Poll: How should games handle difficulty?

[BFG10K]

I think the best way is how the Elder Scrolls do it (#3). A simple slider that controls all damage dealt. This lets the player customize the game to their liking while nothing else changes, so you’re always getting the full gameplay experience.

I also like how Tomb Raider Shadow let you adjust puzzle difficulty, allowing #6 and #7 for just the tomb raiding, while you could raise the combat difficulty separately.

I’m not a fan of #1 as in many cases it doesn’t make things harder, it just causes digital “crowding”. Also #5 is terrible. Vietcong did this by restricting quicksaving and it was extremely frustrating.

 

[DigDog]

i dont like the damage upping, nor the extra HP for monsters. bullet sponges suck, always. i'm ok with more damage if it's higher for both player and monsters.
if you want to make enemies more dangerous, up the AI.
im ok with increasing the number of enemies without overdoing it.
and saving everywhere sucks. just too easy to spam F5.

 

[EXCellR8]

Yea enemy count is alright unless it's clearly to force players to drastically change play style or there's not enough ammo/resources to actually engage all enemies.

Limited checkpoints/saves is good if you're looking for more challenging experiences and higher risk (but rewards need to be higher, too)

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I just wish someone would figure out a better way of programming AI. AI that “cheats” or follows a path/formula is pretty tiring.
I’d love to see an AI that is capable of playing like a human. Not a super human but anywhere from low human skill to high human skill.
Games difficulties are a joke.

 

[zinfamous]

1,2,3,4,8.

Even though it often ends up being done poorly, I think you still have to fiddle with damage output/input when upping the difficulty. Just don't make everything bullet/sword sponges as they only mechanic for raising difficulty. I think better AI and resource limitations are overall better, but the AI thing is probably way more complex and no one wants to bother with different behavior in different settings, no?

 

[zinfamous]

i dont like the damage upping, nor the extra HP for monsters. bullet sponges suck, always. i'm ok with more damage if it's higher for both player and monsters.
if you want to make enemies more dangerous, up the AI.
im ok with increasing the number of enemies without overdoing it.
and saving everywhere sucks. just too easy to spam F5.

F5ing everywhere helps to limit the "how do you guys have enough time to play these games?" problem.

I hate console-style save points. Drives me nuts.

 

[Igo69]

I voted 1-3 but i mostly like lots of enemies so the harder the difficulty the more enemies. Really hate boss fight because I always lose and dont like to fight many times over just to get through that boss.

 

[DigDog]

F5ing everywhere helps to limit the "how do you guys have enough time to play these games?" problem.

I hate console-style save points. Drives me nuts.

as someone who played the original arcade video games, i feel that the difficulty is (the main?) part of the game. Most games that allow quicksave tend to be trivial in difficulty.

 

[BFG10K]

Most games that allow quicksave tend to be trivial in difficulty.

That isn't true. A lot of games with quicksaves have punishing difficulty at their highest levels.

 

[shortylickens]

I think a change in difficulty should be genuinely meaningful. Like change slightly how the game is played. Give us a reason to keep coming back for more gameplay.

 

[DigDog]

That isn't true. A lot of games with quicksaves have punishing difficulty at their highest levels.

it doesnt really matter, though, or does it.

example:

i decided for once to do what everyone esle does, and play Skyrim a second time. Me, i dont replay games unless it's stuff like FTL or Angband, or Quake, etc, but not story-driven RPGs.
And, i decided to do it at Master difficulty, as i had found the game trivial on previous occasions.

I got quickly bored of getting 1-shotted by wolves, and decided that my character needed some boost - legit, by-the-book boost.

I thought to myself that a nice enchantment would do, but i needed a full-sized soul gem and some other goods, all of which can be found on a shrine on the top of some mountain, with 2 daedra princes (? bad guys?) guarding it.

I went in and got my ass kicked. ok, fair enough.

i climbed the mountain again (i didnt quicksave, DUH) and along the way grabbed whatever alchemy ingredients i had. At the time i had ZERO alchemy skill.
I spammed random potions to learn some ingredients and made a stash of potions. Cheap, basic ntry-level potions.

i then buffed myself to sick levels by using said potions all in one go, quicksaved in front of the first daedra, swung wildly my sword, and by complete randomness i crippled the guy in 2 seconds flat, quicksaved, stormed in, rushed the second daedra, got killed, reloaded, rushed in, and killed it while still under the effects of the potions.
And then i stopped playing about half an hour later because no AAA game should be that broken.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

it doesnt really matter, though, or does it.

example:

i decided for once to do what everyone esle does, and play Skyrim a second time. Me, i dont replay games unless it's stuff like FTL or Angband, or Quake, etc, but not story-driven RPGs.
And, i decided to do it at Master difficulty, as i had found the game trivial on previous occasions.

I got quickly bored of getting 1-shotted by wolves, and decided that my character needed some boost - legit, by-the-book boost.

I thought to myself that a nice enchantment would do, but i needed a full-sized soul gem and some other goods, all of which can be found on a shrine on the top of some mountain, with 2 daedra princes (? bad guys?) guarding it.

I went in and got my ass kicked. ok, fair enough.

i climbed the mountain again (i didnt quicksave, DUH) and along the way grabbed whatever alchemy ingredients i had. At the time i had ZERO alchemy skill.
I spammed random potions to learn some ingredients and made a stash of potions. Cheap, basic ntry-level potions.

i then buffed myself to sick levels by using said potions all in one go, quicksaved in front of the first daedra, swung wildly my sword, and by complete randomness i crippled the guy in 2 seconds flat, quicksaved, stormed in, rushed the second daedra, got killed, reloaded, rushed in, and killed it while still under the effects of the potions.
And then i stopped playing about half an hour later because no AAA game should be that broken.

You literally used the in-game mechanics to defeat something relatively easy in order to gain something relatively simple. That should feel empowering. That should be a joyous display of mechanic utilization to defeat the developer (DM) who tried to stop you.

Does nobody else play games specifically *for* that feeling?

You should try Dwarf Fortress sometime, if you haven't. That's a good example of a game who's difficulty level mandates using every trick, 'cheese', and 'exploit' available just to survive.

 

[DigDog]

In order of difficulty,
3. get laid
2. earn a PhD
1. learn to play DF

 

[Stg-Flame]

it doesnt really matter, though, or does it.

example:

i decided for once to do what everyone esle does, and play Skyrim a second time. Me, i dont replay games unless it's stuff like FTL or Angband, or Quake, etc, but not story-driven RPGs.
And, i decided to do it at Master difficulty, as i had found the game trivial on previous occasions.

I got quickly bored of getting 1-shotted by wolves, and decided that my character needed some boost - legit, by-the-book boost.

I thought to myself that a nice enchantment would do, but i needed a full-sized soul gem and some other goods, all of which can be found on a shrine on the top of some mountain, with 2 daedra princes (? bad guys?) guarding it.

I went in and got my ass kicked. ok, fair enough.

i climbed the mountain again (i didnt quicksave, DUH) and along the way grabbed whatever alchemy ingredients i had. At the time i had ZERO alchemy skill.
I spammed random potions to learn some ingredients and made a stash of potions. Cheap, basic ntry-level potions.

i then buffed myself to sick levels by using said potions all in one go, quicksaved in front of the first daedra, swung wildly my sword, and by complete randomness i crippled the guy in 2 seconds flat, quicksaved, stormed in, rushed the second daedra, got killed, reloaded, rushed in, and killed it while still under the effects of the potions.
And then i stopped playing about half an hour later because no AAA game should be that broken.

But, that's not broken. That's how the game works. Do you understand how game mechanics work?

I suggest you play Rimworld. That game has a tendency to notice that you've got a great setup going and then throw something ridiculous at you (even on the easiest difficulties). You can also choose right from the start of world generation whether or not you're allowed to manually save your game (in case you figured it wasn't hard enough). In some cases, it breathes new life into the game by making your choices have real consequences. On the other hand, if you get a decent start, it can quickly be demolished by a single event (or lack of micromanagement).

On topic: I went with 1-4, 8, and 9. For point #3, I greatly dislike games turning into bullet sponges at higher difficulties, but some games increase the damage/HP of enemies, but also offer you better rewards to dish out damage (Terraria and Borderlands series for example). That being said, not many games know how to handle increasing damage/HP correctly and instead just turn the game into "do the same thing you've been doing, but now do it longer" and that's not increasing the difficulty, that's making a good game boring.

 

[Aikouka]

I might be a bit biased given that I find AI interesting, but I think it's probably one of the best -- if not the best -- way to achieve proper difficulty. The only problem is that creating an effective AI can be rather difficult because we usually want to given them some sense of being human-like or at least "lifelike".

I think that one aspect that makes this hard is that we're taking the AI, which has its own set of inputs, and attempting to make it appear more natural. An old example of this is about creating bots in an FPS game. If a computer wants a bot to aim, what's the best way to simulate how humans aim in the game when the computer already knows where everything is? In a "simple" setup, you can design the game to have a variable lock-on and miss rate, which is adjusted by the difficulty rating. The lock-on represents how long it takes for a computer to see an opponent before it is ready to fire, and the miss rate represents how often those locked-on shots will miss. A high-end bot will have a lower lock-on time and a low miss rate.

On the flip side, what I don't enjoy much are bullet sponges. It's one of the reasons why I don't play games like Dark Souls as I just get kind of bored rolling around while slapping the boss during some random opening for 10 minutes until it finally dies. (That's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.) I know some people like the idea of meticulously executing the routine to ensure the boss perishes, but I can't take that for such a long duration.

 

[Fenixgoon]

better AI, more limited resources primarily
only slight increases to # enemies and damage - i really hate getting 1 or 2-shot especially because of a minor execution error.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I like how many games I have played handle difficulty. Big fan of how Witcher 3 and AC: Odyssesy let you take on something way above your pay grade if you are feeling your oats. The least appealing to me is the eat, drink, sleep, stuff.

 

[PlanetJosh]

A more Hints option in games would work for me.

And Other. Meaning include a walkthrough video or text in the menu. Doesn't have to be in gameplay. I know that sounds like a silly idea to some but for years I've used YouTube walkthroughs when the going gets tough like in Shadow of the Tomb Raider for example. I can't be expected to figure out the way through all those missions in that game on my own even with the help like map icons and so on.

 

[DigDog]

..never mind

 

[Printed Circuit Bro]

1, 2, 3, 4, and 6.