If the hard mode merely makes everything into a bullet sponge with huge HP bar, no thanks. I’m perfectly fine with some games just being easier and others just being harder. Or having multiple well thought out difficulty options, but only if they are actually well thought out.
Agree on the bullet sponge thing, god I hate that. Helldivers 2 does it best, IMO. Not deadlier or more resilient enemies, just more of them and deadlier types.
When games go too far with this, it can encourage exploit or cheese strategies, or at least strict adherence to a meta build. This can actually mean resorting to a solution with less skill needed, since the game has already been effectively solved. A still-challenging situation that doesn’t demand perfection can be reasonably done with unoptimized preparation and adaptation.
If the hard mode merely makes everything into a bullet sponge with huge HP bar, no thanks. I’m perfectly fine with some games just being easier and others just being harder. Or having multiple well thought out difficulty options, but only if they are actually well thought out.
Agree on the bullet sponge thing, god I hate that. Helldivers 2 does it best, IMO. Not deadlier or more resilient enemies, just more of them and deadlier types.
Yup. This is the lazy devs “difficulty” setting. Harder just means, “Enemies take more damage / Enemies deal more damage.”
When games go too far with this, it can encourage exploit or cheese strategies, or at least strict adherence to a meta build. This can actually mean resorting to a solution with less skill needed, since the game has already been effectively solved. A still-challenging situation that doesn’t demand perfection can be reasonably done with unoptimized preparation and adaptation.