I mainly choose the hardest difficulty on the game, which bites me in the ass in mid-late game if I don't prepare properly in early game, but most of the time, I'm able to beat the game after 20-30 hours of the usual time to beat it.
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Normal if it's a new game. Hard or Newgame+ when possible if I'm replaying something. But if it's one of those games where higher difficulty just means giving the enemies a crapton of health and the player character instagibs from the slightest tap, then I won't hesitate to just switch back to Normal.
Easy or normal. I'm a casual player so I play for fun, and I don't enjoy games if they're too difficult, unless it's a game I'm already good at (which is rare)
It depends what the difficulty does, if its something like the Civilization games where higher difficulties give the AI bonuses and cheats, then that isn't "difficulty" it is just trying to compensate for bad design so I won't bother.
I start on normal and if I want to replay a game I already beat, or it has new game plus, I replay it on a harder difficulty. For Resident Evil 4 I did that but by the time I got to Professional difficulty I was able to buy and infinite ammo rocket launcher, so it was incredibly easy. Some games I liked to start on hard though, like F.E.A.R. or Doom 3. Some games are fun as hard at the start but most games I like on normal first to beat the game then play it harder next time.
Start off at Normal difficulty but if it's a long-running series that I'm very familiar with (i.e. Yakuza, Dynasty Warriors), I'll jump up 1 difficulty level as a starting point.
In some cases, I'd throw in some self-imposed challenge/handicap on myself, occasionally for fun and occasionally because I'm just dumb.
Easy and or normal. The only exception is if there's unlockables in the higher difficulties.
Always normal, hard just makes the game unfair, I dont think I have ever seen a game with a hard setting actually make the game more hard without being unfair.
Even shit like Terraria did it so wrong, such a shame, the bosses having new attacks and new gear was so cool, but you're fragile glass fighting meat sponges.
Take it with a grain of salt, I am slower than a snail.
At 4/19/25 08:19 PM, SlaveOnAStick wrote:I mainly choose the hardest difficulty on the game, which bites me in the ass in mid-late game if I don't prepare properly in early game, but most of the time, I'm able to beat the game after 20-30 hours of the usual time to beat it.
I pretty much always start on normal, but bump the difficulty on each subsequent playthrough if it's a game I like (Unless the difficulty just turns the enemies into bullet sponges and that's it, then forgetaboutit)
I always start with hard. It can be frustrating sometimes, but I find it more fun than the game being too easy on normal
At 4/19/25 08:45 PM, Chdonga wrote:But if it's one of those games where higher difficulty just means giving the enemies a crapton of health and the player character instagibs from the slightest tap, then I won't hesitate to just switch back to Normal.
Exactly. If a higher difficulty in (for example) an RPG game means more challenge, e.g. more enemies in an encounter, smarter use of their abilities, new abilities, smarter targeting, then it can be quite fun change of pace for an experienced player.
But I'm not interested in basic difficulty changes that just multiply some values to prolong combat without any real gameplay changes. That just makes it increasingly feel like a chore.
I usually do "standard" or "normal" then work my way up from there.
Skyrim/Fallout, once I get overpowered enough, I always crank the difficulty to max.
Resident Evil Remakes (and Dead Space, Silent Hill, etc.) are always Hardcore (or harder) on repeat playthroughs.
I'll never be caught dead playing on easy, unless there is some trophy that requires it, or there is no point in playing it on hard mode to achieve it.
От каждого по способностям, каждому по потребностям
Usually the hardest or the option right below the hardest
I like harder difficulties when it's more than just turning enemies into damage sponges while the player has the durability of a dry twig. KH2 Final Mix has Critical Mode which is nice because it increases enemy stats while halving the max player HP, but also increases the player's attack power and starts you off with more abilities, because the devs knew that returning players (the most likely type of person to play Critical Mode) would enjoy that.
Terraria is a unique case in that it has both the hard modes I love and hate. Expert Mode increases enemy stats but also gives bosses new AI that shakes up what you're used to, as well as unique drops that make playing the mode worthwhile. Master Mode on the other hand just increases the stats further, has no new boss AI, and the vast vast VAST majority of exclusive rewards you get in return are cosmetic and ultimately worthless. There's a ship mount that only drops from pirate raids in Master Mode that I really liked, but I'm pretty sure it got its speed nerfed to the point where it's no longer the best option so that means even less benefits.
I always go normal if it's my first time, but if I beat a hack and slash I always try to play a harder difficulty to get more love for the game.
In the case of which game I felt did the hardest difficulty thr best I would say Metal Gear Rising since on revengeance mode you can die in 1-2 hits, but enemies are not sponges and if you perfect parry them you can kill them instantly, it even works for bosses as it does insane damage to them.
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Oh, depends on..
I usually set hardest or nearly hardest in games I wanna play and forget, which are not interesting for me I mean. If here's the game I may like or I already found it interesting - I will choose something like normal or above-normal difficulty.
At 4/20/25 10:47 AM, Ralix wrote:At 4/19/25 08:45 PM, Chdonga wrote:But if it's one of those games where higher difficulty just means giving the enemies a crapton of health and the player character instagibs from the slightest tap, then I won't hesitate to just switch back to Normal.
Exactly. If a higher difficulty in (for example) an RPG game means more challenge, e.g. more enemies in an encounter, smarter use of their abilities, new abilities, smarter targeting, then it can be quite fun change of pace for an experienced player.
But I'm not interested in basic difficulty changes that just multiply some values to prolong combat without any real gameplay changes. That just makes it increasingly feel like a chore.
i usually pick normal or lower for those reasons. bloating up the enemy's health and damage, giving them unlimited MP/ammo when yours is limited or simply increasing their reaction speeds to inhuman levels doesn't make the game feel challenging, it makes the game feel like a cheater. you don't really get around the increased difficulty by planning better (such as making combos mandatory to kill stuff efficiently), you just have to either dope yourself into speeding your reflexes up or repeat the same pattern from the lower difficulties, but for several hours instead of a few minutes. and there's rarely any reward beyond bragging rights.
Terraria's expert mode and for the worthy worlds do higher difficulty right, as you get a different combat experience along with some practical rewards (useful accessories, a certain potion buffs you instead of killing you, etc.). master mode is just bs though, sure it increases your armor effectiveness, but at the same time, renders it worthless because even with increased defenses you can't hope to survive a hit. and only 2 or 3 of the rewards are worth it (a light pet obtainable after another, arguably better one and way easier to obtain becomes available, a mount on par with something you can obtain shortly after killing the boss that drops it and an infinite fly mount several bosses before the next one, which was nerfed beyond what would be reasonable to not make it the game breaker that it was on launch)
I choose Normal and then increase the difficulty when I'm sure I'm good enough and comfortable. I rarely choose easy mode unless I feel like getting achievements or I'm seriously struggling with the game.
I usually start with Normal difficulty because I want to test myself and enjoy the game, but if it becomes too annoying I may go for Easy until I master to move to the next level. Only after I mastered Normal I go for Hard, but keep in mind I'm a casual player. I enjoy games for the sake of fun, discovery of what it has to offer (I love exploring every single bit of the map to find secrets or easter eggs, especially if I hunt for achievements) and experiencing the possible lessons behind it.
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I like to start on the standard difficulty. If the experience was seamless and not too hard, I try the hard mode afterwards. Otherwise, it's likely that I go with easy any time I revisit it! I think that it's very fun to replay the game you've beaten but where everything is a cakewalk, I suppose I feel like this because I really like the feeling of becoming mechanically improved as you play the game (Like in Zelda or Terraria), but since not every game does that, I sometimes just like to do a second playthrough where I'm just super busted or it's just easy to go through so I can enjoy pretending I'm good ;P
I'm in my late 30s, between work and my personal life, I generally don't have the time to slog through a game like I did in my early 20s and younger.
So in recent years I default to Easy or even Narrative/Exploration modes in most games, sometimes Medium if I think it'll be a relatively easy-ish game.
Most recently I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 on Easy, I'm 70 hours in over nearly 2 months on and off but I also hit up seemingly every quest I can find and I'm having a blast.
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Usually just start with normal and go from there, if I feel like I've got a good hang of normal then I'd usually move on to hard. Most of the games I play though don't usually use difficulty settings however, last time I remember playing games with difficulty settings was Friday Night Funkin' and Taiko no Tatsujin.
Generally normal difficulty suffices in most games. It often seems like the harder difficulties is less about testing skills and challenge and more about enemy AI simply having a cheap exploit strategy, are damage sponges, have no visible weakness/counters, or a combination of those 3.
It generally doesn't help that a lot of older games seem to lock the endings behind harder difficulties for no good reason, and we thankfully gotten away from that over the last 25 years or so.
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I think Normal is the best way to start because its not handing the game over to you on a plate but it doesn't make you work hard enough to rage.
Easy or normal for when I first play the game. Then I do hard for after I know the game better.
I typically start with Normal. Some games will try harder than others to balance all their modes, but Normal is the most likely to have a steady escalation of challenge with fewer bottlenecks or braindead easy segments. I'll move up to Hard if I think Normal was too easy or I want to start over with an added challenge, but I very rarely start on it because a lot of games' Hard modes can give the wrong first impression. If they're designed with the assumption that you already know the mechanics, it could start way too harsh for experimentation, forcing you to use the cheesiest build/strats you can find and sticking with them. Oftentimes they just make all the numbers bigger, meaning it's just more tedious than hard, so on and so forth.
Normal. I fear easy is too easy and hard is too hard during the first playthrough. But if I found normal to be too easy/hard I change it on a new playthrough.
I also feel like normal is the difficulty that the devs made the game in. Tbh games should tell me what the differences are because just the words easy, normal, hard don't do it. Maybe I have less health or weaker attacks, maybe the enemies are faster, maybe there is less checkpoints.
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Start with Normal. Even if I struggle I'll try to make it through, but in some cases if the game is way too difficult for me on Normal, I may switch to Easy.
I might also switch to Easy for reasons unrelated to difficulty, for example if there are fewer enemies or they are faster to kill on Easy. I enjoy when games are shorter to play through and not too grindy, so there are some cases where switching to Easy mode makes the pacing more to my preference.
I'm honestly not very skilled at playing most types of video games, so I rarely ever play any game on Hard mode, unless it is a game clearly intended for young children (for example a Barbie game or something)
