Poll: Easy Mode

[Ix Rebound]

Easy mode is something i wish my dad used more often, cause sitting in my room hearing his character get disemboweled for the 30th time in an hour is just painfull

 

[Smiley Face]

I like it, generally speaking. I often play through games for the story, not the challenge, and in those cases, it's nice to be able to adjust the difficulty to a level where it doesn't necessarily demand my full attention. That said, the second playthrough of any game I usually play on max difficulty, so basically it's nice to have a range.

 

[Windcaler]

Edit: Besides that, you're ignoring relative difficulty. If the goal is to make it difficult so that the player experiences a certain level of difficulty and not just for the sake of itself, then there is absolutely no reason there can't be a difficulty setting, particularly in a case like Dark Souls where you could build in an automatic scaling difficulty system that would also benefit the hardcore crowd. It makes no sense to purposely cripple your game when you can create a system that provides that baseline difficulty to every, or most, levels of skill. A game that keeps a specific and unalterable objective difficulty, ignores relative difficulty, and has the goal of being an experience that is intended to be difficult for the player is going to completely fail in that goal with all but a small subset of gamers(basically the small set of gamers that are not too bad or too good for the game).

In an ideal world every game would cater to everybody and everyone would be happy but sadly that isn't the case. What you tend to get are games which are designed towards one difficulty with other modes just stat changes which often just mess up a games pacing. And since difficulty is more than just stats, they remain easy or hard in different ways. Everything in game design is connected, that's why you see ppl using such terms as hand holding & dumbing down both difficulty wise and controller wise on different platforms.

I'm honestly not been elistist or looking down on other gamers, but for different reasons some ppl don't want an easy mode full stop. To them you might aswell be saying that the game should have Saint's Row's purple dildo bat in it. Also some ppl just want to play a well designed game as the devs intended which automatic difficulty scaling doesn't offer.

Except you could play the game without the "purple dildos", as it were. And having difficulty levels doesn't stop the game from being well designed. I don't see why a Dark Souls player should give a rat's ass if there is an easier difficulty level. Someone else somewhere across the world picking an easier difficulty doesn't suddenly mean the first Dark Soul's game is easier. Yes, the choice to play on an easier difficulty is there. No one is making them choose that difficulty. And it's not like difficulty levels haven't been standard practice for the gaming industry for years, so it's not new territory from a technical stand point. If the pacing is going to be messed up because of a difficulty level[footnote]Which I don't buy if players are actually choosing difficulty levels based on challenging them, which is irrelevant to everyone else's experience of the game anyway[/footnote], then have the pacing mess up on the way down the difficulty line instead of from the center like with most games.

Also, I used automatic scaling as an example, you could also have traditional difficulty picking. This isn't a binary choice between "every game would cater to everybody", which is not what I said, btw, and "There is only going to be super difficulty".

Edit: Mind you, I don't particularly care that Dark Souls has the one very difficult setting as I'm not the biggest fan of fantasy settings. I just don't see any practical reason for it as it can still be just as difficult without being as exclusionary. It seems to be exclusionary for the sake of being exclusionary, which makes no sense to me.

If you really want to discuss the issue, not just spout your opinion but discuss the issue there is a thread on this topic already when I will link below. It has some excellent insight from both sides of the fence

Link: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.392886-Dark-Souls-an-experiment-in-logic?page=5#15869169

 

[Yopaz]

I love easy mode, it makes it possible to learn the game. That said I never pick easy in any game. I always pick normal or hard if I have played previous installments in the series a lot. Batman Arkham city was a game where I just instantly played it through on hard because I had finished Arkham Asylum a couple weeks before it was released.

I guess I don't like "easy" mode though. I like the option to choose difficulty. I love hard games, but I am not such a prick that I want to deny people the pleasure of enjoying it just because they have other things to do than struggle through an impossible game.

 

[Samantha Burt]

I think it's good, easy mode is great catharsis for when you're having a bad day. When I finally get my RAM upgrade in a couple days I'm whacking Just Cause 2 on this PC, and I intend to play on easy, because some games are just about dicking around. I have played games on Hard - Bulletstorm and MW2 come to mind - and it was certainly satisfying to do it, but not the most fun, personally.

 

[LordLucan375]

Whilst I have no problem with people playing on easy, (I mean, why would I?) I love me a challenge. I am a big Devil May Cry fan, as profile pic may indicate, and have beaten them all on Dante Must Die difficulty. Even on games that I play for the story, ie Mass Effect, I never go below normal. I dunno, maybe I'm just bonkers.

 

[SlamDunc]

Almost always good. As long as it is done well.

In fact playing games on Easy is something I do if I just want the story or to see what happens before it angers me because I keep dying. Or if I just want to mow down enemies to kill time.

 

[Bat Vader]

I think it is a good thing. Not everyone likes a challenge when they play games. Some people just want to experience the story, characters, and settings with little to no challenging game-play. Some people don't have as much time to play games as they used to so they use easy mode to beat the game faster.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

Spoiler: EASY MODE?!

... Not really.

OT: It really depends on if the difficulty is the point of the game. If it's made to be hard, then there shouldn't be an easy mode. I mean, sure, it would make it more accessible, but easy mode would defeat the very purpose of the game. Likewise, a game that is made to be easy or easy-to-learn-hard-to-master having difficulty levels would defeat the purpose of those games.

That being said, it also depends upon game mechanics. Touhou, for example, is a bullet hell game, and those are supposed to be hard. However, it's a short, arcade-style shooter that is made to be practised and memorized. An easy mode helps the player learn the ropes before moving up to the next level. Harder difficulties also make points more plentiful, allowing for easier high scores. Easy mode, in this case, is justified. Another good place for an easy mode is an RPG that can be difficult, but is mainly about the story. However, a game like Dark Souls is ill-suited for easy difficulty. It's longer than any Touhou game, and there're no high scores. It's not very story-focused, either; its main purpose is its soul-crushing difficulty. Having an easy mode in Dark Souls would make it lose a certain amount of artistic integrity. Puzzle games are another prime example; Portal just can't have an easy mode. It wouldn't work. It's another game that's all about the challenge, just in a different way from Dark Souls.

Bottom line: depends on how the game works. Story or high score focused? Difficulty levels are fine. Challenge focused? Easy mode should sit out.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I like to play on Normal myself - first time and usually every time thereafter (exception being new game + type modes, then I bump up the difficulty accordingly to maintain that new normal feeling).

However, I do play on Easy during the school months when I'm just playing for diversion/escape from homework briefly - or when I'm playing games that are new to me (read: I know I'm not good at, for example: XCOM) that I just want to try out.

I have no problem with people who play Easy, Normal, Hard, Super-Hardcore, whatever. I DO have a problem with people who play any of those modes and get vocal about people playing in a different mode being wrong for doing so. Those people, I am not usually keen to talk to about any gaming experience.

 

[natster43]

I personally don't play on easy mode, but I see nothing wrong with it. It allows a game to be more accessible to people which isn't a bad thing.

 

[Skeleon]

Alright. I (almost) never use it. In fact, I usually play on the hardest mode even if it means dying a lot (I haven't played Dark Souls yet but I'd imagine it'd be a fitting game for me; The Binding of Isaac absolutely was). But it's not like an easy mode existing hurts me or anybody else. Games are about enjoyment. I get enjoyment out of punishing gameplay, others enjoy with a more relaxed feel to it. It's playing games, it's up to each player what to make of it.

 

[lord.jeff]

I play on normal or higher in most games, games where I don't enjoy the combat and just want it over as fast as possible like Mass Effect or Elder Scrolls I'll play on easy, but gaming is all about enjoying yourself so if overcoming a worthy challenge is what you want, go for it and play on the hardest difficulty or if you prefer tearing through enemies like paper then play easy, whatever you enjoy most.

 

[The_Echo]

I tend to pick easy mode so that I can get through the game and have fun with it.

Generally, I won't choose anything higher unless I've already played it through once or have played other games with similar gameplay.

Besides, if we struck Easy Mode, then Normal Mode would just become the new easy. Easy mode's always there in some way.

 

[Reaper195]

The day we lose easy mode will be the day I stop playing video games. Most of the time with most games, I tend to play fir the universe and story and characters. Fuck challenge. It's also a challenge for most people who aren't good at gaming. I've been playing games for most of my life, and I still sometimes have trouble on easy on CoD games, or Halo (Rarely with Halo though). But that's because I'm rather terrible at FPSs.

 

[T_ConX]

Or, you know, just put in some separate trophies for hard mode and not be a total dick to the half of your fanbase that isn't filled with hardcore gamers.

You know there's a whole gray area between casuals and hardcore gamers right? I always assume that difficulties are set up like this:

Easy: Filthy Casuals
Normal: Actual Gamers
Hard: Hardcore Gamers

If half of your fanbase is playing on easy mode, then you have failed as a game designer.

Just because you're playing on easy doesn't mean you didn't achieve something, just means it's not as impressive as if you had done it on hard.

Are you kidding me? Most games practically play themselves on easy mode. You don't achieve shit on easy mode.

Many people didn't grow up gamers and it's discouraging to them when you make them out to be children throughout the entire game.

Yes, and if there's one thing a player should never feel, it's DISCOURAGED! They should never feel challenged at any point in the game. They should always be told that they are AWESOME! POSITIVE SELF ESTEEM!

The school district in a city near mine recently instituted in no-zero policy. It basically meant that teachers couldn't give students zeros for missed or uncompleted work or tests. The argument for this was that the zeros would DISCOURAGE them and make them more likely to drop out, and so teachers would have to simply exempt the grade from the work altogether.

People aren't pathetic for playing easy mode though.

Yes, they are. They totally are.

 

[The Mighty Stove]

Really? These disgusting casuals don't deserve to play how they want!

Also: The only real issue I could see an "easy" mode affecting game-play would be something around the lines of Dark Souls. Where a lot of the challenge is from the gameplay.

 

[Eddy-16]

Easy mode = lazy disables players!

People aren't pathetic for playing easy mode though.

Yes, they are. They totally are.

I'm kinda shocked people have this attitude. I know for a fact most people wouldn't be gaming if they didn't have an easy mode to get them started, cause being murdered over and over again is not fun, you know the whole point of gaming? To have FUN.

Just cause you're an elitist douchebag doesn't mean people are worse for playing on easy.

OT: No problem with it, good for kicking back on and I sure as hell wouldn't be gaming now if there hadn't been easy modes to get me rolling.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Personally, I really like the fact that, most games nowadays that have different difficulties, have an easy mode.

Whenever I get a new game and play it for the first time, I always play on the easiest setting first. That way, I get a handle for the controls, can really get into the story, and generally have a lot of fun. After, I may bump it up to normal, or if I'm wanting an unlock or an achievement, higher than that.

But, generally, I play campaigns on easy. Why? Because, when I play a campaign, I usually want to chill, have some fun, and not get extremely frustrated like I do with some multiplayer.

Anyway, if someone else decides to play on easy, hey, that's up to them. It doesn't make someone less of a gamer.

What doesn't make any sense to me is when some people play a game the first time on the hardest difficulty. Or worse, they do that, then get pissed and frustrated because it's too hard.