Easy and Normal mode – an injustice to yourself as a hardcore gamer? |
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| BY Chris King Jul. 6th, 2008 | More on: |
Fellow That VideoGame Blog writer Dan recently posed the question, “What difficulty do you play [games] on?” This really got me thinking. I know why casual gamers may pick “Normal” or even “Easy,” but what is it that separates the logic of gamers that start out on “Hard?” Not all gamers who consider themselves hardcore gamers start on “Hard,” so is there a common thinking that makes this choice go one way or another?
I consider myself a hardcore gamer, and as one of the minority that usually start out on “Hard,” I figured I would be as good of a case study as any to find out what the motivation behind this is.
Personally, it depends on how many difficulty options the game has. If there are three difficulties, such as “Easy,” “Normal,” and “Hard,” then I play on 3/3 difficulty - “Hard.” I find in most games, “Normal” usually isn’t too challenging for anyone other than an inexperienced or casual gamer. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, see my recent experience with Crysis. If there are four difficulties, ranging between “Easy,” “Normal,” “Hard,” and “Insane/Nightmare/You are a fool for picking this,” then I will play on the 3/4 difficulty - “Hard.” I may like a challenge, but I’m not a glutton for unnecessary punishment. In the case of the 4/4 difficulty level, it is virtually guaranteed that the enemies/artificial intelligence in the game will go beyond the fine line of challenging and into the territory of plain frustrating.
Adjustable difficulty settings usually appear in games that are linear or story driven, and I for one have never had the patience to play through such a game more than once in its entirety (not counting something like Super Mario Bros. that could be beaten in less than 1 hour). I know a lot of gamers feel the same as I do when I say that there are a lot of games out there that I have never gotten to try, but I wish I had the time to. Due to this, I can’t live with the thought of wasting my time trying to beat a game for a second time, on a harder difficulty, when I could have just done it the first time around. This is especially true if it is a story driven game and I already know everything that’s going to happen. At times, it also makes the game start to be less about the skill to act and react on your toes and more about how good you remember what’s going to happen next. It’s akin to buying a game with a cheat book, another major “no-no” for me.
Since I consider myself a skilled gamer, I’d like to be challenged by a game and not feel like I am just going through the motions to see the story. And in a lot of games, I usually don’t care about the story, unless it is truly of award-winning quality. What I really want to get out of a game, more than just seeing what lies at the end (which is often disappointing), is to feel like I accomplished something that most people can’t.
Over the years, games have become easier and easier to beat in order to cater to the casual masses. Isn’t the reason why we as hardcore gamers play is to have fun? I pose the question, what is more fun, watching cut scenes and progressing a game’s storyline, or actually experiencing and conquering a challenge that the 8-year-old who was standing in line in front of you when you bought the game has no dream of? I don’t know about most people, but I’d rather feel like I am playing above the average 8-year-old level.
So I close with saying, playing anything on “Easy,” or even “Normal,” is doing yourself an injustice as a hardcore gamer.
So let’s hear from some of you that don’t consider yourself casual gamers, but would rather start out on “Easy” or “Normal” modes. Do my reasons not agree with you? Do you have your own, different line of reasoning why you don’t start on or even try to play “Hard?”
July 7th, 2008
at 12:01 am
I disagree, I play a single player game to take in all parts of it at the same time. Story, gameplay, sound, and graphics. Playing on a normal setting allows you to take in all aspects and still enjoy the game. Your right normal is not terribly difficult but its more about playing the game then about how hard it is to play the game. When I beat Halo the third on Legendary (and while I know its 4/4, some games are that hard on hard) I was so frustrated by the end that I don’t know if the satisfaction that I derived from the experience was from beating it on Legendary or just knowing I was not going to have to play this frustrating game anymore.
To all who play on hard i say kudos, but think about this if it takes me 15 hours to beat a game on normal and you 20 hours, thats 5 hours you could have been playing one of those games that time has not allowed you to. Also was your overall experience beating the game any different then mine outside of dieing more?
Im a Hardcore gamer and I play on normal.
P.S. Very nice write up!
July 7th, 2008
at 2:03 am
Do I lose my hardcore status if I liked to play on easy in games my folks rented from Blockbuster when I was young? Granted, not many 2D games had a “very easy” mode that today’s games do, but still…
July 7th, 2008
at 2:39 am
Hey, I got through God of War, but I don’t have time to gain bragging rights by beating it on god mode.
July 7th, 2008
at 2:59 am
Well, like I wrote in the article, Legendary and God mode would be 4/4 on the difficulty scale right? I won’t play on those either, that’s just asking for punishment. But I think 3/4 or 3/3 is the perfect difficulty to challenge you while also still remaining enjoyable.
July 7th, 2008
at 8:06 am
I always start on Hard. Why? Because I am not a big girls blouse, that’s why. If you don’t get blisters on your thumbs, or have to walk away for 10 mins to calm down at least once during a game then you are not getting your money’s worth. Crawling through the microwaves in MGS4 is *supposed* to hurt.
July 7th, 2008
at 8:07 am
PS @Dan, if you play on Normal you are not HARDcore you are NORMALcore ;-)
July 7th, 2008
at 3:06 pm
Hey man, very interesting article! to answer your question: Hell yes, I play on Hard my first go. I also consider myself a hardcore gamer, mainly because I’ve been playing video games my entire life, the very first being DOOM (hehe… or was it Super Mario World?). I like to play on the Hardest difficulty setting because everything else is just too easy and way too boring for me to play, i.e. no challenge, no fun.
I don’t play on Extreme/Legendary/Insane/Suicide/(insert other suitable genre) for bragging rights, but rather for myself. I think it’s really lame that people come up to me saying they beat something on Ultra Hard because for one thing, I can do it myself, easy. The bragging itself shows that the player is not used to beating things on the Hardest difficulty… so he/she isn’t that good. I’ve played a crapload of games in my life. I’ve become so adept at playing games because I’ve played literally my entire life. Out of all my friends, who suck at playing games, I’m the only one who even plays on Hard, then after one playthrough, work towards the Hardest, most of my friends play on V. Easy and it’s laughable. Most of them aren’t hardcore gamers so I don’t bug them about it too much, they just play for fun and they think a story is really cool etc. And that reminds me of playing when I was young, I really enjoyed playing games, but I always started on Very Easy, because I didn’t have the confidence, nor the skills to play harder.
What I’m trying to say is, playing on Easy or even Normal is NOT satisfying at all. I mean, it’s a cakewalk for hardcore gamers… difficulty makes the game more engaging for me, I get more into it, Easy is more like tra-la-la. However with games like MGS, which I’ve forever loved, I immediatedly start on the hardest possible, i.e. Hard, then unlock the Hardest. What came to my surprise was, since the controls had changed, I found myself finding it very challenging and entertaining. No, I don’t die tons, and No, I don’t believe that all people should play on Extreme. Basically, all you need to do is play at what you’re comfortable at, this being the hardest for hardcore gamers, because everything else is way too easy.
@Dan:
I hear you man, but not all of us get frustrated on the Hardest difficulty, in fact, most hardcore gamers enjoy it more (maybe because we don’t die as much ;P) . A game like CoD4 on Insane…now THAT is a challenge, and is in fact, frustating-worthy, sometimes I scream at my TV, but this is out of love for the game, like “RAWR! OMG WTF! GLITCH!!!” But in reality, I’m really enjoying it because of the insane difficulty, it brings me more into the game. Beating something that no one else can touch is pretty awesome. CoD4’s Insane has pretty cheap AI, they instanly know where you are and just pull a quick HS on you, My favorite difficulty setting is probably DOOM’s Nightmare “This isn’t even remotely fair” mode. It is DAMN challenging, but not unfair, not at all.
I have a younger brother… he’s only 6. I fake like I’m angry when I catch him playing something on Easy, and call him names :D and he’s starting to play on Normal now, but still dying tons, but hey, at least he tries and hes still too young to get angry at a computer/console.
@Andrew Woods
Crawling through the microwaves broke my thumb :D but it was so awesome, I haven’t panicked in a game in such a long time…it was such a “tee-hee” moment for me
July 7th, 2008
at 4:29 pm
I think this is a great article. I usually play games on hard myself, but it depends on what kind of game it is. One thing you need to consider is replayability. Some games, like MGS4, I will play through more than once, so starting out on Normal to get used to the gameplay will give me a reason to play it through a second time. I do agree that if you only play a game once and play through on an easy setting, you are definetly not getting your money’s worth.
July 7th, 2008
at 5:13 pm
Beating a game on hard does not make you hardcore. It is part of being hardcore ill admit that, but its not the only factor. Think about this while you are struggling your way through Bioshock having no ammo, health, or Eve, and having to scream at the TV and walk away every ten min. Im going though the game at a nice pace blasting away at things because well I have more then 6 bullets for all my guns, the whole time I’m calm and having a great time. Which sounds more fun?
Being hardcore is a mindset, in your life what is your first love (and im obviously talking about family and the like)? If some little rumor about a new map pack coming out for Halo 3 gets you all giddy your Hardcore. If the first thing you do when you wake up everyday is check the news on TVGB your hardcore. If you collect videogame action figures you are hardcore. If your home entertainment system costs more then your home you are hardcore.
Its not some elitist club that only people that play games on hard are members of, if videogames are your passion then you are hardcore.
July 7th, 2008
at 5:55 pm
Nice interesting write-up… I’m kind of in the middle on this. I play games on Hard a lot. I put Bioshock on the hardest first time, along with Uncharted, Halo 3, Gears of War, and more but for some reason I’m drawing a blank. Anyway.. been playing games for a loooooong time and I’ll just say I’m good. Starting a game out on hard usually isn’t a problem if there’s no new techniques to learn.. for example I picked up DMC4 without playing any of the previous games… it was fun as hell but I sucked at first. Still can’t play as Dante very well.
But anyway when I played Bioshock on Veteran? I think it was… or Hard FOR veteran FPS players.. whatever they called it.. I found myself a little on the frustrated side when trying to kill things down the road. Just a regular splicer could take more hits than I could! It was a little ridiculous.. and I scavenged for ammo and STUFF so much I didn’t really experiment with funny ways to kill things. I just conserved and used the most effective ways of getting through the game. Not to mention I’d load it after almost every time I died…
Also on COD4 I tried that on 4/4 it was ridiculous. It took forever to advance in the story. When putting the difficulty higher, you raise the bar for how good your strategies need to me in order to make it through the game. And repeating the same section over and over to find out how to just get out ALIVE is a pain. I think you have to find the balance. There’s a spectrum ranging from too easy, which can be on the boring side and take away some fun factor, to too challenging, which makes it frustrating also taking away from the fun. BUT at least when you play on HARD or whatever and DO get frustrated… you’re generally rewarded nicely after completing something as opposed to being BORED on EASY and getting nothing.
July 7th, 2008
at 6:21 pm
“Also on COD4 I tried that on 4/4 it was ridiculous. It took forever to advance in the story.”
Ha ha I know. It took so long sometimes that I forgot what the story was.
July 7th, 2008
at 11:59 pm
I think there was an article “Why CoD4 SUCKS on Veteran” I can’t remember the site though haha
June 22nd, 2009
at 2:09 pm
@ ANDREW WOODS/PETER REARDON… I AGREE… ALL YOU HAVE IS A FKN GRENADE FEST FROM THE AI…. NOT A FUN EXPERIENCE AT ALL.. IM STR8 I DON’T NEED THOSE ACHIEVEMENTS. ID RATHER SAVE THE FRUSTRATION…
July 17th, 2009
at 6:26 pm
I always play on Normal or whatever the game calls normal. Hard is necessary unless you want to get some extra features/items/unlockables but it doesn’t make you hardcore.