Fallout New Vegas director Josh Sawyer is pushing for granular difficulty options in RPGs to make the experience that much richer.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Sawyer was asked about offering more granular difficulty options to players. They explain that they have been doing so with mods for games like The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and Baldur's Gate 3. The fan, agroggybrog, then asks whether there were significant downsides to opening up a system like this, or if it was simply a feature that not enough players would be interested in.
Sawyer explains, "Yes, I think they're good. If it cost nothing, which it does not, then I would say let players in-game set their difficulty options however they like, and when it comes to exposing data tables and letting players mod that stuff, just let 'em do whatever the heck they want."
Sawyer explains that he personally has gravitated toward designing around player types rather than your classic selections, as he explains, "I don't think, 'This is an easy player, this is a hard player.' I think you have players that come to the games for different reasons." He adds, "It's more about 'What are they trying to get out of this game?'" He explains there's the likes of Explorers who are "here for a good time, not a hard time," while a Survivalist wants games to be "immersive and simulative in the mechanics."
Sawyer concludes "giving more granular difficulty options is a very good thing," saying that "I think we should prioritize it more – I think I should prioritize it more."
If a Fallout 3 remaster is happening, I'm hoping it fixes the RPG's biggest level design issue.
