The ‘Dark Souls’ difficulty debate is a matter of ideologies, game design

The discussion about the difficulty of the Dark Souls 3 debate has many sides, but a lot of it leans on changing the games at the expensive of changing a fundamental part of the experience.

This may sound like a long-winded version of saying “get good” as the more hardcore contingent of the Souls community would put it, but the discussion is far more complex than just telling players to improve or get out.

[ziggurcat]

The key to success in just about every souls game, I think, is pattern recognition. If you are able to learn the enemies' patterns relatively quickly, you will undoubtedly have no real trouble defeating anything in the game. It's also a good idea to just take your time, and don't get greedy with your attacks (thinking you can get just one more hit in will, more often than not, result in your death). There's also no shame in summoning help if you're really having difficulty getting past a specific point.

[Kingthrash360]

I think the difficulty debate is stemming from the nioh demo. That game is brutal, as literally difficult as a ninja Gaiden and dark souls combined. I love them both but both are difficult in its own way. Souls games are exactly what you said, a matter of knowing patterns and patience .nioh is pretty much the same in that aspect but have a few more ways that make it harder. Like in souls games you can out run your enemy and they will eventually give up on getting you...but in nioh they will chase you like you you insulted their wife or something lol. You find yourself having a mob after you if you are not careful.

[Chaosdreams]

"Like you insulted their wife," lol that was good.

I can already see someone playing Nioh and they have over twenty angry enemies chasing them, all of various levels of insane danger, and somehow that player will kill them all and make a youtube video out of it.

"I am, Samurai." Pulls out weapon and proceeds to demolish.

[WelkinCole]

Holy crap really?. NiOh is that hard?. Well that alone is worth the purchase for me.

[WelkinCole]

For me it really is about keeping your cool. Most of my friends that play it lose their shit when they see big and scary enemies. They just panic and just slash aimlessly which is the easiest way to die.

[bobtheimpaler]

These games aren't hard. They're about learning from your mistakes and getting good. That is the whole point of them. That may mean more investment than a game that is just press X for instant awesome, but I think because of the design of a lot of modern games that meaningful challenges have become lost on a lot of gamers. Once the games click, the sense of reward in the souls and bloodborne games is quite awesome.

[Grave]

Dark Souls has an easy mode and a hard mode. Easy is summoning 3 people to empty out areas and fight bosses with. Hard is doing a SL1 run with no assistance.

[Chaosdreams]

Summoning is like a life line. You call in but it won't necessarily pay off. I've been on a team of 4 that did horrid, and then with just one single other person I had a much better result.

It might make things easier, but sometimes it will only make you more frightened of the defeat if it goes poorly. I thought the Nameless King was Godlike for awhile. Then 1 person changed that for me lol

[WelkinCole]

I will be honest. I have played all 5 games but I never summoned anyone.

I saw these bell things in Bloodborn but never used them as I didnt know they are use to summon people until the end. Had about 26 of them lol!

But the fun of these games is really playing it alone and be that one crazy SOB crazy enough to go there.

[rezzah]

I actually find it more fun to beat bosses with other players, reminds me of the good old Monster Hunter days.

Clearing out areas should be done solo though because the exploration doesn't require co-op. .

[Liqu1d]

I think this video sums up the easy mode debate.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[jts1891]

They really, really aren't that difficult. It's all about observation and preparation. If you're trying to play the game like a typical hack n' slash RPG, yeah, you're going to die. A lot. But if you take your time and observe the various bosses and enemies, figure out their weaknesses and attack patterns, and adjust your equipment and items accordingly, you'll go from being on the edge of rage-quitting to enjoying the challenge.

[DragonDDark]

Demon souls and dark souls were hard for me. But if I comeback to them now.. they will definitely be easy to me.

DS2/3 were easy for me. Maybe because I play DS games a lot... hmmm mmmmm

[WelkinCole]

That is the case for me as well. I remember I died about 200 times in DS before I could beat the Blob.

Every other game after that has been fairly easy except for BB which is another big reason why I liked BB better this gen than DS.

[OoglyBoogly]

Inb4 "JUST GIT GUD N00B DERP!"

[Chaos_Order]

These games are considered difficult because they lack the hand-holding, ultra forgiving nature of most modern games. At the same time, they are easier than a lot of hard modes because they lack the unrealistic, BS, "cheat the system" methods that many hard modes require. In reality, these games reward those with patience, forward planning, aptitude for experimentation, careful observation, and the ability to act under pressure. These things have been lost in the gaming world for the most part, leaving many to class the Souls games as "masochistic" or "unfair," despite the fact that there are many, much more difficult games and game modes on the market. The exception being that the Souls games are actually well designed.

[game4funz]

This.
Nowadays I play all my games on hard or hardest difficulty...it's really just too easy for me if I don't.

Do people not remember the old games where you died if you got hit once...

[Chaos_Order]

Yeah, same here, and even then, sometimes the hardest difficulty is still really easy. And then other times a game's hard mode is just ridiculous, requiring you to memorise everything in the game, or putting in enemies with broken AI, or requiring constant cheap tactics or luck to progress. Hard and challenging are two different things, something that Dark Souls demonstrates very well.

Hardest game I've played this year by far is Trackmania Turbo. Getting gold on some of the campaign courses took me hours on the same event, and I still have another 30 or so events to go. But it's fine because the controls are responsive, the handling consistent, the tracks are short enough to memorise quickly, and there are no AI opponents to batter you off the road. Every mistake is your own, and the gold time still allows for minor mistakes. Hard but fair, not BS difficulty, the way games should be.

[WelkinCole]

Yeah and 3 lives and no saves except for some which you can use a passcode once you reach a certain level.

I remember hearing a 1up jingle and is the best sound ever lol!.