Which is better: More difficult or easy?

[FishBiter]

As a student of game design and beggining mod-author I am deeply interested in the concept of difficulty and how it relates to fun. With Skyrim mods there are many ways that the difficulty level of the game can be altered, and the particular way that someone chooses to alter it has some fairly dramatic effects on gameplay.

 

How does the difficulty of a game factor into how much fun the game is for you? Does higher difficulty add to or detract from the enjoyment you derive from a game?

 

How do you define difficulty in a game? Reaction time? The need for specific tactics?

 

In what ways have you modded Skyrim to custom tailor the difficulty level for you? Have you modded Skyrim's difficulty at all?

 

 

Thank you for your responses.

[sukeban]

Dunno about other people, but I think that difficulty scales with satisfaction so long as the difficulty is manageable and doesn't feel cheap. I mean, I beat Ninja Gaiden back in the day and celebrated--not because I was genuinely happy about the "accomplishment," but because I could finally stop playing the game. OTOH, something like Dark Souls is genuinely hard, but it doesn't feel cheap; and I am legitimately satisfied when I am advancing my characters in that game.

 

I would say that something like de-leveled spawns is probably the most "satisfying" application of difficulty out of those that you listed. It simulates reality a bit better than the rest and also sets aspirational goals for you character to reach as he/she progresses. You are locked out of content by hard baddies, but you can still dominate skeevers and mud crabs and (maybe) wolves. As you increase your level you can dominate more baddies, but hopefully there are still difficult tasks for your character to meet. You are satisfied with your character for a moment (when you can dominate a new type of enemy), but you are always right back aspiring to something better.

 

Nobody except for arcade junkies enjoy cheap difficulty like in vanilla Skyrim. Applying unreal and unfair de-buffs to the player and wildly buffing enemies just does not correlate with enjoyment for all but a select few game players. This is like the hover cycle level in Battletoads; the odds are stacked against you to an insane degree and it is up to your "skill" (memorization of the jump sequence and twitch reflexes) to overcome the challenge. In the process though, you will die an almost infinite amount of times. Not fun... at least for most people.

 

TBH, I think what most people would want is improved AI for baddies rather than insane buffs. Depending on the AI you can then scale the actual hp, damage, and whatever other numbers are in play with enemies to a level that presents a realistic, even-handed challenge. Most people would rather outsmart a skilled AI than abuse its mechanics in an attempt to cut into a gigantic hp pool. That is why people enjoy playing against other humans in many games, because it presents the most rewarding and satisfying challenge for the effort expended. I know that's probably not what you were asking for in your question, but it is still probably true.

 

There is a certain allure in the concept of "god-mode," but that experience gets old after you realize that there is nothing left to do once you reach it. That, I'd imagine, is why people load up on NPCs and beasts as they attempt to use their god-mode character against "impossible" odds. I can see the fun in that, but it still strikes me as a transient joy. I am sure that it takes a certain degree of skill to best hordes of enemies, but I personally find it more rewarding to duel small batches of more powerful enemies due to the more individualized sense of satisfaction.

 

Anyway, pardon the essay. I too find this topic interesting.

[Ironman5000]

The second one for me.

 

I prefer modded environment difficulty rather than the messing with the difficulty menu because it's so much more interesting to add more danger to the world rather than just dying easily. By adding danger to certain areas, or even by random encounters the player is forced to strategically think about the situation and maybe even turn back from bosses and battles to avoid certain death rather than just tanking though - which really does get boring after a while.

 

Speaking of difficulty I find that with most RPGs get easier through progression despite levelled bad guys through buffs, spells, armour etc. which is another great reason to have difficult encounters around the game that can surprise the player, especially after they have become familiar with the vanilla un-modded areas.

[acidzebra]

It's a knife-edge balance, that's for sure. For me, the most enjoyable time in vanilla skyrim is when you're still low-level (say, below 15-20) and you get into these battles and you're just not sure you're going to make it. Sometimes you have to run like hell (and hope you still have the stamina and can outrun or hide), and sometimes by a combination of skill and a little luck you manage to win and the sweet loot is yours - that is where I derive the greatest satisfaction from a fight. There has to be some element of uncertainty. At some point you have so many potions and other skills you can just tank through no matter what the game throws at you, and that's usually where I start a new character (and try some new mods while I'm at it - variety and all that)

 

It's hard for the game to compensate for that "you've now become an unstoppable force of nature" stage - adjusting the HP/DPS of the enemy (or just adding MOAR) is one possible way but you run the danger of battles just becoming a grindfest and/or getting "unfair" player kills. Making enemies smarter is also good - the AI is pretty braindead in vanilla (even though by game standards it is advanced with a lot of flexibility) but this is pretty hard. Making stuff like healing potions rarer is another option - sometimes it feels like there's a potion factory somewhere underground and they're having a bargain sale. In general a bit more scarcity is a good thing in Skyrim I think, it's fairly hard to not end up with more money than you can spend and have a pile of glass and other rare weapons and armor.

[AnkhAscendant]

A combination of two options for me - delevelled, plus adding more spawns with improved AI (plus a third option, a realistic combat overhaul). I like my enemies 'realistic' and dangerous at the same time, because combat is pretty boring most of the time.

 

Actually, "combat difficulty" != "game difficulty", and the game is still hideously easy no matter what you do with combat because the quests are so linear and hold your hand so tightly, but you're just asking about combat so I won't go off complaining about that.

[gulogulo]

Well, my mod makes he game more realistic. That means it makes certain aspects of the game more simple while other aspects more difficult. For example the beast senses and abilities give you a great advantage. So does the minion system that allows you to command the followers/summons. In fact it allows you not to fight anymore. But the wind and the smell system makes the wilds much more difficult. You can be sensed both by the predators and preys from a far. And this ussually spells troubles. You should constantly be aware of the direction of the wind. The heat vision in the next version of my mod makes your life easier but it can mislead you. If an actor has just emerged from water it wont be highlighted. The same is when its raining.