*Spoiler Free*
Elden Ring isn't my cup of tea. But its difficulty is. My reasoning for not salivating over it is mostly due to what I consider to be slow gaming mechanics. This has been the case since I bought Demon's Souls on PS3 on the first day it came out.
What does this have to do with Horizon, you didnt ask? I'll tell you. Almost nothing. Except the theme of Challenging Difficulty.
You see, I happen to be one of those people that cannot play a game unless it's at least on Hard. Truthfully, if it were solely up to me, a Normal/Easy mode would not exist in any game whatsoever. At first, I assumed this was due to growing up in the unforgiveable NES era, where most games werent completed only enjoyed. At least by me. But, upon further introspection, I realized its entirely due to my unshakeable affinity for role-playing.
In a game like Horizon, where the foundation of the mythos is about ROBOTS vs TRIBAL HUNTERS essentially, I find it increasingly annoying and unbelievable that a woman named Aloy, as talented as she may be, can take down a herd of Snapmaws by herself and living to talk about it. One Snapmaw maybe. Okay, Ill even throw in her taking down two (I personally can defeat three on Very Hard at this point), but Easy mode renders these ferocious mechanical monstrosities, to sheep-like behavior. You dont want to know the anger I feel when I see a fellow gamer on my PSN have the same amount of trophies as me and yet he's skating through the game on anything less than Hard.
Hard difficulty helps make video games much more realistic to me--as odd as that sounds. And strangely, as punishing as FW is on Very Hard, I cannot at all imagine not playing it this way. I also imagine there's a similar sentiment with Soulsborne fans. Which is why I dont understand why most people dont play most games on their Hardest levels.
FW on Very Hard offers the perfect balance of difficulty and fun, something I cant seem to find in pairs in any Soulsborne game besides Sekiro--where the action is fast paced and requires you to master a system of mechanics to slay anything in your path.
Here's to Sekiro 2, and Very Hard modes forever.
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***Easy mode renders these ferocious mechanical monstrosities, to sheep-like behavior. You dont want to know the anger I feel when I see a fellow gamer on my PSN have the same amount of trophies as me and yet he's skating through the game on anything less than Hard.***
No one should care about this. No one.
Thank God people like you are the minority.
Yikes
Self righteous gamer here. How dare someone not play a game like them. If you had magic power you would strike down easy mode with the snap of your fingers.
Who cares about young kids that need it easy. Who cares about parents who maybe only have 30 minutes a day to play games. Who cares about gamers who don't have a lot of skill. What right do they have to play video games.
I second the desire to play games on harder difficulties at the outset, and arguably for the same reason (being that I grew up in the unforgiving 8-bit/16-bit era as well).
That said, this is oddly giving me authoritarian vibes, which I didn't think was possible when discussing games.
Play it your way, lad. If you're enjoying the harder difficulty and your experience isn't watered down, it's a win all around.