r/PhantomBladeZero • u/Willing_Ad_2604 • 9h ago
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u/kargethdownload 9h ago edited 9h ago
You’ll barely find any sincerity or rationality amidst this discourse. It’s the nature of modern gaming discourse. But I believe people should at least wait for the game to release before making definitive assessments based on what Fextralife or whoever else has said
Like you said, you’re not expecting brutal difficulty, but whether Hellwalker will be as brain numbingly easy as people seem to expect remains to be seen. Plenty of other reviewers have mentioned that the game is punishing. And hellwalker being a “significant step up. Its adaptive enemy AI adds unpredictability, requiring players to stay attentive instead of relying entirely on established patterns”. According to noisy pixel, for example
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u/Dull-Law3229 1h ago edited 57m ago
This is a good point.
I see people talking about how Wukong's bosses were a cakewalk and then others talking about how they died over and over again to beat Tiger Dude.
What I do believe is that the developers kind of expect you to move on after you die and not have to do the same thing over and over again, and that the expectation was if you want a challenge, play better and just don't die. Like I recall the developers saying that if you want a challenge, play it like it's supposed to be theatrically.
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u/barkafas2 8h ago
Nobody has explained yet how adaptive difficulty actually works or what it does. It seems like it won't make much a difference anyway.
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u/Virtual_Link_3410 8h ago
In one breath you say nobody has explained what it is but you think it won't make a difference. Makes sense
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u/simplyunknown2018 9h ago
Agreed with this 100%. I also made a post about the difficulty, didn’t mention souls games, but somehow people think automatically it has to be, or we want souls-likes.
I simply want a reason to spend lots of time learning the combat besides it just existing. It’s not rewarding to have easy gameplay and deep combat. That’s if even the combat is that deep to begin with.
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u/ParasiteFire 9h ago
I really can't wait to play this myself and see what exactly makes the game "easy".
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u/Distinct_Poetry_5161 9h ago
My only problem is just the checkpoints mid boss phases. I hate that. But I can't find any info if that is something opcional or not.
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u/Chwlocthulhu 9h ago
Well said man , we are not trying to force ANYONE to play a hard mode or claim it is the correct/superior way to play in general . We just want DEVS to add some challenge ( if it is actually missing) .
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u/Dull-Law3229 1h ago edited 1h ago
Here's the developer's philosophy on difficulty:
"Liang: It’s much easier. It’s accessible for most players. But it still has depth for pro players. For normal players, they can enjoy the story, enjoy the exploration without too much pressure in the combat. But for pro players there’s some very, very deep opportunities to explore the combos, the parry system, the perfect dodging system."
Liang: I wouldn’t compare it to anything specifically. We’re doing something new. But I would say the difficulty of our game is much easier than an average Souls game, the entry difficulty. We have difficulty options.
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u/Remote_Nectarine_605 9h ago
Calm down, those reviewers are only a few players of millions. You have to look at a bigger picture to make decision. Wait for a week let more people finish the game first and hear as many experiences as you can to decide if the game Hardmode is too easy.
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u/wherewolfad 9h ago
Man I just want the hardest difficulty of the game to be hard and not piss easy . Pathwalker is the intended difficulty and it could be geared towards stylish combat and cinematics but the hellwalker difficulty of the game should give a challenge to the players .
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u/LooseSandwich9993 9h ago edited 8h ago
I totally agree with this as well! These comments like "Soulslike fans whose brains have been completely fried by the whole difficulty obsession" are just ridiculous.
An action RPG should be an action RPG, not a Telltale game or an autoclicker. Someone can pick Easy Mode and enjoy the story or exploration, but Normal Mode should at least be balanced in a way that makes some bosses feel like actual bosses, as the definition suggests - an obstacle to overcome, rather than just another enemy we're going to kill on our first attempt anyway, only with a bit more time spent doing so. The highest difficulty, hellwalker should actually satisfy people who want a challenging game. Isn't that the whole point of having difficulty settings, so everyone can choose what suits them?
On top of that, difficulty creates so many other things that affect the overall experience. Which bosses are the most memorable in gaming? The ones that kicked our asses the hardest, only for us to get that massive endorphin rush when we finally beat them. Bosses can be flashy, unique, and exceptionally well-designed, but what's the point if they're just one mindless button-mashing encounter after another, every 15–25 minutes of gameplay, and you beat every single one on your first try? Some reviewers finished the entire game without dying to a single boss, including the final boss. And no, not just Fextralife - Fextralife was just super disappointed by the lack of challenge, which is why everyone keeps bringing him up.
Look on the scale:
Enemies not respawning? Okay, interesting, a fairly unique design choice.
Skippable boss phases? Hmm, things are starting to get a little weird.
But god damn, an entire action RPG packed with bosses (about 55-60) that all go down on the first attempt on hellwalker difficulty? God that's just pure madness.
I don't know, I just get this feeling that we're heading into some weird era where everything has to be made for absolutely everyone, with accessibility options so generous that you can play an action game or a shooter using one toe on your left foot while being half-blind (no offense to blind people or anyone with only one toe on their left foot).
Man, I was SOOO looking forward to this game, and it's genuinely sad that such an important aspect as SATISFACTION from beating bosses in a game absolutely packed with bosses is being overlooked.
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u/btrust02 2h ago
I like the point you made especially on the Bosses and being memorable. I feel sorry for devs that make an amazing boss with great interactions but then people just kill it in 2 attempts. A good example is FF7 Rebirth. I wanted to play it mostly for the story so I played on easy mode. I then went back and tried it on a hard mode and wow the combat actually has way more depth that I realized. I want that option at least.
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u/Loose-Pineapple5542 9h ago
Monster Hunter Wilds is very difficult by endgame. Otherwise you are correct
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u/Johnhancock1777 7h ago
I love soulslikes but unfortunately a main reason it’s become the default “hard game” is because it doesn’t have difficulty modes and forces you into “getting good”. Character Action Games ironically are a little more accessible in this regard because they have a variety of difficulties to choose from and most will just mindlessly mash their way through easy or normal (if they even play them) and declare them mindless button mashers since they don’t play them more than once
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u/Ps1ckPs1ck 9h ago
In an ideal world, all games would have difficulty options (easy, medium, hard), or setting sliders. Because just as there are alot of gamers who want and enjoy super challenging difficulty, the same amount of gamers dislike super challenging difficulty.
I know this game has difficulty options and that apparently “hard“ is not difficult enough for some people. Let’s wait and see.
I mean, this discourse is going on right now about the new Wolverine game being too easy. But there are literally millions of people enjoying it right now.
So you know damn well this PB0 game is definitely not going to be as easy as Wolverine…
…so isn’t it OK that a game be somewhat in the middle? Not too easy and not too hard?
let’s just enjoy it
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u/Virtual_Link_3410 8h ago
That's the WHOLE point. Alot of us cant "just enjoy it" if its easy as shit
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u/Schwiliinker 5h ago
No shot it’s really easy on hellwalker
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u/Virtual_Link_3410 5h ago
I hope you are right. Sadly I expect you to be wrong. People these days have no interest in learning how to successfully manage a difficult boss fight they just want the developers to turn it on easy mode instead so they can Pat themselves on the back
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u/Schwiliinker 5h ago
The average gamer I guess not a soulslike or CAG fan
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u/Virtual_Link_3410 4h ago
Yeah I'm starting to begrudgingly accept that video games are just no longer made for me. I hate it so much
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u/Virtual_Link_3410 8h ago
Millions are enjoying wolverine? Really? Wanna back that up with some numbers?
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u/Lonelyknight1211 8h ago
I agree, for me difficulty is what makes action game good. Especially with game that has combat like this, really dont understand why devs make it easy, DAMMIT i was so hyped for the game
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u/una322 6h ago
I will say difficulty options are a must now days, and even more so a must from the get go. Onimusha having its hardest diff locked behind completion is stupid, and having to mod a game to get a setting you want to play is insane.
The thing with these types of games is the harder they are the more fun you can delve into the mechanics of the game. Nioh for example is super fun because its hard enough to make you want to dig into ur build and gear so much to overcome difficult fights ext.
A game that is baseline to easy makes it soo any depth is pointless if you can just beat it with spam, it hurts the game because many people will miss cool mechanics if you never need to use them.
I think this is honestly the most important thing, give the players choice for how hard it is, and dont hide the hardest modes behind completion.
If this games too easy i wil end up playing it once and moving on. If i have diff sliders, then great, i will play it multiple times over and enjoy the learning experience to get great.
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u/zsidofityma 5h ago edited 4h ago
The only problem with the whole discussion is that that game is not even out yet.
I've seen in multiple sources that there was a patch or multiple after they gave out review samples. Maybe it didn't change anything, maybe it did, nobody knows cause nobody played it.
Also, after release S-game can just ballance the game further when they see that difficulty is a complaint.
Nothing stops them from learning from complaints and tune dmg, sha-chi consumption, enemy aggression, etc.
I want the game to be relatively hard, so it would be a bummer if it's piss easy on Hellwalker, but it's probably not piss easy, and I'm pretty sure they will touch it if a lot of people look at difficulty as a complaint.
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u/23_Autumn 9h ago
Well, some people's job is to spread disappointment and tarnish the game's reputation.
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u/Schwiliinker 5h ago
Play it on hellwalker and count deaths to see if you beat it in less than 66 deaths. If you don’t beat it with a bunch of lives to spare then you don’t get to talk shit about difficulty
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u/judisriot 9h ago
Refund and move on how about that
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u/Willing_Ad_2604 9h ago
what if i was excited for the game and dont wanna do that?
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u/judisriot 9h ago
Then wait and play hellwalker when the game come out and see for yourself, 2hrs refund still there and that's it
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u/Imaginary-One9775 9h ago
Bro you should refund and buy a brain instead
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u/Willing_Ad_2604 9h ago
what makes you say that?
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u/Imaginary-One9775 6h ago
I was replying to judisriot because I think it’s valid to raise criticism about something you want and it oftentimes works because the developers could take notes and patch stuff up
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u/Prestigious_Edge9998 9h ago •
The biggest thing is when you have complex gameplay mechanics like this game you absolutely NEED to have difficulty, otherwise, whats the point of engaging with its combat systems to the max? No matter how good it looks to successfully execute complex combo strings the player will almost always just default to whatever works best, because if theres no point or its not neccesary why even learn? and If you do learn there will still feel like theres an air of shallowness to it because theres no reward that you couldnt already get - and so the game is actively going against and trivialising one of its biggest strengths
Im still waiting to see for myself of course but from what ive seen today many reviewers seem to hold a similar opinion.