Poll: Which Souls game is the most difficult to you? Who's the toughest fight for you as well (Spoilers)?

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Falcondynamite

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The Souls series has gained and earned it's popularity by being challenging for the past couple of years since Demons Souls to the recently released Dark Souls 2. While it's not the hardest series this generation it definitely brought the kind of challenge that we've come to know and love.

With that being said, which of the three did you honestly find the most difficult (in general)?

If you also feel like stating which sections in each game you found to be pretty damn difficult you can talk about that too.

For my own personal opinion of found Demons Souls to be the most difficult.

There are so many reasons why I found it so damn hard, almost all the levels had a number of sections in which you could easily get killed.

The Flamelurker and Maneaters totally earned the right as easily being the toughest bosses in the whole series.

I found Dark Souls to be the easiest of the three games. I barely died in Dark Souls on my first playthrough, I beat the game in a stunning two days without much trouble. I mean O&S and the four kings were probably the hardest sections in the whole game but even then they're really not too hard.

Dark Souls 2 I found right on par with Demons Souls, but that may be because Dark Souls 2 is overall a much longer game. Over time your deaths will accumulate pretty high. I put myself on online mode and found out that throughout my first playthrough I died 152 times.
However I still found it to be easier than Demons Souls. The difficulty in DS 2 is so sporadic. The first five hours of DS 2 can be really damn difficult. Then it gets really easy, then it gets hard for 2-4 hours, then it gets easy for like 20 hours, then it gets tricky, then the end game is mostly easy.
Not saying I didn't thoroughly enjoy my experience in DS 2 (although the minor occurrences of hitbox detection failure was noticeable).
Despite being longer I didn't find myself being as impressed with the overall atmosphere of the game, not saying the atmosphere was bad but I liked DS 1 far more. I like how weapon customization became less of a pain in the ass (especially with special weapons).

To name it off I only found three bosses to be painfully hard. They were mainly hard because I solo'd the game and never used a summon spirit, I might do that in future playthroughs but I decided to not do it on my first.

#3: Mytha the Baneful Queen
It's not that she's honestly very hard, the issue is that the entire fight is a fight against a spear wielding enemy with a ton of health that regenerates herself as you fight her while also dealing with poison. This fight feels almost luck based. There will be times in which she will constantly evade your attacks and because of that the poison will still slowly kill you and you'll barely have the chance to heal. Sometimes though she will never evade and then you can just whale on her and she goes down really easy. It's honestly kind of a pain in the ass.

#2: The Lost Sinner
This boss shows up way to early in the game. She's incredibly aggressive, she loves to evade and she hits pretty damn hard. Because it's in the dark targeting her is actually made more difficult. Nearly all the bosses that you're "supposed" to fight after her go down so easily and barely put up a fight. If you fought her at a later point in the game she wouldn't be nearly as difficult but damn.

#1: Ruined Sentinel Trio
Like the Lost sinner, these three show up way to fucking early in the game. Unless you have a tower shield and have good timing these guys are the hardest fight in the game. Remember the tower knights in DS1? Remember how you usually avoided trying to face more than one at a time? Well imagine skinnier versions and twice as aggressive versions being 20-30 levels to low of a level and being thrown to expected failure. While you can take one down without dealing with the other two till later, fighting more than one is pretty damn difficult. They're crazy aggressive, hit really hard and there's no real way to separate yourself from them.

Enjoy spreading your thoughts!

-Julio
 

Kopikatsu

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Mytha: You can drain the poison by burning the windmill beside the second bonfire of the area. I actually spent most of today letting myself get summoned for her fight, then literally beat people over the head with a torch until they figure out what I want them to do. Makes the fight way easier.

Lost Sinner: Sinner is one of the four 'Great Souls' that serve as the final boss of that 'spoke' of the map. The reason the game was probably hard for you, then got easy for a long time, then got hard again is because of how the stages are balanced. You're expected to finish the first area of each 'spoke', then the second, then finish on the third instead of playing one spoke through to the end then moving on to the next one. So basically you're fighting a mid-game boss with early-game equipment and skills. Also, like with Mytha, you can make this fight easier by manipulating the arena. After getting the Bastille Key from killing the Belfry Gargoyles, you can open the doors on either side of Sinner's boss gate. Inside are streams of oil, which you can light on fire which will light up the Sinner's arena even after s/he kills the lights. The light makes Sinner slower, weaker, and your lockon won't break when s/he jumps.

Trio: I...found these guys really easy? I took the NPC Phantom in with me and basically ran around in circles while they chased me and the NPC spammed Soul Spear. But as with Sinner, you're in a mid-game dungeon with early game gear/stats. 's to be expected. I hope you found a good way to deal with them, because they become semi-common enemies starting at Drangleic Castle. It's probably good that you managed to solo these guys though, because that skill will serve you well for Drangleic Castle's boss...

The fight I've struggled with the most in DS1 was Fatboy n' Slim while DS2 was... probably Old Iron King. OIK is actually a super easy boss on his own, but his stage is the worst. THE WORST. I kept falling into the lava because I have this thing about rolling backwards. Bleh. Smelter Demon wasn't really a pushover either, mostly because he changed phases too quickly. He'd go into phase 2 at ~80% health and phase 3 at ~65%, but he was REALLY strong at phase 3...
 

Falcondynamite

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Apr 22, 2010
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Kopikatsu said:
Mytha: You can drain the poison by burning the windmill beside the second bonfire of the area. I actually spent most of today letting myself get summoned for her fight, then literally beat people over the head with a torch until they figure out what I want them to do. Makes the fight way easier.

Lost Sinner: Sinner is one of the four 'Great Souls' that serve as the final boss of that 'spoke' of the map. The reason the game was probably hard for you, then got easy for a long time, then got hard again is because of how the stages are balanced. You're expected to finish the first area of each 'spoke', then the second, then finish on the third instead of playing one spoke through to the end then moving on to the next one. So basically you're fighting a mid-game boss with early-game equipment and skills. Also, like with Mytha, you can make this fight easier by manipulating the arena. After getting the Bastille Key from killing the Belfry Gargoyles, you can open the doors on either side of Sinner's boss gate. Inside are streams of oil, which you can light on fire which will light up the Sinner's arena even after s/he kills the lights. The light makes Sinner slower, weaker, and your lockon won't break when s/he jumps.

Trio: I...found these guys really easy? I took the NPC Phantom in with me and basically ran around in circles while they chased me and the NPC spammed Soul Spear. But as with Sinner, you're in a mid-game dungeon with early game gear/stats. 's to be expected. I hope you found a good way to deal with them, because they become semi-common enemies starting at Drangleic Castle. It's probably good that you managed to solo these guys though, because that skill will serve you well for Drangleic Castle's boss...

The fight I've struggled with the most in DS1 was Fatboy n' Slim while DS2 was... probably Old Iron King. OIK is actually a super easy boss on his own, but his stage is the worst. THE WORST. I kept falling into the lava because I have this thing about rolling backwards. Bleh. Smelter Demon wasn't really a pushover either, mostly because he changed phases too quickly. He'd go into phase 2 at ~80% health and phase 3 at ~65%, but he was REALLY strong at phase 3...
Did not know about that thing with Mytha, that's news to me, I'll remember that on my second playthrough.
I actually fought the Belfry Gargoyles after fighting the lost Sinner. Although once I figured if you keep to her left she's actually pretty easy.

Yeah the Ruin Sentinels really are hard because if you're not going in with help and honestly during the level I was at (I think I was like 25-30) I got my ass kicked a lot. Fighting them later in Drangleic wasn't such an issue because I was about 70+ levels higher. In fact most of the end game was really easy.

Honestly I beat Iron keep in less than 2 hours (including the bell area). A majority of it was spent on incense planing and grinding on the enemies there to purchase all of the merchants useful items. Iron Keep was laughably easy for me. I didn't really like the trek to reach "The Rotting" all those damn poison statues were annoying.

When I was doing a Slvl 1 playthrough of Dark Souls the hardest fight was totally Snorlax and Pikachu. However playing on regular run playthroughs, Super Ornstein is pretty damn tough. I guess Artorias is pretty tough... That's mainly because he has so much damn health and high defense.
 

Falcondynamite

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Apr 22, 2010
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Then again I'm weird because I never bothered asking for help or looking up the wiki on the game. Although I never did find out what happened to Carhillon and that I should've caught that destroying treasure chest always got you rubbish. Now I know for next time though.
 

NihilSinLulz

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Demon Souls. It was the first game in the series for me and it spanked my ass. It took me about 2 weeks to reach the first boss as I was still learning the mechanics. Dark Souls was far easier as I already knew the basics. DS2 is proving to be quite difficult if only because of the incredible enemy and boss variety which means you need to learn different abilities and tactics in each area.

Having a weird time in DS2. Supposedly easy bosses like the Dragonslayer and Dragonrider spanked my ass like no tommorw, yet I found the liked of The Pursuor piss easy. As of the time of writing, the Lady Scorpion is spanking my ass.
 

Souplex

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I feel Dark Souls 2 is harder than Dark Souls 1 due to the lack of available quality spears and shields in the early sections.
I feel like it's not that Dark Souls II is harder, it's that it's more punishing for failure, and a lot less forgiving.
I haven't played Demon's Souls, (I played the early sections at a friend's, but that barely counts) so I wouldn't know.
 

TheEvilCheese

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DS1. The sheer limit on healing and spellcastings made it much harder to barely scrape through a zone. Harder to break the combat too unless you manage to stack maximum magic damage (but as I didn't know that was a thing, it was harder).

I think most of this is because it was so clearly balanced with PVP in mind (Estus limit, Weapon upgrade paths etc)
 

sXeth

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I'd guess Demons Souls, though I haven't played it.

Of the two Dark Souls, #1 by a long shot, unless #2 is suddenly going to spike up in the tail end. Maybe thats just from practice, but #2 seems noticeably more telegraphed and with glaring gaps in boss attack patterns. It throws a few puzzle-bosses in, but that's more of a question of approach over difficulty.
 

Xdeser2

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Dark Souls 2, simply because holy shit, the Ruined Sentinel Trio is goddamned ridiculous. co-op or no, they just destroy everything.

They make me want to tear my hair out. (but, you know, its Dark Souls so it's okay lol)
 

Flutterguy

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I think 'hardest in the series' is whichever one you started with. I started on DS, and haven't played the others yet, so naturally I choose Crash Bandicoot.
 

Skin

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Wow really, Dark Souls 2 is really easy. Granted, that Mytha fight would have been near impossible if not for the orange soapstone I read, but nothing else stands out as challenging. Within two fights of the Ruin Sentinel I knew exactly how to beat them, but I would see how they would be the proverbial "wall" that people run into.

Demon Souls was tough, but I think Dark Souls takes a slight edge since DeS could be cheesed completely with magic.
 

Falcondynamite

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Demons Souls easily had the most difficult boss fights though. The Flamelurker and Maneaters are pretty bad first playthrough but NG+ they've become another thing altogether.

I don't know, I ran through Dark Souls in about two days. I actually played Dark Souls first and while the game gets a little more difficutl with NG+ (i.e the four kings and 0&S) it's really not too hard. I'm like level 300 in Demons Souls and still lose against Mr.Lurky and the Pre-Belfry non-gargoyles.

Dark Souls 2 if you don't go with the correct pacing the games difficulty will be all over the place. If you do though Dark Souls 2 is still a tad harder than Dark Souls. The fact that a marjority of the enemies were far more aggresive than Dark Souls and that they got the archers to be as much as a annoyance in Demons Souls (fucking.... archers...)

Which could you consider the best of the three is an entirely different argument altogether because I feel they all were pretty solid in there own way. I just found DS to be the most memorable, but in technicality in combat I preferred DS 2 with addition to functional multiplayer.
 

Sunrider

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Can't say anything about Dark Souls II yet (waiting for the master race version), which is also why I won't read anything said in this thread because I don't want anything spoiled, but to me, Dark Souls and Demon's Souls are difficult for different reasons. The regular areas in Demon's Souls are way more difficult than their Dark Souls equivalent, whereas the bosses in Demon's Souls are much easier than their Dark Souls counterpart.

That's just my two cents. There was not a single boss in Demon's Souls that even came close to Ornstein & Smough, Manus or Kalameet, but there is also no area in Dark Souls (including Anor Londo's archers, wheel skeletons or the monster skeleton assholes in Tomb of the Giants) that is nearly as hard as most Demon's Souls areas when in Pure Black tendency.
 

GundamSentinel

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Sunrider84 said:
Can't say anything about Dark Souls II yet (waiting for the master race version), which is also why I won't read anything said in this thread because I don't want anything spoiled, but to me, Dark Souls and Demon's Souls are difficult for different reasons. The regular areas in Demon's Souls are way more difficult than their Dark Souls equivalent, whereas the bosses in Demon's Souls are much easier than their Dark Souls counterpart.

That's just my two cents. There was not a single boss in Demon's Souls that even came close to Ornstein & Smough, Manus or Kalameet, but there is also no area in Dark Souls (including Anor Londo's archers, wheel skeletons or the monster skeleton assholes in Tomb of the Giants) that is nearly as hard as most Demon's Souls areas when in Pure Black tendency.
I'd say that's fair. Maybe it was just my experience with Demon's Souls, but most areas in Dark Souls were a piece of cake. Demon's Souls' areas just seemed to go on and on with more horror to throw at you (damn you, giant depraved ones!). When it comes to the bosses, Demon's Souls was often fairly simple. One reason for that, or at least when it comes to my play style, was that the bosses in Demon's Souls were not as much the slugfests they were in Dark Souls, with lots of dodging/blocking and chipping away at the health bar.
 

Phoenixmgs_v1legacy

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I only played Dark Souls, which was one of the easier games I've played on PS3. I don't get why this series is considered hard, I used the same strategy from the beginning of the game to the end. The enemy AI was just so bad and exploitable it's not even funny, and I'm just talking about doing stuff like pulling enemies one-by-one with a bow or using the bow to kill at range (I'm not talking about making them fall off cliffs or anything like that). If pretty much any other game (say Tomb Raider) had long lengths between checkpoints like Dark Souls, it would be harder than Dark Souls.
 

ShinyCharizard

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Having played all three, I'd say Dark Souls 2 is the hardest. I've been really struggling through some of the areas, and good equipment has been hard to come by.
 

Falcondynamite

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Sunrider84 said:
Can't say anything about Dark Souls II yet (waiting for the master race version), which is also why I won't read anything said in this thread because I don't want anything spoiled, but to me, Dark Souls and Demon's Souls are difficult for different reasons. The regular areas in Demon's Souls are way more difficult than their Dark Souls equivalent, whereas the bosses in Demon's Souls are much easier than their Dark Souls counterpart.

That's just my two cents. There was not a single boss in Demon's Souls that even came close to Ornstein & Smough, Manus or Kalameet, but there is also no area in Dark Souls (including Anor Londo's archers, wheel skeletons or the monster skeleton assholes in Tomb of the Giants) that is nearly as hard as most Demon's Souls areas when in Pure Black tendency.
I don't know, Flame Lurker and Maneaters on Pure black world and NG+ is still quite the fight.
 

michael87cn

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Well, that poll was helpful, wasn't it? Heh. Pretty even spread of numbers, there.

Dark Souls 2 for me, closely followed by Demons Souls. Dark Souls 1 is incredibly easy.
 

Greg White

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Haven't gotten to play Dark Souls 2 yet(damn you April 25, hurry up!), but between the other 2...Snorlax and Pikachu from Dark Souls is generally considered the hardest, but I think the only one that really gave me trouble was the fight against the Belfry Gargoyles, mostly because I just wasn't in the mindset just yet. By the time the other fights came around I already knew what I was doing and had better gear for the task.

Artorias was pretty easy as long as you don't let him power up, Manus loses some of his bite when you figure out that amulet does more than make lighting effects, Bed of Chaos I've done in full Havel's, and Kalamite is laughable is you aren't going for his tail.

Demon's Soul had its moments, but I didn't play it until after Dark Souls, so I already had a good idea of what sorts of tricks to expect.
 

Falcondynamite

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Apr 22, 2010
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michael87cn said:
Well, that poll was helpful, wasn't it? Heh. Pretty even spread of numbers, there.

Dark Souls 2 for me, closely followed by Demons Souls. Dark Souls 1 is incredibly easy.
Yeah no kidding, I'm kind of amazed the signature "joke" answer has generated that many votes... then again trying to collect everything in Crash was pretty bull shit.