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Games where Hard Mode ended up being easier?
- Thread starter Trojita
- Start date
SinCityAssassin
Member
Any rhythm game ever made.
badcrumble
Member
If I recall correctly, this is true for the first Uncharted game. People getting stuck on easy/normal were advised to switch to hard difficulty.
TheRedSnifit
Member
Fallout 3 gave you more EXP for playing on harder difficulties, which more than outweighed the higher enemy stats.
GurgleBot20
Member
I always thought of Devil May Cry's Heaven of Hell mode as more of a joke rather than an actual hard difficulty, especially since you need to beat Dante Must Die to unlock it.
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
Revengeance on Revengeance difficulty makes enemies do insane damage, but your riposte is also on instant kill on almost everything, including bosses. Some enemies are more challenging on Very Hard because they can't be killed instantly, and it's especially more difficult to earn S ranks, because dying instantly doesn't matter when you can't afford to get hit anyway.
As mentioned, this hasn't been the case in recent Tales games. Lower difficulties give more exp now, but it is counter-balanced with better loot drops and grade bonuses on higher difficulties. Essentially tasking the player to engage with the ancilliary mechanics and crafting to succeed more efficiently over brute force leveling. It kind of works in a way.
irrotational
Member
The siege engine section in wrath of the machine Raid (Destiny).
You get a lot more time in a timed section and nothing is harder...
You get a lot more time in a timed section and nothing is harder...
Cheshire_Buddha
Member
To be fair, I always hit Level 15 before reaching Disc 1 on the regular difficulty.
mrmickfran
Member
Theatrhythm
The easier difficulties are so freaking slow that they throw me off.
The easier difficulties are so freaking slow that they throw me off.
Shift Breaker
Member
Not strictly a hard mode per session, but due to the way enemy levels work in Final Fantasy VIII a single character "challenge" playthrough actually turns out to be easier than playing through the game normally. Enemy party levels are based on the average of your party levels, with fluctuations around that level, also affected by enemy, location, etc. You also have to have three members in your party, and if they've been dead the whole game they'll essentially be level 7 still, massively lowering the average. Then just boost your stats by playing cards, defend yourself from Death and Confusion and the game's even easier than normal.
Dimitri LH
Member
Final Fantasy X HD, i think that new Grid sphere mode meant for expert play was supposed to be harder......but boy did I break the game with that. Yuna one shotting everything with her basic attack lmao. See ya jetch! Whack!
You can beat EX 47-50 songs in Pop n' Music?
Can beat EGOISM 440, Valkyrie Dimension, Paranoia Revolution all on Challenge on DDR?
You can clear Another 12s and 13s on IIDX?
You probably don't even know what I'm talking about lol
RE4 professional mode. since you have to play normal to unlock it, you're already familiar with everything the game throws at you, so it ends up actually being pretty easy.
plus, in my case, i was playing pretty well on normal, which ended up causing the dynamic difficulty to push things up to near professional levels, so i ended up getting used to it before i actually played pro
plus, in my case, i was playing pretty well on normal, which ended up causing the dynamic difficulty to push things up to near professional levels, so i ended up getting used to it before i actually played pro
Dang, didn't even have to put the disc in and already had Level 15.
Hahah...I'm guessing you meant before the end of disc 1?
DiipuSurotu
Banned
The "Expert" sphere grid in Final Fantasy X (PAL and International versions only).
EDIT: Beaten like a blitzball
EDIT: Beaten like a blitzball
This is true, which is why lv.1 Critical is the best thing ever in the game.
xrnzaaas
Member
NG+ being easier thanks to knowing what to expect and how to play is not that uncommon. And it gets even easier if you can transfer some stuff from your first playthrough. I remember that my Survivor+ run in The Last of Us was waaayyyyyy easier than my first Hard run.
badcrumble
Member
Yeah, Critical Mode generally feels like an *alternate* hardest difficulty compared to Proud - certain stuff is much easier, certain stuff is much harder. Having Finisher Plus right from the start of the game comically breaks the Roxas vs. Axel boss fight, for example (I juggled him like 50 feet into the air and killed him in two combos), but some normal enemies become really ridiculously dangerous.
SirNinja
Member
Not really a difficulty level per se, but the Expert Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X Int./HD lets you potentially break the game very early on. Unlike the regular grid, where everyone initially has a set "path" gated in by locks, on Expert everyone starts very close to each other and can go on any path you want. On paper, I guess it's meant to intimidate players by presenting them with a vast web of choices, but eventually people start figuring out that with great freedom comes great exploitability...
Lightning Returns's Hard difficulty is also this for the most part. You can only get to it on NG+, so you're already well-equipped to handle most regular enemies. Even though enemy stats are buffed quite a bit, they also drop amazing items (high-level moves & crafting mats), and triple the normal amount of gil. There's also garbs that vendors only sell on Hard, and a lot of them are incredibly powerful.
Pretty much any Diablo III difficulty where you can still mow through enemies easily is a straight upgrade from Normal.
Lightning Returns's Hard difficulty is also this for the most part. You can only get to it on NG+, so you're already well-equipped to handle most regular enemies. Even though enemy stats are buffed quite a bit, they also drop amazing items (high-level moves & crafting mats), and triple the normal amount of gil. There's also garbs that vendors only sell on Hard, and a lot of them are incredibly powerful.
Pretty much any Diablo III difficulty where you can still mow through enemies easily is a straight upgrade from Normal.
SarcasticRedRover
Member
Not that it was exactly a hard game but Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright on Lunatic mode.
The game's idea of difficulty is always maxing out the system's cap on enemies on the map which is only an issue with how Birthright has more fragile playable units. Other than that, the sheer enemy density means you get more exp than the other two difficulties which means overleveling and getting weapon exp faster.
Its to the point where I completely ignored the game's touted feature of optional grinding and had Ryoma cap out at level 20 before the final battle.
The game's idea of difficulty is always maxing out the system's cap on enemies on the map which is only an issue with how Birthright has more fragile playable units. Other than that, the sheer enemy density means you get more exp than the other two difficulties which means overleveling and getting weapon exp faster.
Its to the point where I completely ignored the game's touted feature of optional grinding and had Ryoma cap out at level 20 before the final battle.
chaobreaker
Member
Deus Ex Human Revolution (vanilla not the Director's Cut) made enemies hit harder at the "Give me Deus Ex" difficulty but the damage is extremely trivial since you do the same kind of damage at all difficulty levels. Takedowns still give free kills or knockouts. The cheap and plentiful pistol still kill non-heavy enemies in one headshot. Non-lethal weapons are just as potent too. You can beat the entire game never getting detected by regular enemies and thus never experience that increased damage.
Bosses are the only hard part but all the encounters could be cheesed with the right strategy.
Bosses are the only hard part but all the encounters could be cheesed with the right strategy.
Vlaphor
Member
This isn't quite "hard" mode, but in DOAX3, later on in the vacations the CPU will increase the volleyball difficulty. This will show up on the menu when you select who to challenge so you can see who is at which level currently. The thing is, the biggest difference on hard is that they will pretty much always try to block a spike...which means that you can set one up, then just tap the ball over into their side of the court while their defender is in midair. I find it much easier to get a perfect game on a hard difficulty opponent then a medium or easy one, since they try to block spikes 99/100 times, so the same tactics basically always work.
Onlinehero
Member
nvm
yeah, RE4 pro would've been even more of a joke if it let me transfer my old weapons and health bar, haha. i also used that trick in TLoU to get my upgrades from my normal save file when i played survivor. still works in the remastered version too, lol
Yeah, this is only one that I can think of where the harder mode feels more beneficial. I really liked having an extra finisher and whatever other abilities you get extra from the start.
Riposte
Member
RE6's No Hope Left avoids this by locking out skills entirely. You also get twice as much skill points than normal, so it's good for farming if you want to get the OP skills for lower difficulties.
LordKasual
Banned
Bloodborne...and i'm going to assume the entire Souls series, simply by nature of their design.
Once you struggle enough through the initial playthrough, the second one isn't half as hard.
Once you struggle enough through the initial playthrough, the second one isn't half as hard.