Amazing game, but Hard mode should not be locked.

[big tiddy goth bf]

The art is actually stunning. It's among the prettiest games I ever played.
The intro to the Emperor fight, when the wall screens open was my favourite moment.
The combat feels extremely satisfying. Fast, yet weighty, with plenty of room for self-expression.
The upgrades change the gameplay appreciably but you don't feel gimped without them.
The glimpses at chinese historical figures were a neat gimmick, but not really enough to give me an idea what they were about, nor to make me want to pick up a book about them. Good for Novelty though.
The spells look incredible. The [gun] in particular looks so good I used it at every opportunity just to look at it go. Sadly they are so strong that they feel like cheats on Normal, especially the spider.
The girls on stilts are up there with the cutest enemies I ever fought.
I'm really glad I bought this and if there's a sequel it'll by an instant purchase.

HOWEVER
This game did not need a four hour tutorial. Until the Emperor you could pretty much breeze through normal mode by just button mashing, and only the final boss offered a bit of challenge. Hard Mode actually asks you to pay a bit of attention, and has a learning curve. There is really no need to lock it until you play through all of Normal unless you're just trying to pad out playtime.
Teasing a giant mech fight for the entire level, then just throwing a Skullgirls reject at me was not ok though. Seriously.

[Brigadeos]

Almost all the games i played have the hardest difficulty unlocked after playing normal, so i dont understand what are you complaining about. It feels like something you need to earn, and this game is not like 70 hours long or anything so wahts the problem?

[big tiddy goth bf]

If you don't understand why 4 hours of trvial button-mashing to unlock a moderate challenge would be an issue, then I'm not sure how to explain it to you. Perhaps you don't play games to challenge yourself, but for a lot of people it's a major component of fun.

[dynastystar]

Originally posted by big tiddy goth bf:

If you don't understand why 4 hours of trvial button-mashing to unlock a moderate challenge would be an issue, then I'm not sure how to explain it to you. Perhaps you don't play games to challenge yourself, but for a lot of people it's a major component of fun.

its only 4 hours...

[zuligan]

Agree

[🦜Cloud Boy🦜]

Can anybody tell me the difference between HARD and NORMAL mode.
Are there new stronger enemies? Are the enemies more aggressive? Greater in numbers?

Thanks.