What difficulty mode do you play games on?

I play on Easy Mode or Normal Mode. I play games for the story, the atmosphere, the characters. I simply don't enjoy playing the same level twice in a row because I failed to press the buttons in the right order.

How about you?

start on normal mode, adjust it if needed

Usually start on hardest and adjust down if needed.

Always normal mode.

Actually I did play Insane mode in Uncharted 2. That took a while. That was the first and last time though.

First play at normal. Replay at higher level.

Always try normal first though lately have been noticing some games 'normal' mode is actually 'easy' mode (hello Witcher 3).

I feel like in the gaming community, there's sort of a macho stigma where if you're having trouble completing a game, you're a p***y.

I probably could complete lots of games on Normal and even Hard mode. I just don't want to spend 20 hours completing a game that I can complete in 10, as repeating the same levels over and over again results in poor pacing.

Depends a bit. Some games like Arkham I always go for the hardest available because I know they will be relatively easy. Cinematic games like Uncharted I really don't see the point in turning up the challenge as you wanna have a smooth thrill ride. HnS on the other hand becomes pointless imo unless you turn the difficulty up, so there I try to go for hard.

Depends on the game and sometimes the genre, most games I start on normal and crank up if it's too easy. I.P's such as Total War, which I've been playing since the original Shogun, I'll play on hard or very hard.

Usually hard or above. Games are just too damn easy otherwise.

It's your game, your experience, you paid for it play it the way you most enjoy it.

Most of the people online claiming to play everything on hard and pwn everything are probably lying anyway.

I like to play RPGs on the hardest difficulty. Certain gameplay mechanics start to become unimportant playing on normal (like alchemy in Witcher 3). It's no fun that way.

Shorter games I like to play on hard difficulty and then replay on the hardest if I thought it was really good.

Always play normal on first playthrough. Usually do hard if there's meaningful achievements to be had on second playthrough, or if I simply want more challenge out of it and wish to keep playing. Usually all games do for harder difficulty is decrease player damage output, increase enemy damage output.

One game I can at least remember playing on easy (as I was warned to do it in advance) was Persona 3. And it made sense, "normal" is fucking hard. Especially since instant spell kills can ruin a lot of dungeon crawling and grinding success in a flash, at least there's those 10 revives to help avoid massive frustration that you don't get on normal.

Hardest. A handful of games might need toning down such as Hard Reset. But, I stick with hardest most of the time.

no doubt. just like jocks talking about how many cheerleaders they bang

Easy Mode.

I don't really care.

I require a good challenge to my games. If I could play Retro Studio's Donkey Kong games on Hard mode out of the gate, I would. That mode and the speed run medals, and the hidden collectibles are what make those games the best platformers around.

If a game doesn't provide any push back, then it feels like I'm just going through the motions. What's the point? Story really matters the least to me so that's never really a factor. Lore that you find and piece together on your own is a different matter though because it's about my interaction and interpretation.

All in all, I'm an "after-credits" gamer. I find that most games only get good after the credits roll. The campaign is just something I have to quickly get through in order to get to the good stuff. A good example of this is the Batman Arkham games. I just race through their boring campaigns as quickly as I can so that I can get to playing what I really care about: the riddles, Riddler trophies, and challenge maps. I don't want no stupid hand-holdy story getting in the way of me interacting and experiencing a game. I consider Batman Arkham City pretty much the best game to come out of last gen, but it's because of everything it gives you besides the campaign.

So given that a game has a story mode, I like to start on medium level so that I can blow through the game and get to the good stuff after. Story modes tend to unlock things like areas on a map or challenge stages etc.

Normal for the first playthrough, and then I crank it up if I like the game enough. If it's a series I'm already familiar with, then I start with the harder difficulties from the get go.

Depends entirely on the game, but i'll happily play easy mode if i just want to play through a (typically story driven) game at an easy pace. In games where difficulty adds to them like Bloodborne i'll keep challenging myself by doing harder runs with restriction/conditions but that suits that type of game.

Normal as I personally feel like it's how the game was initially designed to be played and then made artificially easier or more difficult.

Normal. I don't want to play the game on struggle mode. Now fighters I'll play on the hardest difficulty.

I always start on normal, but can be coaxed with the promise of a platinum trophy to try hard mode.

I don't necessarily need to be challenged to a degree where I have to pull out insane skill, I'm usually gaming with something going on in the background as a distraction.

Don't try easy mode unless its a game I've played a lot and at that point I'm completing or just exploring.

Hardest, usually. If the game has an absurd and stupid difficulty formula, like just reducing your damage and increasing enemy damage, without adjusting their AI. Then, I just don't give a **** and just play it on normal.

Does that include your swan song named P4G?

@ultimateimp: I've played that one on each, I play each game on Easy the first time I am playing it.

Normal on the first play. Then, I up the difficulty on the second run... assuming the game is worth playing again.

@charizard1605: Do you usually/always play your games more than once?

Usually just a notch below the hardest difficulty available, but with certain genres I go all in.

I'm so hardcore that a proper mode doesn't exist to fulfill my level of manhood, so I reverse wall tacks and tape them to my fingers when I play so that I feel pain with every button push. The blood is a good way to give something back to the games I'm so passionate about.

Nah. Only if I really like them.

@charizard1605: Do you really suck that much, lol? Do you like the notoriously difficult series that is Souls?

@drekula2: Hard or Very Hard. Usually I have to unlock Very Hard by beating HARD which is annoying and many times I don't go back. HARD is basically Normal tbh.

Let's be honest, there are WAY too many great games out there. I don't have freakin' time to keep playing games on easy, then normal, then hard. I'm on to the next adventure. I live a busy life, I'm lucky to get through a game ONE TIME. I am not going to make that ONE TIME boring for myself, especially since HARD MODE 99% is actually easy.

Normal is way too easy for oldschool gamers like myself. There is no challenge and I sort of feel like I'm being drug around by my nose.

For the record, HARD is usually too easy as well but it's usually the highest option when first plugging in a game. I want to enjoy the game, take it all in, but I want to also feel like I'm playing the game and not watching a damn video. It's a tough thing to juggle, but games are WAY TOO EASY THESE DAYS. How can we get better playing on normal (which is really just super easy)? You don't improve much and personally I feel like I'm playing against a 4 year old. I don't think I've ever played a game on easy, unless the game was so broken Easy was actually super hard.

If a game is way too easy, I get bored. I may as well watch someone else play it on youtube. If a game is way too hard, yes, I would get aggro, but that hardly happens in todays games. Companies cater to the biggest audience, and that audience has poor hand eye coordination.

One day I will be an old man with poor hand eye coordination. Maybe I will have the shakes. When that day comes, I will play on easy with my grandchildren and remember when I had bad ass skills and I pushed myself. I'm competitive though and I know a lot aren't, so it's all good.

Start Hard and adjust down if needed.

Yeah, I love Souls.

I don't suck, I just have to balance my playing games with a very busy lifestyle. I play a lot of games (a lot of times due to necessity) and getting unnecessarily stuck on some part of the game for a semblance of challenge serves me no purpose, except for giving me a false, projected sense of cyber bravado and e-cred, both things I can easily do without.

I start with easy. Then if I am experienced enough, I increase to "normal," then "hard."

That's way too many playthroughs for a game. :P

Normal at first and then on hard next and if there's a harder setting I'll probably play it on that too.

Can you elaborate on what do you mean by what I've bolded? Or is it too personal? If yes, then you don't have to. Also, do you wanna share PSN-NID accounts, I'll add you.

start on the mid (usually normal)

Usually easy or normal; I am more of a story guy.

I have a job reviewing games for a website, so at any given time, I am swamped with titles to play, many of which I often need to be done with by a certain date. Unnecessarily selecting harder difficulties makes no sense, in that context.

That plus I personally play games to unwind- unless it is a very specific kind of game tailored towards providing the player a challenge, I am not playing the games to have my twitch response skills tested, for instance. Yes, I want them to be challenging, and I don't want them to play themselves for me, but I am not going to go too overboard on that.

I'll message you my IDs.

Normal then hard then punishment.

Me too.

Most games seem to have the proper difficulty hidden in the options menu. When you look at how the ai behaves on most "normal" settings it almost always looks as though it is waiting for the player. "Hard" difficulty tends to feel like what was intended. Normal feels like there is a cheat code in place for the player--as if the casual buyer won't even bother going into the menu. Even menus will say things like "if it is your first time" or something like that. And then on hard it may say something like "for seasoned players."

However there is a cheapness to some of the hardest difficulties. Halo on legendary is beatable, but from my experience it just ends up turning into how to exploit the game. Series plays best on Heroic, imo.

Depends on the game, genre, etc.

Arkham Knight for instance was hard right out of the gate. Something like Forza Horizon 2 I'll dial back to Normal.

Is it for this site?

Nah, different site.

Normal

Normal most of the time or slightly above, except the games where the AI cheats.

I still remember one game on PS1 (Spec Ops I think) where the difficulty settings were the wrong way around, I played in on easy mode thinking this game is quite challenging, how bad is it on hard mode, so i changed it and the game was easier... the actual ****. Good times.

Depends on the type of game usually. If it's a platformer with a difficulty setting I usually turn it up to the max. Otherwise, I leave it on default, which is usually normal.

Usually just normal.