My Thoughts On Video Game Difficulty

Just a discussion video talking about my experiences with difficulty settings in games as someone who reviews a lot of video games.
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#gaming #difficulty

[@nsp477]

Something pretty interesting that I see in some games is customizable difficulty: you can make some aspects of the difficulty higher and other ones lower individually, without having to pull a switch that will increase / decrease every variable across the board.

[@trengilly01]

I like the trend toward customizable difficulty. Its long been an option in strategy games (4x, wargames, etc). The only challenge is that you often need to play the game first to figure out what impact the options have. More tool tips explaining each option would be nice.

[@voronwecalanon206]

I do think a list of presets should always still be available. Pathfinder: WotR actually does it pretty well.

[@nsp477]

@@voronwecalanon206 Agreed; one thing does not exclude the other. As was pointed out in another comment, sometimes the impact of one parameter on difficulty can be unclear and having preset combinations of parameters (i.e. the traditional difficulty levels) can give the player a better understanding of them.

[@kingleech16]

100% agree. I love being able to have smarter enemies that will be more devious, build better/more armies, and be less predictable while at the same time being able to say "No, I would rather not have them get roided out so that it takes 10x as long to do anything."

[@ducky36F]

I loved this in Pathfinder and BG. I can’t be bothered needing to deal with character deaths and revivals so I just turn that off and put everything else up 😂

[@AmySorrellMusic]

I play on easy difficulty. About 11 years ago someone broke my spine which in turn, in combination with severe arthritis has made my hands unreliable. It's a broken nerve thing. I don't care about achievements so if there is a god mode I will play it. I am old. I got an Atari when they were new and I have played some VERY challenging games, and it was great, when life itself was not challenging. For me now however, life, just regular life, just getting up to go to the bathroom, is plenty challenging enough. I am ALWAYS in pain and I play games to pass time being bed bound and it is the only time I feel powerful, since I am literally broken. Often I just need a few more hit points. If the issue is mental, being smart, I've got that but when it is reflexes and hitting the button at just the right time, it is really hit or miss, through no fault of my own and I die. THAT is frustrating af and those games just won't get my money, and I will never get to enjoy their story. Shame.

[@yousif428]

God bless you.

[@sixseven404]

I suffered nerve damage to my left hand which was very upsetting as I enjoy video games a lot. It was very difficult to get used to using a controller with only one hand, the only finger I could move on my left was my pinky. I had to hold the controller kind of sideways and then reorient myself since up was now closer to left on the remote and whatnot. I always enjoyed challenging games but the hand spoiled it for me, no more dark souls or other games that call for good reaction times. I had to get used to manipulating the controller in a different way than intended and it was very uncomfortable for a year. There are custom controllers that you can have made for you that can accommodate some physical restrictions, perhaps that would help. I considered getting one made for myself but they were quite expensive. It may be worth looking into, they can do some pretty impressive things these days.

[@hotdoggington6962]

Thank you for sharing. That is exactly why I always lobby for more variable difficulty options. It's weird when you encounter elitists who think that the existence of options they personally wouldn't use would somehow affect their own enjoyment. I don't understand the mindset of caring more about belonging to a certain club than just enjoying the thing.

[@jeffreyyyy3052]

Not to be the stoner guy and I see its 8 months old. But are you smoking a joint? Or using cbd to ease the pain a bit. A friendss father of mine has a severe back problem and it helps him, some days better then others but overall he says it's worth it

[@TheoreticalString]

Turn based gaming! I was a huge game player when I was younger, but whether it's just old age or getting rusty, I'm not going to hit frame perfect inputs anymore. I can't play RTS games as much fun as they once were to me. But turn based scratches that itch perfectly. No matter how difficult it is I can sit there for five minutes figuring out what I need to do.

[@Syenthros]

I typically play on "normal" difficulty, since that's *theoretically* the difficulty the developer intended and balanced for. However, sometimes I want an easier experience. Or something harder. At the end of the day, I play games to relax and I'll play on whatever setting lets me do that. With that being said, I detest it when games change the *content* based on difficulty, like locking out dungeons, equipment or even endings based off difficulty.

[@sjsharp2007]

I tend t opla ygames on Easy or Story mode but mostly due to my disabilty as I like to relax and enjoy my games and playing games with only 1 hand on th econtrols ca nbe difficult enoug hespecially on action games lik esay Mass Effect. I still enjo yplayin ggames like tha tbut it ca be hard a ttimes. When it comes to say turn based games where it's more on strategy it's less of a problem as I can do strategy without too many issues. So if a games got easy settings an dsuch then I' m happ ywith that.

[@mathewhosier9739]

It's called an accomplishment, you supposed to feel fulfilled when you do something that requires skill, why do you think both rogue likes and soulsbourne games are so popular, the 2 most popular games in the last 2 years were elden ring and hades

[@mathewhosier9739]

If you don't like difficult games then don't play them, rogue likes and soulsbourne games are 2 of the most popular genres right now

[@sjsharp2007]

@@mathewhosier9739 I don't pla ydifficult games. There's a reason wh yI haven' tgon eanywher near Elden Ring as I know it's not for me.

[@sixseven404]

I want to say that I prefer hard games, but I play games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla on easy because I hate when enemies are spongy and unrealistically resilient. But then it kinda sucks because I become the sponge. Some games have shitty hard modes. I hate when a developer thinks that "hard" means the enemy takes 20 shots to kill now. Halo is the only game with bullet sponge enemies that I find enjoyable. I like Insurgency Sandstorm, while not a game with single player or difficulty modes, because it has a short time-to-kill and enemies feels just as dangerous as you are.

[@bigego503]

I'm one of the original gamers, meaning I've been playing video games since they came out. Have played many, when younger, on hardest difficulties. Unfortunately, age catches up with all of us. Along with arthritis, astigmitism and lessened hearing. I still love gaming but have had to lower difficulty levels. And I no longer do pvp like I used to. You're right, people should worry less about beating on ultra hard and more on savoring the experience. Good vid

[@jothain]

Yeah. Did stuff like Doom2 back in the day on Ultra-Violence, apart the final boss, measly one rocket away, which still I'm annoyed and could complete ie. Turrican 2 with dying like two times and completing it with insane amount of lives :) But now closing my 40's I have noticed that I just can't react so well as young and mostly I suppose it's about that I just don't do games nearly as much as then. Heck even with stuff like original X-com and ie. JA2 I just don't have patience anymore to play some scenario over and over again. These days I just like to play game for good plot and I almost never replay games. Though for some, maybe nostalgia reasons much of those 90's oldies come in mind like clockwork. Like now that X-Com... Might have to fire openXcom once again, maybe this time with tftd? 🤔

[@yavorvlaskov5404]

"You deserve to enjoy the game you paid for." - Freaking preach. Mortismal coming out with the truth nukes of wholesomeness. Еdit: To offer some personal experience, I platinumed Sekiro, DS3 and Bloodborne - I loved how the games played, which is why I stuck through with them. I straight up deleted games I didn't love, but could probably have offered me a good bit of fun, if they offered a lower difficulty mode where I could breeze through the story... and that felt like a waste of money, honestly. On the other hand, games I could make easily accessible when they weren't fun to play (for example, Control was like that for me, I never would have finished it if I couldn't put on the easy mode) brought me great deal of joy in the process of finishing them which I never would have gotten if I couldn't reduce the difficulty to make the process of gameplay I detested be done with quicker. The exploration in the Dark Souls series is amazing, the feeling of discovery without parallels, and so many people miss out on it because they need to sludge through a gameplay system that frankly isn't for everybody. I can agree that the difficulty is supposed to be part that enriches the exploration, but honestly, it does not really enrichen it that much and some adjustment to it would benefit so many people.

[@dfghj241]

i disagree. you deserve to make better purchases according to your tastes. i just cannot subscribe to the idea of making all games, including niche ones, amorphous mass of "accessible" difficulty because some person decided it is so. you are frustrated with a game, go play another. plenty of casual, relaxing games out there which might fit that mood at that given time and scratch the gaming itch. why the hell should a game like sekiro, per instance, cater to your desire to play it? do you want to play and beat sekiro? take the thing seriously. adapt to its difficulty. take as many months doing that as you feel interested in doing so, there is no rush. that is the experience in the first place.

[@theresnothinghere1745]

No I very much disagree with the sentiment. If you really dislike horror games and buy one, I see no reason why you 'deserve' to enjoy it. If you buy a game whose whole point is about being difficult (IE Sekiro, DS3, Bloodborne), yet you want a more relaxing experience I see no reason why you 'deserve' to enjoy it. What you deserve is for a game to be honest about its intentions and experience. Simple things like game demos used to be sufficient for this but the industry realised they can make more money if they keep the experience all behind a paywall.

[@Falshoinin]

Hey man, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your channel. It’s transparent and honest, and you only give your opinion after having fully digested a work in it’s entirety. I admire that authenticity and look forward to every video you put out. Even if some of the games aren’t my cup of tea, just hearing what you have to say on a given work is truly interesting.

[@btackett2]

I really messed myself up by solely focusing on MMOs for 20+ years and now I am trying to go back to CRPGs and single player gaming and having a really hard time adjusting to the difficulty systems. Love the content Mortismal, thanks for all of it

[@arrellmagister1849]

@@feo130 better at ruining its employees lifes that's for sure

[@FBWL-u1r]

When I play a game for the first time, I most often start on "easy" or "normal" difficulty to get to know the combat, controls and story. If I finished the game and enjoyed it enough to replay it, I'll go for a higher difficulty. I love it when a game has the NG+ option too. Combined with a good story, that definitely encourages me to replay a game at a higher difficulty

[@teifan6674]

For me, one of the things that usually makes me gravitate more to easier games that I don't see mentioned often is kind of the "competition" of other entertainment forms and even other real life skills. There have been some games that I have completed 100% or I am in the process of completing 100%, but that is usually because they are literally my favorite games of all time - outer wilds, the first xenoblade chronicles game, and some others. When I am hit with a "quit" moment in a videogame, or even just a difficulty selector... I always have in the back of my mind the knowledge that yes, if I take the time to master this, it will be very fulfilling - but so will be reading another book, and possibly more if it turns out to be a really good one, or practicing my drawing, or even just doing additional studying that is not required for my Master's just because it looks interesting - and yeah, the main limiting factor with all of this is time which I don't have a lot of these days

[@Hezzers]

One of the most interesting difficulty systems I've seen was in an old PS2 over the shoulder beat em up game called God Hand. The difficulty was tied directly into how good you were doing. The better you were, chaining more combos, not getting hit, etc, the tougher and more aggressive the enemies were, but getting hit would lower the difficulty, making the enemies weaker and less aggressive. The trade off being that you got a higher score and more money from defeating enemies at a higher skill rating. If I recall correctly, it was divisive on whether or not that system was a good thing, but I quite liked how it would balance itself out to your skill level, while also incentivizing you to get better. There's also Kid Icarus: Uprising, which has a novel difficulty system, where you could sort of "bet" your currency, pouring in hearts to increase the difficulty when starting a new level, getting stronger rewards on successful completion, but dieing would lower the difficulty down a bit at the cost of losing some of those hearts you bet as well as getting slightly worse rewards in the end. Nintendo has actually replicated this difficulty system in a few other games, like Smash Bros and Kirby Star Allies, but Kid Icarus' version was notable because a higher difficulty actually also unlocked optional areas in the game. You'd see these gates in each level, and if your difficulty level was high enough, you could enter the gate to go down a different path, or fight some challenging enemies, or sometimes just straight up get rewarded with a secret item. They gave you a reason to try to improve and increase the difficulty, while also being completely optional.

[@Lemurion287]

I love lower difficulties, and am not ashamed to play with them. I'm almost 60 years old and I never had great reflexes--lower difficulties let me enjoy the story of a game without putting me in a position where I have to master movement combos that my reflexes just can't do anymore.

[@devastatheseeker9967]

One of my personal peeves with some difficulty options or even just difficulty in general is the "big hp bar, high damage" difficulty. Like the ancient dragon in dark souls 2 and the difficulty options in skyrim

[@Arxfatal1]

I completely agree, I like it when the game challenges you to the point where you have to open your inventory and think about all those potions, Scrolls etc that you usually never even think about in a standard difficulty. The game tells you to think differently, so you gain a deeper understanding of how to master it, but not to the point where there is only one wining combination.

[@Otinashi]

I used to always push myself to play games on higher difficulties because I felt like I wasn't a "real gamer" if I played on normal or easy, but honestly over time I've started to just default to normal or even easy with a lot of games cause I just want to relax and enjoy myself rather than trying to push myself and test my skills with every single game I play. If I really enjoy a game I'll go back and replay on higher difficulties, but with most games the challenge isn't what I enjoy most

[@douglaswilliams6834]

Agreed. I usually play games on the difficulty that is one step up from whatever is considered the default difficulty. I don't like the "ultra, super hard" difficulties because, as you pointed out, that usually means that there is only one way to win a fight/battle.

[@ObiJuanKenob]

The great thing about "difficulty" is when the entire game changes and it's just not an enemy does more damage and has more life. I prefer different difficulty levels when they either make them more interesting or makes other builds that would otherwise never be necessary at lower levels and it definitely tries to give that system/mecanic a place in the game. Resident Evil 1 has this for picking a character Chris can take more damage but can't carry as much items, but Jill has paper armor but is able to carry more items. While also it's difficulty options has a normal and "arranged" mode where you have more tools at the beginning, items are not in the same room that in normal mode and basically works out like the same game mechanically, but when you go and play normal mode it's an entire different game. So it gives you a reason to play the same great game again either on new game plus or different difficulty. Resident Evil 1, Thief, Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Quake, hitman. They all do difficulty extremely interesting, they also have great level design and the entire game design revolves around it. There's also been some games that flat out gives you entire developer options to change the game from the ground up as far as choosing your own difficulty the last Thief Game and recently Dead Cells (R-like). IMO it's very interesting since now you're able to play something like an "Mvania/R-Like" and make it however you think that genre should be. Which is just a great way to learn the language and genre from the ground up. A 1 size fits all approach isn't the best way to give new comers or people that would otherwise never care for the game a chance. At the end of the day more options will never be a bad thing when it comes to how to play a game; just look at PC gaming and mods; basically the entire reason for it's appeal. The issue comes when instead of using difficulty options they want to make the game easier universally and trim the fat without having the previous fan base taste in mind and make it "easier" for a broader audience (Bioshock after system shock 2) or when they make it "harder" because they use it as an excuse since the genre is know for it and it just comes off as very lazy (Dark Souls 2 and Elden Ring Come to mind)

[@Falsedragon298]

Just came across your channel, specifically for the Baldurs Gate Enchanced edition guide. Your other videos has helped clarify a ton of my own issues regarding approaching CRPG games, inspiring me to return and give them their fair chance. Excellent work! Subscribed!

[@jonirenicus9407]

I'm like you and enjoy a difficulty just above normal when there's an option like Core in WotR or Blood and Broken Bones in Witcher. It's hard enough to keep me engaged but also allows me some freedom to pick my playstyle rather than the 1 munchkin build on super hard difficulty.

[@judostar11]

I personally enjoy playing games either hard mode or the highest difficulty. I usually play the game on Normal for my first playthrough because I am learning the game. I then crank it up to hard or the highest difficulty on subsequent playthroughs for the challenge. For me, I like doing this because I find it rewarding since you are using what you learned about the game to overcome the challenges that the game throws at you on the higher difficulties. I do agree that the game on the highest difficulties forces you to play a certain way. In the Mass Effect games on Insanity, it's less about bringing whatever weapon you want and whatever squad members you want and more about bringing who and what is best for dealing with resistances and who can best compensate for your class' weaknesses and play into your strengths as well. That said, despite playing the games on the highest difficulty, I also advocate for lower difficulty modes because people deserve to enjoy the games they buy. If lower difficulty modes don't fit the game like the souls-like games, developers should always give tools to players that make the game easier if they choose to use them. The souls games are a good example of devs doing this because the games are only as hard as you make them out to be since there are tools that the player can find and use to make the game easier. Elden Ring, for example, has tools like summons, Margit and Mohg's shackles that stun them for a period of time, the purifying crystal tear that makes Mohg's blood loss "Nihil" attack easier to deal with, the Blasphemous Claw that parries Maliketh's hp draining attack, Golden Parry, Royal Knight's Resolve, Rivers of Blood, and Comet Azur that becomes insane when you combo it with the Cerulean Hidden Tear (FP cost becomes 0) and Terra Magicus (boosts magic damage) which all make the game easier.

[@malachor5ve]

Bro wtf I'm subscribed to like 10 reviewers, some I've been subscribed to for years, and I just started watching your videos a couple months ago, and now you're one of if not my favorite reviewer

[@kaidorade1317]

“You deserve to enjoy the game you paid for “ Ameen! As someone who sucks at games and is physically disabled; I love either difficulty sliders/story mode options.

[@NotaVampyre111]

As I get older, I find my difficulty settings slowly creeping towards story mkde. I play games for fun and relaxation. Constantly reloading my last save is not all that fun.

[@The_Beard]

Usually opt for normal TBH for exactly the reasons you state: allows me to engage with everything properly without turning a hobby into a chore but most of all because as you say so I can "enjoy the game I paid for" - great nugget of truth that.

[@thandons]

Agreed with your point about onboarding new players. I have many friends who stay away from FromSoftware games completely because they just want to have fun with video games and not another full-time job. While I understand the idea behind set difficulty, I still believe that difficulty levels can never hurt a game. You can't ruin ice cream by offering more flavor choices.

[@Seisachtheia]

Complex gameplay systems definitely make me bounce off a lot of games I really want to enjoy. CRPGs are games I've always wanted to play but I often get into them and go, "no, I'm not willing to do 10 hours of research on builds before I even get into the game". I'm a huge story/setting/character gamer. I love the stories and lore in games and any system that's too obtuse makes we walk away; this doesn't mean I don't like difficult games, I wouldn't have completed Path of Pain in Hollow Knight if that was the case, but I like difficulty that comes from systems that give you a few very well defined tools and then force you to become excellent at using them.

[@futuregenesis97]

I've said it before and I will say it again there is good difficulty and then there is what I call lazy difficulty. Lazy difficulty is just when enemies have more hp and are immune to everything, so bascially mash attack button and win, while good difficulty is like Elden Ring where you have to block, dodge, and parry very accurately within a split second to overcome the enemies, and since the enemies vary in this game with attacks and moves it makes the difficulty that much better.

[@sagarmalviya9289]

I like a single difficulty setting , less balancing issues overall, and we can play how devs intended it to play. Thats one of the things I liked about elden ring.

[@sagarmalviya9289]

@@DJDocsVideos elden ring was just an example , I dont want games to be hard, I want to play a game how the dev intended it to play, and when they have to make 5 difficulty settings balancing goes out of the window. I have to write so much to explain whats on my mind, but I am too lazy, sorry.

[@widedtho]

Awesome video! I've also noticed some games describing the 'normal' difficulty as 'recommended by developers.'

[@FoxyFoxlyn]

Completely agree with you. Not every game is for everyone. I couldn't get into Elden Ring, I sucked. 😂 I accepted that it just isn't for me. I enjoyed Bloodborne though. I even played Demon Souls back on ps3, and rage quit that, even though I got quite far. But back then, I had more time to game. Now I just don't have that time anymore. I work full time, home to clean, cook, walk the dog, workout etc. Mainly I decided to finally to teach myself to play guitar and knit. Decided I needed some skills in life. I am getting there with the guitar, and nearly finished my scarf. My mom is a knitting pro and is very happy I have finally taken up the hobby. Be nice to knit our own jumpers, instead paying a fortune to clothes shops. Especially great, as I can knit and catch up on all the films and series I have in my backlog. I say same as you, it is a single player game, why do you care if someone else wants to play on an easier setting? Won't impact your playthrough. I don't get why people get angry about that. Chill mate, life is too short. 😂 If the Devs don't want to add those settings in, then that is how they want to the game to be experienced, that is fine too. People can choose to either try it or not. Plenty of channels that will upload a full video of all the cut scenes.

[@TalkingRaven_]

I'm one of those weird types who always starts games at the highest difficulty available (except permadeath modes). I tend to get more invested in a game when I constantly get challenged and it just pulls me in. However, there are still times that the experience tends to get unfun and that's when I turn the difficulty down. An example would be the new Wolfenstein games, I really love the run-n-gun playstyle but in higher difficulties you either play like an aimbot god in run-n-gun or you play safe with cover and chokepoints. I turned down the difficulty so I can still somewhat succeed in a more fun playstyle. When it comes to games that I love ramping up the difficulty, Doom Eternal is one of those. Where the playstyle or gameplay is still generally the same but I now have to execute it more effectively. Action games in general fall under this category. When it comes to RPGs with a lot of build variety, I share the same sentiment with only going for the in-between normal and hardest for the same reasons. I just don't want to HAVE to play the meta build just to get through the game.

[@TheCrippledHalfling]

Fully agree with pretty much everything you said. Only thing is my preferred difficulty tends to vary wildly depending on the genre and specific game, and occasionally what I'm looking to get out of that particular playthrough of said game. I generally hover around the hard to ultra hard modes. I agree that I think ultra hard can limit the variety of play styles, like many CRPG's, but others feel like they force you to engage more with the compelling systems built into the game that can otherwise be mostly ignored, which feels like a waste.

[@matthiasbreuer8710]

My preference: fixed difficulty, but with a variety of approaches to any challenge.

[@alcoyot]

One aspect of the “soulslike” type game, which I absolutely love, is that you don’t need to build your character in any certain way. There’s a whole community of ppl who play through the game at level 1 without leveling at all. Every single thing in the game can be completed at level 1. For me this eliminates a huge frustration I have in rpgs which is not knowing the proper way to build your character and having to restart the game after investing a bunch of time doing it the wrong way. IMO in an rpg there should be no wrong way to build a character.

[@SageofStars]

I'm one of those who really enjoys being able to one shot everything around me. Heck, I enjoy it when BOTH myself and the enemies are vulnerable to that, makes the gameplay fast paced and exciting, and turns it from a game of skill to a game of knowledge. That said, few games let me play on 'Super Mode' as it was called in Chaos Legion, the first game I'm aware of that had it. Some, like Wintermoor Tactics Club, a game with Tactical combat and SOME elements of CRPGs, but not a lot, allow for something like it, upping the damage of both. Axiom Verge 2 allowed for it, though I eventually had to turn it off for me since...well not only was it not QUITE 1 shot kills, but as a callback to metroid, that game can hit you on screen transition/enemies will literally come out of nowhere to hit you. If the game has only the typical settings, Easy all the way. I have nothing to prove, and unless I get something cool for winning on higher levels, I see zero reason to do so(For instance Resident Evil and Dead Space). I came here for fun, and to me that means kicking butt and taking names. Not to say I don't enjoy a good challenge. I've beaten the Souls, the Ring, and the Borne, but those are exceptions to it, and while frustrating, are never overly so. Now, will I quit a game if it's too hard? Yes, most certainly. Darkest Dungeon, I never finished it, because it cheats, a lot, with far too much RNG. Salt and Sanctuary, which I felt frustrated by far too often, even after I found some good weapons and had a nice run going. Wasteland 2...I did beat it eventually, but I had to go all the way back to the beginning a year later to do so. This was at least partially because they did not optimize the console release at all, and had some broken skills that you wouldn't know about. Will I quit if it's too easy? I haven't encountered that YET, but I'm sure there's ones where I didn't engage with it for a while, and just slipped off. But I can't remember a time where it was just because it was too easy. Heck, I've played Cat Quest and Cat Quest 2 dozens of times...I think it's amusing, and adorable, and I want to pet EVERYTHING in that game...yes that includes the giant eyeball boss monster. Anyway, rambling over, I support there BEING more difficulties, but I'm aware game design is a zero sum sort of affair, and that devs don't have unlimited money, so if they want to make a single difficulty throughout, that's their choice. That said, I'll preference something that lets me play how I want at that moment, or rewards me for going onto harder modes, over something that's either static, or worse, punishes you for going harder.

[@normal6969]

Encased: does it right with those tooltips and popups for explanation. Souls: does it right by the whole mood of the game having secrets to discover. From the Depths: does it right by being extremely complicated niche, and a big reward feeling when something at last works right. :D

[@CaptnKrksNippls]

I appreciate when a game increases difficulty and it actually affects enemy behavior and intelligence rather than hp + dmg bloat that makes everything just feel like an unnecessary slog. I'm much more inclined to play on a higher difficulty if it feels like I'm getting a more tactical experience rather than feeling like fights are bloated and I'm just wasting more of my time. Also, if I'm playing older games in a series in preparation for a new game coming out I will play them on easy so I can get all the story without spending too much time on hard fights.

[@Jsobone]

I love games with set difficulties because it reminds me of older games. I also do enjoy games like Nioh that allows me to get subsequent playthroughs as difficulty rises.

[@Zen-rw2fz]

In games like new vegas, pillars and prey I like to turn on the "hardcore mode" which just adds more gameplay, even when they don't recommend for first playthrough. Wisg more games had something like that

[@peregrineye]

Greatly appreciate your personal insights, as I do with all of your videos. :-) I found this one particularly enlightening as I am currently diving in on PFWotR for the very first time as of about two weeks ago. And it was precisely because of your reviews for that game that I chose to dive in on it. I started off on the 'core' rules, and basically was having my a$$ handed to me left and right. So, (with some guilty feeling) I went down to Story Mode simply to get a feel for the game. Which has honestly been helping me greatly in better understanding the game. And improving my enjoyment of it. I really like the fact that it allows adjustment of difficulty during the course of the game and not a 'Set it now and you're stuck there forever unless you start a new game' type of thing. So thank you for the feeling of validation that it's not just the fact I'm a lousy tactician. :-P Keep up the amazing work! (Loyal follower, first time commenter)

[@tacbravo6374]

Excellent video! I agree with everything you said. I am playing Tyranny now on a second playthrough. I was so lost in the depth of the story, factions, areas, character builds, items, forges and forge upgrades, and so many other things that I had to start with story mode just to gain familiarity with it all and I still have a lot more to learn. I started my second playthrough on Path of the Damned (PoTD) difficulty with Trial of iron mode also enabled and quickly met a permadeath even before leaving the first area :) Still, it was a good experiment. Now that I understanding more about character builds and which attributes, talents, armor, weapon properties, and consumables ensure the most survivability, that is a separate, quite different, and fun challenge all in itself. Then of course, in that game, finishing the game once on PoTD and once on Trial of Iron mode is part of the Steam achievements, so 100% requires that. Another thing is the different D&D rulesets or Paizo can be a lot to learn, but each one has something unique, different, and great to offer. I like them all. As you said, it should be what is enjoyable for each person. 100% is not for everyone, but your reviews are quite helpful regardless of the gaming approach--from the most casual on easiest difficulty to 100% across all difficulties. You helped me change my playstyle to 100% and it has transformed my gaming experience and enjoyment by leaps and bounds. It is a whole new world and a great one! When I first played Tyranny years ago, I did not like it at all and put it down after 7 hours. Same as I have done with most of the games in my library. Now with the 100% approach, I love it, and while it is challenging and tough, I am slowly getting through it. Probably five times slower than you based on a playtime comparison, but that is okay and I believe my next game will go a little faster because it takes a while just to learn how to 100% a game. There is actually a lot to it, but I can see where the skills generally transfer across to the next game. Tyranny will be the first and only game I have 100%'d in 11 years on Steam. I hope you can do more videos like this one in the future where you cover one aspect of the 100% approach, such as you did here with the question of difficulty levels.

[@Marcos-tk1sf]

I agree with you, at the end of the day, what matters most is the way everyone can have fun and enjoy the game. Some just want to enjoy the story and relax, others like the challenges that a difficult game offers. I, for example, like to play on hard mode, however, when it is well implemented technically and mechanically. One of the concepts I hate the most when it comes to difficulty is the famous bullet sponge, when the game only changes the AI stats is disappointing, good is when it gets smarter and treacherous. A note about Elden Ring, although I loved the game, some fights are mechanically poorly designed.

[@Drivenby]

You are fastly becoming one of my favorite KZbinrs, here's hoping for a long and successful career!

[@joel5956]

The discussion about difficulty in Elden Ring has been bizarre to me. Like the DS games were all relatively static in difficulty options but ER has so many ways to adjust the difficulty built into it. You can get summons right away to immediately make any boss easier. Player invasions are opted into. Story progression is very non-linear so you can always skip an area that's giving you problems. From did everything but they didn't frame it as a switch in a menu. People are just strangely fixated on having a menu option.

[@GoldenDaemonas]

One thing i really like in some games that have multiple difficulty settings is that they actually have different mechanics to them rather than just "enemies deal more damage and have more health". Some games cause enemies to perform new actions,add new phases to bosses, add/remove certain mechanics or even slightly change the actual story based on what difficulty you are playing. This kind of difficulty levels make the game much more replayable and give people actual incentive to play the game more than once and strive to become better at the game.

[@TheFoolTohru]

Bro I feel exactly the same! 💯 RE4 Remake does this! Leon's story om Hardcore actually changes enemies locations, and extra reinforcements and what not. Even for Ada's Campaign Separate Ways on Professional difficulty as well.

[@coconutologist]

I think there's something to be said for a gamer's ability to find their own difficulty. GTA and RDR2 have a fixed difficulty, but you can make your own challenge runs in them. Regardless, all glory to the algorithm.

[@val1n]

Usually, I play games on the highest difficulty. But if those include a permadeath for party members or the player character, I go one level below the highest. I really enjoy “suffering” through the boss fights and this is the reason, why I don't play with permadeath (at least not for the first run). But when it comes to Skyrim, I usually start at Master difficulty and switch to Legendary around level 20.

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

Fallout: New Vegas comes to mind as an example of that. Permadeath for followers, and Cazadore venom is permanent unless healed via an item. Translation: Cazadores will permakill any non-robot followers with a single sting. Scary stuff.

Good comments, what I've come to think is that there are different experiences people seek when they engage with a game. Some people want to feel challenged enough to feel accomplished when they overcome those challenges, other people want to experience a story with a ludic element to make it seem like you are taking part on it, some might want other kinds of experiences that even don't combine that much with difficulty like we see on clicked/idler games.

[@no_nameyouknow]

A lot of people myself included just get bored if a game is too easy. Not that I want some sense of satisfaction or challenge or to feel like I'm a God gamer or any crap like that. I literally will just get bored and stop playing a game if it's too easy I feel like I'm not playing anything at that point I'm just watching a movie that's not really a good movie because video games are not movies they don't focus on story they focus on gameplay that's kind of how it goes. Sure some games have amazing stories but again there's a lot better stories in books or movies if I want that experience. Call so I'm not saying that experiencing a story from within it is not a unique thing and that is cool and if that's what some people enjoy about video games that's fine but for me I really go in for the gameplay that's what keeps me going and if the gameplay is too easy I get bored and I stop playing. You know to each their own and I'm just really thankful that there are some game developers who understand that and just put one difficulty in because that means that they can balance that difficulty to be perfect you don't have to worry about whether you're playing easy mode is that to easy should I crank it up too hard and my feeling because it's on hard mode or am I feeling because I suck you know you just play the game and you know this is what it's supposed to be the developers expect people to be able to beat this and that's that it's just the game.

@@no_nameyouknow your opinion is nice, I just wish you could a little more punctuation. I lost my breath like 3 times while reading your comment...

[@theresnothinghere1745]

@@no_nameyouknow "Sure some games have amazing stories but again there's a lot better stories in books or movies if I want that experience." I don't even think its that. Games can have stories just as good as movies or books but they have to fit gaming as a medium. You can't just neglect gameplay as a result, gameplay is to games what cinematography is to movies, its part of the lifeblood of the game. If a game is story heavy the gameplay should be there to bolster the story not be an obstacle to it.

[@painfullyaware5221]

I agree with your point about story vs normal. CRPGs tend to be tactical in nature and in story mode you can disregard tactics almost completely. So,you don't really feel like you've played the game in story mode. Especially as there are usually other systems you don't engage with, either. I play games for fun, not challenge. And, unlike most people, I never play through a game more than once, Gothic and ARPGs being the exceptions. I'm also pretty old, so, all in all, I value a smooth, enjoyable experience in games. Which, I guess, underscores your point about playing games in the way most enjoyable to you. I heartily agree!

[@xKingSlayer517x]

Im 45 and have pretty good reflexes in games and can think outside the box but Soulslikes and games that just take too much thought into strategy or what I’m doing wrong just elude me. Im more of a casual gamer who likes a good story, with a decent challenge but nothing that’ll take me weeks to accomplish. I work alot and love video games still. Im blown away by where we’re at today graphically and how fun some of these game mechanics really are. It’s still a great experience that is relaxing to come home to and literally just enjoy. Fun and engaging are my motto’s. Really diggin JRPG’s like Persona, Like a Dragon, anything Final Fantasy & lots of Indie titles (Hades, Pacific Drive, Dredge, Chained Echoes, Deaths Door).

[@FrankieSmileShow]

I think an underexplored reason why easy or story modes can sometimes be a bit disruptive for a game, is that they dont always just impact the difficulty of the combat, but also it can impact the games exploration flow, hindering the games ability to direct the player. Especially for stuff like metroidvanias or other exploration-focused games, that often use difficult enemies to push you away from some areas meant for later, or games that have battles which are meant to reward exploration by being very difficult unless you have first solved X puzzle or found Y item - those are ways games can use player failure as a prompt to go elsewhere, and that design tool is severely hindered if the game also has an easy mode available as a simpler, more expedient solution hanging over it.

[@the1HLT]

As someone who is a very casual gamer that doesn’t have that much time to spend on gaming, I always start on easy and then ramp it up down the line if I get bored with the challenge. That said I respect that not all games are for everyone. I was very intrigued by the world building and story of Elden Ring but I don’t think that game is for me, so instead of crying about on twitter I just played something else.

[@paullarman3666]

As I near 60 I am very grateful for games that have multiple choices for difficulty- my reflexes and a bit of arthritis have diminished my skills somewhat

[@kos_]

I think most game should have story modes, but Souls games specifically I dont think should. A lot of the games story is being told via the difficulty, of dying and coming back. Also, there are plenty of ways to circumvent the difficulty in those games specifically, such as summoning others (which was taken pretty far in elden ring, which im all for).

[@kos_]

And then I watch 2 more minutes in and you specifically talk about the set difficulty thing. Welp, this is why you should completely finish the video before commenting :P

[@vitamuse4473]

Something that I find challenging is that, I never know if I am going to replay a game or not when I start. To be honest, I will tell myself that I will replay a game while playing it but most of the time I just don't. So i get caught between wanting to have a more "full" experience and I tend to push difficulty up and even do lots of side content to make sure that if I dont come back to this game, I would have had a good one time playthrough. The problem is that most of the time I hit a wall of burnout from side activities or often a bad encounter on a higher difficulty that makes me just put the game down. I would love more customizable difficulties so that I can tailor my experience. For example on Horizon Forbidden West, I am playing on Hard enemy damage to me, easy enemy health (because it feels spongey otherwise to me), and I turned on easy loot so I dont have to kill 1 creature 10 times to try to get 1 resource. My playthrough started with max difficulty on I didnt have the loot thing turned on, and it was fun a first, but I got hard burnt out with every single mob feeling like a death sponge that I had to kill 10 times to get the resource i needed. My experience of playing the game was just awful, and now I am loving it. I think modern game dev should have presets and the strong custom difficulty options or just be like soulsgames and tell people to just play our way or dont. Play games YOUR way!!!

[@Woupsme]

I definitely agree with the "Quit moments". I don't have that much patience when coming to learning a game's mechanics. I just want to boot it up and play right away. Some games are simple to get into - e.g. most roguelites - and some games just are great at introducing new stuff while playing. But those games where you have to read 50 pages of a manual to just get going is too much effort to me if I just end up not liking it anyway. Then I just quit quickly to get into the fun faster of a new game n

[@FoxyFoxlyn]

I hear you. I made the mistake of getting Spellforce 3:Reforced to play on my ps5. I start the game and constantly bombarded with tutorials and text. 🤯 After 30mins and it was still throwing this at me, I turned it off. My brain hurt at this point from all the complicated systems it was throwing at me immediately, instead of letting you get used to some, before moving onto more. I might try it again, as the voice acting was good. The character you start with, is voiced by the chap who did Geralt.

[@Kaynos]

What I hate the most about highest difficulties is that it often forces you into a "cookie-cutter" build. Sometimes making whole classes unviable, mostly melee one's. I like melee builds, I like big swords. Most often then not, when you raise difficulty level in a game you are forced to play as mage or range to even have a chance.

[@dfghj241]

you are refering to specifically badly designed games then, or games where a hard mode is nothing more than a stat increase on the enemies. difficulty is not about what difficulty option you click on the new game screen. its about how a game is designed in the first place. in my opinion, developers should do ONE difficulty and force players to play it, no hard mode, no easy mode.

[@nokronis]

Two of the biggest things with CRPG games that keeps me from ever doing the hardest difficulty are that I can't use the companions usually because they aren't optimized, and most of the added challenge is just bullshit AC and HP buffs. So a lot of the time it just feels like needlessly long fights. The In between Normal and the Hardest is definitely a sweet spot. Also once you make that perfect team, a lot of the time the strategy to beat any enemy group is largely repeating the exact same fight pattern over and over. Which is annoying when the fight is 10x longer. There isn't a difference between employing it 3x and 10x, just time and patience. If the game actually makes me change my fight style, that's different.

[@ducky36F]

Funnily it’s DOS2 is pretty much the only cRPG I regularly play on the highest difficulty, and Dragon Age Origins if you count that. And that’s because in DOS2 you have full control over every character and can respec them to be optimised. Bringing Mercs just isn’t the same, I want my actual companions not mercenaries. DAO you get most of them early enough that the few points they waste don’t really matter.

[@sapphicmystery2734]

I love the challenge. I generally Google how hard the highest difficulty is. I almost always play on the highest difficulty (recent exception was gow 2018 because it was basically said that it was stupidly difficult). Occasionally I'm just stuck for weeks. I love that part. In the newest tomb raider I was stuck for like 2 weeks because it required me to go through a huge chunk of story blind without dying or I'd reset. While it was frustrating, beating SoTR 100% on the highest difficulty possible without looking anything up was probably my most satisfying gaming achievement.

[@SpartanWolf222]

I started playing Pathfinder Kingmaker on Easy/Normal because I found the systems overwhelmingly difficult. As of today and over 250 hours into each game, I've actually gotten to the middle of Act 3 of WoTR on Core difficulty with very little trouble. (I do find certain enemy swarms stupidly broken, so I will turn the difficulty down to story mode just for those small encounters.) Had the same experience with playing XCOM EU/2 where I started on Easy/Normal and now I can play those games on Ironman Hard mode. More often than not, the challenge itself is just an extra incentive to innovate your strategies to get better at a game you already enjoy.

[@jjbudinski8486]

A couple of thoughts: As an older guy who grew up playing console games (Nintendo) most of the games had one difficulty, and quite a few hit the sweet spot. Some had insanely hard areas for completionists, eg Mario Sunshine IMO, but they weren't needed to beat the game, just as bragging rights. I like that sort of design, but then again that is what I grew up with. Starting on an easier mode can be great for more complex games- I am playing Pillars of Eternity for the first time and there is a ton of stuff to keep track of and wrap my head around. For games that have potentially a lot of replay value just getting through a first playthrough under the belt can make subsequent plays even more fun as the stress of learning a ton of stuff and FOMO is minimized and one can just enjoy the ride a bit more.

[@SimonCleric]

I think that one thing that should _never_ be considered a part of difficulty is user convenience. For example, Iron Man mode. It's not "difficult", it's whether or not you want to replay tens of hours of game when something _inevitably_ breaks. But yeah, I agree with you on a lot of these points. I dropped path of exile multiple times before, because that fear of messing up is always somewhere in the back of my head... Speaking of difficulty, have you played Pathologic 2? Despite not being a CRPG, I think you'd actually enjoy it quite a bit. But it's one of the games where devs added difficulty options post release, begrudgingly, because many people said the game was too hard (although they also added sliders to make it harder, lmao xD)

[@balukawaiirenekton7537]

You forgot to talk about the NG+ difficulty which is something I want in games if it has a fixed difficulty setting so that in the first pass through, the game can have a much more gentle learning curve. Most games I enjoy at hard/normal but 4x games I really enjoy at max difficulty. Civ 4-5 diety hits the spot.

[@marader6664]

The problem ive always had with Civ diety is that it doesn't play any smarter it just gets more bonuses and I don't find that fun. I find more enjoyable difficulty in Vox Populi for civ 5.

[@marader6664]

@@DJDocsVideos I know it but yeah it does suck. Hopefully they can figure out less cheaty ways than insane production reduction and free stuff but still be more challenging one day

[@fitz394]

Reasonable take. I cant imagine caring what difficulty a person played a game on lol

[@alexsamurai1230]

100% agree, generally its better to have a range of difficulties and given the choice there are plenty of games I'll enjoy on normal or even easy. That being said I will die on the hill of soulsy games having the freedom to be difficult and only difficult. For me, I like oppressively difficult challenges in 2D, and enjoy banging my head against stuff like Hollow Knight for hours at a time, but more importantly the difficulty was crucial to the experience. Hollow Knight deliberately used the omnipresent threat of death to enhance the atmosphere of oppression and danger. To run through on easy mode would be to deprive the game of the spice that makes it an unforgettable experience. On the other hand, difficulty in 3D action games doesn't appeal to me, I find the camera and complex hitboxes to be generally too unreliable and usually it takes too long between attempts. Now, because of that I never have and likely never will play Soulsbourne games. That being said, I understand how their difficulty is inherent to the experience and wouldn't want to diminish that unique high that comes from beating a boss after two hours just so I can have away to easily blast through it. I can happily accept that the game has a right to exist on its own terms, even if its not for me, and I'll just enjoy watching LPs on KZbin.

[@alexsamurai1230]

@@DJDocsVideos *Accessibility ;-)

[@BurnsidesAP]

Josh Strife Hayes said exactly the same thing about Path of the Exile recently! Great minds think alike!

[@voronwecalanon206]

I actually pretty much agree with you're preferences. I usually play at more of a normal setting, but like you said, I don't spend as much time as some and I could probably get a lot better to where I could play at a higher difficulty.

[@AM-uo2kf]

I’ve practically been gaming my whole life, and I’ve always been about that mentality of playing things you enjoy yet for some reason, my brain feels like it’s been contaminated by the more toxic, deeming community ideals, like needing to play games on their hardest settings. And in the last year I’ve noticed I’ve tried playing games on hardest settings and just not enjoying it yet. I feel like I’m somehow cheating by playing on easier difficulties.

[@johnhobbes2268]

One difficulty system I would really like to have a comeback is something they tried in Drakensang river of time. You could use dialogue options to debuff the boss in some of the fights. This lowered your reward but made the difficulty really flexible. I think they should use this system so that you can choose some debuffs to adjust it to your playstyle with the penalty of not getting some decorative/achievement items. I think bladurs gate had a hard dragon fight that functioned the same way.

[@MR67UToob]

I generally play games on 'normal' difficulty (or the equivalent thereof), as this to me is the default way the game is intended to be played. I'll only ever adjust the difficulty upwards if the game proves too easy on normal difficulty, but I can only ever remember having to do this for 2 games - Dragon Age 2 and Kingdoms of Amalur. In all other cases, 'normal' difficulty provides enough of a challenge for me to enjoy the game.

[@zhulikkulik]

My problem is that there's too much of a gap between normal and hard. For example I barely use healing items on normal, yet I never get enough of them on hard. Same with ammo. My other problem is how exactly is this “difficulty” achieved. I don't want to dance around the boss for 30 minutes because he has 800000000 hp. That's not difficult, it's just tedious. I want to dance around the boss because he hits hard and is smart. A very weird boss is hedgehog from Atomic Heart. I got the “defeat it without using weapons” achievement, but I still don't know how I managed to do it. The concept is easy - make it slam into pillars until it dies. But the execution is... Confusing. Sometimes the pillars won't activate when the boss is far away. Sometimes they will instantly get sucked back underground when hedgehog charges at you. It was a nice boss, brought back the memories of playing old games when I was a kid. But also a very weird boss without a clear pattern that is frustrating in a bad way.

[@MICKEYrenraw]

I believe all games should have difficulty options, simple because it adds replayability, if the devs intend the game to be played a certain way they can label a certain difficulty as such, even better if a game has custom difficulty options/sliders that allow the "creation" of challenge runs without the use of mods, no game is made worse is difficulty options

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

Before watching the video, to compare my take: pick whichever settings *you* enjoy, and whichever settings fit *your* availability to game. Find a game too easy, such as Kingdoms of Amalur, then bump up the difficulty. Find it too difficult or esoteric, like the 2nd edition isometric CRPGs of yesteryear, tone the difficulty down and enjoy the ride of the story and setting.

[@shawngillogly6873]

1900hrs in Kingmaker, maybe 10hrs of that on Unfair. And that is almost entirely build-testing in Beneath the Stolen Lands. I've played Nightmare for Dragon Age: Origins and DA2. But in general, I don't play highest difficulty, because I don't enjoy seeing obscene stat boosts or bonuses given the AI. In a strategy game, for instance, I'd rather they played the same difficulty you do, but give them in a better start. In Stellaris, I can actually do this, by marking 3-4 AIs as "Advanced Start," so they have 2-3 inhabited planets already. I find that a better challenge than, "Build time -50%, Resource Production +50%" like Grand Admiral does. That's not smarter AI. That's just a thumb on the scale.

[@VortymLichbane]

My introduction to CRPGs was PoE and that was pretty brutal for someone who didn't know what they were doing. I ditched my first character build because it became clear that it wasn't working for me then went back and completed the game as a more enlightened player. What an awesome game which so many people have probably quit early on due to the steep learning curve.

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

Yeah, the entire stat system for that game is so far from the 'norm' that it might take a minute to adapt. I did like the 'uses per fight' abilities though, even if they did seem a bit too "gamey". I can definitely see players shying away though when they start to encounter enemies with player class levels, meaning a full suite of spells and abilities. Those fights were a lot tougher than the ones with monsters.

[@VortymLichbane]

@@XoRandomGuyoX uses per fight makes a lot of sense at higher levels otherwise you'd just spam the best spell every time. At low levels when you only have a handful of spells it means protracted battles reduce you to slogging it out with standard weapons. As you say, you quickly learn the value or threat of magic users casting AoE buffs/debuffs.

[@VexingPongo]

I usually play 2-3 games at a time, 1 or 2 for their challenge (like Elden Ring) and then I have a "cooldown" game for when I just want to relax and not think. Modal difficulty games like PoE 2 and WotR are great for this, since I can make my character pretty much whatever and still get through the game. They also serve as something I can play for a good challenge when I'm frustrated or burnt out on my current challenge game.

[@VexingPongo]

@@DJDocsVideos I understand where you're coming from. I just used it as a more widely understood "this game is meant to be challenging"

[@Antonin1738]

I don't like difficulty settings where it's just straight up stat increase (more hp, more damage, more resistance, %hit ,etc). What I do like is when AI behavior changes so it is actually more challenging and difficult, which you don't see often tbh.

[@Arcling]

I am usually playing games on normal difficulty (or similar). There are some exceptions. For Pathfinder, I had to sometimes lower it to easy and even to story in some parts, because how some fights were unbalanced. Plus, its system can be pretty overwhelming and running with favorite story companions typically isn't the way to perfectly balance the party. Anyway, there is nothing wrong with lowering the difficulty! Everyone should play however they want.

[@arm866]

My thoughts on including difficulty settings in a game are the same as my thoughts on helping someone up when they've fallen down: you don't have to do it, but it's the nice thing to do.

[@jazy921]

Speaking of Pathfinder, it's annoying how: 1. The end-game swarms can wipe out your entire party in Kingmaker even though: a. You've beaten the main boss prior to seeing those swarms b. You've some people that can deal fire damage(their weakness) c. You're already at max level and have the best gear at that point of that game d. You have an army that you should be able to send out instead 2. One specific part of the end-game in WotR that: a. Won't let you leave/rest even though there's no urgency story-wise to stay/not rest in that place b. Is unlike 99.9% of the main game that didn't/won't prepare you for that part of the game c. It doesn't matter if you're able to beat 99.9% of the game in a higher difficulty level but that particular area was just designed to be artificially difficult compared to the rest of the game for no story/lore-related reasons at all d. Won't let you use your army instead But on the topic of difficulty, i'm curious if you've ever played any games from the Devil May Cry franchise/series as the higher the game's difficulty is, the higher the enemy's HP is which means that you can do more/longer combos in the game, thereby making it more fun for some people.

[@matthuck378]

I like games with 3-4 difficulty settings. I usually pick the middle one, if I can change at anytime during play. If I have to pick at the beginning and never change it, I pick the easiest for the first playthrough. I often dial the difficulty up or down depending on how I'm feeling and where I'm at in the game, to keep it fun. Personally, I think this should be a given when you buy a game...Like offline mode, a pause button, being able to save anywhere/anywhen, adjustable UI (color, font size, language), customizable controls, etc. I tend to judge a game pretty harshly for not including these QOL items I feel there is no excuse not to include these days.

[@thebaumfaeller1477]

I primarily play FPS titles and my usual starting point is the second highest difficulty, since most of the time normal is a bit easy if you are very familiar with the genre, The Problem there usually is, that while some games do it right and add or modify behaviour of enemys or change level layouts around, some just increase enemy health numbers or damage while decreasing those numbers for yourself. I am not completely against those stat changes but they need to be adjusted carefully, Doom 2016 for example was very enjoyable for me even though a large part of the increased difficulty was how much damage you take because there are ways to offset that by playing better through better movement, positioning and just killing the deamons faster. Games like COD on the other hand really suffer at higher difficultys because there is no way to avoid taking damage so it ends up just increasing the time you have to wait behind cover so in the end the only thing to offset that is to be more patient. Same and since it can destroy the flow of a game completely more severe is bullet sponges, that is my least favorite way to increase difficulty.

[@GunterChung]

When I have to pointlessly grind to overcome the difficulty, I begin losing motivation, and It starts feeling like a waste of time for me. A good story can help mitigate this as it encourages me to push through the difficulty. The most recent example for me is Elden Ring, in which I started out having fun, but it didn't take long before I had to grind to continue the vague and non-immersive story. My motivation to play the game dwindled and I no longer saw a point to overcoming the obstacle. Maybe one day I will try the game again but moded to be easier, but without a good story, I doubt it will ever happen.

[@elk3407]

You don't have to grind in Elden Ring. The point is if you are struggling, explore somewhere else. Thats not grinding, thats pushing the player to interact with the fun bits of the game

[@theresnothinghere1745]

Elden Ring is all about exploration. The entire story only matters is you go out of your way to interpret it. The fun comes not from grinding but by realising that if one area is too hard you can just go explore another. That exploration gives you more tools and means to ease the fight (lots of boss fights have tool items that make the fight easier that can be found by exploring). This exploration also extends mechanically there are several skills/items that are strong against some enemies and weak against others and the game wants you to explore the mechanicas to discover this. It honestly just sounds like you just fundamentally don't like the design approach of the game which is perfectly fine but its far from the game having a pointless grind.

[@SunLevi]

I used to start & finish every game I played on the highest possible setting when I was younger, fast forward to now, I play every game on casual/easy...It's funny lol. I did finished Elden ring recently though and it reminded me I'm too old for this s*** 😅 I think I just got burnt out by challenge in games (Although that's what I wanted back in the day).

[@spellandshield]

I generally play SP RPGs and usually play on the hardest difficulty. The only exception I can think of is Pathfinder and Unfair. I can do it but it is just seriously not fun so I settle for Hard instead on that one. Also, difficulty is inconsistent. POTD in POE is a fair bit harder than POTD in POE2 so these things can vary even within the same series.

[@zilmainar]

Hi Mort. Have you ever thought of tunrning some of your videos into a podcast? I was 'listening' to this video during my driving and I can say it would make a good podcast. Some of the WOTR guide such as build opinions would also make for a good podcast.

[@MortismalGaming]

Not really these videos exist, and making them takes all of my time as it is

[@Kuhtlass]

10:59 - cut was clean. If I love the game, and there is a hardest difficulty achievement, I'm like a fly to honey; should I go for the sweet sweetness, probably, is the reward worth it for the chance of drowning in sweet sweetness, no, I'm gonna go for it. It's a badge of honor for me, especially if I 100% the game along with it. Mortismal, have you tried Tails of Iron? Awesome game and 100%'ing it is a challenge, but man is it worth it.

[@henryseldon6077]

When they leave important info out of the game, your stuck searching the internet to learn more. If they include enough to go on, I can eventually figure it out. Also, when they add useless details to everything, soon it overwhelms me, it's just too much to remember, I'm only human.

[@robertthebard]

I tend to start a new RPG on Normal, and then adjust accordingly. At this stage, for example, I play Dragon Age games on Nightmare, because I understand the systems, and the character builds, and can deal with it, even if it's really not all that hard to do. Alternatively, these days, I have found myself just playing on Normal, or maybe Hard for some games, especially if I've already beaten them on the highest difficulty. A good example is Horizon Zero Dawn, which I have beaten on the highest difficulty, and now just play on Hard, because I found that Normal was just too easy. I guess I'm all over the place, which is fitting, I suppose...

[@spaceghostohio7989]

Thanks for the video. As an older gamer I stick with normal mode...love seeing all the post about how " I only play on insanity , with my eyes closed , no headphones and my monitor turned off " . Any mode that forces you to play a certain way or know what's coming , etc removes the enjoyment out of the game ..in my opinion. In the end..to each his own...whatever floats your boat. I've seem too much frustration in my time on this ball of dirt to let my hobby contribute to it.

[@TheChabowski]

Even though I can understand why people seek increased challenges in games, and I tend to lean that way myself, there comes a point where it just isn't worth it. Clearly there's another satisfaction to be gained from mechanically "beating" a game (speedrunning, for example) but once you get to the stage that you have to remove the organic "playing" from the game in order to progress or improve it just loses its appeal.

[@gregtuff4020]

I only finished the Witcher 3 on Deathmatch because I wanted to use all of the tools in Geralts arsenal. I usually play on hard because I like a challenge. I definitely agree that easy/story mode can helps with enjoyment of you're not looking for a challenge and just want to experience the story or feel like a badass mowing down enemies. Not sure easy mode is good for learning a game as you can get into bad habits. if you wanna "get gud" you kinda need to challenge yourself.

[@Qladstone]

Challenge is what the player makes of it. Trying to avoid Game Over screen is just one way of challenging yourself, and not the most fun way in my opinion. Fun challenge can be trying out different ways to play the game to your liking, maximising your own player expression. Game Over screen is a relic of "Insert Coin to Continue" arcade game design. So, the difficultly setting that gives you the most options to avoid Game Over screen easily is the best difficulty in my opinion, so you can focus on having fun and playing the game your way.

[@KenpachiMayuri]

I think the one game that handles difficulty incredibly well, is Hades. It slowly eases you into the game, so people new to the genre wont be overwhelmed, while still being challenging. Everytime there is something new to watch out for, it notifies you either by a voiceline or by a discussion with a character and everything is part of the story/world building. After all that, when you defeat the final boss (for the first time), you are rewarded with being able customize the difficulty before future runs and you are still not done with the main story! I almost never play games higher than normal, but I completed multiple runs in Hades on a difficulty that would be considered very hard. Allowing me player to build the necessary skills for a higher difficulty over time and to progess at my own pace, without being forced to do the same story over and over, is something more games needs to add.

[@mikeysorrow]

Playing on normal for the first playthrough 99% of the time. Because if story is great, but if i die all the time, once i just will hate it. There is exception of course, like DOOM/DOOM ETERNAL and main way to play it is NIGHTMARE or Miyazaki games with one difficulty. If i love the game always trying higher difficulties for the new experience. Hate when devs just add/x numbers to HP etc, it's always bad for games. Like Pathfinder, good story in second game, but man, difficulty is crazy (and notorious bugs), story mode is for me sometimes. When i trying to convince my friends to play some old crpg, i tell them just play story mode until they are ready. As i get older, there is less and less time to play, as a kid i can just grind difficulty until i win, but that times are gone forever. High difficulty - okay, story mode - okay, just enjoy the game. p.s. morti, you need some vacation bro, daily upload is insane, hope you won't burn out.

[@BeastnHarlotDFO]

The funniest aspect of difficulty in games are the elitists who think difficulty is intrinsically linked to iq; when the games you play are largely based on personal temperament. Elitism is really interesting in games like wow because you can practically feel the seething insecurity

[@gakkieNL]

I play most games on normal and sometimes hard. I tend to do as much as possible, though I couldn’t care less for trophies. I think all RPGs should have the option to respec. That way you can try and make your own build and experiment, but not get stuck and unable to finish the game when your build turns out to be not so viable later in the game.

[@hollowriller]

I like the kind of difficulty that changes how many mistakes you can make rather than pure stats, if the game simply increases damage output and hp for enemies on hard or higher that rarely makes it more fun. If let say it's a stealth game and harder or higher changes movement patterns, spawn locations, response time when detected or limits tool use that makes it more interesting, the information you gathered on normal/easy can't be relied on to win but has to be improvised a bit as you go along. For combat focused games, increasing stats can work if it dosen't make it a slog, increase damage output or lower health values on both sides so conflicts are decided by planning how you start them rather than simply a war of attrition. I really don't like bullet sponges in any kind of game, it's neither interesting or fun but instead just lazy.

[@daniel.holbrook]

When I was a teen I played every game on the highest difficulty, I think I wanted to sate my ego. Then again there was a point in the 2010s where it felt like the hardest difficulty for most mainstream releases ought to be called 'normal'... I still play most games on higher difficulties, so long as the increase in difficulty doesn't just mean stats inflated to the point of tedium... I have no qualms against playing something like Skyrim on Adept or Expert because there's more 'challenge' for me in living with failures and mistakes rather than loading a quicksave everytime I get one-shot I don't mind games without difficulty selection, what I don't like is when that supposedly static difficulty increases or decreases based on how well or how poorly you play... Metal Gear Solid 5 stopped being fun for me pretty quickly once every single enemy had a magic-headshot-stopping-helmet because I was getting too good at headshotting them

[@karlklein2263]

Personally I think games, even before video games, have at their core been about mechanics. I get they have largely evolved since then, however, I do think that having to negotiate a challenge will always be an important component of playing a game. It's a delicate balance though, because make a game too hard and then it becomes about cheesing through challenges, which in general isn't very satisfying. Challenge is just right when you as a player are considering a variety of options on how to progress, because then you're playing with the tools you're given and engaging the mechanics.

[@karlklein2263]

@@DJDocsVideos I can't stand competitive games. I think challenge and competition are different things. Also challenge isn't expressly just beating hard enemies or bosses. Try managing traffic in cities skylines. Even Sims has some form of money or life management.

[@GamerRMT]

One thing I strongly dislike in some games is the kind of quantitative difficulty that just makes fights more frustrating. Although I love the game, I do hate the way Wrath of the Righteous does the higher difficulties for example; artificially inflating enemy stats outside of what they could ever get in tabletop and say, making it so that even fully optimized physical combat characters can't land hits does not make for an enjoyable experience. I loved the build I used to beat it, but it basically amounted to me finding as many ways to bypass the game's systems as possible. Although it was satisfying after a fashion, I found myself getting a little annoyed that I had to do it in the first place.

[@sarahohara5806]

For me it's all about the way I like to play games the most: And that's in a roleplaying way, as in dressing a character for the weather they're in, be it rain or sunshine or the cold, even if has no gameplay repercussions to not do that. I even do it when it has tangible gameplay disadvantages, like taking off some kind of fur-based legendary frost armor when my character is in a volcanic dungeon and instead putting on a more temperature conform piece of armor with worse stats. That also applies to playing the game as if the character only has one life. I strongly dislike trial and error games, like the Dark Souls genre, where you die and retry and you die and retry and so on until you either brute-force it or you learn a movement set of an enemy. So when I get the ability to customize difficulty I put it to a place where I can live through most encounters. In Wrath of the Righteous that mean to me that I don't metagame and I don't put on protection from energy communal before an encounter if I know it will pelt me with Brimorak fireballs or put on see invisible when I know Baubau's are lying in wait. Once they show themselves these spells are fair-game, but just pre-buffing feels wrong to me. And the juicy difficulty customization of Wrath of the Righteous allows to play in that highly inefficient way and still succeed, even if it is not the way the game is meant to be played. Games that fully zoom in on that trial and error gameplay usually don't work for me. I might give them a try, might even enjoy the gameplay or the story a ton, but it is very rare for me to finish a game that actively pulls me out of my immersion every few minutes.

[@Tuezday1388]

Personally I start games on normal if I’m unsure of what to expect from the mechanics, depending on how fun/easy they feel I will ultimately start over and go to the highest difficulty. For example Darkest Dingeon- The loser difficulty is perfect for me. Mass Effect- Insanity is great Dragon Age - Nightmare I enjoy Dark Souls- I won’t play Resident Evil- Start normal work my nerves towards the harder difficulty and challenges.