Critical Analysis: Legendary Difficulty

[Buster Cannon]

*Critical Analysis is a series that breaks down different gameplay elements encountered in the MML games.

Ah, Hard Mode. Always alluring us by giving us the option to play our favorite games at an enhanced difficulty. Different games have different ways of designing this occasionally masochistic mode; some merely remove the player's options (weaponry/mobility), some upgrade the armor/damage/patterns/placement of enemies and bosses, and in some cases there will be a complete overhaul of the stage designs. The Mega Man Legends series is no stranger to these varying difficulty levels, and it's worth looking back on.

In the first Mega Man Legends game, Hard Mode was unlocked after completing the game normally. It simply upped the HP values of enemies and bosses along with making you take more damage. The value of zenny gained through destroying enemies was also reduced. Legends 2 made the difficulty modes a little more dynamic. The game's mode was directly tied to the new license mechanic, which gave the player the option of making the game harder (reavers and bosses have more HP) in favor of a higher zenny payout. You'd start off with a B-License, but taking some tests allowed you to bump the License up to A or S, represented as Medium or Hard Mode, respectively. You could also unlock Hard Mode through beating the game once, starting you off with an S-License by default. Very Hard Mode was a different beast entirely, essentially taking the difficulty of the S-License and ramping it up a few notches, also lowering the value of zenny dropped by enemies immensely.

In retrospect, MML2's Hard Mode was a lot smarter. MML1's difficulty choices didn't really add any extra depth to the gameplay, it's just the same play through with different numbers in place, with easy mode giving you an overpowered buster part so you can curb-stomp the game. Legends 2's license system was a welcome improvement because you had the allure of a harder game with a higher payout. The License Test forced you to essentially "prove your worth" as a digger that could handle this new challenge. The fact that you could upgrade the difficulty during a play-through as opposed to separately gave it a dynamic touch as well. These extra ruins that the A and S-Licenses give you access to some extra cash, as well as the Hyper Shell and Hunter Seeker, respectively. I like this design decision because the Hyper Shell and Hunter Seeker aren't necessary weapons for any particular section of the game, so if you find yourself having trouble with the license tests, you aren't missing out on too much. Furthermore, if the license tests were too difficult for you and you want to try these weapons, you can just boot up Hard Mode after beating the main game...or play Easy if that suits your fancy.

I wish Very Hard Mode would have been given a little more polish. It's a nice challenge alright, but like Legends 1, all of the parameters that are changed are simply artificial. Legends 2 (with the exception of the PSP version) already charges an arm and a leg for the weapons upgrades, so nerfing the zenny output just gives the mode a larger focus on grinding.

In future Legends games (should we get any), I'd like to see more features like closed-off ruins that the player can access with a higher-level license, and other secrets/goodies that would make these new licenses attractive to players. Legends 2 did a great job of making the difficulty levels feel like they were a part of the Legends world, as opposed to a simple option selection in a video game. It gave the player an incentive to explore the different ruins scattered about, and rewarded the player with new toys to play with. Enhanced difficulties are a good thing to have in games, but they're even better when they offer the player something in return.

~Buster Cannon

P.S. If there's any specific Legends-related topics that you'd like me to cover, feel free to let me know!

[Dashe]

I'd like to see noticeably smarter enemy AI with higher difficulties in a future installment instead of zenny nerfs. Maybe some bosses could appear in normal ruins that wouldn't if you were playing on a lower difficulty level. Imagine the treasure chest you need to reach with the Mandomantal tripping a system that turns your sweet Reaverbot ride into a boss! Or a bigger boss that you have to fight by surfing on the Mandomantal! Increased grinding's got to be one of the laziest artificial difficulty spikes ever. I mean, with the system limitations it wasn't like they had much to work with, but nonetheless it still sucks.

The license system was a really great addition, though. Unfortunately, I didn't quite understand how it was tied to difficulty when I played it so I probably ended up accidentally making things slightly more difficult than I could handle in some parts. It was likely for the better that I couldn't beat the S test back then because I'm sure I'd have found Sera completely unbeatable at S rank.

[MegaTuga]

Even to this day the "hard" settings in games tend to just up the enemies' HP, and their attack or even reducing yours. TO be honest that is kind of bland. While MML games are the same, MML2 did try to make things different. One thing that got me surprised was to get to the final boss and beat the game, and when I reloaded that same file, the boss's HP bar was longer. (I may be imagining this since MML2 doesn't have a "clear game save" feature, so if I am wrong, I am sorry)

But it wouldn't hurt if the Reaverbots would be more difficult. By that I mean that the ruins would have upgraded versions of the Reavers that are already there, or different ones altogether. Imagine having to fight a Wolfon in those small corridors often seen in the normal ruins.
Other thing would be to give them new attacks or increasing their attack/movement speed. I always thought that the bomb lobbing of Horroko's was a bit slow, even the fire balls of the fire version are slow with distance. Just a thought.

Hey Buster, what can you say about the "puzzles" in the ruins? I mean, my first time playing MML I got lost in the first SubGate for hours before realizing of the frozen chest and the crusher, or in MML2 in Nino with the water levels and lifting blocks or in Calinca (I mean ice-themed zone) with the colored barriers? Some of those were either obvious or very hidden and I can't tell but if they were actual puzzles or just pretending to be. I know Legends isn't any Legend of Zelda but it was pretty close back in the time, right?

[Buster Cannon]

I think Manda Ruins is a good example of how shifting enemies can affect the game's difficulty. The first time through, you trek your way through the "normal" path. Once you activate the control system, you have to make your way through the same path, but there are some differences. Frongel can now burn you, the bug-zapper is now a problem, the venus flytraps are now shooting at you, and some enemy layouts have been completely overhauled. While Legends 2 used this to artificially extend the length of Manda Ruins, I think that this would be a good template for Hard Mode in the Legends games.

@MegaTuga

I never found any of the puzzles in the series to be overly complex, particularly within the ruins. Usually, it's a matter of either finding a certain amount of smaller objects (i.e. starter keys) or activating control panels in order to open a series of doors/chests. There are some painstaking ones like Nino Ruins, but in general they're very straightforward. Games like Zelda and Okami tend to be more in the head-scratcher category.

That said, I got legitimately stumped in MML2 at the scene where Appo and Dah hold hands outside of Glyde's base. I jumped on them in an attempt to get a better view of the wall, and the rest was history.