XCom (at least enemy unknown) actually cheated in the player’s favour on lower difficulties. Successive misses would give a cumulative hidden bonus to hit IIRC, as well as a couple of other things. And still many people thought the game was unfair.
If that’s what the OP means means by “artificial bonuses”, I fully agree. I’d prefer difficulty levels not to include things like bonus to hit, and just change the level and numbers of enemies, enemy AI and maybe HP. If there are any stat bonuses, it should at least be clear what bonus you get from difficulty setting. Otherwise people can get a false impression of how it’s working.
The trick to playing games where each roll really matters is in managing the risk. You should always be thinking about how much danger you are if you miss and what other options you have. You’re going to miss a lot.
There’s bound to people who complain that the game is too hard, but refuse to play on easy mode out of pride. Not really sure what they can do about that?
However I disagree that having 90% of fights being a faceroll is a perfect system. I find wading through trash mobs quite tedious and would rather just skip pointless battles. Fewer fights, with more being a challenge for whatever my playing ability is suits me better. Also if most fights are easy, people may not hone their tactics or care that much about how they level up. It can then be frustrating to suddenly have a big fight you’re completely unprepared for.
