Terraria for Nintendo Switch - What settings would be good for single players?

I'm thinking of buying Terraria for the Nintendo Switch and would like to know what I should choose in the settings at the beginning. I've never had the game myself and only know the Let's play videos of the PC version that you can watch on YouTube. The German wiki fandom page, I have also "flown over" times.

Hardcore as a difficulty would be the worst choice, but what about Softcore or MiddlCore. What influence does the selection have on me and the monsters?

How big should the world be? I myself would like to have something to do and not too fast to see the last boss in front of me. I already know some Openworld games like Zelda or Skyrim for example.

Is it possible to change your character over and over again in appearance / gender or to change your name?

First of all, you can kick the German Wiki in the bin. At least that was the case when I last stopped by. The official Terraria Wiki has more detailed, accurate and better written articles: https://terraria.gamepedia.com/Terraria_Wiki

The level of difficulty is a bit strange in this game because it does not really change what the actual difficulty (such as damage to your opponents, etc.) compared to other games. I would always recommend softcore, as long as you do not want to do a challenge for fun, just to see how far you come, because: In mediumcore you lose all your items when dying and on hardcore the character is completely gone after the first death (Similar to Minecraft's hardcore mode, if you played it). Both are not very pleasant in a normal game situation, especially if you are new to the game. That's why Softcore, because you only lose a part of your coins when you die.

Big worlds are usually the best. You have more loot (because, for example, more flying islands are spawning), the biomes are bigger and it feels simply more pleasant not to be so "constricted". The speed with which you shred your bosses is not so much because most of them are spawned with items at random locations.
For the first playthrough, the world should also be in normal mode and not in expert mode. Expert Mode is getting closer to the "traditional" level of difficulty we talked about earlier. In Expert Mode, all enemies and bosses are stronger and sometimes get new mechanics, which at the beginning just unnecessarily stops you.

I'm pretty sure you can't change the character's name on the switch version. On the PC you could just play around with the respective files, but that will be difficult on the switch.
You can change the gender and appearance of your clothes and hairstyle afterwards with different items.

Also wanted to start soon.

My knowledge of English is unfortunately not very good. Except for a few sentences with simple words, I could understand almost nothing. My only option in that case would be to translate only the page from Google.

On one page, I've read that the level of difficulty would affect the chance which items you get or how often they are left behind by the monsters. According to the German Wiki, in Hardcore mode you could still fly around as a ghost, should you ever be defeated.

Except Simple, Normal and Hard, there's probably another hard mode. This is probably activated according to the German Wiki as soon as you defeat a so-called meat wall. Does this other level of difficulty change the amount of items or coins that you lose after death?

According to the wiki, there are some problems in this hardmode with an infection of the areas, which are spreading further and a sacred land. Is it hard to fight it? On YouTube was also in a comment that you should not completely eliminate the infection, but not why.

Is it possible to enter seed codes in the console versions of Terraria? On YouTube, I've seen two codes and then simply copied them. For one seed, the world probably has 4 pyramid dungeons, and the other seed has the maximum number of floating islands. But you have to create a new world several times, because not always 4 pyramids or all floating islands appear.

PS: My first "Minecraft" was Dragon Quest Builders.

Most of them have already explained one here, but if that works, use the grab hook on a button which you can always reach (backspace or press on the left stick or something)

At dressers you can change your clothes, at a stylist your hair, I just do not know gender. But your look does not matter.

Unfortunately for some games you can never change the key assignment.

Well, on the PC that works - because I have it on the mouse wheel - which is extremely convenient.

Well, well, but Minecraft and Terraria are not really similar except for the block concept.

Okay, if I would like to have Terraria for the Nintendo Switch then I would have to spend 30 Euro for it.

No idea if there will be something like a Christmas offer.

In Expert Mode you get some rare items a bit more often, bosses all have an extra special item, which they only drop in Expert Mode, and you get some extra money from monsters.

It's true that in Hardcore mode you can still fly around as a ghost, but that's not great because you can't interact with the world anymore. The character is gone.

The hardmode you read about in the wiki is, as I said, not a real option. This is more of a state your world is in after defeating the Wall of Flesh for the first time. Yes, it is hard to fight against Hallow and Corruption (Infection and Sacred Area) simply because of the vast area that both biomes already have at the start of the hardmode. The best thing is not to work against the biomes but to integrate them into the rest of the map. This usually means that you cover the parts of the map that will not be taken by Corruption / Hallow. Hedging in this case simply means to build a barrier between the individual biomes, so that a spread is impossible. So nothing complicated.

The reason you want to ideally have both biomes is that you can continue to get the items from the biomes that are just there.

Unfortunately, only the PC version supports seeds at the moment. But you should not worry too much if your map is not "ideal" because you do not need the items from flying islands and pyramids.

Is it possible to create the expert mode on your own or is it impossible?

To protect the biomes from the infection and the sacred area there seem to be several options. What I have read on the internet is that you can take clay blocks as a wall or "shovel" a gap between the biomes. Would not that mean that you have to work through from the very top, to the bottom through millions of blocks?

If you want to try these two seeds:

World with 4 pyramids - 1727837987

World with all Floating Islands - Yrimir (The Seed is the name of an English Terraria YouTuber)

Of course you can do Expert Mode alone. I just wanted to say that playing the game for the first time is not smart enough to throw in Expert Mode. Simply, because even the smallest opponents do one in the beginning in a few hits.

To block Corruption and Hallow you do not need a wall and even if it does not have to be made of clay blocks. All the blocks that can't be converted (and there are hundreds of them) are perfect. But as you have already noted: It is enough if you just put a gap between the biomes, because "no block" is the same as "block that can't be converted".
And yes, if you're paranoid and want to protect your entire world 100% from Hallow and Corruption, then you'll have to drill your way around the world. As I have already noted, this is not necessary. Personally and most of the others, it is enough to protect the surface of the map and leave the ground to itself. To secure 100% of the surface is almost impossible.

Which blocks can't be converted?

Okay, thank you for your great help!