Do Races really need to be very balanced against each other?

[Deso]

I remember watching a video where it was said that Darksouls' "easy mode" was playing a ranged character.

Basically the build/character choice at the start of the game can/should influence difficulty.
Since this isn't a PvP game, there's little reason to add so many negative traits to offset some species advantages.

[Aean]

Not...really? Which is why they're not? There's a reason that there's a significant difference between the difficulty of an early-game Troll (which can basically claw anything to death, regardless of its background) and, say, an early-game Octopode, or Felid (which can basically be one-shotted by any number of things). Similarly, being able to have a god is comparatively easy mode compared to a Demigod, being able to drink potions is easy mode compared to a Mummy (though that torment resistance is easy mode later on), being able to teleport/haste is easy mode compared to a Formicid, etc. n

I'd like to see more long-term impact from backgrounds, if anything, but that's not the topic of the thread.

[Deso]

/off Well backgrounds really could give 4 points of aptitude bonus (distributed among it's skills). //off

One thing that's very (old) D&D is the experience penalty. Difference in XP gains feels like the most indirect difference between races.