Just read page 1 so far... many interesting posts, already want to reply to a few before proceeding...
Simple question. If you feel like a "loser" for turning difficulty to Easy, why would the developer reducing the Normal difficulty to Easy make you feel like any less of a loser? The same thing will have happened.
I've never understood this argument. "It's too hard, but I refuse to turn down the difficulty...change the game".
All games should just change the names of their default difficulty settings. Instead of Easy - Normal - Hard, just name them Normal - Advanced - Hard. Then we no longer have to worry injuring the egos of the emotionally unstable via the use of the word easy.
There's no shame in playing on Easy. Different games are more or less difficult for different people. Expecting every game's "Normal" to be set to your personal skill level is insane
Applause for you, sir... the most sensible post I read on page 1. Very well explained!
Hold on here. In CRPGs you're not generally expected to know the mechanics when you start out. Normal mode is usually scaled such that a non mix-max party will have a pretty good chance at winning any giving encounter.
Modern RPG? You would be right.
Old school? You would be so wrong.
You don't want to know how much of a beating I got playing the Baldur's Gates when I was small, not understanding a thing of the AD&D rules. I got punished... a lot. On easy!
Even now, when I do understand, and undoubtfully become 100x better because of it, play on normal, a lot of fights can be challenging for me. And then there are people who actually play BG2 "iron mode" and don't die at all for the entire game and expansion... and I'm like... HOW? I definitely could not do that.
In modern games, I definitely could do that though...
You're tossed right into the deep end and expected to swim.
Again; Welcome to the golden age of RPG's... not those sissy hand-holding ones modern generations give you. You fail? Try again. Learn... get better. Rise above your challenge.
Of course the modern generation is not used to that, so instead if they die once, they don't, and come compaining to the developers they screwed up. As the OP. Even making arguments as "I don't understand the mechanics, I keep harming myself!"... How about learning to stop that before complaining the game is broken?
Fortunately, it seems good old-style no-nonse who do not question your intelligence RPG's are on a rise. Where gaming is meant you need to rise to your challenge, rather than your challenge is so easy (or worse, a quick-time event... ugh) even without using any tools given or understanding the system normal is a cakewalk simply cause they cannot 'afford' to harm people who will be mentally scarred going to easy.
I enjoy a tactical challenge, but they're going to lose a lot of players with the difficulty curve in this game.
The backing of Torment, Project Eternity and it's rank in Steam Sales do say otherwise. Also remember what a massive hit Dark Souls turned out to be?
No, it seems there's a gigantic market for this still. And if you're not going to adapt, you're in bad shape, since those other KS games are only going to make it worse than what you experience here. Better to quickly adapt to playing with skill, understanding, trial, and not ragequit for a single beating, but instead learn and improve.
Of course, nobody can convince a player who expects to breeze through on the first play that the fault isnt in the game.
Yay modern games and there difficulties being downgraded to not harm any potential souls (read: sales), eh?
EEEEDIT:
To make mattes worse I started with my characters being a Shadowblade (customized to be melee centric with bleed)and Witch (swapped out the spider spell at char creation). Uh 90% of the mobs at early levels are undead which means immune to bleed which was my main combo/mechanic (Witch bleeds mobs and melee char heals off blood). Or plague guys who bleed poison. One of the main tricks from what I can tell by reading the forums is to summon spiders which act like decoys...guess I shouldn't have dropped my summoning spider ability but who knew. My Witch is basically useless until I can get spells to change her a bit but they cost like 1500 gold a piece.
Sorry, I have to say it, but... this is really your own fault.
There are PRESETS for a REASON (set that way for a reason). By modifying them you pretty much agree with the game you understand the workings of it, and that, yes, you can seriously screw yourself over. That's why it's called advanced mode in Drakensang for example, and here it's also definitely NOT advised for new players, only those who know what they're doing.
Can't really complain you fiddled with the EXPERT options being a newbie (no offense) and then getting burned. That's why there are presets to guide new players in the right direction and the expert mode for players who know what they're doing and think they can do better than the devs set out for them, using their knowledge of the game...
