I, once again, have started a game and wondered what difficulty to start on.  I want it challenging, but not overly frustrating.  I play most of my FPS games on hard.

I ask my more experienced Red Steel 2 companions, what is Medium difficulty like compared to Hard?  Should I start the game on hard if I prefer a challenge, or should I wait until I've beaten the game once?

I haven't played it yet, but from what I hear hard is the way to go. From what I understand, by the end of the game (on normal) you're so grossly overpowered that you can take out the toughest enemies without trying and never be in danger. I plan on playing it on hard.

I give you the other side. I am not good at FPS's and I struggle on normal >_>

bolded is true from my personal experience. but i like that kind of thing. it almost makes me feel like ive accomplished something. once you get the armor or extended health ,normal enemies dont do much to you. once you get a lot of the hidden strikes you can instantkill all non boss enemies.

I not that good at fps titles and I started it on hard. It more of a First person sword game then shooter as the sword is your main weapon. I barely use my gun except for slowing down enemies to hit them with my sword. It's not too hard. I died like once every thirty minutes or so mostly due to my own laziness to swing my whole arm instead of just my wrist ...

um im currently on medium, Medium is like Normal Mode, Easy is just very easy for the casual people, and Hard is for the most skillful players

I'd start on medium and when you complete it, move on to hard.

Thanks guys, looks like I will be playing it on hard.

Play it on Master difficulty first mate. It'll take you ages otherwise, you'll end up dying every five minutes lol. It can get easy toward the end if you get all the upgrades and stuff, but this is where the real fun starts. You can pick and choose and mix and match your finishing moves and combos. The Bearded One was right with his Gutar Hero analogy - once you've completed it on one difficulty level you'll want to play through again on the next one up. On Master difficulty you're looking at 15-20 hours playthrough time including side missions.

I play it on hard (haven't finished it yet...) and for the most part is not that tough. You will die in some boss battles of course and a couple of random battles (when they are like 11 or 6 with armor >_>), but nothing frustrating, just the opposite, very entertaining : D.