Should I up the difficulty? (13h in)

[FM25]

So I thought of this as a rather casual, relaxing game and went with normal. When I was getting to the first bosses, I thought it's gonna be okay, too, as I managed to die one or two times. Now, I'm not so sure. I just beat the desert thing without losing anyone and without using pep or any fancy items, even though I avoided most fights all game long. Okay, maybe it's also because I replayed one area in 2D and also did one of the Tickington missions, but well, want to try these once in a while if I have the chance, right? As I said, I think of this as a casual game, but I like to craft the best stuff and use all my spells and stuff, cause why else do I have all these options?

So, you think I should restart and up the strength of monsters or something in order to not get bored? The longer I wait, the more I'll have to redo, and I mostly hate redoing stuff in games.

I have the Switch version, obviously, but the only difference that makes are the occasional (optional) Tickington levels, I guess. Which I guess would put you ahead a little, since while they're short, fights are randomized, so you can't help gaining XP

[FM25]

Maybe "casual" is the wrong word, since it would imply short sessions etc., but you know what I mean, just kinda easy entertainment

[Hasteja]

The game get's a bit more difficult later on, making you use more strategy than just attack attack attack heal. You're still very early in the game if you just only just completed the gallopolis story, bosses and fights get a lot more interesting around level 20. If you do up the difficulty trash mobs will one shot your characters and you'll be grinding for daaaaays.

[Mosh]

It's a jrpg. Unless you have low standards and enjoy grinding, the game should be difficult by default.

[Mia Ishata]

Act 3 is the hardest part of the game, the first act is pretty simple so you may stick to what you have.

[FM25]

Thanks everyone, made me play on with standard for now. Am at 20 h now and difficulty has begun to pick up a little, it seems

[Kartoffelsuppe]

If you like grinding. They essentially just doubled the stats of every monster. A cute looking trash mob in the very beginning will wipe the floor with your party just like one of the bigger more threatening monsters later on. Doesn't feel right at all.

But yes if you up the difficulty you can't just do what you want in battle anymore and bypass every encounter, not craft the new stuff etc.

[Tr0w]

Tbh both options aren't great, on normal the game is boring, on hard it's overdone and not very balanced so far for me. There is no middle ground and enemies that were meh before will now oneshot party members or wipe your entire party in one or two hits if they have aoe attacks. Still not having a group heal available outside of pep 40 hours in is extremely frustrating on hard mode as well.

The Robbin Hood bandit on the Island is utterly ridiculous on hard mode, he and all his men get crits all the time.

[FM25]

Seems the answer depends largely on who you ask, then. As always, actually 😅 @Spr1ggan yeah, that's the impression I am getting from other discussions as well. It's a pity in an otherwise nice game. Also, it would be great to be able to change mid-game. Though if it keeps ramping up just a little more from here (about lv 17 now), it'll be okay I guess. Would be nice if I could stop running from most fights for the wrong reason though (that reason being I don't want to get too strong).

At least, I have lost one character several times lately, though I never lost a fight whilst having more than two people. Must say my inventory is rather badly optimized though, since it seemed unnecessary, and so far, I certainly never needed to go out of my way in order to get stronger.

[Tr0w]

@FM25 I'd say that the issue with hard mode would be pretty much gone if we had access to a group heal earlier, and a res that didn't miss 80% of the time, because if the enemy use a big damage aoe and i'm having to heal the group one at a time it's just stalling and it means i can't get my debuffs off. I will say that hard mode is a lot better than normal though as you can't just sit there facerolling with normal attacks, you'll have to use your buffs and debuffs, items, etc. Which is ideally how it should be, it just needs a some tuning to better balance some encounters/bosses imo.

[FM25]

@coffe is life 100h with tougher monsters,? That is to say, have you seen all of it?

[Tr0w]

@Coffee In your opinion who should i be giving my seeds of x stat (magic, magic, agi, etc) to?

[Tr0w]

Ah ok, i was just wondering cos they're starting to build up in bag.

[Aiharne]

@Spr1ggan: You've brought this topic up several times, but I should probably point out - You can get a group heal fairly early through Sylvando with Hustle Dance, it hardly takes 40 hours.

[Tr0w]

Originally posted by Aiharne:

@Spr1ggan: You've brought this topic up several times, but I should probably point out - You can get a group heal fairly early through Sylvando with Hustle Dance, it hardly takes 40 hours.

Well i'm 40+ hours in with everyone around level 20 and i have nowhere near enough skillpoints to get hustle dance even with respeccing.

And no i haven't brought the group heal topic up several times, this is the first thread i've mentioned it in...

[FM25]

Originally posted by Spr1ggan:

Originally posted by Aiharne:

@Spr1ggan: You've brought this topic up several times, but I should probably point out - You can get a group heal fairly early through Sylvando with Hustle Dance, it hardly takes 40 hours.

Well i'm 40+ hours in with everyone around level 20 and i have nowhere near enough skillpoints to get hustle dance even with respeccing.

What, I am maybe at 25h now and have my people reaching lv18 already