Poll: What difficulty do you use?

[Zantos]

Most games now come with a difficulty setting of some variety, and i've noticed something odd in how people use them. I started thinking about it when I noticed Halo Reach has "The way Halo should be played" (OWTTE) under Heroic. I always set the ability to as well as i think i can do, so it's challenging and a little annoying, but feels awesome when you get through it. My brother sets it to the easiest setting so he can be sure to never lose. Do escapists like their victories challenging, or just handed to them?

 

[Harlemura]

I play games to have fun and let off steam. Dying over and over again is the opposite for me.
Easy all the way.

 

[Radeonx]

I always set it to the hardest possible setting available when first playing the game.
A gigantic chunk of the games that I've played over the last few years have been really easy, so I like to play on the difficult settings.

 

[FalloutJack]

Normal mode. Or hard if I feel like being tortured.

 

[Nimcha]

I play it on the medium one first time round. If I ever replay it, I go up one grade each time.

 

[luckycharms8282]

I dont do any of these. If Im looking for a challenge or trying to get achievements, I set it to high difficulty. Usually if Im just playing for fun I leave it on normal. Who jst randomly picks a difficulty and rolls with that?

 

[Best of the 3]

Easy, I play games for a story. However, once that's done I'll ramp up the difficulty for a challenge.

 

[doodger]

Depends on the style of game. I usually shred rpgs and FPses, while i get murdered by rtses and sport games.

 

[Zantos]

I dont do any of these. If Im looking for a challenge or trying to get achievements, I set it to high difficulty. Usually if Im just playing for fun I leave it on normal. Who jst randomly picks a difficulty and rolls with that?

My settings for Fallout 3 and new vegas were both chosen by texting a random friend "Pick a number between one and five!" (i think it's 5, however many settings there are). It worked out pretty well, normal and a bit difficult.

 

[Ice Car]

Easily the second option. I do that difficulty first, and then crank the difficulty up to the top to get any achievements or if I want the challenge and I think I know the game well enough.

 

[Au Naturel.]

Normal or Hard normally. I usually enjoy hard a lot more. Unless it's Ninja Gaiden II's final moments, screw that final chapter... and that was only on NORMAL!!

 

[Daniel Kay]

It depends how the difficulty is handled.

If the difficulty changes enemy behaviors, making them act more tactical and using smarter strategies, I like playing on higher difficulty.

If it's just a damage multiplier that makes you die within second but enemies soak up hundreds of hits then I like to play on easier because it doesn't feel like a challenge but like the game just cheats.

 

[linwolf]

Normal I assume that the developer made the game with this mode in mind so I always start with it.

 

[akibawall95]

Easy the first time so I can enjoy it then after beating it I play the hardest mode.

 

[manythings]

I only play on normal unless the game gives me a reason to up the difficulty (New content, special items, whatever). I don't need the Legendary Hal0z completion bragz to make me feel like I'm a big boy.

 

[Sixcess]

Medium/Normal and if I really like the game and want to replay it that's when I'll set it to higher difficulty levels.

I never play on easy, because it tends to warp aspects of the gameplay - like going through an FPS without ever having to switch out from the most standard gun because ammo is so plentiful.