Difficulty Levels - Guide for Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

                        Difficulty Modes 

For those of you non-hardcore (or hardcore) gamers out there, Metal Gear
Solid 3: Snake Eater features five different difficulty modes for you to
test your skillz on.

You will be asked to select a difficulty mode whenever you start a new game,
or continue a game that has been fully completed.  You will be presented with
four or five options depending upon whether or not you have alredy beaten
the game.  If this is your first playthrough you will only have Very Easy,
Easy, Normal, and Hard available.  If you are playing through a second time
then you will be presented with all of the options: Very Easy, Easy, Normal,
Hard, and Extreme available for your pleasure... or displeasure.

  * Very Easy *  I must say that this is very, very easy.  Guards can't hear
much of anything, they are nearly blind, they die easily, there is far less
of them, and they are quite unintelligent.  The bosses pretty much fall under
the same category.  They take a lot of damage from you and do little to you.
If you leave an area with the alarm hooting it will be turned off when you
enter another.  Cautions and alerts last for a very short time.  This
difficulty is not difficult at all.

  * Easy *  A little bit tougher than Very Easy but it is still very
unchallenging.  Guards can see a little bit further, hear better, and so on.
Once gain in this difficulty the alarm will be reset upon entering a new area.
Everything is just slightly harder but overall it is still pretty damned easy.

  * Normal *  This is where you should start if Snake Eater is your first
Metal Gear Solid game.  Everything is pretty well balanced here for any
player.  It isn't too hard and it isn't easy either.  Guards can see somewhat
well and hear better than the lower difficulties.  If you have an alert in one
area and enter another it will stay.  This is also the difficulty the
walkthrough section is based upon.

  * Hard *  For those of you who are hardcore Metal Gear Solid fans.  There
seems to be a big jump in difficulty between Normal and Hard.  The bosses do
much more damage and you do less to them.  Guards work the same way.  There
are many more guards, they can see, hear, and make better decisions.  This is
also for people who are looking for a challenge but not an incredibly hard
one.  This is also the difficulty the walkthrough section is based upon.

  * Extreme *  This is a smashing difficulty level.  "Smashing" as in it will
induce wild fits of rage that will send you smashing everything in sight. This
mode is incredibly realistic.  Three shots from a guard and you are dead, if
you are in their line of sight across a large room they will spot you easily,
they have excelelnt hearing, they aren't complete dumbasses when it comes to
capturing you, and there are many more guards in each room.  Bosses deal out
one hit kills or something very close to that.  In other words: this is only
for the possessed or insane.


The difficulty levels differ in these ways,

 - The amount of damage done when falling from a high distance
 - duration of stamina guage and grip guage
 - eyesight of guards
 - hearing ability of guards
 - intelligence of guards
 - length of caution mode/evasion/alert mode
 - damage done by bosses/guards
 - damage you do to bosses/guards
 - amount of time guards stay knocked out/tranquilized
 - number of assault team members
 - accuracy of guards
 - how much cold exposure for your character to catch a cold
 - availability of items and ammo
 - amount of trembling when sniping
 - tranquilizer effect time
 - stamina restored when eating
 - Your backpack storage space