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Started Dark Souls 3 after Elden Ring. Difficulty spikes are real

NeverYouMind

Gold Member
Dark Souls 3 starts the player in a late game area with cannon fodder thrown into the mix after the tutorial. The game hits its stride after it is beaten. The main thing is to do suicide runs to scout the area and find the boss.
 

NinjaBoiX

Member
It amazes me how players find the different games more difficult than the others in a wild degree. I personally found Dark souls 3 the easiest of the whole series, but my go-to build is priest / cleric so maybe it was just that.
Yeah, it speaks to the breadth of options each game offers (maybe Bloodborne and certainly Sekiro aside) that we all have vastly different takes on how difficult each game is.

I think Elden Ring is just too vast for me, and seems to require too much investment of a player’s time. I’ve had many people say “no wonder you were struggling nearing the end game after only 40 hours.”

I’ll hold my hands up and say I did use guides and such to optimise my build like I have in almost all of the games, but I think therein lies the problem.

I think because ER is so big and time consuming as opposed to the comparatively streamlined Souls games, if you’ve used help to get a solid build in terms of kit early on, you’ll be way underpowered in terms of stats by the end game because they’ve probably expected you to have spent more time in the world.

I’ve unlocked the bird farming spot, and will probably just spend an hour or two farming so I’m strong enough to see the rest of the game.

But I still maintain that it’s far less balanced than the other games, which is no surprise by virtue of its open ended design.
 
Hello GAF,

So I finished Elden Ring about a month ago. Was waiting for it's DLC. I was craving for more so I decided to get Dark Souls 3 in recent sale. Previously I have played Demons Souls and Dark Souls 1 on PS3 so I was confident I will find it manageable.

Turns out, its manageable, but barely. In just 3 hours of play I have reached a point where I have 3 ways to move forward. One has a dragon guarding it, other two have those mutated dudes which too are very powerful for my starting low level character. I will have to grind in this small area if I am to kill one of them to proceed.

This has me thinking how far ahead Elden Ring is in terms of difficulty curve. It has pretty much perfected difficulty settings. It's a lot longer game and is by no means easy but never did I face walls like this.

Dark Souls 3 and other previous From Games still are good if you want to face extreme difficulty and want to overcome challenge by slowly learning and grinding.

For me personally there is no going back after Elden Ring. It's de facto From Soft experience. It takes their world building, twisted bosses and enemy design, combat and wraps it up in a package that eases you in the experience. Also it helps that ER is very ambitious and it's evident the moment you step in Limgrave compared to when you step in Lothric.

What do you say GAF? Do you agree or do you still prefer punishing difficulty of previous From games?
Difficulty balance is one of the worst aspects of Elden Ring dude. 90% of enemies are a joke in ER die to the way they designed the open world. I think this was Fromsofts attempt to appease people complaining about the games being too hard.

This is why I'm worried about ER being so successful. I don't want them to abandon the tighter, more balanced experience of the more linear souls borne games.
 
I don't relate at all, Elden Ring biggest weakness is how it fails to balance anything because the game has no idea what path you'll have taken to get to a certain point. I don't think that From Software was able to come up with a good solution and it looks like they didn't even try.

I always like getting stuck in a couple of bosses or feeling like most of them are a challenge. It sucks when you just wipe the floor with the boss and doesn't even get to appreciate the fight.
This 100%
 
Difficulty balance is one of the worst aspects of Elden Ring dude. 90% of enemies are a joke in ER die to the way they designed the open world. I think this was Fromsofts attempt to appease people complaining about the games being too hard.

This is why I'm worried about ER being so successful. I don't want them to abandon the tighter, more balanced experience of the more linear souls borne games.
I don't relate at all, Elden Ring biggest weakness is how it fails to balance anything because the game has no idea what path you'll have taken to get to a certain point. I don't think that From Software was able to come up with a good solution and it looks like they didn't even try.

I always like getting stuck in a couple of bosses or feeling like most of them are a challenge. It sucks when you just wipe the floor with the boss and doesn't even get to appreciate the fight.
As with every new ER thread that pops up about it, I'll still agree with these quoted points about ER. Bloodborne was the best paced and most balanced game the souls team has ever made.

This is what Morrowind and Oblivion fans must have felt like when Skyrim was constantly put on the highest pedestal in all regards.
 
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Rex_DX

Gold Member
Seems like a weird example of "difficulty spikes."

Dragon can be run underneath between fire breathes. Mutators can either be cheesed with fire or, once you know which ones mutate you can just sprint up to them and kill them in a couple swings before they transform.

This is a game with the Nameless King. That fight is a difficulty spike. The High Wall isn't. Or it shouldn't be for more people.
 
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Dream-Knife

Banned
DS3 was the first FromSoft that I actually played through (BB gave me a headache). I don't remember there being an area that had a difficulty spike. Some bosses were brutal though.


Fantastic game.
 

22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
So less epic because Elden Ring doesn't impede you from progressing when hitting a wall?

Chittagong Chittagong


In regards to OP. And I hate to bring this up but there's a git gut sentiment for a reason in for example DS3. Less so in Elden Ring (But still a factor; I'm currently having a git gud process going on lmao)

Does the above have some truth in that or am I talking out of my bum?

Just thinking out loud fyi

Oh and sorry for my bad English
 
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skneogaf

Member
Apart from some of the bosses, I found dark souls 3 to be as difficult as the others but not more so.

Crowd control is key for me playing these games, try to fight enemies 1 on 1 is my tip.
 

Thief1987

Member
I don't relate at all, Elden Ring biggest weakness is how it fails to balance anything because the game has no idea what path you'll have taken to get to a certain point. I don't think that From Software was able to come up with a good solution and it looks like they didn't even try.

I always like getting stuck in a couple of bosses or feeling like most of them are a challenge. It sucks when you just wipe the floor with the boss and doesn't even get to appreciate the fight.
You are expecting too much from them. 15 years and 5 games later they still don't know how to balance their magic system - it was OP in DeS and it's still OP in Elden Ring. If someone need an easy mode should just play magic build because 90% of enemies and bosses absolutely defenseless against it. Like there are plenty of cases there you can stand still, throwing soul arrows and win. Absolute joke.
 

Chittagong

Gold Member
So less epic because Elden Ring doesn't impede you from progressing when hitting a wall?

Chittagong Chittagong

Pretty much. Hitting a tough boss is a potentially game-ending situation in DS/BB, which amps the pressure (and possibly, joy) to 11. In Elden Ring, you just do something else and return to it later, no drama.
 

22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Pretty much. Hitting a tough boss is a potentially game-ending situation in DS/BB, which amps the pressure (and possibly, joy) to 11. In Elden Ring, you just do something else and return to it later, no drama.
Surely. That goes without saying, but I find myself still having some epic battles whereas you kind of implied : "no" epicness were to be found due to it's open world nature.
So I kind of disagree on that particular comment of yours.

Still. Your post above holds very true =)

Edit, I misread, you said lesser. Yeah that's kind of my view as well..

Nvm I guess.. Thanks for replying
 
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Kataploom

Gold Member
Pretty much. Hitting a tough boss is a potentially game-ending situation in DS/BB, which amps the pressure (and possibly, joy) to 11. In Elden Ring, you just do something else and return to it later, no drama.
But that's exactly how I've been playing Dark Souls 1... I'll try some times if I see it's getting too much for me, I'll do something else and comeback later when I feel stronger or when I carry an item that could probably help me. For example, I'm about to go to that lava area again to fight the giant demon I couldn't beat before, now that I got that ring that reduces my fire damage gotten
 
You are expecting too much from them. 15 years and 5 games later they still don't know how to balance their magic system - it was OP in DeS and it's still OP in Elden Ring. If someone need an easy mode should just play magic build because 90% of enemies and bosses absolutely defenseless against it. Like there are plenty of cases there you can stand still, throwing soul arrows and win. Absolute joke.
That's why I always play avoiding magic, too me it does feel like an easy mode.

The problem with ER is that your are hardly ever in that sweet spot where you are relatively weak but still feel like you can beat the boss if you learn the fight well enough. To me it happened twice I think, Margit right at the beginning and Malenia.

Way to easy to become OP, way to easy to encounter a boss that you are really nowhere near ready to face yet. The game gives the player way too much freedom for it's own good without introducing any mechanics to correct for that.
 
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DavidGzz

Member
I don't care how their next game is structured but I definitely wouldn't mind a game locking me into getting battered like the bitch that I am. Elden Ring-style games will always make them more money though. I know 5 people who would never touch Dark Souls who played and loved it.
 

ChoosableOne

ChoosableAll
Hardest souls game From Software ever made(Elden Ring is the easiest). I summoned some fellow nerds to help me beat some of the bosses(Slave Knight Gael, Nameless King, Sister Friede, Pontiff Sulyvahn and maybe more). Sekiro was like a cakewalk comparing to this. It's beyond hard or I completely f**ked up my character on that one. Those fights were epic though.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
The main difference is that in ER it's extremely easy to become overpowered (you have to intentionally not explore too much to avoid it). This isn't the case in the DS games, there you have to really work for it if you want to decrease the challenge.
 

Ogbert

Member
Those who are dismissing DS3’s difficulty are forgetting the fact that they likely played the previous Souls games and got gud.

It’s ‘easy’ because you know the tricks. The fact that the game teaches you to hug Grundyr’s ass and play aggressively. That it drops mobs in front of you to run away from rather than engage. It pulls out all it’s tricks.

It’s still my favourite From game.

And the Abyss Watchers is the coolest boss in video game history. Absolute high point of the series.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
the ai is still stupid as hell, FROM basically just bump up the combo count and damage of the enemies lol
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
DS3's combat balance is pretty dodgy in my opinion. Straight swords are so much better than the other options because of their ability to stun-lock enemies. Maybe they tweaked stuff around later on to even things out, but at launch it seemed to me almost everyone was on the exact same meta.

Its a fun game, but weakest of the trilogy in my opinion.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
Hello GAF,

So I finished Elden Ring about a month ago. Was waiting for it's DLC. I was craving for more so I decided to get Dark Souls 3 in recent sale. Previously I have played Demons Souls and Dark Souls 1 on PS3 so I was confident I will find it manageable.

Turns out, its manageable, but barely. In just 3 hours of play I have reached a point where I have 3 ways to move forward. One has a dragon guarding it, other two have those mutated dudes which too are very powerful for my starting low level character. I will have to grind in this small area if I am to kill one of them to proceed.

This has me thinking how far ahead Elden Ring is in terms of difficulty curve. It has pretty much perfected difficulty settings. It's a lot longer game and is by no means easy but never did I face walls like this.

Dark Souls 3 and other previous From Games still are good if you want to face extreme difficulty and want to overcome challenge by slowly learning and grinding.

For me personally there is no going back after Elden Ring. It's de facto From Soft experience. It takes their world building, twisted bosses and enemy design, combat and wraps it up in a package that eases you in the experience. Also it helps that ER is very ambitious and it's evident the moment you step in Limgrave compared to when you step in Lothric.

What do you say GAF? Do you agree or do you still prefer punishing difficulty of previous From games?
The beauty about Elden Ring is that the purely open world allows you more options and opportunities to come back and finish the fight later when you're stronger without necessarily grinding souls like you sometimes needed to in previous games. Definitely not easy like you said, but the options kinda make it easier in a way.

Which method I prefer honestly depends on how masochistic I feel on that particular day haha!
 

cortadew

Member
I've played everything except Bloodborne, and I bought Sekiro a couple days ago. It's a completely different beast to Souls, and the Tenchu DNA is so strong that I on many occasions have snuck up on enemies and pressed square for my stealth kill because that's what you did in Tenchu (square does not work in this game). Combat itself is very different, doing away with most things you expect from Souls in favour of poise being so important that if you break it you get an instant kill. Enemies can and will fuck you up, so in a way Sekiro is the hardest From game I've played and I'm not far from the beginning. Good thing you can grappling hook away.

I'm having a lot of fun.
Combat in Sekiro is the best in any game ever
 
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Mozzarella

Member
I thought Elden Ring was harder.
Dark Souls 3 first half is very very easy, in the late game it becomes hard, the DLC is hard.
Elden Ring is middling, until the snowy area then it becomes hard.
However the top bosses in Elden Ring were harder.

I played the game without summons and with no grinding so that may gave me the pure Souls experience instead and thats why i think Elden Ring is harder than Dark Souls 3.
But if you use summon ashes and all the OP builds and do grinding and explore alot then ER is easier yeah, but i dont think thats a direct comparison anymore.
 
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Raven117

Gold Member
I find ds3 more balanced if you play it slow and methodical. It is much faster than ds1 and 2. It's speed is bloodborne inspired
Which is why I didn’t prefer it.

I liked the slower more thoughtful play style of ds1
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
I tried the Demon's Souls remake on PS5 after I finished Elden Ring and then Bloodborne. That game (Demon's Souls remake) kicked my butt. I gave up after about fifteen to twenty hours in frustration and shame.

Personally, I think Bloodborne struck the best balance in difficulty between the "levels" and bosses of the three From games I played.
 
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