Hardcore gaming, gamer's philosophy or game modes?

[Xahell]

Hello everyone,

 

I've read the forum for some times now and I decided to participate to the debates.

 

First of all, I'm sorry for the incoming horrible and unforgivable English faults, I'm trying!

 

Many people are discussing about some basic mechanisms of the game, like "Should we be able to save during fights? Should we be able to resurrect our dead characters? Should we be able to maximize experiences gain by both saving and killing a NPC at the same time?".

 

As I started to formulate an opinion, something came up to my mind. Since there are so many schools for RPG video games, maybe it should simply be accepted that everyone has its own way to deal with a game.

 

But then a question arise, how to deal with all the different ways to play a RPG game?

 

Let me explain.

 

The most exhaustive way to deal with every possibilities is to accept everything and let the player play. Simple, isn't it? If you refuse to save during a fight, then don't.

Okay, why not, finally?

 

Well, to me, there actually is a problem. That's maybe only me, but I think there is a great difference between refusing to do something which is allowed in the game with no negative consequences and not being able to do it at all. You can not to save during a fight by choice, but you can also be tempted to do so, which can be damageable to your gaming experience.

 

Another thing which can be interesting to think about is the social part of the game, when you're discussing on forums, or with a friend, by example. It feels more friendly to discuss with someone who shared your gaming style, and it's more comfortable to know that the one who is debating with you has certain point of view (no discrimination involved).

To get this information and to share it, it can help if the most important game styles are formally named in the game via specific modes. It also feels less eccentric and purist ^_^

 

Some possible modes could be :

 

- Normal mode (everything allowed: BG2 style plus saves during fight)

- Hardcode mode (no saves in fight, no experience grinding?)

- Real mode (no saves in fight, no experience grinding?, no resurrection)

[Juneau]

My opinion on this matter is quite simply this. Everyone has their own preferred way of playing. I like the ability to save whenever I want (I never save in combat though because for all I know it could be 2 hours since my previous save and the fight I am in is pointless)

 

Though I did like new Vegas style (choose some extra game perks -crazy aliens) and I do like the ability to say, I want to play on Hard difficulty against mobs who will chew my face off BUT potions/heal spells give me full health and so on.

 

Least with options you can choose how you want your game play to be rather then just choosing normal/medium/hard. I can only assume though that it's almost impossible to include within a game.

[HangedMan]

Well, to me, there actually is a problem. That's maybe only me, but I think there is a great difference between refusing to do something which is allowed in the game with no negative consequences and not being able to do it at all. You can not to save during a fight by choice, but you can also be tempted to do so, which can be damageable to your gaming experience.

I don't want to have my playstyle compromised because other people are lacking in willpower. And that ultimately is what it is about; if you can't resist a temptation, then you have a willpower deficit. If the game holds your hands and says "Not to worry! I won't even tempt you!" You're ultimately going to allow your willpower to atrophy, as you don't exercise it. Meanwhile, if the temptation is there, you can exercise your willpower by not doing it, and become stronger.

 

I love chocolate. It used to be that I'd spend about twenty bucks a week on chocolate. That is a problem, I'm sure everyone can agree. I was actually putting on 2-3 pounds a month, and my teeth were in horrible shape.

 

But instead of pretending like chocolate doesn't exist, or asking someone to go shopping with me so I couldn't buy it, you know what I did? I walked down the chocolate aisle. I looked at everything. The milks, the darks, the whites, the chocolate coated candies, the hot chocolate mixes; all of that stuff. I looked. I waffled about, and screamed a little (internally, not externally). Then, I walked away with no chocolate items in my cart.

 

And I do that every time I go shopping now. I look. I pick them up, and then, I put them back. Once you've said 'no' once, every time after that is easier. It's trivial for me now.

 

Saving can be your chocolate, and if it is, then you, too, can learn to say 'no'. And you don't need the game to hold your hand, either. That really won't even help you in the long run.

[MorganJha]

Hello,

 

sorry for the awful english...

 

To my mind, each player should be able to choose his own difficulty setting by activating (or not) various options before beginning the game.

 

Indeed, each time a game offers difficulty settings, they have an impact on many aspects of the game. If normal mode allows me to save the game at anytime and fight average mobs, I may not want to see the possibility to save during fights disabled as I raise the difficulty level.

 

So the solution offered constiting in choosing the items I want to enable or not seems good to me as it means that you can create a custom difficulty setting.

 

Moreover, once you have activated a feature, you could not turn it off. You choose your gaming experience at the beginning of the game and you must keep it all the way.

 

As far as grinding is concerned, another topic is dealing with it and with experience rewards, but I am not sure how you can determine whether someone is grinding or not.

 

For instance, if I look for a random guy in a dangerous area and can't find him the first time because I had not seen him (everybody knows what I am talking about I think), how will the game decide if I'm grinding because I killed all mobs on the map twice or if I'm just stupid?

Edited October 16, 2012 by MorganJha

[Captain Shrek]

Add options in a gameplay menu (accept saves in combat [Y/N])

 

is automatically optimum. But honestly it is impossible to implement all that in such a short time. Requires quite a few design tweaks.

[Ieo]

I'm not understanding this thread. There will already be a minimum of 5 difficulty levels in PE, as Obsidian already described the 3 hardcore modes, we can expect a default normal mode, and Obs said there will be an easy mode somewhere.

 

Unless you're talking about the very specific options within each mode--it's too early to tell. I'd leave all that minute balancing up to Obsidian.

[StreetBushido]

It has been stated and confirmed that the game will have three different hardcore modes and I'm pretty sure that there will be the usual difficulty scale of Easy to Hard aside from that.

 

I think the best method is to allow players to play the game as they want to. It's about enjoying the experience, not proving anything to anybody. While some may want to play the game in a certain way for the challenge, and perhaps the bragging rights, others may not. Having these readily available extra difficulty levels should be sufficient to satisfy most players, I think.

 

This talk about "hardcore gaming" etc. is just another layer of exclusionary behaviour. Us against them. The tag "gamer" is bad enough as it already works to separate people (ineffectually at that, the word lacks a proper definition). Within that we then have people who want to go further with the "us vs. them" mentality by self-identifying as "hardcore". "I am hardcore, you are not". What purpose does that serve but to further separate people?

 

Am I making too much of this? Yes, but it is an issue that is occasionally on my mind, and this seemed like a decent place to let it out a bit.

 

Back on topic: http://www.kickstart...ty/posts/316398 this update discusses the extra game modes.