#difficulty in videogames

[l3rking]

I’ve been thinking about what “Challenge” and “Difficulty” mean in Destiny. I think we’ve hit the wall on how much damage a single target can sponge. So much so primaries are an un-optimal pick for most stuff. And it’s for a lot of reasons. Generous special/heavy economy, the strength of those weapons (LMGs and wave frames in particular), the weakness of legendary primaries, etc. Primaries in particular is what has me thinking about it. I want to use primaries. I want them to viable. But making them hit harder just doesn’t sound like the solution to me. 

So what can be done? More complex encounters? More mechanics? Ammo rework? Where’s the point where it becomes so difficult it’s inaccessible? Are we already there and the people complaining about the game being too “easy” are just hitting the skill ceiling that Bungie wants to set for the game? 

I’m genuinely curious what other players think about this. Maybe players who have experience in game design can weigh in? I just don’t know enough about the nuances to really communicate what might make it better. I just want Destiny to offer challenging experiences but also not have 1/3 of it’s weapon sandbox feel like wet noodles. 

[pumaloafing]

One thing I love in games is.. how to put it.. more difficulty options than just 'Easy, Normal, Hard', more than just a singular linear option.

Chained Echoes let you modify the size of the overdrive bar, the stats of enemies, and how aggressive enemies were, which was pretty nice.

Sea of Stars on the other hand has 'relics' which have a wide variety of effects, so far one just seems to make the game MUCH harder while the others make the game easier in a variety of ways.

Boost max HP by 100%, auto-heal after each fight, take 30% less damage, auto-succeed on timed hits for normal attacks, etc.

Only one was on by default for me which was 'full heal on level up' which I probably would have turned on anyways. Also, I hate the 'mystery locks' gimmick and the game lets me turn that off, which is nice. I also turned on one that makes it more obvious when you did a timed hit or timed guard successfully.

I know it's difficult but I love it when any game does stuff like this, I don't consider a typical difficulty slider to be a knock against a game, but when a game lets you go fiddle with more than just 'how much stats do enemies have?' it's really nice.

[crimsonender]

[frxnziedflame]

𝔸𝕝𝕚𝕔𝕖 𝕄𝕒𝕕𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 ℝ𝕖𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕤 .

[lgbtransgirl]

So videogame difficulty

Hard should not just mean "easier to be killed, harder to kill". Personally I think it should be that certain enemies use better AI, more advanced tactics, actively respond to things you do (such as buff & debuffs) and have expanded move sets.

It makes the harder difficulty actually more difficult rather than time consuming.

HOWEVER

I know some people prefer it as it is, so I propose a solution.

Normal: Standard gameplay. No easy mode (will explain more)

Hard: Suggestions above

Arcade: Just like an old arcade game that pads out it's length by being artificially difficult, enemies have more HP and hit harder. Also you get less stuff. Type of shit you expect from dark souls or OG arcade cabinets

IN ADDITION

I think accessibility options should be in every game. Color blind modes, modes to display sound triggers on screen in some way for hearing impaired people, longer timing windows including I-frames, etc.

Some of these would genuinely make the game easier for people, especially if you can do more than toggle on and off (say a % increase or even decrease for higher difficulty for I-frames)

[vigilskeep]

i feel like i’m so terrified of faster-paced combat i’m going to learn way more about the mechanics in veilguard and actually end up better at it than the others

[autism-connoisseur]

DONT EVER APOLOGIZE FOR INFODUMPING YOU NEED TO SPEAK YOUR TRUTH KING...........

[ray-elgatodormido]

Disrespecting Lü Bu with an unupgraded whip, shitty gear and low morale without taking a single ounce of damage.

Just as Team Ninja intended.

[mechanicalbloodlust]

cant do this ultrakill shit i cant even do 3-2 i heard gabriel and closed the game in panic im deleting ultrakill from my computer right now righ t as we speak

[certifiedbundleofsticks]

current party composition:

Me (obligatory)

funny boytoy that runs into battle and dies immediately every time

very cool woman 👍

"i thought bringing you made sense for the plot but you contribute absolutely nothing and I deeply regret my choice but I'm in too deep to turn back and switch you out"-man

[devotedlystrangewizard]

my problem with violence isnt a critique of the layer. i think its really neat. my problem with it is that ultrakill is the kinda game where you have to Think Fast but you do have to think. you have to not be panic shooting. every time i see a mannequin all my skill goes out the window and gets replaced with a primal fear that makes me shotgun everything except for the enemies and i still havent finished 7-1 because im too stubborn to just do it on a lower difficulty

[henlp]

Funny how FromSoft games are always the target of journos and spergs, when bitching about difficult games. When the obvious example of bullshit difficulty in modern gaming is Crash Bandicoot 4.

[cooledtured]

Creating A Challenge

There are many things that go into creating a game. What genre do you want to do? What will your game look like? What can you do to make the game fun? However a question that is often overlooked is how do you make your game difficult? At first glance it seems easy enough to answer. However, as you continue to develop your game, it quickly becomes apparent just how difficult of a question it is to answer.

To begin, you need to think about the question within the context of the game you’re making. After all, a game that’s centered around platforming will have a radically different idea of difficulty in comparison to an overworld fighting game. It’s only once you fully understand the kind of game you’re making that you can even begin to earnestly answer the question. Then there’s the fact that some genres will be easier to adjust difficulty wise than others. With a platformer like Mario, you’ll likely either put in more jumps for a player to do or make it harder to jump from platform to platform. With a game like Elder Ring though you can simply just give your enemies more health and leave it that. However, this leads into another problem with game difficulty: is it still fun to play at a higher difficulty?

While simply increasing enemy health is a common way to increase difficulty, it is also an easy way for combat to feel repetitive and boring. After all, if the only thing that differs between easy and hard mode is that enemies have a bit more health, can you really call that fun? Now, I will admit that with some games simply increasing health is enough to change the game dramatically. In certain cases it will cause players to have to deal with a particularly hard phase of a boss fight for longer than they did originally and adjust accordingly. However, in most cases something more must be done in order to improve game difficulty besides simple health increases or more jumps.

In games that focus on combat trying adjusting enemy attack speeds or changing up their attack patterns. With platformers instead of just adding more jumps try changing up how players move so that they’re forced to be a bit more creative and tactical. But more importantly than anything, try putting yourself in the shoes of your players and thinking about what you’d want to see in a game. Sometimes all it takes is a different mindset to really make a difference.

Logan Floyd-Mcgee | Writer POP-COOLEDTURED SPECIALIST cooledtured.com |  GROW YOUR COLLECTION

[newkiqx]

yeah this is great. A game I personally loved that did this is the original Crysis. How the jump from normal to hard meant not having telepathic control over vehicle turrets if it didn't make sense (so picking between driving and shooting) and the KPA soldiers speaking Korean, instead of conveniently shouting their intentions in English. I believe enemy health and damage didn't change much either, if at all, but enemy soldiers got *much* better at tactics, detection and warfare in general.

So it just meant much more effort to keep them confused and generally quicker thinking was required, but if you could keep up and understood what was going on it rarely got much harder in annoying ways.

Anyone else love when games have difficulty levels that fundamentally change how the game works, rather than just adjusting enemy damage/health/amount?

Like when it's:

Easy: health packs restore health

Normal: health restores between levels

Hard: health does not restore; all damage is permanent

[crisicsgames]

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