Hard mode

>hard mode
>its actually easier because you drop better items

Examples?

Name 300 games that do this.

Dragon's Dogma.

>Hard mode
>It's actually more like the medium difficulty, maybe not even that

i dont think you get better drops in dragon's dogma hard mode
but you get more exp and more money, which makes it easier after a while
in the beginning you get one shot by everything though

>master difficulty stalker
>game becomes easier and more fun

Diablo 3

>hard mode
>enemies give so much exp that you quickly begin to out level them
or
>multiple difficulties
>the difficulty right before the hardest mode is actually harder

>increasing the difficulty makes both you and the enemies easier to kill

I love modes like this. Its alot better than turning them into bullet sponges. Metro 2033 and Stalker did this

>can't play the harder modes right off the bat
>lower difficulties are ridiculously easy

This. Every STALKER game should be played on Master.

tales of zesty does something similar

STALKER without crosshair and on Master mode is the ultimate experience, the gunplay actually seems a lot shittier en less effective on easier difficulties.

>Game has permanent level up system
>Pretty much pigeonholed into playing lower difficulties at low levels

>game has permanent level up system
>want to replay some of the lower bosses/areas for fun
>can't intentionally lower your stats so you don't one-shot them

>Game has permanent level up system
what the hell is that shit mang

whats worse is games that do this usually dont have much replay value
thats because enemies tank a shittload of bullets to the point of ridiculousness on easier modes

Sengoku Rance.

>thats because enemies tank a shittload of bullets to the point of ridiculousness on easier modes
Seems counterproductive

Fallout 4 old Survival mode when it was just super hard mode. Legendary items dropped on every third boss enemy.

Games like Killing Floor unless you reset your stats, but in KF2 as a more recent example you need to know a specific console command to do so. Otherwise, higher levels obviously allow you to play harder difficulties without jobbing hard, but if you want to play a lower difficulty without feeling OP you're shit out of luck without destroying your ability to play higher ones, along the lines of what said.

well you also have more hp, so most fights end up like this

I've mostly encountered it in shmups. It's just as cancerous as it sounds if you're not a fan of doing levels in order and going back for fun.

Welcome to russian difficulty balancing and the cause of a lot of asspain when STALKER was release.

>low graphics
>actually runs worse than medium/high because of piss poor optimization

>expert mode
>enemies are harder and have unique moves and you get unique expert mode-only loot from them
>the loot is so useful it makes all but a few bosses piss easy

>game has food system
>you have to eat almost constantly to remain consistently full

>game is dark as fuck and you can't see anything at night
>enemies can see you just fine and attack as normal
>there's no brightness setting

To my side, my noble Einherjar!

>go to area at level 1
>a bunch of jobber enemies that you dispatch no problem

>go back to area at level 80
>the jobber enemies are now buffed extremely high and take tedious amounts of time to kill

>hard mode
>It's mostly only harder because you get shitty amounts of money and XP
>Literally just "grind more: the difficulty"

Fuck RPGs that do this. Games that give you MORE exp and money on hard but even with that it's still harder than normal are the best.

Yeah, the dungeons in hard mode give way better items and with team members being level 1 you can raise there DME from scratch with Bracelets of Zoe.

Also those flame jewels for the seraphic gate. God damn, I want a Vakyrie Profile 3.

>hard mode
>it makes harder enemies spawn and adds tons of new content

The first one was this game to a T, as soon as you got past the first area the game was pretty much exactly the same except you leveled faster, which simultaneously made the original games' party useless on anything above Hard.

>hard mode
>it's actually easier because xp gain is buffed the fuck up

Not to mention the 'true' end as well. Hard mode done right. Unfortunately, I've conceded that VP3: Hrist is NEVER EVER.

>Hardest AI in RTS
>It can't defend from an early rush for its life

>>its actually easier because you drop better items

You mean because you loot better items, dropping them means something completely different.

True ending was so difficult to unlock I'm convinced it's almost impossible without a guide even if that means admitting I'm a casual shitter.

But I loved fighting Loki and watching Asgard/Midgard be destoryed.

>hardest mode
>enemy pattern is basically identical to the difficulty below
>enemies have the same health and damage
>you even get double ammo from drops
>enemies move at double speed, projectiles move between 33% and 50% faster
>enemies infinitely respawn

Fucking Nightmare difficulty. -fast was a good idea though.

Oh absolutely. You literally have to defy the instructions of the game and gimp yourself early on while jumping through hoops the entire way through.

I recall my first run being on normal and when you beat the game it just ends. Just legit flat. To this day I can't recall a thing about it but I enjoyed the journey so much that I replayed it a few years later and found out how much content you miss out on if you play on anything but hard.

Yeah Ending B sucks, it's so anticlimatic. Even fighting Freya in Ending C is more interesting since you have more substantial cutscenes to suggest something more is going on as opposed to the vague setences going on in Ending B.

This might be the best thread for this question;
I'm planning on playing FO2 and Deus Ex soon, but don't know what difficulty is actually good for a fun playthrough without being overly annoying.

>play normal
>game seems well balanced early-mid game
>get to mid-late/late game
>game becomes super easy because everything dies in 1-2 hits and you have tons of healing possibilities
>mfw

Dragon's Dogma is pretty hard in the beginning since everything is oneshotting you but after a while you get so much gold and XP that it gets pretty easy

Terraria

>you drop better items
Why would I drop items and how the hell would it benefit me?

>people still believe this

I dont bother playing on higher difficulties when they do this, I find it hard enough to justify playing most games on hard as it is but simply making the game more grindy is the least fun form of increased difficulty