Why is Easy Mode 'Recommended' for 'Newcomers'?

[constance]

I've never played Undertale Cave Story before, but I've played plenty of other platformers of its calibre. I'm good with lemon-shooting-jump-man style gameplay, but the only thing I have ever seen of Cave Story is the fact that it's pretty neat, retro, and there's a lot of Rule34 of Curly Brace.


So one day, through my friend's shared library, I installed and booted Cave Story+ and got to the difficulty select screen, where it gave me three options: Easy, Normal, and Hard.
Easy said 'Recommended for Newcomers to Cave Story'.

I figured "hey, the game's probably pretty hard or unique compared to others, so I'll just follow the game's recommendation and put it on Easy. After all, I've never played this game before".

The entire thing was way, way too easy. I probably should've saw it coming. I beat the three bosses in the last level of the game on my first try and I beat the game in four hours. It was awful.


I know that I'm good at platformers like these, but I'm also a newcomer to Cave Story as a whole. The game should seriously be more distinct on what a 'newcomer to Cave Story' is, because if I knew they meant 'newcomer to platformer shooters', then I would've played on Normal or Hard mode and had a much better, challenging time.

I'll try and replay it in Normal difficulty and get the collectables, perhaps 100% it if I really start to enjoy the gameplay enough, but Easy mode was probably the most boring gaming experience I've had since The Evil Within.


Otherwise, would you recommend I skip Normal mode and go straight to Hard mode, or perhaps I should go through it smoothly? Since I already have full knowledge of every single level's enemy placements, secrets, etc from my first Easy mode playthrough, I feel like I should skip to Hard mode, but at the same time, Hard mode might be as difficult as Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight's Hard mode (AKA you get one shot by literally everything), so I'm not really sure.


So, in short:

• Devs, please admit you ripped off Undertale change the text of the Easy mode difficulty to be a bit less ambiguous on what a 'Newcomer to Cave Story' really is.
  
• And Forum, should I skip to Hard mode instead of going on Normal? The Easy mode experience really doesn't cut it for me.
  
• I also browsed the forum on here for about a minute and people seriously think Cave Story rips off of Undertale? The ♥♥♥♥?

[RAGLOKO]

The cave story and undertale part is a joke. Everyone knows Undertale borrowed some inspiration from Cave story, but no one really thinks Cave story ripped off undertale.

[constance]

Originally posted by Solomon:

The cave story and undertale part is a joke. Everyone knows Undertale borrowed some inspiration from Cave story, but no one really thinks Cave story ripped off undertale.

Okay, good, I thought that maybe the joke was actually based off of real idiots.

[m'boy are you fat]

If you had an easy time of Cave Story on your first try, then Easy Mode delivered on its promise, didn't it?

Cave Story is only a moderately difficult game for most of the way through. You won't really know how easy it is for yourself until you play on Normal difficulty, though I do recommend doing that before Hard, just to get a feel of what this game's hardness is supposed to be like.

One other thing: if you didn't know already, there's a good ending which has extremely convoluted requirements, which I imagine you wouldn't figure out on your own. It also contains the most difficult part of the game, which is reported to be very difficult by most platforming standards. I'd say that you should look for a relatively spoiler-free guide and try the area out for yourself.

[timestopMachinist]

I wouldn't reccomend skipping normal to go straight for hard honestly. Normal mode doubles the damage from Easy mode, but Hard mode is much, much worse than that. It removes every Life Capsule except for one, bringing your health up to a grand total of 6 (I believe) by the end of the game. This means that almost every enemy, especially later in the game, kills you in one hit, and it it doesn't kill you, it takes you down to 1 HP. It's insanely difficult, I've only gotten up to Monster X in the Labyrinth. Any mode is difficult for the Best ending though, take my word for it (beat it on Easy and Normal).

[timestopMachinist]

Also I would assume Nemesis would be pretty useless/hard to use in a mode where any attempt to level it back down will see you killed.

[constance]

Wow, alright. Thanks for telling me that.
I've heard about 'Hell', but I really have no idea what it is other than the name and that it's hard.
I'll try getting the Good ending and a bunch of the collectables, just because I'm interested in it.

[timestopMachinist]

Well what I like to do is set myself up for all three endings. I get the requirements for the Best ending, but usually settle for the Normal ending. You can get all three in a single playthrough. Best isn't that hard to set up, and there are plenty of guides for it. Worst comes to worst you have a file devoted to the Normal ending whenever you want to see it again and an extreme challenge mode in the Blood-Stained Sanctuary if you want it.

[Davey_Cakes]

In terms of the entry level of the game, I've played enough games that Normal was pretty much perfect even on the first go. After that I used Easy to get some of the achievements and change up the weapons a bit, even though it was an absolute breeze. Now I'm working on hard and I'm probably handicapping myself in some ways because of what weapons I'm choosing (going for the Spur is absolute hell in Hard mode). Clearly, the game was meant to be played in a multitude of fashions, including a one that's exploitative in nature where you try to do as much in a single run as possible.

[Velvela]

The reason why it's recommended for newcomers? Try to get the best ending on easy mode, it's really hard. But I've done it, check my achievements for the game, I really did.

[GedwinGalf]

I'd just decided to start playing this today. On the Sandlands level, about level 3. I just realised that I had clicked on easy as well because of what it said at the start.

Just enjoyed playing the game and progressing the story, but you're completely right - it was too easy.

Just started a new game on Hard and I died waay sooner. You have to be so much more careful. Thanks for waking my brain up to this - should be a more challenging (and rewarding) game now.

Totally love the music and feel though.

[8BitAether]

Originally posted by Halloween is overrated:

If you had an easy time of Cave Story on your first try, then Easy Mode delivered on its promise, didn't it?

Cave Story is only a moderately difficult game for most of the way through. You won't really know how easy it is for yourself until you play on Normal difficulty, though I do recommend doing that before Hard, just to get a feel of what this game's hardness is supposed to be like.

One other thing: if you didn't know already, there's a good ending which has extremely convoluted requirements, which I imagine you wouldn't figure out on your own. It also contains the most difficult part of the game, which is reported to be very difficult by most platforming standards. I'd say that you should look for a relatively spoiler-free guide and try the area out for yourself.

damn you i haven't even beat the easy mode because the guide i was using on my browser didn't help, and then i restarted the game with normal mode for the best ending.

...and of now i'm at the Balcony Trio Bosses/Normal End Final Bosses.

[DrSpookulicious]

I know (at least I hope) that that Undertale thing was a joke, but jokes like that hide behind a more entertaining personality, which I have no problem with whatsoever, but that personality is kind potrayed as someone who doesn't know how to check which games were made before which before jumping to conclusions.

[9seed]

there is yet another ending. get THAT, and you can claim easy mode is to to easy. otherwise, well, you can still say it's too easy. (yes im talking about "hell")

[8BitAether]

gotta be honest though. bloodstained sanctuary/hell is truly. HELL in normal mode.

[9seed]

Originally posted by 8BitAether:

gotta be honest though. bloodstained sanctuary/hell is truly. HELL in normal mode.

is that not the potint?
to find it by youself requires enough skill that you must be VERY good to survive.
it is the hardest section of the game, as I am slowly learning right now. almost got past 2nd to last battle (heay press)