Storyline Progression Through Difficulty

[VGFreak1225]

When playing a game, would you play through again on a different difficulty if the storyline was deeper?For example, in Gunstar Super Heroes, the storyline on Easy was filled with holes and left the player confused. Completing the game on Normal would fill in those plot holes, and Hard would include enough new info to create the ideal ending.
While the story in GSH wasn't anything outstanding, it was enough to make me want to continue playing. What about you guys?

 

[teisjm]

While i get the idea, it actually sounds horrible.

If the game had a story interresting enough to follow, i would be pissed if i had to play it again right after i finished it.

Would be like reading a book, and when it ends you have to read it again but now with added pages.

I don't like to watch DVDs with commentary tracks right after watching the movie itself.

 

[Mad Maniac with axe-firing chainsaw]

The only way I can see that not being frustrating is in RPG's where you gain more experience or better weapons/armour on the harder settings simply because the enemies are tougher. That could unlock harder side quests that you simply need to be physically capable of taking on. Of course, that would only work in games where exp was limited, forcing the player to track down new confrontations and tasks to keep developing. KOTOR was an example of a game where you only had a set number of encounters to develop. (though there were exceptions, and you still had bags of time to reach level 20)

Done well, you could go from very easy being a relatively straight path through an easy game, with little side development, to a Very hard equivalent, where you need to do some of the sides just to get strong enough to progress through the storyline. Done well it could add replay value and increase immersion but pulled off poorly it would just get annoying.

 

[Cuniculus]

I haaaate this idea. Only because I always play games on the easiest setting. While this does not make me an "extreme" gamer, I'd like the option to do so without missing out on things. I play games to relax and unwind. I don't play games to get super stressed out and want to kill everyone and everything. Everyone I know has broken a controller or two when things don't exactly go their way in a game, but it's always when they are playing on hard. I don't. I stay right down there on easy, or very easy if they've got it. Games that don't actually have a selectable difficulty actually make me a bit nervous before I start playing.

 

[Scobie]

DELETED

 

[Pimppeter2]

No, I play games on Hard difficulty anyway

 

[Blunderman]

I remember older games like One Must Fall where you couldn't progress to the end unless you played on a higher difficulty setting.

Rather than forcing everyone to play on difficulty levels they know they can't handle in order to enjoy the game they bought, the Hard and Impossible settings are for those who find excitement in challenge. In good games the extra depth comes from having to learn more advanced ways of beating the game. When it comes to, say, God of War, it's really just an exercise in patience rather than skill.

 

[VGFreak1225]

I guess I should have mentioned that as a side-scrolling shooter, GSH was only about an hour or so long. If the game in question is a massive 80-hour RPG, then its terrible. But for a short game, it can really help to extend the replayability.

 

[cowbell40]

As other people have said, the story couldn't be the only thing to change. Without added content (i.e. better weapons) it would be a total pain to replay the same game just to understand the story clearer. Plus, on the developer end, it would be a real ***** to have to craft 3 separate stories and implement them in game with different missions and endings.

 

[squid5580]

I am sure this has already been done. Not the thread but the content. Although Ican't think of a name offhand I am sure there has been at least one game to see the "true end" you had to beat it on hard. Infinite Undiscovery does something similar.

 

[Citrus]

I think it's best that difficulty and story are separate.

 

[NeutralDrow]

That would seriously suck.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

It can work. I liked the way in Panzer Dragoon you could only get up to a certain point on easy mode, and then had to play on a harder difficulty to get further. Only feasible with short games though.

 

[VGFreak1225]

I guess I didn't consider a few other variables. Side-scrolling shooters tend to make me want to replay them, but GSH did that to me the most. The storyline changes were the most obvious change, but they were secondary to the gameplay. The story was just that small change from other shooters that made my desire to continue even greater than usual. Anyway, they were what got me thinking about this, and I'm glad to have cleared this up.

 

[Syntax Error]

It's all in the implementation. But personally, I prefer it being character-based. As in, whenever you start a New Game Plus, you get the same story but from a different perspective. Kinda like in Soul Nomad (you get two story paths right at the start with multiple endings for each), the first game I ever played where you can be a total asshole of a villain. How big of an asshole you ask? Well

Spoiler: Spoiler for the evil side campaign

You besiege a village of cherub people. You keep the leader of the cherub people alive, only to kill her infront of her cherub best friend (who was absent during the siege. Suffice to say, Soul Nomad is very dark, even for a NIS game.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

When playing a game, would you play through again on a different difficulty if the storyline was deeper?For example, in Gunstar Super Heroes, the storyline on Easy was filled with holes and left the player confused. Completing the game on Normal would fill in those plot holes, and Hard would include enough new info to create the ideal ending.
While the story in GSH wasn't anything outstanding, it was enough to make me want to continue playing. What about you guys?

I don't think that's a very good idea.

If the game isn't fun enough to stand up to multiple play-throughs, or polished enough to stand up to being played on higher difficulty, then not giving the player a coherent storyline on normal difficulty just reduces the quality of their experience further.

I think what may be in order is an old-fashioned difficulty curve. Actually make the game harder toward the end instead of plateauing after the first few levels.