Options for Frustration Reduction and Age/Ability Fairness

[regomar]

VERY small vocal minority

How on earth do you know that it's a minority you ignorant prick?

Because out of 10 thousand+ people playing and enjoying the game, about 8 of you on the forums are whining about this. It's the definition of vocal minority. Arrogant douche.

[Jack Dandy]

Regomar has a point. From all the reviews so far, I haven't seen one bash the puzzles, timed or not.

Even the more mainstream sites that usually rage when the game doesn't hold their hand, gave the game good reviews and claimed the puzzles were the best part.

[seebs]

VERY small vocal minority

How on earth do you know that it's a minority you ignorant prick?

Because out of 10 thousand+ people playing and enjoying the game, about 8 of you on the forums are whining about this. It's the definition of vocal minority. Arrogant douche.

... Well, namecalling aside, wouldn't you expect that people who know they have a hard time with tight timing requirements might simply not be playing this game?

But they might if, say, you had a slow-down option. (Which is actually sorta an awesome idea. I could play a lot longer at a time if the game ran at about 75% speed, and it could be fun for speedruns too if it could be slower or faster...)

[Halk]

Did you read any reviews Jack? While they're overwhelmingly positive there are criticisms in most.

[Jack Dandy]

Not about the puzzles, though. (Timed or not).
Most complaints I remember are about the battle system, hidden switches required to continue, and some of the trap rooms. And even then, they were pretty minor complaints.

[Halk]

They do Jack, you either only read a few reviews which didn't or you didn't make note of the ones that did.

In any case I don't agree with the criticisms of the puzzled, timed or not. I like them and I want them to stay.

My criticism is the game engine doesn't allow a buffered move so it means you need to time the key presses to match the game's heartbeat, which gets progressively more difficult the weaker your system is.

I'm using a 1090t@4200mhz, 8GB@2000mhz 6-9-6-30, and a 580 GTX@930 - so my PC can handle the game more than, I would imagine, most. However when I turn the graphic detail down to the minimum I find the game more responsive.

[maethlin]

to cryocore ....

Nice attitude.

So why are you against adding OPTIONS to render CERTAIN PARTS of the game (i.e. timed puzzles) more forgiving?

It DOES NOT affect YOUR game. As a matter of fact, it isn't your game, and anyone who paid for it has EVERY RIGHT to make requests of the development team, provided they do so in a polite and civil manner, which people have done in this thread.

Because its the typical PC pandering that slowly erodes complexity and challenge.

The timed puzzles were designed to offer a specific challenge, the combat is designed to offer a specific challenge. People inability to cope/deal with them is the players fault/issue asking a developer to completely rewrite a specific part of the game only because certain individuals are incapable of meeting the set challenge is frankly idiotic.

Should we lower college requirements so that its easier for people to get in just because they lack the intelligence or drive to meet the current requirement?
Should we remove certain words or phrases from movies/TV shows because some people dont understand them?
Should we make it easier to pass exams just because some people struggle?
Should we lower the requirements for passing your drivers licence because some people struggle and will never pass?
Should we decrease difficulty because some people cant cope with it?

The issue I have is that people are asking for something to be removed/made easier because they are unable/unwilling to meet the challenge set. Not due to poor implementation, not due to it being broken, but because its too difficult. It was designed to be difficult its not the games failure its a failure of the player.

Sorry but its a game and not every game is made for everyone. If you cant deal with the challenge then this game was not meant for you regardless of any desire you might have to play it.

If some people miss out then why should I or anyone care? I cant play fighter games. I never have. I just lack the skill to be even remotely competitive. I would like to be better, and no doubt would enjoy playing them if I could, but I cant. I am not arrogant or self-centred enough to even suggest that the designed complexity be reduced just to cater to my inability to play the game.

If the game is too hard... too bad. Its your issue, deal with it yourself.

translation: inferiority complex manifests in internet badassery

[Curunir]

Did you really fill up 10 pages of posts just because someone's playing the game on a 386 at 16 mhz and can't get past a puzzle because of it?

[maethlin]

Actually I think you've forgotten what the discussion was about.

It's about options, not changes that affect everyone.

For the SECOND time, having the devs spend their valuable time adding your options that a VERY small vocal minority want takes away dev time from adding things that the majority can enjoy like new levels and the map editor. It absolutely DOES affect everyone. Period. Nothing you can possibly say changes that.

And having you and the one (or two) other guys in this thread decide what the devs should or should not do with their valuable time is ignorant and presumptious. So is claiming that this is a VERY small vocal minority (I mean really, that's based on.... uh, right - nothing at all). Unless a kindly dev sets up a poll asking how many people would be interested in the OPTION of toning down timed puzzle difficulty (not complexity mind you, just speed), we can't possibly know what percentage of players would like to see this.

[maethlin]

VERY small vocal minority

How on earth do you know that it's a minority you ignorant prick?

Because out of 10 thousand+ people playing and enjoying the game, about 8 of you on the forums are whining about this. It's the definition of vocal minority. Arrogant douche.

The only ones whining here are you and cry - note the tone with which this was proposed - the absolutist know-it-all bellyaching is coming from the couple of people that can't even FATHOM people making this suggestion.

Laughable. I addressed this post to the devs and a lot of people (with 2 exceptions) have added constructively on both sides. Thanks for the input all, I'll pop back in if a dev ever decides to answer, or I'll just trust they've read it and decided on their own whether or not this is worth their time. Cheers!