Should all games include an easy mode?

[xMobilemux]

I'm going to change my original question a bit and ask everyone who is against all games having easy modes a simple question: why does it matter to you how other people play a game? Your experience isn't being impacted at all, so what does it matter to you if other people play an otherwise hard game on easy?

I think it's considered taboo because too many people playing games on easy and too many accessible games will result in games becoming far less focused on challenge and have less rewarding experiences even on harder difficulties.
DmC was pathetically easy for me when I played on the hardest available mode and then their's what the Ninja Gaiden franchise has become.
Not to mention the fighter genre, rewarding sucky players with super moves and the like.
Mortal Kombat 9 had a handicap in the tower mode in which you could let Shao Kahn defeat you over and over and his difficulty would lower and lower until you could finally beat him, that's not rewarding at all.
Then there's the case of God of War, an action series that was made for casuals being dumbed down even more into a walking simulator.
And Tomb Raider....good god.....a series full of exploration and adventure turned into a generic cover shooter/walking simulator.

Those franchises all used to have some sense of challenge to them whether they were too challenging or not, now anyone can play them in their sleep.
That's how it impacts me at least, it ruins franchises that aren't supposed to be "just" easy.

The rise of the Souls series and it's difficulty is something I like very much even though I don't play them, because it resulted in Team Ninja making Nioh which is great. I like Nioh and they made it after screwing up the Ninja Gaiden series, so now they know that gamers love soul crushing difficulty so they can take Ninja Gaiden back to form.

 

[Meg]

I think it's considered taboo because too many people playing games on easy and too many accessible games will result in games becoming far less focused on challenge and have less rewarding experiences even on harder difficulties.
DmC was pathetically easy for me when I played on the hardest available mode and then their's what the Ninja Gaiden franchise has become.
Not to mention the fighter genre, rewarding sucky players with super moves and the like.
Mortal Kombat 9 had a handicap in the tower mode in which you could let Shao Kahn defeat you over and over and his difficulty would lower and lower until you could finally beat him, that's not rewarding at all.
Then there's the case of God of War, an action series that was made for casuals being dumbed down even more into a walking simulator.
And Tomb Raider....good god.....a series full of exploration and adventure turned into a generic cover shooter/walking simulator.

Those franchises all used to have some sense of challenge to them whether they were too challenging or not, now anyone can play them in their sleep.
That's how it impacts me at least, it ruins franchises that aren't supposed to be "just" easy.

The rise of the Souls series and it's difficulty is something I like very much even though I don't play them, because it resulted in Team Ninja making Nioh which is great. I like Nioh and they made it after screwing up the Ninja Gaiden series, so now they know that gamers love soul crushing difficulty so they can take Ninja Gaiden back to form.

But you just said that even though there are a large number of games you consider easy, there are still games with crushing difficulty. Those games still exist. If those games were to add in an easy mode, it wouldn't mean the normal difficulty would change; it would still be just as challenging. It's just that with the introduction of an easy mode, more people would be able to get into it a lot easier. What you're describing with God of War, Tomb Raider, and Mortal Kombat are games whose new installments are fundamentally different than previous games in the series. I don't know if the developers intentionally set out to make the games easy though. But that's also not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about games like Dark Souls and Nioh, games that are specifically designed to be difficult, being given an easy mode that wouldn't change anything about the rest of the game. Why anyone would have a problem with that, I don't really get since the regular difficulty would still exist and other people playing on easy wouldn't effect you at all-

Wait.

I think I get what you're saying now. You're seeing how overall easier games are getting, and you worry that challenging games won't exist at all anymore. So you want games like Nioh and Dark Souls to be left alone because you see the introduction of an easy mode into those games as a first step to the overall dumbing down of the experience. Is that what you're saying? If so, while I don't think it would ever get to that point, I can understand how that's something you'd be worried about. Can't say I agree with the position, I still stand by my argument that universal easy modes would be a benefit, but I can certainly understand the fear of not wanting the few hard games that exist to disappear. I can respect that. :thumbsup:

 

[xMobilemux]

So you want games like Nioh and Dark Souls to be left alone because you see the introduction of an easy mode into those games as a first step to the overall dumbing down of the experience.

Kinda, yeah.

Putting an easy mode into those games would possibly discourage developers from going in that bone crushing difficulty direction again and result in more DmCs, more Ninja Gaiden 3s and what not, that's something I dont want to happen.
Just imagine the backlash from the Dark Souls fanbase if they got their Dark Souls version of Ninja Gaiden 3.

EDIT:
Even Nostalgia Critic makes a good point about an easy mode being put into a famously hard game.

 

[Dark Drakan]

It depends what determines the games difficulty to me, if it has decent smart AI and puzzles that are challenging then fair enough. However if the harder difficulties simply do things like upping the enemy count and tripling their HP for example then you are just falsely inflating the time it takes to beat the game rather than increasing the challenge.

As someone who doesn't have a lot of time to play games these days I don't want to be spending hours going through waves of enemies with a million HP to experience the same story/overall experience as someone playing on normal/easy difficulty just taking longer to get there.

However if a games main selling point is it's smart AI & a combat system that requires timing and planning and any of that is taken away or changed to a drastic degree (infinite counters/stamina/ammo etc) then the experience might be totally different for other players.

I agree with Jim Sterling and if it has no effect on the mode you play and you don't plan on ever using it then it shouldn't bother you if it's included at all.

 

[Innsmouth]

If so, while I don't think it would ever get to that point, I can understand how that's something you'd be worried about.

Well to late for that. Each Dark souls was easier than previous one. Dark Souls 2 was pretty easy with sorcerer class, while Dark Souls 3 is pretty easy overall. I didn't met much resistance in the whole game, with beating most bosses on the first try. Result was that I barely remember much about this game, since I could mostly rush through most places instead of looking fro different routes or look for new gear.

 

[Erian1Mortal]

Well to late for that. Each Dark souls was easier than previous one. Dark Souls 2 was pretty easy with sorcerer class, while Dark Souls 3 is pretty easy overall. I didn't met much resistance in the whole game, with beating most bosses on the first try. Result was that I barely remember much about this game, since I could mostly rush through most places instead of looking fro different routes or look for new gear.

Keep one thing in mind: The series Controls and Systems did not change all that much. And if you played Demons through Dark 2, maybe even Bloodborne, then it's clear that the game is easy to you.
I know people who think these games are hard. Those never played the others these series to death. Difficulty is in that regard highly subjective. Just my two cents, hope I didn't come across as to agressive with this.

 

[Innsmouth]

Keep one thing in mind: The series Controls and Systems did not change all that much. And if you played Demons through Dark 2, maybe even Bloodborne, then it's clear that the game is easy to you.
I know people who think these games are hard. Those never played the others these series to death. Difficulty is in that regard highly subjective. Just my two cents, hope I didn't come across as to agressive with this.

No, its not the case. The thing is, system has become much more lenient with handling of stamina, invincible frames and bosses AI. Especially in regards to bosses AI, many of them have easy to foreseen moves and can be easily be baited into moves that left them wide open.

 

[LordOfDarkness]

I don't see any problem with having an easy mode in any/every game. There's been times when I've really enjoyed a game's story but a part that I'm stuck on is kicking my ass. I can understand that if a game is designed to be difficult to complete, then maybe putting an easy difficultly in there kind of defeats the overall purpose/accomplishment of completing the game. However, I also believe that you shouldn't have your gaming experience hindered on the simple fact that you can't get through a particular section/level/stage. After all, we're the ones parting with our hard stolen earned cash.

Is it bad if I add that I try to hack/mod easy games to make them even easier? Yes....I guess I am teh noob #getgudkid

 

[Xeroxis]

You know what is awesome? Storytelling. Everybody loves a good story, something fun, dark, suspenseful, gripping, dramatic, exciting, inspiring, and something that's been around since the beginning of our species. I love stories, may it be books, movies, dungeons and dragons, and now video games, perhaps the newest medium of storytelling to date. Sometimes I enjoy being lost in somebody else's world, their idea's and imagination. Video games do exactly that for me. Yeah sure, I like challenges and grinding and all the bells and whistles that comes with gaming, but some people really put their heart and soul into something they make, something they are passionate about, and I just want to soak that in. I feel like they deserve at least that, I would love that myself.

So if an easy mode means I get to see what they have in store for me next, or to fully experience the characters they way the developers probably envisioned in their heads (as opposed to being a ground mop for bosses), then an easy mode there should be.

 

[berto]

Just a bit off subject I do think is something worth pointing out.

You know what is awesome? Storytelling.

Yes, we've been doing it since we've had enough intelligence to but let's be fair, video games don't rely on those to exist nor need a plot to be video games. Remember when they announced a film trilogy for tetris? The universal reaction was what for? Is Mario the Laurence Olivier of video games? Is there even one? Because most of the prominent characters in the media are action heroes and cartoon characters. In the same vain do we really play all games for the plot? Nowadays we demand to, but out of all the games you've played more than once how often do you watch every cutscene every time? I skip them after the first playthrough. Personally, if my only interest in a game is the story then I just watch it on youtube. In fairness a solid story is always a plus, some games are even exclusively built to only tell a story and nothing else, Telltale has made their living from it and they've done it quite well, too, and often the game's story is what's made it immortal, especially with RPGs, but in video games rely on other things to be significant, things that are uniquely theirs, like gameplay mechanics, exploration and interactivity and for most games these are the more important elements. Most can live without the plot but not without these.

Back on subject. I've been thinking about this a bit. The question is 'should all games have an easy mode' with a focus on Souls games, and the like, as the basis for the argument for, but I don't think the point should be limited to just that. In my opinion I said no because blah blah blah, but as another point of argument I also don't hear people complain that not all games have a hard mode and lets not say that's silly because the opposite is also not a good alternative, overly easy games are boring. How many people here play in heaven or hell mode exclusively because they want to only enjoy the story and explore the world? Yeah, that's a boring mode and frankly I've only played it once in each game and it was for the trophies and unlockables. Difficulty is what keeps people coming back and what keeps you interested because easy is monotonous. I know that overly difficult games can be just as big a turn off but beating an easy game is no great feat, there is no sense of accomplishment from it.

Still, even this is not a universal law, that much I have to admit. Just because difficulty makes a game interesting it doesn't mean that Journey would benefit from a hard mode; difficulty is not a crucial part of the experience that that game is trying to empass. Now, you might argue that no games ever needs to be hard to do so but I disagree, especially with Souls games because the idea is that you are a mere mortal against monsters and gods and if you were some kind mighty being you wouldn't panic or feel any sense of smallness in contrast to the world and creatures you're pitted against. You could argue that that is something that could just as easily show in cutscenes but that would be telling, not showing.

The difficulty isn't without purpose, they don't even have tutorials, I found staggering by accident in BloodBorne and parrying in Demon's Souls, and it is such a staple of the genre it created that next to the bonfires it's the one thing all Souls ripoffs and inspired games share, even the 2D ones. And I know the argument, too, I'm not enjoying it because it's too hard but I would if it wasn't, my best friend practically said the same thing, it's why he never played the games, though he was more colorful with his words but frankly, and I think I already said this before, they wouldn't be popular and people wouldn't want to play them if they were easy because without it they wouldn't be popular.