When you think about dark souls difficulty?

[liwenborg]

How did the these series get such a hype over its difficulty? Seriously this game is more casual than anything, it doesnt even have an option to play on a harder difficulty besides that covenant which isnt anything to speak of either. Im not gonna say its easier then most of the games, but when you think about it how is it even relevant to promote this game with the slogan "prepare to die"?

 

btw I should include that im a souls fan myself and have plated all 3 games.

 

 

Edit; 29/1

Seeing it now, and realizing how cocky the first post can be perceived I just wanna ad that I was very emotional influenced when I wrote it. It was a time when I just have had enough of all the "professional reviewers" and all the "known vets" crying over the difficulty when all the game required was some fckin common sense. For example the only knowledge you need to have when you're a beginner of the series is knowing that you are playing a game which you can't just rush through.

 

Also after completing all three games, my opinion is that Demons was the hardest one and that I'm still standing for that the soul series are games that shouldn't get any more attention for their "difficulty".

 

Amen.

Edited February 1, 2015 by liwenborg

[PREDRAG-K]

I haven't played Dark Souls yet, but I played Demon's Souls. From what I hear, that's the hardest of the 3 games. But, I didn't find it too difficult really. All it takes is some common sense, strategy, and patience.

The hype comes from the fact that these are difficult games, in an era where almost every game holds your hand, has a checkpoint every 10 steps, and a cutscene every 5 minutes. The new generation of gamers probably never had a chance to expierence a game where you actually need to focus on the enviornment, and if you die, it has consequences.

[Shadiochao]

I wouldn't say it's casual but I feel they are more difficult or at least unforgiving than the games most people are used to now.

 

Of course there are far more difficult games, but a lot of them these days will give you a huge advantage over any enemies you come across and respawn you right where you died if you happen to fail. Souls will instead let you get on with it until you improve over time due to trial and error, which I suppose some people consider as difficult as they aren't familiar with failure having consequences.

 

"Prepare to Die" is the perfect slogan for this series as no matter how good you are at video games, you will almost certainly die many times throughout the course of the games. It's not a statement about how difficult the games are, but actually the way they teach you to improve.

[TheDevilSurvivor]

In my opinion, the Souls series isn't hard. It's all about repetition, not skill.
Dying because an enemy is overpowered or you need to have great skills to beat him is hard.
Losing all your money/exp when you die (in this case, souls) is far from being hard. It just forces you to repeat the same crap you've been doing for the past hours: Kill enemies.
Repeating something doesn't make it hard, it makes it boring.

[MoreTheVictim]

The Souls games have a very difficult and long learning curve, but once mastered it becomes very rewarding and satisfying.

But the games are very, very unforgiving, you make one simple mistake and you will be punished for it. And you will make that same mistake several dozen times until you learn what to do.

[xZoneHunter]

"Dark souls is casual" 

"i'm an avid fan and have platted* all 3 games" 

- One cocky psnp user. 

The games are hard, period. 

[Grample_Gust]

*First playthrough - 80 hours*

*Every playthrough of mine after that - 5-12 hours*

This is one of those games where once you've beat it, you know all of the enemy patterns, and you know exactly what to do, just like megaman games. which is the closest thing that i can compare it too.

 

 

Oh, and i think i can speak for everyone when i say that 99% of my deaths are from me not paying attention and then falling off a cliff.

Edited October 22, 2014 by shananiganyo

[Gregorymany]

I haven't played Dark Souls yet, but I played Demon's Souls. From what I hear, that's the hardest of the 3 games. But, I didn't find it too difficult really. All it takes is some common sense, strategy, and patience.

The hype comes from the fact that these are difficult games, in an era where almost every game holds your hand, has a checkpoint every 10 steps, and a cutscene every 5 minutes. The new generation of gamers probably never had a chance to expierence a game where you actually need to focus on the enviornment, and if you die, it has consequences.

 

I agree with every word you said.

I only played demon´s souls, and it´s not that hard, it´s that you have to get used to the game and enviroment, with strategy, and always be cautious, or you´ll lose all your progress.

[Chefiroth]

Demon's is the hardest ive plat all three too. & want difficultly do a SL1 run, or just (off topic) play The Evil Within on Akumu.

[liwenborg]

"Dark souls is casual" 

"i'm an avid fan and have platted* all 3 games" 

- One cocky psnp user. 

The games are hard, period. 

Didnt mean to hurt your feelings m8.

 

 

Anyhow, my point is that if dark souls is classified as one of the most difficult games, I'm really wondering what kind of weak a*s cry babys the gaming industry have developed in to. Seriously does no one remembers the "game over" era? What would those games would be classified as today? 

[xZoneHunter]

 

Anyhow, my point is that if dark souls is classified as one of the most difficult games, I'm really wondering what kind of weak a*s cry babys the gaming industry have developed in to. Seriously does no one remembers the "game over" era? What would those games would be classified as today? 

 

You can make any game as hard as you want, but you can make them easy too. You can't make the souls games easier.... 

Edited October 25, 2014 by xZoneHunter

[THCBudz]

Been playing dark souls 2 for over 100 hours, has a big learning curve if not used to series few hard boss battles e.g. Medusa if u didnt figure out how to rid area of poison. None of the souls games would i consider easy,... Just very enjoyable to play multiple times

[Lion-Lhasa]

Anyhow, my point is that if dark souls is classified as one of the most difficult games, I'm really wondering what kind of weak a*s cry babys the gaming industry have developed in to. Seriously does no one remembers the "game over" era? What would those games would be classified as today? 

 

They're called arcade games. That doesn't happen anymore because people have home consoles and getting 'Game Over' would only result in frustration and quitting from the player and not extra cash for the arcade booth.

Even in the PS1 era when some games still had game over, you always had the option of saving your game.

 

Souls is only difficult because it doesn't hold your hand and it's not afraid to shit on you if you make a mistake. The games themselves aren't hard but they require some degree of patience and observation, both things people severely lack nowadays in the age of instant gratification.

 

P.S. Being arrogant and boasting about plats that a lot of people have isn't usually appreciated and isn't likely to get polite replies.

Edited October 25, 2014 by Lion-Lhasa

[liwenborg]

They're called arcade games. That doesn't happen anymore because people have home consoles and getting 'Game Over' would only result in frustration and quitting from the player and not extra cash for the arcade booth.

Even in the PS1 era when some games still had game over, you always had the option of saving your game.

 

Souls is only difficult because it doesn't hold your hand and it's not afraid to shit on you if you make a mistake. The games themselves aren't hard but they require some degree of patience and observation, both things people severely lack nowadays in the age of instant gratification.

 

P.S. Being arrogant and boasting about plats that a lot of people have isn't usually appreciated and isn't likely to get polite replies.

 Wasnt really claiming the plats, I just thought it would be a good statement for me when creating a topic like this to show that I've completed the game till 100% so that I can discuss it without people starting to question me "but have u done this and that?"

 

But yeah, I didn't expect that some people would get insulted.

[Happy]

If the Souls games are actually among the hardest of this generation is hard to say. Difficulty is subjective to each individual, for example i struggled alot with NfS Most Wanted, a game mostly considered easy, but had no problems completing Hotline Miami while others may do. As for reasons why Dark Souls (also the other games, but it's easier to just talk about the big guy) has the image it has, here's my thoughts:

1. Welcome To Dark Souls, fuck you

Most games these days have an introductory level or tutorial to easily introduce the game's mechanics to you. Yes, Dark Souls also has one of those in the Asylum, but throwing a boss at you in the first five minutes isn't the most smooth way of getting players into your mechanics. The player, who is used to having everything handed to him, finds himself already beeing punished, tutorial or not. Talk about punishing...

2. The concept of death

When you die in a videogame, it usually means you screwed up, or somehow failed at the game. It means you're not as good at the game as the game wants you to be here, so it throws you back to try again, with no penalty at all. Dark Souls is different. Death is an important mechanic in the game. Failing at something in Dark Souls is part of learning the game, understanding the environment and your opponents. Once you have understood the world around you, the game will seem extremely easy on your next time through, but since there is no real reason to do so since you have already advanced, you'll only remember the constant trying until you got it done. Excuse me, i believe i just got kinda off track here. Short form: in most games, you die because something is too hard for you. In Dark Souls, you die to understand the game. The average gamer thinks Dark Souls is too hard because he dies, even though death is essentially part of th game.

3. True difficulty

The "Game Over" era was bullshit, these games were made to be difficult, so they would squeeze every last quarter out of you. To do so, they'd often resort to rather artificial difficulty, which isn't true difficulty in my opinion. Any death can be avoided in Dark Souls (except for the Bed Of Chaos but let's not talk about that), but other games would have you die in a way that felt cheap and unfair to you. I think the fact that every death in Dark Souls is the players failure not the game beeing cheap plays a role here. Also note that most games at least give you the choice between easy and hard. Dark Souls only has 1 mode: Dark Souls.

On another note, remember the first time you played a Souls game. Scenario A, you were playing it blind, Scenario B you're a guide reader, in which case leave. But assuming scenario A, it is always hard to remember just how one felt when first playing a Souls game. I can barely remember getting my ass kicked, because i later returned to the same places, easily kicking the asses of those who had previously kicked mine, thinking "Man this is really easy, i can't see why people think this is so hard".

I also platinum'd all the games so please don't mock me too harshly

[Sara-Rosecult]

Any death can be avoided in Dark Souls (except for the Bed Of Chaos but let's not talk about that), but other games would have you die in a way that felt cheap and unfair to you.

 

I know you said "let's not talk about that", but I'm curious on why Bed of Chaos any different than the rest.  When in doubt, wear the ring of sacrifice or something.  There are also similar rings in DarkSouls II.  Demon's Souls is the only one in the series that has no ring of avoiding death.

[Kittens Are Awesome]

*squirt*

Delete

Edited December 2, 2014 by prarpin

[I_beat__my_yeet]

Yes it pretty much deserves the hype. I'm pretty sure that you like many more have played a previous souls game before this one. In this case you already have a pretty firm concept on how the game works and, because of this you will believe that some parts in the newer game are easier than others in the series but in reality you are just used to what this game will throw at you and don't really notice. SO if you where to ask someone new to the series they would probably say something along the lines of, "Oh, this is a pretty tough game".

And I don't even know what your definition of casual is. If you were to put a casual gamer in front of this game and tell them to play it they would be tired of playing it pretty quickly because you know what... They Died a lot. And they weren't prepared... to die.

[Tomoko Kuroki]

It's cus it's mainstream, so gta and cod players think it's hard.

 

None of the soul games are hard, the easiest being dark souls 2 especially if you play solo, cus every SOMEWHAT hard boss has a summon sign, which the summons solo the bosses to less then half hp, and have 100% aggro even in ng++. Dark souls 2  hex and faith builds were beyond abnormally overpowered, making the game incredibly easy. I still did my first playthrough with greatsword, vit/endurance build, which isnt ideal as a first time playing, but it's still easy.

 

Demon souls was the funnest and had a good story and amazing music, dark souls 1 and 2 had forgettable story and characters and no ambiance whatsoever.

 

The games are VERY fun, but really not hard whatsoever, like I said in another thread, there just different then other action rpg's. You can't take your knowledge of others game and expect to 1 shot it the first time around.

 

After your first playthrough every playthrough after in all soul games should be 3-5 deaths unless your just rushing things or really haven't bothered learning the roll mechanic, which is different in demon soul compared to dark soul.

 

The games are very very fun and unique, but far from difficult..at all

 

I died more in gow 3 then in DeS and DS1 combined.

Edited December 31, 2014 by Tomoko Kuroki

[Zanzarro]

Souls are easy, scrubs make it seems hard, that's why the game has a lot of hackers these days & reviews saying its really hard.  Story difficulty FISRT TIME was hard (my 1st experience was Demon's Souls) bkuz you don't know shit bout enemies attack patterns, where the traps are, ur build best weapon, etc.  Once you know the game basics then ur only problem will be getting invaded by other players (what I do a lot, I love invading on places people really hate lol).

[cuckie]

Iv never played any souls game but im getting dark souls 2 when it comes out on PS4, however iv just had this experience will COD Classic, I was dreading playing it on veteran because loads of people where saying its extremely difficult, even harder than WAW, I completed it a few days ago and it compared to what I was expecting it was a breeze with a few annoying points but once you die a few times you know what to do. Basically what im expecting when I play this game.

[Aexuz]

Probably a 3.5/10 difficulty. The easiest one from the series.

[Sir_JechtSin]

How did the these series get such a hype over its difficulty? Seriously this game is more casual than anything, it doesnt even have an option to play on a harder difficulty besides that covenant which isnt anything to speak of either. Im not gonna say its easier then most of the games, but when you think about it how is it even relevant to promote this game with the slogan "prepare to die"?

 

btw I should include that im a souls fan myself and have plated all 3 games.

 

I really hate this kind of comments. The first time I played Demon's Souls (NA version) it took me 9-10 hours to beat level 1-1. I must say that I started with the online Halloween event going on, though, I had the red phantoms spamming all over without having a clue what they were because I was not checking any guide. Did you? The only thing I checked in advance has been which one was the suggested starting class for noobs. They said Royalty, which in reality sucked.

 

Then I played the EU version free on PS+. I cleaned 1-1 in a hour or so, getting all loot. In Dark Souls I managed to die a few times on the bridge in Undead Burg after the bonfire. And many other times later. Still I have platinumed all of them. I picked up DS2 and I went trough the first levels like a breeze. Maybe experience does matter? But the Dark Chasm of Old has been a PITA, being a DEX build. Not to mention Darklurker. Sure, one can respec (I didn't) and to go through the three areas one can raise the brightness to MAX (which I discovered by myself only 10 effigies later). Vendrick, with only 4 giant souls hasn't been a pleasure either. Belfry Luna with its bleeding invaders is a nightmare and so it is solo. But I also must say that I discovered only near the endgame that the ring which nullifies the death penalty didn't really break and it could be fixed for only 3000 souls. With that on the game gets much easier. Humanity with full health bar for 3000 souls, no souls ever lost. And keeping the souls no matter  what one can always upgrade, making the game easier. Not to mention the stress reduction.

 

Still I really want to stress the fact that in the "good ol' days" there were not many internet guides. Nor youtube. Try to play the next game without checking any guide. Zero, nitch, nada. Then see how easy it is. Good luck finding out tricks like the one for Veldrick, although that's optional (but still part of the game, especially for trophy hunters).

Edited January 27, 2015 by Michelasso

[StrickenBiged]

I haven't read all the posts, so sorry if anyone has already mentioned this, but part of the genius of the Souls games is that the difficulty is built into the game mechanics, rather than just having different "modes". 

 

You want to have a "hard" time, play as a dual wielder and avoid using shields, summons and magic/miracles/hexes. Wear the rings that increase the challenge and avoid the ones that buff you. Join the covenants that make things harder.

 

You want to have an "easy" time, play as a sorcerer, use the binoculars to snipe enemies from afar and use buff items, always summon people.

 

The game really is what you make of it. If OP (or anyone else) is finding it too easy, then make it harder for yourself by trying a new playstyle or class.

[liwenborg]

I really hate this kind of comments. The first time I played Demon's Souls (NA version) it took me 9-10 hours to beat level 1-1. I must say that I started with the online Halloween event going on, though, I had the red phantoms spamming all over without having a clue what they were because I was not checking any guide. Did you? The only thing I checked in advance has been which one was the suggested starting class for noobs. They said Royalty, which in reality sucked.

 

Then I played the EU version free on PS+. I cleaned 1-1 in a hour or so, getting all loot. In Dark Souls I managed to die a few times on the bridge in Undead Burg after the bonfire. And many other times later. Still I have platinumed all of them. I picked up DS2 and I went trough the first levels like a breeze. Maybe experience does matter? But the Dark Chasm of Old has been a PITA, being a DEX build. Not to mention Darklurker. Sure, one can respec (I didn't) and to go through the three areas one can raise the brightness to MAX (which I discovered by myself only 10 effigies later). Vendrick, with only 4 giant souls hasn't been a pleasure either. Belfry Luna with its bleeding invaders is a nightmare and so it is solo. But I also must say that I discovered only near the endgame that the ring which nullifies the death penalty didn't really break and it could be fixed for only 3000 souls. With that on the game gets much easier. Humanity with full health bar for 3000 souls, no souls ever lost. And keeping the souls no matter  what one can always upgrade, making the game easier. Not to mention the stress reduction.

 

Still I really want to stress the fact that in the "good ol' days" there were not many internet guides. Nor youtube. Try to play the next game without checking any guide. Zero, nitch, nada. Then see how easy it is. Good luck finding out tricks like the one for Veldrick, although that's optional (but still part of the game, especially for trophy hunters).

Seeing it now, and realizing how cocky the first post can be perceived I just wanna ad that I was very emotional influenced when I wrote it. It was a time when I just have had enough of all the "professional reviewers" and all the "known vets" crying over the difficulty when all the game required was some fckin common sense. For example the only knowledge you need to have when you're a beginner of the series is knowing that you are playing a game which you can't just rush through.

 

I was still a kid when I started playing Demon souls and I got this message as soon you're at the staircase in front of the castle in 1-1 and being attacked from behind by an undead. After that it was all about playing carefully and taking your time to read the enemy movements etc. And for your question about using a guide is No, from start to finish when I was playing Demon Souls I didn't even bother about FAQ's or walkthroughs. However I were using it in Dark Souls 1 and 2. But mostly, if not only for what certain items had for function or about the games lore. 

 

Also after completing all three games, my opinion is that Demons was the hardest one and that I'm still standing for that the soul series are games that shouldn't get any more attention for their "difficulty".  

 

Amen.