dtgreene: Would you rather have games that are balanced more like Morrowind?
mqstout: While I don't know Morrowind (I've given it up quickly with a total lack of fun every time I've tried), what I mean is that the game shouldn't have super-symmetry or be balanced so every thing is effectively the (or very close to) same. There need to be some edges to find fun. Otherwise any choices you make are basically meaningless, too.
I think Morrowind might have too many edges. Consider that, early on, the game gives you 3 copies of a scroll that temporarily raises a certain skill by 1,000 (when the normal cap is 100). Also, consider that the game has a lot of exploitable mechanics, and is basically devoid of anti-exploit mechanics to prevent you from exploiting them.
Oblivion, on the other hand, ha a lot of anti-exploit mechanics, some of which may go too far. (For example, the Fortify Alchemy effect doesn't actually do anything except change the number displayed by "Alchemy" in your list of skills.)
Skyrim has different mechanics, so the anti-exploit rules feel less arbitrary, and even then, there's an exploit with Fortify Restoration potions that's still capable of triggering integer overflow.
Darvond: This reminds me or a problem but not with a game I like. Still, I'm the OP, so:
Tales of Maj'Eyeal appears to have balanced itself around the insane playerbase who decided the meta was the highest difficulty level.
mqstout: Oh heavens yes. I don't understand why so many developers focus on maximizing difficulty and always cater to the vocal minority of das-ubergamer meta-player. I've had many games hurt by that (in tabletop gaming too!)
I think it's reasonable for the developer to maximize difficulty, call it hard mode, and then make some easier modes.
I can mention Knights of the Chalice, which can be quite difficult because the developers took the time to write some advanced AI. Thing is, that game could have used an easy mode that differs from the normal/hard mode in that the AI isn't as smart, and that would feel more interesting than simply changing the numbers on different difficulties. I feel like a great opportunity was missed here.
(Puzzle Quest changes the AI on each difficulty. The problem is that the difference between Normal (chooses from top 10% of possible moves) and hard (always chooses the best possible move) is too small. I'm thinking that, instead of Easy/Normal/Hard being 50/10/0, it should have been more like 50/25/10, so that normal feels like a happy medium between easy and hard, rather than basically feeling like hard.
Another game to mention: Metroid: Zero Mission. The problem is that Normal difficulty is too easy, yet Hard difficulty is too hard. The game really should have had an intermediate setting.
