| vivster said: Well you said it. What does DS have if you take away the difficulty? That makes it a marketing tool rather than an important game mechanic. As far as I'm concerned let it be the hardes RPG ever but just don't promote it that way because that doesn't do right to the game which is a solid RPG game even without the difficulty aspect. Making it more accessible is not changing the formular(especially if it is optional). The only thing it changes is the perception in the 12 year old's eyes. It's not rad enough if it is not all modes make you die. |
While Namco really focused on the challenge of the first Dark Souls for its marketing campaign, the reality is that the game isn't that difficult. While the game can be challenging depending on the player, the game is more about not holding the player's hand, rather than it being overly difficult. Dark Souls forces everyone, both beginners and veterans, to learn the gameplay mechanics, enemy attacks, boss strategies, and so on, and its that sense of discovery and accomplishment that has attracted fans. I just can't see new players appreciating the game if they played on an easier setting, because it could potentially diminish the magnitude of accomplishment when progressing through the content.
It's also important to consider that there are multiplayer aspects of the game and how they can be affected by different difficulty settings. Obviously From Software would want to separate players playing with different difficulty settings for both PvE and PvP (e.g., you wouldn't want to summon a player playing on easy to help defeat a boss on hard), and in turn, that may fracture the online community for the game, which is actually my biggest concern if From Software employed difficulty settings.
Back on topic, I don't really care about whether Dark Souls 2 is Teen or Mature rated, as long as it doesn't drastically change the atmosphere of the game. The brutal, medieval horror-like setting is part of what gives the series its appeal, and that can certainly still be done with a teen rating, although I'm admittedly ignorant about just exactly what determines a game's rating.
