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Is there/should there be any shame in playing games on the easiest difficulty?

JCX

Member
I used to care when I was a kid and video games were pretty much all I had to do, but now I just play on whichever level leads to the most enjoyment. I was surprised in a past thread that so many people hate save states. If I already beat the level in a Mega Man game and I'm just stuck at the bos, it's more efficient to just make a save state in the boss lobby rather than trudging through the level again.
 
for me it is about time. I have next to no time to sink 40 hours into a game nowadays. I try but never can.

So for story-driven games, i throw it down to easy and cruise through, enjoying the narrative and the "sights" because I know deep down that's the only way I will get all the way through them.
 

flyover

Member
there's no shame if you're enjoying it.

That's pretty much it.

In fact, I wish many games had a content tourist mode, where the character is invincible. For some games, I might just want to explore the world -- or revisit it, if I've played the game before -- and not worry about dying. I could rush through and/or take my time as I please. Or I might enjoy the gameplay, but just be horrible at the genre.

I had a friend who wanted to play The Last of Us. But he hadn't played a videogame since he was a kid, and he got creamed, even on easy mode. He just couldn't do it. So, I wound up doing all the battles for him, as he watched and told me where to go. We would've happily paid a few extra bucks for an Invincibility DLC.

If a company can make money off me for cheating myself of the pure gaming experience, more power to them.
 
No, as long as you don't go bragging about to your friends of how you "finished" game X and Y and you didn't think it was as hard as ppl said it would be.

Edit: Don't complain about lengh of the game either if you play it on easy.

Edit2: In short, Normal is the way to go, most of the times.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
You should be free to be able to play however you want, but I will still think that you might suck at the game.

#elitist :p
 

Lothar

Banned
I've read so many different posts on how, for example, The Last of Us must be played on Survivor and anything less isn't the way the game is meant to be played. Now almost everyone is saying to play games on whatever difficulty you'd like. This place makes my head spin at times...

No one wants to come off sounding like they take games too seriously. But in reality, most will snicker will they hear a friend say they're playing a game on easy. In the Last of Us and Resident Evil Remake threads, people would be aghast if they heard that someone is playing on easy. They would complain that they were ruining the experience.
 
Nah play how you want. I like to brag about playing hard games but it does not stop me from playing some games on easy. Sometimes you just want to get through them, or just enjoy the story and what not no frills.
 
I used to care when I was a kid and video games were pretty much all I had to do, but now I just play on whichever level leads to the most enjoyment. I was surprised in a past thread that so many people hate save states. If I already beat the level in a Mega Man game and I'm just stuck at the bos, it's more efficient to just make a save state in the boss lobby rather than trudging through the level again.

Ya I don't get that either. So I have to play the same 8 levels of Castlevania I've beaten fifty times already because why? Can't I save an hour of my life and just go back to where I got stuck?
 
Seems like a teenage thing to me. I don't know a single person in 'real life' that cares about difficulty levels.

Either teenage thing or people stuck with the mentality of a teenager.
 

Chariot

Member
Jesus didn't die for you to have fun with videogames. Life is suffering and so should your gaming experience. As the lord said to Moses: "Stop running and gid gud."
 

donny2112

Member
First time I play it (unless I'm really familiar with the game structure, e.g. Fire Emblem), I usually choose the lowest difficulty, because gaming time is a rare commodity for me. Don't have time to waste with artificially frustrating games. Now if I really like the game, then I'll probably play it again (sometime), and then I'll choose something harder, since I'm already familiar with the game.
 

Sez

Member
No, everyone should play games the way they want it. Also play in Easy is perfect when you just want a light fun moment, without intensity or frustation, sometimes it's what I want. But there are some very good reasons to play games on higher difficulties:

1. Play on Easy can be boring. For example in any sports game unless you are 3 year old you will win by a lot easily, it's really boring.

2. You want to get better at the game. Again like sports games. Youll never be able to even compete against your friends if you are stuck on the lower difficulties.

3. Some games becomes different ones in higher difficulties. Great example is God of War series. From just pressing [] throught the whole game on easy, in hard you must learn to dodge, block, combos, it requires skill, timing, etc. What could be boring enemies on Easy becomes very intense fights.

As someone else said, the easy difficulty makes games shorter, simple and sometimes dull, so never complain about the lenght or complexity of games if you play in easy.

4. Because the game demands it to unlock stuff.

5. Bragging Rights.

6. You like to challenge yourself.

6. You are masochist. Yeah, some games are that hard that only people who loves frustation and pain play it on that difficulty.
 

Lothar

Banned
I used to care when I was a kid and video games were pretty much all I had to do, but now I just play on whichever level leads to the most enjoyment. I was surprised in a past thread that so many people hate save states. If I already beat the level in a Mega Man game and I'm just stuck at the bos, it's more efficient to just make a save state in the boss lobby rather than trudging through the level again.

Of course it's more efficient but you're missing out on the excitement of having only a few chances to do something challenging such as beat a boss. That's the most intense and exciting part of those old games. Having to do parts you already did is a necessary evil. Those games would not be as good if they were made with infinite lives. Dark Souls would not be as good if you respawned exactly where you died with nothing lost. There would be no tension, no excitement with nothing to lose.
 
Ya I don't get that either. So I have to play the same 8 levels of Castlevania I've beaten fifty times already because why?
Because the feeling of accomplishment isn't comparable when the stakes aren't high.

This is why some people don't count clearing a game with savestates as clearing it at all. It requires a different mindset.
 
Quick saves in retro games. They're available on most (all?) emulators, and also on things like the Wii U and 3DS virtual consoles, the retro games in Rare Replay, and so on.
and they do what, exactly?

It depends on the game. If its a story driven game or one where the higher difficulties are just poorly designed (Uncharted 3 for example) go for it on easy. But games where the whole design is about mastery of combat or gameplay systems and learning to overcome challenges, why even bother playing the game if you put it on easy? Most character action games fall into the latter category.
so fighting games then?
 

Teeth

Member
Why stop at the easiest difficulty? Watch a walkthrough or cut scene supercut on YouTube and say you played through the entire thing.

I'm only half kidding. Some easy settings negate the necessity to engage with core systems, and in that sense, you aren't actually playing the game. Holding up and hammering X isn't really playing the game. If you are having fun, keep on doing that, but recognize that your opinion on that game's gameplay is worthless.

That said, easy mode can still be tuned to engage properly with users. It really depends on the game.
 

ZangBa

Member
Nothing wrong with it in story driven games. I don't understand playing more gameplay focused games on the easiest difficulty, though, what's the point? I also feel like if you're playing something like DMC on the easiest difficulty, you forfeit your opinion on how good or bad the gameplay is.
 

FTF

Member
Na man, play whatever difficulty you want/makes you happy. Though some games will lose something on easy (Last of Us is the first game that comes to mind).
 

chemicals

Member
I say Yes there is shame for a gamer to play easy mode. Ever thought of it this way? Easy mode is for people that don't even normally play games. If you are into games enough to join a forum like this one, you should at least do your first playthrough on Normal. Because you already have an understanding of how games are made and how to use the controller, etc.

Ok I will stop.
 

Puweyxil

Banned
Not being able to save anytime I want will always keep me from playing something above normal. Sometimes if I have to keep repeating a segment over and over I'll kick the difficulty down to easy or super easy to get through the part I have to keep repeating, since I've already done that on a higher difficulty and just want to get through it. Then, I'll take it back up to where it was.
 
Plp should choose the difficulty that is the most fun for them, If everybody did we wouldn't get devs having to lie or trick gamers with things like normal difficulties that are piss easy and hard difficulties that need unlocking, because too many bull headed gamers who hate frustration are picking normal and hard and end up hating the game.

Besides, outside of the playground and online trash talking most skilled gamers don't look down on those who are unskilled or play easy, from my experience of the online gaming community it's more the other way around with easy mode / casual gamers being snobbish towards the "hardcore", with those Dark Souls threads 2-3 years ago being good examples.
 
No, but don't complain about the AI or the gameplay if you play on easy.

80% of gamers play their games on easy. That's a shame. Also, for most games only 30% reach the ending.
 
Shame you? No, I don't see any benefit to a developer doing that to their customers.

I always play my games on normal for the first play through, so I can absorb the story and enjoy myself without getting frustrated, which would just break the immersion. Then I'll go back and play on harder difficulties if I enjoyed the game.
 

Nick

Junior Member
I always play and beat games on Normal/Hard difficulty, because I feel like I'm missing out on the true game if I'm skimping through it on Easy. That, and you typically can't 100% a game on Normal difficulty anyway, and I'm a trophy junky.
 

OptimusLime

Member
No shame. I played through The Last of Us on easy because I wanted to be immersed in the story and not be brought out by overly frustrating gameplay segments.
 

Vertti

Member
I mostly play on normal because it can be at least a bit challenging but I won't get stuck in harder parts.

Getting stuck in a game is the worst. For example if RPG doesn't tell me where I have to go and there are 20 possible locations I just check FAQ to know how to proceed.

However, I won't use save states in something like Ninja Gaiden or Castlevania. Maybe I get stuck for a moment but usually not for that long. If game makes me feel like I have to
resort to save states it's usually just some cheap crap which I feel like isn't worth of playing in first place.
 
I mostly try to play It in normal, unless I know It is a gente I am really terrible at but I want to enjoy the story. I don't shy away from lowering the difficulty or restarting at a lower level if the game is becoming too challenging (dying non stop at an specific part) and the challenge does not correlate with the other aspects of the game (hard and not rewarding or getting so bored that I just want to either quit or complete it fast).

Of course, there are times when there is a huge gap between easy and normal. Halo 3 was my first gamepad FPS and despite having done some crazy stuff on doom and quake with the nightmare more, the gamepad was a major handicap that I needed to balance. But it felt so easy that there was no enjoyment at all and had to do a second play on a higher difficulty. Then it came playing with friends in Heroic mode.
 

danthefan

Member
I find people telling other people how to play a single payer game very annoying. Play it however you like, cheat, mod, whatever.

If someone is starting, say, The Witcher 3 and asks for a recommendation I will always say at least B&BB because I think that's the best experience of the game but if you want to go on the easiest difficulty? Your call.
 

Fink

Member
I played Bioshock on easy and my boyfriend argues that I missed out on the combat. I don't think he's wrong but I was more interested in exploration and the story. I'm terrible at FPS games and didn't want to have to start over too much.

Aside from FPSs I don't like picking the easy difficulty.
 
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