I’m not saying it isn’t. What I am saying that it’s also completely valid to acknowledge that this game isn’t for you then. Good games usually don’t appeal to everyone, it’s that simple.
This comment is so damn long, because I have to clarify my positions because the idea of charitable interpretation is completely unknown on the internet. I feel like all of this stuff is implied when I say I simply don’t want the game to be as hard, I don’t want the game to take as long, but the moment I say that, motherfuckers start saying I have the attention span of a goldfish and I just suck at video games. It’s frustrating.
This is the same argument I have about difficulty settings in soulslike games. The games do appeal to me, and the only thing keeping me from liking them is something totally arbitrary. And any time I bring that up, people assume the least charitable positions: “you just want it to be a mobile clicker game. You have the attention span of a goldfish.” Like, no, I just want a game that I’m deeply interested in to be accessible to me. That doesn’t mean turning on God Mode and skipping to the final boss, it means making it so that after I die to the same enemy a couple dozen times the AI eases up like in Mortal Kombat. I just want devs to have 30 hours of content for 30 hours of gameplay. I don’t want to replay the same parts multiple time for no reason other than “that’s just how the game is.”
And I want that to be an option, not the default. I don’t want to take anything away from you if you personally enjoy the hardcore, no fast travel, fight the same enemies a hundred times approach. I would personally like to be able to move on so I can see what happens next in the story. And that doesn’t mean that I want to simply skip every fight and watch the game like it’s a movie. There’s a middle ground there, you know? Where the game remains just as challenging, but meets the player at their level of competence and time availability instead of demanding more than many of us who want to play the game are able to give.
The games do appeal to me, and the only thing keeping me from liking them is something totally arbitrary.
When it comes to DD1, this is where you’re wrong. The way fast travel works isn’t some kind of arbitrary decision. It’s a core mechanic that forced the player to think and prepare their next move. When you traveled to a location you had the option of taking a relatively easier, but longer, route over the mountain. Or you could take a more perilous but shorter route through a cave. Both had their ups and downs. You’d need a light source and maybe more healing items in the cave, but you’d save time and maybe find better items. But what if you need harpy feathers? Or need a specific item from a different monster? You’d take a different approach all together.
That also meant you couldn’t just teleport across the map for a certain item to where it’s more convenient to get. It meant improvising, foraging or maybe buying it from a local merchant for a higher price. It forced you to think, and it punished the unprepared. To me, that was very satisfying. Made the world feel more real and tangible you know? Just like older RPGs like Morrowind used to. Until TES got absolutely destroyed by Bethesda so that nothing you do actually matters anymore. All because they wanted to appeal to everyone.
It’s also not about it being hard or anything. I dislike the Souls games because they’re set up to be unfair. But I don’t go around telling people they’re wrong for liking it or making up some insane statistic like “99% of players hated it”. I just come to the conclusion that there are other games out there that I enjoy, and move on with my life.
But I don’t go around telling people they’re wrong for liking it
Neither do I. Actually, if you read my comment, you’ll see that I said that “I want [fast travel/easier difficulties] to be an option, not the default. I don’t want to take anything away from you if you personally enjoy the hardcore, no fast travel, fight the same enemies a hundred times approach. I would personally like to be able to move on so I can see what happens next in the story.”
or making up some insane statistic like “99% of players hated it”.
It’s not insane to say that a majority of people who played the game were not fond of the travel times, hence the widespread demand for fast travel. I was being hyperbolic for dramatic effect when I said “literally 99% hated it.”
I’m not saying it isn’t. What I am saying that it’s also completely valid to acknowledge that this game isn’t for you then. Good games usually don’t appeal to everyone, it’s that simple.
This comment is so damn long, because I have to clarify my positions because the idea of charitable interpretation is completely unknown on the internet. I feel like all of this stuff is implied when I say I simply don’t want the game to be as hard, I don’t want the game to take as long, but the moment I say that, motherfuckers start saying I have the attention span of a goldfish and I just suck at video games. It’s frustrating.
This is the same argument I have about difficulty settings in soulslike games. The games do appeal to me, and the only thing keeping me from liking them is something totally arbitrary. And any time I bring that up, people assume the least charitable positions: “you just want it to be a mobile clicker game. You have the attention span of a goldfish.” Like, no, I just want a game that I’m deeply interested in to be accessible to me. That doesn’t mean turning on God Mode and skipping to the final boss, it means making it so that after I die to the same enemy a couple dozen times the AI eases up like in Mortal Kombat. I just want devs to have 30 hours of content for 30 hours of gameplay. I don’t want to replay the same parts multiple time for no reason other than “that’s just how the game is.”
And I want that to be an option, not the default. I don’t want to take anything away from you if you personally enjoy the hardcore, no fast travel, fight the same enemies a hundred times approach. I would personally like to be able to move on so I can see what happens next in the story. And that doesn’t mean that I want to simply skip every fight and watch the game like it’s a movie. There’s a middle ground there, you know? Where the game remains just as challenging, but meets the player at their level of competence and time availability instead of demanding more than many of us who want to play the game are able to give.
When it comes to DD1, this is where you’re wrong. The way fast travel works isn’t some kind of arbitrary decision. It’s a core mechanic that forced the player to think and prepare their next move. When you traveled to a location you had the option of taking a relatively easier, but longer, route over the mountain. Or you could take a more perilous but shorter route through a cave. Both had their ups and downs. You’d need a light source and maybe more healing items in the cave, but you’d save time and maybe find better items. But what if you need harpy feathers? Or need a specific item from a different monster? You’d take a different approach all together.
That also meant you couldn’t just teleport across the map for a certain item to where it’s more convenient to get. It meant improvising, foraging or maybe buying it from a local merchant for a higher price. It forced you to think, and it punished the unprepared. To me, that was very satisfying. Made the world feel more real and tangible you know? Just like older RPGs like Morrowind used to. Until TES got absolutely destroyed by Bethesda so that nothing you do actually matters anymore. All because they wanted to appeal to everyone.
It’s also not about it being hard or anything. I dislike the Souls games because they’re set up to be unfair. But I don’t go around telling people they’re wrong for liking it or making up some insane statistic like “99% of players hated it”. I just come to the conclusion that there are other games out there that I enjoy, and move on with my life.
Neither do I. Actually, if you read my comment, you’ll see that I said that “I want [fast travel/easier difficulties] to be an option, not the default. I don’t want to take anything away from you if you personally enjoy the hardcore, no fast travel, fight the same enemies a hundred times approach. I would personally like to be able to move on so I can see what happens next in the story.”
It’s not insane to say that a majority of people who played the game were not fond of the travel times, hence the widespread demand for fast travel. I was being hyperbolic for dramatic effect when I said “literally 99% hated it.”