Yeah I heard horror stories about the DLC so it seems like it needed a patch.
This honestly makes me want to try more of those Serious Sam games(as I only own the 3rd game) and test Serious mode. Mental mode sounds insane with invisible enemies.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Good "Impossible" difficulty modes in games (Or why Horizon: Zero Dawn's Ultra Hard mode sucks)
- Thread starter haziq
- Start date
I enjoyed European Extreme in Metal Gear Solid 2. Really turned the game into just straight up pattern recognition and muscle memory construction.
I enjoyed the harder difficulties in Darksiders 3 (and 1/2, to an extent). It was just more damage received + increased enemy health + fewer i-frames, but it felt like the right difficulty for me (someone looking for a fun, new souls-like) and never unfair or cheap. One of the few games I played on the hard/apocalyptic difficulties.
Playing the Uncharted Trilogy on Brutal. It's not imposible because because I beat them all but man it a was painfully slow experience. I think I could probably them blindfolded lol
The only positive is that at least I played a canonical version of the games where Nate can realistically die by 1-2 bullets.
The only positive is that at least I played a canonical version of the games where Nate can realistically die by 1-2 bullets.
Even the 1st game was rough on Brutal(that I beaten), can't imagine the 2nd and 3rd games on that difficulty.
Tearblaster, not Tearblast arrows. As I said, you need to use all your tools in UH mode.
Not as hard as the first surprisingly. If you previously beat them on Crunshing, a lot of the same strategies apply. There are some spots in 3 where you could get stuck in a loop because of one shot kills and Lazarevich in 2 is not for the faint of heart.
Yeah, it was tuned for NG+, so eh, not surprising an initial UH playthrough sucks. That just seems like a terrible time. Although, I did it the quote unquote proper way in NG+ and it was pretty easy.
I got up to crushing on the Uncharted series. That was enough
I got up to crushing on the Uncharted series. That was enough
Another thread for me to complain about the Uncharted series on crushing difficulty; The game are just hoping a stray bullet doesn't end your run…
I actually enjoyed it back in the day, as it forced me to really build into stealth, armor, mods even my damn bow I think, which I barely touched in my normal playthrough, but definitely a ng+ thing, which I do think makes it very off putting in general. The FF7R games are they same and I absolutely loved it it them, Rebirth especially really forces you to get good at it (or just spam magic), but it's more a NG+ thing than an actual hard mode.
My favourite "hard mode" thing I've done in any game is probably solo dungeons in Destiny 2.
My favorite actually a hard mode is probably the Xcom games or TLoU 1 (not tried 2 on grounded yet) I like limited resources in higher difficulty modes I guess.
My favourite "hard mode" thing I've done in any game is probably solo dungeons in Destiny 2.
My favorite actually a hard mode is probably the Xcom games or TLoU 1 (not tried 2 on grounded yet) I like limited resources in higher difficulty modes I guess.
Last edited:
Ha, that's what I fear the most about them!=O But glad to hear they are more manageable than the 1st game.
Might be for the best as it gets far worse with Brutal(PS4 versions of 1st 3 games).
OP
OP
That costs 7500 shards & 2 Thunderjaw hearts on UH mode. So, it just goes back to my earlier point about it being hard to acquire new weapons thanks to the nerfed shard economy & loot drops along with increased vendor pricing. You can't use all your tools if you can't afford to buy them on the first run.
I'm surprised to hear that Ultra Hard is selectable on a first playthrough, I always thought it was a NG+ exclusive. I feel your pain OP, I wouldn't be caught dead trying it without an endgame build
Brutal is an unbalanced mess and I'm convinced it was never tested. There's no further evidence than the on-rails sections of the game, where you can't dodge bullets that kill you in 1-2 hits. You can play perfectly and winning is still a literal dice-roll because if the bullets decide to hit you, you're dead. The only way to beat it is dying over, and over, and over, until luck is in your favor and game rolls enough misses to make it through.
Yep, chapter 7 in the 1st Uncharted game is a guessing game if you live or die on Brutal.
That is (partially) incorrect. It's a quest reward, and it's an easy quest at that.
Hunters' Blind
Those blinds up there concentrate fire on a target, making it impossible to fight back. It's a cheat -- and a wasteful one, too.Aloy Hunters' Blind is a side quest in Horizon Zero Dawn. After delivering her first set of trophies to Ahsis, Aloy speaks to Talanah, who tells her that instead of...
horizon.fandom.com
Tearblaster
The blasts of compressed air from this close-range weapon strip armor and components from machines without the need to aim precisely, leaving them more vulnerable to follow-up attacks.Inventory description The Tearblaster is a short-range ranged weapon that fires blasts of compressed air that...
horizon.fandom.com
It's correct that you can also purchase it, but that option should only become available once you've already acquired it through the quest. (I guess that's for people who accidentally sold it.) It looks like you completed the quest and never opened the reward box, or something like that.
Forbidden West also hae a hunting ground trial where you need to stealth kill enemies but on hard difficulty the damage of the stealth attack simply wasn't enough to kill them with one strike (I'm quite sure I also had a bunch of armor and skills that increase stealth damage) making the trial impossible. Switched to normal and suddenly it worked perfectly. That no one noticed this makes me think these games are really foremost made with the normal difficulty in mind.
Critical Mode in Kingdom Hearts 2 and 3 is known to be a very good ultra hard mode.
It doesn't decrease your damage output, or increase the enemies' health. Instead, you deal more damage, but the same goes for the enemies. You have less health, but you also have advanced moves unlocked from the start.
It doesn't decrease your damage output, or increase the enemies' health. Instead, you deal more damage, but the same goes for the enemies. You have less health, but you also have advanced moves unlocked from the start.
I remember not wanting to play Dragon Age: Origins at anything less than Nightmare once I'd tried it. Same thing for Baldur's Gate 3 now with Honour mode. I love it!
edit: iirc DAO Nightmare had you pausing the game more often (I think it was called Tactics Mode) and also had friendly fire. BG3 Honour mode gives some bosses new abilities and enemies use some different spells. It also has the single save which is much less interesting to me now that I have the achievement, just because of the possibility of a save getting bugged.
edit: iirc DAO Nightmare had you pausing the game more often (I think it was called Tactics Mode) and also had friendly fire. BG3 Honour mode gives some bosses new abilities and enemies use some different spells. It also has the single save which is much less interesting to me now that I have the achievement, just because of the possibility of a save getting bugged.
Ys Oath / Origin
The HP/Damage thing is higher, but they also get a new move or two depending on the boss. They definitely have better reaction time, so you have to improve on that
For me, it's the perfect balance of pain and suffering with fun and exciting.
The HP/Damage thing is higher, but they also get a new move or two depending on the boss. They definitely have better reaction time, so you have to improve on that
For me, it's the perfect balance of pain and suffering with fun and exciting.
I think Doom Eternal is one of the few games which does it right.
You can get armour and health from killing enemies.
You can also dish out a lot of damage. They don't arbitrarily increase enemy HP on higher difficulty levels. Simply increase enemy attack aggressiveness, frequency of attacks, and damage output on higher difficulties.
It's a difficult but fair experience for the most part although I thought TAG1 was way too hard on nightmare.
You can get armour and health from killing enemies.
You can also dish out a lot of damage. They don't arbitrarily increase enemy HP on higher difficulty levels. Simply increase enemy attack aggressiveness, frequency of attacks, and damage output on higher difficulties.
It's a difficult but fair experience for the most part although I thought TAG1 was way too hard on nightmare.
For me a good impossible difficulty is one that feels impossible but once you hit the groove from
Hours of experience you become a true master. There's many arcade style games that have that mantra and I would have a massive list of those if I started listing them out(SoR4 immediately comes to mind from this Gen). I'm going to limit my list to non arcade games that I adore.
Master ninja mode in NGB specifically is amazing fun and challenging without being too broken. Less reliance is needed on abusable stuff compared to the mode in NG, NG2 or the sigma games.
Grounded mode in both tlou games are excellent. It challenges your understanding of the games mechanics and forces you to use everything at your disposal to make it through the game.
Legendary mode in halo reach is one of the best balanced and challenging fps experiences without having any cheap aspects in missions/gameplay structure that prior halo games had at some point. On a related note Halo 3 odst's firefight mode is the best wave based type of game and when it gets to the waves with multiple skulls it feels impossible but so rewarding.
In recent memory lies of P was one of the most well crafted souls like games for me. It eclipses the balancing act of from software games even for me. The parry mechanic was very forgiving in its timing and the game had a steady rise in difficulty without it feeling too insane. By the time I beat the true end boss I realized how much harder that end boss was because my replay of the game became so much easier from hours of play
Hours of experience you become a true master. There's many arcade style games that have that mantra and I would have a massive list of those if I started listing them out(SoR4 immediately comes to mind from this Gen). I'm going to limit my list to non arcade games that I adore.
Master ninja mode in NGB specifically is amazing fun and challenging without being too broken. Less reliance is needed on abusable stuff compared to the mode in NG, NG2 or the sigma games.
Grounded mode in both tlou games are excellent. It challenges your understanding of the games mechanics and forces you to use everything at your disposal to make it through the game.
Legendary mode in halo reach is one of the best balanced and challenging fps experiences without having any cheap aspects in missions/gameplay structure that prior halo games had at some point. On a related note Halo 3 odst's firefight mode is the best wave based type of game and when it gets to the waves with multiple skulls it feels impossible but so rewarding.
In recent memory lies of P was one of the most well crafted souls like games for me. It eclipses the balancing act of from software games even for me. The parry mechanic was very forgiving in its timing and the game had a steady rise in difficulty without it feeling too insane. By the time I beat the true end boss I realized how much harder that end boss was because my replay of the game became so much easier from hours of play
To add more to this thread: FF mode in ff16 is actually proving to be a fun, balanced challenge. You really have to pay attention to ur gear, ur powers, and enemy attacks patterns on that difficulty because enemies hit harder and faster. The mode makes the combat even better imo.
This is where a good game design really shines. Donkey Kong Country returns didn't have a hard mode, but had a time trial and the game simply transforms when you play, to a point you think it was originally designed to play this way.
I used to only play normal/regular until 007 Goldeneye. That game really made me understand the value of other difficult settings.
Echoing KH 2 and 3 critical modes. Some of the most fun ways to play the game to the point where I'd almost say playing it different is doing a disservice to the game.
For extra "impossible" you can do a level 1 critical run in KH 2 which is an even more completely different experience. It's extremely difficult, but makes you truly appreciate how well designed that game actually is.
For extra "impossible" you can do a level 1 critical run in KH 2 which is an even more completely different experience. It's extremely difficult, but makes you truly appreciate how well designed that game actually is.
TLoU2 on Grounded is the shit. Really pushes the gameplay in the best way and reveals just how well done it all is. Feels like that's how the game was designed and everything else just had modifiers added to lessen the difficulty and not the other way around.
1993 Doom's Ultra Violence difficulty is a good example of a harder difficulty because it modifies the enemy mix to make the game harder without making everything into bullet sponges. Doom's enemy variety makes this possible.
I used to love PS1 Doom on Ultra Violence. Game quickly turned into Survival Horror-ish atmosphere.
The colored lighting and Aubrey Hodges soundtrack make the PS1 version it's own unique thing compared to any other port of the game. I wish that it would be rereleased.
There's a fantastic PC port if you haven't seen it yet. The soundtrack is amazing.
ME 1&2 hardest mode made companions completely useless, damage was scaled so high that they'd just fall over the instant combat started... and I finished ME1 as a glass cannon sniper.
This is what I came to say too. Greater enemy variety and more complex mission objectives is so much better than turning everything into a bullet sponge
Sifu does difficulty right, which is nice since they were introduced with a patch later on. Hard mode doesn't just make enemies a bit spongier, it changes their movesets and how the AI approaches you in general to be more aggressive and unpredictable.
Nightmare difficulty in Doom Eternal is great. It forces you into a zen state of concentration and focus; you really feel like you've mastered the game mechanically and in terms of dexterity.
XCOM 2's Legend difficulty as well. The game expects to graduate into this difficulty by doing several campaigns in the lower settings before attempting this. Interestingly, it's the only difficulty in which the game doesn't 'cheat' in your favor, since in every other difficulty your soldiers get hidden aim bonuses depending on whether they've missed their previous shots, and the AI gets hidden aim penalties. Legend is the only difficulty in which what you see is what you get in terms of the aim percentages.
XCOM 2's Legend difficulty as well. The game expects to graduate into this difficulty by doing several campaigns in the lower settings before attempting this. Interestingly, it's the only difficulty in which the game doesn't 'cheat' in your favor, since in every other difficulty your soldiers get hidden aim bonuses depending on whether they've missed their previous shots, and the AI gets hidden aim penalties. Legend is the only difficulty in which what you see is what you get in terms of the aim percentages.
you are correct but the true ceiling of difficulty in xcom is I/I (L/I in X2)
which is awesome and awful at the same time in their own special way
I love Critical in KH2, 0.2, and 3, but level 1 crit is a step too far for me. Call me a wimp.
This is what made me drop Forbidden West. The giant snake mech was infuriating, and it wasn't a skill issue. I tried to convince myself up to that point that the game would click with me, after loving Zero Dawn, but it never did.
Agreed, like both of those.
For BG3 Honor mode it would be nice if you could play that difficulty, for the extra boss abilities etc., without the single save part. Still make it so you can't savescum dice rolls (predetermined).
There is a mod for adding some of this afaik, but would be great as a standard feature.
In a similar game, I liked the highest difficulty in Pillars of Eternity. Not sure I could play that on anything else anymore. Just made the balance much tighter, much more emphasis on each decision, similar to DAO.
In general, difficulty modes that pushes you to make use all your options is a good thing. Also liked HZDs Ultra Hard mode for the same reason (but for NG+, certainly not for a first playthrough).
If the higher difficulty just means you have to do the exact same thing for longer, or with better timing, perfect parries etc. then it isn't very interesting to me.
Pokemon Rom Hack Elite Redux. Pokemon have 4 abilities. Every battle since first trainer is like end game. Tjey also let you edit your pokemon ev/iv/nature/moves in the menu. It's a very nice: yeah this is bullshit, be even more bullshit and break the game.
Gardevoir with Psychic Terrain and Expandind force is funny.
Gardevoir with Psychic Terrain and Expandind force is funny.
Yup. I did a full Lethal run and just started NG+ Lethal+. They implemented the difficulty curve incredibly well.
Lol, I did the level 1 run, and I'd never call someone who chooses not to a wimp. I'd probably call anyone who does it masochistic though.
Was a good time. Don't think I'd ever want to try it again though lol.
The worst kind of difficulty spike is making enemies damage sponges, it really sucks out all the fun of it. The opposite, one hit deaths, it's not that great either.
Normal F-Zero GX can be considered hard difficulty and it was so good, it punishes you but you just want more, and you improve constantly, its the way it should be.
Thief's highest difficulty is another one that is great, because the game mechanics do not change, just your objectives. You have to get more loot, you can't kill anyone, you have to really master the game mechanics, its fantastic.
Normal F-Zero GX can be considered hard difficulty and it was so good, it punishes you but you just want more, and you improve constantly, its the way it should be.
Thief's highest difficulty is another one that is great, because the game mechanics do not change, just your objectives. You have to get more loot, you can't kill anyone, you have to really master the game mechanics, its fantastic.
omg I was wondering about that. I think I had to use strike from aboth (glider or higher position) because it deals more damage?
a couple of the challenges were so dumb. just ended up dropping difficulty for those sections.