Should every game have a God Mode

[TristanBelmont]

(Real quick, I know most PC games can be modded and junk to do this already, but I'd like it to be an official thing)

A friend of mine proposed this to me, in the wake of the immense popularity of the Dark Souls series. He told me that he found the lore and gameplay really enjoyable, but couldn't get past how hard it was. Luckily, the PC community being what it is, he was able to enable a god mode and get through the game no problem, enjoying the story that he so loved and still feeling like he was on a great adventure.

So, I'm curious. Do you think every game should come equipped with an option (not a hack or console command, but and honest to glob OPTION) to become invincible and have maxed mana and stats and whatever?

I think it would be a lot of fun, and it would certainly open up old CastleVania and the Souls series and XCOM and Baldur's Gate and Fallout (and so many more) to a bunch of people.

And, to the "stop having fun guyz" people out there, YOU DON'T NEED TO USE THE OPTION IF YOU DON'T WANT

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Interesting idea. I'm in the boat that all games should have cheats to some degree. Like GoldenEye, where the cheats had to be unlocked. That way you can goof off with big heads or paintball guns after you've earned it.

Not much to say on Dark Souls. Its just not my type of game.

But a way to just enable God mode or no clip or whatever? I'm a little more shaky on that. Certainly do it, as people can always opt out of using them. But I would question the development of a game when the creators thought making it easy to bypass core game mechanics was a good idea.
Do it as a reward, not as a standard switch in the Options.

 

[drakonz]

Instead of god mode i would personaly prefer getting cheat codes back god mode naturaly could be among these. (expelialy cheats that are actualy fun and change game in one way or another. i remember spending quite a lot time with hitman 2 and gravity gun 10 years ago)

 

[Rozalia1]

No.

I like god mode as a plot power up personally and its effect would be greatly diminished if god mode was common in everything. Not to mention those playing would miss out on that story element if they had some god mode active.
Persona 3's final boss dishes out 10x overkill attacks due to its sheer power, but the hero stands through every single attack due to his will. Those with a god mode would have that plot battle diminished.

Another example though its considered a pretty crappy fight is FF10's final fight. The Fayth want to pass on so much (which is achieved by killing the final boss) that they will revive you constantly to ensure your victory.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

as long as it didn't affect the multiplayer of any game, I'd have no problem with it, it's their game, let them play it how they want to. (as mentioned, tons of pc game mods/fixes do this already, and it hasn't ruined anyone's "fun" as far as I can tell.)

 

[vledleR]

If it shut off achievements and prevented any "new game +" modes, I see no problem with that idea. I personally see no point in it, but the fact that it would be optional, there is no real reason to protest it.

It's funny you bring up Dark Souls, because the game devs wanted to put in an easy mode, not God mode, just an easy mode, and people freaked out about it, saying that having an optional easy mode would somehow devalue the games challange. Some people..

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Sure, but preferably as an endgame unlockable.
I'd prefer it more if every game had a Big Head mode.

 

[Elfgore]

Maybe? Some games, like Rozalia mentioned, can make a person miss the feel the developers want for a scene. Like a desperate last stand in a video game wouldn't feel so desperate if you're invincible... but, I also don't like telling people how to play their games. If they want to run through every game as a god, that's their business. I'm honestly kinda stuck here.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

It's not bad, but today they'd either sell it as DLC or won't put because the worst crime in all of gaming CHEATING AT ACHIEVEMENTS!!!

Couldn't you just have a script that says no achievements can be unlocked with cheats on? Isn't there already one for easy mode in most games?
Unless the achievement is bleep bloop 'You really suck at this! +10GP' for dying on easy, I'm pretty sure most games require at least medium as minimum difficulty.

But I do agree with the DLC. Anything that could be unlocked a few gens ago is now DLC.
God help us when they start selling achievements and gamer points as DLC.

 

[Erttheking]

Eh, I don't really see why. It seems kind of arbitrary. Like every game should have a level designer.

 

[TristanBelmont]

If it shut off achievements and prevented any "new game +" modes, I see no problem with that idea. I personally see no point in it, but the fact that it would be optional, there is no real reason to protest it.

It's funny you bring up Dark Souls, because the game devs wanted to put in an easy mode, not God mode, just an easy mode, and people freaked out about it, saying that having an optional easy mode would somehow devalue the games challange. Some people..

This is probably the best version of all this.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Well, I wouldn't say every game, because it just doesn't make any sense in some contexts...


But I certainly do miss cheat codes, console commands and all that neat crazy stuff you used to be able to do in a lot of games ages ago...

But no, now everything has to be locked down so tight you literally can't do anything weird to a game anymore, whether the devs put it there or not.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

No.

I like god mode as a plot power up personally and its effect would be greatly diminished if god mode was common in everything. Not to mention those playing would miss out on that story element if they had some god mode active.
Persona 3's final boss dishes out 10x overkill attacks due to its sheer power, but the hero stands through every single attack due to his will. Those with a god mode would have that plot battle diminished.

Another example though its considered a pretty crappy fight is FF10's final fight. The Fayth want to pass on so much (which is achieved by killing the final boss) that they will revive you constantly to ensure your victory.

If I was a developer I would probably not include a God mode for the reasons you stated. If I've made a game that I want to be experienced in a certain way having a God mode could mess that up.

With that said I don't see why it should matter to us non-developers. If someone wants to ruin their own experience by turning on God mode, so be it. It's on them.

 

[default]

No. Gameplay and story should be intertwined like two sides of the same coin. It's entirely missing the point of the medium if every game had a god-mode. I would reference Dark Souls as being a fucking awful contender for this idea, actually. Most of the potency of the story and atmosphere comes from the adversity and trials the player faces, struggles against and overcomes.

Watch a movie or read a book if you want to just observe a story. Games are designed to have the player take part in a world. If there is combat there needs to be fail states, or it's just pointless pressing of buttons that any amount of monkeys could do given enough time. This is what games do. And before you say that it can't hurt to just have the option to do so, in my opinion even having the option there detracts from the experience overall and flies in the face of the fucking point of the medium.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Well some games have an easy mode bordering on god mode, so I don't think it's really needed. I can see what your friend is saying though. It would open gaming up to many more people, with just an optional feature. Though maybe have it as an end game bonus and get a friend to unlock it for them or something. Having cheatcodes from square one just doesn't feel right.
Then again, sometimes the challenging gameplay lends impact to the story.

 

[RandV80]

Only if they sell it to me as $4.99 DLC!

 

[yamy]

(Real quick, I know most PC games can be modded and junk to do this already, but I'd like it to be an official thing)

A friend of mine proposed this to me, in the wake of the immense popularity of the Dark Souls series. He told me that he found the lore and gameplay really enjoyable, but couldn't get past how hard it was. Luckily, the PC community being what it is, he was able to enable a god mode and get through the game no problem, enjoying the story that he so loved and still feeling like he was on a great adventure.

So, I'm curious. Do you think every game should come equipped with an option (not a hack or console command, but and honest to glob OPTION) to become invincible and have maxed mana and stats and whatever?

I think it would be a lot of fun, and it would certainly open up old CastleVania and the Souls series and XCOM and Baldur's Gate and Fallout (and so many more) to a bunch of people.

And, to the "stop having fun guyz" people out there, YOU DON'T NEED TO USE THE OPTION IF YOU DON'T WANT

I think it depends on what game it is. For Dark Souls for example I would argue that the process of dying over and over again until you overcome your adversaries is integral to the narrative so having god-mode essentially gets in the way of the story. I'm happy your friend enjoyed it but I feel like he would have enjoyed it more had he played the game normally.

 

[FoolKiller]

It's not bad, but today they'd either sell it as DLC or won't put because the worst crime in all of gaming CHEATING AT ACHIEVEMENTS!!!

Couldn't you just have a script that says no achievements can be unlocked with cheats on? Isn't there already one for easy mode in most games?
Unless the achievement is bleep bloop 'You really suck at this! +10GP' for dying on easy, I'm pretty sure most games require at least medium as minimum difficulty.

But I do agree with the DLC. Anything that could be unlocked a few gens ago is now DLC.
God help us when they start selling achievements and gamer points as DLC.

In fact, they do. A lot of people won't buy the DLC if no achievements are attached to it. Love'em or Hate'em, achievements are here to stay. And I believe that Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry or some game actually has the die on easy achievement. But its usually worth 0 gamerscore

 

[FirstNameLastName]

It really depends on whether the developer wants to add them or not. No, they shouldn't be required to add god mode, nor would it necessarily ruin the game if they did.

And, to the "stop having fun guyz" people out there, YOU DON'T NEED TO USE THE OPTION IF YOU DON'T WANT

What was the point of asking the question if you intended on poisoning the well in the first post?