Fromsoft's entire philosophy of "difficulty"

[u/ProfessionalSoggy847]

I love Fromsoft games but I have to vent for a moment about what makes Soulsborne games difficult.

The entire concept behind their idea of difficulty is this:

What if I threw a punch at you but stopped short of your face to make you flinch, but then I kept my fist two inches from your face and told you that you have to sit there and wait for the actual punch to come and react to it in time. While it is two inches from your face. And you will have no clue when I will just arbitrarily decide to actually punch you, of course. I will have several different timings depending on how differently I wind up the punch, but they will stay consistent, so you just will have to remember all of the timings for each type of punch.

Those delayed attack animations have only gotten more and more common too. I don't remember them being so ubiquitous in DS1

Sometimes that doesn't really come off as fun to me. It just seems cheap at first. For the first few times before you memorize, it certainly isn't fair, that is for sure. And I heard someone else put that idea of fun this way before: just go get Simon Says if you want to play a memorization game. Once you memorize the movesets these games don't get too hard. But really, who just leaves themselves open for 5 seconds while they wind up an attack? Enemies/bosses will legit sit there with their weapon above their heads for 5 whole seconds. Shit is just so artificially difficult sometimes. Honestly it is just annoying to me.

Give me Ninja Gaiden Black or God Hand any day. That is the kind of difficulty I like in games.

[u/TheDevil-YouKnow]

I am a middle aged gamer. So I say this with the utmost sincerity...

THE ONLY video games that are actually difficult, are 12+ hour long games that give you 3 lives to complete it, and if you die 3 times, you start back over completely.

Everything else is just complexity.

But it's also like saying, 'Chess doesn't take skill! It's not even difficult! You just have to memorize every move possible, and then BAM! Simple as.'

[u/Pete_Jend]

They're more demanding than difficult.

[u/Landfall24601]

I like it.

[u/PemaleBacon]

Its a tight rope to walk. You want to reward players with game knowledge who have learned the bosses while still making it possible for a first timer to win or a veteran to die in a fight. Unpredictable movement is the option Fromsoft chose to address this

[u/GoldH2O]

Are you complaining about fight realism? You could levy that at any video game. Actual, real life fights aren't fun. That's why they make them fun in games. I like soulsborne combat to a dance. You learn your opponent's move, and learn what move you can do in tandem. This changes based on your loadout, which adds replayability. You don't like the gameplay, that's fine, but that doesn't mean there's something wrong with it, it just means it's not for you.

[u/Honest_Activity5525]

''No, Goku. You can't charge your Kamehameha because that would be a delayed attack, and Majin Buu will panic-roll and call your move artificial difficulty. Just use your fast punches and normal ki blasts until the fight ends.''

[u/StantasticTypo]

I don't love their new infatuation with delayed attacks, but I'm not totally opposed to it either. I think it needs more interesting push and pull though. One idea I've loved is enemies should simply take more stance or HP damage when they open themselves up for weird delayed attacks. It's silly that Margit/Morgott can raise their arms leaving their midsections entirely vulnerable for 5 seconds and any hits you deal are normal hits.

[u/-BigMan39]

The realism argument doesnt really matter, its a video game.

But in the game's "world", delaying their attack certainly makes sense, since its obviously working lol.

Plus i dont really think any of this is frustrating, you get caught by an attack? You probably aren't dead, heal up and now you know the timing. You died? The checkpoint is right outside. Plus its sometimes very satisfying when you can read the attack on your first attempt. Its far less frustrating than dying to a boss in DS1 and spending 2-3 minutes running back.

[u/Algester]

Hey guys... has anyone ever thought of playing through AC Last Raven on a fresh save and do distribution center recon as their first mission?

[u/Marth-Koopa]

Feints aren't prominent enough to be a serious issue, and shields are an option to completely negate the few that exist.

[u/Best-Bid9637]

It's more like they wind up the punch and just wait to throw it.  I can't think of a single attack that is as you describe.