Japanese Hard and the Illusion of “Normal”

Arsic

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
In many years past we recall that games had to be changed in the west because they were deemed too hard on the standard difficulties Japanese players would play on.

In recent years we've seen the explosion of souls like games, especially fromsoft offering, that give us difficult titles without difficulty options, meant to be for players seeking challenge.

But what if I told you that today's "normal" mode in most games is actually just that bitch made easy mode? All devs have done is label it as normal to create the illusion you're not playing games on neutered baby modes.

Here's some proof for this claim as Khazan game devs are actually doing that in an upcoming update:

"Big changes are coming to the difficulty system.
The current "Easy" difficulty will be renamed to "Normal," and "Normal" will become the default setting when starting a new game. The current "Normal" difficulty will be renamed to "Challenge."

https://khazan.nexon.com/en/news

Take into account games like Lies of P adding difficulty setting options, nerfing bosses within days after release of their DLC, etc and you see why a dev like fromsoft actually respects players as not morons. Or at least accepts the players who complete their games are a slightly less retarded breed.

Am I a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist? I think many devs, especially western, create easy modes then label it as normal to soothe your pussy egos.
 
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don't know and don't care really, if I'm hitting a roadblock I drop the difficulty. I want to complete games and move on to the next. I'm not playing for therapy or to find my soul, I'm playing for entertainment in between important things (like shagging and sniffing coke).
 
Any modern game I put automatically into hard mode ... have been doing this for quite some time.

Older games or remastaers/remakes Ill go with normal like resident evil or silent hill
 
Its all about sliders now

slide love GIF
 
I realised this quite a few years ago so I always picked hard, the last time we had non-easy Normal modes were probably during the PS2 era.

Further to this, certain accessibility options/settings, has made games even easier.
 
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Arsic said:
Take into account games like Lies of P adding difficulty setting options, nerfing bosses within days after release of their DLC, etc and you see why a dev like fromsoft actually respects players as not morons. Or at least accepts the players who complete their games are a slightly less retarded breed.
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Take into account that skill is vastly variable and somehow "subjective". You call moron and less retarded those who can't finish souls games but people that can finish them "naked" + without dying can call those who finished the games but full geared + dying hundreds of times moron and retards too.
 
RagnarokIV said:
don't know and don't care really, if I'm hitting a roadblock I drop the difficulty. I want to complete games and move on to the next. I'm not playing for therapy or to find my soul, I'm playing for entertainment in between important things (like shagging and sniffing coke).
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However you want to play is fine by me, but when a game is too easy I get bored. I do not get any enjoyment from mashing X as I scroll thru boring games, so the challenge is the only thing that keeps me interested.

It's like the Witcher 3. Too easy gameplay can make the game uninteresting and caused many to fall off. However, if you change the difficulty to Death March from the beginning the game is an entirely different experience with great gameplay. The too easy default difficulty is why many incorrectly believe the gameplay in the Witcher 3 sucks.

Anyone who doesn't appreciate the Witcher 3 as a GOAT should go back and try it on Death March and it will probably become a goat for you. There, I just invented someone's first AAAA game. Sometimes a slight change in perspective is all that is needed to make a good thing great.
 
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Arsic said:
Am I a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist? I think many devs, especially western, create easy modes then label it as normal to soothe your pussy egos.
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Games have become easier in recent years, and that has a lot to do with the Overton Window of video game difficulty shifting. This shift is especially noticeable to people who's formative gaming years were in arcades because arcades were purposefully designed to be hard in order to suck up all of your quarters. As video games garnered an ever growing audience, the percentage of casuals inevitably grew and now all of a sudden a large chunk of your player base do not have the skill to handle what used to be "normal" difficulty. Furthermore, the console model doesn't have to follow the same design principles as an arcade game, so an easier difficulty would allow a game to be more accessible to a wider audience.
 
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Can't recall the last time I picked Normal when starting a videogame, always got the impression that Hard was the actual way to play, and the intended by the developers.

Hard difficulties make you engage more with the game mechanics. SMT V, for example, is a completely different game when played on normal vs when played on hard.
 
If the difficulty comes from timing or rhythm based challenges and not game complexity, obscure solutions to problems that require lateral thinking, strategy, and tactics then it's baby mode however "hard" it is finish.
 
I play ranked PvP games like counterstrike when I want to be challenged heavily. Some games I like harder difficulties if the mechanic are good. But I do love people who play single player games on hard difficulties and think they are good gamers because of it. You are just grinding vs AI lol. I have nothing to prove by playing on a harder difficulty, especially when most games don't deserve my time.
 
Japanese dropped the ball when they decided to lock hard mode behind bullshit requisites and a lot of their games have only normal for the first run, some of the most infuriating, retarded shit.

But yeah i automatically start any game on max difficulty nowadays.
 
TintoConCasera said:
Can't recall the last time I picked Normal when starting a videogame, always got the impression that Hard was the actual way to play, and the intended by the developers.

Hard difficulties make you engage more with the game mechanics. SMT V, for example, is a completely different game when played on normal vs when played on hard.
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I straight up ignore people who judge combat systems while playing on normal.
Games on normal are usually completely different.
 
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I guess I'm out of the loop. I thought it was the other way around. Western games were harder. But that was long time ago so maybe it flip flopped in recent gens.
 
Why do devs still bother making souls-like games if they are going to nerf them into oblivion to please people. Plenty of other games they can go play
 
Instant_Classic said:
Old school Japanese games like shmups were super hard, even on easy.

😂
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It's funny how Alien Soldier only has 2 modes: Supereasy and Superhard, with Supereasy still being hard, but you know nobody is going to pick a mode that's labeled as being "super easy".
 
RagnarokIV said:
don't know and don't care really, if I'm hitting a roadblock I drop the difficulty. I want to complete games and move on to the next. I'm not playing for therapy or to find my soul, I'm playing for entertainment in between important things (like shagging and sniffing coke).
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Bruv what do the slags think of this attitude towards gaming on lower difficulty though ? Do you not find you more fuckable when you hit them with some stories of how Sekiro is the hardest Soulslike and how you plowed on and finished it ? Or how on Doom you go in bare back and switch that bitch to Ultra Nightmare 1st playthough ?
 
I should clarify I play games like Fantasy Life i for cozy gaming, or a game like red dead 2 I don't care about difficulty.

My concern here is bullshitting players into a false sense of accomplishment. It's false advertising if you intentionally design an easy mode, then call it normal mode simply to cater to people who will never even complete your game.

I also find this encroaching into souls games is the biggest offense. I expect this genre to be an ass pounding when I sign up. I don't expect to boot up fantasy life i to get my cheeks clapped.
 
RagnarokIV said:
don't know and don't care really, if I'm hitting a roadblock I drop the difficulty. I want to complete games and move on to the next. I'm not playing for therapy or to find my soul, I'm playing for entertainment in between important things (like shagging and sniffing coke).
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1742050695631069.jpg
 
RagnarokIV said:
don't know and don't care really, if I'm hitting a roadblock I drop the difficulty. I want to complete games and move on to the next. I'm not playing for therapy or to find my soul, I'm playing for entertainment in between important things (like shagging and sniffing coke).
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That's why I'm glad From has no difficulty options. Filters out people like this. Learn the system or get lost.
 
this has been a thing for almost 2 decades. Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart's highest difficulty mode (2 steps above the default one) is about as hard as a normal mode you'd expect in a PS2 game.

and easy modes essentially play themselves now, where easy modes in Gen5 and Gen6 games were harder than today's normal modes.
Kid-Mode in Spider-Man on PS1, a mode specifically designed for young children, is more challenging than Hard mode in insomniac's Spider-Man 2
 
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DAHGAMING said:
Bruv what do the slags think of this attitude towards gaming on lower difficulty though ? Do you not find you more fuckable when you hit them with some stories of how Sekiro is the hardest Soulslike and how you plowed on and finished it ? Or how on Doom you go in bare back and switch that bitch to Ultra Nightmare 1st playthough ?
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This is like admitting you hit the gym only to improve what women think of you. :lollipop_tongue:

Many poeple play games on hard because they enjoy the challenge and want to either get better at something or prove that they can overcome the challenge. Has nothing to do with bragging.

Arsic said:
My concern here is bullshitting players into a false sense of accomplishment. It's false advertising if you intentionally design an easy mode, then call it normal mode simply to cater to people who will never even complete your game.
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You are 100% right and it's not a tinfoil hat idea at all.

Just gotta look at old ass PC games. Those used to even make fun of you for playing on the easier difficulties, labelling them things like "Too Young to Die" (DOOM), "Can I play, Daddy" (Wolfenstein) and many others.

Nowadays they'll go and label the easier difficulty something like "Story mode" or some shit like that, because labelling them as easy would be too hard on the player's feelings.
 
Games were hard because they were arcade games and they are meant to be pay to win.

The worst of them deliberately made it impossible to not take damage. Basically force you to pay more.

Arcade difficulty is just unfair difficulty. The only reason we had Lives was to force you to feed more money. Modern games are not about punishment but about giving you the ability to get better. Hence many games allow infinite retries. Because now you are meant to learn instead of taking out your wallet.

Difficulty of any game just depends on how committed the customers are suppose to be. One thing I liked about old school RPGs that allow grinding levels is that it allows the player to adjust the difficulty by grinding more or less. Level scaling never gets done well.
 
I could give two shits if a game has difficulty options or not. I don't give a shit about playing on a "proper" difficulty either.

Elden Ring 2 could have a difficulty option and it would change nothing for me.
 
GymWolf said:
Japanese dropped the ball when they decided to lock hard mode behind bullshit requisites and a lot of their games have only normal for the first run, some of the most infuriating, retarded shit.

But yeah i automatically start any game on max difficulty nowadays.
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Also this... locking hard difficult is dumb as fuck..
 
DeltaPolarBear said:
Games were hard because they were arcade games and they are meant to be pay to win
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that's simply not true. there were plenty of games going all the way back to the NES that were 100% fair but still very difficult. the Mega Man games being a prime example. very challenging, but zero unfair arcade game design elements.
 
Bernardougf said:
Also this... locking hard difficult is dumb as fuck..
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Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance , you could use the Konami code to unlock the hardest difficulty from the start. It made getting platinum trophy much easier because it saved me a playthrough. I still wish we could get a remaster, I love the game so much. Recently replayed it on my PS3 again.
 
TintoConCasera said:
This is like admitting you hit the gym only to improve what women think of you. :lollipop_tongue:

Many poeple play games on hard because they enjoy the challenge and want to either get better at something or prove that they can overcome the challenge. Has nothing to do with bragging.


You are 100% right and it's not a tinfoil hat idea at all.

Just gotta look at old ass PC games. Those used to even make fun of you for playing on the easier difficulties, labelling them things like "Too Young to Die" (DOOM), "Can I play, Daddy" (Wolfenstein) and many others.

Nowadays they'll go and label the easier difficulty something like "Story mode" or some shit like that, because labelling them as easy would be too hard on the player's feelings.
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Yea thats why we do this shit, only now days I play on easy and dont go to the gym, my wife still thinks im the man as I rep Xbox hard on road 💪🟢.
 
I tend to stick to normal bar a few Capcom games when aiming to do all achivements/for the challenge. Quite rare for me to go all out on highest straight out of the park. Souls/Nioh Action esque games with that one set difficutly I am happy with no issue.
 
Bernardougf said:
Any modern game I put automatically into hard mode ... have been doing this for quite some time.
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seemed to officially become the norm in the x360/ps3 gen: "normal" mode is basically "normie"/dudebro mode.
"easy" mode is for my young daughter who can barely hold the controller correctly.

i always select hard.
not because i want to be constantly challenged, but because it engages me more.
"press A to win" is not fun.
 
cinnamonandgravy said:
seemed to officially become the norm in the x360/ps3 gen: "normal" mode is basically "normie"/dudebro mode.
"easy" mode is for my young daughter who can barely hold the controller correctly.

i always select hard.
not because i want to be constantly challenged, but because it engages me more.
"press A to win" is not fun.
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Yeah easy mode now days is basically Story Mode .. dont remember if it was hogwards legacy but my daughter was playing and she couldn't get demage.. ridiculous
 
kevboard said:
that's simply not true. there were plenty of games going all the way back to the NES that were 100% fair but still very difficult. the Mega Man games being a prime example. very challenging, but zero unfair arcade game design elements.
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They were still making arcade games, just for the home. it took a long time before games abandon arcade mechanics. The difficulty was inherited and was later abandoned. Much the same way games had high scores long after it stopped making sense.
 
DeltaPolarBear said:
They were still making arcade games, just for the home. it took a long time before games abandon arcade mechanics. The difficulty was inherited and was later abandoned. Much the same way games had high scores long after it stopped making sense.
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that doesn't change the fact that Mario Bros 1/2/3, MegaMan 1-6, Batman, Castlevania 1/3, and generally most of the well received NES games had fair design and had none of the arcade machine nonsense that was designed to swallow your coins.

hell, if we look at PC Engine, Castlevania Rondo of Blood even had 3 save slots like a modern game. absolutely not comparable to arcade game design
 
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after souls, many games forgot what fun is and focus on tryhard streamers that play for challange/views
 
rofif said:
after souls, many games forgot what fun is and focus on tryhard streamers that play for challange/views
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That's true. They only harp on the difficulty and forget that what primarily make Souls games so good are the tight combat system and incredible level design. The latter especially cannot be replicated by anyone else. Games like Khazan, Wukong, or Stellar Blade don't even sniff from when it comes to the quality of the exploration.
 
Arsic said:
We need a sequel bad. And that Japanese hard mode was brutal lol.
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You ought to make that known to the studio and publisher behind it. Send them emails to express your praise and interest. It might move some minds over there. They can use it as testimonies of research and evidence that a hardcore following has come through.

Regardless, they'll probably appreciate people sending them positive vibes after getting dragged through the mud by game reviewers.
 
Gaiff said:
That's true. They only harp on the difficulty and forget that what primarily make Souls games so good are the tight combat system and incredible level design. The latter especially cannot be replicated by anyone else. Games like Khazan, Wukong, or Stellar Blade don't even sniff from when it comes to the quality of the exploration.
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Stellar blade does. Plenty of exploration and fun without being too difficult.
Wukong is just difficult with very mid exploration.
 
I play every game on 'hard mode' or it's equivalent, mainly because, like most of us here, I'm pretty good at videogames. Normal is usually too easy in the majority of games and simply allows me to mindlessly progress without really engaging. There are of course exceptions, one problem I face is that harder difficulties in games are routinely balanced horribly, have ridiculously steep difficulty spikes and highlight issues in gameplay that are far less obvious in lower difficulty modes. I used to persevere, simply refuse to 'back down' if I was struggling on a particular enemy or section. In recent times, if I feel like poor game balancing is contributing towards a challenge that feels unfair or simply absurd then I may temporarily drop the difficulty. Only had to do so a small handful of times in the past few years but it's stopped me getting frustrated to the point I'm no longer having a good time.
 
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