XCOM Patch Making Easy Mode Easier

[BreakfastMan]

Now that people are complaining about thegame being hard, it just reinforces 2k's mentality that even remotely challenging games "scare" gamers away.

WHAT PEOPLE!?!?! Every single damn review has praised the difficulty. Every single damn post I have seen on these (and other) forums about the game has praised the difficulty. The only changes being made to the game are being made to the easy mode, not normal (which would be just as easy to change as easy, so there must be a reason they are not changing that as well). You would think that just might be something that 2K freaking notices! God damn, I feel like I am repeating myself over and over here.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Now that people are complaining about thegame being hard, it just reinforces 2k's mentality that even remotely challenging games "scare" gamers away.

WHAT PEOPLE!?!?! Every single damn review has praised the difficulty. Every single damn post I have seen on these (and other) forums about the game has praised the difficulty. The only changes being made to the game are being made to the easy mode, not normal (which would be just as easy to change as easy, so there must be a reason they are not changing that as well). You would think that just might be something that 2K freaking notices! God damn, I feel like I am repeating myself over and over here.

They received feedback to make easy mode easier.

Notice how the feedback was not to make normal or classic or impossible mode easier, just easy mode. That should tell you a lot. Devs typically are not in the business of removing things that many people say they like.

It must be a sizable chunk since 2K took the time out of their day to address this.

A single day for one guy, maybe.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Now that people are complaining about thegame being hard, it just reinforces 2k's mentality that even remotely challenging games "scare" gamers away.

WHAT PEOPLE!?!?! Every single damn review has praised the difficulty. Every single damn post I have seen on these (and other) forums about the game has praised the difficulty. The only changes being made to the game are being made to the easy mode, not normal (which would be just as easy to change as easy, so there must be a reason they are not changing that as well). You would think that just might be something that 2K freaking notices! God damn, I feel like I am repeating myself over and over here.

They received feedback to make easy mode easier.

Notice how the feedback was not to make normal or class or impossible mode easier, just easy mode. That should tell you a lot.

It must be a sizable chunk since 2K took the time out of their day to address this.

A sizable chunk out of a single day for one guy, maybe.

Easy mode is the barrier of entry for a game.

They wont touch much of the original game since that takes money out of 2K's pocket.

They WILL most likely apply this incident to future games, since they will keep this barrier of entry thing in mind.

I have said this 3 times now.

So what, they will make easy difficulty easier in future games? Oh, the horror, whatever shall we do.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Now that people are complaining about thegame being hard, it just reinforces 2k's mentality that even remotely challenging games "scare" gamers away.

WHAT PEOPLE!?!?! Every single damn review has praised the difficulty. Every single damn post I have seen on these (and other) forums about the game has praised the difficulty. The only changes being made to the game are being made to the easy mode, not normal (which would be just as easy to change as easy, so there must be a reason they are not changing that as well). You would think that just might be something that 2K freaking notices! God damn, I feel like I am repeating myself over and over here.

They received feedback to make easy mode easier.

Notice how the feedback was not to make normal or class or impossible mode easier, just easy mode. That should tell you a lot.

It must be a sizable chunk since 2K took the time out of their day to address this.

A sizable chunk out of a single day for one guy, maybe.

Easy mode is the barrier of entry for a game.

They wont touch much of the original game since that takes money out of 2K's pocket.

They WILL most likely apply this incident to future games, since they will keep this barrier of entry thing in mind.

I have said this 3 times now.

So what, they will make easy difficulty easier in future games? Oh, the horror, whatever shall we do.

The easy difficulty is a barrier of entry. They cannot make normal much harder, since difficulty is a scale.

A lower barrier of entry means everything will be designed for a low entry point. They will be pulling their heavier punches.

Why? Why would they possibly want to make the game easier when nearly all of the feedback has complimented them on how hard the game is? It makes no sense, from a business standpoint or a design standpoint. That is why this is a slippery slope fallacy: you are assuming that one necessarily follows the other, when that is not the case. Yes, they will keep the lower barrier of entry in mind for future titles, but do you know what else they will keep in mind? How much so many liked how difficult the game was. Games are not designed for the lowest possible entry point. They are designed for the largest base. And the largest base is the one that likes the difficulty.

 

[deathninja]

It's not like they're altering classic or impossible, so those of us who cut our teeth on UFO defence years ago can still scream at the monitor if we want.

On the other hand, it lowers the barrier to entry fro strategy newbies (I can imagine there's a fair few on consoles). That way the neophytes can build up to the harder modes if they want, and the grognards are unaffected.

tl;dr - Nothing to see here people, move along.

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

I'm currently playing through XCOM on normal, and having an enjoyable, if slightly difficult, time. It's not a style of game I'm used to, so there are moments when I make mistakes that I'm sure a lot of people would classify as 'rookie mistakes,' but I'm still enjoying it.

That said, I do understand why some people would play on Easy mode. And, not to be 'that guy' or anything, but aren't a few of you sort of missing the point? Like, saying they should have just added a 'n00b' difficulty, or saying that some people 'are actually playing XCOM like it's The Sims 3: Aliens and Guns Edition' is being really harsh. Maybe some people would like to experience the game once without being crushed by the challenge. I know that once I got the hang of Normal mode, I abandoned a game to jump to Classic mode, and promptly got my ass kicked, so I reloaded my Normal game to get an even better fix on the game. I'm sure there are people that would just like to try the game without worrying overmuch about being kicked in the teeth by it, and I'm sure a lot of those people, after beating it on Easy, will try it again on a harder difficulty.

Calling people out for wanting it a little bit easier just seems a bit immature, in my opinion. It's not like there's anything in the game forcing you to play it that way. It's just an option in the game that you could totally ignore if you wanted, like changing the language setting, or choosing whether or not to have subtitles on: it might add something to someone else's experience, but having it there isn't taking away from yours.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

I'm currently playing through XCOM on normal, and having an enjoyable, if slightly difficult, time. It's not a style of game I'm used to, so there are moments when I make mistakes that I'm sure a lot of people would classify as 'rookie mistakes,' but I'm still enjoying it.

That said, I do understand why some people would play on Easy mode. And, not to be 'that guy' or anything, but aren't a few of you sort of missing the point? Like, saying they should have just added a 'n00b' difficulty, or saying that some people 'are actually playing XCOM like it's The Sims 3: Aliens and Guns Edition' is being really harsh. Maybe some people would like to experience the game once without being crushed by the challenge. I know that once I got the hang of Normal mode, I abandoned a game to jump to Classic mode, and promptly got my ass kicked, so I reloaded my Normal game to get an even better fix on the game. I'm sure there are people that would just like to try the game without worrying overmuch about being kicked in the teeth by it, and I'm sure a lot of those people, after beating it on Easy, will try it again on a harder difficulty.

Calling people out for wanting it a little bit easier just seems a bit immature, in my opinion. It's not like there's anything in the game forcing you to play it that way. It's just an option in the game that you could totally ignore if you wanted, like changing the language setting, or choosing whether or not to have subtitles on: it might add something to someone else's experience, but having it there isn't taking away from yours.

The problem there is that people who are comfortable with the present easy mode will now be orphaned. They can either hike up the difficulty or play something too easy for them. And while I've no direct evidence of this, I'd be willing to bet that that group is substantially larger than the group of people that find easy too hard.

So yeah, just making a new difficulty mode might've been the best idea...

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

The problem there is that people who are comfortable with the present easy mode will now be orphaned. They can either hike up the difficulty or play something too easy for them. And while I've no direct evidence of this, I'd be willing to bet that that group is substantially larger than the group of people that find easy too hard.

So yeah, just making a new difficulty mode might've been the best idea...

I could agree with that, but the thing is, I'm not seeing anyone saying that they're comfortable with easy and don't want it changed. I didn't read every comment, but the ones I did read are just complaining that there's an easy mode in the first place, which is the wrong attitude to take, I think.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Why? Why would they possibly want to make the game easier when nearly all of the feedback has complimented them on how hard the game is?

That is a good question. You should ask them since they have done this already.

We are talking about making easy mode easier, not the entire game easier (unless, for some reason, you count fixing bugs as making the game easier). There is a mighty big difference.

 

[malkavianmadman]

I will admit the first time I played XCOM I did so on easy. I usually do this however, to learn how to play the game. I don't think they need to make it any damn easier though. I mean I completed the game with no deaths on my first play through and that just seemed weird.

 

[BreakfastMan]

We are talking about making easy mode easier, not the entire game easier (unless, for some reason, you count fixing bugs as making the game easier). There is a mighty big difference.

He is mentioning the possibility of the entire game being dumbed down if the publisher perceives the gamer population to be comprised of those too stupid to eat. They may do this in order to "broaden the appeal".

I don't understand why you are so totally dismissive of this possibility.

The reason I am dismissive of this possibility is that the publisher would have to be freaking blind in order to not get that most of the people who have played the game like the difficulty. Lowering the barrier of entry does not mean lowering the challenge ceiling. It might be different if the majority of people were complaining that the game is too hard, but that is obviously not the case. And since devs and pubs are not in the business of removing things from games that most customers have expressively stated they like, the notion that they would remove something that most people like is absurd.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

The problem there is that people who are comfortable with the present easy mode will now be orphaned. They can either hike up the difficulty or play something too easy for them. And while I've no direct evidence of this, I'd be willing to bet that that group is substantially larger than the group of people that find easy too hard.

So yeah, just making a new difficulty mode might've been the best idea...

I could agree with that, but the thing is, I'm not seeing anyone saying that they're comfortable with easy and don't want it changed. I didn't read every comment, but the ones I did read are just complaining that there's an easy mode in the first place, which is the wrong attitude to take, I think.

Eh. It's mostly, "Wait, what the fuck?" comments, but there're a few here and there.

I don't think there are many people who play Xcom on easy in the first place, so you can't expect 'em to be the majority of comments...

 

[BreakfastMan]

The reason I am dismissive of this possibility is that the publisher would have to be freaking blind in order to not get that most of the people who have played the game like the difficulty... they would remove something that most people like is absurd.

Yes. There has never been a case where this has happened with a franchise. Ever. Not even with recent titles. No possibility of this occurring. Publishers have never made a misstep.

I never said publishers don't make mistakes. But to make a mistake so damn obvious and so damn stupid? That, I doubt they would do.

You know what the publishers see gamers as? Asshats who will pay 10 dollars for skins, 20 dollars for terrible expansions, 60 dollars a rehash of a title every year, 60 dollars for a game that is allowed to exist only for either a studio brand name or established IP, and those who are incapable of winning a firefight WHEN INVINCIBLE. INVINCIBLE.

This really isn't relevant to anything I have said.

They most certainly DO NOT think that gamers, as a whole, are capable of comprehending subtlety, depth, or doing anything besides following the quest marker.

The latest XCOM is incredibly shallow compared to the original, but it is WAY ahead of modern military shooter #113nx5-6. That is where we are: A game that is essentially a mod of Thief Deadly Shadows and a stripped down relaunch of a strategic squad combat game are the gems of the year.

Good job insulting people who like things you don't like. Really makes me want to pay attention to your opinions. Also, this still isn't relevant.

 

[bossfight1]

To be honest the first Terror mission kept me from progressing any further in the game, mainly because of those zombie making alien things.