Topic: What game difficulty do you play on ?

I chose the hardest difficulty unless it’s a game that has a difficulty where you must play through the game first and learn everything about it before trying a difficulty that’s like 1-hit kill or something like “insane” in outlast . A long time ago i used to just stick to normal but , imo , hard difficulty makes the experience way better and engaging/immersive . & this is coming from someone with a bad temper 😂

Nice thread @nomither6 - be interesting to see what opinions are out there on this one...

Personally, I'm on your wave length and like to select the hardest difficulty available - unless of course it is completely masochistic/unfair/"insane" etc!

I find that a harder and more challenging difficulty curve makes me concentrate far more, and provides a far greater feeling of accomplishment when overcoming a difficult level and/or boss.

Ghost of Tsushima is a recent example I can think of. I played the regular game on 'hard', as the next setting up was entitled 'lethal'... which scared me off! But honestly, I felt I was sleepwalking through the base game. So when I moved to the Iki Island DLC I changed up to 'lethal' and it changed this game from good - - -> amazing! 'Lethal' was a challenge for sure, and there were some rough moments, but it was quite well balanced overall IMO.

However - I am not a huge fan of selected difficulty modes, and would rather play a game that is 'one mode only'. Examples I can think of are Returnal, Nioh etc and I guess all of FromSoftware's catalogue.

I know Elden Ring was quite divisive in terms of "too easy" or "too hard" camps.... but honestly I felt this game managed difficulty quite well. Of course it didnt provide difficulty sliders/options per se, it had many in-game tools and mechanics that could alleviate the tougher spikes (Mimic Tear, OP Builds, Levelling Up, Summons). For those wanting brutal challenge, they could attempt to solo bosses etc... but for those wanting a slightly smoother ride then there are a ton of in-game tools to support.

I suppose it all boils down to "why" anyone chooses to play a video game I suppose. I certainly wouldn't think less of anyone for playing a game on story/easy mode, and understand there is probably an equal market (if not larger?) vs those who play for challenge.

Normal. I can only remember changing the difficulty a few times. From memory I turned it up on The Witcher 3 as it makes the combat a bit more nuanced, and Gears of War 3 as I found it boring on normal. I turned it down on Kena for a couple of boss fights but turned it back down outside of that.

For games which don't have difficulty settings, I'm happy to stick to what the developer intended. And for some games, such as Elden Ring, I'm not convinced an easy mode would even really make sense.

For a lot of other games though I will start on normal. I'll knock a game down to easy for some later game bosses if I'm hitting a brick wall. Or indeed move down to easy for entire final stretch of a game in some cases. I mostly do this in long JRPGs were the choice is to grind or reduce the difficulty. If I've hit that point in a game I'd much rather see how the story plays out. I don't find grinding fun at all, even in games with great combat systems. For shorter games I often don't reach this point.

One thing I really don't like is games which lock you in to a difficulty setting right from the start. I believe that it should be possible to change at any stage. For really long games where changing play through isn't an option I'll often start on easy anticipating I'll want to change it later, 40 hours in or so. I played both Persona 3 and 4 on easy for example (fortunately 5 lets you switch).

Overall I find my approach gives quite a good balance. Sometimes I'll be playing a game like Elden Ring or Dark Souls and will enjoy the challenge. Other times I just want to enjoy some light combat alongside exploration, story and characters.

I never play anything above the normal difficulty.

Used to play on Normal and only occasionally crank it up if I knew I was good at that specific game.

Now I'll quite often play on Story or Easy. I only get to play for about 2-3 hours a week and if I spend weeks on one particularly tricky bit, I'd get burnt out fast. I'd rather play more games with that time, especially as I tend to gravitate towards story based games anyway.

Every games I have never played before = Easiest

Dance Dance Revolution games = Expert & Challenge

I played certain DDR songs with blindfold, facing backward from monitor, playing on Expert difficulty.

@CJD87 it definitely is a larger market of casual players , but good answer though . kudos to a fellow gamer that likes a challenge !

@JohnnyShoulder oh man , the gears of war franchise was hell on hard difficulty 😂 , you really felt like a squishy that would explode to pieces from just being grazed 😂! That’s cool though that you flipped through difficulties though , i forgot some games allow you to change the difficulty whenever you want instead of playing it through and being stuck with one . we need more (ALL) games like that

@mcdreamer good answer , playing how you want is the best way to play 👍

@ScarletSpidey understandable ; i find myself looking at the clock more and more when i play games nowadays . sucks honestly , haha .

@nomither6 I think I played all 3 games relatively close to each other, so by the time I played the third game I found it a breeze on normal. I was still rubbish at the MP though! 😂

I usually go with the default unless I have it on good authority that it seems too easy and a higher one is still pretty normal (like in case of Ratchet And Clank Rift Apart) or when slightly more challenge just seems more fun (like Stranger of Paradise).
I don't usually use an easier difficulty unless it's for post-game trophy hunting.

@nomither6 I usually set it based on the type of game I'm playing. Most things I will play on hard but if I just want to blast through a game due to finding collectables etc. then I'll notch it right down to blast through it.

I've found since playing Returnal, where there wasn't the option to change difficulty, I've much preferred having the challenge and like @CJD87 I'm good with not being able to select a difficulty as it pushes me to go with what the developer intended. I do find the sense of achievement is very real with those games and I just don't get that from easier games. That said there have been a few that I've struggled with and dropped the difficulty e.g. GoW 2018 I spent a while bashing my head against a wall on GMGoW mode so dropped it down a level to the next one down which was still a good challenge.

It's great that there's something for everyone and also great that some developers are happy to go with what they feel is how the game should be played.

I usually go default unless there are any difficulty-specific trophy’s for the Platinum, in which case I do what’s needed. In fairness, when I do play through games on the harder difficulties I do have a more consistent feeling of being ‘in-the-zone’… but also far more frustration too 😅.

If there isn't a I am Death incarnate! option, I throw away the game.

Edit: Seriously though, I don't really care. It just depends how long I want to spend on a game.

i usually pick the difficulty in the middle, like if a game has easy, normal, and hard .. i choose normal

I always start on easy to get to know the game.
I play through a few times, then up it to the next level, and so on

Like others have said, it depends. Lately I’m doing more and more on easy, but normal is where I play a lot too. I almost never start on hard. If there’s no difficulty related trophies and if the game locks you in to a difficulty from the outset, I’m more prone to start on easy. Nothing worse than hitting a wall and not being able to slide it down. I was put off of starting on hard when I played a game (I can’t remember which it was atm) that required a hard playthrough for the platinum and online guides were saying that hard wasn’t really all that bad and encouraged starting from there so as to get the plat in one run. Needless to say I fell off the game when it became too annoying and I wasn’t enjoying it.

That said, I do enjoy the challenge every now and then from the likes of Returnal, Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne etc. It does bring that sense of accomplishment that is unmatched. And like someone said, there are usually ways baked into those games to make them easier, but without actual ‘easy modes’ per se.

My issue is just the lack of time to invest in “getting good” for every single game I play. So I have to dial things down so I can make good progress in my limited time and save the challenging games for once in a while.

I always play on default with a few exceptions. Default/normal/etc. is what I consider the recommended experience to be - the creator's intent. So that's what I play on. The only time I deviate from that is if I'm replaying a game for the story and I don't care about combat I'll bang it down to easy. Mass Effect, for example.

Medium or the default difficulty usually. These tend to have the best balance: a decent challenge, but not overwhelmingly frustrating.