LogFAQs > #966311561

nurse posted...

why roguelites gotta be hard as fuck

Because that's always been part of the appeal of the genre?

It's like asking why Soulslike games are hard.

It's also why I don't really play Soulslikes or Roguelikes/Roguelites.



Nichtcrawler-X posted...

Why would anything default to Hard? Normal is called Normal for a reason.

Was going to point out the Halo example, where Halo has a "Normal" difficulty and then explicitly tells you that you're supposed to be playing on Heroic.

But then it was mentioned by someone else.

Game devs can have difficulty default to any setting they want. They can even do stuff like Wolfenstein 3D or Doom where they basically make fun of you for playing on the lower settings. Sure, "Normal" is going to be the general baseline, but it doesn't have to be. Any dev trying to stand out from others or otherwise be a bit more unique could easily have the game start on higher difficulties and just allow the player to dial things back a bit if it's too much. Starting on Hard could even allow players to step down to Normal without feeling bad, whereas some people feel self-conscious about stepping down to an Easy or Casual difficulty.



nurse posted...

this is correct, but it doesn't default to hard though. it defaults to normal

Does it? It's been a while since I last played a Halo game, but my vague memory is that it doesn't technically default to anything but asks you in advance which difficulty you want to play on. So you have to actively choose before play begins.

And then they use a logo for the Heroic difficulty that looks more official than the lower ones (with the two crossed swords as opposed to one lopsided sword or none), and the text that explicitly says that Heroic is how Halo "is meant to be played", so they're clearly trying to steer you towards Heroic and not Normal.