Artificial Difficulty

[SDaemon]

I think people are just using the word artificial to attempt to differentiate things that add to an objective's difficulty but it comes off nonsensical to me because it seems to try to redefine "artificial" to suit the situation.

[repoe]

Funny stuff, I bequeath this thread the following snippets

Frankly, I’ve heard a lot of different definitions of what people think artificial difficulty means and the only thing that has remained consistent through all of them is “The difficulty doesn’t feel fun.”

The same sobbing toddlers who quit Ghouls n’ Ghosts grew into the whining adults who quit Dark Souls and say it’s artificially difficult. Their reasons always boil down to the same things – it’s harsh, unfair and unpredictable. One of the main culprits that will receive blame in games like these are the seemingly random events that surprise and punish players. This type of gameplay is a punch to the balls but is also designed to teach players what to expect in similar settings later on. This type of difficulty is often regarded as…

TRIAL AND ERROR / MEMORIZATION

Gamers have allowed their frustrations to manifest into the boogie man. Artificial difficulty didn’t exist until it caught on a few years ago. Before that time, people actually examined what made the game hard and why they felt it was unfair or not fun. For any game you may become frustrated with there are going to be reasons why. Attempting to identify those reasons helps promote meaningful discussion. There is always a better word to describe your grievances with a games difficulty other then “artificial”. Merely tossing a blanket over everything you don’t like and calling it artificial has the opposite effect and achieves nothing other than the dumbing down of language.

The boogie man is not real, your dog didn’t go to live on a big farm with hundreds of other playful dogs, the Easter bunny is not real and neither is artificial difficulty.

[Havenae]

Funny stuff, I bequeath this thread the following snippets

Shit gods forbid a game be difficult AND fun.

What would we do with ourselves?

[CGMidlander]

The best example of Artificial Difficulty I can think of is Hero Mode in Vindictus. lol
The bosses are just sped up, hit extremely hard, and are incredibly durable without a highly enhanced weapon to hit them with.

[Reynhart]

• RNG

Am I the only one who understand this as "Congratulations, group, you did very well, but the coffer only gives shitty drops, go do it again" ?

Too much FFXI in my past, maybe...

[Gallus]

This entire game mechanics are artificial difficulty.
The same moment you have the same bosses with the same scripted rotations over and over again it's artificial difficulty.

Do you know what would be real difficulty? Bosses with random rotations that required reflexes. However, we'd need better servers for that, as it is now, this game doesn't praise reflexes (*I'm about to die! *presses Hallowed Ground* *HG goes on CD, still dies*), it praises memory (Tank buster is coming, HG popped!).

The only thing that can be remotely considered "difficult" in this game is taking a job and being like 99% optimal at it.

Imagine Titan doing weight of the land whenever he pleases? (on dedicated servers). That fight would separate people who truly have reflexes from people who don't.

[Gilthas]

This entire game mechanics are artificial difficulty.
The same moment you have the same bosses with the same scripted rotations over and over again it's artificial difficulty.

This isn't artificial difficulty, it's just something that you don't like.

Having fights rely on RNG has its problems too because then you'll have times when the fight is easy and others when you simply just can't win.

[Gallus]

This isn't artificial difficulty, it's just something that you don't like.

Nope, it's real difficulty. Stuff based on reflexes is real difficulty, because not everybody is capable of doing it. A fight based on a scripted rotation can even be done by someone with the reflexes of a snail, the only thing you might need is just more tries.

As for

Having fights rely on RNG has its problems too because then you'll have times when the fight is easy and others when you simply just can't win.

Extend the length of the fights and this problem is instantly solved.
"But then it wouldn't be fun". Well I'm not talking about fun, I'm talking about what would be really difficult. Knowing what's coming beforehand triviallizes your skill and then it all becomes a memory battle (which everyone can do and the only difference between someone really skilled and someone utterly demented will simply boil down to more tries).

[Reynhart]

A fight based on a scripted rotation can even be done by someone with the reflexes of a snail, the only thing you might need is just more tries.

And on each try, you will improve yourself until you manage to pull it off perfectly. That's one kind of difficulty. Something we see all the time in rythm games, for example.

Extend the length of the fights and this problem is instantly solved.

Then you'd also need to restrict some mechanics. If Titan Ex decides to spam Double Gaols, you're screwed...
If tankbusters happen every 15 seconds, your tank will surely die, too...

But, a fight where each attack has its own cooldown, and where the boss can chose whatever ability he wants that is not on cooldown, could be very fun and interesting.

[Gilthas]

Nope, it's real difficulty. Stuff based on reflexes is real difficulty, because not everybody is capable of doing it. A fight based on a scripted rotation can even be done by someone with the reflexes of a snail, the only thing you might need is just more tries.

Sorry, but I don't limit difficulty to "twitch-based" mecahnics. That's just what you prefer, so you deem memorization as "artificial difficulty".

Extend the length of the fights and this problem is instantly solved.

No it wouldn't. Like the above poster mentioned, several mechanics will need to be put on cooldown or your party can be easily screwed by the RNG.