New difficulty idea
I have been playing for 50 hours on Death March (I started from scratch, I wanted to experience the deeper aspects at a higher difficulty) and I have not even left for Skellige yet, even though I'm level 20. The first few levels in White Orchard were challenging as hell, and I found myself in need of every bit of help I could get to kill monsters. I was forced to use the appropriate oils, sharpen my weapons, select the most suitable bombs and potions before the fight, etc. Now, at level 20, I easily complete lvl 25 contracts by simply swigging enhanced swallow, buffing with enhanced thunderbolt, and simply raping the enemy with igni+fast strikes.
Perhaps my finding the game too easy is due to playing too much Dark Souls, but I still believe that Death March should pose a greater challenge, and should have a steeper learning curve to counterbalance the player getting overleveled. Therefore, I suggest that a new difficulty be implemented. It could be called "PLOUGH ME AEP ARSE" and have the following changes made:
1; Monsters would take drastically reduced damage (70-80%) from any attack made with a sword that has not been buffed with the respective oil, The player would pretty much be unable to damage, let alone kill monsters without using oils.
2; Monster damage would be increased significantly, making any attack from a sizeable monster an instant kill, making it necessary to dodge at the appropriate time, instead of mashing alt, and praying.
3; Potions would NOT REFILL through meditation, and would stack in the inventory, forcing the player to learn where each plant can be bought/found, and forcing him to occassionally harvest them, and cook a new batch of potions before heading to battle.
4; XP rewards from all quests would be reduced by 30-40%, while experience gain from monsters would be increased somewhat, to offset the overall XP loss, and to make it possible to gain levels by killing monsters.
5; Money rewards would also be very significantly reduced, by as much as 80%. Currently, I'm running around with about 15k gold, and have nothing to spend it on. Having just enough gold to get by matches the atmosphere of the books better, and is one of the things that make White Orchard so challenging and amazing on Death March.
6; The effects and potency of potions and bombs would be increased, so that the player would be forced to use them, instead of throwing some bombs around from time to time, just because the effects look amazing. Likewise, using the appropriate potion for every encounter would be necessary to win the fight.
7; The bestiary would not show the weaknesses of monsters, but the flavor text would still be available (and possibly expanded) to help figure them out.
There may have been similar suggestions, but I could not find any, so I came up with my own. What do you guys think? Of course, this difficulty would be unfair as hell, but that's the point.
I have been playing for 50 hours on Death March (I started from scratch, I wanted to experience the deeper aspects at a higher difficulty) and I have not even left for Skellige yet, even though I'm level 20. The first few levels in White Orchard were challenging as hell, and I found myself in need of every bit of help I could get to kill monsters. I was forced to use the appropriate oils, sharpen my weapons, select the most suitable bombs and potions before the fight, etc. Now, at level 20, I easily complete lvl 25 contracts by simply swigging enhanced swallow, buffing with enhanced thunderbolt, and simply raping the enemy with igni+fast strikes.
Perhaps my finding the game too easy is due to playing too much Dark Souls, but I still believe that Death March should pose a greater challenge, and should have a steeper learning curve to counterbalance the player getting overleveled. Therefore, I suggest that a new difficulty be implemented. It could be called "PLOUGH ME AEP ARSE" and have the following changes made:
1; Monsters would take drastically reduced damage (70-80%) from any attack made with a sword that has not been buffed with the respective oil, The player would pretty much be unable to damage, let alone kill monsters without using oils.
2; Monster damage would be increased significantly, making any attack from a sizeable monster an instant kill, making it necessary to dodge at the appropriate time, instead of mashing alt, and praying.
3; Potions would NOT REFILL through meditation, and would stack in the inventory, forcing the player to learn where each plant can be bought/found, and forcing him to occassionally harvest them, and cook a new batch of potions before heading to battle.
4; XP rewards from all quests would be reduced by 30-40%, while experience gain from monsters would be increased somewhat, to offset the overall XP loss, and to make it possible to gain levels by killing monsters.
5; Money rewards would also be very significantly reduced, by as much as 80%. Currently, I'm running around with about 15k gold, and have nothing to spend it on. Having just enough gold to get by matches the atmosphere of the books better, and is one of the things that make White Orchard so challenging and amazing on Death March.
6; The effects and potency of potions and bombs would be increased, so that the player would be forced to use them, instead of throwing some bombs around from time to time, just because the effects look amazing. Likewise, using the appropriate potion for every encounter would be necessary to win the fight.
7; The bestiary would not show the weaknesses of monsters, but the flavor text would still be available (and possibly expanded) to help figure them out.
There may have been similar suggestions, but I could not find any, so I came up with my own. What do you guys think? Of course, this difficulty would be unfair as hell, but that's the point.