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[Draugoth]

Steam :: The First Berserker: Khazan :: (Dev Note) With Gratitude: On the June Update and Our Direction

Hello Berserkers, This is Junho Lee, Creative Director of First Berserker: Khazan. Around this time last year, I remember thinking, "By next spring, Khazan will be out…" Now, summer is already upon us here in Korea. It's been three months since launch, almost 100 days now. It hasn't been an easy...

steamcommunity.com

Difficulty System Improvements

Big changes are coming to the difficulty system.
The current "Easy" difficulty will be renamed to "Normal," and "Normal" will become the default setting when starting a new game. The current "Normal" difficulty will be renamed to "Challenge."

A new difficulty "Beginner" is being added.
This new setting includes added conveniences to help players who are new to action games learn Khazan's combat system in a more comfortable and less stressful way.
If the difficulty feels too low, you can always switch to "Normal" or "Challenge" at any time.

For those looking for a real challenge, we're adding a new "Hardcore" difficulty.
"Hardcore" is a special difficulty that unlocks after completing the first playthrough on "Challenge."
It can be started as a New Game, and difficulty cannot be changed mid-playthrough.

As the toughest difficulty, Hardcore hides monster HP and Stamina gauges. Support systems such as the Spirit of Advocacy, Phantom Form, and Change Attributes are also disabled.
Hardcore also features its own balance settings and a unique camera lock-on perspective, offering a fresh and intense way to experience Khazan.

 

[GHG]

Dumbification of the souls-like genre will ultimately be the death of it.

 

[TommyCronin6969]

More options are always better

 

[Griffon]

We are witnessing the end of a subgenre. Many devs are realizing they can't just brutalize players gratuitously.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Ugh. I was gonna buy this soon. Now I think I'll pass.

 

[Represent.]

Good. Now ill play it. No time to just get my ass kicked for hours

 

[P.Jack]

Dumbification of the souls-like genre will ultimately be the death of it.

Name a genre that died because it tried to appeal to a wider audience.

 

[M.W.]

Good. Every game should have a story/easy mode. Dumb fucking devs.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Dumb decision.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Name a genre that died because it tried to appeal to a wider audience.

The Souls genre exists only because it caters to a certain audience. It wouldnt exist otherwise.

This "wider audience" is as real as the "modern audiences"

 

[GHG]

Name a genre that died because it tried to appeal to a wider audience.

RTS.

There's already a huge andience for the souls-like genre as it is but many of the developers who get involved in the space fail to understand/replicate the magic that From Software manage to capture.

So instead of working on making their games more appealing to that audience they are now seeking out an entirely different audience who were never interested in these games in the first place, so ultimately they will fail.

 

[P.Jack]

The Souls genre exists only because it caters to a certain audience. It wouldnt exist otherwise.

This "wider audience" is as real as the "modern audiences"

It's already one of the most mainstream genres around. I don't understand how a easy mode would suddenly make it disappear.

People said the same thing when fighting games tried to appeal to casuals but they didn't go anywhere. If a game suck because it has too much noob-lube, the game suck but it won't bring the whole genre down, that's nothing but a stupid take.

 

[Revolutionary]

Renaming the difficulties is kinda dumb but when it comes down to it, Easy mode was already in the game and Normal difficulty is still there. /shrug

And now there's a harder difficulty too but who cares about that? EASY MODE REEEE /s

 

[Fake]

Dumbification of the souls-like genre will ultimately be the death of it.

'When everything become souls, nothing will be.'

 

[GateofD]

Name a genre that died because it tried to appeal to a wider audience.

fighting games.
SF6 is shit compared to SF4.

MvC Infinite from MvC3

 

[adamsapple]

 

[P.Jack]

RTS.

There's already a huge andience for the souls-like genre as it is but many of the developers who get involved in the space fail to understand/replicate the magic that From Software manage to capture.

So instead of working on making their games more appealing to that audience they are now seeking out an entirely different audience who were never interested in these games in the first place, so ultimately they will fail.

Which RTS games tried wider appeal and failed?

I agree, they should cater to their existing audience but ultimately, they want to sell as many copies as possible. If the core audience turns away, then yeah sure the genre will decline. But they won't, they'll just not play on easy mode. And as far as I know, Froms games are still the most popular ones and they sell a shit ton so you can't really blame the smaller devs for trying to get bigger cut.

 

[Connificent]

Dumbification of the souls-like genre will ultimately be the death of it.

A new challenger approaches

 

[SJRB]

Feels like a desperate "we need more sales" move.

 

[Sentenza]

More options are always better

Nope.

 

[P.Jack]

fighting games.
SF6 is shit compared to SF4.

MvC Infinite from MvC3

Yeah sure great example of a dead genre since fighting games have never been bigger than they are right now.

 

[Sentenza]

Name a genre that died because it tried to appeal to a wider audience.

Most of them.
CRPGs for instance had to go through a Kickstarter/Crowdfunding "renaissance" to become a thing again, because publishers basically killed the genre in an attempt to make it more appealing to the "mainstream COD audience".

 

[Shubh_C63]

What an amazing game. So long and so good.

getting an easy mode after the launch peak is A Ok in my books. The people really interested would have bought early to experience the tough parts.
And when sales die down you reel in the casuals who were on sidelines because of the difficulty curve.

Everyone wins. Except the souls-bragger, because not everyone can win.

 

[Sentenza]

getting an easy mode after the launch peak is A Ok in my books.

Your books are a pile of stinky garbage.

 

[coachmcguirk91]

My favorite action game ever. Played through it twice. Hardcore mode sounds awful tho. I don't mind difficulty options as long as the game is primarily optimized for the harder soulslike experience

 

[IFireflyl]

Dumbification of the souls-like genre will ultimately be the death of it.

Ugh. I was gonna buy this soon. Now I think I'll pass.

Dumb decision.

More options are always better

Nope.

Explain to me how this negatively impacts anyone.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

I don't mind difficulty options as long as the game is primarily optimized for the harder soulslike experience

This is the problem that many don't want to see. Multiple difficulties usually means no optimization and a worse game.

 

[Boneless]

Ugh, show some spine.

 

[Sentenza]

My favorite action game ever. Played through it twice. Hardcore mode sounds awful tho. I don't mind difficulty options as long as the game is primarily optimized for the harder soulslike experience

I don't like either "hardcore modes" nor "easy mode".
I find a great appeal in the idea that a game has just one standard intended difficulty and that it's not supposed to be my job as a player to "pick and choose" at will.

I don't want to be asked to make things deliberately harder for myself AND I don't want to have an easy escape route from anything remotely challenging in the core experience.

Lies Of P is another game that I was planning to pick up on sale at some point, but I'm now going to skip because I find their recent addition of "difficulty options" deeply unappealing.

 

[Aion002]

Making the easy mode the normal mode is dumb...

 

[Fbh]

 

[P.Jack]

Most of them.
CRPGs for instance had to go through a Kickstarter/Crowdfunding "reinassance" to become a thing again, because publishers basically killed the genre in an attempt to make it more appealing to the "mainstream COD audience".

What do you mean by crpgs? Like point -and-click? That's a genre devs moved away from as technology evolved and people preferred more involved methods of playing. Like with beat-em-ups and to some extent most 2d sidescrollers, they found their way back when small devs started to make them again. It is not the same. But maybe you meant something else.

If games I like find ways to get more people to play, that's a win in my book. Sure I don't like super moves in Soul Calibur but when the alternative is probably no Soul Calibur at all, I'll talke it.

If more people play souls games, more money gets into development and more games gets released. How is that not a good thing? If the core audience turns away, so will the casuals. And if they change too much, at some point it becomes another thing altogether and you are no longer the intended audience. And even then, if the souls genre decline, if the audience is still there, games will still be made, just like with crpgs.

 

[M.W.]

More options are always better, it's not subjective.

 

[Wandering Leopard]

What's the point, to make some people feel good about how bad they are?

It seems like a part of the gaming community do not want any type of challenge, or want to think their way through challenging scenarios.

 

[March Climber]

RTS.

There's already a huge andience for the souls-like genre as it is but many of the developers who get involved in the space fail to understand/replicate the magic that From Software manage to capture.

So instead of working on making their games more appealing to that audience they are now seeking out an entirely different audience who were never interested in these games in the first place, so ultimately they will fail.

The fact that you typed all of this and failed to mention the elephant in the room that actually killed the RTS genre is impressive.

Said elephant in the room:

Edit: And blaming the fall of CRPGs on casuals is another 'avoiding the elephant in the room' situation.

 

[Sentenza]

What do you mean by crpgs? Like point -and-click? That's a genre devs moved away from as technology evolved and people preferred more involved methods of playing.

Yeah, Pretty much.
People= retarded.
"More involved" = as retarded as the people advocating for them.

 

[Bernardougf]

Dumbification of the souls-like genre will ultimately be the death of it.

Well ER lost all its single player balance (imho) in favor of the open world and more importantly the easy mode aka mimic summon/ashes

So the trend started with the bigger player on the field... this is just an evolution.

Once devs start fucking up the game balance in favor of easier difficults.... its all gone to shit

 

[Sentenza]

More options are always better, it's not subjective.

A nonsensical dumb platitude.
If I added to your game a super-overpowered weapon that completely trivialized its difficulty curve across the board (and without removing a single thing) it would be "more options" but it would take a special flavor of brain damage to argue that it would make the game better.

 

[diffusionx]

Name a genre that died because it tried to appeal to a wider audience.

The entire video game industry

 

[jmiller180]

The Regular (now "Challenging") difficulty was perfectly fine before assuming you took time to learn the game mechanics. Yes, the bosses were brutal, but that is what made the game fun. I never tried what was Easy mode, but I'm assuming it was tuned to make things more manageable for people that were getting frustrated.

 

[Boneless]

More options are always better, it's not subjective.

Next game you need to choose 50 multiple choice options before you can start playing. This is great, because more options is always better.

 

[M.W.]

Next game you need to choose 50 multiple choice options before you can start playing. This is great, because more options is always better.

Agreed

 

[Hideous Snake]

Looks like souls fans are very insecure cause they got to prove to people they're the fucking best hardcore gamers out there. Eat a dick

Nothing wrong with targeting a wider audience. You can still have your super combo deluxe difficulty, nobody is taking it from you.

 

[March Climber]

Next game you need to choose 50 multiple choice options before you can start playing. This is great, because more options is always better.

This is just PC gaming

 

[Lokaum D+]

Every day i hate more gaming and gamers, 90% of the ppl happy with this wouldnt clear a fucking Resident evil back in the 90's, How gamers became so dumb and lazy ?

by now devs should just put 'one shot' and 'god mode' in game options and call It a day

 

[BossLackey]

I mean, have any of you actually played it?

Hard to say where I'd place it given I've played every souls game and most souls-likes, but it's hard as fucking nails and literally doesn't stop getting harder. Top 3 hardest for sure.

I got sidelines by other games but I was 4 bosses in. I've been on the subreddit since day one and boy, people are spending daaaays on one boss.

I'm not sure how I feel about this change, but you could easily be forgiven for saying this game's bosses are overtuned.

 

[RoboFu]

Oh a dev with no principles .. this ensures I will never ever buy a game from them ... ever! !!!

Spoiler: Disgraceful!

I don't really care

 

[mayham2199]

they are now seeking out an entirely different audience who were never interested in these games in the first place, so ultimately they will fail.

I disagree on this last point. Plenty of people have expressed interest in games like this but they just don't want to have to fight a boss 20+ times to beat it. The fact is these games can have great level design and combat and that's a lot of fun to people but dying 20+ times isn't. Colin over at LSM talks about this all the time. He loved Nioh but got stuck on a boss and said F this and never went back and wont even try a souls games now. I see this sort of sentiment all over the place when it comes to Souls games.

I personally don't even care about these changes. This genre is being flooded with games as it is. Anyone who still wants a challenge will have no trouble finding a souls games that provides that. Nioh 3 is just around the corner ready to piss people off.

 

[mdkirby]

I do not agree with or "get" critiques for when companies add easier settings, such as lies of P, for accessibility, but actively changing what is the default, ie how it's intended to be played IS actually an issue and is fucked up.

 

[Kazdane]

A nonsensical dumb platitude.
If I added to your game a super-overpowered weapon that completely trivialized its difficulty curve across the board (and without removing a single thing) it would be "more options" but it would take a special flavor of brain damage to argue that it would make the game better.

Why does it bother you that *others* may play the game on easy? Heck, in this same patch they're adding an EVEN HARDER mode, but apparently that doesn't merit even a positive mention? What exactly is stopping you from playing straight away on Challenge (the old Normal)?