Difficulty

Normal first playthrough, if the game is fun then try the hardest difficulty. Exception for games that are infamous for being easy, then I'll start on hard.

Usually hard or second from hardest depending on the game.

Hardest difficulty possible for FPSes, normal/medium on anything else.

Hardest, but I have no problem dialing it back if I get stuck.

>"survival" modes that just make the game more tedious in an attempt to make the game more immersive and realistic
shit tier
>special modes that force you to play the game in a radically new way or make the game CUH-HUH-RAYZEE
real shit

Attached: file.png (703x490, 497K)

Hard on first playthrough, mainly due to the following reason. Games with skills/abilities/items are so easy on normal that it often doesn't matter what build do I go for or what items/party members I choose. Spamming shit on cooldown gets tiring pretty fast. Something like Divinity Original Sin or Pathfinder Kingmaker are completely different games on hard. I get back to normal only if the devs balanced "hard" through insane grindy hp bloat.

Depends on genre and game length. Usually the shorter games I'll tackle at increasing difficulty, starting with normal. Longer games, mainly RPGs, I'll set it to 2nd or 3rd hardest and then go up and down until something feels right. If it's a game with a set difficulty I can't change without starting a new game then fuck it, normal.

The easiest, that way I can go through it fast. I no longer have as much free time.

Always Normal. I like a challenge, but I don't want to put up with bullshit/unfair/grindy gameplay that often comes with Hard due to companies not balancing Hard properly and just pushing the numbers higher.

I wish more devs used higher difficulties more like Thief or Goldeneye instead of making enemies on Hard aimbotting bullet sponges.

the correct answer

One below whatever the stupid hard setting is.
Having to cheese OHK bullet sponges gets boring.

Normal if it's a franchise I'm not familiar with because that's usually the most balanced and well designed difficulty. Hard if it's a franchise I'm familiar with unless hard mode is just dumb shit like inflated enemy health.

Normal but if it is an action game I start on hard.

Easiest

normal.
unless it's turn based strategy, then the easiest setting.
or it's a shooter game, then second to hardest.

Always start on normal. If it's too easy I switch to hard. If it's too hard I git gud. Hard for second playthroughs.

Depends. Normal usually, but if hardcore mode means enemies die as fast as you aswell than i pick hardcore.

If I'm good at the game then hard. If I'm bad at the game then normal. If I don't give a fuck about combat (Minecraft is the only one I can think of) then easy. Some things are also really interesting, like it's neat to see what the design of the easiest bloodborne level conceivable is considering how its aesthetics and gameplay are focused and how anti-handholdy it is relative to other modern games. It really puts the fundamentals of how the game is designed on display.

If the game has a mode that makes it less punishing to lose, or save states then I'll use those. I'd rather skip the punishment, finish the game and move onto the next one. The time I can play games is really limited because if anyone interrupts me I go into a murderous rage.

Attached: 1544898575260.jpg (876x1000, 253K)

The one before the hardest because that one is usually bullshit and/or intended for new game+.

Hardest difficulty or go home, I want to be forced to get better at a game while playing it

always as hard as I can unless it's an RTS or it's a special difficulty like Hell or Hell in DMC.

More like I want to be forced to use cheese tactics to deal with the games heavily inflated enemy stats.

Hard generally. Some games I'll up to max, some games I'll crank down. Total Wars I prefer Hard campaign normal battle, maybe hard battle, but no higher because it becomes retarded gimmicky at higher levels. Xcom I would usually start off 2nd hardest and go hardest mid campaign.

To complain about janky difficulties, Dying Light 1:

>Easy lets you buy guns and ammo, flashlight is unlimited
>Hard does not let you buy guns and ammo, flashlight is limited
>Very Hard lets you buy guns and ammo, flashlight is unlimited

But very hard also leads to HP bloat and other shit.

Attached: 1531194161921.png (272x287, 34K)

The easiest one that enables all the game mechanics, as past that is mostly bullet sponges.

Attached: FB_IMG_1550920198089.jpg (1167x800, 49K)

Oh there's also situations where normal is too easy but hard ruins the game. I like clearing out every mob camp I see in breath of the wild, but on master mode it isn't feasible unless maybe I spent half of every blood moon cycle stocking up on weapons all over the map or if I spent hours tossing bombs. I also don't really get satisfied by cheesing them if cheese is my only method of attack. If the weapon durability was rebalanced for master mode it would be way better. I actually like it when enemies are meaty and tough to kill as long as fighting them is satisfying.

Depends: If the game is fun and challenging, i play on harder difficulties (bonus points if the game gives you additional rewards for it Ex: Terraria). If it is just a number bloat where enemies become bullet sponges that can OHKO you then there is no Reason to play it on hard

Attached: 1546563965276.png (500x442, 102K)

Either second-hardest or hardest difficulty, depends on the game. Usually hardest on action games, but if all increasing the difficulty does is inflate enemy stats then I just leave it at base.
Though I play Terraria specifically on normal, everyone was talking about how challenging and fun it made the game but it just made me not want to play. Just felt tedious and I didn't feel a drive to git gud at that game, but then I realized I don't play it for a challenge.
So I guess it's kind of all over the place.

Don't play shit games then. If a game breaks upon adding difficulty then it was never a well designed game in the first place

Usually normal, it kind if depends on the parameters that it alters.

A stealth game I'd normally play on hard, because if not I'll find the cheesiest way to win and will usually not take my time without a stricter win condition.

Action games I don't give a fuck. I don't give a flying fuck about ranks or combo length or whatever arbitrary scoring system they have. I'll kill those niggas how I want.

Shooting games hard. Because I'm good at aiming and they are usually easy.

The only way to play

The best way to experience games.

Always hard because I don't play the kind of trash games that have shitty hard difficulties. Except I play RTSes on normal because I'm bad at them

always the hardest, unless its really redicilous 1shot no savepointbullshit without any rewards.

Attached: 1548175058146.png (680x680, 562K)

All of them, sometimes I just want to shit on the enemies, sometimes I want to test myself.

The hardest now because games have been easy as fuck for the last ten years. Good old hard mode on ps2 and back.

Action games and FPS games on normal. I rarely play anything else, but if I do it's easy. Stealth games are always on the easiest because I always quick load as soon as I'm caught.

Attached: 1550019040880.jpg (1920x1080, 166K)

The standard one because it's supposed to be the way the devs want you to play the game the first time around. If it's too easy or too unfair, then it's their fault.

The second hardest so I have something to reply it on

Maxed unless it's a bullshit game where max difficulty means hours of boring run and gun tactics, or impossibility to win unless you get lucky with RNG

whatever's too fun, im not autistic and just blindly go for the hardest difficulty so i can brag on Yea Forums about what an epic hardcore gaymer i am. not too easy so that theres some risk and i have to pay attention, not too hard to where i get bogged down on stupid shit

I'm usually pretty good at games but some games I wish they had an easy mode.

A lot of those PS1 tank control games (outside the good ones everyone likes Dino Crisis, RE, Silent Hill etc.) are full of 1 hit kills and failing that no health items for the whole level.

It's only after playing some outside the hits I understand the hatred for games like this.

Hardest or second-hardest, gives you the most bang for your buck.

Action-based games, one above normal
Strategy-based games, normal.

It varies from game to game.

I hate games where you do less damage and enemies do more damage to you, always preferred the hardest difficulty on games like:

Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Thief 1 and 2 because the objectives change drastically the gameplay.

I play FEAR on Extreme because you are the same health as the grunts, making it fair for the AI to give you a hard time.

Half Life on Hard? A waste of time.

Hardest difficulty, because games are often too easy when I master them

Attached: IMG_2749.jpg (1280x720, 121K)

normal because it not some GAYmer who jerks off to speed running a game on max difficulty

2nd to hardest
Usually the easiest is for literal children
The 2nd easiest is for normies
2nd hardest is the default
the hardest tends to have bullet sponges and instant deaths that just waste time

It's extremely genre-dependent, games like RPG's usually rely less on personal skill/prowess and more on individual grinding, creating a difficulty hole where individual player skill matters much less than simply how powerful your characters/HP are.

The FPS is a prime example - if you're good, it can feel like a breeze playing on normal at times, so people always play on hard because they have more reason to take cover/aim well.

Usually normal since Im getting to old for overly hard games. Ill try the harder difficulties if they actually do something unique with it, inflating enemy stats and having me die faster is boring as fuck to me.

Stuff like what Ninja Gaiden did, that's what I want in hard games.

One before hardest is where I start. So for Halo, I'd play on Heroic, but if there's only Easy, Normal, Hard, then I start on Normal and do Hard for a second playthrough.

Hardest difficulty possible that doesn't contain meme challenges like making all enemies invisible or some shit. I know that on the universal scale everything we do is ultimately pointless, but I feel like I'm wasting my life if I'm playing a game that doesn't involve some mental/mechanical/creative challenge.

Attached: whichbarney.png (534x578, 246K)

That's mainly because the CPU in RTS games don't really get harder they just get more free resources.

whatever makes the attacks kill me and the enemies in 1-2 shots, if there isnt one i mod so that there is.

Depending on how hard it is. DMC3's original release on normal difficulty was really hard. I'll play as long as I don't get stuck for days.

Maximum difficulty available at the start always. Even on genres that I suck, like FPS and racing games.

If I can finish the game, good. If I can't, I didn't deserve to.

Attached: 1504231414673.png (526x571, 486K)