WHAT IS THE BIGGEST DESIGN FLAW IN GAMES?

I'm pretty content with just having a normal and hard difficulty. Combat you can easily overpower just gets really boring.

For me, the biggest design flaw (and what probably gets the most people to shut down the game) is not having the game tell you where to go. When your forced to wander around, things get boring fast.

author=Blinkster
so that is why I like actual fighting to be as easy as possible.

When you said it was more of a play style than a difficulty setting, you were right. I hate difficulty settings in games - why play Hard Mode? It's just fake replay value. Even worse for games who allow you to adjust this DURING the game and basically cheap out of tough fights (I'm looking at you, Dragon Age).

You should find/design games focused on the story that devalue combat, not call it a design flaw that games don't offer the option of "super easy combat, speed through game."

author=Versalia
Even worse for games who allow you to adjust this DURING the game and basically cheap out of tough fights (I'm looking at you, Dragon Age).

yeah it fucking sucks that if there's a fight i can't beat and i'm fed up with it i can just get through it and move on with the game/my life.

ugh

edit: the flaw w/ difficulty settings is when they are designed for "fake" replay value (whatever the "fake" part means), like in most loot-rpgs where you can't even PLAY harder difficulties until you hit a certain level. the right way to do difficulty settings is to pick based on, you know, how much of a challenge you're looking for. people who want a big challenge and play on normal the first time around when hard is available to them have no room to complain, basically. the difficulties should be designed to accommodate this (nothing that is absolutely impossible your first time around and therefore requires replaying, basically)

i also think that having to unlock a difficulty is total bullshit unless the game is really short and designed around replaying it (something like Vanquish, to use a recent example)

author=cho
worst design flaw in games are huge boring overworlds and bullshit "non-linearity" that adds nothing but busywork to the game

game critics these days seem to rag on linearity as being universally terrible all of the time. i want to punch these people in the face

Pretty sure linearity wasn't as criticised until FFXIII came out and people felt the need to treat every single change from predecessor as a terrible blasphemy.

Because big boring maps instead of small boring maps means ~exploration.

author=Versalia

author=cho
yeah it fucking sucks that if there's a fight i can't beat and i'm fed up with it i can just get through it and move on with the game/my life.

It doesn't sound like your issue has anything to do with difficulty setting in this instance, unless you picked Hard to begin with and now that battle screws you. That is a game balance issue (or you simply suck at that game, which does happen].

Basically you prefer it so that people that have a hard time beating the game will never be allowed to beat the game?

When it comes to difficulty levels I prefer there to be as many as possible and that you can change them at any time. Sure I tend to start at medium/normal/experienced and if I enjoy the game replay it at a harder difficulty but I also know that in order for games to be accessible there really needs to be those beginner/very easy & casual/easy levels.

They also need to be named less threateningly. Many games seem to think that playing at an easier levels is to pussy out. Some games go so far as to name the difficulty levels in that way. Pussy - Average - Awesome. A new player mightn't want to be called a pussy upon starting a game. The mentality seems all wrong.

And being able to change difficulty in the middle of the game works both way. Someone might think they're a bit of a beginner but grasps it fairly quickly and would like a bit more challenge without restarting the game. Going into the menu and changing it to a normal or hard difficulty level. Or someone thought they were more awesome than they were.

Basically I'm against punishing the player. After all most player invested some money (5 euros for PC games and 60 for console games) into this and would prefer not to be told upon playing that you suck too badly for this game. Go die in a fire.

Unless they're masochists of course. I guess those guys pay to be punished.

See also:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/8625-Experienced-Points-The-Crime-of-Punishment
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/8345-Experienced-Points-Difficulty-is-Hard

I guess it is more of an ideological argument though.

I still think da biggest design flaw is dat they ain't no asian people in asian made games. Waddup!?

author=Shinan
Basically you prefer it so that people that have a hard time beating the game will never be allowed to beat the game?.

WOW. Do not put words in my mouth. This is such a huge leap of logic, starting with cho. The two issues are unrelated.

When you have a hard time beating a game because of a sudden and unreasonable spike in difficulty, that is a game balance issue. It has nothing to do with being able to change difficulty settings in-game. That CAN be one solution to the problem, but my point is that no game should ever pose a challenge to you that is suddenly unbeatable or unfair without spending an unreasonable amount of time doing something like grinding. We've all fought that boss who does more damage than your party could possibly be expected to keep up with, and it sucks. Just because I am against variable difficulty levels mid-gameplay does NOT mean I am for not being able to get past difficulty spikes. It means the game's difficulty spikes should be designed in a more managable way.

author=heisenman
Pretty sure linearity wasn't as criticised until FFXIII came out and people felt the need to treat every single change from predecessor as a terrible blasphemy.

Pretty sure you're wrong. Tons of articles on "linearity in gaming" predate FF13.

Edit: Okay, not flat-out wrong. It may not have been "as" criticized.

author=Versalia

author=Shinan
Basically you prefer it so that people that have a hard time beating the game will never be allowed to beat the game?.

WOW. Do not put words in my mouth. This is such a huge leap of logic, starting with cho. The two issues are unrelated.

When you have a hard time beating a game because of a sudden and unreasonable spike in difficulty, that is a game balance issue. It has nothing to do with being able to change difficulty settings in-game. That CAN be one solution to the problem, but my point is that no game should ever pose a challenge to you that is suddenly unbeatable or unfair without spending an unreasonable amount of time doing something like grinding.

Still you know. More options are always better than less options. Being able to change difficulty at any time... I just can't see how it is bad a bad option to have. Sure I can make my keys unremappable and plenty of people mightn't worry that much but it's always better to put the option of remapping the keys there rather than leaving it out. Same with difficulty.

And it's not always changing down because it's hard. Sometimes it's changing up because the game was easier than first thought. (and not wanting to replay a bunch of game while at it)