PSO2: Anyone else disappointed with "Hard Mode?"

[DreXxiN]

Great post, Zy. Your justification is exactly the same as mind and looks like we might be similar gamers.

[pikachief]

people keep saying OPEN BETA D: like it means something.

I've only played 2 open betas that went right into release and that was for PSU and PSU:AotI. Both cases the open beta and full release remained exactly the same in terms of content.

At this stage, if they're gonna role out with the full release right when the open beta ends, the content is set. No more major changes to missions or gameplay or anything. This beta is for the technical server-side buisness like the lag we've been dealing with.

The alphas and the closed beta were for changing gameplay and mission adjustments and such and they usually made many big changes based on community feedback.

They got their community feed back and they changed their game accordingly. It's a shame that the community feed back was to make the game easier but that's just how its gonna be.

I personally don't mind too much but I do hope that it's different as we have more missions so that the difficulty and the amount of things to do can be spread out more. And I am hoping for Very Hard to have some difficulty and for the maps to look different and enemies to change in appearance and attitude once Ultimate eventually rolls around.

[TelleT]

I disagree. As a ranger, with a 2 star launcher at +5, I can kill a group of 5 or more hard mode enemies in 1 combo in the air before I hit the ground. The game is piss easy, and I was hoping that would change with the addition of "hard mode". Unfortunately, that's not the case.

NERF!

[Adelheid]

Anyone who thinks it's hard to level post 20 has never done a code before... seriously guys just spam codes. I did 3 levels this morning, now I'm 24. Will be running desert hardmodes shortly after I finish lunch, probably.

[MasterSpark]

Dark Souls/Demon's Souls is a very rare (in fact, almost one-of-a-kind) exception.

Spoiler box, just in case.

Spoiler!

Even those two games become trivial when you realize that they're 100% based on the same enemy patterns. After the first run through it (which is a great adventure, indeed) the challenge of the game disappears as there'll be no surprises from the enemies. It's a relatively high threshhold but shallow depth.

PvP is still fun, though.

I haven't gotten far enough in PSO2 to try out the hard mode, but I'm not expecting a big jump. So far I've actually enjoyed clearing Koffie's time trials on my own.

[ShadowDragon28]

I just don't understand.

See, I'm having fun with the game and I don't even need a tangible sense of progress or a sense of real danger to enjoy myself. If at any point the game starts feeling like a "grind", I just stop playing or switch gears and play another mission. I'm not concerned with leveling up quickly, or getting uber rares, or any of that - I just play the game.

So I guess I just don't get it. While I do optimize my character for efficiency (I have +Tech Power on all my units and a +10'd lightning rod for the desert mobs), I don't put any focus on any particular goal other than what I can do right this very moment.

I'm afraid I cannot process the idea that one's enjoyment of the game hinges on the risk of dying at any moment.

100% agreed! when are on man so i can send u a friend invite?

[Adelheid]

If you really want a challenge then make it harder, do a mission underleveled or solo or without a weapon.

No one has anywhere to stand saying an RPG is too easy if they're purposely making it easy for themselves.

[TelleT]

I don't care if Hard-mode is basically just the same with upgraded
stats on the enemies, that's how PSO always has been (except Ultimate, which still is quite similar).

Will be interesting to see what SEGA has planned for future-content, anything is possible since it's on PC and not on a console.
Let's hope not that the Vita-version will effect this.

[Defend]

If you really want a challenge then make it harder, do a mission underleveled or solo or without a weapon.

No one has anywhere to stand saying an RPG is too easy if they're purposely making it easy for themselves.

That's the whole point Adelheid. It is difficult to be underleveled by the time any mission is opened, save for the City event. If there wasn't a pre-requisite quest for every quest and area, this problem wouldn't be able to exist. Regarding excuses, the opposite is true: In a game where you can and do always repeat levels, with plenty of missions in which to level up even if you don't, there's no excuse for anyone to say "It's too hard." So giving that decision of challenge back to the players wouldn't actually make the game harder.

I have not touched any of the extra client orders or the matter board at all; I avoid unnecessary levelling up. Finally I got to enter a level 20 quest at level 16 and solo that was a good challenge, but it took that long to find it, and it didn't feel like it felt in PSO to enter Caves at level 4 or 5, or to fight Vol Opt at level 12.

Meanwhile "Purposely making it easy" is backwards. You don't tell the players to balance their own challenges. The player's job is to have fun squeezing what success he or she can out of their available abilities, otherwise every level in Mario would start with an optional Star powerup.

I imagine this approach is because of this no-walls design of the stages so I'm not suggesting I have a preferred solution right now.

[Adelheid]

PSO is an RPG, not a platformer. If you overlevel or overgear it's your own fault for the game being easy. Similarly if you want to play something super difficult then take on a challenge.

Thats why so many people run a thousand different challenges like half exp no grinding solo Tales of- or Nuzlocke Pokemon. Are you really saying you're unable to use your fists to complete a mission, or complete a mission without killing any non-boss mob, or any other sort of challenge you could have fun with?

If the challenge is the fun to you then go find your challenge, afterall it's your fun that is at stake!