Dont play on normal.

[Rupbert2]

Normal is poorly balanced, waaay to easy the game is basically a button masher.

[The Real HELLCAT]

Exactely why I like playing on "Normal", for some chilled, casual button mashing every now and then.

Don't always judge things based only on your preferences ;-)

[Rupbert2]

You're right, still it feels a bit empty when you kill every boss on the first try. Just trying to warn people who might be looking for a little more challenge than that.

[He Who Is Vile]

Going from Normal to Hardcore is a MASSIVE gap, however. I just finished my second playthrough, going for Hardcore for the second time (mostly for achievement sake) and death was far more common simply because traps (floor spikes, lava, falling icicles) did actual damage and couldn't be ignored at all like they could be in Normal.

After getting the end-game stuff (2x Wedding Ring, Mith robes/augment) everything turned into a joke even on Hardcore. Well, except for falling icicles, which still chunked for 1.5k damage out of a nearly 6k health pool.

If anything, I'm afraid of how easy it would be on Casual when comparing the scaling between Normal and Hardcore.

[Tirigon]

Originally posted by Shigenji:

You're right, still it feels a bit empty when you kill every boss on the first try. Just trying to warn people who might be looking for a little more challenge than that.

But that is not because of normal, that is because bosses in Dust are significantly easier than the areas leading up to them.

[James Van Der Beek]

should I play on hardcore or tough?

[pyrokitsune777]

Originally posted by Santa Claws:

should I play on hardcore or tough?

If you are looking for a challenge i'd suggest the harder difficulties. The normal and easy difficulties are very much what they say they are.

[Tirigon]

^
Also note that if you start on the highest and turn it down, you dont lose anything, but if you start on normal and turn it UP you wont get the achievement for beating the game in higher difficulties.
So, when in doubt, always start on max difficulty and turn it down if needed rather than starting easy and turning it up.

[Kuroshiz]

I actually started on normal and now I'm about a quarter of the way through the game on tough, a much better difficulty level as now I actually have to think about how I attack rather than just instantly obliterate everything by button mashing :PP

[gomu gomu no bruhh]

BASH BUTTONS! DO SOMETHING!!!

[alexshiro]

It's pretty poorly balanced all around. I'd recomend tough, I've played normal and it was waaaaaaaaaaay to easy, and I've played hardcore and everything 1shots you, which is a problem with the stupid bubble sprouts.

Btw, The Undoing (aerial throw, clickclickclickrightclick in the air) makes all fights a joke, any difficulty. Bosses would be too, but they become immune to overy other attempt, so they are like a cruel, unfunny joke.

[Noogy]

I recommend Tough if you are used to playing action games. In fact I even put that in the text on the difficulty select.

[NeoMikey]

I thought the bosses were rather easy when doing Normal, though I died a few times while going through the levels. I'm looking forward to the challenge when going to Tough and above

[Jubz]

I chose tough for my 1st playthrough and it was a great decision. This difficulty feels like the right balance for me.

[Tirigon]

I found normal quite enough, tbh. But otoh, Dust was my first 2D-Action game ever. And someday, when I finished the dozens of good games I own but never played, I'll get round to Hardcore.....

[Zork Nemesis]

Difficulties are there to cater to the individual players' skills. Simply because you think it's too easy might not mean everyone else does. I played Tough on my first playthrough and I thought it was easy; never died and only used one Resurrection Stone. I know of some people though who would have issues if they even tried to touch Tough.

Another example from a different game (AVGN Adventures), I have a friend who's several years older than me and grew up playing games very similar to the game's genre. He can't finish Easy while I've finished Old School (effectively Normal or Hard, depending on how you look at the difficulty scale).

It's a "pick your preference" deal really. Do you play action games? Try harder settings. Are you not normally a player of this genre? Go Easier. Don't care for the gameplay and want a story? Easiet. Personally I go for tougher difficulites just because I like to challenge myself, but i'm not afraid to back down if something prooves too difficult.