What difficulty setting do you play on?

[PizzaKat]

Now that Im older and have less time to finish a game and more games to finish, if a game is too hard on normal I tend to bring it down a notch. I don;t want to get too frustrated. As long as someone enjoys a game I believe anything is totally fine.

[retroguy]

It depends on the game. Most stuff I just play on whatever the default setting is, but since the Elder Scrolls games give you the option of adjusting the difficulty on the fly, I find it useful to do so if I'm having trouble with a particular dungeon. I kinda wish more games had that as a feature.

[kupomogli]

I prefer harder games as long as they're legitimately hard and not cheap.

Hotline Miami is a legitimately hard game, not cheap. Hotline Miami 2 would be the better game if the level designs weren't absolute sh*t. Don't get me wrong, Hotline Miami 2 does have some good levels, one out of every four actually, the rest of them are just absolute garbage and they were cheaply designed that force you to aggro the enemies constantly. A large majority of the stages have windows in every single room and enemies with guns circling those rooms, so if you go into one room, you're dead, go into the other room, you're dead, and even if you go into the third room you're dead. Most of the time it's impossible to actually go around quickly without a guaranteed death, so you're required to aggro enemies out of portions of the area before you can start a good combo rating. Hotline Miami is a good game, the second one is very ambitious and there are things I like about it, but the game is really a pos.

Unfortunately, games now days seem to be catering easy difficulty and most of the "hard" difficulties are just increased outputs in enemy damage and defense rather than being balanced for an actual harder difficulty. Instead the difficulties turn into bullet sponges and OHKOs.

[bb_hood]

Always default or hard settings, never easy or any setting below the default.

[Nebagram]

Usually 'normal'. I'll drop some games to easy if I feel frustrated by the gameplay- The Last of Us is the first example that springs to mind- but I'll up the difficulty on arcade-style games like Resogun once I get good enough at them.

[Tanooki]

I think I'd be happy just quoting PizzaKat. :P

I've got a job, a wife, and a three year old that won't go to bed even at her 8pm bed time. My time, especially console wise, is severely limited, so when I do play something the last thing I want to do is get pissed off at the game and waste time having to repeatedly do crap over and over until I'm through it. I don't mind a struggle because I don't want it handed to me with zero effort, but these days I'm either on Easy or Medium after checking the game out, Hard and above can suck it as I'm not a sadist with the time to take that abuse.

The Last of Us I put on easy too and it still was frustrating since the controls on it suck. Blew my mind such a great developer who made Uncharted could muck something up that basic to the game and why they didn't just bring those controls over as they'd apply just fine. I ended up getting rid of it as it was a frustrating time waster.

[Trebuken]

Games I am looking forward to and do not wish to end too quickly (Dragon Age Origins, most recently), I bump up just above normal/default; otherwise default...

[otaku]

I typically play on easy if I'm honest to get a feel for the game and my ability. Lately Ive been playing forza 4 on 360 and I've worked my way up to the hardest difficulty using manual shifts and no assists

[Rickstilwell1]

I usually buy games intending to play them multiple times, so I usually play it on the easiest setting the first time through and then bring the difficulty up one notch every time I play it again.

[celerystalker]

I usually go with normal. I figure that's what should be the best tested balance and the intended vision for the game. The exception is 2D fighters, which I used to play a ton. I still tend to turn them up to whatever maximum difficulty setting there is for all non-SNK fighters. Neo Geo games I set to MVS difficulty or leave at normal depending on the options available. I don't need extra help to get my ass kicked at Art of Fighting.

[ProjectCamaro]

I very rarely change the difficulty setting off from standard setting. I agree with the statement above that, that's where the developers normally program the game to be played at. I can move through the game, die enough to make it a challenge, but not to the point of utter frustration.

[Tron 2.0]

Often it's on normal.

[Zthun]

I'm an achievement hunter, so I will usually start on the hardest difficulty unless there is no achievement for it, or the hardest difficulty is not unlocked at the start. This way, I get my 2nd or 3rd play through, if required, at a more casual/moderate level.

[Emperor Megas]

If a game has 4 settings, which a lot of the games I play do, I tend to go with the third difficulty setting on my first play through. There's often a description like 'this setting is for experienced players (in whatever respective genre)'.

If I'm new to a series or genre I'll play through on the normal setting the first time, but upon farther play throughs I'll go to the hardest settings. If I play a sequel, or a similar game after that, I'll start on that third hardest difficulty.

I never play games on the easy setting unless there's some achievement of content tied to it, or I'm playing multi-player with a less experienced gamer. I don't think anything's is wrong with people playing games on the easy setting or anything. I'm not some uber-nerd who feel gamers are any less for playing on the easy difficulty or anything, I just feel like I'LL be cheated out of some parts of the experience if I play on the easiest setting. Be it a limited ending, or less gameplay content.

[BlastProcessing402]

I'm comfortable with my default choice of always setting things to the easiest unless it locks you out of certain things (and a big f you to devs that pull that crap). If it's too much of a cake walk I might bump it up a notch, but I'm playing to have fun, not prove to anyone how hardcore I am or how big my epeen is.

[The 1 2 P]

I always go for whatever the medium difficulty setting is, unless it's something I'm use to. For Halo games I'll play on Heroic(second hardest difficulty) first just to enjoy the story and then I'll go back and beat it again on Legendary for the achievements. At least nowadays we get to pick our difficulty setting. That wasn't always an option during the Nes days.

[Ogreatgames]

The mode I typically play on is the hardest one even if I am a new player unless I am simply playing for the story. It is great to balance and go on a easier setting only if the hardest mode is like a one hit K.O.