Obsidian director Josh Sawyer says it’s a ‘mistake’ for RPGs to sacrifice crunchy ‘sweaty boy’ systems in favour of a ‘one size fits all’ game, since easier difficulties aren’t too hard to make
Obsidian director Josh Sawyer says it’s a ‘mistake’ for RPGs to sacrifice crunchy ‘sweaty boy’ systems in favour of a ‘one size fits all’ game, since easier difficulties aren’t too hard to make
14 Comments
New phrase unlocked.
I think there’s enough room for both RPG-lite experiences like Skyrim and deep rpgs like BG3.
Everything in a video game should round up to being fun. If it would be more fun to get rid of a complex system, then remove it. If it would add to the customization, keep it.
I mean there’s definitely a sweet spot to this philosophy but yeah, a lot of modern AAA games dumb down their systems to cater to people.
Some of the stats on FBC Firebreak were staggering: less than 5% of players had a lvl 3 perk unlocked.
Basically, he says games should both have easy and hardcore difficulty. Pretty sure we can all agree on that, the problem is really just the implementation, where a bunch of companies think higher difficulty means more bullet sponges.
>since easier difficulties aren’t too hard to make
Sure they aren’t, not when you follow the Bethesda/Obsidian method and just inflate the HP while deflating the DMG.
Just the game difficulty? Just the mechanics? Hell modern games dumb down the DIALOGUE, like grown adults aren’t playing them.
He’s talking more about gameplay systems/depth but he does mention reactivity and to me that’s the biggest drop off obsidian games have had post new vegas. It truly felt like you could do anything in that game and the game could accomodate it, and it still to this day has some of the deepest dialogue trees and skill checks in the industry. You compare that with avowed, outer worlds or even the pillars games and it’s not even a contest.
He mentions the Owlcat games and while I do think they have great difficulty options, I do have a criticism of the Pathfinder games in that it can be very difficult to find settings that are enjoyable in the second half of the game.
If you’re just playing casually and not optimizing(or putting 32847924 buffs on yourself before major combats) then you can quickly find yourself with really shitty hit rates while you yourself get hit by almost everything.
Story mode is nice to have, but it also makes the combat pretty boring. I’d like some kind of middle ground here.
That said Rogue Trader is a huge step up in this regard.
Josh is one of the last great rpg directors. When he says something, you listen.
I mean, he isn’t wrong. But I won’t say he’s right either. Some players like grinding numbers, working out optimized builds, stat-checking gear and making sure they are as good as they can be. And they like to feel rewarded for that, to be able to blaze bosses in pyres of glory, to take on that secret monster 3 levels early because they are just ‘that good’ And when the reward for being that sort of player isn’t there, then there is no interest from that player. Think about it in NPC terms, when the 3rd npc you talk to says the same line as the first two, you’re unlikely to talk to NPC’s again until something about one of them says ‘I am different!’ If you play the game for NPC interaction, you’re not going to enjoy it.
At the same time, sure you can make ‘lower difficulties’ but that doesn’t mean that the system isn’t engaging for some players because its this deep, complex system with dozens of numbers and things they need to consider. Think about how in JRPG’s there’s several stats, element types, gear modifiers, and more to consider. Sure the difficulty might be turned down, but I still might not understand what all this does. What does this bit of gear mean when its says ‘+10% to wood summons mp value’ I know its good because its green, but is that just because my current gear doesn’t have it? IMO, the solution is to have a ‘complexity’ slider as well, just something that homoganizes the ‘number soup’ in to something easy for players who don’t want to have to compare the minute details of a dozen bits of new gear.
As for the ‘difficult choices’ mention, then yeah. I like my RPG’s to be full of tough decisions and moral challenges. Because that lets me role play my character. If I’m automatically playing goody mcTwoShoes then It’s not really a RPG is it?
Yall do understand the real reason don’t yall? It’s money. Think about it, it takes months and costs a lot of money to program all the enemies of the game to have different algorithms for different difficulties. This isn’t about appeasing all gamers. It’s about making money.
Sweaty boi > sweaty boy
If I understood all that I might be triggered
Agreed. Give me that sweet sweet crunch. I prefer it in TTRPGs too. None of this ‘rules light narrative focus’ nonsense.