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[poipoipoi9]

I feel the same way, unless there's difficulty trophies, I always go for either normal or easy nowadays. I no longer have the time commitment or tolerance for frustrating myself with hard difficulty.

 

[batman2million]

I agree with you, OP. I usually played games on the most difficult setting but now I just do normal and do my best to finish it through.

Short of Halo, most games Hard or very hard settings are mostly less health for you, more for the bad guys.

 

[NotSelf]

Yep as I gotten older I don't care for it don't care for stress just want a calm relax game experience.

 

[Varna]

Most modern games barely utilize their systems unless it's on the highest difficulty. Even then it's just barely.

 

[Timu]

Nowadays I alternate between normal and hardest settings for games.

 

[Magnus]

I start Normal but usually end up on easy. I just don't have the patience anymore

I'm almost there. I've been hitting my limits on patience with normal modes (dying, finding enemy waves too tough or annoying, etc, depending on the game) more and more as I've gotten older and had less time to game. Fuck hard. But normal's still good for me.

 

[Samanosuke Akechi]

I'm with you OP. Soon to be 35, I just don't have the time or patience these days for tough games. Easy is my go to these days.

 

[TacosNSalsa]

"Aging doesn't mean a deterioration of our capabilities ...but rather a changing of them." -Kane Sumabat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j2-zIOg9c0

Watch this . This guy has been my inspiration in the gym for years now . It's an amazing video that helped me get past of "over the hillness" . You really can apply what he is saying to just about anything that you feel like your age is hindering you.

 

[Hidden One]

Normal is how games are meant to be played so I play on Normal.

 

[-MD-]

I still find hard modes to be the most fun way to play most games, normal is typically tuned too easy.

I also don't feel as if my "skills" have deteriorated at all, I'll be 27 soon.

 

[FiraB]

Play normal, I will only replay hard mode if I really enjoy the game like ironman modes in Divinity Original Sin or XCOM.

 

[nekkid]

Achievements do push me a bit to play on harder difficulties, I must admit.

 

[General Lee]

I've progressed towards more very hard / ironman modes. I used to play most games on normal, but these days they don't really offer much challenge. I like the survival aspect of iron man modes, but I still prefer to do some save scumming rather than replay same parts over and over if I die. Of course all this depends on the game, and I might go normal in some cases if I don't feel there's anything to be gained from a harder difficulty. I'm closer to a completitionist when playing so usually my characters get op sooner or later so normal feels unfulfilling, and usually even the hardest difficulty isn't that balanced.

 

[oatmeal]

I'm the same way. In my 20s I was all about the challenge now I just want to chill and blast through.

 

[Jamaro85]

It really does depend on the game and the nature of what increasing to hard difficulty does. In the Mass Effect trilogy insanity was a must for me, but in Horizon the top difficulty is just too much for me to deal with. I don't really die often but enemies taking damn near your whole health bar in a hit and forcing you to burn resources is too frustrating, not to mention that you draw even less resources at higher difficulties.

If hard difficulty adds a challenge and forces you to play with more patience and strategy that's great, but if it becomes a burden that is effectively wasting your time, even if you are able to get through it, it's not worth playing on.

 

[godhandiscen]

I am 31 and beat Halo 5 on legendary. Fuck doing that for Halo 6.

 

[Poyunch]

I play Normal just to experience how the devs intended it to be.

Unless it's SMT. I'll eat that hard shit up fam.

 

[Ogodei]

I tend to do normal except in franchises i have great confidence in (Mario Kart, of late).

No sense in needless aggravation.

 

[nekkid]

I am 31 and beat Halo 5 on legendary. Fuck doing that for Halo 6.

It's the only Halo (including Wars) that I haven't yet beat on Legendary. Although that's owing to time as much as anything else.

 

[GasProblem]

Depends on the game. Bayonetta or Devil May Cry. Sure I'll play on hard, because it's fun. Call of Duty. Veteran difficulty is usually more frustrating then fun, so no.

 

[HeatBoost]

Difficulty usually amounts to "You have less health/they do more damage" so I almost never play on hard

It'd be one thing if had mode meant different tactics or fighting larger amounts of enemies, or enemies with different weapons, or different types of enemies... stuff like that... but usually it just means you have to be more conservative in your playstyle, and that shit's boring.

The only exception I can think of is that Arkham games. While they might have done that too, the MAIN thing they did was take away your counter indicator, so you had to keep your eyes open instead of relying on Batman having Spider-Sense. That was fun.

 

[Stuggernaut]

When I first get a game, hard or higher if I can handle it. If I can't, I notch it down one spot.

BUT...

If a game has been sitting in my backlog forever, normal, or easy mode just to experience the game is fine by me. Otherwise I will never play it and it's just a waste.

 

[Frankenstrat]

Second hardest every time. I thrive on stress and overcoming it in games. Unless it's Mario Kart, then it's hardest all the way.

I am Fucking awful at video games

I did not expect to find this as funny as I did. Never change.

 

[You Pay This Much]

I've been playing video games on Hard, or Vey Hard since I was a wee lad. I'm getting older now, and my skills are deteriorating...and well, it kind of sucks.

I've been playing Doom on Hard, and not doing very well, so I've decided to go down to Normal... and well.... I love it. I'm killing shit left and right, and feeling like the badass I was meant to be.

I've now decided that I'm no longer a Hard or Very Hard player, and I'm ok with that. It was a tough decision, but I'm glad I made it. What about you, GAF?

I've always just played one level above medium and have always done fine. There is little variation to this, but it happens. I never really feel the need to change that, but makes enough sense to me, OP.

 

[Rad-]

I'm the same. I just don't have the patience anymore.

 

[prag16]

I read the topic title, then briefly considered the merits of normal fucking vs. hard fucking. Then I wondered why the topic was in Gaming and not General. Then I opened the link. Now I leave the topic disappointed.

 

[Alcotholic]

I like to enjoy my games at a steady pace, plus hard isnt always actually hard. Most of the time its just enemies with more health and deal more damage, fuck that.

 

[Opa-Pa]

I used to play everything possible on Easy as a young kid, but after turning 11 or so I started playing comfortably on Normal up until past gen where games started to become easier to a fault. Now I try to look up difficulty setting comparisons online before deciding, but stuff like Metal Gear Rising, Bayonetta 2, modern Yakuza games and Atlus RPGs where Hard is obviously the real Normal I always play on Hard.

 

[Conrad Link]

My brother plays everything on hard, he likes the challenge.

Me, I play on normal most the time. I just don't have the patience or whatever for difficult shit anymore unless it's for an Achievement for a game I really love and want to 100% (which there are a few off). I just want to relax and enjoy the game not get stressed out.

Also there are so many games out there I want to play but not enough hours in the day to do it, can't afford to get stuck on a silly section of the game I can't get past because I'm playing on hard mode.

*shrugs* Normal is fine.

 

[AXE]

Yo. I love Dark Souls and Bayonetta.

and I'm playing Persona 5 on easy. I've been nuked to death suddenly way too many times and lost long play session progress. Never again with this game.

 

[Timu]

I'm with you OP. Soon to be 35, I just don't have the time or patience these days for tough games. Easy is my go to these days.

I am surprised that I can put up with tough games/hardest settings these days considering I'll be 30 next year. I mean I'm doing various Neo Geo SNK fighters on the hardest settings for some reason, lol.

 

[Bruce Springsteen]

Normal for me, I always just assumed that that's how the devs intended it to be played.

I'm quite sure bungle listed as hardened as the way the way halo was meant to be played

 

[sugarman]

I prefer hard mode until you get to that one part you have to do 20 times.

 

[Sesha]

I always start with Normal unless Normal is piss easy, like in DmC. There's no shame in starting with Normal and then go on to higher difficulties, as it's usually what the developers intended. In some cases I jump from Normal to the highest difficulty. With MGS3 I did Extreme on my second playthrough. I could have even done European Extreme as I went for a no alerts 100% kerotan run through after the first couple of hours anyway.

 

[nekkid]

I'm quite sure bungle listed as hardened as the way the way halo was meant to be played

Heroic. But yeah, that was the target. And it works very well.

 

[Adam_Roman]

I always play games on normal because it's usually the most well-rounded way to get the story and have a bit of challenge throughout. I don't have anything to prove, I just wanna experience what the game has to offer and not have to replay the same part 50 times before progressing.

 

[Upinsmoke]

Honestly depends on the game. Football games I crank it up to max, racing hard and shooters hard but these are usually franchises where I know the controls and mechanics already pretty well.

Any other time I'll go medium, never easy though, I'd trade it in if I had to go down to easy.

 

[nekkid]

Honestly depends on the game. Football games I crank it up to max, racing hard and shooters hard but these are usually franchises where I know the controls and mechanics already pretty well.

Any other time I'll go medium, never easy though, I'd trade it in if I had to go down to easy.

Surely that depends on how enjoyable the game is on easy, rather than a blanket rule?

For example, I had to play most sections of Alien: Isolation on easy, but I still loved it.

 

[OrochiJR]

Easy has been MY jam for years now. Except for games that really come alive through the gameplay experience, like the Bayonettas, Vanquish and of course Souls style games (which don't have an easy mode to begin with). But for most other things I don't have neither the time nor the patience to retry stuff endlessly.

 

[Zakalwe]

36. Still play on hard whenever I can simply because I enjoy pushing myself to overcome the challenge.

I'm not quite as quick as I was in my younger days, but I've always been pretty good at video games. The only time I turn it down is if the harder difficulties impose some kind of frustrating extra "challenge" like too much HP bloat.

 

[Upinsmoke]

Surely that depends on how enjoyable the game is on easy, rather than a blanket rule?

For example, I had to play most sections of Alien: Isolation on easy, but I still loved it.

I feel like I'm cheating though, it's daft and not a criticism of anyone else who enjoys the experience on that difficulty but I get no enjoyment, it would be at the back of my mind nagging me.

Take the Witcher 3 for example, I stuck it on normal or whatever the equivalent is and I came to a part where I fought a werewolf, it kicked the shit out of me, I couldn't bring myself to lower the difficult because as much as I was annoyed at not being able to beat it, I was more annoyed that I was contemplating going easy mode. In the end I left it there gathering dust.

 

[GHG]

I've found myself needing to be challenged recently in order to stay engaged with a game. If it's too easy or there is no challenge I will just switch off and go do something else. It's no coincidence that the only games that have really held my attention recently are the soulsborne series and Prey.

If I'm not engaged mentally then what's the point? I may as well watch some tv shows with my wife, at least that way the narrative and acting are genuinely good.

 

[texasairhead101]

Normal for everything unless it's a shooter I'm getting into. Now, the Witcher 3, I put on the "just the story" difficulty. I put 80 hrs into it and just felt early on that dying over and over was detrimental and I prob would not have beaten it if I stayed on normal. I'm glad I made it through that game as much as I did.

 

[Tareskog]

I have friends who refuse to accept the fact that I completed the Uncharted series and Last of Us, because I finished them on normal instead of hard. "But you haven't played them the real way!" WTF? I did enjoy the games nonetheless, and I do consider the little spare time I have to play games as valuable as possible, and don't want to spend 3-4 more hours on them just to prove anything for anyone. People like to play games on hard? Fine. But I just like to experience the story for 90% of the games that I play. I don't care much for achievements or trophies.

 

[firehawk12]

Easy for FPSes. Even though they're not bullshit like early Call of Duty, I don't see the point in trying to grind through a FPS campaign these days.

 

[Blue Ninja]

I usually don't have the time to fuck around with anything higher than Normal anymore, unless the higher difficulties are really easy.

I think Halo FPS's are the only exception. I've played those on Heroic since Halo 3, that way to play has just been engrained into my mind.

 

[Zafir]

Honestly I rarely play on hard. I'd rather a game be too easy than be too tedious to continue with. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a challenge , I love the Souls series, but the problem with difficulty levels is it often just comes down to scaling, enemies doing more damage, you doing less damage, etc. Which does make the fight harder, sure, but not in the way I'd like.

 

[The Scrivener]

Wait til you come to the land of easy, my friend.

Never!

 

[Tizoc]

I've been playing video games on Hard, or Vey Hard since I was a wee lad. I'm getting older now, and my skills are deteriorating...and well, it kind of sucks.

I've been playing Doom on Hard, and not doing very well, so I've decided to go down to Normal... and well.... I love it. I'm killing shit left and right, and feeling like the badass I was meant to be.

I've now decided that I'm no longer a Hard or Very Hard player, and I'm ok with that. It was a tough decision, but I'm glad I made it. What about you, GAF?

Welcome to 5 years ago. If you ask me, just avoid any frustration and start on Normal.
Some games are better on hard though, like Platinum or Falcom games.

 

[Ushay]

A lot of the time, the harder difficulties are the way it was meant to be played, plus I enjoy the challenge. I can't stand games that are deliberately too easy.

Unless its something that is very enjoyable like BotW, I always go for harder difficulties.