but this right here gets at my problem with the term. i've not played Bloodborne but what you're describing is just bad design. "high level boss beats under-leveled player under softlock conditions" isn't illogical or "artificial," it's just unfair! and i think "artificial difficulty" encourages people to lump (1) a literal softlock and …
but this right here gets at my problem with the term. i've not played Bloodborne but what you're describing is just bad design. "high level boss beats under-leveled player under softlock conditions" isn't illogical or "artificial," it's just unfair! and i think "artificial difficulty" encourages people to lump (1) a literal softlock and (2) "this boss is hard and now i'm in a bad mood" into "everything on a mechanical level that's ever made me mad in a video game." but (1) and (2) aren't necessarily similar issues! so why do we force them to share a diagnosis?
but this right here gets at my problem with the term. i've not played Bloodborne but what you're describing is just bad design. "high level boss beats under-leveled player under softlock conditions" isn't illogical or "artificial," it's just unfair! and i think "artificial difficulty" encourages people to lump (1) a literal softlock and (2) "this boss is hard and now i'm in a bad mood" into "everything on a mechanical level that's ever made me mad in a video game." but (1) and (2) aren't necessarily similar issues! so why do we force them to share a diagnosis?