Do you always play games on the hardest setting?

Hello, what setting do you select in the opening game-play options before beginning a video game?

As a young man, I use to always select "easy" as the obligatory option. The idea of challenge was seen as something bad.

Now, as a older gentlemen, I always choose the hardest difficulty, it prolongs the life of a game and makes it more engaging. For games such as Resident Evil, it transforms the game entirely.

In my opinion, all reviewers should be playing at the hardest difficulty setting to weed out bad design, a very easy experience allows users to shoot through content at a rapid pace, making for a passive experience that is very short.

I play on the Normal Difficulty

Even though I'm on a gaming hiatus...I remember that all games I played are always on normal,if I get used to it,I will level it up..no one dares to challenge one self to play everything on the hardest difficulty,because the harder the game is,the more brain power is used to conquer it.

Will admit I'm one of those, as high as the difficulty goes gamers.

Once read most developers build the intended games balance on the highest setting at launch, then half ass the other difficulties in comparison.

I usually play on the hardest if not second to hardest difficult to offer if there are more than 3 options. As for w3 I am currently playing on broken bones.

No. I usually start most games on normal difficulty (some on easy, depending).

I don't want a game to be too easy, but I don't always enjoy a challenge. I just want to have fun, but also feel like I'm putting in at least a little bit of effort.

I'll try higher difficulties afterwards if I don't totally suck at the game.

In Resident Evil 3, on the easy setting the player starts off with a gun featuring unlimited ammo. On normal, the player can run around blasting away with no use for the knife. On the hardest setting the player will be forced to save ammunition, running past area's and knifing lesser minions to keep ammo for the Nemesis battles.

IMO you play something like the Witcher 3 on the highest difficulty, it highlights just how bad the game design is. I think many reviewers just played on the easier setting and waltzed through out without stress testing the game mechanics.

The problem is, sometimes hard is too hard. So what I do most of the time is I choose the normal mode. But when I've finished New Order for example, I have turn it to uber so max difficulty and it was a lot of fun; Much better than normal; Like you said, it change the game completely. Plus it's really rewarding to finish games at max difficulty.

I doubt I could have go that far at Shadow of Mordor at max difficulty. It's not the same in this case, 5 hit kill, this is way too hard.

Got killed 44 times yesterday playing one of Halo 4 Spartan Ops chapters set on Legendary mode, not my best death record, but still 2nd best, my record is 56 deaths achieved last week, not bad huh ?

FPS games I always play on hardest except Hard Reset.

I quite enjoy getting the achievements/ trophies to do with difficulty so not always but, sometimes.

I used to, but that was back when I was an achievement/trophy whore. Then I ran into Crysis 2 & 3, which had a bug where the mint didn't unlock if you beat the game on super soldier before beating the game on any other difficulty. Now I play everything on easy because I'm not in it for the mints or trophies, I just want to be entertained by the story, or shoot some of my friends in the face.

I always play on normal. I rarely play on the hardest setting.

For my first playthrough of a game I usually play on Normal. I'll replay the game on higher difficulties later on.

If its a shooter I start out on hard mode because that is what I am good at, if it's a sword fighting game I put it on normal.

I play on Normal since I think that is the expected challenge.

If I am going to judge a game then I will switch to all the challenges since changing the challenge should change how hard the game is and not fix the game play.

I start on Normal most of the time. Then I go up the difficulty ladder after completion

Hard because I'm so hardcore.

I always play on normal for two very good reasons. One, some games actually cut features on harder difficulties such as weapons, maps, hud elements etc. When I play a game for the first time I want to take in the whole experience and judge the game for it's entirety.

Two, if I like the game but I don't love it, the extra challenge prolongs the experience, and since I have an OCD where I have to finish games unless I absolutely hate them, less time spent on a game I don't like means I can move onto a game I will potentially like more. If I really enjoy a game, the next time I play it I will play on a harder difficulty.

I mod it to be uber-hard because I'm more hardcore than speedfreak.

This right here is why i start on Normal and replay the game on Hard.

Before last gen i always start Normal for the 1st level and then set Hard for the rest of the game.

The fact games can come out now and not save or glitch out , i really don't want to have that and the dificulty on my hands

I care about having fun in games. That's why I play them. So no, I rarely play on hard difficulties. Dying is an immersion breaker for me, and dying over and over is flat out infuriating.

Im allways playing on normal first and if im really into the game i make another runthrough on the hardest difficulty setting

It depends on the type of game. If it's an rpg I usually choose normal cause it takes me awhile to learn the mechanics. Action/adventure I go for hard.

Depends on the type of game. If harder difficulty means the AI getting better and, for instance, taking more damage on each hit, then yes, I always play at the hardest setting. If harder difficulty only means enemies have ridiculously more HP, then normal difficulty it is. (Looking at you, God Of War). I'd say I play on hard mode 90% of the time.

Back when I was obsessed with 100%'ing every game I'd play in the hardest mode (or hardest mode available until I unlocked the harder ones). Nowadays, with more games than time I just say screw achievs and collectibles and just play through in normal, and more often than not uninstall the game as soon as I'm done with it; I only ever replay a game if I really enjoyed it. If I'm playing mostly for the story and narrative and don't really care about the gameplay I'll even set it to easy just to get past the bad gameplay faster.

Depends on the game. A really long game that I have little time for like Skyrim or something then I put it on easy. I may even use a trainer, especially if they require a lot of grinding. A game like Metro goes on hardest it will go. Especially with stealth games, those have to go on max and often it's not hard enough because the AI is never very well done.

Step by step, that is, from easy to normal to hard and so on, got to know the game first.

Default/ Normal difficulty, that in my opinion is the experience the developer intended it to be played. I only select harder settings if I'm up for a challenge (after I have beat a game).

always the hardest difficulty. on top of that i'll often do stuff like map the controls to random keys across the keyboard just to give me a challenge

I always select the absolute top setting, i do not bother with normal or easy.

I have never been much for a easy way through games

It depends on how many difficulties there are, what they are, why they make the game harder, etc. My rule of thumb is unless it's a game that I just want to power through, I'll play at one harder than normal but not necessarily the hardest setting on my first playthrough.

The problem is, some games have poor difficulty options. In the Uncharted games, higher difficulty just means every opponent can take 2 or 3 headshots before they die. Between that and limited ammo, it just made Uncharted 2 take -forever- to beat. I like a game where higher difficulty means smarter enemies (not just more of them). The Batman games did this well with their harder "new game plus" modes, where fights involve tougher foes because they have a wider variety of weapons and equipment that force you to use more varied tactics to win.

-Byshop

I almost play games on the easy setting. If I am experienced enough go to normal, then hard.

Most of the time I do. I usually don't on shoot em up games though because then too many crap will be on screen and I can't think fast enough to dodge everything, lol.

I only play in the normal difficulty, or the medium difficulty depending on what type of genre. I cannot do the hardest setting because I can't sit and enjoy the story. You spend more time dying and trying to complete ridiculous goals it quickly loses its appeal.

If it's my first time with the franchise I always go for the normal difficulty. If I'm quite familiar with it I go harder.

Normal, usually.

It's the complete opposite for me. When I was a younger man I played every game on the hardest difficulty setting. Now that I'm older, I simply do not have time to prolong games as much because I have a lot less time to game. As I've stated in another thread, I seek out games that bring me pure joy now. Those games would be Duck Game, L4D, TF, etc.

Depends on the genre and my familiarity with the game style. Also depends on certain other elements that can vary wildly between games. For example, look at XCOM: Enemy Within, one of my top 3 favorite single player games last generation. I didn't play it on Impossible mode, the hardest difficulty, because I found it kind of cheap. Instead, I played on Classic mode, the next step down, which was still brutally hard. There are four modes in that game, BTW, Easy, Normal, Classic, and Impossible.

If it's a game that I intend to replay, such as Pillars of Eternity, then I typically spend my first time on the second hardest difficulty (Hard mode for that game) and then I replay it on the hardest (Path of the Damned for PoE).

If it's a standard AAA game, then I play it on the hardest difficulty mode. Like Wolfenstein: the New Order which I recently played. Had no intention or desire to play that game more than once so I bumped it up as high as it went.

One more note: if there's a special highest difficulty mode that includes permadeath in a single player story oriented game (for example, The Witcher 2) then I avoid that. I despise permadeath in that type of game. I'm fine with permadeath in something like The Binding of Isaac or Spelunky, but not in a 40+ hour story based game that would force me to repeat the same material I'd already cleared.

I play most games on haed except games that it effect the story

I start with the normal/medium setting and if I enjoyed the game enough I will try the hardest difficulty.

I, usually, go through my first playthrough on normal difficulty. And if I enjoy the game enough, ala The Last of Us, then I play on Grounded mode, or hardest difficulty for example.

I start on Normal and then during my next playthrough I select higher difficulty settings.

I usually start on hard, even if I am playing a new game I've never played before. You die a lot in the beginning, but I feel like I learn more of the game mechanics, enemies, patterns etc.

When I play on lower difficulty settings, its easy to become passive when it comes to abilities, or learning how to play the game. But theres no wrong way to play a game regardless.

I only play on the hardest setting if (i) the game is too easy or (ii) the game mechanic is sufficiently enjoyable to merit the extra devotion required!

Mostly I prefer story-driven games, but occasionally something is sufficiently fun to make me want to play it on hard. I know it doesn't get much love for its gameplay, but the original Crysis was something I really enjoyed playing at the highest difficulty. It was fun sneaking up behind people and then using extra strength to throw people into the air :-p

I mostly start on normal for my first playthrough... but I'm currently playing DAI on Nightmare mode... really fun till now

I always start on normal then play the game again on hard.

I do not. I usually start on medium and often knock it to hard when it proves to be too easy. But I don't default to just throwing the slider up to "grueling" - I'm a really busy old man at this point, and with so many other obligations and hobbies in my life I have trouble justifying creating a die-a-thousand-times nightmare for myself for the sake of it. Mind you, games have gotten easier (or I've gotten better) since I was younger - so it's not uncommon for me to increase the difficulty so it isn't a snoozefest. But I'm in it for fun, not headaches.

On a related note... one of the big beefs I have with games now is how few failstates they have. Take Uncharted - so many people love it, but you simply cannot lose. Die occasionally? Sure. But the auto-platforming and instant indefinite respawn - things like that keep the game moving forward, yes, but they take skill away from the experience too.

If there is the option, the decision to begin on higher difficulties has usually been made in recent times, but not always the hardest. Games are easier than they were a few generations ago, so they are manageable challenges.