it's to do with the nature of the game, i guess. in an fps game you can change difficulty but it's generally a 'learn to play' issue: learn to get that section down, become familiar, play better, be more aware, etc. things you can very pragmatically learn and adapt to with repeat retries (that's part of the fun of it, after all). in skyrim - like all rpg games - the difficulty is often dictated by numbers and statistics that you can't 'skill up' personally to beat. you basically have to go away and bash some wolves over the head or do some minor quests for an innkeeper or a greengrocers or something to 'level up' and be at the necessary plateaux to kill that guy. the game basically puts glass ceilings and obstacles in your character's way that you have to go away and work on in other areas in order to overcome it (that's part of the fun of [mmo]rpg's, after all). though in skyrim if an encounter or instance is too hard, instead of being forced to go and level up elsewhere and improve your combat/armor skills and weapons/gear that you wear (as you are forced to in an mmorpg, where the rules cannot be bent), you can just turn down a dial on the menu. that has a much more disruptive effect on the game's logic than it does in an fps game, where you basically turn down the difficulty when you admit defeat in not having enough personal skill or ability to pass a segment. in an rpg game being allowed to turn down the difficulty is tantamount to bypassing the game's interior logic and design. it seriously compromises the game's overall aesthetic and experience.FatherTed wrote:
difficulty controls and console commands is a person problem, not a game problem. sure you can turn it down if it gets hard (like err, every other single player game) but why would you?
(now there's some faux-academic game writing, eat your heart out rock paper shotgun).
libertarian benefit collector - anti-academic super-intellectual. http://mixlr.com/the-little-phrase/
