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Difficulty Modes that Insult the Player

T

tintin1029

Member
Haha. You should see what happens when you try to quit Doom.

I love when games act like that one asshole friend you have that you still hang out with for some reason.
 
N

Nightengale

Member
prwxv3 said:
The difference between normal and hard mode on Knack is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Knack at higher difficulties is surprisingly methodical. You really need to get into the "encounter" mindset.

It's no Souls, but you kinda need to lean into that part of your niche a little bit.
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
Aw I thought OP was going to ask for more modes that do this and mock people who take video games too seriously, I didn't know he was actually going to be the opposite. :p

It's just for fun, and a throwback of the original game.

If someone would literally not play the game because they're insulted that the DIFFICULTY LEVEL SCREEN made fun of them for choosing the easy option, those people shouldn't even be playing those games because later on it's going to be "I'm insulted that the bad guy made fun of me" "I'm insulted that there's blood" "I'm insulted that I'm actually killing people" etc. etc.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
tintin1029 said:
Haha. You should see what happens when you try to quit Doom.

I love when games act like that one asshole friend you have that you still hang out with for some reason.
Click to expand...

Quite a few classic DOS games had quit screens that would taunt the player. the original Rise of the Triad is another one that comes to mind:

quit.jpg


So many random and awesome messages.
 
M

MattyG

Banned
NinjamicWZ said:
I want games to berate me in real-time like J.K. Simmons in Whiplash so that I can be one of the greats.
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Easy mode, I don't think we should be together, and I've thought about it a lot, and this is what's gonna happen, ok? I'm gonna keep playing the difficulty modes I'm playing, and because I'm doing that it's going to take up more and more of my time and I'm not gonna be able to spend as much time with you, and even when I do spend time with you I'm gonna be thinkin' about the higher difficulty levels, and I'm gonna be thinkin' about tactics and my scores and all that, and because of that you're gonna start to resent me, and you're gonna to tell me to ease up on hard mode, play you more because you're feeling like a scrub mode, and I'm not gonna be able to do that, and really I'm just going to start to resent you for even asking me to stop playing hard modes, and we're just going to start to hate each other, and it's gonna get very, it's gonna be ugly. And so, for those reasons, you know, I'd rather just break it off clean.

'Cause I wanna be über.
 
S

SatelliteOfLove

Member
This is why you don't get a dose of self-esteem from video games unless you earn it.

Mr-Joker said:
I don't mind it really, I mean Viewtiful Joe normal mode is called Kid and it doesn't bother me.

What does bother me if I can't switch difficulty level on the fly.



I am proud to say that played The Wonderful 101 in normal mode and I am okay in not playing it in hard mode.
Click to expand...

"SatelliteOfLove, why do you hate difficulty toggles in a menu so much, maaaaaaaaaaaaaan?"

"I dunno"
 
S

StriKeVillain

Banned
alundra311 said:
Holy shit!

Never thought that there are people offended by these things.
Click to expand...

Don't ever underestimate humans.

I saw people who were angry that International Women's Day and Daylight Savings were on the same day. Claiming it was some grand plan to give women an hour less to celebrate their day when it was just a coincidence for this year.
 
Z

Zolbrod

Member
StriKeVillain said:
Don't ever underestimate humans.

I saw people who were angry that International Women's Day and Daylight Savings were on the same day. Claiming it was some grand plan to give women an hour less to celebrate their day when it was just a coincidence for this year.
Click to expand...

Just be happy International Women's Day isn't on Feb 29th.
 
S

soxinthebox

Member
Jesus Christ, how sheltered do you have to be to take offence to a difficulty setting? I thought the OP might have been about a more nuanced thing like Halo's Heroic difficulty being the way it's meant to be played.
 
A

alundra311

Member
Piston Hyundai said:
You have to assume that at least one person out in the world will be offended by any given thing.
Click to expand...

StriKeVillain said:
Don't ever underestimate humans.

I saw people who were angry that International Women's Day and Daylight Savings were on the same day. Claiming it was some grand plan to give women an hour less to celebrate their day when it was just a coincidence for this year.
Click to expand...

LOL!

People really need to learn to just chill out and not take everything seriously.
 
A

AEREC

Member
ZealousD said:
xDnTxzn.jpg


Wolfenstein: The New Order is a great game. Everybody should play it. It's a shooter for people who loves shooters and it's got a great story. I haven't played all the way through it but I've loved everything about it.... except for this screen.

Why is this even here? What is even the point of having this kind of super-easy mode if you're going to insult anybody that might actually want to pick the easiest mode? Is this a joke difficulty that's so easy that bullets don't actually hurt you or something? I know it's a reference to earlier games in the series, but it would have been just as weird back then, too. The imagery only seems appropriate if you are designing a mode that is actually designed for a baby to play! (Note: Babies should not play Wolfenstein: The New Order).

I don't know of too many other games that do this, but Ninja Gaiden Black is somewhat infamous for its "Ninja Dog" difficulty that is even more blatant in being an insult. It just strikes me as very weird. If you're gonna include a difficulty that's so easy that you basically insult any players that might wish to choose it, than just cut it so that it's not there at all. Nobody wants to pick a difficulty level that makes fun of you.
Click to expand...

I would love to see devs take it a step further and include a very easy mode in some games where you just walk through levels and enemies just wave at you or something similar...and you should feel ashamed if you played the game like that.
 
R

Roto13

Member
AEREC said:
I would love to see devs take it a step further and include a very easy mode in some games where you just walk through levels and enemies just wave at you or something similar...and you should feel ashamed if you played the game like that.
Click to expand...

That would be awesome. And if it's a shooter, your gun only shoots bubbles or something.
 
N

NinjamicWZ

Banned
MattyG said:
Easy mode, I don't think we should be together, and I've thought about it a lot, and this is what's gonna happen, ok? I'm gonna keep playing the difficulty modes I'm playing, and because I'm doing that it's going to take up more and more of my time and I'm not gonna be able to spend as much time with you, and even when I do spend time with you I'm gonna be thinkin' about the higher difficulty levels, and I'm gonna be thinkin' about tactics and my scores and all that, and because of that you're gonna start to resent me, and you're gonna to tell me to ease up on hard mode, play you more because you're feeling like a scrub mode, and I'm not gonna be able to do that, and really I'm just going to start to resent you for even asking me to stop playing hard modes, and we're just going to start to hate each other, and it's gonna get very, it's gonna be ugly. And so, for those reasons, you know, I'd rather just break it off clean.

'Cause I wanna be über.
Click to expand...

Truth is, I don't think players understood what it was I was doing in uber. I wasn't there to hold your hand. Any fucking moron can wave his arms and play WiiSports. I was there to push people beyond what's expected of them. I believe that is an absolute necessity.

Otherwise we're depriving the world of the next Daigo. The next EVO moment 37. I told you that story about how Daigo became Daigo, right?
 
K

Kalnos

Banned
I think they thought it would be funny, not that some sensitive dude on the internet would actually take it seriously.
 
M

Marcel

Member
I've been playing FPS games off-and-on since I was 7 or 8 years old and I've never at once thought any of those classic games were attempting to actually insult me. You must have thinner skin than the guy who tipped over the magazine rack.
 
M

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Not a traditional difficulty selector but I love the green block of failure in the post NSMB Wii games. Especially in the first two games that used it where even finding the block meant that you lost your shine forever.

It's helpful to some and incredibly insulting to others.
 
S

SenorArdilla

Member
"I hope you weren't thinking this would be 'Simple'."

latest


I personally like it when game developers make jokes like these. It's harmless. And you're going to be headed back to that screen after you beat the game anyways since some of the content might be locked at higher difficulties.

If anything, games should lock content behind difficulty more often. Nothing bothers me more than stopping a game after beating it just once, especially if it was fun. It adds replay value and a reasonable justification to play beyond EASY and NORMAL. There's no reason to be upset at a joke about player skill.
 
S

Spoo

Member
I agree with a lot of others here saying you're being a bit overly sensitive to what is a completely harmless joke (that has historical context), OP.

If you feel that it harms your pride, don't play on easy. If you want to play on easy but still feel like a badass -- just play the game, you'll feel more than enough like a badass when you actually play it.

Laugh with them, instead of feeling like they are laughing at you.
 
Silent Chief

Silent Chief

Member
I'm always shocked when I look at the trophy distribution and find that 70% play on easy and only 5% finish a game on the hardest mode. When people say that a game has good gun play, I always wonder if they just run around the level spraying bullets left and right on easy mode.

As for Wolfenstein, I think the real joke are the modes you unlock with the enigma codes.

Like Hardcore is Uber with no ammo or health pickup. LOL.
 
C

CaptainGyro

Banned
ZealousD said:
. It's bizarre. People aren't going to pick it, so why include it?
Click to expand...

You know it's really not that bizarre that it's included once you realize that your statement that no one will play it (due to feeling guilty ) is actually false. What's really bizarre is that you're assuming everybody else is as sensitive as you and they will not pick it
 
The Hermit

The Hermit

Member
NinjamicWZ said:
Truth is, I don't think players understood what it was I was doing in uber. I wasn't there to hold your hand. Any fucking moron can wave his arms and play WiiSports. I was there to push people beyond what's expected of them. I believe that is an absolute necessity.
Click to expand...

So, imagine if Lord Gwyn had just said, "Well, that's okay player, you can live. Good job." So the player thinks to himself, "Well, shit, I did do a pretty good job." End of game. No fulfillment. That to me is an absolute tragedy. But that's just what the world wants now. And they wonder why gaming is dying.
 
W

Wagram

Member
Mostly every difficulty mode is insulting these days. Hard is the new normal, normal is the new easy and so on.
 
M

Marcel

Member
The Hermit said:
So, imagine if Lord Gwyn had just said, "Well, that's okay player, you can live. Good job." So the player thinks to himself, "Well, shit, I did do a pretty good job." End of game. No fulfillment. That to me is an absolute tragedy. But that's just what the world wants now. And they wonder why gaming is dying.
Click to expand...

edit: i am a dummy who doesn't get things
 
Z

Ziffles

Member
I'm offended that the digital version of this game is still $60 despite being out for nearly a year. What the hell?
 
A

.Anema

Member
Came here to post something of value but WTF!!! HAhaha, how do you live in real world, OP? You're over thinking way too far.
 
G

Genryu

Banned
Marcel said:
please please go more into your death of gaming elitist fantasy scenario, you'd be giving me a great present
Click to expand...

"So, imagine if Jones had just said, "Well, that's okay, Charlie. That was all right. Good job." So Charlie thinks to himself, "Well, shit, I did do a pretty good job." End of story. No Bird. That to me is an absolute tragedy. But that's just what the world wants now. And they wonder why jazz is dying."

Whiplash.
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
The Hermit said:
So, imagine if Lord Gwyn had just said, "Well, that's okay player, you can live. Good job." So the player thinks to himself, "Well, shit, I did do a pretty good job." End of game. No fulfillment. That to me is an absolute tragedy. But that's just what the world wants now. And they wonder why gaming is dying.
Click to expand...

thanks for the laugh
 
M

Marcel

Member
Genryu said:
"So, imagine if Jones had just said, "Well, that's okay, Charlie. That was all right. Good job." So Charlie thinks to himself, "Well, shit, I did do a pretty good job." End of story. No Bird. That to me is an absolute tragedy. But that's just what the world wants now. And they wonder why jazz is dying."

Whiplash.
Click to expand...

I totally missed the reference. Mea culpa!
 
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