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Thread: What Do You Do When A Game Is Too Easy?

  1. #16
    Skyblade's Avatar
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    I'm actually with those who say just tacking on absurd stats to enemies and nerfing your own isn't real difficulty. You're attempting a patch fix for something that is fundamentally broken. It's like Lunatic+ difficulty on Fire Emblem Awakening. It's not true difficulty, because your survival in that mode depends a lot on how the RNG settles in your favor.

    True difficulty in an RPG shows up in games like Shin Megami Tensei and Bravely Default. It's about bosses that force you to approach with tactics and planning, not brute force stats. You can grind stats forever. They may help you live longer. But they won't win the fight for you.


    That said, if a game is too easy, I don't really mind. I rarely play games just for the gameplay. If I'm not enjoying the rest of it, the difficulty won't matter. If I am, I won't care how easy it is. I can just ignore easy combat sections, after all.

  2. #17
    *permanent smite* Spuuky's Avatar
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    For any game that you think is "real" difficulty, it could almost certainly become easy if you just lowered the enemy stats and raised your own. How is that different than raising the enemy stats and lowering yours? The point is to make the stats sufficiently in-the-enemy-favor that you have to try specific well-executed or unusual strategies.

  3. #18

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    I get what he's saying. But it's hard to describe. I do know Bethesda has been guilty of that tactic for some time. If you try to play through Oblivion for instance, with the difficulty slider all the way up, it's extremely likely you'll get stuck at some point and not be able to progress in certain quest lines. Namely the one where you face off against 2 minutaurs who can regenerate health faster than you damage them, no small part due to being in a situation where you're stripped of your equipment and abilities, and the stuff they give you just doesn't do enough damage, because their stats are so high, and yours are so low. And that's just the game-breaking part. The rest of the game played that way feels less difficult, and more just annoying. Having to plink away at an enemy for half an hour to kill them and hope they don't scratch you in the process and one-shot you is really more annoying than difficult. I mean, yeah, it's difficult. But it's not what I think of when I want to raise the difficulty. It's hard to explain. But raising the difficult in an Elder Scrolls game should take it from being a Fable game, to being a Souls game. And it does not. And without putting a lot of critical thinking into it, that is the difference in my experience



  4. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete for President View Post
    I lose interest when it's too easy and go play something else.
    Quoting my brother: "Sell it, forget it!"
    That's why I'd choose any hard game over the easiest one, even if I suck at playing it!

  5. #20
    *permanent smite* Spuuky's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vyk View Post
    I get what he's saying. But it's hard to describe. I do know Bethesda has been guilty of that tactic for some time. If you try to play through Oblivion for instance, with the difficulty slider all the way up, it's extremely likely you'll get stuck at some point and not be able to progress in certain quest lines. Namely the one where you face off against 2 minutaurs who can regenerate health faster than you damage them, no small part due to being in a situation where you're stripped of your equipment and abilities, and the stuff they give you just doesn't do enough damage, because their stats are so high, and yours are so low. And that's just the game-breaking part. The rest of the game played that way feels less difficult, and more just annoying. Having to plink away at an enemy for half an hour to kill them and hope they don't scratch you in the process and one-shot you is really more annoying than difficult. I mean, yeah, it's difficult. But it's not what I think of when I want to raise the difficulty. It's hard to explain. But raising the difficult in an Elder Scrolls game should take it from being a Fable game, to being a Souls game. And it does not. And without putting a lot of critical thinking into it, that is the difference in my experience
    Bethesda games all have wretchedly bad combat so whether it's hard or easy doesn't really matter very much. Oblivion's scaling system is uniquely bad in that you could in fact ruin your own game by leveling up random stuff for fun.

  6. #21
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    Play a hacked version that offers more difficulty. Which right now is Super Mario RPG Revolution.

  7. #22
    Steve Steve Steve Steve Iceglow's Avatar
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    I play games mostly for the story and the fun involved. If a game is too easy I don't mind, I'll still complete it though depending on the type of game, the nature of it may too repetitive for me to bother touching it again once I've completed it. Other games however, I can enjoy no matter how easy I find them, simply because I enjoy the game or it's story or it's world so much. Games like Final Fantasy often fall in to this.

    I find it's far more aggravating to find a game too hard to enjoy. I completed Call Of Duty 4 on Veteran difficulty for example, but many of the levels felt very grindy, it was advancing 10 feet, dying, being pushed back 5 feet and then trying again until eventually you memorized exactly how enemies would react to your tactics and where they would be to take down. I enjoyed it but I'll forever have 980 Gamer Score on that because smurf the mile high club achievement, that level is way too difficult for just 20 gamer score. That said, when playing an FPS game, I generally want the higher difficulty so it is a challenge, though the challenge should be fun and not just a case of slowly forcing my way forwards in a war of attrition.

  8. #23
    Untalented Game Designer FFNut's Avatar
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    If the story is good and captivating I stick with it. If it is all same old run of the mill blah blah blah but easy I'll put it aside and move on to something new.

  9. #24
    Proudly Loathsome ;) DMKA's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Del Murder View Post
    I beat it and move on.
    Yeah, pretty much this.

    To be honest, had you asked me years ago, I would have told you a lack of difficulty directly correlated with a lack in overall quality in a game. If a game was easy, then it wasn't a very good game. But now I don't really feel that way. I certainly don't want a game that's so pathetically easy that I feel absolutely zero sense of accomplishment when I win, but a game that's not particularly trying is just fine with me these days, so much that I tend to enjoy them more than games that are unforgiving difficult.

    I prefer a game with moderate/below average difficulty and a nice story/world/characters greatly over a really challenging game with none of those.
    I like Kung-Fu.

  10. #25
    Resident Critic Ayen's Avatar
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    Only case of this I can really think of is Barney the Dinosaur for Sega Genesis, in which case I just beat it, move on, and forget about it.

  11. #26
    I'm selling these fine leather jackets Aerith's Knight's Avatar
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    Go play X-com Ironman Impossible.

    Actually, go play Long war.

    Dennis inc. is not responsible for any increase in salinity.


  12. #27
    absolutely haram Recognized Member Madame Adequate's Avatar
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    Long War Ironman Impossible is a life goal of mine.


    Also, everything Psychotic said.

  13. #28
    Poodle Wizard starlet's Avatar
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    If it's too easy I tend to fall asleep XD but that goes for just about anything that's absurdly boring to me.

  14. #29

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    I'll relish in that sensation of being a total bad ass until however long it takes until I get bored.

    Edit: I mean, I've been playing Time Clickers for over a week now just because all the numbers going up makes me feel SO good.

    Some Text Here.

  15. #30
    tech spirit
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    you're a junkie
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    can you hear me in the void?

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