Cool story. I played and enjoyed Elden Ring. I don't think it's a crazy idea for the people who physically can't play the game as it is to have the same experience I had.
These arguments always boil down to "it's not for you" or "get good". Adding a difficulty option to the game should not be this controversial. The fact the developers considered variable difficulty so much in the design of the game shows that it's not meritless, but turn that same idea into an accessibility option in the settings and people just vehemently disagree for some reason.
Honestly, just more lenient timing would do wonders. Not everyone has the same reaction times.
I'm not arguing for making it a silly hack and slash or fundamentally changing the game. I know dying is a part of it, I played and enjoyed the same game everyone else did. I just think there's ways to make that same game more accessible.
it's genuinely easy
just make dodge iframes longer, make attacks scale in speed slightly based on accessibility options, maybe even add attack indicators so players don't need to have the camera actively on a boss to realize they're attacking (reducing manual dexterity needed to understand what's going on). increase player damage output to lower the mental endurance and total effort needed in each attempt against each enemy and boss. make level loop somewhat faster so players get rewards more often to encourage them through what might be more attempts than an average player, and allow them to access the options you mentioned earlier easier. add automatic-execution accessibility options for techniques that require specific timing like dodge rolling or parrying, plus options to just increase the windows for those like mentioned earlier for iframes, for those who can still execute them but have more difficulty doing so than an average player. add high contrast and visibility settings so they can see better in harder to navigate areas. add accessibility markers/outlines to point out enemies and objects (not yellow paint quest lines, just ways to make enemies and objects easier to see). add options for some kind of minimap or some other solution to make navigation in confusing spaces easier for players who have a higher than average difficulty understanding them. add ability to disable or enable certain kinds of attacks or threats that player is incapable of dealing with due to their nature (ie hidden traps that aren't fun for someone who has vision impairment due to them being somewhat hidden making finding them impossible for them, and making them easier to see making them too easy to be relevant)
This topic comes up so often because there are people who enjoy the game but want difficulty options. I guess I just don't understand how it would ruin the charm.
It comes up so often around Souls because there's like a decade of discourse around this and Jim Stephanie sterling saying she would be fine with an easy mode and G*mers getting angry at her for it is like half of the historical context
Cool story. I played and enjoyed Elden Ring. I don't think it's a crazy idea for the people who physically can't play the game as it is to have the same experience I had.
These arguments always boil down to "it's not for you" or "get good". Adding a difficulty option to the game should not be this controversial. The fact the developers considered variable difficulty so much in the design of the game shows that it's not meritless, but turn that same idea into an accessibility option in the settings and people just vehemently disagree for some reason.
What kind of accessibility options would you add, were you given a team of developers and tasked with doing so?
Honestly, just more lenient timing would do wonders. Not everyone has the same reaction times.
I'm not arguing for making it a silly hack and slash or fundamentally changing the game. I know dying is a part of it, I played and enjoyed the same game everyone else did. I just think there's ways to make that same game more accessible.
it's genuinely easy
just make dodge iframes longer, make attacks scale in speed slightly based on accessibility options, maybe even add attack indicators so players don't need to have the camera actively on a boss to realize they're attacking (reducing manual dexterity needed to understand what's going on). increase player damage output to lower the mental endurance and total effort needed in each attempt against each enemy and boss. make level loop somewhat faster so players get rewards more often to encourage them through what might be more attempts than an average player, and allow them to access the options you mentioned earlier easier. add automatic-execution accessibility options for techniques that require specific timing like dodge rolling or parrying, plus options to just increase the windows for those like mentioned earlier for iframes, for those who can still execute them but have more difficulty doing so than an average player. add high contrast and visibility settings so they can see better in harder to navigate areas. add accessibility markers/outlines to point out enemies and objects (not yellow paint quest lines, just ways to make enemies and objects easier to see). add options for some kind of minimap or some other solution to make navigation in confusing spaces easier for players who have a higher than average difficulty understanding them. add ability to disable or enable certain kinds of attacks or threats that player is incapable of dealing with due to their nature (ie hidden traps that aren't fun for someone who has vision impairment due to them being somewhat hidden making finding them impossible for them, and making them easier to see making them too easy to be relevant)
Removed by mod
This topic comes up so often because there are people who enjoy the game but want difficulty options. I guess I just don't understand how it would ruin the charm.
It comes up so often around Souls because there's like a decade of discourse around this and Jim Stephanie sterling saying she would be fine with an easy mode and G*mers getting angry at her for it is like half of the historical context