《Nioh 3》Recently, some players believe that the difficulty is friendlier than the previous game, and even a bit lower than everyone’s expectations for Team Ninja’s consistent hardcore action games. Faced with this voice, Team Ninja studio head Fumihiko Yasuda’s focus during the interview was not to deny and simplify, but to explain.What they really want to do is make it difficult enough to be challenging but fun at the same time.. It’s easy to beat players to death many times, but the most difficult balance is to allow players to gradually understand the rhythm of moves, grasp entry points, and enjoy a sense of growth through repeated challenges.
The core team is too familiar with the game and does not represent the experience of ordinary players.
Yasuda also mentioned a very practical problem: because the action core team knows the system best and is the most familiar with the game, the test experience may be very different from that of ordinary players. Therefore, testing will not rely solely on the person who knows best.Producers, directors and other members will also be involved to ensure that the difficulty curve will neither flatten nor directly discourage people from quitting., the goal is to create a game that is stressful but provides a sense of challenge to keep playing.
They do do novice testing, but they also do top player testing
Some companies let their least proficient colleagues try the game in front of everyone to adjust teaching and guidance. Yasuda said that they will also do similar things, but a soul-based action RPG like “Nioh” also has to face the needs of players on the other side: the expectations of masters.Team Ninja will observe whether very strong players can complete the level without taking any damage to confirm that the game’s combat depth, rhythm and drillability have not been diminished.; At the same time, we will also look at whether players who are not good at action games can find alternative strategies to pass the levels, which means taking care of both ends.
Don’t please casual players too much, otherwise it won’t be like Team Ninja?
Producer Kohei Shibata put it more directly: In the case of Team Ninja’s works, players already expect you to have a certain level of difficulty and tension in the movements.If the design focus is too much on “even casual players can have an easy time”, it will wear away the bite of the game and also disappoint audiences who expect a hardcore feel.. This kind of trade-off is actually the same as back then.“Dark Souls (Dark Soul/Dark Soul)”I have also encountered discussions that are very similar: whether to be more friendly, whether to add difficulty options, and whether to lower the threshold. But for this type of game, the answer is often not “simpler”, but “more clearly allows players to learn to become stronger.”