History Main / NumericalHard

* ''IcewindDale'' has the "Heary of Fury" mode built into the "Heart of Winter" expansion - all enemies have massive hit point and damage boosts but are worth far more XP. Downside is surviving your first encounter - a single goblin can tear your entire party to shreds unless you get lucky.

* Made crueler in ''{{Disgaea 3}}'' by giving enemies a 1% increase to their stats for every level they would be gaining in excess of 9999.

* In the Wiiware version of ''CaveStory'', enemy attacks in Easy Mode do only half the damage they do in Normal. And Hard Mode is Normal Mode, with all (but one) of the HeartContainers removed--basically a forced NoDamageRun in the later levels.

* Subverted (perhaps inadvertently) in ''WorldOfWarcraft''. Normal difficulty dungeons are tuned for a specific level range. Heroic difficulty 5-man dungeons adjust enemies' stats to provide a challenge for players at maximum level. However, players at max level are continuing to improve their gear through raiding and emblems while these heroic enemies stay at the same strength. Combined with generally greater dungeon experience among max level players, this makes heroic 5-mans easier than normal ones.

* Things that are examples: On hard, enemies do more 50% more damage and take 50% less and drop less ammo.

* In ''Minecraft'', the only thing that changes between the 3 difficulty levels(disregarding Peaceful) is the amount of damage hostile monsters do. Don't get ambushed by a Creeper on Hard with no armor.

* The only effect difficulty has in ''CommandAndConquer: Renegade'' is that it increases enemy health, reduces your own, and makes ammo drops less frequent.

* Several ''CommandAndConquer'' games use this method, altering unit hitpoints, speed, weapon range, firepower, reload rate, cost and build times based on the difficulty level the player chooses. The level of variation can actually be altered by any Red Alert player who has and uses a "rules.ini" file for the game.

** This is explicit to the player in Civ IV by noting the AI Civs are set to Noble level when the player is setting up the game.

* Several ''Command&Conquer'' games use this method, altering unit hitpoints, speed, weapon range, firepower, reload rate, cost and build times based on the difficulty level the player chooses. The level of variation can actually be altered by any Red Alert player who has and uses a "rules.ini" file for the game.

DifficultyLevels that merely change some statistics of the player/enemy. This sometimes runs into the issue that it doesn't actually make the game any harder; for example if enemies have more health, they might just take longer to kill. Some games also increase the rewards you receive, which in games with ExperiencePoints can sometimes result in [[NonIndicativeMode Hard Difficulties becoming substantially ''easier'']] once you get past the hellish first areas.

DifficultyLevels that merely change some statistics of the player/enemy. This sometimes runs into the issue that it doesn't actually make the game any harder; for example if enemies have more health, they might just take longer to kill. Some games also increase the rewards you receive, which in games with ExperiencePoints can sometimes result in Hard Difficulties becoming substantially ''easier'' once you get past the hellish first areas.

* Hard mode lvl 1 cap for two of the "[[CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia more]]" "[[CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin recent]]" Castlevania games definitely counts: "[[DemonicSpider die in two hits from]]" "[[GoddamnedBats bats]]"? Check, game gets easier as you get farther in? Check

* Hard mode lvl 1 cap for two of the "[[CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia more]]" "[[CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin]]" Castlevania games definitely counts: "[[DemonicSpider die in two hits from]]" "[[GoddamnedBats bats]]"? Check, game gets easier as you get farther in? Check

* ''LunarKnights'' has this as well with its difficulty settings. Enemy levels (which determine stats and damage tolerances) will increase on higher difficulty levels (Normal < Hard < [[HarderThanHard Nightmare]]) by a percentage rather than a number. It doesn't seem like much at first, but let this troper warn you that everything inside the gates of New Culiacan onward is ''[[{{Cap}} level 99]]''! Beforehand, [[MagikarpPower Aaron]] states that he's going to protect Lucian during your trip through the city streets. If you chose to neglect the gunslinger and don't have anything resembling guarding skill, grinding is your only solution, as the damage from a Lv99 Hot Dog in EF weather is murder (And that's as weak as Flame attacks get, and you run into one in the first block to boot!).

** They changed this up in Mass Effect 2, however, where [[HarderThanHard insanity]] mode gives pretty much any enemy in the game the power to tear you to shreds from full health in a matter of seconds. Of course, this is again just a numerical increase in enemy damage with no significant changes to the AI.

* ''FinalFantasyIV'' as remade for the NintendoDS is widely considered the most hellishly difficult version of the game, and the different stats are part of the reason why. Most enemies--including bosses--have had their HP jacked sky-high (Odin's and the Behemoths' HP has doubled, as has most of the enemies' HP; the Trap Door's HP has tripled; Red Dragons and the [[ThatOneBoss Demon Wall]] have had their HP almost ''quadrupled'', and at least one enemy has gone from "[[TheGoomba complete non-issue]]" to "[[DemonicSpider nightmare]]" due to a '''2000%''' HP increase) and, just to rub salt in the wound, most enemies have had their dropped gil slashed drastically--some reduced by much as ''95%''--just to make your life harder. Also, Rydia's offensive spells and summons? Cost more MP--Leviathan's gone from 50MP to 75, and Bahamut from 60 to 99.

* The "Crazy" difficulty setting of ''CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'' drastically descreases the amount of damage you can deal and sustain. Due to the game's movement and defense mechanics, this actually doesn't make the game any harder. It (along with other factors) just makes it take much, much longer.

* [[PhantasyStarOnline Phantasy Star Online]] plays this straight on Hard and Very Hard modes, giving monsters absurd amounts of HP, damage and elemental resistances, but retaining everything else except the items dropped. Ultimate mode averts this, however, by replacing most monsters with similar versions that might move faster, cast different spells, cause status ailments, or a number of other things.

* [[PhantastStarOnline]] plays this straight on Hard and Very Hard modes, giving monsters absurd amounts of HP, damage and elemental resistances, but retaining everything else except the items dropped. Ultimate mode averts this, however, by replacing most monsters with similar versions that might move faster, cast different spells, cause status ailments, or a number of other things.

* [[FantastStarOnline]] plays this straight on Hard and Very Hard modes, giving monsters absurd amounts of HP, damage and elemental resistances, but retaining everything else except the items dropped. Ultimate mode averts this, however, by replacing most monsters with similar versions that might move faster, cast different spells, cause status ailments, or a number of other things.

DifficultyLevels that merely change some statistics of the player/enemy. This sometimes runs into the issue that it doesn't actually make the game any harder; for example if enemies have more health, they might just take longer to kill. However, it may be excusable then if they give off more points when killed, if you are in a type of game that keeps score.