The most controversial theme among gamers is “difficulty”. Everyone has a decisive opinion, which is roughly divided into the following two opinions.
One is that the game should be something that anyone can enjoy, regardless of whether they are good or bad. The other is that if you call yourself a gamer, you need the patience to keep playing until you master the game.
But there is another perspective on this controversy. It should be challenging for inexperienced players, but not too easy for rewarding gamers. In other words, it is a difficulty level that players can improve according to their own skills.
The need for “dialogue” between the player and the game
No matter what the game, players will learn from past mistakes and clear experiences and will naturally improve. Still, developers should be able to build a game that they can learn without having to understand why the player died. In other words, teach the player how the game works and how it works in a way that is neither too difficult nor too easy, and guide them to move forward even if they fail.
A good example would be “Rise of the Tomb Raider”. A popular series with Lara Croft as the main character, it is a reboot work by Square Enix.
When I play this game, I die once every 10 minutes, but even if I play for more than 5 hours, it’s too much fun to stop. Unlike playing “ELDEN RING”, which died six times in the first 30 minutes, I feel like I can learn every time I die.
Many people do not distort the idea that “ELDEN RING” is not so difficult. He says that the reason he often dies is because it is intended to do so, and he can learn how to overcome (or escape from) the challenge.
But that’s not the case. I think I’m playing “ELDEN RING”, but I feel like I’m dead at random.
And, damnly, I don’t know if the reason for the death is low level, lack of magical power (FP), or lack of player knowledge of weapon performance and skills. Thanks to that, I get very annoyed. On the other hand, “Rise of the Tomb Raider” tells you where your ability is out of reach and how to fix it.
No need for “unreasonableness” in the game
Don’t get me wrong, the difficulty level of “Rise of the Tomb Raider” is set differently from “ELDEN RING”. If you set the difficulty level of “Rise of the Tomb Raider” to “Easy”, it’s as easy as the name suggests. But I’m not talking about that here.
The game generally involves jumping, running, sliding, avoiding obstacles, and finding ways to get out of a booby trap. As far as I know, the mechanics of such a game does not depend on the difficulty setting. In other words, the only way to figure out how to break through is to have Lara shed blood, sweat, and tears.
However, to tell the truth, I’ve been playing “Rise of the Tomb Raider” and never died more than once in one mission. When you die, you usually have no idea what will happen and only if you make a terrible mistake.
