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[Sean Mirrsen]

I think difficulty options are usually enough, especially if they fit with the more recent trend of being more nuanced and letting users tune specific things rather than just an easy, medium, hard etc. option.

That said, I’d be all for more options in long, story heavy games. Things like CRPGs like Divinity Original Sin and similar I’d be for an option to auto fight or skip battles. The game is known for having a great story,lots of dialogue and choices etc. I’d like to experience, but I just hate the battle is in those games, hate the shit ton of systems to figure out in CRPGs etc. and found it too hard even on easy.

That said, not all games need to be for me and I was fine just skipping that game any steering clear of that genre. Devs don’t need to cater to me. That said, they’re missing out on some money from me as I’d buy and play games like that if I was able to put them on easy (or whatever other settings) and blow through them for the story like I do in games with other combat systems like Witcher 3.

I think in the broader scope, games like Divinity OS simply use their quality story, the same way more mainstream games would use graphics and scenery - they give you a hook that would make you want to play the game. They might not succeed - as indeed, games don't have to cater to everybody at once - but it's just one of the many things a game does to make you want to play it, to try and make the player get over their preconceptions or limitations and experience whatever genre the game represents.

In a way, I could probably chalk that up as one of the reasons the classic RTS genre mostly disappeared - it doesn't have easy ways to provide that 'hook', in either visual quality or writing, and so has just the gameplay by itself to attract the player, which in RTS games is by default far more complex and daunting to the unprepared - so gameplay has to suffer reductions far greater than RPGs and action games have.
Probably one of the reasons Homeworld is so fondly remembered, now that I think of it - the premise and setting provided for quite a number of such 'hooks', and the unique design allowed for great visuals as well.

 

[Moogle11]

I think in the broader scope, games like Divinity OS simply use their quality story, the same way more mainstream games would use graphics and scenery - they give you a hook that would make you want to play the game. They might not succeed - as indeed, games don't have to cater to everybody at once - but it's just one of the many things a game does to make you want to play it, to try and make the player get over their preconceptions or limitations and experience whatever genre the game represents.

In a way, I could probably chalk that up as one of the reasons the classic RTS genre mostly disappeared - it doesn't have easy ways to provide that 'hook', in either visual quality or writing, and so has just the gameplay by itself to attract the player, which in RTS games is by default far more complex and daunting to the unprepared - so gameplay has to suffer reductions far greater than RPGs and action games have.
Probably one of the reasons Homeworld is so fondly remembered, now that I think of it - the premise and setting provided for quite a number of such 'hooks', and the unique design allowed for great visuals as well.

Yeah, like I said, I don’t feel games need to cater to me. So I can accept that the “hook” in those games just didn’t work for me, and if that hook—having a compelling enough story to get people to push through the combat and systems even if they don’t like them—was the dev’s vision, fair enough.

Just seems a shame to have a game that’s apparently very dense with story, dialogue, choices etc. shut off that content for people who don’t enjoy the gameplay systems enough to push through as these games to me were quite a bit harder on Easy than other RPGs. But if that was their vision, absolutely nothing wrong with that. I just wonder how some of the writers etc responsible feel about it.

In any case, the issue isn’t really difficulty for me. It’s I wish there was a market for AAA visual novels. I’d love something like a Divinity or Cyberpunk where the gameplay was really just walking around, interacting with things and tons of dialogue and dialogue options. As is a lot of pure visual novels are lower budget things, often Japanese or otherwise niche for my tastes in their themes, or a “walking sim” type games that I love but are short and thin on narrative compared to an RPG or are things like David Cage, Don’t Nod games which are fine, but I’m not a big QTE fan. I did really like Tell Me Why and Night in the Woods recently as lower/mid budget games not full of QTE crap.

 

[MrJTeera]

The closest devs I’ve seen that accomplish that is IO interactive and their current Hitman games.

Sure, you can finish a stage within 20 seconds, but for someone who appreciates storytelling and worldbuilding, the player can stretch the length to hours, uncovering hidden dialogues that give you insights of the targets and those other characters who worked for them.

All this expositions without ever breaking from the player’s gameplay flow. The length of the content depends on how much you want to explore each stages.

 

[D.Final]

The closest devs I’ve seen that accomplish that is IO interactive and their current Hitman games.

Sure, you can finish a stage within 20 seconds, but for someone who appreciates storytelling and worldbuilding, the player can stretch the length to hours, uncovering hidden dialogues that give you insights of the targets and those other characters who worked for them.

All this expositions without ever breaking from the player’s gameplay flow. The length of the content depends on how much you want to explore each stages.

But the cutscenes are missing in Hitman 1 and 2