Adaptive difficulty is bad game design for this game, here is why

[Ashley]

So i was playing and really enjoying the game, then i found myself getting progressively more confused and frustrated. Enemies started becoming progressively tankier and tankier to my confusion as it was constantly the same type of enemy. I hit a stage where i consumed over 50 rounds on ONE zombie and it still didn't die. It took around 20-25 headshots to get it to go down and then it proceeded to endlessly get up.

Later on i discovered the game has adaptive difficulty which would explain a lot because i never died. The issue is, someone didn't think this through because the way the game is designed contradicts itself is adaptive difficulty is going to be a thing.

Why doesn't adaptive difficulty work for this game?

Due to the way the maps are structured, you're being actively punished for playing well. A simple golden rule to video gaming, play badly you get punished and eat items, play well and conservative and you're rewarded with an easier end game.

Maps are structured in which you go into rooms numerous times, you backtrack frequently but are provided a large amount of ammo for the first time you explore. You're then expected to have these supplies from your first main exploration to supply you for the rest of the map, which is the pure issue here.

A player using healing items instead of dying, well that's the entire point of the game isn't it? The thing is, if you use healing items instead of dying, enemies start dealing more damage and have more health. The result? You'll be using more healing items if you're playing safe and if you're playing badly? You'll be having a damn easy time of the game with more health due to enemies dealing less damage and having less health meaning those super important supplies will last you so much longer. The smarter you play, the more consumable items and items you'll be eating through, which is actively punishing smarter play. This is devastating for a game in which supplies are genuinely limited in.

What does it mean for a player? Adaptive difficulty effectively means that in this game, you'll want to intentionally die if you want to play smart. If you want supplies and ammo to last, kill yourself numerous times. I don't know about you guys but that COMPLETELY takes me out of the game. If i wanted an insanely brutal experience i'd play on hardcore difficulty. The current adaptive difficulty completely works backwards, punishing users for playing how the game was meant to be played while rewarding those who run in, spray bullets and get killed in response. The result? Enemies have less hp so long term you've got more ammo.

What should they do?

Simple, normalize the normal difficulty and give players the option to turn adaptive difficulty on if they want to or not. More customization for players is always a good thing in games, that is exactly why we have difficulty options to start with. Letting players play how they want to is only ever a good thing for games! Please let that be a thing.

Sidenote: I just noticed they made a "trololo" forum section.. how professional...

Evidence

Lot of people were crying BS so a friend of mine clipped it for me.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/370077541

18 shots, 1-2 "to the neck" is debatable but if we're going with that, 16 headshots. He was using the DLC gun which packs significantly higher damage. So that's easily 20+ shots if you're not using the DLC gun.

The zombie after the clip pretty much instantly got back up, which could easily be another 16-20 shots again. After that they can get up again, endlessly, again and again.

[rikiohipman]

your criticism of this game is very bad, here's why:

1.this is not a run and gun zombie shooter
2. its a survival game
3. knowing is half the battle, get familiar with the layout of the map, because you're gonna be doing item runs.
4.combat is optional, avoidable, save your ammo for bosses.
5.you can get your points across without using huge walls of texts which make you sound like a narcissistic bellend.

[DessIntress]

additional text to my comment above....

Incidentally, in the video aren't all shots hits, a short fly over and I have already discovered 2 misses for the first enemy. As a direct hit, I would count here only very few shots.

In addition, he plays dumb. He shoots like a cat sitting on a button. The main thing for him is to fastly shot in the face, but not one time briefly aimed. (You can see this very good at the big crosshairs - wait until it's very small and then shot, wait, shot, wait shot etc. You want to hit descently.)

This hurrying is garbage, you want to hit what you shoot. So wait, aim and shoot and repeat.

These 11-12 hits are also far from 50. In these alleged 50 you either just lied or you hit another object because you hit the steel posts in the door or something like that.


Oh, and the pre-order DLC weapons are not really stronger. They have higher precision and bigger mags, but only if you aim decently as described. In addition, you will also find various other pistols.

[Draescan]

Originally posted by DessIntress:

additional text to my comment above....

Incidentally, in the video aren't all shots hits, a short fly over and I have already discovered 2 misses for the first enemy. As a direct hit, I would count here only very few shots.

In addition, he plays dumb. The main thing for him is to fastly shot in the face, but not one time briefly aimed. (You can see this very good at the big crosshairs - wait until it's very small and then shot, wait, shot, wait shot etc. You want to hit descently.)

This hurrying is garbage, you want to hit what you shoot. So wait, aim and shoot and repeat.

These 11-12 hits are also far from 50. In these alleged 50 you either just lied or you hit another object because you hit the steel posts in the door or something like that.

I'm not going to say it again. I wasn't trying to get crits, and the video doesn't in any way shape or form indicate how I play normally. As for the misses. I factored in the misses when I was counting, if you actually paid the ♥♥♥♥ attention you hear me ridicule myself mid video for it. Hell I even went into the comments for the clip and SAID what the purpose was. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, read.

The point was to show that enemies can tank too many hits crits weren't a factor in this discussion.

I'm sick and tired of people not ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ reading. I shouldn't have checked this again but a friend told me someone was mistaking the video for the OP.

The OP isn't the person that made the video, once again, if you had read, you would know that. Use your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ headmeat.

And stop spreading this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about the dlc weapons. There's a reason the albert performs better than the base handguns and was included in the deluxe edition. Gotta squeeze that stone for all the blood it's worth. I'm not going to baby you and look the video up for you. You can find it here on steam.

EDIT: Curbed my frustration.

I'm annoyed at the game and people who are being ignorant. Not at the people who genuinely just don't mind the system but are willing to hear out another point of view. I'm not trying to suggest this is a god awful game because it isn't, it's well done and I am so glad that I've gotten to play it. It has made me genuinely excited for the future of resident evil.

TLDR: Please read and stop reposting things that have been said in the same thread 100x's. If you don't mind the system that's fine, but belittling others who don't like it at all is ridiculous. No one is asking your games to be forced to change, the question is for the option to turn the adaptive difficulty off, because it seems to be bugged/overtuned and is causing unintended issues for the game as a whole for some people. Love the game, hate the adaptive difficulty's influence on my playthrough.

I deleted the video because I'm done with the drama this is causing. Use way back machine if you want it back I guess, maybe it got capped although I doubt it. I think someone made a clip but they only made a clip of the first shot which didn't showcase the full 18

[Bamsmacked]

Creating adaptive difficulty was a cheap way to make a game seem "harder" than what it really is.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy this game and have wanted a RE2 remake for 10+ years and I'm so happy I finally got it.. But zombies are not really suppose to be bullet sponges.

When you HAVE to use resources on a zombie you're rewarded more for taking higher success easier to hit areas of the body -- for example the legs, and proceed to knife them unil the zombie dies or run past them.

Aiming and taking precise shots at WEAK parts of the zombie like the head are usually a waste of resources unless you get lucky for a crit.

Being able to AIM your gun around and target specific zones of the body kinda sucks when you don't get the benefit or reward of taking HIGHER risk shots... For the sake of resource management you're rewarded more for aiming at the legs and disabling zombies. For the same of RESOURCE management there is literally NO incentive to kill ANY ZOMBIES unless you absolutely have to.

It sucks when you find yourself in a situation where you have ample supply of resources you can't even utlize your success to clear a 2-3 zombies out a heavily traversed area because it will probably cost you a good 30+ rounds (At least on hardcore) which is a WASTE when 30+ rounds can help you evade and run by 10+ zombies.

I'm by no means NEW to the series I've been playing RE since the first game waaay back when on PS1. I've beaten every single game in the main series multiple times, on hardest difficulties, and have played through harder survival games than this -- but this Adaptive difficulty is BAD.

I would rather see a 50-60% nerf to ammo supplies and more effective guns than to have all this handgun ammo laying around and it take 13+ headshots to down a zombie. It's very unsatisfying.

[El Paffo]

Took on my Claire Run on the Endboss my whole arsenal and fighting for 5 mins straight ..

Unlocked infinite Weapon after doing a S Rank Leon run and started to do a 2nd Claire run, i used the Pistol and I had to empty a crap ton of bullets into zombies, luckily I got infinite bullets but damn ... I did some testing with Mr. X in the Library and needed rougly 80-100 shots to get it on its knees

[Chibi Life]

I just got to Mr. X on Claire A normal difficulty and don't understand what this "adaptive difficulty" is. Everything still feels normal to me.

[DessIntress]

Originally posted by Draescan:

Originally posted by DessIntress:

additional text to my comment above....

Incidentally, in the video aren't all shots hits, a short fly over and I have already discovered 2 misses for the first enemy. As a direct hit, I would count here only very few shots.

In addition, he plays dumb. The main thing for him is to fastly shot in the face, but not one time briefly aimed. (You can see this very good at the big crosshairs - wait until it's very small and then shot, wait, shot, wait shot etc. You want to hit descently.)

This hurrying is garbage, you want to hit what you shoot. So wait, aim and shoot and repeat.

These 11-12 hits are also far from 50. In these alleged 50 you either just lied or you hit another object because you hit the steel posts in the door or something like that.

I'm not going to say it again. I wasn't trying to get crits, and the video doesn't in any way shape or form indicate how I play normally. As for the misses. I factored in the misses when I was counting, if you actually paid the ♥♥♥♥ attention you hear me ridicule myself mid video for it. Hell I even went into the comments for the clip and SAID what the purpose was. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, read.

The point was to show that enemies can tank too many hits crits weren't a factor in this discussion.

I'm sick and tired of people not ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ reading. I shouldn't have checked this again but a friend told me someone was mistaking the video for the OP.

The OP isn't the person that made the video, once again, if you had read, you would know that. Use your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ headmeat.

And stop spreading this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about the dlc weapons. There's a reason the albert performs better than the base handguns and was included in the deluxe edition. Gotta squeeze that stone for all the blood it's worth. I'm not going to baby you and look the video up for you. You can find it here on steam.

EDIT: Curbed my frustration.

I'm annoyed at the game and people who are being ignorant. Not at the people who genuinely just don't mind the system but are willing to hear out another point of view. I'm not trying to suggest this is a god awful game because it isn't, it's well done and I am so glad that I've gotten to play it. It has made me genuinely excited for the future of resident evil.

TLDR: Please read and stop reposting things that have been said in the same thread 100x's. If you don't mind the system that's fine, but belittling others who don't like it at all is ridiculous. No one is asking your games to be forced to change, the question is for the option to turn the adaptive difficulty off, because it seems to be bugged/overtuned and is causing unintended issues for the game as a whole for some people. Love the game, hate the adaptive difficulty's influence on my playthrough.

I deleted the video because I'm done with the drama this is causing. Use way back machine if you want it back I guess, maybe it got capped although I doubt it.

I don't need your voice to see your aim.

I also never said that the OP is the guy in the vid. (e: he/she)She said she has needed 50 shots, you have needed ~11-12 shots (without watching it again) and i said that there is a difference between hers and yours value. I had never talked with you.... I only said that you shot like a cat.
There was also no repost. And no.. i'm not interessted in reading each ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ comment, simply because this topic here is BS and i've said my opinion.

The number of required hits in the video is completely fine, if you just take note of the said. (Or choose the easy difficulty if you have another opinion)

Imagine you had to kill the brainstem.
You have almost never targeted the middle or even the forehead, if only then it was almost coincidence. Here the cheek, here the chin, then again the ear and nothing but rash shots. [e: To be clear: This isn't adaptive difficulty this is bad aiming.]

It simply matters where you hit. And your vid shows that very well.

These are zombies and not people. The zombie does not care if he has a hole in his cheek - he does not need it. So yes, if he still stands after such hits, that's fine. After all, you can do it faster with more targeted shots and that's the point.
Another important point is that you shouldn't kill all the enemies. I think you know very well that you are no cleaner but a survivour.

Plus, your headline does not really fit the topic, if you're just trying to show others to possibility of stupid hits, um... how much hits such a zombie can take. (Seems you are already talking for the OP, so "you")

btw: Yeah, anyd i'm annoyed of people who complain about so simple things like bullet sponge zombies in Resident Evil. As if it were not enough that you don't need ribbons in normal difficulty anymore. All blown in the ass.

And regarding:
"No one is asking your games to be forced to change, the question is for the option to turn the adaptive difficulty off"
Genius! :D Choose a lower difficulty!

[Frosty]

I started my first playthrough on Hardcore as Leon and all I can say is that it varies. I've killed one specific zombie with 1-2 headshots, the next one will eat 10+ pistol rounds and a shotgun blast to the head when it was down and still get up for round 2. It's a little frustrating running around with zero ammo in caution/danger status with lickers and dogs all over the place but I think thats the intention of hardcore. I'm not sure how much more managable normal mode is, can you actually kill most things and be okay on normal?

[rikiohipman]

Originally posted by Frosty:

I started my first playthrough on Hardcore as Leon and all I can say is that it varies. I've killed one specific zombie with 1-2 headshots, the next one will eat 10+ pistol rounds and a shotgun blast to the head when it was down and still get up for round 2. It's a little frustrating running around with zero ammo in caution/danger status with lickers and dogs all over the place but I think thats the intention of hardcore. I'm not sure how much more managable normal mode is, can you actually kill most things and be okay on normal?

i cant stress enough to people that this is not a game where you need to kill everything in order to progress, except bosses, all enemies can be avoided, all enemies pretty much reappear in places where you previously killed them, learning to traverse, map layouts, shortcuts, item runs, are all huge parts of this game, its not a run and gun game at all.

[-NODER-_Novastorm_]

If you have your health on low level, it becomes easier to headshot kill the zombies.

[Mr. Rook]

Originally posted by Frosty:

I started my first playthrough on Hardcore as Leon and all I can say is that it varies. I've killed one specific zombie with 1-2 headshots, the next one will eat 10+ pistol rounds and a shotgun blast to the head when it was down and still get up for round 2. It's a little frustrating running around with zero ammo in caution/danger status with lickers and dogs all over the place but I think thats the intention of hardcore. I'm not sure how much more managable normal mode is, can you actually kill most things and be okay on normal?

From my experience not, on my first run with Leon, I found myself deep in ♥♥♥♥ while finishing the prison part, because I wasted too much ammo. Generally it is far better to use pistol ammo for short stuns, sometimes dismembering and if there are more zombies you want to clean, it is best to gather them in crowd and clear with nade. So on my Claire run, I saved the ammo and had plenty of powerful ammo for bosses or stronger enemies, leving almost all zombies "alive". But I found out for example in the sewers you can kill the zombies easily if you shoot the leg and let them crawl into the water, they actually need oxygen :D Also, I used the knives and flash nades almost only to counter zombies, saved my ass a few times.

[Frosty]

Originally posted by Mr. Rook:

Originally posted by Frosty:

I started my first playthrough on Hardcore as Leon and all I can say is that it varies. I've killed one specific zombie with 1-2 headshots, the next one will eat 10+ pistol rounds and a shotgun blast to the head when it was down and still get up for round 2. It's a little frustrating running around with zero ammo in caution/danger status with lickers and dogs all over the place but I think thats the intention of hardcore. I'm not sure how much more managable normal mode is, can you actually kill most things and be okay on normal?

From my experience not, on my first run with Leon, I found myself deep in ♥♥♥♥ while finishing the prison part, because I wasted too much ammo. Generally it is far better to use pistol ammo for short stuns, sometimes dismembering and if there are more zombies you want to clean, it is best to gather them in crowd and clear with nade. So on my Claire run, I saved the ammo and had plenty of powerful ammo for bosses or stronger enemies, leving almost all zombies "alive". But I found out for example in the sewers you can kill the zombies easily if you shoot the leg and let them crawl into the water, they actually need oxygen :D Also, I used the knives and flash nades almost only to counter zombies, saved my ass a few times.

Haha yes, I found a huge difficulty spike as soon as I hit the parking garage. I had to memorize and plan my route down to a T after continously dying and thats only if I get lucky dodging the dogs in the Kennel. After all of this, Mr. X is just casually strolling the main reception. When you don't think it could get anymore stressful, it does- I love it.

[76561197988918266]

Aim with mouse, not controller.

[Mr. Rook]

Originally posted by Frosty:

Originally posted by Mr. Rook:

From my experience not, on my first run with Leon, I found myself deep in ♥♥♥♥ while finishing the prison part, because I wasted too much ammo. Generally it is far better to use pistol ammo for short stuns, sometimes dismembering and if there are more zombies you want to clean, it is best to gather them in crowd and clear with nade. So on my Claire run, I saved the ammo and had plenty of powerful ammo for bosses or stronger enemies, leving almost all zombies "alive". But I found out for example in the sewers you can kill the zombies easily if you shoot the leg and let them crawl into the water, they actually need oxygen :D Also, I used the knives and flash nades almost only to counter zombies, saved my ass a few times.

Haha yes, I found a huge difficulty spike as soon as I hit the parking garage. I had to memorize and plan my route down to a T after continously dying and thats only if I get lucky dodging the dogs in the Kennel. After all of this, Mr. X is just casually strolling the main reception. When you don't think it could get anymore stressful, it does- I love it.

Also when doing the Claire run, I knew which zombies will be triggered later, so I basically dismembered them earlier and they could not surprise me. But on the other hand, sometimes it is good to let them "sleep". And I have noticed that with Leon the parking + prison part was harder than with Claire and in the end I had the feeling like the Lab was easier with Leon. But maybe it is just me.

[MarkedMarkyMark]

Originally posted by Frosty:

Originally posted by Mr. Rook:

From my experience not, on my first run with Leon, I found myself deep in ♥♥♥♥ while finishing the prison part, because I wasted too much ammo. Generally it is far better to use pistol ammo for short stuns, sometimes dismembering and if there are more zombies you want to clean, it is best to gather them in crowd and clear with nade. So on my Claire run, I saved the ammo and had plenty of powerful ammo for bosses or stronger enemies, leving almost all zombies "alive". But I found out for example in the sewers you can kill the zombies easily if you shoot the leg and let them crawl into the water, they actually need oxygen :D Also, I used the knives and flash nades almost only to counter zombies, saved my ass a few times.

Haha yes, I found a huge difficulty spike as soon as I hit the parking garage. I had to memorize and plan my route down to a T after continously dying and thats only if I get lucky dodging the dogs in the Kennel. After all of this, Mr. X is just casually strolling the main reception. When you don't think it could get anymore stressful, it does- I love it.

Wow same, i felt like a true Bruce Willis in die hard, I had like 15 shots that i used on the dogs, and one grenade, i've died before once all the zombies got out of the jail with zero ammo, so i brought my only grenade that i was saving for some reason, and once the zombies got out of the cage i chucked that pineapple at them and boom and run triumphant to the door and got my teeth kicked in by Mr.X, but i got past him luckily.

Originally posted by BOKU Haram:

Aim with mouse, not controller.

I popped the mouse in the bosses honestly, too tiny weakspots, tho, that said, the controller aim comes a bit shucked, if you tinker the options a bit it can get pretty accurate to a point that i barely missed any shots with it, but used the mouse when i need to be real quick like.