Old School VS New School - 'Beating' or 'Experiencing' a SP Game?

Picked up Halo : Reach yesterday...

Both for me. I like beating a game, conquering it. "You can't hold me down, I beat you, game. Everything you threw at me, I overcame it". Mission accomplished. But at the same time, I like being carried by the story of the game, if it's a good story. Everything has to fall into place as the plot develops. A balance between both is the best way, IMO.

I just beat a game on normal. That's it.

Reach seems to have set you mind aflame dude, this is like your fourth topic based on, or inspired by, it. 
 
I usually play normal to "experience" the game, if I like it enough, maybe I'll try a harder difficulty.

I play on Hard first (so, level 3 for 3 level games, level 4 for 5 level games - you know I can't think of very many games with only 4 levels of difficulty) unless you have to unlock Hard.
 
Then I decide if I liked the game story and/or challenge enough to try out level 5 (unless the top tier is something like the Doom Nightmare mode - I don't need that kind of challenge really) or play again on level 1 to just experience the story again (or both [rare])

I didn't think old school meant beating a game on the hardest difficulty. I've been playing games for years and i've never been old school?
 
So I guess.. does it just make me 'school' if I just play the thing regardless of difficulty or immersion?

I still always jump to the hardest difficulty. Generally, it's because I was weaned on games that were incredibly difficult, and so many modern games just end up being far too easy on anything lower than the hardest difficulty. I'm not saying that's always the case, but its true more often than not, and even when it isn't, it's been a while since I played a game that was less than manageable on the hardest difficulty.

" Reach seems to have set you mind aflame dude, this is like your fourth topic based on, or inspired by, it.  I usually play normal to "experience" the game, if I like it enough, maybe I'll try a harder difficulty. "

It depends on the game. I'm playing Reach on heroic, because it's apparently the way it's supposed to be played. While the story and such is immersing, getting raped by grenade spam is so riddicolous that it feels like a chore to finish. On the other hand, games like Bioshock or Crysis are for immersion and I wouldn't have them any other way. 
 
World of Warcraft in it's current state is riddicolous. It has neither sides of the spectrum. It's not immersing, and it's not hard either. And yet I play it nearly every free hour I have. I can't even justify playing it to myself, and yet it sucks me in. I guess I want to "beat" the achievements I have left, even though none of them are challenging. It's wierd. There is no meaning in beating something that isn't challenging because it won't give any kind of satisfaction, unless there is immersion, and if there isn't immersion, what's the point of the game? 
 
@Seppli said:

  So I might end up breaking the experience for myself like I almost did by going for the Legendary playthrough first.   

Let's take Reach as the example for myself as well. First time I played through it for the story on Normal. I didn't want to get frustrated with the game when I was trying to enjoy it. I usually end up going back later on the hardest difficulty and try beating it on that for kicks.

I solo'ed Reach on heroic and I plan on going back and beating it on Legendary.  At the same time I'm also experiencing Minecraft.

Both, really. I play different games to fulfill whatever I feel like at the moment. If I want an experience, I'll probably play something like Penumbra or Bioshock. On the other side of the spectrum; sometimes I want a challenge and to farm the game out of all entertainment until it's depleted. In that case I'd play something like Ikaruga, Dead Rising, and weird grand-strategy games like Civ or Hearts of Iron. Sometimes there are games that satisfy both aspects, like Persona; in it I'll 'experience' Social Links and 'beat' the dungeon.

" Both for me. I like beating a game, conquering it. "You can't hold me down, I beat you, game. Everything you threw at me, I overcame it". Mission accomplished. But at the same time, I like being carried by the story of the game, if it's a good story. Everything has to fall into place as the plot develops. A balance between both is the best way, IMO. "

Games are supposed to be fun. 
 
Dying is not fun.

I rarely play on the hardest difficulty in games because I don't like getting pigeonholed into a playstyle.  I definitely don't trust devs to balance out their higher difficulties to be fair to the player, so I usually opt for normal or the one between normal and the hardest.
 
It just seems with higher difficulties a game becomes less freeform and more procedural.  You know, less like "I'm going to go into the room and have a fun firefight with these guys" and more like "OK, I'm going to run into this room, throw a grenade towards where the first guy spawns, hide behind this wall for 15 seconds then melee the dude that comes to investigate, take his gun and hope to get a headshot on the leader before he calls for backup."  You know what I mean?  Challenging, sure.  But "Gaming the game" has never been fun to me.

Dying is not fun.

I lowered the bar in Dragon Age because the story was more interesting than the challange of brute force. Also, combat became a lot more fun without the additional challange. On the other side, CoD games I tend to play through on hardest difficulty because I enjoy the challange there.

It really depends on the game, I enjoy a challange but as I grow older and time is a precious commidity, lowering the difficulty no longer feel like a 'loss' to my ego.

New School all the way.
 
I'm all about the experience. How the game makes me feels. The message of the game. The game world, how it's presented. How does the game craft a story etc. When I play games, I do so for the immersion mostly. 
 
Saying that if difficulty is a core aspect of the game. If the difficulty is a deliberate design choice then I have no qualms. But artificially ramping up the difficulty, just to make the game harder (and usually less enjoyable) almost defeats the intentions of the game creators. I like to experience games as the games creators intended.

Normal first playthrough, Hardest second. Co-op being the exception, always Hardest difficulty in that case.