Opinionation: What Difficulty Setting Do You Play With?
With the massive sale going on Steam right now I recently picked up a slew of PC games that I've been missing out on and ravenously playing through them. In what has to be my favorite new game of the moment, I've found myself completely hooked to Torchlight. While I've seen many other sites talk up the title's Diablo roots and flexible "netbook" mode, I haven't seen many people talk about what I feel is the most defining feature of the game and when it does get attention, it is from an overwhelmingly negative perspective. I'm talking about none other then the game's Casual mode. When playing in the game's easiest setting you're given better items and weapons right off the bat, your stats rise much quicker, and you generally have the ability to school just about any enemy that walks in your path. While some would call this "cheating" or denying players a "real" challenge, I find the experience freeing and keeps the pace going. For once I'm actually able to sit down and feel like the time and personal investment I'm putting into the game is actually valued.
Believe it or not, between working a demanding job most of the day, blogging here for all of y'all, and giving my very understanding boyfriend bits of attention now and then I'm not left with as much gaming time as I would like. I've had to get creative with my gaming in order to squeeze more of it in. This means a lot of handheld games sitting next to my man on the couch as he watches "his stories," iPhone games whenever I'm waiting in line somewhere, and using "easy" modes whenever possible. Yes, some great games may nearly defined by their extreme difficulty (look no further than my much loved, but underplayed copy of Demon's Souls), but these experiences tend to push me away by taking away my hard earned progress rather than draw me in with their excessive challenge. As much as I would like, I no longer have the time to frame count move sets in fighting games or memorize the status effects of spells in RPGs. At this point I need my games to cut out anything and everything that is obtusely difficult for no other reason than to be "hard" and get to what makes a title fun as quickly as possible. This is most often addressed by most game designers with difficulty selection. It might not earn me any cred with hardcore gamers (or a lot of trophies/achievements), but at least it allows me to experience as much of a game as possible without making me feel like I'm wasting my time.
So I want to throw the question out to all you dear readers, what difficulty setting do you play most often? Why? Does it depend on a game's genre? Are there special games that can only be played on its hardest setting in order to really experience it? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Game-Boy
Posted to Video Games on 30 December 2009
· Comments (10)
Other stuff like this: demon's souls, diablo, difficult games, difficulty, i'm old and whiny, opinionation, torchlight
I always play on easy for two reasons:
1. Im not a very good gamer. More the average guy I think.
2. I hate it if I play a game of great sory and interest and I cant progress anymore because of a fu***d up boos/level/stage/etc. - I want to know how a game ends. I play games for stories mainly.
I tend to play games on the middle difficulty setting, assuming the game has three settings. The ones without a 'middle' eg four settings I play the second easiest. I choose the 'Normal' settings Because I still want to enjoy the game without getting bored or just frustrated.
Ive recently begun to play PC shooter titles, and Ive been playing them on easy as I havnt completely got the hang of the mouse/keyboard situation yet. I like the controls, however, since I've used an analog stick controller for so long now, its taking some getting used to.
There have been games Like Gears of War, and Halo where ive gone through on the hardest difficulties but mainly because Ive had a friend play with me through the campaigns. Its way more fun to struggle with a friend than solo. besides my friend is unbelievably awesome and she gets bored quickly on easy set games.
I learned a valuable lesson from trauma center for the DS, if there's an easy play mode: use it. It's how I play mgs, it's how I play everything. Except rock band/guitar hero. Those just aren't fun not on expert. But only if I can pass the song on the first try. If I fail it, down to hard for you.
As for me, like Ben above me *points and waves hello* I usualy play on the easyest setting mostly because I'm not all that amazing and as well I usualy play a game for the story more then anything else, but if I am finding that a game is way too easy or that there are little extras that are removed from easy mode I will play on normal. But really it's very rare for me to play a game on hard or normal *shrugs* it's just the way I am.
Keep up the great work gay gamer, best website ever!
-The Mystery Chef
It depends on the genre. Shooters are always on easy. I just do horribly otherwise. Action/adventure and RPGs are set at normal, usually. Music games are normal, because I can't get the rest of my family to play, so I sing and play an instrument at the same time, and it's difficult enough without even knowing the song to do two things at once. If I five-star a song, I might attempt to raise the vocals first, and then the instrument.
It all boils down to a couple of factors I spent a lot of money and I want to be able to enjoy the game. And if there's an interesting story, I want to see the end of it. Also, if I succeed at one level, and I really enjoyed the game, I might try again at a more difficult level. If I started that the most difficult, I have nowhere to go but down.
Generally I play on default normal/medium dificulty.
Except with fighters. I turn down the dificulty on those all the way down. I get owned by the computer way to often in those on regular dificulty.
Depends heavily on the genre for me as well; FPS single-player titles I usually start on either normal or whatever's directly above normal if "normal" is just "easy 2", but action games I tend to play on higher settings. Danmaku, for instance, I play on the third of four if it's available, because Lunatic modes usually rape me but Hard is usually just challenging enough to keep me focused.
almost never below "normal" for standard play, ramp it up if I can. for the purpose of unlockables such as characters, etc. in fighters, easiest setting, as those are usually more for multiplayer benefit than anything else.
Shooters I'll play one step above normal. Everything else I start on normal, and then adjust if it's too hard or easy, though usually it's just right. Oh and Hard/Expert for GH/RB depending on the song.
I tend to play on normal for most games, as I like a good sense of balance. However, for FPS (Which I abhor) and racing games, I go for the hardest difficulties, as it makes my boyfriend proud. I die on the inside a tad bit, but whatever makes him happy!
The only game I can think of that I've ever willingly set to uber mode was Soul Calibur II. I logged close to 500hrs in that game, and I was a GOD. Thanks to getting my arse whooped a few hundred times by the hardest opponents. :\