1) Check for a digital manual or a "how to play" page
2) Invert Y-axis

1: Change graphics settings to something acceptable

2: Change the incredibly clunky standard controls

3: Turn off things like menu music, endless autosave and other annoyances

4: Rue the day I bought the thing since they always have huge issues, either technical or design-wise

Yeah, I generally tend to look through all of the settings before starting the game. I also try to see if there is any extra content before starting the base game itself.

Everytime I get a new game, I go to the options menu and adjust everything. Particularly, I always switch subtitles on and choose normal difficulty, whether it's on the options, or in the New Game button.

Install the launch patch/update that's like 5-10gb big cause that's the thing nowadays.

I just st always go into the settings and see what I can change that suits me better like, Brightness, gamma, difficulty, inverted controls for up n and down and sound.

Tweak the brightness/gamma setting.

Look for a trophy guide (mainly for trophies you can miss).

If difficulty setting is present I put it on hardest available.

I have kids so I have to save it up until I'm gaming by myself at night, same as holding in your farts until the company leaves :)

I purposefully die to test the respawn system, see how careless I can be for the rest of the game. Dying by itself is not a problem, if it comes with a lengthy reload screen then I start playing more carefully.

I also always go the opposite way first than where the game is pointing me to go, to check how much free will is allowed. My gaming style most resembles a  beta tester.

I always make sure overscan, motion blur, dof, bloom are off. If it has those option.