Easy or Hard.. Which do you prefer?

[Fayte]

What difficulty do you play your video games on?

This subject lightly came up in the What games are you playing thread and I'd like to talk about it a little more.

I always (as long as there is an option to) change my difficulty to the hardest mode at the beginning of every game I purchase. Why? because it's so much more challenging and in the end it's even more rewarding.

Needless to say you can also gloat to your friends, or anyone for that matter, about how you beat the same exact game that they played on a harder difficulty. Even more so if the time you played the game was less.

[I beat Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on the hardest difficulty in 8 hours]

So what are your thoughts on the matter?

 

[Guest]

;D

 

[Aepriz]

I always choose for the easiest of normall difficulty.
I want games to be enjoying, and easie is good for this.

Hard mostly is to frustrating (well there are execption , Crushing in Uncharted 1,2 and survivor without vita in bioshock are rather easie). But Elite on Killzone ... IS NOT FUN AT ALL.

if it wasn't for trophys I think I wouldn't even play the hardest difficulty, because I enjoy games way less if there hard.

 

[psiclone]

yea i always choose the highest difficulty available at the beginning too. it's pretty much because there are a lot of games that have extra things in them on the hardest difficulty so i kind of just default to the hardest mode, plus it's fun too.

pretty much that

 

[Jason]

And what extra things do they have except a whole dose of stress and fustration?

I play my games on either Easy or Normal, for the fact that I want to play my games to enjoy them, not to scream at my TV because I keep dying in the same area every time...

 

[No ID]

If your not throwing a controller or screaming at the tv in frustration, you're not having fun.

 

[Fusty]

I usually start with a game on normal, pretty much what some of the others above me said, the game has to be fun not frustrating.
If I've already finished the game or it's a sequel to another game and handles the same, I pick higher difficulty levels because games aren't fun when they're too easy either.

 

[Fayte]

If your not throwing a controller or screaming at the tv in frustration, you're not having fun.

This my friend is exactly how I feel.

I agree with barcode too but in recent games they don't offer anything except trophies... I'm not one to be a trophy whore so I choose the hardest difficulty mainly out of habit and for the competition [ with my friends and against the AI]

COD:MW2 is a game I started on the hardest difficulty even though the only one i played before that was Big Red One.

It broke my soul for a long time.. but in the end I conquered it.

 

[united washcloth express]

I choose the hardest difficulty because games are so much easier now. Funny thing is that 'Hard' in America is Japan's Medium. Hard in Japan is Europe's easy to Medium. Europeans are pretty hardcore.

Also, I usually complain out loud about the stupid things games have you do, along with how parts could have been improved. Enemies usually take longer to kill on hard mode, so it gives me extra time to complain :grin:

 

[psiclone]

If your not throwing a controller or screaming at the tv in frustration, you're not having fun.

whenever i start swearing and getting pissed off at a game, my girlfriend keeps asking me why i keep playing. it's like.. you just don't get it

besides, i get back at her when she can't beat something in zelda, so nyah

 

[Kuahewa huki 'ino]

I play my games on either Easy or Normal, for the fact that I want to play my games to enjoy them, not to scream at my TV because I keep dying in the same area every time...

Yeah, games are my theraputic thing. It's been this way with me for years and years. The easier of a time I can have without playing on the specifically-"you can't die ever"-easiest setting, the better.

I'll play on Normal unless something really ridiculous happens, but to me, it's just numbers. Why play on hard when what changes isn't the amount of skill or reaction you need? The only difference is that numerical or AI routine-based limiting factors are placed on the player.

Mass Effect? Shields reduced by a factor of X, or maybe enemy damage increased by it, paired with enemy HP increased by Y or an overall player damage penalty of N.

God of War, Assassin's Creed, etc.? The game just modifies hidden numbers when calculating how much damage you take, or reduces how much damage you deal, maybe increases the number of enemies you have to concern yourself with.

Even fighting games aren't "smarter" on the hardest difficulty; when programming AI routines, most companies include an "input reader" script that looks up what the button combination you're doing does per the character you're playing as, instantly checks its database for the best programmed counter for the character it's using, and uses it--for lack of a better analogy, it just throws Scissors after it's already seen that you've shown Paper. In turn the only way to counter this is to use characters for whom the programmers accidentally programmed the wrong counter--it's no longer a test of skill, because it's just the game cheating its proverbial brains out.

Sports games etc. just start checking the play you're running, or narrowing your RNG space.

Then you have older games, which just generated a greater number of dangerous hitboxes or had enemies move faster. This is a proper sort of challenge to your reflexes, but I'm already prematurely gray enough for any more of that kind of stress, dearies.

 

[Mega Flare]

mostly i play games on normal but if I like the game a lot il play it on harder difficulty. I just hate on some games that hard isnt that hard -.- Infamous was piss easy on hard same with Modern warfare 2

 

[bashful crobat]

I like games easy if I can't be arsed doing anything and I'm just killing time until something more interesting comes along.

When I actually playing without being idle, I like them as hard as the settings go :>

Odin Sphere Heroic Mode made be break a ps2 controller, and I could swear GrimGrimoire Hard Mode left me voiceless from ragegrowling at it

 

[No ID]

Me I'm very competitive so If I get a game like Madden or NBA2k I'll put it on the hardest difficulty and jump right in there. Sure it's frustrating at first but once you master it, it's that much more satisfying. Same goes for fighting games. I think of myself as a game genius who can master any game and so I love a challenge, I welcome difficult games with open arms, as long as the game holds my interest. I'm not gonna waste my time, energy, tears, and 50$ controller(s) to master a stupid/boring ass game.

I kinda get what huki was tryna say about difficult not really relating to skill, but If you think about it, it really does. The harder the game the less room for error you have, and the better you become at that game. (If you played or knew anyone who played golden eye on one shot kill, you understand what I mean.

However there are some games that are ridiculously hard.

I almost killed my little sister a few times for laughing at me while I spaz out at for not being able to get past the first FUCKING LEVEL. :pissed:

 

[SephirothSpawn]

hard shouldn't mean "gd, this is impossible!" It should be something that makes you think or hard to achieve without causing the game to be snapped. I love games that are actually somewhat of a challenge personally. you should not be able to play through it without dying. it shouldn't be a walk through the park. you should actually have to come up with some plan to get through things. otherwise... what really is the point?

 

[candle]

I generally will play on normal, but if i want to get through a game especially quickly (happening more often as I have a rather large backlog of games), I'll bump it down to the easiest difficulty. the only times I play on the harder levels is if it's my second or more time through. I think I actually enjoyed Bioshock on hard more than I did the first time on easy.

 

[Fayte]

I just can't see myself playing on easy... Even if hard is ridiculously hard [Oblivion... it's taking me an hour to kill one guy (after dying and reloading) and I still haven't killed him yet]. I mean I don't really see wanting to beat them quickly as an excuse because really.. what's the rush? Are you renting them from Blockbuster or something? Because if you've purchased them you literally have all the time in the world to complete them.

 

[Daxis]

I like playing on all levels of gameplay, although I have a tendency to get play normal or easy the first time through, and then go hard mode on those suckers. It;s the gaming experience. Normal for the game, easy to feel good about yourself, and hard mode for that wtf this is tough experience.

Except touhou. I'll play it on lunatic for laughs at how fast I die, then go back to normal and make myself feel good for being so awesome on normal.

 

[No ID]

I can never ever play a game on easy. It just doesn't feel right. It should be against the law for people over the age of 10 to play on easy. Seriously, how do you feel accomplished once the game is finished?

 

[Daxis]

it feels fun. It feels good. You go through, blast the muther effers away, and laugh maniacally at how bad you pwned them. There's no need for a feeling of accomplishment here, it's just for some goddamned self gratification.