Nightmare mode fun?

[Ashuran]

Hello everyone. Planning to start my 3rd playthrough and wondering if it is worth it to do nightmare mode. I have always played underdog mode from the start and wonder if playing nightmare mode adds more fun. thanks

[Ashuran]

anyone?

[Zebedee]

Not played anything but Nightmare so hard to compare. What I would say is you may notice that build does have more of an impact in some places because of the damage/resistance types, although I found it more a choice between chipping through with lower damage or spending time respeccing knowing in advance that it would make a fight or area easier than anything too significant.

Not sure what you mean by 'more fun' though cos I used it largely just to keep myself honest in combat and provide the occasional defeat.

[Ashuran]

Originally posted by Zebedee:

Not played anything but Nightmare so hard to compare. What I would say is you may notice that build does have more of an impact in some places because of the damage/resistance types, although I found it more a choice between chipping through with lower damage or spending time respeccing knowing in advance that it would make a fight or area easier than anything too significant.

Not sure what you mean by 'more fun' though cos I used it largely just to keep myself honest in combat and provide the occasional defeat.

A lot of people are saying it makes enemies super spongy and therefore boring so just curious. I played twice already both in underdog mode. Usually game is decently challenging first half but then since I do all quests etc. by the time i get to the later half everything is a breeze. This is why am thinking of trying nightmare to make endgame more challenging. However at the same time am worried that I might get stuck in the first half of game on nightmare haha.

Offtopic: Do you know that if sword and shield stats apply to our warrior's stats even when we are using 2handers? or they only take efffect when we use that specific weapon?

[Arthmoon]

I finished my first playthrough on underdog with Deathcaller. I have done 2nd playhrough on nightmare (spellblade build) and it is definitely more difficult. Bosses were really hard and i died qui0te a lot. Monsters are also more agressive and you have to dodge/block a lot otherwise you are dead.
But it was really fun, challenging but very fun. It is definitely easier than nighmare in DA Inqusition where most enemies were really sponges and it was not fun at all at least for me eventhough I love DA Inqusition. :)

[Ashuran]

Originally posted by Arthmoon:

I finished my first playthrough on underdog with Deathcaller. I have done 2nd playhrough on nightmare (spellblade build) and it is definitely more difficult. Bosses were really hard and i died qui0te a lot. Monsters are also more agressive and you have to dodge/block a lot otherwise you are dead.
But it was really fun, challenging but very fun. It is definitely easier than nighmare in DA Inqusition where most enemies were really sponges and it was not fun at all at least for me eventhough I love DA Inqusition. :)

Yes. My first was warrior slayer smash build. Second was rogue bleed build. I plan to make my third a warrior again but want to try a death knight kind of build where I use a 2hander that deal ice and necrotic damage. Going for the Crystalline Axe for it. Naming him Arthas as well haha. Just wish they allow us to turn down the difficulty if we get stuck at some point on nightmare or just not enjoying playing on nightmare. Making us get stuck on it is making me hesitate otherwise I would not mind trying it from the very first playthrough.

[Ursus007]

I play Nightmare - I think the combat depth is not the forte of the game. Will make fights longer but it didn't make me feel smarter.

[Blitz4]

Originally posted by Ashuran:

Originally posted by Zebedee:

Not played anything but Nightmare so hard to compare. What I would say is you may notice that build does have more of an impact in some places because of the damage/resistance types, although I found it more a choice between chipping through with lower damage or spending time respeccing knowing in advance that it would make a fight or area easier than anything too significant.

Not sure what you mean by 'more fun' though cos I used it largely just to keep myself honest in combat and provide the occasional defeat.

A lot of people are saying it makes enemies super spongy and therefore boring so just curious.

since may 2023 i only play games ironman, meaning one life and it's gg if i die

when enemies are super spongey that means the difficulty has been designed to cator to an easier difficulty level, sadly difficulty levels are a thing in games, but the intelligent way to design a game's difficulty is todo so for the most hardcore of players, then fudge the numbers to make the game easier. you can't make an easy game harder if it's not designed that way from the gate

so many games follow this method of gameplay design that I had to start playing ironman in order to be able to play games. there was a point when i was tired of restarting and artificially increasing the difficulty with my own challenge run. this is the video that got me to play all games ironman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-FTSeBVhuQ

[Francois]

Originally posted by Ashuran:

Just wish they allow us to turn down the difficulty if we get stuck at some point on nightmare or just not enjoying playing on nightmare. Making us get stuck on it is making me hesitate otherwise I would not mind trying it from the very first playthrough.

You can change the combat preset from the Game Play Settings at any time. It just does not affect enemies that have already spawned, so you might have to save and reload the game (or use fast travel) for it to take effect depending on where you are in the game.

[Ashuran]

Originally posted by Francois:

Originally posted by Ashuran:

Just wish they allow us to turn down the difficulty if we get stuck at some point on nightmare or just not enjoying playing on nightmare. Making us get stuck on it is making me hesitate otherwise I would not mind trying it from the very first playthrough.

You can change the combat preset from the Game Settings at any time. It just does not affect enemies that have already spawned, so you might have to save and reload the game for it to take effect depending on where you are in the game.

You cannot change combat preset on nightmare mode. Once nightmare mode is chosen they lock you on it. They do warn us about it from the start though when choosing the difficulty mode.

[Zebedee]

Originally posted by Ashuran:

A lot of people are saying it makes enemies super spongy and therefore boring so just curious. I played twice already both in underdog mode. Usually game is decently challenging first half but then since I do all quests etc. by the time i get to the later half everything is a breeze. This is why am thinking of trying nightmare to make endgame more challenging. However at the same time am worried that I might get stuck in the first half of game on nightmare haha.

Offtopic: Do you know that if sword and shield stats apply to our warrior's stats even when we are using 2handers? or they only take efffect when we use that specific weapon?

Didn't notice it being particularly spongey unless I was hitting stuff with a damage type they were resistant to. And in that case it was on me but it could get tedious. (complaints about not being able to quickly swap builds go here - no, the resistance debuffs aren't adequate etc.).

There wasn't a noticeable power curve though, if that's what you're looking for, harder fights are harder because they're the big boss ones and everything else at the end game is power fantasy stuff (at least for mage and warrior, didn't play rogue).

No idea on warrior stats, I barely paid attention to any stats, but have uninstalled game now so can't even load up to check on that save, sorry.

[wendigo211]

I've been playing on nightmare from the start. There were no real tough fights other than Calivan, until I realized that all his attacks miss if you give up on dodging and just walk left or right. I also had a tough fight against an enemy who was level 25 when I was level 9, but the level difference made it fun.

However, there were a couple of fights where I probably couldn't have won without the attack window afforded by perfect blocks. While the timing window is fairly generous compared to most ARPGs with a parry mechanic, if you suck at those, you'll probably have a bad time.

The enemies aren't too spongy as long as you target vulnerabilities, but killing a resistant enemy does take a long time. It's a good idea to use tab to make sure you aren't fighting a resistant enemy before a battle and adjust your gear if you are.

[Wilder]

Originally posted by Ashuran:

Hello everyone. Planning to start my 3rd playthrough and wondering if it is worth it to do nightmare mode. I have always played underdog mode from the start and wonder if playing nightmare mode adds more fun. thanks

Don't know, but report back and let us know when you try it!

[शिवोहम्]

easy game with nightmare , because invulnerable buffs

[soph]

to get the most out of the combat - set the enemy health to lowest, enemy damage to highest, enemy aggression to highest, enemy resistances to highest, parry timing to tightest

[xunlaiAgent]

At least mage is extremely overpowered in late game, so it gets easier. But early-mid game I guess is similar to Elden Ring in difficulty.