# Difficulty curves in games

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficulty-curves-in-games/667235>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [August 26, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficulty-curves-in-games/667235 "2013-08-26T18:48:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficulty-curves-in-games/667235/21 "2013-09-08T03:06:05Z")

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I find that most games that get easier as you go along, it’s mostly due to actually getting used to the game, and going back and redoing it from the start is every bit as easy as the endgame portion the first time.

Dungeons of Dredmor is a good example of this - the floors, ideally, keep pace with you, or get stronger at a just slightly faster rate than you…but by the time you’ve gotten halfway down, you’ve figured out how to deal with monster zoos, gotten a handle on the controls, and figured out what most of your abilities do, so the difficulty seems to slack off a lot for a bit…the first time through. (Unless you get some real unlucky breaks with gear and crafting material drops.) Later on, you have this same advantage on the early floors, so the difficulty remains pretty much even through the whole game. (Barring unlucky drops.)

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**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficulty-curves-in-games/667235/22 "2013-09-08T13:27:15Z")

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> [@Quimby](#):
>
> I remember when I created my Mage in the original Baldur’s Gate it took about a dozen tries just to get into the first Inn that kicks off the adventure. Armed with one or two spells and a staff it was nearly impossible to defeat the mugger that attacks you on your way inside.

To be fair, that was more a quirk of the DnD second edition rules than Baldur’s Gate itself. I seem to recall that a first level mage with no spells is an even match for a housecat in the system.

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**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficulty-curves-in-games/667235/23 "2013-09-09T17:56:57Z")

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> [@Garula](#):
>
> To be fair, that was more a quirk of the DnD second edition rules than Baldur’s Gate itself. I seem to recall that a first level mage with no spells is an even match for a housecat in the system.

Pffft, 3:1 in favor of the housecat. 😛 He has better AC and more attacks per round. 😜

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