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Posted By Yousif A. about 8 months, 1 week ago
A dramatic recreation of Ubisoft's PR manager seeing Alex Hutchinson giving an interview.
Some people should just not speak, to anyone, ever. Alex Hutchinson, the man who a couple of weeks ago said who said “many Japanese games are released where their stories are literally gibberish,” has given another interview. This time he claims that varying difficulty levels can ruin games.
“A lot of games have been ruined by easy modes,” Hutchinson told Edge, “If you have a cover shooter and you switch it to easy and you don’t have to use cover, you kind of broke your game. You made a game that is essentially the worst possible version of your game.”
Unfortunately, the interviewer does not ask him if he realizes that easy options are usually used by players who aren’t as skilled or experienced as other players and want to enjoy the game, not in fact by people that will exploit easy mode to avoid in-game mechanics. Perhaps Alex is also unaware that Hard Mode does not mean killing the player before they can get to cover, as that would be artificially creating a tougher experience.
He then goes on to complain that the gaming industry is the only media industry that needs to provide difficulty levels, saying, “It’s like if I picked up a book and it said, ’Do you want the easy version or the complicated version?’ [Game designers] can simplify the language, you know; we can make it two syllables.”
Alex does not go onto complain about being a part of the only industry where they have to provide control schemes, save files, online multiplayer, or online anti-piracy measures on PC in the form of horrific DRM, but I am sure he will be making a statement shortly. Thankfully, Steven Masters stepped in to swing the focus and talk about how the game goes through rigorous testing.
“I can reach in and pull a video of any moment in a playtest; I can sort different events and say, ‘Okay, I want to see when this guy got detected and then failed within 30 seconds’, and watch that.”
Halt, do not give another interview.
Masters (who is not related to Ken), goes onto explain that the team is doing quite a lot of fine tuning, and thanks to advancements in technology, the team can actually see what playtesters are coming across rather than relying upon the old written report system. Having done some playtesting myself, I can tell you that the old system sucked.
The interview wraps up with Hutchinson talking about the optional objectives which have been in the series since Brotherhood. The objectives are making a return, so that if players do want a harder challenge, they can attempt to complete these bonus missions. He doesn’t go mention if there are bonus objectives for those finding the mission too hard, which is a shame.
Now that all that joking is done with, I get what Alex is trying to say, much like I got what he was “trying” to say about some Japanese releases. Unfortunately, his way with words is not his strongest point. Judging from the gameplay trailers, I would have to say his strongest point is obviously game development, as Assassin’s Creed 3 looks awesome. Alex is trying to point out that it can be difficult to create a level of difficulty that changes from one player to the next. Simply lowering or heightening health/damage can result in game-breaking abilities. However, altering difficulty in this way is incredibly basic and a sign of a good developer is knowing how to appeal to a wider audience through varying challenge levels without sacrificing gameplay. Trying to create a game that caters to everyone is more often than not going to ostracize the higher and lower levels, creating a game that is too easy for some and to difficult for others, which, looking back, is a problem Assassin’s Creed has as a series.
What Alex Hutchinson was trying to get across is a fantastic item for debate and a wider discussion. However, it is not a statement that should be made public. I know several people who play games for fun and without a high skill level that need to play the games through on an easy setting. They get just as much out of the game as I do, and perhaps I feel, more. Alex is right–this is the only industry where difficulty levels have to be provided, but that is because it’s the only media industry that focuses on “games,” and a game unto itself requires a challenge level that changes, be it from changing rules or varying opponents and styles. Difficulty is an entry level and by not creating one for as many as you can, you limit the enjoyment of the experience for many. I would hope that after the art team, sound team, story team, and design team have worked so hard to bring a world to life, they would not be let down by the gameplay team, who see their work being overlooked.
RANT OVER!
Source: Edge Online
You know what ruins games?
Horrible DRM.
Ubisoft should just shut the f**k up.
While I do not agree with this guy, there is a point to be made that easy modes that use all of the games features usually turn out to be better than ones that don’t. My computer crashed right before Mass Effect 3 came out and took my saves from the first two games with it, so I replayed them on easy to get through them quickly. I noticed that I could just run and gun my way through the first one without using cover once, which made the combat sort of boring. But the second one required cover to be able to survive even on easy, adding fun through having variety and situations that required thought and still managed to be as easy as the first one’s easy mode.
Yeah, remember how games like Doom, Halo, Silent Hill, Wolfenstein 3D, the Elder Scrolls games, the Mass Effect series, etc, were all ruined because they had easy modes?
…neither do I.
Kamiya is to Japan as Hutchinson is to USA.
The hell is with the AAA devs spouting inane bullshit out of their mouths? Easy Mode RUINS GAMES? Did you forget that you can PROGRAM THE GAME TO HAVE NO DIFFICULTY BUT YOUR OWN!? Or..MAYBE, program it so that once the player selects a difficulty THEY CAN’T CHANGE IT.
There are FLASH GAMES that pull these kinds of difficulty tricks…FLASH GAMES; and YOU, Mr. AAA-Developer-Head-Person apparently can’t figure that out? Why are you even in the industry at all if FLASH GAME programmers, who are likely 1/2 to 2/3 your age, are doing this shit better than you?
I have a feeling ill be making a Mystery Chaz Theater on this jackass soon..
Oh Kamiya… l should really stop following his twitter, as much as l respect the guy as a developer, he is a close-minded twat.
I completely understand that his comments are ridiculous and that Easy modes are something that helps less skilled players enjoy a game. But I’ll admit it’s a pet peeve of mine when people play games on Easy. I am of the mind that if a games too hard for you, don’t play it, just because you can’t finish a game, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it. I still uphold the belief that if you beat a game on anything less than normal, you didn’t really beat it.
Thus the reason why I don’t play Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls. However, if given an option to play them on an easier level then I will play the game. To me there’s much more to a game than just playing it for the challenge. But if that’s your philosophy, fine. I don’t agree with it though because there are plenty of games I really enjoyed even if I played it on easy mode. In the end, shouldn’t it matter that someone enjoyed the game regardless of how they played it? And what gives anyone the right to criticize someone for playing a game a certain way that you don’t agree with? You can’t just tell someone “Oh, you shouldn’t play that game if you can’t play it on hard mode!” That’s just silly.
Also, I just want to add this: if it weren’t for the fact that there was an easy mode for the Persona games I wouldn’t have played any of them. Why? Well, when my friends were first describing it to me they gave me this impression that the SMT/Persona series can get really difficult at times and can even screw you over. And I don’t like that kind of gameplay style. I hate being screwed over in games and being forced to start over just because I made a mistake somewhere during those 70+ hours of gameplay. But when they told me that I could play the game on easy mode and thus get 10 continues if I died in battle I said, “Okay, then maybe I’ll give the games a chance.”
Guess what? I friggin’ love those games. Sure, I play on easy mode but what really got me hooked were the characters and storylines (which was what got my friends hooked in the first place). The gameplay is fun too, but I adored the characters, setting, and plot. If it weren’t for easy mode I never would have given any SMT/Persona games a try.
Don’t you think that’s pretty elitist? You’re pretty much flat out saying ‘you shouldn’t have access to a medium I enjoy because I don’t deem you worthy.’ Bragging is one thing, but elitism is something else entirely.
I don’t understand how another person’s decisions, that don’t affect you at all, are a pet peeve of yours.
And I am of the mind, if you finish the game it dosen’t matter what difficulty. That pet peeve of yours, you should get rid of that. Dosent make you a better person judging people for what difficulty they play on.
The only thing that ruins games are those who are snobbish about what makes games fun. What one person considers fun isn’t necessarily fun for me. If you enjoy games for the challenge, fine. Personally though? I enjoy games for the story and characters. I don’t like games that are too difficult but at the same time I don’t necessarily want them to be too easy either. Depending on the game or the genre, I will either play on easy or normal mode. I almost never play on hard mode unless it’s a game that I played to death. I admit to not being that skilled at games so that’s why I play games on either easy or normal.
And yes, I also avoid games that are well known for being difficult. That’s why Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls are just not my thing.
Mr Hutchinson is aware that lowering the difficulty in a cover shooter DOESN’T eliminate the need for cover, right? At best, it will give you some leeway for making mistakes, but it doesn’t “break” the game.
A lot of games can be considered “fun” for a lot of reasons, regardless of its difficulty. Now, if the game in question were to have something akin to an “autoplay” function (not to be mistaken for a “Theater Mode”) from the get-go, you might want to rethink your strategy.
Funny, just recently a From Software developer of the Demon/Dark Souls series was contemplating about including a ‘easy’ mode for newcomers. Fans debated and started using the same opinions as this guy.
l don’t agree that the inclusion of an easy mode can ruin the experience, it’s a mode that can encourage you to play the harder settings. Besides, its just a optional preference.
I honestly think this is not something to get that upset about. His comments are dumb but won’t have any significant impact.
I can think of a few games wouldn’t have even finished if it wasn’t for easy mode. There are new gamers all the time and it helps for learning (When I first played Fallout 3 I got my ass handed to me on very easy now I can very hard with ease).
He is looking at things the wrong way, if a lot of players aren’t taking cover maybe the cover system isn’t that great or maybe playing Rambo style should be part of the gameplay or maybe you just need a better tutorial to get them more use to taking cover. You need to look at the problem and not just complain people are playing the game wrong.
If you’re getting more enjoyment out of easy mode it can’t be too broken. There is no right or wrong way to have fun in a game and saying “No my way is the right way” just comes off as snobby.
I often don’t see the problem being difficulty, most games have variable difficulty for different levels of skill, I see the problem being game mechanics that are removed or dumbed down to make the games more accessible to less skilled players. Like with Diablo 3 they removed skill trees or with Skyrim they removed magic spell creation.
People should keep interviewing this guy just to see what more bullshit he can spout.
“He then goes on to complain that the gaming industry is the only media industry that needs to provide difficulty levels, saying, “It’s like if I picked up a book and it said, ’Do you want the easy version or the complicated version?’ [Game designers] can simplify the language, you know; we can make it two syllables.””
Actually, I have seen books with easy versions: Does the term “abridged” mean anything? I’ve seen classic books – like Tom Sawyer and Moby Dick – adapted into versions for pre-teen readers, which is basically the literary equivalent of easy mode.
I was just thinking that reading the interview. Also, Uncut versions for movies. It doesn’t really make it harder to watch, but it is there for the more initiated who want to see and understand more of the plot than those who would rather not sit through everything or find the other parts to be uncomfortable.