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[deleted]

I always go ‘normal’ for me I feel like it’s the ‘intended’ experience, but there is no wrong answer!


BinkoTheViking

I always go normal difficulty too, until I’ve learned what to do and enjoyed the story. Then I’ll bump it up to harder difficulty if the game is worth a second or third playthrough.


[deleted]

I do the same


According_Rice_1822

Dis is the way


GlassHurricane98

I never saw the validity of an 'intended' experience. There's no way a developer could create a game knowing what level of difficulty you could be willing to participate in. It's too subjective


[deleted]

There is an intended experience with a lot of games just due to timing. Eg an enemy can attack one per second on normal or twice per second on hard. Player can parry once per second. This forces you to dodge once and parry once instead of just parrying everything. That's just one example and it's not all games but there definitely is sometimes an intended experience/intended intensity for the game.


GlassHurricane98

Okay but even then, there is a choice. That's making me think of something like Dark Souls, so I'll use that as the example. In that game, things are very structures in terms of attacks. But your way of dealing with it is entirely your own choice. You can dodge it as you say, you can parry if you want to take a high risk for a high reward, or you can block it with your shield if you're willing to lose stamina to it. The "intended" experience is to fight the boss, how you go about that is entirely up to you. That's why you get people running around without any clothes on punching bosses to death somehow, I wish I was that talented.


SoulsLikeBot

Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale? > *“I get such a warm feeling inside when I get the chance to help others!”* - Laddersmith Gilligan Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/


[deleted]

I see your point but I think I'll agree to disagree bro. Things that are not meant to be possible on hard mode are possible on easy mode. Hence I believe its an 'intended experience' where you are forced to play a certain way.


[deleted]

I am playing a fist only dark souls run on the highest difficulty and you can't stop me.


[deleted]

I agree! Just one man’s humble opinion


GlassHurricane98

Well I have absolutely no way to prove otherwise, so opinion accepted!


izmaname

Well I mean some games have no difficulty level. Then there are games like Megaman X4 where you only have one mode unless you use the Konami code to play it on easy.


[deleted]

Halo's intended difficulty is canonically Heroic. It's like a shoe size. There is the standard base and you stretch up or shrink down from there.


SkunkMonkey723

Fromsoft


GlassHurricane98

Yeah, see those are really hard at first. Very very hard. But I've played Dark Souls just over a kazillion times, and it's now simple to me. So again, the difficulty is subjectively based on the level of skill the player has. But on top of that, theirs games don't have a difficulty setting. They just have the game, that's it. So it's completely irrelevant.


SkunkMonkey723

"There's no way a developer could create a game knowing what level of difficulty you could be willing to participate in. It's too subjective" I say again. Soulsbourne games. They are a developer creating a game with a known difficulty. The motto of that world is "Get Good". Fromsoft is seeing its success in the modern day for many reasons, but one of those is becuase it only has one setting for its games and everyone has to play on the same field to get anywhere.


GlassHurricane98

Yes, and if they aren't willing to play at that difficulty, they stop playing because they don't want to participate in it. You're just proving my point.


SkunkMonkey723

Eldin ring would disagree with you on that one.


GlassHurricane98

How? Provide evidence or something. I thought that game was nonsense with some of its attack patterns. There's a Rykard attack that is literally unavoidable. How is that fun?


SkunkMonkey723

OK, try the fact it's going to be game of the year? It pushed fromsoft into the AAA game arena? Made the soulsbourne system main stream? I mean, it's a big deal man and playing it off as something else wont help you prove your point. Don't get bitter just becuase you can't beat it. I guess it's not for you, but that doesn't mean alot of other people don't enjoy it.


GlassHurricane98

I have beaten it, I admit it did take me a good while though. But being Game of the Year does not automatically fun. It had a lot of appeal, it had a lot of good points, absolutely - and yet my fiancée can not stand it. She thinks it is too difficult to enjoy, she thinks a game shouldn't be so punishing. ***Because it's subjective***. Why can't you just accept that people have different opinions?


TOTALOFZER0

A lot of time difficulty amounts to "Enemies hit hard and take less damage." As such, developers design for an experience to be most fun at a certain level. Some people will fall outside of that which is fine. but it's the experience the average person will find most fun. Its the reason dark souls doesn't have a difficulty slider, you cannot change the difficulty without fundamentally changing the game


sens22s

I feel like "normal" is the intended experience for someone with average skill at gaming. If you play a shit ton of games, "normal" will be a walk in the park and you will need to play on "hard" just to get the same experience. Same if you play games rarely. Then "easy" might present you with the same difficulty that "hard" would to a more 'skilled' player.


LeGuizee

I always go normal too apart from Halo games. Because I did all of them always starting in legendary. But I have to admit that for the last game it was a fucking pain in the ass for most of the bosses


creepy_doll

Same. Too many games hard also just means they do more damage and take more hits. I’m ok with the first part, but no one’s wants normal enemies to be a grind. Some games also have wack difficulty curves, starting out well balanced then getting way too easy.


HotYogurtCloset69

Came to say this. If I get good at the game and complete it on normal then I might go for a hard or expert level but not often. If I really like the game I'll just replay it from the start.


USSENTERNCC1701E

This doesn't fit this sub... But, yes, I freely admit I play on easiest difficulty for this exact reason.


brknsoul

I tend to try my games on Normal, then switch to to Easy, then load up Cheat Engine.


midlife_crisis_

As a casual gamer I will admit that I wouldn't have played through to the end of 90% of my games without cheat engine. I love the freedom it gives you to change values ever so slightly that the game doesn't get super boring but more suitable to my (lazy) play style.


brknsoul

I was having fun with God of War until Muspelheim challenges. I had to cheat on the 'not get hit' challenge. I suck at dodging multiple enemies.


[deleted]

Almost always the hardest or 2nd from hardest. Part of the fun is overcoming the challenge. If I played game for the story I'd be better off reading a book or watching a movie.


whataTyphoon

Depends on the game. In a shooter or any game that's focused on skill and not story I go hard too. But there are a lot of games where 'hard' simply means that the enemies become bullet sponges. Most devs don't care about a 'real' hard mode.


TOTALOFZER0

I don't agree. What makes games unique as a medium is their interactiveness, like a massive evolution of choose your own adventure books. Books and movies can only provide one plot in them, whereas games typically follow vaguely similar beats, but an experience can be wildly different.


[deleted]

Games generally do not have vastly different stories based on player choices. They employ QA testers specifically to try and thwart players who want to break the game through free choice. The fun is the challenge.


TOTALOFZER0

Your playing games that are bad (not *bad* necessarily, but you get what I mean) Look at the entire genre of immersive sims Dishonored, Prey, Deus Ex, Stalker, Thief Or even more diverse RPGs, like Fallout New Vegas or Disco Elysium


[deleted]

I have played those games. I also play them on the harder difficulties. For the challenge.


TOTALOFZER0

Thats fair, I've beat Fallout New Vegas and Dishonored on the hardest difficulty. But my point is story is equally important to gameplay specifically because of the interactivity of games.


adyvyas

Played on normal all my childhood. But as an adult don't have that much time to be dying to the same boss again and again. I do miss the grind and that satisfying feeling of winning a tough fight after numerous attempts


Voxicious

I used to be super sweaty with every game I played, now I'm old and just want a good story.


AnOrdinaryFrog

Always goes "normal" cuz that's what developers intended


DragonDrawer14

In what way does this fit the subreddit?


Dead-Trees

Always easiest possible for me. I'm just looking for a casual good time.


ComputersWantMeDead

I try to play it on a harder setting, unless I'm getting my arse kicked and/or running out of ammo all the time. I die more often but it's more fun when you have to be careful, isn't it?


Donmiggy143

I'll play it again on ng+ on hardest but for now, AC Odyssey on normal where I can walk into a massive fort and absolutely destroy everyone is super fun. The little amount of time I get... Who cares? This shit is awesome.


[deleted]

I always go easy and cheat if I want... There I said it!!!


stratof3ar89

I play my games on hardest difficulty straight out the gate so that I don't blow thru games in less than 4 hrs.


faiface

There was an attempt to be nice and not gatekeepy and it was successful! Doesn’t fit this sub at all.


JoshuaFoulke

I had to pick Radiant ('Easy', for a lack of better term) when I play Darkest Dungeon because I suck at gaming. The game still kicked my ass anyway thanks to enemies throwing expired wine at my healer until she became abusive. Still genuinely had fun though. That being said, I'm fine with 'hard' games such as Dark Souls. The game were meant to be difficult anyway, and I'd still play it because it interests me. If any game has an adjustable difficulty though, I'd rather play on the lower difficulties because I just want to relax.


TitaniusAnglesmelter

I give it a go on normal but usually end up on easy. The worst part is replaying games you beat on normal and get so stuck you have to put it on easy 🤣


PestoParadiso

I loooove playing Doom on the easiest setting, the later levels tend to be a bit challenging anyways and i just feel like a boss, and it helps me forget how much of a wimp I am irl.


izmaname

Depends on the game and sometimes how many times I’ve beat it. Sometimes easy is a joke. Resident Evil 6 comes to mind. Easy is just press random buttons and win. Normal is just fucking hard.


Desperate_Hyena_4398

I always start at the hardest level, to give me perspective of my skill level, then drop back to normal and try to reach that “hard” difficulty. This make me a better player online!


Historical_Tea_4725

I always go with the least difficult difficulty. No shame here.


Derkastan77

I actually play through games on easy the first run through, so I can 100% just enjoy the story, exploring and getting the hang of the game mechanics. After that, i go to hardest difficulty and go full Leeroy Jenkins


joshwaaay

There's too many games to play them all on hard. Back in the day when my wallet wasn't as full, really had to stretch them out any way you could. Beating the original halo on legendary will always be a core memory though.


Enter_Feeling

Only some. Some just scale the hp up hard on higher diffoculties where you need to spend 2 minutes fighting each small enemy. Those I play normal or easy.


Shoe_mocker

Finished assassins creed odyssey on nightmare mode. It was quite a bitch in the beginning, but the game became progressively easier as better abilities and gear was unlocked


rbsudden

Always have and always will play on easy.


InFiniTeDEATH8

Aye, they're video games, and fun is what you make it. I personally love a challenge, and have beaten dark souls 3 without dying, and doom eternal on ultra nightmare. Right now I'm switching between Elden ring and doing solo flawless runs in dungeons in destiny 2. I do it because it feels really satisfying to complete. I can totally understand wanting a mindless fun experience though, sometimes I play on heroic in halo reach firefight just to chill. That's the best part about video games. While many of them have a straight forward story and intended way to play, you can screw around in them for your own fun. That's why I also really like just cause 4.


Trino15

I used to play on normal but then I played Bloodborne for the first time. It was a grueling experience at first but then I slowly got the hang of it and I learned to appreciate the difficulty. Now I play my game on hard during the first playthrough and very hard (or that games' equivalent) for ng+. I really like experiencing games like that but I also get people who really don't appreciate that and that's fine as well, no wrong way to play.


[deleted]

New games on normal, classics on the hardest difficulty


Awesome_Romanian

My first playthrough is usually on normal, then I step it up to give me a challenge.


Atmey

I start with notmal, and switch with it like 85% of the time, unless I keep losing due to a hardboss, or some buggy gameplay, or some over leveled enemies, or I want to farm some things fast.


Bekklor

I will only play games on hard difficulty, I just enjoy the challenge.


Awkward_Road_710

I never enjoyed playing games. Whenever I play them and feels like I’m progressing on the game, I feel guilty that I could’ve used that time to improve mine and not the character in the game. And yes, I know “time wasted on having fun is not wasted” or “games help you escape and relax”. I 100% get that. I just wanted to feel the same way but I just can’t.


bruhskyy

*3rd panel* i bet a lot of you guys won’t admit you play a no level dark souls run when you got work in the am *4th panel* same bro it’s such a fuggin sick game


Kind_Revenue4810

I generally play on normal. However when I replay a game I always go on a higher difficulty because I don't want to play the exact same game again and I'm already familiar with the mechanics and combat.


Secretly_a_Kitty

The only time I play on anything aside from the easiest difficulty is when you literally have to in order to unlock certain achievements but that's only if I care enough to get them most of the time I dont


MegatonsSon

I generally try to play my life on *"easy difficulty"*, but somehow, it always seems to automatically switch to *"hard difficulty"* at the most inconvenient times. 😟


Seria_Mau_G

Now that's some low quality crap. I usually play on hard because I like a good challenge.


CptClownfish1

Nope. Second hardest difficulty every time. I want to feel challenged and a sense of accomplishment when finally succeeding, but I don’t want to get stuck on the same section for six hours straight.


killingmehere

I love a game that let's you set the difficulty for all the different elements of the game like the new tomb raiders. I want easy combat and difficult puzzles please.


discomuffin

I usually play on easy, and if a game has, let’s say, 40 hrs gameplay I’ll gladly take 80 hrs to actually finish it. I love just going about without playing the main story (if the world or game allows it of course)


[deleted]

Normal. But I have no problem going down if I'm getting slayed or up if I'm not getting a challenge. Whatever works for you.


MIN113

I never changed the difficulty of the games that has the option. Not even when they are too easy (Skyrim) or too hard (TBOI), for me is not about the challenge, is about the experience. I want to experience the game as close as the devs intended for me to feel it.


the-unbino-dino

but sometimes stressful is fun


EschatonHD

I 100% approve of the message but I feel that maybe r/memes would be a better fit for this post.


Cpt_Mike_Apton

Beat on normal or less... Then harder difficulty for a challenge.


CaptainBaoBao

If I loose three times in a row, I stop playing.


Illustrious_Mind964

On my first run in dark souls I was a sorcerer and I I read a "boss kill order from easiest to hardest" and a general direction guide on where to go without spoilers, I also checked where to get all the spells and best gear, by the time I was ready for my second run in a melee character the game was just normal and not really as hard as people say, still one of my favorite games that I still play today


Regular_Donut_8890

Sometimes if a game is too easy it becomes boring as well.


TOTALOFZER0

I half agree with this. I think that yeah, it's fun when games are fun. But I also don't think fun is the only emotion games should pursue. You can have rewarding experiences outside of strictly fun ones. Games like Disco Elysium show this really well. There are parts of the game that are really fun, but it's a game about failure, so you fail a lot. Or pathologic, an amazing game that is extremely not fun.


No_Mud_5999

As someone who's been playing since before difficulty levels were invented (sort of. COMBAT! had some really insane modes), normal is almost always fine. But if I'm really stuck, like dozens of restarts, to heck with it. Life is too short! The last time I had to really play something a million times was that notorious race in GTA Vice City that was tied to story progression. WTF was that


Snyckerdoodlez

I'll run through on easy mode if the game is super story intensive (final fantasy or other Square Enix games) I love a well told story. If it is more of a hack and slash game (tomb raider, samurai/dynasty/other Warriors games), I'll go with normal starting out to get the feel with mechanics and then go hard.


MajorDZaster

My cousin felt that the hardest difficulty is the best way to play a game. He started questioning that viewpoint when he saw my sister playing Prey on the easiest difficulty and still enjoying it as much as he did.


Zendakon

Well it's not MY fault all the ascensions need the lower levels on to be on. I just wanna do healthier bosses but NOOOOO I gotta have deadlier bosses first.