Difficulty Setting Preferences

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just thought it'd be interesting to see the way that people prefer to play their favorite games of any genre based on the difficulty that they find the most interesting, assuming that the option is provided.

Here are some of my preferences:

Ninja Gaiden Black: Very Hard- It has my favorite enemy sets and item placements by far

Ninja Gaiden 2 (X360): Path of the Mentor- Challenging enough to keep you on your toes, but still actual fun to play without feeling as tedious as Master Ninja mode

Devil May Cry: Hard Mode- so far this is all that I've played up to, but it could change to DMD mode once I finally tackle that

Devil May Cry 3: Very Hard- Same thing as NG2, really, though in this case it has more to do with enemies having way too much health on DMD mode rather than the projectile spam of NG

Devil May Cry 4: Son of Sparda- Basically the same deal as DMC3, but DMD mode is definitely much more bearable in this game

Bayonetta: Hard- Once again, it's all that I've played up to so far, but I don't foresee it changing since NSIC mode is basically hard mode without Witch Time, and I'm going to have to seriously disagree with Kamiya for deciding to make his hardest difficulty take out the game's most fun mechanic; yes it's more challenging, but also less fun, and I have seen a lot of Bayonetta fans who have the exact same sentiment

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (yes, it's the subtitle of the game AS WELL AS the title of the difficulty setting)- This on the other hand is perhaps the only hack n' slash game that I've played which makes its hardest difficulty the most enticing to play; Perfect Parries on this difficulty actually deal massive damage on this difficulty, whereas it's not nearly as useful on any other mode, actually making it hard to go back to anything else once you've tackled this mode

In my next post I'll probably give my preferences for each Halo game.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I play everything on normal the first time through except third person action games. I'm usually a lot slower at learning combat systems than the average player.

I also never bother touching difficulty settings in games when all that changes is how much damage the player receives or how long it takes to defeat enemies. In that case, I'd rather just play in a lower difficulty and bypass pointless frustration that gives little reward.

[Foggle]

I'm boring, and not very good at games, so I play most things on Normal mode. I will bump it up to Hard if Normal is too easy, though. (Or, if it's one of those old PC games that generally went untested, I might even play on Easy.)

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I play everything on normal the first time through except third person action games. I'm usually a lot slower at learning combat systems than the average player.

I do this as well (for almost every game that I play), but I develop preferences after multiple playthroughs. For instance, it's hard to go back to playing hack n' slash games that I like on their default difficulty settings once I get used to the more aggressive enemies and varied set-ups from higher difficulty settings. You improve so much without realizing it that the lower difficulties just end up feeling like they are moving in slow-motion for the most part. At first it's a cool and rewarding feeling to let you know that you are a better player now, but then the difficulty itself just gets bland and boring, and the increased challenge of the harder difficulty settings make for your new comfort zone. Some of my favorite games are designed around that very concept.

[/quote]I also never bother touching difficulty settings in games when all that changes is how much damage the player receives or how long it takes to defeat enemies. In that case, I'd rather just play in a lower difficulty and bypass pointless frustration that gives little reward.[/quote]

That's one thing about most modern games that I hate. Older games put effort into their difficulty settings. For a direct comparison, take Halo: Combat Evolved. Legendary mode compared to Normal had more Elites in places where there were only a couple, had the tougher versions of Elites (like the ones with plasma swords for example) in areas where there used to be just normal ones, and also went as far as to alter enemy AI behavior. For example, if you killed off all of the Elites in a fight on Normal, the Grunts would panic and attempt to retreat. On Legendary, they might still panic, but they will hold their ground and actually increase in aggression, such as trying to suicide kill you with Plasma Grenades. Compare that to Veterans mode from CoD and it's many equivalents, where the difficulty comes not from legitimately better AI, but BS changes like more accurate grenade tosses (which get spammed), and making it easier in general for enemies to one-hit kill you or snipe you from unfair vantage points. It then becomes a test of patience and endurance rather than one of strategy.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm boring, and not very good at games, so I play most things on Normal mode. I will bump it up to Hard if Normal is too easy, though. (Or, if it's one of those old PC games that generally went untested, I might even play on Easy.)

I also always start on Normal because despite what it may seem like, I naturally suck at every game that I try whenever I'm new to it (if I could show you footage of how terrible I was at MGRR on my first playthrough, I promise you that you'd laugh your ass off). If a game is well-designed enough, I will get better at it, though I should mention that I do use YouTubE guides to help me with advanced combat tactics, and people like MythicTyrant and TheSeraphim17 are legitimately good at breaking down advanced gameplay into very simple and replicable strategies that just about anyone can do, and without just copying everything they do, I just get a better idea of how to play on harder difficulty settings while adapting their strategies to my own unique play style. That's at least how I got better at playing DMC and Halo games, myself.

[Rynnec]

I play on normal for initial playthroughs, then heighten after subsequent ones. Once I get a really good feel for the game I usually settle for hard on casual play.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I play on normal for initial playthroughs, then heighten after subsequent ones. Once I get a really good feel for the game I usually settle for hard on casual play.

On a side note, I would totally recommend watching content from TheSeraphim17 and Bick Benedict (granted that the latter can be a bit of a snob, but he still has good content). Both of them do tons of hack n' slash games on their hardest difficulties with insightful commentary, though TS17 tends to go off on unrelated tangents quite a big. Even if you don't plan to use their guides to improve your play, they are entertaining videos to watch if you are a fan of those games.

Royta15 also has a fantastic MGRR Revengeance difficulty fresh playthrough run where he S-Ranks the entire game. I'd recommend that as well, if you still have some interest in that game. It's just a fun watch, IMO.

[Nel_Annette]

Honestly, I usually go for the easiest mode because I'm a pussy very laid back with video games, and just like to chill out when I play.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I remember Kamiya saying he regretted the way he labeled the difficulty settings in Viewtiful Joe because it gave the impression that "Kids" difficulty was easy and "Adults" difficulty was normal which wasn't the case. He found people were choosing "Adults" because they were afraid "Kids" would make them look weak and he regretted choosing such labeling for the difficulties.

As anyone who has played the game can tell you, going straight into "Adults" difficulty is suicide.

[Foggle]

Yeah, Adults mode is brutal. I even have trouble with Kids... game is fuckin' hard! What he says rings true; I definitely tried to play on Adults my first few attempts because I didn't want to look weak.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I hate how people complained that Ninja Dog was demeaning to the player as NGB's easy difficulty setting. That's the whole fucking point. Itagaki was just poking fun a little bit at people who gave up on Normal mode. But of course the very people who suck at the game enough to go for that difficulty have no idea how to take a joke since they take everything way too seriously and lack a sense of humor.

[gunswordfist]

I play on normal for initial playthroughs, then heighten after subsequent ones. Once I get a really good feel for the game I usually settle for hard on casual play.

This. I either beat all the difficulties then stop or fail to beat a difficulty enough times then stop. Pretty much only fighting games get beaten repeatedly, namely whatever the first DOA on Xbox was, SF4 and 3 and Soul Calibur IV.

[talonmalon333]

The original Resident Evil on its advanced mode is incredible and is practically a brand new experience compared to the original. It moves items around, changes certain puzzles, gives you less ammo, makes the monsters tougher, places more monsters in each location, and occasionally replaces monsters in an area with even tougher ones. For example, in your second visit to the mansion, in the original game, the mansion will be half filled with Hunters, and still half filled with zombies. However, in the advanced mode, the place is almost entirely swarming with Hunters. The entire second visit to the mansion becomes a big endurance match in advanced mode and, to this day, despite how long I've been playing the game and how good at it I feel I've gotten, there are still rooms where I get swarmed and destroyed by numerous hunters. It's the most challenging way to play the first Resident Evil game and, to me, is the best way to play it... just, after you've played the original version.

It also utilizes new camera angles for certain locations, most of which look better.

[RacattackForce]

I play on normal for initial playthroughs, then heighten after subsequent ones. Once I get a really good feel for the game I usually settle for hard on casual play.

This is my approach as well.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The original Resident Evil on its advanced mode is incredible and is practically a brand new experience compared to the original. It moves items around, changes certain puzzles, gives you less ammo, makes the monsters tougher, places more monsters in each location, and occasionally replaces monsters in an area with even tougher ones.

Ninja Gaiden Black does the same thing. It changes the locations of where you find weapons, health upgrades, and Ninpo (magic), changes up enemy sets so that you encounter tougher enemies earlier on (and you encounter new enemies AND boss fights on the higher difficulties as well, which I have never seen a single other game do, to this day), naturally also makes the enemies tougher and more aggressive, and it makes items and upgrades much more expensive to buy. The second game doesn't do nearly as much as that, but it does change up enemy sets for you to encounter tougher enemies earlier on, but the third game being the POS that it is just throws more enemies at you and hardly changes anything else other than the amount of damage that you take from attacks.

Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising also throw tougher enemies at you earlier on with the harder difficulties. The DMC games also do this, but the changes aren't as vast, though DMD does give enemies the ability to Devil Trigger, which really changes the way that you fight enemies in the first game.