Open Forum: How Difficult Do You Like Your Games?

Difficulty settings are funny little things, aren’t they? Tagged with a variety of zesty, sometimes comical, buzzwords, games use them to turn up the heat or tone down, depending on player preference. In sports titles like FIFA, they determine the mobility and positioning of footballers on the field, while dictating the competitiveness of AI drivers in games like Forza and Need for Speed. These parameters change from genre to genre with many action games, shooters, and RPGs using difficulty to tweak key stats such as damage mitigation.

It’s strange to think too too long ago that difficulty settings were hardly ever featured in video games. Casting my mind back to the glory days of the Super Nintendo and original Game Boy, there were no such affordances, whether playing Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Pokémon or Earthworm Jim among many others.

It’s more commonplace nowadays, to the point where games like Dark Souls are the notable exception to the rule, albeit on the more difficult end of the spectrum. Having the option there, however, is nothing but a good thing if you ask me. As someone who likes to play with friends of various skill levels, I don’t understand the hardcore mentality some gamers have, occasionally lashing out at studio who fit their products with difficulty settings. The less barriers there are, the better. I recently wanted to play The Evil Within, but found its frantic combat encounters and stiff gunplay made it a slog. After dialing down the difficulty, it became much more enjoyable and better suited for the leisurely mood I was in.

When selecting which level to play at, I vary between games and genres. In general I like to give myself a challenge though other factors, such as difficulty-related trophies, having their part to play. Therefore, when approaching a Call of Duty campaign, I’ve always gone for Veteran no matter what, knowing that a gold trophy is waiting on the other side.

I’ve also started to take this approach with roleplaying games but for a different reason. Although I’ve slightly fallen out of love with Dragon Age: Inquisition, part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much was the challenge of playing through on Nightmare. This forced me to make use of the game’s advanced mechanics way more than I would have otherwise. Similarly, I beat The Witcher III on Death March and firmly believe that in doing so helped to extend its lifespan considerably.

For Dave, it all depends on the nature of the game itself as well as the conditions in which he’s playing. As other writers would agree, reviewing games can often force us to blitz through on normal or maybe go one step lower for the sake of timeliness. That said, when it comes to Halo, you can find him bumping things up to Legendary.

Miguel is another Halo Legendary player, though elsewhere you’ll find him playing games on normal. His quest to finish Halo: Reach even had him leaving his console on overnight to save progress where checkpoints weren’t enough.

Like many, Aran often finds himself nursing quite the backlog of games. His choice to opt for the “normal” setting is therefore backed up with some logical thinking. Although it affords a mild challenge, it enables him to quickly play through game after game, spreading what time he has across numerous unfinished titles. Dom’s largely the same, steering clear of any mode with that has challenging connotations. Normal is his regular go-to, though he’s not too stubborn to tone things down when the going gets tough.

Tef seems employ a universal tactic as well, mostly opting for one difficulty setting below the top. He likes a challenge from the get go, but appreciates how some developers lock the highest tier until you’ve completed an initial runthrough. Using Uncharted as an example, he explains that gun fights can be particularly perilous on Crushing and may well dampen someone’s experience with the game first time around.


And with that we pass it over to you, the readers? Do you find yourself adopting one difficulty setting in every game? Is this almost a subconscious reaction? Does the prospect of bragging rights, trophies, and achievements mean you’ll go out of your way to bump up the challenge?

25 Comments

  1. I like my games to be reasonably difficult, doable difficult. Games like dark soul which may appeal to others but once you keep dying repetitively on the same thing over & over again, it becomes a bit of annoyance.

    Games like uncharted, God of war etc that difficult I don’t mind, it’s more of a challenge than an annoyance.

    • To be fair, Dark Souls doesn’t do that. It’s a journey and once you know what’s ahead, the enemies and got your playstyle down, it’s not really that hard. It’s hard as feck reputation is kinda overestimated by a lot of people. :)

  2. I’m 40 years old…I grew up with Spectrum & C64 games where you either had one life bar or 3 lives and that was it…die and game over and start again.

    Green Beret on the C64 was the hardest game I ever played…

    Fast forward 20 odd years and most gamers are just too easy with endless lives, endless energy bars and endless continues…

    The Last of Us for example, find a way to beat a section by simply rinsing and repeating up to the point you died and then try something different with no penalty in death, same as Uncharted and many games.

    I’ve never played a Souls game before but picked up Bloodborne 2 weeks ago in the sale for the GOTY edition.

    It is not really my favourite genre of games to be honest but the difficulty is there and I’m hooked into it…so I’m playing a game genre that I wouldn’t normally play but it is really only because of the brutal difficulty that to me it is a breath of fresh air.

    All games should have a few trophies that are intended for the end game of the game itself…I’m talking getting all 3 batarangs in Batman AA challenges, 3 stars in the time trials and speedruns in Mirrors Edge type trophies that take weeks to complete.

    These types of trophies, attached to the highest difficulty the game has makes playing and finishing the game so much more enjoyable.

    When I got 3 Batarangs in Shock & Awe Extreme in Batman AA and when I nailed my final Time Trial to three stars in Mirrors Edge or even 100% in the PSN game PAIN on the PS3 (every night for 6 months solid) then that is where an extra sense of accomplishment is.

  3. I used to play most games on hard/very hard. Completing the original half life on very hard still remains one of my fondest gaming memories.

    Then I had kids, and now work 12+ hour shifts. Now I’m a devout easy/medium gamer as I use gaming to unwind after a busy week. Also helps keep my ever growing backlog under some control.

  4. Totally depends on the game. If it’s something I’m really into, then I’ll have the patience to take on a harder setting. If it’s just an average game, I’ll bang through it on normal and move on to the next one.

  5. I like games to be challenging but if they are way to difficult it puts me of and I’m less likely to keep going back to the game.
    It’s the same the other way round too, if they are to easy you don’t get the satisfaction after finishing/beating a task you would if it was more difficult.
    I guess it can be hard for game developers to find the sweet spot.

  6. Love it when it is extremely difficulty and get that rare Platinum as you have deserved to obtain it through skill!
    Hardest was Payday with 3 player Co op bit was so much fun discussing our tactics and such….
    Others I like without dying like The Evil Within or knife only in Resident Evil as that is new and challenging and makes you think if you have the skill to complete it.
    I hated when Developers patched a certain area to lower the difficulty (God of War Ascension)
    Plus it stretches your ability and makes completing the game more worthwhile.

  7. Very hard. So hard that i have to fight the developers themselves every time i want to play it. If i fail, i’m dead. Everyone i know is dead. Everything that i have been in or on is dead. :P

    Joking aside, I like a challenge and Dark Souls is the perfect challenging game. Harsh but fair. Apart from Bed of Chaos, which From ended up apologising for. Dark Souls expects you to adjust and learn from your mistakes. But never truly punishes you. Sure, you’ll die and lose souls but it is just part of the journey. Then Dark Souls II decided to be an asshole and up it’s diffculty with mobs, weapon degradation barely lasting between bonfires and cheap bosses.

    The diffculty i like is one that is fair and does not consist of just reducing a player’s damage whilst the AI gets more health and damage. I had a mixed affair with QTEs. When they are done right, it’s good. When they are utter bullshinto, it does not create a challenge. It creates a “ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME!? I HAD 1 NANOSECOND TO RESPOND TO THAT!?” feeling and just adds a tedious element.

    Games that cheat, use cheap deaths are just bull. One hit kills out of nowhere, teleport spam, stuff like that are the worst kind of diffculty. There is no challenge apart from hoping that the game doesn’t go “You know, i fancy spamming the one hit kill.”

    I hate it when a game just throws enemies at you to create the illusion of a challenge. It is not. It’s tedious sometimes and most games are guilty of it. I rather face an enemy that has excellent AI, will punish you if you make a mistake then 100s of the same enemy.

    I dislike diffculties or parts of a game decide to go “Yeah, that ain’t working now.” and can screw you over. In some cases, it ruins the flow of combat. E.g. DMC:DMC is said to suffer from this due to the X is immune to Y and must be beaten with X.

    And boss battles. I hate fighting bosses with a very large health bar and is not fun. I like a good boss that has a very large health bar and keeps me on my toes. Not one that is just a giant health bar and bullet sponge.

    Speaking of which, i hate bullet/damage sponges. Most of the time, it defies logic! Why should an unarmed thug in a game be able to withstand everything?

  8. Not hard really, I play games for fun/enjoyment/entertainment.

    Having said that, it’s extremely rare that I will stop playing a game due to it’s difficulty. Perhaps most recently The Witcher 3, but I had other grievances which stopped me putting in more than an hour into it.

    I have just got the platinum trophy from Shadow of Mordor, and I did not recall any difficulty settings actually.

    The most effort I put into games are racing games, when I get into the zone and can even get a sweat on!

    I’m not counting online multiplayer, which is a whole different game, literally.

  9. “Normal” is what I plump for each and every time when diving in first time. However, the odd game here and there gets tweaked accordingly but devs usually get it right first time. Notable exceptions are me currently enjoying Alienation on Veteran and taking my time with it as oppose to blasting through the levels in half the time on Professional (read: Normal) difficulty.

    The other notable experience is Diablo 3’s difficulty. Disgracefully developed where they thought that Normal could actually read “your unborn child will still breeze through this and it doesn’t even have fully formed limbs yet and we’re not sure it’s a good thing to shove a DS4 up there!”. Popped it onto Hard and that wasn’t good enough either. The only other option was to restart – no thanks – as it wouldn’t let us put it on Nightmare difficulty.

    Pathetic. :-(

    • Side note: I’ve played oodles of games with Tef (on co-op) and the article speaks of this hardcore gamer who likes a challenge. I put it to you that I simply don’t know this man. The man I know is the equivalent of a drunk-driver, careering through levels with luck and possibly some sort of deity as his co-pilot. :D

    • I don’t think the touchpad can read an input across the placenta. Hygienically, antibiotics can sort everything else out.

      • Thank you, Doctor McPhatty. ;-)

  10. I like my games like I like my steak, medium! I enjoy absorbing a good story so I’ll always pick normal for adventures or shooters, like Steelhead I also have kids and work long shifts so enjoyment over frustration is a big consideration. There have been exceptions over the years, I loved playing MGS4 on the hardest setting, but that was because it was my sixth play through so I’d become so familiar with everything that the extreme stealth and precision was an enjoyable challenge. I’ll never bother with easy, unless my kids one day want to join in then I’d rather they get the enjoyment rather than frustration!

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