Is it weird that I intentionally try to make my favorite games harder for myself?

Pendraflare · Apr 6, 2015

Sorry for the long title... Anyway, when I play the earlier Pokémon games, like RSE, FRLG, and Platinum, I usually try to make my victory as quick and easy as possible, because usually you're faced with very strong and/or bulky opponents that aren't easily taken down. Most of the Gym Leaders in Emerald and Platinum are a prime example of ones that are just brutal.

But in Generation V (especially B2W2) and XY, once we're past the early stages of the game, more often than not I find myself purposely letting up and being lenient on in-game opponents. Now that doesn't mean I don't try at all, it just means that I don't just power through opponents with the most direct approaches that I have. Even in Nuzlockes and Wedlockes. The thing is, back in 2013, when B2W2 were still relatively mainstream, people were saying "they aren't hard" and that they're "easier than other games", and when I saw a Monotype that had one player always being lower leveled than his opposition because he thought being over-leveled would be stupid, that's part of what I found myself doing in later playthroughs of B2W2, and XY when they came.

With these two I find myself using more than just one team member most of the time, but at times I feel like i'm doing nothing but shamelessly trying to make B2W2 (on Challenge Mode, i'll add, I won't defend it on Normal Mode) and XY look harder than other main series games, which some people might view as a waste of time and resources.

That doesn't mean that I don't go at lower levels on the earlier games, because it still makes things decently challenging. It's just that in the newer games, I don't often take the most direct routes to victory against the big opponents. In Emerald and Platinum there's not as much room for error. If you compare those to B2W2 and XY (and to a lesser extent BW and ORAS)...you see where i'm coming from here? In the latter two games, you can usually afford to be more diverse with your selections against opponents, which is part of why I don't go all-out on them most of the time.

I don't know how many of you actually understood a word of what I just said... But if you did, what do you think? Am I just looking pathetic trying to make what most people deem among the easiest games in the series harder just because I really like them in general? Or is it understandable that I would do something like this and try to make it challenging for myself? Discuss!

Sheep · Apr 17, 2015

I think it's entirely understandable. The games are easy for those of us who have been playing for a long while but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to find ways to make them more difficult and therefore (possibly) more enjoyable. Part of what I love about Pokémon is that there are so many different ways to play and each playthrough can be so different from the next given the multitude of options you have to choose from. Possibilities are endless, almost, meaning there are many ways to make these so-called easy games hard even without a challenge mode.

One of the easiest games for me were X/Y but now that I'm doing an unevolved run (currently using Skiddo and Fennekin), it's becoming very difficult and I don't even have the second badge yet. Almost seems like an entirely different game!

J.J. Knight · Apr 17, 2015

I hear ya. I often play Nuzlockes to make the game a bit more difficult. It gives me the rush I need after the first play through and OC teams.

Deltheor · Apr 23, 2015

For older players like myself and a good portion of the members here on LV, we've been playing the games for so long we know them inside and out. It's only natural to want to up the difficulty a bit- I personally love doing Nuzlocke challenges and solo runs and whatnot, it's a really fun way to make a game different and more challenging, even if you've played it before!

Shada · Apr 24, 2015

I think the whole competitive aspect of Pokémon makes it way, way harder than it should be. And I have fun making it harder, although I'm terrible at it!

LostSpirit · Jun 19, 2015

I think it's completely fine. You have to remember that these games are targeted towards 10-year-olds. I'd be strange if you didn't want to challenge yourself in any way considering the game is pretty straight forward. I think you should try to change your experience in some way so it's just not a vanilla playthrough to make it more enjoyable.

Megarai111 · Jul 22, 2015

I get why you want to make the games harder. I'm a lazy gamer, so I don't mind the games having a low difficulcy rate, but I do understand players who prefer the game to be a bit more difficult.

Pari · Jul 24, 2015

Nah, it's not weird at all. Pokémon games are marketed towards younger audiences, so it's fine that older and more experienced players would want to up the difficulty level of games they know and love. This is proved by Nuzlockes and such.

I wish Challenge mode would return though.

Hraesvelgr · Aug 7, 2015

No, plenty of people do that because they've probably already played through their favorite a million times before. I like to make things harder too because it makes the game more interesting.

Pitmore · Aug 7, 2015

I hate so state the obvious but making it harder is a challenge and challenges are fun, admit it. When you get that challenge over and done with it often feels like you really have tried and completed a hard thing. And there's nothing better then that.

Is it weird that I intentionally try to make my favorite games harder for myself?

Pendraflare
Level 18
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Sheep
Level 93
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J.J. Knight
Level 25
IMÎ”GINE|DREÎ”M|CREÎ”TE

Deltheor
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Shada
Level 92
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LostSpirit
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Megarai111
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Pari
Level 98
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Hraesvelgr
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Pitmore
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