Gaming with lwgrs

Video Game Difficulty

Sometimes I think too much about levels of difficulty in video games. I feel like there is an outside voice somewhere telling me, "you're not good enough if you can't play the game on the hardest difficulty setting." Is this something people say? I heard it briefly in a recent podcast that some people think you should be completing a game at the highest difficulty settings rather than, you know, enjoy the game.

Personally, my difficulty level preference varies game-to-game. I tend to go to the highest difficulty when playing sports games, for example; inevitably the game becomes too easy (I've spoken about this before about NHL Legacy) and I have to find some different ways to play it. For a short while I was still able to play NHL Legacy online, but that was short-lived when the PS5 took over. Playing online tends to give you a more level playing field, because other human players have probably reached the same level as you (and in many cases, higher skill levels).

Me, I like to play games for the challenge, sure, but I don't want to become so frustrated with a game that I don't want to play it anymore.

I recently bought a PS5 (I know, I have said before that I wasn't going to get one - but there are reasons for it that involve buying it as a 4K movie player) and with it, NHL 25. Previously I played this one with my friend at his house, exclusively for online games. The gameplay isn't all that different from what I'm used to in terms of controls; there are some differences but largely it hasn't changed since I think NHL 08 when the skill stick was introduced on the PS3 (it did not have it on the PS2, the last NHL series game to appear on that platform).

So when I brought it home and started up the game I immediately went to the recommended level, "Pro". I figured that it might be a bit tougher than what I'm used to, so I wouldn't want to go to the highest difficulty level just yet. Well...it didn't go so well after a handful of games.

Game statistics for Montreal vs. Ottawa One of my early games I played vs. Montreal, playing as the Ottawa Senators. There was a game before this one where I was outshot by a LOT more. What Gemini thinks might have happened in a 60-minute game. For the fun of it I asked Gemini to extrapolate a possible score based on playing 20-minute periods, instead of 3. Hilarity ensued.

I realized that I needed to lower the difficulty level. Can you believe that I actually felt inferior because I had to do that? I felt like I couldn't handle the game at the default level. Realistically though, I should have expected as much: the gameplay is different from what I'm used to, and plays differently. Players get tired faster, events on the ice increase pressure on players and in turn affects gameplay even more, etc. It's hard to describe it, to be honest.

So I went down to "semi-pro", the next stop down before the lowest beginner level. The results were much-improved! Here's the latest game I played, choosing random teams:

Game statistics for Utah vs. Vegas I was still outshot, but more than held my own.

I'm going to continue playing these quick games while I get used to the new mechanics. One great thing about the game is that it gives you hints and progress goals to work towards - for example, it tells you to use X to do a stick lift (be careful with that one, I took a few slashing penalties to earn my "progression"). Do that for the requisite number of times and it moves you onto the next defensive technique. And so forth.

Doing this difficulty downgrade has helped me feel better about difficulty levels. If lowering the difficulty means I'm able to progress through a game and maybe even win it, then so be it! I'm not obsessive about unlocking every part of a game. Sometimes I just enjoy playing through. But there are times when it does become too easy, so it's nice to have that buffer to move up a level if I need to.