Poll: Difficulty. Why?

[Kunzer]

I voted for difficulty without getting too ridiculous.

I think when it comes to difficulty in video games, I can accept it so long as there is a good reward waiting for me. By this I refer to my favorite aspect of a good game: Replayability.

Specifically, a game that allows new weapons for the second time around, different modes of play, etc, really makes it all worth it. (See: RE:4, Parasite Eve 2, and so on)

 

[CelticWarrior]

I like a challenge at times. I mean sure the mindless kill everything you see and your some kind of super hero are okay to pass the time for a few minutes, but when I actually want to sit down and play video games I like to thing I am not wasting my time on something a ten year old can do. I like to play games like Rainbow 6 series and GRAW 1 and 2 they're a challenge and make me think so when I look around and see all the dead terrorists and I don't have a scratch on me I kind of feel like I achieved something.

 

[huntedannoyed]

Games like Ninja Gaiden are the limit of my ability. They are very difficult. But I do love it when games are difficult, but not unbeatable. If I don't have any gripes about the controlls, then usually the game dosen't get frustrating for me. I'm looking at you Alone in the Dark! and I don't like games that should be easier than they are like Far Cry. I just started playing... why does it take twenty pistol shots to kill a guy?

 

[Girlysprite]

I guess that's why difficulty settings have been invented right? I do not play my games on difficult mode. I don't feel much greater accomplishment when a game has been real hard, though I can understand that others do.

 

[Iron Mal]

I always play games on "normal" difficulty level first. I do that because I think that´s how developers imagined their game to be played. Also, games have become easier to complete nowadays (especially when it comes to FPS:s, almost impossible to die, all we are required to do is to hide and wait. That is rather pointless!

I do the same in terms of difficulty and you're probably right about that as well. I disagree with you when it comes to it being impossible to die in FPS's (just from your statement here you've clearly either played most on easy or have had little experience in the genre), many reasons why they're harder than you say:
1. Vision goes blurry when hit- This means that finding cover to heal (such a pain in the ass) and firing back becomes near impossible when all you see is red bloom.
2. Cover to heal- If it's a game where cover is pretty easy to find (like Gears of War) then this isn't a problem, otherwise (like Turok or Halo) you soon find there is nowhere to hide to get your strength (and vision) back since enemies often have an annoying habbit of following and tenderising you while you wait for a good 10-15 seconds.
3. Realism- In the good old days of FPS's (gotta love Duke Nukem and the OLD Turok games) you could wade into a room with a suitibly large minigun/plasma cannon/rocket launcher and obliterate roughly 40 bad guys (depending on difficulty) and look good doing it. In more recent games, trying to repeating this feat of heroism will get you killed before you even step through the doorway because some retard was convieniently placed with a sniper rifle.

 

[The Blue Mongoose]

Devil May Cry 3... hard, but fun none the less and truly "Crazy" when you get good enough to beat it on Dante Must Die

 

[SilentHunter7]

Having to repeat a sequence so many times that you eventually just beat it because you memorised the locations of every pixel on the screen are just plain annoying.

"You shall not headshot me THIS time Sniper #1,233!!!"
--me playing Outskirts in Halo 2 on Legendary


I enjoy a good challenge, but most games today artificially inflate their difficulty on higher settings, and the game turns Nintendo Hard. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NintendoHard] Like Halo 2, when the chief can get killed by a strong wind.

 

[J'aen]

What's the point of playing if you accomplish nothing?

The point is to have fun...It is the point of every game ever.

My logic is inescapable, fun is irrelevant.

Fun is the whole fucking point, idiot. Why did you think humanity invented video games?

 

[Archaeology Hat]

I like real difficulty. I don't like fake difficulty (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FakeDifficulty). The former makes the game a challenge that I want to beat. The latter just makes me hate the game.

*ignores the flame war perpetuated by frustrated people above*

 

[Chechosaurus]

Ok, difficult games can really piss me off sometimes. Especially if its a really good game and you just wanna progress to the next bit but can't. Easy games also piss me off. When I finish a game that was easy or I pussied out and chose the easy difficulty, I always feel disapointed with how damn easy the game is. To be honest, I love it when games don't have a difficulty selection.

 

[tamla]

The game must require at least some learning on my part to win. It's why I tend to stay away from rpg's these days (particularly the Japanese kind) because your progress is directly tied to how long you've spent on the game? Can't beat that boss? Grind more.

Not always, FFVIII random battles got harder the more you levelled up. The easist way to play that game is just to go through it as quickly as possible.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Like ElArabDeMagnifico's illustration points out, bragging rights are a large part of many gamer's desire for difficulty. It creates a sense that you are actually accomplishing something other than pressing buttons and making lights flash.

Take the last very hard game I beat, Super Punch-Out, for instance. Every boxer after the 3rd one seems unbeatable the first time you meet and fight them, but in time you can learn their tricks and KO them to the mat- you feel like Rocky Balboa himself doing so. Not only that, but some folks have figured ways to KO most of the competition in less than 10 seconds apiece (I doubt the legality of some of those Youtube videos, but that might just be a scorned ego talking). I turned in my gloves after pummeling the Bruiser Bros. to get the 2nd ending, but felt awesome afterwards.

On other end of the difficulty spectrum, a slight dissappointment in Kingdom Hearts 2. Difficult games should also force one to make creative use of the special abilities that they are granted, whereas I eventually figured there's no real reason to ever use Drives or Limit Breaks more than once, because I can kill most enemies with standard Keyblade and Reaction command antics in less time than the animation takes. Even on Proud (Hard) Mode, places where you can die are rare unless you don't pay any attention at all. If every enemy falls with one button tap, you may as well be watching a movie.

 

[The Blue Mongoose]

i started playing Baldur's Gate... DEAR GOD! i'm relatively new to the REAL PC RPG thing... but the first enemy i see i hit with both my starting spells, i beat him over the head with my staff and he just kills me without breaking a sweat!

 

[LewsTherin]

I usually just crank the difficulty on shooters/action games. Its the Strategy games where that kind of thinking will screw you over, as you are just learning about the uses of everything and (depending on the depth of the interface) the AI already has a huge advantage in that.

 

[Woe Is You]

i started playing Baldur's Gate... DEAR GOD! i'm relatively new to the REAL PC RPG thing... but the first enemy i see i hit with both my starting spells, i beat him over the head with my staff and he just kills me without breaking a sweat!

That's why you get hirelings. You aren't really meant to battle anything alone in the game and the sooner you get a full party, the better.

Just remember that good and evil characters don't mix and might end up fighting each other.

 

[Proto Cloud]

It's all about balance. I like it when a game isn't so hard it's frustrating and focuses on trial-and-error, but not rediculously easy that it there's no feeling of any type of accomplishment.

Think about it, would winning the gold medal in the olympics be so satisfying and tear-jerking if it wasn't filled with worthy opponents. (Thinking about the amazing win Chile made in Tennis in the 2004 Olympics.)

EDIT: Not to mention this also encourages you to use different tactics, skills, and weapons in a game. Now that makes things more interesting.

 

[Anarchemitis]

What's the point of playing if you accomplish nothing?

Halo 3: Finishing a franchise so Fanboys stop whining.

I like games in Easy or Normal and don't play Hard because I think to myself that I have better things to do than increase my aiming ability at Nova Prospekt Guards.

 

[Meet_Your_Doom]

I mainly play games on easy mode the first time, then I play on hard difficulty if I'm not too bored of playing the game. Completing a game on hard does make you feel proud, but finishing the game on any difficulty is enough for me. I hate it when people insult you because you play on easy difficulty, because I've been under this strange impression that you play games to have FUN and not to impress some-one who thinks playing W.o.W 24/7 makes them really cool

 

[Llil]

If I don't get really frustrated at least once before finishing the game, then it's not difficult enough. I think games should have an easier difficulty for those who give up easily but an extremely hard too, for those who don't mind breaking a few keyboards.
Still, the difficulty should not be unfair, like undetectable traps that kill instantly.
New games seem to be much easier than old ones and that's not a good thing. Some new games are even so easy that they practically play themselves through if you cry a little. I miss games that won't let themselves be beaten without a fight.
Too easy games are just not fun.

 

[Zukhramm]

The reason I play games it to be part of an experience and/or story in a way that is different from books or movies. Generally prefer games not be be hard. Though I need to say there is a different between being easy and beaing so simple it's just stupid.

Also, I can enjoy challanges, if the gameplay is something I really like.