Poll: What's Your Deal With Easy Mode

[RevRaptor]

I've never seen a problem with easy mode, some people actually need it and those that don't can easily just play on hard. I don't really see how it hurts a game to have an easy option.

Usually I play on normal or hard but it really depends on the game some just flow better in easy mode and I always pick easy for rpgs. Hard mode just equals more grinding to level up, as I'm playing to experience the story it just makes sense to pick the less grindy option.

 

[Sectan]

I'll usually always start at the hardest difficulty. When it's a game that gives you a lot of options to deal with enemies it's made redundant when you can just click spam or trigger spam your way to victory. I'm not against easy modes for different players, but it does change what the game's all about.

 

[LackofCertainty]

One game that I like to bring up when talking about difficulty is Red Faction: Guerilla.

Red Faction: Guerilla was a game that fair number of reviewers suggested that people should play on easy, but when you turn it down to easy it undermined the game. It makes your character not fit into the story, because you never feel lik e you're being over-matched by an oppresive military. It removes a lot of the tension, and also eliminates the need to get creative with the destructible environment.

Why is everyone so afraid of the military if some jag-off with a hammer can kill an entire army's worth of soldiers by himself without even getting bloody?

On the other hand, when you play that game on higher difficulties, your character feels like he's outmatched. You're not some bullet sponge deity, you're a guy who's fighting the military with improvised weaponry. You start using dirty creative tactics to get every little advantage you can.

The military keeps killing you before you can save the hostages? Try driving a truck through the wall, loading up the hostages, and driving off again before the military knows what hit them.

Obviously, this doesn't hold true for every game, but it's something to keep in mind. Red Faction: Guerilla is more fun when your character is weaker, because it forces you to engage with the fun part of the game. (the destructible environment)

 

[WindKnight]

I don't as a rule use easy mode, unless I'm after an achievement with some rather insane conditions that playing in easy would, well, make less nightmarish.

As far as I'm concerned, everybody should be able to play the game at what level they feel comfortable. Challenge for those who wantit, a breeze for those who don't.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I play on easy. I don't have the time to fail missions.

 

[Sparox]

I mostly play on Normal or Hard, except for Dragon Age.. I played that on Easy.. couldn't get behind the whole strategic combat thing.. ;~;

 

[llubtoille]

I always play on easy mode, even a game like skyrim that I've sunk over 500hrs into, I'll still set it to easy,
I'm in it to be entertained and have fun, challenges simply don't interest me.

I actually preferred mass effect 1 over mass effect two in part for this reason,
I found myself dying all too often on ME2 'casual' mode to be enjoyable,
whereas while ME1 combat may arguably be more dull (as though cover shooting is 'fun'), the fights were a breeze and over quick enough, which allowed me to get on with the story faster.

 

[Saelune]

Its all about your goals. Having fun is what matters. Though harder difficulties mean greater bragging rights, but beating a game on easy still means you beat it. I default to normal, but there have been exceptions. I played Dragon Age on easy, since I found the combat tedious. Had way more fun on easy.

 

[kickyourass]

Well the way I see it, easy difficulties aren't for you or me, they're meant as a way to give gamers who are new, less experienced or just not very skilled, a way into the game so they can enjoy it as well.
You may not find Easy mode very interesting but for for someone else who's struggling with the game the option to go into "Impossible to lose if you have two working hands" mode can be a chance for them to actually gauge whether or not they like or a chance to actually learn how to play the game cause now they're not dying every 2 seconds.

 

[FinalHeart95]

Depends. I suck at fighters, so playing on easy IS a challenge for me.

 

[Skops]

Honestly, if a game like Dark Souls gets an easy mode, I hope they take the Mega Man 10 approach where it's almost insulting.

 

[WaysideMaze]

I usually go for normal, but sometimes I just want the story, so I'll pop it into easy.

Sometimes I'm just bad at a game, so I'll drop the difficulty.

 

[novem]

I don?t understand the appeal of playing on hard. I want to experience the world and see all the unique content/story and characters. If playing on easy allows me to do that with less repetition and tedium then all the better. The only exception to that is if lowering the difficulty makes the AI incompetent.

 

[Lilani]

I played Bioshock on easy mode because I found the controls to be very clunky and annoying, and I just wanted to see the story through.

So yeah, I think it's a great option to have. I really don't understand the people who disapprove of it even existing as an option. If you don't like easy mode, then don't play it on easy mode. Some people complain it's against the "creator's vision," but like with any other medium of art it sort of takes on a life of its own when it reaches the viewer's hands. Whenever I'm working on projects on my computer, I like to keep a musical like Phantom of the Opera or a Disney movie going in the background. These were meant to be watched, and there is a lot you miss by not watching, but I like musicals because they're longer than movies and there's a lot of enjoyment to be found in listening to all the music. It isn't how the creators intended for their works to be enjoyed, but it's how I choose to enjoy them, and the tools to make it happen are at my disposal. Just as easy mode is at a player's disposal.

 

[reblock13]

Easy mode and I are too well acquainted, Sadly. I usually start a game and underestimate how fast i'll catch on or how difficult it will actually be to learn to play so i begin on a naturally lower difficulty. Then i entirely forget that there is a difficulty setting and end up playing the game through and realizing that my achievement is quite minimal. That said though, most games i find myself playing now seem too easy, just picked up Fallout: NV on the steam sale and have played a decent amount on hard and with hardcore on to ramp it up a bit. I expected to be consistently using the quicksave and having to be very strategic with every encounter and rationing supplies. Needless to say i was disappointed.

 

[Creator002]

I used to use easy a lot because I was a big sook and wanted the story as fast as possible, but in the last year or so, I've been starting on medium. With Fallout: New Vegas and Skyrim, I generally can't play on anything other than hard or very hard due to companion mods. I've done Saints Row IV twice on casual. I should move it up a bit.

 

[tzimize]

-snippety-

Depends on the game OP. I got the platinum god achiev in binding of isaac. Not and easy feat, or game. I enjoyed the difficulty of it.

I recently started playing Dragon Commander. I play on casual. Why? The actual action and fighting is dull/uninteresting to me. I just want it over with so I can deal with more political intrigue :>

 

[GiantRaven]

I'm not interested in the 'challenge' of games (also I tend to suck at most games), so the easy, or 'casual' mode is pretty much my go-to choice.

edit: Except for Stalker. Playing that on anything other than the most challenging difficulty available is just plain blasphemous.

 

[Thr33X]

I used to use easy a lot because I was a big sook and wanted the story as fast as possible, but in the last year or so, I've been starting on medium. With Fallout: New Vegas and Skyrim, I generally can't play on anything other than hard or very hard due to companion mods. I've done Saints Row IV twice on casual. I should move it up a bit.

SRIV is a whole other animal on Hardcore difficulty. It really makes you think twice about causing random chaos, even if you've unlocked all the perks and powers.

 

[BarkBarker]

I say enjoy the experience before the challenge, comfortable in the controls? NOW go beyond easy mode, the fact that most games are shit at scaling difficulty into a shitstorm of repeating what I normally do but for 3 times as long at twice the risk is really fucking pointless, I want to experience the world and it's people, it's mechanics and the designers creativity, if the game is being a prick, easy mode will usually allow me to ignore it, the fact is this: AT THE HIGHEST STRESS DO CRACKS SHOW, a game with a minor annoyance on easy mode is the fucking stupidest shit that keeps fucking killing me on harder modes, I go easy to test the waters so to speak, if you jump straight in at the hardest mode you aren't trying to enjoy the game.