Newbie here - How difficulty is this?

[Fedup]

Hello. I am considering buying this game because of all the good reviews and theme. However, I am not a "professional" player; I don't play souls-like games and I play most RPGs like Skyrim, Witcher, Divinity Original Sin, Solasta, etc. at "medium" difficulty, and for Dragon Age Origins, even that was too hard and I was dropping on easy at times.

So... how difficult and punishing is this game? Does it require micromanagement of equipment and correct builds following guides at medium difficulty?

[Quillithe]

I'm not too far along but I'm doubting it.

On medium so far it feels like you have to do some dodging and blocking, but there's a nice attack indicator to dodge.

If you could get through Witcher 3 on medium I don't think this is going to be any harder (though I played that on max difficulty and haven't finished this yet so I can't fully say).

If you played Witcher 2 at all this is definitely easier.

[Fedup]

I didn't manage to get to play witcher 2 a lot, and one of the reasons I never invested much time in it is because I found the tutorial battle too be a bit too difficult... when the TUTORIAL battle is not a complete cake-walk and I have to think, I didn't think the rest of the game's battles would be for me.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Fedup:

I dropped witcher 2 because it was too difficult...

Yeah it is really difficult. I barely made it through (eventually dropping it to easy) and I DO like Dark Souls games

This is nowhere near Witcher 2 though, I really think you should be okay. Easier than Witcher 3 I think.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Fedup:

I didn't manage to get to play witcher 2 a lot, and one of the reasons I never invested much time in it is because I found the tutorial battle too be a bit too difficult... when the TUTORIAL battle is not a complete cake-walk and I have to think, I didn't think the rest of the game's battles would be for me.

Hah yeah that tutorial battle was HARD. That and the prologue were probably among the hardest parts but...it was a bit much overall.

[Fedup]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Originally posted by Fedup:

This is nowhere near Witcher 2 though, I really think you should be okay. Easier than Witcher 3 I think.

Thank you. I will wait for a second opinion.

(PS. I didn't play witcher 3 :) I don't have THAT much time. At this point I am buying games on sale that I will probably play much much later.)

[Quillithe]

Oh okay, I just saw you mention Witcher and the safe bet is usually that people mean 3 and sometimes 2 when they don't throw a number in.

If you meant 1 that's a bit harder to judge because your list is mostly more strategic rpgs which are kinda difficult in a different way. It's definitely not some sort of super 'hardcore gamer' game though at least.

(Also yeah...I started Witcher 3 in 2015....and finally got around to finishing it in 2020)

[Smoky]

I'd recommend playing on easy because the one biggest problem I have with this game is that once you're in a cutscene (i.e. a no save zone -> any time you're about to enter a boss fight) you cannot change the difficulty (for reasons I don't understand) and the game will respawn you at the start of that cutscene each time you die. The first boss fight was a huge pain because of this. Otherwise the combat difficulty is mostly just dodging with good timing and using healing items.

[Gladwell]

Play it in easy for the story, the combat has no redeemable element.

[Stormhoves]

No, there is no 'need' for micromanagement + you can reshuffle skills at any time. If you customize difficulty you'll make it.

[reidj062]

Originally posted by Fedup:

Hello. I am considering buying this game because of all the good reviews and theme. However, I am not a "professional" player; I don't play souls-like games and I play most RPGs like Skyrim, Witcher, Divinity Original Sin, Solasta, etc. at "medium" difficulty, and for Dragon Age Origins, even that was too hard and I was dropping on easy at times.

So... how difficult and punishing is this game? Does it require micromanagement of equipment and correct builds following guides at medium difficulty?

There are 5 different difficulty levels, and you can vary it at any point- with certain exceptions. If you get to one of these exceptions, you can backtrack to an earlier save and alter difficulty again.

One of these difficulties will fit you, guaranteed.

The game lays out very clearly what attributes affect which character and what they measure. The skill tree allows a lot of flexibility and you can even alter your skill allocations when not in combat.

In terms of combat, it is very similar to Witcher and Jedi: Fallen Order.

You shouldn't ever completely dump a stat. Some enemies are nigh-immune to rifle attacks, and others to melee attacks. Others need to be fought specifically as Red or Antea.

[Illuminary]

This game isn't remotely a souls like, it's an action adventure focusing on story and dialogue. Combat is piss easy if you just know how to dodge. There's no stamina gauge and no need to parry at all. Dodging creates space and helps set up other combos for how your offensive build is set. Of course you can parry but I went full rifle (dex build) and never used parry ever.

You don't need any specific stat at all, combat where it matters is dictated by states. "Perfect switch damage" state, just dodge state, heavy attack increase state, damage increase per consecutive hit state, that matters more than anything else. At this point you can tweak your build on the fly. I never came across to any enemy ever immune to rifle damage. Some may not take as much but with unlimited ammo who cares if you need to shoot a little longer.

By the time you're near the end of the game you'll be able to unlock every single perk tree anyway for you to decide how to split the perks. Only time you need Antea is if you feel like using ensnare or outburst which is helpful if you take perks like X damage increase after outburst kill, or X damage increase after ensnare. I played near entirely with Red, Antea isn't needed.