Poll: Do you lower the difficulty setting if you find a game too hard? (Somewhat Skyrim related)

[Tourmeta]

I could. I'm playing to enjoy the game not get frustrated to death.

 

[Flames66]

F**k no, I toughen up and take another crack from a different direction. Experiment until you find your path to success. You don't improve if you just make things easier when you're stuck and having trouble. And when you do succeed, the effort put into your trial makes the victory even sweeter.

That doesn't work for me. If I get stuck, I often stop playing and never come back. Even if I do get past the bit I am stuck on, it usually feels more like "fucking finally, that wasted 3 hours I could have spent enjoying the rest of the game".

 

[GundamSentinel]

Most games I just play to relax myself and for the story. Screw those nuts who think you have to keep on going when the game keeps beating you down! It's enjoyment, not work! I see no shame in turning down the difficulty if a game is too hard.

 

[scorptatious]

Today, after dying several times in Skyrim, I've decided to lower the difficulty setting from Adept to Apprentice.Because frankly, even though I do like the occasional challenge, I play games to have fun. And if I'm getting really frustrated from playing a game, I'm not having fun, this kind thing of kills the experience for me.

So what about you guys? What games have you played that you lowered the difficulty setting mid-game and for what reason? Or do you like to increase the difficulty if a game is too easy?

You realize that some places are not meant to be possible to clear if you're not leveled/equipped enough to do them? It's intentional. If you're stuck at some boss-like Draugr and can't beat him no matter how many potions, powers, shouts, tactics and combinations you try, GTFO and come back when you're stronger. I'm playing the game on Expert WITH LIGHT ARMOR. I have to use a mix of spells, potions, poisons, archery, melee, scrolls, etc etc, to survive. And I like that.

But it's all up to personal preference, and I certainly agree that a game should never be frustrating in a way that makes you pissed. Then it is indeed time to lower the difficulty, at least temporarily. I haven't done that so far myself in Skyrim, and I plan to never do it. We'll see how that goes

Well I have decided to bring the difficulty back up after giving it some thought. I also decided to ignore the main quest and go off the beaten path, and wouldn't you know it? I leveled up a few times, soloed a dragon, and gotten myself some dwarven armor.

I guess I gave up a little too quickly.

Fair enough

How are you playing? Obviously heavy armor, but are you going dual wield, two-handed, one handed with shield, one handed with spell..?

I like to use heavy armor, blocking, one handed weapons, and destruction magic. I like to use this Fire Rune magic that weakens my enemies before they get close enough to fight me. I don't even have to spend any time switching to my axe and shield since I can set it up before the enemies even see me.

 

[walrusaurus]

I did actually turn the difficulty down to apprentice on Skyrim. Not because the game was to difficult, but because i wasn't able to play the way i wanted to. I was being forced to put points into armor skills and blocking and such to survive, as opposed to just doing whatever i wanted. The freedom was more valuable to me than the challenge. If i want a challenging RPG i'll play some more dark souls.

 

[ResonanceGames]

I lowered the difficulty once in Skyrim: when I fought the dragon on the mountaintop. I accidentally left all my enchanted weapons at my house in Whiterun and could barely do any damage to him, so it was either that or reload again and again and again until I lucked into killing him. Derp.

 

[Hop-along Nussbaum]

If you can't do something RIGHT NOW, table it for a bit and come back to it later. There are always other things to do in games like Skyrim. Go get a better weapon, level some more, take a break and think up a different strategy, whatever.

 

[AdmiralMemo]

For the first play-through, I always choose easiest difficulty, because I want to get through the story and appreciate it. On my second and subsequent play-throughs, I increase the difficulty to make the game challenging. Now that I'm no longer going to be surprised by the story (unless there are branching paths), I can find a new level of enjoyment through the gameplay.

 

[LiraelG]

Having not played many shooters, I found certain moments in the last few levels of Uncharted 3 rather difficult. >_< I was tempted to lower the difficulty from Normal to Easy, but asked Chris (boyfriend) to attempt those trickier sections, then resumed playing myself.

I haven't ever really lowered the difficulty on a game before, though I wouldn't hesitate if I felt the challenge was having a detrimental effect on my enjoyment of the game. I don't really play games to achieve anything... I play them to find out a story and get lost in a different environment. Having said that, there is something EXTREMELY satisfying about finally getting past a challenge.

 

[sifffffff]

Interesting to see responses such as "I manned up" "Toughen up" and on page one "lowering difficulties is for pussies"

For those of you who feel beating a game on the hardest difficulty is an accurate measuring stick of how much of a man you are, I would like for you to go find a cute girl and tell her about your achievement. Go on. I'll wait. After you get done having copious amounts of sex maybe you'll come back here and read this.

Some people play games for different reasons than you. It's cool you enjoy a challenge and using tactics to triumph over adversity. That's your play style and it fits you. You don't need to come on here and imply people who would rather spend their hours of gaming exploring or engaging themselves in the story rather than replaying the same encounter over and over again till they find something that works are "pussies" or "not manly"

As someone else already said "Find the difficulty that works for you."

PS I platinumed Demon's Souls and I'm pretty sure that's why my wife married me.

 

[(whitty name here)]

I can't bring myself to choose anything below normal. Generally I'll complete the game on normal, find as many unlocks as I can, turn the save into a new game plus if its available, but after that, hardest difficulty ahoy and I don't except anything less, no matter ow many time I've died.

This method has stopped me from playing games for weeks at a time.

 

[GeorgW]

I always plays on hardest and refuse to change. It's led to a lot of frustration and has sometimes made me give up on a game.

 

[rebel7254]

OT: Nope, hardest difficulty always. If I can't beat it, I look online for guides as well, maybe there's a strategy or something I'm missing, which has happened before. Sometimes I even overcomplicate the boss fight or an area/puzzle. But it's a point of pride for me and my friends, one of our group beat dead space on normal and we all rung him out about it until he beat it on hard. If the hardest difficulty is locked, I won't go out of my way to replay it (unless it's a good game), but I'll play it on the hardest available setting.

I don't really see the difference between what you do and lowering the actual difficulty setting in the game. I mean if you try several times and can't beat it, then have to depend on someone to tell you exactly how to get through it on the current difficulty level, how is that any different? You just lowered the difficulty in an alternate way. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, and you haven't tried to brag about playing on higher difficulty settings like some others have in this thread, but I just wanted to point that out to anyone reading this who might think they're superior to people who turn the settings down even though they will run to the internet or strategy guide after they fail a few times.

I used to go this route until it dawned on me that it takes a lot less of my time to reduce the difficulty setting, rather than stop and go look up how to modify my strategy to win on the higher difficulty. Another reason I used to look it up is because I really wanted to know how in the world somebody else could make it through this or that section. What I found out is that there's always going to be someone else who is simply better at the game than me, or they have invested the time necessary to figure out how to get past a hard battle or puzzle. Now when I'm playing something I find hard and think for a moment "I don't see how anyone could beat this", I quickly remember that there is always someone who can, and I won't personally gain anything by spending time to watch someone else beat it for me. The only time I go to the internet for help now is if I'm already at the lowest difficulty and I still can't figure it out.

As for Skyrim, I play on Novice. Yes, it is quite easy at this level, but I play Skyrim more for the exploration and adventure than anything else. Constantly having to pause the game to drink potions, eat food, poison weapons, etc. etc. just doesn't appeal to me. I started Oblivion out like that, but it just adds wayyyy too much time to the game. I fully realize that those tedious aspects are worthwhile and fun to a lot of other people, but it ain't for me. I'm rather confident that I'll be putting well in excess of 100 hours in Skyrim, and during that time I'll be able to do and see much more than I would otherwise if I had to spend so much time getting through the combat.

Overall, it depends on the type of game. Some kinds of games I like going through the higher difficulty, especially if there's an achievement for it. For example, I beat the XBL arcade games Splosion Man and Ms. Splosion man on the "Hardcore" mode. I also played through Mirror's Edge on the hardest difficulty without firing a weapon, which was fun even though frustrating at times. Most other games I can get through on normal difficulty. So I don't always take the easiest route. However, in a game like Skyrim faced with the prospect of sinking dozens and dozens of hours into just the exploration/adventure aspects of it, I choose to remove challenging combat from the experience. I just don't find it worth my time.

 

[thedeathscythe]

-snip-

I see your point there, and in a way you're right, and for certain games you're absolutely right (puzzle games are a prime example, and any problem solving (Portal, not that there's even difficulty settings but just using it as an example)). Usually when I do this it's for an FPS game and I don't really consider it lowering the difficulty. My most recent example is actually MW3. I needed to follow these tanks down the street on Veteran, and normally Veteran is all about using your flash bangs, cooking grenades well, using cover at all times and being accurate when you need to be because every second you are exposed can be just enough time to get you killed. I ran into the street to follow them, the commander shouted something over the ear piece along the lines of "Use the tanks for cover!" so I closely followed them, crouching. I aimed left and right and killed whoever came near, but this method only lasted maybe 10 seconds. The way the game recommended me to play, didn't work. This is probably because of the increased difficulty and vastly increased vulnerability.

The problem was, the game created a check point at the time that I was running across the street to the tank. As I spawned, I got shot at within 1 second. Without having the moment I had the first time, when it made the check point, it was impossible to catch up to the tank or even run to any other cover. Every time I spawned, I got shot and within 3 seconds I would die. I tried dropping to the ground, but it didn't work any better. I ran backwards to some concrete street barriers but this didn't work. It worked better though. So I modified that strategy and made it a bit further, but still kept dying. I cracked. I had made it too far through the level with too much time invested to start over. I felt the end of the level was near and I couldn't give it all up just because the game cheated me in a checkpoint. I started looking online.

I looked at videos of people playing this exact area on Veteran and I saw what cover they used and how they played. I kept trying to make it back to that concrete barrier. It seemed to be key in their strategy. Get behind the barrier (they didn't have to spawn in the street...), move to the left of the street and work your way up from there. Early on in the level, I tried going right (and using the tank for cover) but the tank provided no cover and the right side of the street wasn't much better. Several videos online confirmed what I had thought was the way to win. I just needed to keep trying to get behind that barrier. Finally, after several tries (and the game asking if I wanted to lower the difficulty, lol), I got behind it. I took my time like crazy, practically taking half an hour just to make it to the end of the street, because I knew what dying would mean.

So, long winded example, sort of contingent on a programming flaw (which my buddies have experienced in other areas, throwing a flash bang or a grenade at a checkpoint, only to spawn throwing said projectile as you spawn), but it was a time when I had to use external help while playing on a harder difficulty. I could have beat it without it, yes, I eventually would have surrendered and restarted the whole level, learning from my mistake and never needing this sort of help. On the other hand, I saw hope and saw how easy and doable this part of the level was if I just stuck to the left side of the street and if I could just get the the concrete barriers, I could probably breeze through it. Besides being over pre-cautious once getting to said barrier (I had good reason!), it worked like a charm.

I spoilered that because I kind of got on a tangent, but TL;DR I think certain games, and more specifically, certain genres. Puzzle games and anything with problem solving can be ruined by this, but action genres and shooters can have a better handling. I believe certain genres maintain their difficulty, even if you use a guide, because the difficulty can be the gameplay itself.

Also, I'd just like to thank you because yes, I do try to not judge people for what difficulty they play a game on. That would be like insulting someone for not being able to read at a certain level. Me and my friends have inside competitions, but I don't try to belittle people for playing it on anything less than the hardest difficulty. Hell, when I was a kid, I could barely beat some games on the lowest difficulty.

 

[Bostur]

I sometimes start a new game with a different difficulty setting, so that I have a choice between a hard game and an easy game depending on my mood. If a game feels too hard, I try another approach or practice til I get better. I have the most fun if I'm challenged a bit. I like to think that if I don't feel frustrated by the difficulty occasionally then it is too easy.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I tend to play a game on Normal all the way through and never ever touch it no matter the cost.

If I play on Hard, for whatever reason (Call of Duty, for example, has those little tests at the start and it's all "oh, you're great at this game! You should play on Veteran!"), and it's too hard, I tend to slowly revert down until I reach normal.

That's single-player, though. In any co-op game, I tend to crank it up to second-to-highest difficulty level. It's just more fun to face a bonafide challenge with co-op mates. Normal can be difficult, for sure, but it very rarely feels like a challenge. So, long story short, everything revolves around Normal for me.