Played through Ori and the Blind Forest on easy and loved it.
Now I play on “normal” and it’s doable, but the character feels less able and less powerful. Like punching in a dream. Also I don’t enjoy a reduced amount of checkpoints.
Building Sim management type games. Sometimes I just want to build shit and not put out fires half as fast as they come up.
yup, same here. simcity, cities: skylines, even satisfactory im currently playing on ‘easy’.
RTS games, mostly because the AI in RTS games set to anything above Easy or Normal is literally programmed to cheat.
Like in Stellaris, the AI does not have to pay the cost to build units, so they can just instantly stack maximum forces at no cost.
I do like AoE2s recently modified AI though.
For me it’s pretty much any FPS in solo mode. I don’t enjoy the rage inducing behaviour of the NPCs that have perfect aim and can one-shot me from across the map… or that overwhelm me in a flood of mobs that double or triple the amount of ammo I can find. God mode all the way so I can enjoy the storyline and map design. I’ve played HL2 start to finish about 10 times… on god mode and loved it. If I play it standard mode… I will NEVER finish it. I don’t have the time or the twitchyness left in my reactions (I’m old) to dedicate to mastering the millisecond response times.
I did the same with Black Mesa. It’s a stunning re-imagination of the HL story. There’s ZERO chance I’d have played it to the end without “help”.
That said, I play other games in much harder modes… Civilization… Batteries not Included… Kill All Humans… and so on are played in at least “normal” mode.
MMORPGs… played as intended. No need for easy modes.
So I guess it depends a LOT on the game?
I do like most crpg games on easy. I’m playing for the story, not the combat.
I used to have the same mentality, but then I realized the choices you make for the characters didn’t really matter in “story mode”, and I mean stat choices etc not narrative. Now I play on normal or just easy.
For me it’s Minecraft, its not particularly hard on even the hardest modes. But I play the game to relax not as a challenge.
Minecraft has the wonkiest difficulty. After you pass the first three nights or so, Hard is generally easier than Easy.
When I was younger, I quit Bioshock when I ran into a Big Daddy that I just could not kill. The difficulty was on normal and I refused to change it to easy out of stubbornness. In retrospect, I think I missed a very cool gaming experience because of that.
I’m just now playing Prey (2017) on story mode, not respecting any of the enemies at all, and still having a really good time. On the flip side, if Elden Ring had the ability to adjust difficulty level, I think it would ruin the game.
To me, difficulty done right (as in Elden Ring) is like a teacher that is strict, but also very good at his job.
Risk of rain 2. It defaults to medium difficulty when you close the game. Sometimes I forget to switch it and I’m swiftly reminded of it.
If it ain’t set on DAMN I’M GOOD, it ain’t playing.
I think Hellblade shouldn’t be played on harder difficulties, because they are not harder. They just make you take longer to kill the enemies.
I started that game with the adjusting difficulty which was good because I needed some time to learn the combat. But as I got better and better the “difficulty” also increased. So by the end of the game the enemies were super spongy and just a slog to go through. Annoyed I lowered the difficulty and the game got really awesome for the climax. It felt really appropriate, especially with the direction of the story.
It’s frustrating when some game devs only increase enemy health and attack power to increase difficulty. Depending on the game, I’m usually inclined to want smarter enemies. Fortunately some games do this.
On easy mode, I should be able to one shot a dude who doesn’t use cover well. On hard mode, the same guy should be moving around and using cover and shooting straighter. He shouldn’t just be a bullet sponge but still failing to use cover well.
Also, if someone is able to take multiple shots, their ability to attack should decrease. I get that someone wants to argue that it’s possible in real life that an assailant could take five bullets before stopping, but if I shoot them in the gun arm, they shouldn’t be able to shoot straight or at all. One percent health shouldn’t involve the same threat level as 100%.
Walkabout Mini Golf is better on the easy versions of the courses when you have a large group or just want to bullshit. Hard mode gets the casuals frustrated and throws off the whole vibe. Amazing game!
