|
And Tyler Too! posted:Pyromancy is tons of fun since you can weave in some sorcery & miracles on the side. Hexes are one of my favorites, since you get access to pretty much all of the magic.
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2020 22:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2024 06:22 |
|
|
Which offensive pyromancies are useful when you already got the chaos orb?
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2020 23:53
|
|
|
black flame is good, albeit a little tricky to get. chaos bed vestiges is good but kind of a sidegrade to chaos fire orb(for pve anyways, for pvp it's better because it travels faster). black serpent can be good.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 00:06
|
|
|
axolotl farmer posted:Which offensive pyromancies are useful when you already got the chaos orb? black serpent is an excellent pairing for how it creates pressure. you can usually get someone to roll out of black flame and catch them with vestiges as a follow-up in a 1-2 punch that is almost grotesque
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 00:39
|
|
|
Rapport is very handy in PvE because you can mind control mobs to do your bidding. It's really handy in Lothric because it works on Winged Knights, including the golden trio at the top of grand archives.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 01:07
|
|
|
I beat Sister Friede (with co-op help). I was expecting her to be super-hard, and in the third phase, she pretty tough to deal with solo (if your summons have died). The first phase doesn't seem all that hard. The stressful thing with the second phase is figuring out who to prioritize. After that, I went and fought Champion's Gravetender and Wolf solo. Only took two attempts. Seems like the trick is to get damage in quickly once he's getting low on health so you can take him out before the wolf starting attacking. From there, I went to the Dreg Heap, and uuugggghhhhhh... I died to a invader not too far in (around the first angel). I actually tried taking out the angel with a greatbow, until I realized that they respawn until you kill the slug things controlling them. I found  I died so many times, Lapp just got the Titanite Slab for me.I warped back to Firelink to boost the Black Knight Sword to +4, and I summoned Lapp to fight the Demon duo, not realizing that the second demon turns into the demon prince. I died on that attempt, so I summoned both Lapp and Gael, and won that way. I'm sure someone will tell me that I made it harder by having two summons, but having another player draw the boss away helps for getting hits in, especially since, at this point in the game, dodging attacks is becoming a crapshoot for me. I made it to the Ringed City, and spent the start hiding behind the gravestones and sniping the yodeler or whatever the hell he is with greatbow arrows. I burned through most of my regular greatbows arrows doing it, though. I made my way down, ran into some weird monster thing, and found the next bonfire. From there things started getting more frustrating. The hollows are easy enough to deal with, but the cursed ones prompt me to fall back and snipe them with fire arrows. The first one you run into before the bonfire pisses me off, because you have walk into the room to get it to drop, and it partially fills up your curse meter in doing so. The fire knights aren't a problem to deal with, but the hollow priests are annoying, because they'll keep putting down circles that harm you, and if you don't dispatch them right away, they start heailng themselves in a circle that also hurts you. The enemy I absolutely hate, though, are those damned Harald Legion Knights. Trying to get down those steps leading to the swamp made me infuriated. I tried luring them out one-by-one with arrows and fighting them in the previous room, and for the most part, I do okay, but then I'll miss a dodge and they kill me. Once I got the three down by the door with the lady who tells you about Midir, I thought there'd be another bonfire close by, or at least a shortcut to let me skip by them, but then I find there's another three who starting coming up by the entrance to the swamp. At that point, I was like, "screw this, I'm done for the evening" and went back to Firelink to turn in the souls I managed to salvage. Could it be that I'm not high enough level, and need to grind? I'm at Level 111. With the Knight Ring and Carthus Milkring, I've got 40 in Strength, and 37-or-so in Dexterity. I'm wondering if I should look to try and start putting points in INT and FTH so I can use some spells/pyromancies to help dispatch foes a bit easier.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 08:05
|
|
|
Your level is fine, your careful approach sounds like a great way of playing, Ringed City is just an rear end in a top hat. The Harald stairs also annoy me because I also like to be slow and careful and take out all enemies before exploring freely, but then - like you - I gently caress up a single dodge after half an hour of clearing the level, and it was all for nothing. Solution: sprint past the knights, down the stairs, take a right and find a Bonfire soon on an elevated part. Then explore backwards from there. EDIT: btw I really enjoy your write-ups!
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 08:58
|
|
|
The Harald Knights on the Ringed City stairs are the most bullshit in DS3. It's possible to haul rear end all the way from the upper bonfire to the next (below the stairs) without fighting anything. Then you can use that bonfire as the base for exploration.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 09:29
|
|
|
Trick to first stage of Friede is plinking her with an arrow so you can see where she is when invisible. Good audio will work somewhat as well https://youtu.be/oiR0tcJekno
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 14:41
|
|
|
The trick to the Harald stairs is to bait them underneath the bridge and get them with a plunging attack.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 14:46
|
|
|
The last few posts are not making me look forward to finally starting the Ringed City soon 
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 15:16
|
|
|
The hardest part of ringed city is actually getting there imo, the archer gauntlet is a dumb chore. I really enjoy fighting the Ringed/Harald Knights, and joining the Spears of the Church covenant is tons of fun if you're into PvP because you are someone else's boss fight.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 17:46
|
|
|
Yeah those darn Harald knights oh god... I died many times trying to plunge kill them... Anyway, now that I'm done with my first play-through I wanted to dabble a bit into pvp. I tried doing some around Anor Londo around lvl120 but I have the feeling I get either into games where there several phantoms all different colours and I'm not sure which one I'm supposed to attack. Also I get my rear end handed to me on all the time. So I was thinking about making a new char and playing around in SL30 around crucifixion woods, I think this should be a little more manageable maybe? Any pointers or advice to learn? I'm not really sure of which build and weapons to go for also.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 20:07
|
|
|
Simply Simon posted:Your level is fine, your careful approach sounds like a great way of playing, Ringed City is just an rear end in a top hat. I thought it was more of a rant than a write up, but I'm glad to hear that you enjoy them. Maybe once I finish the DLC and beat the Lord of Cinder, I'll try to write up my thoughts on the game as a whole. And Tyler Too! posted:The trick to the Harald stairs is to bait them underneath the bridge and get them with a plunging attack. I took a look at a walkthrough video to figure out where I need to go to get to the next bonfire, and sure enough, they used the bridge to basically one-shot the Haralds via baiting them to fall off the bridge and then doing the plunging attack. Then again, they were using a Greataxe and Yhorm's Greatshield, neither of which I think I can use without going over the 70% weight limit (damage output maybe doesn't matter, but blocking with a regular shield might not cut it).
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 23:43
|
|
|
For a scripted plunge attack like that a +10 Dagger may oneshot them. Always have a dagger.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2020 23:58
|
|
|
codo27 posted:Trick to first stage of Friede is plinking her with an arrow so you can see where she is when invisible. Good audio will work somewhat as well It's trivial to predict where friede is in her first phase. When she turns invisible, look if a trail of dust appears. If there's a trail, follow it to the side of the room it leads to. Often she'll break a bunch of furniture when she does this too. If you don't see a trail, that means she jumped behind you. She's super predictable with this one and is usually standing directly behind you, or a couple steps at most. Phase 3 invisibility is harder since it's easy to get caught by the ice if you try to chase her.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2020 03:02
|
|
|
Le0 posted:Yeah those darn Harald knights oh god... I died many times trying to plunge kill them... High level pvp is a motherfucker because that's where all the really experienced pvpers hang out and stuff deals so much damage that you'll die fast. Crucifixion woods is ok but you'll run into a lot of twinks there, since it's where they can really go crazy. I recommend sticking to sl60-80 since you'll mostly invade people who are progressing through the game, and imo its also just well balanced in terms of build choices you have to make. You will still get your rear end handed to you though. There is no real trick to it if you're just starting out, you just need to practice a lot. The main thing that will help you right now is the right mindest: expect to lose almost every time, and use the enviornment when possible. Your goal is to disrupt people and make them consume their resources.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2020 03:13
|
|
|
One thing that shocks me about the balance of this game is how often you (or your target) can come very nearly to the verge of death, but because of spacing and limited stamina, they get just enough of a window to estus up and start fresh. Time and time again.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2020 06:54
|
|
|
EvilMike posted:Your goal is to disrupt people and make them consume their resources. - silicon valley startups
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2020 10:06
|
|
|
Took down Darkeater Midir and Slave Knight Gael!  With Midir, I took a look at video guides online (there's quite a few). The trick is basically to keep yourself in front of his head, since that's his weakspot; attacks elsewhere don't do as much damage. With most of his melee attacks you dodge back away from him, and with the flame attacks, you dodge or run to the left. His three worst attacks are his laser breath, his forward leap, and his charge-and-flame, though with the first two, it seems like you just need to stay close to him, and he won't use them. If he starts charging, just move to the side and try to position yourself close to his foot, since that's where his head will be when he spins around. The >50% health attack where he does the explosion is pretty laughable, but the Affinity (homing spirit magic) thing is annoying since he'll attack while it's tracking you. I imagine you could be doing really well, but you'd be dodging away from that, and he'll one-hit you partway through. In general, it's pretty simple: stick close to his head, move back and to the left* when he attacks, and get one-or-two attacks in. That said, I still wouldn't call the fight easy. I used the Wolf Knight Sword +4 (for the 20% bonus damage vs Abyssal), and could have probably managed some better damage if I had upgraded it to +5, but still, he's got a lot of health to chew through. One video I watched used the Dragonslayer Spear, which might have been a better choice, since it does both Lightning and Thrust damage. Despite what I was told, I tried doing it with summons at first, and I think on a few attempts, we got a third of the health bar off, but obviously that boosts his health, and eventually, the summon or I would die. You would think that the fact they give you an NPC summon would be a suggestion that getting help would make the fight easier (and maybe it is doable) but chances are you'd lose the NPC partway into the fight, and then you'd have to contend with the larger health bar. I can't imagine someone trying to fight Midir on NG+7, but sure enough, people have done it (and at SL 1!  ). * "Triangulation of dragon fire, that's the key." - I did summon help for the Spears of the Church fight. I was probably in a bad mood around that point (I did Spears first, tried Midir, took a break from playing, then came back and beat Midir and Gael), but that fight honestly seemed like it nigh-impossible without some sort of help. It'd be okay if you just had to fight the summoned player, like the Old Monk in DesSouls, but the painting guardians add an extra wrinkle to it, since you have to maneuver around the boss, the boss's homing magic, the painting guardians, and their throwing knives. Maybe they also get a health boost with summons, but they soak up a lot of damage, and it seems like you need to take them out quickly before the enemy player gets summoned in. I suppose you could cheese it to some degree if you go offline. I also suppose now that I've beat Midir, I could try being an opponent, but the only covenant reward seems to be stuff for the fight itself, so...  - Gael took a few attempts, but I liked it a lot. It's up there with Lady Maria from Bloodborne (though that fight still takes the top spot in my book), and like that fight, I think the reason it works is because A.) They put the respawn point right in front of the fog door, so you can retry it immediately, and B.) The fight is challenging, but it doesn't feel brutally difficult and frustrating like some fights can be. As long as you can get the dodge timing down, know when to strike, and when to heal, you can get through it just fine. I used the Hollowslayer Greatsword +5, since Gael turns hollow (?) in the second half of the fight. You can stagger him (break his poise), but it seems like you have to be specific about when you hit him, since he'll hyper-armor through your attacks sometimes (seemed like I had to hit him two-or three times for him to stagger). One thing that annoys me about the second half is that the Way of White Corona spell he does. It isn't hard to dodge when it comes out, but since it boomerangs back, it's hard to tell when it's going to return. - I haven't fought the Lord of Cinder yet (will do that tomorrow). At this point, I"m hesistant about going into NG+. It's less to do with difficulty, but more to do with collecting items and such. At this point, I'd rather not touch the DLCs again, so I'm going to grab the items I missed while trying to get through the first time (need to figure out where the third angel slug is in the Dreg Heap swamp). Thankfully, the DLC doesn't factor into the achievements, so I can spend the boss souls on the items I want, and not have to worry about fighting the bosses again on NG+. However, since the Shrine Handmaiden's ware reset on NG+, I feel like I should stock up on as much as I can before the end (I'm not sure, but I think I saw that you choose to start the next cycle from the bonfire, rather than it just automatically happening once the end cutscene plays). I've actually been pretty lucky with Blade of the Darkmoon summons. I didn't succeed with every one of them, but quite a few were sucessful, and combined with the ones I got from pickups and the Silver Knight farming I've done, I've got close to 20 Concords. I'm still going to use the Honest Merchant mod, though, since I don't know how easy it'll be to get the rest, and getting the other covenant items seems like it'd be just as hard (be it doing successful invasions or farming other enemies). Plus, I've never been one to invade other people's games. The Protagonist posted:One thing that shocks me about the balance of this game is how often you (or your target) can come very nearly to the verge of death, but because of spacing and limited stamina, they get just enough of a window to estus up and start fresh. Me: drat, I keep trying to defeat this invader, but every time I get them down to low health, they roll away and heal to full! My brain, around the end of the Ringed City: Hey, why not use the Me: ... 
Max Wilco fucked around with this message at 11:51 on Dec 19, 2020 |
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2020 11:45
|
|
|
Hey Max Wilco, I enjoy your writeups 
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2020 09:59
|
|
|
Back in 2016, Nameless King made me rage harder than any Souls boss I can remember. I found him incredibly hard, and having to do the King of the Storm fight again with each attempt was absolutely infuriating. I beat him eventually, but I felt no satisfaction or pride or even relief by that point. I'd made myself too mad to care. It's been over four years since I last played Dark Souls III, but yesterday, I beat that fucker second try 
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2020 16:15
|
|
|
axolotl farmer posted:Hey Max Wilco, I enjoy your writeups Thank you. - Well, after doing some grinding in Anor Londo, and getting the last few Concord Proofs to reach 30 and get the Darkmoon rewards, I went to fight the Lord of Cinder. As it was said, the Lord of Cinder is not really hard if you've gone through the DLC, and I beat him first go. That said, I think I was trying to rush through the battle, and I got hit a lot, to the point where I burned through all of my Estus at the end. The first half of the battle isn't too bad, but if you get hit in the second half, you'll sometimes get stuck in a combo which will drain your health. - So as I said, here's a write-up of DS3 as a whole. Going in, Dark Souls III was actually the game that I was least interested in. I had seen the cutscenes where Patches and Gael specifically say, "dark soul", and I knew that you revisit Anor Londo, and I rolled my eyes at that because, it seemed like they were running out of ideas. Hell, initially, I had no plans to pick up the DLC. That said, having finished it, I ended up liking it a lot more than I expected. Style-wise, the game is sort of weird. It feels more like a follow up to Dark Souls 1 than Dark Souls 2 did, but it also feels like it derived a lot from Bloodborne. Like Bloodborne, your movement/dodging feels a lot more nimble than it does in the previous DS games. The Weapon Arts also feel like they were meant to replicate the Trick Weapon transformations/abilities. However, where I feel like it falters in emulating Bloodborne is that you still just have the roll, and not the quick-step from Bloodborne. Some of the Weapon Arts can be chained into combos, but some of them seem gimmicky and not super-useful outside of specific situations (to be fair, I mainly used swords with the 'Stance' WA, so I'm not the best judge). I think one big issue with Weapon Arts is that a majority of them require FP, and if you're playing a melee build, you're not going to put many points into Attunement, and you aren't going to carry Ashen Estus flasks, so you won't be able to use Weapons Arts that much anyway. However, the weapons seem to be a lot better designed. One of the things that annoyed me with DS1 (at least from reading about them on the wiki) is that a lot of the boss weapons seemed sort of useless, as they either had some sort of drawback, or just weren't that useful. In DS3, the majority of the boss weapons seem viable. Weapon infusions are also better. The issue I had with DS1 is that I never saw a point to infusing weapons, since it would eliminate scaling, which seems to make the weapon useless once you either hit the late-game or NG+ cycles. You still have non-scaling infusions in DS3, but you also get infusions that not only scale with spellcasting stats, but also infusions that give you a bonus with physical stats as well. There's also the Shriving Stones, which will let you reverse infusions if you change your mind. On a whole, the game seems a lot easier that the previous games. The first boss that feels like a roadblock is Pontiff Sulyvan, and even then, you've got a slew of NPC summons to pick from for that fight to make it easier. Bonfire placement is odd, though. In general, it's a lot closer together than before, but I feel like they messed up by having each boss create a bonfire after you defeat them, because often you'll activate the boss bonfire, progress ten feet, and then encounter another bonfire just outside the boss arena (High Lord Wolnir, Old Dragonslayer). The optional areas seem a lot harder, but not by a great deal. Of all the optional bosses, I think the hardest is probably the Nameless King. The quest design is...bad? I dunno; you can technically do most every quest in the game in a single playthrough, but you have to be aware of the triggers for a lot of them. The worst is probably the Greirat/Siegward/Patches one, because you can easily go through that area and never run into either Patches or Siegward. There's also stuff I don't know if you'd ever pick up on, like the disguised pilgrim in the Church of Yorshka. Visually speaking, the game also seems sort of monotonous throughout a lot of it. I don't mean to say the game looks bad; it's very beautiful. From the Cemetary of Ash through to the Cathedral of the Deep/Farron Keep, all the areas are saturated with that yellow sky, which gives everything a brown, murky look. I get that's sort of the point, because it's supposed to be end of the world and such, but I though something DS1 and DS2 did really well was make each area feel really distinct with a more varied use of colors in different environments. In all, I think the main game is really solid. The DLC however... I already went over Ashes of Ariandel, and to restate what I said there, I think the design of it is weird, where it feels really tough in some parts, really easy in others, but overall, the rewards you get don't really seem to match (it's as if you're meant to do earlier in the game, rather than towards the end). The Ringed City I think is just overly brutal. I got the hang of fighting Harald Knights (plunging attacks), but dealing with those angels in the Dreg Heap, or the judicators in the Ringed City proper are a pain. At least with the angels, they don't come back after you kill the slugs, but the judicators respawn, and trying to attack them or other enemies around them while the phantoms spam you with arrows or other attacks becomes a nightmare. I though Darkeater Midir was the toughest boss in the whole game, but after reading some stuff online and thinking about it, I think the demon duo/Demon Prince might be the hardest fight. I can't say for sure, though, since I fought them with Gael and Lapp as backup, so their health pools were boosted. Fighting them solo, though, I imagine it'd be hell to try and fight both demons, then fight the demon prince, since at that point, you'd probably be low on Estus. While I'd go right ahead, and stamp "PLAY IT" on the base game, I can't really wholeheartedly recommend the DLC. It's not that I think it's bad, or that you shouldn't play it, but it's something that will take you by surprise if you go into it blind. You might ask, "Where do you rank this among the other Soulsborne games?" I can't really rank them, because I don't feel like there's one that's the 'best' or one that's the 'worst'. Dark Souls 1 is still my favorite of the bunch, despite all of its flaws, and if/when I manage to get all the achievements for DS3 ( and maybe after taking a break) I'm going to pick up DS1 Remastered and hopefully do the same with it. If you're wondering why DS1 is my favorite, I can't put my finger on what it is exactly. Apart from it being the first game I played, there just something about the design of the world that really clicks with me. I'd say DS3 is better than DS2, but I also don't want to rag on DS2. DS2 (specifically Scholar of the First Sin) was actually the opposite of DS3, where I was really excited to start it, but then got sort of turned off it around the start. Eventually, though, I came back and beat it, though I only did parts of the DLC (mainly wanted to get the Catarina armor, though I think that was when I stopped playing). I know it's the black sheep of the series, but I don't think it's a bad game. I'd like to expand on that more, but that might be better suited to the DS2 thread, and I don't have the best memory of DS2 as it is. I will say that while I didn't 100% it or complete any of the DLCs, I'm not real interested in returning to it anytime soon. I already talked about the comparisons to Bloodborne, and I don't know if it's necessary to compare it to Demon's Souls, since this post is already extremely long.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 01:16
|
|
|
Max Wilco posted:I already went over Ashes of Ariandel, and to restate what I said there, I think the design of it is weird, where it feels really tough in some parts, really easy in others, but overall, the rewards you get don't really seem to match (it's as if you're meant to do earlier in the game, rather than towards the end). Going in when you first get access lets you snag a decent amount of large shards and some infusion gems, then you can grind the first couple ninja crows for more large shards and the occasional chunk if you want to. I wouldn't try to beat Friede's knight until I was higher-level, though.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 02:17
|
|
|
Max Wilco posted:On a whole, the game seems a lot easier that the previous games. The first boss that feels like a roadblock is Pontiff Sulyvan, and even then, you've got a slew of NPC summons to pick from for that fight to make it easier. Bonfire placement is odd, though. In general, it's a lot closer together than before, but I feel like they messed up by having each boss create a bonfire after you defeat them, because often you'll activate the boss bonfire, progress ten feet, and then encounter another bonfire just outside the boss arena (High Lord Wolnir, Old Dragonslayer). The optional areas seem a lot harder, but not by a great deal. Of all the optional bosses, I think the hardest is probably the Nameless King. It's interesting to see someone say DS3 is easier than the previous games, since I personally find it harder and I know a few people up in the chat thread have accused DS3 of being a "Kaizo hack" Dark Souls game. I think it's the greater emphasis on combat that makes me find DS3 more challenging than any previous Souls game, or even Bloodborne. I'm having a much easier time this playthrough than I did back in 2016 but having played it sorta concurrently with DS1 and Demon's Souls, DS3 was definitely the hardest to me. You're not the first person I've seen say DS3 is easier than previous games, either. I'm not objecting or anything, I just find it really interesting how different players find different things more challenging. Max Wilco posted:Visually speaking, the game also seems sort of monotonous throughout a lot of it. I don't mean to say the game looks bad; it's very beautiful. From the Cemetary of Ash through to the Cathedral of the Deep/Farron Keep, all the areas are saturated with that yellow sky, which gives everything a brown, murky look. I get that's sort of the point, because it's supposed to be end of the world and such, but I though something DS1 and DS2 did really well was make each area feel really distinct with a more varied use of colors in different environments. This is the other thing I'm noticing playing multiple Souls games concurrently. That yellow sky for most DS3 really does sort of homogenize the environments, and the places that are really standouts--Irithyll and Archdragon Peak--pop even more because they're the places with different skies. I definitely found myself missing the relative variety of skyboxes from DS1. Harrow fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Dec 21, 2020 |
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 02:35
|
|
|
I think combat in ds3 is noticably harder than ds1/ds2, bosses in particular. And I don't think I would ever call exploration in souls games "hard", just something that may take a varying amount of time depending on how thorough you're being, so I can't really place anything besides ds3 at the top of difficulty. I also think the ds3 dlc contain pretty easily the best content in souls games and will never understand disliking judicators. they make extremely cool noises, are not hard to kill and besides the first can be avoided pretty easily
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 06:39
|
|
|
Harrow posted:It's interesting to see someone say DS3 is easier than the previous games, since I personally find it harder and I know a few people up in the chat thread have accused DS3 of being a "Kaizo hack" Dark Souls game. I think it's the greater emphasis on combat that makes me find DS3 more challenging than any previous Souls game, or even Bloodborne. One of the interesting things about Soulsborne is that seems like there's one boss that's easy for one person and hard for another, but then there's a different boss where it's the opposite. Like, some people say Orphan of Kos from Bloodborne is one of the hardest bosses in the series, and I certainly died to him a lot, but he was relatively easy to figure out compared to Laurence, The First Vicar, which made me want to tear my hair out. The reasons why I think DS3 is easier is partially because the bonfire checkpoints and shortcuts are a lot more frequent, and the difficulty curve of bosses is pretty good. I don't remember Vordt or the Cursewood Tree that well, but I think I was able to beat them first go. I died a bunch to Crystal Sage, but I don't think he's super difficult. Deacons of the Deep are a joke. Abyss Watcher seems hard until you realize they start fighting each other in the first half, and in both forms, you can stagger them with a heavy-enough weapon. Wolnir's has glowing weakpoints. From the Pontiff onwards is where I think the fights start to pick up and get more difficult. All that said, you might be right, and my perspective is skewed, since I don't have the best play-by-play memory of DS1 and DS2. DS1 is a lot slower, but I know a lot of the fights in that game don't require you to have expert timing with dodges, or at least not until Ornstein and Smough. I also know I ended up cheesing a lot of bosses in DS3 by having summons along. Eventually, I'm going to go to NG+, so I might turn around and realize that a lot of the DS3 bosses are harder. The only other Souls game I've played recently was the original PS3 Demon's Souls, and that was just picking up a nearly finished playthrough on NG+, where all I had left to do was beat False King Allant. That was an ordeal, because just getting to the fight is a trip-and-a-half since (as someone in the thread told me) on NG+, enemies can sometimes one-shot you. I don't think I'd call it a Kaizo hack. I remember that was something said about Scholar of the First Sin, but then I never played the original version of DS2, so I can't really compare the two. Harrow posted:This is the other thing I'm noticing playing multiple Souls games concurrently. That yellow sky for most DS3 really does sort of homogenize the environments, and the places that are really standouts--Irithyll and Archdragon Peak--pop even more because they're the places with different skies. I definitely found myself missing the relative variety of skyboxes from DS1. I meant to mention Archdragon Peak and Irithyll. Arriving in Archdragon Peak is such a breath of fresh air, with the bright blue sky and shining sun. Irithyll is pretty breathtaking when you first see it, coming out the Catacombs.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 06:43
|
|
|
Max Wilco posted:All that said, you might be right, and my perspective is skewed, since I don't have the best play-by-play memory of DS1 and DS2. DS1 is a lot slower, but I know a lot of the fights in that game don't require you to have expert timing with dodges, or at least not until Ornstein and Smough. I also know I ended up cheesing a lot of bosses in DS3 by having summons along. Eventually, I'm going to go to NG+, so I might turn around and realize that a lot of the DS3 bosses are harder.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 06:49
|
|
|
I've theorized that's why people are so quick to say DS2 is too easy. Not that it doesn't have difficulty modulation weirdness as well, but you can blow through large parts of 2 simply because you've learned all the standard tricks from 1.Max Wilco posted:One of the interesting things about Soulsborne is that seems like there's one boss that's easy for one person and hard for another, but then there's a different boss where it's the opposite. Definitely. Beyond just general skill and taste it's an inevitable outcome when any given person could be tackling a boss with a wildly different build/equipment. John Murdoch fucked around with this message at 06:57 on Dec 21, 2020 |
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 06:54
|
|
|
IronicDongz posted:I think combat in ds3 is noticably harder than ds1/ds2, bosses in particular. And I don't think I would ever call exploration in souls games "hard", just something that may take a varying amount of time depending on how thorough you're being, so I can't really place anything besides ds3 at the top of difficulty. The first Judicator I just picked at with greatbow arrows, because while I'm sure you can dodge past the hundred-or-so arrows, the first time I tried doing it I died, and I didn't want to risk it again. You can avoid the other two, but you might end up aggroing the one in the swamp trying to deal with the locusts by accident, and the third one I think you have to deal with if you're going for the Purging Monument (maybe you can just run past it, and it will stop sending phantoms after you). But yeah, I do see how the combat can be a lot harder, since bosses like the Dancer and Sulyvahn do require you to be pretty good at dodging. I'm fine with it being ranked the hardest, since that makes me feel even better about beating it and the DLC!  IronicDongz posted:It's also worth mentioning that soulsborne games you play earlier(especially the first one) will be a lot harder, because you're still learning the systems and language of the game, much of which transfers over to other soulsborne games you play later so you don't need to learn as much. True, though I would think DS1 would be the best starting point if you're new to the series.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 07:01
|
|
|
Max Wilco posted:The first Judicator I just picked at with greatbow arrows, because while I'm sure you can dodge past the hundred-or-so arrows, the first time I tried doing it I died, and I didn't want to risk it again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMZ0yGW4NYg&t=40s Guy in that video is being a lot more cautious than you need to be, frankly. It reminds me a lot of the dropdown to the bonfire in sen's fortress, in that a lot of players miss it and have a lot more trouble with the area than they otherwise would.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 07:17
|
|
|
IronicDongz posted:You don't actually have to dodge any arrows-you can use the tombstones as cover, and then go roll down to the lower section which lets you get near him(and then he starts doing the ledo summon instead). Ha, yeah that was my problem. I did not know that path below was there. I thought you had to run to the second set of gravestones, then dodge past the last set of arrows to the Judicator.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 07:20
|
|
|
I think Gael was the hardest boss for me, but perhaps it was because I was playing with an Faith / UGS build at the time (using mainly a faith-infused Lothric Knight Greatsword, I think).
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 07:42
|
|
|
Harrow posted:It's interesting to see someone say DS3 is easier than the previous games, since I personally find it harder and I know a few people up in the chat thread have accused DS3 of being a "Kaizo hack" Dark Souls game. I think it's the greater emphasis on combat that makes me find DS3 more challenging than any previous Souls game, or even Bloodborne. I've never seen anyone else say ds3 is the easiest either. I found it far and away the hardest because it felt so much faster compared to 1 and 2.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 09:05
|
|
|
I found 3 the hardest overall but 2 had some spectacularly bastardly bossfights, and all of them can be found in the DLC. Shoutouts to Sinh, Tomb Gank Squad, Ivory King, and Sir Alonne's lovely hitboxes.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 09:11
|
|
|
The only dlc I played in ds2 was iron king and it was Not Fun. Shrine of amana will always blow, but ds2 has a special place because of the covenant of champions ring.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 09:13
|
|
|
Max Wilco posted:One of the interesting things about Soulsborne is that seems like there's one boss that's easy for one person and hard for another, but then there's a different boss where it's the opposite. Like, some people say Orphan of Kos from Bloodborne is one of the hardest bosses in the series, and I certainly died to him a lot, but he was relatively easy to figure out compared to Laurence, The First Vicar, which made me want to tear my hair out. I had a similar experience with Orphan of Kos and Laurence. I actually managed to beat Orphan of Kos first try somehow, but Laurence was a goddamn nightmare for me. Then once I realized that I could stick super close to his right side (the player's left) when he's in the "crawl around and leak lava" mode and be mostly safe I beat him pretty easily. But it took a lot of deaths to get to that point  Max Wilco posted:The reasons why I think DS3 is easier is partially because the bonfire checkpoints and shortcuts are a lot more frequent, and the difficulty curve of bosses is pretty good. I don't remember Vordt or the Cursewood Tree that well, but I think I was able to beat them first go. I died a bunch to Crystal Sage, but I don't think he's super difficult. Deacons of the Deep are a joke. Abyss Watcher seems hard until you realize they start fighting each other in the first half, and in both forms, you can stagger them with a heavy-enough weapon. Wolnir's has glowing weakpoints. From the Pontiff onwards is where I think the fights start to pick up and get more difficult. I do appreciate the more frequent bonfires and shortcuts. For me, it's not so much that the bosses are harder (though I think they are, at least once you're past Pontiff)--it's that the combat with regular enemies is more demanding this time. I sometimes say that it feels like some enemies are playing Bloodborne but I'm still playing Dark Souls. Compared to earlier Souls games, there are a lot more aggressive, high-poise, tanky enemies with long, highly-damaging combos that you really just have to learn to dodge with the right timing, and the game is also much more willing to make you fight two or three at once. This is mostly compared to Demon's Souls and the first Dark Souls, where for the most part, if you have a really dangerous non-boss enemy, you also have the room to fight it on its own. That's not always the case, but it frequently is. In some cases they even made the aggro ranges really small on those types of enemies so that they could put two or three in a single hallway but you can still safely fight them one at a time. Dark Souls 3 doesn't really let you get away with that--you just gotta learn how to dodge, and dodge consistently. Bloodborne has a similar design, but because the player is so much faster in Bloodborne (largely owing to the super-fast recovery on the sidestep dodges) and your parry move is ranged, it feels more manageable. None of this is really a complaint, since I'm having more fun replaying DS3 than I thought I would, just an observation about how the series changed over its installments.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 14:38
|
|
|
I don't think Max Wilco is alone in finding DS3 easier than 1 or 2. For example, there's this SuperBunnyHop video from a few years ago where he implies he found DS3 easier (something like, if you found DS3 easier than the others, note that there are fewer places to fall to your death in each level, to paraphrase). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ9_RJ2EPo0 Thinking about it, DS3 is definitely more generous with bonfires and shortcuts. So maybe a way to put how I feel about it is like, DS3 is harder, but Demon's Souls and DS1 and 2 are more punishing? If that makes sense? I find the moment-to-moment gameplay in DS3 more challenging, but when I die, it feels easier to recover and feels like I lost less time.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 15:01
|
|
|
i liked ds3 alot but i tapped out after trying ringed city and having to the 2 demons transform into 1 after killing them. not really a fan of the bosses with multiple forms. im fine with finishing the base game and ill eventually come back to it i think i just burned out. overall the normal enemies while being harder were pretty fun to fight once you got the hang of it. it was nice being able to the stroll up to the all the knight enemies that gave me so much trouble in the beginning and absolutely gently caress them up. also the bow was probably the most valuable weapon for me because drawing enemies into 1 on 1 fights or snipeing the more annoying ones to death made everything alot easier
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 17:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2024 06:22 |
|
|
Fwiw Demon Prince's attacks change depending on which one you kill last. If you kill Demon In Pain last then Demon Prince will use a fire beam attack that leaves it completely helpless for a few seconds and you can beat on its face risk-free.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2020 17:54
|
|