Also games that progressed the difficult along with your learning curve making a very good experience.

AngryLittleAlchemist is right, though. The creators never have tried to put a mode like this despite 5 games in the SoulsBorne series. They made the game a specific way, because its their interpretation of what the game should be and how it should be played. Adding a easy mode would not only dilute the experience that they put so much work into perfecting, it'd essentially suck the soul right out of the series for the gamers who only played that mode, because they'd essentially be playing a different game. I very much doubt From Software would want that despite there being a chance to cater to a broader audience.

Like AngryLittleAlchemist said, not every game is for everyone. This is the only major entertainment medium where consumers believe they are entitled to having the content creator cater to them. People reading a horror novel don't expect the author to make it less scary or the words shorter so that they can get through the book easier. People looking at a painting don't say "well, this should have yellow in it, because it's my favorite color and everyone else has their color in the painting. Giving the painting a broader appeal by including my favorite color shouldn't harm the integrity of the artist's vision."

If we don't like a movie, we don't by tickets. Same with books, and same with games. We show what we like by supporting the devs/publishers with our money. So if you don't like a game the way it's developer intended it to be, the answer is not to change the game. The answer is for you to move on and support the games you like.

On the other hand, if it's already in the game and the devs intended for it to be used in order to appeal to a mass audience. That's fine. But it's not the devs responsibility to make a game YOU enjoy.

Erm what? Movies are modified for tv all the time. Visual media is dubbed, has subtitle options, audio options. Directors bring out director's cuts, talk about the movie to explain things. You can pause, rewind, fast play, slow motion movies if desired, stuff you till can't do in video games. You can enjoy it  on the biggest screen in Dolby Atmos or watch it on your phone without sound at all.

Same for books. Translated or even made easier to read, hardcover, paperback, audio books, digital books, some come with a note from the author or a compendium piece explaining things.

Paintings are published in many forms to be seen by people, often enhanced in color and lighting or blown up. Nobody forces you to go to the Louvre to experience the painting as the painter intended.  Google Mona Lisa and see how many variations there are instantly available online! The original is a small dark painting for which you have to stand in line for to see for a few minutes. Ban all the copies cause you can see the original?

Many board games have different versions or alternate rules for beginners or to make the game faster. Tabletop RPGs are of course as flexible as the DM wants them to be while complex board games like 1830 and Civilization come with rule variations. Plus you can always alter them yourself.


Video games are the only major entertainment where accessibility options are still lacking. Saying if you can't keep up with the game pace you shouldn't play it is the same as if you can't run a full marathon don't run at all.

Why be against including more people from enjoying a game? The more can enjoy it, the bigger the budget and likelihood of a sequel will be. The bigger the budget the more likely devs can add expert modes, ng+ and other optional end game difficulty options for those that can't get enough.

Anyway Dark souls contradicts itself by adding easy options in the game that completely change the game balance. You just have to look in a wiki to access easy mode. Difficulty options are right there in the game, just obscured for your inconvenience.

You don't seem to understand what I was saying. I am not talking about accessibility options being present or lacking in other mediums. I am talking about the actual body of art being changed for the sake appeasing more people.Two completely different things. Never once did I say those things you mentioned don't exist in the other mediums, so your response puzzles me.

There are all types of pictures, postcards and what not of the Mona Lisa, but those are other interpretations of the Mona Lisa. Davinci didn't go directly into his painting and put a smile on Mona Lisa's face, because some people were confused by her expression. That was the entire point of the painting.

Like I said, if the dev puts those options into the game I am all for it. Just like there are Director's Cuts, commentaries, language options in movies, having these accessibility options is great. But not every movie has all these things, and these things aren't things we're entitled to. If it enhances the experience, great. If it makes it worse by going against the original vision (which in SoulsBorne game's case, it certainly would), then it's probably best to accept you better off playing something else.

I totally disagree. There are other ways to reduce difficulty and give the player options. The game can still be fun at lower difficulty levels. It has higher difficulty levels as NG+ and you still enjoyed it the first time around on easy mode! Some people don't care for boss battles, let them skip them or turn the difficulty down temporarily. Some people just want to explore the world without getting killed all the time, let them. Some people don't care about grinding for upgrades. I skipped most of the story mission segments in RDR2 and enjoyed the game my way. Had it forced me to keep replaying the same corridor shoot out sequences over and over I would not have enjoyed it as much.

The use of assists is always a discussion point in racing games. From purists that want to lock everyone in cockpit view without any assists to those that simply want to have fun with a controller. GT Sport manages to have it all work very well together, still there are those that want to determine who can use what.

Games are there for your enjoyment. They are not a skill test. There is no prize at the end. You do not graduate game school. Let people enjoy games the way they want. I finished God of War on easy, which was damn hard for me against the final Valkyrie boss. Game of the year for me. Freely changing difficulty on the fly reduced any frustration and kept the game fun from beginning to end.

That's where I disagree with you, difficulty is a form of accessibility. The actual body is not changed by playing in 60fps on a hand-held? Why would it be changed with visible difficulty options? It's already in the game, master key + drake sword -> easy mode. The game can be played and enjoyed in many different ways. Actually the most disruptive thing in Dark Souls was summoning a co-op partner that practically one hit killed the boss I was struggling with. Was that the original vision? Anti climax.

Dark souls vision is that of figuring things out for yourself, An auto map would ruin it, quest markers would ruin it, qte prompts would ruin it, however extra health (or extra flasks), damage modifiers, speed modifiers will not ruin it. Nor would explaining how to jump for example. Going onto the web to find easy mode kinda ruins it as it's too easy to see spoilers. Dark souls already has a difficulty curve, all people ask is to have an option to lower the start point of the curve (which you can already do by accessing a wiki, it's in the game). Plus how would the game be ruined if you have an option to retry a boss fight right from where you entered instead of back to the last bonfire.

AngryLittleAlchemist is right, though. The creators never have tried to put a mode like this despite 5 games in the SoulsBorne series. They made the game a specific way, because its their interpretation of what the game should be and how it should be played. Adding a easy mode would not only dilute the experience that they put so much work into perfecting, it'd essentially suck the soul right out of the series for the gamers who only played that mode, because they'd essentially be playing a different game. I very much doubt From Software would want that despite there being a chance to cater to a broader audience.

Like AngryLittleAlchemist said, not every game is for everyone. This is the only major entertainment medium where consumers believe they are entitled to having the content creator cater to them. People reading a horror novel don't expect the author to make it less scary or the words shorter so that they can get through the book easier. People looking at a painting don't say "well, this should have yellow in it, because it's my favorite color and everyone else has their color in the painting. Giving the painting a broader appeal by including my favorite color shouldn't harm the integrity of the artist's vision."

If we don't like a movie, we don't by tickets. Same with books, and same with games. We show what we like by supporting the devs/publishers with our money. So if you don't like a game the way it's developer intended it to be, the answer is not to change the game. The answer is for you to move on and support the games you like.

On the other hand, if it's already in the game and the devs intended for it to be used in order to appeal to a mass audience. That's fine. But it's not the devs responsibility to make a game YOU enjoy.

For your sake I hope you have not played X-com (the original or the remake)

You're definitely entitled to your opinion, but I agree that this is a point we disagree on.

Dark Souls (and Bloodborne/Demon Souls) is about figuring things out for yourself, sure. But that is just a small part of it's allure. The exploration of everything from the world to the gameplay systems is put on the gamer instead of the game as a means of getting you into the mindset that you have to play with a critical mind. You have to worry about death around every corner unlike other action games that arm the player with loads of hp and god like powers.

The higher threshhold of difficulty is just as defining of the vision as the "figure it yourself out" style of game play. These things are used to ramp up the adrenaline and make the player really pay attention to the game's environments, enemy patterns, etc.

Prepare to Die is the series slogan for a reason. The developers want you to face challenges, dig deep, and overcome them, even knowing full well you are going to face failure a lot before finding that success. And the payoff is unlike anything in other games. It's not only adrenaline pumped ride, but the payoff is relief and pride. I'm not saying I don't enjoy other action games, but I have enjoyed them a lot less after Bloodborne, because I don't get that feeling when fighting a boss. In fact, there are a lot of games I don't even die in at all or only a few times so any sense of significance to how you play is diminished. And with games, how to get through content is more important than what the content is, because gameplay is the most important defining feature of the medium. So is the level of immersion, another thing which would be severely affected by the change of flow due to giving player's relief.

So yeah, that sense of dread/adrenaline/relief and that payoff would be ruined since the risk and impact of dying would be lessened. Options aren't a terrible thing...unless it goes against the integrity of the developer's design and vision. Handicaps in a game like Dark Souls is exactly that, because how to get through the game is way more important than getting through the content. If it were played with those "accessibility options" (though I'd argue that is a loose term for basically completely changing the gameplay in a case like this), the player wouldn't even be playing the same game. But that's just my opinion.

You're definitely entitled to your opinion, but I agree that this is a point we disagree on.

Dark Souls (and Bloodborne/Demon Souls) is about figuring things out for yourself, sure. But that is just a small part of it's allure. The exploration of everything from the world to the gameplay systems is put on the gamer instead of the game as a means of getting you into the mindset that you have to play with a critical mind. You have to worry about death around every corner unlike other action games that arm the player with loads of hp and god like powers.

The higher threshhold of difficulty is just as defining of the vision as the "figure it yourself out" style of game play. These things are used to ramp up the adrenaline and make the player really pay attention to the game's environments, enemy patterns, etc.

Prepare to Die is the series slogan for a reason. The developers want you to face challenges, dig deep, and overcome them, even knowing full well you are going to face failure a lot before finding that success. And the payoff is unlike anything in other games. It's not only adrenaline pumped ride, but the payoff is relief and pride. I'm not saying I don't enjoy other action games, but I have enjoyed them a lot less after Bloodborne, because I don't get that feeling when fighting a boss. In fact, there are a lot of games I don't even die in at all or only a few times so any sense of significance to how you play is diminished. And with games, how to get through content is more important than what the content is, because gameplay is the most important defining feature of the medium. So is the level of immersion, another thing which would be severely affected by the change of flow due to giving player's relief.

So yeah, that sense of dread/adrenaline/relief and that payoff would be ruined since the risk and impact of dying would be lessened. Options aren't a terrible thing...unless it goes against the integrity of the developer's design and vision. Handicaps in a game like Dark Souls is exactly that, because how to get through the game is way more important than getting through the content. If it were played with those "accessibility options" (though I'd argue that is a loose term for basically completely changing the gameplay in a case like this), the player wouldn't even be playing the same game. But that's just my opinion.