I ALWAYS play games on the 'easy' setting.....

[Lambi]

So I'm not the only one?

FINALLY!

*ahem*

I like to play on the easiest difficulty a game offers me. So if the options are only Normal or Hard, I'll of course play on Normal. If the options are Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard and Very Hard, I tend to pick Easy over Very Easy, though. I want to have at least some challenge.

 

[Miles Tormani]

There is nothing wrong with starting a game on "Easy" mode. I used to do it all the time, myself, and usually I tend to stick with lower difficulties unless I'm familiar with the game. I rarely up the difficulty mid-game, but if I enjoyed it enough, I'll do so in a subsequent playthrough.

However, if a game is too hard, especially for bullshit reasons (fuck your Library, Bungie), I find that there's no shame in dropping the difficulty mid-game, and I'm tired of all the people who call me a "wuss" or "pussy" on account of that. Sometimes even the game itself will try to portray you as less of a gamer with warnings about "Ooh, well if you do that, you're screwing yourself out of achievements." Fuck you game. I should get my story progress achievements even if I do drop from Hard to Normal. Hell, I should get them on Easy to begin with. After all, it's a story progress achievement, and I am progressing the story.

EDIT: Besides, being able to prove yourself better than a less forgiving series of 1s and 0s doesn't make you a better gamer. Being able to beat the other gamers does. All the "3 v 1 level 9s" practice in Super Smash Brothers you do doesn't make you prepared for the mind-games your first human challenge may give you.

 

[AMMO Kid]

I always go for the harder difficulties first so that I get a good head start on the game skill wise, but I personally don't care what difficulty anyone else plays on.

 

[Marik2]

Hello! I'm the opposite, I always play on the hard settings. I like the challenge, and the way it makes the game seem longer, more value for money.

Took the words out of my mouth.

I wanna live on the edge of my seat.

 

[Beach_Sided]

I usually play games on the hardest difficulty settings, because it doesn't feel rewarding to me unless there's some difficulty involved.

Interesting. Are there many games that you have never finished?

 

[dbmountain]

i tend to start off on easy, then each playthrough go up in difficulty

 

[Lightslei]

After playing Touhou on Lunatic (and actually beating one of them) I'd have to at least start at normal.

 

[Biosophilogical]

I tend to start on normal just because I think "I'm not terrible so this is a good guess as to my difficulty". But then depending on the challenge it's giving me and the difficuly I think the game should give me, I change. I mean, if I am playing Dragon Age: Origins, I'll play on easy (after all, I'm meant to be the best of the best (grey warden), why should I be threatened by grunts? However, if it is something like Golden Sun: The lost Age, I'll play on hard. After all, I'm not 'the best' I'm a group of misfits trying to save the world against impossible odds.

 

[Druyn]

Im with you, OP. I kinda do the reverse of everybody else. I start out at easy, just to get to know the game, its weapons, controls, enemies, and when I find it getting to boring or too easy, then I move up. It helps me keep playing a game too, because that way I dont feel discouraged. Sure, I know I can bring the difficulty down, but then I feel like Im giving up. When I want to move it up, then I feel special!

 

[Chris Sandford]

I start out on the hardest difficulty, and work down until i find something im comfortable with.

 

[RebornFrom8Bit]

Normal Setting

 

[ShadowDude112]

inFamous is the only game I've started out on Hard difficulty from the start. Maybe I'll start doing this with some other games too.

 

[Grey_Focks]

I just about always go normal setting, unless it's halo, then I go hardcore.

Only time I ever really play on easy is a little series called "X-Com". You may have heard of it. Even on easy these games will whoop my ass no matter how good I think I'm doing.

 

[Tattaglia]

I have an internal rulebook when it comes to difficulty settings -

If it's a kill-everything-that-moves FPS a la Painkiller I'll turn it down it easy.
If it's a game with a post-apocalyptic setting I'll play on the hardest difficulty.
If it's an RTS/TBS I'll play on easy, and then move up to normal once I get the basics down.
If it's an RPG I'll play on either easy or normal, depending on how tactically oriented the game is. For instance Dragon Age: Origins would be easy, while Morrowind would be normal.
And for cover-based shooters I choose normal and then change into easy or hard if need be.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

I always play on hard because too many modern games handhold to a ridiculous extent. I should probably put a little post-it on my TV that says "hard mode", though. With difficulty curves being so wonky, I sometimes run into genuinely frustrating bits several hours into some games. Even if the difficulty is really uneven, I need a reminder that I am, in fact, playing hard mode.

 

[Chamale]

I write video games, so I have to play games on Easy to complete them in time to write a review. I usually believe that games are meant to be played on Normal, since that's what the designers intended. In my hardcore run-throughs of Fallout 3, I created lots of arbitrary restrictions that made the game harder than Very Hard difficulty, but I didn't change the difficulty setting.