About the difficulty....

[its_ArchroniX]

So I started playing this game a while ago and the first area up until the first boss is a piece of cake. Even the first boss is a pretty easy fight as soon as you find out how to dodge and attack him. After already playing games like Dark Souls and having Bloodborne on platinum I thought I was well prepared for this game and it would be a walk in the park (pun intended).

 

After defeating the first boss things start to get pretty damn unfair. The area that follows is filled with dudes that are killing me in 1 hit while I have to exhaust my stamina bar in order to put a dent in them. How is this even fair? Blocking is useless and dodging doesn't seem to work for me at all. Dark Souls also has some pretty tough enemies in some early areas but The Surge takes this to a whole other level. Anyone have any tips or useful tricks in order to do more damage or at least get past this area and move on with the game?  

 

Normally I really like and enjoy Soulslike games and don't mind the steep learning curve or the 'rinse and repeat' thing often found with bosses in these games. Hell, Bloodborne still is my favorite PS4 game and I've become quite good at it (if I dare to say so myself) but The Surge is beyond ridiculous to say the least.

Edited January 25, 2022 by its_ArchroniX

[Helyx]

I found The Surge to be pretty simple in terms of difficulty. Using single-rigged weapons like the SpectreBite & PAX2.0 work well in combination Lynx armor.

[Guardian_owl]

Are you talking about the dudes in black armor with staves that are in pairs? If so, they are kind of like black knights from DS1, very dangerous and don't respawn. If you installed the free DLC, the other issue might be that DLC swaps out a few enemies throughout the game for enemies with powerful fire and ice based weapons. Perhaps you are running into them. The block is more of a parry, you press block just before they attack so they stagger back. If you hold down block, then you get access to the two dodge moves. While holding block, press up to jump over low attacks and press down to duck under high attacks. Follow up immediately with the attack button after dodging the attack to do a counter-attack and stun them. If the enemies are ganging up on you, use the laser drone to pull one enemy at a time.

 

Depending on your weapon type (it doesn't work very good with the heavy-duty weapon type), a good opening attack in your combo is to sprint toward the enemy and then press attack while still sprinting. You will slide in low and do an attack, this is especially devastating with a single-rigged as it often stuns them allowing you to follow up with another attack. If you can manage to slay one of the black knights and sever their hand, their staff is quite good and has good range. It will also provide upgrade material to level a weapon to MKIII. It's been awhile, I think you would have to sever 2 of the black knight's hands to have enough material to upgrade one weapon to MKIII. As they don't respawn, it's probably a good idea to make a back-up to your save before engaging in case you mess up and don't do enough damage to the limb so that you can't sever it. Central B is also sort of a hub depot for the rest of the game that you will go away and come back to a few times, so it is rather large and complex. As you open shortcuts it would be a good idea to note where they go as it can be easy to get lost when you come back several days later.

 

Did you get the full bells and whistles of the edition of the game ("complete" or augmented edition) when it was on sale, or just the vanilla version? If the version that has the preorder DLC, then I would recommend using the proximity sensor in one of your implant slots, it will help you locate implants that are hidden in the environment. There are quite a few +to max HP implants in the first area and you should have gotten a really nice 1 for killing the first boss. For early game I would certainly recommend prioritizing the use of power for better implants over heavier armor. Eventually you'll find implants that increase max stamina as well. If you have the paid DLC with new areas, I would recommend dipping into them as soon as you feel strong enough as they have very nice equipment and implants. You get launched into NG+ as soon as you kill the last boss, so you might as well do the DLC fairly early so you can reap the benefits in late base game.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Guardian_owl

[its_ArchroniX]

17 hours ago, Guardian_owl said:

Are you talking about the dudes in black armor with staves that are in pairs?

I have no idea what they're called. https://youtu.be/XWoSIC9hyCY?t=290 check this video on 4:50. The enemy I'm talking about comes from the end of that hallway, walking straight up to me and I hardly do any damage nor can I block his attacks.

 

Quote

Did you get the full bells and whistles of the edition of the game ("complete" or augmented edition) when it was on sale, or just the vanilla version?

I claimed the game when it was free with PS plus once (believe in April of 2019) and bought both expansion a few months ago.

 

Thanks for all tips and tricks though! I'm going to try and beat teh game anyway but it isn't as fun as Dark Souls or Bloodborne in my opinion.

[Salt_AU]

Upgrade your gear and weapons. The game's difficulty is based on requiring you to farm enemies for the parts you need to enhance your gear, once you do that it isn't too bad. If you choose not to then you're going to have a tough time. I really enjoyed both The Surge and The Surge 2 and didn't find either of them to be overly difficult but an enjoyable challenge.

[LihapullaPoju]

Im not a regular player of these type of games but I've had somewhat of a urge to try the surge

Maybe alot later in the year to mentally ready myself

[Ich1994-1994]

23 minutes ago, Salt_AU said:

Upgrade your gear and weapons. The game's difficulty is based on requiring you to farm enemies for the parts you need to enhance your gear, once you do that it isn't too bad. If you choose not to then you're going to have a tough time. I really enjoyed both The Surge and The Surge 2 and didn't find either of them to be overly difficult but an enjoyable challenge.

Can only agree. I got destroyed buy the guy with the ax or hammer or something like that. After some upgrades and switching around my gear a little I first try killed him pretty relaxed.

[tpepper1985]

I have finished a few Souls games, Dark Souls, Demon's Souls and Bloodborne and found The Surge to be the easiest of them. I do remember the area I struggled the most in is where you are at the moment, it got easier with better mods. I remember finding a mod that could convert energy into HP and that made the whole game much more managable. I also remember farming the hell out of the first area for an hour or two after getting stuck for a bit in the second area which really helped.

Edited January 26, 2022 by tpepper1985

[Guardian_owl]

6 hours ago, its_ArchroniX said:

I have no idea what they're called. https://youtu.be/XWoSIC9hyCY?t=290 check this video on 4:50. The enemy I'm talking about comes from the end of that hallway, walking straight up to me and I hardly do any damage nor can I block his attacks.

The non-humanoid bot with the welding torch at 4:57? As they are designed for welding, they have a metal plate on their front to protect their internals from the heat. So attacking their front is attacking their most armored spot. The first one you encounter in the big open room with its back turned I think has a tutorial bubble next to it that shows how to fight them. Based on the angle of the welding laser before a horizontal swipe, it will go either high (parallel to the ground) or low (slightly angled toward the ground and the floor will glow red for a second after the attack). Jump high to avoid low and duck to avoid high, follow up with a counter-attack after the dodge to stun them. This allows you time to strafe around them and attack their soft and squishy side or back. You can also hob dodge forward and to the left when it does the thrusting attack and if you are using a quick weapon you should have enough time to get a hit or 2 into its exposed right side. When it does its 360 flame bomb attack, if you are close to it when it prepares to do it, you should have time to circle around, get one hit into the side, and dodge backward to avoid the flame as it takes a few seconds to go off.

 

If you can't get the timing right to dodge an attack and then strike the side, you can focus your attacks on one of the two ball wheels at either side of its front. Eventually the ball wheel will break so it will rotate much more slowly, allowing easier access to the weak spot. It may even stop attacking to repair the wheel, giving you free reign to whack its back.

Edited January 26, 2022 by Guardian_owl

[FatSuit]

First playthrough can be tough since you have shit gear/implants/drones. Best thing to do is get Claws of Gestalt from the final boss, and just burn through NG+ with it.

 

And use nano cores to upgrade your Lynx Armor as high as possible... you'll be like a runaway can opener with the increased attack speed bonus of the Lynx set.

 

I'm literally flying through NG+... completed first time at Central Prod B in maybe half an hour. In regular NG it took me days since my load out was utter garbage.

[Kamurotetsu]

On 26/01/2022 at 9:36 AM, its_ArchroniX said:

I have no idea what they're called. https://youtu.be/XWoSIC9hyCY?t=290 check this video on 4:50. The enemy I'm talking about comes from the end of that hallway, walking straight up to me and I hardly do any damage nor can I block his attacks.

 

If I remember correctly, that's a DLC enemy. I'd just ignore him. If you mean the bot that appears in the video, all you need to do is get close, continually strafe to the right while all its attacks miss you and aim for it's exposed leg. Just move back if it uses the aoe fire attack on the floor. 

 

If you're really having trouble, you may want to restart and attempt to get the PAX v2.0 from the first boss. That weapon alone will get you through the entire game. Otherwise, the next boss can drop the Firebug Throttle v2.0, which is pretty decent, fast, but also much easier to get than the Pax v2.0.

 

Just an extra tip, once you beat the second boss, if you head all the way back to the start of the second area past the med bay to the train station, two heavy armored enemies will start to respawn with a new type of security bot. These enemies drop the MG Gorgon Gear and a full set of this gives you high stamina regen. This armor is so good it got me through everything plus both DLCs.

[whassupbun]

On 2/17/2022 at 3:33 AM, FatSuit said:

First playthrough can be tough since you have shit gear/implants/drones. Best thing to do is get Claws of Gestalt from the final boss, and just burn through NG+ with it.

But if a person is able to make it all the way to the final boss, and successfully beat it to get its weapon, surely the game difficulty is no longer an issue for them? ?

[Nuoragh]

Took a look at this thread 'cause I'm thinking of replaying the game. Having platinumed most soulslikes out there, The Surge series is still one of my favorites. 
Personally, I found The Surge to need a much more agressive approach (regardless of weapontype), combined with dodging (somewhat similar to Bloodborne). Also, upgrades are essential, and making builds around the bonuses on the armor sets can be highly beneficial. At least thats been my approach in my 5 times finishing the game.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Nuoragh