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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2017 15:39:18 GMT
That only comes into play, however, if you're playing NG+. If you start from Level 0 on insanity, the enemies will level right with you the entire game. You're also starting out with inferior armor and weapons... It's much more challenging than NG+. In addition, the challenge in leveling up your character AND your squad effectively as you go is part of the challenge... something that's just not present in an NG+ game. True, but I'm a player who hates losing his toon's accumulated power through hard work. i.e., starting an NG and starting back from 0 when I just played 100 hours to work on his builds. Also, the new profile thing is a good idea, but unless you have a sufficient amount of points to invest, multiple profiles will all be weak.
So, in short: I'd rather have a little less challenge, but more fun using my multiple builds. So I use NG+.
The thing is... the replay value is still there. As you admit, if you want the challenge of equally leveled enemies, then start at Level 0. If you want the convenience of having all your skills in place and the superior gear, then you're preferring to have "a little less challenge." Leveling up your character point by hard-fought point... just in a different "class" is where the real challenge of insanity is (and has always been IMO). |
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Post by PillarBiter on Oct 9, 2017 6:43:15 GMT
True, but I'm a player who hates losing his toon's accumulated power through hard work. i.e., starting an NG and starting back from 0 when I just played 100 hours to work on his builds. Also, the new profile thing is a good idea, but unless you have a sufficient amount of points to invest, multiple profiles will all be weak.
So, in short: I'd rather have a little less challenge, but more fun using my multiple builds. So I use NG+.
The thing is... the replay value is still there. As you admit, if you want the challenge of equally leveled enemies, then start at Level 0. If you want the convenience of having all your skills in place and the superior gear, then you're preferring to have "a little less challenge." Leveling up your character point by hard-fought point... just in a different "class" is where the real challenge of insanity is (and has always been IMO). I'll agree to that. Thing is, the holy grail of an 'insanity' difficulty (for any game, mind), is giving you a lot of tools (earned through long, hard work on your first playthrough) to handle a very hard difficulty. And the difficulty being hard due to precarious situations you're presented, not increased health sliders.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2017 10:07:03 GMT
The thing is... the replay value is still there. As you admit, if you want the challenge of equally leveled enemies, then start at Level 0. If you want the convenience of having all your skills in place and the superior gear, then you're preferring to have "a little less challenge." Leveling up your character point by hard-fought point... just in a different "class" is where the real challenge of insanity is (and has always been IMO). I'll agree to that. Thing is, the holy grail of an 'insanity' difficulty (for any game, mind), is giving you a lot of tools (earned through long, hard work on your first playthrough) to handle a very hard difficulty. And the difficulty being hard due to precarious situations you're presented, not increased health sliders.
In ME:A, the enemies in insanity are generally quicker, more aggressive, and more of them spawn more quickly; so there is a whole lot more going on that increased health sliders. I'll admit that there are some bugs in the enemy spawning which is unfortunate. You do have options though that enable you to decide from a few different experiences for insanity mode... replaying NG+ is a little easier, but you are still able to choose it, replaying from Level 0 is a little harder because you have to rise to the challenge of reacquiring your tools from scratch while facing the more hazardous conditions. You can also choose to make a first playthrough as a speed run and start your NG+ game at a lower level than if you make your first playthrough run 100%... thereby giving you some of the tools for the NG+ run, but ensuring that the enemies will level with you for much, if not all, of your NG+ game. It's not a perfect system, but I don't really have a problem with it and fail to see where it strips the game of replay value in any way... which is the OP's premise for this thread. In addition, you can swap your gender going into the NG+ game and you can also completely respec your character at the very end of your first playthrough and import the NG+ character with as many or as few points assigned to their profile. You can craft speciic weapons in the old playthrough and carry only those over into the new playthrough. The player has a lot of control/choice here... more than in any previous ME game. That increases replay value, not diminishes it. |
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Post by PillarBiter on Oct 9, 2017 10:09:13 GMT
I'll agree to that. Thing is, the holy grail of an 'insanity' difficulty (for any game, mind), is giving you a lot of tools (earned through long, hard work on your first playthrough) to handle a very hard difficulty. And the difficulty being hard due to precarious situations you're presented, not increased health sliders.
In ME:A, the enemies in insanity are generally quicker, more aggressive, and more of them spawn more quickly; so there is a whole lot more going on that increased health sliders. I'll admit that there are some bugs in the enemy spawning which is unfortunate. You do have options though that enable you to decide from a few different experiences for insanity mode... replaying NG+ is a little easier, but you are still able to choose it, replaying from Level 0 is a little harder because you have to rise to the challenge of reacquiring your tools from scratch while facing the more hazardous conditions. You can also choose to make a first playthrough as a speed run and start your NG+ game at a lower level than if you make your first playthrough run 100%... thereby giving you some of the tools for the NG+ run, but ensuring that the enemies will level with you for much, if not all, of your NG+ game. It's not a perfect system, but I don't really have a problem with it and fail to see where it strips the game of replay value in any way... which is the OP's premise for this thread. In addition, you can swap your gender going into the NG+ game and you can also completely respec your character at the very end of your first playthrough and import the NG+ character with as many or as few points assigned to their profile. You can craft speciic weapons in the old playthrough and carry only those over into the new playthrough. The player has a lot of control/choice here... more than in any previous ME game. That increases replay value, not diminishes it. QFT |
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Post by GordianKnot42 on Oct 9, 2017 16:44:19 GMT
I think the AI made ME:A a lot harder than previous ME Insanity runs. I played first run on Insanity with a Remnant AI-Overload-Incinerate Engineer. Even though I very much had to resort to the "wallpaper" approach mentioned above... I love that term BTW :-D... the AI was way more aggressive and prone to flank me or chuck grenades or otherwise force me out of cover than they have in previous titles. It required a lot more sense of the battlefield to know where the cover was, where the ammo crates were, etc. Even so, there were moments of absolute chaos where I honestly couldn't figure out how I even survived.
On the other hand, I am generally not a great player to begin with. So my ability to start on Insanity implies it may be too easy. :-D
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Post by GordianKnot42 on Oct 9, 2017 16:47:38 GMT
On the topic of replay: I'm currently doing a NG+ with an uber-aggressive Vanguard. And it's a helluva lot more fun than my previous run. I keep muttering "Why didn't I play this way the first time??!"
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Post by Element Zero on Oct 9, 2017 23:24:46 GMT
I think the AI made ME:A a lot harder than previous ME Insanity runs. I played first run on Insanity with a Remnant AI-Overload-Incinerate Engineer. Even though I very much had to resort to the "wallpaper" approach mentioned above... I love that term BTW :-D... the AI was way more aggressive and prone to flank me or chuck grenades or otherwise force me out of cover than they have in previous titles. It required a lot more sense of the battlefield to know where the cover was, where the ammo crates were, etc. Even so, there were moments of absolute chaos where I honestly couldn't figure out how I even survived. On the other hand, I am generally not a great player to begin with. So my ability to start on Insanity implies it may be too easy. :-D I thought ME3 had the best Insanity AI. It was fairly intelligent and aggressive. Unfortunately, the foes were totally outclassed by Shepard and ME3 ended up being laughably easy. I think ME2 had the most reasonably challenging Insanity. ME1's was simply a grind. I'm pretty good at gaming, and honestly don't play BioWare games for a gameplay challenge. It's definitely welcome if they can manage it, but it's not their forte. I think MEA's Insanity is easy and fine. While I'd welcome a tough challenge, the game is fun to play as is. |
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