How Spelunky 2 Fixes Difficulty Levels

Spelunky 2 is a game that I will never ever finish not in a million years and statistically speaking neither will you now that sounds like a weird thing to say about a critically acclaimed sequel to one of the best Rob likes ever and one of my top games of this year but it's basically true in case you didn't know Spelunky 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to Spelunky a brilliant platform of Rog likee created by Derek u a game that is legendarily hard and the sequel is no different you can defeat the dwelling V volcana implode the ice caves and trouts the boss waiting in the sixth level of the caves something that is no small feat and you'll still be nowhere near to actually seeing the true ending of the game to properly complete Spelunky 2 you'll have to go to a bunch of secret Areas use hidden items in obscure ways and beat a truly obscene number of levels without dying once needless to say it's pretty hard to do as of writing only a handful of incredibly dedicated people have managed to claim the dubious honor of getting to Spelunky to final ending however in spite of that fact I think the game's approach to difficulty is actually spot-on and that it's part of a wider trend of allowing as many people as possible from experts to Total noobs to experience games as they were meant to be played see for the longest time the difficulty of video games has been more or less completely out of the hands of the people playing them this makes sense in theory after all it allows developers to personally calibrate the intended level of challenge for their game allowing players to have the best possible experience that said in practice things are a little bit more complicated because players are going to be coming into games with different levels of experience and wildly varying levels of skill they run into the classic Goldilocks problem for every player that thinks the difficulty curve is just right there are going to be two more who think it's too easy or too hard through absolutely no fault of their own it's impossible for developers to account for the play Styles level of experience and accessibility requirements of every single player that's going to pick up their game which unfortunately leads to people getting less out of otherwise great games than they potentially could I can't count the number of times I've locked myself into a game's normal difficulty only to realize that I really should have been playing on hard the whole time or of course the opposite scenario but let's ignore that in favor of the one that makes me look good yeah so what's the solution here how can games make difficulty settings that are applicable to every single player simply put they can't what they can do however is offload some of that responsibility from the developers and onto the players allowing them to customize their own experience and ensure the game is at the exact right level of challenge for them I call this approach granular difficulty because rather than having several discrete tiers of difficulty games utilizing a more granular approach are instead filled with lots and lots of tiny decisions that can modulate the challenge of a game on the Fly this way of doing things has a variety of benefits from giving players a much smoother transition into Mastery catering to multiple different play styles at the same time as well as creating legendary challenges worthy of only the most dedicated players while still letting the rest of us plebs have a complete and satisfying experience but I'll get back to that later Spelunky does all this and more the game is filled with different ways to either make the game easier or push yourself towards greater and greater challenges one of the most obvious ways the game does this is through the shops spending treasure collected over the course of play can NAB you extra Health helpful items and restocks of your supply of ropes and bombs but treasure is also your score at the end of the run for new players who are just trying to progress as far as they can they can spend money to give themselves a much needed helping hand on their Adventure by buying a hover pack which helps with platforming or a shotgun which can obliterate most enemies whilst experienced players are encouraged to spend as little as possible to maximize their score or even become a shop robbing criminal which spawns powerful shopkeeper enemies making the game much much harder but spun's approach to granular difficulty doesn't end there players of all skill s are challenged to push their limits and accept extra risk bit by bit slowly improving their skills of the game for example a ghost earns spawns in every level and will always contain a very valuable Diamond but when broken they summon the instakilling ghost valuable Idols are guarded by devious traps and pets can give you a precious hit point if you escort them to the end of the level but have a nasty habit of wandering off and dying if a new player wants to be cautious they can safely ignore any NS Idols or pants they come across but if they want the extra extra cash to buy a big box of bombs or a safety net for when they're exploring a new area they're not familiar with they're going to have to test their platforming and planning abilities either by outrunning the ghost dodging traps or safely transporting their new friend to the end of the level learning valuable skills in the process zenab Blade Chronicles uses this approach with its unique enemies dotted around every map are some Ultra hard boss monsters that are often way harder than the story ones of the same level these guys serve as optional tests of Mastery and deadly lessons for players who want to breed test their skills if you've yet to master the art of timing shuls monardo Shield move to negate special abilities then this big Angry lizard Reckless Godwin will knock your entire team over and then make mids meat of you while you can't fight back this is a technique you won't really need until much later in the game but for players who want that extra challenge right now and The Prestige of taking down the game's toughest challenges they can fight these guys whenever they like leaving newer players to tackle them when they feel ready or just skip them completely and get on with the story by nesting difficulty settings within games themselves we can do away with traditional clunky easy and hard modes instead developers can focus on making a single ideal difficulty curve that can be adjusted by players to suit their preferences many modern Platformers engage with this idea already things like red rings in Sonic Generations off the beach and path moons in Mario Odyssey and hidden coins in the surprisingly good ukulele sequel offer optional challenges for experts that reward them for finding secret Areas or performing Feats of platforming that new players can more or less ignore for this this reason I found it's usually more effective to reward players who choose to make the game harder with Prestige or the opportunity to play even harder levels rather than powerups and extra lives as the only players likely to be going after these challenges are the very people who neither need nor want Second Chances Are a helping hand Celeste is probably my favorite recent example of this the game is intentionally hard but just completing the mandatory levels to see the ending is usually fairly manageable because the game's checkpointing is incredibly generous there are no lives and respawning is almost instant if you wants to challenge yourself though you can go off the beat and path to find strawberries cassettes and Crystal Hearts all of which unlock completely optional levels that really test your Mastery of the advanced mechanics and the full extent of the level design possibilities the great thing about celeste's mini challenges is that they often lead to players of varying skill levels playing the exact same screen in totally different ways take this section of the celestial Resort players not looking for strawberries have to contend with climbing up these surfaces which turn into evil Gunk after you step on them boosting over to have the Crystal and then Landing safely experts who want the strawberry however need to loop back on themselves and do the middle section twice meaning they'll need to leave safe gaps in the floor to hop between their first time around on top of completing the level the normal way and unlocking a whole new layer of level design in the process speaking of layers Spelunky 2 works much the same way with players being able to choose exactly how much of a given level's challenge they want to engage with at any given time take the game's third world for example world three is known as Lair home to the original boss of spaly 1 and your encounter with him is going to mean vastly different things depending on your skill level for new players simply getting toch is a cause for celebration even if you probably will get squished almost instantly because he represents the game really taking its gloves off and acts as a long-term goal to set your sights on for those who've worked out how to fight alch namely luring him into a stomp attack so he smashes through the floor they get to briefly Feel Like A Champion until turns into a crazy terrifying bomb spewing Rob want of death not only is this a great surprise for people who've played the first game 's second phase is a clear call for new players to beat a hasty Retreat and go to the tide ball a fairly beginner friendly level based around water and enemies with longrange attacks choosing to stick with alch and fight his second phase however means you can blow up a path to the third level of his Arena which leads you to an alternate version of world 4 the temple because getting to the temple requires beating omx's much harder second phase more experienced players who do manage to reach it are rewarded with a throwback to the original game and a slightly harder level filled with more instakill traps but also more cool rewards such as anubis' instakill wall hacking scepter but that's not all spoiler warning for secrets in Spelunky 2's World 3 uh skip here if you'd like to avoid them if you're really good at the game you can choose to fight all Max's third phase which is a mix of the two previous ones ride him into the lava at the bottom of the level and enter one of these hidden doors granting you access to the ank a super secret item that will resurrect you from death not only is this a great great reward for fully mastering omx Lair but players who manage to grab the ank are offered yet another granular Choice use it as intended for a second chance or spend its Reviving powers to solve a hidden puzzle in both the tidepool and the temple unlocking even harder optional levels what I like most about omx arena is that it is literally organized into layers with deeper levels being built with different types of player in mind for new players omx's first stage is a climactic battle and a test of your wits that marks the end of the game's introductory levels intermediate players need to expand upon their experience in order to choose which version of world 4 they want to go to and experts can face omx's ultimate optional challenge in order to get a secret item over and over again the game asks you just how much difficulty you want to take on at any given time and makes no judgment of the player either way you can actually reach the end credit of spag 2 without having to fight 's second or third phases At All by dividing the battle with and by extension its difficulty into interwoven layers like this players who want an easier time aren't punished for Ching out but equally players who choose to push their luck are given a bonus challenge that feels like an organic natural progression on what they've already done rather than an arbitary difficulty spike a large floor of traditional difficulty models is that players often want different things out of a game but easy medium and hard difficulty modes end up conflating the desires of those who pick them players who want a challenge and test of their skills are more often than not looking for a fair fight against intelligent phones not these same dumb baddies but with less margin for error in the Halo games bumping up things the legendary doesn't make the enemy smarter or meaningfully change their tactics or gear it just makes them hit way harder and take more shots to kill this doesn't really make the game any more skillful or deep it just increases the necessity of Fairly degenerate strategies like the Plasma Pistol Point Blank sniper WBO combo this is broadly fine for completionists who just like collecting achievements but players looking for a worthy challenge are going to come away disappointed similarly the types of players who pick it easy or narrative mode might just want to experience the story explore the world or have a power fantasy with a minimal barrier to entry this is fine until you consider that the intended experience of most games is predicated on some degree of tension and emotional Stakes something that is all but removed in lazily designed narrative modes meaning only people looking for a big Power Trip are going to get what they actually came for people who are new to games or those who have disabilities deserve to be able to play the same game as everyone else not be forced to choose between an objectively inferior borderline insulting experience and a level of difficulty that prevents them from playing at all granular difficulties however give players the opportunity to decide precisely how much challenge they want to deal with and by extension what kind of experience they want to have Hades is a game that does exactly this letting new players experience the complete narrative and also letting experts get their teeth stuck in without compromising on story or challenge for either in Hades you gain power between runs by throwing Crystals at this big expensive mirror to level up various talents luckily the game avoids repeating the mistakes of games like Rogue Legacy which forces play players to grind for ages just have a chance of progressing by frontloading all the most useful talents and making them available without needing to unlock them allowing proficient players to get most of the way to full power in a couple of runs the later more expensive talents are focused on support-based and defensive upgrades like extra health or a better chance at rare bounds which give newbies the extra room for error they need to beat the final boss which is where the real fun starts once you've beaten the final boss for the first time you unlock the Packa of punishment more or less it works like the mirror of Knight in Reverse instead of making yourself tougher you make the enemies and the world stronger the more you level it up causing the game to become way way harder those little dumb skull enemies that spawn in the first two worlds well they become way more dangerous when all enemies ignore the first few instances of damage and sitting back slowly sniping enemies with the bow is impossible when you're on a strict timer did you think fighting marara in Tartarus was too easy well then have fun fighting all three Harpy sisters at once oh I mean wa it's still pretty easy but you know what I mean for players who want a challenge your first successful run of the game is in essence the end of the tutorial and the pack of punishment represents the real progression system even going so far as to undo your progress on the mirror of night at certain settings but for players just wanting to see the story and reach the end credits however the Packa is entirely optional allowing the two different kinds of players to exist in parallel to each other each enjoying the game in their own way now I promised I'd tell you why you wouldn't be spunky too anytime soon and its Ultra hard endgame works the exact same way but it kind of turns everything up to 11 despite a well- earned reputation for being tough Spelunky 2 provides players of all skill levels and play Styles a bunch of opportunities to play the game their way and end each run feeling as if they've accomplished something even if they're nowhere near good enough to actually be the game newer splunkers are given loads of smaller more manageable goals Each of which feels like a journey to Mastery all of their own first and most obvious in this department is the tunnel lady returning gender flipped from ly one who offers new players little mini quests like bringing a particular item or amount of money to her so that she can build a shortcut to that floor by focusing on these objectives instead of the bigger pitcher win newer players can gradually chip away at the game without having to bash their face against the dwelling every single time this is helped by a much greater variety of biomes and level features this time around for exploration Focus players to discover and challenge Focus players to jump right into keeping things fresh as they slowly Master areas that were once intimidating instead of running away from the quillback players can try to kill him for some free bombs and health they can try experimenting with Idol traps like this lava one and even start to explore riskier longer term strategies like Carly Alters Spelunky 1's soft time limit of 2 and 1/2 minutes has even been boosted to three for the sequel giving new players time to explore and fulfill those personal goals rather than being forced to rush blindly into Oblivion sure new or more casual players just trying to win as best they can will probably miss out on those chains of secret items and areas that lead to the cool hidden endings but for players just looking to explore and gradually work their way towards a regular win that stuff doesn't really matter instead spaly 2 gives newer adventurers a constant breadcrumb trail of new discoveries and fun stories to keep them engaged as they gradually get to grips with the game's intricacies as Derek U himself says in his books balun how do you convince a kid to take the training wheels off a bike simple you don't actually need to because bikes can be ridden faster and with more control once the training wheels are off once players have beaten the game a whole new world of possibilities opens up to them as they realize now that just beating the end boss is by no means the end of spy 2 though no a massive series of item quests beginning with the waget eye in the dwelling and ending with making a new friend in world 6 gives you an entirely new level to explore after beating the regular ending complete with an entirely new end boss but wait there's more how about doing all of that whilst also protecting a precious eggplant obtainable by sacrificing a present to Kali and opening up a whole new set of secret objectives that you've also got to do on the way to the secret ending unlocking yet another secret area but wait there's more if you manage to do all of that including managing to collect a bunch of items from the Moon and Sun trials you can unlock the game's final and greatest challenge something that I won't spoil but let's just say it takes about 3 hours and a lot of patience to beat just when you think you've got the game figured out Spelunky 2 opens up an entirely new tier of difficulty that completely recontextualizes your understanding of the game for noobs just dipping their toe into World 2 this bow hidden in the moon trial is a helpful item that helps to recoup the $10,000 price of Entry to the mini game but for players looking to face the game's ultimate Challenge not only do they 100% need to grab the bow they also need to bring it to the very end of the game and that means utilizing an entirely new hidden mechanic the regular players might not even realize exists Spelunky 2 allows you to keep upping the stakes until you're at a difficulty level that's manageable for you with almost Limitless potential upward growth for those who want it whilst letting people like me who are having a hard enough time with beating the normal ending reliably feel like they're still winners and like they're not missing out on the real experience because theirs is equally important and I think it's this that is the biggest strength of granular difficulty modes allowing people to have their own experience of a game without being funneled into a particular approach or inv validating their play style summoning friends in Dark Souls to beat bosses makes the game substantially easier but it doesn't make your triumph over its big scary bosses feel any less awesome speed running your way to hyro Castle for the thrill of fighting a fully powered up G in breath of the wild is only possible because the game trusts players to know what they're doing and to have fun their own way and using robots in factorio to ignore the late game Logistics or making inefficient spaghetti conveyor belts doesn't mean you've played the game wrong so long as it was just as challenging and interesting for you as an expert would find a perfectly balanced cover setup also for those players who really need it modes like Celeste sis mode or Hades is God mode are great too that's because they allow disabled or brand new players to boost their chances and have an experience that's just as challenging as everyone else's these modes aren't cheating unless you'd use them when you don't really need them for those that do these options allow players to experience games as they were meant to be played granular difficulty modes aren't universally applicable but I think with some care and attention they can make games more accessible for those who want to give them a go while also allowing Master Gamers to face challenges truly worthy of their time and attention and there's nowhere better to look for an example than Spelunky 2 [Music] of course now that I think about it granular difficulties also let complete noobs justify the fact that a game is too hard for them must also sparing their ego but you'd have to be some sort of insecure narcissist to do that right oh no hey hello and welcome to the special after the video bit wow this is a long one wasn't it waa anyway this is the part of each video where I go through and Shout out a better YouTuber than myself and also thank my super cool patrons if you want a cool YouTuber to watch you can't do much better than King K Undisputed monar of lengthy Nintendo retrospectives as well as some other great stuff I'd personally recommend his Paper Mario videos in particular they're some of his best work speaking of best stuff if you'd like to join the illustrious list of my top tier patrons I read out in every video consider giving me some money on patreon Like These Fine people on the scrolling list and these people I'm about to name drop now Alex Don Andrew leono asaran and Ashley shade alav Baxter heel big chess Brian nariani Constantin a pun Daniel Mez David Setzer Dirk Jan caral ekon Edward Franklin Woods Eugene bulin Eevee Philip Magnus gazal George seers Greta hanners Jacob Dylan riddle Jesse Ry Joey brunau Jordan gear Joshua Binswanger Janos Fete Kai Gillespie Lee Burman Lucas slack Luda Regal 1996 mace window 54 Max philippov Nate graph nwd Patrick rberg philby The Bilby Regal rejax Ray's dad Samuel Vander plats Sheldon Hearn Simon Jacobson Steve Riley Strater in Ultima woss and CIA okay thanks for watching now I've got to get to sleep because I'm recording this at like 1:00 a.m. yeah bye

Channel: Adam Millard - The Architect of Games

Views: 350,319

Keywords: Games, Video Games, Gaming, PC Gaming, Adam, Adam Millard, Architect, AoG, Architect of Games, Review, Analysis, Game Design, Spelunky, Spelunky 2, Roguelike, Guide, How to Beat spelunky 2, olmec, Tiamat, Spelunky secret ending, Spelunky 2 secrets, Difficulty, Easy Mode, Hard mode, Hades, Pact of Punishment, Hades Guide, Celeste, Platformer, Assist Mode, Accessability, Hardest games

Id: GooIKQs6SlY

Length: 20min 31sec (1231 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 10 2020