Depends on the game. In some cases, like the most recent Total War, I can handle one aspect of the game but lose because it the game cheats. Like in Total War where the battles do get a little harder, but the enemies get essentially endless money to play with and can field multiple "super" armies with a single province while my 10 province empire can barely field 2.
Poll: Will you drop the difficulty if you're having trouble?
- Thread starter tippy2k2
- Start date
no, not even close. even if it gets to the point of frustration, dropping the difficulty just isn't in the calculations. if i drop the difficulty for even one single instant, it'll haunt me for the rest of the game. i'd never be able to accept this reality and i'd quickly feel the need to delete my game and start over.
I myself am currently replaying The Witcher 2. On Dark mode. I'm about 3 quarters of the way through, and, while I haven't had too much trouble, I would never drop the difficulty. Dropping the difficulty would defeat the purpose of why I'm playing on the hardest difficulty: so that I can have the experience of playing on the hardest difficulty.
When I first play a game, I play on whatever the standard difficulty is, so i can appreciate the experience (except with series I have a lot of experience playing, in which case I'll bump the difficulty up). Then, I replay on higher difficulties, and even if it kicks my arse, I don't drop the difficulty. There have been cases where I just give up and stop playing the game. I got through Gears of War 3 on Insane, right up to the final boss. Then I discovered that, on Insane, the final boss just cheats until you lose. So I stopped playing.
But while some games aren't worth the trouble, I don't drop the difficulty. I either persevere, or I tell the game to fuck off.
When I first play a game, I play on whatever the standard difficulty is, so i can appreciate the experience (except with series I have a lot of experience playing, in which case I'll bump the difficulty up). Then, I replay on higher difficulties, and even if it kicks my arse, I don't drop the difficulty. There have been cases where I just give up and stop playing the game. I got through Gears of War 3 on Insane, right up to the final boss. Then I discovered that, on Insane, the final boss just cheats until you lose. So I stopped playing.
But while some games aren't worth the trouble, I don't drop the difficulty. I either persevere, or I tell the game to fuck off.
Remember that College of Winterhold mission in Skyrim where you had to collect the 3 books? And the bossfight at the end of it in that small, underground room? I was pretty darn close to dropping the difficulty down there, since my character was all magic, didn't have a single good melee weapon (Sure, I could conjure up one) and about 2-4 health potions. I wasn't very prepared for that fight.
Luckily, those poison bottles I had collected in the past finally were worth it. Poisoned some dagger I had with a paralyze poison and hit her just as she teleported. She became permanetly stuck in place, it was a pretty easy fight from there.
So to answer your question: As long as there are bugs I can exploit, no need to drop the difficulty.
Luckily, those poison bottles I had collected in the past finally were worth it. Poisoned some dagger I had with a paralyze poison and hit her just as she teleported. She became permanetly stuck in place, it was a pretty easy fight from there.
So to answer your question: As long as there are bugs I can exploit, no need to drop the difficulty.
I almost never touch the difficulty. First play through is always on normal, and second is on the highest difficulty. I'll only ever change it if I'm playing with a friend that is having trouble. I think it's a good thing if a game is challenging. It's better hard than far too easy.
I am currently playing Tales of Graces (first playthrough ever) and I play on evil difficulty most of the time, (difficulty levels are easy, normal, moderate, hard, evil and chaos) and this being my first playthrough I accept that I sometimes need to bump down to hard, but I will try at least 3 or 4 times depending on how much of a struggle I am having. I have had fights where I lost 4 times and won on the 5th. Because of this I voted other. I might change difficulty, but not before I can say for certain that I wont win.
I usually start on the hardest (or almost hardest) difficult and plow through no matter what. And I rarely have problems. And if I have, there is no way I turn down the difficulty. Even if I need to try it 50 million times, it is going to be done or it is left unplayed. FTL on easy? Are you kidding me? ME on anything but hardcore or insanity? Boring. DA:O below nightmare? Breezed through it. The only exception to that rule are strategy games though - I tend to start those on normal since one needs to usually learn the ropes first before going to higher difficulty levels.
I take my fun in gaming from having fun and the experience. I don't care much about difficulty as in 90% of the games (maybe more) difficulty only means enemies taking more hits to kill, and them taking less hits to kill you. That's not real 'difficulty' in my opinion so I don't care for it. Now if a game actually made enemies smarter or have more access to the same things you do, then it would also add to the experience of playing the game. And then I would probably be a lot less inclined to lower the difficulty if I'm having a hard time. Dragon's Dogma almost managed that, then again it didn't have a difficulty setting at first either.
It depends on how much I actually like the game. Even being careful in my purchases I still stumble upon the odd game that makes me go "Oh fuck it, let's just get it over with quickly" halfway true. I have no qualms about dropping the difficulty a notch or three there.
But if I'm actually enjoying it, I'll do a proper hammering and bruteforce it if nothing else works.
But if I'm actually enjoying it, I'll do a proper hammering and bruteforce it if nothing else works.
Well, I do reduce the difficulty for some battles. e.g. in The Witcher 2 i was playing in normal but some battles were way harder than others. I specifically had trouble fighting some of the bosses. I could have beaten them in time but because of work i do not want to waste an hour or so just to beat a monster, so i reduced the difficulty for them. After that i put it back to normal. Games should be fun and if playing on easy is more fun for you, you should play on easy.
In Skyrim I usually use the ~tgm cheat if I'm constantly getting one-shot. Usually by a mage's ice spear. Why can't my own ice spear be that powerful?! The only time I really lower the difficulty is if I want to quickly get through a slew of mobs and I have followers with me so I can't use the ~killall cheat.
Yes, I cheat like a ***** when I get bored of doing something over and over again. It's especially bad if I switch characters and end up doing something I just finished with a previous character....
I know in ME2 I managed to hardcore difficulty the entire thing except for three instances. Horizon's final bit, the side-mission where you rescue a downed quarian, and one more that I can't remember. Those three things I just kept dying so I went "fuck it" and lowered it to normal.
Yes, I cheat like a ***** when I get bored of doing something over and over again. It's especially bad if I switch characters and end up doing something I just finished with a previous character....
I know in ME2 I managed to hardcore difficulty the entire thing except for three instances. Horizon's final bit, the side-mission where you rescue a downed quarian, and one more that I can't remember. Those three things I just kept dying so I went "fuck it" and lowered it to normal.
Only if I come to the conclusion that the trouble I'm having is due to the game being poorly designed so that the difficulty is inconsistent, in which case I see it as an equalizer to counterbalance a flaw.
Aside from that I'll leave the difficulty alone so that my accomplishments in the game feel real.
Aside from that I'll leave the difficulty alone so that my accomplishments in the game feel real.