There are a lot of ways to add difficulty to games. A GOOD way is to present the player with competent enemies who act and react in realistic ways.
A BAD way is to make the player conform to certain in-game rules, while not applying those rules to enemies. I was thinking about this while fighting a Sorcerer in Witcher 2's new Arena Mode.
Let me just say, I love the Witcher 2, and I love the changes 2.0 added, but these guys can F.R.O.
When Geralt is casting his "signs" (read spells) it's important to make sure the enemy is not close enough to hit you because they take about a second to cast and are easily interrupted. This is good, it encourages the player to consider positioning and emphasizes keeping distance between you and enemies.
Sorcerers can also cast spells. They can teleport, cast fireballs, heal themselves, and cast a shield. They're challenging opponents, especially when supported by melee fighters. However, they have one very glaring mark against them: Only their fireballs and healing can be interrupted by melee attacks.
Now, maybe this is just my game, maybe it's glitched/bugged/whatever. However, whenever they start the animations to teleport or cast their shield, they become immune to Geralt's attempts to hit them. What makes this worse, is the immunity begins as soon as their animation begins, oftentimes before the player actually sees them move. This leads to a lot of instances of hitting them with quick attacks only to see your sword suddenly go through them, and then their shield appearing.
Or a running attack looks to go right through them as they stand there for half a second before teleporting. At least with the teleporting you stop being able to target them. The game is perfectly willing to let you fruitlessly try hitting them while they cast their shield.
After trying to kill one of them on Hard for half an hour I said f*** it and came here to share.
So how about it Escapists? What are some examples of when you've been frustrated when a game breaks its own rules to make things harder?
A BAD way is to make the player conform to certain in-game rules, while not applying those rules to enemies. I was thinking about this while fighting a Sorcerer in Witcher 2's new Arena Mode.
Let me just say, I love the Witcher 2, and I love the changes 2.0 added, but these guys can F.R.O.
When Geralt is casting his "signs" (read spells) it's important to make sure the enemy is not close enough to hit you because they take about a second to cast and are easily interrupted. This is good, it encourages the player to consider positioning and emphasizes keeping distance between you and enemies.
Sorcerers can also cast spells. They can teleport, cast fireballs, heal themselves, and cast a shield. They're challenging opponents, especially when supported by melee fighters. However, they have one very glaring mark against them: Only their fireballs and healing can be interrupted by melee attacks.
Now, maybe this is just my game, maybe it's glitched/bugged/whatever. However, whenever they start the animations to teleport or cast their shield, they become immune to Geralt's attempts to hit them. What makes this worse, is the immunity begins as soon as their animation begins, oftentimes before the player actually sees them move. This leads to a lot of instances of hitting them with quick attacks only to see your sword suddenly go through them, and then their shield appearing.
Or a running attack looks to go right through them as they stand there for half a second before teleporting. At least with the teleporting you stop being able to target them. The game is perfectly willing to let you fruitlessly try hitting them while they cast their shield.
After trying to kill one of them on Hard for half an hour I said f*** it and came here to share.
So how about it Escapists? What are some examples of when you've been frustrated when a game breaks its own rules to make things harder?
