New hard game comes out. Idiot press wants easy mode.

[Erttheking]

Get that strawman that out of my face. This may blow your mind but the world isn't divided into people who think Dark Souls losses all sense of identity if it's made slightly less hard and people who don't care about video games. For fuck's sake, I said this in the post you replied to. "The games are special to me too. But I don't lose my shit over a suggested addition that I would never touch anyway. It's not hard." So I'd like you know where the hell you got that strawman of me from. Because I'm sitting here, thinking hard about it, and the only thing I can think of is either you being deliberately dishonest or just not bothering to read what I wrote and just arguing past me. You tell me which one happened.

You accused me of taking games too seriously, logically implying that you don't take them so seriously.

And on that note, you say you don't lose your shit over an easy mode being added. Well, how about also not losing your shit if it's not added? Why not just leave these games alone? I don't get it. It makes me wonder why you're even in this thread arguing this topic. Is it really because you don't like the fact that the Souls games don't have an easy mode? Or is it because you just don't like (other) Souls fans, period, and you're just using this topic as an excuse to spit in their face? I think it's probably the latter. I mean, you already said you don't associate with other Souls fans because you can't stand them.

Also if you "give in to temptation" to switch to an easy mode, you weren't having fun, you were turning your game into a chore and pretending it was anything more than that is dressing up a mundane switching of settings to a moral crisis.

I wouldn't say they weren't having any fun. I'd say they weren't having fun yet, and if they'd have just stuck it out a little longer, they'd have figured it out, overcome the challenge, and reaped the rewards of that. But instead, unfortunately for them, they quit before they got to that point, and missed out on the fun.

You really do have no respect for the people who play Souls games if you apparently think they were all flagellating themselves and that they would stop and switch to an easier mode the second they were given the chance.

Not all of them. But I think some would, especially people new to the genre who don't yet understand that the reward comes from the self-satisfaction of overcoming the challenge, and if you remove the challenge, you remove the corresponding reward, which = game ruined. So I think From is doing a very good thing by not making that temptation available.

There?s a middle ground between not caring and acting like the game is so sacred that any changes to it are heresy.

Don?t mistake my frustration with the pearl clutching hysteria around an easy mode ruining Dark Souls forever with me losing my shit. Because that?s what it is, hysteria. Because I?m here to argue a point. Two actually. Accessibility isn?t bad. And Dark Souls fans need to get the fuck over themselves. And need to stop doing things like, I don?t know, assuming that people don?t actually care about more people getting into the game and thinking that it?s all somehow about pissing them off. Because they need to realize they?re not important enough to be worth pissing off.

Ah yes, they didn?t have fun because they weren?t flagellating themselves long enough. Hey Kerg? I have faith that people know themselves enough to know what kind of difficulty will work for them. Why don?t you?

See above.

 

[JamesStone]

Honestly, I don't see why not put an easy mode in the games.

While I do believe the difficulty in the FromSoft style of games is a core premise of the game and is necessary to maintain that feeling of dread and despair that is woven with the story, as long as the difficulty can't be switched mid playthrough who cares?

The type of player that needs easy mode to play wouldn't play Dark Souls anyways. If they want to purposely ruin their own experience let them, the extra sales can help production values.

Elitism is ridiculous when talking about a hobby meant to be fun. If you want to keep that sense of accomplishment just call the baseline difficulty "The True Dark Souls" or something and call the "Easy Mode" Dreams Of A Hollow or something. That way you get to keep your sense of accomplishment ("I beat the REAL Dark Souls") and other people can enjoy it (even though I am of the belief that anyone that is glamoring for easy mode in Dark Souls has critically missed the point).

 

[CritialGaming]

This is inspirational [https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=tso8u4OJLuI], and goes to show that an easy mode is a bit of a moot point.

EVERYONE should watch this. Because it shows that easy mode is just an excuse for not wanting to try. FromSoft games are hard sure, but they are beatable by damn near ANYONE who wants to try. And the fact is, that some people just don't wanna try. Some will say that they shouldn't be force to put in the work to get ball bustingly good at a video game or whatever such nonsense, but frankly that excuse is dumb.

If you don't have "time" or simply can't be bothered to try then download the cheatengine tool, turn on god mode and beat the game without adversity, without learning without ever facing the challenge. No problem, have fun.

That's really what it boils down too isn't it? Isn't that always the reason? "I work 1000 hours a week, I can't put a billion hours into a game to get good enough to beat it." That's bullshit, because if you have ANY time to play a video game at all, whether it's 30 minutes a day or 2 hours a day, if you can play for any length of time then you can get through any Fromsoft game.

Look at that video, the sheer effort that person has to go through to move his hands around that controller to beat one of the hardest bosses in the game. I can't help but applaud them and wonder WTF everyone is crying about.

Sekiro is hard. That's okay because overcoming that difficulty feels wonderful. Even my own complaints about the difficulty come from momentary frustration that turn into a joyous rush the moment boss went down.

How about this Twitch streamer who wins PUBG games with tongue and breath controls? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMvikz2cA-8

Are these just exceptions to the rule? Do they just have such an incredible about of skill that even their disability puts them above the skill potential of fully functioning people? Or are they simply determined not to let things hold them back, and they'll put forth whatever effort is required of them to continue to do what they enjoy?

Look Sekiro might not be for you. It's okay not to like the challenge, to not wanna bash your face against a difficult game. But that doesn't mean the game should be changed because you don't wanna deal with it. The game just isn't for you, why is that such a problem? People throw around elitism and entitlement, yet what is more entitled the people who like the game for how it is or the people who demand the game change to suit them?

 

[Casual Shinji]

People throw around elitism and entitlement, yet what is more entitled the people who like the game for how it is or the people who demand the game change to suit them?

Who exactly here demanded the game changes to suit them? The argument isn't that the game NEEDS an Easy mode, but that there's nothing wrong with the idea of it having an Easy mode.

If you don't have "time" or simply can't be bothered to try then download the cheatengine tool, turn on god mode and beat the game without adversity, without learning without ever facing the challenge. No problem, have fun.

Y-yes, exactly! Now, what would be wrong in having this in the form of an Easy mode?

 

[Erttheking]

EVERYONE should watch this. Because it shows that easy mode is just an excuse for not wanting to try. FromSoft games are hard sure, but they are beatable by damn near ANYONE who wants to try. And the fact is, that some people just don't wanna try. Some will say that they shouldn't be force to put in the work to get ball bustingly good at a video game or whatever such nonsense, but frankly that excuse is dumb.

No offense, this is more "Well person A can do it, therefore EVERYONE can do it." It doesn't really prove shit. Tell me, if you encountered another physically disabled person who was couldn't handle the game, would you just scream at them to git gud? "Put in the work" I'm sorry, I didn't realize video games were chores now.

 

[CritialGaming]

This is inspirational [https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=tso8u4OJLuI], and goes to show that an easy mode is a bit of a moot point.

EVERYONE should watch this. Because it shows that easy mode is just an excuse for not wanting to try. FromSoft games are hard sure, but they are beatable by damn near ANYONE who wants to try. And the fact is, that some people just don't wanna try. Some will say that they shouldn't be force to put in the work to get ball bustingly good at a video game or whatever such nonsense, but frankly that excuse is dumb.

If you don't have "time" or simply can't be bothered to try then download the cheatengine tool, turn on god mode and beat the game without adversity, without learning without ever facing the challenge. No problem, have fun.

That's really what it boils down too isn't it? Isn't that always the reason? "I work 1000 hours a week, I can't put a billion hours into a game to get good enough to beat it." That's bullshit, because if you have ANY time to play a video game at all, whether it's 30 minutes a day or 2 hours a day, if you can play for any length of time then you can get through any Fromsoft game.

Look at that video, the sheer effort that person has to go through to move his hands around that controller to beat one of the hardest bosses in the game. I can't help but applaud them and wonder WTF everyone is crying about.

Sekiro is hard. That's okay because overcoming that difficulty feels wonderful. Even my own complaints about the difficulty come from momentary frustration that turn into a joyous rush the moment boss went down.

How about this Twitch streamer who wins PUBG games with tongue and breath controls? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMvikz2cA-8

Are these just exceptions to the rule? Do they just have such an incredible about of skill that even their disability puts them above the skill potential of fully functioning people? Or are they simply determined not to let things hold them back, and they'll put forth whatever effort is required of them to continue to do what they enjoy?

Look Sekiro might not be for you. It's okay not to like the challenge, to not wanna bash your face against a difficult game. But that doesn't mean the game should be changed because you don't wanna deal with it. The game just isn't for you, why is that such a problem? People throw around elitism and entitlement, yet what is more entitled the people who like the game for how it is or the people who demand the game change to suit them?

I?d also add that if the SoulsBorneSekiro community was truly elitist about gatekeeping how ?hardcore? these games are, they would more likely be offput or offended by a paraplegic being able to play them, and certainly wouldn?t be praising and commending them on their exceptional ability despite their disabilities.

People throw around elitism and entitlement, yet what is more entitled the people who like the game for how it is or the people who demand the game change to suit them?

Who exactly here demanded the game changes to suit them? The argument isn't that the game NEEDS an Easy mode, but that there's nothing wrong with the idea of it having an Easy mode.

If you don't have "time" or simply can't be bothered to try then download the cheatengine tool, turn on god mode and beat the game without adversity, without learning without ever facing the challenge. No problem, have fun.

Y-yes, exactly! Now, what would be wrong in having this in the form of an Easy mode?

Chicken-egg I suppose. At the same time we could ask why the games can?t just be left as they are. I don?t follow the through line from complaints of a game being too difficult without an easy mode, to saying that adding one ?won?t change anything?. Sometimes people like the idea of a game?s design being greater through subtraction; in this case everyone being subjected to the same baseline, abilities/time constraints/determination levels be damned. VaatiVidya?s comment from the video above basically summed it up -

Thank you for sharing your perspective! I was getting really concerned by all these writers speaking for people with disabilities, so it's important we hear from people like yourself as well. There's a huge spectrum of disability, and I think it's concerning that journalists think an easy mode "bandaid" can instantly address it. People like yourself obviously face an extra layer of difficulty than most, but..that doesn't mean you want to change the core experience that we all appreciate. Nice work.

 

[Erttheking]

Thank you for sharing your perspective! I was getting really concerned by all these writers speaking for people with disabilities, so it's important we hear from people like yourself as well. There's a huge spectrum of disability, and I think it's concerning that journalists think an easy mode "bandaid" can instantly address it. People like yourself obviously face an extra layer of difficulty than most, but..that doesn't mean you want to change the core experience that we all appreciate. Nice work.

Meanwhile, people who have never played video games before were able to enjoy Mario Kart for the first time when smart steering was put in despite everyone losing their shit over it.

One size does not fit all. It works for him. Cool. I have a very strong feeling that he's what you'd call an outlier.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Sekiro is hard. That's okay because overcoming that difficulty feels wonderful.

Souls fans are confusing challenging with attaining skill. If you find a way to cheese a boss or just get lucky, it's not very satisfying. Just like going to a batting cage and hitting one ball due to sheer luck isn't very satisfying. Souls has built-in easy mode, but it basically amounts to cheese and the player really isn't learning much or getting better. Being able to consistently beat say Ornstein and Smough or consistently hitting balls in the batting cage is far more satisfying because you basically "leveled up". Challenge alone doesn't directly equate to satisfaction. Thus, the best path for someone to "git gud" should be the priority. And everyone's "best path" for that is different. Someone playing a Souls game on a hypothetical Easy mode the "pro" playstyle is going to be learning the game and getting better far faster than someone playing it on Normal as a caster. A perfect example would be Bayonetta as I feel the combat shines brightest with Witch Time disabled on NSIC but forcing everyone to start at that level will most likely make everyone take longer to "git gud" only delaying satisfaction to the people that do persevere and probably turning many off to the game entirely.

 

[CritialGaming]

Sekiro is hard. That's okay because overcoming that difficulty feels wonderful.

Souls fans are confusing challenging with attaining skill. If you find a way to cheese a boss or just get lucky, it's not very satisfying. Just like going to a batting cage and hitting one ball due to sheer luck isn't very satisfying. Souls has built-in easy mode, but it basically amounts to cheese and the player really isn't learning much or getting better. Being able to consistently beat say Ornstein and Smough or consistently hitting balls in the batting cage is far more satisfying because you basically "leveled up". Challenge alone doesn't directly equate to satisfaction. Thus, the best path for someone to "git gud" should be the priority. And everyone's "best path" for that is different. Someone playing a Souls game on a hypothetical Easy mode the "pro" playstyle is going to be learning the game and getting better far faster than someone playing it on Normal as a caster. A perfect example would be Bayonetta as I feel the combat shines brightest with Witch Time disabled on NSIC but forcing everyone to start at that level will most likely make everyone take longer to "git gud" only delaying satisfaction to the people that do persevere and probably turning many off to the game entirely.

But what's wrong with a game turning you off to it? Have you beaten every game you have ever played? Have you never started playing something and just shook you head saying, "This aint my jam."? Does that mean the game is wrong for what it is?

I akin it to the plethora of pvp games that are the hottest thing right now. There is no easy mode with those games, everyone is out to win against you and they'll hold nothing back to beat you. If they get the drop on you to stab you in the back they will take it (the implied cheese you mentioned above), they aren't going to tap you on the shoulder and challenge you to honorable combat because they know that they wont get this drop on everyone else and if they can take out someone simply, they'll do it because there is plenty of difficulty left with the rest of the players against them.

Why do you think these Battle Royal's got so popular? Getting number #1 is insanely difficult and impossible to do consistently. Yet people can't stop playing them because that rush of winning is akin to beating a souls game.

The biggest thing that Fortnite and Soulsborne games have in comment is, everyone can play them but not everyone will win right away but sticking to it, learning, adapting, overcoming, and eventually you can do it. Though you're probably more likely to beat a Souls game that get a first place rank in a BR game honestly.

 

[CritialGaming]

Thank you for sharing your perspective! I was getting really concerned by all these writers speaking for people with disabilities, so it's important we hear from people like yourself as well. There's a huge spectrum of disability, and I think it's concerning that journalists think an easy mode "bandaid" can instantly address it. People like yourself obviously face an extra layer of difficulty than most, but..that doesn't mean you want to change the core experience that we all appreciate. Nice work.

Meanwhile, people who have never played video games before were able to enjoy Mario Kart for the first time when smart steering was put in despite everyone losing their shit over it.

One size does not fit all. It works for him. Cool. I have a very strong feeling that he's what you'd call an outlier.

Still, the persistence that every game should appeal and cater to everyone is kinda preposterous. I?m not going to say, ?What?s the big deal if there?s a PG version of Halloween...you still have your R rated one!!? The experience is unequivocally changed, otherwise people wouldn?t ask for change in the first place. Either deal with the R rating or watch one of thousands of other movies that are meant to be PG.

 

[Kerg3927]

Again, everyone is DIFFERENT, you can't have anyone have your exact experience. Some people will have to overcome greater obstacles on Easy mode because they just ain't very good while others will find a game easy on Hard mode.

I disagree. I don't think people are really all that different actually. I think most of them can beat the game as intended without using a cheat/easy mode. And when they do, I think their experience will be similar to everyone else who has completed the games as intended, and I'd love for them to experience that.

Once you figure out the Souls games...

And that's kind of the whole point. Figuring it out, through repetition. I doubt that any of those people who made the "no hit" videos made it through Undead Burg the first time without dying, and that's the newbie zone. Those videos were made after hundreds of hours of repetition, memorizing the move sets of every enemy. But if you introduce a cheat/easy mode, people won't have to figure it out anymore. They'll just be able to muscle through everything, and then they'll wonder why the game is so boring.

What I do care about is giving players as many options as possible in every game because options are only good things since they are, you know, OPTIONAL.

What if every game had cheat codes built in? Press this button to walk through walls. Press this button to become invulnerable. Press this button to have all maxed out weapons and armor. Press this button to skip any boss you want. You'd probably think that would be great. I disagree. And From Software thankfully disagrees.

And that's because we understand that it's not about getting to the destination... it's about overcoming the obstacles to get there. Remove the obstacles, and you remove the corresponding rewards. That's how humans are wired. But we are also wired to take the quickest and most efficient path to achieve our goals. That can be a really bad combo when it comes to gaming. But it can be overcome by simply not giving players the option of a quick and easy path.

If you're a fat person who struggles with his weight and has a bad sweet tooth, would it be good to always have cake available? I mean, more options are always good, right? What about a recovering crack addict? Should he always carry some crack with him, just to keep his options open? Your "more options are always better" hypothesis is provably wrong.

Again, luckily From Software understands this and doesn't listen to people like you who don't know what the hell they are talking about.

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

Wait a tic, since when does FORBES count as serious games jurnalism? Why does their publication have sway over anyone's thoughts about any title?

Anyhou, while it wouldn't insult me to the core, I'd rather not see From Software's titles give up that distinctiveness they have in terms of difficulty.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

And I think that's what most of this argument boils down to. Some people simply don't like the majority of Souls fans because they are proud, and for some reason that burns some people up. So they love to take a piss in their cheerios. They know that adding an easy mode is something the vast majority of them don't want, so they'd love to see it happen just to spite them. It has little to do with the game itself, and it's mostly about spitting in the face of its fans. It's really just base level shittiness, IMO.

Christ, has your ego somehow gotten even bigger since the last time we did this? Why does it have to be all about you? Why do you think this is all attempts to pull you down? Why do you see sharing experiences with others as a bad thing? Why do you insist on trying to hoard things for yourself like a bloody dragon?

 

[Erttheking]

Thank you for sharing your perspective! I was getting really concerned by all these writers speaking for people with disabilities, so it's important we hear from people like yourself as well. There's a huge spectrum of disability, and I think it's concerning that journalists think an easy mode "bandaid" can instantly address it. People like yourself obviously face an extra layer of difficulty than most, but..that doesn't mean you want to change the core experience that we all appreciate. Nice work.

Meanwhile, people who have never played video games before were able to enjoy Mario Kart for the first time when smart steering was put in despite everyone losing their shit over it.

One size does not fit all. It works for him. Cool. I have a very strong feeling that he's what you'd call an outlier.

Still, the persistence that every game should appeal and cater to everyone is kinda preposterous. I?m not going to say, ?What?s the big deal if there?s a PG version of Halloween...you still have your R rated one!!? The experience is unequivocally changed, otherwise people wouldn?t ask for change in the first place. Either deal with the R rating or watch one of thousands of other movies that are meant to be PG.

You do know R rated movies get toned down cable TV cuts all the time right? Deadpool 2 openly advertised theirs. And I?m guessing that won?t ruin Halloween for you.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don?t follow the through line from complaints of a game being too difficult without an easy mode, to saying that adding one ?won?t change anything?.

It won't change anything for people like you, or me, or any other fan that is familiar with these types of games. It would change something for people who feel too intimidated by them or have a certain disability that they can't muster through. Maybe by having an easier in they could work themselves up to the standard difficulty. I mean, I made extensive use of summoning other players in Dark Souls and Bloodborne when I had a really hard time, until after a while I was like 'You know what, I kinda wanna try taking on this Boss by myself this time.' Not everyone learns by being thrown at a wall. Some learn better by being eased in.

 

[Xprimentyl]

If you're a fat person who struggles with his weight and has a bad sweet tooth, would it be good to always have cake available? I mean, more options are always good, right? What about a recovering crack addict? Should he always carry some crack with him, just to keep his options open? Your "more options are always better" hypothesis is provably wrong.

*Sigh*, I promised myself I wasn?t going to involve myself in this conversation again, and I still won?t, but just wanted to address this specific point.

No one is a bigger fan of analogies than me; drawing simple, logical equivalents to make something abstract more easily understood is an effective communications tool. That is NOT what you?ve done here, certainly not to make the side you?re arguing against ?provably wrong.? You?re comparing someone?s inability to handle challenges in an entertainment medium to life-threatening self-control issues giving unmerited weight and gravitas to your argument. People who don?t mind easy modes in difficult videogames feel that way because videogames AREN?T THAT SERIOUS. I could be equally hyperbolic and say that your stance says an overweight person should be refused liposuction or a drug addict refused methadone because they need to ?git gud? and exercise self-control as life intends, surgery and medicine being ?easy modes,? but I wouldn?t say that because I don?t think you ARE saying that? at least I HOPE you?re not saying that?

Watching a video of a live concert I feel is a better analogy, the video being a similar-if-diminished way to experience a concert. Are you suggesting my VHS of Yanni: Live at the Acropolis shouldn?t exist and that the onus is on me to ?git gud? and physically attend if I want to hear the live version of ?The Rain Must Fall? with the badass violin solo?

 

[CritialGaming]

Watching a video of a live concert I feel is a better analogy, the video being a similar-if-diminished way to experience a concert. Are you suggesting my VHS of Yanni: Live at the Acropolis shouldn?t exist and that the onus is on me to ?git gud? and physically attend if I want to hear the live version of ?The Rain Must Fall? with the badass violin solo?

Actually I don't think that is a fair comparison either. But if you wanna use music, the simple comparison would be the hearing your favorite song through a phone speaker, versus hearing it through a powerful surround sound system. The song doesn't change fundamentally but one experience is leagues different from the other and so is the enjoyment of said song.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Watching a video of a live concert I feel is a better analogy, the video being a similar-if-diminished way to experience a concert. Are you suggesting my VHS of Yanni: Live at the Acropolis shouldn?t exist and that the onus is on me to ?git gud? and physically attend if I want to hear the live version of ?The Rain Must Fall? with the badass violin solo?

Actually I don't think that is a fair comparison either. But if you wanna use music, the simple comparison would be the hearing your favorite song through a phone speaker, versus hearing it through a powerful surround sound system. The song doesn't change fundamentally but one experience is leagues different from the other and so is the enjoyment of said song.

If your analogy suits you better, it works fine as it also makes my point: if I want to hear my favorite song and an expensive stereo system or concert isn?t available to me, I?m perfectly happy listening to it through my phone; I?m actually glad that OPTION exists. By your logic, any diminished listening options shouldn?t exist since listening ?the way music is meant to be heard? should be the ONLY way. I?ve found dozens upon dozens of new songs and artists listening to Spotify through my phone, artists and songs I?ve enjoyed enough to invest in physical albums and attend concerts. See how that works? Diminished experiences led to my interest and investment in the fuller, ?real? experiences, something that would never happen if artists chose to restrict access to their music to live concerts.

 

[Kerg3927]

There?s a middle ground between not caring and acting like the game is so sacred that any changes to it are heresy.

Don?t mistake my frustration with the pearl clutching hysteria around an easy mode ruining Dark Souls forever with me losing my shit. Because that?s what it is, hysteria. Because I?m here to argue a point. Two actually. Accessibility isn?t bad. And Dark Souls fans need to get the fuck over themselves. And need to stop doing things like, I don?t know, assuming that people don?t actually care about more people getting into the game and thinking that it?s all somehow about pissing them off. Because they need to realize they?re not important enough to be worth pissing off.

I would argue that it already is accessible. We're not talking about building a ramp for disabled people in wheelchairs here. I think most people who want to beat the Souls games can do so in the way it is currently designed. But they have to be "prepared to die" like the game's slogan says, and then learn from repetition, overcome, and reap the corresponding rewards, like everybody else. That's how From designed it, and it's a great design, a very successful design. And if players don't want to do that, then these games are probably not for them, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. There are plenty of games out there that I don't like, and you don't hear me complaining about them. I just don't play them.

Ah yes, they didn?t have fun because they weren?t flagellating themselves long enough. Hey Kerg? I have faith that people know themselves enough to know what kind of difficulty will work for them. Why don?t you?

See above.

See...

Remove the obstacles, and you remove the corresponding rewards. That's how humans are wired. But we are also wired to take the quickest and most efficient path to achieve our goals. That can be a really bad combo when it comes to gaming. But it can be overcome by simply not giving players the option of a quick and easy path.

You think you're being kind by giving players an cheat/easy mode. You're not. You're hurting their experience. From knows this, and is one of the few developers brave enough to do what is best for the players.

WoW Classic comes out this summer, and I can't wait. I played WoW for like 6-7 years, and watched it gradually get destroyed by removing the meritocratic foundation of the game, piece by piece. Easy modes were implemented. Everything was dumbed down. LFD and LFR matchmaking tools were implemented, so not only did you not need to learn how to play the game to play it successfully, you didn't even need to know how to socialize anymore. What happened? People got bored and quit in droves, coming back only briefly for new expansions before quitting again. And now the current retail game is on life support and Activision Blizzard's stock has plummeted by 50% in six months, and stockholders are probably wondering what the fuck happened.

So no, I don't believe that players who ask for easy modes know what's best for themselves. They're just kids asking for candy, and a good parent doesn't give his kids all the candy they want. And I applaud the rare developer like From Software that sticks to what it knows is best for the players and best for its business model instead of caving in to everyone's demands.

 

[CritialGaming]

If your analogy suits you better, it works fine as it also makes my point: if I want to hear my favorite song and an expensive stereo system or concert isn?t available to me, I?m perfectly happy listening to it through my phone; I?m actually glad that OPTION exists. By your logic, any diminished listening options shouldn?t exist since listening ?the way music is meant to be heard? should be the ONLY way. I?ve found dozens upon dozens of new songs and artists listening to Spotify through my phone, artists and songs I?ve enjoyed enough to invest in physical albums and attend concerts. See how that works? Diminished experiences led to my interest and investment in the fuller, ?real? experiences, something that would never happen if artists chose to restrict access to their music to live concerts.

But the key here is the art right? Look at it this way. If you design a game and give it to the player you want them to experience that you have designed for them. FromSoft designs for a specific experience, they have a game that they want people to play.

Critique is fine and fair, and you can say the game is too hard for you. But ultimately the artist, or game designers, in these cases had an experience in mind and they delivered that experience. Sure it might be too hard for some, but that challenge is part of what they've designed for you. Changing the way the game works to skew the difficulty balance one way or another fundamentally changes the experience they've brought before you.

You can not like that experience, you can fail at that experience. Yet for better or worse, the experience is what they've truly intended you to see. And changing that difficulty changes the experience for the player into something they didn't want.