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What difficulty do you play on?
Am I better than I think or am I just average?
by shagino
For years I have always picked the default/normal difficulty settings. While I did have some tough moments, I never thought of games to be overly difficult or easy.
Recently, I started playing on hardcore/advanced. GOW2 wasn't too bad. I got a bit frustrated at times but made it through alright. I want to play L4D on the harder levels but I think that has more to do with my randon teammates rather than difficulty. Killzone2 and RE5 have been something else though.
I've died over 100 times in Killzone already and I'm only at the bridge. Some of this was due to bad checkpoints or so I'd like to think.
In RE5, I spent 3 hours on Chapter 2-3. There's no way it should have taken this long but it did. I feel like I got cheated with an insanely amount of cheap deaths. I died 83 times! What was surprising to me was that my grace for that was a C. How is this possible? It should have been an F. Amazingly, we weren't last in the leaderboards.
I took part in the Killzone multiplayer event last week and did decent. Better than I thought actually. I feel like there are some games that I'm just dying through. So, are any of you going throught this or am I playing above my skill level?
Comments
I usually go through the Normal difficulty first, so I can enjoy the game's story and mechanics. If I get to a second playthrough, then I ramp it up and get into the advanced mechanics or harder challenges.
Which makes me think: I still haven't done Radiant Dawn on Hard. Oh, I remember why now. The enemies are much stronger, the weapon traingle and trinity of magic are no longer in effect and the damn Dawn Brigade sucks.
...
Sorry for the small rant there.
I almost always do normal difficulty, because I feel that's what the developers designed the game for, and what they had in mind as they were planning things out.
i am with both of you, i do normal so that i can enjoy the story, atmosphere and characters without getting totally demolished and frustrated.
I normally start on normal. Or just easy until I get the feel for the controls. Then I switch it up. My first time playing Left 4 Dead, I was thrown into Advanced. Not only was I having a near heart attack, but so was my computer. I died, but later came to find out that that's ok and I will pick up again soon in rather a closet or loading a new level in a safehouse.
Same here, I start easy-normal just to get the controls down, then I try hard inless its too much for me. In that case I work my way up. I've almost given up on impossible in Deadspace,because I get rushed by a group all at once and they don't go down with just a headshot.
I always start on normal. Hard is for going back and playing again, if the game is worth playing a second time.
Normal. However, if there are four difficulty levels available at the start, or if I know I'm going to unlock a fourth, I'll start at med-hard or hard.
I'll be the contrary voice here (who could have seen that coming?) and say that, more often than not, my first play-through of a game will be on easy. The way I figure it is: I've just paid $60 for a game, I want to see the whole thing. If the storyline or gameplay are good enough, I will go back and play through on the normal or hard difficulty.
There are a few notable exceptions to this rule; Dead Space and H.A.W.X. come right to mind. But generally speaking, that's how I roll.
Yeah, same as the rest, usually normal. The only game recently that I have played on easy is Empire: Total War because controlling hundreds of soldiers at once is maddening enough. Add on the fact that you are battling against hundreds of other troops and having that little difficulty bump really adds up. Plus I like to stare at the pretty graphics and get distracted.
I'm usually the "normal" setting kinda guy, too. Very rarely will I go below, or above, that status until I know what I'm facing in the game.
And, yes, last week's Killzone 2 multiplayer session was cool to me, too! I did better than I thought I would, but it became too much when we [magically] had all 32 available player slots in the room. Just became too crowded and crazy for my likes.
I think the last game I played on the "easy" setting was Halo, or Halo 2 (not sure which) because I just wanted to get the game done and over with so I could say I beat it. Haven't done that in a long time, and don't intend on doing it any time in the future.
You might be playing above your skill level if you're getting frustrated at the games you play. You have to look at a game as something to bring you enjoyment and if you find yourself not enjoying them because of the difficulty then lower it. I don't think it makes you any less of a person to play a game on normal or even easy, it is what you take from it. I also think a game takes longer when you play it on hard, so I think I get more bang for my buck. I also like to play games on hard because I crave that extra challenge. I want to sweat bullets when I play a game because when I finally do beat that stage I feel like I've accomplished something. I'm an extremely competitive gamer, so if I can say I beat xgame on insane diff and my friend could only do it on easy, then I will constanly make fun of them, bringing into question their manhood. But in all honesty, it doesn't matter, just what works for you.
Thanks all for the feedback.
@HiP FLasK:
The entire game isn't frustrating but there are few times where it's just like "Come on! That's bull." type of moments. In Killzone2, when I was hurt, I ran into a covered area, which also happened to be a checkpoint. It sucked to fight out of that area. I think those types of things inflated my numbers. I do feel elated when I get through this type of scenario though.