It's your first playthrough. What do you choose?

>>378098076
hard

Genre I play casually, medium.
Genre I'm confident at, hard.

>>378098076
>implying hard wouldn't be locked until you finish on normal
I hate this

>>378098076
depends on the game
if it's something like Ikaruga where it disables some enemy functions, I'll play on hard to get the full experience
if it's something retarded like "hard means enemies do more damage and have more health" with no other gameplay changes whatsoever, then fuck that I'm playing normal.

If any option says it's the recommended one, I pick that.

Otherwise I pick medium/normal

>>378098113
Always! If there's a difficulty above hard which isn't bullshit or if there's an achievement for it, I'll pick that.

[GAME]

>>378098237
Yep.
>play game
>achievements
>feeling bad because not completing achievements
I fucking hate achievements

NORMSSSSSSSSSSSSS

>>378098076
Normal for a single playthrough.
Hard for later replays.

Unless I know that hard actually does something other than just give enemies more health/make them do more damage, I always pick normal.

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Hard. I generally draw the line at Ironman mode.
I don't play those unless I'm really into a game.

>read up on what's commonly recommended
>choose that, or normal
>next playthrough max difficulty

Shooters I'll play on the hardest difficulty if given though

easy

Highest available difficulty. This got me into a whole lot of trouble in ninja gaiden.

>unblockable attacks
>can't figure out how to dodge them either

I only play hard on turn based RPGs and Kingdom Hearts. Most games hard = tedium otherwise

>>378098076
I stopped choosing Hard for every difficulty after SMT prison raped me into never doing it again.

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>implying you should play on anything but normal for your first playthrough
>implying easy should even be an option

>>378098076
Dante Must Die mode

I'll only play hard on first playthrough if it's actually well-balanced. Too many times I get burned on playing hard because for most games hard just means make things more tedious than actually more challenging.

One before hardest, then hardest that there is

Specially if they change the way that you have to play

Examples being Doom, Borderlands and Lisa the Painful

The option that is highlighted by default

>>378098076
Depends. Nier Automata I played normal, because I wanted to smash machines. Prey, I played on nightmare, because I wanted to feel vulnerable and afraid whenever I faced enemies.

>>378098076
hard almost all of the time

>>378098720
>Specially if they change the way that you have to play
But it's your first playthrough?

>>378098076
Normal because i like taking it easy for the first playtrough. I like it better when games have no diffculty setting though.

>>378098076
>3 difficulties like OP pic
Normal

>4 difficulties like Halo or XCOM
3rd one, right under the hardest.

>Easy
>Normal
>Hard

Hard

>Easy
>Normal
>Hard
>Very Hard

Hard

>Normal
>Extreme/Silver/Hardcore

Normal first run and Extreme the second run through.

>>378098076
I go straight to multiplayer

>>378098887
Would be the second

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It's right now. What do you choose?

>>378099108
Ultra-violence.

second hardest difficulty

>>378099108
-skill 4

>>378099108
Ultra

On that Doom Ultra and Nightmare are pretty much the same except the infinite spawn

>>378098076
Depends, some games have it that each of the difficulties need to be beaten to progress to the next hardest mode, like Devil May Cry.
Or where you should beat some of the easier modes to unlock better stuff to progress in the harder ones, like EDF.

It depends also on if old stuff from previous playthroughs carry over, or if difficulties can be switched easily.

>>378098204
This. Developers have no idea what the word "difficulty" is supposed to mean. Someday we'll live in a world where the industry standard is not "multiply player damage by .5, multiply enemy damage by 2. Less player resources, more enemies."
Or worse yet shit like fucking Skyrim on Legendary where the game will literally just slide the enemy out of the way of your arrow.

Easy, unless it locks me out of trophies or something. I barely have time for games anymore so I just get through them as fast as I can - unless it's a series I'm familiar with or something. Then I'll go normal or hard.

>>378098076
>Move menu cursor on Hard
>Press down for the hidden Extreme difficulty

>>378099641
>I barely have time for games anymore so I just get through them as fast as I can
why even bother playing them then

Mostly normal, sometimes hard if it doesn't resort to giving the AI stat buffs to compensate, and higher difficulties if there's interesting twists thrown in, like Metro's damage system.

>>378098076
>Hard is colored blue instead of a scary red

>>378098076
I almost always start games on easy if given the choice. Not because I don't like challenge, but so that I have a reason to play through it again after I beat it once.

>>378099891
The point of a game is to win and easy mode lets you win fast. Easy mode is basically the most pure way to play video games.

>>378099580
>where the game will literally just slide the enemy out of the way of your arrow.
Really? That happens? I need to check.
Legendary was always just enemy HP and armor blown out of proportion to me.

What it says:

>Easy
>Normal
>Hard
>Very Hard

What it means:

>Underage
>Employed
>Unemployed
>Unemployable

>>378100527
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=704XlavJJo4
Skip to 0:20
Notice that the player was still hidden. The game will do this even if no enemies are searching for you and you are completely hidden and at maximum range for your bow.

normal, sometimes hard depending on the game

>>378098076
Hard for modern games, normal for older games.

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easy so I can focus on the game's story

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>>378098076
hard mode, no matter how bullshit it is.

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>>378098076
Hard. A well designed game will teach its game mechanics well enough that its always playable the first time around unless you're retarded. Then you find out its a poorly designed piece of shit and revert to something lower.

I'm 29 years old, I played vidya most of my life. I always choose a harder than standard difficulty because games are too easy for me otherwise.
Games should challenge your mind, reflexes, whatever (imo). If I wanted to mindlessly and effortlessly succed by just pressing a button without any thought, I'd apply for a factory assembly line job

>>378098076
Hard or second hardest difficulty unless
1. I'm bad at the game (FPSs)
2. Hard just means more grinding (some JRPGs)

>>378100941
LOL. Does this happen often? I honestly would've taken that for a glitch.

>>378101165

>factory assembly
>succeed

Normal.

>>378099108
HMP first then UV.

>>378098191
>he doesnt tweak the ingame files beforehand to play on mega-hard

>>378098076
Normal. I stopped needing to "prove" how hard-core my single player video game skills are when I graduated middle school.

Normal

>>378101260
In my experience it's a 1 in 7 chance or so. There's a few forum posts on it around the web, and even a dedicated mod to make the game quit this shit.

>>378101639
a well designed challenge is fun and mentally engaging. Why would I not want to be challenged when trying to enjoy a game?

Jrpg - easy (unless you can switch mid game, then I go normal until I get stuck and don't wanna grind)

anything else - Normal

*Music games - hardest difficulty to see how much I have to practice to get there

If there's an achievement for beating it on the hardest difficulty then I will pick that.

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Hard most of the time... It bit me in the ass during Nier Automata tho.

Most games do difficulty wrong. They bloat enemy HP, or make them hit for twice as much damage. Rarely difficulty is implemented in a fun, creative way.
Couple of weeks ago I started to play Dying Light on normal initially. Zombies who should be scary we're retarded punching bags, if I'd take damage I could insta heal via medkit or go into the menu screen to pause the game. I changed it to the highest setting called nightmare and suddenly zombies are scary again. Medkit effects changed to a slow heal over time and the pause function when entering the inventory is gone. This is what I'm talking about, meaningful changes that change the whole dynamic of the game. Dying light normal vs dying light nightmare is not just a mere buff in enemy damage and resistance, it feels like a completely new game experience. Gotta applaud those polacks or whoever made the game, this really impressed me

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Medium for most games. Hard if I know beforehand that the game is otherwise too easy. Easy if it's a turn-based JRPG, because it lets me skip a lot of grinding most of the time.

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>>378101845
I was hard when I pounded your moms ass last night.

>>378101874
Try playing DOOM on nightmare without abusing upgrades or runes. Its a very interesting technical game.

>>378098076
i choose hard if it makes the game more fun
im talking shit like
>both you and your enemies deal double damage

>>378098076
I tend to min/max or study up the most useful tactics so I usually play on hard to compensate. I also take games slowly which makes them easier, unless they are 4x or strategy games which I suck at.

Always hard.

Wont know its hard unless I play the easier difficulties so i might as well go in swinging.

Easy for grinding, hard for bosses.

>>378098076
>Series I'm not familiar with: Normal
>Series I'm familiar with: Hard
>Game that has switchable difficulties: Start on Hard, bump down to Normal if it's too hard

Normal if artificial difficulty, otherwise hard
Normal then hard if I could change diff mid-game

Normal, then hard.
Normal is for taking my time to master the game. Hard is for a more rewarding experience. Though there are games so easy that I played on hard from the start like God of War.

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>game doesn't offer difficulty settings

wat do?

>>378104564
git gud

easy, i have zero patience for games nowadays.

>>378100941
This has happened to me on adept

Just today some Falmer asshole moonwalked away from my arrow while I was hidden

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>>378098076
Max difficulty every time.
If it's too hard I either restart at hardest or go one below, either way I know the game better and am at an advantage.

Of course, it's a game by game basis, some hard modes change the core gameplay to provide a challenge for experts while others let their hard mode be a safe space where they won't pull any punches,
I try to avoid the former for a first playthrough and aim for the latter.

Games that make you play normal first deserve to be burned