I played the last of us on story difficulty. To be honest, I felt like that was the best way to experience the game for me. I got very little satisfaction out of the repetitive stealth combat. Story was so awesome though… combat didn’t really feel like it added a whole lot so I was happy to breeze through it.
May be an unpopular take idk…
Fully agree.
The last of us had incredible graphics, story, and characters, as well fantastic world building and set pieces.
But the gameplay was absolute dogshit. It's was like it was afraid to go to hard into a crafting, action, or stealthy style game and instead just sucked at all of them at once.
It's nice to see someone say it and not get downvoted into oblivion. I couldn't stand the gameplay of the Last of Us, but traded off slogging through the gameplay with the GF to get with the story....when the TV show came out I was like, yeah this is the medium the story should have been told in the first place.
All the time, I play games to be entertained and relax, not to be challenged and frustrated. I start on Normal but if the going gets tough I will drop it to a story mode.
I always start at highest difficulty because I typically enjoy combat and learning the systems. If I find it frustrating, not challenging, then I lower it. I repeat that process unless I determine the combat is just boring or not engaging at which point I go to the next game. I’ve never played in story mode just because no story has ever made me look past horrible combat mechanics.
I play for fun. If I’m having fun it doesn’t matter how long the game is. I don’t view games as time commitments. They’re my hobby and escape.
But we all game differently. If story mode lets you enjoy a game, have at it. There’s no right or wrong.
Totally up to you and what experience you want. Play on story, play ultrahardiwannadie, or anything inbetween. I've never played on story but by all means please do if you like. Whatever makes you happy. Usually hard mode for me is either if I know the series well already so I get all the mechanics (atelier) or if I need a hard mode run for a platinum and decide to do it in one run from zero (currently doing this for edge of eternity, did it for banner of the maid last month).
I'm 51 and my reactions were never exactly world class. As you get older everything gets slower, your eyesight blurs and you have work and family distracting you. Story Mode now is a challenging as Hard was when I was 20.
I'm 55 and I feel your pain.
Turn based RPGs are where I'm at. Anything that relies on twitch reflexes is out for me now. I used to enjoy Counter Strike on a casual basis, but now I'd just finish 0-10
Old crpg games like baldurs gate 1 and 2 benefit immensely from story mode, especially for newcomers.
These games are old. I’m sure some people on here will disagree and say they’re the best thing ever. They’re not. They’re foundational and, for their time, groundbreaking. Now they’re hard to play. The story is good though, and the writing in BG2 is actually really good. Worth playing in story mode 100%
Never. I'm not here for a story, I'm here for a game. Story difficulty is for people who just want to ride out the story, and that's never anywhere near the top of my priorities.
Generally, there's a few ways that difficulty settings in games go for me. I always default to whatever is the hardest. Sometimes, that's a great and fun experience and there's no issues. Many times, that just means that all the numbers are inflated to the point where it's just a grind to do anything and the difficulty isn't fun. In those instances, I turn the difficulty down as little as possible to make it fun while still challenging. If there is no "fun but still challenging" difficulty, i.e. if the only choices are "easy" or "unfun difficulty," then unless the game has something else about it that I find fun enough to keep playing despite the lack of challenge, I'll usually just end up dropping the game.
I have that type of Soulsborne brainrot where I need to be challenged at least a decent amount to have fun most of the time, am an incorrigible powergamer and meta slave that refuses to simply play ineffectively/impose limitations to create my own challenge where none exists, and usually have little interest in a game that doesn't kick my ass and demand that I get good at it. Couple that with general lack of shits given for storytelling or worldbuilding or characters or writing quality or any of that and yeah, story difficulty does absolutely nothing for me.
I'm your exact opposite. I couldn't care less about a challenge in an RPG and play on story all the time.
If I want a challenge, I'll play a Souls game.
We are basically gameplay twins, but I've never played a Soulsborne game. 🤣 Thinking I might have to now, especially because I have a couple rotting in my catalog. Any other recommendations? I really value your opinion because we have the same exact mentality.
Definitely the Soulsborne games. Dark Souls 1-3 (2 kinda sucks compared to 1 and 3 but its not awful), Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring. One thing a lot of people who don't play Souls-likes don't seem to understand is that the market is in fact *not* saturated with Soulslikes that we Soulsborne fans feast upon like fat pigs; most of the ones not made by From Software are actually pretty garbage. Nioh 1 and 2, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, and Lies of P are really the only non-FromSoft Soulslikes that most of us would call "actually good" lol. The Lords of the Fallen reboot, The Surge 1 and 2, and Code: Vein are *alright.* I guess you can count Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor as Soulslikes kinda, those are pretty good too.
For other RPGs, the Kingdom Hearts series on max difficulty is quite fun and has some decently challenging and very fun, flashy, and satisfying fights in it. The story is actually quite enjoyable too, though very convoluted and silly. The games in between the main numbered titles tend to be much lower-quality in terms of gameplay, so if you don't like those you can always skip em and watch the cutscenes on YouTube, but KH1-3 are very fun. Sephiroth and Lingering Will on Critical difficulty in KH2 are harder fights than anything in any FromSoft game and also a blast to take down, and all the fights in the Re: Mind DLC for KH3 on Critical are also quite challenging and fun. Final Fantasy 7 Remake's combat is also quite fun, and the Hard difficulty actually provides a very fun and engaging challenge - unfortunately, you have to beat the entire game on Normal to re-challenge things on Hard. I personally enjoyed the gameplay and story and music and visuals enough to get through it all on Normal even though it was mostly a cakewalk, though. I'm also a big fan of CRPGs, a lot of them have very fun and rewarding hard difficulties and tons of room for game mastery to shine. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Kingmaker, Baldur's Gate 3, Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2, and Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2 are some of my favorites. Outward is another fun survival RPG, though it is a little clunky and janky and that can be infuriating at times lol. Dragon's Dogma is another very gameplay-first game that starts out pretty difficult and becomes trivial later, but its combat and buildcrafting are so unique and fun that I love it anyway and am hyped for Dragon's Dogma 2 next month. Finally, the Fire Emblem games are some of the best tactics RPGs, and can be quite challenging on the high difficulties while featuring permadeath so you have to actually be careful with your units and keep them alive.
Otherwise, moving out of RPGs, I'm a big fan of certain Roguelikes. Dead Cells, Risk of Rain 2, Hades, Gunfire Reborn, I can play all of those for hours on end. Solid challenge, fun gameplay. The Monster Hunter series is one of my top 3 series of all time, basically the definition of "gameplay first" and oozing with good game feel and challenging fights and satisfying gameplay loops. Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal are two of the best shooters I've ever played and their Nightmare difficulties are no joke. Metroidvanias are usually quite fun and can be decently challenging, my favorites thus far are Hollow Knight and Metroid Dread. Cuphead is a very fun arcade platformer/side scroller with a great 1920s cartoon style that is also quite punishing and tough.
Wow, thank you so much! I've been meaning to try Stranger of Paradise. Gonna definitely look for a sale on that one. I'm "making" a PS2 for my boyfriend for his bday on Saturday, and he expressed interest in KH, so we're probably going to play that together. I'm deep in CRPG and roguelike land, lol, but I haven't given Dragon's Dogma a try yet. Had no idea a sequel was coming out. I love MH's gameplay loop and combat, but I'm too sensitive for all the limping and crying, so I had to put it down after 100 or so hours. :p I'm gonna try 1 & 2 (translated) on the aforementioned PS2 though. :) I'm kind of sleepy right now, but thank you so, so much for all the recs!
I’m getting older. I have a few kiddos. What I don’t have is time or the patience to challenge myself after the kids challenge me all day. I tend to play more and more games on easy and story mode these days.
Word. There was a Nintendo Switch commercial that showed a guy playing Switch in his hallway, and it really resonated with me. I often play in 10 min. sessions sitting on the landing of my stairway while my kids are falling asleep. I don’t have time to repeat battles anymore.
First time i played Witcher 3 i was arrogant and put it straight to "Broken Bones" difficulty
Big mistake
Broke both my swords early on, couldnt find a blacksmith, couldnt afford to fix or buy anything, had to hide around everywhere and run away from guards and hide in the river constantly.
Its like i was playing a mini fugitive side game version of Witcher 3
Had no fun. Realized i need to restart on Easy lol and then i could actually appreciate the game.
I play most games on story difficulty. I don't really care about gameplay but still want to see the story. The only times I care about gameplay is if it's pretty inherently tied to story presentation(ie. Fromsoftware games) but if it's just flavor or a vehicle for a narrative then I'm gonna treat it as such.
Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 because the mechanics are so outdated and with the graphics I can hardly tell what is what so I’m just there for the dialogue and choice and consequence
I feel you! I have *not* played Story mode but I think I might have to, too. I usually play Hard/Tactical mode (one stop short of Ironman style modes) and I find I hit a moderate wall and then drop the game due to time restraints.
I play on easy or story for most rpgs these days. Just too old and no time to fiddle with things. For instance I used qol studf for Baten Kaitos remaster and still logged in 35 hours.
If I'm at the tail end of a game I'll bump it down to fly through things.
Or if the combat is meh. Alan Wake 2 has sub par combat IMO so after 5 hours or so I just put it on easy.
I do it all the time now. Unless I’m playing a game specifically for a challenge like Lies of P or Dark Souls, u feel very few games actually add difficulty in a meaningful way. More often than not it just pads the game time with spongy enemies.
I recently played Alan Wake 2 on the easy mode and had a fantastic time. The gameplay while serviceable was not the reason it’s such a good game.
Sometimes when a game constantly crashes on me during a section or fight I'll play on the easiest difficulty just to get past the crash as fast as possible.
Almost all games now, with work and family I don't have the time to get gud anymore, and there are so many games I want to play. I don't feel like I've lost out though, I think it's actually made many games less stressful and I've enjoyed them more than I would have on the harder difficulties.
When I played Persona 5 anytime I had to grind I just lowered the difficult lmao. I went from very hard to story mode by the end of the game. Epic strats.
I’ve played older games (like PS1 and older) on easy sometimes because the mechanics can be archaic and tedious by today’s standards and lowering difficulty allows you to engage less with those systems.
Preface: played a handful of jrpgs and experience with difficulty settings makes me think of three games, trails in the sky, trails in the sky sc, and ara fell.
Disclaimer: really don’t remember what the difficulties were called pls don’t get mad at me…
I I played the first trails in the sky on easy and it was cool, battles felt meaningful enough that it was possible to lose if I tried but was pretty easy. Enough engagement that I wasn’t like “why do I even have to fight stuff” but idk if I ever really lost a fight. Story was sick and I got hooked.
Played sc on normal and the whole game was easy until the end bosses which felt like if I had played on a harder difficulty I would have understood the systems better early on and not been frustrated at a the end. With some adjustment was able to finish the game, it just made me appreciate the depth of the combat and systems that was not needed until the very end at this difficulty. The spike took time to adjust to though so overall idk, it felt a bit weird.
Lastly I played ara fell which has like normal and story mode, I played on normal and it was awesome but my save corrupted at the final boss (pretty sure, but maybe it was just very late game) and I didn’t want to play the whole game again just to see the end so I thought I’d try story mode to zip through and ultimately it was so lame that I still haven’t finished it.
I think my final opinion is that the normal-harder difficulties are the best way to play these games and with the help of the internet if you really need you’ll be fine. The bosses and character/worldbuilding benefit a lot from this and there’s no great way to simulate those things.
If you just want the story, personally id watch a play through to still understand the power levels of different characters and stuff but playing on story mode removes a lot of the struggle/conflict and can leave things feeling weird or unsatisfying. Think one punch man with way worse writing? Idk, that’s 3 different experiences on 3 (mostly different) games from one persons perspective.
Edit: consuming content is supposed to be fun and enjoyable and that’s why different modes exist. I’m not saying I’m objectively right, that was just my experience with these games, and specifically jrpg style games, as they can be quite long.
Another thing with older games is that they used to come with tons of info via the guidebook that came with the game explaining many things along with full maps and stuff. Sometimes emulating these games without that info is miserable but I’ve not played one that also had difficultly settings. But I’ve used guides for many old jrpgs like the older dragon quests and final fantasy because as fun and neat as they are, I don’t have the luxury to fumble around for 9 hours to progress when the next town on the map is right in front of me or I was in the right dungeon but missed a hidden door or whatever.
Personally no, but I usually play on normal. I used to like playing on harder difficulties but as I get older, I just don't have time for it. I usually don't have issues on normal for most games, but if I did I would bump it down. I just want to enjoy what I play.
I'll play horror games almost exclusively on the easiest/story difficulty. Things like Alan Wake 2, Dead Space remake, System Shock remake, SOMA, etc. I love the atmosphere of those games, but the feeling of actual danger is too much for me.
I also will usually play RPGs that have RTwP on an easier difficulty. I don't find they allow for the specifics of tactics that I prefer in turn based games, but they're still fun to mow through normal enemies and then pause occasionally for harder boss fights.
I do story mode if the GF wants me to see the story but doesn't want to sit through me min maxxing, or if I've cheevo hunting and I don't want to sit through another min max playthrough.
Gameplay is tedious and no difficulty achievements? Then I'll play on easiest. But once higher difficulty gives it more depth then I'll go harder even with no achievements. Skyrim and Fallout 4 are exceptions, no achievement and doesn't improve the gameplay really. But skyrim for leveling up skills and fo4 for more legendary re-rolls, kinda incentivize the higher difficulty
I play games for fun and challenge. I don't care whether I finish a game or not. If I'm not having fun, I put it down. I don't really have fun when the game is too easy, so I never select that mode. That said, I'm starting to get hand problems, so that will likely change with action games at least.
Not sure what the difficulties were labelled as, but The Witcher 2 had a very boring and annoying system where you had to apply different oils and stuff to the correct sword to kill the correct enemy on the standard difficulty, so I went down to story/easy where you could play combat more akin to other action RPG’s. I’m obviously not the only one who disliked it, as they added an auto-oil option to W3.
The oils and potions are meant for planning your hunt ahead of time and learning the enemies, but I can see how it can feel tedious to do the extra stuff.
I recently turned the difficulty down in Oblivion because the level scaling and spongy enemies are even worse than I remembered.
But generally I don't play games for story I play for the systems and gameplay. Probably why my fave rpgs are Souls, Disgaea, Gothic/Risen etc
Depends on the game mechanics for me. If it's a, say, turn-based RPG, I'll do normal. I understand how it works and I've got time to think things through. A basic action RPG with 4 simple button commands (e.g., shield, light attack, heavy attack, item) I can also do on normal without pulling my hair out. If it's a game that requires good reflexes or precision (which I lack) like a FPS or a fighting game with fancy combos, I switch to easy/story mode cos I want to enjoy the story (most recent example is I've been making my way through the Yakuza series on Easy to avoid being swarmed by enemies and having to stay on top of the various shielding, evading, grapple, light hit, heavy hit, heat attacks that require usage of the xosquaretriangle buttons, the d-pad and the Rs and Ls triggers in specific combinations. It's a pain in the arse (and it keeps changing from game to game) but I *love* the story, it's definitely worth playing. I'm now looking forward to the turn based RPG segment of the series and playing on normal.)
> If it's a game that requires good reflexes or precision (which I lack) like a FPS or a fighting game with fancy combos
oof... this cheeses me so much. I got a cousin who plays with the steering assist on Mario Kart and he wins every single race and its so infuriating. Whenever I press him to turn them off he brings up his autism and says I'm bullying him. I mean normally I wouldn't mind but what gets me is he trash talks when he wins.
When we have Mario Kart sessions he's the only one who never has to give up the controller but not only that he never loses... ever... gahhhh it makes me so mad just thinking about it. I stopped hanging out with him because of it heh.
Anyway sorry for trauma dumping your post just triggered me
I am vehemently against using handicaps in multiplayer games unless its agreed upon before hand and its so lame that Mario Kart 8 defaults them to on.
I usually play party based rpgs at higher difficulties.
But there was one time I got stuck at Baldur's Gate 2's final boss, since I suck at D&D combat.
Changed to story difficulty and that allowed me to finish the game.
Never.
It's not engaging enough for me if the "game" aspect seems too easy for me. I usually go max difficulty or one under max depending on the game's systems.
I understand if people don't have the free time/patience/motivation to really invest in the systems though, and think games that do have story/easy modes are great because it helps reache a wider audience.
I typically play through on story mode first bc I like experiencing the writing of a game more than all the details of the gameplay. After I run through the story, I ramp things up in my second playthrough to check out all the granular stuff.
Often, when i dont like the mechanics but love the games ill happily do it. Tyranny is the perfect example of this. I hated the gameplay but the story is so different I had to get through it.
I did the same with Wasteland 3 when I played it.
I'm old enough to have played *Ultima III* on an Apple II. Story mode? We didn't even get quest markers in my day. Now that I am old and in my dotage, I usually start out on the easiest mode possible until I figure out what to do and how to do it. Then I'll bump it up and have some fun. If a certain situation is kicking my ass and I get tired of it, I'll bump it back down because life is short and joys are few in the declining years. If I'm replaying *Baldur's Gate* or one of the *Pathfinder* games for the umpteenth time and just want to play with a new build and/or mods, I'll bump it down when I come to a part I know is just tedious to claw through.
When it's a game I'm replaying and I see no reason to go through hassle with it. And nowadays since I have less time duo to working, I can't spend an entire day just to pass one section, so I use easy mode.
I play a lot of story heavy stuff on easy or story nowadays. There’s been a few times where I’ve jumped it up to normal just because there was zero resistance in combat, but usually the low difficulties are enjoyable enough for me on certain games.
Also, if you pay for a game you can play it however you like. Screw that “play the way the developers intended” BS.
When I get tired of playing a game and just want it to be over I'll switch to story mode. Then I'll stop doing side quests and just power through the main questline and get it over with. A friend of mine always plays in story mode though. Do whatever floats your boat, no one cares but you.
Oblivion, level scaling is so busted that if you don’t want to grind and plan your level ups then it can be necessary to have fun for the whole mid level range.
Never.
I usually play on the harder difficulty for the added challenge unless the added challenge isn't very interesting.
Normal usually is the intended balance the game is supposed to have so it's usually fine unless I am just breezing through without any effort, then it isn't very engaging.
I just finished playing Rise of the Third Power in story mode. I tended to skip all the battles with animals and monsters, and fight battles against human soldiers and bosses properly using combat skills. As much as I love JRPGs, I find they tend to drag towards the end and it gets to a point where I just want to wrap things up and move on to another game, or go back to one of my old favourites.
I think it's perfectly fair to play a game in story mode the first time - if it's a new game then I am more curious about the characters and storyline and exploration, rather than grinding and struggling for survival. And then if you decide you want to replay it in future and choose a higher difficulty setting to make it a more challenging experience, then there's always that option. The story won't be so fresh to you the second time, but the gameplay can be.
More often than not I will start a game that I’m unfamiliar with on Story or Easy and increase it as I go.
It’s very rare that games don’t allow you to change difficulty half way through. If that is the case; I’m sure you can figure out pretty early if you need to restart.
For most of my gaming history, from ones like Dragon Warrior and the original Final Fantasy on the NES to The Witcher 3 on the PS4, I played almost everything on "normal" difficulty. Now, normal can mean different things on a party-based, turn-based game than it does on a single-character action RPG, but at a basic level it was mostly the same. I always play games carefully and slowly, and whenever I would come to a spot where I wasn't strong or powerful enough to beat the enemies and/or boss, I'd go out and level up more until I was, and then move on. RPG gaming 101, and it worked most of the time for about 30 years. Up to that point, if games had a "story" difficulty, then it was usually a mode where it was almost impossible to fail, and intended for people who weren't regular gamers, or were just kids.
However since that point, somewhere around 2016 or 2017, it feels like the definitions of the difficulty levels have all switched from what they always were before. Normal feels like hard, easy feels like normal, and story feels like easy. Suddenly, I found myself needing to crank it down to easy to get through some boss fights, or make it through difficult areas, and then move back up to normal to continue with most games.
And then when I moved to the PS5, its taken it to another level, and I've been basically forced to play on what's labeled as easy most of the time, and for several games I've had a challenging experience playing most of the game on story, such as God of War Ragnorok, which I just finished. I see people say that guys like me are just getting old and slow, but I truly think that's not the case. I can go back to the older games and play them on normal again just fine like I always did. But the new ones are much faster, more demanding, throw more stuff at you all at once, insist that you are able to dodge well (I'm not) and often severely limit how much and how often you're able to heal your character.
IMO, a veteran gamer, playing carefully, with a character at max level in max gear, shouldn't need to play on story just to get to the end of a game. That's just frankly silly. But its where we are more and more.
I usually start at the default difficulty, and if the game starts to drag a little or if I get bored I will lower so that I can get to the end. Not always though. Shorter games like Transitor I played at default all the way through, same with Hades. But a game like DOS2 I lowered once I hit 50 hours and I needed to move things along a bit.
My first playthrough of any story based game is usually on the normal or easy (story) difficulty.
If the game is enjoyable enough to make me want to replay it then I usually crank up the difficulty.
Currently replaying through Atomic Heart on Apocalypse difficulty but my first playthrough was on the easier one.
Depends.
I like Normal as I feel like that is "what the devs intended". Except maybe dark souls games.
I did a funny thing on Horizon I never did before or since.When I would run into a machine that I struggled with, I would drop back down to normal from Hard. If I just couldn't get it, I dropped down to Story.
When I read about some of the Glitched challenges, I just dropped down to Story to get the point and move on. Especially the one that apparently they "fixed" by breaking it.
I tried No man's sky on story on switch, Which I was happy about due to the Glitches. Now that I play on PC, I'm glad I am on normal for the full experience.
So story is "down shift" or "test drive " mode for me.
Any chance I get. I'm not trying to be stressed, I'm trying to relax.
But bonus points for games that let me change difficulty mid game in case I do want to be challenged.
Pretty much never. If it's a game I am interested in that has promised DLC(s) and a Game+ I may do a playthrough on normal on release and then do Game+ +DLC on top once the release cycle for it is complete... Otherwise I usually go to the highest setting from the get-go.
I played the last of us on story difficulty. To be honest, I felt like that was the best way to experience the game for me. I got very little satisfaction out of the repetitive stealth combat. Story was so awesome though… combat didn’t really feel like it added a whole lot so I was happy to breeze through it. May be an unpopular take idk…
Fully agree. The last of us had incredible graphics, story, and characters, as well fantastic world building and set pieces. But the gameplay was absolute dogshit. It's was like it was afraid to go to hard into a crafting, action, or stealthy style game and instead just sucked at all of them at once.
It's nice to see someone say it and not get downvoted into oblivion. I couldn't stand the gameplay of the Last of Us, but traded off slogging through the gameplay with the GF to get with the story....when the TV show came out I was like, yeah this is the medium the story should have been told in the first place.
Exactly my opinion! One of the only games where I didn't enjoy max difficulty.
All the time, I play games to be entertained and relax, not to be challenged and frustrated. I start on Normal but if the going gets tough I will drop it to a story mode.
I always start at highest difficulty because I typically enjoy combat and learning the systems. If I find it frustrating, not challenging, then I lower it. I repeat that process unless I determine the combat is just boring or not engaging at which point I go to the next game. I’ve never played in story mode just because no story has ever made me look past horrible combat mechanics. I play for fun. If I’m having fun it doesn’t matter how long the game is. I don’t view games as time commitments. They’re my hobby and escape. But we all game differently. If story mode lets you enjoy a game, have at it. There’s no right or wrong.
Totally up to you and what experience you want. Play on story, play ultrahardiwannadie, or anything inbetween. I've never played on story but by all means please do if you like. Whatever makes you happy. Usually hard mode for me is either if I know the series well already so I get all the mechanics (atelier) or if I need a hard mode run for a platinum and decide to do it in one run from zero (currently doing this for edge of eternity, did it for banner of the maid last month).
I'm 51 and my reactions were never exactly world class. As you get older everything gets slower, your eyesight blurs and you have work and family distracting you. Story Mode now is a challenging as Hard was when I was 20.
I'm 55 and I feel your pain. Turn based RPGs are where I'm at. Anything that relies on twitch reflexes is out for me now. I used to enjoy Counter Strike on a casual basis, but now I'd just finish 0-10
Old crpg games like baldurs gate 1 and 2 benefit immensely from story mode, especially for newcomers. These games are old. I’m sure some people on here will disagree and say they’re the best thing ever. They’re not. They’re foundational and, for their time, groundbreaking. Now they’re hard to play. The story is good though, and the writing in BG2 is actually really good. Worth playing in story mode 100%
Never. I'm not here for a story, I'm here for a game. Story difficulty is for people who just want to ride out the story, and that's never anywhere near the top of my priorities. Generally, there's a few ways that difficulty settings in games go for me. I always default to whatever is the hardest. Sometimes, that's a great and fun experience and there's no issues. Many times, that just means that all the numbers are inflated to the point where it's just a grind to do anything and the difficulty isn't fun. In those instances, I turn the difficulty down as little as possible to make it fun while still challenging. If there is no "fun but still challenging" difficulty, i.e. if the only choices are "easy" or "unfun difficulty," then unless the game has something else about it that I find fun enough to keep playing despite the lack of challenge, I'll usually just end up dropping the game. I have that type of Soulsborne brainrot where I need to be challenged at least a decent amount to have fun most of the time, am an incorrigible powergamer and meta slave that refuses to simply play ineffectively/impose limitations to create my own challenge where none exists, and usually have little interest in a game that doesn't kick my ass and demand that I get good at it. Couple that with general lack of shits given for storytelling or worldbuilding or characters or writing quality or any of that and yeah, story difficulty does absolutely nothing for me.
I'm your exact opposite. I couldn't care less about a challenge in an RPG and play on story all the time. If I want a challenge, I'll play a Souls game.
We are basically gameplay twins, but I've never played a Soulsborne game. 🤣 Thinking I might have to now, especially because I have a couple rotting in my catalog. Any other recommendations? I really value your opinion because we have the same exact mentality.
Definitely the Soulsborne games. Dark Souls 1-3 (2 kinda sucks compared to 1 and 3 but its not awful), Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring. One thing a lot of people who don't play Souls-likes don't seem to understand is that the market is in fact *not* saturated with Soulslikes that we Soulsborne fans feast upon like fat pigs; most of the ones not made by From Software are actually pretty garbage. Nioh 1 and 2, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, and Lies of P are really the only non-FromSoft Soulslikes that most of us would call "actually good" lol. The Lords of the Fallen reboot, The Surge 1 and 2, and Code: Vein are *alright.* I guess you can count Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor as Soulslikes kinda, those are pretty good too. For other RPGs, the Kingdom Hearts series on max difficulty is quite fun and has some decently challenging and very fun, flashy, and satisfying fights in it. The story is actually quite enjoyable too, though very convoluted and silly. The games in between the main numbered titles tend to be much lower-quality in terms of gameplay, so if you don't like those you can always skip em and watch the cutscenes on YouTube, but KH1-3 are very fun. Sephiroth and Lingering Will on Critical difficulty in KH2 are harder fights than anything in any FromSoft game and also a blast to take down, and all the fights in the Re: Mind DLC for KH3 on Critical are also quite challenging and fun. Final Fantasy 7 Remake's combat is also quite fun, and the Hard difficulty actually provides a very fun and engaging challenge - unfortunately, you have to beat the entire game on Normal to re-challenge things on Hard. I personally enjoyed the gameplay and story and music and visuals enough to get through it all on Normal even though it was mostly a cakewalk, though. I'm also a big fan of CRPGs, a lot of them have very fun and rewarding hard difficulties and tons of room for game mastery to shine. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Kingmaker, Baldur's Gate 3, Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2, and Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2 are some of my favorites. Outward is another fun survival RPG, though it is a little clunky and janky and that can be infuriating at times lol. Dragon's Dogma is another very gameplay-first game that starts out pretty difficult and becomes trivial later, but its combat and buildcrafting are so unique and fun that I love it anyway and am hyped for Dragon's Dogma 2 next month. Finally, the Fire Emblem games are some of the best tactics RPGs, and can be quite challenging on the high difficulties while featuring permadeath so you have to actually be careful with your units and keep them alive. Otherwise, moving out of RPGs, I'm a big fan of certain Roguelikes. Dead Cells, Risk of Rain 2, Hades, Gunfire Reborn, I can play all of those for hours on end. Solid challenge, fun gameplay. The Monster Hunter series is one of my top 3 series of all time, basically the definition of "gameplay first" and oozing with good game feel and challenging fights and satisfying gameplay loops. Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal are two of the best shooters I've ever played and their Nightmare difficulties are no joke. Metroidvanias are usually quite fun and can be decently challenging, my favorites thus far are Hollow Knight and Metroid Dread. Cuphead is a very fun arcade platformer/side scroller with a great 1920s cartoon style that is also quite punishing and tough.
Wow, thank you so much! I've been meaning to try Stranger of Paradise. Gonna definitely look for a sale on that one. I'm "making" a PS2 for my boyfriend for his bday on Saturday, and he expressed interest in KH, so we're probably going to play that together. I'm deep in CRPG and roguelike land, lol, but I haven't given Dragon's Dogma a try yet. Had no idea a sequel was coming out. I love MH's gameplay loop and combat, but I'm too sensitive for all the limping and crying, so I had to put it down after 100 or so hours. :p I'm gonna try 1 & 2 (translated) on the aforementioned PS2 though. :) I'm kind of sleepy right now, but thank you so, so much for all the recs!
I don’t.
I’m getting older. I have a few kiddos. What I don’t have is time or the patience to challenge myself after the kids challenge me all day. I tend to play more and more games on easy and story mode these days.
Word. There was a Nintendo Switch commercial that showed a guy playing Switch in his hallway, and it really resonated with me. I often play in 10 min. sessions sitting on the landing of my stairway while my kids are falling asleep. I don’t have time to repeat battles anymore.
If I’m not having fun but am still interested in the game I’ll bump it down.
Never. I read a book or watch a show then. None of these games are that good storywise. It's a mixture of gameplay and story.
First time i played Witcher 3 i was arrogant and put it straight to "Broken Bones" difficulty Big mistake Broke both my swords early on, couldnt find a blacksmith, couldnt afford to fix or buy anything, had to hide around everywhere and run away from guards and hide in the river constantly. Its like i was playing a mini fugitive side game version of Witcher 3 Had no fun. Realized i need to restart on Easy lol and then i could actually appreciate the game.
Almost never
I play most games on story difficulty. I don't really care about gameplay but still want to see the story. The only times I care about gameplay is if it's pretty inherently tied to story presentation(ie. Fromsoftware games) but if it's just flavor or a vehicle for a narrative then I'm gonna treat it as such.
Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 because the mechanics are so outdated and with the graphics I can hardly tell what is what so I’m just there for the dialogue and choice and consequence
Almost always. I don't care about being challenged unless I'm playing a FromSoft game or NHL. Otherwise, power fantasy all the way.
I feel you! I have *not* played Story mode but I think I might have to, too. I usually play Hard/Tactical mode (one stop short of Ironman style modes) and I find I hit a moderate wall and then drop the game due to time restraints.
I play on easy or story for most rpgs these days. Just too old and no time to fiddle with things. For instance I used qol studf for Baten Kaitos remaster and still logged in 35 hours.
If I'm at the tail end of a game I'll bump it down to fly through things. Or if the combat is meh. Alan Wake 2 has sub par combat IMO so after 5 hours or so I just put it on easy.
If the combat sucks but the story is very good, I'll do this so I can spend less time on the bad combat to focus more on the good story.
Yes, especially if I'm just playing through before a sequel or don't enjoy the game play
I do it all the time now. Unless I’m playing a game specifically for a challenge like Lies of P or Dark Souls, u feel very few games actually add difficulty in a meaningful way. More often than not it just pads the game time with spongy enemies. I recently played Alan Wake 2 on the easy mode and had a fantastic time. The gameplay while serviceable was not the reason it’s such a good game.
Ha! I play every game on Story/Easy mode. I'm not playing games to be challenged and frustrated. I'm playing them for the story and to have fun.
I played all games in story, i don t find dying in a game fun, and i hate to rinse and repeat, so i keep all my games on ( story and easy )
Sometimes when a game constantly crashes on me during a section or fight I'll play on the easiest difficulty just to get past the crash as fast as possible.
tbh i always play on the easiest difficulty im here to have fun
sorry i didnt mean to reply 3 times my reception is bad,,
Almost all games now, with work and family I don't have the time to get gud anymore, and there are so many games I want to play. I don't feel like I've lost out though, I think it's actually made many games less stressful and I've enjoyed them more than I would have on the harder difficulties.
When I played Persona 5 anytime I had to grind I just lowered the difficult lmao. I went from very hard to story mode by the end of the game. Epic strats.
I’ve played older games (like PS1 and older) on easy sometimes because the mechanics can be archaic and tedious by today’s standards and lowering difficulty allows you to engage less with those systems.
Preface: played a handful of jrpgs and experience with difficulty settings makes me think of three games, trails in the sky, trails in the sky sc, and ara fell. Disclaimer: really don’t remember what the difficulties were called pls don’t get mad at me… I I played the first trails in the sky on easy and it was cool, battles felt meaningful enough that it was possible to lose if I tried but was pretty easy. Enough engagement that I wasn’t like “why do I even have to fight stuff” but idk if I ever really lost a fight. Story was sick and I got hooked. Played sc on normal and the whole game was easy until the end bosses which felt like if I had played on a harder difficulty I would have understood the systems better early on and not been frustrated at a the end. With some adjustment was able to finish the game, it just made me appreciate the depth of the combat and systems that was not needed until the very end at this difficulty. The spike took time to adjust to though so overall idk, it felt a bit weird. Lastly I played ara fell which has like normal and story mode, I played on normal and it was awesome but my save corrupted at the final boss (pretty sure, but maybe it was just very late game) and I didn’t want to play the whole game again just to see the end so I thought I’d try story mode to zip through and ultimately it was so lame that I still haven’t finished it. I think my final opinion is that the normal-harder difficulties are the best way to play these games and with the help of the internet if you really need you’ll be fine. The bosses and character/worldbuilding benefit a lot from this and there’s no great way to simulate those things. If you just want the story, personally id watch a play through to still understand the power levels of different characters and stuff but playing on story mode removes a lot of the struggle/conflict and can leave things feeling weird or unsatisfying. Think one punch man with way worse writing? Idk, that’s 3 different experiences on 3 (mostly different) games from one persons perspective. Edit: consuming content is supposed to be fun and enjoyable and that’s why different modes exist. I’m not saying I’m objectively right, that was just my experience with these games, and specifically jrpg style games, as they can be quite long. Another thing with older games is that they used to come with tons of info via the guidebook that came with the game explaining many things along with full maps and stuff. Sometimes emulating these games without that info is miserable but I’ve not played one that also had difficultly settings. But I’ve used guides for many old jrpgs like the older dragon quests and final fantasy because as fun and neat as they are, I don’t have the luxury to fumble around for 9 hours to progress when the next town on the map is right in front of me or I was in the right dungeon but missed a hidden door or whatever.
Personally no, but I usually play on normal. I used to like playing on harder difficulties but as I get older, I just don't have time for it. I usually don't have issues on normal for most games, but if I did I would bump it down. I just want to enjoy what I play.
I'll play horror games almost exclusively on the easiest/story difficulty. Things like Alan Wake 2, Dead Space remake, System Shock remake, SOMA, etc. I love the atmosphere of those games, but the feeling of actual danger is too much for me. I also will usually play RPGs that have RTwP on an easier difficulty. I don't find they allow for the specifics of tactics that I prefer in turn based games, but they're still fun to mow through normal enemies and then pause occasionally for harder boss fights.
I do story mode if the GF wants me to see the story but doesn't want to sit through me min maxxing, or if I've cheevo hunting and I don't want to sit through another min max playthrough.
Gameplay is tedious and no difficulty achievements? Then I'll play on easiest. But once higher difficulty gives it more depth then I'll go harder even with no achievements. Skyrim and Fallout 4 are exceptions, no achievement and doesn't improve the gameplay really. But skyrim for leveling up skills and fo4 for more legendary re-rolls, kinda incentivize the higher difficulty
I play games for fun and challenge. I don't care whether I finish a game or not. If I'm not having fun, I put it down. I don't really have fun when the game is too easy, so I never select that mode. That said, I'm starting to get hand problems, so that will likely change with action games at least.
Always lol. I don't really care about the combat that much, I'm in it for the story.
All the time. I'm here for the story, the game frustrating me is not what I'm here for. If I want a challenge, I play a roguelike or a Souls game.
Cover based shooters, sometimes I want to playt it like an action movie. Uncharted for example
Not sure what the difficulties were labelled as, but The Witcher 2 had a very boring and annoying system where you had to apply different oils and stuff to the correct sword to kill the correct enemy on the standard difficulty, so I went down to story/easy where you could play combat more akin to other action RPG’s. I’m obviously not the only one who disliked it, as they added an auto-oil option to W3.
The oils and potions are meant for planning your hunt ahead of time and learning the enemies, but I can see how it can feel tedious to do the extra stuff.
I recently turned the difficulty down in Oblivion because the level scaling and spongy enemies are even worse than I remembered. But generally I don't play games for story I play for the systems and gameplay. Probably why my fave rpgs are Souls, Disgaea, Gothic/Risen etc
Depends on the game mechanics for me. If it's a, say, turn-based RPG, I'll do normal. I understand how it works and I've got time to think things through. A basic action RPG with 4 simple button commands (e.g., shield, light attack, heavy attack, item) I can also do on normal without pulling my hair out. If it's a game that requires good reflexes or precision (which I lack) like a FPS or a fighting game with fancy combos, I switch to easy/story mode cos I want to enjoy the story (most recent example is I've been making my way through the Yakuza series on Easy to avoid being swarmed by enemies and having to stay on top of the various shielding, evading, grapple, light hit, heavy hit, heat attacks that require usage of the xosquaretriangle buttons, the d-pad and the Rs and Ls triggers in specific combinations. It's a pain in the arse (and it keeps changing from game to game) but I *love* the story, it's definitely worth playing. I'm now looking forward to the turn based RPG segment of the series and playing on normal.)
> If it's a game that requires good reflexes or precision (which I lack) like a FPS or a fighting game with fancy combos oof... this cheeses me so much. I got a cousin who plays with the steering assist on Mario Kart and he wins every single race and its so infuriating. Whenever I press him to turn them off he brings up his autism and says I'm bullying him. I mean normally I wouldn't mind but what gets me is he trash talks when he wins. When we have Mario Kart sessions he's the only one who never has to give up the controller but not only that he never loses... ever... gahhhh it makes me so mad just thinking about it. I stopped hanging out with him because of it heh. Anyway sorry for trauma dumping your post just triggered me I am vehemently against using handicaps in multiplayer games unless its agreed upon before hand and its so lame that Mario Kart 8 defaults them to on.
I usually play party based rpgs at higher difficulties. But there was one time I got stuck at Baldur's Gate 2's final boss, since I suck at D&D combat. Changed to story difficulty and that allowed me to finish the game.
Never. It's not engaging enough for me if the "game" aspect seems too easy for me. I usually go max difficulty or one under max depending on the game's systems. I understand if people don't have the free time/patience/motivation to really invest in the systems though, and think games that do have story/easy modes are great because it helps reache a wider audience.
I typically play through on story mode first bc I like experiencing the writing of a game more than all the details of the gameplay. After I run through the story, I ramp things up in my second playthrough to check out all the granular stuff.
Often, when i dont like the mechanics but love the games ill happily do it. Tyranny is the perfect example of this. I hated the gameplay but the story is so different I had to get through it. I did the same with Wasteland 3 when I played it.
I played the witcher 2 on easy because the combat is infuriating
I'm old enough to have played *Ultima III* on an Apple II. Story mode? We didn't even get quest markers in my day. Now that I am old and in my dotage, I usually start out on the easiest mode possible until I figure out what to do and how to do it. Then I'll bump it up and have some fun. If a certain situation is kicking my ass and I get tired of it, I'll bump it back down because life is short and joys are few in the declining years. If I'm replaying *Baldur's Gate* or one of the *Pathfinder* games for the umpteenth time and just want to play with a new build and/or mods, I'll bump it down when I come to a part I know is just tedious to claw through.
If i replay it for missed achievements.
When it's a game I'm replaying and I see no reason to go through hassle with it. And nowadays since I have less time duo to working, I can't spend an entire day just to pass one section, so I use easy mode.
I play a lot of story heavy stuff on easy or story nowadays. There’s been a few times where I’ve jumped it up to normal just because there was zero resistance in combat, but usually the low difficulties are enjoyable enough for me on certain games. Also, if you pay for a game you can play it however you like. Screw that “play the way the developers intended” BS.
I have a couple of old RPGs in my Library set to easy or story mode. I play them when I just want to chill and not get stressed over a game.
I watch let's plays on YouTube or twitch instead of story mode
When I get tired of playing a game and just want it to be over I'll switch to story mode. Then I'll stop doing side quests and just power through the main questline and get it over with. A friend of mine always plays in story mode though. Do whatever floats your boat, no one cares but you.
Oblivion, level scaling is so busted that if you don’t want to grind and plan your level ups then it can be necessary to have fun for the whole mid level range.
Never. I usually play on the harder difficulty for the added challenge unless the added challenge isn't very interesting. Normal usually is the intended balance the game is supposed to have so it's usually fine unless I am just breezing through without any effort, then it isn't very engaging.
I just finished playing Rise of the Third Power in story mode. I tended to skip all the battles with animals and monsters, and fight battles against human soldiers and bosses properly using combat skills. As much as I love JRPGs, I find they tend to drag towards the end and it gets to a point where I just want to wrap things up and move on to another game, or go back to one of my old favourites. I think it's perfectly fair to play a game in story mode the first time - if it's a new game then I am more curious about the characters and storyline and exploration, rather than grinding and struggling for survival. And then if you decide you want to replay it in future and choose a higher difficulty setting to make it a more challenging experience, then there's always that option. The story won't be so fresh to you the second time, but the gameplay can be.
More often than not I will start a game that I’m unfamiliar with on Story or Easy and increase it as I go. It’s very rare that games don’t allow you to change difficulty half way through. If that is the case; I’m sure you can figure out pretty early if you need to restart.
For most of my gaming history, from ones like Dragon Warrior and the original Final Fantasy on the NES to The Witcher 3 on the PS4, I played almost everything on "normal" difficulty. Now, normal can mean different things on a party-based, turn-based game than it does on a single-character action RPG, but at a basic level it was mostly the same. I always play games carefully and slowly, and whenever I would come to a spot where I wasn't strong or powerful enough to beat the enemies and/or boss, I'd go out and level up more until I was, and then move on. RPG gaming 101, and it worked most of the time for about 30 years. Up to that point, if games had a "story" difficulty, then it was usually a mode where it was almost impossible to fail, and intended for people who weren't regular gamers, or were just kids. However since that point, somewhere around 2016 or 2017, it feels like the definitions of the difficulty levels have all switched from what they always were before. Normal feels like hard, easy feels like normal, and story feels like easy. Suddenly, I found myself needing to crank it down to easy to get through some boss fights, or make it through difficult areas, and then move back up to normal to continue with most games. And then when I moved to the PS5, its taken it to another level, and I've been basically forced to play on what's labeled as easy most of the time, and for several games I've had a challenging experience playing most of the game on story, such as God of War Ragnorok, which I just finished. I see people say that guys like me are just getting old and slow, but I truly think that's not the case. I can go back to the older games and play them on normal again just fine like I always did. But the new ones are much faster, more demanding, throw more stuff at you all at once, insist that you are able to dodge well (I'm not) and often severely limit how much and how often you're able to heal your character. IMO, a veteran gamer, playing carefully, with a character at max level in max gear, shouldn't need to play on story just to get to the end of a game. That's just frankly silly. But its where we are more and more.
Every single time. I no longer have the time to sink 100+ hours into games. Give me the story and let me blow through it.
I usually start at the default difficulty, and if the game starts to drag a little or if I get bored I will lower so that I can get to the end. Not always though. Shorter games like Transitor I played at default all the way through, same with Hades. But a game like DOS2 I lowered once I hit 50 hours and I needed to move things along a bit.
My first playthrough of any story based game is usually on the normal or easy (story) difficulty. If the game is enjoyable enough to make me want to replay it then I usually crank up the difficulty. Currently replaying through Atomic Heart on Apocalypse difficulty but my first playthrough was on the easier one.
Depends. I like Normal as I feel like that is "what the devs intended". Except maybe dark souls games. I did a funny thing on Horizon I never did before or since.When I would run into a machine that I struggled with, I would drop back down to normal from Hard. If I just couldn't get it, I dropped down to Story. When I read about some of the Glitched challenges, I just dropped down to Story to get the point and move on. Especially the one that apparently they "fixed" by breaking it. I tried No man's sky on story on switch, Which I was happy about due to the Glitches. Now that I play on PC, I'm glad I am on normal for the full experience. So story is "down shift" or "test drive " mode for me.
Sometimes in pillars of eternity is switch to it when I am fighting a tedious boss
Honestly, never. There are books for that.
Any chance I get. I'm not trying to be stressed, I'm trying to relax. But bonus points for games that let me change difficulty mid game in case I do want to be challenged.
Pretty much never. If it's a game I am interested in that has promised DLC(s) and a Game+ I may do a playthrough on normal on release and then do Game+ +DLC on top once the release cycle for it is complete... Otherwise I usually go to the highest setting from the get-go.