Don't play Ghost of Tsushima on easy setting

Anytime I fire up a new game I tend to put the difficulty way down. This is because of the fact that while I do play a lot of games, I do not consider myself to be a hardcore gamer at all outside of side-scrolling metroidvania games like Hollow Knight.

I never really caught on with the Dark Souls and Bloodbourne type of skill necessary to enjoy those games and any game that is advertised as being "souls-like" is normally something I wont even attempt. I'm just not that good and don't want to commit time to becoming as good and quick as it takes to enjoy those games.

Anyway, I've been really enjoying Ghost of Tsushima but I made a mistake really early on by setting the game to Easy in the settings and now I really regret doing so.

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For many people out there, they wouldn't ever select the easy setting anyway, and normally I take that route as well. I think the reason why I selected it was because of the fact that I wasn't yet sure that I was going to commit to the game for any long period of time and therefore didn't want to have it be too difficult right out of the gate.

I did zero research and didn't realize that as games of this type go, Ghost of Tsushima isn't really all that difficult anyway.

Here is the problem if you put the game on easy. It is honestly way too easy. As you get a bit further into the game there are certain instances where it will become an option to use stealth and various tricks to win in battle. I haven't actually developed a skill at any of these tactics because on the easy setting, it is actually quite simple to just run into a village and take on everyone in there at the same time.

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Recently, there was a Mongolian controlled camp and while I was jockeying for position on top of a roof to pull some sneak assassination moves, I accidentally fell off the roof and someone spotted me. Now on a different difficulty setting this would almost certainly result in me needing to high tail it out of there or get killed because I don't think you are actually supposed to be able to take on 20 people at once. I did so easily and only needed to heal once. While I do like the game even on the easy setting, this level of domination isn't really that fun.

Someone had mentioned to me that "you can change the difficulty any time you want" and this is true. However, this doesn't really change the situation because at the point that I am in the game in the 2nd half of it, basically everything that you have learned about combat up to that point will be insufficient for you to be able to continue. Your tactics of mad-button-mashing your way through a sword-fight isn't going to work and it because not just fun, but necessary to use your secondary skills and items if you are ever going to succeed.

I think at the point that I am in the game, I will likely need to completely start over if I am going to play the game on the "normal" difficulty setting.

I have cleared too many of the starting areas for me to proceed in the "normal" setting now. Normally when you are learning a game the system will give you some sort of baby-steps in progressing in ability and most of these areas are, as you would expect, near the start of the game. I'm at the point now where changing the difficulty will result in my being almost completely incapable of offense and I can't go back to the starting areas to hone these skills because I have already cleared them all.

So I think that for most gamers that starting this game on the "normal" setting would be the best idea. I do like that "easy" is an option, but honestly, it is too easy. I have plowed through all the bosses up to this point without really taking any damage and I have only died once and this was from not realizing that I needed to heal after taking a fall off of a cliff.

Also, on easy setting there is very little need for you to seek out upgrades or stat boosts because everything is so effortless to achieve victory in already.

Just play the game on normal so you don't end up in a situation like mine where you have to restart the entire game in order for it to remain fun.