What difficulty level do you default to on your first play through?

[tential]

I always did normal but after watching my cousin play normal and struggle through it (he doesn't play shooters or video games much apparently), have I think I'm robbing myself of the experience by playing through on normal. Think I'm going to play on the hardest one from now on.

 

[Snock514]

Always hardest in rpg's/fps but if it's other genres I'm not familiar with I usually crank er' down to normal

 

[sash1]

typically hardest or just above normal - depends on the game and whether or not i've heard the hardest is just frustratingly hard or not

 

[Udgnim]

Hard

change to highest difficulty level if I find Hard boring

Normal is for mouth breathers

 

[Scooby Doo]

Depends on the game... older games usually easy to normal, i want to enjoy not drive myself to frustration over it. Newer stuff, no clue.

 

[dguy6789]

Second hardest or one above normal

 

[Sulaco]

Whatever is just below the hardest setting.

 

[pandemonium]

Second from hardest first play. Then I'll go back and do the hardest if I really enjoyed the game and think it'd be more fun on the hardest.

 

[Hinda65]

always the hardest...in fact, I'm usually bummed when the "nightmare" level is grey'd out till you beat the first playthrough,,

 

[nickbits]

Normal or easy

 

[smakme7757]

Hard or Ultra hard. I don't play games that often, maybe a few hours on a sunday night, so i want my moneys worth

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Normal Unless the game is stupidly easy. I prefer story/exploration rather than trying to "beat" the game on max difficulty.

The Wife

 

[KaOTiK]

Normal since the game is balanced and setup around that difficulty for the experience devs want to deliver for a game. If I find it too easy though I will up the difficulty though.

 

[mmntech]

Normal since apparently I'm a mouth breather. I'm not looking for a major challenge when I play. Just like to go along for the ride, explore, and enjoy the story.

 

[IGemini]

Depends on the difficulty curve. Normal for most games, next level up for shooters.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Legendary or go home

 

[ImpulsE69]

Wait...you people actually PLAY your games??

 

[greenhawk]

Second hardest or one above normal

+1

It was made even more of a need to not choose normal when a game I played a while back had a description next to each. Normal got the words "people new to FPS games" or something to that effect. I definitly went second hardest for that game (long time FPSer).


I find most if not all games now days set "normal" to be the old easy modes. Just like nearly all restraunts change the title of "small" from there menus to "regular".

 

[Robert Munch]

always hard

 

[UglyCasanova]

Normal for most games. I rarely play games, and when I do the last thing I want to be is frustrated.

 

[pathos]

Depends on the genre, the game itself, and my mood. Can be anywhere from easy to hard.

I don't ever play anything on max difficulty, however. Stops being play, and starts being work. I don't get paid to play video games

 

[Samastrike]

I'll play on normal first just so I can have a slightly more enjoyable playthrough for the story. After that I crank it up to legendary/insanity/hell and do that.

 

[Smoblikat]

Depends on the game. If its just an FPS, or a game that I have played before (eariler in the series) I either choose the hardest or 1 setting below that. Rarely on normal.

 

[Jaydip]

Depends on the game.Typically hard/hardest in RPG and normal in FPS.

 

[alcoholbob]

Easy unless its a RPG, RTS or turn based strategy game, then I run on hard usually because the computer AI is usually terrible and its my type of game. For other genres I'm just there for the story.