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'Disco Elysium' gets a hardcore mode for fans who want a challenge
Video game developer ZA/UM has launched a Hardcore True Detective mode for its award-winning game Disco Elysium. And it sounds like the perfect reason not to feel bad about replaying the detective RPG instead of starting another previously untouched game in your ever-growing Steam library. The developer warns that the new mode is "not meant for first-time detectives," because it makes the game a lot more challenging.
Blizzard to fix exploit with Diablo III's votekick system
Playing Diablo III in Hardcore mode is a harrowing experience. No matter how good you are as a player, there's always the real worry that one careless move will mean the end of a character you've worked hard to level. Unfortunately, sometimes that careless move is simply playing in a public game, as griefers have been exploiting the votekick system to cause players to die and lose everything through no fault of their own. As it currently stands, a player who has been kicked by popular vote will be rooted in place for 10 seconds while the character is ejected. Griefers have used this to kick players in the middle of monster-heavy rooms, resulting in 10 seconds of uninterrupted monster beatdowns with no chance of reprieve. So how to fix this? Well, Blizzard plans to remove the 10 second lockout in the near future to ensure that a kicked player can still move and respond rather than get pointlessly murdered. There's no word on whether this will be a hotfix or rolled into a larger patch, but it's definitely on the horizon. Until it goes live, though, you might not want to have your hardcore characters on a public game.
Diablo III will see you in hell... mode
If you were among the players put out because Diablo III seems too pretty to be hardcore, you'll be happy to know that Blizzard hopes to re-earn your love, not with art but with gameplay. The company has released a video in which key DIII devs talk up the game's nightmare, hell, and inferno difficulty modes. They promise a veritable ass-kicking complete with hours of wiping and mounting repair costs. Quoth the devs: "Normal mode was pretty casual. It's very fun -- you're one-clicking and you're having laughs. Once you get into Nightmare mode, it starts turning into all business. [...] The game really starts [...] at Nightmare. [...] The way the game is tuned right now, people have no idea what they're getting themselves into." Perhaps not coincidentally, the Battle.net World of Warcraft blog is now daring gamers to join a community-driven Iron Man WoW Challenge. Participants eschew luxuries like buffs, talents, and grouping and charge into the world to see just how high they can level. Death, of course, means game over for the hardest of the hardcore. The Diablo III vid is embedded just behind the break!
The Daily Grind: Do you play in self-enforced hardcore mode?
The permadeath-in-MMOs issue has been debated to death. Most of us have probably either played in a Diablo-esque hardcore mode or gaped at the stones required to publish a true MMORPG with permadeath (hi, Salem). But who says you need game mechanics to make permadeath a reality? I've gamed with roleplayers who took their characters deadly seriously and would delete their characters if they were killed off within the context of the game. (So much for the idea that roleplayers are casuals, eh?) Their web of self-inflicted rules is so complex (maiming? dice rolls? emote-combat?) that playing with such RPers can actually become stressful, especially if you don't want to be responsible for their having to delete and reroll. What about you folks? Do you play or roleplay in a self-enforced hardcore mode? Do you do it because it's fun, because it makes gameplay more intense, or because you like a good challenge? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Wasteland Diaries: Hardcore mode
So during your wait for Sector 4, have you conquered it all in Fallen Earth? You've overcome every obstacle and achieved every achievement? You've amassed wealth beyond dreams and have become a king among men in the wastes? Maybe not, but let's assume you have. What do you do now? Well, I've got some terrific news for you. Fallen Earth has a hardcore mode. It's a realism mod of sorts. But the catch is: Nothing is changed on the server side. All modifications will be made client-side (and they will be made legally). This mode will take a large amount of self-discipline. It will be very easy to cheat. Many of the rules that will be imposed on you will also be enforced by you. In order for it to be considered truly hardcore, apocalyptic-realism, you can't cheat. Even Fallout: New Vegas has a hardcore mode. Of course, I played it in hardcore mode and still found it too easy. I had to impose rules on myself to keep it challenging (like no V.A.T.S. allowed). I also found that the ability to save right before a big decision or fight also alleviates some of the difficulty. Of course, I could impose further restrictions on myself to make the game more difficult. With that in mind, after the cut, I'll show you how to do just that with Fallen Earth.
Far Cry 2 bugs squashed on 360, 'Hardcore Mode' added
It's been quite a while since Far Cry 2 was released on Xbox 360/PlayStation 3/PC -- 203 days, to be precise, but who's counting? -- and just yesterday Ubisoft released a patch aimed at a game-breaking save problem. And we'd know all about it, as after 25 hours spent terrorizing the African wilderness, we were halted in our tracks by the save file corrupting-bug patched just yesterday. Our bitterness is somewhat assuaged by the arrival of the promised "Hardcore" multiplayer mode, advertised on the developer's forums back in February. The team has also added the ability to play Rank matches, employing some of the more ... well-developed user maps created over the past half year. Unfortunately, while the (likely malaria infested) save bug has been squashed, the fix isn't retroactive and thus, those who encountered it are out of luck. As for you folks playing FC2 on a PC or PlayStation 3, the patch should be headed your way soon. Not 203 days ago-soon, but soon none the less. %Gallery-6687%
Massively speaks at length with Jumpgate Evolution's Hermann Peterscheck
With its June launch looming just a few months away, we spoke with Jumpgate Evolution's Hermann Peterscheck. Within this interview you can find information on topics such as digital distribution, beta, hardcore mode and plenty more.And if that somehow doesn't sate your thirst for information, then check out our previous interviews with Hermann, which contain all sorts of additional, informative goodies.%Gallery-18375%
Far Cry 2 patch to add 'Hardcore' multiplayer mode, rebalances weapons [update]
We didn't know anyone wandered into Far Cry 2's expansive, hojillion-hour-long single-player campaign and somehow managed to make time to check out the game's multiplayer offerings, but apparently there's a sizable community of online FC2 players out there. This group has been calling for more realistic match settings for quite some time -- players can apparently catch more lead than Sonny Corleone and walk away with little more than a scratch and an interesting story.Their pleas have been answered -- in a recent post on the FC2 community blog, the game's developers announced a patch which will, in addition to rebalancing the weapons in all multiplayer modes, add a more realistic "hardcore setting" to all match types. This mode will boost the damage for all weapons (ensuring speedier demises) and will let players tweak the "spawn times" (but not the "spawn rates", whatever that means). They didn't specify which platforms the patch will be landing on -- hopefully, they'll be affording a hasty death to all three.Update: The update is coming to "all platforms". Huzzah![Via Big Download]
Mythos gets a giant update
Mythos, the free-to-play MMO from developer Flagship Studios, has just announced a new update to the software, and the list of features, improvements, and bug fixes is extraordinarily long and satisfying. I'll embed the list after the jump, but here are a few of the things that stood out to me: Hardcore Mode: If you play in this mode, your character can die, and that's forever! Maybe someone was reading my post and decided it sounded like a good idea! Guilds are now available to create for the cost of 5 gold Hardware mouse cursors: No lag for me anymore, yay and my favorite for a laugh: 'Ants are now more interesting as monsters' Best part of all, Mythos promises no patch download is necessary; simply logging in will provide you with the update. Nice work, Flagship, and keep it up!Full list after the jump!
