With the release of Dark Void coming up, a lot of people have been bringing up smack talk about Bionic Commando, the 2009 "flop" from Grin and Capcom.  There have also been some people that have been throwing some slight remarks at Darksiders, even though that game is getting favorable reviews pretty much everywhere. 
 
However, I don't feel that Bionic Commando was a bad game AT ALL.  That was actually a really good game.  Part of the reason I feel people talk trash about it is because it wasn't what they were expecting.  The game was linear and had a very specific goal.  However, I also feel that part of the problem is lower difficulty levels as well. 
 
With Bionic Commando and Darksiders, I've taken the plunge and walked right into the highest difficulty setting for my first playthrough.  I figure...why not?  I want the challenge presented to me.  Because I played Bionic Commando on the highest difficulty, I feel like I was far more satisfied with the way that things turned out, and every fight I finished felt like a triumph.  The same can be said so far with Darksiders. 
 
The reason I bring this up is because the Quick Look for Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond has recently gone up on the site.  Now, I know that the guys will generally play on either the easiest or mid-level difficulty option if one is available, typically sticking with the default difficulty.  However, in watching that Quick Look, I kept thinking "this is some bullshit, anyone can walk through that".  I wanted to see some gameplay on Fuck that Shit to see if it got ball-busting crazy hard!  I mean, Jeff and Ryan aren't amateur gamers, and they aren't by any means super pro gamers either.  However, those doods can absolutely take on a challenge.  Hell, Jeff played Mega Man 9. 
 
All of this is to try and ask one simple question:  do you ever feel like there's a game that you've played on a higher difficulty setting which resulted in a more rewarding experience for you, but then you see a ton of people completely contradict that idea...knowing that they didn't play on a difficulty setting that is as challenging as the skill they may possess in a game?

Other than self-satisfaction or bragging rights (which gets you a penny minus a cent in today's gaming community) playing on a higher difficulty level has no personal effect on me; however, I find that playing an easier game is more favorable to playing a hard one. But if a difficult game has an excellent payoff (as was the case in Demon's Souls) it's worth it to me.
 
By the way, I agree that Bionic Commando wasn't a bad game at all.

Killzone 2: the ending levels were insanely hard for me on the hardest difficulty.

And to this day i have completed every Metal Gear on the hardest difficulties, which meant, finishing it in a certain amount of time, using no health packs, not being seen, altering any guards and not killing anyone. But it all comes down to trial and error with MGS 

While I did enjoy Bionic Commando, my main problems with the game were its story, specifically when:
 

I almost never play games on the harder difficulties, because I almost never play games more than once unless it's been a really long time.
 
I usually like games that a little challenging, but not super tough. If I can melee every guy, it's too easy; if I can't get shot more than once without having all my health depleted, it's too hard. And there is a difference between being challenging, and the game being cheap. If it makes you use tactics, and think before you fight, then I like that sort of thing (Like Demon's Souls). But, if the game has poor mechanics and the "increased difficulty" means stronger enemies, then that's not really fun at all. And of course there is also the "Game mechanics suck" difficulty that Kane and Lynch suffers from (Why the heck can't teammates pick eachother up? And why do the enemies keep respawning?)

I really enjoyed Bionic Commando as well. I also played it on Hard to begin with... and although it was pretty easy to die and some deaths felt really cheap because of it, it still wasn't so hard that it was impossible and frustrating. Playing on Hard probably extended the life of the game for me, and obviously demanded more of me than if I played the game on Normal first, so yeah, it clearly did influence the experience. I went back and played on Normal to clean up some achievements, and could not imagine myself enjoying the game quite as much if I had only played at that level. 
 
It's not for everyone though.. Normal mode tends to be pretty breezy in most games these days, which is, I would guess, what most people prefer, as it is their recreation time and all. I sorta have a growing depreciation lately about how difficulty levels are used as unlocks though... I think that if a game gives you the option to go on the hardest mode from the get-go, it does a lot better for that difficulty's enjoyment than if you needed to play through normal and unlock the difficulty, and play through the whole thing all over again.

I play all my games on easy because I don't have time to fuck about with redoing things over and over.

I'll normally only play on harder difficulties if I'm allowed to bring equipment/abilities over from my last save game. I just hate the games that see a higher difficulty level as 'enemies hit harder' or "we're just going to out number and outgun you, deal with it". I like it when a little bit of thought goes into skill settings.

" I'll normally only play on harder difficulties if I'm allowed to bring equipment/abilities over from my last save game. I just hate the games that see a higher difficulty level as 'enemies hit harder' or "we're just going to out number and outgun you, deal with it". I like it when a little bit of thought goes into skill settings. "

" I play all my games on easy because I don't have time to fuck about with redoing things over and over. "

Depends on how difficult it ends up becoming, and how it's handled (smarter enemies/less resources vs harsher modifiers on dice rolls or other stat only changes).

That sort of thing is totally dependent on the way higher difficulties are handled.

Personally, I happen to really love the Halo games' Legendary difficulty. The quality of the design and balance of the enemies (for the most part, now; I'm not ignoring bullshit like The Library and Cortana) is perfectly suited for that methodical style of play. 
 
Conversely, I basically hate most other games' highest difficulty setting. I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to failing, and if the failing isn't in some way interesting, and I happen to be struggling with the game because of, what I feel are, stupid design choices or arbitrarily and dramatically upscaled challenges, then I won't even bother. The early Call of Duty games are this way.

It depends how they do the higher difficulty. It has to be more than some games do, which seems to be one main thing, and one or two other things- You take more damage and die quicker, and just more enemies are present in general. That's very typical and doesn't do anything special. I like when people put the effort into their higher difficulties with things like, just better overall AI performance, like acting generally smarter, maybe even throwing more harder enemies at you earlier than you would ever see them on a lower difficulty. Some games even have specifical enemies or bosses you will only run into on the higher/highest difficulties.
 
A lot of games though on 'hard' settings, are honestly fairly easy still and offer little to no challenge. So many fail to differentiate their difficulties across the board. Its either still too easy, or its not hard at all, but just generally cheap and not balanced properly entirely. A majority of people I think play games on normal instead of harder difficulties, though, so any extra appreciation maybe you or someone else may give a game that makes it feel more satisfying or a better experience overall because of a higher difficulty, others will not even address because they won't play it on them. 
 
Overall, though, even when I do like when some games really do higher difficulties justice in making the game feel more satisfying, or throwing extra things your way, if someone can't have an equal opinion of a game on a lower difficulty as a higher, I feel like they did something wrong.(They as in in the devs)

depends on the game.

" I'll normally only play on harder difficulties if I'm allowed to bring equipment/abilities over from my last save game. I just hate the games that see a higher difficulty level as 'enemies hit harder' or "we're just going to out number and outgun you, deal with it". I like it when a little bit of thought goes into skill settings. "

What else would they change about the game to make it harder? It would be stupid to dumb down the AI on lower difficulties, because while making it easier, it also lowers the overall quality of the game. All difficulty levels are just contrived changes to the default setting, such as less health for the player, more health for the enemy, enemy hits harder, you have less ammo, more enemies, etc.

To answer the OP, I think for some people playing on a higher difficulty results in a better experience with the game, but not simply because they are playing on a difficulty higher than default. Games are just more enjoyable when you are playing them on the right difficulty for yourself, so the game challenges you just enough to make completing the game feel rewarding, while not being so hard you want to stop playing. For some people that difficulty might be the 3rd or 4th difficulty, or for some it's the easy difficulty.

A good reason to play on an easier difficulty during a quick look would be to make it easier to talk about the game while playing, but I definitely see you point. 
 
I typically play games on a normal-hard spread. That means, by default, on my first playthrough I generally choose the normal difficulty setting. This is especially true if it's a story-driven game, as I'm usually playing to see the story as well as enjoy the game, and I don't want to be hampered when I come to a part that frustrates me. Then when I'm finished, if I decide to do a second playthrough, I'll generally crank it up to hard (but rarely ever hardest, if it's an option) difficulty. I really don't derive pleasure in the challenge of gameplay, and I often feel frustrated with the higher difficulty settings of games because more often than not the method they use to make it harder is to pretty much make everything unfair.
 
And really, I feel like a good game should have, to borrow an ironic quote from Fox News, a fair and balanced experience on normal that offers a good, tactical challenge. Harder difficulty should be reserved for after you've mastered the game's systems.

I also look at the Call of Duty franchise.  For the longest time, beating the games on Veteran has been a badge of honor.  With Modern Warfare 2, people complained that the Veteran campaign was a breeze.  They COMPLAINED!  Personally, I thought that was a perfect setting for the difficulty of Veteran.  There wasn't a shitload of 'nade spamming and all the stupid shit from all the previous games.  Instead, it was actually a difficult task, but not impossible.

I don't usually play on different difficulty unless it offers something different. Maybe if I was working on trophies. I usually stick with normal

I'm a pussy. I play on default, normal or easy. When I masturbate, I want it hard, but I still want to come. Sometimes stroking it easy is better in the end.

I generally play on normal. Typically easy is boring and hard is frustrating. Neither feeling is particularly fun. It's a delicate balance.

Good thread.
 
Playing on a higher difficulty can definitely make you appreciate a game more, but if it's an immersive game like, say, BioShock, dying often can really ruin the experience.
 
The first time I played through MGS4, I finished it with no kills, no alarms and no continues. Sure, it was rewarding to achieve that but looking back on it, I shoulda just gone guns blazing rather than trial & error.

playing arkham asylum on hard forced me to learn how to use the combos and gadgets in combat, and be extra stealthy, which you totally don't need to do on the other difficulties. i feel like, in that case, the hard mode feels like something that is truer to the intended experience.

Most of the times i play on normal,but i can see your point.Higher difficulties require more time and skill,so it gives a sense of accomplishment that low difficulties can't.

" do you ever feel like there's a game that you've played on a higher difficulty setting which resulted in a more rewarding experience for you, but then you see a ton of people completely contradict that idea...knowing that they didn't play on a difficulty setting that is as challenging as the skill they may possess in a game? "

It depends. I'll usually go Easy the first time then depending on how that pans out, Medium/Hard/Whatever the second time.
 
Though Halo is one of those I'll run through on Normal, then get a friend (or find some people online) and hit Legendary. I usually skip Heroic. It's really fun with 2 players (or 3-4, if online). I've beaten the campaign on Legendary like, 20+ times online. The ending sequence is always hilarious to hear people yell when they get thrown off the edge.

" @Fallen189 said:

" I play all my games on easy because I don't have time to fuck about with redoing things over and over. "

....and so we see further evidence of the 'casual gamer' in his native habitat.... "

" @Fallen189:  Nah man.  I don't want to burn you.  I was a poke but not malicious.  Casual gamers rule the market these days and curmudgeonly old farts like me who always play hard or impossible just whinge about how things have changed. No malice meant at all dude. "

I never really fully enjoy Call of Duty games until I play them on Veteran.

" Good thread.  Playing on a higher difficulty can definitely make you appreciate a game more, but if it's an immersive game like, say, BioShock, dying often can really ruin the experience.  The first time I played through MGS4, I finished it with no kills, no alarms and no continues. Sure, it was rewarding to achieve that but looking back on it, I shoulda just gone guns blazing rather than trial & error. "