Most games do a poor job of handling difficulty levels (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Monday, December 04, 2017, 13:21 (2356 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

Years ago, I got my ex-wife (who’s played her share of games... loves Mario Kart, God of War, the original Prince of Persia) to try playing Mass Effect 3. It had a difficulty setting called “narrative”, which was pitched as being so easy that “non-gamers” could jump in and enjoy the story without any problems. My ex got to the first combat encounter, died repeatedly while swinging her reticule around wildly, spinning in circles, shooting into the air, etc. 3 tried in a row, she completely ran out of ammo because she was having so much trouble hitting a target. The 1 or 2 times she did manage to hit something, they died almost instantly. But the game did nothing to make her targets easier to hit. She soon gave up, feeling dejected because this supposedly super-easy setting was still insanely hard for her. Where was increased auto-aim, look-centering, or regenerating ammo that would make the game playable for a true NOVICE?

As I mentioned before, this is where accessibility options help. Naughty Dog has things like auto aim, autofire, sticky buttons, etc.

Also, Vanquish one again proves its genius here. There was a difficulty called 'casual auto' which basically had you control the character's movement, but the game would target enemies for you. Your ex wife probably could have finished Vanquish. You can even get achievements on casual auto.