How does difficulty level affect your playing?

I've been playing Hitman: Absolution and I've been thinking how much diffuculty affects my gameplay. I've been struggling on the Hard difficulty, but on Medium I can breeze through with not that much difficulty.

I have more fun playing on Medium, but I don't feel like I'm playing on a hard enough difficulty.

I've been playing Hitman: Absolution and I've been thinking how much diffuculty affects my gameplay. I've been struggling on the Hard difficulty, but on Medium I can breeze through with not that much difficulty.

I have more fun playing on Medium, but I don't feel like I'm playing on a hard enough difficulty.

McA713

I like hard cause you gotta use cover and make sure ya never get shot. Makes it way better.

I started playing Kingdoms of Amalur on medium difficulty and it was a walk in the park. Think I got killed once or maybe twice in seven hours. Switched to hard difficulty and that's more like what I'd expect medium to be. Some of the bigger battles are at least challenging and I might get killed 3 or 4 times and actually have to develop a strategy in order to win. But now that I'm 40 hours into it and leveled up quite a bit I'm darned near invincible again.

Oh well, at least this time I earned it lol.

I've noticed in a lot of games lately that medium difficulty is what I'd expect casual to be, and you don't get into anything that's genuinely difficult until you play on insane or whatever's above hard.

Usually I like my games easy, I like to relax while gaming. In very few situations I play on hard or more; trophies, I know the game too well, etc. Hitman: Absolution however, I started it on Purist and I'm planning to finish it on that. Mainly because the difficulty is all about patience and mind games rather than reflexes or what not.

I usually prefer the challenge of playing on the hardest difficulty and doing so obviously also adds to the lifespan of each game.

I'm currently playing Absolution on "Purist" while aiming solely for Silent Assassin ratings

I usually start with medium difficulty, but a lot of PS3 games aren't too difficult to beat on hard it seems, so I've been starting on that recently. I also enjoy a good challenge, but I'll only keep playing if I'm really into the game.

I've noticed in a lot of games lately that medium difficulty is what I'd expect casual to bemcteojamc

Exactly. The Medium of today is what we called Very Easy four generations back. I guess gaming's boom in popularity over the past decade-plus has had a lot to do with making titles more accessible to casuals. IMO it's a damn shame too. A lot of excellent franchises have been ruined as a result and from what I've read thus far, Dark Souls is next on the chopping block :(

I like to play on the normal difficulty level.

I dont really like to play on hard difficulty because I end up not enjoying the game. I usually play on the normal difficulty.jcopp72

I try to play at the limits of my ability. Most games, by about 50% or so (length-wise, not trophy-wise), tend to ramp up to the point where I begin to feel challenge. I take it for granted that games are going to be easy (for me) for the first half or so due to my long, been-playing-since-1977 history in the medium. Certain series such as CoD, I begin on the harder difficulty because I'm SO adept at them that I know all the strategies and I know that not even the later levels will hold challenge if I don't start out immediately on the harder settings.

I like this question! I try to figure out what experience the game is designed to give. So for games with good stories (Red Dead Redemption, Bioshock) or good "worlds" (Mass Effect II) I find that I can tune down the level and get a better experience. Other games are all about those tense "arcade" moments. So I like to play games like inFamous II, Bioshock II and both Dead Space games as difficult as I can manage.

I usually like to play on easy actually. It's a lot more fun to feel like a true badass just destroying the enemies. Once I beat a game I'll bump up the difficulty if I replay. Games designed to be more realistic I'll play on harder.

Sports games I always play at the highest difficulty though, gets me ready to play friends.

I always play on the hardest difficulty level possible when I start a new game. For one, it makes the game take longer to finish and I very rarely play any games more than once anymore. That way I'm getting my full moneys worth. Then there is also the satisfaction that comes with accomplishing something difficult. Any random person can play a game on normal or medium and just breeze right through, but it takes someone more hardcore to face a bigger challenge.