Dragon's Dogma 2's New Casual Mode Offers a More Relaxed Experience | MMORPG.com

System · September 23

Dragon's Dogma 2's New Casual Mode Offers a More Relaxed Experience | MMORPG.com

Things got a whole lot easier in Dragon's Dogma 2 with the game's newest Casual mode option.

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ShinyFlygon · September 23

In other words, they finally decided to respect the player's time (somewhat). Good.

Scot · September 23

In other words super slacker casual wins again.

Terazon · September 23

I'm not a judgey person so I think this is a good thing to provide an option for those who want to experience it another way. Plus, the enemy difficulty is not changed.
Great to provide options.

ZenJelly · September 23

Just call it Game Journalist mode.

Terazon · September 23

ZenJelly said:

Just call it Game Journalist mode.

so

Aeander · September 23

Call it what you want. I tried both Dragon's Dogma's. I thought they were both poorly designed pieces of shit. This does a lot to fix that.

Sovrath · September 23

Terazon said:

I'm not a judgey person so I think this is a good thing to provide an option for those who want to experience it another way. Plus, the enemy difficulty is not changed.
Great to provide options.

Some games are about the challenge but I never really got that this game was going for a souls like experience.

It looks like it mostly affects stamina and that pawn disease which in my opinion wasn’t needed.

Aeander · September 23

ShinyFlygon said:

In other words, they finally decided to respect the player's time (somewhat). Good.

Agreed. When I'm playing an RPG, I want the challenge to be intellectual and creative in nature.

Having to manage my bag every 2.5 seconds isn't challenging. It's boring and frustrating.

LTBK · September 23

To be fair, I see no negatives in them adding this new mode, since it takes nothing away from those of us that won't use it. Moreover, with the small amount of things that it changes it didn't require a lot of dev time to implement, and it can help the people that find the default settings on those systems annoying.

All in all, options are good. It's not as if they suddendly made the game easier for everyone due to the "casuals", as some make it sound, as the normal mode hasn't been removed or altered. And there's still coming the "unannounced" DLC, and there they "might" add a proper harder mode. Just like in the first game when Dark Arisen was released, heh.

Sovrath · September 23

LTBK said:

To be fair, I see no negatives in them adding this new mode, since it takes nothing away from those of us that won't use it. Moreover, with the small amount of things that it changes it didn't require a lot of dev time to implement, and it can help the people that find the default settings on those systems annoying.

All in all, options are good. It's not as if they suddendly made the game easier for everyone due to the "casuals", as some make it sound, as the normal mode hasn't been removed or altered. And there's still coming the "unannounced" DLC, and there they "might" add a proper harder mode. Just like in the first game when Dark Arisen was released, heh.

There’s DLC coming? Awesome! Hope it’s like Bitterblack isle.

cheyane · September 23

It's a single player game . What difference does it make to someone who does not use this mode that others play it in that mode. I have always never understood the mentality of jealously guarding the modes against people like me who suck at even normal and die constantly and give up. I really appreciate help like this and gladly accept it.

They keep the achievements for the different modes so you're not losing that. So go suck a lemon if you disagree.

Angrakhan · September 23

Scot said:

In other words super slacker casual wins again.

It's a single player game. Why do you give a single shit about what someone else does in it? Crank it to the hardest difficulty if you like. It's all still there.

Pher0cious · September 24

Scot · September 24

Angrakhan said:

Scot said:

In other words super slacker casual wins again.

It's a single player game. Why do you give a single shit about what someone else does in it? Crank it to the hardest difficulty if you like. It's all still there.

You mean the newer released hardest difficulty? Oh hang on I got that wrong...in fact when was the last time anyone saw an article about a newer released hardest difficulty?

Do I have to explain how that shows the direction gaming has gone in for the last 20+ years?

Viper482 · September 24

Scot said:

Angrakhan said:

Scot said:

In other words super slacker casual wins again.

It's a single player game. Why do you give a single shit about what someone else does in it? Crank it to the hardest difficulty if you like. It's all still there.

You mean the newer released hardest difficulty? Oh hang on I got that wrong...in fact when was the last time anyone saw an article about a newer released hardest difficulty?

Do I have to explain how that shows the direction gaming has gone in for the last 20+ years?

You sure this is the hill you want to die on dude? You certainly get the worst take of the month award. Seriously complaining about adding a more accessible difficulty mode? Seriously?

cheyane · September 24

LTBK · September 24

Scot said:

Angrakhan said:

Scot said:

In other words super slacker casual wins again.

It's a single player game. Why do you give a single shit about what someone else does in it? Crank it to the hardest difficulty if you like. It's all still there.

You mean the newer released hardest difficulty? Oh hang on I got that wrong...in fact when was the last time anyone saw an article about a newer released hardest difficulty?

Do I have to explain how that shows the direction gaming has gone in for the last 20+ years?

As I said, the hardest difficulty (and content) in the original Dragon's Dogma was released during the Dark Arisen DLC. The current casual mode is just a couple of simple changes to some mechanics, and I doubt that anyone would be happy if they had made the same simple changes while adding a hard mode instead of also changing the rest of content, like the combat. However, the latter requires more time to try to balance it properly, and it's not that hard to wait until the DLC drops like in the first game.

This is not another case of the modern times where games are made easier for everyone. The normal mode is still there, and the hard mode will be coming. With all due respect, it's a bit ridiculous to complain about these extremely simple changes (convenience, really) to add the casual mode to this single player game.

Scot · September 24

LTBK said:

As I said, the hardest difficulty (and content) in the original Dragon's Dogma was released during the Dark Arisen DLC. The current casual mode is just a couple of simple changes to some mechanics, and I doubt that anyone would be happy if they had made the same simple changes while adding a hard mode instead of also changing the rest of content, like the combat. However, the latter requires more time to try to balance it properly, and it's not that hard to wait until the DLC drops like in the first game.

This is not another case of the modern times where games are made easier for everyone. The normal mode is still there, and the hard mode will be coming. With all due respect, it's a bit ridiculous to complain about these extremely simple changes (convenience, really) to add the casual mode to this single player game.

My concern in solo games is that difficulty levels are based on expectations. So the idea "there are a range of difficulty levels what can the problem be?" hides the fact that overall the difficulty level drifts to ever easier. "Normal" difficulty level today is a lot easier than it was ten years ago and it turn "Normal" twenty years ago was even harder.

So if the drift is ever easier having a range is not the one stop answer that posters think it is. I take your point on it having relatively small changes for a "Easy" mode, however every change counts. I am glad to hear there will be a Hard mode added as well, that shows balance for the game, but can you see how with the drift of gameplay I am talking which has occurred historically there is no balance?

So what do I want? Well a greater range, which makes games as hard as they were yonks ago. Would I then always pick that difficulty level? No, it would depend on the genre of the game. But the option to play as we did in the 90's would be welcome.

kitarad · September 24

You don't play enough single player games it seems. They usually add harder modes like nightmare and other modes while also adding easier modes. It's quite common. No need to keep others from playing and enjoying games. It's selfish and dumb to do that.

LTBK · September 24

Scot said:

My concern in solo games is that difficulty levels are based on expectations. So the idea "there are a range of difficulty levels what can the problem be?" hides the fact that overall the difficulty level drifts to ever easier. "Normal" difficulty level today is a lot easier than it was ten years ago and it turn "Normal" twenty years ago was even harder.

So if the drift is ever easier having a range is not the one stop answer that posters think it is. I take your point on it having relatively small changes for a "Easy" mode, however every change counts. I am glad to hear there will be a Hard mode added as well, that shows balance for the game, but can you see how with the drift of gameplay I am talking which has occurred historically there is no balance?

So what do I want? Well a greater range, which makes games as hard as they were yonks ago. Would I then always pick that difficulty level? No, it would depend on the genre of the game. But the option to play as we did in the 90's would be welcome.

I understand what you mean, but with this game they did a nice job on that front. In fact, I remember the first game being easier (in normal mode) than this one, and that was over 12 years ago. Of course it's still no hard mode, but that's expected when what's available is just the normal one. One can't expect such mode to make even the trash mobs one hit you, as it happened sometimes in DD:DA's hard mode. But the bigger monsters like dragons, chimeras, and the rest still offer a good balance of difficulty until one gets the highest level skills and gear, just as it has always happened since the dawn of RPGs (before the crappy level scaling of enemies that made levelling and getting better gear almost a moot point).

Once again, for a harder and hopefully properly crafted challenge we'll just have to wait until the future DLC, as it already happened in 2013 with DA. It makes sense to add the casual mode now, which is more like a convenience mode as I mentioned, for those that want to play a more relaxed run meanwhile. Due to its simplicity it diverted no resources from any potential hard mode, and it changes literally nothing in the overwall scope for the rest of us in this specific case. In other words, it's a good addition.

Scot · September 24

kitarad said:

You don't play enough single player games it seems. They usually add harder modes like nightmare and other modes while also adding easier modes. It's quite common. No need to keep others from playing and enjoying games. It's selfish and dumb to do that.

"Usually"? This game does not have a hard mode yet, nightmare is not exactly common.

"No need to keep others from playing and enjoying games". Seriously? Are you saying then that before the game had casual mode they were not enjoying themselves?

Scot · September 24

LTBK said:

I understand what you mean, but with this game they did a nice job on that front. In fact, I remember the first game being easier (in normal mode) than this one, and that was over 12 years ago. Of course it's still no hard mode, but that's expected when what's available is just the normal one. One can't expect such mode to make even the trash mobs one hit you, as it happened sometimes in DD:DA's hard mode. But the bigger monsters like dragons, chimeras, and the rest still offer a good balance of difficulty until one gets the highest level skills and gear, just as it has always happened since the dawn of RPGs (before the crappy level scaling of enemies that made levelling and getting better gear almost a moot point).

Once again, for a harder and hopefully properly crafted challenge we'll just have to wait until the future DLC, as it already happened in 2013 with DA. It makes sense to add the casual mode now, which is more like a convenience mode as I mentioned, for those that want to play a more relaxed run meanwhile. Due to its simplicity it diverted no resources from any potential hard mode, and it changes literally nothing in the overwall scope for the rest of us in this specific case. In other words, it's a good addition.

Well after what we have seen over the years easy mode always get added first, what is of more concern is how hard is hard? Nightmare in some games was mentioned, yes I typically find that a bruising 90's experience, it is just not that common.

Lets see how the hard mode works out, your evaluation seems quite fair, keen to hear what you think of it.

Terazon · September 24

This game uses scaling and dynamically shifts based on your strength. It is always a little more challenging to design a 'hard mode' or an 'easy mode' when that is how it is designed in the first place.
Even this 'casual mode' is not really that casual of a mode but rather a more convenient mode.

kitarad · September 24

Scot said:

kitarad said:

You don't play enough single player games it seems. They usually add harder modes like nightmare and other modes while also adding easier modes. It's quite common. No need to keep others from playing and enjoying games. It's selfish and dumb to do that.

"Usually"? This game does not have a hard mode yet, nightmare is not exactly common.

"No need to keep others from playing and enjoying games". Seriously? Are you saying then that before the game had casual mode they were not enjoying themselves?

Lot of people cannot play games that are hard so they need easier options which thankfully developers are smart enough to realise that preventing folk that have difficulties is not the way to sell more games. It takes nothing away from the harder modes. It just makes it so more people can enjoy themselves. Don't be dense and try to argue that I said anything else.

cheyane · September 24

Mass Effect has insanity mode with it's own achievements while also having casual and other modes.

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