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[-] BurntWits@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

If they modernized Dark Souls and fixed the last third of the game it might be the greatest game ever made. I adore Dark Souls but it is so dated. It’s hard to recommend it to someone honestly. After Shadow of the Erdtree came out and I beat it a few times I decided to revisit Dark Souls, and holy shit it felt old. I still love it to death but it was kinda brutal. The DLC is considerably better but still very dated. Compare Kalameet with Bayle and you’ll see just how far they’ve come. No hate on Kalameet though, he’s the OG tough as nails dragon boss. Still a highlight of the series for me, just very dated.

If we’re talking about new FromSoft content in general though I’m still holding out for more Sekiro content like a sequel or DLC (shut up, yes, I know, just let a man dream). Give me some Tomoe content. I wanna fight or learn more about her. And I want more gameplay with that fight system. It remains my favourite gameplay of any game ever. I still prefer Elden Ring + DLC as a game in general, but purely gameplay-wise Sekiro remains #1 and we need more like it.

[-] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 points 1 day ago

I still think DS1 is the best place to start if you've never played a Soulslike. It's really your only chance to get the full best impression as coming back to it after playing Elden Ring or something your reaction to most of the bosses will be "... that's it?". If it's your first soulslike they'll feel epic. And it's really not that unapproachable, just tell people to take it slow and use a shield, and ask you for directions if they get stuck somewhere.

I still have yet to play Sekiro, I need to tackle it some day but it honestly intimidates me. Several parts of DS3 and ER already felt like it were pushing against my skill ceiling in a way that was unfun and in Sekiro you can't even cheese or grind or rely on gimmicks. I'm fairly certain I'll not be able to finish it, and I won't enjoy bashing my head against it until I give up and feel like a useless sack of shit.

[-] BurntWits@sh.itjust.works 2 points 19 hours ago

If someone plans on playing the whole series then yes, start with DS1. But if they just want to pick up a game and heard Souls games are really fun, I don’t think the first one would convince them to check out the rest of the series unless they really enjoyed it, and I think later games are more approachable for beginners.

That’s totally fair, it’s not for everyone, and that’s okay. It used to be my favourite game ever, and is probably my #2, but I find it difficult to recommend to a lot of people because it is definitely a steep learning curve and is even harder if you’re used to Dark Souls. There’s no dodging (well there sort of is but it’s more of a repositioning) and instead you need to rely on parrying everything. And like you said, there’s no gimmicks or anything, you simply have to get good at the very specific playstyle or you won’t have a good time. But if you do get good at it, it feels amazing to play. Just out of curiosity, what pushed your limits in DS3 and ER?

[-] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 2 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

What makes the later games more approachable? I could maybe see an argument for DS3 being more accessible since it's essentially linear, but at the same time it's significantly harder. Basically anyone can beat DS1 in my opinion, absolute worst case you can wear full Havel's and just facetank everything and flask through the damage. You can poise tank Manus's full wombo combo and just outheal the damage.

I've never been great at rhythm games and I feel like I'm getting on in years and my reflexes aren't going to get any better. Knowing I have no recourse but get good is scaring me off Sekiro. In Elden Ring of course Malenia was a slugfest, I hated Valiant Gargoyles and Godskin Duo. In general I hate gank fights in FromSoft games, they're almost never done well. I needed some time with Hoara Loux and Radagon and Elden Beast was an absolute fuckfest. I played on release so couldn't use Torrent, no idea if that made it better or not.

In DS3 nothing in the base game felt bad, all the bosses felt fine and some of my favourite FromSoft bosses are in there. Dancer might be my favourite but Soul of Cinder is such a fun fight - although way too easy for a final boss. (EDIT: and Abyss Watchers of course.) Sister Friede however almost took my sanity and I never finished the Ringed City DLC because after Demon Princes I decided I needed a break as I wasn't having fun and just never got back to it. I assume Midir and Gael are too hard for me anyway if I struggled with Demon Princes.

[-] BurntWits@sh.itjust.works 2 points 17 hours ago

I feel like DS3 before you reach Irithyll is pretty tame for a Souls game. Once you reach Irithyll it definitely gets harder than DS1 ever was, but by that point you probably are at least okay at the game. The beginning of DS3 is a lot easier imo than the beginning of DS1, plus it’s a more polished game in general and looks and feels nicer so I could see a newbie pushing through more with 3. ER is definitely the easiest to get into as a newbie though. Spirit summons make fights a lot easier since aggro is split between you and the boss, without increasing boss health like you’d get with NPC summons, and the open world lets you just fuck off and do whatever to avoid a boss until you’re better, or skip the boss entirely depending on who it is. It definitely ramps up the difficulty end-game, and the DLC is probably the hardest content they’ve ever released (though it’s also the best imo), but the first portion of the game is way easier and more beginner-friendly than DS1.

Fair, you need pretty good reflexes to get good at Sekiro. The nice thing about it is once it clicks it gets far easier, but it’ll probably take several hours to reach that point and up until then, it’s going to be a very steep learning curve. Not to say it becomes an easy game by any means, but it’s no longer an uphill battle anymore. It’s still a FromSoft game and has their signature difficulty, and the final boss is still one of the hardest fights they’ve ever made, but it becomes a fair challenge at that point. The first part before it clicks for you will feel unfair and brutal.

I’ve always been better at humanoid bosses than monster bosses so I didn’t actually struggle that much with Malenia, plus I usually use the biggest weapon I can find in any game and she has practically zero poise so I staggered her a ton, but I agree on gank bosses. Godskin Duo can fuck right off, that’s one of the worst bosses they’ve ever done imo. Just trying to recreate what O&S were in DS1 while apparently forgetting what made that fight so good. Weirdly enough my hardest and most hated boss in ER (other than Duo) is Astel, which sucks because it’s a cool design and blocks progress of Ranni’s questline, but any time I die it feels unfair and any time I win it feels like luck. I don’t get that feeling with any other fight. As for Elden Beast, most of my wins against him were before they added Torrent in that fight and I agree, it wasn’t great. I have fought him with Torrent though and it makes it so much better. It’s seriously night and day. It’s still not a good fight, but it’s far less terrible now. I wish it was a better fight, it’s such a cool design and the lore is really interesting.

Dancer is my favourite from DS3 too. She was my favourite boss fight ever until Shadow of the Erdtree, which holds my top three favourite bosses now, and brought Dancer down to #4. Sister Friede is another favourite of mine, though I never found her as tough as most of the community. I’ve only played that DLC twice though so maybe I got lucky both times. Demon Princes weren’t very fun for me, but the DLC bosses got better. Gael is awesome, though I had the same situation as with Friede, finding him a lot easier than the community, but Midir is tough as nails and is the only boss I’ve never beaten. I still can’t get him even past half health. Like I mentioned before I find monster bosses harder than humanoid bosses so that could be part of it, though I found Bayle to be tough but fair.

[-] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 2 points 16 hours ago

DS3 is smoother and more polished, and the linearity means you don't risk going Catacombs or New Londo first, that's true. But I think DS3 gets hard way before Irithyll. All the bosses are harder than anything in DS1 and Iudex Gundyr could be a roadblock right off the bat. (Oh I forgot to mention, I really liked Champion Gundyr too as a boss.) Anyway I guess Asylum Demon could be a roadblock too if they don't realise you are supposed to run past him at first. But the first couple of areas really aren't that bad. Take it slow and keep a shield up when you round every corner and you'll be alright through almost all of it. The only real problem I see early on is Capra Demon. I guess the basilisks are a bit of a gotcha.

I personally found a lot of challenges in the early areas of DS3. Felt like there were lots of roll catches and annoying enemies, like the Lothric Knights. Road of Sacrifices into Farron Keep felt like absolute ass and were awful areas, those crow enemies were hard to deal with and unfun to fight, and likewise the jumping goats in Farron Keep.

If by monster bosses just oversized bosses count then I can get behind it. There are several that come to mind where you fight the camera more than the boss and get hit by things from offsceen while exasperatedly yelling "I can't fucking see anything Miyazaki!" at the screen.

Sister Friede was just incredibly hard and also having incredibly long Phase 1 and 2 which made trying to learn the difficult Phase 3 take forever and felt like just disrespectful of my time. Felt like every attempt would take 10 minutes to get through the first two phases only to get one-shot instantly in phase 3. Absolutely hated it.

If even you can't beat Midir I might just keep postponing it. I still have my save lying around but it's been a while and I'm kind of on a Ninja Gaiden kick at the moment as difficult games go.

[-] BurntWits@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 hours ago

I feel like if you can beat Gundyr you can at least struggle through the first part of the game. I agree the Road of Sacrifices to Farron Keep is pretty rough but it’s also pretty easy to run straight through. Even if you don’t know the way it’s not too convoluted. Once you reach Irithyll though it gets considerably harder, especially boss-wise. Pontiff is a nightmare if you can’t parry. Conversely, all the bosses before him are relatively straightforward, even if a little hard. But with a few attempts I don’t think it’s a severe challenge quite like Pontiff is. From that point on it’s pretty tough the rest of the way though, with a couple minor exceptions.

I’d say Midir and Gael are kind of like Kalameet and Artorias. Whichever you found harder in DS1 will probably carry over to DS3. I found Kalameet way harder, and I also find Midir way harder. Artorias, while challenging, was a lot easier to me, just like Gael. You can also challenge Gael without fighting Midir. Midir is completely optional, just like Kalameet.

If you haven’t already, you should give the ER DLC a try. It’s probably their best content to date. It’s definitely harder than the base game, but like the base game, you can cheese it if you need to. The only exception is the final boss, who is only really possible if you cheese it, and even then is tremendously difficult. But the rest of the DLC is a fair challenge and really fun.

this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2025
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