Sorry for not posting this in the OT, but I wanted to share this particular experience. I've played most of Froms Souls games, I killed a few bosses in Dark Souls III, Bloodborne and Sekiro - but there was always a breaking point, a place where I gave up because it was just too hard. I made a thread on this forum where I argued Souls games need difficulty levels - you can find it and see me ranting. I actually never planned on playing another Souls game - but the remake of Demon's Souls and the fact a new generation is here - got me to play it again.
And it was tough playing this game. It's actually not the difficulty itself, it's a psychological thing for me, there is something in that mechanic where you have to reach the boss after dying (and potentially loosing souls) and in every fight I have this fear of dying again and having to do a run all over again (which in my case actually means being more tired, impatient and worse at it). Well, with King Allant - it's even worse than that. It's horrible, actually. I'm sure if you're reading this thread you know he has this mechanic where he de-levels you with an attack, erasing hours of gameplay and leveling. Dying multiple times in this fight may mean loosing hours and hours of gameplay (at least for me).
I knew of this mechanic when I got into the fight. I didn't invest anything in magic, and almost every video I watched used some kind of magic. I went in just with my Dragon Bone Smasher, a lot of grass and courage. You can imagine my heart pounding when I entered the chamber. I could literally feel it beating. After a brief fight - he defeated me and de-leveled me. I feld really bad. I thought no game is worth this.
But here's the thing. Earlier in this game - I was about to quit entirely because of one boss - the Flamelurker. I vented in the OT and people like Sanctuary and Morrigan gave me some good advice. And then there was Finale Fireworker - their help was on a different level. Fireworker gifted me a month of PS+ just to be able to help me - and I refused initially, I just didn't feel like spending anyone's money for this (I can easily afford it but I just didn't want to do it for just one game as I don't need anything else and rarely play multiplayer) - but they insisted - as a gift for pushing on in a hard game. I was honestly moved by this and I accepted. Fireworker gave me advice and helped me gain a lot of souls by letting me kill them in an invasion in order to help. I was really touched by this and the response of this community, that I pressed on. So I killed Flamelurker, then the Dragon God. I killed Maneater and Old Monk. I killed Penetrator. I just kept pushing on - as tough as it was. I meant what I said that I was touched by the help I received and felt I needed to go on.
So this is the reason I tried again with King Allant - even after this fight where I lost a level, even after I got even more frightened to try again. You can't possibly imagine the level of anxiety this gave me. I tried again and he killed me again. Then I tried once more - he de-leveled me again and killed me. Fuck this shit. And then I tried again.
....
And I did it. I killed the old fuck. I fucking did it.
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.
And yes, I know - there is this NG+ thing and for a lot of you this was probably a simple fight - and I wouldn't be surprised if there is a much greater challenge later in this game. 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.
Now, I don't know what awaits me further in this game. I don't know if I'll be able to finish Demon's Souls. Even though I've cleared first three worlds, I haven't beaten any of the bosses in worlds 4 and 5. I'm sure someone will say "you think Allant was tough? Cute. Wait until you see the Eternal Voidslurper in 4-4!" or something like that. But still, I have this fight.
And it feels good. It feels really good.
Thanks to everyone who helped. You are true demon slayers.
And it was tough playing this game. It's actually not the difficulty itself, it's a psychological thing for me, there is something in that mechanic where you have to reach the boss after dying (and potentially loosing souls) and in every fight I have this fear of dying again and having to do a run all over again (which in my case actually means being more tired, impatient and worse at it). Well, with King Allant - it's even worse than that. It's horrible, actually. I'm sure if you're reading this thread you know he has this mechanic where he de-levels you with an attack, erasing hours of gameplay and leveling. Dying multiple times in this fight may mean loosing hours and hours of gameplay (at least for me).
I knew of this mechanic when I got into the fight. I didn't invest anything in magic, and almost every video I watched used some kind of magic. I went in just with my Dragon Bone Smasher, a lot of grass and courage. You can imagine my heart pounding when I entered the chamber. I could literally feel it beating. After a brief fight - he defeated me and de-leveled me. I feld really bad. I thought no game is worth this.
But here's the thing. Earlier in this game - I was about to quit entirely because of one boss - the Flamelurker. I vented in the OT and people like Sanctuary and Morrigan gave me some good advice. And then there was Finale Fireworker - their help was on a different level. Fireworker gifted me a month of PS+ just to be able to help me - and I refused initially, I just didn't feel like spending anyone's money for this (I can easily afford it but I just didn't want to do it for just one game as I don't need anything else and rarely play multiplayer) - but they insisted - as a gift for pushing on in a hard game. I was honestly moved by this and I accepted. Fireworker gave me advice and helped me gain a lot of souls by letting me kill them in an invasion in order to help. I was really touched by this and the response of this community, that I pressed on. So I killed Flamelurker, then the Dragon God. I killed Maneater and Old Monk. I killed Penetrator. I just kept pushing on - as tough as it was. I meant what I said that I was touched by the help I received and felt I needed to go on.
So this is the reason I tried again with King Allant - even after this fight where I lost a level, even after I got even more frightened to try again. You can't possibly imagine the level of anxiety this gave me. I tried again and he killed me again. Then I tried once more - he de-leveled me again and killed me. Fuck this shit. And then I tried again.
....
And I did it. I killed the old fuck. I fucking did it.
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.
And yes, I know - there is this NG+ thing and for a lot of you this was probably a simple fight - and I wouldn't be surprised if there is a much greater challenge later in this game. 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.
Now, I don't know what awaits me further in this game. I don't know if I'll be able to finish Demon's Souls. Even though I've cleared first three worlds, I haven't beaten any of the bosses in worlds 4 and 5. I'm sure someone will say "you think Allant was tough? Cute. Wait until you see the Eternal Voidslurper in 4-4!" or something like that. But still, I have this fight.
And it feels good. It feels really good.
Thanks to everyone who helped. You are true demon slayers.
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