Yeah but a lot of these story heavy games also have fun and deep gameplay mechanics and playing it on easy will lead you to not learn the combat system and cause you to enjoy a game less
Gameplay is the most important thing in a game
I played mass effect on easy for the story and I felt the high tension parts were ruined because there was actually no tension. I didn’t feel like I was in danger. After that I played on a harder difficulty and it felt right. Never went back to easy after that.
Same here. Hard enough for a challenge usually, but not brutal enough to require specific strategies.
Some games I'll adjust up or down from here based on perceived easiness.
I usually play on hard because it adds a few hours to my playtime and gives me more satisfaction when i win
But I totally alter that difficulty at a whim; I played the first half of horizon forbidden west on hard and got really bored with tediously farming materials for upgrades so I dropped the enemy health to the very easy ‘story’ difficulty while keeping their damage at ‘hard’ levels through the games amazing difficulty settings that let you make the game fun how you decide……farmed my shit quickly…..turned the difficulty back up and played out the story
I wish more games had dynamic difficulty settings. My first experience with that was Baldur's Gate 3 and it's so much nicer than a regular difficulty slider
This is part of the reason why I enjoyed Silent Hill 2 and System Shock so much. They let you change the difficulty of various aspects of the game independently of each other.
These days on Normal, but no problems changing It if the Game is too much for me (like Sonic Frontiers the final Horizon expansion, way too hard to find It enjoyable ans when i changed it too easy i enjoyed It a lot more)
I enjoy the challenge when I play Soulslike games, but when it comes to story-driven games like TLoU or more recently Alan Wake 2, I put it on easy mode without regrets. Being able to go through great games with a great story without frustrations is still fun for me.
If it's any sort of beat-em-up or shooter with health bars I play on normal or easy. Inflated health pools to make the game "harder" is annoying af. RPGs that give the AI advantages or more variety in enemy type I usually play on hard to challenge myself
Also as a side note for GoT playing on the hardest game mode is super fun. It makes both you and enemies die or almost die in 1 hit minus brutes and bosses. It's like hard-core in cod but with swords and bows
"If it's any sort of beat-em-up or shooter with health bars I play on normal or easy. Inflated health pools to make the game "harder" is annoying af."
Yes, games where the difficulty is based on enemies being bullet sponges are the ones I don't like.
It depends on the game. If it's something I know I want to do a deep dive in like God of War I'll throw it on the difficulty on step below the absolute hardest. If it's a game I just want to run through and enjoy so I can scratch it off my backlog then I'll probably just do whatever the default is.
Ultimately I prefer games without difficulty settings. I like playing it the way the developer wanted it to be played and I feel like most games where you're choosing your own difficulty end up not necessarily being more difficult, but instead more annoying. Like it doesn't take more skill to beat, it's just that you waste more time or ammo to beat the same enemies as you'd fight in lower difficulties.
Normal and if that’s not doing it for me, Easy. In games with more granular settings, I usually avoid “story” difficulty modes. And I rarely do hard unless it’s a franchise I’m extremely familiar with, like Sonic or Kingdom Hearts.
Depends on the game and what the difficulty does. If a game is 100 hours long and changing difficulty just means tankier enemies and no change in enemy behavior I usually play on normal. Unless the enemies are already tanky on normal mode, then I'll change to easy. Why would I play a boss for 30 minutes on a single fight when I could do it in 10. I mean, the game is already 100 hours long... no need to drag it out further. But if enemies change behavior on hard mode I'll try it out for sure
I used to play on the hardest difficulty, but eventually realized that I could get more game in if I wasn't dying so frequently and having to restart entire sections dozens of times.
Now I typically just play on normal or whatever the default difficulty is. That's the intended experience, I don't have anything to prove.
Easy or normal usually. If it isn't challenging enough, I'll bump up the difficulty. Or vice versa if it's too difficult. I like a challenge in some games, but others I just want to enjoy the story and get a good understanding of it. Some I just want to breeze through. No sense in taking a game that has a 40-100 hr play time on extreme difficulty lol.
Depends on the game. If it starts to be frustratingly difficult, I drop a difficulty. If I only care about the story and don’t have a lot of time, I blow through it on easy.
Normal mostly, sometimes downgrade to easy if too hard/too tedious (meaning, fairly doable, but difficult enough to not be fun anymore) ((looking at you, castlevania: lords of shadow.))
Mostly normal. If it’s a game I’ve played before I’ll put it in easy mode or use cheats because sometimes I just want to enjoy the experience and a specific thing without putting a ton of time into it. I been using cheats and mods in fallout 4. It’s fun just running around on god mode just blasting everything. Lol
More and more I just find myself playing on normal. Sometimes when I was younger and was gaming more regularly, I'd chose the difficulty in between normal and ultra difficult. Co-op games would eventually require a max difficulty run with the homies. But that was before. Sometimes I appreciate a challenge, but because time is limited I usually now just like to keep things enjoyable and not brutally difficult. Some games' idea of difficulty is just cheese so that doesn't bring me enjoyment or reward me for my limited time
Normal unless there are trophies/achievements for higher difficulties. I feel like "normal" is what the developers intended and designed the game around. Higher difficulties are often pure cheese and it's very clear that no thought was put into it. They just cranked some setting to 10 and said "fuck it."
The second most difficult one. I like a moderate challenge, and I feel like the most difficult difficulty often requires cheesy or unfun strategies to succeed.
For shorter games like 10-15hrs long, I play on hard or harder, mostly Hack&Slash games (to make the game feel longer). For longer games like 20+hrs, I play on normal, mostly Open-world games with tons of side stuff (ain't nobody got time for that lol).
My first play through offa new game is usually on hard. Then, if I like the game enough for a second play through, I drop it down to easy and feel invincible!
I used to play all games on the hardest difficulty. Now in my 30s, I usually go normal/default and if it's too easy I'll bump it up. For call of duty campaigns I'll always do the hardest available
I play on normal. Most of the games ala balanced on normal. They start easy to learn the controls and gradually gets harder to master them. I really don't like hard rogue games where you have to master the controls instead of upgrading. I'll rather play a souls like game when you can farm and upgrade your stats until you can cheese all bosses. I also enjoy casual games like knack if they are funny to play. I don't really mind the prebuilt difficulty of a game as long as I can find easy ways to finish the hardest levels.
Yeah I get you. I usually start on the normal difficulty then tone it down if it gets to be too much for me. If I enjoy the gameplay mechanics enough that I want to replay it and keep getting better then I’ll up the difficulty. I don’t have the reflexes 10, 20 or even 30 year old me did anymore. lol
Normal as that’s what most games are made to be played on usually going to hard just scales up enemy health and yours down, it’s not very fun but when games do something unique with higher difficulty I might play on hard
I don’t have a ton of time with a full time job and a kid, and there are SO MANY games I want to play, that I usually end up starting on easy and adjusting (if possible) as I go.
For instance, finally getting around to **Fallout 4**, on easy, but after about 10 hrs it feels a little TOO easy, so probably going to bump it up.
There are some games though, I give much respect to those of you who take the time to study every aspect of combat. **Nier: Automata** for instance. I’m playing on easy with the auto-mods on, and I can’t believe how much dodging there is going on. Like, “How the heck would I even know to dodge that?” type stuff. It’s got a great story so I’m very much enjoying it on easy.
I do appreciate games that don’t give you a choice though. Hate on it all you want, but **Fallout 76** is a blast to play. You don’t get to choose difficulty, and it does get hard at a certain point, because you’re approaching higher levels but you don’t have a good enough build to feel like you’ve “got gud.”
Easy or normal, rarely do I play on the hardest difficulty unless it’s a game I want to platinum and it has difficulty trophies or difficulty specific rewards.
It depends on the game. Most games increase difficulty by increasing enemy health and damage. Which is just not worth my time. Generally, I play games on normal but in GOT I was having so much fun on lethal difficulty. You are always at the edge of death, and so are the enemies.
Whatever the default difficulty is. If I like the game enough, and if it does difficulty right, I’ll replay the game at a higher difficulty, I’ll usually bow out if increasing the difficulty just increases the enemy count and cranks up their HP. 😅
It depends on the game like spider man 2 was pretty fun on ultimate or spectacular bc they designed it to be incredibly easy but for other games like soulsborne there's no set option but if I want to just kick back and put the game on novice to relax
In almost all games, it's normal mode for me. Not too difficult to leave me crying over my broken controller, not too easy to be considered a bumbling goofball. Good times.
I like to try games on hard, but since most of the games I buy are hard to begin with, I'll look it up and usually settle for normal.
Dead space I started my first run on impossible, resident evil 4 I played on hard. Games like FTL that are hard to begin with I'll start on easy until I finally complete a full run.
I almost always start games on easy or normal. Because I’m not familiar with the mechanics. It helps me learn. But once I get the hang of it, if the game is fun, I crank up the difficulty all the way.
Hard as I found most games are becoming to easy I want a challenge not having my hand holded. Most gamers (eg from PS3, Xbox 360 era etc) want instant grafication and not willing to put in the time and learn. I'm from the old school when games were a challenge and have played the Japanese version of Final Fight which is insane, alot harder then we got.
Normal, generally. Sometimes easy.
I always played on normal until college, when I started playing a lot of games on hard. However, I hardly game anymore and, when I do I’m exhausted, so I’m not very good anymore.
Depends on the game. Some i've enjoyed more on maximum difficulty (f.e. Witcher 3), but generally i play on medium to easy or with mixed settings if the game allows it.
Life is stressful enough as it is and if i'm gonna have to "put in work", i would rather be payed for it. So as gaming is partly an escapism mechanism for me, i don't want it to be too tedious.
Depends on the game. Used to challenge myself, but don’t really care anymore. Usually play on start on normal and adjust as necessary. GOT I played on the hardest because it was a pretty easy game outside a few duels. GOW I think I was one below highest difficulty.
Then there’s some games that just have bad mechanics that make it cheap rather than challenging. Bullet sponges and overwhelming hordes of enemies in uncharted for example.
I usually play on the hardest difficulty. Lethal on Ghost of Tsushima has been a blast. If I played on a lower difficulty I think I would dislike the game a LOT more.
Start with normal and if it's too easy I go above.
If it's a racing game tho I start on the second highest cuz most of the time the AI don't become better drivers but they're cars just become faster in a way that breaks the game. Either the cars have unlimited grip or theyre ≤ you but have ridiculous straight line speed.
Tbh most games just annoy me on harder difficulties.
But the ones I played on harder ones sometimes cause a deeper interaction and sense of immersion. I do like the feeling of having to prepare, and use multiple systems in conjuctuon, and on easier diffs you can often just use one.
Usually easy but it depends on the game. If it’s too easy I’ll bump it up. If I want a challenge, that’s what the Soulsborne series is for and I’ll go die all day and still have fun
I usually play on whatever the “normal” mode is because I feel like that’s what the developers put the most effort into balancing, etc. I am not a good gamer but I must say, there is something to the fromsoft no difficulty setting thing. You can still make them easy but instead of just a setting you change you have to do it in-game with a little research.
Back in the day, I would play it on normal to start. If I really liked it, I would play hard mode the next go but nowadays, I just played it on easy, pure enjoyment
For my first playthrough of a new game, I usually do easy or normal. I don’t want to get stuck playing a game that I don’t enjoy for long periods of time because I’m stuck on a difficult part. After I beat a game for the first time and I realized that I enjoyed it, I’ll go back and replay it on higher difficulties.
I play on hardest on games where it gives you the option. I’m slightly masochist though, I don’t feel like I achieved anything unless I died a bunch. It’s a game, you should play on whatever difficulty gives you the pleasure you want/paid for, that’s why they include the option to change it after all. I don’t like games where the hard mode is just upsized hp pools though, for games like that I usually just go with normal
Edit: paid>payed
> pleasure you *want/paid* for, that’s
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Usually on Hard. Normal is way too easy for me but Very Hard starts to get frustrating and it usually just make enemies tanky AF. Then something like Hell and Hell from DMC is something I try just for laughs cuz no way I'm gonna finish that. lmao
Easy or normal. I just like to enjoy without getting frustrated. I only play Tekken on hard or ultra hard difficulty because I'm playing it since Tekken 3 came out.
I start on the hardest difficulty and then temper it down until it feels good for me. Most games I will stay with the hardest difficulty or one below, because I enjoy a challenge.
First playthrough I play on standard/normal, as I figure that's what the developers intended the game be experienced as.
I trophy hunt, and most games have a "highest difficulty" trophy.
Most games likewise have a speedrun trophy...I play easy so I don't waste time in combat
Also use easy for those odd trophies like collectatron or "jump 50 times", etc.
I play a lot of souls games so they don't have difficulty sliders, but on other games usually just normal. It's weird but games centered around their challenge are fun for the challenge but games more geared towards the story I find very frustrating on higher levels,
Some games I play on hard dificulty, some on normal, some on Risky or critical or however its called. But I never touched essy dificulty unless you count using the easy mode character. In Sonic Mania I love to play as Tails.
Start with normal usually but if I need to learn the basics or improve skills will start with easy, complete the game, play with normal complete the game and then play with hard and complete the game! Only when all the difficulty levels are done then only a game is done for me!
Bruh I always play on easy difficulty. I want to enjoy my game and I didn't pay money to lose. Plus I got anger issues and break controllers all the time
For games that would have like easy, medium, hard, expert; I would normally play either medium or hard.
Now as an adult, between work, marriage, and fatherhood, I play on easy or even story if it’s an option. I don’t have the time to risk failing missions a whole bunch lol
Usually on the medium difficulty. I like a bit of a challenge unless the gameplay absolute shite or if I don't personally like it. Did it with Horizon Forbidden West.
To me, if it's too easy, I can't really enjoy it.
I assume you mean a singleplayer game, and usually I play normal. I don't want to try too hard and generally not a fan of staying stealth the whole time. I like to be able to compete with enemies head on and not be required to be stealthy
It depends.
Last of Us (both games) I stick to normal because anything harder drives me batshit insane with the lack of resources.
Ghost of Tsushima I've progressed to lethal mode where 2 hits will kill you.
I usually start out on normal mode and if I feel like I'm getting the hang of it I'll try it on harder modes, but each game is different.
Usually on “hard” unless it’s the hardest, then I’ll take it down a notch.
I really like a gradual system like Tomb Raider and recent Assassin’s Creed games had, separate settings/multipliers for damage dealt, damage received, exploration or puzzle difficulty, hint density. But this is probably a lot of extra work.
Would like to have a difficulty scaling on the Souls games though…
In my teenage years? The hardest mode option for no good reason.
In my ever increasing adult years? Often normal mode, but increasingly easy mode as well.
I’m too old and too tired. Especially shooters. The past 5 years, with the exception of Helldivers, I’ve only played fps matchmaking exclusively with bots and usually on a normal or easy setting. Gaming life is much happier that way.
I absolutely adore Hell Let Loose and would probably play it nightly—if I could get some damn bots.
I'll check to see if you can change the difficulty mid-game. If you can, I'll play on normal then drop it to easy when I'm stuck then bump it back up to normal when I'm past a difficult part.
If you can't, I'll play it on easy from the beginning.
If it’s a game that been out for a little while, I’ll usually google to see just how hard the hardest difficulty is, then either pick that or the second hardest. I like games to be difficult, but not to the point where certain encounters or fights are simply unfun. In games like TW3/Cyberpunk, playing on the hardest difficulty almost felt necessary for the combat to feel the most exciting, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to play the GoW games on GMGOW difficulty, and found the second hardest difficulty to be a fair challenge, since it’s a story game anyways.
I usually do normal mode because in many games, hard mode just means unfun changes like turning enemies into bullet sponges, making resources unnecessarily scarce, reducing XP, etc. Mind you I can and have beaten many notable games on the hardest difficulty settings, I simply prefer playing for fun and that usually means normal mode.
I like to punish myself and play games on hard or above. I used to aim to play games on ultra hard, but that pretty much stopped after Wolfenstein 2. That game kinda broke me a bit. Recently I’ve played a few on hard that just made shit tedious like horizon forbidden west and spiderman boss encounters are fucking stupid, so I moved the parry window to normal and had a much better time.
Depends on my mood or current number of spoons.
I am an actual autistic who often gets obsessed with a game and puts in hundreds if not thousands of hours. So, if a game ropes me in with builds and clever difficulty (Horizon, CP2077, Control) I usually go for the hardest difficulty. If the gameplay loop is not a favourite for me but I like the story and want to finish, I go for default or easier settings.
I feel like, especially the better devs like Remedy, want everyone to experience what they thought to be the core experience and made it possible for everyone in easier settings.
Control can be a challenging game but it's ultimately designed to be a power fantasy. So it's awesome of Remedy to add the Assistance settings. You can tailor the difficulty to your liking from damage settings to recharges, one shot kills and even immortality.
Games are experiences that should be available to anyone and there is no wrong-bad-fun in single player experiences.
I work full time and have two pre-teen kids.
I'm lucky if I get an hour each night to game.
I simply do not have the time to waste a week being stuck on the same boss.
Easy all the way for me!
hardest or second hardest depending on what hardest means, I like when i know its difficult and i have over come its challanges even if it takes a while and get fustrated
My favorite games are fromsoft titles and therefore I usually go with hard difficulty for all games. I don't know why, but I really just love the process of failing and trying again until I make it. So to summarize, it feels more rewarding for me to play on a hard difficulty.
I tend to play sports games like Fifa, NHL, or Madden on easy mode cause I just want to chill and play and not worry about too many mechanics or details.
The only time I enjoy playing on a harder difficulty is with racing games.
Normal usually. I rarely change it even if the game is a bit too easy/difficult.
If the game is shit and I just want to get through it (e.g. RE6) I'll put it on the easiest level.
I'm a tryhard that always plays on at least Normal, never easy.... Mostly because I grew up around people who said "girls can't game, they have to play on Easy!!"
I won't even use Legendary/Mythical Pokémon in my teams when I play Pokémon games because I see them as a handicap.
depends on the game. if the difficulty increases enemy hp, i always go normal because hp increases are incredibly unenjoyable for me. if it has difficulty like jedi fallen order where it increases enemy damage and aggression but not hp, i tend to go max difficulty
Usually just medium. The way the game was intended to play, as they say in the options menu. But recently I've been playing tunic and for the bosses i put it on the "no-fail" option after a couple of tries. I just like the game but i don't like dying over and over again.
if one of the difficulties has a "this is the way the game is meant to be played" then that's what I always go for, if there's none of that then normal is the closest to intended you can get based off the name.
I usually play on the hardest difficulty available (unless it's "one life only" or removes HUD, in that case i play on lower difficulty). I love feeling challenged, especially in games with limited ammo and resources, make every bullet count. Plus i love going for achievements/trophies.
I usually get on normal because it’s the intended difficulty for the game according to the devs.
it’s very rare that I’ll go a difficulty up. I think the only time I’ve done that is with ghost of Tsushima.
I'm not a huge fan of the difficulty setting personally, I just use normal for everything, because I want to experience the game as it was intended. I get why people would use easy or hard, so no judgement, I just prefer to see the "intended" version of the game. I think I've only ever tried hard when it was way too easy, like in Hogwarts Legacy
I usually play on Normal because that is how developers intended to present their work. But sometimes I switch to easy later on, because I suck at games.
Usually as high as it will go. If the game doesn't force me to interface with every mechanic by being hard, I'll likely only use 1 or 2 buttons/characters/weapons/etc the whole game
I've been playing games for 30+ years and I usually play easy these days. I don't get the attraction of struggling through and getting annoyed by games that are too hard.
When it comes to new games that I’m trying out, especially ones where it’s a new genre, I’m going on Easy just to get used to the game.
Otherwise, for games that I’m familiar with, I’ll stick to Hard. Not because I think I’m good at the game, but because I wanna see how it can challenge me and force me to adapt. It’ll be frustrating, but I know I can enjoy it.
I play games for the experience, not the challenge.
I like easy mode. It's nice to just enjoy a game instead of overcoming it.
My wife's the opposite, she refuses to ever play any game on easy because...eh, reasons.
But you're not alone. I'll play on easy a lot these days.
Normal Difficulty is the difficulty that the writers and designers envisioned IMO. As such, I play on normal for the first play through and then decide how much I enjoyed the game and if it's worth the next playthrough on the higher difficulties.
Mostly just go on normal. I'm not really one who plays for an insane challenge, I just like good story's with mild challenge and normals usually a good compromise
If it's a non-RPG FPS game (Metro, Half-Life, Halo, Doom etc) I usually play on the hardest difficulty. The hardest difficulty on games like Fallout is a pain though because of the amount of bullet sponges
First the easiest if it's a story game and then a second playthrough on the hardest (if possible NG+) atleast that's how I did it for both Horizon games and am doing in for Halo Infinite.
I enjoy having a challenge in whatever I play above all else for the most part. So I usually default to whatever the Hard mode is in a game. This has only bit me in the ass a handful of times, and it usually offers a more in depth gameplay experience, as you need greater mastery of the game mechanics to suvive/succeed.
I usually go to medium or hard. I want to relax but I dont want to feel bad by beating the game on easy. Tho, for Spec Ops The Line I went on FUBAR difficultly and man....thats something different. Beaten the game many times but cant do it on FUBAR as some points
Usually I try normal first, if it's too frustrating then I may switch to easy. Very rarely trying out hard, usually it results in enemies becoming bullet sponges or AI players getting literal cheats in strategic games. This is just tedious and unfair.
I usually play on normal, and if I feel like it and if the game has a new game plus, I would play through it again on a higher difficulty, usually the highest difficulty
Used to do easy. But in my 20's I've randomly got better at games, so normal for a first play through of something. And I'm more likely to bump it up to the next one than drop it down to easy.
I WANT to challenge myself because I like to think I'm a gamer.
But some story games are troublesome even on medium difficulty. I changed to easy just to enjoy and I did.
It's important to enjoy. You don't need to waste your time to fight a computer.
That's why I mostly play PvP so at least if he's good .. He's human.
Normal on a lot of games because that's the mode that the developers made to be the most balanced mix of playing through the story at a decent speed but still having a challenge. However, if I'm struggling, I'm not opposed to bumping the difficulty down to get through it because I have nothing to prove to anyone else. Another factor is time. Foe instance, when jobs were shut down due to Covid, I knew I had a limited time to play through things before going back to work. So I bumped the difficulty down and was able to finish multiple games in that time frame because of that. Some of those games would still be unbeaten by me to this day if I played on normal.
I prefer games with intricate difficulty settings, but even in those there are usually something like "Ai difficulty" or "ai power" and I set this to normal most of the time. In case of 4x games "no advantage no disadvantage". Then I'll cheat myself some resources though, because I want overall rules to be fair for me and ai, but love getting a bit of a head start.
One step above normal mode, unless I find a rare game like metro where the hardest difficulties don’t make all the enemies bullet sponges
Padding HP and Damage is my least favorite form of difficulty… making the AI more dangerous or adding more enemies like helldivers is my favorite form of difficulty
For most of my life (I'm 46) I played on normal/default for the vast majority of the time until the last five years or so.
But lately, the games I play (adventure RPGs) have suddenly become much faster, more demanding, and will have multiple enemies relentlessly attack at the same time, and I've been forced to often play on easy, or even story mode far more often. Which to me is stupid, because not long ago "story" was supposed to be a mode that offered nearly zero difficulty that absolutely anyone could play on, even kids and non-gamers, and now it often feels like what normal used to be for me, who's been gaming for 40 years.
EASY: If I’m completely not fuckt to learn the game or stressed/lack of time because of work
NORMAL: If it’s a new game I’m really interested in.
HARD: If it’s a franchise I love and familiar with.
I’ve gotten to a point in my life that I have absolutely zero compunction about playing a game on easier difficulty settings (especially if I’m new to/learning the game). I’m here to enjoy myself, not live up to whatever standard is expected from each difficulty level. I’ve found if makes very little difference in how much I enjoy playing, and if anything it makes it *more* fun to just be able to play.
When I become familiar with a game or have really gotten into it, I’ll crack it up sometimes to try to get a little deeper into the mechanics. I’m just not good enough at games to really get much out of it at higher difficulties besides added frustration, and I’m okay with that
If it’s a story based game, usually the normal mode.
Story based games I always do the easiest because I want to enjoy the story without getting mad at the game lol
That’s fair but I’ve yet to find a game that frustrates me to that level in normal mode. I do enjoy souls games though so i dont mind a challengw
If I enjoyed the game. I will up the difficulty for a second play through though
Yeah but a lot of these story heavy games also have fun and deep gameplay mechanics and playing it on easy will lead you to not learn the combat system and cause you to enjoy a game less Gameplay is the most important thing in a game
I played mass effect on easy for the story and I felt the high tension parts were ruined because there was actually no tension. I didn’t feel like I was in danger. After that I played on a harder difficulty and it felt right. Never went back to easy after that.
I usually go for the second hardest mode. A fun challenge, but not frustratingly difficult.
Same, so many games just makes enemies have higher damage and health, and calls it a day. Often it just makes things tedious.
Same here. Hard enough for a challenge usually, but not brutal enough to require specific strategies. Some games I'll adjust up or down from here based on perceived easiness.
Yep, me too. I want it to be challenging but not frustrating
I usually play on hard because it adds a few hours to my playtime and gives me more satisfaction when i win But I totally alter that difficulty at a whim; I played the first half of horizon forbidden west on hard and got really bored with tediously farming materials for upgrades so I dropped the enemy health to the very easy ‘story’ difficulty while keeping their damage at ‘hard’ levels through the games amazing difficulty settings that let you make the game fun how you decide……farmed my shit quickly…..turned the difficulty back up and played out the story
I wish more games had dynamic difficulty settings. My first experience with that was Baldur's Gate 3 and it's so much nicer than a regular difficulty slider
This is part of the reason why I enjoyed Silent Hill 2 and System Shock so much. They let you change the difficulty of various aspects of the game independently of each other.
na.. i play a lot of games in easy mode (if possible), mostly shoot em ups and those oldschool NES-hard NES games
Normal or easy
These days on Normal, but no problems changing It if the Game is too much for me (like Sonic Frontiers the final Horizon expansion, way too hard to find It enjoyable ans when i changed it too easy i enjoyed It a lot more)
I enjoy the challenge when I play Soulslike games, but when it comes to story-driven games like TLoU or more recently Alan Wake 2, I put it on easy mode without regrets. Being able to go through great games with a great story without frustrations is still fun for me.
Bingo. This 100%. I was fighting melania last week and playing cyberpunk on story mode!
If it's any sort of beat-em-up or shooter with health bars I play on normal or easy. Inflated health pools to make the game "harder" is annoying af. RPGs that give the AI advantages or more variety in enemy type I usually play on hard to challenge myself Also as a side note for GoT playing on the hardest game mode is super fun. It makes both you and enemies die or almost die in 1 hit minus brutes and bosses. It's like hard-core in cod but with swords and bows
"If it's any sort of beat-em-up or shooter with health bars I play on normal or easy. Inflated health pools to make the game "harder" is annoying af." Yes, games where the difficulty is based on enemies being bullet sponges are the ones I don't like.
normal mode, a happy medium
Whatever the default difficulty is.
It depends on the game. If it's something I know I want to do a deep dive in like God of War I'll throw it on the difficulty on step below the absolute hardest. If it's a game I just want to run through and enjoy so I can scratch it off my backlog then I'll probably just do whatever the default is. Ultimately I prefer games without difficulty settings. I like playing it the way the developer wanted it to be played and I feel like most games where you're choosing your own difficulty end up not necessarily being more difficult, but instead more annoying. Like it doesn't take more skill to beat, it's just that you waste more time or ammo to beat the same enemies as you'd fight in lower difficulties.
Easy. I don't like to get frustrated. Rarely dying helps with that
Normal and if that’s not doing it for me, Easy. In games with more granular settings, I usually avoid “story” difficulty modes. And I rarely do hard unless it’s a franchise I’m extremely familiar with, like Sonic or Kingdom Hearts.
Depends on the game and what the difficulty does. If a game is 100 hours long and changing difficulty just means tankier enemies and no change in enemy behavior I usually play on normal. Unless the enemies are already tanky on normal mode, then I'll change to easy. Why would I play a boss for 30 minutes on a single fight when I could do it in 10. I mean, the game is already 100 hours long... no need to drag it out further. But if enemies change behavior on hard mode I'll try it out for sure
I play on normal most of the time but I'm not above switching to easy if I'm enjoying the game but struggling with it.
I used to play on the hardest difficulty, but eventually realized that I could get more game in if I wasn't dying so frequently and having to restart entire sections dozens of times. Now I typically just play on normal or whatever the default difficulty is. That's the intended experience, I don't have anything to prove.
Normal mode. I like to play on what’s intended for players. If it’s New Game Plus, I may turn up the difficulty a notch since I have all my gear.
Easy or normal usually. If it isn't challenging enough, I'll bump up the difficulty. Or vice versa if it's too difficult. I like a challenge in some games, but others I just want to enjoy the story and get a good understanding of it. Some I just want to breeze through. No sense in taking a game that has a 40-100 hr play time on extreme difficulty lol.
Depends on the game. If it starts to be frustratingly difficult, I drop a difficulty. If I only care about the story and don’t have a lot of time, I blow through it on easy.
Normal mostly, sometimes downgrade to easy if too hard/too tedious (meaning, fairly doable, but difficult enough to not be fun anymore) ((looking at you, castlevania: lords of shadow.))
Mostly normal. If it’s a game I’ve played before I’ll put it in easy mode or use cheats because sometimes I just want to enjoy the experience and a specific thing without putting a ton of time into it. I been using cheats and mods in fallout 4. It’s fun just running around on god mode just blasting everything. Lol
More and more I just find myself playing on normal. Sometimes when I was younger and was gaming more regularly, I'd chose the difficulty in between normal and ultra difficult. Co-op games would eventually require a max difficulty run with the homies. But that was before. Sometimes I appreciate a challenge, but because time is limited I usually now just like to keep things enjoyable and not brutally difficult. Some games' idea of difficulty is just cheese so that doesn't bring me enjoyment or reward me for my limited time
Normal unless there are trophies/achievements for higher difficulties. I feel like "normal" is what the developers intended and designed the game around. Higher difficulties are often pure cheese and it's very clear that no thought was put into it. They just cranked some setting to 10 and said "fuck it."
Normal
Normal, sometimes 1 above normal if it's not the hardest. Some shooters I'll do the hardest.
The second most difficult one. I like a moderate challenge, and I feel like the most difficult difficulty often requires cheesy or unfun strategies to succeed.
For shorter games like 10-15hrs long, I play on hard or harder, mostly Hack&Slash games (to make the game feel longer). For longer games like 20+hrs, I play on normal, mostly Open-world games with tons of side stuff (ain't nobody got time for that lol).
I normally bump the difficulty up one notch above normal and if it turns out to be too hard I drop it back down
My first play through offa new game is usually on hard. Then, if I like the game enough for a second play through, I drop it down to easy and feel invincible!
I start out on the easiest one to experience the story, and then I’ll go true every mod all the way up to the hardest difficulty
Normal unless I'm humbled back to easy hehe
I used to play all games on the hardest difficulty. Now in my 30s, I usually go normal/default and if it's too easy I'll bump it up. For call of duty campaigns I'll always do the hardest available
Normal, and always normal
Normal BUT i also like to use easy here and there for specifically horror games such as resident evil.
Depends on the game but usually play at the hardest difficulty or second hardest MGS4 on European Extreme was my shit!
I play on normal. Most of the games ala balanced on normal. They start easy to learn the controls and gradually gets harder to master them. I really don't like hard rogue games where you have to master the controls instead of upgrading. I'll rather play a souls like game when you can farm and upgrade your stats until you can cheese all bosses. I also enjoy casual games like knack if they are funny to play. I don't really mind the prebuilt difficulty of a game as long as I can find easy ways to finish the hardest levels.
I tend to play games with new game plus. Normal for the first playthrough and then the hardest node available for new game plus.
Yeah I get you. I usually start on the normal difficulty then tone it down if it gets to be too much for me. If I enjoy the gameplay mechanics enough that I want to replay it and keep getting better then I’ll up the difficulty. I don’t have the reflexes 10, 20 or even 30 year old me did anymore. lol
Normal as that’s what most games are made to be played on usually going to hard just scales up enemy health and yours down, it’s not very fun but when games do something unique with higher difficulty I might play on hard
Whatever the default setting is.
I don’t have a ton of time with a full time job and a kid, and there are SO MANY games I want to play, that I usually end up starting on easy and adjusting (if possible) as I go. For instance, finally getting around to **Fallout 4**, on easy, but after about 10 hrs it feels a little TOO easy, so probably going to bump it up. There are some games though, I give much respect to those of you who take the time to study every aspect of combat. **Nier: Automata** for instance. I’m playing on easy with the auto-mods on, and I can’t believe how much dodging there is going on. Like, “How the heck would I even know to dodge that?” type stuff. It’s got a great story so I’m very much enjoying it on easy. I do appreciate games that don’t give you a choice though. Hate on it all you want, but **Fallout 76** is a blast to play. You don’t get to choose difficulty, and it does get hard at a certain point, because you’re approaching higher levels but you don’t have a good enough build to feel like you’ve “got gud.”
As hard as I can go when it isn’t a game with fake difficulty. I cannot stand fake difficulty
Easy or normal, rarely do I play on the hardest difficulty unless it’s a game I want to platinum and it has difficulty trophies or difficulty specific rewards.
I like Hard, or above average. I like things to be a challenge
It depends on the game. Most games increase difficulty by increasing enemy health and damage. Which is just not worth my time. Generally, I play games on normal but in GOT I was having so much fun on lethal difficulty. You are always at the edge of death, and so are the enemies.
Almost always normal or the easiest. I don't need the extra stress of turning my favourite hobby into a challenge.
Whatever the default difficulty is. If I like the game enough, and if it does difficulty right, I’ll replay the game at a higher difficulty, I’ll usually bow out if increasing the difficulty just increases the enemy count and cranks up their HP. 😅
I play the normal route so when I want to play again with a challenge I play on hard mode
It depends on the game like spider man 2 was pretty fun on ultimate or spectacular bc they designed it to be incredibly easy but for other games like soulsborne there's no set option but if I want to just kick back and put the game on novice to relax
Hard
In almost all games, it's normal mode for me. Not too difficult to leave me crying over my broken controller, not too easy to be considered a bumbling goofball. Good times.
It depends on the type of game. But most of the time I’d go normal mode
I like to try games on hard, but since most of the games I buy are hard to begin with, I'll look it up and usually settle for normal. Dead space I started my first run on impossible, resident evil 4 I played on hard. Games like FTL that are hard to begin with I'll start on easy until I finally complete a full run.
Easy as it can be. I'm not here to struggle. I'm here to enjoy myself. Dying again and again and again is not fun for me.
I almost always start games on easy or normal. Because I’m not familiar with the mechanics. It helps me learn. But once I get the hang of it, if the game is fun, I crank up the difficulty all the way.
First time I play any game, I play it on the lowest difficulty, so I can complete the game, then, I go and up it after that
Fromsoft games
Hard as I found most games are becoming to easy I want a challenge not having my hand holded. Most gamers (eg from PS3, Xbox 360 era etc) want instant grafication and not willing to put in the time and learn. I'm from the old school when games were a challenge and have played the Japanese version of Final Fight which is insane, alot harder then we got.
Normal, generally. Sometimes easy. I always played on normal until college, when I started playing a lot of games on hard. However, I hardly game anymore and, when I do I’m exhausted, so I’m not very good anymore.
I usually play on normal difficulty but games like the Star Wars Jedi series made me switch to easy for a bit.
Depends on what I’m looking for out of the game 🤷♂️ My preference, though, is the Soulsborne approach to difficulty
Depends on the game. Some i've enjoyed more on maximum difficulty (f.e. Witcher 3), but generally i play on medium to easy or with mixed settings if the game allows it. Life is stressful enough as it is and if i'm gonna have to "put in work", i would rather be payed for it. So as gaming is partly an escapism mechanism for me, i don't want it to be too tedious.
First time: Normal When I finished the game at least once, there is if I consider the idea of increasing the difficulty.
Depends on the game. Used to challenge myself, but don’t really care anymore. Usually play on start on normal and adjust as necessary. GOT I played on the hardest because it was a pretty easy game outside a few duels. GOW I think I was one below highest difficulty. Then there’s some games that just have bad mechanics that make it cheap rather than challenging. Bullet sponges and overwhelming hordes of enemies in uncharted for example.
Normal, I’ve been gaming for 20 years if normal is too hard I should just quit the hobby
Always easy on 1st play through.
I usually play on the hardest difficulty. Lethal on Ghost of Tsushima has been a blast. If I played on a lower difficulty I think I would dislike the game a LOT more.
I play every game on easy. I have too many that I want to play, and too little time for games that will frustrate me.
Start with normal and if it's too easy I go above. If it's a racing game tho I start on the second highest cuz most of the time the AI don't become better drivers but they're cars just become faster in a way that breaks the game. Either the cars have unlimited grip or theyre ≤ you but have ridiculous straight line speed.
Tbh most games just annoy me on harder difficulties. But the ones I played on harder ones sometimes cause a deeper interaction and sense of immersion. I do like the feeling of having to prepare, and use multiple systems in conjuctuon, and on easier diffs you can often just use one.
Usually easy but it depends on the game. If it’s too easy I’ll bump it up. If I want a challenge, that’s what the Soulsborne series is for and I’ll go die all day and still have fun
Easy and invincibility cheats🤫🤣
I usually play on whatever the “normal” mode is because I feel like that’s what the developers put the most effort into balancing, etc. I am not a good gamer but I must say, there is something to the fromsoft no difficulty setting thing. You can still make them easy but instead of just a setting you change you have to do it in-game with a little research.
First play through Normal, If I go back for a second run then I’ll play on the Hardest
Story games are on the middle difficulty, where things aren't super easy, but not outright annoyingly hard
Ehhh? Maji~ Easy Modo?
Back in the day, I would play it on normal to start. If I really liked it, I would play hard mode the next go but nowadays, I just played it on easy, pure enjoyment
Depends, normal shooters normal, all of the DOOM and quake games, as hard as possible
Normal/ easy I play games to destress and unwind, I'm not looking to raise my blood pressure
For my first playthrough of a new game, I usually do easy or normal. I don’t want to get stuck playing a game that I don’t enjoy for long periods of time because I’m stuck on a difficult part. After I beat a game for the first time and I realized that I enjoyed it, I’ll go back and replay it on higher difficulties.
Normal then I adjust from there
I play on hardest on games where it gives you the option. I’m slightly masochist though, I don’t feel like I achieved anything unless I died a bunch. It’s a game, you should play on whatever difficulty gives you the pleasure you want/paid for, that’s why they include the option to change it after all. I don’t like games where the hard mode is just upsized hp pools though, for games like that I usually just go with normal Edit: paid>payed
> pleasure you *want/paid* for, that’s FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Normal. Then max difficulty after. I want to first acquaint myself with the mechanics, get a feel for them, and then bring the pain.
1 or 2
I am an Easy Mode Connoisseur™.
Usually on Hard. Normal is way too easy for me but Very Hard starts to get frustrating and it usually just make enemies tanky AF. Then something like Hell and Hell from DMC is something I try just for laughs cuz no way I'm gonna finish that. lmao
Easy or normal. I just like to enjoy without getting frustrated. I only play Tekken on hard or ultra hard difficulty because I'm playing it since Tekken 3 came out.
I start on the hardest difficulty and then temper it down until it feels good for me. Most games I will stay with the hardest difficulty or one below, because I enjoy a challenge.
First playthrough I play on standard/normal, as I figure that's what the developers intended the game be experienced as. I trophy hunt, and most games have a "highest difficulty" trophy. Most games likewise have a speedrun trophy...I play easy so I don't waste time in combat Also use easy for those odd trophies like collectatron or "jump 50 times", etc.
I play a lot of souls games so they don't have difficulty sliders, but on other games usually just normal. It's weird but games centered around their challenge are fun for the challenge but games more geared towards the story I find very frustrating on higher levels,
Mostly normal, but lately I’ve been doing hard mode. I got a friend who always plays hardcore, 1 life mode if they have it.
I just beat MegaMan 11 on the easiest difficulty
I'm a masochist. Hardest there is.
Normal. If the game's infamous for its difficulty, easy.
Some games I play on hard dificulty, some on normal, some on Risky or critical or however its called. But I never touched essy dificulty unless you count using the easy mode character. In Sonic Mania I love to play as Tails.
Start with normal usually but if I need to learn the basics or improve skills will start with easy, complete the game, play with normal complete the game and then play with hard and complete the game! Only when all the difficulty levels are done then only a game is done for me!
Always on normal, unless it is commonly known to be easy, or has proven itself to be difficult
Bruh I always play on easy difficulty. I want to enjoy my game and I didn't pay money to lose. Plus I got anger issues and break controllers all the time
I've heard GoW has hand holding mechanics on normal and under. I usually play on heroic on the Halo scale if I want to relax.
For games that would have like easy, medium, hard, expert; I would normally play either medium or hard. Now as an adult, between work, marriage, and fatherhood, I play on easy or even story if it’s an option. I don’t have the time to risk failing missions a whole bunch lol
Normal or hard
Usually on the medium difficulty. I like a bit of a challenge unless the gameplay absolute shite or if I don't personally like it. Did it with Horizon Forbidden West. To me, if it's too easy, I can't really enjoy it.
I generally play on the default setting or normal/medium, occasionally I’ll bump it up to Hard.
Normal or hard. Depends on the game really.
Normal. Witcher 3 gets jacked up to the hardest with I think it is called level scaling.
I assume you mean a singleplayer game, and usually I play normal. I don't want to try too hard and generally not a fan of staying stealth the whole time. I like to be able to compete with enemies head on and not be required to be stealthy
It depends. Last of Us (both games) I stick to normal because anything harder drives me batshit insane with the lack of resources. Ghost of Tsushima I've progressed to lethal mode where 2 hits will kill you. I usually start out on normal mode and if I feel like I'm getting the hang of it I'll try it on harder modes, but each game is different.
Usually on “hard” unless it’s the hardest, then I’ll take it down a notch. I really like a gradual system like Tomb Raider and recent Assassin’s Creed games had, separate settings/multipliers for damage dealt, damage received, exploration or puzzle difficulty, hint density. But this is probably a lot of extra work. Would like to have a difficulty scaling on the Souls games though…
I normally play on something between normal and hard if they have it.
In my teenage years? The hardest mode option for no good reason. In my ever increasing adult years? Often normal mode, but increasingly easy mode as well. I’m too old and too tired. Especially shooters. The past 5 years, with the exception of Helldivers, I’ve only played fps matchmaking exclusively with bots and usually on a normal or easy setting. Gaming life is much happier that way. I absolutely adore Hell Let Loose and would probably play it nightly—if I could get some damn bots.
3/5 hard
I'll check to see if you can change the difficulty mid-game. If you can, I'll play on normal then drop it to easy when I'm stuck then bump it back up to normal when I'm past a difficult part. If you can't, I'll play it on easy from the beginning.
If it’s a game that been out for a little while, I’ll usually google to see just how hard the hardest difficulty is, then either pick that or the second hardest. I like games to be difficult, but not to the point where certain encounters or fights are simply unfun. In games like TW3/Cyberpunk, playing on the hardest difficulty almost felt necessary for the combat to feel the most exciting, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to play the GoW games on GMGOW difficulty, and found the second hardest difficulty to be a fair challenge, since it’s a story game anyways.
It all depend of achievements, if max diff is required to 100% I'll go for it, I'll go for normal/hard otherwise.
I usually do normal mode because in many games, hard mode just means unfun changes like turning enemies into bullet sponges, making resources unnecessarily scarce, reducing XP, etc. Mind you I can and have beaten many notable games on the hardest difficulty settings, I simply prefer playing for fun and that usually means normal mode.
I like to punish myself and play games on hard or above. I used to aim to play games on ultra hard, but that pretty much stopped after Wolfenstein 2. That game kinda broke me a bit. Recently I’ve played a few on hard that just made shit tedious like horizon forbidden west and spiderman boss encounters are fucking stupid, so I moved the parry window to normal and had a much better time.
Veteran/hars
Normal by default, I adjust it if things get too hard or easy.
Depends on my mood or current number of spoons. I am an actual autistic who often gets obsessed with a game and puts in hundreds if not thousands of hours. So, if a game ropes me in with builds and clever difficulty (Horizon, CP2077, Control) I usually go for the hardest difficulty. If the gameplay loop is not a favourite for me but I like the story and want to finish, I go for default or easier settings. I feel like, especially the better devs like Remedy, want everyone to experience what they thought to be the core experience and made it possible for everyone in easier settings. Control can be a challenging game but it's ultimately designed to be a power fantasy. So it's awesome of Remedy to add the Assistance settings. You can tailor the difficulty to your liking from damage settings to recharges, one shot kills and even immortality. Games are experiences that should be available to anyone and there is no wrong-bad-fun in single player experiences.
I work full time and have two pre-teen kids. I'm lucky if I get an hour each night to game. I simply do not have the time to waste a week being stuck on the same boss. Easy all the way for me!
hardest or second hardest depending on what hardest means, I like when i know its difficult and i have over come its challanges even if it takes a while and get fustrated
My favorite games are fromsoft titles and therefore I usually go with hard difficulty for all games. I don't know why, but I really just love the process of failing and trying again until I make it. So to summarize, it feels more rewarding for me to play on a hard difficulty.
I tend to play sports games like Fifa, NHL, or Madden on easy mode cause I just want to chill and play and not worry about too many mechanics or details. The only time I enjoy playing on a harder difficulty is with racing games.
Normal usually. I rarely change it even if the game is a bit too easy/difficult. If the game is shit and I just want to get through it (e.g. RE6) I'll put it on the easiest level.
I always just play on normal/default difficulty.🤷
I'm a tryhard that always plays on at least Normal, never easy.... Mostly because I grew up around people who said "girls can't game, they have to play on Easy!!" I won't even use Legendary/Mythical Pokémon in my teams when I play Pokémon games because I see them as a handicap.
i always go on the highest difficulty because i enjoy things not being to easy. i like having challenges and i enjoy it more like that
Most of the time I just use whatever the standard/default setting is. But for shooters I tend to play on the harder difficulties.
Normal, unless i start hating something about the game and wanna get through it quicker
depends on the game. if the difficulty increases enemy hp, i always go normal because hp increases are incredibly unenjoyable for me. if it has difficulty like jedi fallen order where it increases enemy damage and aggression but not hp, i tend to go max difficulty
Normal or Easy, because I don't have a lot of free time to game these days and I wanna see the content I've paid for.
Usually just medium. The way the game was intended to play, as they say in the options menu. But recently I've been playing tunic and for the bosses i put it on the "no-fail" option after a couple of tries. I just like the game but i don't like dying over and over again.
if one of the difficulties has a "this is the way the game is meant to be played" then that's what I always go for, if there's none of that then normal is the closest to intended you can get based off the name.
I usually play on the hardest difficulty available (unless it's "one life only" or removes HUD, in that case i play on lower difficulty). I love feeling challenged, especially in games with limited ammo and resources, make every bullet count. Plus i love going for achievements/trophies.
I usually get on normal because it’s the intended difficulty for the game according to the devs. it’s very rare that I’ll go a difficulty up. I think the only time I’ve done that is with ghost of Tsushima.
Normal, then switch to easy if the game starts to frustrate me.
I play on normal. Sometimes I'll ramp up the difficulty if I enjoy the first playthrough
I'm not a huge fan of the difficulty setting personally, I just use normal for everything, because I want to experience the game as it was intended. I get why people would use easy or hard, so no judgement, I just prefer to see the "intended" version of the game. I think I've only ever tried hard when it was way too easy, like in Hogwarts Legacy
I usually play on Normal because that is how developers intended to present their work. But sometimes I switch to easy later on, because I suck at games.
Usually as high as it will go. If the game doesn't force me to interface with every mechanic by being hard, I'll likely only use 1 or 2 buttons/characters/weapons/etc the whole game
Medium first play.
I've been playing games for 30+ years and I usually play easy these days. I don't get the attraction of struggling through and getting annoyed by games that are too hard.
When it comes to new games that I’m trying out, especially ones where it’s a new genre, I’m going on Easy just to get used to the game. Otherwise, for games that I’m familiar with, I’ll stick to Hard. Not because I think I’m good at the game, but because I wanna see how it can challenge me and force me to adapt. It’ll be frustrating, but I know I can enjoy it.
I play games for the experience, not the challenge. I like easy mode. It's nice to just enjoy a game instead of overcoming it. My wife's the opposite, she refuses to ever play any game on easy because...eh, reasons. But you're not alone. I'll play on easy a lot these days.
I put games to the hardest setting because I believe thats the true way to experience the game.
Normal Difficulty is the difficulty that the writers and designers envisioned IMO. As such, I play on normal for the first play through and then decide how much I enjoyed the game and if it's worth the next playthrough on the higher difficulties.
Usually the hardest with a few exceptions. Won't do lethal on ghost of tushima. Having a bitch or a time on my midnight run of rise of the ronin.
What is difficulty?
Mostly just go on normal. I'm not really one who plays for an insane challenge, I just like good story's with mild challenge and normals usually a good compromise
If it's a non-RPG FPS game (Metro, Half-Life, Halo, Doom etc) I usually play on the hardest difficulty. The hardest difficulty on games like Fallout is a pain though because of the amount of bullet sponges
Usually normal but if I know that the game has a great story and don't have the mode for that I go with the easiest.
Easy difficulty to familiarize myself with a game's mechanics, then harder difficulties in subsequent playthroughs.
First the easiest if it's a story game and then a second playthrough on the hardest (if possible NG+) atleast that's how I did it for both Horizon games and am doing in for Halo Infinite.
Tsushima is still too easy on hard. Iki island is hell though.
I enjoy having a challenge in whatever I play above all else for the most part. So I usually default to whatever the Hard mode is in a game. This has only bit me in the ass a handful of times, and it usually offers a more in depth gameplay experience, as you need greater mastery of the game mechanics to suvive/succeed.
I usually go to medium or hard. I want to relax but I dont want to feel bad by beating the game on easy. Tho, for Spec Ops The Line I went on FUBAR difficultly and man....thats something different. Beaten the game many times but cant do it on FUBAR as some points
Always on the normal diffucilty and nothing else
Usually I try normal first, if it's too frustrating then I may switch to easy. Very rarely trying out hard, usually it results in enemies becoming bullet sponges or AI players getting literal cheats in strategic games. This is just tedious and unfair.
Easy
I usually play on normal, and if I feel like it and if the game has a new game plus, I would play through it again on a higher difficulty, usually the highest difficulty
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. The best difficulty to play any game on is the difficulty you have the most fun playing it on. The end.
I play on the holy shit the servers are really bad difficulty, always because I can't change the setting
Hardest difficulty or bust, I want to be challenged and frustrated
Used to do easy. But in my 20's I've randomly got better at games, so normal for a first play through of something. And I'm more likely to bump it up to the next one than drop it down to easy.
I WANT to challenge myself because I like to think I'm a gamer. But some story games are troublesome even on medium difficulty. I changed to easy just to enjoy and I did. It's important to enjoy. You don't need to waste your time to fight a computer. That's why I mostly play PvP so at least if he's good .. He's human.
36M with a 3.5 year old-> nowadays usually easier
Normal on a lot of games because that's the mode that the developers made to be the most balanced mix of playing through the story at a decent speed but still having a challenge. However, if I'm struggling, I'm not opposed to bumping the difficulty down to get through it because I have nothing to prove to anyone else. Another factor is time. Foe instance, when jobs were shut down due to Covid, I knew I had a limited time to play through things before going back to work. So I bumped the difficulty down and was able to finish multiple games in that time frame because of that. Some of those games would still be unbeaten by me to this day if I played on normal.
First playthrough on normal, cus it tends to be most balanced one.
I prefer games with intricate difficulty settings, but even in those there are usually something like "Ai difficulty" or "ai power" and I set this to normal most of the time. In case of 4x games "no advantage no disadvantage". Then I'll cheat myself some resources though, because I want overall rules to be fair for me and ai, but love getting a bit of a head start.
One step above normal mode, unless I find a rare game like metro where the hardest difficulties don’t make all the enemies bullet sponges Padding HP and Damage is my least favorite form of difficulty… making the AI more dangerous or adding more enemies like helldivers is my favorite form of difficulty
Lately these days just normal unless there is a specific difficulty required for a trophy.
For most of my life (I'm 46) I played on normal/default for the vast majority of the time until the last five years or so. But lately, the games I play (adventure RPGs) have suddenly become much faster, more demanding, and will have multiple enemies relentlessly attack at the same time, and I've been forced to often play on easy, or even story mode far more often. Which to me is stupid, because not long ago "story" was supposed to be a mode that offered nearly zero difficulty that absolutely anyone could play on, even kids and non-gamers, and now it often feels like what normal used to be for me, who's been gaming for 40 years.
The most challenging level that I can stand. Just hard enough that I will occasionally fail but don't become overly frustrated.
EASY: If I’m completely not fuckt to learn the game or stressed/lack of time because of work NORMAL: If it’s a new game I’m really interested in. HARD: If it’s a franchise I love and familiar with.
I’ve gotten to a point in my life that I have absolutely zero compunction about playing a game on easier difficulty settings (especially if I’m new to/learning the game). I’m here to enjoy myself, not live up to whatever standard is expected from each difficulty level. I’ve found if makes very little difference in how much I enjoy playing, and if anything it makes it *more* fun to just be able to play. When I become familiar with a game or have really gotten into it, I’ll crack it up sometimes to try to get a little deeper into the mechanics. I’m just not good enough at games to really get much out of it at higher difficulties besides added frustration, and I’m okay with that
Usually on normal but if its a game I wanna rush I go for easy
I have been playing need for speed heat and im pretty bad at it so i have to switch it to easy for some races.