Lies of P

As much as I loved returnal and thought it was perfectly balanced, I dont think it would have suffered from sliding difficulty levels to let people push through to the end.

Rogue Legacy 2 did it absolutely perfectly with the house rules system. It had a load of sliders and toggles rather than a 'difficulty' so you could increase your damage a little or a lot, change health a little or a lot and it recommended 'if you change this, increase this or its a face roll'. Really granular stuff that allowed people to tailor the challenge to their level.

Anyway, yeah, I get what your saying. My opinion is that its better to let people play a 'worse' version than no version at all. I'm sure From only have one difficulty because they never had time to do another.

Definitely. They have also been eliminating the boss run more and more with each game. Something that has rarely bothered me much, but I can understand why others have found it needlessly cruel and tedious.

But, in general, I always find the debate a weird one. I don't think it is a problem for people to say that a game is too hard for them, but the demands that the game be changed to suit them feels silly. The developers know what they want to make and a team like From know what they are doing by now to achieve that. It is also clear there is a sizable audience for what they do. If you don't like what they do, you aren't force to play them and there are plenty of other options about for third-person action games with RPG elements that you might prefer.

I don't like Wes Anderson films, as I find them obnoxiously quirky, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start demanding he should stop making quirky films, so that I can enjoy them. I'm probably never going to get around to reading Ulysses and the Russian classics, as they are too long, but I'm not going to start complaining that someone should re-write shorter versions for me.

The Bonfires in Elden Ring were necessary for fast travel as much as checkpointing progress. The real easy mode is the ash summons. The difference between taking on a boss with and without them is so stark and unbalanced, it would *clearly* have been better to introduce a difficulty setting.

Elden Ring is/was absolutely huge. It was hyped to oblivion. Of course everyone wanted to play it, regardless of 'skill' level (which is quite overstated in my opinion - there are more difficult games)

People might want to play the game where you're a wizard running around a huge open world on your horsey fighting cool monsters. We're talking about one single aspect of the experience. If people think From games have nothing to offer besides difficulty, they're not very good games to start with

Watched a few LoP reviews last night and quite a few are claiming it's the best soulslike to date. I'm defo interested but I think I'll wait for a price drop and when there are less games stacking up to play.

What’s really interesting (to me anyway) about this discussion is both sides are kind of both saying the same thing. It boils down to the notion of ‘intent’ and how you see difficulty settings in relation to that.

One argument is that the game’s difficulty is integral to the experience and ‘easy’ goes against the intent.

The counter is that an easy setting would actually enable a shit gamer to enjoy the game as intended without it being too hard (harder than intended).

Games are really the only medium that can be adjusted in ways to ensure everyone gets the same ‘intended experience’. It’s potentially the most egalitarian medium there is. I think that’s something to celebrate.

I’m suprised AI based responsive difficulty isn’t more of a thing these days. I remember a few games that had it back in the day.

From's games are also wildly inconsistent when it comes to difficulty. Some bosses are push overs, some feel broken. If they really wanted everyone to have the same intended experience, they'd drop all the RPG elements and just make straight action games like Sekiro. But there's an element of choice and tailoring the experience to your playstyle that is also integral to the expeirence, just as long as it's not an option that says Easy on the main menu

/two cents

I'm not the type of purist that would bash FromSoft if they added an easy mode, easy mode in general (as long as it's optional, and I'm not sure if anyone's ever made it mandatory) is ultimately an accessibility option and I'm all for that.

I will however say that, when it comes to FromSoft games (or I guess Soulslikes as a whole), I prefer "Easy mode" being in the form of optional techniques, items etc that make the game unquestionably easier, while still feeling more integrated to the game's specific mechanics than a simple difficulty slider. Things like the Spirit Ashes or (arguably) the Great Runes in Elden Ring, or the Sloth Talisman (compared to other buffs/debuffs) in Nioh, for example. Or just summoning a stronger player to carry you if you just can't get past something.

Baking your difficulty "settings" into the overall gameplay/story rather than them being an option on the menu is not something every game can (or indeed should) do. However, my humble (and possibly stupid) opinion is that suddenly deciding to add an easy mode toggle, for FromSoft games and arguably other Soulslikes specifically, would actually be something that cheapens, not the individual player experience (just don't use it), but the overall feel and reputation the games have built up. YMMV on how much that matters, of course.

Tl;dr I wouldn't mind Easy mode in Souls, I think Easy "mode" being tied to abilities/items/game mechanics rather than a toggle fits this type of game better though.

Obfuscating your accessibility options kind of defeats the point though and won't be available from the start which is when people will struggle the most

Yeah, for sure. As per my incessant complaining in the Elden Ring thread, I didnt find/use the summoning bell in Elden Ring until I was maybe a fifth of the way into the game (however far the magic school is) and I'm sure a lot of people missed it entirely. If I wasnt so butch, I would have given up on it a long time ago.

I am all for an easy mode as I have become increasingly shitter at these games as I've got older. I do think though, that it also takes something away from the soulsborne genre if the challenge isn't there.

Ninja Gaiden asked you if you wanted to be go ninja dog level if you sucked too much. I dont know if that unlocked it, though.

I'm not sure I would conflate an easy mode with accessibility. What should be in games to make them accessible is things like subtitles where background and text colour can be edited, subtitles that describe sounds as well as spoken word, colour blindness options, fully customisable controls, support for different control types, tutorial pop-ups that use clear language, etc.

Admittedly, these are all elements that From have been poor with, but they certainly aren't alone.