gaming What difficulty do you usually start at?

[Evilshy 5,089]

For me, usually normal. For FPSs, I'll usually bump it up to hard, and then down to normal if things get too crazy for a first playthrough.

 

I never go down to easy. It's just a personal rule for me: if I can't beat the game on normal, then I need to get better. I have spent hours and hours on a single boss because I refused to go down to easy. It made me feel better after the fact, though

 

On subsequent playthroughs, depending on the game, I'll usually play hard, unless I still don't feel that I have the hang of the game yet. Plenty of RPGs like that; you can go through the whole game and still not know anything about all the crazy skills and weapons and stuff you can get, or the insane builds that shouldn't work but somehow do. For example, I have over 150 hours in Star Ocean 3, and I'm just now getting into Item Creation and synthesizing XD

 

Subsequent playthroughs on FPSs are pretty much always done on hard, or higher difficulties, of they exist.

[GrooveBroove 680]

Honestly you'll see me playing on easy a lot.

Not because I suck or anything (I've beaten numerous games on the hardest difficulty)

But because i'm trying to clear a 130+ game backlog, so whatever makes it quicker the better.

However if there's a achievement or trophy for beating it on normal, i'll usually go and play on that then.

 

I've limited playing games on the hardest diffculty though for stuff that I really like such as the Resident Evil games.

[BobCoffin56 20]

i start off on either normal or hard depending on what kind of game im playing

[lardbobobo 1,591]

for pretty much every game I bump it straight up to the highest difficulty and rarely drop it down even if I'm losing.

[Dany Heatley 160]

play it on normal... and when im done I never touch the game again... well unless it is a sandbox game or has online multi-player

[Bronium 512]

I go hardest mode and see how I go. If I find it too hard, I bump it down by 1 notch. I stop at around hard and I pretty much never get to normal.

 

I normally find the difficulty level of most games to be unimportant though. As long as the game isn't cheap in it's tactics, I don't mind the difficulty.

[SrFrog 926]

I just like playing it safe, so I usually start with normal mode. However if I ever feel like the game is going far too easy than I bump the difficulty to suit my level.

[GrooveBroove 680]

I go hardest mode and see how I go. If I find it too hard, I bump it down by 1 notch. I stop at around hard and I pretty much never get to normal.

 

I normally find the difficulty level of most games to be unimportant though. As long as the game isn't cheap in it's tactics, I don't mind the difficulty.

 

This is what I feel a lot of games fail at with there difficulty.

I like a challenge but I don't want it to be cheap.

 

My friends always joke saying DUDE YOU'RE PLAYING ON HARD, it's supposed to be hard.

But there's a different between hard and cheap.

 

Having to play carefully and tactically is Hard.

Having to deal with a respawning enemy closests where enemies run out and just infinetly throw grenades is cheap.

[Ron Jeremy 2,032]

I'd sooner quit a game than resort to lowering the difficulty to easy. Turning the difficulty down feels like cheating to me. I play games on normal, sometimes hard if I feel like I'm blowing through the game too easily.

 

What really annoys me are games where beating it on easy is just as rewarding as beating it on hard. Taking the easy way out shouldn't be as rewarding as being skilled enough to beat the game on hard. Beating games on hard should give secret endings and stuff.

[Discordian 6,013]

Usually easy or normal. I rarely play on hard period, and never start on it. There are some games that are just a tad more fun on a higher difficult, not because I believe a game is more fun when it's harder but more like some games allow you to explore it's possibilities and how to play it more efficiently if you can't just barrel through a level mashing one button.

[Shankveld 4,945]

I usually start on the normal level,

I don't aim to be anything special ~

[Haven Celestii 9,385]

It really depends on what im playing. Normally I would be on Normal and higher for something like FPSs and RPGs. Fighting games might have to start lower cause those are harder for me for some reason.

[Leo dash 79]

hard

[Bohtty 1,775]

Go big or go home.

[Twiliscael 3,958]

For shooters, I usually play them on the normal setting first then go back and try on the hardest (or Heroic on Halo, it's been my norm since I was like 6) and for RPGs, I bump it up all the way and let the rage ensue. For some reason I like feeling like enemies are actually out to kill me and wild encounters with creatures can actually end with my death, unlike on lower difficulties where those encounters just mean free experience points.

[Little Miss Fluttershy 677]

I usually play games on the normal difficulty. But lately I started playing games I already played on veteran, and I actually beat it without any problems. Wierd O.o

[Discordian 6,013]

I find more satisfaction in making a game easier and being more efficient in the gameplay than playing on harder modes. If I make Final Fantasy IX super easy because I know how to abuse it's ability system that means more to me than beating the game at level 1 which to me is just an arbitrary way to torture one's self. I don't enjoy torture, I enjoy playing and utterly destroying my opponent.

[NavelColt 22,875]

Depends on what the game is, but usually easy or normal. I play games to have fun, not get irritated. I bump up the difficulty once I've mastered it and can dominate upper levels, but in general I don't challenge myself in the way of taking on hard difficulty off the bat.

[moneyshredderofdeath 414]

I usually start with normal. I might go to hard if I still have interest in the game after a while.

[Discordian 6,013]

I find more satisfaction in making a game easier and being more efficient in the gameplay than playing on harder modes. If I make Final Fantasy IX super easy because I know how to abuse it's ability system that means more to me than beating the game at level 1 which to me is just an arbitrary way to torture one's self. I don't enjoy torture, I enjoy playing and utterly destroying my opponent.

I usually play games on the normal difficulty. But lately I started playing games I already played on veteran, and I actually beat it without any problems. Wierd O.o

 

A lot of games, especially the last couple generations, have little variation between normal and hard/veteran difficulties. Enemies move exactly the same but they take more. If you knew how to avoid enemy attacks in the first place than the power increase is a moot point. Ansem at the end of the first Kingdom Hearts in the solo fight with Sora is no harder on Expert than he is on Standard because even though he has stronger attacks the method of attack doesn't change and if you do the exact same thing you survive the exact same way thus making the fight exactly the same.

[Despair 114]

On any game, I always start on normal, then hard and over.

[False Perception 482]

I always play easy first time through, and if it has MP, then I'll go there. If the MP is ever down, or it doesn't have one, then I'll play it hard.

 

it's true though that a lot of games think that just making something stronger and with more HP is considered "diffuculty" scaling is sad.

 

My perfect example here is Dark Souls. The first time through, it's just bullsh*t. You usually have to end up farming or summoning (a usually incompetent) phantom, which leads to totally f*cked up PvP. The second time through, it's too easy because a lot of people stop leveling at 120 or so for PvP purposes. The THIRD time through (wow you stuck with it THIS far) is when diffuculty levels out to be not too easy, and not too hard.

 

But if you really stuck with it that far...you must be really bored.

 

I hope my analogy displays my feelings on the subject.

[spas-ticShotty 3,582]

For FPS', I pick Easy in order to breeze by it faster, although some levels I will choose Veteran. For instance, a while back, I decided to start doing MW2's campaign at Veteran difficulty, and damn those guns kill fast

 

For Saints Row 3, I decided to rock Normal though, simply because it seemed easy enough to not die constantly in

[Key Gear 6,662]

Go big or go home.

 

You took the words right out of my mouth. Literally! That was the 1st thing I said when I saw the title of this thread. I was just scrolling down to write the comment when I saw your post.

 

I just enjoy the challenge of playing on the higher difficulty settings. I can't stand playing on easy or normal. Even if the boss kills me 100 times, I'm still going to try the hardest difficulty first. I will probably drop to normal if I am getting completely destroyed. Though, it can be scary to see how many times I would try something and fail before finally calling it a day.

[Doctor XFizzle 8,651]

EAsy Play for EA Sports games and Novice for everything else!

 

No but seriously for sports games I play on the easiest so I can rack up scores like 82-0 for football. I need 5 TDs off of hail mary passes.