From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[Hassar]

That's understandable, but it'll fall by the wayside after watching O & S and later, The 4 Kings just keel over after a homing soulmass or two. My sorcerer character was the only time I played the game up to NG+7 because I just couldn't believe how OP it was even adjusted for higher game cycles.

I prefer playing magic-oriented characters, in general. But I also think the mechanics of soul arrow and soul spear were not thought out particularly well: manual aiming and maybe a timing “building up power” element would have worked better for the game philosophy by introducing a skill-based element rather than the lock on mechanics. As my skills increased, so that weapons became more efficient, I usually end up switching the majority of my offensive spells to soul spears, taking out regular enemies with weapons and bosses with higher damage spells.

It seemed to me that the philosophy behind the game worked better with pyromancy and miracles - those spells could be powerful, but subtly so, so that none of them ever became spam to win buttons.

I still prefer magic users, though.

 

[Fenix]

I started watching the All Gwyn Run from Challenger Andy, and the first video was both fun and interesting:



It starts slow and boring, but when it gets to the attempts to find a strategy to defeat the boss it picks up (around 15:20). It's like a discount less polished Limit Breakers.

Abslolutely highly enjoyable video - I remmeber moments when I'm too squeezed out everything possible from a game.
Ah, memories!

P.S. Watched both parts! Thanks! This was enjoyable, but for once. I have no idea what pushes him to make these challanges again and again - multiple of them repeated isn't fun I think. Maybe he is kind of slave?

 

[Hassar]

I started watching the All Gwyn Run from Challenger Andy, and the first video was both fun and interesting:



It starts slow and boring, but when it gets to the attempts to find a strategy to defeat the boss it picks up (around 15:20). It's like a discount less polished Limit Breakers.

Abslolutely highly enjoyable video - I remmeber moments when I'm too squeezed out everything possible from a game.
Ah, memories!

Earthbound music ftw

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I still prefer magic users, though.

You too shall know the Emperor's Mercy.

 

[Silverfish]

It seemed to me that the philosophy behind the game worked better with pyromancy and miracles - those spells could be powerful, but subtly so, so that none of them ever became spam to win buttons.

For the most part, absolutely, but Great Combustion spam is probably the most useful tactic for anything outside of Quelaag / Izalith.

 

[praetor]

the title of the vid is pretty stupid and i almost didn't click on it, but it looks like one of the better and more thought out "rebalance" mods out there. i wonder what impact it has on singleplayer...

 

[Borian]

This is my first time playing the series. I beat Ornstein and Smough on my third attempt. Easier than the ledge knights. Maxed out raw claymore. I was psyching myself up for this to be a multi-day challenge because of all the people who quit because of these two.

 

[Morenatsu.]

Not fair, it took me three-hundred attempts.

 

[Wunderbar]

This is my first time playing the series. I beat Ornstein and Smough on my third attempt. Easier than the ledge knights. Maxed out raw claymore. I was psyching myself up for this to be a multi-day challenge because of all the people who quit because of these two.

Dark Souls became known for high difficulty because it just never treated players like they are morons, and never spoonfed information on how things work. It's not actually a hard game.

 

[fork]

Considering how popular it is and that it is marketed to the mainstream, it is a hard title, or at least was at the time. Most harder games are also way more niche.

 

[Caim]

This is my first time playing the series. I beat Ornstein and Smough on my third attempt. Easier than the ledge knights. Maxed out raw claymore. I was psyching myself up for this to be a multi-day challenge because of all the people who quit because of these two.

Congratulations, by beating Ornstein & Smough you have cleared the final skill gate of the game! After this you are properly equipped to beat the rest of the game. The first half of the game tests your skill, the second half tests your patience.

 

[Lutte]

Most harder games are also way more niche.

Most games are niche? Outside of a scant few series like GTA, TES, CoD and other worthless garbage, most games, whether they're hard or easy stuff, don't get past 3 million sales figures.

If, for you, a game is "hard" because it's hard for that group of people who only ever play cutscene ladden garbages or things in which you can just pause and spam potions to heal then yes, I guess, Dark Souls is hard. But even in the same era it came out in - which was the worst era of gaming, period. - there were games like Ninja Gaiden 2 managing to breach 1m sales, which, in my opinion, is far past "niche", unless, again, you call anything that's not GTA a niche. And NG provides a form of challenge that takes a lot more mastery than just getting the very forgiving timings of plentiful iframes provided by muh dodge buttan.

 

[Akratus II]

Played the Dark Souls board game recently and it had me reinstalling ds1/2 afterward. Went for the Estoc in DS1 to try a dex build as I'd only done quality+miracles and an all-bosses strength run. The game never felt sluggish or anything back in the day but when you pancake everything with your +15 Zweihander you don't need a ton of precision. But this dex character just wasn't working for me at all. So it gave me the feeling Dex builds aren't for me, not with m+kb in ds1 anyway. So I fired up DS2 expecting to drop that too but hell no I got sucked in baby. Got the Demon Great Hammer right off the bat from the crows and from that moment I knew it was on. I still have to re-disable double clicking every time I launch it but other than that the controls and such are super smooth. Just got access to the first DLC which is where I got stuck last time and that Velstadt-summoning bitch is going down.

This is my first time playing the series. I beat Ornstein and Smough on my third attempt. Easier than the ledge knights. Maxed out raw claymore. I was psyching myself up for this to be a multi-day challenge because of all the people who quit because of these two.

Raw claymore? I would suggest going for the +15 Zweihander instead but that thing makes you feel like you're cheating, almost. But yeah, just wait until you get to Manus. That fucker took me two days.

 

[Latelistener]

Manus can be of some challenge only on NG+.

 

[Morenatsu.]

How so? It took me three-thousand attempts.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Thanks for reminding me again of how happy I am to be bad at video games.

 

[Borian]

This is my first time playing the series. I beat Ornstein and Smough on my third attempt. Easier than the ledge knights. Maxed out raw claymore. I was psyching myself up for this to be a multi-day challenge because of all the people who quit because of these two.

Raw claymore? I would suggest going for the +15 Zweihander instead but that thing makes you feel like you're cheating, almost. But yeah, just wait until you get to Manus. That fucker took me two days.

I don't enjoy the moveset of the Zweihander. I really enjoy the Claymore's sprinting wide swing, the backhop attack, and the wide arc of the heavy attack. I play a stagger and careful movement style of play with the Claymore. The light attack is barely fast enough to give me the time needed to stagger enemies just as they start their own attacks. I'll upgrade and use the Zweihander in my next session because of your recommendation.

 

[Latelistener]

Didn't like Zweihander at all. Too slow. I suggest Claymore +15. Among the best weapons in the game.

 

[Morenatsu.]

I have no idea what any of these weapons are.

I played a Dex build...

 

[NerevarineKing]

I have no idea what any of these weapons are.

I played a Dex build...

Great Scythe and Baldur Side Sword are pretty fun dex weapons

 

[Multidirectional]

You have to really suck to not find Zweihander easy to use. That weapon straight up trivializes the game. If you also combine it with heavy armor high poise build the game becomes an absolute cakewalk.

 

[Morenatsu.]

You guys use armour? Pfffft.

 

[Latelistener]

Maybe not wearing armor is the reason for:

It took me three-thousand attempts.

Wearing armor and a good shield can greatly reduce the amount of heat under your seat, especially if you aren't very experienced.

 

[Lutte]

Wearing armor and a good shield can greatly reduce the amount of heat under your seat, especially if you aren't very experienced.

Reduce? you mean turn the game into skyrim.



The truth of the matter is that there's nothing in DS you can't just take in your face while you just mash R1/R1/ESTUS/R1/R1/ESTUS. Except for bed of bullshit.

No need to go full turtle for an easy mode though. Just any shield with high stability like artorias's will take any amount of punishment.

 

[Latelistener]

No one is saying about turtle mod though. The best choice is to do medium armor. Decent protection and resistances with mid roll. Besides, Havel set isn't that great to begin with.

Maybe not using that was the reason why Dark Souls is considered to be hard.

As Bed of Chaos is among the easiest bosses in the game. It's heavily scripted, dies from 1 hit and don't reset its phases.