General_Norris wrote:Ah, but that's the thing, the game doesn't require you to be more skilled, it simply punishes you more for your mistake, it does nothing but reduce the options the player has, which can easily make the game uninteresting.
I think it depends on the game. There are plenty of games where you can either slide by with sloppy execution, or can entirely ignore certain mechanics, and still push through on Easy/Normal (at least). Not that I think that's a bad thing per se. If Hard now makes it so that you actually need to use parry/dodge, have a healer in the party, avoid hitting yourself with rocket launcher splash damage, or whatever, then it's forcing a higher level of play.
I don't disagree that it can be done badly too.