theflyingzamboni
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Post by theflyingzamboni on Oct 16, 2016 4:20:07 GMT
The Wired- embrace failure in gamingfound myself reading this article a few days ago and it reminded me of the discussion in this thread , as to why companies should not make games too easy. "In that case, the other option is to weave defeat into the narrative itself. Unfortunately, this is usually done in a pretty shallow way. How many games have we played in which, after dispatching about 200 enemies, we enter into a cut scene in which our hero is surrounded by 5 of the same goons he just took down and puts his hands up in surrender? Usually, the player will be frustrated that a threat they could handle in the game’s action thwarted the protagonist in a cutscene. Creating dissonance between a player and their avatar can be an intriguing technique, but only if done on purpose specifically to create and capitalize on that dissonance. Usually, it’s just maddening." This is a very good description on why Shepard's defeat on Thessia and subsequent moaning is so out of place. I've spent a game mowing through armies without breaking a sweat, and one guy and a helicopter can suddenly stop me? The gameplay itself being easy and rarely tense only compounded the dissonance. And then I kicked his ass without with ease and style on Chronos Station so idk maybe Shepard had food poisoning that day. |
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Post by Sanunes on Oct 16, 2016 5:02:57 GMT
The Wired- embrace failure in gamingfound myself reading this article a few days ago and it reminded me of the discussion in this thread , as to why companies should not make games too easy. "In that case, the other option is to weave defeat into the narrative itself. Unfortunately, this is usually done in a pretty shallow way. How many games have we played in which, after dispatching about 200 enemies, we enter into a cut scene in which our hero is surrounded by 5 of the same goons he just took down and puts his hands up in surrender? Usually, the player will be frustrated that a threat they could handle in the game’s action thwarted the protagonist in a cutscene. Creating dissonance between a player and their avatar can be an intriguing technique, but only if done on purpose specifically to create and capitalize on that dissonance. Usually, it’s just maddening." This is a very good description on why Shepard's defeat on Thessia and subsequent moaning is so out of place. I've spent a game mowing through armies without breaking a sweat, and one guy and a helicopter can suddenly stop me? The gameplay itself being easy and rarely tense only compounded the dissonance. And then I kicked his ass without with ease and style on Chronos Station so idk maybe Shepard had food poisoning that day. I thought they did that better then most games for it wasn't the enemy themselves that defeated us, but the circumstances around us. We were winning in combat until the structure itself was attacked and they ran away after getting what they wanted during the confusion of the situation. I would have agreed if we lost in combat during a fight for he was able to injure or disable Shepard, but blowing up the building doesn't give Kai Lang better combat skills then ours and then we are mysteriously able to defeat him later. |
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theflyingzamboni
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theflyingzamboni
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Post by theflyingzamboni on Oct 16, 2016 5:46:48 GMT
I thought they did that better then most games for it wasn't the enemy themselves that defeated us, but the circumstances around us. We were winning in combat until the structure itself was attacked and they ran away after getting what they wanted during the confusion of the situation. I would have agreed if we lost in combat during a fight for he was able to injure or disable Shepard, but blowing up the building doesn't give Kai Lang better combat skills then ours and then we are mysteriously able to defeat him later. There's also the, in my opinion, final issue with that scenario: they never set up their narrative for these kinds of situations. This is more an issue for people who played the whole series, rather than those who just picked up ME3. Throughout the trilogy, Shepard is never really defeated. They have some setbacks, some tough choices that can lose people, but no real unavoidable defeat. IMO, when people successfully set up a story where the protag can lose, they do it early on to establish the stakes near the beginning or middle of the story. The ME franchise only springs this on us in the 11th hour, and it feels jarring because of it. They established the fiction as being of the "hero can overcome all" variety, then try to switch it up at the very end, and it kind of falls on its face. So I my take-home points for fitting defeat into a video game narrative are: 1. Establish the stakes early 2. Minimize the ludonarrative dissonance (as Yahtzee would say) ME3 stumbled on at least one of those. DA:I didn't even try to have setbacks. I am hoping they try to work in some defeats and setbacks into ME:A. And to tie it back to the OP, I think part of doing that successfully is offering a genuinely challenging Insanity difficulty to those who want it. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2016 18:28:52 GMT
The Wired- embrace failure in gamingfound myself reading this article a few days ago and it reminded me of the discussion in this thread , as to why companies should not make games too easy. I live in fear of games increasing difficulty and pro-rating it through all the tiers, if the games are tiered, because then I won't be able to play it. I understand that the gaming community has now matured through literally a few decades of videogames, so there are folks that had been playing for many years, and nothing phases them out. But I live in fear of that one battle that bars your path through the game, or a game that you get through really slowly, dying all the time. At some point it stops being fun at all. I love playing video-games, and I hope at some point they will improve on their ability to provide just the right challenge to a player as much as they advanced the graphics.
Despite the seeming abundance of the games on the market, very few actually are really appealing to me, so finding a game with a great lore, story. classes etc, and not being able to play it eeven with a "girlfriend's class", would be very disheartening.
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Post by goishen on Oct 17, 2016 19:52:17 GMT
Despite what others may have told you, those players go on and solo platinum difficulty in MP. I still haven't soloed a gold. What that article doesn't mention though, is how difficult and time consuming it is to go through all of those things that you've previously done again. Liara, I'm thinking of you and when I first rescued you.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2016 20:04:11 GMT
I thought they did that better then most games for it wasn't the enemy themselves that defeated us, but the circumstances around us. We were winning in combat until the structure itself was attacked and they ran away after getting what they wanted during the confusion of the situation. I would have agreed if we lost in combat during a fight for he was able to injure or disable Shepard, but blowing up the building doesn't give Kai Lang better combat skills then ours and then we are mysteriously able to defeat him later. There's also the, in my opinion, final issue with that scenario: they never set up their narrative for these kinds of situations. This is more an issue for people who played the whole series, rather than those who just picked up ME3. Throughout the trilogy, Shepard is never really defeated. They have some setbacks, some tough choices that can lose people, but no real unavoidable defeat. IMO, when people successfully set up a story where the protag can lose, they do it early on to establish the stakes near the beginning or middle of the story. The ME franchise only springs this on us in the 11th hour, and it feels jarring because of it. They established the fiction as being of the "hero can overcome all" variety, then try to switch it up at the very end, and it kind of falls on its face. So I my take-home points for fitting defeat into a video game narrative are: 1. Establish the stakes early 2. Minimize the ludonarrative dissonance (as Yahtzee would say) ME3 stumbled on at least one of those. DA:I didn't even try to have setbacks. I am hoping they try to work in some defeats and setbacks into ME:A. And to tie it back to the OP, I think part of doing that successfully is offering a genuinely challenging Insanity difficulty to those who want it. ... but Shepard is defeated at first by Saren on Virmire, he/she is also soundly defeated by the Collector ship at the beginning of ME2; and earth is getting their asses whipped when Shepard narrowly escapes in the Normandy at the beginning of ME3 (so it's not like he/she starts that game with a victory either)... so I think they did establish the stakes early. Kai Leng escaping is just a repeating of the Saren defeat on Virmire. On Thessia, the gunship hitting a support and collapsing can happen even to the best combatant. I tend to agree with sanunes... I've seen far worse contrived defeats and don't really have a problem with it. All they needed to do was make the Kai Leng boss fight a lot more difficult at the higher difficulties... still leaving an easy mode available for those who might otherwise have gotten "stuck" by a tougher fight. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2016 21:41:43 GMT
I want it to be so hard you have to see a doctor after 4 straight hours
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theflyingzamboni
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Post by theflyingzamboni on Oct 18, 2016 0:50:05 GMT
... but Shepard is defeated at first by Saren on Virmire, he/she is also soundly defeated by the Collector ship at the beginning of ME2; and earth is getting their asses whipped when Shepard narrowly escapes in the Normandy at the beginning of ME3 (so it's not like he/she starts that game with a victory either)... so I think they did establish the stakes early. Kai Leng escaping is just a repeating of the Saren defeat on Virmire. On Thessia, the gunship hitting a support and collapsing can happen even to the best combatant. I tend to agree with sanunes... I've seen far worse contrived defeats and don't really have a problem with it. All they needed to do was make the Kai Leng boss fight a lot more difficult at the higher difficulties... still leaving an easy mode available for those who might otherwise have gotten "stuck" by a tougher fight. I agree it's not the worst contrived defeat, and a harder fight would have been nice. I find it interesting that you had such a different read on those scenes you mentioned though. 1. I don't see it as a defeat at all. Shepard comes up short in a round of fisticuffs, sure, but they still get rid of the cloning facility. A Pyrrhic victory, but to me it feels more like it sets the stakes for what can happen to your companions, rather than suggesting any vulnerability in Shepard. 2. Shepard is alive again in a couple minutes from the player's perspective. Less of a defeat, more establishing the plot. You as the player weren't trying and failing to accomplish anything when it happened. Maybe a temporary defeat for Shepard, but not really for the "player as Shepard". 3. Earth is getting the shit kicked out of it, but Shepard isn't. Shepard mows through a bunch of Reaper troops and flies off to solve the galaxies problems. When I play through the games, it feels like people and worlds around Shepard can be defeated, but Shepard just bulls through and barely slows down. That's why Thessia feels narratively a bit out of left field to me. Anyway, that's just a difference in perspective. |
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Post by goishen on Oct 18, 2016 13:37:33 GMT
Narrative rules over gameplay though. At least in this case. You might be alive again in two minutes, but you've just learned that two years have passed. You can't just hop right back in where ME1 ended. Mainly because the narrative won't let you.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 13:48:23 GMT
... but Shepard is defeated at first by Saren on Virmire, he/she is also soundly defeated by the Collector ship at the beginning of ME2; and earth is getting their asses whipped when Shepard narrowly escapes in the Normandy at the beginning of ME3 (so it's not like he/she starts that game with a victory either)... so I think they did establish the stakes early. Kai Leng escaping is just a repeating of the Saren defeat on Virmire. On Thessia, the gunship hitting a support and collapsing can happen even to the best combatant. I tend to agree with sanunes... I've seen far worse contrived defeats and don't really have a problem with it. All they needed to do was make the Kai Leng boss fight a lot more difficult at the higher difficulties... still leaving an easy mode available for those who might otherwise have gotten "stuck" by a tougher fight. I agree it's not the worst contrived defeat, and a harder fight would have been nice. I find it interesting that you had such a different read on those scenes you mentioned though. 1. I don't see it as a defeat at all. Shepard comes up short in a round of fisticuffs, sure, but they still get rid of the cloning facility. A Pyrrhic victory, but to me it feels more like it sets the stakes for what can happen to your companions, rather than suggesting any vulnerability in Shepard. 2. Shepard is alive again in a couple minutes from the player's perspective. Less of a defeat, more establishing the plot. You as the player weren't trying and failing to accomplish anything when it happened. Maybe a temporary defeat for Shepard, but not really for the "player as Shepard". 3. Earth is getting the shit kicked out of it, but Shepard isn't. Shepard mows through a bunch of Reaper troops and flies off to solve the galaxies problems. When I play through the games, it feels like people and worlds around Shepard can be defeated, but Shepard just bulls through and barely slows down. That's why Thessia feels narratively a bit out of left field to me. Anyway, that's just a difference in perspective. That's the problem... players can't actually be defeated part way through the game... because doing so would halt the progression of the game. Defeats go on around the player, but the player's character will always have to "just bull through" them in order for the game to continue. Despite all the criticism heaped at Bioware for Shepard being a "hero"... a) They did not make him/her "super human" by giving him a special power that one-shots reapers.  They did orchestrate defeats occurring around Shepard; and c) They gave the player the ability to even utilize some personal "defeats" in their game. For example, Shepard can fail to save even a romanced Miranda. The player can also arrange things so that Shepard can fail to save (or have to shoot) the Virmire survivor. He/she can fail to save their crew in ME2. Honestly, I think they did set up lots of "defeat" scenarios throughout the games... if the player chooses to utilize them to build that sort of story. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 14:13:39 GMT
I Would like to point Shamus Young's excellent analysis as to why Kai Leng and his display on Thessia turned into a total fiasco. To make a long story short: It was way to obivious that the writers wanted Kai Lame to win and thus used cutscene power to intervene directly on his behalf; Shepard and squad act like total idots, Check. Shepard loses his gun, convienently, Check. Shepard falls into a huge chasm underneath a solid floor that doesn't affect Leng at all, Check. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 14:36:27 GMT
I Would like to point Shamus Young's excellent analysis as to why Kai Leng and his display on Thessia turned into a total fiasco. To make a long story short: It was way to obivious that the writers wanted Kai Lame to win and thus used cutscene power to intervene directly on his behalf; Shepard and squad act like total idots, Check. Shepard loses his gun, convienently, Check. Shepard falls into a huge chasm underneath a solid floor that doesn't affect Leng at all, Check. It's not much different really than Shepard's encounter with Saren on Virmire, though. Sure, in that case, Shepard goes in shooting to clear out the geth, but then he/she just runs for cover when Saren shows up. With Saren standing out in the open and with the bomb timer allegedly running down (because the VS set it to go off no matter what), Shepard stops to talk with Saren... even possibly inquiring about why the geth are following Sovereign. Throughout the conversation, Saren just continues to stands there. When the battle resumes, Shepard and the entire team suddenly get knocked down by a single shot, Shepard loses his gun... but then manages to punch escape by punching a fully armored, battle hardened Turian in the chops... but then is somehow too dazed by a ringing alarm to recover his/her gun and get off a good shot at Saren. The one advantage the Saren situation had over Leng (and why it garners less adamant criticism) is that Saren was a better character overall than Leng (and most of Young's criticism are really about Leng's character)... but both fights were EQUALLY contrived. |
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Post by themikefest on Oct 18, 2016 14:48:52 GMT
The problem with Thessia it that it was garbage. Leng and Shepard fight. Why? It amounted to a whole lot of nothing. Had the ponytail told the gunship to fire at the supports after holotim and Shepard talked, it would've been better. No need for the joke of a fight with the cry baby. Shepard didn't lose. Had the asari spoken up earlier, the outcome may of been different.
I like the fight with Saren on Virmire. He clearly had Shepard defeated, but because his master sounded his blow horn, Saren couldn't kill Shepard. I would've. Now Shepard had a momentary brainfart by not shooting Saren when he was flying away. Its a case of dumb meets dumber.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 15:03:22 GMT
The problem with Thessia it that it was garbage. Leng and Shepard fight. Why? It amounted to a whole lot of nothing. Had the ponytail told the gunship to fire at the supports after holotim and Shepard talked, it would've been better. No need for the joke of a fight with the cry baby. Shepard didn't lose. Had the asari spoken up earlier, the outcome may of been different. I like the fight with Saren on Virmire. He clearly had Shepard defeated, but because his master sounded his blow horn, Saren couldn't kill Shepard. I would've. Now Shepard had a momentary brainfart by not shooting Saren when he was flying away. Its a case of dumb meets dumber. Agree absolutely on the first part. On the second part... no. I find the set up for the fight with Saren equally ridiculous as the Leng one. Saren has no reason to come down from his platform to talk with Shepard as a bomb ticks down to blow up his facility. Saren just should have been unleashing unholy hell from above... the facility is lost anyways and all he has to do is prevent Shepard from boarding the Normandy and Shepard's as good as dead. The horn going off is just ridiculous as well. |
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Post by xassantex on Oct 18, 2016 15:39:10 GMT
I live in fear of games increasing difficulty and pro-rating it through all the tiers, if the games are tiered, because then I won't be able to play it. I understand that the gaming community has now matured through literally a few decades of videogames, so there are folks that had been playing for many years, and nothing phases them out. But I live in fear of that one battle that bars your path through the game, or a game that you get through really slowly, dying all the time. At some point it stops being fun at all. I love playing video-games, and I hope at some point they will improve on their ability to provide just the right challenge to a player as much as they advanced the graphics.
Despite the seeming abundance of the games on the market, very few actually are really appealing to me, so finding a game with a great lore, story. classes etc, and not being able to play it eeven with a "girlfriend's class", would be very disheartening.
i hear you but we are here talking about the difficulty of the Insanity level. A good player should find Normal level easy , hardcore just about right and Insanity difficult. Up to him/her to take on the preferred level and work toward a higher one if so desired. Casual level , i don't know, i don't see the point of it, does anyone play casual ever ? As for elite players they will always find everything easy so they don't count  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 15:45:12 GMT
I live in fear of games increasing difficulty and pro-rating it through all the tiers, if the games are tiered, because then I won't be able to play it. I understand that the gaming community has now matured through literally a few decades of videogames, so there are folks that had been playing for many years, and nothing phases them out. But I live in fear of that one battle that bars your path through the game, or a game that you get through really slowly, dying all the time. At some point it stops being fun at all. I love playing video-games, and I hope at some point they will improve on their ability to provide just the right challenge to a player as much as they advanced the graphics.
Despite the seeming abundance of the games on the market, very few actually are really appealing to me, so finding a game with a great lore, story. classes etc, and not being able to play it eeven with a "girlfriend's class", would be very disheartening.
i hear you but we are here talking about the difficulty of the Insanity level. A good player should find Normal level easy , hardcore just about right and Insanity difficult. Up to him/her to take on the preferred level and work toward a higher one if so desired. Casual level , i don't know, i don't see the point of it, does anyone play casual ever ? As for elite players they will always find everything easy so they don't count Yes, people do play on casual settings. For example, some people have disabilities (such as arthritis in their hands) that makes it more difficulty for them than the average player to play a game. A lot of speed runs are also done on casual just to make the combat sections go quicker. Some people also play RPGs for the story and not for the combat. I venture the guess than there are more people out there who have played the ME trilogy more times on casual than they have on insanity. The attitude of the "average" gamer not seeing the point of casual and asking if anyone ever plays on it... is exactly why people who do use the setting should be concerned about the overall difficulty in games ever creeping upward through all settings. As the "average" gamer has gotten better (and perhaps some of that is due to better interfaces, etc.), they forget that there are still people out there who are just trying gaming for the first time, still people out there with disabilities that prevent them from improving, and still people out there who prefer to play as non-combatants. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 15:55:25 GMT
I live in fear of games increasing difficulty and pro-rating it through all the tiers, if the games are tiered, because then I won't be able to play it. I understand that the gaming community has now matured through literally a few decades of videogames, so there are folks that had been playing for many years, and nothing phases them out. But I live in fear of that one battle that bars your path through the game, or a game that you get through really slowly, dying all the time. At some point it stops being fun at all. I love playing video-games, and I hope at some point they will improve on their ability to provide just the right challenge to a player as much as they advanced the graphics.
Despite the seeming abundance of the games on the market, very few actually are really appealing to me, so finding a game with a great lore, story. classes etc, and not being able to play it eeven with a "girlfriend's class", would be very disheartening.
i hear you but we are here talking about the difficulty of the Insanity level. A good player should find Normal level easy , hardcore just about right and Insanity difficult. Up to him/her to take on the preferred level and work toward a higher one if so desired. Casual level , i don't know, i don't see the point of it, does anyone play casual ever ? As for elite players they will always find everything easy so they don't count I played ME Trilogy on Casual until I started ME3. My second run I am doing on Normal and it's Okay, but first time around I could not do it on Normal. Actually, until I've played SWTOR I played every game on the lowest available difficulty setting and with insta-kill/H2F cheats on CLUA. I just could not be bothered with game mechanics & character development until I started playing with other people and saw what they can do & that it was actually cool/interesting.
What I am worried about is prorating of difficulty throughout all the tiers, passing down the increase in difficulty to the Casual and Normal levels IF they listen to the "Insanity is not difficult enough". I had a bad experience in SWTOR when the elite guild tested a new raid, and advised difficulty increase because the raid was too easy in SM. Which resulted in almost a year of pugs not being able to pass a certain boss. I would not want a similar thing to happen with SP games where the content is not optional like a raid.
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Post by xassantex on Oct 18, 2016 16:03:10 GMT
Yes, people do play on casual settings. For example, some people have disabilities (such as arthritis in their hands) that makes it more difficulty for them than the average player to play a game. A lot of speed runs are also done on casual just to make the combat sections go quicker. Some people also play RPGs for the story and not for the combat. I venture the guess than there are more people out there who have played the ME trilogy more times on casual than they have on insanity. i stand corrected. but as for the OP , Insanity should still be a big challenge for an average player. ( now i just have to figure out what an average player is ) |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 16:09:23 GMT
Yes, people do play on casual settings. For example, some people have disabilities (such as arthritis in their hands) that makes it more difficulty for them than the average player to play a game. A lot of speed runs are also done on casual just to make the combat sections go quicker. Some people also play RPGs for the story and not for the combat. I venture the guess than there are more people out there who have played the ME trilogy more times on casual than they have on insanity. i stand corrected. but as for the OP , Insanity should still be a big challenge for an average player. ( now i just have to figure out what an average player is ) I'm all for having a difficulty level that is absolutely bone-breaking insane... essentially impossible to pass by even the best players. They are very welcome to, as an option, beat their heads against walls in frustration, break their TVs and controllers in rage, etc. However, it should not be done at the expense of the player playing on the casual or even normal settings. I also believe there should be levels in between the normal setting and that impossibly insane one... so that people can, if they desire, work their way up to the highest difficulty setting in reasonable stages. The greater the change in difficulty between normal and insanity... the more in-between levels there should be. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 16:13:37 GMT
i stand corrected. but as for the OP , Insanity should still be a big challenge for an average player. ( now i just have to figure out what an average player is ) I'm all for having a difficulty level that is absolutely bone-breaking insane... essentially impossible to pass by even the best players. They are very welcome to, as an option, beat their heads against walls in frustration, break their TVs and controllers in rage, etc. However, it should not be done at the expense of the player playing on the casual or even normal settings. I also believe there should be levels in between the normal setting and that impossibly insane one... so that people can, if they desire, work their way up to the highest difficulty setting in reasonable stages. I would also add, that ideally it should be adjusted based on metrics. If they target 10% of those who gave it a shot passing it as a difficulty levels, so be it. If this ratio holds, and you still think it's easy-peasy, well, you are too good, there is nothing for it.
Finally, as the game evolve, the hardest difficulty setting will erode for an experienced player who'd been through it a few times, plus collective experience (guides, vids) will also decrease the perception of the challenge. If you want it harder, well, go unprepared, and save your level 1 gear. 
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 16:33:36 GMT
I'm all for having a difficulty level that is absolutely bone-breaking insane... essentially impossible to pass by even the best players. They are very welcome to, as an option, beat their heads against walls in frustration, break their TVs and controllers in rage, etc. However, it should not be done at the expense of the player playing on the casual or even normal settings. I also believe there should be levels in between the normal setting and that impossibly insane one... so that people can, if they desire, work their way up to the highest difficulty setting in reasonable stages. I would also add, that ideally it should be adjusted based on metrics. If they target 10% of those who gave it a shot passing it as a difficulty levels, so be it. If this ratio holds, and you still think it's easy-peasy, well, you are too good, there is nothing for it.
Finally, as the game evolve, the hardest difficulty setting will erode for an experienced player who'd been through it a few times, plus collective experience (guides, vids) will also decrease the perception of the challenge. If you want it harder, well, go unprepared, and save your level 1 gear.
Absolutely... I'm still waiting for someone to post a ME1 insanity run with an NG+ Level 50 soldier (so they are facing the toughened enemies from the start) using only the Onyx 1 Medium armor and the 1st Level gear (unmodified) that they and their squad received at the beginning of the game. I suspect it would be a loooong challenging game... with lots of Critical Failure screens. |
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Post by KaiserShep on Oct 18, 2016 17:30:33 GMT
I live in fear of games increasing difficulty and pro-rating it through all the tiers, if the games are tiered, because then I won't be able to play it. I understand that the gaming community has now matured through literally a few decades of videogames, so there are folks that had been playing for many years, and nothing phases them out. But I live in fear of that one battle that bars your path through the game, or a game that you get through really slowly, dying all the time. At some point it stops being fun at all. I love playing video-games, and I hope at some point they will improve on their ability to provide just the right challenge to a player as much as they advanced the graphics.
Despite the seeming abundance of the games on the market, very few actually are really appealing to me, so finding a game with a great lore, story. classes etc, and not being able to play it eeven with a "girlfriend's class", would be very disheartening.
i hear you but we are here talking about the difficulty of the Insanity level. A good player should find Normal level easy , hardcore just about right and Insanity difficult. Up to him/her to take on the preferred level and work toward a higher one if so desired. Casual level , i don't know, i don't see the point of it, does anyone play casual ever ? As for elite players they will always find everything easy so they don't count Aside from some physical limitations, lower difficulty settings can be a way to relax with the game, especially if we're talking about an audience in which many are here for the narrative, not grueling combat. I played ME1 on casual because some battles were a pain in ass and I wasn't really feeling the combat. Alternately, I love playing higher difficulties on a game like Destiny, because it's nothing but combat (I suppose it helps that its gunplay is vastly better too.) |
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Post by xassantex on Oct 18, 2016 18:14:38 GMT
i came to ME2 with hardly any gaming background .
As i got comfortable with Normal i switched to Hardcore and didn't notice a big difference , but when i jumped to Insanity it got a lot of getting used to.
But as Domi said with increased familiarity, guides, videos etc things became a lot easier.
Comes ME3 and Insanity feels like ME2 Normal . "You" have to "make" it harder ( using poor man weapons, increasing cooldowns etc) instead of the game making it hard for you. What's this. I still enjoyed trying out all the classes and going through the story but honestly missions just became formalities !
So i'm keeping my hopes up for Andromeda but part of me is cringing a bit.
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Post by goishen on Oct 18, 2016 19:31:00 GMT
i came to ME2 with hardly any gaming background . As i got comfortable with Normal i switched to Hardcore and didn't notice a big difference , but when i jumped to Insanity it got a lot of getting used to. But as Domi said with increased familiarity, guides, videos etc things became a lot easier. Comes ME3 and Insanity feels like ME2 Normal . "You" have to "make" it harder ( using poor man weapons, increasing cooldowns etc) instead of the game making it hard for you. What's this. I still enjoyed trying out all the classes and going through the story but honestly missions just became formalities ! So i'm keeping my hopes up for Andromeda but part of me is cringing a bit. They became formalities because you had done them so many times before. Not because they weren't difficult, because you knew what to expect. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 19:47:51 GMT
i came to ME2 with hardly any gaming background . As i got comfortable with Normal i switched to Hardcore and didn't notice a big difference , but when i jumped to Insanity it got a lot of getting used to. But as Domi said with increased familiarity, guides, videos etc things became a lot easier. Comes ME3 and Insanity feels like ME2 Normal . "You" have to "make" it harder ( using poor man weapons, increasing cooldowns etc) instead of the game making it hard for you. What's this. I still enjoyed trying out all the classes and going through the story but honestly missions just became formalities ! So i'm keeping my hopes up for Andromeda but part of me is cringing a bit. ME2 Insanity got a lot of criticism when the game was first released for being far too hard. People were getting very frustrated by dying repeatedly and not finding it very much fun. So, I think, Bioware intentionally toned down ME3 a bit... but that backfired as well because, by the time ME3 was released, a lot of people had become conditioned to playing insanity in ME2 and were now finding ME3 insanity "too easy." As I said, I'm perfectly Ok with them ramping up their top level of difficulty... just as long as they don't increase the difficulty on the lower ends and, as the spread between "normal" and "insanity" increases, they add in levels between them so that one is not just making an ever bigger jump from the same level of "normal" to a harder than ever before level of insanity. |
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They did orchestrate defeats occurring around Shepard; and c) They gave the player the ability to even utilize some personal "defeats" in their game. For example, Shepard can fail to save even a romanced Miranda. The player can also arrange things so that Shepard can fail to save (or have to shoot) the Virmire survivor. He/she can fail to save their crew in ME2. Honestly, I think they did set up lots of "defeat" scenarios throughout the games... if the player chooses to utilize them to build that sort of story.
