On what levels of difficulty do you play your games?
In Sentinels of the Multiverse, do you most often play against Villains on Regular, Advanced, Challenge, or Ultimate mode?
In Spirit Island, what Difficulty Level of Adversaries and Scenarios do you most often play with?
Entirely dependent on the Villain, and to a lesser extent the Environment, and to a still lesser extent the heroes (and to an entirely unpredictable extent on my mood). I like the idea of the difficulty system, but SOTM 1.0 shows the lack of expertise in its innovative design by virtue of the fact that itās difficulty calibrations are wildly inaccurate. No way are Gloomweaver and Infinitor both Difficulty 2, for instance. So when I fight a notoriously easy villain such as Baron Blade, Ambuscade, or Chokepoint, I am very likely to increase their difficulty (Advanced is more likely than Challenge, as the latter tends to be poorly balanced, having mostly been created by a fan for their own amusement and probably not playtested much). If a villain is already satisfactorily hard (or worse)ā¦Iām sure I donāt need to name namesā¦then the only way Iām EVER likely to play their advanced or challenge modes, let alone the Ultimate, is when the app requires me to as part of a weekly challenge.
(Interestingly, since I started doing every weekās challenge, there hasnāt been a single week in which I can recall having fought a super-hard fight and just plain given up on it; there have been ones where I was certain I could win, but didnāt want to put in the effort required at this time, such as the Thanksgiving Matriarch fight in Jurassic Park from last year, which I know exactly how to beat but havenāt bothered to do so yet. However, the only fights which are just plain too hard to be beatable IMO are all from very far back in the history - Progeny in Rook City is the oldest game I havenāt yet managed, and the Challenge Cosmotron game āThe Dolphin Gambitā is another that I have not cracked so farā¦both are Random Start games, so Iām just waiting for the RNG to spit out a version of them where I am capable of not wiping.)
I really want to work out a properly revised difficulty system one of these days, and probably change some of the Advanced and Challenge Modes. Matriarch and Gloomweaver have advanced modes that donāt even make them any harder in certain matches (granted I was probably mis-playing Matriarch early on), so you canāt just automatically assume that an Advanced game is +1 difficulty to the regular game, and the Challenge Modes are so all over the place that I donāt even think they CAN be calculated in such a fashion.
I tend to play on base/lower levels of difficulty. I find the appeal of both games to be exploring the combos different heroes/spirits offer, both by themselves and playing off of others. And especially with the penchant for more complex spirits in the last and next Spirit Island expansions, I just find it harder to enjoy that while the adversary is pounding me.
Thatās what the Statistics Project is great for; you can see exactly how win/loss ratios break down!
There was a time when I played Sentinels on advanced all the time, but lately I just do standard because who enjoys losing :V
Spirit Island I generally play in base form, but given how Iāve been doing with a current project, I should probably be playing at difficulty 1-3 on the reg.
Typically base difficulty for SotM EE. Occasionally Iāll do Agent of Gloom Spite Challenge if I feel like playing a double game. OblivAeon always regular beyond the first time earning achievements. Itās still plenty easy enough to lose, even when youāre deep into the game and think youāve got it.
If we bring Definitive Edition into the mix, itās still regular difficulty for me. Have finally tried each villain at least once, but only one regular event (Moonfall for Baron Blade, I lost) and no criticals. Need more playtime, but I can definitely testify to the ramped up difficulty of Voss (8/10, I believe). He wasnāt much threat in EE, but on my first setup with 
= 5 I found I was losing to lose at the start of the second turn. He started with 5 Gene-bound, first turn played a one-shot to get 5 more, one was a guard (or whatever the new name of the 1 DR to villains is). They all have 6hp vs. 3, and there was no way I could punch out that much damage in one turn to knock his field down below 10 targets, so GG. Reset with =3, but still lost. Iāll see if I can persuade family to try with me at Thanksgiving this week.
In SotM: EE, I almost invariably play against regular Villains with no added difficulty. I have tried a couple of Advanced games against some of the easier Villains like Baron Blade, Omnitron, and Ambuscade, but Iāve never tried Challenge mode.
In Spirit Island, however, I usually play somewhere in the 1-4 difficulty range, most often at difficulty 2 or 3, and I donāt think that Iāve ever played at difficulty 5 or higher.
According to the Statistics Project, base Infinitor has a win rate of ā79%, while base GloomWeaver has a win rate of ā91%.
My thoughts exactly. Unfortunately, the group I play Spirit Island is more concerned with having it be a tough fight, hence the above-cited difficulty levels. I find that it is easier to appreciate a Spiritās (or Heroās) unique playstyle when one is not struggling just to survive and having to optimize every choice.
The reason I stopped playing multiplayer games (especially strategy games like Starcraft) was because I was more concerned with using certain ācoolā things than winning. If I won, but didnāt get to use the cool stuff, it felt empty. If I lost, but I was able to get the cool stuff out and use it, then I was satisfied.
So Advanced and Ultimate and such are usually if I want a longer game, so I can get the āYouāre doing HOW MUCH damage?ā Unity builds out, or something like that.
For Spirit Island, I only play online, as thereās too much bookkeeping for in-person play (though I did pick up Horizons, and will use it to sell the game to my group). I like Guard the Islandās Heart, with Unlimited Undo (mostly because of powers, and got too many 4 choices that were useless for a given spirit), and then use an adversary around level 4-5 for a challenge.
you know what, I absolutely get this and I think I do some of it myself
there are reasons I love heroes like Stuntman and Chrono-Ranger, after all :B
Yup. Or Heroic Luminary. AKA āAmbuscade is SHOCKED by his set-up blowing up in his face.ā
Also, this is why I just gave up and hit āunlockā for Dark Watch and the F5 variants in the digital version.
I think this is spot-on.
I remember reading a recap of some world champion StarCraft match and being super disappointed not just in the match itself but the whole state of the game. The entire game came out to whose scout unit from the initial set of 4 found the othersā camp first. The loser conceded the instant a zergling showed up in their camp. Whereās the fun in that? Just get a couple little mechanical clicker counters they use for attendance at carnival games and see who can get the higher number in five minutes. You donāt need a whole sci-fi strategy game for that.
No, what I want is to fire the Orbital Death Laser! Or to blow up the volcano! Or hit a Thermal Shockwave combo! Or dream an untouched Island! Thatās the good stuff.
For EE Sentinels Iāve played all the difficulties over the years but at this point I mostly only fight standard Oblivaeon.
For Sentinels Definative Edition, I alternate between Regular and Advanced (but most of my games are playtesting which probably affects the way I approach setting difficulty).
For Spirit Island I find the sweet spot to be around 5-6 difficulty. Sadly it been tougher to get games in recently as its not a game I enjoy solo or multi-handed.
YES. I am also very much this. This is likely why I like Shifting Memory of Ages, Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island, Volcano Looming High, Benchmark, Mainstay, and Omnitron-X as much as I do.