Difficulty?

[Folly]

I'd be interested to know what kinds of difficulties you guys play on, and why you've made that choice. Recently I've been getting back into the game and have had a hard time in deciding which difficulty to go after. I don't want to rush things, so Dark makes the most sense to keep progression more steady, but on the other hand it can make certain encounters a bit of a save-scum fest; getting one-shot when you clearly shouldn't be.
On the other hand, Normal difficulty doesn't really require you to make use of any potions/etc, I've found - so long as you have a healer in your party.

Wondering if there's anything I can do, or you have done, to make the game more fair on Dark or more challenging on Normal. Be interested to know, even if that's just a certain route you like to take, etc.

Might be kind of a bland question, but some scenes are really enjoyable if/when you lose to certain characters / in certain scenarios, and you tend to miss out on a lot of those on Normal without forfeiting manually.

 

[Kesil]

Whatever's the default one.

 

[Animefan666]

I play on Dark, but I've also stuck with just one build.

 

[Tony_Redgrave]

I play on Dark. Feels satisfying knowing the build I put together can handle it.

 

[Anonymous Bat]

Dark for me. The game is easy peasy (no offense to anyone who disagrees), so the slight bump in challenge helps make combat a bit more interesting.

I've never had to save scum on dark—a shield negates most instances of being unexpectedly one-shot, and keeping a bottle of Kaelirra's Tears on hand takes care of the rare instances where a shield isn't enough. I think the easiest way to make it more "fair" is to use a max leadership build with strong damage-per-turn party members. Leadership is overpowered and makes certain party members, e.g. spirit totem Arona, a fair bit stronger than the player could ever hope to be... and you get two of these buffed-out companions! Effectively three if you take a summoning skill!

I'll admit I have a bias for support builds and would have gravitated toward high leadership anyway, but my tests suggest that maximizing leadership genuinely is the most effective way to build your character.

 

[SmithEK]

I play on story as I'm here for the shagging not the fighting.

 

[HugLife]

I play on story as I'm here for the shagging not the fighting.

Missed opportunity to say "I'm a lover, not a fighter"

 

[Folly]

Dark for me. The game is easy peasy (no offense to anyone who disagrees), so the slight bump in challenge helps make combat a bit more interesting.

I've never had to save scum on dark—a shield negates most instances of being unexpectedly one-shot, and keeping a bottle of Kaelirra's Tears on hand takes care of the rare instances where a shield isn't enough. I think the easiest way to make it more "fair" is to use a max leadership build with strong damage-per-turn party members. Leadership is overpowered and makes certain party members, e.g. spirit totem Arona, a fair bit stronger than the player could ever hope to be... and you get two of these buffed-out companions! Effectively three if you take a summoning skill!

I'll admit I have a bias for support builds and would have gravitated toward high leadership anyway, but my tests suggest that maximizing leadership genuinely is the most effective way to build your character.

Unless you're playing a naturally underpowered character, yeah, you're not really going to need to. I do like that Dark does let you take your time with the game more, though; i.e you can visit everywhere and do everything immediately - gotta pace yourself.

I play on story as I'm here for the shagging not the fighting.

I... yeah. You're right. ;-;

 

[valk42]

easy. here to jack off but not so much that i can't make a few basic tactical decisions

 

[Savin]

Dark Mode all the way.

 

[oracle of derpy]

Story because i keep restarting. Since combat is out of the way it's just repeating all the puzzles and riddles.

 

[Melancholy Man]

Just like my soul; vast, empty, and Dark...
Otherwise, I'd honestly be bored to tears, but that might just be me since I've played a good amount of the juggernauts in turn-based games; SMT/Persona, Pokemon (HG and SS are the best), Darkest Dungeon, Chrono Trigger, FF (13 was my first), etc. I don't get off to the erotica; I might pop a boner or two, but ntn that'd make me say, "This is some material right here." I got to get my rocks off somewhere.