Kefka
Watchdog
- Joined
- May 15, 2011
- Messages
- 108
Well, I'm personally not a fan of difficulty levels - because it takes the design and balance out of the hands of the developers and into the hands of the players - to an extent. This assumes that the player can make a fully qualified choice without having actually played the game before - and that's largely impossible. So, you never end up with a pure experience, and you'll inevitably start to doubt whether it's too hard or too easy. I hate that - and I just want the game as it was envisioned, and I don't want any doubts that I'm not experiencing the game to its full potential.
So, I'm a great fan of how Dark Souls is handling it - and I think it's a brave design choice - because it WILL reduce the potential audience.
Then again, I think it's fantastic when designers go for the art, rather than the commerce. It's a risk - but I do think it can pay off big time. Sometimes, it can even turn casual/mainstream gamers into enthusiast gamers - because they might like the game enough to put forth the extra effort.
In my opinion, the developers of Dark Souls should focus on the kind of experience they want the players to have - and they should not be too concerned by people who're not able to enjoy it. I don't think all games should be for everyone - and I actually think games are much better when being developed as something the designers would play, rather than what they think the players might want.
Sure the designer should do what they want. But a company also needs to make money, more money more they can invest in more games, or games with bigger budgets. I think easy mode would make Dark Soul a little more popular, so more sales, more money, bigger budget for sequel, etc. So I think its a good thing for all.
And you say I can't make a choice without having played the game, have you consider that many people including me play the game then make the choice? I play TES/Fallout games vanilla first, on normal so I know what I want to change. If I do play Dark Soul's I will surely try the normal difficulty first, maybe I will like it. Knowing me I don't think I will and I don't wish to go to the trouble of installing a game that I don't think there is a good chance I will want to play it. The mods for Dark Soul that make it easier make it so I might just give the game a chance.
Also I don't care much when is come to artistic vision, I know what I like. I almost always mod every game I play, I am picky. I wish I where not as it would make it easier to just enjoy the game for what it is, but I can't. This is perhaps why I am a part time gamer, just hard to find enough games to keep me playing daily that I enjoy.
- Joined
- May 15, 2011
- Messages
- 108