Hard or Grounded?

[TheFibrewire]

hi all,

what is the enjoyable difficulty setting, should I play on Hard for the first time or Grounded?
I tried Grounded but majority of rooms were empty and didn't find anything most time and felt my time was wasted.

thanks

[Magic A. I.]

I did my first playthrough on Normal. A lot of rooms were empty as well or contained stuff that I had maximum amount of. It's probably better to play on Hard first. Also, the absence of the listening ability in the first playthrough will most likely be frustrating, so no Survival or Grounded just yet.

[acowsik]

Originally posted by TheFibrewire:

hi all,

what is the enjoyable difficulty setting, should I play on Hard for the first time or Grounded?
I tried Grounded but majority of rooms were empty and didn't find anything most time and felt my time was wasted.

thanks

Grounded is meant to be the steepest challenge so that means very scarce resources and very alert enemies. Also you don't have listen mode.

I played the game and the DLC first time straight on grounded for both and beat it and got the plat. Yes you have to really think your way through enemy encounters with stealth and use the choke method to knock them out to conserve ammo.

Also do not waste your resources to craft unncessary items and never ever waste shivs to stab enemies.

If you want to unlock all the extras content you need to play on Survivor or Grounded straight off if you dont want to do multiple playthroughs to unlock all of them.

[Devsman]

You don't wanna cut your teeth on anything above Hard. Not because it's harder, but because it's a totally different experience.

On the lower difficulties, you can play more or less how you want, while on Survivor/Grounded, the game pretty much gives you no viable conventional options and makes you find lateral solutions. Like, four guys are closing in on you and you have two bullets and a brick. That kind of thing.

They're both fun ways to play the game, and I do recommend at least one playthrough of each. But obviously, you're not going to find the easier difficulties as fun if you do the harder ones first.

[Shock_&_Awe]

I'd do Hard for first playthough. Grounded can be unforgiving if you don't properly manage your resources for specific encounters. I think Grounded is the most fun way to play, but only because I've beaten it several times on other difficulties first.

[acowsik]

Originally posted by Shock_&_Awe:

I'd do Hard for first playthough. Grounded can be unforgiving if you don't properly manage your resources for specific encounters. I think Grounded is the most fun way to play, but only because I've beaten it several times on other difficulties first.

Did one playthrough of the game straight on Grounded.... beat it with 100% collectibles and all achievements done without any need for chapter replay.

[Devsman]

Originally posted by acowsik:

Originally posted by Shock_&_Awe:

I'd do Hard for first playthough. Grounded can be unforgiving if you don't properly manage your resources for specific encounters. I think Grounded is the most fun way to play, but only because I've beaten it several times on other difficulties first.

Did one playthrough of the game straight on Grounded.... beat it with 100% collectibles and all achievements done without any need for chapter replay.

And it took you four hours and you unlocked Fireman Dave too.

[Shock_&_Awe]

Originally posted by acowsik:

Originally posted by Shock_&_Awe:

I'd do Hard for first playthough. Grounded can be unforgiving if you don't properly manage your resources for specific encounters. I think Grounded is the most fun way to play, but only because I've beaten it several times on other difficulties first.

Did one playthrough of the game straight on Grounded.... beat it with 100% collectibles and all achievements done without any need for chapter replay.

Way to use a guide I guess and lessen the experience I guess? What did that have to do with my post?

[Someone7272]

Originally posted by TheFibrewire:

hi all,
should I play on Hard for the first time or Grounded?
I tried Grounded but majority of rooms were empty and didn't find anything most time and felt my time was wasted.

If you have never played any of the PlayStation versions, definitely set the difficulty to hard or lower.

I’ve never played any of the PlayStation versions, and I recently completed my first playthrough on hard difficulty.

I did not suffer due to lack of resources, but I noticed that the game is less likely to spawn pickups if you are carrying a lot in your inventory.

For first time players, forget about Grounded. Hard difficulty was still challenging to me.

If you have played any of the PlayStation versions, then feel free to choose Grounded. My next playthrough will be on Grounded, and I’m a little nervous.

[Magic A. I.]

I'm currently playing on grounded and it's not as challenging as it is boring and annoying. Before, a lot of encounters could be rapidly cleared with a shotgun and now they turn into a slog with the broken stealth. It's not more difficult, it's just less fun.

This is what I'm talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy7WA488B_E