Poll: What difficulty do you play on, and why?

[Iron Mal]

Most of the time I'll play on Normal or Hard, simply because I'm actually pretty good at most games and I feel a bit bored when most shooters I play become a repeition of me slaughtering leigons of hapless and helpless goon over and over.

I'm not Godlike enough to aim straight for Uber-hard/Legendary/Insane/Impossible etc. and I'll only turn it down to easy if either a) the game is particularly difficult or b) I'm just messing around and not playing to the best of my ability.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

Depends the game...

FPS - Hardest setting. I have played these games since the original dooms and even remember ROTT... just so you know how old I am gamer wise. There is no real challenge for me if I don't play on a setting where being shot will kill, I do like that sort of realism in FPS (aside from TF2, that still is an anomaly for me).

BUT

I can't play RTS if my life depended on it. Don't get me started on AI though.... biggest reason I play easier settings in RTS is because I have to manually control every unit it seems. If not they will just sit there, being picked off by something outside their 'target' range even though it is clearly obvious they could move forward a inch on the screen and blow it away without problem. easy settings gives me enough time to realise my units, on the other side of the map, are under attack and get the camera back there before my whole strike force is obliterated by one bloody guy with a rocket launcher.

Then there is movability... even the better large based RTS have AI issues over terrain. Try to move a dozen units of different types, needed to give a good well balanced military push.... yeah, they even end up stretched all across the map as the slowest lag behind or they hit a choke point and become cannon fodder as they all try and push through it at once and 'interrupt' each other to the point they stop moving completely!

Too much headache to have any decent level of control as it is and harder settings compound that. The computer seems to cheat by having unlimited resources and the ability to shit out tons of units every minute. That means dozens of men with rocket launchers, all with the capacity to fire at the very edge of their radius while my guys sit around with their digital thumbs up their arses.

 

[Ghost]

If it's an FPS, always normal or hard. Anything else most likely easy or medium.

BTW nice thread.

 

[SonicKoala]

Like a lot of people have said already, it depends on the game. If it's a game that involves trophies, I'll play on the hardest difficulty setting if need be. If it's say, a survival horror game (ie. Silent Hill), I tend to go with the easier settings, because 1)I'm fucking scared, and 2)I'm more interested in the story and the experience, rather than the challenge.

Apart from that, I just go with normal. Not too easy, not too challenging, usually makes for a fun experience overall.

 

[slipknot4]

Über-amazing-breathtaking-silly-Dutchwomen-hard and nothing less

 

[walkingdead127]

I usually beat it on the hardest difficulty first. Then, I go back on hard or medium to get all the hidden things.

 

[mugetsu37]

Normal on the first playthrough, with 2 exceptions: Metal Gear Solid 4: Big Boss Hard and Half-Life 2: Hard

 

[SextusMaximus]

Normal. Then once I have a grip of the game: Legendary.

 

[digipinky75910]

I choose Beginner, 'cause I'm beginning to play each game 0_o I've been playing for a good many years, and still find myself moderately challenged, depending on the game. I can always up it a notch later if I want to. I enjoy the story, the experience and the challenge of the game.

 

[Trent Lynch]

The hardest mode B can. Because no one learns on easy mode.

 

[Valkyira]

The hardest mode, simply for the challenge.

 

[GoldenRaz]

Normal, just because I'm not all that when it comes to actually play video games, and that I imagine that Normal is the way it's meant to be played, where Easy is simply easier and Hard is more of a challenge.

However, I am prone kick up the difficulty for the second playthrough, though. Now that I know how to play and all that.

 

[FolkLikePanda]

I play easy on ym first time through, but I'll go on hard if theres a few acheivemnts etc.

 

[the protaginist]

The only game I don't initally start out as normal in is The Halo Trilogy. I am a goddamn supersoldier, i should be able to take more than four hits.

 

[InfernoJesus]

Normal first, then the hardest difficulty. I want to play the game as it was meant to be played. Playing on a difficulty that is too hard or to easy can ruin a great game. I play the hardest difficulty later if I'm looking for replay value.

 

[Blackdoom]

It depends on the type of game. If it is an RPG I will play through on easy to get the plot. Then I will play through on the hardest difficulty. Shooters and most other games I will instantly go for the Hardest difficulty for a challenge.

 

[Kilo24]

I generally play games on hard, unless the game's method of scaling difficulty is particularly asinine (like Oblivion).

 

[Trivun]

I often complete games first on Easy, then go back straight away and do it on Normal, and so on until I've finished it on Hardcore. Then I get more replay value, more achievements and a greater sense of satisfaction

 

[Serenegoose]

If there's 3 difficulty options, normal. if there's 4 difficulty options, then the third. If there's 5 difficulty options, then the Fourth.

I like my game -slightly- harder than normal, but if the choice isn't available, normal will do. I want a good chance of getting through the game first time without smashing my keyboard in rage, which tends to be the purpose of 'super hard difficulty' mode.

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

I start on normal (never easy) but I ramp it up as I play again. If I had Xbox Live at the time, then you'd see me on the Ninja Gaiden Black leaderboards for Master Ninja (which, to my knowledge, only has about a thousand people on it)