Dark Souls 2: Not as hard as people claim?

[Ihateregistering1]

I think a large reason why people claim they are so hard is because, compared to the vast majority of games of today, they are significantly less forgiving. Although it's become a little less common, let's face it: most games today, if you die, you go back about 30 seconds and try again, and you can repeat this until you get through whatever part is holding you back.

Demon's Souls (and now the Dark Souls games) actually genuinely punish you for dying, something that many gamers who aren't familiar with really old school games probably didn't have too much experience with.

This is also why X-Com: Enemy Unknown had such a reputation for being hard: because the game actually made you hurt for losing, and in fact you could actually "lose" the entire game, even though honestly the game isn't that difficult once you get the hang of the combat and figure out the enemy AI.

 

[Greg White]

The Second one doesn't seem any easier, but it does ease you into the power curve a bit better than that demon from the first one.

One of the things I like about the second one is that it rewards you better for exploration. In the first one a bit of exploration would net you an extra covenant and a mess of crystal lizards. In the second game it can net you several extra bosses, several hidden covenants, and a mess of toys that will make the game easier.

There's also the fact that the covenants have many of the best items and spells as rewards, not to mention a hidden boss and the best chime for completing one of them. Then you have the 2 challenge rings you can get for a no-death and a no-bonfire playthrough for those who really like challenges.

 

[joest01]

The "reputation" is based on some inept reviewers who couldn't handle themselves.

Nobody in their right mind would call the Souls games "difficult", they require a bit of patience.

Well, unless you plan on doing a melee only run in the champions cov. Heck throw in Darklurker melee for fun. Then we're talking difficult. The funny thing is that even with the awestone farming that is going on, the champions leaderboard is a joke. Seems like a lot of the supposedly bored hardasses didn't bother to join longer than it took for them to look for that nonexistent summon sign in a difficult spot. (Don't look at me!)

 

[Guy from the 80's]

I think the hardest part of the Souls game is the forced slow pace and how frustrating it can get after multiple deaths.

And the fact that you lose your souls when you die.

 

[Piorn]

And the fact that you lose your souls when you die.

Incorrect, you lose your souls if you die twice without improving.
As long as you get further than you did last time you never lose your souls.

 

[Grimh]

This is the internet. Absolutely everything ever gets exaggerated lightyears beyond reason x1 000 000 000.

The Souls games aren't hard per say, it just expect more from you than most AAA games out today.
It's like a teacher who is tough but fair, unlike the other one(s) who just don't care.

 

[Guy from the 80's]

And the fact that you lose your souls when you die.

Incorrect, you lose your souls if you die twice without improving.
As long as you get further than you did last time you never lose your souls.

You lose your souls when you die and you have to pick them up. If you lose your souls after fighting sevral mobs and near death experiences then it becomes frustrating as you dont know if you got the time to do it all over again and you might die trying. That was my point.

If you dont have it in your inventory, then you dont have it anymore = you just lost your souls.

 

[joest01]

I think you may find that Dark Souls II to a lot of people is not as hard as Dark Souls. I am one of those people myself, actually. I still found the game challenging and fun, but it didn't seem to kick me in the teeth like Dark Souls did.

but there are some i really struggle with and haven't been able to do without help yet (pursuer, ruin sentinels, gargoyles). there have also been a lot more situations where mobs have actually killed me in DS2 as well.

Oh, that Gargoyles fight can suck and die. That is, by far, the hardest fight in the game for me. I still have yet to beat them without help. Four at once is nigh impossible for me, so I feel your pain on that one. If fact, I think that may be the hardest fight out of either game.

Off topic, but the gargoyles in NG aren't hard. The trick is to take one out after another. They come in packs of 2. When you take one down under 50% the next one spawns. So two hand or dual wield your weapon. Buff with fire, lightning, not sure what else works. And go to town. It gets much tougher in deeper playthroughs when you can't take them out quickly anymore. And in addition to spawning a third, the wounded one will start spamming the fire attack. So long stoy short, make sure you do good damage and focus on one at a time.

Well, or spam firestorm and try to get lucky. But that is very hit and miss. (cheese tactics like a summon with aggro ring two handing a shield will not be endorsed here!)

I have a feeling that few people solo the throne duo. Or even attempt to melee darklurker. Lets not even speak of the dual pursuers. The bosses here are more difficult than in Dark1, not sure how anyone can think different. Somebody upstairs has it right though, an agility of 98 or more makes a huge difference.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I think you may find that Dark Souls II to a lot of people is not as hard as Dark Souls. I am one of those people myself, actually. I still found the game challenging and fun, but it didn't seem to kick me in the teeth like Dark Souls did.

but there are some i really struggle with and haven't been able to do without help yet (pursuer, ruin sentinels, gargoyles). there have also been a lot more situations where mobs have actually killed me in DS2 as well.

Oh, that Gargoyles fight can suck and die. That is, by far, the hardest fight in the game for me. I still have yet to beat them without help. Four at once is nigh impossible for me, so I feel your pain on that one. If fact, I think that may be the hardest fight out of either game.

Off topic, but the gargoyles in NG aren't hard. The trick is to take one out after another. They come in packs of 2. When you take one down under 50% the next one spawns. So two hand or dual wield your weapon. Buff with fire, lightning, not sure what else works. And go to town. It gets much tougher in deeper playthroughs when you can't take them out quickly anymore. And in addition to spawning a third, the wounded one will start spamming the fire attack. So long stoy short, make sure you do good damage and focus on one at a time.

Well, or spam firestorm and try to get lucky. But that is very hit and miss. (cheese tactics like a summon with aggro ring two handing a shield will not be endorsed here!)

I have a feeling that few people solo the throne duo. Or even attempt to melee darklurker. Lets not even speak of the dual pursuers. The bosses here are more difficult than in Dark1, not sure how anyone can think different. Somebody upstairs has it right though, an agility of 98 or more makes a huge difference.

It depends on how you try to fight the gargoyles. I haven't yet been able to kill all of them with my Belmont character(whips don't seem to hit them very hard). Even trying to cheese it with dual poison whips hasn't worked yet. I could probably beat them by changing weapons, but then I wouldn't be doing a Castlevania run.

 

[joest01]

I think you may find that Dark Souls II to a lot of people is not as hard as Dark Souls. I am one of those people myself, actually. I still found the game challenging and fun, but it didn't seem to kick me in the teeth like Dark Souls did.

but there are some i really struggle with and haven't been able to do without help yet (pursuer, ruin sentinels, gargoyles). there have also been a lot more situations where mobs have actually killed me in DS2 as well.

Oh, that Gargoyles fight can suck and die. That is, by far, the hardest fight in the game for me. I still have yet to beat them without help. Four at once is nigh impossible for me, so I feel your pain on that one. If fact, I think that may be the hardest fight out of either game.

Off topic, but the gargoyles in NG aren't hard. The trick is to take one out after another. They come in packs of 2. When you take one down under 50% the next one spawns. So two hand or dual wield your weapon. Buff with fire, lightning, not sure what else works. And go to town. It gets much tougher in deeper playthroughs when you can't take them out quickly anymore. And in addition to spawning a third, the wounded one will start spamming the fire attack. So long stoy short, make sure you do good damage and focus on one at a time.

Well, or spam firestorm and try to get lucky. But that is very hit and miss. (cheese tactics like a summon with aggro ring two handing a shield will not be endorsed here!)

I have a feeling that few people solo the throne duo. Or even attempt to melee darklurker. Lets not even speak of the dual pursuers. The bosses here are more difficult than in Dark1, not sure how anyone can think different. Somebody upstairs has it right though, an agility of 98 or more makes a huge difference.

It depends on how you try to fight the gargoyles. I haven't yet been able to kill all of them with my Belmont character(whips don't seem to hit them very hard). Even trying to cheese it with dual poison whips hasn't worked yet. I could probably beat them by changing weapons, but then I wouldn't be doing a Castlevania run.

I run dual old whips, but why would you limit yourself to them. I use them on Rotten, the singing frog, Vendrick, even Nashandra, but why waste them on armored enemies. And a slot for the knuckle ring to boot, otherwise they wont last half the battle. Have fun I guess?

 

[Scars Unseen]

I'm running a Castlevania themed playthrough. Whips, thrown weapons and weapon enhancements are the only things I'm allowing myself. I've currently got one old whip, two +10 whips and two +10 poison infused whips that I use, so breakage isn't a huge problem if I keep swapping them out. I also have a Notched Whip, but I haven't found much of a use for that one. I'm running a Dex/Int build so that I can also get some flame whips going eventually. Light armors only(Got Black Leather and Pate's set combo going now).

It's pretty fun, but armored bosses can be a challenge(I often take advantage of elemental weaknesses and use appropriate thrown weapons). The hardest part is dealing with ranged attackers, since the most range I have are my throwing knives.

 

[joest01]

I'm running a Castlevania themed playthrough. Whips, thrown weapons and weapon enhancements are the only things I'm allowing myself. I've currently got one old whip, two +10 whips and two +10 poison infused whips that I use, so breakage isn't a huge problem if I keep swapping them out. I also have a Notched Whip, but I haven't found much of a use for that one. I'm running a Dex/Int build so that I can also get some flame whips going eventually. Light armors only(Got Black Leather and Pate's set combo going now).

It's pretty fun, but armored bosses can be a challenge(I often take advantage of elemental weaknesses and use appropriate thrown weapons). The hardest part is dealing with ranged attackers, since the most range I have are my throwing knives.

Good luck then. I'm sure you know this but in terms of throwing items the holy water urns from the vendor in the blue cathedral are win.

p.s. if you are mostly going for PVE I would consider going faith not magic. And infuse lightning. Although of course that stone is much rarer.

 

[A-D.]

Dark Souls 2 isnt hard, but its cheap, some areas more so than others i found. The game isnt even really difficult in the sense of difficulty, like the whole assumption that you will only die if you are doing something stupid, go to Doors of Pharros, the big circular water room when you arent in the Rat Covenant, or how about Belfry Luna? Chances are the odds are stacked heavily against you, now granted thats PvP to a degree, although in case of Belfry Luna its probably the worst PvP area ever designed, Belfry Sol at least works very well for PvP, solo or 2vs2. So lets look at PvE Areas, Gutter, Black Gulch, Shrine of Amana, Undead Crypt (Vendrick in particular), Huntsmans Copse and Earthen Peak. Between Homing Soul Arrows from far outside your own range, behemoth-dogs, hand-worms, Manikins and those fucking stick-wielding executioner dudes in Huntsmans..tell me where the game isnt going for the cheap factor?

The game is like..a sadist if you think about it, i mean sure part of the appeal is that it doesnt pull any punches, but its never about fairness, its about how much it can fuck you over if you mistime this one roll, block too late or dont sidestep this attack. Case in point, Vendrick with his autotracking overhead attack which can one-hit-kill you, at best you live until he follows up with the swipe which will get you. Manikins which always show up in pairs, have speed, medium range as well as poison daggers they use repeatedly and very quickly stunlocking you to death and the less said about telescoping soul-arrow artillery in Amana the better.

The game isnt "hard" or "difficult". Its cheap as hell in trying to kill you, even occasionally outright cheating essentially. Of course that makes it all the more satisfying if you can cheat right back, like having the high-ground against an opponent that cant use ladders (Heide Knight in Forest of Giants)

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Dark Souls is one of the easiest games I've played recently. I didn't play Demon's Souls and once I "figured out" the game, I found you just need to use the same strategy against every enemy. Games like Uncharted and Tomb Raider would be way harder than Dark Souls if they had the same distance between checkpoints as Dark Souls. Lastly, the RPG mechanics were horrible (a stat that does nothing, fire magic not being stat dependent, dex characters able to tank, etc.) and so were the combat mechanics (you can't strafe or backpedal with a shield up and not locked-on, and lock-on is an obsolete mechanic to begin with).

 

[joest01]

Dark Souls is one of the easiest games I've played recently. I didn't play Demon's Souls and once I "figured out" the game, I found you just need to use the same strategy against every enemy. Games like Uncharted and Tomb Raider would be way harder than Dark Souls if they had the same distance between checkpoints as Dark Souls. Lastly, the RPG mechanics were horrible (a stat that does nothing, fire magic not being stat dependent, dex characters able to tank, etc.) and so were the combat mechanics (you can't strafe or backpedal with a shield up and not locked-on, and lock-on is an obsolete mechanic to begin with).

You should try this one. Fire now scales with int, there is a mystery stat that is actually important and just overall improved combat mechanics. Can't speak about the shield, never used on in any of the souls games.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I find that DS2 contains a lot more of the cheap bullshit trickery that many claimed was in DS1. Mobs of 5+ that aggro all at once and run across the map to gang you, play dead enemies, jumps from behind, that sort of stuff. I also can't fucking stand that enemies rotate with you. I get the impression that the designers thought "people love Dark Souls because it's hard!" and did things that were more "fucking grinding on my patience" under the impression that they want a frustrated playerbase.

I've died more in DS2 than I ever did in DS1, but it may be because of my daughter and me rushing a lot more because I know my window of time for gaming is much shorter. I loaded up DS1 after 35 hours of DS2, and ran through Painted World at SL38 with one death. Might be because I know the level already. Either way, I'm finding 2 to be more difficult, if one were to define "difficult" by the number of times they die.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

You should try this one. Fire now scales with int, there is a mystery stat that is actually important and just overall improved combat mechanics. Can't speak about the shield, never used on in any of the souls games.

I don't think I will. Dark Souls was their SECOND try and I don't understand how several things would've even made it out of the initial planning stages let alone into the final game. The horrible shield controls are what made fighting more than one enemy at once hard. MGO, a freaking TPS, has better shield controls than Dark Souls, that's pretty sad.

 

[joest01]

You should try this one. Fire now scales with int, there is a mystery stat that is actually important and just overall improved combat mechanics. Can't speak about the shield, never used on in any of the souls games.

I don't think I will. Dark Souls was their SECOND try and I don't understand how several things would've even made it out of the initial planning stages let alone into the final game. The horrible shield controls are what made fighting more than one enemy at once hard. MGO, a freaking TPS, has better shield controls than Dark Souls, that's pretty sad.

Dont know. You seem to have been traumatized somehow by dark souls. I remember you stating the combat in amalur was superior
Like i said i never used a shield but i think there is a difference between greatshield and spear and normal shield and sword or strike weapon. The latter would be more mobile and better crowd control, allowing you to roll, parry and have sweeping strong attacks at your disposal. If you resort to cheesing every enemy into solo turtle sessions of course you wont enjoy it.

You liked bayonetta, right? Have you tried revengeance? You can spoil that by spamming the parry control. But why would you.

 

[Skin]

One of the things I like about the second one is that it rewards you better for exploration. In the first one a bit of exploration would net you an extra covenant and a mess of crystal lizards. In the second game it can net you several extra bosses, several hidden covenants, and a mess of toys that will make the game easier.

I don't think you are giving Dark Souls enough credit here. Return to Undead Asylum, Painted World, Gwyndolin and possibly even dark Anor Londo are all areas that require you to explore to find them, and they are far more rewarding than whatever secret areas DkS2 had.

Also, the order in which you do certain things affects the NPC's of the world in DkS, for example, the Rhea of Thoruland questline. There is nothing of the sort in DkS2. Nothing you really do will affect the NPC's in DkS2 apart from the basic stuff like them moving.