Easy Mode is now selectable, the best and worst difficulty modes

[Lee__Kanker]

The best difficulty mode to me is one that makes you re-learn the game, normal mode was just to give you the basics but now you actually have to tighten your belt and master the game's intricate mechanics or perish on the first enemy encounter
The best ones change enemy beheaviours, gives them new moves even, it's when the real game starts

I'm an avid devil may cry 1and 3 and Bayonetta 1 2 3 fan so; these games are like balanced around hard then scaled back for easy then the theres the EXTRA hard mode that once again introduces new stuff and makes you re learn the game
After a while normal mode will feel dull
You're much more likely to learn about jump cancelling thanks to dante must die, and bayonetta's infinite climax forces you to spot relying on witch time, experiment with weapon combos more, equip all those accessories, parry and perfect parry...

Silent hill 1 2 3; normal mode becomes quite easy once you finish it once, as long as you dont waste all your ammo on every enemy you're usually fine, with normal mode saving your healing items and ammo becomes Crucial or you're essentially fucked at the next boss fight unless you're a god at melee (though in 1 and 2 you can weasel you can do a trick by running out of ammo before the final boss starts and they will automatically die after a while because it's impossible to melee them )
Enemies become much more agressive and faster, NEW MONSTER LOCATIONS TO CATCH YOU BY SURPRISE that I love..

Biohazard 4 of course has the lovely lovely dynamic difficulty mode where the ganado will get stronger the better you play and vice versa, there will even be new spawns, and playing it on professional with no\limited merchant really brings back the survival horror aspect if you previously went through it with an arsenal in your pocket; you have to learn about how certain actions like roundhouse kick are invincible and use That as your crown control move instead of the shotgun, and how to do a quick headhsot+roundhouse without panicking in a clutch situation, recognize what move the ganados are gonna do depending on when they are in relation to you..



Bad difficulty modes: most big budget games aka "just double the numbers", they play like half an ass, because they were half assed

Fire Emblem Awakening Lunatic+; it's just luck really, you dont have to play any better

 

[Inkingsama]

I agree. Difficulty modes should present new ways of playing the game: Devil May Cry 3 on DMD is a completely different game from hard mode, in Kingdom Hearts critical mode you have to be careful and be aware of enemies sorrounding you, lest you want to get sniped and 2HKO.

One thing that bothered me about SMT Nocturne is that hard mode is not actually harder so much as it's actually a "fuck you" mode where enemies focus into demifiend, escaping is nearly impossible and shops are way pricier. For real, Nocturne is already somewhat of a bullshit game with the crits and the instakill spells, dialing up those aspects just makes the game way too frustrating to enjoy, "mudo" might as well be spelled "game over".

Fighting games are like this too. Selecting a harder CPU is the same as telling the game how many of your inputs do you want it to read. Call it a skill issue but i swear to god, everytime i played a fighting game with the CPU at hard or above, the enemy would block every single attack.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

I agree. Difficulty modes should present new ways of playing the game: Devil May Cry 3 on DMD is a completely different game from hard mode, in Kingdom Hearts critical mode you have to be careful and be aware of enemies sorrounding you, lest you want to get sniped and 2HKO.

One thing that bothered me about SMT Nocturne is that hard mode is not actually harder so much as it's actually a "fuck you" mode where enemies focus into demifiend, escaping is nearly impossible and shops are way pricier. For real, Nocturne is already somewhat of a bullshit game with the crits and the instakill spells, dialing up those aspects just makes the game way too frustrating to enjoy, "mudo" might as well be spelled "game over".

Fighting games are like this too. Selecting a harder CPU is the same as telling the game how many of your inputs do you want it to read. Call it a skill issue but i swear to god, everytime i played a fighting game with the CPU at hard or above, the enemy would block every single attack.

I especially like the introducing new moves, Lust in devil may cry 3 (red guys) seldom do their scythe uppercut move on normal, but they'll do it all the time on normal; so now if you knock them back prepare to dodge it, this makes em way moew dangerous because you cant just hit them and then move on to another enemy or they'll mess you up

Silent hill 3 has TEN DIFFICULTY MODES after hard by the way, I havent tried them yet

F.e.a.r. I highly recommend playing on hard first if you think you're decent at fpses; the game's whole thing is being 1 vs a highly organized team of enemies that will switch up their strategy on the fly depending on what you do. It makes the game so much more TENSE it's delightful!! That feeling of quiet anticipation as you approach them, silently crouch walking, as you hear their chatter in the dark their flashling in the distance; contemplating what your first move will be, it's so much better knowing that if you fuck up you're dead meat, and make Damn sure they're all dead lest the one sneaks up on you and avenges his fallen comrades


RPGs are interesting in that if you want you you Can make a full party of goof offs in dragon quest 3 and see what happens, or just do specific playstyles that are less effective but require much niecher strategies to make them work, or you can try never grinding

Metal Gearl Solid 1-3 too, hard mode is a completly different experience, you can spam rations and alert enemies over and over and you'll get through it in a very annoying way; on mgs2 hard you better save the rations for specifc points and learn the invulnerability frames for that assault jet boss fight
And now you gotta Caarefully use the scope, and look at your surroundings and stuff cause no radar mate, now actually act like a secret stealth agent!


Terrible one: Skyrim and Fallout 3