Why Play On Hard?

[Corn Cutter]

I always start in normal mode but if it was a really great game that I wanna play a second time I need to make it more difficult as a replacement for the suprise effects when not knowing the plot.

 

[ItsAChiaotzu]

Why do I play bass instead of guitar?

because doing hard stuff is fun.

real men seek a challenge.

Ah ha. Ah ha. Ah ha.

No.

OT: I only play hard mode on a few games if I'm decent at them. The hard mode on GOW3 makes it so much more fun.

 

[bassdrum]

I olay on hard because I find it to generally be more challenging and fun. If a game proves to be too hard, I often bump it down a little bit and try again. Also, it's vindicating to beat a game on a ridiculous difficulty setting--Uncharted was pretty damn hard on Crushing (at least the first time through), and so I'm pretty proud of having beaten it.

 

[aaronmcc]

it's the sweet relief of actually beating the darn thing, combined with the achievement

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Oh man I totally read the thread title wrong....

 

[Small Waves]

Because when you beat that kind of shit you feel like a fucking boss.

 

[Snotnarok]

90% of the time I play on hard mode just because there's no fun in walking through a game. I haven't had as shooter challenge me on normal mode in forever so I play on hard. Heck fallout 3 on it's hardest mode is a joke, I had to add mods so things would actually feel worth doing.

 

[open trap]

I like the challenge, its also more fun that way too (unless its way too hard) Like Halo (original)on heroic is very fun but on legendary is just impossible

 

[legion431]

I'm only playing Mass Effect 2 on insanity for the achievement.

 

[TheMadTypist]

Generally, I'd play hard for a replay- I always play through first on a medium difficulty, because I just want to get the storyline, but afterward I want to see how crazy things can get! Like in dead space, I didn't see any of the necromorphs fake their deaths (I'm not talking about the ones that look dead and jump up, I mean the ones that are active who drop after a few shots and jump up again if you get close) until I tried again on hard! Also, as you get better at the game, sometimes the only way to get a challenge out of the AI is to tune it to Hard, or Hardest, or whatever they call it.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Site editor snip

My fault I'm afraid, I misinterpreted the meaning of frustration.

I defined it a bit better a little bit earlier in the thread,

'Seemingly insurmountable challenge that provides great frustration UNTIL you beat it'

This doesn't apply to casual games, ambient games, or games of those types, more to what would be traditionally considered a 'hardcore game' (much as I loath that definition)

I'm not denying that it's very much different strokes for different people, and I respect peoples right to play through the game at whatever difficulty suits the experience they want from the game, what my problem is is that the developers of modern games appear to be enticed with the notion that hand holding is required through every part of the game, otherwise they aren't reaching out to a big enough audience.

Again, not a problem as long as that's exclusive to the lower difficulty levels, but I've noticed a few games where, while the difficulty of the enemies may go up or the potency of your weapons may go down as you increase the difficulty (I'll use a standard FPS model as an example here), the amount of assistance remains at a high enough level that you never really have to rely on your own instincts.

This also happens in games without difficulty levels, like GTA 4. Frankly, I found that far too easy to enjoy properly, mainly because half of it is tutorials, and while as you say, this is just my experience, it's the only experience available on that game.

I didn't really touch on this as much in the original post I made, but what I'm basically saying is that while I have no problem with the developer varying their difficulty levels to appeal to a wider spectrum of gamers, I have noticed that some developers seem to be forgetting that challenge is a definite reason why people play games, and sometimes, feeling defeated and broken is intrinsically linked to how everyone plays games, be they playing it on easy or hard. Remove the occasional frustration, and you remove one of the main reasons for playing games, the sense of achievement. A sense of achievement is very difficult to acquire if there's no challenge.

I actually agree with you completely. There should be an Easy mode that's actually easy and a Hard mode that's actually hard. Sadly, that doesn't happen as often as it should. Games tend to skew too far in one direction or the other.

 

[Pimppeter2]

I play on hard for most FPSs just because it is a fun challenge. However, I play a lot more games of Easy. I don't really have the time anymore.

 

[jmd102993]

Frankly i only play hard on some games, i did it for MW2, and a few others, but general the way i figure it, normal difficulty is what the developers intended you to play the game on, the standard as far as how the game is supposed to feel

 

[Fox242]

The challenge of it is why I play on Hard. I played Titan mode on God of War III and died over 100 times, but the trophy and the overall achievement of overcoming such difficult odds made the frustration and repetition all worth while. What good is anything if there isn't some sort of challenge to it?

 

[Acidwell]

For a sense of achievement and bragging rights.

 

[Serenegoose]

I play on whatever mode I feel challenges me the best - or fits what I want from a game. I'm happiest when I feel I'm doing my absolute best and improving at something. I play Halflife 2 on hard but Men of War on easy, just because HL2 is most fun on hard mode, and I can't even finish the second level of Men of War on easy as it is. So if I improve even on easy, I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I've played to my best, and it was better than previous efforts. As I get better, the difficulty will creep up to reflect that, eventually reaching hard mode. I'd not enjoy it if I didn't feel pressured with the prospect of defeat.

 

[Sephychu]

I get a bizarre existential high when playing on games which are hugely difficult. Real difficulty, mind, not random cheap shit the game throws at you to make itself harder. Real difficulty like European extreme mode.