Poll: would you lower the difficulty?

[krazykidd]

If a boss keeps using cheap moves, they're fair game for the cheap little trick of lowering the difficulty just to get past them. So yes, I do it frequently in games I can.

Are you saying some games are unbeatable on normal?

OT: never . I usually start my first playthrough of any game on hard . It makes me learn faster . Plus i like challenge . If a game doesn't challenge me i get bored.

Capcha: never give up . See guys capcha agrees .

 

[Smooth Operator]

Only if the game gets stupid will I lower it, DA2 for example I started on hardest and then went easiest a couple hours in, not because I was challenged at any point but because the combat setup was so fucking retarded.

 

[TehCookie]

Nope, if I'm dieing I'm doing something wrong and need to think of a way to improve.

Or the game is broken, cheap or unfair.

Lowering the difficulty won't fix broken gameplay though.

 

[MammothBlade]

If a boss keeps using cheap moves, they're fair game for the cheap little trick of lowering the difficulty just to get past them. So yes, I do it frequently in games I can.

Are you saying some games are unbeatable on normal?

OT: never . I usually start my first playthrough of any game on hard . It makes me learn faster . Plus i like challenge . If a game doesn't challenge me i get bored.

Capcha: never give up . See guys capcha agrees .

Not unbeatable, just not worth the frustration and time it would take to beat certain bosses.

 

[endtherapture]

I changed the difficulty in The Witcher 2 because the game was being unfair and not letting me use potions in one fight, so I decided to be unfair and not let it use it's stupid difficulty.

 

[DustyDrB]

Hard is my default. It's where I usually find the most enjoyment, so I don't typically ever go below that setting (even on first playthroughs). If I'm getting my ass kicked, it really depends on the type of difficulty being presented to me. If it's a matter of execution, be it in terms of my reactions (like Vanquish or Bayonetta) or tactics (like Dragon Age), then I won't lower the difficulty. I find great fun in beating those types of challenges.

On the other hand, I will lower the difficulty if the challenge only really comes from damage sponge enemies and me not chugging enough health potions (like Skyrim). But that's just a poor implementation of difficulty.

 

[Guffe]

Nope, I play with normal, if I feel like a rerun is necessary I make it more difficult, but I don't turn the difficulty down.
Don't mind others doing it, I just don't. Try guessing my poll answer!

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I always play on the hardest setting unless it's just silly like Oblivion. I have a ridiculous amount of patience I think so if I mess something up I just throw myself at it until I do it.

 

[Woodsey]

The last time I did it was in The Witcher 2, with the fight at the end of Act 1, pre-updates and patches. Suffice to say, it was very fucking difficult.

Otherwise, I almost always avoid it. Unless there's a huge difficulty spike, I tend to find it then makes everything after feel much harder again when you switch it back up.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

I usually go in for Normal difficulty first so that I can do my initial blind run with plenty of leeway for the times when I fuck up.
Hard difficulty or above, I tend to remember the hardest parts of the game so I'll know when they're coming, what to do and (if possible) will be able to gather items so I can prepare for them in advance. Other times I just bring it down to "I've already come this far, I'm sure I can get past this next bit" and fight on.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Depends on the game. If I enjoy the challenge, not likely. Game like Freespace, or a strategy game, or an FPS, probably not. RPG? I usually -start- those on Easy and then ramp it up if it turns out I enjoy the combat and want more of a challenge.

 

[shrekfan246]

Basically I was having a tough time making my way through a specific part of dragon age and so I reluctantly lowered the difficulty and made it through with little difficulty, and after that continued on with normal difficulty. What I want to know is how many voting escapists would willingly turn down the difficulty of a game?
My thinking is that if it become's too hard, it is no longer fun and therefore nullifies the point of a game so yeah it's ok to do that. But what are your thoughts?

OP and the first two responses of this thread echo my feelings exactly.

I like a good challenge, but there are points when something becomes stupid and is just rage-inducing. Dragon Age: Origins is actually one of my examples. Typically any time a group of blood mages turned up, my entire party got skewered before I could even kill one of them. Very frustrating.

I don't believe I ever lowered the difficulty during the Kayran fight in The Witcher 2, but I damn well would've if the thing kept killing me even after I finished the quick-time event and managed to get up on its back.

Usually I play through games on the "Normal" setting. If I beat them and had a lot of fun or they offer the opportunity to raise the difficulty because I've been breezing through everything (so far Infamous is the only game to really do that particular thing), then I'll usually go up to "Hard". Though the only recent game I can really recall doing that with is Crysis 2. Wait, and the Mass Effect series.

 

[octafish]

I've only done it once, and quite recently too in Oblivion.
I just want to finally beat this ocean of bland and not have to grind my way through this uninteresting world.

Interesting...I just walked away...strange that you felt a need to "beat" this game, I felt nothing.

I'm not averse to turning down the difficulty, I just can't temember an occasion I've needed to do it. I have walked away from games with absurd difficulty spikes though. I guess I'm more liable to just walk away unless the game is particularly compelling.

 

[MintberryCrunch]

Depends entirely on the game. For games which I think will be more about the story for me than the combat and challenge (I'd class Mass Effect in this category) then I'll have the difficulty allll the way down because I'd rather experience the story fully than get frustrated and rage quit halfway through a mission.
With games where I'm playing a character in an open world, however (Kingdoms Of Amalur, Skyrim and Morrowind at the moment), I will have the difficulty higher than average to give myself more of a challenge.

 

[Nexxis]

I'll lower the difficulty of a game if I'm having a hard time or if I just feel like it. Most of the time, I'm playing games just as a way to relax and escape from the world for a bit and to work off my frustrations. Doesn't help if the game constantly mops the floor with me. That would just make me even more frustrated.
Recently, I've been lowering the difficulty of games when I'm new to them and I'm trying to understand the mechanics. When I feel I've gotten a better handle on things, I'll up the difficulty.

 

[geK0]

Only for the Brood Mother! that fight is just.....ugh!

I usually put my games on hard mode if I'm given the option; there's just something satisfying about beating something after dying 100 times.

 

[Fallere825]

Well what i'd choose isn't on the poll, which is really, if i were constantly failing but improving each time, i would not put the difficulty down, if i were failing but were only just short of winning, i would not turn it down, if i were killed close to instantly before being able to do any noticable damage, i would probably turn it down a notch, and then turn it back up after finishing.