Is it ever worth it to play hardest difficulty?

[Incarnate]

I think it was Turbo Button who said it, but he made the point that Uncharted is awful on max difficulty because it's reduced to a crappy cover shooter where you are always playing whack-a-mole.

That being said, I know S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a weird set up where it's less annoying on hard than easy because the weapons aren't gimped.

I don't give crap about acheivements or being "hardcore," but are there actually any games where it is advisable to play on the hardest difficulty setting?

Thanks for the replies btw.

[Phantom]

For games that i speed-run, the greatest difficult is required.

This is all game specific.

Certain spawns and other exploits may be attributed to various levels of difficult.

The legendary speed-runs in Halo is what i enjoyed.

A few more glitches can be exploited.

[Ganger]

If its a game you love to play, you keep setting up the challenge until you finish. I have done this with many games in the past. One game comes to question was vietcong from about 2004 I think. Loved it so much, I could do levels without being hit once.

[Sixtyfivekills]

Combat can get so hectic and exciting on bigger difficulties in action games like Devil May Cry or God Hand. I'd say it's completely worth it if you're up for the challenge.

As for shooters... Well, if cover mechanic isn't too necessary, why not? I haven't played Vanquish, and I wonder if that one did it right. Serious Sam is way too much for me, I just can't keep up with everything that's happening.

[愛と愛]

引用自 Incarnate：

I think it was Turbo Button who said it, but he made the point that Uncharted is awful on max difficulty because it's reduced to a crappy cover shooter where you are always playing whack-a-mole.

That being said, I know S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a weird set up where it's less annoying on hard than easy because the weapons aren't gimped.

I don't give crap about acheivements or being "hardocre," but are there actually any games where it is advisable to play on the hardest difficulty setting?

Every youtuber has recommending Shadow Of Tomb Raider Hard mode. Never played it but i had spammed of videos in youtube.
Smash Bros is better on hard competitive gameplay.

[Faberge]

For me it is more satisfying to play on harder game settings. As for STALKER I remember even modifying some config files to further increase receiving damage for player and decreasing max load for backpack and some other adjustments. This made game even more interesting and immersive and was totally worth it.

[Meneluma]

Sometimes hard difficulty just means you die in one hit, that's usually not the way to go, most hard games may provide you with like 3-6 hits before you die at the cost of no heal until the next checkpoint, with it being upped to like 5-7 for the bosses. One hit deaths are just cheap for most games where random nonsense can happen.

On the other hand, there are games being difficult for different reasons even in the same series.
Could take touhou as an example:

Underfined Fantastic Object is generally rated pretty high among the games of the series in terms of beating it without continues, the levels are hard, the bosses are really hard, the means of obtaining items is a way to find yourself dead doing so.
But the one thing it had going was powerups, if you did not die in the first three levels and done a good job with the powerups, you would have max lives going into stage 4 (of 6) with 2-3 deaths allowed for the other stages to remain at a decent amount for the final boss if you do alright with the pickups.
Then the next game, Ten Desires, effectively tries to make up for itself, the powerups aren't deathtraps, the stages are easier, the bosses are easier, with only the last one being as hard as in the last game.
But slight problem, you can't reach max lives even if you beat the game without taking damage and do a good job with the pickups, and losing a life also drains your special meter which can be used to obtain more pickups if full at specific spots.
Having beaten UFO without continues on the game's Normal difficulty, I struggle to beat Ten Desires without continues on Easy, because some random stuff is bound to kill me at some point and there go the precious lives, hop into practice mode and you can consistently do every boss atack easiliy, get back the the game, lose to some random crap taking away your lives early.
So I find the generally regarded easy game as hard because the difficulty comes from another aspect than on the harder game.

[Plaid]

Far Cry 2 was like Stalker at higher difficulties in that everyone (including the player) dies easier.
It's so much more fun that way.

[Daxank]

For me, normal is the difficulty that the game is meant to always be played at. And hard should always be optional.
The main problem I have with hard difficulties is that most games (if not all of them) simply make enemies take more hits and do more damage which isn't real difficulty.
Some games (like F.E.A.R. if I remember correctly) actually improve the AI to make the fights harder, that's real difficulty and that's good.
A good difficulty should always feel balanced, it should never feel like you have a plastic sword while they have plasma canons

[aG| Wardog]

Depends on the game, but I usually prefer to play on Hard, since it stretches me a bit and forces me to think.

The only games I regularly play on the hardest difficulty is Ace Combat. Partly because of how much I love the games, but I feel like it’s sorta the “canon” difficulty, since you usually start as a rookie pilot, and grow into an unstoppable ace pilot, and the hardest difficulty forces you to actually grow in skill and such.

[secuda]

For me i usually stick on normal and then work myself upp to harder dificulies if its a rpg, they most of the times drop better loot and what not. But in regular fps games i am fine on normal.

[Kargor]

引用自 Incarnate：

I don't give crap about acheivements or being "hardocre," but are there actually any games where it is advisable to play on the hardest difficulty setting?

Not for me, but the thing is that games are also made for other players. Since games still come with "normal" and "hard" modes, I can imagine that people use them.

[iza]

Some games I do play on hardest difficulty, such as Metro and good developed games with a balanced difficultydesign. Skyrim on legendary is just straight up dumb for example.

[laff]

引用自 Incarnate：

That being said, I know S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a weird set up where it's less annoying on hard than easy because the weapons aren't gimped.

There are a lot of misconceptions about stalker difficulties. There's a post on the old GSC game world forum about it.

[Down The Drain]

I like Metro on Ranger Hardcore. Also as you mentioned STALKER games have faster paced combat when on Master, which I generally find a lot more enjoyable. I play MISERY mod for Call of Pripyat as well and that can be pretty fun when you don't get like a million mutant spawns.