Poll: What difficulty level do you play on (first playthrough)?

[Specialist1924]

Non-specific to any particular game type (Action, RPG, FPS, or Sports) what difficulty do you usually start on? Feel free to explain.

I admit that I'm big on the 'easy' mode in games. I prefer to wade through crowds to advance the story, rather than get stuck three-quarters of the way through. Then when I do go back I turn up the difficulty level to Hard or Extreme for the challenge.

 

[Rshady]

Intermediate or Normal, I like it to be challenging, but not so much that I miss out on stuff.

 

[Fire Daemon]

If I'm used to the genre or style of gameplay I will usually start on the hardest. (FPS and RPG mostly)

If I'm not used to it I'll start off on easy. (Usually RTS)

 

[Xalmar]

Intermediate. I like to play through at least once without too much difficulty, going through the storyline and getting a feel for the game. Once I'm familiar with it I start to challenge myself by boosting the difficulty.

 

[Bocaj2000]

Intermediate. I like to play through at least once without too much difficulty, going through the storyline and getting a feel for the game. Once I'm familiar with it I start to challenge myself by boosting the difficulty.

Same here. Get used to the control sceme and the feel for the game, then challenge your skills.

 

[The Iron Ninja]

I go easy the first play through. And if I found it fun I'll do it again on the hardest difficulty possible just to challenge myself.

 

[Gahars]

Usually just normal, so I get a hang of the game.

 

[fedpayne]

I usually play through for the first time on intermediate, so I can get it done with moderate challenge, but without really going for it. I then feel I have something more to try and accomplish when I go back and do it harder (if I do).

 

[j1-2themax]

Normal: Easy is often too easy to the point where it's not fun anymore, and I usually don't do hard until I get fully acclimated to the controls.

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

Hard like a pornstar first playthtough. And well if I break then I go a level down.

 

[The Blue Mongoose]

usually normal... but on Painkiller, Nightmare... no clue why

 

[ElephantGuts]

I always start on normal, but in a lot of games (like COD4) I end up going to a harder difficulty before finishing on normal (if it's possible to switch).

 

[Aardvark]

Depends on the game.

FPSs I pick extreme and dial it back if it seems to impossible/stupidly hard

Anything that requires actual precision and skill to play usually has the harder difficulties locked anyway, so you're only able to start with intermediate, which I usually take.

 

[Kayevcee]

For FPSes I always go with normal first time out, possibly switching up to hard for a second play-through if I felt it was especially easy, too short (Quake 4) or there's some sort of secret ending on higher difficulties (Painkiller). If it's an RTS (of which I own precisely two, and one came free with my graphics card) I go with easy because I am shockingly bad at them.

Seriously. I played Company of Heroes for the first time today and I'm getting hammered by the bosch constantly on level 2. I can never remember where all my little guys are or what they're doing and the AI and me seem to have firmly opposing ideas about what "throw grenade" means. The little paratroopers seem to think I mean "go out and stand in front of the nazi machinegun nest for a while". Making my guys hard as nails and the enemy out of crepe paper seems like the only way I can blunder through even the simplest missions.

-Nick

 

[Castrate the Heathen]

Normal, duh.

 

[PlasticPorter]

The same difficulty i play on the 2nd and 3rd time, wiener mode.

 

[The Shade]

When I first got my 360 I played games on Easy first, but rapidly realized that I got bored with them really fast. So I always start on Normal mode now.

Except Bioshock. After playing on Normal for awhile I quickly deduced that Hard would be far more suiting. And it was. Thank Ryan for Vita-Chambres.

 

[karl_eller]

If it's a game style I'm used to (eg FPS) without some pants-on-backwards-retarded control system, usually hard for the first time through, unless I'm getting spanked too badly.

For games I'm not so used to, or just plain suck at no matter how much I love them (eg RTS's), easy is usually the way I go.

Eller

 

[Syntax Error]

I go normal for the first playthrough most of the time. Except for Kingdom Hearts 2. I started on Proud Mode on that one.