I never finished a Souls game. I criticized their difficulty. Then I faced King Allant.

[Calamari41]

Thank you! Though, I have to say, I did grind and probably over-leveled for the fight a bit :) Still, it was tough for psychological reasons, as I said.

Mechanically, I actually feel Maneater and Flame Lurker were a bit tougher, but I was also lower level so it could be that, too.

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I think that Flame Lurker was more difficult for sure, partly because you face him so early in the game. Playing through the game blind, he's pretty much the third "real" boss you fight in the game (I don't count Phalanx, lol). By the time you get to Maneater and Allant, you've played many more hours of the game and you're just plain better at it in general. If you went back to Flame Lurker now, you'd probably make much shorter work of him.

For some reason, I never had much trouble with Maneater back in the day. My playstyle probably just meshed well with the fight.

 

[pants]

Congratulations! That "holy shit why am I doing this to myself and - FUCK YOU THING THAT DOESN'T EVEN EXIST I AM YOUR GOD NOW" feeling is amazing and I cherish it dearly. I'm glad you got to experience it!

Click to shrink...

You've described it perfectly :)

 

[The GOAT]

The things that people say are hard, I didn't have much trouble with. It's the "this fight is easy" are the ones that I got stuck on. Fool's Idol gave me a ton of trouble (yes, I killed the dude up above first). I must have done that fight 30 times, haha. Mostly of the issue was I was in soul form, so I didn't have full health, and if hit by her or one of her copies, I instantly died. Flame Lurker gave me trouble early on, but I summoned help and he went down fairly easily. Maneater was laughably easy, as I stood on the corpse ledge and used poison cloud. The 2nd Maneater walked into the 1st one facing the fog door and stayed put, making it a 2 for 1 poison cloud cast. Old Monk went down on first try (NPC fight I believe, as he had the claws, but I couldn't skip the cutscene).

So now I'm moving on to end game. I find myself back at the Nexus constantly to purchase more arrows for my Lava Bow (which I need 6 more points of strength to use without penalty -_-), but it gets the job done. All in all, the game has been a rollercoaster of emotions, just like it was back in 2009. I'm not looking forward to finishing 5-2 and 5-3. It's such a PIA.

 

[Eeyore]

Souls games have three options for you.
1. Play in offline mode
2. Play with a friend
3. Over level your character

All three of these options make Souls game easier.

Click to shrink...

Those aren't accessibility options. There is nothing about Souls games that makes them impossible to have some. You'd think fans of the series would want more people able to play them, not fewer.

 

[Horp]

King Allant is easy if you've played Dark Souls first. He's basically Ornstein without Smough.

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Nah. Allant is harder than O+S for me.

 

[Deleted member 59126]

Embarrassing.

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Who the fuck are you to try and shame me?

 

[Morrigan]

Oh shut the fuck up. This garbage is why the Souls community has a bad rep. That and the stupid "oh it's easy" posts too.

Click to shrink...

Embarrassing.

Click to shrink...

Who the fuck are you to try and shame me?

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Guys, chill. This is a positive thread, let's not fight!

 

[Ramirez]

nvm

 

[Nessii013]

But for someone who gave up after a few bosses in all those games before because of fear and anxiety - this was an insane challenge and I did it. And I did it by staying calm, telling myself that I can do it, by dodging and hitting with a big sword, then staying calm and telling myself I can do it, then hitting again and dodging again and trying to keep calm in what seemed the longest boss fight in any game I played (while in reality, it wasn't that long, of course). And I did it.

Click to shrink...

This line sums up the appeal of these games for me and I think many others. There's something satisfying about overcoming challenges in a positive way and reinforcing patience, determination, collaboration, and instilling within the player a sense of control within their life.

While there hasn't been an official study, there's a lot of anecdotal stories of people getting through real-life hardship by playing Soulslike games. Extra Credits told one such story awhile ago:

 

[Deleted member 59126]

Those aren't accessibility options. There is nothing about Souls games that makes them impossible to have some. You'd think fans of the series would want more people able to play them, not fewer.

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You're missing the point of what these games are. If you don't like the difficulty, then don't play them. The fans of these games are in no way stoping you from enjoying them and neither are the creators, but both care more about the expression of art through difficulty than sales/popularity.

 

[Eeyore]

You're missing the point of what these games are. If you don't like the difficulty, then don't play them. The fans of these games are in no way stoping you from enjoying them and neither are the creators, but both care more about the expression of art through difficulty than sales/popularity.

Click to shrink...

I think you're missing what accessibility is if this is your response. Your last sentence is such nonsense that I doubt you even believe it. I'm not sure why so many Souls fans are so aghast at the thought of more people having access to the game. TLoU2's gameplay wasn't compromised by having some of the best accessibility options in the industry.

 

[Deleted member 59126]

I think you're missing what accessibility is if this is your response. Your last sentence is such nonsense that I doubt you even believe it. I'm not sure why so many Souls fans are so aghast at the thought of more people having access to the game. TLoU2's gameplay wasn't compromised by having some of the best accessibility options in the industry.

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No, I stand by my last sentence with a full understanding of what it means.

I loved The Last of Us 2, and the accessibility options it provided was revolutionary and I honestly believe that more games should provide a wider range of options in video, sound and control settings so that a wider range of people can access them. But difficulty doesn't have to be an option when one of the major draws to a series is how difficult they are.

 

[Eeyore]

No, I stand by my last sentence with a full understanding of what it means.

I loved The Last of Us 2, and the accessibility options it provided was revolutionary and I honestly believe that more games should provide a wider range of options in video, sound and control settings so that a wider range of people can access them. But difficulty doesn't have to be an option when one of the major draws to a series is how difficult they are.

Click to shrink...

Yeah your last sentence kinda says it all to me. You identify with this series so much because it's difficult to the point where an option will detract from your experience. It really won't. I say this with the utmost confidence. More people enjoying this series means more opportunities for you to get more games like it.

 

[ghibli99]

That was Maneater for me... mostly because of the annoying run back to that fight that would make me mad/impatient before I even started fighting. LOL

 

[SantosStrife]

From Software games can be really satisfying. I really appreciate their design philosophy.

I understand your feeling OP.

I'm really bad at their games, at the beginning I didn't understand what's so appealing about the souls games.

But when Bloodborne was announced I was enamored by it. I literally forced myself to play the game because I love Gothic and Victorian style/aesthetic (basically the visual I wanted for 3D Castlevania games).

And I'm really glad that I did it. Bloodborne is the only game of them I actually finished and did all the endings and really loved the experience. For me was really demanding, because I don't like to play online, so some bosses take a lot of days to beat it.

The extra bosses/chalice dungeons and DLC are still pending (lol I'm really bad), but I know this game is really special.

I have all Souls games, but at the time I bought them I had very little time to play games. They're in my backlog, but I know all of them are incredible games.

 

[Deleted member 59126]

Yeah your last sentence kinda says it all to me. You identify with this series so much because it's difficult to the point where an option will detract from your experience. It really won't. I say this with the utmost confidence. More people enjoying this series means more opportunities for you to get more games like it.

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Actually, I'm really hoping they find way to make it even more difficult. Sekiro initially put me in my place and then pushed me past what I thought I was capable of, and and I'm so thankful that there wasn't an option to change the difficulty. I had to rise to the challenge, and that's why I revere these games so much, they inspire greatness through skill within the player.

 

[Deleted member 59126]

Yeah your last sentence kinda says it all to me. You identify with this series so much because it's difficult to the point where an option will detract from your experience. It really won't. I say this with the utmost confidence. More people enjoying this series means more opportunities for you to get more games like it.

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Regardless of this discussion, the creator and his team have chosen to express themselves artistically through the difficulty of their games. Your argument is to censor their vision in exchange for a larger audience. As an artist and as a free thinker, I fundamentally disagree with that opinion. Should The Witness supply the solutions to all it's puzzles at the click of a button? Should Super Mario Bros 3 have an "easy mode" so everyone and their mother can beat it? Both of those games are unrelentingly difficult, without a difficulty option, and they're both considered masterpieces that require mastery of their systems from within the player.

There are always going to be certain people who can't experience every single game. Accessibility should be there to cast a wider net of people who can enjoy a game, but not at the expense of the expression of its artistry.

 

[black070]

I just had the most bizarre thing happen after deciding to jump back in to the game today having completed it a week ago. It immediately starts you off in NG+ mode, so I set off at the Gates of Boletaria, with 100K+ souls. I made it quite far before slipping up and dying, only to be brought back right infront of King Allant who just stood there like an NPC.. so I swung away at his health, which appeared like any regular enemy rather than a boss, and after a minute or two, he dyed, I got the 'demon vanquished' notification, and now I have 260K souls and the 1-4 boss defeated before even getting to Phalanx. I returned to the Nexus where the other 4 worlds opened up, and all the subsequent prompts occurred for me to unlock the ability to level up.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Regardless of this discussion, the creator and his team have chosen to express themselves artistically through the difficulty of their games. Your argument is to censor their vision in exchange for a larger audience. As an artist and as a free thinker, I fundamentally disagree with that opinion.

Click to shrink...

I really don't want to get into this discussion, but this part is nonsense and a poor deflection of criticism. Yes, the creators adhere to a design philosophy and it is in their artistic right to make whatever decisions they want. No, someone criticising said decisions is not advocating for the censoring of artistic free speech. It's just... a critique you may or may not agree with, not some grand attack on artistry lmao.

 

[ghostcrew]

I'm sat typing this while I beat him.

Spoiler

Thief Ring and Poison Cloud spell ;)

 

[Deleted member 59126]

I really don't want to get into this discussion, but this part is nonsense and a poor deflection of criticism. Yes, the creators adhere to a design philosophy and it is in their artistic right to make whatever decisions they want. No, someone criticising said decisions is not advocating for the censoring of artistic free speech. It's just... a critique you may or may not agree with, not some grand attack on artistry lmao.

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You want to dismiss my argument as nonsense but keep the original argument that these games aren't accessible? You can't have it both ways. I'm just defending the design decisions of a series I love... a defense you may or may not agree with, not some grand attack on accessibility.

 

[Ricky]

This dude just kicked my ass. He's the last boss for me and he caught me off guard. Majority of the bosses in the game are push overs, imo. I think I beat every boss on the first attempt minus Maneater and Penetrator (I was being impatient and got stuck on a wall). This dude took two of my levels too 😑

 

[Sleepwalker]

You want to dismiss my argument as nonsense but keep the original argument that these games aren't accessible? You can't have it both ways. I'm just defending the design decisions of a series I love... a defense you may or may not agree with, not some grand attack on accessibility.

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Did you even read my post? Where did I actually say anything about the games' accessibility? The only thing I pointed out was the ridiculous false equivalence you made where a poster on a game discussion forum making a critique is somehow equal to them advocating censorship. Nice try though.

 

[Deleted member 59126]

Did you even read my post? Where did I actually say anything about the games' accessibility? The only thing I pointed out was the ridiculous false equivalence you made where a poster on a game discussion forum making a critique is somehow equal to them advocating censorship. Nice try though.

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You're jumping in to the middle of a conversation and disregarding the severity of the accusations from one side and dismissing the arguments made to defend the other. Your opinion is one sided and that's fine, but don't come in here acting as a moral arbiter when you obviously have an agenda.

 

[Kevin Shields]

King Allant is such a good fight. Gosh, I can't wait until I can pick up a ps5, I'm hoping mid January. I still feel Demons souls was the hardest game for me bar none, and I've beat all Souls games and it's my favorite all time series. Demons does not have toughest bosses but the levels always got me every freaking team. Especially world 4 and 5

 

[Sleepwalker]

You're jumping in to the middle of a conversation and disregarding the severity of the accusations from one side and dismissing the arguments made to defend the other. Your opinion is one sided and that's fine, but don't come in here acting as a moral arbiter when you obviously have an agenda.

Click to shrink...

I just think you can articulate your views without painting people who want accessibility options as opponents of free artistic expression who want to neuter the series. Chiming in to this discussion isn't me being all high and mighty, I just disagree with inflammatory statements like that.

I'm a big fan of the series, and I think the sanctity of the series' difficulty is already void since all of them apart from Sekiro offer a way to completely destroy any semblance of difficulty via summoning. More accessibility options wouldn't hurt anyone since even now if you want to play the games as challenging as possible you have to purposefully limit yourself to not using all of the games' systems, and whoever would want to preserve the difficulty (like me and obviously you) wouldn't engage with the accessibility options (which could be far less broken than summoning is) like they don't engage with the coop component right now. But I apparently have an agenda. Sure.

 

[Zafir]

You've definitely gotten yourself over the hurdle!

I think you get very much hung up on people saying how hard it is to a degree, and it almost makes you believe it's harder than it is. I played Demon's Souls when it came out in Europe, which was quite a bit after the Asian and then the US release. So at that point it'd already gotten the "rep" of being hard. I bought it not knowing whether I was going to like it, but, I pushed through to complete it. In some cases I did some cheesing, like killing the dragons on the levels via arrows and stuff like that, the laughable thing is I bet it would have been quicker to not cheese in hindsight but just thought it'd be easier due to lack of confidence. I saved Allant till last since a lot of people seemed to consider him the "true" end boss of the game. He was tough and I definitely lost some levels to his soul sucking ability, but boy did it feel satisfying once I beat him. Ended up being a very fun "duel" despite it's difficulty for me at the time. Was also definitely the fight which made the series kind of, click for me. Like I got why people really enjoyed it.

Since then I've played the other souls games, bloodborne and sekiro, so I've gotten a lot of experience. It's been quite satisfying coming back to where it all started and seeing how much better I'm doing. I'm not too far into the PS5 version, but at the very least it was nice to get to Flamelurker and kill it so easily after having struggled in the original way back when, lol. Ironically Demon God ended up being more difficult this time round just after since at first I thought you had to use those fist weapons for the entire encounter for the trophy, including pillar breaking, and I did no damage with them due to lack of skills(pillars took like 8 hits to be destroyed with them and you could only get two hits in before he attacked). It also glitched for me when I did the two harpoons the first time so I had to kill myself to do it again. That's gimmick bosses for you I guess. xD

 

[Deleted member 59126]

I just think you can articulate your views without painting people who want accessibility options as opponents of free artistic expression who want to neuter the series. Chiming in to this discussion isn't me being all high and mighty, I just disagree with inflammatory statements like that.

I'm a big fan of the series, and I think the sanctity of the series' difficulty is already void since all of them apart from Sekiro offer a way to completely destroy any semblance of difficulty via summoning. More accessibility options wouldn't hurt anyone since even now if you want to play the games as challenging as possible you have to purposefully limit yourself to not using all of the games' systems, and whoever would want to preserve the difficulty (like me and obviously you) wouldn't engage with the accessibility options (which could be far less broken than summoning is) like they don't engage with the coop component right now. But I apparently have an agenda. Sure.

Click to shrink...

You obviously do have an agenda, you just spent two paragraphs explaining it to me. I'm not painting anyone as anything, I'm arguing against an idea, not a person. These games exist as pillars within the gaming space of being difficult but fair. They require dedication, concentration and an unparalleled mastery of their mechanics. They are created to be difficult and unyielding so that players who complete them feel an unrivaled sense of accomplishment within themselves... That is their artistic expression, and the argument that they need difficulty settings is a homogenization of the concepts that these games represent and a censorship of their artistic values.

Gaming as a whole needs to be inclusive and represent different people with different backgrounds, but no individual title needs to be that, otherwise all games are going to end up the same. The beautiful thing about gaming, especially right now, is that there are so many options to choose from that if a title doesn't interest you there are thousands more to replace it.

Demon Souls became popular because of its difficulty, not despite it. The Souls community formed around these titles because we love the lack of accessibility, we love how demanding these games are and what they force us to overcome. If you or someone else doesn't like that thats fine, move along and find something else, but don't tell us that the very thing we love about these titles is wrong and should be changed. There's obviously a large enough population of gamers who want to play titles like this, and enough other titles to satisfy anyone who doesn't.

 

[Scruffy8642]

As someone who played the original, I actually never realised he drains your stats lol. Guess I must've been lucky and he drained the magic and luck stats which I never leveled anyway,

 

[BayonettasBuddy]

Congrats! I was worried reading this that you were gonna give up initially. This was a really wholesome post - I hope you go back to some of those other souls games once you finish this one!

Also, if it ain't pinwheel or something like it, don't say it's easy. I struggled on Tower Knight but smashed Maneater. Completely depends on a plethora of things from build to level to just personal playstyle. I find everyone has that one boss which they really struggle against. If they aren't hard for you, doesn't mean they aren't for someone else!

 

[Afrocious]

I struggled like hell back in the OG fighting him. He drained me back then, too. But I one-shotted him in the remake. He's nowhere as aggressive as bosses in later From games.

 

[Kutaragi]

Nice post aevanhoe !
Greetings for the achievement.

I felt pretty much the same when I finally beat the original King Allant (of course I didn't give up any Souls because there where no Souls before DeS ^^).

Though I didn't play any Souls because I had enough thrill and anxiety with the first one. Then Bloodborne came and I couldn't resist to the calling.

 

[Kaguya]

Congratulation OP, and that feel of finishing your first Souls game... Seeing a lot of people going through it in 2020 but with Demon's Souls of all games is some kind of poetry, lol.

 

[-Tetsuo-]

That is quite a first post

 

[Kaguya]

I just had the most bizarre thing happen after deciding to jump back in to the game today having completed it a week ago. It immediately starts you off in NG+ mode, so I set off at the Gates of Boletaria, with 100K+ souls. I made it quite far before slipping up and dying, only to be brought back right infront of King Allant who just stood there like an NPC.. so I swung away at his health, which appeared like any regular enemy rather than a boss, and after a minute or two, he dyed, I got the 'demon vanquished' notification, and now I have 260K souls and the 1-4 boss defeated before even getting to Phalanx. I returned to the Nexus where the other 4 worlds opened up, and all the subsequent prompts occurred for me to unlock the ability to level up.

Click to shrink...

The game has some wrong warps, last I checked people didn't know if those were always in the game(we know for sure DS1 had them) just now discovered thanks to recording function in every console or something new to the remake. But you might be onto something big here lol, I haven't seen any "wrong warps" speedrun that jumps from 1-1 to King Allant, this might be a new WR in the making. :D

 

[Chettlar]

Hah, I knew someone would say "it's easy". Well, nothing in this game is easy for me. And I never played Dark Souls, only DS III - and not much of it. I have no idea who Ornstein is or Smough. I tried to explain why this was so tough for me.

Click to shrink...

Hey that's how it goes. The games are now "easy" for me in some sense, but still tough. But that's okay. I know if I try hard enough and long enough I'll find a way to beat them every time. It's pretty empowering.

 

[Rocket Man]

OP you've desuaded me from ever trying this game. Not touching anything that delevels you, fuck that.

 

[GamerJM]

I've never played a Souls game, but holy crap, a boss that delevels you with an attack sounds infuriating. I find difficult bosses in RPGs stressful enough, the knowledge that I can always push through with enough of a time commitment in grinding even if my pattern recognition skills aren't up to snuff is often what keeps me sane.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

OP you've desuaded me from ever trying this game. Not touching anything that delevels you, fuck that.

Click to shrink...

I've never played a Souls game, but holy crap, a boss that delevels you with an attack sounds infuriating. I find difficult bosses in RPGs stressful enough, the knowledge that I can always push through with enough of a time commitment in grinding even if my pattern recognition skills aren't up to snuff is often what keeps me sane.

Click to shrink...

It is nowhere near as bad as it sounds.

Said boss is near the end and you can see when he will do the move and easily avoid it. Though even if you do get hit, it is not that big of a deal as levels are not that important compared to skill. You can also leave said boss for last and that won't be a problem as the end game doesn't have much combat.

 

[Sleepwalker]

You obviously do have an agenda, you just spent two paragraphs explaining it to me. I'm not painting anyone as anything, I'm arguing against an idea, not a person. These games exist as pillars within the gaming space of being difficult but fair. They require dedication, concentration and an unparalleled mastery of their mechanics. They are created to be difficult and unyielding so that players who complete them feel an unrivaled sense of accomplishment within themselves... That is their artistic expression, and the argument that they need difficulty settings is a homogenization of the concepts that these games represent and a censorship of their artistic values.

Gaming as a whole needs to be inclusive and represent different people with different backgrounds, but no individual title needs to be that, otherwise all games are going to end up the same. The beautiful thing about gaming, especially right now, is that there are so many options to choose from that if a title doesn't interest you there are thousands more to replace it.

Demon Souls became popular because of its difficulty, not despite it. The Souls community formed around these titles because we love the lack of accessibility, we love how demanding these games are and what they force us to overcome. If you or someone else doesn't like that thats fine, move along and find something else, but don't tell us that the very thing we love about these titles is wrong and should be changed. There's obviously a large enough population of gamers who want to play titles like this, and enough other titles to satisfy anyone who doesn't.

Click to shrink...

Me explaining my views is having an agenda? Are you for real? By the same logic you too have an agenda, or does that only work when someone has an opinion you disagree with? Anyway, yeah, you explained the appeal of the series well, but somehow failed to respond to what I've said, that Souls games already have a ingrained mechanic that completely negates the difficulty, summoning. And yet, most players will disregard it. Why? Because they want to be challenged. It would be the same if there was another system that eased up the experience for players who, for one reason or another, otherwise wouldn't be able to play the games.

Also what's with the "we" thing, what is this, Anonymous? I too am a massive fan of the series, a great deal because of its difficulty, I just don't think much would change if accessibility options were expanded. But, judging by how you constantly deflect points and resort to strawmaning, I have a sneaking suspicion this discussion is pointless.

 

[aevanhoe]

Just finished world 4 and first boss od world 5. And yeah, the worlds themselves are now harder than the bosses. I literally killed all the bosses in world 4 in the first attempt (even the Storm King which I just shot at from some ruins that provided cover) - but I died multiple times getting there. And the swamp - with the first boss I didn't even get to see the mechanic - I slammed him 4-5 times with my Dragon Bone Smasher and that was it. But that swamp after.... the poison.... ugh. I'm currently there and it's tough - but I'm so close to the end now, I'm not giving up :)

 

[basic_text]

Thanks to your story OP I am now re-installing Dark Souls on my laptop.

I've got pretty much the entire Souls series but am yet to beat one of them!

 

[aevanhoe]

The things that people say are hard, I didn't have much trouble with. It's the "this fight is easy" are the ones that I got stuck on. Fool's Idol gave me a ton of trouble (yes, I killed the dude up above first). I must have done that fight 30 times, haha. Mostly of the issue was I was in soul form, so I didn't have full health, and if hit by her or one of her copies, I instantly died.

Click to shrink...

It took several attempts for me, too. What helped a lot was the fact I could hide behind pillars and plan my next attack. When I have time to take a breather, it helps a lot as I do much worse when I panic. Same with Maneater, there is a thing in the middle you can hide behind - of course, it's harder when there's two of them, but I managed to defeat one pretty quickly.

Thanks to your story OP I am now re-installing Dark Souls on my laptop.

I've got pretty much the entire Souls series but am yet to beat one of them!

Click to shrink...

Glad to hear it. I used to think they were impossible for me, but now I think if you can manage to defeat one or two bosses, with the right mindset, you can actually finish the entire game.

 

[SlickVic]

Reminds me a bit of my experience with Bloodborne which was my first 'Souls' game. I was pretty skeptical I would like it because I usually don't enjoy playing "hard" games, and I typically don't enjoy boss battles in games in general (I often just see them as a chore I need to power through so I can get on with the rest of the game). I wound up picking up Bloodborne on a sale after hearing so many great things about it so I decided to give it a shot. And while I quickly fell in love with the game's setting and overall atmosphere, I definitely hit a point of major struggle with the first boss I ran into, The Cleric Beast. I was pretty sure that was going to be the end of my Bloodborne experience, as it seemed like I just didn't have the skills to get through that boss. But I stuck with it a bit longer, leveled up a bit, abused the blood vials as much as I could, and I wound up beating him.

And I can't understate just how satisfying that moment was. From that point on I was hooked. I still struggled with a few more bosses in the game (the last boss from the base game still gives me anxiety just thinking about it), but beating Cleric Beast I guess gave me enough of a confidence boost that I felt I could get through the game. Each Prey Slaughtered definitely brough a huge sense of satisfaction with it.

 

[aevanhoe]

Congratulation OP, and that feel of finishing your first Souls game... Seeing a lot of people going through it in 2020 but with Demon's Souls of all games is some kind of poetry, lol.

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In terms of difficulty, how would you rate Demon's Souls compared to Dark Souls games or Bloodborne?

 

[KernelC]

I remember your anti Souls posts.

Now this, this is character development. Legit feel proud of you OP haha. Keep it up!

In terms of difficulty, how would you rate Demon's Souls compared to Dark Souls games or Bloodborne?

Click to shrink...

it's always been hard to gauge because Demon's Souls has always very clunky, but I would say it's one of the easiest ones. Having virtually no checkpoints makes it very hard at times, but for example, Bloodborne is relentless. The game will stomp you many times and will mock you if you try to play defensively, but now that you've experienced "the rush" (aka the yell you mentioned in your post lol) you can pretty much take on any Souls game :)

 

[AuthenticM]

I yelled in excitement - so much that my wife thought I was crazy. I don't think I've ever felt this way about a game.

Click to shrink...

This was me when I beat one of the DLC bosses of Dark Souls 3 lol.

Thanks! I might try the remastered on Switch - or just wait for Elden Ring.

Click to shrink...

Do not play Dark Souls Remastered on the Switch. In addition to running poorly, the audio is extremely compressed, to the extent that you get white noise whenever something loud happens.

Get it on PS4 so you can play it on your PS5.

 

[Deleted member 59126]

Me explaining my views is having an agenda? Are you for real? By the same logic you too have an agenda, or does that only work when someone has an opinion you disagree with? Anyway, yeah, you explained the appeal of the series well, but somehow failed to respond to what I've said, that Souls games already have a ingrained mechanic that completely negates the difficulty, summoning. And yet, most players will disregard it. Why? Because they want to be challenged. It would be the same if there was another system that eased up the experience for players who, for one reason or another, otherwise wouldn't be able to play the games.

Also what's with the "we" thing, what is this, Anonymous? I too am a massive fan of the series, a great deal because of its difficulty, I just don't think much would change if accessibility options were expanded. But, judging by how you constantly deflect points and resort to strawmaning, I have a sneaking suspicion this discussion is pointless.

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This discussion is pointless, and yes I too have an agenda, everyone does. My agenda is that there are people who are coming into this thread and disregarding the message from the OP and using this as a platform to push an accessibility rhetoric that is both against the spirit of this thread and against the spirit of the games we're discussing. I happen to be good at arguing and have taken it upon myself to distract and disprove a few of the "naysayers" that are coming in here with the intention of detracting from the OP's revelation... That he once thought this game needed more accessibility, but came to the realization that if it had more accessibility, he wouldn't have felt what he did upon defeating King Allant. He's a new Souls player, he pushed beyond the wall of what he thought he could do and it exhilarated him. You jumped into the middle of a conversation I was having with someone else who was attempting to use this forum as a platform to discuss their own personal "agenda" that are against the spirit of the OP's revelation. The beginning of my conversation with that person pointed out the same "ingrained difficulty mechanic" that you're so invested in having me reply to. So to appease you, I'll quote my earlier response to his dismissals.

Souls games have three options for you.
1. Play in offline mode
2. Play with a friend
3. Over level your character

All three of these options make Souls game easier.

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I went through your post history yesterday and saw how much you discuss Souls games. You're quite obviously a huge Souls fan. I think you would agree with me in saying that these are wonderful and refreshingly unique games in an industry that's becoming increasingly scared to do something different, and especially scared to push back against the player. As a fan of the series, why are you in here arguing about accessibility when the main theme of thread is someone who pushed beyond their limits and felt rewarded, the way we all did when Souls games clicked for us. (Us/"we" means Souls fans)

 

[QisTopTier]

You beat the boss most save for last, you have an easy road ahead

 

[Kaguya]

In terms of difficulty, how would you rate Demon's Souls compared to Dark Souls games or Bloodborne?

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I'd say it's both easier and harder depending on playstyles, builds... And luck lol. It's a more obtuse Souls game.
Like, bosses are generally easier, but levels can be way harder than DS and BB if you fall into black world tendency.
Magic is more over powered, enough to make the game easy, but even that wouldn't help if you turn certain levels into black WT.