Every time I see a game with a long list of toggles and options, I get the feeling the devs don't have a clue how their game should play and just gave up and left it up to the player. I don't think it speaks well for the game, and I hate wading through endless pages of difficulty micromanagement.

Difficulty levels have been enough for a long time to play a game in a way that is suitable for anyone. I think it's pretty entitled to want a toggle or option for everything. Players should adapt to the game, that's part of the challenge. Everything that matters can be easily consolidated into 4-5 difficulty levels you set and lock before starting a playthrough.

Sometimes I feel like if Chess was invented tomorrow, there would be players demanding toggles to change how their Knight moves, or to turn them into Queens because they want it that way.

How do you even playtest a game that has endless difficulty permutations? E.g. Pathfinder had horrible balance.