Easier games are more fun!

[John Stalvern]

I play games on the middle setting at first, then go easy or hard depending on my mood.
One of my favorite games on the hardest setting is Halo 2 of all things. I have a morbid fascination with the insta death snipers and machine gun firing rate of the plasma pistols, probably because its so satisfying to overcome the bullshit.

 

[Crazie_Guy]

I say hard games are more fun once you learn them. Easy games... What do you have to do, exactly? Finish that object some time, if you feel like it. You know, whenevers cool, and don't worry too much about tactics because you should be able to blindly shoot your way out whatever happens. They can be fun, certainly, at least for a while. But the height of gaming... the best rush around (and the one that can keep you coming back over and over again as opposed to getting bored with a playthrough or two), comes from the perfectly executed combos or builds, the masterful skillshots, the balls to the wall action sequence with horrible failure an inch away on all sides leading up to the home run, the sort of thing that can only happen after you've mastered a difficult game.

 

[Netrigan]

I play on Normal these days, adjusting up or down considering on how often I die or simple boredom (a few games I drop to easy because I'm bored enough to not want to ever repeat any part of the game). Crysis 2 is one of the few I can't make up my mind about. Normal is plenty hard, so I hear the siren call of Easy... but I really enjoy the stealth aspect of Super-Soldier.

 

[Vonnis]

I never play games on easy. If there's no challenge whatsoever I'm not having fun, at least not for more than 5 minutes. I usually start games on normal, then go to hard for the next playthrough, but if I'm already familiar with the game (for instance if it's a sequel) I often play on hard for my first playthrough, especially in FPS.

 

[SageRuffin]

On occasion. Depends on the game really.

I have no intention of playing something like Oblivion, Fallout, or even ME2 on the highest settings (especially since ME2 on Insanity isn't challenging; it's just fucking annoying). Most action games however, I may bump up the difficulty (i.e. Ninja Gaiden Black or Bayonetta) if I feel that the easier difficulties are literally no fun.

Take the Dragon Age games. I'm having quite the blast playing on the easiest difficulties (also because I have no real concept of tactical management; I'm more of a "feeler" than a "thinker" in that regard). Action-esque games like Vanquish or Ninja Gaiden 2 I actually have to cut the difficulty up because the games became so easy they weren't any fun.

Although, on easier difficulties it's easier to get your own "A God Am I [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AGodAmI]" kinda vibe when you lay waste to everything with nary a blink.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

On occasion. Depends on the game really.

I have no intention of playing something like Oblivion, Fallout, or even ME2 on the highest settings (especially since ME2 on Insanity isn't challenging; it's just fucking annoying). Most action games however, I may bump up the difficulty (i.e. Ninja Gaiden Black or Bayonetta) if I feel that the easier difficulties are literally no fun.

Take the Dragon Age games. I'm having quite the blast playing on the easiest difficulties (also because I have no real concept of tactical management; I'm more of a "feeler" than a "thinker" in that regard). Action-esque games like Vanquish or Ninja Gaiden 2 I actually have to cut the difficulty up because the games became so easy they weren't any fun.

Although, on easier difficulties it's easier to get your own "A God Am I [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AGodAmI]" kinda vibe when you lay waste to everything with nary a blink.

I actually tried out FO3 on hardest just for kicks...all they changed was give the enemies 6 times the HP and slightly better accuracy...all it meant was that you had to pause and heal yourself with more frequency...which in the end means you're not left with 200 stimpacks when you finish the game but with only 150...it didn't make the game harder, it just made being rich for it's own sake harder to do...which is definitely not what I was looking for lol.

 

[Johnson294]

I find games better on harder difficulties, it's more of a challenge and feels more rewarding to beat. Dead Space 2 is really easy though..

 

[valleyshrew]

If I want a challenge I'll play multiplayer (or possibly something like a puzzle game or RTS). If I play singleplayer I want to be engaged with a setting and narrative and not just to kill 1000 people while moving down a corridor like in most shooters.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

Usually, I start on Easy to learn the controls and get some practise in. If things get boring, I ramp it up to Normal and continue from there. On a second playthrough, depending on what I hope to accomplish, I'll continue from my previous difficulty setting or change it to the next highest.

I find that there's a certain point at which difficulty stops being fun and starts getting stupid. This is usually the setting where anything can kill you easily if you're not careful, there are no health items and bosses will annihilate you if you make one wrong move.

In addition, higher difficulty in fighting games doesn't appeal to me. The CPU-controlled enemies start abusing their split-second reaction times and perfect knowledge of timing and hitboxes, which a player can't compete with.

Basically, I'll play on Easy until I get bored, then I'll make it Normal or Hard until I get frustrated, then I lower it back down.

 

[The Abhorrent]

I typically prefer to play on the easier difficulties for my games, and that's mostly because of why I play games rather than a lack of capability. A boring game is no fun to anyone, but I've got a strong aversion to frustration in my games. Essentially, I can put up with boredom longer than I can with being annoyed.

If I'm looking for a challenge, I prefer to look at puzzles rather than difficult to execute but obvious objectives. Turning up the difficulty almost never affects the former, but it certainly does affect the latter. As such, there's no reason for me to turn up the difficulty.

Other things which I enjoy in games are good storylines & exploration, and neither of these are affected by turning up the difficulty. Actually, turning up the difficulty of a game can affect these aspects.... negatively. The difficulty being higher tends make it harder to progress through a story and/or harder to explore the environment, so there's a reason right there for me to turn the difficulty down.

Ultimately, execution-based challenges are simply not my thing. Since this is usually what higher difficulty settings in games are directed towards, I have no reason to bother with them. The inverse situation actually allows me to enjoy the other aspects of the game more (and they're the ones I'm interested in most of the time).

Of course, this isn't to say that I'm never in the mood for execution based challenge... just usually not. F-Zero GX and Ikaruga are games I've gotten a lot of fun out of, and they can get pretty crazy. The Mario series can get quite challenging towards the end of each game, but I don't have any problem enjoying those games either. It's just that I'm very quickly put off a game if I get frustrated while I can tolerate boredom (provided I have a reason to put up with it for the time being).

For me, this is what higher difficult settings almost always represent: un-fun frustration.