Dark Souls Doesn't NEED An Easy Mode (But Could It Have One?)

[@spritecrawler8561]

Ok, i quote Miyazaki: We don't want to include a difficulty selection because we want to bring everyone to the same level of discussion and the same level of enjoyment," Miyazaki said. "So we want everyone … to first face that challenge and to overcome it in some way that suits them as a player." The creator continued: "We want everyone to feel that sense of accomplishment. We want everyone to feel elated and to join that discussion on the same level. We feel if there's different difficulties, that's going to segment and fragment the user base. People will have different experiences based on that [differing difficulty level]. This is something we take to heart when we design games. It's been the same way for previous titles and it's very much the same with Sekiro." Sorry for my bad english, it's ok that you think that way, because that's normal in western culture. I also welcome the triumphant advance of the individual, but to see individual freedom per se as the highest good in any case just feels totally wrong for me. To think that better products are created because a developer is more concerned with how to gain a bigger audience instead of realizing one's vision is definitely debatable. The loss of the discourse on an equal experience would be very painful for me. I totally understand what you mean but for me its more important, that someone masters the challenge and that is ultimately a greater achievment for game culture, than to forfill every individual need, wich is impossible anyway. Also, Dark Souls has a lot of adaptive options integrated in the game without a Damage or Health slider, which I think is much more creative.

[@bigirononmyhip3812]

I agree

[@SuperRADLemon]

Can u link that quote? I haven't been able to find it and was looking for it

[@spritecrawler8561]

@@SuperRADLemon ok, my answer gets deletet All the time, the interview is on gamespot

[@nuke2099]

@@SuperRADLemon I don't think you can link things through youtube comments anymore because the post gets auto deleted. But the person you're replying too has it right and that's a quote I have seen before. Monster Hunter was originally (and sort of still is) following the same idea as that too.

[@namename2040]

@@nuke2099 you can post the link but don't let it hyperlink

[@Emmycron]

Seeing an abstract "Easy, Medium, Hard" selection when I start a game ALWAYS stresses me out. I never feel like I'm playing the "correct" version, especially with Fire Emblem and Lunatic difficulty being pretty much not even tested by the devs

[@justsomejojo]

This is a big one for me too. I always appreciate it when the game has a short blurb for every difficulty, bonus points if the intended experience is pointed out because I then know, okay, that one is the one they definitely play-tested.

[@Eladelia]

This is a common issue. Even beyond games, there are experiments that indicate that you can make people happier with their choices by offering them fewer options, because more options gives you more opportunities to fear that you're missing out on something. To draw on the pasta sauce example, it can be more satisfying to buy a chunky sauce and get on with your life without debating it any further than it is to buy the same sauce and go home knowing there are 14 other varieties of chunky sauce available and maybe you made the wrong choice.

[@steel5897]

Agree. I've learned to deal with it a long time ago in my own way which basically is picking the difficulty above normal every time to start with and (if possible) adjusting if needed when I learn how the game works, but I still prefer the way From does it, especially for an RPG where you can just grind and farm for better equipment to make the game easier if needed. Dark Souls does that absolutely perfectly, not to mention co-op being a thing. What I hate though and WILL absolutely kill a game for me, is those custom difficulty options menus where you have like 20 sliders and different options... that is straight up broken, it's not MY job to balance the game, the developers should tune everything and deliver a finished, balanced product to me. When I see that kind of thing it's an instaquit for me, including the first example he mentioned in Forza Horizon 5. That is basically a Game Shark bundled with the game with zero repercussions for abusing it, to me that is not even a video game... "accessibility" should not be put above game design and integrity, I want to play the developer's vision.

[@FakeHeroFang]

I much prefer using the game's inbuilt mechanics to determine difficulty rather than a slider or the typical 'easy normal hard' options that usually only adjust numerical values. I think this because it's much more interesting to me when potential difficulty or a lack thereof is bred from creative and clever design decisions. In some games it can present itself as entirely different narrative branches. It is optional, however you'll need to play both sides to experience the entire narrative. One can prepare the player for the challenges present in the more difficult path, or they can go for it immediately if they think they can handle it. Resident Evil 4 has a sneaky dynamic system in the background of some difficulty settings that can change things like enemy placements depending on how well the player is doing. Monster Hunter presents some monsters with new attacks that you have to learn to deal wiith when you climb the rankings system. There are ways to make difficulty without using traditional difficulty settings at all. I want to see games grow and adapt in order to solve the difficulty question in their own way, because one size does not fit all in my opinion.

[@CleopatraKing]

i agree, itd be nice to see a portable solaire like how cinders mod for ds3 has one. but seeing coop as a more in depth difficulty option, being able to opt into or out of invasions, how hard things hit and or how fast movements go out would be neat. like if enemies had adp is a hidden value manipulated by a difficulty option, it would be cool.

[@cleo42]

I thought the same thing before, but the more i think about, the more i believe this kind of modular difficulty would just make those difficulty options more effective. You bring up RE4, but if i remember correctly, its dynamic difficulty is paired with a difficulty selection at the start that will prevent the dynamic difficulty from going too easy or too hard. I just feel combining these kind of mechanics is way more effective than deciding to have only one at a time.

[@thechugg4372]

I think Miyazaki accomplished his vision on making everyone complete the game in one form or another, you just have to remember that a lot of people who wants a "skip boss" button in dark souls don't want to complete the game, they want the game to complete itself.

[@kurosan0079]

The way I see it, what he meant by "a game that everyone can complete" is that you can beat the game *if you don't give up* . And people who are advocating difficulty sliders in Dark Souls are those who did give up. Everyone can, but that doesn't mean everyone will.

[@Excalibur5k]

@@kurosan0079 i think the problem is that ive seen people who have beaten them only to dislike the game overall. Like they didnt give up, but their skill level was too low for them to get any enjoyment out of the game, and that made me think that maybe they would have liked the game more if they could have switched on some kind of easy mode. Dark souls is just very tricky because the game is designed around having a higher than average difficulty. In theory, if a player has a very low skill level then easy mode could give them the same experience as a souls fan playing the game normally, but its very hard to predict peoples skill levels and you dont want better players to accidentally pick easy because of the series' overexaggerated difficutly reputation. I think at the very least these games need demos that let them play up to a certain point so they dont waste money.

[@Eladelia]

@@Excalibur5k I don't think it's a skill level issue necessarily. There are definitely ways to approach that style of game that can make it more or less fun, but I think there's also a reality that people vary in how much of a rush they get out of of a success that follows after a lot of struggle. I think it's sort of like some people absolutely adoring roller coasters and other people hating the experience. There are people who describe hard-won victories in Dark Souls and Monster Hunter in gushing and emotional terms that I can't entirely relate to, but it's clearly a huge thrill for them.

[@TrollAxeThrower]

The game designer is a God. He made the game, and some can't play it. His decision counts. If you cheat, you are more like a thief, than an honest gamer. No difference between that and showing yourself the "you win" screen after watching a playthrough on youtube.

[@Excalibur5k]

@@TrollAxeThrower You cheated not only the game, but yourself. You didn't grow. You didn't improve. You took a shortcut and gained nothing. You experienced a hollow victory. Nothing was risked and nothing was gained. It's sad that you don't know the difference.

[@MaxinRudy]

One think that I see everyone talking is that making the game easier (lowering enemy damage/increasing player damage) would make the game more acessible, but what I frequently don't see talked (and you brushed the point but refused to elaborate) is how acessibility is not difficulty. Making a game more acessible don't mean make it easier. I'll elaborate with an hiperbole: Let's say you are playing a turn based JRPG in japanese, but you can't read japanese, so you only knows how to use potions on your party and how to use single basic attacks. You get to a boss that deals large damage to your entire party, you can't heal your party fast enough and you die. Than you figure that you can put the game on easy, now the boss only deals half the damage and you can heal and kill him. Great. What has the player learned? Now imagine that the game was translated to your language, and now you can see that you can use a healing spell that affects your entire party, and you can kill the enemy on normal. Same rule applies. Remember when twitch defeated dark souls? They didn't "made the game easier", instead they put some breaking points on certain points that allowed the twitch comunity to vote on the action. Even forza, the game you used as an example, lets you customise the speed the game runs, because they knows that making other cars slower wouldn't adress the "slower players" to finish a course. Ratastokr arguments wasn't if dark souls should have an easy mode, it was more on the line that, each developer should have the freedom to make the game they want. If an easy mode is part of the plan, great. If not, great too. The morowind argument had nothing to do with dificult selection, but that the game didn't had quest markers, and how not having it made him apreciate the landscape of the game, and ran a paralel about how dark souls not having a dificult options made him apreciate the game design more. Should every game have a dificult option? No. Should every game have acesibilty options, like button remapping, more camera controls, more color control (daltonics and people with bad vision play games too, that can help then identify more things on screen), etc? Definitly.

[@Cethinn]

This example is somewhat ironic. I don't disagree with you generally that games should be translated at all, but part of what inspired Miyazaki's world is his experience trying to read western fantasy without knowing much english. He had a totally different and inspiring experience struggling reading them and filling in the blanks that he couldn't understand than a native english reader that understands everything. I'm sure he would have chosen to understand it if that was an option, but he got a totally unexpected experience because he couldn't.

[@SquidBow]

Great comment!

[@Matti_Mattsen]

What i often see when i talk with people about dark souls is that the expected difficulty is much higher than the actual difficulty. The game series has a legacy of being "such hard games" that people don't even try to find out if its really that hard for them. They play things like WoW on a mythic raider level or Monster Hunter on G rank endgame, which arguably is as hard, if not harder than Dark Souls. Yet they don't try DS because "thats the hard game, the others aren't."

[@JordanGrant92]

Completely agree - Dark Souls’ legacy has put off countless people. And then people pick it up to play and spend literally hours banging their heads against the Catacombs because “this is the hard game”, when the entire long of the skeletons is so you run away and come back later. But people assume they’re supposed to just power through.

[@Reveries0129]

YES FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT. I've always told anyone that would listen to me that, I HATE that Souls games being difficult is the most well known thing about them. No one (outside of the souls community) talks about how good the combat are, how good the lores are, how good EVERYTHING ARE. While them being difficult is probably what made them so popular to begin with, it has also stopped a lot of players that could definitely play these games but just refuse to because "man i dont wanna grind these bosses for hours on hours end' but in actuality they probably could just kill the bosses under 5 tries. I even tricked 2 of my friends who has sworn to not play souls games because they heard that they're "sO uNfAiRlY hArD" into playing Bloodborne and Sekiro and guess what? BOTH of them finished the games with relative ease and have not complained that the games are that hard at all, one of them even beat Bloodborne in a week, buy the DLC and replay the game AGAIN in 2 days. I myself experienced the same thing really, went into playing Bloodborne thinking that I'm gonna have a really bad time because the game's gonna be unfairly hard, but I kept playing anyways because I saw the Dancer of the Borreal Valley (I KNOW ITS A DIFFERENT GAME) somewhere and it gave me the creep factor that I crave and it made me notice that I have not fought any proper bosses in a video game in awhile. And guess what? Bloodborne became my favorite game of all time, made me went back and play every single Souls games in existence and got me to start reading Lovecraft. It literally, changed my life. Are they harder than average games? Yea definitely. Are they unfairly hard? Definitely not. Everyone can play these games if they care enough to "ACTUALLY PLAY" these games. On the other hand, there's no arguing that games (Fromsoft games in particular) NEED better Accessibility Option, ones that help people with colour/partial blindness to see better or ones that help people that have hearing issues to hear better for example. Hate TLOU2 for all you want but that game is a GOLDEN example of how to do Accessibilities right. And no, adding an easy mode is not a part of the accessibility option. TLDR: Does FromSoft need to do better with their Accessibility Options? YES. Does FromSoft need to start adding difficulty options into their games if they don't want to? NO.

[@blackjacka.5097]

Don't even compare MH to the unfair cheesefest that is DS.

[@SquidBow]

​@@blackjacka.5097?

[@Johnny_Isometric]

Great video SuperRAD, but I feel like you are misrepresenting the “pasta sauce” argument. The argument was an observation of market niches, and you cannot fill a market niche with a generalized product. Chunky and smooth tomato sauce cannot exist in the same jar.

[@SuperRADLemon]

But video games aren't pasta sauce and the "jar" in this analogy does allow these types of inclusions.

[@Johnny_Isometric]

Perhaps, but it is also possible that the time and effort spent making the easy mode would dilute the content overall. But, as you state in video, we don’t know. Love your content by the way!

[@SuperRADLemon]

Thank you, and I agree. I don't think adding in these options is going to necessarily ruin anything, but dev time is a resource and sometimes you have to make decisions on what can actually get in.

[@Excalibur5k]

actually games are like sauce becasue i keep getting lost in them

[@Izzakrandomness]

@@SuperRADLemon But they are. People didn't know they wanted chunkier sauce until it was available. People didn't know they wanted a game like Dark Souls until they got it. Saying the argument is a fallacy is incorrect, because in the context of which he was using it it wasn't. I personally like that DS games don't offer a difficulty adjustment option and that's one reason why I play them. It creates even ground for all players. People who don't like that have other options to better suit their taste. Just like some people like chunky sauce, and and some people like non chunky sauce.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Thanks for watching, please consider liking, commenting and subscribing. This video addresses the concept of difficulty options being something that could be implemented within pretty much any setting. What it is NOT doing is asking for new difficulty options in Dark Souls. As many of pointed out (and as I have pointed out in the video) Dark Souls already has modular difficulty. Before you write that comment, remember that I probably addressed it already in the video.

[@BearUmbra]

Ok but did you really explain why kids love cinnamon toast crunch?

[@hugocardoso1488]

gonna post a comment anyway to help with the algo

[@BrokeNSings]

I disagree. I repeatedly caught myself feeling like a fool for making things harder for myself on games when they didnt need to be. Even in monster hunter, i feel like a fool for struggling and learning hard monsters with a melee weapon when i can just grab a gun and shoot at it faster and safely. Games that have no difficulty setting, and well balanced games, liberate me from this feeling. It is only by balance that player expression can exist. And it is only practical to have a balanced game when you have 1 game to balance, and not 3.

[@FayN_]

well you can't please everyone and every product have it's own target audience so if u not enjoy this type of game, then it's not for you right? why you forcing them to fit ur preference? do you have no respect with people who like it that way? simply play the game that suit you . for example lamborigini wont made cheaper car for low class people cuz it will ruin their principle and phylosophy apple product, suprime, luis vuiton, nike and the list go on they target high class rich people as their audience. and so every product they made must be in quality & designed to fit rich people preference in fromsoft cases, they dont want have difficulty option cuz they want their playerbase have the same level disscussion about game, it also their phylosophy while designing the game with the tone of the game revolve around desparation and fear so they want their game feel that way not only from design, but in difficulty as well. they want the player to feel that way, fear, despair & sense of hopeless. so they won't add difficulty option since people just can chooce easy mode n brute force then their vision wont reach this kind of gamer. . soooo yeah, its better to please people who genuinly like ur game rather than try pleasing mass majority of people. its working so far soo yeah

[@BrokeNSings]

@@FayN_ Precisely. What i'm complaining about is when they don't target. When they shoot all over the place so that everyone can play their videogame.

[@FayN_]

@@BrokeNSings well if u dont have spesific target audience then you got something like fornite, Call of duty (nowdays) assassin creed which trying real hard to reach larger audience costing their game direction in a bad way.

[@duskyer]

Have an easy mode, but change nothing. Have people beat it at the same difficulty as hard without realizing.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Lmao I'm all for this

[@akulette]

This reminds me of Enter the Gungeon, where you can go into the menu and enable "Beast Mode." It does nothing, and I think more games should implement the same idea

[@kurosan0079]

The placebo effect. Nice.

[@Syrupstorm]

The more important question I think. Out of the millions of games in existence why do you absolutely need this one to cater to your needs? Why are so many people upset over what you admittedly call an exception. There is so much else out there. Let it be what it is.

[@mohammedshubayli8595]

Dark souls 1 was the first souls I game I played. I was 11 years old when I first played it and finished it. sure I did watch playthroughs, guides, and tips for the game but I was able to beat it with dedication and not giving up. That first playthrough of mine was an unforgettable experience which led me to fall in love with Fromsoftware and their games. The feeling of overcoming challenges is the best part for me. If Dark souls 1 had an easy mode that feeling of over overcoming challenges would have been lost and I wouldn't be able to remember as an amazing experience. I would just think of it as just another game I played. Dark Souls SHOULD NEVER HAVE an easy modes. Other games could have an easy mode but that depend on the creator vision for the game and what he want the players to feel and understand for his game This is just my opinion. also, my English is bad I know ^_^

[@davidsaylors24]

I appreciate your experience and standpoint. But try to think about this. Difficulty is very subjective. I'm very bad at video games like souls. Even with practice. I just don't have the talent. What u make think is easy to u is probably much harder to me. I often play easy mode and still struggle through games. And when i beat them I DO feel the feeling of overcoming.

[@marcofromtropoje3169]

EY Ratatoskr reference! He’s great, I would love a podcast format covering this topic if this discussion continues

[@AstonishingRed]

I remember feeling legitimately cheated out of my money when the Old Hunters DLC for Bloodborne was released. Freaking Ludwig was locking me out the game. I was so pissed. Then I finally overcame the boss battle without any summons, just like I planned. And it felt exhilarating. I would never trade that for an “easy” setting. I hope Fromsoft never compromises their philosophy when it comes to the accessibility of their games.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Simply do not use the easy mode lmao

[@AstonishingRed]

@@SuperRADLemon If it’s an option, then the temptation will be there to use it. Like, I can just hop to the title screen and select easy mode for one particular boss I just cannot beat, and then I’ll just slide it back to normal after I beat the boss. It just cheapens the challenge. I bet if Fromsoft secretly recorded how many players did something like throughout their play through, that number would be considerably high. But when you remove that option altogether, we’ll now it’s up to the player to rise to the challenge by mastering the mechanics. It’s a pretty bold design choice.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Sounds weak willed to me. I would simply not use the option

[@AstonishingRed]

@@SuperRADLemon It sounds weak willed because it is weak willed. But that wouldn’t stop people from abusing it. Fromsoft keeps records off all kinds of play statistics. And if they let players toggle difficulty settings freely and decided to see just how many players were doing it, it would leave the dev team very confused. And in a way, players would actually be optimizing the fun right out of the experience like the other KZbinr said. Losing to a boss a dozen times is not fun of course, but when you finally overcome the boss, that’s part of the experience of those games. You play a ton on Monster Hunter, which also has no difficulty settings I think. Those games can be tough too.

[@dudenameddylan2791]

@@SuperRADLemon pretty tone deaf take on the subject coming from a dude who just spent 40 minutes arguing on behalf of all the weak willed individuals who can't bring themselves to complete the game in its current form.

[@Bolt6265]

It's a good video but at some points it feels like you get frustrated and try to push your opinions too hard which makes you come off antagonistic and a bit unlikeable, just a thought. Other than that, personally I feel there should be an incentive to play on the harder or intended difficulties. Otherwise people like me who don't usually like challenge will just go for the easiest option. But then at least it's still up to me to decide when enough is enough. (Which is usually after dying a few times) Neo TWEWY is a good recent example. Also interesting is forcing your own difficulty. This is why I love playing on PC, because I can almost always use third party tools to cheat the game into what I want. This usually feels more rewarding than simply playing on easy or whatever. I put the work into tuning what I want and get to stick it to the man. On the topic of dark souls I'd usually just cheat my level way higher since I hate level mechanics like that anyway, and the game is still plenty hard no matter your level, but it feels more fair that way. And the RNG in MonHan never sat right with me so while some may claim heresy I will usually just cheat in materials I need after fighting them a few times. The fashion hunter and collector aspects appeal to me more than grinding. Though of course it's still fun to fight monsters with the cool sets you create. Okay I'm done.

[@thomascannone3111]

I disagree with what you said about Miyazaki wanting to create an experience that everyone can overcome and therefore failing at that because there are some people who can't overcome his experience. He wanted to create an experience that put everyone on the same lavel by making the game the same level of difficulty and challenge for everyone, so in that respecct he succeeded in making everyone equal. I know he's sad that some people are afraid to get into dark souls because of it's notoriety but I don't think a difficulty option would be a good way to go about that. rather I think if they want to make the game more accessible they should do what monster hunter world did which is explain all of the mechanics at play and how they work and how to use them. I watched a few podcats from rurikhan recently where he argued that dark souls isn't actually difficult it's just that it seems difficult to people trying to pick it up because they don't know how everything works, the same way someone who isn't used to monster hunter might think it's too slow and cluncky. So I think a good way to make the games easier to get into without losing the challenge that makes them fun would be to teach them all of the options that are at their disposal in-game, like a dark souls version of the hunters notes or atreus' diary from god of war with little hints about what enemies are weak to or maybe just a map so that people don't wander into an area they aren't prepared for yet. (just to be clear the part I dasagreed with is specifically saying thay miyazaki failed to put everyone on the same level, I believe he succeeded with that goal and has now expanded his goal to now try and include the people who are scared by the talk of the series' difficulty. He has grown as a developer and now believes that he can provide that same experience without scaring people off, which I am all for.)

[@GoldenLeafsMovies]

But isn't experimenting part of the experience? Akin to older games like Zelda where you had to experiment and hear rumors/look online what to do?

[@thomascannone3111]

@@GoldenLeafsMovies I never said experimenting isn't part of the experience and just because a game gives you some optional tips for you to learn doesn't mean you have to read them. if you wanna figure it all out yourself that's fine too.

[@GoldenLeafsMovies]

@@thomascannone3111 Sure but gaining knowledge is how you get better and the game becomes easier, if the game explains it's mechanics at the beginning (which it partially does already) I think it would ruin the game progression.

[@thomascannone3111]

@@GoldenLeafsMovies It doesn't need to explain it all at the beginning it can explain this stuff as you progress through the game like once you defeat a certain type of enemy your "journal" could gain an entry about that type of enemy to give you a little bit of information about them to make fighting them easier in future. for example doom eternal has every demon's weaknesses in the codex about them but I never use it because I prefer to fight them how i'm comfortable fighting them. and if they do it like the hunter's notes in monster hunter then it's just a menu that you never even need to look at. also wouldn't looking stuff up online also ruin game progression because that has nothing to do with experimenting, it's basically just copying someone else's ideas. personally I think dark souls is fine as it is now I'm just trying to think of ways that would make the series easier to learn and get into for new players without making the game any easier and without needing to look to outside sources like guides for help.

[@GoldenLeafsMovies]

@@thomascannone3111 I get you and sort of agree but I think that's what item descriptions are for.

[@kelzanlienbre4642]

Dark Souls would have been a way less especial experience for me if there was a difficulty option, when i was going down in blighttown i wanted to quit, i got stuck on the bonfire on the bridge and couldn't get out, it took me days until i managed to get to quelaag and when i finally did and rang the bell it was a slap in the face because i had to walk all the way back and that felt unfair... when i got back to firelink shrine i got the sense of relief and safety as i have never felt it before in a video game and i can say firmly that i wouldn't have gotten that and if i had the choice to select an easy mode i would have done it and lost that experience so ds1 having no difficulty setting made the game subjectively better for me and clearly miyazaki wanted you to have that feeling because he didn't change that on the later games, and you can experience something similar in them especially in bloodborne, the sauce argument is a good one because it means not every sauce needs to be made for everyone, and not all games need to as well, if you can't beat this game im sorry but it is not made for you, if you don't like chunks this sauce is not made for you there are other options

[@SuperRADLemon]

That's one of the worst bonfires I. That game. Area is literal hell LMAO

[@kelzanlienbre4642]

you are descending into hell and coming back best zone in the game

[@Moro-Goro-300]

The only reason why I dont want an easy mode for dark souls is because I dont have the discipline to not use it when Im stuck at a boss for a few days again

[@SuperRADLemon]

Damn, I shoulda looked into that

[@TamsmitSam]

@@SuperRADLemon not to sound rude, but how did you miss that? It was pretty much the thesis of his entire first argument. "If given the option, most players will lower the difficulty in the face of adversity even though overcoming that adversity would have created a more fun and rewarding experience"

[@chikenmorris7170]

Well that seems pretty easy to overcome, just make the difficulty selection a one time selection at the beginning, if you’ve made a file in hard mode, that’s it, that file is hard mode and you can’t just change it to easy wherever you feel like it, so then if you’re stuck on a boss you either get through it or give up, so the experience is exactly the same as it would be without difficulty options but more people get to play the game because that easy option is available to them if they want

[@Elyakel]

You're not the only one , that"s why i don't want that kind of thing in a souls too

[@TamsmitSam]

@@chikenmorris7170 but then a one time difficulty option leads to people picking a difficulty not fit for them and dropping the game, regardless whether they picked easy or hard. Slogging through a game youve already dumped a lot of time into that's too easy can be really frustrating, ESPECIALLY if you had the option at the start to make it harder. Likewise getting stuck at a section that's incredibly tough for you and knowing it could've been easier is frustrating aswell. Much easier to just not have a difficulty slider to begin with, everyone knows what they're getting into before playing.

[@thechugg4372]

I'll never understand why Dark Souls is always picked as "game that needs a easy mode". Because it's supposed to be an RPG where your different stats and builds can completely affect the difficulty of the game, such as optimizing builds for a specific challenge. If you want an "easy mode" in dark souls just loop up the hundreds of easy builds or how to cheese bosses AI.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Yeah I talk about that

[@kotzer71]

A game being hard does not make it inaccessible. Anybody can overcome any challenge they just need to try

[@SuperRADLemon]

I agree with the first sentence and I disagree with the second

[@kotzer71]

@@SuperRADLemon may i ask why? Cause it seems like a defeatist mindset.

[@SuperRADLemon]

It's just not reasonable to say anyone can overcome anything. It's not possible within the population.

[@kotzer71]

@@SuperRADLemon i guess i fundmently disagree with you. Besides some disability that would make something actually impossible. I belevive anybody can do anything. And overcoming anything is a matter of one's own perseverance.

[@obsolescentmystic2527]

@@kotzer71 the thing I don't get is him saying this in regards to Souls games. Souls games are NOT REACTION GAMES. This is just fundamentally untrue on a literal scientific and statistical level.

[@Bartido]

I feel like this video misses the point. I don't think people like ratatoskr are against difficulty modulation in general. As is often pointed out dark souls in a roundabout way already has difficulty modes in the form of summons op magics etc.. This handling of difficulty is what many people prefer over a classic difficulty slider because it creates this universal experience among players because the ultimate threat of f. e. defeating a certain boss is still the same.(There is also a good section on this on jinx and tunas potcast) This is also why people bring up the apparently paradoxical point that dark souls isn't that hard in the first place. Also speaking of good faith. Belittling someone by implying their points are driven by an irrational attachment to their favorite thing is hardly indicative of any willingness to understand someone and is the same line of thinking you critiqued in ratatoskrs video when he made the point about "people don't know what they want".

[@SuperRADLemon]

I don't think ratatoskr is against modulation or anything. As I point out in the video I don't think DS needs difficulty options.

[@Bartido]

@@SuperRADLemon And yet the next thing you say is "I truly believe there doesn't exist a single game that shouldn't have a difficulty option". I imagine most people would read both "DS needs difficulty options" and "DS should have difficulty options" as the same thing. Although that is maybe were the confusion on my part comes from. Also just one more thing. People argue against an easy mode because it is to a certain part integral to how the game works (you mention this argument in your video I believe). Systems like summoning other players are dependent on dark souls approach to difficulty functioning as it does. It's not the case that the only way people would be affected by a straight up easy mode is "feeling bad" it alters the experience in more ways than just emotionally.

[@SuperRADLemon]

No there is a clear difference between needing something and whether or not it shouldn't be implemented. Dark Souls doesn't NEED a difficulty option, but that doesn't mean it SHOULDN'T have one. Hope that clarifies things

[@Bartido]

@@SuperRADLemon They are the same in the context of the discussion. Of course dark souls doesn't need an easy mode it strictly speaking doesn't need bosses either or even exist in the first place. When people say it doesn't need an easy mode they obviously mean it SHOULDN'T have one.

[@SuperRADLemon]

They are not the same lmao

[@HerrDoktorWeberMD]

Honestly Dark Souls gives the player tons of ways to mitigate difficulty without needing difficulty options. In DS3, at least, A sorcery build is a bit rough and demands a touch of grinding early on, but can easily become one of the strongest options in the game. I got sick of getting my butt kicked constantly when I was running melee and sorcery didn't feel right, so I went Pyromancy, and the only difficulty I've faced since that day is learning enemy attack patterns. That's it, that's all it is, once I can figure out what an enemy is gonna do, I don't need reflexes. I just position myself where I need to be and chuck a few fireballs and spam dodge rolls every time the boss so much as twitches and the encounter is over. Even Dark Souls 1 had plenty you could do with archery to eliminate enemies before they have any chance to do anything to you, and a handful of early game options that make much of the game a cake walk. Hell, you, yourself, in this very video, showcase gameplay wherein various tools and techniques and "cheese strats" can be used to make challenging battles far easier! Extra Credits, way back in the day, had a video about how Dark Souls allows the player to have complete freedom over their difficulty without the need for a difficulty setting (found here kzbin.info/www/bejne/g36VlXd8aadsl5Y ) and describes the ways that someone with a busy life and low skill can make their way through the game just with a handful of key choices. The difficulty slider in Dark Souls is baked into the formula. You just need to ask around about what an easy build for your playstyle would be, and players across several forums and communities will list off all kinds of options for you. ...And, y'know, just a side note, the game is beatable with a DDR dance pad, a guitar hero controller, and controllers made of pizza and bagels. I know that doesn't really mean much, but a game that you can win when every button is a Domino's slice and you have to take a bite to drink estus can't be that awful.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Hey man I specifically say that the game doesn't need difficulty options so I feel like there's a disconnect here haha

[@SuperRADLemon]

My entire thesis stems from the idea of it being possible to add them and that no game should be barred from the concept

[@HerrDoktorWeberMD]

@@SuperRADLemon You also fundamentally misunderstand Miyazaki's point. It's not that his target market is everyone, it's that he wants everyone to be on the same level of discussion. Search for a Gamespot interview titled "Here's why Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro don't have difficulty options" and you'll find what Ratatoskr quoted. He believes that different difficulties will fragment the community... if there's only one version of the game, with a plethora of tools to make it easier or harder on yourself, then you have one community all playing the same game and having discussions about exactly how they went about beating it, as well as sharing advice with one another. THAT is Miyazaki's intended experience, THAT is what he deliberately aims to create. My point is that it already has difficulty options baked into its mechanics, items, and spells- You even talk about this in your video! The game just doesn't actively teach the player that "hey, if you do this, this fight will be easier." Maybe it could do a better job of that, but there are heaps of ways that anyone can put Dark Souls on easy mode for themselves, the game just doesn't call it easy mode. Of course it's possible to add them because they already did. Like, I'm a building game enthusiast, I like slow-paced methodical things. I've done so much in this game that I'm sure others would see as a cheese strat or cheaping out or something but I managed to beat it in my own way by simply making use of the tools given to me and I've never felt the game was all that difficult since learning how to make it easier.

[@SuperRADLemon]

But I'm not asking for difficulty options in the game. I'm saying that if they DID add them, I don't think it would be as negative as is being theorized.

[@HerrDoktorWeberMD]

@@SuperRADLemon and... I'm saying the options are already there. We're going in circles, here.

[@mctankies]

Some games don't need an easy mode, and some games don't need a hard mode.

[@odbp1112]

I think that is also important how a difficulty mode is selected. While games can have their difficulty modes is not the same a game where you select the difficulty at the start and can never changed as a game where you can change the difficulty at any time with the only drawback being return to a checkpoint or restart the whole level (or the entire game, I am looking to you dmc3 if i can beat the level in normal I should have access to it on easy).

[@justsomejojo]

Personally, I like figuring out ways to make the game easier myself - be that finding my prefered class/weapon type, different approaches to enemies (this is a major thing in Sekiro and Elden Ring) or just the way I move through the world. The overall more threatening worlds of the Soulsborne games from Fromsoft specifically do add to that experience and actually create a reason to do said experimentation/engaging with the mechanics. The term "modular difficulty" actually perfectly describes it. I didn't know that term, so thank you for that! One thing I'm always left wondering with these kinds of videos is "how would these difficulty options look like?" I think that's the hardest part and why Fromsoft specifically hasn't tackled an actual difficulty selection yet. Some bosses have incredibly fast or hard to predict patterns. Some bosses come in pairs. Some areas are incredibly long but have enemies spaced out, others are short but require you to fight through tons of enemies. Some areas are just filled with poison. The difficulty in these games comes from so many different factors in different situations that I'm actually not sure how a difficulty selection would rebalance all of it without it taking a big extra chunk of time. A simple slider for damage wouldn't do it for sure since enemy damage is just one factor of why Soulsborne games are considered so difficult. Maybe I'm missing the point here by immediately starting to look at the how instead of the should/should not, but I can't help it.

[@ilikestamps2978]

Fun fact, sekiro does have a difficulty option. Two in fact. Hard mode, and even harder mode.

[@mechamobu777]

I believe there can be different games that are for different types of players and not every game needs to be for you

[@SuperRADLemon]

I address this because I agree in intended audiences but people misunderstand Miyazaki's intended audience

[@mechamobu777]

@@tracingswords3014 They can be, but they don't have to be. I believe it'ss very entitled to demand that every game is something you want it to be. I don't demand that my little pony baby game be made harder so that I can enjoy it, I simply play games that I enjoy.

[@mechamobu777]

@@SuperRADLemon yeah I know I was just throwing out my opinion

[@mechamobu777]

@@SuperRADLemon also this might be ignorant but I genuinely believe people exaggerate how hard dark souls is, and I think it already is something that most people can overcome using the systems in the game but most people that complain about it have never given it a genuine shot

[@mitch1gmr]

During the Elden Ring network test, the steam discussions for the whole souls series were absolute warzones with this sort of stuff. I love how creative the souls games' variation on difficulty options are, pretty much entirely revolving around getting actual help from ai or other players to make the game easier, and a million billion minor things that you can do individually or combined for a more challenging playthrough. It's a shame that people on both sides of the difficulty argument can be so aggressive and close-minded, especially with modern fromsoft games, so it's nice whenever people do have more civil back and forths when they have conflicting opinions about it. *After actually finishing the video (I'd already watched Ratotoskr's a while ago), using enemy placement as an adjustable difficulty option was something I thought could be really cool too, along with some other stuff like enemy aggression or movesets. As someone who's sort of on the fence about difficulty in these games in general, I knew that the shared experience argument needed to stretch the interpretation of Miyazaki's creative intent a bit but having specific quotes is pretty interesting - sorry for being impatient and unconcise, I just think this discussion is super interesting.

[@adsventuresome7511]

To me- Dark Souls is just as much about failure as it is about success. The opening of the game even explains this: Oscar's failure passes on the torch to you. You can pass on the torch if the going gets to rough. You can give up. The ending of the game even confirms that whatever your choice is- ultimately it doesn't matter. Someone will beat all the odds stacked against them. And that's just it- the odds against them. Dark Souls is a game about surviving or giving up. In my head cannon- EVERY hollow is a player that gave up. Their story, while it maybe unsatisfying to them, is apart of the narrative. Dark Souls is an omage to Berserk- a story that is litterally about the highs and lows of life and how things may not turn out well in the end. Heck even the author's passing before it was finished is a testement to that. Not everyone is able to play games to a degree. There's a demographic for everyone. I remember an experience I had with my mother trying to have her play Breath of the Wild. She got so frustrated trying to understand how a 3D camera works- and man all I wanted to do was take her to see the first stable. But she couldn't earn that, nor could she sink in the hours it would probably take her to get their. But that's just it. Not everything has to be about accessibility. You create the product that fills that void. Man I wish there was a game with the horse mechanics of BOTW or even better that was low stakes that my mom could love. So that being said- Why don't you find the version of Dark Souls for you. I'm sure it's out there. And in this day and age, that struggle is not worth the stress if you can't get past Artorias. If you had inifinite time sure- but to me playing Dark Souls is like trying to ride a unicycle. Not everyone can even develop the skill set to ride a bike. To me, DS is about learning how the game wants you to play it. The game is very rigid with it's UI and choices and wants you to take the time to grasp it's mechanics. And it does a really good job teaching them. But not everyone has the same sense of attention or time to learn that all. Not everyone can take up the subject of their dreams- even if they really want to. Sometimes it's okay to settle for Kingdom Hearts, or games that have that easier niche. Then again the person I'm playing DS with now couldn't even beat Xemnas on beginners. Now he's going toe to toe with Manus and doing amazing. Dark Souls wants you to learn. It wants you to figure it out, even if you need some extra help. I reccomend playing this game with an experienced friend if you're having trouble. Seriously, they can help you get there. A week ago he told me "I'm not you." Look where you are now man.

[@Snoozie]

I'm gonna say it this way. Dark souls, nor any fromsoft game REQUIRES a difficulty setting. It's how the games are made, pure and simple, what the people requesting dark souls to have difficulty settings are asking these games to not to be what they are. The product is not for them. Dark souls was not for me. I don't like dark souls, i find it to be a pretty broken game that is unfun most of the time and kind of bullshit. What WAS for me was Bloodborne and Dark souls 3. Some of my favourite games of all time. Not every game requires or needs additions, some games directly benefit from accessibility options, some won't. If we're talking making dark souls accessible to the physically disabled through control methods, I'm all for that. If we're talking making dark souls accessible because "it's too hard", i'm not for that. There is a blind man who plays Street Fighter at tournaments and fucking wins without seeing the screen. There's brolylegs who was the best chun li player in the world in SF4 while having to play the game with his goddamn mouth because he was born with a physical disabillity. These people overcame their adversity and did what most would deem impossible all the while being in one of the most demanding genres video games has to offer. Not everyone is brolylegs, but putting in the effort at least with accessible control options is what matters to me. Dark souls is not the product for me, and if you're complaining that it's too hard and inaccessible through gameplay, then it's not for you, play a different game. I'm able to realize when I like and don't like a game, and my opinions on the game to change it to be something I would like don't really matter if that's the appeal of the game. I wouldn't change dark souls one bit to be more of something I enjoy because there's clearly millions of people who like it just as it is flaws and all. It's an entitlement I simply don't understand. I didn't like dark souls despite beating it 2 goddamn times, and I simply move on because there are games I do like that are accessible and also what I enjoy. If I like the product without difficulty options or certain accessibility options, it's how I like it. If I don't, well I don't like it. That's kind of it.

[@Scarlight_JB]

This is precisely how I feel as well. I think the argument of “It’s just not a game for you” is valid. I played Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne and love them. Then I went back to try Dark Souls 1 because I wanted more of the lore and world building expecting the same type of gameplay and enjoyment. Obviously that didn’t happen. It’s an older, slower game, and the level design was from a point earlier in time compared to more recent entries. I feel similarly to games in the Monster Hunter franchise as well

[@CleopatraKing]

i always get confused by these comments. can you tell me your reasoning why you dont want ppl who just dont have the reflexes, time to practice, or whatever, from playing a game that they can enjoy?

[@Snoozie]

@@CleopatraKing If you don't have the reflexes to enjoy dark souls, you don't enjoy dark souls. If the devs don't want to put those accessibility options in to slow the game down because players have bad reflexes, that's on the devs. If another game like dark souls comes along with those options, they can play that. But as it stands, if you can't play the game, or use cheat engine to make it easier for you which you very much can when playing offline single player, you can play something else. That's just it. If your reflexes are bad, play forza, they'll be happy to accommodate you.

[@SuperRADLemon]

I talk about this in the video.

[@Snoozie]

@@SuperRADLemon Yup, and i disagree and agree on some points, but that's my stance on it. Like the "should they really put in the time to learn" argument Everyone puts time in to learn a game, that's part of playing game. That's just one example though.

[@SimonDaleyt]

To me this discussion is incredibly stupid. Should Games in general have Options? Yes. If a game is meant as a Challenge to overcome, should it have options to make it easier? No. If someone does not like a hard game, then they should simply not buy that game? If I don't like a certain Genre, then im not buying Games of that Genre and then want those games to be something different.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Ah luckily I cover all of this in the video

[@SimonDaleyt]

@@SuperRADLemon yeah i know, just had to put it into my own words. Especially since this discussion is pissing me off now for multiple years

[@keybladeMasterNadroj]

Have you watched the GDC speech "dark souls is the Ikea of games"? I think you should as it exists counter to some of your points

[@SuperRADLemon]

I watched the segment in the vid I linked

[@kelzanlienbre4642]

you assumed miyazaki's intention just like you criticized ratatoskr for doing it

[@SuperRADLemon]

I reasoned out his intentions with the evidence provided. There's nothing wrong with that, I just don't agree with the mass assumption of his intentions that get parroted on twitter.

[@EDK-San51912]

But you assumed his attention and even ignored some things in Miyazaki statment while criticizing ratatoskr for doing the same, you’re no better

[@EDK-San51912]

Also what’s not to say ratatoskr did the same reasoning out you did but just came to a different conclusion similar to everyone else’s unlike your interpretation

[@angrymoths]

This is a discussion I would like to have about experiences: I'd hope we can agree that games that do this- having the difficulty option be on the player's purview to discover- creates a wholly new experience that wouldn't be had if the game did have a slider or option instead. It all comes down to the quality of a design, and it's ultimate intent. I'm not sure SuperRad would agree with this based on his vid. I just believe there's inherent value in an experience, and changing how that experience can happen wholesale changes what it is that people experienced and how they ultimately handled it. I hope to explain and discuss this: Having something to overcome forces us to push harder than we might otherwise. I've seen some people talk in these comments about their story of overcoming a thing they never dreamed they could, even issues like spatial awareness they have in real life, bc the game expected more from them, and they adapted. And that kind of experience is something that just can't be ignored, it can't be hand-waived away as something that would be better not existing if it meant alienating certain people... why? Because even if it alienates certain people, it created something unique, potentially unique and good. It is art. You can claim the experience isn't demonstrably effected by having options, and that it is more important that people be able to enjoy something than it is for a game to have a vision that excludes people unable to figure out it's challenges (and certain people wanting that to not change), but doing so argues that games aren't allowed or should be dissuaded from having the freedom to create experiences that are tailored with intent- perhaps excluding people who can't do what is required. I'm 100% for having difficulty options in games, and I personally use them at my discretion in certain games and have no issue (though I try to keep it as close to what I think is developer intent nowadays personally). I think games should offer robust options if befitting the experience a designer wishes to impart: everything is a potential tool for a designer, and all should be considered... but that is for them to decide. "I truly believe there doesn't exist a single game that shouldn't have a difficulty option" - Does this imply that any game that doesn't have a difficulty option would be better off having a difficulty option? If it wasn't better off for having it, then what would be the point of having it? So I assume that SuperRad believes this. Is the purpose of the difficulty option, then: to allow more people to experience what they couldn't otherwise, without overcoming the experience as it was designed (without that option) in mind? Well, I hate to break it to you, but the exclusivity of completing that experience does augment the nature of it. It represents the skills needed and your ability to apply them. Those people experiencing what they couldn't before thanks to new difficulty options aren't being asked the same as those who didn't. I just can't agree that EVERY game would benefit from having these options. Every decision on a developer's part changes something about the experience, and it can be felt by players. Dark Souls/Elden Ring would not strictly benefit, from having a blatant difficulty mode. It most certainly would lose some part of its essence if that were so. Miyzaki and his team has a lot more fun playing around with those options through gameplay and multiplayer- clearly, lol. I imagine part of the fun for them is balancing everything out to be fair in a cohesive experience that everyone understands one way or another through the options they carefully leave for the player (creating fun for the player in finding those options). The game does have soft difficulty options obv., but that should always be on the designers' table for deciding, and there DO exist EXPERIENCES that a game couldn't provide while having difficulty options. I mean, there already exists a difficulty option for almost every game imaginable called a Wiki page or a forum- but using those changes how the player experiences the game. There are people who avoid all spoilers just to enjoy everything totally blind, bc just seeing ONE thing changes the experience. How is this not true for difficulty options? In short, I hope to have expressed that, "I truly believe there doesn't exist a single game that shouldn't have a difficulty option", is a statement that can only come from someone who doesn't care about games as unique experiences; that said person would be willing to change these experiences and thinks it is a 100% net-positive in 100% of cases if it allows someone to play a game they couldn't otherwise. The obvious pitfall being that the experience had to change in some form to accommodate those people. Changing the game and changing the nature of the art in whatever degrees decided. I wonder if SuperRad would really agree with this? I wonder what YOU reading this (for fucks sake good on you I doubt anyone will read this comment) has to say about it. So let's have a discussion. Mind you, I've watched both vids in full, and there is this awful culture of "Dark Souls is hard git gud" that really doesn't represent the games. SR already mentions it a bit, much of it is to blame for Dark Souls being seen as this SUPER hard game etc... which kinda isn't the point. Let's talk about the nature of experiences. Little Bonus: A design philosophy pioneered (or at least brought to the forefront) By Fromsoftware - shared connection and experiences through multiplayer bridges... didn't Kojima try to make a game referencing that concept too? He was late to the punch. I mentioned it briefly earlier, but a core component of how Souls games handle difficulty is in how Miyazaki and the team balance encounters, traps, discovery, and everything with multiplayer messages and player interaction. This creates a community experience like no other, and a unique experience in and of itself. Just one of the many tools employed and in many ways throughout the games. It is used to augment difficulty in many unseen ways, but also to create something more out of it... by leaving things to learn by other's mistakes, or to guide others proactively with messages... much to think about.

[@Solibrae]

Even if someone wasn't able to beat a game due to difficulty, they could still enjoy the experience up to the point where things became too difficult for them.

[@painfuldiscourse5231]

You did no understand the pasta sos analogy. Prego made a "curated" sos for the group of people that was not serviced instead of making a sos for everyone. Different games for different consumers. Dark souls is the "chunky" sos!

[@SuperRADLemon]

I understood it, didn't agree with it and reformatted it into an analogy that made more sense within a game development environment imo

[@AB-yd2cg]

@@SuperRADLemon Nah, you missed the point, or if you did understand it, then you intentionally misrepresented it.

[@stevehkng6560]

One of the roots of the argument is the sad reality that a lot of games with difficulty settings don’t do it properly (hp is overbloated in high difficulty/game is trivial in easy). A lot of people imply from prior experience that difficulty settings can’t be done properly, when it actually can. A lot of games have implemented difficulty settings creatively and effectively in the past. It’s just a matter of continually adapting how to make games more accessible for a wider audience via more organic or innovative difficulty options over just opting to raise stat parameters in higher difficulties, and making the former the standard practice in the industry.

[@angrymoths]

Why is difficulty always roped in with accessibility? I mean, I know why, but there are two definitions here: Accessibility options implemented to make those hard of hearing, sight, or motor-function able to enjoy that which they otherwise couldn't. And the nu-definition of "Accessibility" being a component of difficulty or vice-versa. Games can be Accessible but challenging. A game is more accessible by the "nu' definition if it isn't as challenging (and less experienced or determined people play and don't get fatigued), but this does change the experience undeniably in favor of those who don't have it in them to rise to the challenge and at the loss of the design and experiences that comes with challenges.

[@kazoomer4373]

I think ninja gaiden black is the only game I've played where the difficulty is done right. It's very organic. You start on normal, but the game becomes even easier if you die 3 times on the first chapter and make a specific selection on the "continue?" Screen. Every difficulty above normal changes the game by a lot. You get to see new unique enemies, unlock more items, weapons are in different places, and adds even more boss fights as well.

[@ShadowScorp99]

I've discussed this with a friend over this past year after said friend has gone through most of the Souls games for the first time this year and the conclusion I've come to for now is that while the game (Dark Souls and it's Sequels) should not have a difficulty option (at least how they're currently laid out in games by making the AI dumber on easier difficulties or inflating health and damage values to ludicrous degrees at higher levels), I do think that the games can benefit from some sort of in game mechanics that alleviate some of the difficulty. One thing that comes up in our discussions quite a bit is the fact that the ability in of itself can drastically alter the difficulty of the games. Earlier in the year we played through Dark Souls 3 and got stuck on a couple of the harder bosses before being able to beat them. After that playthrough, we got another friend to play the game (and series) for the first time to co-op the game with 3 people. We were taken aback at how much easier of a time we had with some of these harder bosses, despite the fact that it was the 3rd player's first time playing. Similar to Monster Hunter, while multiple Hunters/Players can make an encounter more difficult due to the increased health pool upon doing so in monster hunter games (excluding the fact that older Monster Hunter titles usually didn't scale health directly to the number of Hunters and instead gave a flat increase to monster health for simply picking a gathering hall quest), having more players helps to ease the difficulty of encounters by splitting the aggro of the boss. This is also seen in Dark Souls with ingame npc summons such as Solaire, Lucatiel, or Benhart, as well as the new Summoning Monster mechanic seen in the upcoming Elden Ring. Monster Hunter does however have varying difficulties to some degree in the form of Quest Ranks (Low, High, and G/Master) but I think that it's fine in that game since you have to start at Low and work your way up the ranks. Also, it's not as lazy as just inflating damage numbers and health stats since in Monster Hunter the monsters can get new moves when progressing in the higher ranks changing the fight to a degree. The other "Difficulty option" I'm more keen to see in these games is a better way of conveying knowledge to the player. I believe that a big part of a Dark Souls difficulty is the lack of knowledge or understanding of the game. It's why I believe that the game's are at it's hardest the less you've played them. If it's your first Souls game, it's the hardest because you don't understand how the series works along with the fact that you don't know all the tricks and traps it has in store for you. After that first game, not only should you have the mechanics down, you should know what tricks it has in store for you, ideally, no more surprises (ignoring any secret content that was missed). Any other game in the series you play after that will be way less difficult because you'll know most of the core mechanics that carry over between titles and you know what kind of tricks the game might pull on you, it's just that you don't know WHAT tricks the game is going to pull. It's like how a hunt gets easier in Monster Hunter the more time's you've done it, since you know what type of moves it'll use on you, when you should dodge it, and when you can counter it. Of course, knowing how to fight a Furious Rajang doesn't remove all challenges from the fight, in fact it's still a really hard fight. The same thing can be said for several fights in the Souls Series. However, sharing to the player ways to make fights easier can alleviate a bit of the technical aspects of some of those harder fights. The game does a bad job at times explaining to you even "Basic" game mechanics that can drastically improve the player's experience. This includes: Encumbrance and what that means for your rolls and I frames, Weapon requirements including how you always need the full dex requirement but not the strength requirement unless two handed, the usefulness of the various items or spells in the game, The usefulness of stats like Stability on a shield since it relates to how much stamina is lost when blocking, etc... What I would like to see is some sort of mechanic that allows the game to communicate important information about the game to the player. In some ways, this could include better tutorial features at the start of the game, but further into the game it could be an NPC that shares information with you for a small amount of souls. The written messages can be useful but I think there could be a bit more in game to help the player. Even a journal could be nice where the game notes down important advice that NPC's have shared with you. An example of this could be how when you talk to Ingward in Dark Souls 1, he says how the enemies of that area come from this place called the Abyss and how it's not a place for mortals. He then says how Artorias was able to deal with the Abyss awhile ago and how you should seek him in order to deal with it yourself. From there, the game could have had the journal note that down as a way to remind the player what they should do, it could even reiterate this when trying to fight Four Kings without seeking Artorias since the player is killed upon simply entering the Abyss. It can say how there's no way you could proceed with the fight as is without first seeking Artorias. TLDR: Co-op makes the game easier, the game should explain it's mechanics better.

[@MrJpc1234]

The thing is that having vague and less hand holding tutorials can incentivise two things....looking to the community outside the game and the other is experimentation/trial and error creating incentives to do these two things has been a pretty consistent design choice across alot of the games

[@Michael-qo1tk]

When taking this argument from the "games as a consumer product" I think there's one more really important factor that I don't see mentioned in this discussion very much at all: crunch/deadlines. It's important to recognize that well designed difficulty options take a ton of time, effort, and money. In an ideal games industry developers would be given the time, manpower, and budget to achieve everything they want to and make the game accessible to everyone but, this is rarely the case unfortunately. Overall I don't disagree with you that everyone being able to enjoy every game would be the ideal outcome and I think giving the player options, whether through gameplay or settings is a great way to get closer to that. I don't really take either side on this one tbh, on one hand I'm really terrible at video games and on the other hand I've played with really poorly designed difficulty options where I'm either getting fucked sideways with a chainsaw or waltzing through the game with no problem. So yeah idk what the solution is but congrats on another solid video!

[@SuperRADLemon]

Absolutely agree that we need to consider development time

[@knackandthoughts4150]

I always think that Dark Souls or Souls-like games in general are like Spicy Dishes, it's meant for people that like spicy stuff and it doesn't have to appeal to everyone. Spice is Difficulty. Sure, you can ask the chef to lower or to completely remove the spice but can you still call it the same dish? If the recipe intended it to be spicy then reducing or removing the spice means changing the dish itself. It would also be an insult to the chef/creator to ask to modify the core flavor of the dish, if it's not to your liking why not just get a different dish instead? Again the dish is aimed towards people that like spicy stuff, it doesn't have to appeal to everyone because everyone have different tastes. On the other hand once the dish is served you can go about adding a bit of stuff in it like condiments or herbs, sure it would taste a little differently but the spice is still there along with the chef's intended flavor. This is how I view in-game ways that can make the game easier like summoning etc. While eating the dish you can also drink something sweet in between bites to neutralize the spice. This is what you call cheese tactics lol.

[@KnightCrown]

Basically you'll never know unless it's implemented and even when it's implemented it probably won't change anyone's mind

[@dmmnjaws]

I don't know man... That's exactly Dark Souls' gimmick - to simply be - as is - and everyone is on the same level. Giving a difficulty slider to Dark Souls is stripping it of one of its gimmicks and the wonders of "how did he do that", because not everyone will be playing the same game anymore. It simply won't be as special. Out there, there are people with handicaps still completing the game with dedication. And there are also people out there limiting their options to create massive challenges. (Playing the game with a guitar hero guitar???? C'MON!) And then there are people out there demanding difficulty sliders... This discussion is on par with the console wars thing. Everyone is more or less locked behind their systems, and some people ARE NOT able to keep up with the marked, for one reason or another (including me). So is it unethical to make demanding games because other people won't be able to play them on their old systems? No. So is it unethical to make difficult games because other people won't be able to complete them? No. There's just too many games out there...

[@CallinWasTaken]

The easy mode is baked into the mechanics, just summon a player/phantom or farm for 30 minutes, on the other hand the games are missing a lot of accessibility options and that should be the focus of the conversation.

[@SuperRADLemon]

I talk about this in the video

[@CallinWasTaken]

@@SuperRADLemon sorry couldn't watch the whole thing, you are smart.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Facts

[@zombiefriend]

I love playing video games but that doesn't mean I'm very good at them. I also have a job and a life, so I always play on easy mode. But I also don't think Dark Souls should have difficulty options in the menu. I've beaten every Dark Souls game playing coop and that IS the easy mode, and for some reason, that rarely ever gets mentioned every time these arguments come up. The game literally becomes a cake walk when you have two or even one other person helping you out.

[@Melficzeero]

I think it's unfair to say that dark souls isn't meeting its intended design of being a challenge anyone can overcome because some people *don't* overcome it, because that's not a matter of whether or not they can, they just don't. I genuinely don't think anyone who isn't physically incapable of playing the game due to a disability is incapable of overcoming those challenges at their current and intended difficulty level if they're dedicated to doing so.

[@SuperRADLemon]

It's def fair to disagree with that, but I explain why when I talk about the idea of reasonable time as a resource.

[@Melficzeero]

@@SuperRADLemon yeah, I can see that partly but it's impossible to know what a "reasonable" amount of time is for different people. If someone never gets past their first wall because they quit, you never know if the skills they gained to get past said wall would carry them through the rest of the game. For me, in dark souls 2 as my first game in the series, most bosses gave me a ton of trouble, often a few hours of attempts, until I got walled by smelter, and after that I didn't have nearly as much trouble with anything else until the DLC, and I certainly wouldn't say smelter is a uniquely difficult boss now. That's why I think it's specifically not fair to say that, because some people don't overcome the challenge, it failed to be something that everyone can overcome. Any game will be difficult to different people due to various factors not directly related to the game, if someone has a lot of trouble because they don't want to or can't afford to put in the time to improve I don't think it's fair to put the blame on the games design. It's a game that anyone *can* beat, as Miyazaki intended, regardless of whether or not everyone *does* beat it, imo

[@CleopatraKing]

@@Melficzeero some disabled peeps have a busy life and just cant commit to a game like that. i think its good to let others into the series, i think you think the same thing. difficulty options would be a great way of letting them into it without making them spend money and time figuring out how.

[@Melficzeero]

@@CleopatraKing plenty of disabled people wouldn't reasonably be able to play whether there was an easy mode or not. Accessibility for action games is not exclusively about difficulty, unless you want every game to have Nier Automatas lowest difficulty auto-combat features. I don't think the answer to that is "introduce easy modes to all games" as much as it is increasing access to alternative controllers designed for people with a wide variety of disabilities. Stuff like the BOXX controller made for Smash, designed specifically to help prevent/allow people to play with hand problems created by playing the game for extended periods of time are fixing some of those problems, and ideally more good controllers will do the same for other disabilities in the future

[@CleopatraKing]

@@Melficzeero i agree, there should be a focus on making alternate controllers cheap and easy to find. on the other hand i think that the game devs should also make at least a couple steps to make games more inclusive. a simple mod like the one that one guy made for sekiro to make it run at a fraction speed, being a in built feature i think would be a good thing.

[@jortsmajeure]

On almost every point of disagreement you have with ratatoskr, I think ratatoskr is correct, but appreciate your engagement and relative civility. I'm not sure you understand the point of the Prego story. Dark Souls in his analogy is not the Prego pasta sauce line, but one sauce tailored to a specific market (e.g. chunky). In this analogy people asking for easy mode are like people asking for chunky Prego to be less chunky. The mistake here is in thinking of Dark Souls as being designed to offer a broad range of experiences to a broad range of people. I would much rather have a bunch of stubborn, idiosyncratic, unique game creators putting a lot of different visions out there, than see it as a net good for games to trend toward homogenization via consumer demand and/or industry "best practices." Your "many versions of Dark Souls" exist and they're called Jedi Fallen Order, Darksiders 3, etc. They're good! But I don't want the next Dark Souls to take design cues from Jedi Fallen Order. When ratatoskr talks about people optimizing the fun out of an experience, he's right, full stop. You try to counter by pointing out that *some* people gravitate toward extreme difficulty or inefficient methods of play. But those gamers are atypical, and there's a separate, very real segment of gamers who enjoy challenge but will indeed optimize the fun out of an experience. Maybe this latter category is also atypical? I don't know, but I do know I'm in that category and it's something I struggle with in a lot of games. Do people like me not deserve having rare games (like Dark Souls or Sekiro) which dont give us the temptation to ruin our own experience? When I hit a wall in a game that lets me go around the wall (e.g. by dropping the difficulty) I'm often tempted to do so. But when I can't go around the wall, I keep throwing myself at it, usually persevere, and then love that I did so. Does this mean I don't have the willpower of a challenge run sort of gamer? Yeah, it does. Don't people like me deserve to have at least like one game every two years that caters to that? It feels like the implied solution you're offering people like me is to just to never suffer from human weaknesses like temptation. Not super practical. Likewise, when you're talking about developer intent, I think you miss the mark. The point of comparing e.g. a shooter to a strategy game is to make the point obvious by using very different games, but there's nothing magic about the line between genres. Even games as similar as Halo and Titanfall, or Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry, will have their own priorities and intended experiences. A game can't be a good Ninja Gaiden if it's a good Devil May Cry (even setting aside the IP); small differences matter. About halfway through your video you say that the only person preventing the player from picking the right difficulty options for them is themself. And you're right. But again, some players struggle with those temptations and are better served by games that lack them, just like diabetics are better served by not keeping sweets in the house or recovering alcoholics may want to avoid venues where people are drinking. Your "bad faith" segment, I don't even know where to begin. The issue is not that difficulty options make people "upset." The issue is that it concretely changes their experience of playing the game for the worse. And for that matter, isn't that exactly what the difficulty options crowd is asking for for themselves? After all, the player who can't beat Fume Knight or Sword Saint is still playing the game. They're not being gatekept. They're just "upset" that they're not quite getting the experience they would prefer (i.e. exploring subsequent areas or rolling credits rather than retrying existing bosses). Doesn't that sound dismissive? Yet the consumerist "I should be able to roll credits on a game I paid $60 for" is a framing of what a game is, what its purpose is, that not everybody shares and not every game should be beholden to. Bottom line, all you need to know is that some players prefer games without difficulty options, modular or otherwise. If you can't understand why, that's unfortunate but it doesn't make those preferences disappear. Those players exist and deserve at least some games that cater to them, right? Not every game can be for every person, but at least one notable game every two years can be for this type of player, right? At the end of your video you ask what the solution to the "difficulty in games" problem is. It's for some games to be Dark Souls and for many other games to not be Dark Souls, that's it. Let a thousand gardens bloom, all different and all beautiful in their own way.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Appreciate the feedback. Did you get recommended this video? Seeing a lot more comments suddenly

[@jortsmajeure]

@@SuperRADLemon I'm subbed to ratatoskr and he referenced it in a post; he's working on a response to your response. I wasn't previously familiar with your channel, but I figured it was only fair I watched yours before that rather than letting his response frame yours for me.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Thanks!

[@myfly4711]

@@SuperRADLemon FYI, Ratatoskr mentioned in his stream that he asked you, if you were interested in a live discussion with him. I follow both of your channels, so that is something I and probably many others would love to see. I'd be sad if the discorse ended here and I believe a live conversation would be less prone for misunderstandings. This comment isn't meant to pressure you into anything you don't want to do. Just wanted to let you know there's interest! :D

[@ZeliousSigma]

I've beaten every dark souls 1 and 3 game a couple times. Beat dark souls 2 once, but just started playng it again because its been a long time I've never beaten Skyrim. The fact that you can just change difficulty at will makes me feel like I'm wasting my time if I play it on anything other than easy which makes it too easy to the point its boring, thus I lose interest and do something else instead.

[@setokaiba695]

there are so many ways to make the souls games easy. -magic -co-op -OP weapons you can get early miyazaki even said that they dont want an easy mode because they want all players to have similar experience in the game. just like monster hunter, it doesn't have a difficulty option but you have the ability to change playstyle if you're having difficulty. ie. if you're having difficulty fighting barroth with DB you can change to LS and make the fight easy or play co-op and have fun that way. games really dont need a difficulty option. some games that make difficulty options just give enemies lower HP vice versa, are just lazy compared to difficulty by enemy movesets and gimics that require more effort and polish. souls games are fine the way it is. same with MH series. also that pinned comment is so smug and full of ego, kinda hypocritical when you talk about players ego in the video.

[@odbp1112]

Just started playing dark souls yesterday. I haven't seen the video but i fully expect a little bit of magic and farming souls

[@Lumpyboyy]

Just wanna say that I appreciate the level of empathy and attempts at understanding the other side that you display in these videos while still standing by your disagreement with them. It's an important aspect of proper discussion that usually gets discarded in favor of vitriol between opposing sides - especially online - which just leads to more bickering. Your use of it in this video (specifically 39:10 in addition to your previous points) definitely had, at the very least, myself reflecting on why exactly I was against difficulty options and ultimately swayed me into rethinking my stance on it. so uh yea cool vid as usual man keep it up

[@insanelyheinousbeefer]

Complex movies with difficult themes would benefit from implementing "Dumb-dumb" cuts, where a narrator spoon-feeds you the point so you don't have to bother thinking about it yourself.

[@landoncube769]

Just like monster hunter it's all about learning and practice. Except I honestly think monster hunter is more confusing with having to remember crafting locations and such

[@tannersandusky2621]

You really missed the point about why those of us who oppose difficulty sliders in dark souls think the way we do, 39:30 around here maybe there’s a few ppl that actually think this small but the vast majority of us want other ppl to come to the game and enjoy it. We aren’t out here trying to gate keep and I hate that every time this discussion comes out we are vilified as such. About the capitalism side of things this is a product catering to a demographic, those of us who want no slider are the main portion of the demographic they are appealing to. Adding a slider isn’t gonna help them sell the games either considering dark souls 3 has sold over 10 million units. And looking at it from a more heartless point of view, the portion of players that want a difficulty slider is far less than those that don’t and by that stat alone disregarding all pros and cons it should never get one and I truly don’t think any of their games ever will, majority rule and Miyazaki has always stated that the difficulty is something he never wants to change except through tools for the player (magic, weapons, gear n such)

[@Tamipriest]

Dunno why the discussion is so focused on FromSoftware games, there many hard games out there that dont get talked about as much

[@SuperRADLemon]

It's a cultural revolution of a game. It's so popular that it's hard not to focus on it.

[@Tamipriest]

@@SuperRADLemon when i understand this correctly, the games went from niche to mainstream and thats why its focused on

[@SuperRADLemon]

Yeah it's a huge factor in the discussion because of its strong presence

[@IgorSoares-jv2hs]

For me the most important GDC presentation, when it comes to DS and difficulty, is the “dark souls is the IKEA of games”. It’s from a person that really knows about marketing, and sales potential, and they give a lot of reasons to why Dark Souls was able to be a huge success by appealing to a certain audience, and that trying to appeal to everyone can be a huge problem in certain games.

[@Lord-of-something]

See im not saying dark souls has an easy mode but it honestly does. Summon two of your friends or randoms (doesnt matter tbh) and the boss AI does a backflip, breaks its neck and has a breakdown on who it should be attacking. And no im not saying summoning is bad by no means. Playing with friends and helping people through areas and bosses theyve been stuck at is one of the best things ever. I wish more people would be able to enjoy the series but just because you bought it doesnt mean youll like it right?

[@Rockaxldude]

I disagree with almost all the counterpoints presented but respect them nonetheless. Solid presentation and open minded, well said.

[@crocodileman94]

This discussion is funny when you consider that DS2 did have a hard mode. I guess difficulty options are only considered a problem if it's about making a game easier.

[@flusteredfloof42]

The Company of Champions is interesting because not only is it a hard mode, but playing with it on for a while unlocks easy mode (Vanquisher's Seal), but I doubt players already struggling with games as hard as Dark Souls 2 would decided to make the game harder for half of their playthrough just to make the game a joke for the other half.

[@DogcrotchHell]

And Dark souls 2 ranks where in the list of souls games?

[@flamingmanure]

you mean that mode that made just the enemies harder, didnt affect bosses, and gave even rare drop rates a massive boost? that mode? its almost like dark souls always balanced itself out and doesnt need any mode lol. maybe you ppl should get over yourselves and realize fromsoft dont want difficulty options. i think they made that pretty freakin clear with every game they made. children telling an artist how to paint should be dismissed.

[@mattiaberti9160]

@@flamingmanure To be fair if it's harder, easier or whatever is irrilevant. The important thing in the discussion is that it offers the possibility to experience the game in a different way. That's the core of the discussion... should Dark Soul have options for difficulty modes? (weather it be easier, harder or something else) Would it ruin something or would it just be a harmless option all up to the individual players?

[@angrymoths]

@@mattiaberti9160 I think the core of this too is how minute these options are in affecting the core experience compared to anything else. They don't really make the game that much harder (or at least I felt that way with sekiro's bell demon as it barely changed anything) so feel the overall experience wasn't hurt- but then again it still does change the experience somewhat, so it's interesting to discuss.

[@BavidBarcia]

Probably your best video because there's no hunting horn

[@SuperRADLemon]

fact

[@Pickle_eye_jho]

Darks souls games being easy makes no sense from a lore prospective and from specific game design. In every game you’re a nobody out of countless people worse or better off than you set to achieve a seemingly impossible task. Every game literally has some sad moper in the main hub who sees the situation he’s in and just gives up. In ds and ds1 both of these characters meet there end because you destroy their expectations of you becoming just like them or worse. In ds he becomes just another generic soul item for you to consume and in ds1 he goes to new londo to hollow out like the rest who reside down there. When every game in the souls series is about the struggle of what most people in game (and some irl) see as an impossible task having the option to make it easier destroys the entire story each game has if you can just breeze through it. Plus the “my easy is your hard” doesn’t work unless the developers had no intended difficulty for the game so any difficulty is “as intended.” By the devs. The biggest gameplay reason is invasions. If a host has their game on easy the invader is now in an even less advantageous position then they are already supposed to be in and vice versa if there was a very hard setting for the host. And it doesn’t help that the people pushing easy modes all the time are people who struggle with cup head tutorials that literal toddlers have less difficulty with so why would we ever take people like that seriously who say a game should or shouldn’t have anything.

[@lucamonticelli267]

What if an "easy" mode on dark souls just makes you able to summon spirits while undead and gives you a couple of extra npc summons near some bonfires? I don't think that wouldn't ruin the experience of anyone and also stay true to the lore.

[@kelzanlienbre4642]

game difficulty is a tool that not all game developers use but some do and both are fine, when you say the games he talked about have difficulty options and that conflicts with his view you are fighting a straw man, he never said you need to use difficulty as tool he said you can

[@SuperRADLemon]

Didn't I say Dark Souls doesn't need a difficulty option?

[@kelzanlienbre4642]

@@SuperRADLemon you said it didn't need one but it wouldn't be a problem to have one, i disagree it's a problem in my opinion

[@SuperRADLemon]

That's fair

[@XavierGrim]

I had heard years ago, and agreed with, the idea that Dark Souls would be made easier just with the inclusion of a map. Being able to know where you are and where you're going at a glance would benefit many players. And now Elden Ring is doing just that, neat.

[@VVabsa]

Sounds more like a QoL thing than actually an easier time with mobs and bosses.

[@juantsu2000]

Okay, but what about Dark Souls 2, 3, Sekiro and Bloodborne? Those games are linear. Getting lost isn’t really a problem there.

[@emv2917]

On the other hand, I struggled with directions and spatial awareness until playing the soulsborne games made me have to learn that skill by coping with getting lost in a 3D environment. I am very thankful that they didn't have a map or waypoints because the skills I had to develop to overcome that particular challenge actually are a huge help in real life and I wouldn't have otherwise tried to learn them.

[@cleo42]

I feel it would be great as an option for all the souls games except for the first, because part of the core gameplay is this kind of metroivania challenge where you need to explore carefully your surroundings and understand them in order to move around the world. That being said, a different implementation, like directions given by some npc if you're stuck a bit too long, could fill up this role just as well. I'm really happy that superRad brought this up at the end of the vidéo : most of this debate is generated because of a lack of information about how difficulty settings can be implemented with a variety of different ways to fit the core gameplay.

[@angrymoths]

You didn't need a map in the other games, as the game was designed to let you move certain ways and not in others- meaning the player can more easily get a sense of direction based on intuition. Elden Ring requires it, not bc the world isn't intuitive by sight alone, but due to freedom and brevity. It's kept minimal to provide what's required, but restrained to not undermine the sense of exploration.

[@Beyond_The_Time]

Had a friend carry me through the game, that was my EZ mode

[@GarliccDread]

Me when I play Bloodborne 😂

[@ZephyrusRaine]

Great video SuperRAD. I'm of the opinion that Dark Souls doesn't really need a difficulty slider, but more so on a development standpoint. Adding difficulty options would necessitate some development time be taken away to add those in, which is better off spent to make more content. Those that do not get properly balanced tend to be rushed and chock full of bullet sponges or unbalanced mess with 'one touch of deaths'. Take NieR Automata for example: the jump between Easy, Normal and Hard Mode are so massive that it is so bizarre. I definitely agree that Dark Souls has modular difficulty modifiers which works really well (just like MH), but can be so obtuse to first time players. What if you die too many times, have a tutorial pop up to bring up suggestions that might help your experience easier instead (e.g. Summon NPCs, play as hollow to not get invaded etc.)? Even if you're offline there are still plenty of NPC summons available and looks like even Elden Ring is going to remedy this with the spirit summons. EDIT: What I'm trying to say in a roundabout way is: Yes, no matter how obtuse they are, Dark Souls has dynamic difficulty options. I'm all for this type of difficulty modifiers. I just think too many people who are advocating for one do not care about them and are simply looking for a difficulty slider.

[@LiquidOrcana]

I think if certain games want to add a difficulty / accessibility options, the only thing that really affects me is whether or not they present them well One of the most disheartening things when trying to pick an option in a game is trying to descifer which one would be the most fun, or which one is the one that I'd prefer Which ones are closest to "The developer's intent" while maintaining challenge, but not the "This mode kills you in a few hits and you would have had more fun on the other mode" I feel like the best games that do this are similar to Celeste, having an "assisted mode" that gives you plenty of different options, but making it clear that it's straying from the intended balance. Meaning I can immediately see it, and say "Ah, that's not for me than" and just start playing

[@SuperRADLemon]

Celeste is an amazing example of doing this right

[@aidancoutts2341]

I heard that adding those options made all the players play the game wrong and it ruined the game. It didn't become a commercially succesful product with a reputation for difficult but rewarding gameplay and a satisfied hardcore fanbase at all. Wait a min..... all those things DID HAPPEN. Hmmmmmmmmmm

[@Solibrae]

Perhaps in a perfect world, every single video game would have enough difficulty options that let truly let "Everyone" experience the game, but that would take a lot of time and effort on the developer's behalf to fully accomplish. Dark Souls was already a rushed game in some respects, I don't think it would have been a better game if there were even more areas that suffered like Lost Izalith did, just because the developers spent time trying to make a bunch of difficulty modes on top of everything else. I don't think any dev should really try to make their game appeal to "Everyone", since that that seems to me that it would be a project that tries to do too much, is too ambitious, and probably ends up pleasing nobody instead. That are some video games that I think try to prioritise difficulty above everything else, and end up making the experience worse or more frustrating than it probably should be as a result. The Village "High Rank" Alatreon in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, who is still much tougher than most G-Rank Monsters to me, is an example of this. I think that Dark Souls doesn't suffer from this problem because there are so many ways to approach the harder sections and beat them with less mechanical/reflex based skill and more focus on proper planning, such as using better weapons or armour. If you try to brute force these areas, despite having a bad time, because you don't want to stop and think about what you're doing, that's your fault, not the game's. I do agree that more games should have accessibility options such as colour-blind modes. I personally use a mod that makes the enemy life-bars blue and yellow instead of red and green in Dark Souls itself, which helps me a lot.

[@jonathanpretty5031]

If you want an easy mode in Soulsborne games, just use magic or summon another player to basically beat the game for you. Or do the extremely easy mode and just watch a KZbin playthrough.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Imma be real. This is irrelevant to the video. But I honestly think str is easier than pure sorcery

[@coredeadman5980]

For me dark souls is kinda like life. Its about overcoming difficulties that dont care about my ability to do so. I have to actively get better at overcoming them, find ways to make life easier for me or just fail. Just like in real life. It kinda fits in this melancholic world that it incorporates the harsh reality of life as an game-element. It kinda gives this experience more purpose, imagine if you could make everything super easy in real life, it would be a dull experience because the lows define the highs, purpose is created through the hardship you had to go through. So not including an easy mode forces an experience that feels /is more purposeful in the end (to most players).

[@SuperRADLemon]

Issue with that argument is that even on an easy mode people could still be challenged and face the need to overcome it. Difficulty is not the same per individual so you are merely creating hurdles for people who simply couldn't jump over the original ones. It wouldn't effect the normal players in any way that mattered.

[@Xenocraft1212]

I'm surprised that monster hunter was not brought up, after all for me 140 apex rajang in 4u is the hardest and most difficult experience in any video game I've played including dark souls 1, 3, and sekiro.

[@yamatorisan]

6:32 I’m sorry but the way you say his name is funny 😂😂😂 love your video as always ❤️

[@matthewlugo2417]

Darksouls does have an easy mode its called jolly co op and friendly phantoms

[@matthewlugo2417]

@oohanalligator sekiro is so damn good its almost as good as bloodborne

[@kurosan0079]

I think this debate is centered around difficulty *sliders* . Something you select at the options menu before you even start the game. The easy, normal, hard, etc. that you would click on. I think that type of difficulty options shouldn't exist anymore. I think it's a lazy, outdated, and frankly, uncreative way of designing such feature. The way games like Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, and even Breath of the Wild go about this is what I would prefer. Let the player figure out how to make the game easier for themselves, while still putting everyone on the same level of challenge. Another way of doing it is to adjust the game's difficulty based on how the player is performing. In Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation for the GBA, there are certain sub missions that you can do at every stage. Depending on how many you complete, the game adjusts its difficulty for you. Easy when you suck, Normal when you're ok, Hard when you're doing well. And the neat part is that the game also incentivizes going for Hard mode. So players who only want Easy, can go through the story just fine, but players who choose to go for the hardest difficulty are then rewarded by giving them extra weapons to play with, hidden units, and extra stage, etc.

[@caravaneerkhed]

Oooooo let’s goooooo this is the most hype I’ve been clicking on one of your vids since the complete history of monster hunter. Love it when you do this type of stuff

[@ayo__ayo]

Didn't really change my mind, but its a well put video. Rouge-likes and Souls-likes wouldn't have spawned off their own genre if they had difficulty levels. A game that is a souls like that also has a difficulty level though is Star Wars: Fallen Order. On the hardest difficulty it plays like a typical souls game. I image on easier levels, you can just blow right through it. Something felt off about Fallen Order's gameplay though. Its kind of hard to explain.

[@esssss8415]

Hey SuperRad, nice video! As someone who is generally against the idea of dark souls having an easy mode, but would like to see more accessibility options in gaming, I found lots of your point interesting. I would like to add 2 points that I find aren’t mentioned much. The first thing is the pvp. I’m not a fan of the series pvp, and I don’t get the impression you are either, but a massive reason so many people still play something like DS3 is because of its pvp. And while I have no numbers to back this up, I’ve found sekiro generally lost players faster due to the lack of a pvp crowd. I think this is very important to note, as an addition of an easy mode could require an entire rebalance or split in the pvp community, removing a large and longer lasting chunk of the player base, if not done right. While not the biggest thing in the world, I thought it was important to note. Secondly, I wanted to say that dark souls already has an “easy mode.” Summons, Ranged weapons, faith/magic ,the ability to completely skip areas, and just simply using a shield can all be used to make dark souls a genuinely average game in regards to difficulty. I find many people seem to see these as an incorrect or worse way to play the game, however they’re not there for no reason, and I feel like so many people don’t use them, and then go argue that it’s too difficult. I’m not sure if any of these points are worth mentioning, but hopefully someone will find them interesting. I’m really excited to see where Elden ring takes the series, because it seems like it will be adding a lot of accessibility to the game, while keeping it challenging and not having different difficulty modes. A short Edit: I HIGHLY recommend checking out the gdc video called “Dark Souls is the IKEA of games” it’s an extremely interesting watch that does get into the accessibility of the game.

[@hi14993]

DS already has difficulty options but admittedly not standard. DS is skill based and it is totally feasible to go the entire game with basic gear and no levels up. Some have started no hit naked soul level 1 runs. If you want it to get easier then grind out some souls from the infinitely spawning mobs and put in extra levels and upgrade gear. Go and find summon signs to bring people into your world. The enemies don't even change position. So if you run into an enemy you now know "oh, there is a knight/zombie/trap/insert hazard right around the corner." Maybe the player will wonder, "hmm, how do I handle X thing?". I stress that you CAN plan out every step of an entire zone by raw trial and error. I have doubts that someone who cannot follow "did it work? y/n? if yes, move on. if no, what else can i try? go back to 1." could possibly complete a maze puzzle let alone DS. Hell, one of the main themes of DS is persistent struggle against overwhelming odds. Many DS characters push on and struggle to achieve and most of them fail. Solaire, Siegmeyer, Quelana, and Big Hat Logan all are examples of the stress and pressure of the struggles they endure. All of them succumb in one way or another. But the player character is limited only by the perseverance of the person controlling them. Without such a struggle for the player, the theme does not shine through as strongly. edit: here's an idea for an experiment! set up difficulty options and make them not apply. Placebo the whole thing and ask people how it went for different difficulties.

[@SuperRADLemon]

People keep suggesting that! I think it'd be really funny

[@supershot9729]

Speaking on intent I do think it's a weird thing to just use 1 quote from the dev simply saying they "want the most people possible to play these games" and using that to say they dont want these games to be inherently as challenging as they are. But the proof is in the pudding at this point, at least 5 of these games have been made yet they continue to have their baseline of difficulty as a core element. Also to add to this, I feel like the definition of difficulty isnt totally solidified in this conversation, yes morrowind had a difficulty slider but the lack of hand holding (which is a difficult thing for people to play with) Is still the same while the combat side is the thing mostly effected. Difficulty is multifaceted

[@slimey630]

So, I agree with everything, except one thing, there /are/ games that should have difficulty options, but those games aren't up to the developer, it's up to you. The player. Only you can determine if the game needs to be easier or harder, but those difficulty settings don't necessarily have to be a button you press in a menu, just like dark souls, this is present in a variety of games, it's only up to you to find them

[@angrymoths]

I think we can agree that games that do this- having the difficulty option be on the player's to discover- creates a wholly new experience that wouldn't be had otherwise if the game did have a slider or option instead. It all comes down to the quality of a design, and it's ultimate intent. I'm not sure SuperRad would agree with this based on this vid. I just believe there's inherent value in an experience, and changing how that experience can happen wholesale changes what it is that people experienced and how they ultimately handled it. Having something to overcome forces us to push harder than we might otherwise. I've seen some people talk about in these comments their story of overcoming a thing they thought they wouldn't, even issues like spatial awareness they have in real life, bc the game expected more from them, and they adapted. And that kind of experience is something that just can't be ignored, it can't be handwaived away as something that would be better not existing if it meant alienating certain people... why? because even if it alienates certain people, it created something unique, potentially unique and good. It is art. You can claim the experience isn't demonstrably effected by having options, and that it is more important that people be able to enjoy something than it is for a game to have a vision that excludes people unable to figure out it's challenges (and certain people wanting that to not change), but doing so argues that games aren't allowed or should be dissuaded from having the freedom to create experiences that are tailored with intent- perhaps excluding people who can't fo what is required. The difference between success and failure is often a matter of personal will and intellect, and that's something that Souls and Elden Ring wish to encourage. That you the player have the ideas to figure it out. A verbatim difficulty option like that certainly wouldn't work for Souls games, as they are already designed from the ground up to offer easier solutions to the problems in the game that are not the game's to decide and decipher, but the player's. It puts it in the player's hands. This experience is worth preserving. I'm 100% having difficulty options in games, and I personally use them at my discretion in certain games and have no issue (though I try to keep it as close to what I think is developer intent personally). I think games should offer robust options for certain things, but I can't agree that every game would benefit from having these options. Every decision on a developer's part changes something about the experience, and it may be felt by the player. Dark Souls/Elden Ring would not strictly benefit, from having a blatant difficulty mode. It most certainly would lose some part of its essence if that were so, and that's what I hope to have explained. Miyzaki and his team has a lot more fun playing around with those options through gameplay and multiplayer- clearly, lol. A design philosophy pioneered by them - shared connection and experiences through multiplayer bridges... didn't Kojima try to make a game referencing that concept too? He was late to the punch.

[@hunky1013]

difficult games should have one, and only one mode: 'easy mode' and not actually make it easier

[@SuperRADLemon]

Someone else said this and I think that'd be such a funny fucking inclusion. Or an "easy mode" mod but it doesn't actually change anything

[@catatonic165]

I always set games to the hardest difficulty strictly because im a masochist and i love the feeling of getting slapped around until i learn and overcome whatever is in front me. Idk. Maybe im just weird.

[@forgecat]

I think this is a well presented argument/opinion, but accessibility as a concept is not just about difficulty. Also Lately that word is more commonly associated with UX/UI adjustments for issues with "disabilities". Strong very recent example: Far Cry 6. Menu is voiced on load. Offers to continue to use spoken menus. Offers presets for different accessibility settings, visual, hearing, etc. Control configurations include one handed modes with either hand and also more subtle adjustments like run at full tilt (people with grip issues) and Hold instead of Mash. Etc. For visual... not just the standard colorblind presets but 5 colorblind presets and full customization after you pick one to make it better for your own eyes. Plus the standard remove shaking, bobbing, but also remove any filter in the game that will cause trigger optical condition distress. Then the newer things we are starting to see in a few games like voice to text for better randomized multiplayer when you are deaf. So... accessibility comes in a lot of forms. For sure I think you are touching on a topic that should be discussed and a niche but vocal cadre of "gamers" like to poo poo because of some sort of "my precious" syndrome. (Hi, look at Nier R... excellent game, plenty of customization of BOTH kinds of accessibility. Does not diminish the experience to make it more playable.) Sadly, CP77 only got us seizure warnings put in front of the big Q4 releases. Majority of studios still do not pay attention to easily doable things to avoid Accessibility issues beyond epilepsy or difficulty concepts. This is a wide topic which honestly should be addressed on multiple fronts. A developer should want people to be able to play their game. A glitch effect that solely exists in the UI because it looks "rad" with zero function alienates players with even low grade eye issues (The Division 2 patched in the ability to turn it off for a reason) in similar ways to not having More Options in the accessibility you are discussing. Do they Need to make their game more accessible by turning off shaking cameras? no. But there is no reason not to.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Yeah as I mention in the video difficulty is just one ingredient

[@forgecat]

@@SuperRADLemon Absolutely but difficulty comes in various formats. When difficulty is "a portion of the population can't look at the screen without migraines or nausea" then... maybe its time to rethink that visual. Also not allowing players to rebind controls at all in 2021. It often can not be about whimsy but impairment. Your argument is that they don't HAVE to have accessibility options vis a vis difficulty but there is no reason not to. You state Dark Souls cannot be beaten by practice alone there is a level of reflex/skill as well. I agree. If you have an impairment of certain kinds such as muscular or say CTS, that means a difficulty adjustment could help you play that game. So, when it comes to not alienating gamers with eye/ear/hand at bare minimum both difficulty and some level of thought to "is this visual distortion absolutely critical to the gameplay?" "we dont have budget for closed captioning" etc. "indie games" being the biggest culprit of not supporting captioning, visual feature disabling etc... Your "don't Have to" argument doesn't entirely hold water for me. For the portion of gamers that have no impairments what so ever and have wonderful hands, eyes, ears and vocal chords... sure. "Difficulty is why not, don't have to but no reason not to." But the gamer population is diverse and not perfect hands, eyes, ears, and vocal chords. And decisions that INCLUDE difficulty alienate those gamers. Is it okay to use the "don't have to" argument when the decisions made exclude people? That is where you lose me. Yes, in theory a game published independently on pc is probably not be beholden to much of anything. However console makers and curated pc store platforms should (and some do) have minimum requirements for Accessibility and more warning labels. "hi this game does X. dont buy it if you cant do Y." if we are going to say "dont have to"

[@SuperRADLemon]

Wait sorry are you saying they HAVE TO add difficulty options?

[@gentriggerTTRPG]

While I don't agree that it's a big enough argument to totally sink the idea of asking for difficulty options, a compelling in concept argument is that accessibility options take time and resources to impliment and perfect, thus taking away resources from other aspects of the game. Though game development is constantly a balancing act of where you should put resources, and determining where cuts have to be made is an ongoing battle till the bitter end. A huge swathe of souls fans will agree that Lost Izalith feels like an incomplete area, and it's just a fact that they couldn't put as much time into it, and thus it's where the seams show. It's still a great game despite this issue, but acknowledging this shortcoming is important for discussion about it. In the same way the absence of intuitive difficulty options is another choice that is fine for some, but makes the game unplayable for others and that discussion is worth opening up. Lost Izalith probably hasn't lost any sales, or if it has, it hasn't lost many. How many sales have been lost due to lack of accessibility? Probably far more. Nobody is cancelling a studio for choosing not to include this option, but they are stating their desires to enjoy this experience themselves first hand and that is feedback the developer is free to take or leave in the end.

[@mremc3825]

Not sure if “time to practice” is unreasonable thing for a game to ask. Otherwise games being 50+ would also fall under this argument which doesn’t make a lot of sense. Good video btw just to be clear even if I disagree

[@613space8]

Nice vid man, love these kinds of long video essays. Honestly if a dark souls clone had difficulty options that were fun and challenging at the right difficulties no one would care. Problem with dark souls is that the difficulty is so ingrained into its identity that I don't think it can be separated without most of the core fans being mad about it so it's probably better from a community POV to not add them. I do think that the in game ways of making the game easier (summoning, certain builds, etc) are enough for the VAST majority of players to make it through the game without too many issues tbh

[@SuperRADLemon]

I think the star wars game did it, but I have no idea how well they implemented it. Plus that game is so much more limited in comparison.

[@yppahdalg2397]

Another thing of Dark souls I think isn't being addressed is that it's difficulty is what originally gave it it's notoriety. It got its name out there because it was a difficult game. Other difficult games like the Devil May Cry series don't have that same distinction when you hear about the game, even though the harder difficulties of those games are far harder than any souls game. I don't believe Dark Souls would be as big of a franchise as it is if it had difficulty settings, and it definitely wouldn't be talked about nearly as much.

[@flamingmanure]

or...get this...the director and creator of the series Hidetaka miyazaki just doesnt want to make diffculties in games. he wants to make difficult atmospheric games that he would want to play himself. in fact thats exactly what he says in an interview ill try to find and link. all these dumb little arguments about wanting to add difficulties is redundant to him considering his success came from just making games he would want to play. so how about we all get over this fact and move on?

[@SuperRADLemon]

I talk about this in the video

[@Eladelia]

"Problem with dark souls is that the difficulty is so ingrained into its identity that I don't think it can be separated" The thing you're missing here is that the punishing nature of the game is ingrained into its identity because it's closely linked to the themes of the game. It's a game that's partly about existing in a world where you have to fight for every inch you move forward, and that's constantly ready to kick your teeth in the moment you let your guard down. The gameplay harmonizes with the themes that way. Games can absolutely mimic the combat while going for a completely different feel and themes (e.g., Kena and the Bridge of Spirits), and of course it could be appropriate then to offer different options, because it's a different game.

[@jeveritt8398]

This is definitely an interesting watch post elden ring as I do feel the openess and many options that elden ring offers has helped making it more accessible to a wider audience whilst still providing the feeling of overcoming challenges that souls is known for. Ofc its not perfect but its an important step

[@SuperRADLemon]

Yeah I'm very happy with the direction ER took

[@Pyromaniac963]

You really don’t seem to understand why Ratatoskr brought up Yoko Taro and Morrowind in his video. After around 30 minutes of this video, its become clear that you were listening to argue rather than understand.

[@SuperRADLemon]

Nah. I inferred and understood his video and then used it to argue my point.

[@Pyromaniac963]

You clearly didn’t understand tho. You mentioned in regards to Yoko Taro and Morrowind that the games have difficulty options and that somehow contradicts his points, when he never brought them up in regards to their difficulty, but rather there specific design choices and how that goes against the grain of what most games offer.

[@SuperRADLemon]

I'm not gonna get into a debate over this. The point I brought up was that even though these games offered all the choices he praises them for and that he likens to Dark Souls, they STILL managed to have difficulty options anyway. Kind of like how Dark Souls has all of these options and could STILL have a difficulty option anyway. Maybe rewatch the video. EDIT: Not replying after this

[@Pyromaniac963]

Yeah that reply is evidence enough that you didn’t understand his point to begin with (He didn’t praise Morrowind for choices it gave the player, he literally praise it for not giving him choices lmao), I won’t go to deep into this since you’re clearly averse to constructive criticism tho. Take care.

[@tagmata1872]

Honestly I get this view point but I think it ignores the fact that difficulty is kinda in the game already with how intentionally easy the game is using magic builds and what not along with rings of sacrifice. Idk it just always seems weird to me to put the devs in a position where they have to rebalance all of their encounters and would make multiplayer much more limited. I still think it’s a fair point but there are already mechanism there to make the game easier

[@SuperRADLemon]

Luckily I address this

[@tagmata1872]

@@SuperRADLemon radical my man :)

[@knightmarecx2069]

In my opinion, I don’t like the idea of Dark Souls specifically having a difficulty setting is because of the lore, the game is supposed to take place in an unforgiving world where the odds are stacked against you, having the option to make it easier just feels wrong for some reason, I’m not against easier difficulty, I personally suck ass on Doom’s higher difficulties and wish to master them one day, but I for some reason don’t feel that way about the Soul’s series, I feel proud for having bested the game the way that it is without a difficulty setting, I think it’s just me though and everyone is entitled to their own opinion

[@knightmarecx2069]

@@tracingswords3014 gottem

[@sv2670]

More Souls content will always be appreciated! Specially considering the quality of your videos

[@SuperRADLemon]

I dunno what I'd make a video about atm, but I do want to make more

[@Excalibur5k]

The way i see it, if someone buys a game (or pirates it lol) then they should be allowed to play it however they want as long as it doesnt interfere with other peoples enjoyment of the game. Like i really dont care, just put a note in the game that says which difficulty is the intended way to play and then disable pvp on easy mode. Add a million sliders, who cares!! Id still play them all on normal. If someone plays it on easy, thats not my problem at all.

[@kelzanlienbre4642]

"the effect is valued less than the effect of allowing more people to experience the game" you are literally saying one opinion is better than another

[@SuperRADLemon]

Yes, I am valuing one opinion over the other. Correct.

[@kelzanlienbre4642]

@@SuperRADLemon bruh

[@Zaney_]

I liked the video. There are some aspects to the difficulty like you mentioned being difficult with online in mind and many core aspects like covenants and lore implications. I'm not a game developer and i feel like making difficulty options might also take away from precious development time of the game, so much has to be rebalanced or rethought out; almost like making a whole new game from scratch for each potential difficulty option. That is all, have a nice day all.

[@jgn]

I would love to see something like Human+ or OP-INTENSIFY from Armored Core return in a soulsborne game In Armored Core 3, it was rewarded for completing the main story, you had to unlock the perks Human+/OP-I (firing every overhead weapon without kneeling, reduced EN/Heat cost, being able to function and ac overweight, etc) gave you by doing missions/challenges in the missions, and it's all used for one post game encounter I beat the post game encounter without OP-I, but I would love something like this handled again for a new soulsborne game I would rather have a new armored core game tho

[@EDK-San51912]

He has not failed his goal. He did make a challenge for everyone a challenge is meant to test not for everyone to pass only those willing to overcome can pass those who fall short don’t. Miyazaki goal was to give everyone a hard challenge that they could over come not a challenge that they will over come. Miyazaki made it so that everyone could play darksouls or any other Soulsborne game if they want to not will play any souls borne game. You seem to be taking the word everyone in this context way to literally.

[@TonyTama]

My thing about difficulty options are always going to side on "if it is the creators intent to have one then its not my place to argue" as someone who does illustrations for friends and myself i take those kinds of decisions very seriously as artistic intent. However i am not opposed to someone modding something or editing something they purchased or own or even if its something i drew unless its outside the persons ownership like a third party. However when i hear about difficulty settings under the guise of "accessibility" from mostly game journalists who cant be bothered to meet a game on its own terms (or youtube influencers like people recording themselves returning copies of a game they barely scratched the surface with.) It is never in a place of good faith as when those demands are being made in opinion pieces or made to have an effect on a review its almost always never anything else but Souls and Souls-like games. And that is where my issue lies. It's never in the vein or a difficult action rpg, turn based or anything else but in a game that markets itself as being difficult or challenging separating itself from from other games to a curated audience. I don't want to overuse the word niche but it kinds irks me that the demand for easy modes under the guise of accessibility when people like myself who are disabled have no problems overcoming video game challenges are used as an excuse cus' someone of certain repute cant hang or meet on the games own terms. I have many minds on difficulty but I hope i made it kinda understandable where i sit on this particular topic.

[@kalega311]

I think what's lost in the "intended experience" argument and then the "well people can still experience the same thing their way w/ difficulty settings" is the fact that the "intended experience" is supposed to be FORCED on you. You're FORCED to overcome this specifcally designed difficulty. It's supposed to be like life lol. ...of course Miyazaki never said this, but still!

[@BigYabai]

The issue here is the assumption that people only want the difficulty for bragging rights. The point of Dark Souls isn't the difficulty itself, but the feeling of overcoming impossible odds. If you added an easy mode then sure, it wouldn't affect the other players but the people playing on the easier difficulty wouldn't experience the game the way it was intended and the point of overcoming the odds would be lost, and the player would've left the game not understanding why it's so popular. It's like if you got rid of the sanity mechanic in Amnesia; suddenly it becomes much easier to just sit in a dark corner and stare at a monster as it passes by without worrying about needing to move to somewhere with light. And the thing is, Souls games have a dynamic way to change the difficulty through the way you choose to build your character and the strategies you use. Everyone is still experiencing the same challenge, but in their own way. And personally, I think the mentality of designing products to appeal to the widest audience possible is how you end up with the most bland, milquetoast and repetitive experiences in media. That mentality is why Battlefield and Titanfall abandoned their identities to become hero shooter battle royales, because hero shooter battle royales have the largest mass market appeal.

[@James-yk5ge]

just beat dark souls 3 (my first dark souls game) for the first time. I think it would be cool if more people could play that game. I like that game.

[@thebootster]

The satisfaction and reward the game is designed to provide would be stripped with a difficulty option. It “could” have an easy mode, but would it ruin the intention and design of the game, yes. If an NFL team played against a Jr High team they would crush them, and sure it might be fun for a while, but eventually all satisfaction and sense of accomplishment would be gone. That would be make for a dull game. A world where games don’t have difficulty options makes for a better existence in my opinion. P.S. Nice time to release this video, when disliking has been removed from KZbin. 😉

[@SuperRADLemon]

This video was released when dislikes were still available lmao

[@thebootster]

@@SuperRADLemon I knew that p.s. would strike a reply even a month later. Gotcha. I dropped a like bro. 😎

[@nitinnishant7783]

Dark Souls already has an easy mode. It's magic lol Also, those who want Dark Souls to be easier than it already is can use cheese guides, God Mode or whatever else mod. As a person whose right hand doesn't go about my shoulder, I am smart enough to know I am not suitable for certain professions. Making Dark Souls easier will ruin it's very nihilistic atmosphere. Imagine beating Dark Souls in your first playthrough like it was a piece of cake. That would suck. It wouldn't be a memorable experience in any way. Dark Souls would become just another pandering ass generic game. Difficulty slider isn't needed in Dark Souls. It just needs willingness from the player to 'git gud' or go play flash games. Or just watch Dark Souls Let's Play on KZbin because it cannot get any easier.

[@elk3407]

Reading this comment has affirmed that I did indeed miss something when playing Dark Souls 3. I did beat it in my first playthrough like it was a piece of cake and while I really enjoyed the setting I can't help but feel it's a pretty underwhelming game

[@Moosebones]

Interesting, nuanced analysis of the most aneurysm-inducing topic in video games. How does he do it?

[@SuperRADLemon]

Through a lot of pain and tears