Xbox 360

I always play on normal and very rarely have to step up my game. I prefer having a little challenge when I play
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GGearX posted...

So why do we do this? Is it because we are " too hardcore" and playing normal and easy mode are like an insult to our "hardcoreness"?

Two reasons: Time and Experience.

Time: Unless you give me a reason to play Easy, such as Achievements not stacking on game completion, or ideally something like Bayonetta or Metal Gear Solid 4 where I can still build up my character and earn bonus toys for subsequent playthroughs while I learn the lay of the land, so to speak, then it's just a time waster for me. I may as well play on a difficulty that challenges me and does the game justice. How do more difficult settings do a game justice? By complementing the experience.

Experience: I like a game with a story, be it Gears of War 3 shallow or Heavy Rain intense. I also like games with great game play, like Bayonetta or Halo. Let's take a look at Max Payne or Gears of War, as shooters and action games are the major genres where I fall into your idea.

In Gears of War 3, I picked up the concept right off of the cover art: Soldiers fighting in an End of The World war against a threat that makes humanity the underdog. I like the concept. In Halo, I'm The Only Super Soldier standing between humanity and an alien horde. Great. In Max Payne 3, same deal, lone desperado against a flood of human garbage. I'm in.

On Normal settings, I don't feel immersed enough. It might change with different games, but generally Hard adjusts: enemy damage tolerance, your damage tolerance, sometimes ammunition. Ammunition or other tools have a direct correlation to your own killing capability, which in turn means you can control how stacked the odds are against you if you can master the mechanics (cover, Shield recharge, weapons, Bullet time) .

Here's the thing: to me it's not about making the experience more challenging, in the sense that I want to show off my Achievements or brag I did it. It has to do with my immersion into the game and how I identify with my character and their situation.

If I'm strapped for ammo, only reloading off the corpses of my opposition, and every shot needs to count so I get fast kills and optimum ammo usage, and if I screw up with cover or other resources I have, I feel like I'm more in tune with the narrative going on. Marcus and his squad aren't just blowing through grubs, every fire fight is a fight for your life. Max is living cover point to cover point hoping the adrenaline ballet he weaves will get him from A to B so he can do it all over again just to save one life. Master Chief truly is one soldier against an onslaught of alien foes raining down hot plasma and laughing off his puny UNSC weaponry.

To me, that's the highlight of the game experience and narrative, when they twine around each other and I am actually invested in the game as a participant of the illusionary world, and not just "playing a game on hard to prove something".

Some games, like Uncharted 2, don't even feel any different on the hardest mode as opposed to Easy or Normal as long as you grasp the concept of "Head shot and stay behind cover". I don't plan on getting shot up on Normal, so why not just knock off the harder modes? Trick is, you can't with U2, since you need to unlock each difficulty tier by starting on Normal, but the point remains: If I'm going to learn to play the Gameboy, I better learn to play it right.

That's how it worked with my NES, and it's how the best games work now.
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Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth. - Mike Tyson

Its boring is why, have you ever tried to play a COD game on the lowest difficulty? the enemies hardly even fight back, I'm not somebody who tends to go for the super hard modes either though, one step above normal is usually perfect, I want a little challenge at least

TheBlueStig posted...

Easy mode should never be able to get through the entire game, at some point in time the player should be forced to switch to normal mode.

At the very least Easy mode should be locked out until the gamer has tried Normal mode and died a certain number of times.

i think this is fair. if it is too difficult for a child, they shouldnt be playing that game.

OT: i always play on normal. it always seems to be the perfect balance. i know i could play much higher, but that just isnt my groove. If i wanted to die constantly, i would still own dark souls...
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Stuff on harder difficulty tend to just have more health and thus become damage sponges. It makes the game seem longer and drawn-out to me. It depends on the game really, but most games I will go through normal the first time and if I ever revisit it, I will try the hard mode.