Poll: What's Your Deal With Easy Mode

[Ishal]

(Just saying now, I would not mind the addition of an optional easy mode to dark souls). Mechanically, the game would definitely still be good, but I think the experience as a whole would be hurt if the game was easier. One of the main themes of the game is the inevitability of death, and the struggle against it; by making the game easier, this theme becomes less prevalent, and the world much less threatening. This would hurt the entire premise the game is based on, and I think it would not only hurt the game, but do a disservice the players as well.

Well that's the point of a difficulty level though. It's so everyone can find their level of challenging. What's a rewarding grind for some may simply be an impossible wall for others.

Everything in Dark Souls is intertwined, the difficulty is wrapped up in the world and in the exploration. The whole package would suffer if (in Dark Souls) there was an easy mode implemented. I say in Dark Souls because we know what that game is, we know its length, Dark Souls 2 could be longer. But Dark Souls is not a big game, if there was an easy mode people would clear it so fast they probably wouldn't feel they got their moneys worth. Heck, some people are able to clear half the game in just thirty minutes. There aren't any huge cutscenes, no big Mass Effect style conversations, no characters to romance.

I think Dark Souls is like the old Zelda games that reward exploration. Exploring and paying attention make the game so much easier. Paying attention to stats like how fast your stamina regenerates compared to other games. It allows for the game being easier. It's also an RPG so leveling makes the game easier. There is an "easy mode" already built into the game, and I'm not even talking about playing a caster hur hur*.

Strictly in terms of gameplay, do you think it detracts from a game (whose selling point is gameplay,) that has a difficulty slider outside the game in a menu? It rarely changes anything but HP. Think Capra Demon, everyone's favorite early game boss. Will it make his dogs disappear? Will it make him swing and slower? Will it change his attacks and patterns at all? If not, then someone not learning from the fight will still likely die due to getting staggered or attacking when they should be rolling away. It just might take longer due to the boss's damage either being decreased or the players health being buffed.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Everything in Dark Souls is intertwined, the difficulty is wrapped up in the world and in the exploration. The whole package would suffer if (in Dark Souls) there was an easy mode implemented. I say in Dark Souls because we know what that game is, we know its length, Dark Souls 2 could be longer. But Dark Souls is not a big game, if there was an easy mode people would clear it so fast they probably wouldn't feel they got their moneys worth. Heck, some people are able to clear half the game in just thirty minutes. There aren't any huge cutscenes, no big Mass Effect style conversations, no characters to romance.

I think Dark Souls is like the old Zelda games that reward exploration. Exploring and paying attention make the game so much easier. Paying attention to stats like how fast your stamina regenerates compared to other games. It allows for the game being easier. It's also an RPG so leveling makes the game easier. There is an "easy mode" already built into the game, and I'm not even talking about playing a caster hur hur*.

Strictly in terms of gameplay, do you think it detracts from a game (whose selling point is gameplay,) that has a difficulty slider outside the game in a menu? It rarely changes anything but HP. Think Capra Demon, everyone's favorite early game boss. Will it make his dogs disappear? Will it make him swing and slower? Will it change his attacks and patterns at all? If not, then someone not learning from the fight will still likely die due to getting staggered or attacking when they should be rolling away. It just might take longer due to the boss's damage either being decreased or the players health being buffed.

WUGH. I don't want to revisit those tiresome old "Dark Souls II potential easy mode the world is ending" threads, so I'll just say this once more so we don't go round and round. The point of an "easy mode" is not so people who would've been happy playing on normal or hard can ruin their good time. It's so people who couldn't manage those difficulties can actually experience the game. Not people who just needed to "stick with it" a bit. People who just can't handle it, period. Believe me, they exist.

"BUT AN EASY MODE IS IMPOSSIBLE TO IMPLEMENT"

No, it isn't. Buff up the player's hit points, and implement a more generous and forgiving save/reload feature...perhaps by allowing players to set up portable fires close to difficult sections.

"BUT THAT WOULD MAKE IT TOO EASY AND THUS POINTLESS"

For YOU, yes. Not for the hypothetical easy mode needer, who would probably find such a mode just as terrifying and relentless a slog as most people found normal.

"BUT THEN NORMAL PEOPLE WOULD CHOOSE THAT MODE BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE WEAK/PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE"

And yet people willingly choose hard modes in games with scaling difficulty all the time, because they find challenge rewarding.

"BUT THE GAME WOULD LOSE ITS SPECIAL 'LEET GAMERS ONLY' PANACHE"

Yeah, well...it might. I'm personally not terribly concerned about it. From would have to weigh the potential loss of X try-hards who need to have a barred club house against X casual gamers who like the look and feel of the world but cannot handle the difficulty (or find the repetition intolerable).

 

[Ishal]

snip

Well, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree with some of those points.

Generally, I hate the whole tryhard hyper competitive attitude. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but some games aren't meant for some gamers. I don't particularly get feelings of satisfaction knowing I can do something (in a video game no less) that others can't. I'm not that type of person. Dark Souls is a very niche title not just in regards to the difficulty, but in its content. I seriously doubt the content gated by the difficulty would appeal to that many people. They won't find characters like Alistair from Dragon Age or any other stuff like that behind that one boss they just couldn't clear. It's niche.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Generally, I hate the whole tryhard hyper competitive attitude. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but some games aren't meant for some gamers. I don't particularly get feelings of satisfaction knowing I can do something (in a video game no less) that others can't. I'm not that type of person. Dark Souls is a very niche title not just in regards to the difficulty, but in its content. I seriously doubt the content gated by the difficulty would appeal to that many people. They won't find characters like Alistair from Dragon Age or any other stuff like that behind that one boss they just couldn't clear. It's niche.

You know, I think maybe the worst thing to ever happen to Dark Souls was that it got this reputation for being a hard game for hard men and there was literally nothing else to like about it.

While there's definitely some janky elements there that would need polishing if you wanted to claw in a broader audience, I'm actually going to disagree that there's nothing there to appeal beyond the difficulty. If anything, the difficulty occasionally obscures the experience as much as it occasionally improves it. Dark Souls is one of a handful of games I would praise effusively for success at indirect storytelling. The world is incredibly evocative, and sometimes quite emotional. Yes, one of those emotions is fear/dread, which is imposed by the difficulty. But there's also a tremendous melancholy that permeates everything. Stories like Sif and Artorias, or the sad fate of New Londo...memorable locations like Anor Londo or the Tomb of the Giants...there's a lot here for a fantasy buff to enjoy. It's a beautiful, haunting world, and I think there's a LOT of potential in that series that is currently locked up behind "Well we need a bunch of shit-hard bosses that require a lot of twitch and enthusiasm for tedious repetition to get past, and then we can call it a day". I happen to have both (MMO veteran...woot!) so it doesn't really annoy me that Dark Souls II looks like MOTS, but I can't help but feel a little sad, too. I feel like there's a lot of potential getting squandered there.

 

[Vault Citizen]

I'm currently playing throu Bioshock Infinite on easy mode, it's my third play through and after playing both medium and hard it's quite nice to get through enemies easily and always have plenty of cash on hand for upgrades.

 

[carnex]

It really depends. I played only one game in recent history on easy. Can't remember which, but it was some tower defense game that I was killing time in my work with while monster set of installations went on. Usually, if I care about a game I just keep on going until I beat it. If I see it only as time killer, and it stresses me out, I just drop it.

On the other hand, not all people have same set of skills and not all people want same thing from games. Unless creator had really something to say with that exact design and difficulty, why would anyone care if someone just plays on easy?

In the end, it?s up to creator will he put it in the game, and the games will he select it.