I've been playing Crimson Desert for a couple of weeks now. I'm pushing 55 hours at this point, which is an extraordinary amount of time for me to put into a game that I'm not technically reviewing. It seems that for some people - those who are willing to meet it where it is instead of trying to put it in a box by comparing it to other games - Crimson Desert hits extraordinarily hard. I'm one of those. However, I do have one issue with the game that is keeping me from enjoying it fully - the lack of difficulty settings.
I'm a bit conflicted about this issue overall. On the one hand, I fully understand and appreciate a developer's right to create their own vision and stick to it. And if Pearl Abyss' vision includes incredibly difficult and protracted multi-phase boss fights, it is well within their rights to create a game that delivers those fights. But on the other hand, I am borderline disabled when it comes to my hand functionality, and I keep having to quit fights that go on too long because it becomes too painful to continue. So playing through these long, difficult fights over and over sucks for me.
Thanks to IGN for the video
As I've gotten older, my hands have developed an extraordinary array of issues. I've got problems in my hands that I had never even heard of before they showed up in my own body. Rheumatoid arthritis. Trigger finger. Carpel Tunnel. Ulnar Tunnel. All the tunnels! Not to mention, I had an injury about a decade ago that severed several tendons in my left hand that left my fingers a bit...crumpled. I've had multiple surgeries to keep beating this stuff back, but as soon as I squash one problem, another just shows up. It's stupid. I've gotten to the point where I've semi-retired from playing video games altogether, because I have a hard time holding controllers for any amount of time. (This should be taken as proof-positive of my love for Crimson Desert, because as I said - 55 hours.)
Do I get a feeling of triumph and accomplishment when I finally beat one of Crimson Desert's bosses? Yes, of course I do, which is what the developers intended. But for me and other players like me, that triumph comes with a physical cost. I end up with my hands in a sink full of ice-water. Having to fight a bad guy 20 times in a row is just painful, and I don't mean emotionally painful, or overly frustrating. I mean that it freaking hurts.
So yeah, I have zero shame about cranking a game down to easy mode so I can get through some of the tougher moments without ending up on the sofa watching TV with my wife pushing the buttons on the remote for me. And I would love a mode that would allow me to just shave off 30% of those bad guys' hit points so I could maybe fight them five or six times to learn the patterns and then just move on with the game.
Of course, this is a total first world problem. I get that. "Oh no, I can't play the spectacular video game because my hand hurt. Wah!". But when all you want to do is continue your spectacular adventure and you have to stop because your fingers are swollen, that first world problem feels pretty real in the moment.
