I see alot of people saying they played it on normal first. I chose hard as I knew it would be a bit more fun/challenging. 9 hours and 48 minutes later I had it beat. I am now going through on crushing, which is proving to be incredibly fun and frustrating.
 
With that, what difficulty did you play it on first, and why? Also I am curious how long it took you. my under 10 hours was not rushed, I took my time and enjoyed the whole experience. I see other people taking 11+ hours. Not sure what I did to do it so fast haha.
 

Is crushing unlocked when you first play the game?

" @Baillie: you need to beat the game on hard before it unlocks.  edit: to stay on topic. I beat on normal first not really sure why. Kinda regretting it since i need to beat it again on hard to unlock crushing "

" @Baillie: you need to beat the game on hard before it unlocks.  edit: to stay on topic. I beat on normal first not really sure why. Kinda regretting it since i need to beat it again on hard to unlock crushing "

" @timay said:

" @Baillie: you need to beat the game on hard before it unlocks.  edit: to stay on topic. I beat on normal first not really sure why. Kinda regretting it since i need to beat it again on hard to unlock crushing "

Fuck off. There is nothing worse than playing a game you can't put on the hardest difficulty, I don't want to have a slight challenge then onto the real thing. I want to play a game once and enjoy it. I am disappointed Naughty Dog. "

1. The treasures. When you go to replay it it counts the other treasures you got on your previous play through, giving you a reason to play through each chapter (this time on Crushing, if you are going for the plat trophy.
2. Character Skins. Seriously it is way to much fun to play through the game as a skeleton or fatass version of Nathan Drake.
3. The epic set pieces. Almost every chapter has it, I could play through some of them over and over again just because of how epic they look
4. Earning money/medals/trophies

" when I go through on crushing it'll take away the difficulty because I've already done this part and I know what I'm doing. "

i played it on normal, it was good fun, real good fun.

I played it on normal the first time, and I'm halfway through the game on hard. God this game is awesome.

Started it on normal, beat it in almost one sitting. Started on hard yesterday, and i'm at the last boss now, and he is proving to be a cheap asshole. The game it self wasn't hard on "hard" but the last boss pisses me off.

I beat it on normal the first play through, and I enjoyed it so much I decided to play on Hard as well, and I am on chapter 15 at this point. Honestly, I have NEVER replayed a game, I have been playing since the NES, and never once have I felt like replaying a game, but this time around is completely different. I am actually enjoying my play through on hard more than normal, just for the shear fact that it requires more thought to each fight, it's great fun! Once I finish hard, I plan on trying Crushing, but no guarantees I will beat it.

Normal, because I am the normal one here and all of you are the crazies. 

I played on Easy, because I always play games on the easier difficulty so I can get the story aspect without having to deal with tough battles. I'm probably going to go back and replay it on a hard though.

I always start off on normal.