/videogames/ - Vidya Game Lounge

I just play normal on everything since I don't really trust developers to make hard modes that don't suck.

A good "hard mode" should add more variety to the game, through enemy behavior, improved AI or enemy variety. A shit hard mode just increases the stats of everything except for you, or removes save points to force you to complete a normally easy game without dying once. That kind of limitation is just tedious and rewards rote memorization over skill, having to replay the first few levels of the game every time you die.


I always play hard mode first on platinum games though, since normal is usually too easy for me.

Hard on PC and Easy/Normal on consoles because shit controls.

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>Easy mode?! Really?
>How gross!
>Only elementary schoolers have an excuse to play on easy mode, right?
>Kyaahahahaha

>>320
that's the original "virgin" version

>>321
I didn't notice until it was too late. shit.

Tbh I hate difficulty levels most of the time because I can't actually tell how hard a game is just by looking at the difficulty selection. This means I'm usually playing in a difficulty level that's too easy or too hard.

>>325
some games let you change your difficulty level between missions.

The worst is when the difficulty automatically changes depending on how many times you died. It's an incredibly frustrating and patronizing to have the glory of winning something diminished by the fact that it was on easy mode.

It depends. If it's like this:
>Easy
>Normal
>Hard
I pick Normal. If it's:
>Very Easy
>Easy
>Normal
>Hard
>Extreme
I pick Hard.
I want my challenge, but also want to see if the devs were capable of properly balancing their games.

>>329
I do much the same.

>>328
I like how Kid Icarus 3ds did it. When you die, it lowers the difficulty, but it allows you to change back or change to an even higher difficulty to finish the mission. This motivated to do even better at the game. I wasn't gonna sit by while the game told me I was too shit at the game to finish at a high difficulty.

Hard every time.
Easy modo is for children.
Normal is for normies who don't know shit about video games.




Thank god you had to play through God Hand on normal to unlock hard. That shit would've been the end of me.

I normally begin with Normal for the first run, to get a feel of the game. Then I'll bump it up to Hard for my second playthrough, like I'm doing for MGR currently.

>>360
MGR? do you mean MGS?

MGS ie one of the games I play on hard, pure stealth (no alarms, no kills, trying not to put anyone to sleep), right from the start

I always go for normal mode first and if the game was enjoyable I play hard mode.

unless the hard mode is just 2x enemy health and damage, in which case I promptly uninstall.

>>363

No, I mean MGR. The Platinum-made hack n' slash spectacle fighter.

The only MGS i ever played was Peacewalker. Which I've still yet to finish. It's fun. I just haven't finished it all the way through yet.

That being said, I'm excited for MGS5: PP. Since it's chronologically the first MGS game, and will be the first one i actually buy, as I just downloaded & emulated PW.

>>387
I thought MGSV took place after 3?

>>388

I just read the wiki. I'm horribly mistaken. MGSV is the middle, chronologically. I goofed.

Welp. Time to drown myself in the wiki up to MGSV.

For what it's worth, I know the story of the first MGS inside and out. The PSX one i mean, not the FIRST first one.

>>389
>not playing MGS3 as soon as possible
jesus christ go do that first before reading the wiki. Don't spoil yourself.

>>390
I've already played some of Peacewalker, so I know some of the MGS3 spoilers already. I'm gonna pick up the 3DS one as soon as I can though.

I mostly just play games on normal.
I've had to many run in with games with the idea that
"hard" = bullet sponges

Although i did play Aliens Isolation on hard because that game was just to simple on any other difficulty.

>>398
Pretty much the approach I take.

I've been playing a lot of Samurai Warriors lately, but the "two-hit kill/paper weapon" shit that goes in in the highest difficulties just aren't worth it.

I prefer harder difficulties because it usually ends up being not hard anyway.
However
>>398
Yes it's shit when it's just bullet sponges. Just makes things slower and more boring.

>>398
OMFG the goddamned Ultimate Vault Hunter mode in Borderlands 2, how much I hate it

I am guilty of the most retarded shit: Casual/recentAAA/etc gets set to hard if given the opportunity and games with actual care for difficulty I play on normal or Ultra Violence (4th difficulty level) if there are 6 options.

This is what made me hate Max Payne 3 with a burning passion (instead of a moderate one) and actually appreciate if a recent game has nice difficulty. I sweated bullets while playing Alan Wake.

I usually start out with the normal difficulty, or if I know what I'm getting into I pick the 2nd hardest. For example, when I started Just Cause 2 I knew what I was going to be playing. It turned out fine, finished at that difficulty, and played again at the hardest difficulty. In my third playthrough I did it on normal, to finish it as fast as possible, which was fun.
God Hand did difficulty well in that it changed during gameplay. The game is still hard on level 1 but it makes sure you don't get completely assblasted, but will get harder the better you get.

>>414
Well there's more than just that wrong with BL2

>>483
>Alan Wake
I cannot begin to express how much I love that game.
Had a really balanced difference in difficulty, as well as good reward for playing a harder mode

I always go for the difficulty that is listed as or the equivalent of hard on the first playthrough. For example, out of 5 difficulties, I would pick the 4th difficulty and crank it up later depending on my first impressions of the game. For reference, I just stayed on Hard the entirety of my first time with YS: OiF.

I go with default on first playthrough. I don't trust the developers to actually put effort into hard modes and not just make them lazy clusterfucks of artificial difficulty.

>>329
For
>Easy
>Normal
>Hard
I do hard, because games with 3 settings are usually manageable on any difficulty for a first playthrough.

For
>Very Easy
>Easy
>Normal
>Hard
>Extreme
I do hard, because extreme/lunatic/nightmare difficulties are usually either total bullshit, or practically require you to have beaten the game on an easier difficulty to understand everything first.

I played Ys Celceta on Hard the first time around. Ys 7 hardened me up beforehand so I knew what I was getting into.

It still amazes me how bosses actually get new moves instead of only a stat increase in this game depending on your difficulty setting.

hard, go down to normal if it just makes the enemies sponges.

I've always had a thing for the second most difficult setting of a game. Usually, for me anyway, the hardest seems almost gimmicky difficulty wise and normal is too easy considering I'm probably smarter than the AI.

It depends on the game and how well I know the genre. If it's something like an RTS I'm more willing to play on hard compared to an action game like DMC or an FPS, where I'd probably play on normal.
Though I confess I did pick Easy for one console FPS because I cannot into console FPS. I did only play a little so restarting shouldn't be too much of a pain.

Other people have said it but it does depend on how the challenge is made harder, if it's sponges I'd rather not, but if enemy attacks change or they take routes/strategies where it's harder then that's always more fun.

The worst is when you need to play on lower difficulties to unlock the harder ones because I usually find the games that do this are the ones where the starting difficulty is way too easy.

I liked the way the earlier Silent Hill games did it with separate difficulties for the puzzles and the fighting.

>>328
This as well. If I'm struggling with a boss or a level, I want to pass it, not get knocked down a level. Though 'you unlocked Easy Mode' is always funny, it should be optional.

>>401
It's just as bad in DW. It partly works out since the enemies are faster in areas you aren't so you're in a trickier situation compared to easier levels, but you really need to cheese fights to get through them. Second highest difficulty has a good balance for the most part imo.

>>497
>God Hand did difficulty well in that it changed during gameplay.
Definitely. Rewarding good playing by making it harder works well.

>>310
If a choice between normal/hard, I'll go normal until I get the hang of it. (Assuming it's a roguelike)

If it's a long game, it's a tossup between normal and hard, because I'll learn as I go along. I think I tend towards hard.

If it's baby/easy/normal/hard/insane, I'll go hard.

Sponges are lame. No two ways about it. If I'm getting bored while fighting, or wondering if I'm doing damage at all, the game is balanced incorrectly.

On the other hand, I'm more tolerant towards ramping up the lethality of enemies. If the 'hero' dies as easily as a mook, it means that when he succeeds, it's because I fucking rock, not because I had higher stats than everyone else and could just out-sponge them.