We've received several negative reviews now saying the game is too hard. This update aims to address these complaints by giving more options and control to the player over the difficulty of the game. Below are the specifics, but to summarize... [list] [*]Regular difficulty is now slightly easier (via slightly more HP, Defense, and Magic Defense) [*]New "Story Mode" difficulty for people who just enjoy the story and don't want to worry about battles [*]New "Very Hard" difficulty for people who want an even greater challenge than Hard offered (and a new accompanying Very Hard achievement) [*]Chickens in every town to permanently lower your difficulty if desired. [/list] [h1]New Difficulty Selection Screen[/h1] On a new game, you'll notice a snazzy new difficulty selection screen. I tried to summarize each difficulty mode in as simple of terms as possible without getting into the specifics and overwhelming a new player. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36986402/15782f166d4b82cbf33b30995031e7b29ca06043.png[/img] [h1]Slightly Easier Regular and Easy Modes[/h1] We've received a few negative reviews saying the game is too hard. In an effort to address these concerns, all characters have slightly more defenses on Regular difficulty. HP, Defense, and Magic Defense were all raised slightly to make fainting characters a little less common. Also, on Easy difficulty, all characters now regenerate 5% HP and 2% MP in and out of battle. [h1]New Difficulties[/h1] [h2]Story Mode[/h2] Story Mode is designed to make the game less tedious and much easier for someone who wants to experience the story more than anything else. Story Mode takes the stats from Easy mode and makes these changes: [olist] [*]Significantly more HP for all characters [*]All characters have a passive 10% HP regeneration and 5% MP regeneration. The goal here is so players don't have to heal after every battle. [*]Half as many random battles [*]Double the experience earned for each battle to make up for there being half as many. [*]Easy achievement is still earned upon beating the game. [/olist] [h2]Very Hard Mode[/h2] I (Andrew) like a challenging JRPG! Hard mode was originally designed to be very, very difficult. After release, many aspects of the game became more streamlined and a bit easier. Hard mode has become a little less hard (though it's still far from a walk in the park). To satisfy players like me who want a difficulty that really pushes the limits of your knowledge of the combat mechanics, Very Hard Mode won't disappoint. Characters base stats were lowered from Regular difficulty to Hard difficulty. The base character stats are basically the same for Very Hard mode as they are for Hard mode HOWEVER the stat changes apply to equipment as well! This suggestion was made by unknown_zzz, so thanks to him for the idea! Here is an example: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36986402/a8b32fcf0c544eed4548e08b6b8fdadd1ea8ce79.png[/img] In the top two screenshots, you can see the difficulty is set to Hard mode. The equipment gives the full bonuses as expected. In the bottom two screenshots, the difficulty is set to Very Hard mode with the exact same equipment. The equipment bonuses are lessened to the same extent as the base stats. This solves one issue with Hard mode where the game gradually became easier the farther you got into the game because your equipment gets exponentially stronger and stronger. This is no longer the case for Very Hard mode. There is a new achievement for Very Hard Mode! No one has the achievement as of posting this announcement. Could you be the first ever to achieve the Very Hard achievement? [h1]Chickens/Lowering Difficulty[/h1] There's one last major change with this update: the addition of chickens in every major town across the game except Moloke. Speaking with a chicken lets you have the option of chickening out ;-) to an easier difficulty. You can do this throughout the game up until very near the end of the story. Hopefully this addition will help players who underestimated the difficulty of Divided Reigns and can continue to play the same saved game without having to start over. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36986402/8048a3dd7fc201d605b5252c5689d68a23f6a1df.png[/img] As always, if you have a moment please write a review of Divided Reigns. It helps us tremendously! Happy Adventuring! -Andrew