So, is Expert difficulty fun?

[NinjaGuy]

I'm getting the game tonight, and I'm still struggling to decide if I'll be playing on normal or expert.

I usually play all of my games on the hardest difficulty. Doom 2016's nightmare difficulty kicked my ass, but I still had a lot of fun.

From what I'm gathering here, expert seems really frustrating? And HP doesn't seem to matter since you get one shot anyway, which doesn't seem too RPG-like (can you grind to make it easier?)

So is Expert fun as a first playthrough?

[BlueCat]

I doubt it. Playing on normal difficulty I can still get two shot by some stronger attacks.

[Loken]

Yes, is fun if you like to tryhard the combat gameplay. You have to have extremly precision to win battles. You will die a lot of times until you learn the time two evade and block enemy attacks. Until you beat them, which will be extremly satisfaction.

[Whirblewind]

The game is too easy bordering on trivial even on Expert, it just asks you to be more exacting with your parries. I would say Expert is less about making you feel more challenged (owing to the game being poorly tuned) and more about shifting the satisfaction off of your individual decisions and towards your ability to hit parry in time.

So, to answer the question "is Expert fun as a first playthrough?" I would say whatever is different about its "fun" will depend on you. Do you enjoy your turn-based decisions mattering less and your ability to press a button on cue mattering more? You have your answer.

Speaking to the rest of your message, yes, you should play on Expert, because most of this game insults your intelligence even on Expert, so you may as well do all you can to eek out challenge.

[Ratsplat]

If easy is too hard for people, you may as well play on Expert. Getting 1 shot in easy is gonna be the same as being 1 shot elsewhere. If anything, use Expert to train then swap to easy later on once the game becomes insane.

[NinjaGuy]

Originally posted by Whirblewind:

Speaking to the rest of your message, yes, you should play on Expert, because most of this game insults your intelligence even on Expert, so you may as well do all you can to eek out challenge.

I'm curious about this. Do you mean that it doesn't matter how you build your character up, because it goes down the drain no matter what? Or do you mean something else by insulting your intelligence?

[Whirblewind]

Originally posted by NinjaGuy:

Originally posted by Whirblewind:

Speaking to the rest of your message, yes, you should play on Expert, because most of this game insults your intelligence even on Expert, so you may as well do all you can to eek out challenge.

I'm curious about this. Do you mean that it doesn't matter how you build your character up, because it goes down the drain no matter what? Or do you mean something else by insulting your intelligence?

That's mostly what I mean, yes. Individual decisions - attributes, skills, gear, moment to moment battle choices - have almost no actual impact on how you do. You can self-sabotage by skipping turns or healing yourself at full health or something completely inorganic and aimed to deliberately fail, but if you are making any attempt at lowering the enemy's health, the vast majority of your success hinges on whether or not you pushed the parry button in time.

Clair Obscur on Expert is overwhelmingly your dexterity and almost none of which your out of or in-combat decisions. Hence, insulting your intelligence; the illusion of choice doesn't matter and the points are made up.

[NinjaGuy]

Originally posted by Whirblewind:

Originally posted by NinjaGuy:

I'm curious about this. Do you mean that it doesn't matter how you build your character up, because it goes down the drain no matter what? Or do you mean something else by insulting your intelligence?

That's mostly what I mean, yes. Individual decisions - attributes, skills, gear, moment to moment battle choices - have almost no actual impact on how you do. You can self-sabotage by skipping turns or healing yourself at full health or something completely inorganic and aimed to deliberately fail, but if you are making any attempt at lowering the enemy's health, the vast majority of your success hinges on whether or not you pushed the parry button in time.

Clair Obscur on Expert is overwhelmingly your dexterity and almost none of which your out of or in-combat decisions. Hence, insulting your intelligence; the illusion of choice doesn't matter and the points are made up.

Damn, that sounds awful.

[Whirblewind]

Originally posted by NinjaGuy:

Originally posted by Whirblewind:

That's mostly what I mean, yes. Individual decisions - attributes, skills, gear, moment to moment battle choices - have almost no actual impact on how you do. You can self-sabotage by skipping turns or healing yourself at full health or something completely inorganic and aimed to deliberately fail, but if you are making any attempt at lowering the enemy's health, the vast majority of your success hinges on whether or not you pushed the parry button in time.

Clair Obscur on Expert is overwhelmingly your dexterity and almost none of which your out of or in-combat decisions. Hence, insulting your intelligence; the illusion of choice doesn't matter and the points are made up.

Damn, that sounds awful.

There's a reason I don't have the mouse icon beside my name. You can come to your own decisions based on the overwhelmingly positive reception to the game, but if you're the kind of person who plays everything at whatever the hardest difficulty is like you said, or perhaps the kind of person who played Elden Ring and had to mod it to make it much harder because you were sick of being treated like a disabled child, this game is going to frustrate the crap out of you. Evidently there aren't many like us, but if this resonates with you, save your time.

[parent child bowl]

Originally posted by NinjaGuy:

Originally posted by Whirblewind:

That's mostly what I mean, yes. Individual decisions - attributes, skills, gear, moment to moment battle choices - have almost no actual impact on how you do. You can self-sabotage by skipping turns or healing yourself at full health or something completely inorganic and aimed to deliberately fail, but if you are making any attempt at lowering the enemy's health, the vast majority of your success hinges on whether or not you pushed the parry button in time.

Clair Obscur on Expert is overwhelmingly your dexterity and almost none of which your out of or in-combat decisions. Hence, insulting your intelligence; the illusion of choice doesn't matter and the points are made up.

Damn, that sounds awful.

Yeah, it also sounds not true.

[Whirblewind]

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

Originally posted by NinjaGuy:

Damn, that sounds awful.

Yeah, it also sounds not true.

Notice how they don't specify any reasons, hoping I won't notice they just called me a liar.

I've got time.

[Brocknoth]

Originally posted by NinjaGuy:

Originally posted by Whirblewind:

That's mostly what I mean, yes. Individual decisions - attributes, skills, gear, moment to moment battle choices - have almost no actual impact on how you do. You can self-sabotage by skipping turns or healing yourself at full health or something completely inorganic and aimed to deliberately fail, but if you are making any attempt at lowering the enemy's health, the vast majority of your success hinges on whether or not you pushed the parry button in time.

Clair Obscur on Expert is overwhelmingly your dexterity and almost none of which your out of or in-combat decisions. Hence, insulting your intelligence; the illusion of choice doesn't matter and the points are made up.

Damn, that sounds awful.

They're mistaken. I wouldn't listen to them. There is very clear strategy to battles. Just because they're asleep at the wheel doesn't mean you should be. Everyone will have a different experience with the game.

[Whirblewind]

Originally posted by Brocknoth:

Originally posted by NinjaGuy:

Damn, that sounds awful.

They're mistaken. I wouldn't listen to them. There is very clear strategy to battles. Just because they're asleep at the wheel doesn't mean you should be. Everyone will have a different experience with the game.

Again, "they're a liar but I won't say in any way why because then I'd have to actually produce an argument justifying how nothing I do has any impact."

[Icylobster]

You can change/adjust your difficulty at any time. I say just pick the hardest and decide if its fun for you.

[Roan]

I started on hard and switched to expedition about an hour in.

It wasn't at all fun being one shot by normal mobs because I missed one dodge / parry.

The problem now is that the game is ridiculously easy on expedition mode, so I keep swapping back and forth.

Unsure where I'll eventually land.

[Malu]

I find it fun. Yes it's really challenging, but when you finally defeat that boss you feel like you truly earned it. It doesn't require perfection, but some fights come close especially if you're builds are lacking in the defense department.