Elden Ring is The Easiest Souls Game

[Bees?]

I don't really think Elden Ring holds up in the difficulty department compared to the other Dark Souls titles, which betrays the fact that FromSoft intended it for a wide audience.

Before you accuse me of being a sorcerer or a bleed build, I've ran through the game a few times. Once as a faith caster (this one was a bit difficult, since a lot of bosses late game resist a lot of incantations. Had to resort to Swarm of Flies more times than I care to admit.) once as a strength build (by far the easiest one ive done. giant-crusher go brrrrrrt) and once with the Caestus as a quality build. (still pretty easy, but the bosses did take longer due to the lengthy attack animations.)

Something I've noticed that makes Elden Ring bosses different from the other games is that, for the most part, every boss plays pretty similarly. You stay within a certain distance to bait an attack. Most attacks can't be easily punished, but there is always that one long-reaching move they have where there is a stupidly large window for retaliation. (For instance, Malenia's sweep + thrust combo in phase 2.) A lot of bosses are also pretty easily staggered. In the other games, these windows of opportunity were much shorter, and it was certainly way harder to stagger them. Jumping also plays with your hitbox, and there are SO many boss attacks that will miss if you just hop a little bit here and there.

Additionally, weapons have NEVER done this much damage this easily in Dark Souls. I have one-shot people without using any buffs, just doing jumping attacks with a hammer.

Fortunately, the game is still super fun, and I sort of prefer this level of difficulty where you juuuust barely feel challenged. Don't level up past 120, and you will enjoy the game more.


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Plus. Sorcery and Bleed actually turn the game into a walk in the park. I'm convinced you could beat the game as a SL1 if you just used the right gear to equip Rivers of Blood. I wonder how the community will react when these things are tweaked to no longer be absurd.

Does anyone else feel like Elden Ring is the easiest to come out so far? Honestly, Dark Souls 3 wasn't too hard either, although I still get 'Nam flashbacks to the Nameless King every now and then when I see people using the Serpentslayer Spear.

[Bees?]

Escrito originalmente por ɸ Keeper M'thi'ria ɸ:

Escrito originalmente por Noeat:

here is only one way how to find "difficulty" in souls games, because they are full of tools what make game easier or even trivialize it.

compare SL1 run without cheese - nothing but basic weapon without boost, buffs, nothing..
then you will find that ER is harder and faster than previous souls games.

I agree with this, basically.

I found past games much much easier by comparison. There are only a few instances that came close to Elden Ring's difficulty.

The only game in my opinion that rivals Elden Ring even a little is Sekiro. But if we're extending beyond From then I'd easily mention Nioh and Nioh 2 being harder.

Ehhhh. Sekiro was pretty difficult, but that's because it is much more skill based. With Elden Ring, I feel like I have to intentionally avoid a lot of things because they make the game way easier. There is much worse balance build-to-build than in the other games, which makes Elden Ring definitively easier since these options are easy to seek and offer little in terms of cost. If your weapon has bleed on it, you win automatically.

[impuretrash2878]

Escrito originalmente por Bees?:

Escrito originalmente por impuretrash2878:

that's just untrue. The bosses in Dark Souls 1 are like child's play compared to this. Imagine thinking the DS1 spider lady is hard compared to margit.

Margit was easy. Not only are you given his shackle by Patches, but if you just don't panic roll 24/7, his attacks come out slowly enough to punish about half of them. I do think he is one of the better bosses at dealing with new players, though, since he is very persistent and in-your-face. If you think Margit was hard, just wait until you meet Morgott, lol.

I've already beaten the game so I know there are much harder bosses than Margit. But Quelaag is super easy in comparison. Ornstein and Smough are way easier than the godskin duo and Elden Ring's iteration of the gargoyles fight is waaaay harder than the original.

[Noeat]

Escrito originalmente por Bees?:

Escrito originalmente por ɸ Keeper M'thi'ria ɸ:

I agree with this, basically.

I found past games much much easier by comparison. There are only a few instances that came close to Elden Ring's difficulty.

The only game in my opinion that rivals Elden Ring even a little is Sekiro. But if we're extending beyond From then I'd easily mention Nioh and Nioh 2 being harder.

Ehhhh. Sekiro was pretty difficult, but that's because it is much more skill based. With Elden Ring, I feel like I have to intentionally avoid a lot of things because they make the game way easier. There is much worse balance build-to-build than in the other games, which makes Elden Ring definitively easier since these options are easy to seek and offer little in terms of cost. If your weapon has bleed on it, you win automatically.

no.. it is the same like each previous souls game
there were always OHK builds, magic was always "easy mode"
but you just didnt know it.. check yotube - find there "dark souls broken build PvE" you will find tons of them in each game. look at Pyro builds ;)

souls games from FS were always about limiting yourself, make your own difficulty and your own challenge.

there is only some weird myth that DS and DeS are some unbelievably hard games and only real pro gamer can beat them. no.. this is "truth" for SL1 runs ..but watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5pfwmLwP1k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4arcOES1NOc

[ɸ It That Dwells ɸ]

Escrito originalmente por Noeat:

Escrito originalmente por Bees?:

Ehhhh. Sekiro was pretty difficult, but that's because it is much more skill based. With Elden Ring, I feel like I have to intentionally avoid a lot of things because they make the game way easier. There is much worse balance build-to-build than in the other games, which makes Elden Ring definitively easier since these options are easy to seek and offer little in terms of cost. If your weapon has bleed on it, you win automatically.

no.. it is the same like each previous souls game
there were always OHK builds, magic was always "easy mode"
but you just didnt know it.. check yotube - find there "dark souls broken build PvE" you will find tons of them in each game. look at Pyro builds ;)

souls games from FS were always about limiting yourself, make your own difficulty and your own challenge.

there is only some weird myth that DS and DeS are some unbelievably hard games and only real pro gamer can beat them. no.. this is "truth" for SL1 runs ..but watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5pfwmLwP1k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4arcOES1NOc

Pretty much this. I agree that it might be easier to break the game with powerful builds, and with how progression works and the spacing and accessibility of content, but if you're using a standard build and going the "intended" route then I really believe that Elden Ring is harder. It's all about how the player approaches the game, and I believe that's how it should be.

[Bees?]

Escrito originalmente por impuretrash2878:

Escrito originalmente por Bees?:

Margit was easy. Not only are you given his shackle by Patches, but if you just don't panic roll 24/7, his attacks come out slowly enough to punish about half of them. I do think he is one of the better bosses at dealing with new players, though, since he is very persistent and in-your-face. If you think Margit was hard, just wait until you meet Morgott, lol.

I've already beaten the game so I know there are much harder bosses than Margit. But Quelaag is super easy in comparison. Ornstein and Smough are way easier than the godskin duo and Elden Ring's iteration of the gargoyles fight is waaaay harder than the original.

I agree for the Gargoyle and Godskin Duo fights. Quelaag is one of the easiest souls bosses, unfair comparison, lol. The actual areas in Dark Souls felt more difficult in Elden Ring. Enemies blocked you more easily, forcing you to actually fight everything.

I’m a bit sad the Godskin Duo fight wasn’t special in any way. I was hoping they would do the same mechanic as Dark Souls, making the remaining godskin that much stronger, but whatever. I honestly still haven’t lost to them, I’ve gotten too used to just beating on the fat man the whole time.

Gargoyles kick my ass when I’m using anything but a big ol’ ♥♥♥♥-off hammer.

[DaniTheHero]

It's pretty objective at this point that Elden Ring is the easiest game they made (Demon Souls and beyond).

This is a bit more complicated than just this statement though.

The enemies, especially later in the game attack and behave like Bloodborne/Sekiro enemies. They attack faster, have longer combos, deal more damage and are generally more aggressive. While your character is still pretty much a Dark Souls 3 character. There's also far too many DUO boss fights which is just not fun for anyone.

Now on the surface it makes Elden Ring seem HARDER than previous games, but...

The game has so many mechanics and features that once used go from making the game easier, to nearly trivializing most of the challenge.
Using the better Spirit Ashes alone, reduces the difficulty of most encounters by half if not more.
There's also far more very powerful weapons, Weapon arts(Ashes of war) and spells here and are generally easier to acquire.
Status effects are very effective here too, Bleed, Frost and Rot are near busted.
It's also way easier to farm EXP/Souls/Runes here than previous games.
You could also argue that if you are willing to spend the time in exploring everything, you'll always be overleveled for the main boss of that area.

So you are left with a game that is quite tough on it's own, but there's so many Overpowered tools and most of them are insanely to utilize that you have to actively choose to avoid them and handicap yourself else the game becomes (relative to Souls games) a breeze.

This is as close as possible to having an "Easy mode" without actually introducing sliders or difficulty choices in menus.

Now you can debate and argue if this is a Good or Bad thing. But the question is "Elden Ring easier' is not up to debate, as it obviously is.

[Noeat]

Escrito originalmente por DaniTheHero:

So you are left with a game that is quite tough on it's own, but there's so many Overpowered tools and most of them are insanely easy to get that you have to actively choose to avoid them and handicap yourself else the game becomes (relative to Souls games) a breeze.

then it is EXACTLY like all souls games..
gratz

[DaniTheHero]

Escrito originalmente por Noeat:

Escrito originalmente por DaniTheHero:

So you are left with a game that is quite tough on it's own, but there's so many Overpowered tools and most of them are insanely easy to get that you have to actively choose to avoid them and handicap yourself else the game becomes (relative to Souls games) a breeze.

then it is EXACTLY like all souls games..
gratz

Yes, previous soul games allowed you to summon an offline NPC that didn't increase boss hp. NOT.
Or skip bosses that block progression but letting you explore and completely overlevel for it later. NOT.

The trolling was funny at first, but now it's just boring to see you in every post.

Private profile checks out though.

[hellatze]

Escrito originalmente por ɸ Keeper M'thi'ria ɸ:

Escrito originalmente por Noeat:

here is only one way how to find "difficulty" in souls games, because they are full of tools what make game easier or even trivialize it.

compare SL1 run without cheese - nothing but basic weapon without boost, buffs, nothing..
then you will find that ER is harder and faster than previous souls games.

I agree with this, basically.

I found past games much much easier by comparison. There are only a few instances that came close to Elden Ring's difficulty.

The only game in my opinion that rivals Elden Ring even a little is Sekiro. But if we're extending beyond From then I'd easily mention Nioh and Nioh 2 being harder.

previous game is harder becasue lack of some game mechanic or content.

[Noeat]

Escrito originalmente por DaniTheHero:

Escrito originalmente por Noeat:

then it is EXACTLY like all souls games..
gratz

Yes, previous soul games allowed you to summon an offline NPC that didn't increase boss hp. not.

The trolling was funny at first, but now it's just boring to see you in every post.

Private profile checks out though.

OHK build for DS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI4kXe0Mk1Q

no idea why you still keep trolling, when your lies were many times disproved :)

[Noeat]

Escrito originalmente por hellatze:

Escrito originalmente por ɸ Keeper M'thi'ria ɸ:

I agree with this, basically.

I found past games much much easier by comparison. There are only a few instances that came close to Elden Ring's difficulty.

The only game in my opinion that rivals Elden Ring even a little is Sekiro. But if we're extending beyond From then I'd easily mention Nioh and Nioh 2 being harder.

previous game is harder becasue lack of some game mechanic or content.

no, you just dont know about one hit builds and overpowered things in previous games

[DaniTheHero]

Escrito originalmente por hellatze:

Escrito originalmente por ɸ Keeper M'thi'ria ɸ:

I agree with this, basically.

I found past games much much easier by comparison. There are only a few instances that came close to Elden Ring's difficulty.

The only game in my opinion that rivals Elden Ring even a little is Sekiro. But if we're extending beyond From then I'd easily mention Nioh and Nioh 2 being harder.

previous game is harder becasue lack of some game mechanic or content.

...Yes?
The previous games were harder because you didn't really have much of an option to deal with the challenges ahead of you, other than very specific changes to your build.

Elden Ring gives you an endless supply of tools or workarounds to what is maybe on the "surface" harder, but never really IS harder unless you actively choose to handicap yourself.

Is God Skin DUO harder than Horstein and Smough? Sure. But you didn't have Spirit Ashes, absurdly powerful Weapon arts and be potentially overleveled if you fully explored all the prior content for the latter.

[DaniTheHero]

Escrito originalmente por Noeat:

Escrito originalmente por hellatze:

previous game is harder becasue lack of some game mechanic or content.

no, you just dont know about one hit builds and overpowered things in previous games

And you seem to not understand the difference between an OP build that you wouldn't naturally be aware of unless you have prior game knowledge, or had extensive online research to the game literally throwing OP weapons and Spirit Ashes at you.

Just because you CAN cheese DS1 as well, doesn't mean it was as obvious and as simple to accomplish on a BLIND playthrough unlike it is on Elden Ring.

[J0ust]

The game's challenge/difficulty is subjective. What's not subjective is the terrible design of bosses like Malenia and Maliketh, where you have to spend half the fight watching them do their anime air dash bullsh!t with no openings. Elden Ring also has the objectively worst final boss in From's entire catalog.

[Za'Muro]

the game is so easy and the last boss is so dumb and out of place that im very disappointed with this game. never before have i been disappointed by a fromsoft game. f*ck open world trash games and f*ck this stupid mount. the game is so brokenly easy that i was dealing thousands by the end. meanwhile bosses have the same hp as in ds3... MASSIVE balance problems all over the place. they are the reason pvp sux too. AND WHY ARE THESE ASHES EVEN IN THE GAME?? did they put them in for toddlers???
needs probably 10gb of updates to fix everything, if they even care at this point since its been 1 month without a patch...

even tho sekiro has only 1 style of play, its a million times better game because its a true fromsoft game and doesnt suffer from anything and has a godlike last boss unlike this out of place princess mononoke trash