Weekly Poll 9/25/18 - Difficulty Levels

[Razrback16]

I like the games I play to be challenging, but not borderline impossible. For example when I play Witcher 3, I generally keep "enemy upscaling" turned on, and I constantly adjust the difficulty level of the game on the fly to ensure the fights aren't too easy - I want a pack of wolves to be a legitimate threat. But I also don't want to die in 2 hits from them because that's not realistic, either.

 

[lelxrv]

Regarding difficulty, I don't have much specific demands, but I know one thing I totally don't want. Thief: The Dark Project had a system, when harder difficulty adds content. For example, on expert your mission gets more task, but these tasks enrich the lore, the story and characters. What it does is strips the game of any side activity on easier difficulties and if you want to enjoy the world of Thief in full, you don't have any other option but to play on expert. It's certainly adds realism, but feels like cheating.

TLDR, difficulty shouldn't affect story, quests. Difficulty should come from mechanics of the game.

 

[CyberBrett]

I will be happy if the difficulty setting are like TW3 and you can turn them up or down in game . I recommended to any new players to start TW3 on easy to get uses to combat ( which had a different style ) then turn it to a higher level when you got your head around the tactics .

 

[pawcket]

I personally voted for 4,5 and 7.

What I really disliked about most shooter is the lack of respect towards the damage the guns actually do. Enemies that can take 10+ shots to the head must have a good reason for it, either a reinforcement/enhancement/armor or force field to name a few examples.

Health should work in a way in relation to where certain parts of the body are hit. Killing an enemy by shooting them in the foot with a "OP handcannon" isn't realistic..

 

[BaalNergal]

What I really disliked about most shooter is the lack of respect towards the damage the guns actually do. Enemies that can take 10+ shots to the head must have a good reason for it, either a reinforcement/enhancement/armor or force field to name a few examples.

You can survive a lot more damage to the head than most people think you can; Simo Häyhä (famous anti-Russian sniper nicknamed the White Death) took an explosive bullet to the head and not only survived, but continued military service afterward and eventually died of old age at 96.

You can even survive being shot through the brain, depending on which sections of the brain the bullet passes through.

It all depends on where it hits you and if the shot overpenetrates. Overpenetration can contribute massively to a human's survival, as the bullet passing through tends to severely limit how much damage a bullet does; the most effective killshots are ones that have the bullet bouncing around inside you a bit to maximize their damage.

For members of the animal kingdom, humans tend to be amazingly difficult to kill. Human anatomy is adapted to survive otherwise-lethal injuries, and often even outright-lethal injuries with medical assistance, and is aided by an unmatched diversity in diet, amazing climatic adaptability (humans have permanent residents on all seven continents and Earth's orbit), an advanced intelligence that allows improvement upon those features, a strange mental setup that prevents most people from realizing how tough humans really are, a drive to dominate, and an amazing capacity to bond outside of species.

Basically, humans are Terminators with better personalities. Which is why so much human innovation has been devoted to killing each other and so little has had to be devoted to saving each other.

Health should work in a way in relation to where certain parts of the body are hit. Killing an enemy by shooting them in the foot with a "OP handcannon" isn't realistic..

People die from it all of the time in real life. Well, technically, they die from shock, but the shock is caused by the bullet wound.

Shock, lethal food allergies, heavy metals, and disease are about the only things that easily kill humans.

 

[Marquis_deShade]

4, 7, 9 here.

As with most subjects, I'm all for options whether those options are my personal preference, or not.
I'd love to see a basically God Mode "easy" setting, as well as an unforgiving hateful reality "Nighmare/survival" mode where if you die, that's the end of THAT character and you can't reload an earlier save, because that character is dead, dead, DEAD.

Having a broad range of difficulty sliders and toggles is also preferable.

How is your character effected by injury? Slider.
How tough are enemies? Slider.
More or less enemies? Slider.
Humanity cost for Cyberware? Slider.
How challenging is Stealth? Hacking? Crafting? Slider.
Rewards/drops/payments/loot? Slider.
Vendor Inventory/money? Slider.

Saves? Checkpoints, or Any time? Toggle
Food/drink/bathroom/hygiene requirements/effects? Toggle? Slider?
Headbob, Field of View, Depth of Field, Colorblind options? Toggles? Sliders?
Stamina, Carry Weight, Inventory Size Restriction? Toggles? Sliders?

... basically, for any preference, then, please, let there be a slider and/or toggle.

these can be tied to a master difficulty slider, and then, have the drill-down custom settings option.

If there's a console command value, or toggle, then, may as well tie it to a clicky, slidey option in the game options menu.

Eh. That's my stance on it.
We'll see when we see.

 

[CyberBobber]

Shouldnt Witcher 3 be enough? As long its there.

More reinforcements sounds like a nice twist. Usually difficult lvl isnt built on adding more enemies.

 

[Bloodartist]

I am in for the immersion, not unrealistic challenge. If I die quick, then so should the enemies. But more likely I will play on easy-equivalent and enjoy my power-fantasy.

Also, In order for the progression to feel like progression, the game should feel considerably easier once you are more "upgraded". This is the issue I have with games that have scaling enemies (such as skyrim). The difficulty remains the same so it feels you have accomplished nothing.

 

[Suhiira]

This is the issue I have with games that have scaling enemies (such as skyrim). The difficulty remains the same so it feels you have accomplished nothing.

Yeah, scaling enemies can work but NOT if the whole game scales.

What I mean is in an open world game the dev's really can't predict how skilled your character will be when you tackle main mission events. Tho they should have a certain minimum you need (so you can't complete the entire game as an unskilled noob) main mission events can, and should, scale so no matter when you tackle them they're a challenge.

This doesn't apply to side missions however. You out-level them, tough, you get crap XP/loot.

 

[BabalKabak]

4, 7, 9 here.

As with most subjects, I'm all for options whether those options are my personal preference, or not.
I'd love to see a basically God Mode "easy" setting, as well as an unforgiving hateful reality "Nighmare/survival" mode where if you die, that's the end of THAT character and you can't reload an earlier save, because that character is dead, dead, DEAD.

Having a broad range of difficulty sliders and toggles is also preferable.

How is your character effected by injury? Slider.
How tough are enemies? Slider.
More or less enemies? Slider.
Humanity cost for Cyberware? Slider.
How challenging is Stealth? Hacking? Crafting? Slider.
Rewards/drops/payments/loot? Slider.
Vendor Inventory/money? Slider.

Saves? Checkpoints, or Any time? Toggle
Food/drink/bathroom/hygiene requirements/effects? Toggle? Slider?
Headbob, Field of View, Depth of Field, Colorblind options? Toggles? Sliders?
Stamina, Carry Weight, Inventory Size Restriction? Toggles? Sliders?

... basically, for any preference, then, please, let there be a slider and/or toggle.

these can be tied to a master difficulty slider, and then, have the drill-down custom settings option.

If there's a console command value, or toggle, then, may as well tie it to a clicky, slidey option in the game options menu.

Eh. That's my stance on it.
We'll see when we see.

Approved ! Now I wish the difficulty system would be a set of parameters like graphics and stuff.

And about that survival mode, approved too. The only feature it would need is the option to skip the introduction scene and tutorials, if any.