People Enjoy hard Games

[Ath192]

I find it interesting that everyone criticizes forum posters asking for harder content and they dismiss us for being the vocal minority on these forums but to be honest we may be somewhat of the silent majority with a few outspoken people.

The game has repeatedly doubled down on making itself easier because it has been under the false impression that people calling for an easier game were in fact the majority.

If anything, market trends have telling data that a games difficulty is actually something gamers enjoy. If we take a look at Baldurs Gate and Elden ring both of them became main stream hits despite being more difficult titles to beat, and they both outperformed FFXVI which is a story game with incredibly easy gameplay.

We could argue that using the PS5 platform only hurt them however, it doesn't change the fact that making an engaging and difficult game DOES NOT mean you are reducing your playerbase and hurting the games bottom line.

In short, XIV is too easy, and recent commercial successes reveal there is no reason to dumb the game down to where it is today.

[Renalt]

I can see both sides. Sometimes after a long day of work all I want to do is chill out and play a game without having to throw myself at bullet/sword/spell sponges that can one shot you right back.

Then there are days...bring the pain. I want it to hurt.

An MMO should be easy at first and then get gradually harder however I feel it started easy, got hard ( giggity), then job changes got dumbed down, then content got dumbed down to the point this is the easiest MMO I've played in ages.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Elden ring is on almost every platform, xvi is on one.



I enjoy both hard and easy games.



I have the platinum in Elden ring.



I also enjoyed the crap out of xvi.

[Shikiseki]

I'd actually like to see content getting tougher as levels go up - I'm fine with level 50 content being baby mode but at 90 I expect some sort of engagement and danger that can catch me off guard. It doesn't have to be frustratingly hard full of oneshots like savage but bit more than the 1-2 button faceroll show we have rn in dungeons etc.

[ZephyrMenodora]

And people enjoy easy/relaxing games. *shrug*

If anything, market trends have telling data that a games difficulty is actually something gamers enjoy. If we take a look at Baldurs Gate and Elden ring both of them became main stream hits despite being more difficult titles to beat, and they both outperformed FFXVI which is a story game with incredibly easy gameplay.

Know what else sold a ton? Hogwart's Legacy and Diablo 4. Both easy and mindless.

[ChonkGoblinSuprem]

Then people should go play those games and leave us alone.

[SophiaDL]

Then people should go play those games and leave us alone.

Who is "us", who is it you speak for ? You dont speak for me, speak for yourself.

[TheMightyMollusk]

I feel like there has to be a distinction made between "challenging" and "hard". But it's been a long week and I'm not sure I'm up to the eloquence required to get the point across right now. I'll try to remember to come back to it later.

[Zeastria]

I dont enjoy hard games tho..
but i like the option to play on harder difficuilty!.

I was able to play and finish Elden Ring because it had an option to play it "easier"..
by that i mean magic build..

Games earn more by having different difficulty settings..
Because people enjoy different difficulty settings!..

[Kaurhz]

Uh sure, I can half agree.

The biggest issue is, is that they aren't necessarily the same audience or people playing for that matter. E.g., you cannot really conclude that because BG3 was difficult, and people loved it, therefore it would work out the same in XIV. Or more broadly speaking, other games for that matter.

I do think they should have another difficulty between story and extreme, and equally, I do think that there should be an option for solo duties, where you can pick Easy, Medium, or Hard... (Or maybe even beyond), but I don't necessarily think a higher difficulty should be the default. - It's always been pretty polarising, even for something like Shinryu which wasn't necessarily anything new, but just a combination of existing mechanics. It's not necessarily just people sucking either that were the only ones complaining.