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Bioware, Accessible Doesn’t Have to Mean Easy - The RPG Files at MMORPG.com

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
edited August 2015 in News & Features Discussion

imageBioware, Accessible Doesn’t Have to Mean Easy - The RPG Files at MMORPG.com

Accessibility: It seems to be the mantra for AAA RPGs these days. By itself, there’s no problem with that, being accessible is something all games should aspire to so more players can enjoy them. The problem is, developers too often think more accessibility should mean less difficulty. Looking through my library of games, one studio stood out more than any other: Bioware. Outside of DLC, when was the last time a core Bioware game challenged you?

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  • Octagon7711Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,004
    edited August 2015
    When did 'easy' become a dirty word in gaming? The thing I liked about Bioware are their difficuilty settings. I would really like to see stats on just how many players play at what settings. I see players brag about beating ME3 on triple nightmare mode but I would suspect a lot of players don't even touch nightmare mode, especially if their just interested in the story.

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  • BillMurphyBillMurphy Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
    @Octagon7711 has a point. I haven't tried DAI on harder settings, but it has been a breeze on normal. @MikeB always goes hard first. Mike, what's your experience?

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  • NanfoodleNanfoodle Member LegendaryPosts: 10,901
    I always play normal - hard. I will switch if its to hard or to easy. 
  • MikeBMikeB Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
    BillMurphy said:
    @Octagon7711 has a point. I haven't tried DAI on harder settings, but it has been a breeze on normal. @MikeB always goes hard first. Mike, what's your experience?
    I played it on max difficulty and the very first dragon of the game was awesome hard. I later realized that the game is only hard on Nightmare difficulty because Inquisition was/is a massive clusterfuck of broken mechanics, gear progression, talents, and AI.


  • AcvivmAcvivm Member UncommonPosts: 323
    edited August 2015
    "Bioware. I ask you, outside of DLC, when was the last time a Bioware game challenged you?" Ah...every Bioware game...ever. Turn up the difficulty on any of their games and come back and tell and me you only held down one button through the whole game. Nightmare difficulty can get crazy in Origins and Inquisition, bosses and even common enemies have one shot mechanics that you will have to plan for. Mass Effect 3 is brutal on Insantiy, The only way I could even beat the game was as an infiltrator and I had to essentially game some enemies by playing with AI pathing and stealth just to get through some parts.

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  • jesteralwaysjesteralways Member RarePosts: 2,560
    @MikeB i agree that nightmare difficulty is a mess, the difference between hard and nightmare is like Heaven and Earth. I thought i would take a little more challenge and played hard, it was not that bad, so i decided to play nightmare and it hit me real hard, it was really really hard, hard difficulty doesn't do the job of preparing player for nightmare difficulty. It was not like that back in DA:O, difficulty progression have been neglected in DA:I. As for EA Access, it is a real shame that it is not available for PC. Why do companies hate PC gamers?

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  • MikeBMikeB Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
    edited August 2015
    @MikeB i agree that nightmare difficulty is a mess, the difference between hard and nightmare is like Heaven and Earth. I thought i would take a little more challenge and played hard, it was not that bad, so i decided to play nightmare and it hit me real hard, it was really really hard, hard difficulty doesn't do the job of preparing player for nightmare difficulty. It was not like that back in DA:O, difficulty progression have been neglected in DA:I. As for EA Access, it is a real shame that it is not available for PC. Why do companies hate PC gamers?
    The game is only hard until you realize how broken it is (or was? maybe they've fixed it by now). I didn't think BioWare could put together a Dragon Age game that disappointed me more than Dragon Age II, but they somehow figured it out.  Once I figured out how broken things were, I could AFK kill dragons on Nightmare (no exaggeration).
  • FdzzaiglFdzzaigl Member UncommonPosts: 2,433
    Don't agree about DA2 and ME3. The first was pretty damn difficult on nightmare settings, and ME3 multiplayer on platinum and gold was pretty damn hard too. As was the singleplayer now and then. But yeah, the difficulty was a serious problem in Inquisition. I was really looking forward to playing a genuinely difficult tactical game again. Origins and DA2 did that for me with Nightmare and the community driven Nightmare Plus. But though Inquisition was hard on Nightmare during the first chapter, the moment you got the specialization abilities and some gear, everything became piss easy. With a perfect setup I could destroy a high dragon in seconds, utterly defeating the point of those boss fights. The last boss died so fast that I didn't even realize the last cutscene had started until it was halfway finished.

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  • alkarionlogalkarionlog Member EpicPosts: 3,584
    when was last time a bioware game was challenging? never, even with the dlc, it was never hard on the highest difficult, with normally just mean you need better armor or in DAI you will fast travel more, just because the enemys hit harders, and the strategic view was never really needed, never used once, and most dragon fights was more like annoyance because after they take flight you just have to run around dodging his fire/ice balls waiting for him to land again, the IA on companions are even more annoying then before, you don't need to do anything you can't put condition for spells to happen like before, you guys say accessibility, I call it dumbing down, let make a rpg works like a damn action game, don't need to think, don't need to plan, don't need to to choose btw pure builds to hybrids, you can't make agile warriors and tanky mages, everything is set in a stone, then they play a story with brings serious nothing new. and later Bioware and his fanboys complain they most players look at they games with disdain.
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  • jesteralwaysjesteralways Member RarePosts: 2,560
    MikeB said:
    @MikeB i agree that nightmare difficulty is a mess, the difference between hard and nightmare is like Heaven and Earth. I thought i would take a little more challenge and played hard, it was not that bad, so i decided to play nightmare and it hit me real hard, it was really really hard, hard difficulty doesn't do the job of preparing player for nightmare difficulty. It was not like that back in DA:O, difficulty progression have been neglected in DA:I. As for EA Access, it is a real shame that it is not available for PC. Why do companies hate PC gamers?
    The game is only hard until you realize how broken it is (or was? maybe they've fixed it by now). I didn't think BioWare could put together a Dragon Age game that disappointed me more than Dragon Age II, but they somehow figured it out.  Once I figured out how broken things were, I could AFK kill dragons on Nightmare (no exaggeration).
    Heheh.. yeah they could have done far better in designing dragon fights. Sometimes i found rifts which were far superior in difficulty than the dragons. It bothered me a little but i thought maybe it is because i was out leveling the dragons by 4 or 5 levels.

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  • meonthissitemeonthissite Member UncommonPosts: 917
    Octagon7711 said:
    When did 'easy' become a dirty word in gaming? The thing I liked about Bioware are their difficuilty settings. I would really like to see stats on just how many players play at what settings. I see players brag about beating ME3 on triple nightmare mode but I would suspect a lot of players don't even touch nightmare mode, especially if their just interested in the story.
    Completely agree who cares of people want to play on easy mode most of us just want to see the story. It doesn't matter how we play and it doesn't matter if other players don't approve. It's the second reason I left the PC gaming community because I kept hearing people ask for harder content until they literally wanted to constantly be wiping and wouldn't be happy until they were fighting 5 bosses solo in a 5 man dungeon. Cmon there's a limit to this nonsense.
  • MilkbzyMilkbzy Member UncommonPosts: 14
    MikeB said:
    @MikeB i agree that nightmare difficulty is a mess, the difference between hard and nightmare is like Heaven and Earth. I thought i would take a little more challenge and played hard, it was not that bad, so i decided to play nightmare and it hit me real hard, it was really really hard, hard difficulty doesn't do the job of preparing player for nightmare difficulty. It was not like that back in DA:O, difficulty progression have been neglected in DA:I. As for EA Access, it is a real shame that it is not available for PC. Why do companies hate PC gamers?
    The game is only hard until you realize how broken it is (or was? maybe they've fixed it by now). I didn't think BioWare could put together a Dragon Age game that disappointed me more than Dragon Age II, but they somehow figured it out.  Once I figured out how broken things were, I could AFK kill dragons on Nightmare (no exaggeration).
    So why do you exploit "broken" game mechanics if they are that much of a detriment to your gameplay experience?
  • iDigDinosiDigDinos Member UncommonPosts: 34
    I think the real dirty word here isn't "easy" but "pay monthly for a single player game".. :/

    image
  • SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
    meonthissite said:
    Octagon7711 said:
    When did 'easy' become a dirty word in gaming? The thing I liked about Bioware are their difficuilty settings. I would really like to see stats on just how many players play at what settings. I see players brag about beating ME3 on triple nightmare mode but I would suspect a lot of players don't even touch nightmare mode, especially if their just interested in the story.
    Completely agree who cares of people want to play on easy mode most of us just want to see the story. It doesn't matter how we play and it doesn't matter if other players don't approve. It's the second reason I left the PC gaming community because I kept hearing people ask for harder content until they literally wanted to constantly be wiping and wouldn't be happy until they were fighting 5 bosses solo in a 5 man dungeon. Cmon there's a limit to this nonsense.
    Agreed. I don't play heavy story-based RPGs to be beaten to death. I only have a limited amount of time to play on any given day and if I want to play easy, why should anyone care? If someone else wants to play on nightmare or insanity, why should I care? As long as all options remain open to players to truly play a SP RPG the way they choose, so much the better for all of us.


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  • GameByNightGameByNight Hardware and Technology EditorMMORPG.COM Staff, Member RarePosts: 811
    It's worth noting that "play on hard" isn't the same thing as playing a game designed to challenge you to play smarter the further you go. Those difficulty levels are often just bumps to enemy health and damage.
  • ExplosiveBoltsExplosiveBolts Member UncommonPosts: 22
    It's a moot point, bioware became shit after they were acquired by EA.
  • MalaboogaMalabooga Member UncommonPosts: 2,977
    i rather they spend time on good story and story mechanics which 99% play these games for than fiddling with combat mechanics which 1% play these games for.

    If you want challenging go play good competitive PvP game, thats only real challenge.
  • AxebiterAxebiter Member UncommonPosts: 4
    edited August 2015
    GoreBacke said:
    It's a moot point, bioware became shit after they were acquired by EA.
    Unfortunately, I agree 100%. I love Bioware and I love DA:O and every game they made prior to that, but they're just one more company EA ruined now. edit: wow that was my first post ever... I'm such a lurker it's not even funny..
  • HrimnirHrimnir Member RarePosts: 2,415
    This has to be a joke.  Bioware is only surpassed in their casual face rolling content by blizzard.  Suggesting that bioware games are somehow difficult is literally the height of absurdity.

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  • ShortyBibleShortyBible Member UncommonPosts: 409
    I always play any RPG on normal for the first time.
    I want to enjoy the story/lure.
    On my second or third play through I ramp up the difficulty.

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  • MoiraeMoirae Member RarePosts: 3,318
    Have you tried the newest DLC for Dragon Age Inquisition? Easy does not come to mind.
  • rojoArcueidrojoArcueid Member EpicPosts: 10,722
    edited August 2015
    I mostly play on Normal. Bosses in DA:I on normal are challenging enough (when i dont outlevel the area).
    If i start dying alot on normal bosses i switch to easy and just focus on the lore. I never play on hard because as much as i like a challenge, i dont like frustration. That is why i love the Souls/borne games, they are difficult but fair. I havent had the need to switch to easy on DA:I. Its been a blast on normal. I have 2 more playthroughs planned, another mage and a warrior. Perhaps ill try one of those in hard.

    Challenge and frustration, to me, are two different things. Challenge is good, frustration is a cheap way to "create" difficulty. Just like adding more HP instead of good mechanics adds to the frustration and not the challenge.




  • RedAlert539RedAlert539 Member UncommonPosts: 115
    edited August 2015
    SBFord said:
    When did 'easy' become a dirty word in gaming? The thing I liked about Bioware are their difficuilty settings. I would really like to see stats on just how many players play at what settings. I see players brag about beating ME3 on triple nightmare mode but I would suspect a lot of players don't even touch nightmare mode, especially if their just interested in the story.
    Completely agree who cares of people want to play on easy mode most of us just want to see the story. It doesn't matter how we play and it doesn't matter if other players don't approve. It's the second reason I left the PC gaming community because I kept hearing people ask for harder content until they literally wanted to constantly be wiping and wouldn't be happy until they were fighting 5 bosses solo in a 5 man dungeon. Cmon there's a limit to this nonsense.
    Agreed. I don't play heavy story-based RPGs to be beaten to death. I only have a limited amount of time to play on any given day and if I want to play easy, why should anyone care? If someone else wants to play on nightmare or insanity, why should I care? As long as all options remain open to players to truly play a SP RPG the way they choose, so much the better for all of us.
    I totally agree. I always play story-driven games and always try them in the lowest difficulty setting at first because i want to experience the story and lore first and foremost. Once i've completed a playthrough i usually tune up the difficulty for the next run(s). The point here being choices. Give multiple layers of difficulty as an option so everyone can experience the game they way they want.

    On a sidenote, i don't usually take people complaining about games' diffculty or lack of challenge seriously. The main reason being a gamer's sense of self-importance and vanity. You can see lots of ppl saying:"X game sucks and it's so easy i beat it in nightmare/hell/whatever mode 3 times already using one hand and one foot toe and with half of my brain sleeping. Runt, runt, runt." 
    Well i say bo*#^ks. Just because any self-appointed king of the gaming world types something on the internet, doesn't mean you have to take them seriously.

    And for those rare cases of ppl that actually did find these games easy in every turn, well it can't be helped. Like every other life activity out there there's always a small percentage of ppl who will excel in certain situations. That doesn't mean, in our case, that game companies have to cater to that small minority when making said games.
  • TimesplitTimesplit Member UncommonPosts: 191
    Hrimnir said:
    This has to be a joke.  Bioware is only surpassed in their casual face rolling content by blizzard.  Suggesting that bioware games are somehow difficult is literally the height of absurdity.
    This is true. I was never really challenged by their games, and increasing the hitpoints / damage is a poor way of doing it. Some mods add more variety in enemy groups, which is one thing to make it a little more interesting / challenging, but it always becomes easy later.
  • CryolitycalCryolitycal Member UncommonPosts: 205
    Play on Insanity/Hardcore or whatever. These modes usually aren't easy at all, although like in many RPGs, sometimes certain items or abilities can help one cheese through even there. I remember being stuck in ME2 in some platform sequence I had to hold vs swarms of enemies for a few hours and getting really frustrated. Any normal old-time gamer would never even consider Normal/Easy. Why make these harder, I don't get it? Just let them be there for grannies and so on, people without time to wipe repeatedly. If you want hard, there is choice.
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