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I used to reccomend you start at dark souls 1, untill i played it recently. Maaan, that game is rough.
Rough as in hard or as in aged poorly?
Played it recently. Honestly it’s the latter. Maybe not poorly per say, but it clearly shows its age. Fighting is slow and not as snappy as more recent games, controls are not always great (looking at you jump on roll…)
It’s still a great game, sure, but it feels old
I watched one of my friends play a bit, and the level design at times just seemed either intentionally confusing, or just bad. Like there was a lava level where the “main” path was actually a bunch of hidden paths separated by pools of lava that you had to run through and take damage. I can kind of forgive the running through lava part since coming into a boss fight at low HP or missing some flasks is the expected type of challenge in a souls-like, but the hidden main path thing just seemed annoying. And on top of that, the paths you were supposed to walk on were these big tree root/branch type things that were super easy to slide off of into the lava. It felt like tedium for tedium’s sake, not challenging in a fun way.
And don’t be afraid to look up guides. The games are massive and it’s more important you have a good time than ‘pLaY iT rItE”
But also don’t feel like you have to use a guide. It’s perfectly fine to look something up if you’re stuck, but you don’t have find the optimal build - if there even is one in these games. Just have fun, explore a little, soak in the atmosphere and story
Me, going left for a good 3 hours at the start of DS1, not realizing there’s a path to the Undead Burg: “Wow, these skeletons are really tough, I guess Dark Souls really is hard”
Exactly the same thing happened to me in DS1, went down to the skeletons and got my ass handed to me.
Stopped playing until a few years later I was talking with a friend about Dark Souls and told him that I stopped at the skeletons under the graveyard. Binged through the entire game shortly after once he told me I need to take the mountain route.
You take the good with the bad, I guess
I actually had great fun doing it, but I was getting a little frustrated by the time I said “Dammit, am I missing something? I need to look up if there’s a better weapon or something nearby”
Whoops!
Big tru. If discovery and exploration hit the dopamine button, I don’t think there is a better game series for you.
So PS3 Demons Souls. Got it.
Started with Bloodborne, threw my controller at the TV, never touched a souls game again. Although I do have a copy of Demon’s Souls PS5 collecting dust on my shelf… should I give it a try?
It depends. How big is your tolerance for rather difficult levels but easier boss fights overall? The levels themselves are rather long and only offer a single checkpoint throughout, sometimes a few more but usually not, so you kinda need to find a good route or not die in the process of clearing the level. Once you get to the boss, you need to figure out the gimmick and then it’s usually cruising.
Additionally, the game is quite a lot slower and allows for shields, so you have more defensive options and more time to figure out what you want to do in an encounter. Bloodborne is quite fast in comparison and requires a lot of aggression to meet the boss’ aggression.
Giving it a try definitely won’t hurt, tho. It’s a lovely remake and very pretty to look at
I played through ER for the first time a year ago, and an old steam friend who I hadn’t talked to in literal years sent me a dm asking if I’d like to play through DS3 with him
When I heard that, I assumed we’d be playing through it separately and he’d just be giving me pointers every now and then
Nope, he joined my game every time with his endgame build and whenever we got to a difficult bit he’d go “hang on a sec” and clear it for me
This honestly ruined a lot of the experience for me, and it’s an example of being a bit too hand holdy, even if it came from a sincere place
I still got to beat nameless king (or whatever their name was, the dragon rider dude) on my own, easily the highlight of my playthrough
Thanks for sharing! I get the frustration. Part of these games is the challenge and if someone else beats the game for you, it kinda loses its meaning. I’m all for people helping if they’re just dead-stuck and will rather put the game down instead of receiving help, but that was probably a little “too much”. Good on you for still extracting some value from your playthrough, though?
Thinking back to my first experiences with soulslikes, I was struggling a lot with Bloodborne, my first one, and Sekiro, my second one. Had someone beaten these difficult passages for me, I’m not sure whether I would have continued on to beating both games multiple times and going for a platinum each. Sure, it took me multiple attempts over several years to find my footing, but it was worth it in the end.
How was your experience playing Elden Ring? Anything particularly difficult you encountered?
As most players did, I b-lined it to Margit. Unlike most players, I sat there for about 5 hours trying to beat him, thinking it was normal in a soulslike
After finally defeating Margit, I trekked through the castle, finally getting back to the courtyard. After dying 5 times and with no idea where to go, I (finally) decided to explore limgrave
Unfortunately, the first thing I found was the secret passage past the castle
So I waltzed into the lands of raya lucaria, except I didn’t, because the first thing I did was take the teleporter past it to that manor in the top left of the map
Because of this, I found myself venturing all the way to Loretta, at which I was stuck for another couple hours trying to beat her
After all that, I didn’t even go and meet Ranni in the tower because I tpb back to the starting area after I realised I was probably in the wrong spot to continue on in
To be clear, throughout this I was heavily underleveled, underequipped and didn’t have my physick
So that’s the story as to how I beat Loretta as my second boss (including mini bosses)
I guess you could say my first playthrough was a little special
Went on to beat Malenia in my second playthrough, absolute gem of a game
Wow that’s hilarious and probably made for a very memorable experience and journey. Had you known that you were going through the game in an “unintended” way or did you just go in blind?
First time playing a soulslike, I just went through it blind and explored around
Didn’t realise until pretty late that the game would just let me go places I didn’t belong lol
Elden Ring is the best doing that. The others that came before allow for some branching paths and alternate routes but usually lead to the same bosses somewhere down the line
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