Are difficulty settings outdated?

Joe from GamersFTW discuss difficulty settings in games, and whether it's time to looks at difficulty in games in a new way rather than the old "Easy; Medium; Hard" way

[c00lvilKid69]

I don't think XCOM: Enemy Unknown was particularly difficult, it just punished players who made poor decisions. Let's be honest, most games don't do that - most of the time you'll respawn after a count down, or just try again. Personally, I couldn't care less about difficulty options, I'll usually play the game how the developers intended for it to be played. Saying that, I don't see a problem with people making the game easier, especially when it comes to a more cinematic experience like Uncharted or Heavy Rain or whatever. As for Dark Souls, I'm not sure how the online aspects would work with adjustable difficulty.

[TheDocIsOut]

It depends on the game whether or not a difficulty slider is necessary. If they feel that the difficulty is not worth the effort, or if the game's measure of difficulty is simply being "throw more dudes at the player", then certainly not. Otherwise, I see no reason why the player can't judge for themselves whether a game should be difficult or not.

[MrsNesbitt]

I like to have the option, so not oudated

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Not in my case. If it is a title I enjoyed thoroughly then it gives replay value when I eventually finish it. Difficulty has many ways to be translated and its up to the developer to chose of those methods and do it right.

[KTF26]

No,
it's good for new comers to get used to the control

[nitus10]

Well all the Souls series and even Bloodborne have a on on-line tutorial.which actually does explain the controls.

The thing with Action RPG's and make no mistake BB and the Souls series are ARPG's that take many 10's of hours to complete (speed runs exempted) . With this in mind the player of these games has to invest the time to play them no matter what the difficulty. If they can't then maybe they should play a shorter and possibly easier game.

The BB and Souls games are difficult but they are fair and you can always find the appropriate weapon and tools to go up against any creature or enemy and win. In the worst case you can even level up. I personally found that levelling up in Demon's Souls and Bloodborne was essential for me although in Dark Souls I normally level to 15 and can pretty well complete the game at that level although there some very skilful players who can do better then that.

[KTF26]

You have good point and I don't disagree
but from personal experience
for years PC is my only gaming platform
I bought PS4 with Uncharted few months ago
I couldn't go too far with the controller on normal difficulty that time
because I was trying to get used to the controller

[NickAwesome]

Absolutely not

[Radentangr]

I like difficulty sliders that balance challenge to rewards. I hate the Easy, Normal Hard choice that just gives enemies more health making it a chore to play. I actually used a difficulty slider in my last game release - ironically people complained about difficulty but refused to lower the slider... I am yet to figure a solution to that though hehe.

[nitus10]

Personally I refuse to use the difficulty slider if one exists once I have selected a difficulty level. To me changing the difficulty on the fly just because you find an enemy a little too hard is IMHO similar to cheating but then again if it does not affect me then I don't really care since the person who is doing that is only cheating themselves although I am quite sure they tell themselves this is a valid thing to do since they can't do that in real life.

When I start a game that has a difficulty settings I predominately choose "normal" or it's equivalent but if I find that is too easy for me I restart on a higher difficulty . I actually did this on The Witcher 3 and eventually restarted on "Death March" since this difficulty allowed me to appreciate the game mechanics whereas the other difficulties did not and like I have said before I refuse to drop down the difficulty by slider just because a particular enemy is proving difficult, you can always come back after you have got new weapons and armour or levelled up. Of course some people cannot see the relational behind what I just said and that is fine by me, their loss not mine.

Personally I do enjoy a challenge in a game however I don't classify myself as a highly skilled gamer and I know when the difficulty level of a game is too high for me to play and just don't play it nor do I bitch about it either. Bloodborne and the Souls games do present a challenge which actually test my skill and perseverance and after you beat a particularly difficult boss the elation is great and the virtual workout can be likened to a 100m dash.

[freshslicepizza]

if the difficulty settings don't impact anyone then why should anyone care? i ever heard people whining about brake assist and driving lines for racing games. just goes to show people will complain about anything online.

[MasterD919]

I prefer the survival modes a lot of games are shooting for these days versus a difficulty system. Strip down my stats and upgrades a bit and send me into the shit, I'm ok with that. That's real skill, not running and hiding every 5 minutes in a corner and using exploits because the game through 100 more enemies your way and upped up their HP levels when you went from Normal to Hard.