Update #74: "The Killer Barber and More Progress"

IMO forcing a player to beat the game in order to unlock a higher difficulty is always bad. Sure, if the game is fun enough I may want to replay it naturally (for previous IGAvanias that was the case), but there is literally no reason to restrict the player from playing the difficulty he wants if you're featuring different difficulties to begin with.

Yeah you may miss the modifications in terms of enemy placement etc. which is an awesome thing they're doing, but that's not exactly worth two playthroughs if one is burned out after the first go, so it should always be optional if you're implementing multiple settings.

I find it kind of amusing that most were assuming that the reason I kept starting over was due to difficulty. It was actually out of boredom and laziness. LOL.
I would play the game for an hour, say I'll pick it up later, and then not pick it up until 6+ months or more later. Then I find that I forgot what I was doing and decide to start over. Rinse and repeat.
Just so we're clear, I just beat the game yesterday. It wasn't too bad at all in terms of difficulty and it never was. I've had much more trouble with many other games.

I don't think playing the game to unlock the HARDEST difficulty is bad. Having a hard mode selectable from the start would be ideal. I have a problem with certain games(Castlevania Bloodlines, I'm looking at you) locking away the ending behind the hardest difficulty. Locking the ending at easy or especially the easiest difficulty, I'm ok with that. Learn the game, train yourself, and move up when you're ready. However, I can't see the ending for doing a normal playthrough? Yeah, no that's bad.

Game modes have always been unlockables before, so this is essentially saying it shouldn't be done how it always was. I know we live in a time now where we want everything we want immediately, but it's just not fun that way for video games.

I often like starting on the highest difficulty mode right away, so I get a little upset when I have to unlock it first, but some games lately have given me a newfound appreciation for it as a design choice. For example, Bayonetta's higher difficulty modes add late-game enemies much earlier than before. Normal mode gradually teaches you how to deal with these enemies through the course of your adventure; if you could just pick Hard or ∞ Climax right away, you'd hit a metaphorical brick wall very quickly. I think it's interesting when one difficulty mode is essentially designed to prepare you for the next. Of course, Bayonetta is a rather different kind of action game than Bloodstained. Challenge isn't necessarily an integral element in Igarashi's games, so I don't know if Hard and Nightmare would be approached with that kind of philosophy.

rav4ishing
Perhaps he/she used to meet Galamoth with just LV 20+ without the Crissaegrimm? In that case, the game can be a bit tricky.