Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

RPG difficulty

On what difficulty do you play RPGs?


  • Total voters
    125
Unwanted

Sweeper

Unwanted
Zionist Agent
Joined
Jul 28, 2018
Messages
2,394
?
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
Patron
Joined
Apr 30, 2020
Messages
3,292
Location
Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
First run usually second highest, if the game has enough modes.
That or ironman+normal.
If there is only one difficulty above normal always that.
 

NJClaw

OoOoOoOoOoh
Patron
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Messages
7,513
Location
Pronouns: rusts/rusty
Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
Voted "hard", but only because that's the new "normal".

Nobody actually plays RPGs on the hardest difficulty available, because usually it entails some sort of extremely annoying challenge. I mean, just look at what the hardest available mode is supposed to be in Deadfire and Kingmaker. People complain about Unfair, imagine playing with all those sliders turned up to the maximum.
 

Peachcurl

Cipher
Joined
Jan 3, 2020
Messages
8,794
Location
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Depends on how difficulty is implemented. Among other things.

For instance, if difficulty mostly affects enemy HP bloat, then I usually play normal or something comparable.

So I can't really give a blanket answer. Need KC option.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
Patron
Joined
Apr 30, 2020
Messages
3,292
Location
Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
Normal unless the developer indicates the game was designed around some other difficulty.

Difficulty settings are an abomination that should disappear.

JRPGs have made almost all difficulty setting disappear, and see where that got them.
Most Jarpigs are extremely easy and offer no way to further increase the difficulty. Praise those that offer a hardmode for a normal amount of challenge.
 

NJClaw

OoOoOoOoOoh
Patron
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Messages
7,513
Location
Pronouns: rusts/rusty
Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
Normal unless the developer indicates the game was designed around some other difficulty.

Difficulty settings are an abomination that should disappear.

JRPGs have made almost all difficulty setting disappear, and see where that got them.
Most Jarpigs are extremely easy and offer no way to further increase the difficulty. Praise those that offer a hardmode for a normal amount of challenge.
Souls games showed that the answer is not a laughable easy "normal" mode with higher difficulty settings without any actual thought put into them, but a reasonably challenging standard difficulty around which the entire game is designed, with optional ways to get a harder experience.
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,182
Location
Bjørgvin
Normal, since I absolutely detest HP bloat.
But I always play without save scumming, and usually with limits on resting, and I play it Iron Manlet if I can.
And I use mods like SCS for the BG games to make things more interesting.
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,182
Location
Bjørgvin
Most Jarpigs are extremely easy and offer no way to further increase the difficulty. Praise those that offer a hardmode for a normal amount of challenge.

Hmm...the most difficult (combatwise) RPG I've played was the Japanese Wizardry Chronicle. Only game in which I have grinded.
 

Doktor Best

Arcane
Joined
Feb 2, 2015
Messages
2,849
I usually go for maximum challenge, but it depends on the game. If the game is known to kick ass left and right i will show respect and pick like second hardest difficulty.

Sometimes i prefer to reduce the difficulty and make/recruit unoptimized characters/parties if they sound fun otherwise or fit a certain archetype i find interesting to play. I only play Kingmaker on hard for example because my companions are selected after personality rather than combat chadness.
 

Sultan

Novice
Patron
Joined
Aug 1, 2017
Messages
42
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Usually normal or hard depending on the type of game. I'm not interested in a higher difficulty if all it does is give the enemies a bunch more health or something stupid like that.
 

undecaf

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
3,517
Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2
Normal at first, probably higher if there’s calling for it (and calling for a rerun to begin with).
 

Xeon

Augur
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
Messages
1,858
I play on harder difficulties unless it block some features like saving whenever or just doubles enemy stats or things like that.
 

pomenitul

Arbiter
Joined
Sep 8, 2016
Messages
979
Location
μεταβολή
Hard for modern games, normal for older ones. I dislike min-maxing and prefer a more 'realistic' challenge, i.e. playing with a deliberately 'gimped' party (narrative-consistent recruitable companions and/or only slightly above-average stats on my charname(s)). I like to keep things interesting for myself without going straight for the faceroll metagaming nuclear option, which bores me to tears.
 

Butter

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 1, 2018
Messages
7,523
I always choose Normal unless there's a good reason to do something else. I think RPGs should be designed around their highest difficulty, with any lower difficulties achieved by biasing the math towards the player (Dungeon Rats). Nobody likes HP bloat, but bad players aren't going to complain about HP shrivel (?) if it means they're able to complete the game.
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
Joined
Jun 8, 2018
Messages
5,687
Location
Perched on a tree
It depends on the game, mostly, hard or a hard enough difficulty.

If the game is very good and the combat part very well designed as well as the difficulty settings, i'd replay it on the hardest difficulty available (and again).
For a game with a passable (or worse) combat design, i'd slide the difficulty toward normal if i keep playing it...
 

*-*/\--/\~

Cipher
Joined
Jul 10, 2014
Messages
909
Since Normal tends to be the new Easy and Hardest possible usually means massive stats inflation without any thought behind it, I tend to gravitate to something in between.

Though when I started gaming, I was like 8 years old and I remember shamelessly selecting Easy, wondering why my older brother would torment himself with the harder difficulties. Might have had something to do with the fact that I was really afraid of the doctor boss in Wolfenstein3D.
 

Nifft Batuff

Prophet
Joined
Nov 14, 2018
Messages
3,169
It depends on how much the game is good. If it is good and I want to savour it as long as I can, I play on hard. If it is not particularly good but I still have a curiosity to play through it, I play on easy, to speed up the game as much as possible.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
Patron
Joined
Apr 30, 2020
Messages
3,292
Location
Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
Most Jarpigs are extremely easy and offer no way to further increase the difficulty. Praise those that offer a hardmode for a normal amount of challenge.

Hmm...the most difficult (combatwise) RPG I've played was the Japanese Wizardry Chronicle. Only game in which I have grinded.

Once again the blobber is shown to be the superior JRPG subgenre.
Indie games and NES era JRPGs tend to be fine from a difficulty standpoint. I quite like the SaGa games by Kawazu Akitoshi for having very unpredictable difficulty. You can be killed 10 times in a row by random encounters or defeat a boss on your first try, since he likes to make his games purposefully vague with a lot of hidden mechanics to keep a sense of wonder alive. Not everyone's cup of tea but very unique. I am currently playing the Last Remnant by him.

But mainstream classical JRPGs are almost so easy as to become braindead.
You can read newtmonkey calling games like Breath of Fire and Lufia pointless stomps in his yearly reviews because nothing in those games ever really threatens to kill you.
Newer JRPGs aren't that much better, with the brand new Yakuza being a complete cakewalk for example.
 

Yaz

Learned
Joined
Nov 10, 2020
Messages
283
AGl0EcB.png
 

Takamori

Learned
Joined
Apr 17, 2020
Messages
875
I enjoy the hardest difficulty, since it gives me the satisfying feeling of pressure during the combat and a relief after you manage to pull through, recent RPGs that I played was Wasteland 3 on Supreme Jerk, but even on the max difficulty without perma death the encounters felt easy due to no stakes being put on the line.

PoE 1 and 2 even with its flaws I enjoyed the combat, I have both games the Path of the Damned achievement, early game I agree that is sort of unfair, but once you manage to build the basic combat identity of your party things go smooth since it will rely on your knowledge of preparation (consumable), positioning on each situation, spell preparation, equipment progression/hunting and understanding your party synergy.
 

pomenitul

Arbiter
Joined
Sep 8, 2016
Messages
979
Location
μεταβολή
Yeah, PotD is quite fun even without an optimized party. As for W3, I went with Ranger difficulty but I doubt Supreme Jerk would have made that much of a difference since so much of that game's combat boils down to swiftly executing your enemies before they can get a shot in edgewise.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom