I think your proposition is sound but it might not be how the feeling of the game is intended.
I much prefere enemies respawning than losing XP for example. I actually have no problem with the durability mechanic because it kind of never happens and is very cheap to repair. But losing XP is a no go for me as it gets really frustrating and I thrive on gaining XP in RPG games.
The idea of having enemies respawn after death is good, like you said it would pose as a punitive challenge to go through defeating the same enemies again.
However, from what I understand, the game tries to sell the player the idea that the world is kind of evolving, or at least organic. If you have to go through the same enemies again, dying again and again, it would feel quickly repetitive (like in souls game, which I did not enjoy in their entirety because I felt like a speedrunner in the end, trying hard to finish a sequence before starting a new endless loop of dying an trying again).
The other aspect is that it kind of kills this feeling of evolution that happens when you cleared a path and you can roam freely in an area. Then after some time, as you âforgetâ your path, new encounters and items are spawned.
I believe it has to do with the rythm of the gaming experience that would suffer greatly form enemies being respawned constantly.
I do not have a better alternative for players who are frustrated with the durability system but (and itâs a totally different topic) a lot of players are comparing No Rest For The Wicked with FromSoftware games, and thatâs a bit unfair imo. They are not the same at all in my eyes.
This one is far easier, structured around a clear story, integrating some âhardcore combatâ elements but lays much closer to a classic a-rpg experience. It is not a PoE or Diablo-like either as it is paced much slower for you to enjoy animations, story, and the general art direction. I think it is fundamental to the game, so it serves little purpose to try to make it closer to those examples that goes in very different directions, difficulty and gameplay-wise.
Itâs just a thought but they are trying a sort of in-between that can stand on itâs own. It is not perfect but needs solutions adapted to the core essence of what the game is trying to be or convey.
Sorry for going off trails here but I still believe your argument is understandable.
I mean I hate to get involved in gamer cred, but if we have to do itâŚ
Iâve beaten every FromSoft game since Dark Souls, Iâve beaten both Jedi games on Grandmaster, Iâve beaten Sekiro charmless with demon bell (Iâve also beaten all the boss rushes save for mortal journey), Iâve beaten Lies of P, Iâve beaten Sifu on Master mode, and for âgames that make you play deliberately with resourcesâ purposes, Iâve beaten both Dragons Dogma 1 and 2.
All of which is to say, âmaybe this game just isnât for you if itâs too punishingâ is not even close to the issue here. What every single one of those other games have in common is they do not impose a tremendous penalty on your time for wanting to challenge a difficult boss. There may be some downside to losing, but that downside is never a positive feedback loop that makes it increasingly impossible to even play the game at all. Thatâs a bad system if challenge is your goal, because it discourages actually engaging in a challenge, because losing doesnât punish you, it disables you.
every ARPG has a death penalty, just some examples:
Diablo 4: -10 durability on all equipped items
Path of exile: -10% exp when you die (+ you have limited deaths for each map in the end game, if you die 6 times, youâll lose the map you are doing)
V-rising: when you die, all your inventory is dropped to the floor and you have to run to your death mark to pick it up
Elden ring etc. : souls dropped to the ground, if you die again before picking them up you lose them forever
Nioh etc. same as elden ring
Grim Dawn: exp loss (depends on what difficulty you are playing)
also SL are ARPG, so yeah, as you say, they ADVERTISED the game as a ARPG, which is what the game actually is
for the durability mechanic, im pretty neutral, after the patch, it never happened for me to risk the destruction of some equip/tool, even after several deaths, but i can understand it can be a little frustrating for someone, still, if they get rid of it, they have to add something else, like exp or gold loss, with the possibility to pick them up if you reach your âdeathmarkâ without dying again.
I think durability is fine as punishment, yet implemented poorly.
There is quiet a few things in the game that introduce problems for player, but provide nothing for solving them.
Durability renders it self usless, since all it does is stalling player at the start, and only later it becomes something that doesnât feel bad to deal with.
If devs would introduce buffs or bonuses on having full, repairing items would be something players want to do, though price should be blanched out for the start.
IMO itâs even worse than that. Because durability loss is designed to prevent the player from re-attempting on repeated loss, it means that bosses can only be designed to be a certain ceiling of difficulty.
Fighting Isshin or Malenia for hours, or days, or even weeks (depending on the player) isnât a bad thing. But if that same player has to leave to repair between attempts, itâs likely going to lead to a lot more complaints (understandably), and Iâm worried boss difficulty will be reduced as the workaround. I like difficult bosses. Theyâre the ones I remember from the games I play.
I see, then I would prefer the game to have durability as a punishment for death instead of having an option to allow players to turn it on and off. I donât think the game is suitable for that.
I would far rather lose a bit of durability than XP, as others have suggested. Durability is not a thing once you get further into the game. What the game needs is a softer intro/tutorial until you get to the first town. Death punishment is important in games otherwise, whatâs the point?
If I am at a boss encounter and die a couple of times I hate to stop practicing because I need to farm money/ go repair gear
Hate to keep checking durability while playing a game
Sorry this is just how I feel, and I understand that this is not a big cost for dying, having xp loss is a bigger costâŚbut I donât have to think about it, waste time or stop fighting.
Personally I think its a good system, cause it doesnât cost a lot, but makes You come back to town, visit few npcâs, upgrade ur gear, buy some food etc. + u come back with fresh head to location where You had problem.
Good lord my dude, 5 minutes with lessened stats just for dying??? Why would you ever even suggest that. Seems like a crazy steep bill to pay for dying. Durability loss is ludicrous in comparison I thinkâŚ
So the feedback proffered is to remove durability because its too invasive, but now durability might as well not exist as it is a nonissue and barely relevant. Its simply a question of how good is the system if it really doesnât provoke good interesting gameplay.
Honestly it doesnât bother me as it is now. It makes it so that you have to keep an eye on it but itâs not a huge hinderance. I find it quite immersive actually. I like the idea to go back and have to care for my equipment every now and then, especially if itâs not too expensive or punishing beyond any reasonable amount.
If youâre still playing this game and having this problem, hereâs a workaround:
Create a new realm and do not kill Warrick. In this realm, Fillmore will repair your items for free.
IMO this shouldnât be needed in the first place, but you can use this to your advantage as long as the problem stays.