Game speed as a difficulty option

[PsychoBlonde]

Now, I have kind of an unusual play style with RTWP games, in that I see the pause as kind of a safety valve that I use as infrequently as I can manage. I NEVER have ANY auto-pause options. I view the progress of events as part of the game difficulty, and consider that it's up to me to react in time to changing circumstances.

 

The thing is that, depending on the speed of the game, as the game progresses, it can start to seem too slow. (Or too fast, depending.)

 

So, I think it'd be interesting to have game speed be part of the game difficulty settings, perhaps to replace the usual round of "enemies do more damage and have more health". It wouldn't really affect the people who use auto-pause for every conceivable thing, but the game does get harder if it moves more quickly.

[Ieo]

I'm having a hard time conceptualizing how "speed" can be reduced to a toggle option for an overhead tactical party game unless it's only as a function of pause removal--which would never happen because that's such a key feature of these tactical party games. Are you saying something like 5 attacks per "round" versus 10 attacks? And this doesn't apply to the storyline quests since you choose your "speed" based on what content to actually do.

 

The game itself always moves as fast as player.

 

If you play "fast" without autopause or manual pause, then go for it?

[PsychoBlonde]

If you play "fast" without autopause or manual pause, then go for it?

 

Do you not recall Baldur's Gate? It had a game speed option that radically affected how fast everything in the game moved and acted. It's substantially harder to play on a higher speed with only manual pause because you need quick reactions and you need to know what you're doing.

 

I'd like to see difficulty modes that embrace features like higher action speeds rather than just giving mobs more damage and more health and calling it a day.

 

As for your comment that the game only moves as fast as the player . . . not in combat, it doesn't. And 90%+ of the game difficulty is usually anchored in combat.

 

Can't see how this'd suit a toggle? Turn off all auto-pause, for starters.

[JFSOCC]

I'm curious, would that include a Alpha Protocol-like dialogue where you have a timer counting down so you have to quickly select your answer?

[wanderon]

Are we talking about ramping up a clickfest here? Party and enemies run around doing more attacks per second and the goal is to figure out which character of yours needs guidance andor which boss needs killing and giving it to them with faster clickety clicks of the mouse and keyboard with all keys except pause?

 

Or are we talking about something else?

[Ieo]

If you play "fast" without autopause or manual pause, then go for it?

 

Do you not recall Baldur's Gate? It had a game speed option that radically affected how fast everything in the game moved and acted. It's substantially harder to play on a higher speed with only manual pause because you need quick reactions and you need to know what you're doing.

 

I'd like to see difficulty modes that embrace features like higher action speeds rather than just giving mobs more damage and more health and calling it a day.

 

As for your comment that the game only moves as fast as the player . . . not in combat, it doesn't. And 90%+ of the game difficulty is usually anchored in combat.

 

Can't see how this'd suit a toggle? Turn off all auto-pause, for starters.

 

I don't remember that setting at all, and I don't remember exactly what settings were discussed in the modes Update at the moment either. It could be worked into one of them, I'm sure.

 

I just prefer to think of "difficulty" in the tactical sense, which means much better enemy AI and removal/increase/decrease certain elements (like multiply spell cooldowns by 200%, lower stamina regen rate by 50%, etc.). Requiring faster player twitch reaction is not tactical difficulty in the slightest.

 

Are we talking about ramping up a clickfest here? Party and enemies run around doing more attacks per second and the goal is to figure out which character of yours needs guidance andor which boss needs killing and giving it to them with faster clickety clicks of the mouse and keyboard with all keys except pause?

 

Or are we talking about something else?

 

That's what I couldn't figure out at first, but it sounds like just that--requiring faster twitch reaction.

 

Edit: I'm sure it would be more "difficult," and as a difficulty setting I suppose that can't be hard to implement when we're talking about timed events of some kind. It's just not tactical.

Edited October 30, 2012 by Ieo

[Orogun01]

It would start to feel artificial when enemies can coordinate at higher speeds than what you can humanly direct your team. Just saying.

[Heresiarch]

I suppose the difficulty settings will come be something like this:

Easy

Normal

Hard

Slowpoke

 

But seriously, I don't think it's a good idea. It's even more artificial than simply changing health/damage. I always thought that a nice difficulty increase would involve more enemies, tougher enemies (not just more HP/DPS, but upgraded class of enemies with more abilities), and most importantly better AI. I was extremely glad to see it in XCOM, but I can't remember any RPG, which used the same pattern for difficulty. Which is a real shame, I think.

[Hassat Hunter]

Binding speed to difficulty? Bad idea.

 

Not in the least due to PC development. What if in the future we all need to play easy not to fast-forward the game because a genious discontinued speed from the options itself?

On the other hand, do you reaaaaaalllyyyy waaaaannnnntttt yyyyyoooouuuurrrr gaaaaammmmmeeee ttthiiiissss slllloooowww oooonnnn eeeaaassssy?

 

Guess not.

Keep it seperate.

[PieSnatcher]

I think it's a novel idea, but I don't want it to be implemented. I'm all for manually adjusting speed though. And maybe I just like crutches, but I like coordinating my party efficiently, and perhaps unrealistically well; I'm kind of addicted to pausing.

Edited November 3, 2012 by PieSnatcher

[Tamerlane]

I bring news from the front!

 

One thing that I think will help with this is that we are implementing (maybe already have implemented?) a slider for combat speed.

Edited November 5, 2012 by Tamerlane