Easy mode is the way to go in vidya guys

[fake-chan]

Unfathomably based take.

 

[bjork]

Three cheers for content tourism. If a game warrants replaying it harder to unlock things and I find it engaging enough, fine. I guess the example would be Dead Cells: I love it, and playing it on a more difficult mode is the only way to unlock some stuff, but if I'm not playing to unlock that stuff, I have just as much fun playing it on an easier setting.

It's not a bait if you ain't a prey!!! Be da hunter!!! lolol

This got a legit laugh from me, should totally be your sig

 

[Tbest25]

I can see what you mean. As i get older, more responsibilities i have and also less time to play video games. Because i don't have a lot of time to "git gud", these past days i've been gravitating towards games with a certain amount of challenge, not too high, not too low. A middle ground.
I think the fun comes from overcoming the challenge the game presents, find your own way to solve the problem using the tools the game gives you. The difficulties are there to raise this notion even further, so i think most games should be accessible. I say most because games like Souls games have the high difficulty as their identity, it wouldn't be a Souls game without it.

 

[moonbits]

 

[DAME NINGEN]

Bait

 

[χKai]

Thank you for letting me enjoy my baby games

I used to be very elitist and say that they ought to make games as hard as they used to on the original Nintendo.
The old me would have had a lot to say about the matter.

 

[thumbsdown]

I don't think hard difficulty is a matter of bad or unthoughtful design in games at all, it depends on the culture you've created around a certain game (or we going to throw all kusoges, kaizos, trolls, pit and tool-assisted games plus the learning/social environment they promote into the dumpster), but I do agree it all depends on the gamer's vibe since making games easier to go through is also a matter of accessibility.

 

[Zerpina]

I very rarely if ever, fool with the difficulty settings.
Whatever it's set on is what I usually play on.

But I don't care if someone wants to play on the easiest setting or "ultra god fuck you you die in one hit" mode, ya know.... your typical Bullet-hell game, As long as you're having fun.

 

[moonbits]

If they deliberately strip the game of it's most complex mechanics and rules to allow you to play it, then that's fundamentally wrong. Like letting you hold the ball with both hands while moving in basketball because you can't dribble.

I'd even go further than this and say accessibility feature that are not related to visual/audio impairment can rightfully fuck off to the edges of the universe.

This is the game, these are it's rules and this is the challenge.
You don't like it? then play something else.

Diluting my orange juice because you can't handle it?
Nah

tldr: no more difficulty selection, either u in or ur out dude

 

[Metroid_Hybrid]

Difficulty in video games is always a balancing act.. "Kaizo" hacks take things WAY too far, but I absolutely despise the way many modern games just "hold your hand" through the entire experience..

That being said, I am of the mindset that people who generally hate difficult games (ala Dark Souls, etc.) are the same type of people who have never experienced the satisfaction of mastering a difficult skill IRL..

For example, it took YEARS of actual blood, sweat, & tears before my tiny ass could use wrist-locks to throw & submit guys literally twice my weight in a sparring situation. But HOLY SHIT did it feel good when it finally started to happen!!! And now I carry that confidence with me everywhere I go..

Same goes for anyone who has mastered a Trade (carpentry, plumping, etc)..

Most people will never put in the time & effort to learn such a thing, and I think a certain degree of 'gatekeeping' via difficulty curve is a good thing.. Don't like it? Put down the Ninja Gaiden, and stick to your Uncharted(s), Ubisoft slop, and other 'cinematic'... "games"..

 

[Guinea]

I always play on easy mode unless it locks out content, because I'm trying to get through this massive backlog before I kick the bucket.

 

[thumbsdown]

Most people will never put in the time & effort to learn such a thing, and I think a certain degree of 'gatekeeping' via difficulty curve is a good thing..

Wouldn't call it gatekeeping, this is "balancing" the learning process of acquiring any skill implied by the mechanics a game is tied up, this relates to thoughtful game design cus the learning process doesn't have to be all pleasure (in fact it never is, we only take a step towards learning something when we realize our own knowledge is partial... that's firstly and foremost a shock). Most games nowadays tend to eliminate the friction of said learning processes just cus this is overall the current trend capitalism aims to sell as a whole. That's the very idea behind the LLM fantasy.

 

[secreto7]

Just play normal or the way the devs meant.
If you need an easier mode to enjoy then why not. If you want more difficulty the same applies.
People gatekeeping just have an ego problem, or are you afraid of caving in and 'cheat'.

 

[thumbsdown]

Just play normal or the way the devs meant.
If you need an easier mode to enjoy then why not. If you want more difficulty the same applies.
People gatekeeping just have an ego problem, or are you afraid of caving in and 'cheat'.

Which even makes me think WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN of all those pit modified games without cheat engine lmao

 

[moonbits]

or the way the devs meant.

If business, market analysis, A/B testing and all the shit they do now wasn't a thing, you'd be playing some seriously fucking hardcore games. The way the developers meant.

 

[Heinzu]

Hmm this thread doesn't make any sense

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

It really depends on the game (I know smile and wave answer) but really some can get very hand holdy on easy mode.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

It really depends on the game (I know smile and wave answer) but really some can get very hand holdy on easy mode.

There is something to be said about making the game too easy. For example, Phoenix mode in Fire Emblem is an embarrassment. Your characters revive instantly as soon as they die. I wouldn't feel good about myself if I had to play in that mode.

 

[KenaiPhoenix]

For me is normal mode

From a design perspective playing all games on easy difficult will usually throw the player to not use all the tools designed and even lose part of the experience.

For example: Easy on the old RE titles gived you a LOT of weapons, so the whole scavenging having to manage you ammo correctly is totally lost, so part of the experience is hindered.

The same can me said by recent games like DooM Eternal: is a game that was designed to keep you at your edge and moving, not because you wanted, but because you need to. It can take a time but you will get used to move ans swap weapons on the fly and develop some kind of "game sense" of what to use to kill what. On lower difficult this is also kind of lost.

Now, games are to be enjoyed. If you are having issued with some levels, or just dont feel like just getting your asses kicked over and over again after a long day in the office/school/etc. It is fine, I know I have lowered sometimes the difficult of games like Stellar Blade, not becuase I would never beat the boss/stage, but because I just didnt really wanted to use my 3 hours left in the day for my enjoyment trying only to beat a single boss. I wanted to advance in the game.

 

[hazys]

Uhh I think the real problem is that most video games aren't competently balanced and so the difficulty is just frustrating or time-wasting. If you're playing a game with meh gameplay and great story you obviously wanna play it on Easy.

 

[iamthemilkman]

While I tend to go for the default setting (typically Normal), I have bumped it down to Easy in super frustrating games.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

Yes, but beating the game with one quarter requires almost perfect knowledge of the game on top of perfect play. That usually requires spending a lot of quarters on the game to acquire that knowledge.

Not really . Alot of arcade-games had the NES-ports that were a starter to the arcade genres like shmups with capcoms 1945-series , Gradius and other games back then . Later came the beat'em ups like Double Dragon and bad dudes . Those were tough but still beatable and you know how these games worked in concept while getting the basic skill to play it .

Its still skill what you learned . In Fighting games like Street Fighter 2 you learned the basic attacks , grabs and the fundamentals of specials like Hadoken , shoryuken and tastumaki which took capcom since SF2s huge success with it and SNK even took that design of such inputs with them too and got their own success with their own fighting games and their own mechanics.

You could put those learned skills into other games of the same genre and you explore with its mechanics and try new approaches so far as possible how those worked and have their value in specific encounters and situations . Later on and sometimes out of the sudden you discover other mechanics and deepen the knowledge and skill with these discovered mechanics .

The console games actually helped to get into the groove of those very tough arcade games . But it is a challenge and not a necessity to beat it . Today we have the approach with Save states and infinite credits to get into the game and learn everything from the start till the end . Back then alot of people shared and showed some info , tricks and even had tips how to get the best results and to beat those games .

It was a phenomena that brought skill and was shared with others what nowadays is still there but its rather a more fragile mentality towards arcade-games that not only scares people away but about challenge overall .

It was always a "take it or leave it"- kind of thing . Nobody can blame anyone for being not good or not liking such tough arcade games . You either stick to the challenge because it is fun to play for you or leave it because you didnt got the click for the game . Or the game was truly a greedy quarter-muncher of the worst kind .

Check out Electric underground to see the other side of gaming about challenges and arcade-game-designs .

Im all in for arcade game design again that should return to gaming but not as a must-have approach in all its aspects and elements but as an option to nowadays way too forgiving and almost selfplaying games .

And i dont like the souls-games either . Those games bore me with their rather slow gameplay and stamina-based combat . But Ninja Gaiden Black and 2 are my jam .

Post automatically merged: Oct 22, 2025

I like games that insult me, bite me back and dont even care about my feelings because i can give it all back tenfold . Revenge is always served cold ... and very dishonorable and destructive too.

Half-jokes aside .

Playing games on easy is fine but its on such low difficulty easy to cheese the game through.

I like to play it on normal and after that on harder difficulties when i fully understood the gameplay and its mechanics to master it .

We give arcade-games way too much disgust and undeserved hate for it just for its hard and unhinged difficulty that mostly bound for not knowing the mechanics well . Nobody is to blame there . You fight on and learn or leave it and play another game . Nobody can master all games and become gaming-avatar , Master of all game-genres .

 

[CG4R12I4N]

Normal mode is the standard for me. Most games I've prefer played on easy mode usually are either JRPG/SRPGs that grinding or games that can be too hard to finish (old SNK games).

Rarely played in hard mode cause I'm the type that usually ragequit if the game didn't go as I wanted for too long, though if said hard mode rewards me with the exclusive great things that can't be gotten on any other difficulty I usually persevere through it instead (like Valkyrie Profile).

 

[Octopus]

I'm surprised no one's really brought up the 'mastery effect' that often here yet. It just feels good to get gud at a game that you like and overcome the obstacles in front of you, its a fundamental part of being human is to play like this for mental stimulation. The way I see it is that even games meant to be easy have this element of overcoming challenge as its the basic fundamental function of a structured game outside of actual movie games, just done to a lesser severity or in a different way. Something like Stardew Valley isn't hard in the same way as DMC4 on Dante Must Die difficulty is, but it still has that element of overcoming obstacles just in a different form and severity; instead of focusing on immediate action and complicated controls, its about getting a really productive farm going through efficiency and planning to trigger that mastery effect dopamine, and I mean the mines can actually get pretty hard at the lower levels to be fair if you haven't been keeping up with your gear. Both kinds of games are valid as they're both ultimately video games, and there can entirely be games coexisting meant for different kinds of players; I'm not going to complain about the existence of Hello Kitty Island Adventure or call it bad game design just because I like the Ninja Gaiden series.

That being said, walking simulators aren't games you're just watching a movie, and visual novels aren't games you're just reading a choose-your-own-adventure book. There's nothing wrong with that, I'm just stating facts.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

I'm surprised no one's really brought up the 'mastery effect' that often here yet. It just feels good to get gud at a game that you like and overcome the obstacles in front of you, its a fundamental part of being human is to play like this for mental stimulation. The way I see it is that even games meant to be easy have this element of overcoming challenge as its the basic fundamental function of a structured game outside of actual movie games, just done to a lesser severity or in a different way. Something like Stardew Valley isn't hard in the same way as DMC4 on Dante Must Die difficulty is, but it still has that element of overcoming obstacles just in a different form and severity; instead of focusing on immediate action and complicated controls, its about getting a really productive farm going through efficiency and planning to trigger that mastery effect dopamine, and I mean the mines can actually get pretty hard at the lower levels to be fair if you haven't been keeping up with your gear. Both kinds of games are valid as they're both ultimately video games, and there can entirely be games coexisting meant for different kinds of players; I'm not going to complain about the existence of Hello Kitty Island Adventure or call it bad game design just because I like the Ninja Gaiden series.

That being said, walking simulators aren't games you're just watching a movie, and visual novels aren't games you're just reading a choose-your-own-adventure book. There's nothing wrong with that, I'm just stating facts.

Yeah there's an interesting discussion to be had about the different dopamine incentives connected to playing video games. It is interesting because some of these incentives can be at odds with each other.

One of the examples of incentives would be the training your brain to understand and counteract a pattern from an enemy in a video game. That would require using your hand eye coordination skills and pattern recognition which is relevant to fighting games and action platformers. As you learn more about the enemies in the games and their patterns and train your motor skills to handle these, there is a certain dopamine rush to improving in that case.

Another incentive would be in more strategic games. Like you mentioned Stardew Valley, where you play the game and understand the most efficient way to manage the economy of your farm. Same thing with strategy games where you learn the most optimal strategy or build your character to a certain power level and move your units in a way where the CPU cannot counteract you. This takes learning about the rules of the game and progressing to unlock skills. That also stimulates the brain in its own way.

But there's a third element to the motivators to play the game. Simply progressing through a game and seeing more of a story can be a motivator in of itself and it can be at odds with the other motivators. For some the primary motivator is to see the end of the game and not being challenged or enjoying the journey, so they rather play on easy mode and accomplish that goal. Its perfectly fair, especially since some games are beyond certain players skill level or hand eye coordination skill.

Edit: There are other motivators, like social interaction, competitive multiplayer, achievement hunting aspect. But that's another can of worms.