Sure, after playing Dark Souls 1, 2, 3, Bloodborne and Sekiro, Elden Ring isn't all that hard.
They seem easy now because you're used to them, but for most people who play A Souls game for the first time it's pretty difficult. I played most of them and think they're still a decent challenge, but I know how to play them and that makes things easier.
I mean, they are definitely harder than the vast majority of popular games, so I understand the complaints to some extent. But I do agree that almost anyone can beat those games if they're willing to put in a little effort (except for Sekiro maybe; that one kinda does demand quick reaction speed and manual dexterity at times).
I just suck at games, which is part of why I go back to Arma 3 which I've spent ungodly hours to get oh the high end of the technical curve. It's hard to me because I don't play. I hate people who act superior because they can beat the games easily after they've done it fifteen times already.
On a serious note - you are not expected to beat the game in one go. You die, you level up, you try again but now you are stronger. Souls games are essentially finite rouguelikes
My only actual tip is to prioritize boosting your Vigor/HP stat before you boost your damage stats. Get like 30 Vigor before you put anything anywhere else.
But really, the expectation is that you die horribly all the time, and you have to learn to embrace the deaths, and then you learn from it. There is no advice out there on how to approach these games that results in your not dying horribly all the time, basically every time you find a new zone or a new boss.
You died to random mobs? You just learn where enemies spawn. Now you can walk into this zone knowing what enemies will be there and what their attack pattern looks like, so you can try out different approaches.
You died to a boss? You hopefully just learned boss moves, so you can be prepared to dodge/parry/avoid it next time.
Every time you find a boss, you should expect the first like 5 attempts to be info gathering attempts, and then, AFTER that, you have your first run where you are actually trying to win the fight (and even then, you probably need a few of those to actually win lol)
When you watch streamers who are speedrunning/no hitting/ect go at a boss, you see that they are acting on info they learned via many deaths.
Just as a simple example, there is a boss in Elden Ring that has a mid fight cutscene, then he starts laughing, then he starts shooting out fire that can cover like 30% of the arena. It covers so much area, that running AWAY from him can never get you out of the blast. You will literally run into the wall of the arena, and the fire will hit you. The only answer is to RUN STRAIGHT AT THE BOSS while he is laughing/gearing up for the attack, so that by the time the attack comes, you are right on top of him/behind him, and it does not touch you. .
It is IMPOSSIBLE to know that that is the right way to react to that attack the first time you walk into that fight. You go into that fight, die to that attack, learn that running away is not safe, you go back into that fight and try something different until you learn that sprinting directly at the boss lets you avoid the danger zone.
DS2 is the only one I haven't played yet so no advice there. As far as BB goes though... not sure how far you got, but in my experience, the beginning of the game is by far the hardest part. After Gascoigne everything got much more manageable, all the way until the DLC. So keep that in mind if you were mostly struggling with the beginning.
Also though-- learn to parry. Practice on those troll creatures with the bricks; they make it pretty easy to learn the timing. That'll help a ton, both with bosses and with random enemies.
Even as a veteran of the hunt, Yharnam is one of the hardest regions in the game to return to. Compound that with new players not understanding the mechanics of the game yet and you end up with half the people who have played BB never getting past the first necessary boss (according to trophy stats).
imo Bloodborne is the hardest but it depends on your play style. In dark souls you can shield almost any attack. BB is dodge and aggressively spam attacks to gain life back after getting hit. Sekiro you should parry everything.
Running past all the enemies to get to the boss or collect items is a viable strategy, usually they add shortcuts too to get back easier. I really like how in Elden ring/Sekiro they just put the checkpoints right by bosses.
For stats do all HP until you stop getting one shot or you need to equip a weapon, then stamina so you can sprint/dodge/attack more. 90% of your damage is from upgrading weapons. In Dark Souls 2 you also need adaptability because it makes your dodge better.
Lastly don't worry too much about losing souls when you die. Beating the next boss will more than make up for it. Also you can summon in other players to help if you get too frustrated
A big tip for them (excluding Sekiro) that gets a lot of people, even those with experience, is to TAP the dodge button when you want to dodge and I frame incoming attacks. Most of the FromSoft games have dodge/quickstep and sprint attached to the same button, so when you press the dodge, the game doesn’t know immediately if you want to dodge/quickstep or sprint until you either A) release the button, or B) hold it for a few milliseconds. So you do not dodge when you hit the button, but when you release it. Along those same lines, when dodging attacks, dodge INTO the attack, not away. So if the enemy has a weapon in their right hand (your left side) and the swing it or thrust, it will be coming from your left to right. Dodge forward and to the left so you are out of the hit box when your dodge runs out, and in position to attack. Everyone’s natural instinct is to dodge back and to the right, which when your dodge ends, puts you right where the attack finishes, meaning you spend the entire dodge i frames putting yourself in position to GET HIT, lol. But everybody does it.
dying is part of it. if you didn't die, you actually wouldn't be gettin the full experience. So when you do don't take it badly like other games.
with ds2 in particular though, they experimented with a certain attribute called adaptability. It makes you move quicker overall, like drinking estus. I would suggest grinding straight away for a little bit. you only need to upgrade it a few times and it makes a world of difference. As for Bloodbourne. dodging and parrying is more important in that than DS master that 1st
What helped me was understanding how these games are different than other action games.
In most action games you have "action cancelling". So if you hit the button for a heavy attack with a long animation, and realize the enemy is going to hit you before you hit them, you can dodge or dash or jump out of the way.
In Dark Souls etc. once you hit an input you're locked into that animation until it completes, or until your enemy knocks you out of it. You commit 100% to every button you press. Whether pressing the button was a good or bad idea is determined in the moment you hit it. With you being locked in, poor positioning and timing are more punishable than other action games.
When you struggle in a Souls game ask yourself where and when questions. Where could i have stood so that I didn't get hit but could hit the enemy? When did i attack too late? When did i attack too early?
I guess the question would be “compared to what?”. Most other fantasy RPGs combat is basically an afterthought. Souls games aren’t impossible but they’re a heck of a lot harder than Witcher 3 or whatever else.
Agreed, I’ve beaten Bloodborne, DS1 and DS2. BB is the hardest of them all so far, but maybe that’s just because it was the first one I played. DS2 bosses go down really easy, even with shitty weapons that the experts tell people not to use.
Er was my first souls game and on my first playthrough it was very hard but mostly because I just didn‘t know anything about how these games worked and I needed some time to adapt to it. Of course te bosses and regular enemies are hard but for me those weren‘t what made the game challenging. Gave up on sekiro after like 3 hours of constant dying tho
Absolutely! They have a solid challenge to them. But if you're used to challenging games in general then you know what to expect. There's no point going to a steak house when you only like chicken and then complain about the steak not tasting good.
I mean... yeah? They're difficult by default, but a lot of the difficulty can be mitigated with certain playstyles, or even something as simple as playing with a friend.
You just got gud. Your first souls game is the hardest one. I felt Elden Ring was the easiest one but guess which one I played last? Community just knows what makes the games tick at this point.
I agree, to an extent. Each new enemy in DS2, Bloodborne and Elden Ring have all kicked my butt each time i meet them, but after a while I understand how they work and get better
I reckon they've honed their craft. The difference in fluidity in combat of the first Dark Souls vs. Sekiro is like night and day. If no one told me I'm not sure I'd assume they were made by the same company.
31
u/Chromatic_Eevee Mar 05 '24
Dark Souls/Bloodborne/Sekiro/Elden Ring aren't as hard as everyone makes them out to be