Poll: would you lower the difficulty?
- Thread starter Stew Coard
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Not unbeatable, just not worth the frustration and time it would take to beat certain bosses.krazykidd said:
I changed the difficulty in The Witcher 2 because the game was being unfair and not letting me use potions in one fight, so I decided to be unfair and not let it use it's stupid difficulty.
Hard is my default. It's where I usually find the most enjoyment, so I don't typically ever go below that setting (even on first playthroughs). If I'm getting my ass kicked, it really depends on the type of difficulty being presented to me. If it's a matter of execution, be it in terms of my reactions (like Vanquish or Bayonetta) or tactics (like Dragon Age), then I won't lower the difficulty. I find great fun in beating those types of challenges.
On the other hand, I will lower the difficulty if the challenge only really comes from damage sponge enemies and me not chugging enough health potions (like Skyrim). But that's just a poor implementation of difficulty.
On the other hand, I will lower the difficulty if the challenge only really comes from damage sponge enemies and me not chugging enough health potions (like Skyrim). But that's just a poor implementation of difficulty.
I always play on the hardest setting unless it's just silly like Oblivion. I have a ridiculous amount of patience I think so if I mess something up I just throw myself at it until I do it.
The last time I did it was in The Witcher 2, with the fight at the end of Act 1, pre-updates and patches. Suffice to say, it was very fucking difficult.
Otherwise, I almost always avoid it. Unless there's a huge difficulty spike, I tend to find it then makes everything after feel much harder again when you switch it back up.
Otherwise, I almost always avoid it. Unless there's a huge difficulty spike, I tend to find it then makes everything after feel much harder again when you switch it back up.
I usually go in for Normal difficulty first so that I can do my initial blind run with plenty of leeway for the times when I fuck up.
Hard difficulty or above, I tend to remember the hardest parts of the game so I'll know when they're coming, what to do and (if possible) will be able to gather items so I can prepare for them in advance. Other times I just bring it down to "I've already come this far, I'm sure I can get past this next bit" and fight on.
Hard difficulty or above, I tend to remember the hardest parts of the game so I'll know when they're coming, what to do and (if possible) will be able to gather items so I can prepare for them in advance. Other times I just bring it down to "I've already come this far, I'm sure I can get past this next bit" and fight on.
Depends on the game. If I enjoy the challenge, not likely. Game like Freespace, or a strategy game, or an FPS, probably not. RPG? I usually -start- those on Easy and then ramp it up if it turns out I enjoy the combat and want more of a challenge.
OP and the first two responses of this thread echo my feelings exactly.Stew Coard said:
I like a good challenge, but there are points when something becomes stupid and is just rage-inducing. Dragon Age: Origins is actually one of my examples. Typically any time a group of blood mages turned up, my entire party got skewered before I could even kill one of them. Very frustrating.
I don't believe I ever lowered the difficulty during the Kayran fight in The Witcher 2, but I damn well would've if the thing kept killing me even after I finished the quick-time event and managed to get up on its back.
Usually I play through games on the "Normal" setting. If I beat them and had a lot of fun or they offer the opportunity to raise the difficulty because I've been breezing through everything (so far Infamous is the only game to really do that particular thing), then I'll usually go up to "Hard". Though the only recent game I can really recall doing that with is Crysis 2. Wait, and the Mass Effect series.
Interesting...I just walked away...strange that you felt a need to "beat" this game, I felt nothing.Chester Rabbit said:
I'm not averse to turning down the difficulty, I just can't temember an occasion I've needed to do it. I have walked away from games with absurd difficulty spikes though. I guess I'm more liable to just walk away unless the game is particularly compelling.
Depends entirely on the game. For games which I think will be more about the story for me than the combat and challenge (I'd class Mass Effect in this category) then I'll have the difficulty allll the way down because I'd rather experience the story fully than get frustrated and rage quit halfway through a mission.
With games where I'm playing a character in an open world, however (Kingdoms Of Amalur, Skyrim and Morrowind at the moment), I will have the difficulty higher than average to give myself more of a challenge.
With games where I'm playing a character in an open world, however (Kingdoms Of Amalur, Skyrim and Morrowind at the moment), I will have the difficulty higher than average to give myself more of a challenge.
I'll lower the difficulty of a game if I'm having a hard time or if I just feel like it. Most of the time, I'm playing games just as a way to relax and escape from the world for a bit and to work off my frustrations. Doesn't help if the game constantly mops the floor with me. That would just make me even more frustrated.
Recently, I've been lowering the difficulty of games when I'm new to them and I'm trying to understand the mechanics. When I feel I've gotten a better handle on things, I'll up the difficulty.
Recently, I've been lowering the difficulty of games when I'm new to them and I'm trying to understand the mechanics. When I feel I've gotten a better handle on things, I'll up the difficulty.
Well what i'd choose isn't on the poll, which is really, if i were constantly failing but improving each time, i would not put the difficulty down, if i were failing but were only just short of winning, i would not turn it down, if i were killed close to instantly before being able to do any noticable damage, i would probably turn it down a notch, and then turn it back up after finishing.
Very, VERY rarely. I try my hardest not to, in fact I can only think of one time I've done so, and that was Devil May Cry 3. I later found out that easy mode was normal mode in Japan, so... I'm not sure how much that counts.
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roughly this, i don't enjoy getting pissed off at games and i don't enjoy wasting time taking off a buffed enemy (most times they either add more enemies or just buff the ones there, the only difficulty they are adding is cheaper hits and more HP, which in turn takes more time) so i tend to play it on easy or normal, which ever one doesn't cause me to die multiple times in fights. I tend to play games for the enjoyment of playing them, not for beating some challenge or goal i made in my head (which is fine, i've done that before, not down talking anyone who does that.)JEBWrench said:
anyone can have whatever difficulty they want to imo, as long as it doesn't hinder me playing the game in my own enjoyable way (which thanks to command consoles in rpg's, i tend to get that one way or another)
Yeah, I've done that a few times, including in Dragon Age 
If I'm just not getting how to do something after a few attempts and I'm not in the mood to come back to it later, then I have no problem doing it. Games are something I do in my free time, sometimes I like a challenge, other times not so much. I like that I get to pick and choose
If I'm just not getting how to do something after a few attempts and I'm not in the mood to come back to it later, then I have no problem doing it. Games are something I do in my free time, sometimes I like a challenge, other times not so much. I like that I get to pick and choose 
i got sick of dying on normal mode for the witcher 2. Going from normal to easy is the biggest difficulty gap i've ever seen. I went from dying in 2-3 hits on bosses to not even having my life bar drop. I'm all for difficult game play, but death in a few hits and no in-combat potions to use just sucks the fun out of it.
If I'm repeating a section for the seventh time, then yeah I'll turn the difficulty down, but it's going back up when I get past that part. I recently started a replay of Mass Effect 1 on normal difficulty, but after a few hours I realized how terrible the combat was before the second game. So I kicked the difficulty down to casual simply so that I could spend as little time as possible in each fight. I've already beaten it on higher difficulties anyway, and I'm not really missing out on anything by doing this. I'll do veteran when I get to 2 and 3.