Does the difficulty comes from unfair RNG?

[MagnaAu]

So i have been eyeing this game for 2 years now, it just looks (i love the art style) and sounds georgeus but there is just one thing that kept me from buying this game. Nonsense, luck based (against you most of the times), unfair difficulty that i heard of. I have no problem with difficulty, i love dark souls games(i know at this point it is just annoying to use the dark souls as a measure of difficulty but yeah), i enjoy xcom games too (so i dont have any problems with losing people and little luck). At those games most of the time it is your fault you die, like; you didnt remember the paterns properly, didnt use the proper tactics, rushed, etc. so you died. I dont have a problem with that, because it is my fault that i died. But some of the reviews for DD are like ''I was at a dungeon with my fully leveled guy (that i grinded for 15-20 hours to level up) and game just said ♥♥♥♥ you and my character died in 3 minutes''. So i work for hours and RNG decides if i get a debuff for no reason or die for no reason ? And i cant do anything about it most of the time? This just sounds unfair, annoying (to me of course, everyone has a different taste).It is kinda like that in xcom too but in those games you do something stupid then RNG decides if you live or die or something bad happens. I dont have a problem with that too. I wouldnt care about the reviews but if you see a guy with 100-150 hours ingame time, saying that game is unfair then it is kinda worrying. Is that true or are people just exaggerating it?

Dont get me wrong though i am not ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on the game, i am just asking to see if the game is my cup of tea.

[Aytum]

If you can handle XCOM, you can handle this game.

[Zorlond]

Originally posted by Aytum:

If you can handle XCOM, you can handle this game.

No comparison, XCOM ♥♥♥♥♥ with the RNG.

As far as I've been able to deduce, DD plays it fair with the RNG. It's difficulty comes from being apathetic about the result.

[Satoru]

Functionally the RNG exists but the game is about risk management and understanding that the game mechanics fundamentally put negative pressure on you constantly. Yes you can party wipe at any point, but that doesnt' happen out of the blue. Generally it happens when you over extend yourself. Do you risk going forward? Or do you retreat, take some negative penalties and lick your wounds. Its about balancing those different factors.

[SunDrippedDevil]

The player has complete agency to overcome the challenge. The game offers the player all of the tools to win. It's just a question of using them effectively along with forming an understanding of the game's mechanics. It's about taking calculated risks.

[Saiaku_Kun]

jo first6 my englisch is not the best so sorry for that . but when u like xcom and stuf like darksouls u ez handel this game in my game i have some mods that makes the game ez but its not for the ez mode i have some random spawning littel boses and more and more stuff and i have some mods that disabels some game things like hey im lvl 3 i dont go in that dugeons is too low lvl why the ♥♥♥♥ a hero would say thaattt ???? but back to the topic rng ♥♥♥♥♥ u in every game in this game u get some 13% crits on ur aoe dmg and the enmy on his normal atack kk make that stuf somtimes ur healer crits for ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 30 heal what in most points is like dammnn son im alive XD so play that game when u like the look play some hours and restart so u got some of the machanics things u need is good jester XD and some managment ^^ have a loots of fun ^^ and when u like modds i like that game for some modds that re design or re balance or make some stuff broken so take some time after ur first DD run and moood the hell out of it its funny .

[Rui83DeathMetal]

Basically you have to mitigate the rng in your favor. Yes, sometimes you will get bad luck, but sometimes luck will smile upon. The risk of failure is real and will happen, if you don't have a problems with that you are cool to go. And yes, the game is here to kill you and see you fail miserably:) (and I love it) Don't expect help besides you experience with the game and don't spoil the hard fights by going to YouTube, you will ruin the expirience. The game warns you that you are to make the best of a bad a situation, we are not the big hero team. We are scum, religious people and shunned by society one way or the other. We are coming to the hamlet lured by the promise of money, redemption or with zelous faith in our hearts (or looking for the occult). We are not in a good position, we are fighting for survival in a hostile and sick environment. Be brave and strong of mind, or you will perish...or be turned into a giberish and insane sack of meat. And beware... Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer... Welcome aboard mate:)

[snitchet]

yes the difficulty comes mostly from rng.
comparing this to xcom is wrong though, for more reason then i care to enumerate right now

[Happiness Officer]

@MahnaAu - The best way to think about it: You can win the game if it play it well, but that doesn't mean you can win every quest

With something like XCOM - A good loadout and good tactics mean that you can, on the whole, win every mission you come up against. In effect, if you get the advantage, you can generally retain it.

Where Darkest Dungeon is different is that it keeps you on more of a knife-edge. Bad luck can mean that your favourite A-Team are pushed onto the back foot and you need to run. I think I roughly abandon about 5-10% of higher levels - with some bosses taking numerous attempts. But for reference, in my 60-70~od hours of playtime, I have literally only ever lost 1 hero to pure luck. Everything else was my fault (pushing it too far when I should have retreated)

So it's fine if you go into it understanding that you'll have good runs and bad runs, and that the trick with the game is knowing how to manage them. It's if you turn up expecting that the right tricks will score you a 100% success rate that you will find yourself very frustrated

Hope this helps!

[No One]

This is a risk management game.

All the risk can be managed. It does take a lot of know-how to manage all the risk, but since it can all be done I don't consider it unfair. (I haven't managed to figure out the roaming CC boss, everything else I can reliably defeat.) Recently someone did a no-death run of darkest with CC enabled. It's not a superhuman feat.

Also note it's a 4 on 4 battle game. If you're apt to get tired of 4 on 4 battles, then you'll get tired of the game overall.

[snitchet]

Originally posted by No One:

This is a risk management game.

All the risk can be managed.

that is simply not true entirely since every action in the games litterally calls for a diceroll

[Satoru]

Originally posted by rooksworth:

Originally posted by No One:

This is a risk management game.

All the risk can be managed.

that is simply not true entirely since every action in the games litterally calls for a diceroll

That doesn't mean you cant manage said risk. Managing randomness/uncertainty is the entire point of risk management.

[Optimatum]

Originally posted by rooksworth:

Originally posted by No One:

This is a risk management game.

All the risk can be managed.

that is simply not true entirely since every action in the games litterally calls for a diceroll

It's absolutely true. Managing risk doesn't mean preventing randomness, it means minimizing it. The existence of RNG doesn't remove the difference between safe plays and risky plays--bad luck rarely ends runs on its own. With enough experience it's completely possible to beat the game without losing a single hero.

[Rui83DeathMetal]

You will not find agreement in here, just accept that is a video game that wants to kill you. If you can manage to loose without complaining even if it was not your fault , you are good to go. It's just a difficult game by design and choice. I personally like it, and I understand that rng is necessary and for me its even fun (please people, don't go medivial on me). I hate strategy games were you can find a success formula that always works. I think about the rng in thegame as a simulation of luck in real life. It is what it is . " I did everything right" though luck buddy, that bringand was lucky and hit you right between the eyes. It happens, if you are ok with that buy it.

[snitchet]

Originally posted by rooksworth:

Originally posted by Satoru:

That doesn't mean you cant manage said risk. Managing randomness/uncertainty is the entire point of risk management.

ye but saying "every risk can be managed" sound more like FF X combat or some other likewise system, DD is more like managing a gambling game

so i just tried to belance an potentially misleading statement about the gameplay

[Jork]

yedz teh rng is unfair cuz enemy crit me awlays & wen i hit i miss or they dodge :///