I love the game, but being an infrequent gamer, am lacking the requisite "fast-twitch" abilities. I would sorely welcome the ability to dumb it down. After hours upon hours of play (four hours by the in-game clock, which doesn't count the countless re-dos), I am not even near halfway. Also, the regeneration of all of the baddies every time that you die or re-enter an area is tiresome, at best.

There are certain sections that I am unable to complete, and frankly, I don't plan to waste a week trying to do so.

This post has been edited by bsmb : 30 December 2006 - 11:26 PM

<_<

The level has to be reset every time from the save point, otherwise it will become too easy. Beside, by now, you should know where the monsters are.

Hmm... well i dunno, i would say the current difficulty options are easy and hard but i guess they could add an easier one.

took me like 2 hours 40 mins to beat the game on normal.

have you found and completed the racetrack challenge?

Indeed. It is alway helpful to complete the racetrack challenge, then look around the racetrack, if you get my meanings.

@kauthor, on Dec 27 2006, 10:26 PM, said in Is there an "easy" setting?:

Indeed. It is alway helpful to complete the racetrack challenge, then look around the racetrack, if you get my meanings.

I have found the racetrack. I cannot get close to the required time, and have stopped trying. I explored the area, but don't have the necessary gun(s) to get past the barriers. I have requested, and hopefully will be granted, a refund. The game, while interesting and somewhat enjoyable, is just too difficult. Consequently, what should be enjoyment becomes frustration. Since the point of playing a game is for enjoyment and escape, and not frustration, I have requested a refund.

The difficulty level may be fine for most people, but I sincerely wish that the developers would consider infrequent gamers and implement an "idiot" difficulty level. Should they do so I will consider re-purchasing the game.

This post has been edited by bsmb : 28 December 2006 - 08:33 AM

Nowadays, most games are pretty easy, this is pretty easy aswell, there are lots of games that are much harder this that arent old as well, and asking for a refund is pretty ridiculous. i guess some people might find this game pretty hard but it is in my opinion easy, but i guess a easier mode could be added. To check out some harder games, play old arcade shoot em ups or get MAME to play them, most of them are like 20 times harder than this

@xaerock, on Dec 28 2006, 09:25 AM, said in Is there an "easy" setting?:

Nowadays, most games are pretty easy, this is pretty easy aswell, there are lots of games that are much harder this that arent old as well, and asking for a refund is pretty ridiculous. i guess some people might find this game pretty hard but it is in my opinion easy, but i guess a easier mode could be added. To check out some harder games, play old arcade shoot em ups or get MAME to play them, most of them are like 20 times harder than this

Thank you for the less-than-helpful reply. The key to your response is that it is, in your OPINION, easy. In my OPINION, it is not. And I grew up playing the old arcade shoot em ups, and still do on occasion via MAME. I just don't get around to playing a lot of games any more, and when I do, I don't have days upon days to hone my reflexes.

Xaerock, it's not because there are games harder than Sketchfighter that it isn't hard, I find this game to be easy myself (and just right in hard mode), but it's just me, I can understand people who find this game hard, especially as it indeed calls on my arcade reflexes and my long EV and Harry experience. That being said, I think it's a little too much to ask a refund for this mere reason, as you had the opportunity to try out the game and gauge its difficulty before buying it. So perhaps I'll seem to be a little of a lesson-giver, but I'll advise you anyway to train. Use the early zones and the tutorial to train (ever used the down key? It saved my life more times than I can count), flying around to get a hold of the controls and your weapons.

@zacha-pedro, on Dec 28 2006, 10:15 AM, said in Is there an "easy" setting?:

Xaerock, it's not because there are games harder than Sketchfighter that it isn't hard, I find this game to be easy myself (and just right in hard mode), but it's just me, I can understand people who find this game hard, especially as it indeed calls on my arcade reflexes and my long EV and Harry experience. That being said, I think it's a little too much to ask a refund for this mere reason, as you had the opportunity to try out the game and gauge its difficulty before buying it. So perhaps I'll seem to be a little of a lesson-giver, but I'll advise you anyway to train. Use the early zones and the tutorial to train (ever used the down key? It saved my life more times than I can count), flying around to get a hold of the controls and your weapons.

Thank you for the reasoned response. Regarding the refund, I agree that it seems silly; I jumped the gun with my purchase as my initial experience with the game was so overwhelmingly positive., which is a testament to the fact that the designers really nailed the graphics, music, and general game play. Trust me, I want to play it, but it gets frustrating after say, 100 or so attempts on the race track, never getting below 1:00, or dozens of attempts with the skull tank boss, only once knocking it to below 30% health.

Here's an example of what I find to be frustrating. After I die when trying to beat the skull tank boss, I have to go through the 4 ship enemies before trying again with the boss. Well, most times I can get two of them, then have to backtrack to the "restore shields" ring, then go get the next two, then again back to the restore shields ring, and finally on to the boss. So, that's about 5 minutes wasted in order to spend perhaps 15 seconds before the boss kills me again. That's a poor signal to noise ratio, in my opinion.

@bsmb, on Dec 28 2006, 04:32 PM, said in Is there an "easy" setting?:

Thank you for the reasoned response. Regarding the refund, I agree that it seems silly; I jumped the gun with my purchase as my initial experience with the game was so overwhelmingly positive., which is a testament to the fact that the designers really nailed the graphics, music, and general game play. Trust me, I want to play it, but it gets frustrating after say, 100 or so attempts on the race track, never getting below 1:00, or dozens of attempts with the skull tank boss, only once knocking it to below 30% health.

Here's an example of what I find to be frustrating. After I die when trying to beat the skull tank boss, I have to go through the 4 ship enemies before trying again with the boss. Well, most times I can get two of them, then have to backtrack to the "restore shields" ring, then go get the next two, then again back to the restore shields ring, and finally on to the boss. So, that's about 5 minutes wasted in order to spend perhaps 15 seconds before the boss kills me again. That's a poor signal to noise ratio, in my opinion.

Have you already tried out not attacking these enemies? You don't have to kill everything, especially in the racetrack. And there are two ways at the start of the track, use the left (or rather upper) to get the shortest one.

After you entered the room try to fly directly behind the tank boss, completly ignore it while doing so, and then turn around and attack the boss with your beam and missiles. This works pretty fast and won't be that hard if you are lucky.

@freq245, on Dec 28 2006, 10:52 AM, said in Is there an "easy" setting?:

Have you already tried out not attacking these enemies? You don't have to kill everything, especially in the racetrack. And there are two ways at the start of the track, use the left (or rather upper) to get the shortest one.

After you entered the room try to fly directly behind the tank boss, completly ignore it while doing so, and then turn around and attack the boss with your beam and missiles. This works pretty fast and won't be that hard if you are lucky.

Regarding the racetrack, yes, I ignore everything except the gates and the mines. By the time that I get to the mines, it's too late time-wise, but I keep chugging. It takes me a good 5 seconds to destroy all three and move on. Quite obviously, my ship-driving skills are not up to par with the requirements of the track. And, as I have mentioned previously, I have tired of attempting to hone them to the required level. I simply don't have the time to spend. Mind you, I have accumulated over 4 hours of game-clock time (and likely several times that in real time). Many find the game to be easy or at an appropriate level; for some of us it is too difficult. I managed to cope in Escape Velocity, so I think that I'm not completely hopeless. All that I am suggesting is that there be some sort of dumbed-down difficulty level for people who cannot spend their entire waking existence working on their fast-twitch muscles.

About the tank boss, yes, I know to fly behind it. But I can't keep the ship stable and targeted on the weak spot for long enough to get more than an occasional shot it. I have tried dozens upon dozens of time. Again, this is frustrating rather than fun. I would be perfectly content knowing that I could only handle the game at a dumbed-down level rather than the normal, or, horrors, hard level. Unfortunately, no such option exists.

I know how you feel. I tried hundred of times to fight it, and in one case, I was VERY lucky to destroy the tank boss. Now as for the race track, like andcarne said, all it takes is practice.

Heh, the tank boss was actually pretty much the boss i found hardest in the game (i had more experience at the last boss)
i spent like 6 times just trying to wait for the mines to come, then destroy them and attack the boss and that just didnt work. then i rushed right behind it at the start and shot all i got, beams and missiles at it and its health went down. then i continued doing my first method but a bit more crazily (shooting mines with beams, not aiming so much with missiles) and got it. but 7 tries on a boss was nice enough for me. its hard to give any advice gameplay wise, what do you find hard to do, aiming? when you aim, remember to use the down key, its of great use. remembering the patterns of bosses is a good idea too. (although the last ones have randomisation)

@bsmb, on Dec 27 2006, 06:59 PM, said in Is there an "easy" setting?:

I love the game, but being an infrequent gamer, am lacking the requisite "fast-twitch" abilities. I would sorley welcome the ability to dumb it down. After hours upon hours of play (four hours by the in-game clock, which doesn't count the countless re-dos), I am not even near halfway. Also, the regeneration of all of the baddies every time that you die or re-enter an area is tiresome, at best.

There are certain sections that I am unable to complete, and frankly, I don't plan to waste a week trying to do so.

I had a similar reaction to the game at first. I almost thought of asking for my money back, like you, but then I think I sort of put everything in perspective, relaxed a bit, and just tried different things. I can assure you the it IS a game, and an enjoyableone at it. This game's strength, in my opinion, is that you can play it in contless ways. It fits many different play styles. For instance, just a few weeks ago I posted about a little trick I came upon where I used the Blue Gun not as a weapon, but as a tool for creating my own hints in a race that you get later on in the game. I really think this game has an untapped potential for creative solutions to problems. I woudl be playing it more right now if I wasn't so involved in Arpia So, anyway, I don't know if this helps, but I can tell you that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Xaerock and prophile are WIERD.
@bsmp: The skull tank is hard without the race track up-grade. Last time I beat it I ended up with 30%/200%. Actually, I bet you will end up forced to get the racetrack up-grade, even if you get past this one.

@firefalcon, on Jan 8 2007, 12:57 AM, said in Is there an "easy" setting?:

Xaerock and prophile are WIERD.
@bsmp: The skull tank is hard without the race track up-grade. Last time I beat it I ended up with 30%/200%. Actually, I bet you will end up forced to get the racetrack up-grade, even if you get past this one.

Pah! Hit the Skull Tank hard and fast, with as many missles as you have. He can be easily defeated without taking any damage.

xander

@darwinian, on Jan 7 2007, 07:59 PM, said in Is there an "easy" setting?:

Pah! Hit the Skull Tank hard and fast, with as many missles as you have. He can be easily defeated without taking any damage.

xander

No, I mean that the skull tank is EASY. Just take note I'm not a good rocket launcher, I ALLWAYS miss. Shield Up-Grade: I allways have trouble with the fighters near the boss...I hate fighters.

This post has been edited by FireFalcon : 08 January 2007 - 09:25 AM

I still can't seem to figure out how to switch between the normal and hard modes. Any help is greatly appreciated.

@xraybeam, on Jan 15 2007, 02:27 PM, said in Is there an "easy" setting?:

I still can't seem to figure out how to switch between the normal and hard modes. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Once you have beaten the game once, you choose whether a game is in Normal mode or Hard mode when you start it- there will be two buttons, one saying "New Game", and one saying "New Hard Game". You cannot switch in the middle of a game.

For custom levels, it seems that SketchFighter remembers whichever mode was last used in the main quest, so if you were last playing in Hard Mode, all custom levels will be in Hard Mode. To switch, load a saved game of the opposite mode.

Edwards