Difficulty in video games is something that has, unfortunately, fallen by the wayside in favor of mass appeal and a low barrier to entry. While accessibility is an excellent concept that more core games need to embrace, accessibility at the cost of difficulty is a ruinous trend that only serves to remove the unique immersion that video games provide. Without difficulty and challenge, immersion and true “flow” are impossible to achieve, and as games become easier and simpler, developers have forgotten just how important difficulty truly is.
"Dark Souls: Archthrones is like playing a brand new FromSoftware game, and that speaks volumes about just how much good modding can do," says Hanzala from eXputer.
Parrying has been creeping into more games, with almost every high-profile title of the last few years featuring it in some way. Why?
i understand the authors frustration i'm not the best at parrying in games. not that i can't complete a game that requires it but it is a definite harder thing for me than other kinds of techniques in games. which might be the main reason it's so heavily added in games nowadays. want to make your game challenging without having to do a lot of work? just add a parry boss. (what i mean by parry boss is a boss you have to beat by parrying such that their attacks will kill you otherwise)
I always think it's fine as long as such games also have the roll/dodge panic button. But I understand the will to parry, it seems so cinematic in a fight when you pull it off.
Dark Souls 2 remains a divisive entry in the landmark RPG franchise, but Hidetaka Miyazaki believes it led to the success of Elden Ring.
DS2 was fine. While there was a bit of recycling assets or ideas for bosses, it was a bigger more open Dark Souls. The Fume knight boss is one of the hardest bosses in the series until Sekiro and Elden Ring were released.
The problem with Dark Souls 2 was the same problem when a different director takes over for a sequel to an outstanding movie. It typically (there are exceptions) doesn’t have the feel and vision of the previous movie.
I wouldn’t say Dark Souls 2 is terrible. Had Dark Souls 1 never been a thing and we got this, I think it would have been praised more. The problem is it didn’t have the Miyazaki touch to it and felt pretty derivative. The soundtrack is a banger though.
And it will happen in the future when he doesn’t touch them as he is planning on.
I like DS 2, might even be my favorite of the 3. But it's a hard sell, there's so many obscure things you need to do to make it an enjoyable experience. So always find it hard to recommend, but it is worth the trouble.
The answer to all this, is... *gasp*... "Difficulty SELECT"!
Games have been doing it forever but for some inexplicable reason, moronic elitist behaviour and acting like a brat because more people will claim your "brag rights" of finishing a game, are labelled "Respect to the Hardcore Gaming"...smdh...
You can't have every game as hard as the Souls series. It would make every experience a slog to get through. Not everybody has the time to endure that, and would like to just settle for something fun and entertaining. There's no shortage of games like that. Sometimes i like games to be short and challenging. Sometimes i prefer long and easier. Depends on the game and my mood at the time.