Do You Tend to Replay Easy or Hard Games More?

[A Link In Time]

I was looking at markasscop's thread about the games people replay most and there was quite a variety of games represented there, though one that stuck out to me was Dark Souls.

Maybe it's just me but I tend to replay easier games or ones that I'm more familiar with over hard games. I find the satisfaction of beating a hard game once satisfactory. I understand the desire to try to improve your run each time, with less deaths or a quicker time, but I would rather experience a new game or an old favorite.

What about you? Does the difficulty of a game affect its replay value for you? Do you tend to replay easier games or harder games more?

 

[Princess Niki]

Easy cuz its easier to jump back into them, hard games make me want to distance myself for a bit when I am done.

 

[Fraxinus]

Um, neither really. Difficulty doesn't really immediately factor into my decision to replay a game. I mostly just replay games I like, and because my taste in games is pretty inconsistent, there isn't really a pattern for the difficulty level of games I revisit. Although there definitely are parts of certain games that turn me off from wanting to replay them, but it's less difficulty and more stress-related more often than not.

Though additional playthroughs are usually 'easier' than first playthroughs because you have a better understanding of the mechanics and what you're doing, so sure, there is a certain appeal of the step down in intensity in reliving a game that formerly gave a lot of trouble, regardless of initial difficulty level.

 

[Greenie]

My favorite games tend to be on the easy side. Their challenge was fair on the initial playthrough, but subsequent runs naturally make beating them easier over time. I find this also applies to games that some people might consider hard or at least challenging, like a few Megaman or Castlevania games.

I don't consider difficulty and depth for the sake of it as inherently good things. If a game has fun mechanics and the challenges it presents are well designed then it doesn't matter if that game happens to be easy for me. Many people seem to want games to brutally punish them and if a game doesn't do it then they deem it worthless. That's fine for them but of course I don't agree with this mindset.

This particular subject has been a contentious one in the Zelda series after all. Decades of hearing people claim that many of those games are garbage purely because they find the combat too simple and easy has entirely numbed me to the argument. I guess to them I must be some kind of moron for still enjoying it.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

as one of the people who said Dark Souls, I think it's important to recognize that Dark Souls is actually easier on a replay, because of how effectively it rewards game knowledge as a mechanic

that being said, I do love replaying easy games because games that you can actually, you know, play tend to be more fun

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

I'd probably be more inclined to replay an easy game than a hard one, if I'm replaying it, I'd want to revisit the fun of it, so the difficulty might get in the way if it's hard

it's not often I replay games for a greater challenge, but I have done so before

 

[Spirit]

I guess easy...

Often times of a game I've beaten has a new game plus and I want to replay it I'll usually jump in with all of the buffs etc which often makes things easier than the first time around.

 

[twilitfalchion]

For me, I'd say I usually replay games that fall somewhere in the middle difficulty-wise. I like a good challenge, but if a game is very difficult and I just barely scrape by the first time, I'm not likely to revisit it. On the other hand, if a game is particularly easy the first time through, I probably won't be interested enough to play it again.

Perhaps more than anything, how much I like or love a game also influences whether or not I'm likely to replay it or not as well, difficulty aside.