Hard to say. These games gain notoriety because they are so hard to make it through to the end. You take away that allure of the game and it may sit in a pile of other middling AA games that didn't break a million.
It removes the game's teeth. It would have a profound effect how it's discussed online.No one's taking anything away by adding a difficulty toggle lol.
Because no game series has ever gone down in quality from trying to appeal to the masses.Completely agree with him here. I would include all the Souls and Souls inspired games too.
We can argue all day about whether games are art or not, but we can all agree they are consumer products at the end of the day. When you exclusively cater to a niche audience, you're only hindering your own sales and growth potential. You're gating off an experience to so many people may be unwilling or simply can't play games that difficult (ie work life balance, personal injuries, etc).
You can still maintain the integrity of a game with different difficulty modes. Just specify what the developer recommeneded difficulty mode is.
GoW has one of the best action oriented gameplay in the industry, source for this claim?People are playing God of War in large part because of the story. Most people are playing Dark Souls and Bloodborne for the gameplay and challenge. You aren't going to see a massive sales increase simply because you can hand hold someone to see the ending credits of a Souls game. They aren't made for that.
Kena has one and it doesn't. People are talking about difficulty in normal mode because that's the preferred way of playing.It removes the game's teeth. It would have a profound effect how it's discussed online.
It removes the game's teeth. It would have a profound effect how it's discussed online.
And it does indeed impact game design overall. Hard difficulties in games with easier toggles do not have the same craft and feel as one just designed around a challenge from its core. The concessions to make them harder stick out like a sore thumb, more often than not.It removes the game's teeth. It would have a profound effect how it's discussed online.
I noticed this is also a lost art with the normie boom in gaming. I too fell victim to this when we had the decade plus of easy AAA blockbusters that required little to no thought with hint popups in your face only 20 seconds into a puzzle, and you can just force spam attacks. Had my ass handed to me in Souls games initially, where I had to readjust and go back to the NES days of pattern learning and the like, now they aren't much of an issue if you're patient and are willing to learn.I beat just about every boss in Metroid dread with only getting hit a few after a few tries.
they all have patterns and counters.
He said not only, and the second definition on the very site you linked too.. (if you would have bothered to visit it)
2 : a person who takes pleasure in pain and suffering
// ...a select group of cops, bikers, bodybuilders and other masochists who thrive on the deprivation that exercising in unfiltered 110 degree heat produces.
— Allison Glock
// Some mathematical masochist has calculated that the brain was adding 150 million brain cells every hundred thousand years, the sort of useless statistic beloved of a tourist guide.
— Matt Ridley
I mean, why better yourself. I know, right?Today I learned that enjoying challenges is the same as enjoying suffering or being harmed
Kena doesn't really seem designed around difficulty, rather it just spikes on bosses.Kena has one and it doesn't. People are talking about difficulty in normal mode because that's the preferred way of playing.
Dark Souls 3 released on only a single generation and was never remastered wtf are you smoking?Again, with multiple platforms across multiple generations (the game was remastered).
Dark Souls 3 released on only a single generation and was never remastered wtf are you smoking?
And there's really no penalty for dying, just restart the boss. I don't like frustratingly hard games - I've stayed away from Returnal because I've read enough to know it's not for me, but I didn't find Kena to be in that category. It had a good challenge on bosses but wasn't punishing.Kena doesn't really seem designed around difficulty, rather it just spikes on bosses.
There is no way to back that up though and the argument could be made that the Souls games would lose all credibility and sales over time should they add a mode like that.My bad I'm mixing it up with Dark Souls 1.
Either way, this back and forth is pointless, my point still stands they would sell a lot more if they made their games more accessible to more people. It's just common sense.
My bad I'm mixing it up with Dark Souls 1.
Either way, this back and forth is pointless, my point still stands they would sell a lot more if they made their games more accessible to more people. It's just common sense.
I’m actually the opposite. I find harder games easier to manage. It’s those heavy cutscene games like Kingdom Hearts III. Where you have an hour before you get to save manually. Death Stranding isn’t bad now that I think about it. I have been able to replay all of the Souls games because it’s literally the easiest game to manage when you can’t guarantee how much play time you’ll get. I think it comes down to memorizing patterns and understanding that not everything is to be taken at face value.had you asked me 4 years ago I would have said he is wrong but tbh, now I have a family and much less free time I sorely dislike difficult games as I don't have time for them.
It's a weird one.
Not punishing, just boring.And there's really no penalty for dying, just restart the boss. I don't like frustratingly hard games - I've stayed away from Returnal because I've read enough to know it's not for me, but I didn't find Kena to be in that category. It had a good challenge on bosses but wasn't punishing.
It was good because it gave us a challenge. The big Minotaur fight in God of War. I remember sitting there in my basement getting so frustrated at those circular joystick QTE’s.Says the guy who made OG God of War stupidly hard in some areas and insta kill split second QTEs
Some games live off the difficulty. FROM games don't work on easy mode. Would some people still enjoy the games? Sure. But it would be a different game. Gitting gud is an essential part of the experience.Really, dude?
From Software's Hidetaka Miyazaki Explains Why Souls Games Don't Have Difficulty Settings
From Software's Soulsborne games are known for their challenge and unforgiving nature. Another notable feature of the Soulsborne games is the absence of atwinfinite.net
Every fucking time a new From game is released we have this discussion
I know a person that watches Netflix shows at 1.5x speed. Definitely not the way it was intended to be seen.
But this person has watched all of the +4 seasons of the show and loved it.
This doesnt hurt the viewing experience for other people, so why the hell not?
Gaming is an interactive media, so things get even more subjective.
I may finish Mario Odyssey only using basic jumping and collecting the required moons. Other person may finish it using the whole set of movements and habilities and collecting all moons.
Both enjoyed the game in their own way
Let people choose how to play your game
Look how many people would have enjoyed Returnal WAY more with a saving system.
How many people would have replayed Bloodborne with an easy mode just to breeze through and see all that art again.
Yea, just look at the demo. The Hydra battle was something you never saw in video games. It was intense, it looks awesome, and you felt good slashing it like a madman. Things were hard, but you felt like you could take on anything the game would throw at you with the Blades of Chaos. That’s what made God of War so special. His weapons felt fluid and you felt like you were ripping and tearing everything around you.Never owned a home console, so I never played GoW, but wasn't the first one quite difficult?
you have literally zero proof of that. especially since Dark Souls in particular is dependent on the way it plays.
more than 10 million copies sold is extremely good. how come many high profile, more casual games, don't sell that many copies?
Why would "casuals" want to play an easy mode Souls game?...and, you have zero evidence that From Soft is maximizing their revenues with its current game design. We're all speculating here for discussion's sake.
All I'm saying is, you don't need to change the way the game plays, just provide an easier game mode to increase accessibility.
And, like I said earlier in this thread, there are tons of examples on both sides of the argument we can provide here.
Horizon is a new IP that sold over 10m on one platform before it went to PC. It has a difficulty scaling that ranges from casual story mode to an ultra hard mode that was released after the game was released (much harder than very hard mode) and 22.5% of players have the trophy associated with beating the game on ultra hard (as per PSNProfiles.com).
Let's be real here, different difficulty settings won't fundamentally change the experience for you if you plan on playing the difficulty setting that aligns with the developers' vision. Fans of these hard games just want to gate the game from casuals because are concerned about the overall discussion around the games if casuals joined in on it. You guys wanna keep the club exclusive, and I get why.
actually, devs want us to play their games. i love that this trend is coming back, hard difficulty with no hand holding. bring it on.
You never had an home console in your life?!Never owned a home console, so I never played GoW, but wasn't the first one quite difficult?
True, that bitch on hard is more difficult than 99% of souls bosses, at least it was for me, no other boss has like 15 different fucking moves...It's almost funny that Sigrun in GoW4 was harder for me than any of those hard games for some reason. I know he wasn't on the series by then though.
I'm a PC guy. Why the fuck would I want a console?You never had an home console in your life?!
And especially coming from Nintendo. I mean compared to what Zelda had become, filled with linear paths, progression and tutorials galore, to then BOTW. Same with Metroid, although to a lesser extent. I much prefer this trend that respect player intelligence, over painting all the fucking edges you can grab/climb with white/yellow paint.
Botw is a cakewalk tho, you don't have yellow painting but you have drinking potions from a menu that make dying or even failing a climb a matter of how much full your inventory is, not exactly hard or stimulating dude, and enemies are mostly retarded and suicidal...And especially coming from Nintendo. I mean compared to what Zelda had become, filled with linear paths, progression and tutorials galore, to then BOTW. Same with Metroid, although to a lesser extent. I much prefer this trend that respect player intelligence, over painting all the fucking edges you can grab/climb with white/yellow paint.
Nah, literally all the games he mentioned have one thing in common: done in a budget. And what is the easiest way to inflate the amount of content you have? That's right, make it damn hard.