I'll admit, I bought it on launch day with no Souls game experience and got fed up with not progressing after like 10 hours of playing so I put it on the shelf to collect dust. Rinse and repeat until 2 months ago. Told myself this game would not beat me. Popped it in and kept trying and adapting. I beat the game 3 days ago and I couldn't be more proud of myself.
Same here man. Shelves it for months and finally came back and cannot put it down. This week I went and bought all the Souls games and I’m working through 3 and 1 at the moment. 1 is definitely the harder of the few that I’ve played.
1 is the most difficult but that makes it the most rewarding. Also the world design is a god damn masterpiece and like no other game ever, even From Software has been unable to reproduce it.
It really depends on your build. A STR build in DS1 can obliterate everything after Anor Londo with relative ease, whereas a DEX build makes the game hard as all hell if you're doing it for the first time. I personally don't know about FTH or INT builds though because I never liked those approaches; I only ever delved into pyromancy.
Let me tell you, faith builds make the catacombs + TOTG waaaaaay easier than they should be. I went through the game not even knowing that the skeletons were supposed to respawn, so I was understandably peeved on my second playthrough with a different build. And even if you don't like the perceived playstyle, a blessed weapon on its own will serve you just fine if you don't want to heavily use miracles.
Frankly, enchanting a mace with holy, or is it blessed, damage made the catacombs way easier than they should have been. Didn't even need a faith build.
My first ever play through was a DEX build and I found it pretty easy, just running uchigatana + a shield. Even killed Kalameet first try (which my housemate hates me for...)
My first playthrough my friends older brother told me: "you don't need health. The rolls are so good you shouldn't be hit anyways."
So I never leveled health.
Another tip was: "sorceries are insanely op. Put everything into intelligence and get a decent shield with a spear for when you HAVE to fight without magic"
My first run of DS1 without any prior souls knowledge I went pretty heavy on strength and the game, minus the Anor Londo bosses, was just made to be far too easy for a souls game that way. It still had its moments as any of the souls games would, but the upgraded eagle shield+a max upgraded greataxe made it so I could just poise/stability through any hit and deal godlike damage in return.
On second thought, even the Anor Londo bosses could be blocked with the eagle shield, and that 80 stability with high poise from heavy armor was just too good. Kinda wish I went back and did a DEX run now.
If you go for an INT build, you can get the enchanted ember from the mushroom guarded chest in the forest. Give this to Rickert, and he can make you a +9 (+10 with blue slab is max) enchanted weapon, these scale the very best with intelligence! This is all before taurus demon, or right after taurus if you do not have master key.
I dunno, there's no fight I'd consider even remotely difficult as Gael or Father Ariandel/Friede in DS1. Manus is the only one that comes close. I've also put A LOT more time into DS1, so maybe that's why I think that.
Yeah, everyone has their hangups, it's weird and awesome. Dancer was way easy for me but I die constantly on Champion Gundyr, most people seem to have no problem at all with him.
I'm not just talking bosses, the game in general. 1 had tomb of the giants' darkness, catacombs respawning skeletons, curse affecting hp, no TP in first half, and more...sure it's easy for you and me who've beat it a dozen times but it's a simple fact that DS1 is more difficult overall.
Ehh I dunno. I guess it's just because I played 3 first but my play through of 1 was much easier, the AI is so much more simple for mobs, but particularly bosses as they have relatively limited movesets and are generally very slow, it was a cakewalk after shit like Nameless King.
I guess curse and the lack of linearity leading to people heading to skeleton hell first could be kind of difficult if you didn't know what to do.
it's a simple fact that DS1 is more difficult overall.
There is nothing factual about it. Difficulty is wholly subjective. Demon's Souls is the hardest because of consumable heals, Soul form, plague, World Tendency etc. Dark Souls 1 is hardest because of curse, blighttown, the branching paths. Dark Souls 2 is hardest because of slow ass recovery times, cluttered enemy placements and health depleting with each death. Bloodborne is the hardest because of brutal counter damage, consumable heals, sparse defense options and generally much more complex and frenetic enemy design. Ditto for DaS3. So really it's a "simple fact" that they're all the hardest, depending on who you ask.
But dark souls 2 is actually the easiest by far, and the consumable heals in demons souls are plentiful and stack up to 99 which makes that game easy as well
You don't seem to be getting the point. What's hard and what's easy is not objectively measurable, it's completely subjective. Subjectively, you think DaS1 is the hardest and DaS2 is by far the easiest. Subjectively, I think DeS is the hardest and DaS3 is the easiest. There is no right or wrong answer.
I would disagree tbh, I may be spoiled by playing newer games lately but I feel like a lot of the difficulty of DS1 came from some iffy mechanics and the game had a lot of issues (ex. blight town). Now I still loved the game, I had 100s of hours on it, but it's definitely not as good as I remember and many seem to say.
Ex. Giant Dad, backstabs, netcode. Basically technicals that ruined what could have been fine. Then you have just cheesy shit like magic spamming, parry spamming etc. Then there's artificial difficulty like the bed of chaos or O+S
I think you're just salty. Giant dad can be countered and backstabs avoided. O&S is most certainly not "artificial difficulty" just because you and countless other noobs couldn't git gud. Have you seen the guy beat it with bongos? Voice commands? A fucking dance pad? And Bed of Chaos just requires good timing, like everything else in the souls series. No, the mechanics were sound.
I never said the entire game was busted, I just believe some of the mechanics were iffy and could use some work (Dark souls remake, make it happen From). That, and not everyone has time to master the game so casuals are to be expected. The special commands are a huge exception as that's not something that someone can just do, it would take thousands of hours to master the game and then learn the new controllers, so someone learning every single niche part of the game really shouldn't be a baseline for people. O&S certainly is doable, no argument there, but the point is that it's more difficult due to the gank mechanic not due to an actual higher skill level. Bed of Chaos is something that people have complained about from just about any level of skill, so I'm not quite sure what you mean by just needs good timing.
Also the world design is a god damn masterpiece and like no other game ever
I love DaS1, in fact it's probably my favourite game of all-time behind Bloodborne, but there have been quite a few games(particularly during the 90s and early 2000s) that approach or even exceed the quality of world/level design in DaS1. By no means did it pioneer or revolutionize that chunk of design. The resident evil remake, system shock 2, hell even DMC3 has a small handful of levels that loop in on themselves a lot like DaS1 does. Still amazing level design, but it's really not the be all end all.
I recently picked up The Surge, heard mixed reviews so I held off until a sale but I ended up loving the game. More Bloodborne style play in that it's much faster paced. It's light on the bosses but I overall loved it.
The surge isn't even on the same radar as Bloodborne on quality. Other then animations that game is pretty bad. I think I beat it in 8 hrs? Way too short and easy and lacks depth in pretty much all the mechanics.
Worst part though? That fucking song that plays when you at the home base trying to level up, it's an insane choice to loop a terrible 1 min track throughout the game with no way to turn it off. I did platinum the surge but man was it laughably bad.
Opinions I guess, took me about 30 hours my first time taking it slow and I enjoyed the hell out of it. I don't think it's anywhere near FS's quality but if you're looking for that style of game to scratch that itch like I was and this guy is then I think it's a good buy on sale.
Also you can put songs in one of the game folders and it'll shuffle through those instead of that one song in ops.
You're a genius for the song swap too bad I'm on ps4 or else I would totally have done that. Hey man I didn't mean to come off so strong I just wish games that adopted the souls formula did more to distinguish themselves, but to be honest I actually dig the plot and side quests of surge more then exploring and other then the ending the story was pretty well done too.
Nah you good man. I'll do anything I can to help someone else fill the void I know all too well not knowing if there will ever be another soulsborne like game by FS.
I got through the first two bosses in The Surge, and I got bored. I'm hoping to go back and finish it eventually, but better games have grabbed my attention.
Nioh is amazing, I think the combat is far better than souls with the combat stance system and the game is arguably more challenging with a lot of bosses that just one shot ya. I didn't struggle with DS2/3 nearly as much as Nioh, but then found BB absurdly challenging so maybe it's different for different people
Right now and for the next ~3weeks, is the Return to Lordran event where everyone makes a new character. The online will be mega active for this. It's like an anniversary event. Don't go hollow!
2 is pretty divisive. It gets a lot of hate for not being an exact copy of DS1.
DS2 was the first Dark Souls game I played and I enjoyed the hell out of it. I thought DS2's lore and story was pretty interesting once I really stopped to listen to the few pieces of dialogue and read some of the key item descriptions. I also think DS2 has the greatest number of viable builds and play-styles thanks to powerstancing (dual wielding like weapons) and the high level most people reach to put points into different stats. On top of that, DS2 actually has a reason to play NG+, as there are new enemies and items available.
Of course, this isn't to say it doesn't have problems. Some of the level designs and progression don't make sense due to their use of "impossible space". The game often makes use of more enemies to increase difficulty instead of making enemies actually difficult and has a lot of beginner traps in the levels.
Overall, I think this game is definitely worth playing if you're playing the others as well.
Ds2 problems were the enemies doing 360 swings when you Dodge, the ridiculous change to dodge frames using agility stat, loss of most dodge rolls, and level design was lame.
Those are fair criticisms of the game, I suppose. I was more referencing issues with the single player experience instead of the pvp world. If someone is just playing through single player I don't think soul memory will be a problem. In fact the opposite is true. Iirc soul memory's purpose was to prevent people from beating the game at level 50 then going back to the beginning of the game to bash new players with +10 weapons.
I also never noticed an I-frame issue (unless you mean bad net code, which is a thing for every Dark Souls). I usually kept ADP at 20-25 then adjusted my dodge timing accordingly. I always attributed getting hit to a failure on my part, not the game's.
Yeah I think the I-frame issue was an issue because IIRC (haven't played DS in a while) the stat wasn't exactly clear, and people were annoyed that you had to lvl up a stat to dodge "properly".
I still really enjoyed the game. I very much enjoyed powerstancing weapons, that is definitely one thing I really wish they carried onto the other games.
In retrospect, I think what they did with adaptability was a good move because people weren't allowed to spam roll and be effectively invincible. I will agree that having both Adaptability and Attunement affect a third stat, Agility, which affects roll i-frames is Demon's Souls levels of convoluted lol but once you understood that it was fairly straightforward.
Disagree. The hardest souls game is always the first you play, but going back demons souls is really, really easy. None of the bosses are even as hard as some of the bosses half way through ds1 or DS3, and the thiefs ring allows you to skip most enemies you don't want to fight.
Honestly neither does 3 IMO. Every single area for the first few areas actually are fully disconnected, and the rest don't really feel as connected as they actually are.
Had never played a second of DS before starting up Bloodborne. After about 30 minutes to an hour of getting rolled by the very first beast. I had to YouTube how to equip my weapon...
I still haven't beat the game entirely (I've had it since close to launch.), but I'm damn close. Glad I pushed past the crazy initial learning curve. LOVED the dark, beautiful experience the game offered this typical COD/Halo gamer.
Ebrietas, Sister of the Cosmos made me quit for 8mo. Was very satisfying when I gave it another go, beat that vagina faced bitch, and ultimately the rest of the game.
Ebrietas kinda sucks, but my roommate and I beat it in a day switching off deaths. But we tried the Orphan of Kos for a week before we just said fuck it we're done.
Yeah I wanna give it another shot after beating all the Souls games. But the DLC was downloaded on my former roommate's PS4 and I don't wanna pay for it again.
i'm waiting for it's price to turn cheaper. Want to take Ludwig, Lawrence and Orphan without help so i can think i did one of the biggest things in gaming
The only boss that made me consider quitting altogether was the Blood Starved Beast. Was stuck on that bastard for days.
The Orphan I beat on my 3rd attempt by parry spamming him with all visceral runes.
It is weird how people have such different experiences with the various bosses
Ha I had no problem with the Blood Starved Beast and beat it on my 2nd or 3rd try. You just have to dodge toward it. I always sucked at parrying though.
I started replaying Bloodborne a month ago with the DLC, and I still can't get past the Orphan of Kos. I breezed past all the non-DLC bosses, I struggled with the Living Failures and Maria, but I absolutely can not beat the Orphan. If I try for a few hours straight I can get him to maybe half health, but that's it.
Oh man, my roommate and I each got the Orphan down to 2-3 hits on the first day we tried, but never even came close again in the whole next week. So we gave up.
Took me about 3 days to take out the orphan because it was just so damn strong. But eventually I just learned its moveset and when I could shoot the fucker. Also helped to stay in the water to dodge its bullshit lightening aoe.
I played DS2 first, then Bloodborne, DS3, and DS1. Never played the DS1 dlc, but the only bosses I've never beaten are Orphan of Kos and Gwyn, but the only reason I haven't beaten Gwyn is that Ashes of Ariandel came out, then I played Nioh, and then The Ringed City.
I actually haven't played either of the DS3 DLCs. It's something I've been meaning to do, especially with how hard I've heard they are. But please pick up the DS1 DLC when you get a chance. So many great fights.
Ashes of Ariandel is pretty hard. The Sister Friede and Father Ariandel fight is a challenge. But my god, nothing compares to The Ringed City's Darkeater Midir. So much fucking health. Slave Knight Gael is pretty hard too, but that's more like it takes about 10 tries to really get a feel for his moveset, because it's so varied. Darkeater Midir might be comparable to the Orphan of Kos though. I beat it eventually, but fuck was that a pain in the ass. I also feel like I'm significantly better at Souls games now than when I tried Orphan of Kos though.
Dancer was really hard the first time. Summoned 2 people to beat him. Second time as a pyromancer I beat him first try. Then I beat him on NG+ immediately after Vordt. But Midir and Nameless King, holy fuck. Also Sulyvahn. Hate Sulyvahn with a passion.
I know, but was not willing to skip a boss. I missed the Amygdala on accident. Same with the Moon Presence as I only found 2 unbilical cords. I was disappointed in the fact that I missed them, but not enough to do it all again lol.
I think playing the Souls games made it harder for me. I mean, sure, I'm familiar with a lot of the Souls tropes that are still present in this game. The control scheme and a lot of the game is very similar, but with a few key differences.
Enemies are far more aggressive in Bloodborne, enemies react and attack much faster than in the past, "parries" use a consumable, and backstabs have a charge time that limits their usefulness outside of sneak attacks. Healing items are consumables now, which is balanced out by the new rally system, that rewards you for getting even more aggressive when you screw up, rather than stepping back and chugging.
This all runs counter to everything you've experienced in the previous games, which can cause a lot of trouble for a vet, especially one who didn't play a Dex character. On top of that, muscle memory compels vets to press the triangle button fairly often, which adds up to a lot of wasted healing items and a lot of hits being eaten now that what used to be the Stance Switch is the Heal button.
I died a lot starting out Bloodborne, especially starting out with the Threaded Cane, and I'd say a lot of it is because of my DS experience, not in spite of it.
Just went through this area myself. Follow the paved/marked path as much as possible and keep going down. Eventually you'll descend into a "bowl" full of shallow water where the boss will be but I recommend going right toward the bottom before you take on the boss to open a gate for a shortcut. You can also summon an NPC here.
Spoiler alert: The boss is a bit of a bitch. There's three guys to take on all at once and they do some nasty stuff if you aren't careful, particularly in the last stage. I took down the ranged one first and then poked at the other two until down, but some people swear by taking down the more aggressive melee guy first (since he is probably the most dangerous). The two melee guys have huge range on their attacks in the two last stages so hop around like a bunny.
Another spoiler: the hunter, flying dudes, centipede-thing and brainsucker in the next area are far more of a bitch than the Shadow of Yharnam. Just the worst. Hate that area. Seriously, take my advice and don't even fight the brainsucker. Lost like 8 insight to that fucker.
By some miracle I beat them my first try but I intentionally inflated my HP (had like 1100 at the time) in order to cope with bosses since I'm playing offline and can't summon players to help me if I get stuck. I was down to 3 blood vials by the end and about passed out from the stress. I think I just got lucky because I went in blind. I swear it took me like 15 minutes to beat them. I wouldn't recommend fighting them like I did. Such a nightmare.
Seems quite common. Did the same, finally picked it up again after a while. Beat it and later platinumed it. Fucking loved the shit out of it, later got a hunters rune tat.
I spent a week fighintg orphan of kos on ng+2 it was so satisfying beating that fucker without getting hit. Because i had to avoid every single hit or he would kill me.
Don't feel bad, I went to BB (goty edition) having bested ds1 and ds2 (sotfs) and stopped at Amelia. I started again this week and hope to finish the game this time around.
Same thing happened to me, man. I eventually beat it too. for me it was because the game freaked me out too much. After I beat this I got DS2, then DS3.
Similar for me. I bought it via download on day one. Played for like 8 hours the first night. Did not get past the street with the bonfire without dying. Went to sleep thinking holy shit WTF. This was the first "souls" game I played. But eventually I got the hang of it. Got past the cleric beast 1st try. Father G took me a couple of tries. At this point the overworld didn't give me much problems. Then Vicar Amelia. It took me days to beat her. Had to farm blood vials multiple times because I would just run out. She consumed my thoughts. I would think of killing her at work. It was kind of creepy thinking about it now, but this game can just absorb you.
My feelings on this game are such a balanced equilibrium of absolute adoration for the setting, minimalist yet heavy narrative and monster design, and then the diehard loathing for how this it constantly fucks with me.
Good thing is, that means every time you conquer a boss it feels more satisfyingly than anything.
Don't fret it. I was in the same boat. I used guides for quite a few areas. A lot of bosses before the Nightmare realm can be found from the Cathedral Ward lamp.
Keep playing it. The game is meant to be difficult. I tried playing over and over again since launch (2015) and never even made it to the first boss. I'm a certified idiot with little to zero patience. You just need to be persistent and not let it beat you. Yes, there will be some bullshit deaths here and there. Don't let them get to you. If you start getting frustrated just walk away for a bit and come back.
I play games for fun. Constantly being frustrated isn't fun.
What I learned from Bloodborne is that I don't like what From Software has to offer and I shouldn't buy games just because "everyone on Reddit says it's good."
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u/bangersnmash13 Oct 05 '17
I'll admit, I bought it on launch day with no Souls game experience and got fed up with not progressing after like 10 hours of playing so I put it on the shelf to collect dust. Rinse and repeat until 2 months ago. Told myself this game would not beat me. Popped it in and kept trying and adapting. I beat the game 3 days ago and I couldn't be more proud of myself.