a few. I thought that the point of difficulty settings is to make the game satisfying for everybody, but still I've had plenty of games that were ruined because the game is too damn easy even on the hardest difficulty setting. And I don't even consider myself that good a gamer.

I think that development teams should have 2 difficulty testers; someone who's new to gaming in general or at least new to the genre of the game in development, and other one who's some Japanese Devil May Cry and Demon's Souls master. Developers would start by making 2 difficulty settings, the easier being satisfyingly challenging for the casual gamer and the harder being at least fun for the harcore videogame geek. Then they would just fill the gap between these two with as many difficulty settings as they see necessary.

 

[AZZ666]

Yahtzee should try God Hand on his next slow day. Which is today.

 

[Athinira]

Appeal to majority.

And I did not say that changing the difficulty adds nothing. I just said that the way most, if not all developers add to the difficulty is by just padding out the same basic gameplay, that doing so is lazy on their part and that tis increase in difficulty is not so much a challenge to the player's skills as a test of their endurance.

You and "a lot of other players" apparently enjoy endurance tests. Good for you.

If you truly think that all games are just endurance tests on "hard" difficulty, then you must not have played very many games, and then i feel sorry for you.

Let me from the top of my head just mention a few games where going from "Easy" to "Hard" isn't just endurance tests.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Enemies are still taken down just as easily as before, in the sense that they have the same HP in fistfights. Instead the difficulty makes them more intelligent, more aware of you, and it removes the "Warning" sign that flashes over their head in combat mode when they are about to attack, making it harder (but still perfectly possible) to anticipate their attacks. They also attempt to pick up weapons more often in fistfights if i recall correctly.

Any Metal Gear Solid Game
New guards are added, or existing guards change patrol routes, meaning that you can't just repeat tactics you've learned from an earlier difficulty level. Guards still die as easily though. Only the boss fights becomes more about endurance (until you go to the hardest difficulty in some of the games, where the bosses get very low health, but can also take you out in very a few hits).

Left 4 dead (1+2)
Zombies still die as easily as before (except the tank zombie), but you and your squadmates are much less resilient and need to coorperate much better and you can't just play the hero as much as in the easier difficulties.

Tom Clancy's: Rainbow Six: Vegas 1+2
While the difficulty overall in this game is terribly balanced, enemies die just as easily as before. You can just take less damage and need to use cover more intelligently, as well as using your squadmates more intelligently.

Crysis + Warhead
Enemies have the same health and spawns in same numbers. You just take more damage and have to play more carefully.

Any Hitman Game.

There are plenty more out there. Hell there are even games where the "Endurance" model makes sense and actually MAKES the game harder without it's just feeling you like are beating your fists on a wall or wasting time.

 

[ChupathingyX]

All of the Dynasty warriors and Samurai warriors games let you change difficulty when playing campaign, atleast in DW4 where you could change mid campaign, but DW5 has much smaller and character focused story modes that have the same difficulty, but you can choose a new one for every character.

Also I ahve a good example of creative difficulty names; Ratchet: Gladiator(or Deadlocked if youre American)

-Couch potato(very easy)
-Contestant(easy)
-Gladiator(normal)
-Hero(hard)
-Exterminator(very hard)

What yahtzee said about platforming games is true, you cant really change the difficulty of those agmes like Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon, but pretty much any game with a health bar or some kind of health system should have difficulty settings. Also one thing that really makes me confused is when a games difficuly makes no difference. Crash tag Team Racing had three different difficulties(normal, faster, insane) and guess what there is no difference. Seriously te game even uses that crappy catch-up system so even if youre playing on normal if you get too far ahead the other racers will catch up o you anyway, how dumb is that?

 

[Super Jamz]

It might be because i was a pussy or what have you, but i have to say that his Chzo mythos did scare me quite a bit, despite everyone looking like cardboard cutouts made to move like robots.

 

[DaBozz]

I agree, but I think there should be a super easy mode too!

 

[flosy]

The Matrix path of Neo game had a good system where you had to fight in a re-construction of the pillar lobby scene and had to earn hard mode by wining. Also COD4 did a similar thing; although to less effect because you could peaty much run through until you knew exactly the buttons to press.
Also I disagree that a lot of difficulty levels are a good thing; for example in the Blue Dragon game there was always a feeling of not being good enough if you chose normal rather than hard. Also in the Ninja Gaiden Sigma game (at least for the PS3) there was an option if you died enough that asked if you would like to try the game on an easier difficulty mode. This seems reasonable in theory but Ninja Gaiden is a game build for the challenge and asking the player if they think they would be better suited to playing the game in 'Kid Mode' (Spiderman the game PSX)is A- patronising and B- Irritating because I accidentally pressed it several times in a fit of rage from being killed for the 20th time by the same boss.
On the other hand playing a game such as Oblivion the ability to slide down the difficulty if you get stuck is essential. Not because it fluctuates much in the way of difficulty, but rather because its a game so long and open that you will not always feel like a challenge. For example who hasn't turned the difficulty down the the bottom and massacred a village? Or put their acrobatics up to max, installed the open city's mod and leaped around raining death upon unsuspecting civilians (and adoring fans).

 

[MgalekgoloHunter]

It's ironic that I was far more scared playing 6 Days A Sacrifice (particularly the "Let me in!" bit in the corridor) than I ever was playing, say, Bioshock.

 

[Mr Orange]

Just wanted to offer up Penumbra: Black Plague as an example of a truly scary game, and one that I think Yahtzee would genuinely enjoy. It is made by an independent company, Frictional Games, and focuses on horror and puzzles. Make no mistake, this is not an action game, as there is no combat, it is a true survival horror game and one that deserves much more recognition.

Thanks

 

[FC Groningen]

I doubt Yathzee (or anyone else) will enjoy being bum raped by a game, if the game thinks you're doing too well so far. I know there is room between "normal" and "impossible" but I'm sure that would happen if it was implented in many games. It also sort off feels like you're being punished for doing well. I'm fine with just picking a difficulty at the start of a game.

 

[GameGoddess101]

The rest of the article was all right. I only recently got back into games, so games like Devil May Cry and God of War I automatically went for Easy, but it was well... too easy. So I switched. ^_^ At least games haven't gotten like 'Splosion Man and, if you die at a particular section over and over and over again, it prompts you to skip it.

Diablo 2 also has a "difficulty setting" within the difficulty sections. Obviously, there's Normal, Hard, and Nightmare, but you can also change the number of "players" up to anywhere between 1 and 8. The game adjusts accordingly, making it harder and the experience and rewards greater the higher number you select.

But throughout the whole article, one thing really caught my attention. Silent Hill 8!!? Really!?!? REALLY!?!?!

 

[Doragon Shinzui]

That's one of the things I liked about TWEWY. At any point, you could switch difficulties in multiple ways, by either making your opponents tougher or yourself weaker, which would net you better abilities or more abilities, respectively. That, combined with the ability to switch to easy after losing a match, made it hard to get stuck. Unless you totally messed up and didn't have anything equipped for a boss match.

 

[Giandroid]

The "normal mode" thing is sort of what I do... but I'm not that good at games. My favorite game, however, is still very very hard even on "easy" mode. I suppose that's what's made me afraid of difficulty settings. I can't change it mid-way through, though, but it's an old game... so I forgive it. Besides, like I said, it's hard no matter how you play it.

 

[ninetails593]

A sequel to The Art of Theft???? AWESOME

 

[LadyMint]

Automatic scaling difficulty would be an interesting concept in games. I'm thinking of something more than your standard "your on level 15 so the enemies are much tougher than level 1" sort of thing. Something where the game detects that you're breezing through content on level 3 and adjusts itself accordingly. Or makes things a little easier if you seem to be struggling. It would be like having an evil overlord command his troops to be more on guard because of a hero's presence, then command them to relax when it seemed like the hero wasn't much of a threat. If that makes sense.

I can see potential for it to be exploited, of course, but I think I would like that sort of system rather than jumping out of the game to change the setting.

 

[Psytrese]

I think if "Actual Scary Game" is ever made, it should be similar to Clock Tower. Where you're a ridiculously ineffectual little girl with no combat abilities whatsoever; and the game is played more of a mindfuck than an all out action kill everything game. Hiding instead of shooting.

It really wasn't the most fun game to play, but the ideas are there, they could just be a little better implemented.

And anyways, on the subject of Difficulty Levels....I played through Alan Wake on Nightmare and it wasn't much harder. The enemies take a more shots to kill, but really this just means that you're never going to have enough ammo to kill them, so you spend more of your time dodging enemies than fighting.

Shame.

 

[jamescorck]

On Fun Space Game: The Game -> So Yahtzee's method of videogame design depends on what is he playing now? Maybe he will come back to it now that he reviewed Mario Galaxy 2.

 

[FC Groningen]

Automatic scaling difficulty would be an interesting concept in games. I'm thinking of something more than your standard "your on level 15 so the enemies are much tougher than level 1" sort of thing. Something where the game detects that you're breezing through content on level 3 and adjusts itself accordingly. Or makes things a little easier if you seem to be struggling. It would be like having an evil overlord command his troops to be more on guard because of a hero's presence, then command them to relax when it seemed like the hero wasn't much of a threat. If that makes sense.

I can see potential for it to be exploited, of course, but I think I would like that sort of system rather than jumping out of the game to change the setting.

Sounds similar to Oblivion where it was pointless to level because all (potential) enemies leveled with you.