“Hard mode”+I get knocked down a lot

(I suggest watching in at least 720p, YouTube compressed it a lot…)

I suppose it’s not really noticeable in a video, but this was taken while using the Cheat Engine table that lets you adjust enemy stats. You can increase their lvl/HP, physical and/or magic defense, meaning you deal less damage etc. These Mesmenir’s are normally level 5 I think, but in the video they’re level 8 with higher physical defense.

So an early fight like this that might take a minute or less can take twice as long. Or if you really pump up those enemy stat changes, even longer – but you have to be careful because it’s universal. eg, to get lvl 30 sabertusks, late-game enemy levels could end up in the high hundreds or some such.

You can also increase the damage enemies do to you, I think, but I didn’t mess with that much. At the time my aim was just to have fights last longer, since after 1100+ hours my familiarity with the game means most fights are super short and I like longer battles to mess around in. So you could start out a new game with a mild/moderate amount of “difficulty increase” for the main plot course, and then later when you’re all buffed and uber, increase it a lot more for post-game shenanigans. And yes that’s Umbra tagging along. Another Cheat Engine table.

Watching this, I sure do get knocked on my ass a lot, even if I don’t take a lot of damage most of the time. I try to block/parry when I can to get Linkstrikes, get blindsides, and occasionally attempt to utilize the directional movesets but eh … most of the time I’m too lazy to bother being fancy. This video doesn’t totally embarrass me so I felt like posting it for no particular reason. Oh and if it doesn’t look smooth all the time it’s because I play in 4k at around 30-35fps…which is smooth itself, but when I start the recording software, it drops a bit/can stutter occasionally. One day I’ll finally build that new rig. One day. Maybe.