What is the best difficulty to start out at for a new player?

[Achilleslastand]

And what are the differences between the 2?

[dichebach]

Hard core is not really THAT "hard core." All it does is: Take away the mini-map and your characters icon on the map, and take away all the HUD, as well as force you to pick at least two permanent disabilities (I've been having fun with Somnombulance and Tapeworm!), and also reduce the rate at which traders buy/sell, and also make using healing a bit more slow . . . enemies are not tougher, nor are they more numerous (I think), however, they are (according to the sales pitch) "smarter." They don't seem a lot different to me compared to Normal.

With all that said: for me I did about 120 hours (up to Level 14 on Normal) and was feeling it was too easy, so I shelved that play line and have spent another 60 hours effectively replicating most of what I did in the Normal play in Hardcore and have enjoyed all 180, plus, I am only now at a point where I'm about to start getting into the 98% of the game I haven't yet gotten into.

Hard core is the "better" difficulty setting. But that doesn't mean that doing an "introductory" play for a while on Normal is a bad thing to do. You won't really spoil it for yourself I think.

[Gomer]

Depends how patient a gamer you think you are. If you feel like you don't have a lot of time on your hands and you want to be able to experience the quests and storyline with little interruption, then play normal difficulty. Otherwise fast-travel in hardcore mode is disabled and you will spend much of your time having to traverse from place to place.

If you specifically want a challenge then play Hardcore it is significantly more immersive in all respects. The problem is that you will eventually become overpowered, likely long before the midpoint of the game and if you are a Min-Maxer gamer then you will probably get bored by this like I did.

So this is what I recommend if you want a lasting challenge for your first playthrough: play hardcore with all Negative Perks enabled, it fundamentally changes how you play. You can still become OP, but you will always have certain weaknesses that will make combat & survival an persistent challenge. That's what I wished I did having started playing Hardcore with 2 neg perks.

Here is a summary of the differences between difficulties.
Normal:
- directiional attack reticule enabled
- fast travel enabled
- can get full from stews
- fewer enemies during ambushes and camps
- player position indicated on map

Hardcore:
- No combat reticule (direction only apparent from sword stance in-game)
- No fast travel
- cannot get full from stews
- more enemies in every encounter
- No player position on map, only landmarks are revealed when approached

There are other differences, but these are the most important

[Boneboys]

Don't go HC before you learn the game functions, the learning curve is quite steep.
Friendly advice.

[Lieste]

I would stick with the normal level - swordplay without the visual feedback of what your own body is doing, and the 'fast' recognition of an incoming attack (green shield icon) isn't as realistic as having the icons.

The navigation is perhaps more fun without the GPS marker, but you could always mod that out later. In any case I would recommend not using fast travel (mandated absent in HC, an option you can use in normal mode) because it makes 'ambushes' more survivable to be in the 3d world all the time, and you learn the landscapes more thoroughly by real-time exploration, especially including going off the roads deep in the woods, and seeing how the landforms fit together, than by only going between fast travel points and shops.

You can moderate your equipment choices (e.g. a weaker sword option than the 'very best') and I would recommend doing so to maintain the best elements of combat through the whole game. I don't think the HC mode does enough to change this significantly in any case, so a degree of restraint in min-maxing is probably going to give a better late game experience, even if it can be helpful to take every advantage you can snaffle at the start. (You can use Lethean Water to 'forget' your perk assignments and rebuild, even if your base skills and stats are 'permanent').

[Mr Hanky]

Normal run first I'd recommend, familiarise yourself with the map, mechanics, optimal gear, quest design, skills/perks etc

In Hardcore mode:

- You have to pick atleast 2 of these 9 negative perks to start out with, these include:

• Nightmares: When waking up, you get a debuff for waking from your nightmares.
  
  
• Claustrophobic: Lowering your helmet visor lowers your attack.
  
  
• Haemophilia: You bleed more when taking hits in combat.
  
  
• Numbskull: Lowers the amount of experience you gain. It’s much more difficult to outlevel
  opponents.
  
  
• Shakes: Makes aiming a bow and picking pockets and locks harder.
  
  
• Consumption: Stamina regenerates slower.
  
  
• Tapeworm: Hunger grows faster. With not being able to eat from the open pots in the
  world, this becomes a true challenge.
  
  
• Sonambulant: You have a slight chance of waking up somewhere different than where
  you fell asleep. This can be a completely unknown place. You’ll have the very rare
  chance of sleepwalking to some secret areas.
  
  
• Brittle Bones: Falls are more dangerous.

Though if you're feeling up for it, you can choose them all for that playthrough.

- There's no fast travel

- No marking quests or locations on your map to your GPS nor will you see where you are located on the map, so you'll have to use landmarks and such to navigate to different towns, quest locations and other points of interest.


- Combat is a bit harder

- No auto-saving before quests, so you'll need to keep Saviour Schnapps handy at all times when embarking on them.

- You can't see how much health or stamina you have on the hud so in combat you'll need to use bloodstains on the screen as an indicator during combat.

[CloudSeeker]

People seems to forget that Hardcore also have a economy change. Merchants have less money and stuff cost more, which mean getting good armor and snowball in money early is harder.

[Mr Hanky]

Originally posted by CloudSeeker:

People seems to forget that Hardcore also have a economy change. Merchants have less money and stuff cost more, which mean getting good armor and snowball in money early is harder.

Didn't even pick up on that, get a merchant wealthy by selling cooked meat at discounts then up the price to full when they have around a 1k. Money is never an issue in this game sadly.

[TcheQ]

I'm playing "hard core" and I would say that the gameplay isn't hard it's just annoying. Not being able to save when you want and not being able to fast travel are pains in the ass. Reminds me of playing Morrowind where 90% of the game was running about. Economy? I have like 2.5k without issue. Easy to fence goods, can rob people blind while they sleep. Lockpick minigame is cake. Game gets easier and easier every hour I play. Not sure what kind of chump ever buys armor. or weapons (or women for that matter)). I fully intend to steal all that nice armor I saw from the blacksmith in Rattay. Attacking Pribaslavitz atm and found I didn't tell Sir Radzig to bring enough men. Back an hour.

[Vuyek]

"Reminds me of playing Morrowind where 90% of the game was running about."

Err, multiple fast travel options. Sorcerer lodge, boats, giant bugs.

[CloudSeeker]

Originally posted by TcheQ:

I'm playing "hard core" and I would say that the gameplay isn't hard it's just annoying. Not being able to save when you want and not being able to fast travel are pains in the ass. Reminds me of playing Morrowind where 90% of the game was running about. Economy? I have like 2.5k without issue. Easy to fence goods, can rob people blind while they sleep. Lockpick minigame is cake. Game gets easier and easier every hour I play. Not sure what kind of chump ever buys armor. or weapons (or women for that matter)). I fully intend to steal all that nice armor I saw from the blacksmith in Rattay. Attacking Pribaslavitz atm and found I didn't tell Sir Radzig to bring enough men. Back an hour.

1. I do not find Hardcore more annoying. I play it to get features to work like I want them to. I have issues constantly that Henry is never hungry enough for me to use healing potions, so if I use them I lose my Balanced Diet perk which gives me a lot of good bonuses. I also find that the combat cross actually make the combat worse as you focus on that cross and not what the enemy does. Removing it means you try to read the enemies movement instead.

2. You can save wherever you want, I do it all the time. I just make +300 saviou schnapps and that will last me the whole game.

3. Not being able to fast travel is a hassel, but you tend to get to the location you want faster if you do it manually anyway. When you get a fast horse you can get from location of location really fast and without having to wait for the horse to recover its stamina.

4. You have only 2,5k without issues?? HAHAHHAHAHAHA get on the level mate, most players run around with like 60-80k wondering where to spend it. 2,5k does not even buy you the best gear. Maybe not even a single piece of it.

5. The problem with fencing is that they do not have enough money, so if you rob everyone blind you have the issue of not having enough money to fence it all.

6. Is the game not supposed to become easier and easier as you level up and become better? And here I thought improving yourself is something people want.

7. Sorry to disapoint you but, the blacksmith in Rattay do not have all of the best armor pieces.

[This is Hunk! From Alpha team.]

eh, how can i set it back from Hardcore to Normal? Cant find it on Setting. Actually, i dont have much time to locate myself everytime on the map and travel about few miles to get where i want to. Lul.

[dichebach]

Some great posts! Wish I had found something like this when I was starting. So far this thread is the "go to" for "how do the two difficulty modes differ.

I find the game, even on hardcore, is a bit on the easy side. I suppose I could take all 9 of those disabilities and have a better judge on that; but tbh, some of those disabilities just sound like annoyances that you have to "operate around" more than purely "more challenging" game world.

Trying to think here what would make the game SIGNIFICANTLY more challenging . . .

1. Game Wardens: right now, poaching is absolutely a breeze. If there were game wardens roaming around keeping tabs on the forests that might add some difficulty, but it would be a trick to balance it so that it was sufficiently difficult without seeming ridiculous. Game Wardens randomly teleporting into your location would not be cool at all. Ideally, there would be like . . . 3 or 4 of them? Maybe 3 juniors and one senior warden for each "forest" area. They would operate in shifts maybe? They would have dialogue, interaction possibilities, the chance to bribe them, if they go missing then posses start patrolling the forest, etc., etc. One could elaborate this to a considerable extent with quests and relationships, etc.

2. Selling meat of any kind to a merchant you do not have to 100% relations should be "risky." Maybe they buy it, but then they "report you" to the local wardens. Which means the wardens start keeping tabs on you. If you try to sell them actual raw meat, maybe they immediately call guards. Rural guards stopping and asking you to search you if any signs of poaching going on in the area . . .

3. The fact you can just cook it and remove the stolen mark is kind of absurd. If I've got 400 cooked hare meat, that is still very suspicious. Not sure what interesting dynamics could be worked from that, but it is too superficial at present. Again though, lots of possibilities for elaborating the game play with quests, relationships, etc.

4. Actual licensed hunters out there keeping track of the forests and posing a risk of detecting you. These guys would work for the Hunter masters in Talmberg and Rattay . . . maybe remote areas of the map (where are are more bandits and Cumans) are not frequented by these guys. Make these guys pretty damn tough and generally traveling in groups of 2. Give them the ability to be sneaky and if they catch you hunting, then maybe they just attack you and try to subdue you, or maybe they bribe YOU to do their hunting for them? Lots of possibilities.. . .

5. Alchemy is also way "too easy" to level up various things with, and to generate cash. With enough patience in grinding, you can go from dirt poor weakling to filthy rich brute (there is a perk that allows you to level STR from herbalism and another one that buffs vitality from herb picking). I'm not sure what to do about this, but it does make the game super "easy" as long as you are willing to grind.

6. More bad guys on the remote roadways could go a long way toward making Bohemia seem more dangerous. Someone on the forums commented that, because the place is so safe, there is not much incentive to seek the assistance of Lord Radzig and continue the Main Quest, which makes going down a min-maxer path of leveling up everything as a "free agent" without talking to Radzig a very appealing option. I like that one is NOT locked into doing Main Quest immediately, but making Bohemia more dangerous in general would still be a good thing.

[Vuyek]

@dichebach

Great post dude. I find that hardcore is mostly annoyances, also.

All of your points are... on point. Game becomes a breeze late game, you become a demogod among men, a hercules.