Difficulty silliness

Tongue-in-cheek

Ok, I'm curious as to why people feel the need to trumpet what difficulty level they play on. Does it make you feel like a tough guy/gal? It's a game. Ooh, I played monopoly without any starting money. Ooh, I sacrificed two pawns in chess. Ooh, I played on Torment level in Can't get laid, but can play a game XVIII I'm sorry it just sounds so pathetic and sad to me. There are some folks who can't talk about playing a game without mentioning it every single time. Good for you have a cookie

I don't trumpet it but I do play on the hardest difficulties when the option is present. I don't feel the need to brag about it, though, that's just silly. But I like being challenged in RPGs so I play on Hard/Ultra and don't use cheats or anything, that's just me.

We all use games to fill some void in our lives. Challenge addicts may need to feel powerful because they are not in reality, and seek validation.

I doubt that's a reason for most people. I usually play on a harder difficulty myself (not the hardest though), because I don't enjoy advancing through a game and feeling like it's being handed to me.

I've also been gaming for 30+ years, so I grew up in an era where games were generally a lot more difficult than what the average mainsteam game is now. It seems to me that the "Normal" setting on most games is akin to what "Easy" was 10 years ago.

It makes sense as gaming has become more mainstream and companies are trying to appeal to a wider audience.

I assume it is because people like it to be known that they're "1337". It doesn't annoy me too much* - I may even be slightly jealous.
I usually play on whatever the "normal" difficulty is, because even though on some objective level games seem easier these days, my brain is slowly being eaten by some sort of extradimensional parasite**, making me way less 1337 than I used to be in the coordination (or indeed, thinking) department.

[* okay, maybe a little bit, depending on how grumpy I am and whether I've been bested by a 12 year-old online recently]
[** it's probably called "age", or maybe something more long-term stress related***]
[*** I blame the children]

I usually play on the level hardest level as well, unless it's simply about prolonging the game/experience. To me, a harder level should denote the computer opponent being more challenging, not simply making the game take longer to complete. Things like weight being a factor, limited resources, loses having real in-game consequences are far more appealing to me.

I get "playing" on higher difficulties, I do it sometimes too. I don't get "announcing" that you're playing at such and such a difficulty. This is what I find to be amusing. I also get a kick out of people who say this type of stuff, but suspiciously don't have the achievements for said levels in their game profile. Just completed Dark Souls 10 on Ultimate, but their achievements say guppy

P.S. The older I get the lower the difficulty. I'll soon be playing on Diaper settings.

Where exactly are you seeing this if you don't mind me asking? I can't say I've noticed it much around here. The only person I recall often talking about playing games on the hardest difficulty was GothicGothicness, though I don't know if he\she was doing it to brag.

JDR13 said:

Where exactly are you seeing this if you don't mind me asking? I can't say I've noticed it much around here. The only person I recall often talking about playing games on the hardest difficulty was GothicGothicness, though I don't know if he\she was doing it to brag.

Click to expand...

Sigh, I bring it up ONE time in 2017!

https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38671&highlight=difficulty

I play on normal difficulty then gradually increase the difficulty if I want to.

But I know some people definitely wants to feel "l337" - they complain the game is too hard and yet refuse to lower the difficulty as if their life depends on it

Why do you assume people are bragging? If someone is giving their opinion of combat in a game I think the difficulty their playing on is relevant.

I would guess that’s the case around here for the most part. People aren’t bragging they just feel it’s relevant.

I remember quite a while back I was talking about performance of a game and mentioned I had a titan and I was accused of bragging. Of course I wasn’t. When talking about performance of a game, of course what video card you have is relevant.

From prev thread,

Wisdom said:

I play hardest difficulty because of the problem Dartness mentioned… most games after you clear the first couple hours you just get overpowered and faceroll everything and it doesnt engage me anymore.

Click to expand...

And just for added fun…
This is in reference to people that review games on YT etc and complain that its way too hard when they are just really really bad, give it a low score, and blame it on the absurd difficulty they picked.
No YT'er looks cool when they pick EASY difficulty. Far better to pick INSANOGODMODEOFDOOM and then give it a low score because "man I could totally ace this game it was fair!"

Cons
✗Combat can be too unforgiving at times

But that is supposed to be with "pros"!

Click to expand...

Wisdom said:

The way to fix this is to make lots of modes with different terminology but ACTUALLY just linking to only three levels of difficulty. Basic to Hard mode are all "Easy". Difficult to Ultra Insane is " Normal". God-like Extreme is the only Hard mode.

Basic
Casual
Explorer
Normal
Fair
Challenging
Hard
Difficult
Insane
Ultra Insane
God-like Extreme

This way it gives people the illusion of choice but still lets them feel like a hero for winning the "Insane mode!!!". And they will be ok with failing at God-Like because…
"come'on, like nobody could do that level.. the AI totally cheats in that one."

Allllll about managing expectations and ego stroking. I kid you not, this is something well discussed in marketing meetings all the time.

Click to expand...

I agree in that there are a lot of gamers who seem to brag about this, I'm assuming most of them are younger type gamers. Because it is pretty silly.

Generally, I like that there are difficulty settings, but I am not going to play on hardest difficulty most of the time, because I feel it is just artificially difficult by using cheap factors - usually pumping up enemy stats like hit points and so on. Also, I tend to use cheats on many games, due to boredom or just wanting to get past certain parts where I think the developers made it too frustrating.

For example, I will often use money (gold) cheats, in certain games because I feel the game is too skimpy or cheap in giving out gold. Or especially in first person shooters, if I am facing a boss battle or a very difficult and frustrating section of the game where I keep dying due to too many enemies or low heath or low ammo or whatever, I will use god mode or something similar to get past these parts if I get too frustrated after a certain period of time.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a challenge and at times I will spend a long time to try and beat these challenging parts, but eventually I will arrive at a point where I feel like quitting the game and then I will use the cheat to keep me interested in the game.

On the broader topic, I do think games have been made easier these days. Especially rpgs. I often will choose either normal difficulty or one notch above if I read too many posts saying the game is too easy on normal difficulty. I don't play on nightmare difficulty though, just because as I said, it is not really about being more difficult in my opinion but often times just more frustrating because in the way the developers choose to implement what highest difficulty is by cheap "bullet sponge" type factors.

The only thing I've ever played on "hard" are RTS games, on random maps vs AI opponents.

RPGs, no way. I go round in circles just trying to figure out my character's name, class, and leveling choices as it is on Normal. I'd be stuck in an analysis paralysis hell, never to return, if I started playing an RPG on ultra difficult!

Plus, I've found that "hard" mode (when i have tried it in games) often tends to be just bumping up enemy hit points, so I'm just spending twice as long whacking the mole

sakichop said:

Why do you assume people are bragging? If someone is giving their opinion of combat in a game I think the difficulty their playing on is relevant.

I would guess that’s the case around here for the most part. People aren’t bragging they just feel it’s relevant.

Click to expand...

Basically this. I usually get annoyed if people don't state what difficulty they played a game at as it probably the most relevant information to associate with the things they are talking about.

Take D&D games, for example, anything non-core rules difficulty is going to be an unusual difficulty for the purposes of discussion, in particular how the IE games are cheapened by any other difficulty whereas NWN is literally borked by played on core difficulty due to the uncontrollability of companions to commit suicide every battle.

However, the most salient point, and irony, of this thread is more that:

Aren't you (crpgnut) bragging that you are 'above' the idea of difficulty being relevant for conversation? A holier than thou brag?

I like to get the best result, the most money, to buy everything that is worthy to buy, explore everything, get all the enemies killed (preferably with one stroke without having to try x times), talk to all that I can talk to, etc. So I love cheats, I love god-mode, and if that is not an option I like to have the possibility to save a lot a times. I hate dying and having to start again because of it. I do stop and return to a previous save to try again, and again and again, to get the best result though.

Like others here I try to find the right difficulty setting for each game.

1. I want a bit of a challenge
2. I don't want to die every 2 seconds

in most cases I have to choose normal or 1 above normal.

In general games got easier over the years, but the Dark Souls games stopped the trend.
I am proud to beat a game with many achievements, but I rarely brag about it.
Getting levels, ranks, achievements etc. is a big part of every RPG, isn't it?

I just looked if I have something to brag about:

Left4Dead 2:
Still something to prove - survive all campaigns on Expert - that was really hard.
The Real Deal - Survive a campaign on Expert skill with Realism mode enabled.

The Great Gaias - The Eternal Sentinal - Defeating the ultimate boss - I had to build up a whole new party for this.

… and I was in the top 10 worldwide leaderboards in Team Deathmatch in FarCry 2 for a while.

… and I've beaten the Beast of 1000 Eyes in Wizardry 7 with a single Valkyrie

... so I stop and promise to never do this again

I always play games for the first time on default difficulty whichever that may be.
On replay, if it happens, I change it to higher (if the game was a cakewalk), or lower (if the game is boring grind).
If someone loves to play only "insane" difficulty, I have nothing against that. Same goes for "casual", if that's your thing and makes a game more fun, do it.

What I do have a problem with is something else. Steam achievements.
Most games have an achievement "finished the game on insane difficulty" but rarely any has "completed the game" (solved all possible sidequests/sidemissions).

Means what. As we all know achievements are the most important thing in anyone's life and then fastrun on the highest difficulty make articles in gaming media while you won't see an article about any game's completition.

Imagine a TV shows site where it'd be irrelevant if you watched the whole show, but instead media would praise you for watching a few clips in doublespeed.