Out of curiosity, what difficulty will be your first playthrough?

[exodiark]

I want to enjoy PE as long as possible, so definitely Path of the Damned + Expert Mode. I draw the line at Trial of the Iron though, that mode is plain torture )

[BruceVC]

Nice post JFSOCC

 

I will play PE on normal mode but if available I will tweak the game settings so that there aren't things like flashing map pointers. I want to explore to find quest objectives and I want the combat to be challenging so area of effect around spells to be relevant and no auto-resurrect. I doubt I'll ever play the game on the very hard modes?

[Sensuki]

In Icewind Dale, turning on Heart of Fury mode meant that your level 1 characters couldn't even hit the bugs in the basement in the very first Inn. If Path of the Damned is actually playable from level 1, then I may select that straight away. From what I understand it turns enables every possible creature in the encounter.

[JFSOCC]

Thanks Bruce, I try.

 

I noticed I haven't actually given my answer.

 

So, it used to be that I had no faith in my own skills and I'd play on easy, but I've moved beyond that in recent years. I'll play on Normal, I will not play expert mode because while some helper information may influence your decision making, some helper information will actually help you understand what you're doing.

I also didn't want to pick trial of Iron, though, I've seen some good arguments for it in this thread. And I may give it a try, as long as it doesn;t mean I have to rebuild the character if I want to try again (from the start) So a character export/import function would be appreciated.

 

I will look at the optional settings before I play, for one I'll see if I can turn friendly fire off. Not because it makes the game easier (though it does) but because otherwise some spells and abilities maybe completely uninteresting to me.

 

As for my "bonus question"

I would think it really cool if someone made a video playthrough playing at the hardest possible difficulties, and adding handicaps if they feel it's not hard enough. (arbitrary stuff like, don't use merchants, only pick up what you get from loot)

 

And for the last Bonus question. I do want to be able to adjust difficulty settings mid game. I may find I'm not as good as I think I am, or better. It may be that a setting I've chosen irks me, and I think I should be able to decide what kind of experience I'm getting throughout the game.

So I do hope I can alter difficulty settings even after game start. (and tbh, I expect I can)

[Jarmo]

 

ofc by difficulty i think more tactically challenging encounters and better enemy AI not just "creasture has 10000 more HP than before"...but we'll see.

 

I've mentioned this before here and there, but if PE has different "skill levels" for enemy AI,

I sincerely hope they use them all in normal difficulty!

 

Clever opponents behaving in coordinated clever ways, silly orcs just rushing you, zombies wandering semi-aimlessly...

 

Usually difficulty means, and I take it to mean, more HP for enemies at high levels.

Or more simply, the damage you and enemies do multiplied by a number between 0.5 and 2.

 

 

 And for the last Bonus question. I do want to be able to adjust difficulty settings mid game. I may find I'm not as good as I think I am, or better. 

 

This yes! Though that's not really much of a question.

In many games, if I set the difficulty high enough for the going to be enjoyable overall, the occasional tough boss fights will just be cruel murder.

[Sacred_Path]

I've mentioned this before here and there, but if PE has different "skill levels" for enemy AI,

I sincerely hope they use them all in normal difficulty!

 

Clever opponents behaving in coordinated clever ways, silly orcs just rushing you, zombies wandering semi-aimlessly...

 

Usually difficulty means, and I take it to mean, more HP for enemies at high levels.

Or more simply, the damage you and enemies do multiplied by a number between 0.5 and 2.

I'd petition for it to be the other way round. New players will struggle with the character development in P:E anyway due to novel talents and attribute scores, so you'll get smacked around a bit even w/o AI beelining for your casters. I'd rather have the higher difficulties made more interesting because of enemy behaviour. Obviously though stupid monsters should simply have inflated HP and damage on higher difficulties.

[Sensuki]

The difficulty in this game will probably be a step down from the Infinity Engine games by default, so if you were a Normal difficulty IE player - Hard will probably offer you the same challenge.

 

Sawyer said Normal will not require the use of consumables.

[Sacred_Path]

The difficulty in this game will probably be a step down from the Infinity Engine games by default, so if you were a Normal difficulty IE player - Hard will probably offer you the same challenge.

Right. Forgot that this is the trend nowadays.

[Iucounu]

 

Dragon age franchise was bearable because it wasn't dnd.

??????????????

 

I played Dragon Age: Origins on Insane difficulty on my first go and the combat was so **** it made me never play the game again. Pretty much involved cheesing your way through everything. Every encounter was 10 archers with knockdown arrows trolling u hard (yes I finished it). Combat was also ridiculously boring.

 

The hardest fight was definitely against Ser Kauthrien in my opinion, to beat that (insane, v1.0 of the game) I had to cheese the resurrection timer/distance and doorways.

 

You know that you were actually "supposed" to lose that fight, do you? That was the only fight in the whole game were I had real difficulties on nightmare. Dextank ftw! But If I put the lack of build complexity aside, I find DA combat better than e.g. combat in NWN 2, where I didn't even had to use any spells or special abilities (in a fight) to beat the game, only long and tedious buffing before every battle. Basically you only had to make sure that your tank had an high enough AC, and that was everything you needed to win almost every fight, even on high difficulty. In DA this was not possible, because the Attack Defense mechanics had a scale of I believe 100 instead of only 20, and because of stunarrows and other stuff. 

 

@topic

I don't know what difficulty I'll play as of yet. Probably hard. But I want to play the game without conventional saving and loading. That's an experience I always wanted to have, the thrill of losing everything, and taking all the consequenses. But if you can save/load, you always give into temptation. That's why I find it so great that you have the option in P:E to disable loading after deafeat completely.  

Edited July 9, 2013 by Iucounu

[Osvir]

I will crank everything up to be as challenging as possible at first, and when I eventually meet my doom I might lower the settings. I don't usually do this (I usually start at Normal, then I work my way upwards), but ever since I joined this community and have explored lots of old-school PC games (Ultima, Lands of Lore, M&M, Wizardry, Dungeon Master, Betrayal at Krondor etc. etc.) and done lots of research and communication on the subject I've developed a somewhat different mindset than I had before.

Not to mention I constantly advocate for Hardcore mode as well. These forums have made me develop as a gamer and person

Regardless, I also wish to savor Project: Eternity. I usually swish through a game if it is on anything but "Brutal".

For once I want to play a game and take my time learning it on the hardest difficulty. With the pressure of having the hardest hardest difficulty on, it would be required of me as a person (and gamer) to research and analyze the game assets to my best ability... and also do something I almost never do..... reading the manual.

@Off-Topic, Manual Learning:
I recently read the Dungeon Master manual, and gosh what a great manual. It actually starts off like a book, telling the story through the manual instead of through the game itself. Please consider having some story elements in the manual Obsidian! Some of that Eternity Lore Josh Sawyer posts on his Formspring (Great stuff bro!).

Edited July 9, 2013 by Osvir

[Bartimaeus]

Depends on exactly what the difficulty settings do. If all hard mode does, for example, is increase damage taken ala IE games, and/or reduce damage dealt, then I'll probably just use the normal difficulty. If it makes them more intelligent, or adds additional monsters, or makes select characters (bosses, mainly) harder, then I'll probably use the hardest difficulty setting. I probably won't touch any of the extraneous ones to begin with - but maybe Expert.

 

The difficulty in this game will probably be a step down from the Infinity Engine games by default, so if you were a Normal difficulty IE player - Hard will probably offer you the same challenge.

Sawyer said Normal will not require the use of consumables.

Are you implying that normal/core difficulty (or even hard) in IE games require consumables? Don't think I've ever used a consumable ever in an IE game.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Bartimaeus

[Gfted1]

Sawyer said Normal will not require the use of consumables.

What does this mean? There isn't any healing so that's already out. Does he mean that on Normal difficulty stamina will regenerate so fast you wont need Stamina potions? What is he calling "consumable"?

[Amentep]

Maybe Sawyer meant normal doesn't require food or drink?  Maybe a link to the quote to see context would help?

[Prometheus]

What does this mean? There isn't any healing so that's already out. Does he mean that on Normal difficulty stamina will regenerate so fast you wont need Stamina potions? What is he calling "consumable"?

You can heal stamina with spells/abillities/talents and even items won't heal health. Known types of consumables are potions, scrolls, figurines (to summon creatures), food and drinks.

 

edit: source

I'd like to tune standard, at-level encounters on normal difficulty to not require the use of consumables.  However, efficiency will be a bigger deal both on higher levels of difficulty and if you're under-leveled for a specific encounter.  In those cases, consumable use will likely be, if not mandatory, extremely helpful.

 

for the difficulty level they have said that they will take BG2/IWD2 as reference.

 

We're using Icewind Dale 2 and Baldur's Gate 2 for reference. The game is being designed for relatively high difficulty at first and later tuned down for lower levels of difficulty. It's easier to lower difficulty from a high bar than to raise it from a shallow baseline

Edited July 9, 2013 by Prometheus

[Sensuki]

Don't think I've ever used a consumable ever in an IE game.

Play a straight Kensai in ToB: You get hit every single attack from pretty much every enemy, so those Potions of Extra Healing are usually a good idea.

 

No consumable use also implies rest spam abuse.

 

for the difficulty level they have said that they will take BG2/IWD2 as reference.

Yeah for the harder difficulties. I guarantee normal will be easier than BG2 normal because then it will appeal to a wider range of people.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Sensuki

[Bartimaeus]

 

Don't think I've ever used a consumable ever in an IE game.

Play a straight Kensai in ToB: You get hit every single attack from pretty much every enemy, so those Potions of Extra Healing are usually a good idea.

 

No consumable use also implies rest spam abuse.

 

for the difficulty level they have said that they will take BG2/IWD2 as reference.

Yeah for the harder difficulties. I guarantee normal will be easier than BG2 normal because then it will appeal to a wider range of people.

 

 

Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever had my main character be a fighter, either. If I was soloing as a crappy class, (crappy being defined as "not a particularly great choice for solo"), I'd probably use consumables...but I typically only solo as a Mage/Cleric, so...

 

Define "rest spam abuse". Is it abuse if you do it before every major battle? Or after clearing an area? After every battle? In the middle of battles, (which is possible, but hard and also extremely cheesy in my mind)?

Edited July 9, 2013 by Bartimaeus

[Ffordesoon]

Normal. May use Expert mode, with a few tweaks. I'm OCD as all hell in RPGs, so I'll want the waypoint markers just to know where not to go until I'm ready to move on.

 

Any extra systems I have to manage, though? Fantastic. Love it.

[Labadal]

Normal

Expert Mode

Carefully select my preferences

 

That's for my first playthrough. I don't know what to go for after that. Path of the Damned sounds fun and I might go with that one on my first run.

[Adhin]

With RPG's it kind of depends how the difficulty is handled. In IE games I play on core rules becuase I like the core rules, difficulty is just an against the rules jack in numbers an an artifical push in the dice rolls and that always bugged the crap out of me. I'm hoping the higher difficulties are less 'monsters do double dmg lols' and more 'what' we fight in any given encounter. As an example say theres a boss that has a few lackies (lets say a Bugbear with a few goblins) early on, im hoping the higher difficulties will have a lot more goblins, and perhaps have them continuelly show up as you kill them off.

 

That said I did prefer DA:O on the hardest difficulties, but would of prefered direct controle over how FF was handled. That's one thing im looking forward too, while I like core rules (which should be difficult on there own, and it should be encounters that make it harder) often a lot of more interesting mechanics get removed, and having those in toggle form allows me to have all those with out having to play on a fake-difficulty setting.

 

I voted hardest diff with pick/chose my own toggles. And I'll adjust difficulty if its just a crappy number swap (or if it turns out normals specifically designed to be a snooze fest). DA:O was very much like Halo in that the base 'normal/medium' setting wasn't there actual intended balance, hardcore was and the next step up, legendary, was there real test where things got stupid crazy. If PE follows the same difficulty logic of some past games (including DAO) I may play one step under highest difficulty... I hope they make normal that though, always feels weird when normal isn't the actual intended.

[Archmage Silver]

I'll take the Path of the Damned without Expert Mode or Trial of Iron. I'll have a look into any additional settings beyond those as well.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Archmage Silver

[WotanAnubis]

First time through, I play on Easy. I always do. I just want a fun, relaxed experience where I can just let it all wash over me without having to worry too much about gaming the system.

 

Only if a game is good or enjoyable enough that I want to replay it will I look into upping the difficulty. I enjoy a challenge, but I only enjoy a challenge in games I enjoy even without the challenge.

[Prometheus]

Yeah for the harder difficulties. I guarantee normal will be easier than BG2 normal because then it will appeal to a wider range of people.

 

 If they don't change the target difficulty, they target the standard difficulty of BG2 for the standard difficulty of Project Eternity

Icewind Dale 2 in Heart of Fury mode (though that could still vary in difficulty a lot depending on your party build). Yes, I'm still targeting that. With standard difficulty settings/modes, I'd like PE to be in the range of standard Icewind Dale 2 and Baldur's Gate 2.

 

With RPG's it kind of depends how the difficulty is handled. In IE games I play on core rules becuase I like the core rules, difficulty is just an against the rules jack in numbers an an artifical push in the dice rolls and that always bugged the crap out of me. I'm hoping the higher difficulties are less 'monsters do double dmg lols' and more 'what' we fight in any given encounter. As an example say theres a boss that has a few lackies (lets say a Bugbear with a few goblins) early on, im hoping the higher difficulties will have a lot more goblins, and perhaps have them continuelly show up as you kill them off.

They said that they wanted to do this.see qoute below (from january).

 

We're designing the game for people who enjoy the challenge of combat, but different people have different capabilities. If you don't like combat at all, PE will probably not be enjoyable. We consider tactical combat to be a core component of the game. I would like to focus most of our difficulty increases around changing the staging of the encounter, primarily what enemy combatants are present and how they are positioned. At lower levels of difficulty, you will often have fewer enemies to deal with, which can make the challenges less exacting.

[Jarmo]

 

 

We're designing the game for people who enjoy the challenge of combat, but different people have different capabilities. If you don't like combat at all, PE will probably not be enjoyable. We consider tactical combat to be a core component of the game. I would like to focus most of our difficulty increases around changing the staging of the encounter, primarily what enemy combatants are present and how they are positioned. At lower levels of difficulty, you will often have fewer enemies to deal with, which can make the challenges less exacting.

 

 

I actually forgot this is what they were aiming for.

 

If the above quote still holds when the game ships, and there's an option to change difficulty halfway through,

I'll probably start on normal rather than easy on my first play. Because I'm such a macho.

[Gfted1]

First time through, I play on Easy. I always do. I just want a fun, relaxed experience where I can just let it all wash over me without having to worry too much about gaming the system.

This describes me perfectly except in my case Im only ever going to play this game once.

[Steelcrater]

I'll definitely be starting with the default difficulty (Normal), without any of the extra difficulty settings attached. I usually create a few quick classes and see if I enjoy them, and then once I decide I like to have a little leniency to enjoy the story and explore the game.  Once I've done a full play through, sometimes I'll go back and select the other difficulty options just to see what it's like.