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Post by Lord Gansai on Oct 27, 2014 9:53:43 GMT -5
I think a big part of the issue here is how each individual defines "winning". Do you define this as getting to the end of an episode or holding a top rank on the no-death nightmare leaderboard?
I would argue that the latter is the true definition of "winning" for the hardcore player. As unspent gold translates into points could frugality be an effective strategy to "win"?
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Post by vdx on Oct 27, 2014 14:29:47 GMT -5
Excessive potions isn't the only thing excessive gold lets you buy. slayernz makes a point in the Use those Scrolls thread that ties into this one: "By the time you get to Gholla Outlook, you should have a good amount of gold. If you do, I STRONGLY recommend you buy up a fair number of the Tomes of Sustainment. I bought 10 before I went and did the Cult Temple, and it made a world of difference. In fact, it was that much of an aid that I made the trek back to Gholla Outlook and went and purchased an additional 50!" 50 Tomes of Sustainment = 55k gold. Read more: startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/9785/use-scrolls#ixzz3HNGQdhVXThe trend in games over the last two decades is to water down the difficulty so that everyone can win. It started at having "easy" modes. But consumers didn't like saying they played on easy. So harder modes were introduced. Than everyone wanted to win on the hardest difficulty. So the hardest difficulties became easier and the normal and easy difficulties became too easy. The end result is a generation of gamers who expect a game to be easy. Games have been become passive entertainment rather than a challenge. Attrition rate for players is the highest it's every been, with no sign of slowing down. At one time 50-75% of gamers completed a game (way way back when nerds were still shunned from the light). Than in the 90's it dropped to about 20-30% as more casual players entered the arena in mass. Than in the zero's, it dropped to about 20%. Now, it's about 10% and falling fast. People get bored easy and don't expect to have to grind or hone skills. They just want to pick up, play and win. So they first time a player hits a wall, they lose interest and switch games taken their consumer dollars with them. The industry has learned to follow that mentality. It's a business after all. And each year it gets worse. Games continue to embrace better graphics, better development and on first glance, better games. I'll end my dinosaur rant. |
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Post by plunk on Oct 27, 2014 15:59:25 GMT -5
I'd imagine that the point of Easy mode in games and even regular difficulty is to serve as a catch all for those kinds of players.
The average "I expect to win" player isn't going to set the difficulty to the highest.
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Post by crimsonking on Oct 28, 2014 0:46:08 GMT -5
On the other siehe, HoS ain't a game for the masses. Turn based 2d rpg is dead on pc, and most mobile device players look for simpler, more casual stuff.
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Post by xdesperado on Oct 28, 2014 1:11:32 GMT -5
crimsonking sorry nothing personal here I just get annoyed when certain types of games are declared dead. The mainstream industry is always trying to do this, someone will create something new and/or different and suddenly half the new games out there are along the same line and last years hot game type is now declared dead.  A good, well crafted game will almost always find a market regardless of platform. Not all gamers are teenagers with hyper reflexes and short attention spans. Because of that and the fact that many of us who got into gaming at the dawn of the PC/Console era are getting older the market for games that have more depth to them and rely less on how fast your fingers are are growing in popularity.
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Post by crimsonking on Oct 28, 2014 14:38:59 GMT -5
A good, well crafted game will almost always find a market regardless of platform. Yes, but this market will be very small when neither graphics and sound nor the accessability make the game appealing to anyone but those with an acquired taste. HoS is great for genre enthusiasts, but not for the average gamer. Even class A production level turn based tactics/rpg hybrids Fall Shirt of becoming real hits. |
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Post by xdesperado on Oct 28, 2014 19:37:29 GMT -5
crimsonking you say acquired taste, I say it's classic game play making a return. Sony has ported the first few Final Fantasy games to PS3 and there are active forums/boards for them. FF Tactics despite having a very dated, by today's standards, look offers the kind of tactical dungeon crawl with characters you can really get into that most modern games don't offer. Your choices of characters, skills and equipment along with turn based combat leads to a fun game that doesn't rely on how fast you can mash buttons...HoS is cut from the same mold and shows that this style game is far from dead but enjoying a modest comeback. Good games with immersive plots and near limitless replay potential will never go out of style. The Elder Scrolls series, Final Fantasy, Dragonage and others show that RPGs that stress the story and character choices over twitch reflexes prove that while the games evolve to take advantage of the latest technology, the core ideas behind them are still very popular.
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Post by Trasd on Nov 10, 2014 1:51:31 GMT -5
Not everyone is as skilled at playing or interested in higher difficulty levels. I'm one of those people. Perhaps you just want a relaxing low difficulty. Large gold and loot offer more flexibility in choosing how you want to play. In my own experience one mistake in a large battle will cost me 15,000 in gold to replace my potions, some of which are not available for purchase and can only be found in loot drops. We also do not know what level of resources will be needed in Chapter 3 and 4. . . . I think preserving freedom of choice for individual players trumps universal limits. I couldn't agree more and I've been telling Andrew this since I first bought the game (and all IAP). I don't want to fight tooth and nail all the time! Most of the time, I just want to relax and explore, but instead, I feel like chucking my tablet across the room way too often (yes Andrew, I watched the video and, that's almost exactly how I play). It seems like the hardcore players want the game to be harder and the casual players want it easier. So, what about making easy easier, leave normal the same, and make hard harder? I find myself no longer playing HoSE and I am very disappointed in that. Right now, I find Baldur's Gate more enjoyable because I can play on a more relaxed setting when I'm in the mood, but I still have harder-settings games saved for when I want a challange. I really want to explore HoSE, but I'm just fed up with restarting the game to try and tweak my party. It seems like just one or two mistakes and it's all over. Maybe that changes at higher levels, but I've yet to get there. My 2¢. |
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Post by CdrPlatypus on Nov 10, 2014 3:31:52 GMT -5
I'm all for making nightmare harder and leaving the other difficulty lvls where they are
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Post by fallen on Nov 10, 2014 9:09:28 GMT -5
Trasd - maybe I need to record some more video of more difficult parts of the dungeon.
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Post by Cory Trese on Nov 10, 2014 12:53:41 GMT -5
I find myself no longer playing HoSE and I am very disappointed in that. Right now, I find Baldur's Gate more enjoyable because I can play on a more relaxed setting when I'm in the mood, but I still have harder-settings games saved for when I want a challange. I really want to explore HoSE, but I'm just fed up with restarting the game to try and tweak my party. It seems like just one or two mistakes and it's all over. Maybe that changes at higher levels, but I've yet to get there. My 2¢. Are you playing on Easy? |
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Post by vdx on Nov 10, 2014 14:14:58 GMT -5
I find myself no longer playing HoSE and I am very disappointed in that. Right now, I find Baldur's Gate more enjoyable because I can play on a more relaxed setting when I'm in the mood, but I still have harder-settings games saved for when I want a challange. I really want to explore HoSE, but I'm just fed up with restarting the game to try and tweak my party. It seems like just one or two mistakes and it's all over. Maybe that changes at higher levels, but I've yet to get there. My 2¢. Are you playing on Easy? If you are stumbling, I would encourage trying the Normal or Easy settings. Both don't have perma-death. One of the reasons I dislike games that add perma-death as part of the difficulty is that a minor error, fat-fingering a button, or just spacing out can ruin days of development. Make a game hard, Beat my party into oblivion. But perma-death? uhg. As HOS keeps realizing Episodes, the time to recover from perma-death gets longer and longer. |
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Post by Trasd on Nov 10, 2014 14:57:05 GMT -5
Trasd - maybe I need to record some more video of more difficult parts of the dungeon. No, thanks, I don't think that will be necessary (not done for me personally, anyway). The tactics, I know, from over 30 years of playing RPGs in one form or another. My lack of enjoyment didn't stem from a lack of knowledge. But, maybe I should not have posted anything until I tried the game again. After my post, I decided to try the update and see where HoSE was at. I don't understand what changed, but playing on easy was, well, easy! Maybe, before, I somehow didn't have the difficulty setting on what I thought it was on, though I find that difficult to believe because it shows the setting on the saved game. Maybe the game was nerfed some since I last ran through the beginning. Whatever changed, I'm finding it much better now. I still haven't made it to the first campfire, so I know it's not based on any leveling decision made on my part. Whatever the reason, I want to try it some more and see if it remains fairly constant. In other words, I'm playing again. What I am impressed with though, is the community here! Everyone seemed genuinely concerned and no one got snooty, even you, Andrew, after months of emails (I only recently noticed the forums, sorry). Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I think I'm going to pull up my game and see how long it takes me to catch up to the farthest place I've ever made it to. That will give me a much better idea as to what's changed. |
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Post by fallen on Nov 10, 2014 14:59:27 GMT -5
Trasd - we haven't made any significant changes to the combat system or game difficulty for a long time. And the difficulty listed on the game's record (in the table of games) should be correct. It is great to hear that Easy is, as it should be, easy! I hope it stays this way 
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Post by tenbsmith on Nov 10, 2014 15:05:30 GMT -5
The community here is pretty cool. A tranquil oasis of reason-ability in an internet desert littered with over-bloated narcissism and FLAMED OPINIONS.
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