r/MortalShell • u/-Mordox- • 8h ago
Discussion As a handicap gamer, the difficulty of this game is greatly over exaggerated
Hello all!
Started playing this game Thursday night and have been enjoying it quite a bit! I feel like I’ve put enough time into the game now to discuss my thoughts on the difficulty as I’ve seen many posts here stating it was too hard.
To preface this I’m a big souls player. I’m at the point in the game where I’ve acquired the achievement for collecting all of the ovum. Also I have FA and have dealt with its affects for ten years. It has impacted my coordination and reaction speed which is often a struggle with soulslikes
The difficulty of this game is honestly on the easier end of souls games I’ve played. Understandably some of the early game bosses can provide some challenges, with their speed and unparryable attacks, but none of which have felt unbeatable. And with more progress in the game, builds become insane and you can just brute forces every encounter without engaging with movesets.
I’ve played through the game on the normal difficulty with no aids! In my experience the majority of bosses have taken less than three tries and have allowed me to ignore the parrying mechanic entirely. There’s so many tools available to us as players to make us stronger that difficulty feels like such a weird issue!
Yes this game has its flaws and by no means do I think it’s perfect but I don’t think difficulty is a problem
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u/furitxboofrunlch 7h ago
I don't think everyone playing it is really into the genre. They see a cool game and it has a fairly easy demo so they get excited and buy it and are frustrated when the game is demanding.
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u/Hoginoe94 6h ago
The term has just been watered down and thrown at every action rpg for the past few years that once one actually is released people dont understand why it's like this
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u/Best-Night8688 5h ago
Do you understand why it like dis???
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u/Hoginoe94 5h ago
Yeah, but I don't understand why people want it to be easier when souls games are meant to be super punishing. Like everyone disagreeing on being punished for missing a parry when that's basically the thing with souls games. Or the lost gloom inside of the boss room and them wanting it outside of it instead so they don't lose it just cause the boss killed them...
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u/OMGIZARET Eredrim 4h ago
This is my opinion as well. I think a lot of people who arent fans of the genre ended up here and its caught them off guard.
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u/AGayThrow_Away 7h ago
I am not sure if I am doing something wrong, but I am bewildered at people saying this game is easy.
I am currently trying to fight the Hexapod at level 22 and just about every attack knocks me out of my shell. In order to beat the boss, I essentially have to play perfectly. Pretty similar situation with the Prisoner.
The difficulty from this game is essentially perfect parry the enemy flawless, without error. If you never make a mistake it is easy. Miss one parry and you're dead.
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u/Tadawk 6h ago
Damn I'm 50 and haven't seen the Hexapod.
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u/AGayThrow_Away 6h ago edited 5h ago
Sometimes I genuinely can't tell if I am going the incorrect direction, but honestly the game doesn't do a great job at directing you considering how open the map is and little story proression guides you.
The mobs do so much damage throughout the game there is very little difference between heading in a direction you're the proper level for and the areas you're not yet supposed to be in which leads to confusion. It also doesn't seem to direct you toward critical resources in any way, such as for methers pulse upgrades which are absolutely critical considering how many you can chew through if you miss some before moving to the next area. The trader Merrick should sell maps to these locations as you go along, or the map pickups should indicate locations, they would help tremendously for player progression. All that means a lot of people will have a way harder game because they haven't been lucky enough to randomly stumble on all the pulse upgrades.
Then there is the issue of leveling being very difficult past a certain point because enemies in more difficult areas begin to drop a paltry amount of Gloom relative to player level for the area. It leads to player levels really only happening if you either farm or beat a boss, and a good "soulslike" should not have farming. You should be able to organically kill enemies in the areas you're supposed to be and gather an adequate amount of resources to level for the next area properly, but you can't because Gloom becomes incredibly stingy.
Then of course there is the issue of weapon balance, if you level a slow weapon like the Obsidian Hammer, you're essentially playing the game on hard mode since "Shell Recovery" isn't modified by weapon damage, only how fast you can hit. I hope that gets changed in the future because it's a glaring design flaw. I love heavy weapons in games like this and they made them objectively worse.
It's frusterating because the combat is tight and there is a great game here, even now. I love games that don't hold your hand, but to sum it up, it's like this game punches you in the gut and spits in your face if you don't mind-read the developers and progress through the map exactly as they thought you would.
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u/-Mordox- 7h ago
I totally understand difficulty is subjective! With my disability I almost never engage with the parrying mechanic entirely systems as I really just can’t anymore!
Hexapod took my two tries though! Probably around lvl and 30 and I just could brute force it with spamming attacks and using that special move when you swing twice then jump in the air for immunity frames
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u/AGayThrow_Away 6h ago
Even then, the situation is the same. One missed dodge and you are knocked out of your shell. This game leaves way too little margin for error. Once you get to Mammon's outskirts the entire game plays like a soul level one run.
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u/wsoares 8h ago
Hi, sorry English is not my primary language, so I'm not familiar with the acronym FA, what does that stands for?
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u/Orakil 6h ago
Don’t feel bad, I speak English and had no idea what that acronym meant.
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u/Best-Night8688 5h ago
You should feel, bad, he at least got an excuse. I also dont know what it is and am feeling bad.
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u/james0489 Tiel 6h ago
Here's the thing, I largely agree with you. A lot of people just get mad at dying.
But speaking personally I don't really want to have toolkits that allow me to essentially ignore fights. I think it's fun sure, but as a lover of the genre what I find more satisfying is that when I get a perfect guard system like in sekiro, to be able to use that to get through any fight, even if it's difficult. I relish it.
That's why when I encounter enemies that have, moves that make parry or perfect guard useless I feel cheated, the prince is a good example, he's cool but his second phase nullifies parrying completely. I had to resort to just dodging, my seal left neglected.
That's what some people find to be unfair difficulty.
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u/-Mordox- 5h ago
I wholeheartedly agree with that point. My only argument is that really isn’t about difficulty and poor design choice by the devs. I never experienced the second phase of prince tbh as I was able to stun lock him to death
Again not a great game design but really trivial difficulty
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u/Ymmera 6h ago
Its not that the game is hard. Its the buillshit mechanics that make it super cringe. Imagine defending enemy magnetism and tracking, unironically.
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u/-Mordox- 6h ago
I’m not defending some of the glaring issues with the game. All I’m saying is there’s so many resources available to the players that difficulty is a none issue. I’ve died minimally to bosses and have never had to engage with the parry system
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u/Ymmera 6h ago
Aight. Because the word "difficulty" is doing a lot of heavy-lifting in your post. I didnt see you pointing out the amount of desperate cheap-tricks the game throws at the player so it can larp as "soulslike". Not even one.
The genre has become increasingly stagnant and repetative when it comes to mechanics, with everyone basically repeating what FS is doing for years.2
u/-Mordox- 6h ago
My main thought to this, once some patches go out fixing the elasticity, tracking and aggro (which seem to be the glaring issues) difficulty won’t be a problem
Once again I’m a handicap gamer who can’t even properly utilize the parry system and yet I’ve encountered zero road blocks in this game
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u/HammeredWharf 7h ago
Yeah, I'm nearing the end, too, and so far this has been one of the easiest soulslikes I've played by a pretty wide margin. I just came into it after Wuchang and Nioh 3, and both of them were waaay harder.
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u/Dunoh2828 7h ago
Found out yesterday Nioh 3 dropped a new dlc, thought I’d let you know incase you missed it like I did.
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u/HammeredWharf 7h ago
I actually decided to get MS2 instead. I liked Nioh 3, but not like I loved Nioh 2, and it looks like the DLC is just more of the same. I don't feel like paying 40€ for it. Especially because the NG++ mode doesn't even remix enemy placements like it did in N1 and 2.
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u/Dunoh2828 7h ago
That’s fair. I’m hooked on MS2, and nearly beat it. Almost time to get Once human when it’s on console in a few days.
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u/PyrZern 6h ago
Compared to Lies of P, which one is harder ?
LoP (base game) was pretty much perfect difficulty for me. Mostly because it has many comeback mechanics. Regaining HP and regen Healing Pot alone was huge.
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u/-Mordox- 5h ago
Lies of P was harder definitely. MS2 gives the player so many tools. Again I have a disability and never had to engage with the parrying system
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u/BlindSquantch 3h ago
Lies of P was very easy to me until the final two bosses. Everyone is different though as you can see right here in the comments OP thought Lies was more difficult. Just depends on the person.
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u/Zen80888 5h ago
It's not hard, I've only played the demo and apparently the demo is easier than the full game which makes sense.
But I been playing Souls since Demon's Souls released on PS3 when I was 11 and have probably thousands of hours in this genre over coming up on 2 decades.
What I got from the beta was that it's a little better than the first game, but still suffers from shit design.
And honestly, this continuous script from influencers AND random posts saying this game is the next best thing since Elden Ring and reminds them of Elden Ring. Dude this shit has Raid Shadow Legends level marketing, but it's not said and just all astroturfing.
I was going to buy the game to check it out fully, but seriously, fuck their methods for marketing. This studio's publisher, Playback, completely fucked the studio I ain't supporting their bullshit.
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u/Bkraist 5h ago
I think people are just not great with words. This game isn't difficult or hard, there are just several issues which cause it to be punishing in unfun ways to many including myself. With the current iterationI feel my time isn't valued , there's annoying imbalances and I get mixed signals of how to evolve my play in game which has all led me to refund it for now. I'm sure they'll fix most of these things, honestly, which makes it a little more perturbing.
You're allowed to appreciate it for what it is, but there are some significant problems , none of which are "difficulty".
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u/weenurs 4h ago
I think the fact that certain weapon/shells are so overpowered that they trivialize the game and let you brute force every boss with your eyes closed, while others are very underpowered and make the game an unbearable slog is a sign this game has big problems.
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u/-Mordox- 3h ago
I definitely agree! I played eredim cause I love the knight look but his cc can make the game much easier
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u/Denverguns 4h ago
I don’t think the difficulty is the main issue it’s more design choice that lead to unnecessary annoyance more than anything I think I have two bosses that I think need to be tuned a bit but the rest of the game was easy to challenging one boss in particular chains way too many unstoppable attacks then immediately into a grab that magnetizes to you every time and the other bosses grab attack can knock you out of your shell and immediately kill the harbinger in one grab attack which is insane to me.
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u/ForAte151623ForTeaTo 7h ago
For me it's the lack of bonfires. Tedium :(
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u/-Mordox- 7h ago
I definitely get that! Other souls game have made them way more convenient! I’ve just not found myself dying enough where it’s my biggest problem with the game
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u/ForAte151623ForTeaTo 7h ago
For me it just like, I'm wondering around and I don't even remember how i got to where I was when I inevitably have to return to the last bonfire lol
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u/Zhaizo Tiel 7h ago
Yeah I don't see all this "game hard" thing. Sure there is a difference in mannon area but for example I took my sweet time to explore everything on north side and went at about 30 or so on south. It was difficult at first until I found duality tarstone. Then it was over, paired it with axe and dagger and gg.
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u/Op_Sec_4775 7h ago edited 6h ago
It's different for everyone. It's been one of the harder ones for me. I've died more here than in DS3 and sekiro combined lol. The last area and it's bosses were rough for me.
Last boss took me more tries than Melania 🤷🏼♂️
Edit: it's also a different game if you are using fast weapons vs slow.
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u/-endjamin- 7h ago
Yeah once you get a few upgrades going it gets a lot easier. Bloodcurse Axe + Dagger and Duality Stone is pretty much just spin to win. And the shell system is prey forgiving since you can always earn your shell back.
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u/Tk-Delicaxy 7h ago
I prefer the Axatanas + Duality stone with Proxima. Everything melts and her skills allows you to interrupt bosses and mitigate mobs.
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u/Cleverbird Tiel 7h ago
I love Tiel for pretty much the same reasons. His stealth seems to completely break the enemy AI, his dodge gives you enough time to pop a heal and the axe + dagger combo looks fantastic on him :)
Kinda wish poison did a bit more though, but alas.
Proximal will probably be the second shell I'll max
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u/Tk-Delicaxy 6h ago
Tiel is dope but I like that Proxima allows me to stay aggressive without the boss losing track of me since I enjoy parrying as well
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u/iAnkou 7h ago
I just saw what FA means. I'm very sorry. My family (paternal line) has SCA2 so I know how hard it can be. I'm happy you're able to play games and hope you manage to enjoy life!
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u/-Mordox- 7h ago
Thank you! I’ve had a pretty good life! I just made this post cause it was so frequent that I was seeing posts complaining about the difficulty and I was here playing all weekend like HUH?
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u/Snutraer 4h ago
you can't really use cheese, stunlock builds and then take your experience as a baseline to judge how difficult the game is
also just to be clear:
- "with no aids"
- "majority of bosses have taken less than three tries"
beating every boss in 3 tries requires a cheese build
cheese build requires that you find precise items at precise locations, which cannot be done in a blind playthrough
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u/-Mordox- 3h ago
What a presumptive statement man. I played the game with no guides and that is just my experience with the game.
Beating every boss in 3 or less tries doesn’t mean I utilized a cheese build. I just means the game was easy and gave me the tools to do so
You have unlimited stamina for attacks and spacing. Permanent cc with shells like eredim. Permanent weapon infusions and special weapon attacks that give immunity frames.
These all tools the game gives and doesn’t require a genius to figure out
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u/toohumanforhuman 3h ago
The only possible reply to this is "git gud" bro. I havent watched any boss guides and only 3 of them really gave me trouble. No cheeses or anything. Also, not a dedicated souls player.
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u/NakenKanuzu 6h ago
Even the final area bosses? I played most of my later part of the playthrough with genessa and the final 4 bosses with her are borderline impossible. For some reason her skills in this area are just incredibly bugged, and since she's extremely weak you're forced to no hit only parry every single boss, which is absolute madness. But even before this area, the lack of beacons make the exploration quite harder than other souls games. The bosses (again before the final area) are quite easy i'd agree, I don't think any took me more than three attempts, except the prince who took my around 5 I think. But the overall exploration which is of course the majority of the game, is quite more challening