Hi all! In this text, I would like to discuss how the level of difficulty affects immersion.Well, let’s go. Now that various battle royales, on-rails shooters and interactive films are king, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to immerse yourself in the game. You play Fortnite while listening to music, play Until Down, check messages on social networks, take headshots in Call of Duty during intimate waxing, etc.d. Perhaps the above examples are signs of gaming impotence, but I heard the following statement from a friend: “… but Vozmak didn’t come to me… You’re stupidly running around calling everyone out… the game is a THUMP!"My playthrough of The Witcher 3 immediately popped into my head (by the way, I played the game on the last difficulty) and I started thinking… Or maybe the chosen difficulty level played a cruel joke on my friend? Maybe that very high difficulty would have opened his eyes to game mechanics that were unnoticed as unnecessary at the average difficulty level?
This is what “summoned enemies” look like in The Witcher 3
Well, let’s not go far and take the recent Resident Evil 2. Playing it on the easiest difficulty level makes no sense in my opinion. Zombies fall from one headshot and do not rise after being killed, ammo is scattered throughout the location at every turn, as if you were running through a military warehouse with ammunition, and not through a police station. Health regenerates on its own. The game will kindly make an autosave for you. A player unfamiliar with the series could turn on the game on this difficulty, run through the campaign in three and a half hours and say “the game is crap”.So does it work out??
This is what the game looks like 60% of the time on hard
At one time, everyone criticized Order 1886 for its transience. Like “pew-pew for a couple of hours and credits. ». So you set the difficulty higher! It’s clear that there’s a mechanic with a gulkin’s beak, but on Hardе at least you’ll start to flank your enemies, just as they do you. Remember that the game has grenades and there is more than one type of weapon.
Yes, Order 1886 did not shine with a variety of mechanics, but the game felt more vibrant on maximum difficulty.
Take Last of US on Grounded difficulty. A room with 6 enemies, and you have 2 cartridges in the clip. You take two headshots, throw a brick in the head of the third, take the fourth hostage, bluff about the presence of cartridges in the pistol, etc.d. This is how you would behave in a post-apocalyptic environment (well, if you were Chuck Norris, of course).
On Grounded difficulty, you try to get out of every fight, saving the maximum amount of ammunition.
Well, the same Wither 3… You come to the midnight owl and get luley… You load up… Like a true master, you climb into the bestiary, run for the ingredients for crafting weapon oils, craft them, sit by the fire, wait for midnight, sharpen your blade with a touchstone, drink a decoction for courage… This is how you should play it. And not “You run around stupidly and call everyone… the game is THUMP!»
The gameplay in The Wither 3 is revealed only on the "To Death" difficulty!»
I haven’t yet remembered how in Gothic you had to look for a quest sword, having only an approximate description of its location. And not like in these Skyrims of yours, everything is marked, yes marked. On the other hand, if it’s easy for you and you’re not interested, then turn off these markers on the map. Even in the recent Red Dead Redemption 2 this can be done.
With the UI disabled, Read Dead Redemption 2 is a lot more immersive while also being a little more challenging.
Although I admit that this rule does not work for all games. The same Uncharted on maximum difficulty turns into a dull shooter with shelters. He leaned out for a split second and delivered a headshot. Repeated 20 times.The dynamics slow down, the entertainment disappears.In Max Payne 3, high difficulty also does not play into the hands of the project. Everything will turn into a positional shooter again.But there is a mode called “time doesn’t wait”, in which there is a countdown timer, when it reaches 0, on which we see the inscription Game Over. Yes, it complicates the player’s life, but at the same time it shows the gameplay in all its glory. You can’t stand still, and the more beautiful the murder, the more time will be added to this unfortunate timer.
Yes, in this mode the game doesn’t let you breathe out, but the dynamics and entertainment increases significantly.
Many will say: “Dude, this is all about the issue of gaming impotence… Close the social media tabs.”.nets, closing the curtains and making coffee, he would have tasted the game better.“I think that high difficulty would immediately rub his nose into those mechanics that he does not notice on easy difficulty. And maybe he would dive a little deeper into the game.
Maybe I’m wrong… I’ll be glad to discuss this topic! It just blew me away… And for those who are too lazy to read, the video version is below. Come on in and support your brother! Need constructive criticism! Well, that’s all I have. All the best! Well, positive, as usual.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
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The example with an interactive https://casino666.uk/games/ movie is incorrect.To. on increased difficulty, the buns are compressed only this way in the risk stages of leaving for the other ending.
But in general, it was in vain that I did not touch upon the topic of reduced difficulty, since in some projects only increased difficulty reveals the gameplay, and lower difficulty stupidly removes many irritants.
For example, the Code series. Increasing the difficulty is equivalent to increasing the damage in your direction and the accuracy of enemies, and given the number of them, this does not force you to act tactically or strategically. This is high-speed pixel hunting, while on low difficulty CoD turns into an attraction with a bunch of staged events. I don’t think it’s worth saying which is more fun. Surely there will be perverts who enjoy pixel hunting.
What else? Well, let’s say slashers. Yes, yes, increasing the level encourages you to juggle techniques, control the distance of enemies and keep the pace… but at the same time you may not be allowed to play with techniques due to the increased number of opponents and the appearance of more dangerous representatives at early levels (which goes against the lore of the game, by the way). Lowering the difficulty gives exactly as many enemies as the developer actually expected, and you are allowed to fully play with weapons, movesets and move on through the plot without significant stops.
RPG? But aren’t they loved for their plot?? That’s it, playing an RPG on a lower difficulty doesn’t mean making the game more boring.To. the root of everything is quests, characters and events. I’ll even say that complexity directly affects roleplay and, if desired, you can create an appropriate image and ultimately have fun.
Wolfenstein? The higher the difficulty, the more the game wants to see you in defense and stealth, when the mechanics allow you to create full-fledged MEAT, but at the same time, if the level is above average, you will first think about cover, and only then about attack.
Therefore, “it’s a matter of complexity” thesis is correct, but not necessarily of increased complexity. Difficulty can give you exactly the gameplay experience you want. The game has complex gameplay mechanics? if you are ready to study it, take the difficult one.To. clearly they made the game with it in mind. Spinal game? Why then complicate your life if the project won’t give you anything other than a stray bullet?? The game is Japanese JRPG and you don’t like grinding? At the first hint of grinding, lower the difficulty and enjoy, fortunately, lowering the difficulty is just like lowering the enemy levels, which allows you to fine-tune everything to suit you. Quests? If only the plot catches you, lower the difficulty of the riddles and just enjoy the story.
And yes, if a friend didn’t like the Witcher, then increasing the difficulty will not save the situation.To. he didn’t like the basic gameplay. No matter how much you put “meat” on it in the form of a challenge and the need to use mechanics, if you don’t like “hitting” and “walking”, then what will it change?? Unless there will be more of the first.
The idea “I didn’t get it once in 30 hours, let’s add mechanics to make it last longer.”!» terrible. So you understand, this is how to add enemies with shields to the code when you don’t like the shooting itself at all. There seems to be more depth, but definitely not pleasure. And if this forces you to replay the task and just take longer to complete them… God no!
Dark 2 caused damage when passing through fog? What nonsense? Or are you talking about units biting you in the ass while you’re walking through the fog?? Me too, problem. There are so many heals added that after the fog you will have time to undergo treatment, imprison yourself, pray and praise the sun.
And this has nothing to do with the difficulty curve. I even see the idea behind it and it’s more than logical.To. before going to the boss, this is a testing ground for timings. You know who is where, you know their moveset, all you have to do is either dodge or fight with everyone, thereby gaining a lifelong skill. Yes, it gets tiring after mastering the mechanics. Yes, and not wanting to master them, it will reject them. Yes, even just boring. But this has nothing to do with complexity. Only for game design.
For example, in Dark Souls 2, when passing through the “fog” to the boss, the player receives damage (in other parts this is not the case)
Such a way of speaking that I only got through the first paragraph. Too degraded, yard slang, or rather not the wording itself, but their concentration. Problems in the introduction and design.
It’s unpleasant to read, especially with spelling errors. Immediately repels, despite the theme and game.
I agree, but partially. As a rule, in RPGs the plot is spread thinly over a hundred hours of GAMEPLAY. The game can’t be pulled off by plot alone, it’s a game. And I agree about QTEs in “interactive movies”. Probably a bad example. One way or another, thanks for the detailed answer, and expressing your opinion without the stupid “disagree-minus”. »
Well, first of all, I want to say – I am a supporter of one difficulty in games, but one that is balanced (well, with the exception of special. genres, such as slashers). The approach of simply increasing HP and damage to enemies and calling it high difficulty is considered creative impotence. Yes, sometimes it works, but usually you need to tweak a few more parameters.
Secondly, The Witcher 3, for all its awesomeness, even at maximum difficulty, after lvl 11 (the first crafted witcher armor) does not encourage you to use even half of the provided mechanics – Quen and quick strikes are stupidly more effective in 99% of cases (by the way, in the second part, quick and strong strikes were used depending on the type of enemy – it’s a pity that this was abandoned).
I can’t say anything about the other games mentioned in the blog – I haven’t played them. Well, except for Gothic, I love it with all my heart, but I can’t play it anymore – it’s stupidly not interesting, I’ve played through it too many times – it’s boring, and all the more or less difficult challenges have turned into a routine 🙁
In conclusion of this somewhat abstract and amorphous comment, I want to say – now they make TOO many levels of difficulty and don’t balance them at all. I can give positive examples – Neverwinter Nigsth 2 for DnD-like systems, Serious Sam 1 – for meat shooters. RE2R – for survival/horror. Dark Souls – for action RPG.
And thanks for the blog – a sore subject.
Comments about the style are a plus, it’s really off-putting.
In general I agree with Jakie and noclafer, and I don’t really want to repeat what was said.
In general, go to hell everyone who says I’m playing wrong. It’s not very right to play at all; you could spend your time more usefully)) Seriously. Why do I have to disable the interface with The Witcher?? What if I don’t want to scour the map looking for who knows what, if I’m more interested in the world and stories? But in the duology about the goblin Styx I set the difficulty to maximum, it seemed more fun to me. In the finale of Toukidden Kiwami, he even included a one-shot cheat, t.To. The plot was interesting, but I got tired of fighting.
People are different, and they see pleasure in different ways. And if you don’t like the game at all, even turning the difficulty slider on your reproductive organ won’t help.
At least put an avatar. I don’t know if you were in SG, it’s painfully strong deja vu, but at least for the sake of decency, “get dressed”.
About RPGs, the basis in gameplay is clear, but a huge bet is on the world, dialogues and characters. The gameplay from reduced difficulty will not suddenly become downright BAD, but will simply adjust to the image that the player has in his head. Geralt chops everyone with one left? So he only became more experienced by returning his memories! And in general, this breaks the narrative as much as sweaty pokes and dodges, after which a video with a pathetic battle on equal terms. The basis of the gameplay is the feeling of the game, and a competent difficulty curve is an amplifier of sensations and here it can work both in increasing and decreasing, depending on the game and the player.
Plus, isn’t it an evil irony that in GoW the most ass-kicking difficulty where Kratos is unreasonably weak is called the God of War, where on medium and minimum difficulty you can feel like these very gods? G.G
A clear example of how increasing the difficulty level only negatively affects the narrative, making the character unreasonably weaker than the game shows.
Well, this argument only has weight for the Russian segment. Our salaries are not enough to buy 4k games, but that doesn’t make the game any worse))
I mean, high difficulty would not have allowed him to finish the game in 30 hours. Perhaps he would get into the same buff mechanics and play the role of a witcher. But yes, often high difficulty forces the player to simply waste more time. Not difficult, but tedious, as they say. For example, in Dark Souls 2, when passing through the “fog” to the boss, the player receives damage (in other parts this is not the case). The mechanics involve carefully studying the location, and then quickly moving to the boss, since you will have to run to him more than once. And in the second dark, you ran through everyone, but got stuck in the “fog”, received a lot of damage, drove away, again… Each time clearing the path to the boss is not long, but tedious. Just a waste of the player’s time, not a complication
Thank you for your detailed comment)) And regarding the Witcher… some battles seemed quite challenging to me. Fight with an elf, battle with a toad prince, etc.d. But I agree, with proper pumping, you can become “slightly wrangling”
In general, I agree with the criticism of “playing it right”. If we can beat the game, you’re already playing correctly. Game design itself should suggest how to play more fun, and everything else, like turning off a bad thing, a mode with the appearance of new nuances and a general difficulty curve, is only to increase the pleasure that you should already receive. It’s not for nothing that more and more games allow you to change all the above indicators right during the playthrough, fortunately you will never get an understanding of “what is best” at the start.
I wonder how to beat Halo on high difficulty?? I only completed the first part on the hardest difficulty.But for some reason I couldn’t master the second part on a high difficulty level.And I don’t think I can handle other parts of this Halo game.
An interesting topic for discussion, but the writing is somehow repulsive or something. And an imbalance in the ratio of pictures and text.
Personally, my gaming experience is this – the last God of War was transformed before my eyes when I turned off the entire interface and set the difficulty to high, but in a battle with two draugr, due to ignorance of the combat system, I did so well. I had to lower the difficulty (although there are four difficulties, I could be wrong).
I completely agree with the thesis about the Witcher, the absence of markers, health bars, and only complete concentration on the subject of the order gives a massive amount of immersion.
For me, the most intense battle is in the nightmare with Olgerd for the achievement. But, of course, the fact that he came without the necessary potions and bombs played a role there.
I think that discussing who plays on what difficulty, and even more so judging a person if he has not completed the game on Ultra Hardcore, is incorrect. Each of us plays with a specific purpose. Someone wants to “relax” their brains after a hard day at work, someone is chasing platinums and various trophies, someone is interested in challenges and overcoming. Based on this, everyone chooses for themselves what to play, and most importantly, how to play in such a way as to get the pleasure they want. For someone, it’s enough to run through a game (any game, no matter what genre or franchise) on Easy and, getting up after it with a mind rested from problems, he will be happy. And someone will only get pleasure from defeating the last boss in a sweaty and ass-flaming fight. Different goals, different difficulty, different pleasure. It is basically impossible to compare them.
As for me, I get acquainted with games mainly on normal. If the game captivates me (plot, mechanics, pictures or anything else) then yes, I have a desire to try it later on a higher difficulty. If already on normal it causes me pain and suffering, then why should I climb to a higher difficulty?? To suffer even more? No thanks, I play to relax. I have enough burning ass in my life.
If the game can’t attract me in any way already on normal, then I won’t look for an additional challenge in it, but I’ll go try the second, third, fifth, until I find one that captivates me and I want to complete it on a higher difficulty. It’s the same as refusing to try a delicious cake because I haven’t tried it yet, eating some tasteless porridge with chopsticks or standing on my head.
In order not to be unfounded, an example from my practice. I’ve heard a lot of praise for the Borderlands series. I decided to try. The first game with all the additions took me 143 hours. (according to Steam) and I knocked out 66% of steam achievements. T.e. I didn’t touch on the game superficially. However, I didn’t get hooked. There was no desire to finish off the remaining achievements or get acquainted with the rest of the series. So now I have to go there and suffer again, but on high difficulty in the hope that I’ll get hooked. No way!
I agree that in many games, the developers intended a more complete disclosure of their ideas on the hardcore. But to consider completing the game only on maximum difficulty as the most complete and mandatory, I think it is unnecessary.
