133 réponses à ce sujet

[frustratemyself]

It depends on the game but these days I generally start on normal difficulty and work my way up if I feel like I get through it all too easily. I cranked the DA2 difficulty up to nm cause I wanted to give myself a challenge to make the game more interesting.

[Eurhetemec]

SSH83 wrote...

Even the nerdiest of hardcore pc gamers, nerdy enough to frequent a PC-Only Game Magazine forum, don't turn the difficulty up and only ever turn it down if the default is too hard. 

http://www.pcgamer.c...ults&pollid=143

While the power gamer in me looove Bioware for creating Veteran+ in ME2 and Hardcore in DA2, it's too much of a waste of genius effort to rely on the player to figure out what difficulty setting is right for them.  Similar to how Tutorial levels are now standard in modern games, gamer competence assessement and suggesting difficulty setting accordingly needs to be standard, too.

What's everyone here's habit on difficulty settings?

That's pretty interesting.

For reference, the first thing I did in DA:O and DA2 was turn the difficulty up one notch - I mean before even playing, my immediate assumption was the Normal would be a bit too easy, after playing CRPGs since 1989 or so. Which was largely justified. I had to turn the difficulty down in a few fights on DA:O, because I hated using mages or potion-spamming, and I refuse to read theory/build boards until I finish a game. In DA2 I only had to go back to normal for one fight - we all know which one, let's call him "Rocky" - because I hadn't brought a mage with heal (let alone a serious healer), and only had four potions at the time that I met him.

ME1 I played on the max starting difficulty (veteran?). In ME2, I finished it first on normal and it seemed fairly tricky! But on my next play-through I went straight to Insanity and that felt "right", and now I can't play on lower difficulties because it seems like a cakewalk.

What this does suggest is that games might want to suggest to players that they turn the difficulty up as well as turn the difficulty down.

Modifié par Eurhetemec, 11 juillet 2011 - 05:39 .

[Wusword77]

I normally play on a default difficultly setting. This is mostly due to the fact that going up in difficultly seems to only give enemies more HP and Damage, as opposed to actually making them harder to deal with (like they use different tactics).

A game doesn't get harder because an enemy now takes 6 hits instead of 4.

[Eurhetemec]

Wusword77 wrote...

I normally play on a default difficultly setting. This is mostly due to the fact that going up in difficultly seems to only give enemies more HP and Damage, as opposed to actually making them harder to deal with (like they use different tactics).

A game doesn't get harder because an enemy now takes 6 hits instead of 4.

Actually, it does, if your characters are only able to access the same amount of resources. I mean, that's a fact.

It might not get harder in a way you enjoy, but it does get harder, in that you have to make better use of resources in order to succeed.

I also prefer harder difficulties to mean smarter enemies, but I can't really think of any games which manage that. Even with wargames or Civ or the like, 90% of the increase in difficulty comes from enemy cheating, not from better AI.

Modifié par Eurhetemec, 11 juillet 2011 - 06:36 .

[Annarl]

Depends on the game, but in general I start with the default setting and work my way up from there.

[helios0684]

Depends on the game. Normal is usually where I stick myself because likte Eurhetemec said, a lot of the time increase in difficulty means computer cheating.

[Feraele]

SSH83 wrote...

Even the nerdiest of hardcore pc gamers, nerdy enough to frequent a PC-Only Game Magazine forum, don't turn the difficulty up and only ever turn it down if the default is too hard. 

http://www.pcgamer.c...ults&pollid=143

While the power gamer in me looove Bioware for creating Veteran+ in ME2 and Hardcore in DA2, it's too much of a waste of genius effort to rely on the player to figure out what difficulty setting is right for them.  Similar to how Tutorial levels are now standard in modern games, gamer competence assessement and suggesting difficulty setting accordingly needs to be standard, too.

What's everyone here's habit on difficulty settings?

What?  No way lol.      I can't be the only person that realized I was in for a learning curve re: the battles, and had to resort to easy mode, back in November 2009.      I now play on hard mode, but my ambition is to start  with Nightmare...soonish.    All this has extended game play for me..to a very large degree.  

OH one more thing I always play in real time, none of that..stop go stop go pausing stuff for me,  I like to be in the thick of battle,  and yes I might die a few times til I get a win strat happening.   

I should add that in the beginning I was not too focussed on the battles as such, those were secondary to interactions with the characters.     But as time went along and I created more and more characters, had more challenges to beat,  I worked on improving my battle skills and the difficulty setting.    I am quite comfortable with hard mode.   But as I stated I want to see how it plays on nightmare.      I love setting my team up with the tactics menu before hand,  they all drink health and mana potions when needed and they all watch each other's back.     So I pretty much focus on what's in front of me,  sometimes I'll switch to a team member ..to watch my main character in action, see if I need to switch any skills out etc.     

But I still play DA:O for the story and the interactions...I am just better at winning my fights now. lol

Modifié par Feraele, 13 juillet 2011 - 09:44 .

[Captain_Obvious]

I always start on casual/easy.  I like to play games, but I don't like to die in games. If a game is really my cup of tea, I'll notch it up.  I completed ME1 on hardcore, and about halfway on nightmare.  I gave up on nightmare not because it was difficult, but because it was tedious.  Without spoiling anything, there was a point in the story where I had to clean out a base, so I kept shooting the bad guys over and over and over and over and over and over, use talent, shoot over and over and over and over, rinse and repeat.  It wasn't challenging, and it wasn't difficult.  It was tedious, and I don't do tedious in video games.  I go to work for that. 

[Shazzie]

It depends. My default is Normal. However, to be honest, combat is one of the least important aspects of a game to me. When the difficulty level only pertains to combat, why would I want to make something more difficult that I already don't find very interesting? In that case, the game is played on Normal. If the difficulty setting pertains to more than just combat, then I generally crank it up.

However, if I play a game on Normal, and I like it, I turn the difficulty up for my second playthrough, to gain more depth and challenge.


For DA2? I tried all the difficulty settings, and I'll be brutally honest here: I turned it down to the absolute lowest setting in the end, because I really, really, REALLY hated the combat. The harder difficulty settings weren't exactly harder to me, they were just more time consuming. All I wanted was for the stupid incessant waves to be over with as fast as possible, so that's the way I made it.

[Sylvius the Mad]

I choose whichever difficulty setting offers a level playing field. That's usually the setting one step above the default.

Sadly, NONE of DA2's difficulty settings offered a level playing field.  I had to install mods to make DA2 play fairly.

Modifié par Sylvius the Mad, 14 juillet 2011 - 11:40 .

[maxernst]

I usually play on normal difficulty and only change if I struggle. I tend not to powergame much in RPG's partly out of sheer laziness and partly because I like to have my character develop in a way which seems organic and makes sense from a roleplaying perspective. In DA:O, I actually found in my first playthrough I was lowering the difficulty to easy or the toughest encounters, but I found DA2 much easier...almost like the normal difficulty in Torchlight (one of the very few games I bumped up the difficulty level almost immediately on). I think I reloaded facing Branka in DA:O more often than I reloaded DA2 in the entire first playthorugh.

[Pudricks]

I normally play Biowares games on the hardest difficulty but I couldn't with DA2. It wasn't as fun as it was simply frustrating or boring.

[Absafraginlootly]

Yeah that's pretty much what I do, always play on normal unless the same fight wipes me around several times, then I just put it on easy for that fight and change it back after.

[Icy Magebane]

Depends on the game... In Fallout, I play on Hard because things are more balanced, whereas on Very Hard everything just takes too freaking long to kill. Oblivion I never switch difficulties because I don't feel as though common bandits should be more powerful than the PC by artificial means (and honestly, if the bandits are really that strong, then they need to be out fighting Daedra, not me). Dragon Age? Well "Hard" is about as high as I'll go... Nightmare just seems like a pain with all the immunities and people stealing your potions... kind of unrealistic. Same with ME... I tried Insanity but it just doesn't make any sense that a Spectre can be so outclassed by common criminals... why is he special if these other guys are like, WAY tougher than him? Now, when it comes to Tekken or Street Fighter, that's always on the highest difficulties... in those games it's about skill, and the computer doesn't have any special advantages over your character... it's just like playing against an extremely talented human (unless the computer cheats on every difficulty, like Dead or Alive 4).

So basically, I guess I play on the difficulty that seems the most realistic to the setting in adventure games or rpgs... but in fighting games it's all based on skill, so the computer doesn't really have an unfair advantage... you just need to be better than it.

Actually, I also want to mention Halo... I like to play that one on Legendary, because while the computer does have some significant advantages, it's also a lot smarter and it's overall the best experience.  But that goes back to realism I think, because these aliens are supposed to have conquered most of the known galaxy and wiped out every other Spartan... they aren't supposed to be a threat you can just steamroll.  And like in fighting games, you are testing your skills, not just fighting disproportionately powerful enemies that don't make sense in the context of the game world.

Modifié par Icy Magebane, 15 juillet 2011 - 05:34 .

[Chiramu]

I played the game on the default difficulty, but after the patch Normal is ridiculously easy, so now I play on Hard. Although I get frustrated only by the computer programming of our NPC party members; it's hard to act out strategies when the computer automatically goes and attacks an enemy, there needs to be some sort of device that lets you "hold" your party in one spot to wait for a bottleneck to happen .

[masterkajo]

I always start at the highest difficulty and turn it down if I absolutely cannot handle it. But I do like my challange and will keep trying until I really feel like there is no way I can beat a particular ancounter without turning down the difficulty. So far had no problem playing on the hardest (ME1/2 DAO/2).

[The_11thDoctor]

I usually start out on normal or hard to learn the game, then up the difficulty as far as it will allow the next run. Unless it's DA2 and they make all your AOE spells hit your party members... I never heard of something so stupid before... Ive heard of Better AI, Larger life bars and dealing more damage, more enemies etc, but having your own spells hurt you in a RPG is just unforgivable. Mages lose intelligence on the harder difficulties apparently.

[Auru]

Having friendly fire on harder difficulties has been a staple of crpgs for like.. a decade or more, sounds like you just stroll through on easy if this is the first time you have even noticed this

[Nerevar-as]

aang001 wrote...

I usually start out on normal or hard to learn the game, then up the difficulty as far as it will allow the next run. Unless it's DA2 and they make all your AOE spells hit your party members... I never heard of something so stupid before... Ive heard of Better AI, Larger life bars and dealing more damage, more enemies etc, but having your own spells hurt you in a RPG is just unforgivable. Mages lose intelligence on the harder difficulties apparently.

I don´t know what RPGs you´ve been playing so far, as it´s pretty common mechanic. Why should a fireball know friend from foe? That´s  stupid.

[atheelogos]

For Dragon Age I play on Normal, mostly.
ME I play on Normal my first couple of runs to get used to the game, then Hardcore after I learn the ropes. Insanity for my Soldiers though. Any other difficulty is too easy for them.

[Marcus22Khaar]

In my opinion, both Dragon Ages are really boring on normal/default difficulty. I only find them amusing on hard. You may be the Champion or whoever they want you to believe you play with, but I don't find interesting cutting my enemies like butter. For other games it depends on how the AI works. As someone before me said, sometimes they just add more and more health to the enemies, so I don't find any reason to play those games on harder difficulties.

[taine]

I guess I am the opposite. After playing through both DA and ME2 on normal difficulty, I turned it up, and then turned it up again for another playthrough. I actually found Insanity (ME2) and Nightmare to be more time-consuming than really difficult, outside of a few battles that required unique strategies. Still, both were pretty fun.

[Nivilant]

I prefer to get straight to story. I usually play first run on casual and then maybe kick it up to normal afterwards. I have never cared about getting rep for completing hard mode. Tearing my hair out after the twentieth death in an hour is not my idea of entertainment.

That said, on the games where there is no difficulty setting I don't really struggle per se... it's just that given the choice I would rather get my combat done quickly. I don't think this makes me less of a gamer, just a different sort. Although it does mean I can never play MMORPGs (like SW:ToR) because eventually the cries of 'noob' and the PKing would cause a mental meltdown. Hardcore gamers are scary...

[Sidney]

Wusword77 wrote...

I normally play on a default difficultly setting. This is mostly due to the fact that going up in difficultly seems to only give enemies more HP and Damage, as opposed to actually making them harder to deal with (like they use different tactics).

Pretty much my take. Just adding HP to the baddies and then having even more slogging through combat in most games, and particularly Bioware games, isn't what I really want to do. With the DA* once I make myself feel better about beating most boss monsters on normal I just drop it to casual on subsequent playthroughs because it is a whip to do the same thing over and over and over like mosts bosses require.

[Kidd]

I usually go with Normal, at least on my first time around. It's "normal" after all... perhaps developers should start asking questions instead? "Are you used to playing [insert genre here]?", "How could you describe yourself? [ ] Casual gamer, [ ] Average Gamer, [ ] Hardcore Gamer" etc are great things to ask. Then the game itself can react accordingly (of course allowing the player to confirm what the game thinks you should play on - if people get Hard suggested to them, they will likely go with it).

Icy Magebane wrote...

Now, when it comes to Tekken or Street Fighter, that's always on the highest difficulties... in those games it's about skill, and the computer doesn't have any special advantages over your character... it's just like playing against an extremely talented human (unless the computer cheats on every difficulty, like Dead or Alive 4).

I don't know about Tekken, but SF cheats for sure. The very first frame you move, the CPU AI knows about it, meaning you can almost never take a risk. Every single time you gamble, the CPU will punish you heavily. And if you choose not to gamble, it will know you didn't and won't try to use a punishing move. In real life an opponent could never react that fast. High level CPU in SF teaches you really bad habits =\\

Modifié par KiddDaBeauty, 17 juillet 2011 - 04:39 .