Am I alone? Game difficulty.

[Mstrswrd]

Difficulty is only good occasionaly. For instance, Devil May Cry is a satisfying and hard game. That's because of it's stylish combat. For most FPS', I just play through on the easiest and normal settings. Fuck the harder settings (excuse my language). For something like Ninja Gaiden/God of War (Which base settings are harder then DMC because you can beat DMC on an easier mode, and carry you're items and abilities over to a harder setting, but not for them... or can you in Ninja Gaide? Can't remember). The harder mode is often to unlock whatever special stuff thejammed in there as a motivation. Seriously. Plus, you feel all bad-ass after beating Ares or Zeus on Dooku (Doku, whatever) on the hardest setting.

 

[Divinegon]

I don't mind herculean difficulties. Only time I don't like if a game is hard is if the only mean to beat that level of challenge is by memorizing your way through a problematic obstacle. That isn't a challenge, that's work.

Recently I decided to try the acclaimed Mike Tyson's Punch Out. As you advance further into the game, it progressively becomes harder. And I admit, maybe I'm not as good as I should be. I'm in the World Circuit fighting against Mad Bull and I spent a whole bunch of time of trying to win against Soda Popinski, which doesn't seem to be all that hard once you remember his attack patterns.

Problem is, he doesn't just have an attack pattern. I thought if I memorized from beginning to end when he uses a certain attack, like he was giving the idea he did, then I'd beat it (And slowly, I was finding that tedious). But all of the sudden, he starts attacking in a different manner. Instead of two starting low jabs, he does three followed by a quick uppercut. And ultimately his whole game changed. Kept me on my toes and felt difficult and challenging but it became very much rewarding when I beat him through my own playing skills rather than my memorization skills.

 

[Saskwach]

I only play skull-crush difficulty if I've worked up to it and it's a challenge but not a brick wall. Or if it's Through the Fire and Flames on Expert with a friend and we just want to play like shirtless rocking idiots in front of friends.

 

[knumpify]

I love it when games seem impossible
as a part time gamer (I can only play weekends every two weeks at my dad's) I love the challenge because I'm so used to the whole "I gotta finish this game this weekend" mindset that nothing is hard anymore. well, except for guitar hero. I try to play knights of cydonia on hard, give up after a few tries, say "oh, fuck this" and go play it on a real guitar. other than that, I've never gotten frustrated on hard games, and I've beaten ninja gaiden black on master ninja

 

[NickyT]

I've been noticing more and more among my acquaintances that the only way they can have fun playing a game is to play with the difficulty pushed slightly past skull fuck. Now I gain no amusement from an impossibly hard challenge, in fact it has lead to four broken controllers and a fried ps2/tv combo in the past 5 years(Pro-tip: Throwing a mostly full soda can at your tv in a fit of rage, not so smart.)I play games to blow off steam, so putting a game on ultramegahard is counterintuitive to me. So this trend strikes me as odd.

Normally, I would accept this as different mindset, except I noticed that they weren't having fun either. The normal string of expletives had been replaced with what could only be described as "almost curses", where the word turns into a growl before you can finish it, knuckles were white from squeezing the piss out of controllers, and their faces looked like they just suffered a mild heart attack.

I asked why, if they get so pissed, do they play the game on impossible?
Their response was: "It's a challenge"

Now, if you noticed what I did, they didn't actually say it's fun. So, because they didn't answer my question with a satisfactory response,and I couldn't pester them for a clearer answer as they were about to have an aneurysm I now pose the question to you:

Why do you play games with the difficulty cranked up if all it does is make you insanely angry?

It doesn't make me angry. I think you guys should calm down. It's a game and I know it can be frustrating at times but get over it. Instead of throwing the controler at the TV why don't you go outside and cool off or something. Or you could punch your friend in the arm like in the old splitscreening days.

 

[Omnidum]

When I try a level 30 times in a row on Normal, thats when I know I should stop trying beat Cortex in Crash Bandicoot 2

 

[fnph]

I always play through games the first time on the easiest mode for the fun and experience of it. Then I might go back on higher difficulty levels for the challenge.

 

[Moroha]

It's the will to get stronger.

Some people you meet are always automatically much better with aiming and everything then you which pisses you off. Thus the will, the wanting and personal need to get stronger makes you play in harder difficulties.

Atleast that's the case for me.

 

[bulletproof12]

difficulty really depends on the game but i think they need more setting then just

begginer-you cant die and enimies walk into your sights
medium- fun but after 10 shooters or so to easy
hard- you die 1 shot, while fighting cyborg doom bots with your trusty stapler with 1 reload.

however games like guitar hero cranking up difficulty can be fun, going from 3 fingers to 4, to five then harder 5 and beating that guitar against the wall until you need a new one.

i have to give kudos to h3, not for single player itself but for skulls. i think a better way of adding difficulty would be a high medium low thing you could change around for your hp, enemies hp, ammo dropped and other stuff. and halo did something like that by adding challenges to the game that made it almost worthy of playing more of....almost

 

[MattyDienhoff]

As almost everyone says, it depends on the game.

In Half-Life 2 and episodes, for example, I always play on hard, on the lower difficulties the enemies are too weak and ammunition is far too plentiful (I don't exactly hoard ammunition, I go through plenty of it, it's just that most of the ammunition I expend is right on the mark so I don't waste it)

In Call of Duty 2, I'm constantly torn between Hardened and Veteran. Veteran is more atmospheric in half of the missions in the game (the easier ones), because you just have to make better use of cover and be more deliberate in your movements to avoid being killed. The rest of the missions, however, allow you almost no tactical flexibility when confronting you with endlessly spawning enemies at every goddamn objective and forcing you to carve right through entire squads to get the job done.

I like a genuine challenge. If there's one thing I hold a passionate hatred for, it's games that cheat to make it harder for you. For example, racing games with a "catch up" feature that, in the name of making it more challenging for you if the game thinks you're "too far ahead", 'fast-forward' your AI opponents who are lagging behind right up to your tail. It sounds like a nice balancing tool in theory, but in practice, it means that you can do one of your best runs, drive smoothly for the entire race and take every corner perfectly, and still lose to an AI opponent who crashes at every turn because their augmented, rubber-band handling slingshots them around the final corner, right past you and over the finish line, all in the interest of 'balancing'. It basically makes any attempt at putting distance between yourself and the opponents behind you futile. It's actually safer to leave them right behind you, snapping at your heels so the catch-up won't kick in.

That's what I enjoy about a lot of tactical shooters, they usually don't give you OR your opponents any special breaks. Of course there are often logistical differences, one side might have more support assets such as air support, or better equipment... but in a one-on-one fight with an enemy soldier, it's a fair fight, not a bullet-soaking hero versus one of many cannon fodder. If I take on an enemy in a fair fight and lose due to a tactical blunder or even just a bit of bad luck, I don't mind, but when a game uses all sorts of contrived, obvious methods to make it 'more challenging', I get angry.

 

[CyberAkuma]

I'd rather play a game on Medium Setting, find it too easy for me and stil have fun, than rather setting the game to bonebreaking hard and blowing a headcasket while trying to beat the game.

The only exception might be Firstpersonshooters because I'm very old-school as I can be on those, but even then at times - if not the majoiry of times - I play them on Medium setting.

 

[Koztah]

Why do you play games with the difficulty cranked up if all it does is make you insanely angry?

I am one of those persons who will play many games on higher difficulties. Why, you may ask?

Games today are easy. They're stupidly easy. They're made easy so everyone can play them, and that's fine - everyone should be able to play them and enjoy them.

But some gamers have been playing games for a long time and remember when most games were nigh impossible to beat and our gaming skills were "raised" on that sort of environment. We finished Contra without the continues code. We don't really enjoy games that roll over and die the second we look at them.

Let's say, for example, that the game is chess and your opponent represents the "computer".

How much fun is chess if your opponent is someone who barely knows how to move the pieces?

That is why I raise the difficulty. Especially on games I know I'll be very good at.

The fact of the matter is, challenge is fun. And in cases where the challenge may even be frustrating, overcoming said challenge is fun. In some cases (such as the Devil May Cry games), overcoming said challenge is bloody exhilarating.

 

[Irrok the Wide]

If you like a game, you want it to last longer. That's when I play on veteran.

 

[General Ma Chao]

I'll play on harder difficulty levels though I'm more selective about when I do it. I've beaten Medal of Honor: Allied Assault on Hard. You do not know pain until you played the notorious Sniperville level on Hard.

Generally speaking, it's rare for me to keep playing on those levels of difficulty. I can explain but a quote by World War II General Patton better exemplifies it

"For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting."
- Gen. George C. Patton

In a nutshell, the satisfaction fades and it fades quickly. All you're really doing it for is bragging rights and that's just not enough reason for me to subject myself to it.

 

[sicDaniel]

In most games, difficulty is not an issue for me. I´m bad at stuff like Sim City, so i just put it on supereasy and build stuff. On the other hand, i had to play Doom3 on Hard, because the game is even more boring when you are at full health all the time.
But sports games make me insane. Fifa, for example. On a higher difficulty, the AI´s players just run faster than mine, shoot better, etc. I lose and i dont know what i did wrong. That really makes me want to smash the f*ing controller in the TV.

 

[runtheplacered]

i always play a game on medium, unless i beat it and deem it replayable.. then i place it on hard.

with the exception of half-life.. i just go ahead and throw that on hard.. since that game is so damn easy.

 

[propertyofcobra]

I love a game that is challenging beyond "skullfuck" as long as the challenge is fair.
This means, very simply, that you can SEE what kills you.
Play Siren, or FarCry, for fifteen minutes. You'll see what I mean. Those games are beyond unfair, they make me want to find whoever made them and rip their throats open with a rusty spork.
Most FPS games on "you're fucked" mode? Eh, sure. 3rd person slashers like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry? Bring the hardest difficulty on, lady! I can take it!
But by god, at least let me have a CHANCE IN HELL of KNOWING what killed me instantly, if nothing else!

 

[BrunDeign]

Well I only try the harder difficulties if I don't find myself satisfied by the easier difficulties. Like in Bioshock. Easy difficulty in Bioshock is so easy the name should be changed to "Pussy." Or something that gets the point across better. Like "If you die on this difficulty, you are either blind or mentally challenged in some severe way."

So I went to Normal mode. Beat it on that too. No real trouble. Might have died, what, once maybe? So I thought I'd try Hard.

Hard mode is much more to my liking on Bioshock. I can't take on an Elite Bouncer with just my wrench and come out on top anymore. I pick my fights with the Big Daddies much more carefully now. Which I think ups the level of gameplay and increases how much fun I have substantially. Being stuck with one health pack left with a Bouncer on your tail has a sort of glow about it. A glow of terror and hilarious fright that is.

So yes I enjoy playing on harder difficulties, but only if I can actually survive it to the end.

 

[trooper87]

Addenum: On Trying Rock Band with the Gutar on Medium... FUCK ENTER SANDMAN.

No. Stop. Don't tell me it's possible. It just isn't. The entire fucking song is based on half-notes. Which is fine with a long line of colors, and even with 2 colors, but with four? FUCK THEM. I get halfway through the motherfucking solo and it says that I fucked up. FUCK ENTER SANDMAN.

Actually fuck Enter Sandman on HARD. I can play hard well but Enter Sandman is just one of those I tried 3 times and failed each time before I even got to the first VERSE and won't play on hard again. Unless I actually get better Expert songs like Enter Sandman: SKIP!

Oh, no. I'm fairly great on Medium. I just tried it about 10 fucking times. The only other one I had problems with was like Wave of Mutilation.

Wave of Mutilation is definetely a tricky one especially on harder difficulty levels.