Hard Mode
Let’s talk about
“hard mode.” Back in the day games didn’t have different difficulties. They
were what they were. Mostly a trial and error sort of system and you learned
from your mistakes. Games started to put in different difficulties, making
enemies more aware or putting more enemies in a given area but then things got
a little lazy. Most games now define hard mode as, “you take more damage and
enemies have more health.” Seems fair.
I
used to like playing games on higher difficulties. I was an achievement hunter
type even before achievements and trophies and in most cases there were no way
to prove you did what you said you did unless you physically showed someone
your memory card. I did absolutely everything on Naughty Dogs’ Crash Bandicoot
games, I gave myself carpal tunnel so bad it woke me up at night from holding
the X button so hard in CTR for so long and I painstakingly did everything in Vice City
I
completed legendary on four of the seven Halo games. In Halo, the game has
rules and it’s about finding a way around those rules. The main rule is most
enemies still die from a headshot. No matter what difficulty and what rank, the
Elites still drop to the noob-combo. The ranks don’t exactly mean they have
more health; they just have a higher chance to dodge grenades and take cover
when you fire at them. I remember in Ninja Gaiden 2 I picked a hard difficulty
and in the second level, I believe, you are in the ninja village and at one
point you are attacked be little, annoying attack dogs. The next level you’re
in New York
When
I do something in a game, I want to feel like I actually did something. I go
into games with the mindset that it’s me versus the developer. If I get mad at
a game it’s probably because the game is doing something right, you know, aside
from clunky controls or bad cameras. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a good example.
The end game is pretty punishing but when I got a star I feel like I earned it,
not that I beat my head against a wall until the wall gave. God of War (2018)
hard mode is that wall. When @NEETproxy lent me the game I put it on hard cause
I’m a big boy and I was very upset that I had to turn the difficulty down. The
first group fight just took sooooo long because the enemies’ health were so
large I just couldn’t handle it.
New
Game+ seems to cheapen the challenge of hard mode. I feel in a lot of games New
Game+ is used to make hard modes doable. Like that it’s the point of New Game+.
There’s a fine line for New Game+ and hard mode for me. I feel that in God of
War (2018), if I had kept going until I got some gear that the game might get
doable but I had no idea that there was gear or upgrades but to keep chipping
away at the difficulty wall. In God of War (2005) I was able to play it on God
Mode up until the final boss. I just couldn’t do it but that’s on me. I lost.
It wasn’t because of gear level or upgrades. The developers won that one and I
lost. Making enemies hit harder and take longer to kill is an uninventive way
to add challenge to games. If you’re going to do that you might as well not
even have difficulties. Maybe have a “story” difficulty for people that truly
just want to experience the story and a difficulty that the game “should” be
played on. Maybe offer New Game+ as its own difficulty and make some crazy
changes. I’ve clearly finished the game, have most/all of the upgrades now give
me a challenge. Make me put my game knowledge to the test.
What
do you think about hard modes and New Game+? Am I too wussy? What’s your favorite/hardest
gaming achievement you’ve conquered? Let me know in the comments and I’ll catch
you later.
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