Castlevania Dungeon Forums
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => Hardcore Gaming 101 => Topic started by: Belmont legacy on January 12, 2014, 06:31:17 AM
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So whilst browsing some sites I noticed some people saying they had NO problems with some REALLY god awful hard games (devil may cry series, some castlevania titles, and call of duty) now this left me scratching my head because I know I'm not the BEST at games, no. But I still consider myself pretty damn good at a few titles. Now this is really 2 questions I guess (one is for my curiosity and the other is for the dignity of my gaming skills XDXDXD) but what difficulty do you guys normally start on when starting up a game? I prefer normal usually but had to revert to easy on some titles. (yeah I suck hahaha) and are these people really THAT FREAKING GOOD?! O.o
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Personally I like harder games
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I like a good challenge in a game, but not all game challenges are good. Actually, most of them aren't. Following Sturgeon's Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_Law), most of the time if a game is hard it's because it's poorly made or deliberately cheats. The Classicvanias buck this trend. 99% of the time if you die in a Classicvania it's because you've failed to learn the level or boss and react properly.
Unlike many games where the enemy placement and behavior is random and/or really cheap, making advancement a matter of dumb luck rather than skill. A game that challenges my skills can be very rewarding, a game that only challenges my patience with a slot-machine or otherwise poorly laid out design is usually frustrating and unfun.
Not all games have to be about challenging gameplay though. I almost always play on normal mode since I find a lot of the time harder difficulties just make the game more difficult in cheap ways, plus if the hard mode is good it may give me some added replay value if and when I decide to go through the game again. But sometimes for RPGs I'll turn it down to easy mode since for those kinds of games I may be more interested in the story and characters than rewarding gameplay.
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I usually go for normal, but it depends on the game.
There are a lot of classic games I hear people bitching are too hard that I blow through and never had a problem with.
Then there are some games (mostly ROM hacks) that people are fine with that make me want to tear out my hair from how unfair they are.
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Usually normal mode if easy mode is unavailable. Like Ratty had said if it's a rewarding challenge then I'll give a harder mode a shot, but if it's a cheap challenge then f@#k no! And when it comes to games with cheap challenges that's when I break out either the Game Genie, Game Shark or Pro Action replay devices.
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I usually start with whatever is "normal"...my thought is I'm playing (and hopefully enjoying) the game as was originally intended. Once I beat that, if I liked the game enough I'll go back and play harder modes. Sometimes though, I can't make it through on normal, so...hello easy mode!
I'm kinda with Ratty and others though...I want to enjoy the game. I didn't sit down to play it because I wanted to get pissed off about whatever stuff the game throws at me. More likely I sat down to play because I was upset about something, and I wanted to relax and take my mind off whatever it was. I'd rather be able to enjoy the game and enjoy the details or whatever "shiny" things the developers put in for me to enjoy, rather than be able to boast that I beat hard mode.
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Call of Duty hard?
To me, growing up, games tended to really test your patience, sometimes memory, sometimes cheap enemy placement. You learned to overcome them and beat them, or the game would conquer you.
Stuff I consider tough:
Ghosts N Goblins series to some degree, though the first game in the series is considered the toughest.
Trojan was another tough nut to crack, constant enemy respawns like GnG, as well as Tiger Road which plays like a old school Chinese lore version of Trojan (both made by Capcom). The arcade Bionic Commando was pretty tough, and Konami loved putting out some hard as nails titles back then. Taito had some bone crushers as well back then.
Some folks say the modern equivalent of a difficult game is Dark Souls, but I haven't played them to be able to confirm this. Devil May Cry has also been called a difficult series, I do have the third game, but I have never touched it (it was given to me for free). Some near modern games where you really have to learn to play is shmups made by Cave games with bullet patterns so widespread, but the hitbox on your ship is only a pixel wide so you can slip between bullets.
Speaking of shmups (shoot em ups), this is a genre that tends to be hard until you put in enough practice, none are really considered impossible, not even the arcade version of Gradius III, though that one there is legendary for how punishing it can be.
Edit: forgot to add run n guns like Metal Slug and Gunstar Heroes. Both games do tend to give you unlimited continues (except the PS1/Saturn ports of the original games with 5 credits only), sure this gives you unlimited tries, but set a continue limit for yourself of anywhere from 3-5 continues and see how far you can get. Or see if you can beat anyone within a credit, it's possible but it takes a load of practice.
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I never really cared much for the challenge of games before, and just kinda beat them for the sake of beating them, so I usually played on Easy.
Though lately I've been really appreciating video games, and refusing to go under the Normal difficulty unless normal just happens to be bullshit hard.
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I usually go for the normal mode. If I finished the game and I love it, I might replay the game with a higher difficulty.
But sometimes if I am just after the story or if I just want to finish the game fast (if it is bad or boring), then I go for easy.
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I usually opt for hard because these days you unlock more secrets and trophies that way. I would rather play a game on hard ice than have to play through it twice just to unlock everything.
I also prefer to be challenged. Sure it takes more time to beat a game that way, but I think it is funner to over come getting your ass kicked.
I go for normal on fps games though, I usually get more into MP on fps games.
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I default to normal for the most part, but if I like the game to play it again, I'll kick it up to a harder difficulty.
Some exceptions are games that actually give you more things to do. Not unlocking trophies or secrets like JM mentioned, but actual gameplay differences. GoldenEye and the Thief series presented more objectives when played on harder modes, and they really enrich the experience. I think GoldenEye's hard mode also has enemies that shot quicker and took off more hit points when they hit you or something, which is kind of cheap, but Thief left the rest of the difficulty essentially the same (aside from maybe some added enemies), the challenge of the added mission objectives being what makes things harder, which is a great approach, I think.
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call of duty
Did you just place Call of Duty in the same category as Castlevania and Devil May Cry in terms of difficulty?
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Interesting... :) I'm glad to see some honest gamers out there. :D imo, I found castlevania 1 (beat it but took me 7 years since I played it on and off and took IMMENSE breaks between) castlevania 3 (WAAAAY harder. Still haven't beat it) ninja gaiden (original) and the DMC series to be balls to the wall in difficulty. I do find some cod to be hard but because I feel like it's more cheap in terms of you have to memorize maps and crap to know where safe places are. DMC was hard in terms because of the "normal" difficulty feeling like it was really disguised as hard. XD for some reasons (strange too) I could breeze through some older games (a few megaman titles and dkc 2 to name a few) when I would have friends stuck on them. I guess it really depends on the gamer themselves. I remember going and beating dkc 64 101% and being super proud of myself. Especially when if came to getting the N64 coin. (You have to beat the original donkey kong twice, once on default then another on a harder difficulty with 1 life) I have heard dark souls was UNGODLY hard but if I have trouble with even beating something like a fps (only on harder difficulties) then I'm good. XD
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I've never understood how people could consider CV3 harder than CV1. Maybe if you're playing a solo game, yes. But otherwise I don't see it or experienced it that way. I beat CV3 long before I got all the way through CV1. Ninja Ryukenden 1 is just bullshit unfair hard in a class all it's own. Even more so than the two sequels.
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goats n goblins ninja gaiden battletoads silver surfer and ninja turtles are considered top tier are they not
really haunted castle blows all the classic castlevanis out of the water no question
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I default to normal for the most part, but if I like the game to play it again, I'll kick it up to a harder difficulty.
Some exceptions are games that actually give you more things to do. Not unlocking trophies or secrets like JM mentioned, but actual gameplay differences. GoldenEye and the Thief series presented more objectives when played on harder modes, and they really enrich the experience. I think GoldenEye's hard mode also has enemies that shot quicker and took off more hit points when they hit you or something, which is kind of cheap, but Thief left the rest of the difficulty essentially the same (aside from maybe some added enemies), the challenge of the added mission objectives being what makes things harder, which is a great approach, I think.
Interesting. Guess I'll have to turn it up to hard when I finally get around to playing Thief.
I've never understood how people could consider CV3 harder than CV1. Maybe if you're playing a solo game, yes. But otherwise I don't see it or experienced it that way. I beat CV3 long before I got all the way through CV1. Ninja Ryukenden 1 is just bullshit unfair hard in a class all it's own. Even more so than the two sequels.
I dunno, 3 feels harder to me but then I beat Castlevania 1 years before 3, and now CV1 feels easy to me most of the time out of sheer muscle memory. Maybe it's the same for you? The levels in CV3 at least feel a lot bigger to me. And of course there's the different paths you can take to make the game longer and shorter. I've never played a solo CV3 game but honestly I can only ever remember 2 or 3 times I've ever really used a partner to get through a section. Alucard's bat ability during the falling blocks in the basement, and Sypha's homing projectiles against the Doppleganger.
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CV3's difficulty could be in the branching paths and length of the game. You don't really play the same stages over and over again unless you do the same route each time. I've never beaten the game, though someday soon I'd like to hunker down and just go at it.
The first Castlevania I find to be a lot easier and can beat that birch quickly. Of course, to do it quickly requires me to hang on to the holy water for the last couple levels, lol, since that's the cheapest of the cheap subweapon in that game. But even without, it doesn't take a terribly long time to do the last couple stages.
It's a case where familiarity has caused the game to become easy; memorize the enemy patterns and it's a cinch. I've yet to play CV3 enough times to become that familiar with it.
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I've never understood how people could consider CV3 harder than CV1. Maybe if you're playing a solo game, yes. But otherwise I don't see it or experienced it that way. I beat CV3 long before I got all the way through CV1. Ninja Ryukenden 1 is just bullshit unfair hard in a class all it's own. Even more so than the two sequels.
I always had trouble with CV3. I don't know why. What do you mean when you say solo game? Like just playing with Trevor?
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What do you mean when you say solo game? Like just playing with Trevor?
Yes he is. Trevor Belmont on his own definitely adds to the challenge of playing through CV3. I've done it a couple of times but I had to strategize (especially in the much later areas like the doppelganger stage) in order not to be beaten.
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I can't even begin to imagine beating CV3 with just Trevor. Heck I can only make it to 5A just using Trevor and Sypha. I always thought CV3 was a lot harder because the like Ratty said, the game feels a lot longer and I also found some of the mechanics like gear hopping and pillar jumping (the ones that are like seesaws). To be quite unnerving at times. I really wish I could beat CV3 a long with 4.....and all the other ones. bwahahaha
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Aside from Grant, I always found the secondary characters kind of annoying and not very fun to play, and so pretty much always played Trevor, so that could be why I find the game tough.
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Typically, I enjoy a good challenge. I usually stick to the normal mode until I beat a game once, then go back again on the harder modes. I'm also not above switching to Easy (if possible) if the game is kicking my ass hard enough and for long enough. Most of the time power-leveling accomplishes the same basic thing, though.
I'm pretty much okay and on-board with just about any difficulty level (provided the challenge is at least somewhat fair, goddamn Mortal Kombat II final bosses), but I tend to draw the line at what I refer to as the "Dark Souls difficulty."
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I always pick the easiest difficulty setting since I like my games to be relaxing, not feel like work. Oddly enough, some of my favourite games are things like Dark Souls and the Ghosts'n Goblins franchise... I am generally better at older, sidescrollers than modern games though. People seem to think games are getting easier and easier but I feel the complete opposite. I can beat Castlevania 3 and NES Ninja Gaiden but I can't beat God of War. Or DMC.
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i conquered the entire god of war series on the highest difficulty lol
i remember Spiderman y Venom: Maximum Carnage for snes being pretty hard for me. and i remember beating Final Fantasy Tactics with little effort in the 90's but nowadays i just suck at it for some reason. weird huh? lol
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I always start anything new on Normal mode and pretty much never touch Easy, ever. I didn't used to though. Gaemz is praectic.
It's kind of hilarious because I get frustrated really easily, yet I keep coming back to games that punch me in the teeth. I have grown to love the old Resident Evil games for this reason. Of all the games I've ever played, they probably have the longest learning curve that I'm still trying to beat in different ways. I remember my freshman year of high school just deciding that I would learn how to use the damn tank controls if it killed me, starting with Nemesis on the Dreamcast, and I'm still trying to learn the best ways to dodge monsters and save time by going the quickest and most efficient routes.
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i conquered the entire god of war series on the highest difficulty lol
PROTECT THE FUCKING TRANSLATOR IN 2 OH MY GOD
People seem to think games are getting easier and easier but I feel the complete opposite. I can beat Castlevania 3 and NES Ninja Gaiden but I can't beat God of War. Or DMC.
In that same tangent, I'm a bit of the opposite. I can play most older games with relative ease, but there are certain segments, or games, or tidbits, etc. that I just can't get past; whereas most modern games I can adapt to more easily.
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PROTECT THE FUCKING TRANSLATOR IN 2 OH MY GOD
LOL i was stuck on that part for literally weeks dude. nothing but trial & error trial & error until i figured out a good strategy. what i love about the series (and most action games in general) is that after clearing difficult segments like that, it's soooo satisfying!
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I actually agree that games are getting harder. This is gonna sound hilarious but I started Far Cry 3 tonight and wasn't all too impressed. They have this HUGE map (most covered since I just started) and give you next to no weapons. I marked a tower to take down on my map only to find out it was already taken down. I was like "why the hell is this even displayed on the map in the first place?!" I feel like developers and such are getting SUPER lazy and uncreative with video games so they gotta make them as complicated and HUGE as possible. It's pretty wasteful if you think about it. I mean sure. I LOVE sandbox games. Gta 5 was great (not as good as people made it out to be) but I personally liked skyrim more. Yes skyrim is an RPG but still. So I had the same hopes for far cry 3 UNTIL I started playing it today. I'm only a tad into the game but so far it's nothing mind blowing. With the bounty missions it just says "they were last seen between so and so village and dr what's his faces house." And that leaves the player wondering "where was that guys house again?" It's a waste of time. Not fun. That's where red dead achieved. It didn't show you EXACTLY where an outlaw or legendary animal was, it just hinted in a region and showed you on the map. This in my opinion is the developers being lazy and wasting the players time and money. I can understand if there's certain points you can't access yet (like metroidvania) more in a sense than this. This is just....AWFUL. I enjoyed tomb raider more and it's more linear! XD I'm not saying that games like far cry 3 are bad. They have the potential, just not the execution. I get it's supposed to make you feel like you're stranded on an island and make you hunt and survive but don't waste hours of the players time for 1 upgrade.
i conquered the entire god of war series on the highest difficulty lol
i remember Spiderman y Venom: Maximum Carnage for snes being pretty hard for me. and i remember beating Final Fantasy Tactics with little effort in the 90's but nowadays i just suck at it for some reason. weird huh? lol
Man don't feel bad. I am probably the worst player at DMC. I am terrible. I went and bought the hd collection, got about half way through the first game on normal, rage quit after grinding for upgrades and haven't touched it since. XD
PROTECT THE FUCKING TRANSLATOR IN 2 OH MY GOD
In that same tangent, I'm a bit of the opposite. I can play most older games with relative ease, but there are certain segments, or games, or tidbits, etc. that I just can't get past; whereas most modern games I can adapt to more easily.
Oh god. Resident Evil. I absolutely LOVE resident evil but oh my god. I've been trying to RE play the first re on my DS (deadly silence) since I never finished it back in the day and find myself cursing and quitting A LOT because I'm trying to conserve as much ammo as possible but the controls are so HORRENDOUS AND POOP I can dodge a zombie about 15% of the time and find myself cringing when I realize I gotta backtrack and try to dodge that same zombie and try not to get bit. If I do get bit I usually shut off my DS and revert back to my save. VERY tedious and annoying. -.- then again I could just be trying too hard.
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Merged all those posts into one for you. :)
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Merged all those posts into one for you. :)
Oh sweet! Thanks! ;D