[paol]

Agree. Over-balancing everything in single player games sucks out the fun.

"Single-player" here is key - minutely perfect balancing is often a necessity in multiplayer games, and I suspect sometimes that mentality is carried over to single-player experiences without stopping to question it.

[pjc50]

The trouble with the internet is that it's hard to stop competitive mentality leaking in; the game may be single player, but there are lots of people playing it, and they can watch each other and show off.

(this basically killed puzzle / mystery box games, which survive only in a weird corner for not-very-online people playing on mobile)