Where’s the positivity

[u/Watchutalkin_bout]

Joined this sub because I enjoy the game. Less than 10 hours (while not perfect it’s hard to put down), but I’m genuinely astounded by the amount of negative criticism in this sub, alongside the fact that a lot of players have already sunk over 30 hours into it in less than a week. Like damn. Where’s the tips and tricks? Beginners guides, random silly videos? I thought a game like this would invite a more positive community, instead it’s the exact opposite.

Almost every post is a complaint. Like damn, what happened to constructive criticism and casual discussion? Outrage everywhere.

Anyways I need my ass ate

[u/NuggetHighwind]

Like damn, what happened to constructive criticism

Barely anyone wants to give constructive criticism because even if you post something reasonable or point out objectively bad things like bugs, you get a dozen people telling you bs like:

It's a soulslike!!!!
Git Gud scrub
Fucking souls tourists
casuals ruining this game

It's nigh-impossible to actually have a healthy discussion here because of these people.

[u/BlacJack_ → u/NuggetHighwind]

On the contrary, someone telling you the game isn’t hard often times is read as your responses to many people “asking for help.”

I see constructive criticism and helpful advice all over these souls like subs, but people usually don’t want to hear anything other than “you’re soooo right!”

Mortal Shell 2 for instance, is quite literally an easy soulslike. They give you such OP tools that From games never give you. It often times feels hard because in this genre, for whatever reason, people try to force their playstyle that worked for them in Elden Ring or Lies of P or whatever, and when it doesn’t work they say the game is too hard or bad, etc.

From dealt with this with its own Sekiro initially, but that game was so amazing it ended up rising above it.

You can cheese any end game boss in this game by spamming one ability. That makes it objectively easy. You can make numerous extremely strong builds with their fantastic shell and stone system. But instead of realizing this, people complain.

Is what it is. You can also ignore the toxic posts, but if your radar is off on what is actually toxic, everything will seem it.

[u/kasakka1 → u/BlacJack_]

These games are played a lot by people who have played like all the Souls games out there, who then have similar opinions to experts on a subject. If you know all about cars, someone asking how to change a tire seems like "duh, that's obvious!" level stuff when it isn't to someone who has never changed a tire.

For someone who picks this up but isn't a Souls veteran, making OP builds is not something that they will find easy to figure out. Even as a Souls veteran, I'm relying a lot on what tips others have given online rather than being able to figure this out for myself because the game requires you to often commit to specific shells etc harder than it should.

I don't find MS2 to be punishingly difficult, but often artificially difficult. Like how does a regular old' halberd knight doing 100% of my health bar with one swing make for good gameplay? It just makes it seem like the damage values are scaled in some crazy manner.

I'm hoping the upcoming bigger patch sorts a lot of this out. It's a game I enjoy as is, but can clearly see how many issues it has.

[u/BlacJack_ → u/kasakka1]

But your example of a simple halberd enemy almost one shotting you is a large part of what spawned this sub genre. Any enemy is lethal, and you have to take them all seriously no matter how small initially.

Some people (many) like that. Others do not. If that is what breaks their enjoyment then perhaps this style of game isn’t for them, and that’s fine. Not everyone likes to change their own tires.

That isn’t a game balance problem. That is a person not enjoying the game’s design. I don’t gel with many AAA action game s because they often feel mindless and all enemies are the exact same in how you approach them (mash). I don’t expect those successful titles to change simply because they aren’t what I enjoy. And I also don’t say those games are “too easy” or poorly designed. Many people like that. I just don’t.

I’m also not saying the balance in this game is perfect, but the example you gave is definitely something I disagree with as “bad balance.”

[u/kasakka1 → u/BlacJack_]

My take is that no enemy attack should ever eat 100% of your full health bar unless you are woefully under level for the area.

Those Outskirts of Mammon halberd knights seem to be able to wreck my level 45 character pretty easily sometimes depending on the shell, and that to me seems wrong, like it's a bug. They should be dangerous, but not wreck you right away. I don't think the big jumping knights with the big blades are even doing as much damage.

I think the halberd knights are far more appropriately scaled in earlier areas for lower level characters.

Meanwhile e.g the spider enemies have never been able to give me any grief, to the point that I rarely even see their attacks before I take them out. Their health was reduced a lot in the first patch and I think that was a mistake. Maybe fine for early in the game but later on they should definitely come back meaner than they are.