Do people want this game to be as "Hardcore" as 90's RPGs?

[Sensuki]

And if you are going to do a difficulty slider system, for god's sake do not just up the hit points, resistances and/or damage

 

I'd prefer no difficulty slider though

[incubus9]

I love a good curve to my hardcore. I shouldn't be tempted to break my keyboard over some random encounter, but if a boss fight doesn't force me to use all my potions and drop those scrolls I've been saving in my inventory, then it just won't feel like a worthwhile cRPG. The best thing about all my favorite old RPGs was the challenge.

[Romiras]

Hey guys, since Eternity is the first Kickstarter project on which I'm spending money, I've decided to join the discussion

 

From my experience people usually use "hardcore" to define two completely different things:

 

1. Bad design. That's when a player has to struggle against interface problems, stupid level design or ridiculously strong monsters in the plain encounter like huge open space with a horde of enemies (their stats increased simply because designers were too lazy to plan and prepare a good fight).

2. Hard to beat encounters. Fights which require solid knowledge and use of your party abilities, preparation and planning. You might also have to use your brain =)

 

I'm definitely pro Hardcore 2 and strictly contra Hardcore 1 =))

Edited September 19, 2012 by Romiras

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Hey guys, since Eternity is the first Kickstarter project on which I'm spending money, I've decided to join the discussion

 

From my experience people usually use "hardcore" to define two completely different things:

 

1. Bad design. That's when a player has to struggle against interface problems, stupid level design or ridiculously strong monsters in the plain encounter like huge open space with a horde of enemies (their stats increased simply because designers were too lazy to plan and prepare a good fight).

2. Hard to beat encounters. Fights which require solid knowledge and use of your party abilities, preparation and planning. You might also have to use your brain =)

 

I'm definitely pro Hardcore 2 and strictly contra Hardcore 1 =))

 

I agree, you should fail if you messed up not because the game is overtuned.

[honkytonk]

If you take a look at the BG series or BG2 in particular, I think I would like it a bit like those. Usual encounters ranged from "slaughter" to "look out or you get burned".

That was when you finally had a Party or at least a companion to help you out, but when you started as a Mage in BG ... it could get ugly real fast and then you were stabbed after a 3 minute sequence of *miss* messages by the first encounter in candlekeep .

While I've never played D&D, I heard that was just AD&D 2nd Edition stuff ("You respected high level mages in AD&D 2E!" comes to mind), but yeah... it was kind of "hardcore".

 

But the usual difficulty in those games was just entertaining in my mind. There were so many encounters that forced you to take a step back and think ahead before acting. The mass encounter in the north of the sewers in Athkatla with all the mages and fighters for instance. Or those encounters you had to prepare for a lot and plan out entirely... killing Drizzt and his Friends or the Kangaxx encounter. Damn, the first time Kangaxx stopped time and instant killed two or three of my companions was a jaw dropper ; )

 

But overall it was a good mixture that kept you on your toes and forced you to use a methodical approach instead of running through a dungeon weapons swinging.

[ilhdr]

Don't give xp to unlock just 10% of the skill tree if you explore every bit of the world, or cap the level at 20.

 

And please, let eveyone save whenever they want, no console crap chekpoints or "travel to the inn" system.

[Crosmando]

No Easy difficulty. Just "Normal" (which is actually hard), and "Hard" (which is insanely hard).

 

The casuals on steam who buy the game just because they can need a good old dose of death.

[Lexx]

I want the game to be good. That's all I care about.

[Elerond]

I enjoy difficult fights were preparation and right tactics are the key to victory. But I also some time like cake walk fights when I have feel to only explore world/plot choices/dialogs/etc.. So I would like to see hardcore difficult level where fights take time and effort, but I would also like to see casual difficult level where fights don't have so great focus and you can focus on to take delight in game's writing.

[Kilroy_Was_Here]

Hearing some of the talk about Baldurs Gate reminded me of something. In BG1 whenever you opened the inventory the game would automatically unpause. This meant that it suddenly became very important to know exactly what the tooltip of an item said or what inventory slot it was in, because seconds matter. For BG2 they went the opposite route and automatically paused for the inventory, so you had time to look at what you had and determine your next move.

 

I think the BG1 inventory is an example of how not to make your game 'hardcore difficult'. It favors those who memorize everything and punishes those who aren't as experienced with the game. With the BG2 system the battle itself can be just as difficult but treats players more fairly. If you weren't playing the game for the nth time or using a guide and didn't know that a vampire/basilisk/mind flayer/whatever was ahead, how are you supposed to respond if you can't get the item out in time?

[SirthOsiris]

Difficulty that makes me use multiple tactics, need to have a varied party, and may go to hell if I'm not watching are what I'd like.

 

Against random one-shot crits outside the gate.

 

It's not that I'm not hardcore. It's just I'm not that good. I like to feel challenged, since those encounters are exciting. But I also don't want to feel like there's some straight cliff I need to scale to have fun.

[HansKrSG]

I think calling BG1+2, TOrment and the other IE games hardcore is an insult to the earlier really hard games. That said, the difficulty in the IE games was just how they should be. In the beginning you are weak and after a while you begin to kick ass now and again, both because you have had to think tactically to survive, and becasue your character had grown in power.