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Fazz
Honored Contributor
April 20, 2019
Question

Do you play new games on hard mode to begin with?

I've always set 2D games or VR games to Normal mode if there's an option for difficulty, but I just wondered if anyone uses hard mode to begin with? I can't play through a game once again once I've finished it and I don't know if selecting normal is the best way to play a game. Do you reckon a game should be played on hard to begin with or is hard mode just there for if you want to play the game again?

I've always wondered what difficulty level the game devs expect you to play on when it's a new game.

    20 replies

    saami81
    Up and Coming
    April 20, 2019
    depends on game. Story-driven games i play on easy, because for me they are like interactive movies and doing same part multiple times ruins the experience for me.
    Games like Doom, Creed etc.. i put as hard as i can while still having some kind of change to beat them.
    FazzAuthor
    Honored Contributor
    April 20, 2019
    @saami81 - Yes, I suppose that makes sense. I'm playing The Last Of Use on PlayStation, which is story driven and I have it set to normal. I choose to do this though because it's my first time using a PS controller and I suck at aiming.

    Normal seems to give me a good balance at present in this game, but I hope there's not a load more Zombie hordes further into the game or i might struggle with the aiming.

    I'm really enjoying the story of The Last Of Use and I am determined to finish this game.
    Anonymous
    April 21, 2019
    Depends. I start on Normal and if it's too easy or too difficult then I adjust accordingly. These days though the vast majority of games that are Normal difficulty are the equivalent of Easy 30 years or so ago.
    JohnnyDioxin
    Inspiring
    April 21, 2019
    I prefer a "mix & match" - such as 7 Days To Die, for example, has a large number of options to tailor the game to how you want to play, so you can have some things set to really difficult (such as zombie spawning & aggression) whilst making the game less frustrating (by eg making crafting faster). That's probably why it has been my number 1 survival game as far as played hours goes, for 4 years now.
    Johnny's Scale Models Showcase i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2
    Digikid1
    Honored Contributor
    April 21, 2019
    Normal mode first....unless I know the genre well and seen some twitch footage of the game ahead of time....then I might go up. 
    jayhawk488108
    Inspiring
    April 21, 2019
    Hard mode 9 times out of 10, especially FPSs. Hard is usually the difficulty level developers had in mind. Normal is for the casual market. Hard mode makes you really value resources and git gud. Game lasts longer too.
    Epona0000
    Participant
    April 22, 2019
    normal mode for me - i still love "In Death" -- but it's embarrassing when my high score is 35k.. and the top players on the leaderboard are.. 31M...  :/
    FazzAuthor
    Honored Contributor
    April 22, 2019
    Well I've decided on normal mode for now on the PlayStation. Mainly down to the fact I really suck at aiming with these PS controllers. It's weird because a PS controller is much better then using a keyboard, but aiming with a controller is difficult to master and a mouse is much better.

    I wish they could come up with a device that does both things good, but I can't think of a way anyone could do that. You need 2 hands on the controller so it can't just replace the keyboard.
    FazzAuthor
    Honored Contributor
    April 23, 2019
    Just had to change to easy mode for a bit on PlayStation and the game The Last Of Use. I tried for like 1 hour to complete this level with a Zombie and I just couldn't do it with the free aim. Had to turn snap to aim on the PS to get decent aiming with these PS controllers.
    jayhawk488108
    Inspiring
    April 23, 2019
    I played Dying Light on hard mode the first time. Night time was terrifying. I refused to leave the safe house at night till I was like level 40. That game in VR would be the ultimate.
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