How Many People Actualy Bother With The Hardest Difficulty Setting In Games?

[rmoxon]

I might be about to offend mega hardcore gaming folks with this post but I will risk it becuase I'm curious about this....

I read the first play thread on this site for most games, mainly becuase I'm intrested in most games, but I often read posts from people who says things that seem crazy to me in regards to game difficulty...

One of these things is that some of you actualy like to start a game on the hardest difficulkty setting. To me this is slightly absured, espeicaly considering many games in this day and age are story based and surley the fact that you are dying constantly halts the flow and therefore enjoyment of the games storyline?

However the main reason that I tend to play games on the medium/normal difficulty level thats avalible to you when you first boot it up and not go stright into hard mode is that most developers dont actualy seem to balance out their harder difficulties properly and this is somthing I dont actualy thing ive ever seen mentioned on here before.

COD 4 on vetern, Gears on Insane, Devil May Cry 4 on DMD.... these are games I have actualy finished on the difficulty levels I mentioned, but even these ones had section to them where the game just didnt seem to be made for the diffulty level. The gun turret bit at the end of Gears Of War is virtualy impossible without someone playing with yo in co-op, which shouldnt be the case if co-op isnt obligatory for that part of the game. COD4 had many sections where on the hardest difficulty you required nothing more than luck to make it through the game.

So my point is that I dont understand why people often prefer the hardest difficulty setting in a game, when the game clearly hasnt been designed with that difficulty in mind. And my question is, why do people think that the hardest difficulties in games are worth so much patience and time when they appear to be flawed so baddly?.

[cutmymilk]

I used to when I was younger and had new games given to me for christmas/birthdays but now... noooo. I sample a game's delights by playing through the default difficulty then it's on to the next.

Too much to see across all formats to spend too much time mastering one game, IMO. Sadly, this also means that I now generally suck at games that require any real skill!

[Pilotwings]

The only game I felt the need to do was HALO. I think it will become more common now if the game gives you achievements for it. I did call of duty 4 on hardened and all was going well until that bloody helicoptor arrival level- No thanks!

[SmokeMeAKipper]

I used to when I was younger and had new games given to me for christmas/birthdays but now... noooo. I sample a game's delights by playing through the default difficulty then it's on to the next.

Too much to see across all formats to spend too much time mastering one game, IMO. Sadly, this also means that I now generally suck at games that require any real skill!

Same for me - I'll play through on default and then move on. Don't get me wrong, I like to be challenged but I just don't have the time or the patience nowadays to repeat sections over and over again until I complete them. A good recent example - finished Gears 2 on "Normal" difficulty and I felt that it was slightly too easy but generally was fine - had to repeat a few sections a couple of times but progress was relatively smooth, finished it in 8 hours or so. I've seen everything the single player has to offer now and I have no inclination whatsoever to go back to it on a harder setting.

[Largo]

I always do, why? because otherwise you can breeze thro something you paid 45quid for in 8-9 hours, afterwards leaving it pretty much redundant, got todo something to make um last

[Eight Rooks]

I push it up a notch or two, depending on the game, but rarely all the way. The idea of doing so doesn't bother me, though, I can understand wanting to master a game you enjoy... I just don't like it so much when people who are good enough to play on Insane or Veteran or whatever without breaking a sweat seem to lose track of how staggeringly tough what they're doing actually is. Wipeout is jaw-droppingly demanding on the later levels/classes, to name just one example, and clearly not even remotely designed with any thought to anyone but the hardest of the hardcore seriously getting into it.

[charlesr]

@Largo, these days, 8-9 hours is perfect for me on something like Gears. If there's an arcade mode like the TTs in Mirror's Edge, I'll happily play that for hours, but I'm not sure if I could face a 30 hour Zelda marathon these days.

[charlesr]

Doom II Ultra Violoence Respawn.... I don't think it was possible, even with 4 of us guns blazing. We had fun trying though.

I don't understand why most vertical shooters have a hard mode though Apart from Thunderforce VI, but that's not worth playing on any difficulty really.

[Largo]

I wouldnt say it was because i was some hardcore marty mc superfly, but if theres a game i really like i just play it to death etc., my own fault really, need to learn to space things out a bit more, actually bring on the rpgsss

but either way it certainly helps me extend playtime of singleplayer games etc that i want to enjoy or try different ways of approach on.
Bioshock is a good example, stick it on easy and you can wrench your way thro in god not sure, feels like no time at all, but on hard it becomes a very different play experiance...maximizing i guess

[ezee ryder]

I always prefer to start a game on the normal difficulty setting and finish it on that before moving onto a higher difficulty, just makes the game more enjoyable. The only exception is if I find the game on normal a bit too easy but that is quite rare as most games provide a decent challenge on the normal difficulty.

[capcom_suicide]

I always play a game on Normal, unless it doesn't represent much challenge. (GOW2 went straight to Hardcore, as I think this is actually "Normal" on that game)

If I REALLY like a game, I may well play through again on hard.

tbh I wish I did this more, instead of playing the next game on the shelf.

[Goldenballs]

Always play the game on Normal, and then after I've completed it I might consider the harder difficulties if I enjoyed the game and fancy another play through. (Gears 2 & COD4 for example)

[C']

It's very rare that I will start a game on anything higher than 'Normal' but if I find the game enjoyable and want to experience what it offers at higher difficulty levels, I see no problem in that.

Sometimes the hardest difficulty settings can be bordering on unfair (read mine and Darwock's recent comments in the WipEout HD first play) but when you come through it against the odds, I find I get more satisfaction from beating one game at the hardest it can offer, rather than several at lower difficulty settings.

[Darwock]

Anybody who's ever played Devil May Cry should understand that life begins on hard mode.

The chessboard on DMD in DMC3, The End on Extreme boss survival in Snake Eater.. these things can not be reckoned with in terms of their awesomeness! (but only after you've beat it)

[Charlie]

I usually start on the hardest but one setting as personally I seldom care for the flow or story of games (which I tend to find childish and frequently laughable) and am more concerned with challenge. I then try completing it on the most difficult setting, partly for a final sense of achievement, partly to get my money's worth.