Are you HARDCORE?

[puke_face]

I can't stand easy mode on most games, but selecting the hardest mode available often pisses me off so much that I can't enjoy the game. Definitely normal mode for me (unless i think i'm badass at a game i.e. tetris attack).

Me too.

[DaGamingMonkey]

If a game has 4 difficulties. I'll for with the 3rd.
Otherwise I play normal the first go around.

Also depends on the achievements in 360 games.
Some games I wouldn't think of playing on hard I do just to know out multiple achievements at once.

[pepharytheworm]

Most games I play normal. Fighters and shmups I start easy to get the hang of then gradually up the difficulty level. I play whatever makes the game experience the most enjoyable.

[J T]

I normally play normal. I hardly play hard.

[Krooner]

I play games on normal because it's... well, normal. I'll try a second play through on a harder setting but usually get pretty frustrated, rarely does a harder difficult mean smarter computer control, most of the time it's, fewer health packs, or enemy attacks cause more damage. and to be completely I think that's lazy it's not a test of skill it's a test of patience. Don't get me wrong as a Castlevania aficionado I can get ill with the skill but I don't think it add anything to the overall experience...

[Xonticus]

If a game has 4 difficulties. I'll for with the 3rd.
Otherwise I play normal the first go around.

Also depends on the achievements in 360 games.
Some games I wouldn't think of playing on hard I do just to know out multiple achievements at once.

I usually use this method as well. If a game has Easy-Standard-Hard I usually go to standard depending on what type of game (Hard of FPS's)

Otherwise if a game is like Doom and has:
<<<<Very Easy--Easy--Standard--Hard--Very Hard>>>>
I usually go with Hard. Want to keep me on my toes!

[J T]

I play games on normal because it's... well, normal. I'll try a second play through on a harder setting but usually get pretty frustrated, rarely does a harder difficult mean smarter computer control, most of the time it's, fewer health packs, or enemy attacks cause more damage. and to be completely I think that's lazy it's not a test of skill it's a test of patience. Don't get me wrong as a Castlevania aficionado I can get ill with the skill but I don't think it add anything to the overall experience...

This is a good point. The other thing they often do is make it so enemies take 3X as many hits to kill. I like challenging games, but making it so enemies require far more hits to kill just interrupts the flow. Some of my favorite games are notorious for being difficult: Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi (PS2), F-Zero... but the difficulty comes from your own failing to pass a fast paced test of skill. Games that just make it so everything else has more power than you feel like a slog. They get harder through brute force rather than cunning skill. This explains why I usually only like to amp up the skill level on games where the AI gets a little better, like in Street Fighter II.

[Krooner]

I play games on normal because it's... well, normal. I'll try a second play through on a harder setting but usually get pretty frustrated, rarely does a harder difficult mean smarter computer control, most of the time it's, fewer health packs, or enemy attacks cause more damage. and to be completely I think that's lazy it's not a test of skill it's a test of patience. Don't get me wrong as a Castlevania aficionado I can get ill with the skill but I don't think it add anything to the overall experience...

This is a good point. The other thing they often do is make it so enemies take 3X as many hits to kill. I like challenging games, but making it so enemies require far more hits to kill just interrupts the flow. Some of my favorite games are notorious for being difficult: Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi (PS2), F-Zero... but the difficulty comes from your own failing to pass a fast paced test of skill. Games that just make it so everything else has more power than you feel like a slog. They get harder through brute force rather than cunning skill. This explains why I usually only like to amp up the skill level on games where the AI gets a little better, like in Street Fighter II.

Completely agree, the games you've mentioned are challenging but remain fun. making enemies bullet sponges is so cheap, I'm stuck on Dead Space (on hardest as it happens) at the moment only because I didn't take enough ammo from a store point! If the game wasn't as good as it is I'd have given up already.

[the7k]

Depends on the game. I do start on Hard for a lot of games - Uncharted 2 and InFamous are the most recent examples I can think of. Other games, however, I just play on Normal.

I never play on Easy, with the exception of Ninja Gaiden 2 because that game is just broken, literally and figuratively. No good game designer would make a game that is so unfairly difficult.

[MrPopo]

It really depends on the type of game. For FPS's I generally will pick the hardest that makes sense based on the parameters they vary. For Crysis it was the hardest difficulty, but for Doom and Duke 3D it's more in the middle. For RPGs I pick the hardest available. For Shmups I pick whatever the default is.