There are even games which are hard, fair, but also unfair. In example Lunatic Mode Fire Emblem games, the enemies have the same stats as you! They're not like one tenth your power, you're a soldier, they're a soldier. You have abilities, they have the SAME abilities. And both sides have permadeath! Just... The computer has a lot more party members than you. So it's "fair", but by the makeup of the game it is highly unfair and requires great skill to overcome. Difficulty isn't just in one branch, in one direction. There are hundreds of facets to "difficulty".
And if a single one of them isn't "auto-win", game journos will complain because they're too unpopular to even be movie reviewers.
Look at you and your jokes. They may have the same "stats" in base numbers, but most of them are given 1+ additional skills that are worth far more than any stat, combined with not being limited just by roster but also durability of weapons (which means they can use the most broken weapons constantly, while you will be screwing yourself hard if you do). Heck often a mega powerful enemy who is by design way stronger than you is given a bonus that makes what was once a semi-fair challenge into completely unfair (Iago in Conquest, Dark Knight in TH).
Lunatic in FE is an example of a mode that would be fair with 1 or 2 of its changes, but instead has 4-5 changes and together they literally break the game by forcing singular exploitative strategies as the only option. Hector Hard Mode had already figured out most of these problems 4 games before Awakening.
A better example of hard but fair, but a little unfair IMO is LTC playing. Where you still need to master the game and apply a lot of the same strategies as the Lunatic modes, but there is still room for wiggling and fun to be had.
There are even games which are hard, fair, but also unfair. In example Lunatic Mode Fire Emblem games, the enemies have the same stats as you! They're not like one tenth your power, you're a soldier, they're a soldier. You have abilities, they have the SAME abilities. And both sides have permadeath! Just... The computer has a lot more party members than you. So it's "fair", but by the makeup of the game it is highly unfair and requires great skill to overcome. Difficulty isn't just in one branch, in one direction. There are hundreds of facets to "difficulty".
And if a single one of them isn't "auto-win", game journos will complain because they're too unpopular to even be movie reviewers.
Look at you and your jokes. They may have the same "stats" in base numbers, but most of them are given 1+ additional skills that are worth far more than any stat, combined with not being limited just by roster but also durability of weapons (which means they can use the most broken weapons constantly, while you will be screwing yourself hard if you do). Heck often a mega powerful enemy who is by design way stronger than you is given a bonus that makes what was once a semi-fair challenge into completely unfair (Iago in Conquest, Dark Knight in TH).
Lunatic in FE is an example of a mode that would be fair with 1 or 2 of its changes, but instead has 4-5 changes and together they literally break the game by forcing singular exploitative strategies as the only option. Hector Hard Mode had already figured out most of these problems 4 games before Awakening.
A better example of hard but fair, but a little unfair IMO is LTC playing. Where you still need to master the game and apply a lot of the same strategies as the Lunatic modes, but there is still room for wiggling and fun to be had.