Poll: What's Your Deal With Easy Mode

[DeltaEdge]

To be honest, although I am completely fine with other people playing on easy mode, and scorn people who advocate against other people choosing how they play, I never play on easy mode myself for my cheap gamer pride. It just bothers the hell out of me if I can't beat a game at the original level was created to be played at, and it feels very satisfying to be able to clear the game at it's proper difficultly or higher, although, for me, there's usually a diminishing return past normal mode, and the return often becomes practically non-existent at the ridiculous difficulties

i.e., I played through about half of Tales of Xillia on moderate[ easy > normal > moderate > hard]) and was wondering why I was getting curb-stomped so badly by bosses, and even regular monster encounters sometimes, then I shifted to normal after I realized, and the game became much more manageable, and the difference was like night and day. And even though I was supposed to be getting higher exp/gald bonuses on moderate[the base exp/gald do not change over difficulty levels], I found myself getting better bonuses in normal mode due to being able to wrack up larger combos, and juggle enemies for longer. And I don't even want to consider playing hard, at least not until a second playthrough after getting the right equips to pretty much nullify any kind of elemental damage, and the OP weapons that increase every time you kill a monster, which I probably won't do because I feel like it saps the fun out of a higher difficulty if I am just giving myself a cushion to keep playing at my current comfort level, without really being challenged.

Also, an afterthought about easy mode. Please remember that easy is relative to the standard difficulty, and having an easy mode doesn't automatically sap any and all challenge from the game, it just makes it marginally easier for players who want a similar experience, but lack the skills to play at the proper difficulty level, which will still probably challenge them greatly. Easy mode doesn't mean taking a boss with 1k hp and lowering that to 100 and taking away all its armor, it just means making it marginally more approachable, like maybe reducing it's stats by 20-30% or so. Of course, if a game fucks up its modes and they are all out of proportion to each other, then that's for that specific game, not every easy mode that has ever existed.
(tl;dr A game that's bone-crushingly hard that has an easy mode, will probably still be hard in easy mode, just scaled down.)

 

[Specter Von Baren]

If it's a game that has a very unusual control scheme or is complicated and I need time to figure things out then I'll go with easy mode. Something like Elite Beat Agents is a good example of when I, immediately and without remorse, played through easy mode before going to normal mode and I saw it as more of me training for the harder difficulties.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

(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.

 

[Lieju]

I have no issue with easy mode, but I rarely use it. (But that's because I rarely play the kind of games I'm bad at.)

If I play the Arcade-mode of a fighting-game, of a football-game or racing (or go for achievements) the easy-mode comes to play because I suck at those.

Also if the gameplay was just annoying but the story was good, I'd also use easy-mode.

Puzzle games tend to ascend in difficulty naturally, so they don't need them either.

Well, they can have hints.
When I play Professor-Layton games I never take the hints because I consider them 'cheating', but you could easily have a 'hard' and 'easy' mode in that game. (Also the amount of hint-coins and the puzzles you need to solve could change.)

And I can't remember what game it was, but it was an adventure-game where you had a mode that told you what parts of the background you could interact with, so that would be another way to make an adventure/puzzle game with an 'easy' mode.

 

[DrOswald]

I always play on the hardest difficulties when reviewing games because it reveals shoddy design choices. For example:

-Does the game become more tedious and boring (e.g. Call of Duty), or genuinely challenging (Vanquish)?
-Do the game mechanics encourage overuse of a single, optimal strategy/technique/tactic (e.g. XCOM Enemy Unknown) or are the viable options and strategies fairly diverse (Mass Effect 2 & 3)?
-Are many game mechanics ignored or sidelined in higher difficulties because they developers failed to take into account their effects (e.g. Tales of Graces), or was the combination of game mechanics and difficulty effectively planned from the start (Metal Gear Rising)?

etc.

You mention X-Com: Enemy Unknown as a game that encourages overuse of one overpowered strategy. What exactly are you talking about there? Is this in the tactical sections or the strategy sections? I only ask because I know 2 people who play that game (myself and a friend) and when we got together and compared notes on the game we had each decided that the game was really good but encouraged a single, overpowered strategy. Turns out that we had each come to a different conclusion as to what was the single over powered strategy, and each was indicative of our play styles.

My friend who is very cautious in tactics games favored a powerful line of long range units with an assault trooper to spot for them. He never used explosives and found the heavy class under powered in most situations. He drew out the enemy and let his long range fire power do the work. He never used shivs because he focused entirely on building up his human troops.

My much more aggressive play style focused primarily on assault troopers and support units able to quickly move in and eliminate enemies before they have a chance to threaten my squad. I made extensive use of explosives because they are pretty much a guaranteed hit and capable of eliminating entire enemy pods in a single action if required. I found snipers almost worthless because they are far too static and shivs very useful because they provide mobile cover, relatively high damage output and are extremely tough in the middle portion of the game, making them an excellent compliment to my assault troopers.

What was your single overpowered strategy?

In any case, about the OT, I like a variety of difficulty modes, but I would like to see more than just easy/normal/hard modes. For example, in X-Com there are a number of factors that make the game harder or easier. The ability to control the difficulty level of each of these factors would be nice. For example, perhaps a person is really good at the tactical battles but not so good at the strategy overview part. Maybe you could increase the amount and strength of aliens in the tactical battles while increasing the level of funding or reducing the rate of panic increasing events.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

The only legitimate use of 'easy' mode is in games like Catherine, where even 'easy' mode will easily wipe the floor with the majority of gamers foolish enough to pick it up and play it.

Come to think of it, Catherine is the only game I know of that hides away the 'very easy' mode and only makes it accessible by sort of entering a cheat code or dying of frustration and slumping over on the controller.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Pretty much easy mode all the way. I have no interest in the challenge of playing a video game, I just find them to be an amusing distraction, I don't want to have to put much effort into them.

 

[Brian Tams]

I'll play on easy mode when the only difference between the difficulties is how much health the enemies have.

Like, when I play on an increased difficultly, I expect the AI to become smarter, not spongier.

 

[Mad Artillery]

I usually start games on either the hardest or the second hardest setting depending on how many options are available and the genre. When I was a kid I always used to play on normal/medium because it was in the middle. I don't think my thoughts went beyond it's in the middle when I was picking those.

 

[Lucifiel]

I have nothing against it. I usually play on Normal mode, but every now and then, I found myself switching to Easy mode. It happened when I switched to a genre I was not used to. I prefer to play RPGs, strategy games, adventure or point and click games, but I found myself wanting to play some shooters, mostly for the story. Since my hand-eye coordination is really poor, I had a really hard time. So I switched to easy, until I was comfortable enough with the controls and the mechanics to return to Normal mode.

Bottom line is, I play games both to have fun and for the challenge. I don't see why one should automatically rule out the other.

 

[Madman123456]

I use easy mode whenever the developers appear to have gotten the meaning of the word "easy" wrong.
I don't want to challenge myself, i wont live long enough to reach anything that can be considered decent, so i don't have time for "hard" modes.

Another reason for which i switch to easy mode is when the game mechanics throw me out of the experience. Mass effect 2 has that happen a few times where you hit a cheap enemy that forgot his space helmet and has no personal shield with two sniper rounds and he wont die, which is rather odd.
So i'd turn the difficulty down until a headshot from a sniperrifle will kill an unshielded unarmored enemy with kill the enemy.

 

[ThatQuietGuy]

Honestly I tend to start games on hard mode given the option these days. I don't have a problem with easy mode, I've used it in the past. It's not a requirement for games though. If a game is made that demands you rise to meet it's challenge that should be ok too, as in the infamous case of Dark Souls.

 

[Broderick]

(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.

Indeed, true enough. If there is a way to add an easier difficulty setting to Dark Souls that allows it to keep it's core and not mess with multiplayer, I would fully support it. I am unsure how they would go about such a thing though; most of the game is made much easier when you start to recognize enemy attack patterns. Perhaps an easier setting would leave them open to attack for longer, aside from a damage or health increase for the player. I wonder how they would make Sen's Fortress easier?

 

[Veylon]

I don't use easy mode. But I do understand wanting to give players a chance to learn without getting their teeth kicked in for daring to press start.

I think Megaman 10 did a good job with Easy Mode: show what would be harder if you picked the next one up. There were a lot of floating 'Easy' platforms over bottomless pits and floors laden with spikes. I understand that's not necessarily an option for all games. Alternatively, restrict achievements to higher difficulties; it says "Hey! You beat this level all right, but if you stretch a bit, you can get this shiny!" It creates an excuse to go back and experiment and learn. Not everybody has been a master at genre X for ever and ever.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Dont care about easy mode. Its there for people that want to use it. If you dont want to use it, then dont chose it. It affects nobody, though some do moan that games have that mode.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I find some game's easy mode a way to train for the harder modes. Some games I'm naturally good at and some I need training wheels to get started on. A game thats super-hard from the get go may turn me off it completely especially if the controls aren't intuitive or the mechanics are a slight perspective shift from MY normal.
There's nothing wrong with an easy mode because we're here to be entertained. Sure a challenge is part of entertainment but a game that is consistently frustrating loses the challenge part and becomes stressful. Stressful gaming isn't fun, nor entertaining.

 

[Joccaren]

I have nothing against an easy mode being in ANY game, it should always be an option.
As to whether I'll use it?
Depends on what the easy mode is, and what the game is. Civilization? I don't practice often, and I try more to have fun in that than have a challenge, so I never get over the 4th difficulty level [Unless I'm playing that mode where it auto-scales the AI based on how you're doing, in which case it hits the top difficulty quickly, then rapidly drops, then rapidly rises, then rapidly drops - ect.], and most of the time I play on the second.
Any FPS, ARPG, RPG in general - Normal run through first to get a hang of the game, then max difficulty run through, which is 95% of the time a cakewalk.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Depends on the game. Generally, why not. In the case of Dark Souls, it is difficult by design. What I dislike is having to unlock difficulties like it's a substitute for actual replayability.