Topic: Personal preferences on difficulty

[Belmont legacy]

So whilst browsing some sites I noticed some people saying they had NO problems with some REALLY god awful hard games (devil may cry series, some castlevania titles, and call of duty) now this left me scratching my head because I know I'm not the BEST at games, no. But I still consider myself pretty damn good at a few titles. Now this is really 2 questions I guess (one is for my curiosity and the other is for the dignity of my gaming skills XDXDXD) but what difficulty do you guys normally start on when starting up a game? I prefer normal usually but had to revert to easy on some titles. (yeah I suck hahaha) and are these people really THAT FREAKING GOOD?! O.o

[GuyStarwind]

Personally I like harder games

[Ratty]

I like a good challenge in a game, but not all game challenges are good. Actually, most of them aren't. Following Sturgeon's Law, most of the time if a game is hard it's because it's poorly made or deliberately cheats. The Classicvanias buck this trend. 99% of the time if you die in a Classicvania it's because you've failed to learn the level or boss and react properly.

Unlike many games where the enemy placement and behavior is random and/or really cheap, making advancement a matter of dumb luck rather than skill. A game that challenges my skills can be very rewarding, a game that only challenges my patience with a slot-machine or otherwise poorly laid out design is usually frustrating and unfun.

Not all games have to be about challenging gameplay though. I almost always play on normal mode since I find a lot of the time harder difficulties just make the game more difficult in cheap ways, plus if the hard mode is good it may give me some added replay value if and when I decide to go through the game again. But sometimes for RPGs I'll turn it down to easy mode since for those kinds of games I may be more interested in the story and characters than rewarding gameplay.

[Inccubus]

I usually go for normal, but it depends on the game.
There are a lot of classic games I hear people bitching are too hard that I blow through and never had a problem with.
Then there are some games (mostly ROM hacks) that people are fine with that make me want to tear out my hair from how unfair they are.

[X]

Usually normal mode if easy mode is unavailable. Like Ratty had said if it's a rewarding challenge then I'll give a harder mode a shot, but if it's a cheap challenge then f@#k no! And when it comes to games with cheap challenges that's when I break out either the Game Genie, Game Shark or Pro Action replay devices.

[theANdROId]

I usually start with whatever is "normal"...my thought is I'm playing (and hopefully enjoying) the game as was originally intended.  Once I beat that, if I liked the game enough I'll go back and play harder modes.  Sometimes though, I can't make it through on normal, so...hello easy mode!

I'm kinda with Ratty and others though...I want to enjoy the game.  I didn't sit down to play it because I wanted to get pissed off about whatever stuff the game throws at me.  More likely I sat down to play because I was upset about something, and I wanted to relax and take my mind off whatever it was.  I'd rather be able to enjoy the game and enjoy the details or whatever "shiny" things the developers put in for me to enjoy, rather than be able to boast that I beat hard mode.

[Bloodreign]

Call of Duty hard?

To me, growing up, games tended to really test your patience, sometimes memory, sometimes cheap enemy placement. You learned to overcome them and beat them, or the game would conquer you.

Stuff I consider tough:
Ghosts N Goblins series to some degree, though the first game in the series is considered the toughest.
Trojan was another tough nut to crack, constant enemy respawns like GnG, as well as Tiger Road which plays like a old school Chinese lore version of Trojan (both made by Capcom). The arcade Bionic Commando was pretty tough, and Konami loved putting out some hard as nails titles back then. Taito had some bone crushers as well back then.

Some folks say the modern equivalent of a difficult game is Dark Souls, but I haven't played them to be able to confirm this. Devil May Cry has also been called a difficult series, I do have the third game, but I have never touched it (it was given to me for free). Some near modern games where you really have to learn to play is shmups made by Cave games with bullet patterns so widespread, but the hitbox on your ship is only a pixel wide so you can slip between bullets.

Speaking of shmups (shoot em ups), this is a genre that tends to be hard until you put in enough practice, none are really considered impossible, not even the arcade version of Gradius III, though that one there is legendary for how punishing it can be.

Edit: forgot to add run n guns like Metal Slug and Gunstar Heroes. Both games do tend to give you unlimited continues (except the PS1/Saturn ports of the original games with 5 credits only), sure this gives you unlimited tries, but set a continue limit for yourself of anywhere from 3-5 continues and see how far you can get. Or see if you can beat anyone within a credit, it's possible but it takes a load of practice.

[Claimh Solais]

I never really cared much for the challenge of games before, and just kinda beat them for the sake of beating them, so I usually played on Easy.

Though lately I've been really appreciating video games, and refusing to go under the Normal difficulty unless normal just happens to be bullshit hard.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I usually go for the normal mode. If I finished the game and I love it, I might replay the game with a higher difficulty.
But sometimes if I am just after the story or if I just want to finish the game fast (if it is bad or boring), then I go for easy.

[Belmontoya]

I usually opt for hard because these days you unlock more secrets and trophies that way. I would rather play a game on hard ice than have to play through it twice just to unlock everything.

I also prefer to be challenged. Sure it takes more time to beat a game that way, but I think it is funner to over come getting your ass kicked.

I go for normal on fps games though, I usually get more into MP on fps games.

[Abnormal Freak]

I default to normal for the most part, but if I like the game to play it again, I'll kick it up to a harder difficulty.

Some exceptions are games that actually give you more things to do. Not unlocking trophies or secrets like JM mentioned, but actual gameplay differences. GoldenEye and the Thief series presented more objectives when played on harder modes, and they really enrich the experience. I think GoldenEye's hard mode also has enemies that shot quicker and took off more hit points when they hit you or something, which is kind of cheap, but Thief left the rest of the difficulty essentially the same (aside from maybe some added enemies), the challenge of the added mission objectives being what makes things harder, which is a great approach, I think.

[Rugal]

call of duty

Did you just place Call of Duty in the same category as Castlevania and Devil May Cry in terms of difficulty?

[Belmont legacy]

Interesting...  I'm glad to see some honest gamers out there. imo, I found castlevania 1 (beat it but took me 7 years since I played it on and off and took IMMENSE breaks between) castlevania 3 (WAAAAY harder. Still haven't beat it) ninja gaiden (original) and the DMC series to be balls to the wall in difficulty. I do find some cod to be hard but because I feel like it's more cheap in terms of you have to memorize maps and crap to know where safe places are. DMC was hard in terms because of the "normal" difficulty feeling like it was really disguised as hard. XD for some reasons (strange too) I could breeze through some older games (a few megaman titles and dkc 2 to name a few) when I would have friends stuck on them. I guess it really depends on the gamer themselves. I remember going and beating dkc 64 101% and being super proud of myself. Especially when if came to getting the N64 coin. (You have to beat the original donkey kong twice, once on default then another on a harder difficulty with 1 life) I have heard dark souls was UNGODLY hard but if I have trouble with even beating something like a fps (only on harder difficulties) then I'm good. XD

[Inccubus]

I've never understood how people could consider CV3 harder than CV1. Maybe if you're playing a solo game, yes. But otherwise I don't see it or experienced it that way. I beat CV3 long before I got all the way through CV1. Ninja Ryukenden 1 is just bullshit unfair hard in a class all it's own. Even more so than the two sequels.

[crisis]

goats n goblins ninja gaiden battletoads silver surfer and ninja turtles are considered top tier are they not

really haunted castle blows all the classic castlevanis out of the water no question