Actually I didn't see too much discussion in that thread of how to make the game more approachable for...less skilled individuals. I say we make that the job of this thread. My suggestions are as follows:
An optional "Hint" option. If anybody has played the latest episode of Sam & Max then I refer you to it's hint system. It introduced a variable level of hint "frequency" that allowed the player to set how long he is allowed to be stuck before the game gives a helpful hint.
Typed out or Button sequence cheats. Things like in old-school games like Goldeneye and Jedi Knight where you type in either a code or a difficult to input sequence of buttons to "unlock" cheats. That could be very fun for people who have beaten the game and alleviate frustrations of some of the people that CAN'T beat the game.
Variable difficulties are probably the easiest to implement but I dislike that option the most. By adding variable difficulty there's no challenge to it anymore, you just run in, shoot your brains out, run out. The only "variable-ness" about the difficulty I can think of would be to give Naija more health, or give the enemies less health, or both. That just seems like a cop-out. If I had a choice I'd say go with the hint system, because I firmly believe that with enough food items and a good sense of exactly what to do, anybody can play Aquaria. Even if they're less fulfilled for not figuring it out themselves.
