Your preference on game difficulty?

[MyTurnToPlay]

Don't know if I'm alone on this one, but anytime I play a game, if there is more than one option for game difficulty, I always go directly for the hardest setting. I used to play games on Normal but for whatever reason I always felt like I hadn't "really" beaten the game. This coupled with the fact that on some games, beating it on the hardest settings unlocks levels/characters and other goodies has made it so that ever since the age of about 11, I don't care how freaking hard a game is, if there's an option to play it on the baddest setting, that's where you'll find me.

There's also that satisfaction of knowing that if you beat in on Difficult, then you know for sure you can beat it on Normal, but you can't say that about beating in on Normal. That's partly why those games feel "unfinished" to me.

anyone else feel this way?

[SpaceHarrier]

I usually start on Normal. Once I complete the game, I'll keep stepping it up until I just can't progress anymore on the given difficulty (if the game is actually fun enough for that many replays). I don't automatically jump to the hardest setting because some games tend to be ridiculous. Props to you for going that route though.

[MrNelson]

I usually play games on normal first, that way I can enjoy playing through the game

[Flashback2012]

"I'm Too Young To Die" ^^;

[shadowkn55]

I usually play games on normal first, that way I can enjoy playing through the game

I like to go for the "not easy" mode. The "normal" mode on Mega Man 2 is actually easy mode whereas the "difficult" is the standard difficulty when compared to the other MM games.

[Leo_A]

I just typically stick with whatever the default setting is.

[Aussie2B]

I play and judge games based on their default difficulty. I find that a developer's effort for balance is usually ruined by the other difficulties. The easier modes hide the full potential of what can be done, and harder difficulties are usually just cheap. I've played very few games where the difficulty has been increased or decreased in a truly intelligent way. Making enemies a little faster or shoot out more bullets is just lame. Gimme new enemies, or more clever AI, or something cool like that.

There are a couple genres where I'll build up from the easier difficulties. I suck at most fighters and shmups, and since they sometimes have something like 7 or 8 different levels, I'll ease my way up from the bottom.

[Emperor Megas]

I typically play the default setting, first. That way I can get the most out of the game when I revisit and play through on the harder setting the next time. If I played through on the most difficult setting there would be less of an incentive to replay.

The exception is with a game that I'll likely only play through once, or a game where most of the excitement hinges on discovery and the suspense of the unknown (Silent Hill for example). Then I'll probably just play through on the hardest setting initially.

[leatherrebel5150]

I just stick with the default setting

[megasdkirby]

Normal or default setting for me.

If I finish a game and then want to play with it again, like in the case of fighters, then I slowly increase the difficulty. There are a few games that I have to reduce the difficulty, as in the MK games, just to get a good feel before advancing.

Ah...I remember when I used to play games and the highest setting and beat them...good times...good times. Now, once I finish a game, I almost never play it again.

[jonebone]

I usually play games on the default setting. However, if I like the game enough, I'll go back and replay it on a higher difficulty.

[theichibun]

Always the default setting for me. I figure it's the default for a reason, so I might as well try it that way first.

[Flack]

I will sometimes try a game on easy first to learn the controls. When I start playing it "for real", I'll go back to normal mode.

Semi-related, I hate it when a game "helps" me. The "ghost" mode in the new Wii Super Mario drives me crazy. I also quit playing DJ Hero when I discovered that you couldn't lose. Video games are all about death and dying, people!

[tomwaits]

I'm with the OP... I always play games on the highest difficulty setting from the first try. I like the extra challenge. On arcade style games (esp fighting games) practicing on max. difficulty really makes you a better player.

It's annoying that so many modern games require you to finish on a lower difficulty to unlock the maximum difficulty setting. I rarely play through story based games twice, so I want to see everything the game can throw at me on my first play-thru.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I will sometimes try a game on easy first to learn the controls. When I start playing it "for real", I'll go back to normal mode.

I do this also. Fighting games I'm very familiar with automatically get ramped up to the highest setting though.


Semi-related, I hate it when a game "helps" me. The "ghost" mode in the new Wii Super Mario drives me crazy. I also quit playing DJ Hero when I discovered that you couldn't lose. Video games are all about death and dying, people!

Absolutely. You don't have to die, but there should usually be consequences for failure. Few games that try to break this succeed at it.

[calistarwind]

I always go with Normal difficulty. There are a few games like Dragon Age you can switch the difficulty in the middle of the game if a battle is too difficult which makes it easier to try on the hardest setting. However I would rather go with normal and enjoy my experience than ramp it up to hard and quit halfway through.

[tomaitheous]

I usually start on normal/default. That's how I did it back in the day as well. And when I beat the game in that mode, I just move onto the next difficulty setting. That is, if I cared enough to. With some games, the strategy completely changes on the hardest difficulty setting (specifically to shmups), weapon advantages can change, etc. I mean, more than just more bullets and enemies at a time. Only a handful of games have I gone through and beat all the upper difficulty settings.

[kupomogli]

Normal or default. That way you know it's not going to be too easy and not going to be too hard.

Some games while playing on normal I think I should have started on hard first because even the normal mode is fairly easy, but depending on how much time I've already put into it I keep going. Yakuza 4 is one of those games. Great game, but I've only once or twice ever came remotely close to dying in comparison to the other games where it was actually difficult. The AI is better, the enemies just don't take off much this time around.

[Swamperon]

Generally normal or standard. If I like the game enough or there are good rewards for beating it on a higher difficulty I'll notch it up.

What I like the best is when you've played a game enough times that you start doing self-imposed challenges/difficulties. Sign of a really good game in my mind.

[APE992]

I'm of the persuasion to start on easy to get a feel for things and swap back to normal then hard.

Then again when I grew up most games not only made things easier by giving you more health and enemies less they made it "easier" but cutting off the number of levels available to you.

I'm looking at you Taz-Mania.

[Aussie2B]

I rarely play through story based games twice, so I want to see everything the game can throw at me on my first play-thru.

I wouldn't assume that you're getting everything the game has to offer on the hardest difficulty. They're rare, but I have play games with content exclusive to the lower difficulties. Like in Valkyrie Profile, you'd miss out on several entire dungeons that are exclusive to Easy and Normal (similarly, Hard has its own exclusives as well).

Now that I think about it, I think there is one game where I immediately started on Hard, which was Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. Since I had heard it was painfully easy and had the same content in each mode, I went straight to Hard and still found the game incredibly easy. It's a good thing that the game has other merits to make up for that, though.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

It depends on the game, the learning curve, who made it, etc.

When jumping in not knowing anything about the game, I'll play on whatever default setting, or choose the lowest difficulty first (such as in racing games).

Difficulty is fine so long as it isn't frustrating. Only a handful of games manage to pull that one off. The ones that are so difficult yet you try again and again.

The only games I can think of that do that well are Battle Kid and Street Fighter IV with that damn final Seth boss.

[rkotm]

Daddy can i play? Easy or very easy. Normal rapes me for some reason on older games. Easy is just ripe for a 4-8 hour jam.

[thom_m]

I Usually start on normal, as I've always felt like I'm chickening out when I choose the easy mode (yeah, that's dumb, I know). Sometimes I start a game on easy mode do learn the controls, and then come back to play it properly.

Oh, and I also almost always get my ass handed to me on hard modes. I hate them (but always try them).

[Eleuthria]

Modern games (PS2 forward) I tend to play on the hardest difficulties, just because they tend to be too easy otherwise. But back in the retro days...I'd say 50% of the time I went to easiest, and 50% of the time I left it normal. Games were brutal enough without turning up the difficulty in those days.

[allyourblood]

Good topic.

For me, it varies. For a first playthrough, I won't play a game on anything less than "normal" or "medium" difficulty, regardless of platform or era. For today's games, I tend to start on a notch above medium, or just below the hardest difficulty. For instance, I always play the Halo series on the Heroic setting (a notch below the toughest one), as that seems to suit the experience the best thus far. I also played through both Bioshock 1 and 2 on the highest difficulty setting, and that felt "just right" -- challenging and sometimes frustrating, but never impossible. When I went back and played them both on lower settings, I found them to be shockingly easy!

As for classic games, when I was little, I usually played them at normal difficulty only, and that remains about the same today. Whereas increased difficulty in today's games can seem to translate into a more "realistic" experience (for lack of a better term), older games seemed to display rather arbitrary differences between the various levels, like taking away continues, making enemies faster or increasing their HP, none of which improves the experience for me.

The Silent Hill series is one of my favorites, and I will usually play the games on the mid to upper difficulty level for my first playthrough. Upon replaying the game, I like to dial it all the way down to the lowest, "beginner" setting, so I can breeze through combat and puzzles, and spend more time enjoying the atmosphere and story.

I'm also like some others here who love 2D shooters, but are horrible at them. I haven't the patience to play levels again and again until I can 1cc them, so I tend to keep the difficulty quite low for those. As long as I can reach the end of the game before I've run out of continues, I'm usually pretty happy. One game that forced me to impart quite a bit of strategy to get there is Ikaruga. Short of using a code (of which I'm unaware), that game makes sucky players work pretty hard to reach the end, even including continues. I may have used every last life I had, but I was enormously proud when I beat it. On normal.

[Malon_Forever]

I go for the default difficulty if it's the first time I'm playing the game.

[MyTurnToPlay]

I like to go for the "not easy" mode. The "normal" mode on Mega Man 2 is actually easy mode whereas the "difficult" is the standard difficulty when compared to the other MM games.

Where are you getting this from?? I've heard this elsewhere, but what is the original source? Did Capcom ever come out and say this about Megaman 2?

[Nescollector]

mostly normal, and occasionally easy, never harder.

[Brianvgplayer]

Where are you getting this from?? I've heard this elsewhere, but what is the original source? Did Capcom ever come out and say this about Megaman 2?

Why does he need proof? It has been mentioned by multiple sources. The original JP version is proof enough. The JP Famicom Rockman 2 has only one difficulty and the US "difficult" mode is the same as the JP version. If you have doubts why not look stuff up first?

I usually prefer to start with normal, but I prefer the harder modes on games that are too easy on normal.

[kedawa]

I start on default and move up once I've beaten the game, or in the case of arcade games, when I've finished it with one credit. I like being able to adjust difficulty after I start a game, though, because there are some games are just way too easy by default, and they get boring pretty quickly
I'm with the OP... I always play games on the highest difficulty setting from the first try. I like the extra challenge. On arcade style games (esp fighting games) practicing on max. difficulty really makes you a better player.
I don't think that's the case with Capcom's fighting games, at least. Games like Super Street Fighter 2 just give the computer crazy damage and stun handicaps at the higher difficulties.
Beating the CPU also relies on rote strategies that won't work on most human opponents.
The only thing a noob is going to learn by playing level 8 CPU is how to continue endlessly.

With something like Virtua Fighter 4, where the AI actually improves at the higher settings and doesn't rely on cheap tricks for its challenge, getting beat is actually fun and instructive.

[MyTurnToPlay]

Why does he need proof? It has been mentioned by multiple sources. The original JP version is proof enough. The JP Famicom Rockman 2 has no normal mode and the US "difficult" mode is the same as the JP version. If you have doubts why not look stuff up first?

I usually prefer to start with normal, but I prefer the harder modes on games that are too easy on normal.

Dude, why do you have your panties in a bunch....sheesh. I asked a simple question because I didn't know. If I knew, do you think I would ask, you idiot. And no, I don't own the JP version nor a super famicom, and anyway, that's what this site is about, to ask gaming questions about stuff you don't know, NOT to have trolls like yourself roaming around being d*cks to everyone.

Chill out. This site doesn't need anymore rude comments or rude people.

[Porksta]

Unless there is an achievement for a difficulty I play on Easy. I don't play games to be challenged, I play games to beat them. With the amount of games I have in my backlog I just like to get through them as fast as possible to enjoy them all.

[Brianvgplayer]

Dude, why do you have your panties in a bunch....sheesh. I asked a simple question because I didn't know. If I knew, do you think I would ask, you idiot. And no, I don't own the JP version nor a super famicom, and anyway, that's what this site is about, to ask gaming questions about stuff you don't know, NOT to have trolls like yourself roaming around being d*cks to everyone.

Chill out. This site doesn't need anymore rude comments or rude people.

Idiot and troll? How do I say it's rude to question someone's credibility (which is how your post came off, especially with two question marks) in a nicer way? I'm sorry it came off the wrong way.

I didn't mean the suggestion to look stuff up as rude, but I just feel it's good courtesy. Also, asking questions is good, but there are times when they don't need to be asked.

BTW, I read the information about Rockman 2 for Famicom (JP NES, not Super Famicom, JP SNES) from multiple sources like mmhp.net and Nintendo Power.

I understand that it's ok not to know things and not everyone has JP systems or games, but I don't understand why not owning a JP system or game is used as as excuse for not knowing about it. It's not a valid excuse since places like youtube have videos of JP games (though some are annoyingly labeled with the names of both versions, despite any differences) and sites like MMHP exist. Wikipedia can be hit or miss, but some articles are cited and it can sometimes be helpful.

[Zama]

Normal difficulty is good enough for me and sometimes highest difficulty if I like the game enough :onfire:

[kafa111]

easy, just because im a noob

[Casati]

I try it out a few times on the default/normal setting, then adjust the setting to easy or difficult if there's too much or too little challenge. So I usually leave it on normal, but sometimes change it to easy. The exception is some sports titles that I adjust to difficult for some challenge.

[BydoEmpire]

I play on normal first, and I try to stick it out with that. If it's really ridiculously hard I might bump it to easy just to be able to get through the game. I can count on one hand how many times I've actually wanted to play a game on 'hard'.

[XYXZYZ]

For me it really depends on the game. Like most of you, I usually go with the default setting. If I like the game but it's too difficult, I'll take it down to easy in order to practice until I get into the swing of things. I only play on hard if it's a game I'm good at, and I feel like it's BS for me to be playing anything less.

There was some arcade game recently that was absolutely stomping my ass into the ground. I said "this is ridiculous" and felt perfectly justified in toning the difficulty down to the easiest setting. Then I found out that it already was on the easiest setting. And I can't remember for the life of me what game that was...

Maybe it was Gunforce 2?

[kedawa]

XMEN Children of the Atom was like that on Saturn.
I'm pretty good at fighting games, but that game was unbeatable for me.
The weirdest part is that I could actually get to Magneto on the hardest difficulty, but I could never beat Juggernaut on the easiest.