What difficulty do you play your games at?

[solemnwar]

With RPGs I tend to play them on easy/casual (like the dragon age games ffffft). The only games I have actual played at higher difficulty have been Mass Effect 2 and 3. Managed to get through almost the entire game at Hardcore difficulty without having to change the difficulty setting (excepting 3 instances where I just kept on failing miserably).

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

Normal. If I like the game, I'll end up playing it on whatever the highest difficulty is eventually. Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden were both defeated. I played a clean ME1 file on Insanity and carried that Shep over for an ME2 Insanity game. I might start Persona 3 on Hard once I get around to it.

I started on Hard for Agarest War. Probably not the best idea. I'm save-scumming just because I want everyone to be alive to get their share of EXP. Get's pretty bad for boss fights.

For Birth By Sleep, I started on Critical Mode. KH2 was far too easy and the gameplay is simple enough. So far, I've only had trouble in the the Arena. The story mode is still easy, minus that one part in Terra's story where his opponent in the Hercules world goes all darkside on you. That's where I learned to spam Shotlock for invincibility.

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

I play on easy, usually. Now, I know what some of you are thinking:

Spoiler

And I want to say that I do not find difficulty very fun. If I can't achieve my goal with relative ease, I get frustrated. That's the opposite to the desired result, which would be relaxation and escapism. Unless easy mode is ridiculously easy, like in Kingdom Hearts 2, or it actually ends up being more difficult in some ways, like in Tales of Graces where you learn abilities far, FAR slower than in any other difficulty due to lack of combat bonuses, I play easy.

I'll also play on harder difficulties if there is easy mode mockery [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EasyModeMockery] in place. I hate easy mode mockery, though. It's mean and inconsiderate.

I'm amused that someone actually posted the "eajy modo" picture here. Touhou has no presence on the Escapist. Speaking of which, I play Touhou on normal. After how ever many years, I still can't 1CC normal on command. I've stopped playing seriously at least half a year ago though, so that's gonna cause issues. RPG backlog takes away time from everything.

 

[T3hSource]

Usually normal like many people,however I played ME3 on casual( adding salt to the word easy),because I don't play for the shooting sections.But I played blindly Hitman Contracts on Expert(that is the second difficulty,the game has no easy mode),doing the same thing with Blood Money.I don't know about Deus Ex:HR though,I'd love to play stealthily,but those boss fights worry me.

 

[Nieroshai]

First, normal to experience the game as intended. Then, if applicable, easy to satisfy my completionist streak. Then hard to keep things exciting.

 

[TheCaptain]

The easiest available setting that doesn't take content or character customisation away from me. Games are something to relax to, not a second job - also, I don't feel any sense of accomplishment for "being able to play videogames very well".

An interesting exception was Human Revolution, which becomes easier on higher difficulty settings when you go for full stealth (since you get more xp for everything but enemy awareness isn't affected by the difficulty setting).

 

[TheCaptain]

I don't know about Deus Ex:HR though,I'd love to play stealthily,but those boss fights worry me.

Sorry for the double post; Boss Fights in DE:HR are a piece of cake; you can still stealth, take a few shots and go back into cover most of the time. You'll need however a certain implant for one of the fights and can make your life a lot easier if you take the laser rifle with you when you have the chance.