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[Gen X]

I generally play on the hardest unlocked setting. I prefer a chllenge and value for money for my first playthrough.

Hard is the new normal

After TLOU I'll agree with you, that was the easiest 'hard' difficulty I've played from memory.

 

[CambriaRising]

And why is that?

Bullying is okay in gaming.

 

[jroc74]

I always go for Normal. If the choices are Hard, Harder, Hardest....you would think the middle one would be Normal based on experience and history.

I think I would go with Hard in the last case because of the way its named. It does effect my decision. I do stay away from easy tho...I mean cmon...its easy.....

 

[Daedardus]

 

[NinjaBoiX]

No, but I do think "Easy" diificulty should be renamed "Eternal Shame"

I often play on easy, CoD for example. You don't get anything other than frustration playing on the hardest setting.

I ain't even mad.

 

[daveo42]

I always start out on Normal difficulty or w/e is supposed to be the normal one. It's probably an incorrect assumption now, but I always felt that it was the options devs determined was how they wanted their game to feel in terms of balancing and difficulty. Harder modes being an added challenge and easier ones for those who either aren't very good, want to quickly beat a game (why?), or get more enjoyment out of the story aspects without being burdened by gameplay (I can understand this a little more as a valid reason).

I'm not one who plays on harder difficulties for the challenge of it, though I did play and beat TLOU on Survivor and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I was expecting it to be based on how it was balanced.

 

[Fugu]

And why is that?

Because it adds character to an otherwise mundane option menu. It's not as if the game continually peppers you with insults for picking easy.

Bullying is okay in gaming.

Oh please. Bullying?

 

[CambriaRising]

Because it adds character to an otherwise mundane option menu. It's not as if the game continually peppers you with insults for picking easy.


Oh please. Bullying?

Harassment and ridicule isn't bullying?

 

[ComputerMKII]

Harassment and ridicule isn't bullying?

It's OK because it's not considered as serious as sexism.

 

[Traitor]

I play on normal because thats what the dev intended the game to play like

 

[Fugu]

Harassment and ridicule isn't bullying?

Bullying is repeated and targeted physical and/or emotional abuse with some level of depraved indifference.

This is a joke in an attempt to get people to have a sense of humor about their difficulty choice. Nobody expects you to take them seriously.

 

[CambriaRising]

Bullying is repeated and targeted physical and/or emotional abuse with some level of depraved indifference.

In other words, harassment and ridicule.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Bullying is repeated and targeted physical and/or emotional abuse with some level of depraved indifference.

This is a joke in an attempt to get people to have a sense of humor about their difficulty choice. Nobody expects you to take them seriously.

Well, that shitty humor is uncalled for.

 

[Fugu]

In other words, harassment and ridicule.

Have you ever actually been bullied? The amount of turmoil that people who are bullied go through is insurmountable compared to the tiny amount of annoyance you feel from your difficulty choice having a name implying that you're an infant. You should go to a playground and tell a kid whose getting his face remodeled that you feel his pain every time you pick easy in a videogame. By using the word bullying you are explicitly conflating the two scenarios when they have nothing to do with each other.

Well, that shitty humor is uncalled for.

I don't know, it seems pretty called for. It's a choice you're making that's superficially funny to a lot of people. It's not of any particular consequence nor is it a character judgement.

 

[zoukka]

That kind of labelling of the normal difficulty just rubs me the wrong way.

It rubs you the way the developer intended

 

[Black Door]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EasyModeMockery

I've personally always hated it when devs call easy difficulty "pussy mode" or whatever. Why offer it if you feel that way?

 

[ComputerMKII]

I don't know, it seems pretty called for. It's a choice you're making that's superficially funny to a lot of people. It's not of any particular consequence nor is it a character judgement.

Calling people babies for not caring about challenge isn't character judgment? Also, give me a break with the argumentum ad populum.

 

[Village]

It rubs you the way the developer intended

nevermind just ignore this

 

[Fugu]

Calling people babies for not caring about challenge isn't character judgment? Also, give me a break with the argumentum ad populum.

It's not a character judgement because they're obviously not babies.

 

[CambriaRising]

Have you ever actually been bullied? The amount of turmoil that people who are bullied go through is insurmountable compared to the tiny amount of annoyance you feel from your difficulty choice having a name implying that you're an infant. You should go to a playground and tell a kid whose getting his face remodeled that you feel his pain every time you pick easy in a videogame. By using the word bullying you are explicitly conflating the two scenarios when they have nothing to do with each other.


I don't know, it seems pretty called for. It's a choice you're making that's superficially funny to a lot of people. It's not of any particular consequence nor is it a character judgement.

You you don't think harassing someone and ridiculing them is "bullying" than I don't know what to say. My comments are in referance to your statement that it is okay to behave as such, not that a game calls someone a "pussy" for picking easy mode. For the record, I have been bullied and I know that it takes on many forms, not just being picked on on the playground. I find it disgusting that you would apply such a narrow view of the subject just to suit your argument, all the while implying that I am part of the group playing on easy mode and getting annoyed by being made fun of for it.

An implication that is unfounded and frankly wrong. But of course, I must be part of this group to defend it because no true gamer would ever defend someone who plays on easy mode. Feel free to dive into my trophies and achievements if you need to determine where I lay in this.

 

[chickdigger802]

for most games I tend to just go with w/e the game's difficulty it highlights to where you choose difficulty.


I don't mind playing games on easy, especially if the only difference is that it takes less time to kill shit and there is no difference in story or monster attack patterns or what not.

Games combat sequences drag enough as it is these days... And my backlog isn't getting smaller.

 

[khaaan]

The only time difficulty naming affected my choice was in Ninja Gaiden because I couldn't figure out what they meant and the descriptions were even more vague.

 

[Fugu]

You you don't think harassing someone and ridiculing them is "bullying" than I don't know what to say. My comments are in referance to your statement that it is okay to behave as such, not that a game calls someone a "pussy" for picking easy mode. For the record, I have been bullied and I know that it takes on many forms, not just being picked on on the playground. I find it disgusting that you would apply such a narrow view of the subject just to suit your argument, all the while implying that I am part of the group playing on easy mode and getting annoyed by being made fun of for it.

An implication that is unfounded and frankly wrong. But of course, I must be part of this group to defend it because no true gamer would ever defend someone who plays on easy mode. Feel free to dive into my trophies and achievements if you need to determine where I lay in this.

I legitimately don't give two shits about whether or not people want to play on easy; people can, should and do enjoy games however they want. However, your use of the word bullying is both inaccurate and disingenuous. Bullying takes many forms, but all of those forms imply protracted abuse. This is not protracted abuse. It is not bullying.

 

[Curufinwe]

I don't care what the setting is called. I just pick the one I think will give me the best experience.

 

[dragonbane]

this just affects Snake's mask, not difficulty?

As for difficulties, i like the Crysis approach where they list what changes. Making the hardest difficulty the best choice.

and bonus funny points to Rise of the Triad:

Yep. Absolutely perfect.

 

[Akuun]

No, but it sometimes does affect my level of confusion if they use synonymous words for different difficulty levels.

 

[Voidance]

I legitimately don't give two shits about whether or not people want to play on easy; people can, should and do enjoy games however they want.

Agreed. While I usually play on Normal or Hard, I will often do Easy runs through games I really enjoy to pick up collectibles, soak in the experience, and/or revisit an impactful moment.

 

[Fuu]

Doesn't really affect my choice. I'll choose whichever is "normal", then hard(er) settings for following playthroughs depending on how it changes the game and what I'm aiming for.

For my first run in a game I prefer to play the difficulty where the dev paid most attention to balancing, etc, and normal is usually that. Easy and hard feel like afterthoughts in a lot of games, so I avoid unless there's something specific I want to experience in those settings (easy for collectibles, for example).

Thread reminded me of Dangan Ronpa. First time in my life I had to look online before I chose the difficulty setting in a game.

 

[Tain]

Listing the differences on the difficulty select screen is such a welcome thing for me. I especially liked... Rockman 10, I think? Where it shows an image of the same scene among all three difficulty levels.

Hitman games are usually good about that, too.

Generally when developers come up with goofy difficulty names you get more detailed descriptions. Like in Resident Evil Remake and Ninja Gaiden II.

 

[akaoni]

Yes.

I always roll Normal because I assume that's how the game was intended to be experienced, balanced around it etc minus a few exceptions. Most games just increase the damage enemies do and/or the amount of damage needed to kill and call it a day.

Hiking or mountain climbing?

 

[Not Spaceghost]

Just like some one else said the only time this has affected me was with human revolution and the "give me deus ex" option.

It was like they were taunting me.

I was not disappointed.

 

[Rinj von Scoot]

I always roll Normal because I assume that's how the game was intended to be experienced, balanced around it etc minus a few exceptions. Most games just increase the damage enemies do and/or the amount of damage needed to kill and call it a day.

This is how I do it too if I have no information to go on. Sometimes a friend will tell me beforehand to pick a particular difficulty, like how I was warned to pick hard instead of normal in Dead Space because normal would have been too easy. I'll also try out a different mode if the game tells me what will be changed; I started with hard in Dishonored because the game explained that enemies would do more damage and be more perceptive, which seemed like a good fit for me.

Deus Ex Human Revolution definitely has my favorite difficulty names though--with just a couple of words, you know pretty much exactly what you'll be getting from each setting:
Tell Me a Story
Give Me a Challenge
Give Me Deus Ex

 

[Village]

It's not a character judgement because they're obviously not babies.

Wat?

 

[ArjanN]

It rubs you the way the developer intended

This.

Also, if you're not new to games 'normal' mode is probably too easy in the majority of modern games.

 

[Ol No Bones]

Do people even play on easy?

 

[Nymphae]

Not in the least. I always play on the normal difficulty setting, because generally it feels like that is the experience the developers were aiming for. When I was younger I cared more about beating things on the harder difficulties, now I couldn't give a shit. I play to have fun.

 

[Riposte]

Hmm, not really. Though one thing I've come to understand with most games is that "Hard" is normal and "Normal" is easy.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Do people even play on easy?

I do.

 

[petethepanda]

The Jazz Jackrabbit games didnt have any really crazy names for its difficulites, but it did imply you were a baby for picking easy

Came in hoping to see this, awesome. Always stuck in my head for difficulty levels.

 

[icurehangovers]

I choose normal under the assumption that that is the way the devs meant for me to play the game. I hate higher difficulties most of the time just because they really aren't more challenging. All they do is modify the damage you do, or the amount of enemies on screen. That's always annoying to me. The only way I'll up the difficulty is if the game is too easy.

If developers could make AI more realistic as the difficulty is upped, I would totally be down to play on the hardest difficulty. Games like Skyrim would be better if the enemies were more realistic in their fighting style and not dependent on their level. Also, one of my favorite games, Fire Emblem: Awakening would be more fun if the AI was unpredictable like a human instead of just having unfair advantages over you in the higher difficulties.

 

[SkyOdin]

I liked the old Street Fighter 2 approach where it just used numbers for difficulty setting. You had a difficulty 1, 2, 3, 4, and etc. No descriptors to influence or shame players into playing one difficulty or another.

I also liked how Megaman 10 used pictures to demonstrate the changes between difficulty levels. The Easy mode picture showed off the added platforms, while the Hard mode image showed off the added enemies. I like it when the devs actually explain the differences in game mode rather than just saying that "Easy is for wimps and Hard is for real gamers" or other BS like that.

 

[C.Olimar788]

This thread just reminds me of how much I like games that don't bother with difficulty settings and just are, y'know, well-designed with a solid difficulty curve instead.

 

[Bisnic]

They should rename the "Ultra Vault Hunter Mode" of Borderlands 2 to "Fuck You, Here's A Lot Of Shit That That Is Gonna Piss You Off But Hey At Least You Get The Best Loot Mode"

 

[Madison Paige]

I typically go for the hardest difficulty as long as it's a well done hard difficulty. I hate when you pick hard and all it does is double how much damage an enemy can take/does and half how much health you have.

 

[Arkos]

Anybody care to share more examples of funny or awesome difficulty names and/or descriptions? Ala:

"You face opponents who have never known defeat, who laugh in alien tongues at your efforts to survive. This is suicide." (Halo Legendary)

challengeaccepted.jpg

This adds to the experience for me. I picture the Covenant having this opinion of themselves, and I'm suddenly urged to disabuse them of that notion. It also makes the higher difficulties less intimidating, in a way, because it's like the game is good-naturedly talking shit to goad you into trying a higher challenge.

Also, it's funny because except for Reach (and 4?) the Aliens actually laugh and talk, often quite amusingly, in English (or whatever your local Earth language is)

This thread just reminds me of how much I like games that don't bother with difficulty settings and just are, y'know, well-designed with a solid difficulty curve instead.

Yeah now I feel like I'm getting a special treat when I don't have to try to figure out which difficulty setting will be best for me, and then second-guess myself as I play until I'm comfortable I have the difficulty set right.

 

[Portugeezer]

Yes. I hate stupid names for difficulty settings.

I usually go for normal, or if I'm used to a game "Heroic" in Halo.

 

[Conciliator]

I usually just pick normal so as to get the developers intended first experience. Sometimes that's pretty tough, sometimes its easy but that's OK because not all games should have the same feel of difficulty. For example, I'm glad Just Cause 2 is not very hard on normal, but if Ninja Gaiden were easy on the same difficulty it would basically ruin the experience.

On occasion if I'm reading a thread on GAF and everyone all like 'this game's too easy on normal, its much better on hard' then I'll do hard.

 

[jamesinclair]

The civ series gives you like seven levels.

I pick one below the middle.

Sim city? Always easy, allows for cooler cities.

 

[Loomer]

Almost always pick the hardest setting anyway, so not really. More than 4 starts to become annoying though, especially if you have to unlock them.

 

[Mupod]

Seems like nowadays, 1 above the default is usually the way to go.

Halo is a classic example where it even says straight up that Heroic is how the game was meant to be played. Dead Space 1, Hard is just so much more balanced than normal that I'm convinced it was the difficulty the game was made to be played on.

Difficulty levels always bug me because I care more about getting whatever experience the developers intended. I can think of examples where turning the difficulty up too high ruins the game - Gears of War 2 has some sequences that were pretty obviously not even tested on the highest setting, that fucking centaur tank. Dante's Inferno becomes an exercise in tedium.

I also think it should be made completely 100% clear what the differences are at the selection menu - Crysis does this. I wish The Last of Us did so in more detail as well, maybe more people would have played it on hard to start with.