by dgford » Sat Mar 07, 2009 1:33 am
I enjoy a game I can play without a walkthrough, that is simple enough to complete, yet hard enough without getting frustrated. I like it when I find special secret areas that aren't vital to the game, but are bonuses for being more careful and deliberate. I like monsters (for random encounters) that are fairly easy, but maybe you have to figure out the trick with them first (like that they're weak to something). Boss battles I like challenging - where you have a save beforehand, and it may take you several battles to figure out what strategy you need to use.
What I hate is getting into a dungeon that is crawling with monsters and and not enough save spots, and if you get out you have to start from the beginning of the dungeon. I also don't like really frequent encounters, esp. not in dungeons, where the layout can be confusing enough, let alone trying to remember which direction you where coming from or going to after so many interruptions.
This is why the new "3 Stars of Destiny" seems to be perfect for me. You can set your difficulty level, and encounter frequency, and play like you want to - lots of challenging battles, or walking around discovering the world.
I have re-started the game. The 1st time I played on normal difficulty, and normal encounters. What I discovered 1/2 way through is that I'd missed an awful lot of the game, b/c I was so busy just trying to beat my way through the monsters to get to the next screen. The next game I set for normal difficulty, low encounters. For me, that's perfect. Now this game is an absolute joy to play. I have discovered every secret room so far (and not b/c I'm using cheats!), have found 2 more playable characters that I'd missed before - all b/c I can wander around more freely without the constant interruption of attacks. Being interrupted (whether I chose to fight or esc. doesn't matter) is what really makes me lose track of what I was doing, and also increases my frustration with the game that I "just want to move ahead", and sometimes miss what's going on right in front of me.