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

[Epifols]

I think that if a game is developed correctly it should play best on the highest difficulty setting.

After only playing on the hardest you get used to it. I wish Fallout 3 more difficult than it is (but not Bioshock).

 

[delet]

Well, first time through any game, I play on Normal.

After that, I'll play on the harder difficulty setting if the story is good enough.
Also, after my first play through, I'll use cheats so I can run through the game crowbarring everything that moves.

 

[TaborMallory]

I start on Normal for the story, and afterwards play through again on the hardest possible difficulty for bragging rights.

If I get past that, I cheat and glitch the fuck out of the game.

 

[Kiefer13]

I won't lie, whenever I'm playing a game through for the first time, it'll usually be on easy. I'm more interested in the story and having stress-free fun than looking for a challenge. Once I've played through the game once, I'll move on to normal, which is usually where I stay for the most part.

Certainly, I'll go back and play on harder difficulties on occasion if I feel like it, but often I find that playing games on harder difficulties just gets frustrating very easily, and that's counter-productive to me having fun.

 

[Ramare]

I generally play on easiest for the story, visuals, and killing things.
Then when I master "Which enemies do what" for rpgs or the game's engine and what guns are best on what levels and what guns I like best for fps, the hardest. (Review based on Far Cry and oblivion.)

 

[cubikill]

I usually start out on the hardest setting when playing games, and normal when playing Ninja Gaiden games.

 

[Deacon Cole]

I usually start on normal, because fuck hard, until it becomes obvious that normal is unreasonable as well, then I put it on easy and then when that is also unreasonable, i stop playing the game. I have stopped playing many, many games following this method.

 

[piez13]

I play on Hard. Not too easy, but not impossibly difficult.

Call of Duty 2 Veteran can go to hell.

 

[Go Fighting In The War Room]

Start with normal, go up to hard. However, with Fallout I started on Very Hard and plowed through it...

 

[duckfi8]

when modern warfare 2 comes out im playing it first time through on the hardest difficulty, im not to sure why yet, today i was playing firefight on halo ODST with my friend on normal for 2 and a half hours straight, we died because we just couldn't play anymore

 

[Erisnas]

For games that I play the campaign fairly often I usually aim for a difficulty level that is casual enough to allow simple mistakes and random strategies but not so hard as to require a constant mental focus and precision. Essentially enough to be semi-challenging but still be able to relax to it.

 

[Shy_Guy]

I find myself playing on Hard or Hardest more now than I used to. I would always do normal, but now with Gears of War 2, ODST, and other games I played the prequels to, I just can't help going for that extra challenge.

I don't do it for the achievements, really. Those are nice, no doubt. But ever since I experienced the sheer thrill of surpassing seemingly impossible challenges (thank you, Ninja Gaiden) I seek it when I can. Some games just aren't fun enough to warrant the extra trial and error, but you can bet I'm gonna play something like Shadow Complex on a challenging difficulty.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Normal because I want to beat the game and have fun with it without it being frustrating. Then after I beat it once and know the ropes of the game, I play it again on the hardest difficulty for a big challenge.

 

[Chancie]

It depends on the game but if given the choice, I'll play on Easy first to experience the story and the characters and if I liked the game enough, I will replay it on a normal or hard difficulty.

I always hate the games that you really get into but them you hit a brick wall difficult boss and become frustrated to the point of borderline anger issues or have to give up on the game. That's happened a few times so I try to avoid that as best as I can. xD

 

[SimuLord]

I generally play on Normal, but if a game is insultingly easy on the default difficulty I'll step it up. I'm torn, though, because I hate cheaty AI and don't find much fun in playing kid-sister rules games where the only reason the AI beats me is because it gets free units out of thin air and a 50% resource-collection advantage. AI cheating is a convenient excuse developers hide behind because they don't want to code better, smarter AI.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Normal Nominally, occasionally hard. Second playthrough I'll explore cheats, if I'm inclined.

 

[War Penguin]

I start on Normal but if it's too easy I change to hard and vice versa.

 

[Jark212]

I start on easy, and use it to explore the environment and boost my self-confidence. Then step it up on the difficulty for the achievements...

 

[deadbeat503]

first play through... normal
second time around... hard
If I play through a game a second time it is because I like the content, putting it on hard makes the gameplay feel less been-there done-that

 

[Macgyvercas]

I picked legendary/veteran/etc. because I like trophies, but I beat the game on every difficulty because I'm one of those over obsessed nerds with no life or social skills and have waaaaaaay too much time on my hands.

FOOTNOTE: I do have a girlfriend, though, so I'm doing something right.