Sekiro and Difficulty – Where do we go FROM here?

Like clockwork, a new FROM Software title has been out just over a week and the difficulty discussions are ramping up – is it too hard? Do players just need to ‘git gud’? Why can’t FROM Software just include an easy mode? Player 2 examines the problem from all sides.

[Activemessiah]

greater difficulty?

[Sono421]

Honestly gaming "journalism" is so lazy and predictable..

[GottaBjimmyb]

Honestly, they are know for having uncompromising, but fulfilling to complete games. The time and effort you put in directly reflects success in these games. It is not on FROMSOFT to cater to a group who is jot responsible for their success. They know who put them where they are and they know what they want.

I don't even like the souls games or bloodbourne, but I also am not going to sit here and whine that they need to cater the game to me, I will just play the games I do enjoy. Pretty pathetic how these kind of complaints have gone from getting you laughed off a forum, to being able to run a profitable gaming "news" site.

There is an argument that "why not add lower difficulty, you can ignore it if you want it to be difficult." But with this game ans frankly dev specifically, the key appeal they go for is failure breeding success. If you just 1 hot everything and walk around like a god, it pretty much defeats all the positive aspects of the game. If you don't like having a hard time, or worming to overcome intentional obstacles they put in, then the game really just isn't for you. Could you imagine if people demanded super mario world, or banjo kazooie had easy modes because people couldn't beat them? Everyone would completely ignore them, yet somehow, now if a game is hard and requires any learning or practice to complete, it is simply unforgivable.

[CP_Company]

we will continue with the same difficulty or even harder.

these types of games are all about challenge, not about snowflakes. so crying won't help here. just put some hours and be open to learn. these types of games has steep learning curve, but when you will master it, you will feel great.

[gamer9]

NES Battletoads, and defeating Mike Tyson in Punch Out. 2 of the greatest gaming memories from childhood =)

[lazyboyblue]

@cp_company
This is my problem with this Sekiro debate. You're speaking for yourself. Why should you care if From Software patch in a new mode that YOU WON'T PLAY? How does it effect you in any way?

You like the game to play exactly how it does? Fabulous. Continue to do that. Meanwhile others who don't like their game quite that challenging can come in and enjoy it too. EVERYBODY wins.

[DaDrunkenJester]

Or you respect their decision and vision for the game and play the way they want you to play.

[paintedgamer1984]

That will never happen.

CP_Company is the MAJORITY of the gamers that make up the community that buy and keep these games alive and running. From Software pride themselves on giving these gamers a challenge unlike before. That game does not involve a hold your hand version...

I hope to god and everything that is great in this world people like yourself, leave my hard games alone. If its too hard for you, its not your type of game. Its really that simple.

Demons Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and now Sekiro... will never have an easy option EVER

[CP_Company]

lazyboyblue, you want the truth? if there would be an easy mode, i would ditch the hard mode on 5th of 10th try to fight the miniboss or boss. that is HOW that could effect me. HARD MODE IS ALWAYS WITHOUT COMPROMISE THAT IS WHERE THIS GAME SHINES! there was the time when i played with Demon's Bell active, and saw how bosses are even more difficult, i just remove. but i used it just for simple guys.
lady butterfly, seven blade, hirata owl and ape gave me huge pain in my head, i took me maybe 10 hours to kill these 4. but i never gave up, i tried to learn and killed them.

the problem with you and other snowflakes, that you want EASY pass on!!! you want to say that you finished Sekiro(not Shura ending :) )? EARN IT!

[carcarias]

Well, I see where you're coming from but I'm not so sure about it. The thing is, the game is balanced precisely for a certain difficulty. In fact, the entire game is created around the difficulty. It's not like an Uncharted or Witcher 3 imho.

An easy mode isn't a simple thing to implement here. If they literally made it easy, then people would breeze through the game in mere hours and wouldn't even need to explore every nook and cranny to get all the bonuses, optional bosses and items, nor would you need to think carefully about how you spend your skill points to suit your playstyle. There's a lot in these games that you only discover because you NEED to/are forced to. There's the risk you'd simply 'win' by spamming the attack button and a game that lasts 30+ hours would be over in 10, without giving the player a particularly enjoyable experience.

Plus, there are lots of people who might think they won't use the easy mode but then crack and do, even though they could have beaten the game on normal had they persevered. For those people, the game experience they could have had is lost.

I'm also not sure the game would actually hold up in an easy mode, that's how much the game is fitted around the difficulty. It might be getting 8.5's+ everywhere as it is but if reviewers had played it on an easy mode, the game may well have ended up being a 7+, that's how integral to the experience the difficulty setting is.

In the end, From Software have a vision for their game and what it means to play it and the foundation of the game form which everything else flows is the difficulty.

[lazyboyblue]

@CP_
I could almost see your point there for a moment until you called me a snowflake. Its elitist bulls**t and you just make yourself sound really snobby by making comments like that.
I can respect whatever FS decide is right for their own art but something to help the games become more inclusive would be great for many out there.
But at this point t I'd love to see micro transactions introduced to all their games where u can simply pay to get past tough bits because that would be horrible and I'd lmfao.

[Wolffenblitz]

@lazyboyblue

You do realise this goes both ways? You can't say you're upset about being called a snowflake and turn around to say you hope the game is ruined by micro transactions.

FROM SOFTWARE themselves have said.. "Git gud" to people who complain about how hard it is.

Majority of games used to be this hard back in the day. Games that make you start from the start when you run out of lives. Over the years people have started handing out "participation awards" and it's kind of the same thing as putting an easy mode in.

[Alek83]

I agree with the git gud part.

Dark Souls was a lot more challenging.

Man, some people need to play Weaponlord, Smash T.V, or even the more recent Super Meat Boy to see a hard game. Those even make Dark Souls seem lackluster.

[Hungryalpaca]

I actually found dark souls far less challenging than Sekiro. Probably because my reaction time isn’t as good any more and Sekiro is all offence where I play DS defensively

[Saijahn]

I thought they'd go with a general game as the story seemed pretty cool, but they stuck with their difficulty roots and that turned me off to this game quickly. I can respect people like challenging games and I do in certain contexts, but not something that invokes a spirit of destruction from the gpds ty[e of difficulty. Maybe at a decent discount I'll grab this game and give it a shot, but not at retail.

[DaDrunkenJester]

At least you can acknowledge the game isn't exactly for you because of that, respect it, and not ask for the game to cater to you.

[Saijahn]

thanks, im heavily interested in seeing how the story plays out though, so i may grab it at a good discount and try my hand out the legendary difficulty that's attached to these souls type games.

[Exvalos]

Git Gud and stop whining

[Kashima]

The difficulty is great

[DaDrunkenJester]

I don't understand why this is always a discussion with HARD games. Why can't we have unforgiving games that ask you to practice and understand the mechanics to get better? In MOST games now-a-days I have to put a baseline of hard mode to even get any challenge out of it. Games are getting TOO easy and this is why I love FROM games or the SOULS style games like ASHEN and such.

Easy modes can severely hurt a game and its core experience. Prime example is the RE2 remake. The easy mode literally takes out any tension in that game because there is barely a threat when you have a crap ton of ammo and only need to shoot a couple times.

We don't need more easy games, we have plenty of those.

[Fraggle1987]

Its seperate so doesn't affect the core experience which is the normal difficulty.

[DaDrunkenJester]

What I'm saying is it doesn't need it because it can hurt the games core experience. It can hurt the experience the developers want players to experience. An easy mode in Sekiro would turn it into some simple hack 'n slash, and completely ruin it.

[himdeel]

Its because some people have been told that everyone is a winner. And some people think that buying a game entitles them to being able to complete or enjoy it because they want to.

I am not good at sports games and they seem complicated for me. It would be ridiculous of me to ask that EA or 2K make a sports game where I can press one button to win because I paid for a game especially knowing already that I'm not good at the game. But I'd love to be able to play sports games because they look fun when I see other people playing them.

[DaDrunkenJester]

Exactly, not every game needs to cater to every audience. I'm not sure why From always get these articles with every game they make. I don't think the hardcore racing community asks Mario Kart for a sim mode.

[jznrpg]

Go buy another game whiners . I have a backlog of over 100 physical games and there are hundreds more and I am sure a lot of them are very easy

[DemoIishor]

FROM games aren't actually 'hard'. They're just different. They use specific mechanics that take time and patience to get used to. Sekiro is not harder than Dark Souls or Bloodborne; it's just different enough that there's a learning curve. Difficulty options defeat the point of adapting to the mechanics of the game to the point that you become fluent in them, and that is what all of these games strive to achieve (and in my opinion, do perfectly).

[DaDrunkenJester]

Pretty much this. If you go into Sekiro trying to play it like Darksouls or Bloodborne you will get murdered. All it asks of you is to learn its mechanics and practice them. Once you get the concept of blocking, parrying, reversals, and posture breaks the game becomes much more manageable. Still not "easy", but nothing you can't overcome with a bit of dedication and resolve.

[DemoIishor]

Exactly, and I'm trying to imagine what it would be like if the Souls games had an easy mode, or Sekiro for that matter...and it doesn't seem very fun to me. I'd probably get pretty bored. Just as horror movies are made to please horror fans, not romcom or action fans, games such as these are made to please gamers who like being challenged. We don't demand horror movies be funnier to accommodate moviegoers who are fans of comedies; therefore, we shouldn't demand games dumb themselves down to please an audience they're not deliberately targeting or concerned with.

[TheEnigma313]

more crying huh? This reminds me of when RE2 came out and people kept complaining about Mr. X. These articles are getting annoying.

[Chaosdreams]

The difficulty and challenge is part of what makes these games stand out. If someone says they completed a game by From Software, it holds meaning. No one will ask you "but what mode?"

[Fraggle1987]

Completely agree with author. It's what I have been saying. If u disagree then frankly theres something wrong with you.

[Takwin]

I post something similar on every article like this:

I want an easier difficulty due to my age and time constraints. It is a single player game and the easier difficulty affects you none, and does get them $60 more in their account. I see absolutely no downside to different difficulties. None. It opens the door to more gamers, more money, and more sequels. I wanted to like Bloodborne due to the graphics and world, but I wasn't going to spend that time. I like to go through, have some fun, and move on. Only for my favorite games do I replay on the hardest difficulty (Witcher 3, Zelda BOTW, Horizon Zero Dawn, and a few others), but it is a choice I make if I want to. Having no difficulty options will always be moronic to me, it's the company throwing away money for their customers' epeen, lol.

[Nacho_Z]

Demon's Souls came out ten years ago and they've made several games since of the same difficulty so I don't think we're going anywhere. I believe they were making unusually tough games before DS too.

Besides, their company president and all round legend Miyazaki said this:

"We don't want to include a difficulty selection because we want to bring everyone to the same level of discussion and the same level of enjoyment. So we want everyone … to first face that challenge and to overcome it in some way that suits them as a player."

He said that last year and it sounds conclusive to me.

[SpineSaw]

There is absolutely no shame none whatsoever in being unable to handle a SoulsBorne game because of it's difficultly. SoulsBourne games are tough, frustrating and maybe one needs a madness to slog through. SoulsBorne games are not for Snowflakes and if you purchased the new SoulsBorne not knowing the madness your jumping into then you have no idea what the old saying 'GIT GUD' is all about and if this is you then it's time you learn and stop talking about a easy mode to solve your unwillingness to learn......just Git Gud or die trying the game has no other options for you. For those that have what it takes to persevere and complete a SoulsBorne game the Git Gud badge is one you carry with pride for the rest of your life even if it's a symbolic one. And this is more important than a dngrade to the game just so more people can complete it. And if this is you and you need a easy mode do the gaming world a favor and stop playing it, eat the cost of the game and just git rid of it...........YOU DIED! no shame in this.

[Thundercat77]

Do you remember Mike's Tyson Punch Out? Where Myke Tyson could knock you out with only 2 punches and you had to PERFECTLY memorize his pattern and not fail one move?

Sekiro feels like that.

[Traecy]

Believe me I hate difficult games but once trying & beating Bloodborne then DS3 I really like the From Software games,the mystery,atmosphere & gameplay imo is intriguing though brutal at times but it makes me want to try even harder to overcome that obstacle.Just beat General Oniwa & the Blazing Bull,died about 8 times each before finally killing them. You have to definitely block at all times with a mixture of running dodging,posture breaks & being a little aggressive when hacking & slashing.When dying a lot plan different strategies.

[AK91]

His next game will be more difficult simple as that.

[slayernz]

i guess one thing they could do is make the trophies difficulty based...so if you play on an "easy mode" then no trophies? then wont take away from the people who finish it and can show off the plat....i for one am loving it, definitely finding harder than previous from games, but is a great feeling when you beat a boss (finally) after many tries

[Positivelypositive]

We create a Genre specifically for games this difficult. So people seeking the challenge can more easily find these games. The Action/Adventure action/rpg categories just does not cut it. We deserve better categories!

[Mulletino]

Most NES games where super hard. Try beating even the most main stream NES games like Super Mario Brothers, Contra, Double Dragon, Punch Out, Zelda etc.

I wonder if the people who are okay with the difficulty are the ones who were raised on these older games.

[Vanfernal]

Ninja Gaiden has been kicking my ass for 30 years. 😆