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What are those games so hard on Normal Mode that grown men justify turning down the difficulty to Easy?

Kadve

Member
On a related note. The modern trend for games to not have any difficulty modes at all really annoys me. In RPG's i tend to feel overpowered just halfway into the game.
 
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BuddyLaDouche

Neo Member
We've all seen this excuse. It tends to go a little something like this; I'm a 40-year-old man with a full time job of 80 hours a week and 12 kids. I don't have much time to game so I prefer avoiding frustration and as such, I play on Easy Mode.

My question is, what game is so hard on Normal Mode that you cannot just breeze through it? Most games in Normal Mode are braindead easy so what are those challenging games that excuse a grown man playing on Easy? Games like Dark Souls and Nioh don't have difficulty levels (unless you mod them), exactly to weed out those who don't wanna bother learning and improving. God of War? In the default mode, it's fairly forgiving. It does become quite challenging on Give Me God of War, but that's the highest difficulty level and you probably shouldn't pick it as a noob. Even Ninja Gaiden Black/II, which are considered quit difficult, are only really hard games when you reach the higher difficulty levels. Ninja mode is incredibly forgiving compared to Dark Souls. Master Ninja is a different ballgame, but why would you choose that if you don't enjoy a challenge? Same for Bayonetta and Devil May Cry.

If this were the 90s, I might agree. Games like Final Fight or TMNT even on Normal could prove quite challenging but modern games on Normal Mode are almost an insult. Horizon, Uncharted, GTA (no difficulty level), Halo, DOOM, the Ori games, modern platformers, etc. None of those games are even challenging unless you up the difficulty (and even then, most still aren't).

So what are those games with a Normal Mode so challenging that they frustrate you to the point you gotta turn them down to easy
When I've done this in the past it's because I want quickly clear a game out of my backlog that is a story-driven. It really isn't any more complicated than that. But from now on, I'll do it just to bother you.
 

Cashon

Banned
And how did it feel on easy ?

hint: combat/gameplay is shit in these games any way you cut it. As is the mission design, writing, etc...
They're pretty much glorified sightseeing sims.
It was still tedious, but not as much. Enemies took so many hits to kill on Normal. I'd guess that took, at most, half the time on Easy.
 

Laieon

Member
op: you appear to play games because you enjoy a good challenge. not all of us play games for this reason. i play games to unwind, enjoy, explore, & be entertained. & if that involves a certain amount of combat or skill, so be it - i'll make the effort, but if that ain't enough, & if easy mode's available, yep, i'm doin' it. hell, were there an easy mode for the souls games (well, besides magic), i'd've absolutely used it...

Yep, this is me. In the 25+ years I've been gaming, not once have I ever played for "the challenge". Games solely exist as a form of relaxation and escapism to me.

Games on normal don't pose a challenge, but games on easy pose even less of one so the choice is, well, easy.
 
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_Ex_

Member
7l1mrh.jpg


Come on folks, the vast majority of modern games are already piss easy on normal. Putting them on easy equates to mere content tourism. And as a grognard gatekeeper I must say: Beating a game on easy is a hollow victory. "I don't care about "winning" asshole, I just want to get through the game faster." Protip: Watch a Let's Play on 2x speed, you'll get your content tourism fix in half the time, plus not waste your money on a game you don't want to legitimately play in the first place.
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Shh

Member
7l1mrh.jpg


Come on folks, the vast majority of modern games are already piss easy on normal. Putting them on easy equates to mere content tourism. And as a grognard gatekeeper I must say: Beating a game on easy is a hollow victory. "I don't care about "winning" asshole, I just want to get through the game faster." Protip: Watch a Let's Play on 2x speed, you'll get your content tourism fix in half the time, plus not waste your money on a game you don't want to legitimately play in the first place.
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Yes. That is indeed your opinion.
 

Moonjt9

Member
I’ll give an example. Horizon forbidden west and burning shores.

It’s not too hard on normal, but enemies take a while to kill and you have to really take your time to pick off parts for upgrades and whatnot.

I slapped that game down to story mode and enjoyed the hell out of running around blasting the shit out of those dinos and getting all the parts easily. Probably saved me 50% off a normal playthrough time.

My time is limited. If a game has an easy mode I’ll probably use that to breeze through quickly. If it doesn’t, like Elden ring for example, well I’ll just take longer to play that particular game.

In the end, easy modes are not about difficulty for me, it’s purely time saving on inconveniences.
 

Soodanim

Gold Member
Does anyone know any games where it's recommended (by the community) that you play on easy?

Red Faction: Guerrilla is best played on easy, because everything else is too spongey and gets in the way of the fun.
 

93xfan

Banned
Mario Paint. It’s decades old and I’ve yet to meet someone who claims to have beaten it on ‘normal’
 

Hestar69

Member
7l1mrh.jpg


Come on folks, the vast majority of modern games are already piss easy on normal. Putting them on easy equates to mere content tourism. And as a grognard gatekeeper I must say: Beating a game on easy is a hollow victory. "I don't care about "winning" asshole, I just want to get through the game faster." Protip: Watch a Let's Play on 2x speed, you'll get your content tourism fix in half the time, plus not waste your money on a game you don't want to legitimately play in the first place.
thoughtful.png
sometimes ppl just want to play a game on easy and have fun (like im doing with ghostwire:tokyo). Is normal hard? no but I just want to walk around kill some shit and collect stuff (what this games about anyways a collect o thon lol)

BTW kings field games are amazing games
 

MagnesD3

Member
Now if the argument were that challenging games are better than braindead easy games then I would be onboard with the OP as I DO believe challenging games are objectively better when designed well.
 
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