What difficulty do you play games on?

[Alfieri]

Generally I go for Normal. However if a game has a comment for each difficulty like Fire Emblem's Hard Mode says "for experienced players in the series" then I'll go with what fits (Hard mode in this case).

 

[Hikamaru]

I often go for the easy setting. Yeah, I'm a big wimp hahahaha

 

[Lusus]

Honestly it's different for each game for me and I can't really explain how I decide difficulty, but usually it's normal.

But when playing Furi and Ori and the Blind Forest I went easy first because I knew I would love the game and wanted to get used to the controls first (latter especially since I just got a controller) so I can enjoy the experience afterwards playing it comfortably.

 

[JJ Styles]

Also, the mentioned Uber or Ultra Hard difficulty settings when i feel like taking it up a notch. In most First Person Shooter games and their respective campaigns, I like playing on the harder difficulty settings since I find that the base or normal difficulty in most of these games to be a little too forgiving.

Then there are some games that has to be played on their Hard difficulty settings because the supposed normal difficulty settings make the game non-existent. A good example is Aliens: Colonial Marines. On regular difficulty or below, this game is so easy that you are better off watching the Aliens movie as a challenge (and to an extent, the Aliens movie is still a far more enjoyable experience), but on Hardened and especially on Ultimate Badass Difficulty, the game actually exists.

As far as I'm concerned, I like playing on what i like to call the "baseline Hard" difficulty settings. Baseline Hard is the term I use to refer to the hard difficulty settings that's available by default, as these are proven to be playtested and balanced, such as Ultra-violence (Baseline Hard) on Doom. Playing on the baselind hard settings helps me be prepared to play the Uber/Expert/Ultra Nightmare difficulty settings.

As seen in the screenshot i provided, I like playing Wolfenstein: The New Order on "I am Death Incarnate" setting as a casual playthrough since anything below that setting makes the game a little too easy to the point that the supposed immersion factor is kinda lost. You don't feel the game.

 

[Swithdas]

Depends how familiar I am with a game franchise/genre. But generally I'll always start in the middle and 90% of the time ramp it up pretty quickly.

 

[Hermione Granger]

I play on the easiest difficulty to keep from getting frustrated.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

Ultimately, it depends on the achievements that are tied to the game. Being the achievement whore as I am, if there are multiple achievements that can be unlocked at one time by playing on the hardest difficulty, then I'll generally go down that route. Otherwise, I'll play on normal just so it ain't a pure cakewalk you know?

 

[GarlandChaos]

Normal is what I usually go with, especially on first playthroughs.

I almost never play on Easy difficulty unless it's a game or genre I know I'm not very good at. If I'm using an emulator for those kinds of games, however, I'll give normal mode a shot and just use save states, which I'll gladly admit to doing.

#noshameatall

 

[Urist McHemlock]

I used to do normal on my first playthrough, but lately, I have been doing first playthroughs on the hardest difficulty.

 

[Sheep]

Easy lol. Maybe it sounds weird to say, but I don't play games to suffer through difficulty and constantly lose. I play for the story or to relax, so harder difficulties make very little sense for me since it only makes me stressed out, which is the opposite of how I want to feel when playing something. Once I adjust I'll go through the harder difficulties, assuming I feel I can get through them.

 

[Aisu]

I almost always begin games at the hardest difficulty. Not to say it doesn't bite me in the ass later, but go big or go home.

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

Depends on whether difficulty is tied to trophies.
But it's usually Normal anyway.

 

[BlissyMKW]

I normally do first playthroughs on whatever the game classifies as the Normal mode. After that, I try to mix it up by trying out harder difficulties, or in the case of some games (looking at you, Partners in Time), do a run with no equipment or some kind of challenge.

 

[Kristaok]

Usually normal at least until I've beaten the game, then I amp it up.

 

[Crackin355]

Normal.

 

[Lucario]

very much depends on the game. Often the games I play don't really have a difficulty setting anyway, so I just play whatever difficulity the game normally is.

 

[Austin]

Generally I just go with the default difficulty unless I'm trying to get certain achievements/trophies. Once in a blue moon I'll play a game where the normal difficulty is a bit too much because I haven't learned the game yet, and in those cases I'll turn it down to easy. But generally I play at normal difficulty.

 

[Lunar]

I don't really enjoy games if they're too easy or difficult, so normal does it for me.

 

[Astinus]

Like Sheep, I play on the easiest setting because I don't play video games for the challenge. I play to pass the time while getting a good story (if the game has one). It's only if I know a game really well that I challenge myself with it.

 

[Yukari]

I tend to play on either easy or normal. In some games I'll play on harder difficulties but for the most part Hard and above are really poorly balanced and aren't fun to play on.