Are Games Crippled By Easy Modes?
Mar. 2, 2014Are Games Crippled By Easy Modes?
When you start up some games for the first time you have a very important decision to make (once you’ve passed the loading screens and company logos). What difficulty to play on? Take it easy and make your way through the story? Or play it on hard to truly challenge yourself?
A rose by any other difficulty would smell as sweet?
Rayman games are known, by the few people who play them, for their difficult platforming. Many platformers allow you to jump at various heights depending on how long you hold the button down, but Rayman is one of the games that will send you to the game over screen if you use your high jumps too frequently.For a long time, in games, it has been a common principle that there needs to be obstacles for the player to overcome. By learning the rules of a game and honing their abilities, players can surpass any challenge.But what if there is no challenge?
The original Final Fantasy XIII, which I wish was the last story of its saga, was the worst game I think I’ve ever played in my entire life. And I’ve played Barbie Super Model for the Super Nintendo.In an attempt to make the game more accessible to new gamers, Square Enix cut out practically everything that makes a RPG a RPG. There are essentially no NPCs to talk to in the game, the bulk of exploration takes place in narrow hall ways, and each character only has three stats. The only thing the game has going for it is that its probably the most aesthetically pleasant game on the PlayStation 3. The lack of challenge and depth left me completely appalled and keeps me hesitant from trying newer titles in the Final Fantasy franchise.
There are games without challenge that I find myself able to enjoy. Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing are both games that I enjoy even though I don’t have to dodge bullet fire.These games do a wonderful job at presenting unique themes, introducing interesting characters, and placing the player in a role that generally can’t be found in other games. In Animal Crossing I found myself really enjoying coming across the random villagers that made up my neighbors. These creatures all have their own odd behaviors and choice of words.I could tell the game had a powerful hold over me when one of my favorite neighbors had moved away to a friend’s town. I was so sad to see her go, but as an awesome last gesture she had sent me a letter along with a piece of furniture. That piece of furniture just so happened to complete the set I was going for. I couldn’t of asked for a better memento to remember my virtual friend.
Master Of Your Own Destiny
The white tanooki suit in Super Mario 3D World seems to be generating some distaste amongst ‘retro’ gamers. For those of you who don’t know, the white tanooki suit is an item that appears after dying multiple times in a row within the same level. The item makes you invincible from enemies and spikes that would normally knock you out. The complaint I see the most is that people who beat levels using the white tanooki suit didn’t ‘earn’ their victory. I honestly look at this as a very out dated line of thinking.Back in the NES days there were a lot of very difficult games. Not everyone wants to spend hours upon hours learning the exact positioning and timing required for intense platforming moments. In today’s age of gaming, developers try their best to make their games as accessible as possible so players of any skill level can have fun.A very young player might get frustrated with a particular difficult challenge and the white tanooki suit is there to assist him. A more patient player who finds themselves failing a few too many times will also see the white tanooki suit appear, but by no means is the item mandatory. If you prefer the challenge and want to learn from your mistakes you can ignore the power-up and focus on the problems ahead. It’s simply a choice for you to make.
It’s not always apparent to most players, but ignoring certain items is a great way to ramp up the difficulty if it fits your fancy. I’ve yet to try a ‘No Mushroom’ run of a Mario game, but I have tried the ‘Three Heart Challenge’ in Zelda and ‘Minimum Level’ boss fights in Kingdom Hearts II. By keeping my health low in one game and my experience down in another, I’m able to turn simple hindrances into nightmare inducing spawns of true evil.Player created challenges like these really require you to learn the ins and outs of the mechanics of the game. A single missed dodge or mistimed attack can be your last. This maybe exactly what you’re looking for if you feel you need more challenge from your games.
Pick Your Poison
Now some developers literally have you choose between modes of difficulty. Far too few games actually change the game in meaningful ways when you choose a difficulty setting. More times then not the game merely alters a few values such as damage and health.I really enjoyed playing Tomb Raider with my partner in love and crime. When ever she was silly enough to put the controller down I’d steal it for myself and shoot some arrows through some unsuspecting hats. I eventually decided to give the game a go by my lonesome on the hard difficulty. It took me quite some time to figure out what the changes were. I was really hoping for end game enemies and attack patterns to turn up early alongside new threats. Much to my dismay the only differences I could note were my opponents dealt more damage and had more health.Having already played the game a bit I was more then accustomed to dodging Molotov cocktails and enemy projectiles. Increasing the damage of these attacks literally has no effect on me since the attacks are unable to land. I’m no Robin Hood but I was having no problem aiming for instant kills with my bow and arrow. Increased health, or not, a killing blow is a killing blow. Even on hard mode action scenes felt too easy and had become repetitive.
Then we have the beautiful game Catherine. This game has you climbing up a tower of blocks as it slowly collapses. You have to utilize several block pushing/pulling techniques in order to ascend. Trick blocks and annoying fellow climbers will slow you down as the tower seems to collapse that much faster.If puzzles aren’t your strong suit I heavily suggest playing it on easy. This game is definitely one of the more challenging ones made now a days. Rather then just changing the amount of time you have to climb the block towers, the difficulty settings actually have their own puzzles. The techniques you have to employ in order to rise from one level to the next change with each difficulty setting.I really wish more games had differing content between modes. Not that I’d cheat on Catherine to be with them. That would be wrong.
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Venks
Nice piece and good exposition, although I disagree with the premise. Whilst I enjoy games that are in themselves just for “relaxing” such as the Elder Scrolls series, and have nothing against those who chose to simply finish Devil May Cry on “easy” and call it a day… I think our Dark Souls community here is a testament to how much developer imposed vision and limitations can make the player truly dedicate to a game and take it to the next level. I like that the game gives me no option except learning.
Wow. I’m in the process of making an article on how Accessibility affects game design, and it seems that these articles go hand in hand. Only i’m completely against the idea of having a difficulty setting, not that I say that in the article, I just believe that we handle difficulty wrong. I feel like DS2’s difficulty management is a step in the right direction.Great article. I’d advise those who enjoyed this read mine that’s coming up, as they deal with the same ideas, but that would be self-advertisement, so i’ll refrain.
Seriously though, stellar article.
Basically, I understand that the magical Tanooki suit, or Super Guide, as it was called in New. Super Mario Bros., is just there to help and you in no way need to use it, but just it being there is tempting. The developers created this difficulty level, and adding this mechanic is almost as if they’re taking back that difficulty they set in place. “Oops, sorry, my bad. Didn’t realize you didn’t want to challenge yourself.” They’re casualizing the game a little too hard, in my opinion.The first New Bros. was awesome. It lived up to the old one, and yeah, it was more casual than the original, duh. We’re talking Nintendo here. But then the Wii one came out, then a second DS, then the Wii U, then DLC, then blah blah blah, they were mass produced like the Guitar heros before it. I’ver played the Wii U one, and I beat the game in a day. Played with friends, beat in a weekend. It’s just ridiculously easy. It doesn’t live up to the Super Mario Bros. name anymore, but the New Bros. name.So that’s my opinion on new bros. Sorry for ranting, or if my opinion differs from yours.
@Fexelea I completely understand. Dark Souls is a completely different game than most. I actually just bought it today so I can try my hand at it. I’ve never played it before, but I do enjoy difficult games. Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts(SNES) was one of my favorite games as a child simply because of how everything in the game killed you so effortlessly. The only way to beat the game is with a lot of patience and experimentation.
Not apologizing. Like you said, everyone has their own opinions, and there’s mine. Sorry if I stepped on your opinion toes.
Great read. I like getting into the more philosophical aspects of gaming and difficulty definitely has a psychological impact on how gamers react to and approach games. I’ll check back in with more thoughts when I get a chance to write at length.
I’d like to say the answer is no to the question of games being crippled by easy modes.
games are being crippled by developers who make something either too hard or too easy without catering for everyone in the process, or at least trying to cater for everyone.
Quantic Dream attempt to cater for everyone but somehow the games are easy regardless.
The Mario suit thing. You have the option to not use it. If someone else beat the game that way why should anyone else care?
Does anyone care that I’ve beaten Unreal Tournament 3 on Insane? Most likely not and I don’t personally care either. Yet when I did it on easy people were quick to point that out and try to make a point.
The issue with the suit thing in Mario that I see is that people seem to care about what others do far too easily these days, to the point where they would happily sacrifice any fun the others may have just to get a game harder for everyone, which will not appeal to mass market.
The old. I enjoy a challenge.. Yeah I used to say that too. Until I met my match. It ended up being that while I can happily take quite a few weeks navigating something and eventually beating a game. I couldn’t take months of constantly losing. At the first level.
However that said, lets take a look at the game I’m actually talking about. Resident Evil: Revelations. Normal mode. Yeah. It’s not too hard. followed by hard which isn’t that hard either, and then you have infernal which is absolutely impossible for me. It’s not a challenge if you can’t even get past the first level.
I’ve said this somewhere before, there are games that are hard and fair. Mega Man, Ghosts and Goblins and so on. But then you have games that are hugely unfair. Revelations, any CoD title (While you can complete a CoD game infinite spawning enemies isn’t making the game harder exactly, it’s just throwing more crap at you).
So to put it in simple terms. I don’t actually have a problem with Revelations being that hard on infernal. I do have a problem with them limiting trophies from that mode. It’s like the game is telling me I suck at it. I don’t like being taunted by a video game company after I bought their product.
Still a good game though. Shame I want to punch the lead director in the face.
Extremely good points. I hate CoD games, and games of the like because they have a habit of making me feel like an idiot. Repeatedly dying to the same COMMON PLACE ENEMIES over and over isn’t fun, and bringing my health to a stupidly low level so that these suddenly OP enemies can kill me in one strike isn’t fun.Games that make me feel like I’m a terrible gamer, with nothing to actually back up why i’m terrible, aren’t fun to me. In Dark Souls, it’s your fault, and you can always explain why you failed.You, my friend, deserve medals.
Ugh double post.. Also the ending conclusion was that developers are lazy and not doing hard and easy modes correctly.
I hate Resident Evil 6… But that is how it’s done properly. Bad video game though.
I’m just sad the tanuki(?) Suit didn’t also give you a giant scrotum to beat your opponents to death with.
We all are
I would like to point out your opinions on FFXIII while you are correct that a lot of the rpg was taken out having a system with just three stats does not affect difficulty.The game provides a lot of challenges even with it’s supposedly simplistic nature. Working out buffs and debuffs weakness and strength making sure your AI partners survive some of the massive hits that bosses do give. It’s hardly Press X to win and your article kinda doesn’t go into more detail than that. Very interested in your response to this as i would like to know how far you got into the game to report as you have in your article.
True. Easily controlled games or games with supposedly easy concept can be extremely hard. A game called “The Impossible Game” or something along those lines, is simply a game where you control a blue square, trying to grab yellow dots while avoiding red circles. Extremely, INFURIATINGLY hard game. Simply controls or concepts does not translate to difficulty. Oftentimes, you can see it be the opposite.Super meat boy, Jump and slide on walls.Call of Duty, shoot, climb, jump, throw grenades, reload, et cetera.Which do you consider harder? I mean, in you’ve played them both.
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