a poll because i am super curious about the forumites

[gaymime]

with wx getting so many people talking about whether they now are or are not stronger now and how that makes the game feel i've started wondering something; are the members of this form more into harder gameplay or softer gameplay? i used to think "harder of course" but in the last month or so i am less sure. basically i just want to know the general vibe of how people feel(and what better way than a super limited probably biased poll!) 

 

because i want honest answers the voter's choices are not going to be public but as always anything you say in the thread itself is visible for everyone so don't say it if you dont mean it!

[eeriecupid]

Personally, I want something I can both conquer and have my behind handed to me by. 
ie, I want to get stronger, destroy what once threatened me, and then encounter new and worse threats all while building and decorating my little base. 
I think it’s best summed up by the first deerclops encounter: you’ve finally bested winter, you’ve got light, food, protection and a base. Nothing can stop you now! And then deerclops kills you. The feeling that there is always something stronger, waiting for the moment you’ve gotten comfortable is so entertaining. 

[Wawchik]

As a very casual player, my introduction to dst in terms of gameplay was my friend saying "you need a few mods to make the game playable" and, honestly, I can't even disagree that much. I think the game inherently isn't really difficult since all don't starve games are knowledge games but at one point you get good enough to overcome the "uncompromising" parts of the game and then they just become annoying. I believe if the game really wants to be more combat focused, then stuff like health bars should be essential. Imo games shouldn't be straight up annoying, they should take skill unless it was intended otherwise if they want to be hard. 

[Jakepeng99]

I kinda just want a difficult game Im suprised there is no option for that.

 

I don’t really want a point where it gets easy because that’s when I get bored.

When you solve a challenge there should be a new one to face.

[Evelo]

Really touch choice between option 2 and 3. I want to say both honestly. But I voted for option 2.

[gaymime]

39 minutes ago, Jakepeng99 said:

I kinda just want a difficult game Im suprised there is no option for that.

 

I don’t really want a point where it gets easy because that’s when I get bored.

When you solve a challenge there should be a new one to face.

i considered it but "difficult" with no qualifier is so easily interpreted to mean almost anything that it would be about as useful as the "just want to see the results" option as a measurable datapoint

[Mike23Ua]

Let me put it this way, I enjoyed Resident Evil 7, I beat it on easy & normal difficulties, what I got frustrated with and gave up immediately on however was Ethan Must Die.

how is this relevant to DST? Because it’s a clear indication of a players personal limits within a game, when it stops being “fun” and instead becomes pure unplayable to them “frustration”

Now let me state that for the record I am no stranger to hard or punishing games, but that has never been the identity of DS/DST or any of its DLCs.

I think a game, not just DS/DST/DSE but any game really, is most enjoyable when it has flexible levels of difficulty & the DS franchise has always had that (albeit to an extremely limited degree..) with world Gen settings and character choice.

In today’s era of DS we can now before EVER hosting a game world for the first time EVER, select from over 5 preset difficulties.

Each one offering a drastically different way of playing the game.

You can die and worlds get erased instantly, or you can die and respawn as another random character, you can even flip a few toggles and almost never die at all.

there are some things I wish Klei would return to and tackle differently, such as for example how they recently changed bishops attacks to show an AoE of where it’s about to hit so you have time to react and try to move out of the way.

I am willing to bet 200$ that if they’d go back and rework some old bosses the same way, more players can enjoy content they once found to be too frustrating or did not fully understand.

One such example is the Eye of Terror, if players knew where it’s attacks were headed, they’d have time to dodge (like all attacks in Hades 2)

One more thing I should probably bring up is making content more flexible, there are some bosses I’ve never beaten, quite a few of them actually, I’ve tried and tried.. but ultimately I die and it’s time wasted.

Because of this, I generally ignore engaging with this content, unless I absolutely have to (you can ignore Deerclops and Bearger if you don’t wanna kill either of em) and most other bosses require obscure methods of summoning anyway. But, even casual newbies could enjoy these bosses if they properly scaled in health, damage & difficulty.

So the TL:DR- I like a hard game until it’s no longer fun, I want to enjoy myself.. not feel like picking up the controller was a punishment.

[Nikki Darks]

I just want a game that challenges me. Doesn't have to be as difficult as Uncompromising Mod, just on a level where I always need to be fully prepared for everything.

Like, harsher punishments for not preparing, more clear downsides for every character, bosses that have actual mechanics I need to learn how to counter, etc, etc.
 

But I'd be happy even if they finally gave every character an actually impactful downside. 

[Jakepeng99]

49 minutes ago, Nikki Darks said:

I just want a game that challenges me. Doesn't have to be as difficult as Uncompromising Mod, just on a level where I always need to be fully prepared for everything.

Like, harsher punishments for not preparing, more clear downsides for every character, bosses that have actual mechanics I need to learn how to counter, etc, etc.
 

But I'd be happy even if they finally gave every character an actually impactful downside. 

I also want rogue lite elements to be more prominent.

There should be some more luck involved with stuff like wrong place wrong time, dangerous set pieces and stuff which will spice up the game and make it so you need to adapt to even the worst situations.

Because eventually, you will just have a set out solution for everything.

[Ridley]

I use game settings and personal rules to make the game challenging in the ways I find fun. I don't think the game on the whole needs to be harder or easier.

[user1464576869]

I want a game with a different kind of difficulty altogether. The randomness of swapping equipments and items around in your inventory for combat isn't in my taste. I prefer a game were my intent is as streamlined as possible. Not only is swapping equips unreliable regarding slot order but the game also suffers a lot of missed input on mouse clicks with the inventory.

I also don't like the grind to get decent items for a fight that wasted all of it on failed attempts. It wouldn't be so bad if the grind was basic progression, but so much of both the collection and the fight itself comes down to exact seasonal timings, which means the most vital thing you loose is time, real life time, and in-game having to await the next viable cycle.

In short. Nothing in this game strikes me as difficult, yet everything about this game I want to be easier.