You're Not Good Enough!

[LeonLethality]

A bit of a rant but I am really annoyed with games having hard modes but not letting you play them off the bat and making you play through the game on normal mode to unlock the hard mode (Devil May Cry, Dante's Inferno and No More Heroes are just a few games that do this) I like to challenge myself and often start a game on hard mode from the beginning but a lot of games these days do not let me even though they have a hard mode. Some games lack the replay value after I have breezed through them on normal and I lose all motivation of playing again on hard mode, overall displeased with the game.

So do you like games to have an unlockable hard mode to add replay value or do you wish they would let us play the hard mode off the bat?

 

[Andy_Panthro]

It works well for things like Diablo, where you build up your character on "normal" before they can take on the harder difficulties.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I don't mind it on games like Devil May Cry where you need to level your character first before you attempt the much harder ones.

But straight shooters like Gears of War should not have unlockable difficulty.

 

[TheFacelessOne]

It's just a gimic to add replay value to a game.

 

[Lexodus]

Unlockable is ridiculous. If I want to play on hard mode, I want to from the start, and having to go through an entire game just to unlock that challenge is going to put me off. I mean, why should I play again on a different difficulty? I've done the whole game, I've seen the whole story and (probably) collected all the secrets, so there's really not much there for me. Unless, of course, it is a fucking epic game, like one of the Fire Emblems, or has extra content, like the GRADE shop in ToS.

 

[FactualSquirrel]

I got really pissed at the force unleashed thanks to this.

You have to unlock the hardest hardest (purposeful repitition) difficulty by first unlocking the second one on the normal difficulty, then playing through that.

I like to play a game first on easy or normal, then the hardest.

 

[aPod]

It's just a gimic to add replay value to a game.

A dumb and redundant gimmick, but a gimmick no less.

They should give the player the chance to choose thier difficulty.

 

[legion431]

No, no I don't like unlockable difficulties.
Do you remember Mario, where you only got a handful of lives, there was no difficulty setting and every single thing in the game was out to kill you. So it would still be challenging to fix your mistakes but not too hard that you would rip your own hair out
These days games seem less challenging.

 

[mokes310]

It's just a gimic to add replay value to a game.

I agree with you to an extent. Where I differ is with my experiences with Mass Effect 2. I'm using an imported ME1 character on Insanity mode, and I really wish I would have used my prior ME2 character instead...I'm getting SMOKED!!!

 

[Indecizion]

RAGE i hat this too, im impatient and like to be challenged by a game so i cant stand being made to play through a too easy game in order to get to the hard stuff further more i find playing the game once through lowers how hard it will be the second time >:{

 

[Pimppeter2]

Whenever this occurs in a game that I rent, I just play on easy mode. For the luls

 

[Lullabye]

Hmm.......this is a tough one. It's kind of yes and no with me.
I mean, games that give incentive to replay the whole thing is definitely a plus. However, done wrong and it can be pretty terrible.
I rather enjoy the unlockable hard modes. However, don't make me play a game on easy first. Leave at least the normal "hard" mode option open for all at the beginning. Then you may continue on into the ridiculous modes a la DMC.
I prefer the option to change difficulty in game though, like Oblivion or Disgea.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

AS much as i'd like to have the hard modes up for choice right away i don't get too miffed at games for making them unlockable. I see the normal and easy modes as a warm-up round getting you used to the obstacles and platforms that are presented throughout the game so that when you've tackled those modes you know what's going on and can traverse the game world much more easily

 

[Galad]

OP's got a point, but sometimes there's the other side of the coin too.

I started GoW2 at hardcore, which was the highest difficulty available on a first playthrough. On the third mission I switched down to normal. On the next mission where I had to kill a gargantuan alien before it destroys "Betty" which is some 15 mins after the previous checkpoint, I failed three times and said fuck that, I'm not gonna play on easy.

And I'm already accustomed with the shooter controls on a console =\

 

[Kryzantine]

I would love to see a lvl 1 character on Diablo taking on hell difficulty monsters.