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ArsTechnica: Every game should copy Death Stranding’s “Very Easy Mode”
- Thread starter Fiery Phoenix
- Start date
This is where I'm at. There is a performative aspect to the way video games are "consumed" (or any game, really) that is unlike other more passive forms of media consumption, and quite inseparable from the medium in my opinion. Kind of like buying sheet music rather than an album, to add another dubious analogy to the pile.
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I was being sarcastic.
In Tetris nothing else changes than the difficulty when you progress the levels. No new game mechanics, no new areas, no story progression. Someone who is asking for easy mode isn't missing out on their desired experience if they don't get to play on the hardest difficulty. Though in Tetris Effect there's beginner difficulty setting for the Journey mode. Did you mean that version of Tetris?
They might miss out on some sales, but they might entice other people to buy their games based on that same reputation.
They might even cultivate a large and dedicated fanbase that leads them to tremendous success based on that reputation.
I love whenever people bring this up as if it's something the devs haven't thought about before deciding on a target audience.
Like, I can imagine an intern bursting into Miyazaki's office at From Software.
"Miyazaki-san, I've been informed that Dark Souls would sell more if you included an easy mode."
"Wait what? How come nobody told me? Oh my god that's so much money we missed out on. I'm such an idiot."
No they shouldn't.
If the point of the game is to be difficult with no other option but to persevere that is completely fine and valid, it's up to the creators of the particular game to decide wether the game needs easy mode or not.
It's called appealing to a niche, the whole "the developer is losing out on money" shit is crap and ignores any artistic vision behind why such an experience was made.
The "all games need easy mode" arguement is one that SOUNDS inclusive but in fact only serves to restrict the kinds of games being made.
Also the majority of games INCLUDE such options or don't necessitate them, why are the few that don't have em such a problem?
If the point of the game is to be difficult with no other option but to persevere that is completely fine and valid, it's up to the creators of the particular game to decide wether the game needs easy mode or not.
It's called appealing to a niche, the whole "the developer is losing out on money" shit is crap and ignores any artistic vision behind why such an experience was made.
The "all games need easy mode" arguement is one that SOUNDS inclusive but in fact only serves to restrict the kinds of games being made.
Also the majority of games INCLUDE such options or don't necessitate them, why are the few that don't have em such a problem?
lol, if you think about it, a developer willing to sacrifice sales due to the wishes of the director goes against what most companies are doing today by trying to milk every last cent out of people. We should be celebrating what From is doing and not encouraging them to be like everyone else.
In my mind it's completely up to the creator. If they're creating something they feel is more aligned with an experience or story, then various difficulty options make sense. If they're making something that they see involving a challenge or challenging gameplay as a core mechanic or integral part of the experience, then I have no problem with not including various difficulty options.
I know this is a touchy subject among many of you, but please let me ask. How does someone playing Dark Souls on easy (as an example) take away anything from you who beat it as intended by the developer? I get that some of you feel like it takes away from your feeling of accomplishment (it doesn't). Don't we want anyone to experience our favorite games if they want? It seems like some arguments are "but they'll lose out on the intended experience". So what? As long as it doesn't affect your play through why do some of you feel so slighted anytime this gets brought up? It honestly seems like gate keeping.
I agree I don't have a lot of time to play games but when I do sometimes I want a challenge and sometimes I don't aka time wises so let me just explore the game and story
Someone playing DS on easy does not bother me. If there was an easy mode, cool.
There isn't, though, and that's also cool.
Some people, though, think an easy mode would hurt their experience because they would be tempted to use it, and likely would. They feel they'd miss out on the rush after overcoming a challenge because they'd just lower the difficulty after having trouble.
That viewpoint is just as valid as the idea that the game needs an easy mode put forth by other people. Neither stance has merit over the other. Everyone wants what's best for them, and it's not my place to put people down who don't want thing to support people who do want thing.
In the end, it's up to the developer. If they want to include one, great! If they don't, also great! If they make a decision I don't like, I'll vote with my wallet. Not every product is for me, not every product can be for everyone. That's cool.
It doesn't seem like you're legitimately asking why someone might disagree about the inclusion of an easy mode, though, since you immediately tried to shit on that position while asking your question (which is a pretty shitty and stupid way to invite discussion).
So you think an easy mode is too tempting for you to not use? You said "some people" and that usually means people are projecting their standpoint onto a larger group to carry more weight. And yes, it was a shitty way to start a conversation. More of a rant really as I find it utterly ridiculous that posters on this forum get up in arms if their feeling of superiority over a fucking video game gets called into question via an easy mode.
I like to have choices. That said Kojima didn't invent very easy modes so others don't have to copy it from Death Stranding, it already existed. I mean Platinum Games had a half automatic easy mode in Near Automata and now in Astral Chain it lets the fights run fully automatic if the player chooses this way because they want to only play the story. Also Nintendo did it for several games.
"People are projecting their standpoint onto a larger group to carry more weight"
"By the way if you're against a particular game having an easy mode it's just gatekeeping and elitism, nothing else, no other reason is valid, that's literally it."
Idk what you are on about? I'm not projecting my standpoint onto any group. I'm half questioning / half ranting about smug assholes who play difficult games to feel superior to other people. I read this viewpoint daily on this forum. Just today there was a thread asking if anyone else needed to use guides to beat the Zelda games which predictably turned into poster after poster coming in to pat themselves on the back rather than continue the conversation. Of course it's up to the developer to include an easy mode. I'll use it sometimes as I get enough of a challenge from my personal life. It's fascinating how bristly people get over this (and yes, I appreciate the irony with what I just said, but I've never expressed my frustration with it here before). If you want a challenge, then awesome. I'll even give you a hi5 if you tell me how proud you are. Just please don't club others over the head if they want an easier time or find a game more challenging (and please don't go into those threads demanding games to cater to your need of an easy mode either).
No, I don't. I think an easy mode would be OK, if the devs wanted to include one.
I have read in countless threads on this topic that some people would not be able to resist an easy mode, so I brought them up. I don't think their needs are less important than people who want an easy mode. That's all.
Feel free to rant, I guess. I don't see much reason in anyone responding to you if all you want is to browbeat everyone.
I guess for me the most important part of what I wrote was "I just don't have the time to "git gud"". And let's face it, it took exactly two posts in this thread until someone posted that people should "get good".
And to be honest, I don't really see "Monster X has 10x more HP" as really an "artistic vision". I'm a games programmer by profession. That shit is just numbers.
Tell that to every single PvP game out there, especially competitive ones. As for singleplayer games, how hard a golem hits you vs how hard a doll hits you does count as "artistic vision".
100%, Ive completed and Plat'd games like Sekiro and BB, so i can speak from both sides of the spectrum.
But my gf wants to play TLOU... Easy mode is just too hard for her, I dont understand why there isnt a very easy mode. Just make it accessible to everyone nintendo style, it really doesn't hurt anyone.
I handed over my Switch to my dad, turned on Odyssey and Assist mode, he was having a blast for the whole flight, its as simple as that, he was struggling to play before I turned on assist mode. Its just different skill levels, you just have to pick whats right for yourself.
But my gf wants to play TLOU... Easy mode is just too hard for her, I dont understand why there isnt a very easy mode. Just make it accessible to everyone nintendo style, it really doesn't hurt anyone.
I handed over my Switch to my dad, turned on Odyssey and Assist mode, he was having a blast for the whole flight, its as simple as that, he was struggling to play before I turned on assist mode. Its just different skill levels, you just have to pick whats right for yourself.
Sure. But games are so far divorced from reality that difficulty balancing is still essentially arbitrary. The machine only sums up numbers the way it does because the team tried a bunch of permutations and settled on one that felt good to them. If the developers and playtesters had been more or less skilled than they were, the game would probably have turned out differently. Two designers that set out to build a difficult game where you struggle at every step would end up with very different end products if one was highly skilled and the other was much less so, even though the golem would probably hit harder than the doll in both of them.
I'm in a similar boat. My non-gamer parents picked up a PS4 a couple of years ago, which has gotten me thinking about accessibility in games (in several senses of the word) from a different perspective. While they are unlikely to ever get into hardcore combat games like Sekiro, they still have a hard time with a lot of other games that they would like to play (TLoU included). They're slowly becoming more adroit with it, but it's not like this is their primary hobby and they're not going to waste a lot of time struggling with something that is just too frustrating. They'll just take it back to the store, a response that apparently makes some people giddy with delight, but which to me is unfortunate. I've been playing games for thirty years; how many years of practice should I tell them they need before we can enjoy the same games?
There's always the option of watching any game on Twitch or youtube if you don't have the time to actually play it.
'Very easy' is basically wanting the game to be like watching a movie or television series. But there's options to watch games exactly in that fashion right now.
The fact that it's a game means there should be a level of skill to play it. Not unlike chess or checkers or the myriad of board games that exist now. You either play the game or you don't have time to play it.
But there are options to watch games like movies already out there. I did so for a full year before purchasing my PS4 and I still do almost weekly.
'Very easy' is basically wanting the game to be like watching a movie or television series. But there's options to watch games exactly in that fashion right now.
The fact that it's a game means there should be a level of skill to play it. Not unlike chess or checkers or the myriad of board games that exist now. You either play the game or you don't have time to play it.
But there are options to watch games like movies already out there. I did so for a full year before purchasing my PS4 and I still do almost weekly.
If you can't be arsed to learn the basic fundamentals a game teaches you (which any game worth playing does), you don't deserve to beat it.
This isn't aimed at people with disabilities btw, I am all for adding accessibility options for colorblind or deaf people but godmode defeats the whole concept of some games. A cinematic game like Uncharted would benefit from several difficulty modes because it's a story driven game.
Piecing together the story of a game like Dark Souls is more challenging than beating any of the bosses themselves so that excuse doesn't really fly there.
I am glad there is at least one dev that doesn't sacrifice his artistic vision to sell games to people who can't be bothered to apply what is being slapped into their faces by 20 text boxes in an hour (looking at you Sekiro).
This isn't aimed at people with disabilities btw, I am all for adding accessibility options for colorblind or deaf people but godmode defeats the whole concept of some games. A cinematic game like Uncharted would benefit from several difficulty modes because it's a story driven game.
Piecing together the story of a game like Dark Souls is more challenging than beating any of the bosses themselves so that excuse doesn't really fly there.
I am glad there is at least one dev that doesn't sacrifice his artistic vision to sell games to people who can't be bothered to apply what is being slapped into their faces by 20 text boxes in an hour (looking at you Sekiro).
I'm all for including difficulty modes for all audiences, both easy modes and hard modes.
But if the "very easy mode" is so easy the game basically plays itself, it begs the question of the medium choice in the first place. I mean at that point why not make it a movie? And understand I don't mean it in a disingenuous way. I mean OK add an option besides "new game" called "movie mode" or "laid back mode". Problem solved.
Games should be accessible but there's a limit to how much you can assist the player without diluting the "game" aspect to homeopathic levels. And at that point still calling it a "game" is pretty awkward.
But if the "very easy mode" is so easy the game basically plays itself, it begs the question of the medium choice in the first place. I mean at that point why not make it a movie? And understand I don't mean it in a disingenuous way. I mean OK add an option besides "new game" called "movie mode" or "laid back mode". Problem solved.
Games should be accessible but there's a limit to how much you can assist the player without diluting the "game" aspect to homeopathic levels. And at that point still calling it a "game" is pretty awkward.
I tend to differentiate between artistic vision and mechanics. A lot of game devs do.
Game mechanics deliver an emotional experience - saying that there is nothing artful to mechanics is cutting them and the medium of video games in general very short.
I mean if you just want to view the story and stuff there are youtube playthroughs. I've done this with a few games before (not because of difficulty but just because I didn't have much interest in buying the game but I still wanted to see what it was all about).
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Why is that a problem, though? As long as I get the harder difficulty that I want, why should I be bothered how it plays on the lowest level?
You're reading me wrong. I don't care if a "super easy mode" exist for myself, but rather for those who might play it.
I mean let's talk practicality here. Simple example: First Person Shooter. How do you do a "Very Easy Mode"? Is it a mode where you can stand in front of the final boss for 30 seconds before it depletes your health bar? Is it a mode where you take semi-regular damage but OHKO everything including the final boss? Is it a mode where the game tells you what to do but you still need to do it "properly"? Is it a mode where enemies constantly miss you (which is basically the same as my first proposal)? Is it a mode where your character automatically dodges attacks and auto-aims, auto-reloads, even auto-prioritizes targets? I mean, it's supposed to be accessible for people which lack some "basic skills", right?
Is one of those a options an interesting game to play to begin with? If not, then what's the point of providing a difficulty mode where your inputs basically don't matter as an actual monkey could complete the game by inputting random keystrokes? Is it really satisfying for the player? What's the correct balancing there?
I'm all for easy modes. But if the easier modes mean random inputs would still allow to "beat" the game, then it's not a game anymore by most basic "game" definitions. It's all I'm getting at. And at that point, the software should be honest and just provide a "movie mode" so that people could enjoy the story, see cool explosions, and whatever else the game could provide in a """normal""" playthrough (notice the ton of quotes).
If the normal and harder settings are uncompromised, why would anyone care if there's a easy or very easy mode?
I see the above reply. I still don't see why I would care if someone experiences the game that way. To each their own, the more options the better. I care for my own experience, not what others choose for themselves.
I see the above reply. I still don't see why I would care if someone experiences the game that way. To each their own, the more options the better. I care for my own experience, not what others choose for themselves.
100% agreed, if you're not going to offer difficulty options that suit my preferences I'll do (and have done) the work on my end to alter the experience in the way deemed most enjoyable for me.
I fine the difficult must stay the same because of "artistic vision" utter BS.
If the difficult is part of your artist vision then the game need to be able to adjust the difficulty to capability of the player so that all player experience the level of difficult that the artist envisioned them experiencing regardless of their natural ability to play the game.
After all players that find the game too easy are being denied the artistic vision just as much as players that find the game too hard.
If the difficult is part of your artist vision then the game need to be able to adjust the difficulty to capability of the player so that all player experience the level of difficult that the artist envisioned them experiencing regardless of their natural ability to play the game.
After all players that find the game too easy are being denied the artistic vision just as much as players that find the game too hard.
I agree that different genres present different accessibility challenges, and that actually implementing these sorts of options does come down to practicality and questions of design. It's never gonna be perfect. But, when it comes to how to make the experience satisfying to the player, nothing is universal. If a player finds the game too trivial and unengaging on a lower difficulty or with certain options enabled, I trust that they'll change it to be more to their liking. If they do enjoy playing the game that way, who am I to question it?
Obviously, the more granular the options are, the easier it is for a player to tailor their experience, but the more effort it takes to implement.
If you mean a mode that is literally automated and hands-off, why? Choosing the easiest possible setting doesn't mean that you don't want to interact with it, to whatever extent that you're able. If our concern is providing a satisfying experience for the player, I don't think this really hits the mark. Plus, for people who do want to improve, even a pretty low difficulty can act as training wheels.
Aye, when people say that "the whole point is to die and learn" or "the difficulty is the game..." where does that leave me when I blow through it without much trouble? Does that mean the game itself cheated me out of its own experience? Is the game a failure? If providing a challenging experience is truly central to the game's design philosophy, then having only a single static difficulty does not strike me as very sophisticated "art".
Interesting that while some players will struggle and struggle with a particular boss or section of the game, others will beat it on their first try. Are we not concerned that these players are missing out on the true experience?
If depends of what's kind of experience the game what you to have.
Dificulty is integral to Rain World and Sekiro experience, for example.
In Mario games and Story Driven like Last of Us and God of War, not so much.
Dificulty is integral to Rain World and Sekiro experience, for example.
In Mario games and Story Driven like Last of Us and God of War, not so much.
To be clear, I'm not against having interactivity in what I call "movie mode". Like e.g. if the game provides some nice vistas, it's cool if you have options about which one you want to gaze at.
But I think providing a "challenge" is the basis of any game. Not that any game should be "hard", but that there should be fail-state scenarios. If, for understandable accessibility reasons, said fail-states should be removed, then it'd be wise to rename the "game mode" so that it's made clear that you're not in "game mode" but in "interactive movie mode".
And there's nothing wrong with that. It's just a matter of appropriate labeling.
Why even play at all if the game plays itself? just watch a LP on Youtube and save yourself the money.
Most entertainment in this world requires something from anybody:
- movies/series and twists, focusing on plot points etc.
- being able to read (which is not a given for everyone)
- knowing how to rate artwork, how to look at it
- wine tasting etc.
Let developers do what they would like to do. If they want to add an easy automatic mode - fine. If they don't want to, that is okay too. Shit can also cost money.
Most entertainment in this world requires something from anybody:
- movies/series and twists, focusing on plot points etc.
- being able to read (which is not a given for everyone)
- knowing how to rate artwork, how to look at it
- wine tasting etc.
Let developers do what they would like to do. If they want to add an easy automatic mode - fine. If they don't want to, that is okay too. Shit can also cost money.