Difficulty Impressions

[Coolade☭]

Can players give their impressions of both difficulty settings? Just picked up the game and I was wondering which would be the best way to start, Hard or Expert?

[MAVERICK]

Do the new difficulties add anything besides being more difficult? Do you get more loot or special stuff?

[a.j]

Originally posted by MAVERICK:

Do the new difficulties add anything besides being more difficult? Do you get more loot or special stuff?

- Maximum quality level of equipment drops expanded (in Hard or higher).
- Chances of rare item drops increased (in Hard or higher).
- New equipment skills added.
- Rare accessories with second skill slot added.
- Various other game balance issues and minor bugs have also been addressed.
- A bug that allowed the airship to land in places where it should not be able to land has been fixed.
- Steam version only: A bug that made the player unable to control the camera at specific screen resolutions has been fixed.

[Blackened Halo]

expert :) i have tried the game on all the difficulties and expert seems to be the greatest fun

[WBruce]

I rarely play any game above normal dificult. I never played any Ni No Kuni, and I just started at Expert. It feels easy enough and I hope it will make me use more items and value better equipment,

[SenMithrarin85]

the difficulties may also throttle exp gains. so anyone who's toggled the setting on a pre-existing save may not be getting th ebenefit from it.

[SenMithrarin85]

Originally posted by Aspira:

I rarely play any game above normal dificult. I never played any Ni No Kuni, and I just started at Expert. It feels easy enough and I hope it will make me use more items and value better equipment,

its not enough to buff enemies. the ai needs changing up too.

[Zeigy]

Christ, even the difficulty patch is easy? How did they make such a tame game?

[SenMithrarin85]

Originally posted by Zeigy:

Christ, even the difficulty patch is easy? How did they make such a tame game?

because no jrpg dev to date has produced a challenging game. for all the hate it got, ff 13 was the only one to get that right, albeit with restricted levelling, but its the only way.

[Honorable_D]

Didn't the patch come out but a few hours ago? Way to early to say and folks that have said they played "an entire half of the game" with the patch are straight up lying.

[Pocket Dog]

Can the modes be changed in-game, or does one have to start with a particular difficulty and stay with it for the remainder of the game?

[Honorable_D]

You can change difficulty any time.

[Linca]

I only started the game a few days ago so I'm still quite early in the story.
I tried to play on extreme but while I'm able to win the fights they're really though so I decided to go for hard for now. It seems appropriate for a new player without being too easy.

I also noticed (tho it might be my imagination) that the AI of some monsters is different or at least more aggressive on a higher difficulty. When I tried to fight a chimera on extreme it would keep doing it's jump rage attack over and over again. I didn't see this aggressive behavior on normal difficulty.

[Coolade☭]

Originally posted by Chelinka:

I only started the game a few days ago so I'm still quite early in the story.
I tried to play on extreme but while I'm able to win the fights they're really though so I decided to go for hard for now. It seems appropriate for a new player without being too easy.

I also noticed (tho it might be my imagination) that the AI of some monsters is different or at least more aggressive on a higher difficulty. When I tried to fight a chimera on extreme it would keep doing it's jump rage attack over and over again. I didn't see this aggressive behavior on normal difficulty.

Awesome sounds like starting on Hard is the way to go. I appreciate the feedback

[undertherox]

Originally posted by blight:

I was only 4 hours in so not to experienced and changed to hard and i actually have to use healing items now which is a nice change of pace.

exactly, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WojJZXc_bwc and check the values of dmg vs hp and the different strategies required. Note that the video is showing like lv.11(you) vs. lv.14(them), which are yellow and only captures damage taken/given for that difficulty range and for boss, so as yet to be seen for equal(white)/easier(blue or whatever)/etc...

[loganjamesalex]

I was at level 30 and put it at Expert. All I noticed is I had to be within <10 levels of stuff to kill it now but the loot is better. I always play games on hard though, and like to do stuff like in the stealth tutorial I just killed everything (had to try 3 times) because I knew it would be a challenge in an otherwise easy game. So I guess it's gonna increase the gameplay length a bit cause I actually need to level up now.

Stocking up on soreaway every time I am in evermore is essential plus I run with a bunch of healing higgiles. I am glad I had bought the game just days before this update because I was literally "falling asleep at the wheel" when I was playing the combat in this game before especially as the hours got on. It's not Dark Souls, but it's not easy.