So I just finished ME1 with an engineer on normal setting. Besides fighting the big geth robot at Liara's dig site early on in the game, I nearly didn't have any other challenge anywhere else in the game.
 
I couldn't find much information on what the difficulty settings in ME2 are going to be like. Anyone know more?
 
What are you guys thinking on starting on and with which class?

Normal!

Hm, I might want to play it on Hardcore, hopefully to squeeze out some achievement for it with my female soldier.

"Hm, I might want to play it on Hardcore, hopefully to squeeze out some achievement for it with my female soldier. "

Hardcore or Veteran.

Insanity if possible. I love the challenge.

I'm currently playing through the first Mass Effect on casual (to remind myself of the story) and I'm actually quite enjoying wiping through everyone with ease. I will probably start ME2 off on normal, but possibly change it to casual if things ever get a little rough. I plan to have multiple playthrough's, so can always give myself a bigger challenge the second or third time I play it.

Normal.
 
The other difficulties in the first game were not fun to play through.  For starters you needed better equipment, hardcore would be near impossible without starting a new game plus with existing equipment and funds.  Mostly because the only way they made the game more difficult was by increasing the enemies shields and making them spam immunity.  Playing on isnanity in the first game was ridiculous, you could be pumping Krogan full of shotgun shells for minutes before they'd go down.
 
Also, doesn't anything above veteran need to be unlocked?

Like most things I'll take a crack at Normal but depending on how I fare early on I might have to go down to easy or up to hard depending on whether I am beating it too easily or having too much trouble. Which ever. But I will most likely stick with Normal through out the first play through.

Hardest difficulty available from the get-go - which usually forces me to develop skill. I like the 'impossible, unless you're skilled' feel. I'm all for headshots and quick thinking.
 
Sometimes it comes around biting me in my ass at the end of a game - like it did with the original 'Chronicles of Riddick', where you'll die 9 out of 10 times coming out of the loadingscreen when fighting the last boss. That's just horribly balanced and nigh impossible.
 
Cakewalks just water down the game to the point, where it's hard to tell if the gamedesign and balance are tight or not.

Normal.
 
I ain't too savvy when it comes to RPG's, but if it has shooting then I guess I can manage.

I play almost all my games on "Normal" unless it's a new FPS where what defines "Normal" today used to be called "Easy", and what is "Veteran" today was once labeled "Normal". 

I'll let you know when I have enough money to buy it.
 
*cries a little*

Hardcore

Normal cause i don't want it too easy or too hard.

" Normal! "

I ran through ME1 last night. And boy was it easy. After you get all the spectre gear and  have constant 999999999 cash at lvl 60 the enemies are laughable. Every single enemy goes down in seconds with the assault rifle, not to mention the shotgun. I'll probably be going Hard for the first round.

Normal for me.

I always do Normal because I feel that is how the game was designed to be played, plus sometimes just getting raped by a game isn't fun.

I say normal, then see how it shapes up from there

i am with pretty much everyone else and will start out on normal. i feel like it is how the dev's wanted the game to be played for the most amount of fun/difficulty.

I started on Normal and so far it has been a pretty good challenge for me. Perfect difficulty level.

Veteran. I've played through the first Mass Effect four times, and Veteran was always the perfect level of challenge.

I'm going with Normal.  Normal bent me over a barrel when I got to Benezia, but I'm thinking having a more shooter-focused game will make it a bit easier.

Whatever's just above Normal. Hardcore, I think.

Playing on the first one on normal. I'm want to get through it so I'm ready for ME2 but I don't think it'll happen. By the way, are the side quests worth my time? 

Normal, I don't look towards that style of game for my challenging game needs, I just play them for the story mostly.

Whatever the Normal setting is called.

Veteran or Hardcore. If I'm buying day one might as well savor this stuff.

normal. I don't want to be frustrated with the game my first time through.

Normal.

" Mass effect 1 was pretty easy on "Insanity" and Dragon Age isn't so tough on "Nightmare" so Bioware's idea of what is difficult is either very flawed, or I am just very skilled. So I shall start on the most difficult setting possible. "

always easiest difficulty to get a feel for the game. then i usually just jump to hardest on the second playthrough.   its not exactly enjoyable though

Going to go through on insanity my frist playthrough as an adept. It will be rough early on, but I'm sure later it will be much easier with the crazy amount of crowd control that I'll have. Going to roll with Tali and Grunt I think. Tali is a definite, Grunt may be swapped with Thane if Thane is just too much of a bad ass to pass up.

" @keyhunter said:

" Mass effect 1 was pretty easy on "Insanity" and Dragon Age isn't so tough on "Nightmare" so Bioware's idea of what is difficult is either very flawed, or I am just very skilled. So I shall start on the most difficult setting possible. "

Don't get full of yourself buddy. "

Hardcore, you know the score.

Normal.
 
Mass Effect is not the kind of game I want to play on harder difficulties.

Don't care about achievements, so probably just Normal, or maybe one above.

"Normal! "