Easy mode ruins your game

[Hyro-Sama]

EDIT: Also if anyone wants a perfect example of perfect difficulty, I suggest Rayman Origins. I have yet to see a game with a difficulty curve as flawless as this.

This.

I bought it the other day for the PS3 and it's godly.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

EDIT: Also if anyone wants a perfect example of perfect difficulty, I suggest Rayman Origins. I have yet to see a game with a difficulty curve as flawless as this.

This.

I bought it the other day for the PS3 and it's godly.

It so is. I just rescued all the Nymphs, and the game is gorgeous.

But honestly, I still think Super Mario World on the SNES, and maybe SMB3 have great difficulty curves to them as well. Especially Super Mario World with the Special Stages, those are challenging but oh so rewarding when you beat them.

 

[Rasas]

Well it improves game length with DIablo and EDF. I know with TWEWY you can change it on the fly but you can do the same thing with most recent shooters and some other games if the game gets to hard. I know the drops change but they could easily made it so it drops two things at different rates at certain difficulties so people don't have to change it to 100% it.

Like Guild was saying, that's just a superficial way of increasing game length. With TWEWY, it's tailored so you can complete it at whatever pace you want. Of course you have to spend extra time if you want to get 100%, that's the whole point of getting 100% - it's an accomplishment, not something you are forced to do (though I know some people who throw a fit if they can't get 100% easily, and end up following guide word-by-word just to make sure they don't miss anything).

I get that I just like getting 100% on the hardest difficulty in games I like and having to go lower isn't some thing I like. Not really a big deal.
I'm honestly thinking more and more about games need to have the option to level scale or not level scale with easy-hard difficulty so both parties are satisfied. It can't be that hard to make enemies have certain stats based on this and this. They do so with level scaling after all.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

@[member='Guild McCommunist']
While that was a good thing about Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 plus they weren't F2P so it wasn't a good example. Some people will avoid the PVP part and with F2P they get money with micro transactions and ads which if someone doesn't play it for long they probably don't spend on those micro transactions.
They can do the stupid thing and sell equipment/things that you need to be competitive or cosmetic items. Those cosmetic items might sell to people who want them all and look a certain way but some people won't buy them. XP boosts, locking features and other things is a way out. Maybe the cosmetic items get enough money so it is fine but greed might overtake them. Some games do lock content and features and they seem to do fine plus with a lot of F2P games your probably looking at someone who has a lot of time to burn in and might enjoy the gameplay enough to not notice it much. I agree that fun gameplay helps and may enjoy the game instead of noticing the level system but lets be honest even with recent CoDs, Bioshock, Killzone and most shooters you get a small advantage having a higher level/rank by having more skills and just choices so grinding isn't a must but it helps you stay competitive. I am against grinding and farming but some people are just looking to accomplish things, be competitive and don't mind the repetitive nature as much.

Skyrim didn't have a perfect balance but level scaling helps you get to certain areas earlier without grinding with FF7 you couldn't get past some points forcing you to go back later. It was a good system but some people hate when enemies are to easy or are to hard and will argue about it. Just look at Oblivion. Level scaling has unfortunately become the norm for most console action RPGS but that doesn't mean it doesn't work all the time.

What they need is the option to level scale or not level scale with easy-hard difficulty so both parties are satisfied.

Well most F2P MMOs are also severely flawed. They often give you a choice of monotony or money. Either spend money monotonously grinding for levels or certain items or pay to win. I know that companies need revenue from MMOs but the current models of MMOs is horrible. Paying $15/month for a single game is outrageous. It's either that or play a F2P game where you're so locked on content that you'll need to spend even more just to get a fulfilling experience. Like I mentioned before, Guild Wars was one of the only MMOs I've played that had a good business model. You paid money and you got the game. Then every year a new campaign came out that you paid for if you wanted it. And most people wanted it since the game was great. They relied on the game itself to make them money, not on dumb tricks.

The difference between CoD and shooters and MMOs is that "grinding" is a latent function. Gaining levels and equipment is only part of the experience, a side effect. You can't really "grind" for levels in CoD. You play the game and the more you play, the more you get. It's not like you have to go into boring parts of the game to get it, you play the parts of the game you enjoy and you get rewarded for it. TF2 is another great example. It's not "pay2win" despite being F2P now. You get weapons and such just from playing the game. I never bought anything from the in-game store, the only money I spent on TF2 was the game itself when it cost money. But I still have a respectable arsenal of weapons so I can compete with people who pay for everything. Plus there is a fair deal of balance in the game. Very rarely is one weapon purely better than another, even the vanilla loadouts can still be used effectively. Right now I have access to a wide variety of flamethrowers for my Pyro but I still use the vanilla one because of its cheap airblast. If you want to take the fast track and pay for things, fine. If you want to get some unique items (like "strange" weapons), fine. But the game is equally enjoyable for someone who puts no money into the game or someone who puts a lot into the game.

Level scaling is just a double edged sword. Personally, if it's done right, I think it isn't needed. If players know certain areas that are too high for them, then they can avoid them until they come back more powerful. It just gives you a sense of drive. Plus eventually you fight the same type of enemy a couple times and just want to be over with them when you encounter them. I shouldn't have to dedicate a lot of time to a mob I faced early in the game when I'm hundreds of hours into it.

Also, I stated that inflated game length is bad game length. Games are designed to be enjoyable, they're a hobby. If your hobby isn't fun, then there's an issue. I know not all games are perfect but if I have to spend hours on something that's boring in a game, then that game is failing its mission.