Difficulty

An Easy Mode for Dark Souls? – Part 5

Previous posts in this series have looked at how adding an optional Easy Mode to Dark Souls would dilute the experience whether you choose to use the mode or don’t. I’ve talked about how the game is actually more welcoming than it seems, and the advantages of choosing a specific design-niche instead of simply tryingContinue reading “An Easy Mode for Dark Souls? – Part 5”

An Easy Mode for Dark Souls? – Part 4

In previous posts in this series I’ve discussed how adding an Easy Mode to Dark Souls would make the experience worse for people who choose to use it, and even the people who don’t choose to use it. In part 3 I examined how Dark Souls is actually more welcoming than it seems and doesn’tContinue reading “An Easy Mode for Dark Souls? – Part 4”

An Easy Mode for Dark Souls? – Part 3

This is the third blog post in a series examining the question of whether Dark Souls would benefit from an optional Easy Mode. Part 1 was about how an Easy Mode would rupture the game’s themes, and Part 2 examined how Easy Mode would lessen your experience even if you never choose it. This timeContinue reading “An Easy Mode for Dark Souls? – Part 3”

An Easy Mode for Dark Souls? – Part 2

Last week I talked about how an Easy Mode for Dark Souls would rupture the game’s themes. That’s the main reason that adding one would be a bad idea, but there are also several more. Proponents of Easy Mode tend to stress that such a mode would be optional. It wouldn’t change the experience forContinue reading “An Easy Mode for Dark Souls? – Part 2”

An Easy Mode for Dark Souls? – Part 1

In previous blog posts I’ve already laid out my thoughts on game difficulty and selectable difficulty modes. This week, however, I’d like to look at a specific difficulty-related question that is still often asked in the gaming community. Should Dark Souls have an optional Easy Mode? The most famous thing about Dark Souls is itsContinue reading “An Easy Mode for Dark Souls? – Part 1”

Difficulty modes

I’ve already made some general remarks about difficulty in a previous post, but this time I’d like to talk about something that is a common way to handle difficulty in games: selectable difficulty modes. Being able to choose the difficulty of a game before you start is a common enough feature, so much so thatContinue reading “Difficulty modes”

What good is a world without strength!? Gozu-Tennoh, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Difficulty is a very important aspect of most video games. Almost every game features some kind of failure-state, and playing the game while avoiding it is almost always the goal. Moreover, the difficulty of the game normally dominates how it feels toContinue reading “Difficulty”