@@joemcwhorter4770 bruv I think you missed the point of the joke. He's taking the quote from the demons and just made it into a meme. Adding quotation marks can also mean the action of someone talking in a text based RPG. It's not ment to be a quote here. It's just a funny joke.
39:55 "Some people are broken, and whatever game they're playing is the only thing holding them together. They are not your problem. Their bloodline is weak and they will not leave a mark on history." That is an absolutely killer burn! The Edgar Allan Poe of "Don't feed the trolls"
Kbash not everyone who thinks souls games needs and easy mode are just saying it to show off or brag I’ve never beaten sekiro yet and I still think it shouldn’t change
@@royalmorgan-dahms9985I found this by accident the first time, you can actually go around the right hand (east) side of the castle. When you get to the where the path bend left to take you to margit, continue straight and it will take you around to the back of the castle
@@Nazylexx you have to kill two shardbearers meaning 2 out of godrick, radahn or rykard to enter the capital, where you are forced to fight draconic tree sentinel, golden Godfrey, morgott, then godskin duo, maliketh, Gideon, real Godfrey, then the final bosses radagon and elden beast. Unless you mean through glitching the game during speed runs, which doesn't count at all to me.
Some item locations are a lot more annoying in the vanilla. Lets not forget that the dull ember that unlocks mcduff can be found on a precarious broken stairway after a jump in the Iron Keep. But generally yes, the combat is easier in Vanilla
There used to be a cool exploit where you could hit the maneater boss with arrows before entering the boss room. I don't regret cheesing in Souls games...
Demon's Souls was so easy to do it, that I feel like the game is BEGGING for it. Bugs and exploits and range and magic and all of the magic boosting gear. It's why I like 2 so much as well. If I want to confront the game I can, but if I just wanna relax and gain some souls and stuff or hate a particular encounter I find just as much joy in finding ways around how the game wants me to actually play it.
You hit several points throughout this video (Or these videos, I suppose) that even after all these years haven't really occurred to me or that I haven't really heard anywhere else. Really well done and I love your delivery.
Artorias is probably still my favorite fight out of anything From Software has done. It was maybe the first time I really accepted and engaged with the message of the game: you can do it if you try.
A worthy choice as he is an amazing fight and even more potent due to the depressing lore that you can see just through his design. Personally, i can't decide between Lady Maria or Orphan of Kos, but Artorias is definitely in my top 5.
@@shortsamurai1213 Gael is just Artorias but ten times more annoying. Artorias is a much better fight thematically and mechanically. He is also a hell of a lot more interesting. Gael is a beta.
This man could have cut this vodeo down into 5 seperate videos. Instead, he chose to bless us with one S-tier long video and it will be listened to over the course of the next few days. Thanks for making my lunch-breaks more enjoyable, Kbash.
I remember my first time in the tomb of giants and how i didn't know about the sources of light and i got through the entire area to find there was a golden fog wall, because i had not even rung my second bell of awakening yet, so I had to climb out of that entire hell hole in the dark. F'''' you tomb of giants.
@@BOTDFmawifeys4life Spoiler: Old King Allant. He can soul drain you and this drains your levels. It's hilariously the only way to change your build so some people repeatedly allow him to drain them when they want to change their character around.
Funny you brought up the beast cutter in the bloodborne section. I hated this weapon for the longest time because it was so cool but too slow to be useful. Then towards the end of the playthrough it clicked with me. The beast cutter became one of my favorite weapons in the whole game! It really emphasizes the "Dance" aspect that bloodborne fights have. I spent most of my time with it transformed and realized that's all wrong. It does much better using the transformation range as a finisher. I keep it un-transformed and smack people like it's a club and when they retaliate, I dodge their attack and use the Dodge+Transform attack to basically get a quick and free heavy attack. Then if I feel safe I can go for another heavy and transform again if they get close for the slam attack that stops almost anyone in their tracks. Using the beast cutter in this way makes fights feel like a dance like no other weapon can. It has become one of my favorite builds along side my Bandito blood tinge build. The weapon does pure blunt damage so you can farm some crazy runes for it and focus a lot of your levels on health + stamina instead of focusing on damage stats.
The ending of demons souls says a lot about humanity itself. In order to save the world you have to go against your base nature and what the world is telling you to do the entire game and just walk away. But how many people actually did that in their first play through?
Hearing Irwin On Reflection while talking about Souls bosses made me smile so big. I swear to God, I had Legend of Mana flashbacks the entirety of DS2.
1:41:50 You absolutely can beat Soul of Cinder with summons, I know if you do Yuria of Londor's quest line and "wed" Anri, she'll show up as an ally. Pretty sure there's another summon you can use as well.
I vividly recall the one time I summoned for Soul of Cinder, because the dude was role-playing as Havel. He did nothing during the first phase, but when we got to Gwyn he went absolutely berserk and basically solo'd him. A very memorable moment.
@@ToxicSoul03 like his claim that gael "made him change his build" with the Farron greatsword, no you can beat him with a big sword just learn to work with it god
It's yuria and an unnamed shade npc that works for her so definitely can summon. I'd even go as far to say giving 2 summons for the final boss is a bit to much since its a bit to easy with a 3v1
Okay, the Sekiro bit got me. It's the easiest one for me but I got obsessed and "got gud" lol it still has me shit my pants here and there but I loved every second put in.
Completely agree, once the parry mechanic clicked with me I switched my playstyle to hyper aggression and it became the easiest fromsoft game I've played. The speed becomes really useful when you only have an hour a day to play after work/gym/dinner beforehand
Tbh I didn't get the whole "Sekiro's too hard". The Parry timing is maaaaaaaad linent. There was simply less to learn when it came to Sekiro imo, like with Dark Souls and the more souls like games, there's a lot more to worry about when it comes to build path and weaknesses. In Sekiro, the main thing to learn is the parry timing for every enemy, which is again is a lot larger than people think.
Sorry but I have to point this out. Sekiro is not a souls game, not even close. The comparison with Ninja Garden is correct, because it's a game in that same genre, not a souls. I know it's a losing battle due to RU-vidrs and influencers in general. For some reason they have decided that it's a soulsgame (why not include Armoured Core 6 then?)
I recommend to every person who dislikes areas like Iron Keep and Shrine of Amana to play original DS2 and not SOTFS. I genuinely loathe Bandai Namco that they made SOTFS to be a standard experience for new players, this version of a game was frustrating even for veterans with hundreds of hours invested in DS2 when it came out. Original makes much more sense with enemy placement and density, not sure what they were thinking with SOTFS.
@@MoreLoreThenThereSeemswhat are you on about lmao SOTFS is way harder than normal DSII and meant to be a more challenging version of the game for experienced players
Kbash thank you for taking over the game review hole in my life. I thought it would never be filled but you sir make amazing videos. Happy thanksgiving
"1:07:51" "Something is generally weird and sluggish about the combat." I can tell you what it is: Snappoints. DS2 has snappoint movement, meaning you can not move in 1° intervals using a controller, but rather: 15°. Meaning you can not make precise turns. You walk straight ahead and once the 15° threshhold is reached your character snaps to that new angle. That is unlike Demon Souls, Dark souls, Dark sould 3, Bloodborne and Elden Ring. Basically: The movement got messed up and that translates into stiff attacks when not locking on. This in combination with the backstab straight up not working correctly and what I call "The Revenge Mechanic" where an enemy that can not perform an action attempts to do it again but faster, causing stuck enemies to go full sonic on the spot or even worse: Finish their started attack animation in an instant when they die leading to bullshit deaths, causes the DS2 combat system to be the worst of them all. Objectively. It does not work correctly. And that is a shame. Because if the main combat system was finished, then I think it would have been great. But then it would cause the players to discover the easy exploits for bosses even faster. What do I mean? Simple: Lost Giant. Stand on the inside of his left leg. He can not hit you anymore. Any attempt to do so will push you to the right, dodging the attack on its own and back in position again. Persuier. Walk at him, Parry the charge which will come because that is his only range attack, the Arena crossbow can stunlock him to death now. Lazorspider. Fire. Serriously. Take out a torch and the boss breaks because the adds are not coded to ignore the fire, meaning the boss has now 2 attacks which are easily negated by a brisk walk. Flexile Sentry. Stand with your back to him while the pole is between you and he resets agro. No serriously. The AI breaks. Scorpioness. The tree can stunlock her when you stand next to it. The rotten. His absurd lock-on causes him to eternally move you when you stand under his arm. This also happens with the Salamander enemies. Old Iron King: The corner wall is a safe spot. His only attack that will get triggered there is the fist, which makes him vurnerable and his breath that does not reach. And I could go on. The game is not finished.
While this is a great video, parrying is easily one of the best tools you have in the souls series. You can trash it but don't reduce its utility just because you can't figure it out.
After going through DS1 just a couple of weeks ago, I've got an even bigger appreciation for your coverage of it. Lot of the discourse around those games have been tainted by the "aaaah it's hard" type of folks and idk, it's good to have someone not exclusively use that angle for their own criticism of the game. The good shit™ if you will.
The fact that "difficulty was never the point" is completely lost on the modern fanbase aswell many people currently working at bandai namco and fromsoftware who have conceded their original philosophy in order to appeal to the sweaty thrill seekers that Bandai marketed to with stunts like "PREPARE TO DIE EDITION" "YOU'LL LOSE YOUR SOULS, ALL OF THEM" "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: THIS IS DARK SOULS" "GIT GUD" "THINK YOU HAVE THE ENDURANCE OR FOCUS TO CONQUER TITANS??" as someone who got in through DeS and DS1 I can't express how much I absolutely loath the direction this sub-genre has taken.
@@sasaki999pro difficulty is not the point but the difficulty is part of the experience. Without at least a little bit of difficulty killing enemy for 35hours can rapidly become boring.
@@sasaki999pro Dificulty is not the point but reinforces the main theme of the game, the games story would absolutely not be as impactful as it is if it was easy. Only ds2 overdid the 'this game is really difficult your gonna die!!!' factor. Bloodborne the difficulty is neither a positive or a negative, its just how the game and is just a matter of perspective if that is good or not. Ds isn't very hard, it's forgiving with fun gameplay and although the bosses are more difficult the player is also stronger. Elden ring does lean too hard on the difficulty to the point it detracts in some areas but apart from that it's fine, I don't nessacarily mind how hard melania but she needs consistent attack difficulty and the harder the attack the greater the punish window should be, waterfoul dance has no punish window can come out at any time and is the hardest attack to avoid in the game. Elden beast is a very fun fight but is way too hard to hit because they never stay still and too tanky considering radagon is fought before it every time
@@IzDube actually the the original ds2(which was released 11 of march 2014) isn't actually that difficult but then they made ds2 scholars of the first sin (released 14 of April 2015) where they basically bumped the the games "difficultaly" up by sticking enemies all over the place and filling the game white and black knights pretty much every coner of the map because the original didn't sell that many copies due to alot of the core fan base thinking it wouldnt be the same since Miyazaki did not working on it and the fact that the management switch out half way through development If remember right which I didn't actually know till recently till recently that scholars of the first sin and ds2 where actually different games and made the mistake of buying scholars of the first sin when I was 15 which was my first experience with any of the from soft games or souls games (which now while righting this comment the guy at cex told me that I should get the original ds2 and not scholars but I didn't listen cause I thought scholars was the game and the dlc together or was just ds2) and fuckig hated the game cause it was to difficult which isn't the point of the game but is the reason I want to play the darks souls franchise if I'm being honest but u right about them trying to pander to the of point game is its hard fan base at least when it comes to scholars and not actually ds2 it's self
See I don't think there should be an easy mode for dark souls but not because "ohh that will ruin how it's an ultra challenge only real gamers can beat!" But because the game isn't hard. It doesn't require elite gamer skills it just requires a shift in how you view death in a video game. Yes you die alot but that's a mechanic built into the game. You can die a trillion times and still progress at a steady pace. Instead of reloading from a previous save like other games signifying that you clearly screwed up you simply get returned to a bonfire. Changes you made to the world still persist if you opened a lock door or killed a boss before dying that still happened. The only reason people say it needs an easy mode is they think that when they die its somehow them not playing correctly so they get frustrated,quit and cry on Twitter. When if they just think of it as a mechanic to encourage expirementation or changing your approach they would realize outside of maybe 6 bosses across every fromsoft game the game isn't difficult just different.
"The game doesn't really care how you beat it, and you shouldn't either" - This line can be applied to literally every souls-like game out there. If you figure out a cheese strat, or fight a boss head-on, who cares. The point is YOU GOT PAST IT. YOU DID. No one else's opinion matters but yours in YOUR SINGLE-PLAYER GAME.
My main problem with Sekiro is that for me it really does not feel like there is actual builds in the game, and the replayability with different gameplay styles and builds is one of the main attractions for me in other souls games. Changing the prosthetics for me feels like playing Elden Ring with a fixed uchigatana and a dex build on my character but i can change my ashes of war at a cost. I beated the game once, and never felt the urge to play it again since them.
Same, thing happened to me. I beat the game once, tried to replay it, and said to myself "I don't know what I'd do this time that I haven't already done." It doesn't help that when fighting an enemy that has a weakness to a certain prosthetic, that prosthetic is by far the most optimal use of spirit emblems, making experimentation there pointless. The red-eyed bosses are a great example of this. And even when you're fighting something without a particular weakness, long spark firecrackers and mortal draw dominate the ways you could spend spirit emblems, and ichimonji double makes most of the other costless combat arts redundant.
It’s literally not an RPG, it’s an action game. I don’t know what you expected lol. That’s like being disappointed that you can’t try a different build in God of War. Wrong genre bro.
@@carlschrappen9712 run the game charmless with demon bell, that’s good for another run or two, it’s really hard. Then there’s the extremely hard reflections of strength. It’s not a game you’re supposed to reroll characters on like dark souls anyways, the whole point of Sekiro was that the first playthrough is pure, distilled awesomeness, and YOU are the character who leveled up by the end. Why people pick the game up and expect a dark souls like experience, I’ll never understand
This is truly a day of thanks! Also in ds1 you can grind rats in the depths with the covetous serpent ring. 1-3 humanity every time with that set up and it helps a lot with choas weapons.
Sekiro has my highest highs and lowest lows. A decent few things I dislike alot, but getting into those rhythms of constant back and forth with parrys and dodges... man it hits so good.
The Sekiro jokes are funny and all, but most normal people can just get stuck on a boss, go to sleep, come back to it the next day after work, and come at it with a clear head. Im definitely not staying up past midnight trying to beat a boss lol.
Only problem is I have to convince myself to play it after work knowing I might not beat the boss and eventually waste my evening on a boss fight and keep doing that every time I get into a boss fight. Which is why I play sekiro on weekends and simple games like yakuza on weekdays.
What a fantastic watch. I’d put about 35 hours into Elden Ring before getting distracted by GT7 (will get back to it) but have always been scared off ‘Souls’ games because of their difficulty reputation but after watching this I’ve just ordered Dark Souls trilogy and Bloodbourne. I’ll either have the time of my life or forever feel that KBash guy owes me 40 Quid. Once again great vid, subbed 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
@@deadbodybaby1i honestly believe that people that cant get through souls games have a serious lack of intelligence/maturity. Its really not nearly as bad as people make it out to be.
@@Lilbuckets2 nah bro if those people can’t get through a souls game how are they supposed to ever deal with actual hardship ? Those are the type of people who would just lay down and die if they were born in an earlier time period and shit popped off, no willpower.
Also a cool thing about level progression in souls games is that whatever area your in will always prepare you for the next level in ds3 you get mosses in droves before the poison levels in in eldenring you get your first lightning spell shortly after getting to the lake and you get a lightning ash of war before in limgrave etc
Awesome video. Some tough word for sekiro and I can't dispute most of that. However, it is my favorite souls game, mostly for the worldbuilding/setting and the satisfaction of getting that sweet sweet deathblow on a boss.
Ds2 is my favorite souls game. I genuinely like having giant glowing popsicles and tickling enemies to death. Lol I just ordered a ps5 to finally try demon souls.
hey just so people know, sotfs is ds2 hard mode, some people just hate the idea that the big final castle area is the hard point when the entirety of scholar is harder imo (like look up the difference between vanilla shrine of amana/iron keep and scholar)
Yeah, I played through scholar last year and was really surprised how much harder it was. Ds2 is my favorite, though it wasn't my first, but I remember not having too many issues- still didn't have too many issues, but there was a lot that caught me way off guard and some of the new enemy placements or invaders are just flat-out mean.
I wouldn't say it's "harder", I prefer to recall it as terrible game design. Sure it's harder but in what feels to be an artificial way, most of those new enemies feel slapped in their having no other purpose then just simply being annoying
The difficulty tweaks you were talking about in the ds3 section (closing dodge windows, upping damage, etc.) Is how from approaches challenge in all of the games. It's not a flaw. And not to sound like an elitist but, if you couldn't beat Gael or friede or cinder without switching builds that's on you, not the game. I've beaten all of them at least 10 times with different builds each time. It's not a flaw of the game for you to struggle, the entire point is to learn timings, be patient, and punish.
Let me start by saying I am a dark souls 2 fan. I am not sure I understand how dark souls 2 is linear but the other games aren't. Of the 43 boses (only having less bosses than elden ring) dark souls 2 only has 8 bosses that each player must kill (assuming no glitches) and those must be done in order but that hardly seems linear (IMO). Another note, my understanding is that scholar is harder than vanilla as vanilla has less ganks that feel like a cheap trap.
I have to criticize your takes on dark souls 3. Saying gael, friede, nameless king and soul of cinder are bad bosses purely because they have hard to dodge attacks and high damage is stupid. Nameless king deals nowhere near the damage of a boss like friede or malenia, but he attacks fast. Something you forgot to mention is how if you get hit by him once while he does his sweep, you will get hitstunned and get attacked again. In other words, its a great and unique way to punish a player without just high damage. I've gone straight to nameless king after defeating yhorm and aldrich, and hes way easier on multiple playthroughs due to him having incredibly well telegraphed moves. Friede is the same, she moves faster than nameless king, but you don't really have to dodge into her unlike him, plus its a dlc boss so its of course going to have high damage. Phase 2 is one of the best gank fights in the series. The way you described it makes it seem like you never even fought it, but rather looked at it once and went "oh yea this seems unfair". Friede is way less aggressive in phase 2, just like the ranged demon from demon prince boss fight. ariandel on the other hand is fast and more aggressive, but is more vulnerable to attacks. Its a great fight that gets even'd out if you use gael, or even made way easier. Gael i the inglle best dark ouls/fromoft boss, other than isshin the sword saint. His moves are as well telegraphed as nameless king. Sorry to say this, but he doesn't have hard to dodge moves, its rather that you have to get better at the game. If you made it to the final boss of the final dlc in the final dark souls game, dodging his attacks shouldn't even be difficult. Its rather the spectacle oof his fight. He's nameless king and abyss watchers on steroids, and has gaps to where you can attack. You explicitly show him standing still and attacking him in the video, so I don't get your point on that. He also has incredible lore and is also backed up by being the dark souls equivalent of guts, the main character of the series that inspired every fromsoft game. Music is also self explanatory. All 4 of those bosses are some of the best fromsoft has ever done. None of them are unfair.
My greatest shame was also my greatest triumph. Sekiro was the first time I ever gave up on a souls challenge. DOH followed by Isshin seemed like toooo much. Years later I went back, focused and after 40ish attempts between the 2, I finally beat every souls game.
"Your first is your favorite" Nope 😅 Also "Some say Elden Ring is the least replayable" Me listening to this video in the background as I work on my 14th playthrough of Elden Ring - "Huh, Interesting" 😄
Yeah, there are alot of "interesting" opinions in this video, that are presented as matter-of -fact. I actually had to stop a few times, had read comments to see if i was going crazy or what. But hey, everbody has opinions, and they're just that, opinions
My night is saved from the difficult former fun choice of yt video... having lived on yt for over 5 years and this is seriously the worst time to find fun content so thank you so much for this long format (even though I recognise some of the content ofc haha) and totally agree, the first game is my baby (bloodborne)
My first play through of DS3(my first soulsbourne game) I did FUGS strength build and I beat every single boss just fine idk what you're talking about with having to abandon your build
I hate this mentality that lock-on is a crutch for noobs and if you use it, you’re bad and don’t understand the game. It’s not a crutch, it’s a wrench. Not very helpful when you need a hammer, a complete detriment when you need and axe, but perfect when you need a wrench. It’s not a black-and-white use it or don’t thing, it’s a tool to be used when it’s needed and stored when it’s not.
My guy was ranting off things he didn’t(?) like about bits in ds1 and the jank and i couldnt help but smile at remembering my first playthrough with all this and loving it so much despite raging in the moment
1:43:07 I like how he "complains" about the way they make bosses difficult, when the things he describes are some of the best and only good ways to make a souls boss difficult.
Great video. Usually i cant sit through a 3 and a half hour video byt i just couldnt stop watching. Only sould game i never played was 1 and bloodborn. I started with demons souls. Got it from a bargain bin in gamestop before fromsoft exploded in poularity. As soon as bloodborn ends up on steam im gonna play through it.
It’s funny I had the exact same weapon and shield in des lol it’s a good combo. I love how the moonlight sword contrasts its appearances in every other Fromsoft game before it. In the previous kings fields it typically was a crucial endgame macguffin item, here it’s in the rotted swamp surrounded by slugs. Really sells the whole thesis statement of the game
Generally a pretty good video, and more the better for covering all the games in a single sitting. However there are a few misconceptions. In pretty much every game you can summon for the final boss, and this is true of 2, 3, and their respective DLC. Heck 2 is rather notorious for having some of the strongest NPC summons in the series, more than capable of soloing the boss by themselves. Similarly, the ending of 3 isn’t particularly mysterious, the game all but tells you that your choices at the end aren’t mirrors of the first. You can link the fire, but you know it will barely light this time, and won’t the next because there’s no one left of great enough power to sustain it anymore. You see this in the ending, as the fire barely catches with what little ash you are, even after gathering cinders, compared to what it was in 1. Beyond which you know now having seen the Soul of Cinder that you’re damning yourself to a terrible existence, bound to the flame even as it’s a pale shadow of what it was. Yet you can also choose to finally let the fire fade out entirely alongside the Fire Keeper, calmly embracing the end with what little comfort and companionship you each have left. It’s not a triumph of Dark, although there is a hidden ending that leads that way, much as there’s a hidden ending that emphasizes the cruelty of the age of Fire, but these two endings capture the finality of the series compared to the mystery of 1. The age of Fire has gone on far too long, hollowing and thinning each time much like humanity did, and now it finally withers away, much like the series as a whole, which is excellent theming.
like the video but i very much disagree about the late game ds3 bosses, souls of cinder does low enough damage that his variety of attacks doesn't matter and he has high enough health that you will see all them multiple times, only a few of his attacks have tricky dodge timings so most can be dodged purely on reflexes Twin princes is a great boss and gives u enough time to realise where they are when they teleport before attacking, it teaches u to not be overly aggressive while capitalising on the down time between attacks which is useful in the dlc fights and nameless king Nameless kings damage really isn't that bad, if u have a normal amount of health 3 normal attack hits will kill u and 2 of his special attacks will usually kill you, his is very very well telegraphed with almost no fast attacks while having no unnaturally delayed attacks, eventually you will get all of his attacks on instinct and it becomes easy from that point onwards. he should be hard because he is meant to be an optional final challenge of the basegame Freide can be a bit annoying but the second phase is fine as freide is nerfed while ariendel is active and both share a healthbar Gael doesn't do much damage he does about a third of your health and he is very well balanced for both light and heavy weapons, sure a heavy weapon user has less oppotunities but he staggers every 3 attacks with most heavy weapons allowing u to get off 1 or 2 extra attacks allowing you to catch up to the dps a light weapon user would be doing and he has a good amount of oppotunities to attack him in all stages shield can really help with his more wild attacks but a shield in ds3 is not meant to be an alternative to dodging but rather an aid for when things are too overwhelming
I can'T quite understand your issue with Dark Souls 2 because here is the point: Dark Souls 1 and 3 are based on running to the bosses skipping everything in between making the levels themself meaningless which Dark Souls 2 does not. The enemys punish you with increasing numbers and traps along the way so rushing through will be punished if not done correctly. Also who on earth told you scholars of the first sin was the easy one? It is the opposite. Vanilla DS2 has less enemies, they are differently positioned and loot is also changed quite a bit while scholars of the first sin highly increased the difficulty with additional strong enemys or swapping their position. DS2 is a lot more than sticking to one specific weapon justb ecause it does the highest base damage. For example if I run a greatsword build I will change my gear depending on the enemy or location. Some locations are to narrow to play with the Greatsword as it features wide swings so I will need to use the persuer longsword for example or when facing an opponent that has just a small attack spot the kingslayer greatswords thrust attacks are way more suited. Fighting the smelter Demon go and use fire resistanc and physical resistance at the same time, what Dark lurker has only weak physical damage but deals tons of darkness and has one fire skill that will easely own you if you are unprepared well why struggling? Youi can buff youre darkness resistance and deal with the fireskill by other means like the gyrm shield for example. There is no enemy featback when hitting them? Damn how could you forget about the poise mechanic? Oh other Dark Souls do not use them because you only knew how to evade well shields are in this game for a reason too...... You could argue so much about Dark Souls 2 but for me it is the only of the 3 Dark Souls titles that rewards you for beeing cunning while it also allows casuals to remove bottlenecks over time if they finish the enemys on their way as Dark Souls 2 has a 10 times respawn limit for normal enemys so even if you do not manage the way you can stil make progress this way. If anything Dark Souls 2 encourages you to take your time and lure enemys in situations that are beneficial to your playstyle rather than skiping content, exploring will offer you additional goodies in form of loot, sometimes new npcs to summon and can make bossfights way easier or harder depending on what you prefer ^^ For example the Sinner is hard to fight in the dark light the oil in the 2 towers next to the boss room and lets see her face in combat, the spieders at Dark freya areyour nemesis? Use a torch and they will not encounter you as they are afraid of fire........ What I really do not like about DS1 and DS3 is the lack of useful items even with all the stuff you get there is rarely a time you can make use of different kinds of armor sets, shields or weapons and often enough you do not use something else than one specific setup for the entire game and why would you even considder most of the buffitems anyway? DS2 rewards you for beeing cunning to use a bow to fight troublesome enemies and to buff yourself with the right items and spells to engage combat. If the enemy is somwhere he can't reach you use a bow or spell to fight him from afar and make use of the environment to block their projectiles as well and if you are fast enough to run to an enemy archer so try it and hit him while he is stil deciding if he should try another shot or change to melee range combat instead (and yeah as troublesome as archers might be make sure not to fight them melee range all the time as they often get way worse in a melee fight ^^)
You know, I keep seeing this presented as a salty argument regarding the "difficulty" of Souls games (or difficult games in general): "It just takes a lot of TIME, and if I didn't have a full time job, a family, and a broken dishwasher, I'd beat them all too, easily! It's just you LOSERS living in your parents' basement with SO MUCH FREE TIME who brag about how hardcore they are for beating Souls games!" Look, I'm 40, I have kids, a full-time job, hobbies, personal goals, the whole shebang. I'm not some pro-gamer with unlimited time. But I still love these games, and still manage to get through them at a reasonable pace without shitting my balls off in rage. And that last sentence is really the key here: for better or worse, these games no longer make me rage. That's not to say I've always been that way. I raged a LOT when I was younger, and frequently blamed everything but myself when I failed, both in and out of video games. Ironically, it was the Souls series that helped put that in perspective for me. Souls games are all about overcoming, utilizing, and/or negating the rage that comes from ostensibly unfair circumstances. Being calm despite intense provocation, recognizing your own mistakes, and adapting accordingly; those are the skills that Souls games can foster in you if you don't let the rage filter you out first. And naturally, the less time you spend breaking controllers and headbutting walls, the more time you spend figuring things out and creating solutions. The beauty of these games is that despite their vaunted difficulty, the solutions are always right there, waiting for you to find them. How quickly you find those solutions largely depend on how much time you waste blaming the game for being mean to you. In the end, you're absolutely right: given enough time, even a monkey could figure out a way to beat Sekiro. But I'd like to think we're more than just monkeys.
I really love elden ring but man it requires such a time investment. My friend has leveled 3 separate builds up to level 100 in the time I got my first character to 100. Not only is it a huge time investment, but often demanding enough I don't want to play after work because I'm too tired to focus on it. This basically means I only play it on weekends, where I beat my head against walls until I'm back in the swing of things. The difficulty has definitely made the prospect of loading it up to continue seem daunting, when I could spend my limited time playing something more forgiving and get more for my time. Rather than fighting the same boss ten times just to ultimately lose and try again next week. With all that said, I'm glad there's no easy mode. Even with my lack of time to play it, I feel things being easier would have really diminished the sense of accomplishment I get from it. Not to mention, when I beat my head against a wall long enough it finally crumbles to my feet, I tend to go on boss runs killing like 5 in one sitting, and it's pure ecstasy. Elden ring is my first souls game (other than sekiro, which I gave up on before the second story boss) and it's been so punishing and rewarding an experience in equal measure, nothing else I've played can compare. Anyways, have a new controller coming in the mail because my right bumper mysteriously stopped working, sure wonder how that happened. Then the journey continues
People also often forget that the rally-mechanic is lore-apt... you got blood ministrations... you're kinda destined to turn into a beast yourself if you don't escape the nightmare... the beasts are driven mad by the blood, crave the blood and get healed by the blood... so it's only logical that when your blood is spilled you have a small window where you are vulnerable to the curse of the blood and get rewarded for giving in to your primal urges
I'm with you, Bloodborne just stylistically stands out to me as the one I would put on a top list for myself. It's got some nice memorable levels that feel mostly tight.
i always find talks about the difficulty around sekiro to be very interesting and i think i MAY know why for most people that i've seen online that speak of sekiro being the overall hardest of the fromsoft games, and even among my own friends, they went into sekiro after playing the other souls games and i personally think that was a major factor in the hurdles they ran in to. for me it was the first of their games that i fully played through and i felt like i kind of just breezed through most of it, finishing the final boss in less than 15 minutes of attempts and the whole game in roughly 20 hours, and the difference, i think, comes in the fundamental approach to the game (and it's the same reason why a ton of "souls veterans" have been getting filtered by armored core 6). they approach the game and play it largely as if it is a traditional souls game and have a lot of friction with engaging with the games specific mechanics as they are presented to them, and thus when they HAVE to engage in ways that are unique to this individual game, it takes a long time for it to click, or sometimes it never does, this MAY have been compounded even more for yourself, essentially playing all of these games back to back in an almost marathon. compared to a newcomer coming in without those preconceived ideas of "how to play a fromsoft game", they will probably still find it difficult at many points in a playthrough, but maybe not to the same degree that's just what i think at least, maybe i'm totally wrong, either way great vid as always, love seeing your stuff
Ok this video is amazing! I already have the platinum trophies for Demons Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring I bought the Dark Souls trilogy and Sekiro I’m ready to platinum those Wish me luck fellow demon slayers / undeads / hunters / tarnisheds
