The Importance of 'balancing' in 'Single Player' video games

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neptunusequester

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 10

@soundrogue4472 4 жыл бұрын

An interesting topic for discussion and I'm surprised this doesn't have more views.

@Nyffenschwander 7 жыл бұрын

Great video on a very interesting topic, my dude. I've seen this discussion a lot on the Binding of Isaac subreddit when I was still playing that game a lot a few years ago, but of course it also popped up in the context of Souls games. I think the issue here lies in the term we use to describe the issue: "balancing". It sounds an awful lot like what is done with patches and hotfixes to keep multiplayer interactions *balanced*. So why does that have to be done with singleplayer? I think the better term to use in the latter context would simply be "design". Games are designed to offer a certain experience, and since games are, well, games (activities with win/lose conditions), the risk/reward ratio is a crucial aspect of that design. If you allow design decisions, which reveal themselves as being bad, to remain in the game because it makes life easier for the casuls, you ruin the risk/reward ratio for everyone, and thus the intended experience with the game. It's that simple. When red chests in Binding of Isaac spit out Guppy pieces like crazy and you became Guppy every run, the game might have been more fun to some of the casul crowd. But it simply took away that great feeling you had when you became Guppy and steamrolled the game. And it was simply not what the designers had in mind. Btw, I find the approach of Battlestate Games with Escape From Tarkov very interesting: They are on record of saying that they don't give a single wet shit about balancing in that game, all they care about is realism. The M4A1 is the rifle with a combination of the highest dmg rounds *and* one of the highest firerates *and* some of the lowest recoil *and* the best ergonomics, which makes it the best assault rifle in the game. Because that is basically how it is in real life. If you have an M4 and your opponent has an AK, given that you both spot each other at the same time and have the same skill, the dude with the M4 will win the firefight every time. Needless to say that this has stirred quite some controversy among gamers, but I find this approach really interesting.

@neptunusequester 7 жыл бұрын

Unsure if I share your interest in that approach tho, video games are anything but realistic and its the job of the video game designer to make the experience presentable but working on compromises between what is 'want' and what is 'need'. That being said anything can be good if you leave the passionate community with it - which is what kinda happened in DkS. Alas, I think this topic ties well to the idea I've expressed in one of my earlier videos on how DkS would've been different with competitive scene, because as you have pointed out the word 'balance' has some odd contextual problems in the today's world :P

@MrNuclearz 7 жыл бұрын

I got Nioh complete edition a few days before New Years and damn was it worth it.

@legrandrouin 6 жыл бұрын

Great vid ! I'm still fan of your way of talking

@darkblood4078 7 жыл бұрын

This video brings up a bunch of other topics: should single player designed games have multiplayer options at all cost? Should single player action games have rpg elements at all cost? Games like Souls and Nioh show how multiplayer and rpg element can drastically change the balance of the single player mode if they become the focus of the product. Difficulty in these games can be adjusted through self imposed restrictions and such, but I'd like that games would be balanced by the developers themselves according to their original vision of project, without forcing the dedicated players into challenge runs that sometimes feel a bit overrestricted and force the player into an overcautious, boring playstyle. Just my personal opinion.