Yeah. A few of my friends have trouble completing games. They are not hardcore gamers

Easy mode is great for after you've beaten the game on the hardest settings, where you have to move very slowly and precisely. I usually will do a run through on easy just to go wild & crazy after I've beaten the harder difficulties. I'm currently playing ME2 on Insane difficulty and am dying like crazy, I am looking forward to playing through again on easy so I can actually pop out of cover without being turned into Swiss Cheese.

No, just easy games for those that need them.

There is no right or wrong answer here. Believe it or not, but there are plenty of people that just want to kick back and play their game without getting frustrated with the difficulty.

I love a challenge in my games, I always set the difficulty to the highest setting when possible, but there are days when I don't want to deal with it. I just want to go through and and play the game without worrying about difficulty. It just depends.

i can see easy mode being necessary in most games. Especially if you are a casual gamer just looking to past time, or are interested in a particular story and just want to speed through the game. Hell, you could play on easy mode just for kicks after you have already beaten the game.

a lot of people on this site are actual gamers and like to have some challenge for their gaming experience, at least i am assuming. However, most gamers i believe do not visit this website, or sites similar. There has been a growing trend of casual gamers who game just to relax and enjoy.

idk where i am going with this, i guess easy mode is ok as long as it doesn't ruin the overall experience of the game for the harder difficulties, like adding permanent features and assets to a game that effects all difficulties just to appease the casual gamers. Let the hardcore gamers have their challenge!

still makes me question though when square enix added "easy mode" to ff13. i mean, the game was pretty easy enough as is without easy mode hahaha! *walk 3 steps forward, fight, repeat."

No. If a game has easy mode there is no incentive to improve at it. For example playing casual/easy/amateur will be mind-numbingly boring to someone who has taken time to improve at it.

Sure why not.
I always assume a games "normal" (or default) setting is the experience the devs want people to have. One that is balanced enough for a "typical" gamer to finish(in the devs opinion). Then the game will have easier settings for game tourist or people that just want to run around and then 1 or 2 harder settings for more hardcore gamers.

Now a game like Dark Souls who focuses on the harder settings can have a "normal" setting that leans more toward what others consider hardcore and then an "easy" setting that would be more balanced for the average gamer. (They still would be leaving out the tourist unless they also had a super easy mode.) That way they can still consider themselves a tough game but give the average gamer hope of completing the games.

In the end its up to the devs and what they want the game to be. It can be a hardcore gamers game which is great, but is just not going to have the audience. Or they can add a setting so non-hardcore players can actually complete it but "normal" would still be tough, because that is the experience they want the fans to have.

yes and cheat codes sometimes you just wanna have fun with it.

Modern gaming basically is 'easy mode', what with health regeneration, infinite lives and checkpoints every other step it's near impossible to fail at anything.

This happens at the same moment Achievements and the term 'hardcore' become popular, those crafty developers!

Yes and no . I think games like arma flashpoint surely yes . But most of games should have one balanced mode.

I think no

most games nowadays dont know how to be difficult
for instance call of duty in single player the only thing that happens when you up the difficulty is you get less health and thats what most games do

on the other hand you have darksouls which difficulty stems from level design and the player

mostly the player, if you are patient and observant you'll have an easier time than one whos the exact opposite of that

mmmm
there's one thing coming to my mind when hearing about the game's level of completion. having a easy, normal, hard and very hard mode when the only thing hard mode bring is 4X health to enemies and reduced the damage given to enemies by half, that's not a good hard mode.

I want the AI to be actually smarter, not the same dumb AI with so much health the enemies are just rushing to you. that's creating a harder mode without putting any effort into it.

Game dificulty was best when there was an incentive to playing though the dificulties and improve.

Like, in Thief, dificulty didn't just mean, it's easier to die. You had more quest objectives, and more to do on the harder dificulties.

Other great games that did this:

TimeSplitters2 and Resident Evil 4.

Nowadays, games are made with easy mode in mind, which makes the harder dificulties annoying and cheap rather than challenging. e.g. grenade spams. Nne hit deaths in games that arn't designed for it.

Sign of bad game design.

Why not. An optional -let me repeat: Optional- easy mode would not take away nothing for who wants a great challenge. This is an incontrovertible fact.

Only a fanatic elitist would remove the possibility to any player -who paid the price of the full game- to enjoy the game as a whole. My money are as good as the money of someone who is more skilled than me.

For games with an online system like Demon's Souls and Dark Souls would be enough to split the server, some for those who play in easy mode and the others for those who want a tough challenge.

Problem solved. Everyone happy but the fanatics.

Hell no!

To elaborate, what would be the point of making the Souls games, for example, easy?

An easy "option" wouldn't affect anyone else's choice of playing a harder difficulty so I can't see why it would be a problem

Also, if the only thing that makes your game interesting is that it's really hard, it doesn't say much for the gameplay.

An easy mode for Daark Souls would have completely killed the group mentality feel to the game. A baby casual gamer playing Darks Souls on easy is not havingnthe same experience as someone on the hardest difficulty. The magic of Dark Soulsnand Demons Souls was that EVERYONE was playing the exact same game and having the same experience, trying to survive in a dark depressing world. If From Software made an easy mode they would have ruined what made the souls games popular to begin with.

Was there ever a difficulty option in the mario Nes /Snes games? No. We all played the exact same Mario games and thats what binds us all together as gamers. A games difficulty is as important as any oher aspect of a game because thats what defines videogames as a medium. They are challenges amd we as players must accomplish the challenges

Dark Fantasy with some horror elements.

Gothic Horror - “the battle between humanity and unnatural forces of evil (sometimes man-made, sometimes supernatural) within an oppressive, inescapable, and bleak landscape.”

eh what?

its always been a gothic horror inspired game.

not sure anyone thought different

Horror simply means fear, shock, and disgust. I felt all of those things my first time seeing the Gaping Dragon.