This game... kinda sucks?

[y tho]

I just got into soulslike games recently and so far I beat Sekiro and DS3. I picked this up recently and since it was the OG i thought I'd really like it, but it just feels like a chore? like everything is designed to be annoying, rather than challenging?

Gargoyle fight for instance, if you die its a pretty annoying run back up past a bunch of enemies, and even then the fight is essentially just running around the rooftop and waiting for an opening. Nothing fun about it. Whenever I beat a boss in this game, I don't get that satisfaction that I got from the other games. It's more like "Oh thank god that's done with."

I got cursed recently in the depths and had to travel all the way to the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Ash Lake, which I can only assume is an end game area based on how much HP the enemies have, just to try and farm an item to cure an ailment that occurs in the early game?? (I know there are some vendors that sell purging stones, but I accidentally hit them when trying to skip dialogue so now they're hostile to me and I cannot reset them.

Dead enemies get stuck to you constantly which is annoying, why do they even have physics?

No travel from bonfire to bonfire sucks too, especially when you have to run all the way to an end game area to get an item to cure your curse, just to run all the way back where you could quite easily end up getting cursed again.

Idk I'm not trying to ♥♥♥♥ on the game, I know It's beloved by most, I just really can't see the appeal, it feels like a huge chore. Maybe It's because I'm coming from a fast paced game like Sekiro and I haven't adjusted to the slower pace of DS1, or maybe peoples opinions of this game are highly influenced by nostalgia, but I'm having a real hard time 'getting into' this game.

[Thermal Lance]

No game is for everyone. The game is fine. It just ain’t the kind of experience you’re looking for.

Keep in mind that when you have to backtrack a lot if you do bad mistakes, the stakes are higher. And to some people (myself included) it’s really more exciting this way.

[Mr. Oibyr]

A typical subjective statement about DS games; if you play DS3 first this seems to happen. "pretty annoying run back" not when compared to DS2 and DS3, imo. 2 has waaaaay too many enemies and you have to kill them enough to stop them from spawning, but Hex and Pyro spells are very powerful. 3 was very unoriginal, the amount of stuff and graphical improvements are all I like...and a few of the weapon arts are incredibly OP("Quick step", for ex.).

"Whenever I beat a boss in this game, I don't get that satisfaction that I got from the other games. It's more like "Oh thank god that's done with."" THIS is DS3 more than any other I've played...are you serious about this? Twin Princes were like 2 Manus' at the same time and Frieda was a rip-off of Artorias and Gwyn with 3 stages...I do not care if the bonfire was right there, run-backs are nothing in DS1 when you know the shortcuts, but DS3 was a big rip-off of DS1, even the weapon arts(in DS1 they consume durability and the WA weapons are limited in number).

I did enjoy all 3, but only return to DS1. I would like to go back to DS3, but without the online it's pointless; the challenge runs are unbalanced(just try a sorcery only run from scratch...it's almost impossible without melee/spell swapping and that's NOT a challenge run).

[EleventhStar]

yeah this is why i always tell people to start with DS1.

cause if you play DS3/modern games first, you will notice the absence of all the improvements/streamlining they made over the years and more often than not that's a negative experience.

whereas if you play chronologically, you will just see those things as what they were, improvements.

[JellyPuff]

As you've said, you are just used to faster-paced gameplay. Later games also just added a bit more Quality-of-Life. Going from DS3 to DS1 can understandably be a bit jarring. Just try, to take things slowly and more methodical, as this game tends to punish recklessness a lot more, than DS3. Don't be afraid, to read the wiki - this game's been made with that in mind, but so was DS3 with some of it's obscurity (Lapp quest in Ringed City is...a trip), so you should be at least used to that.

Originally posted by Brianna:

Dead enemies get stuck to you constantly which is annoying, why do they even have physics?

DS3 does that too. Many people actually enjoyed it so much in DS1, that they've complained, when DS2 removed this.

Originally posted by Brianna:

but I accidentally hit them when trying to skip dialogue so now they're hostile to me and I cannot reset them.

Even the Female Undead Merchant? She's placed in such a way, that it makes it more difficult for her to aggro and almost impossible to kill. If you aggro'd her, have Oswald of Carim (belltower right after Gargoyle fight) absolve your sins. It's works much like the Purging Monument in DS3.

Originally posted by gh0stwizard:

I have found Sekiro most annoying because all FS changed is putting a player right from the beginning on NG+7. At least it was at release date, may be changed now.

Nah, combat is just different and rythm/parry based and instead of dodging and using regular attacks for damage. You really shouldn't approach combat, like a soulsborne. While normal attacks deal a little bit of damage, it almost never matters and you're supposed to break your enemy's stance-meter for a crit, which always depletes their (current) health-bar no matter how full it still is.

[y tho]

Originally posted by gh0stwizard:

I have found Sekiro most annoying because all FS changed is putting a player right from the beginning on NG+7. At least it was at release date, may be changed now.

DS1 meant to be played online, then you would have more emotions due invasions. But in reality DS 1 is easiest game of all. Yes, at first run you will run a lot and die a lot, but you would die even more with online. There are funny things like vagrants, which may insta-kill unprepared players.

All negatives that you described are actually positives sides of the game. Next games were made with focusing on casuals. Don't like it? Go and play Elden Ring. It is for such like you. Teleports, bonfires near by the bosses, no solo invasions, OP weapons from the beginning, etc, etc, etc.

I'm by no means a casual. I 100% completed Sekiro and had no issues doing so with the exception of a couple of bosses. In Sekiro, you don't get OP weapons, you don't get to overlevel yourself, you don't get to summon etc etc. I'm not looking for an easy experience, but as I said - the 'difficult' aspects of this game feel like they were designed to be more annoying and inconvenient than an actual challenge.

[Mr. Oibyr]

Originally posted by Brianna:

...the 'difficult' aspects of this game feel like they were designed to be more annoying and inconvenient than an actual challenge.

that's how I feel about DS2 and DS3, more than DS1...except the Bed of Chaos.

[King Robert Baratheon]

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

yeah this is why i always tell people to start with DS1.

cause if you play DS3/modern games first, you will notice the absence of all the improvements/streamlining they made over the years and more often than not that's a negative experience.

whereas if you play chronologically, you will just see those things as what they were, improvements.

This, and also it's like...do people not know to count? It only makes sense to play a game series in numerical order. Otherwise this type of crap happens.

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by King Robert Baratheon:

This, and also it's like...do people not know to count? It only makes sense to play a game series in numerical order.

If you have so many issues with DS1, coming from DS3, that you would consider DS1 to "suck" (and it goes beyond just venting frustration), i doubt having played it first would've made much of a difference, since it would've still been the exact same game regardless.

And people, who have played and enjoyed the later games have no issues coming back to this one either. Or even the original Demon's Souls, which is on a whole 'nother level of jank and strange design choices as well as full of not so great gimmick bosses. BoC wouldn't have looked out of place in that game. I've even played it after DS3 and enjoyed my time with it, though perhaps because i've played all the later soulsgames already. It felt kinda like a sight-seeing tour of all the things and ideas later referenced or improved upon.

[King Robert Baratheon]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

Originally posted by King Robert Baratheon:

This, and also it's like...do people not know to count? It only makes sense to play a game series in numerical order.

If you have so many issues with DS1, coming from DS3, that you would consider DS1 to "suck" (and it goes beyond just venting frustration), i doubt having played it first would've made much of a difference, since it would've still been the exact same game regardless.

And people, who have played and enjoyed the later games have no issues coming back to this one either. Or even the original Demon's Souls, which is on a whole 'nother level of jank and strange design choices as well as full of not so great gimmick bosses. BoC wouldn't have looked out of place in that game. I've even played it after DS3 and enjoyed my time with it, though perhaps because i've played all the later soulsgames already. It felt kinda like a sight-seeing tour of all the things and ideas later referenced or improved upon.

I think you meant to reply to OP instead of me.

[dcy665]

The original game was developed while you were still in diapers. Things were different. It was years before it came to PC and a few more for the remaster version.

Consoles were both locked to 30FPS, HDD were laptop 5400RPM and dog slow. While PS3 had the Cell Broadband processor at 5GHz*, the Xbox has a three core Power-PC, both were from IBM. And had tiny RAM totals. You couldn't pop open the unit and add a few more GB.a

If you really like arcade level games you will not like Dark Souls. If you are unwilling to learn what the game wants to teach you regarding the game itself, you will not like Dark Souls.

Accept that the game is not for you. Now, keep walking. There are many games that are for you. Quite a few of them I already don't like.


* As a programmer I always wanted one to play with. But time and Intel compatibles moved on.

[Sola Di Ryuvia]

Originally posted by Brianna:

I just got into soulslike games recently and so far I beat Sekiro and DS3. I picked this up recently and since it was the OG i thought I'd really like it, but it just feels like a chore? like everything is designed to be annoying, rather than challenging?

Gargoyle fight for instance, if you die its a pretty annoying run back up past a bunch of enemies, and even then the fight is essentially just running around the rooftop and waiting for an opening. Nothing fun about it. Whenever I beat a boss in this game, I don't get that satisfaction that I got from the other games. It's more like "Oh thank god that's done with."

I got cursed recently in the depths and had to travel all the way to the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Ash Lake, which I can only assume is an end game area based on how much HP the enemies have, just to try and farm an item to cure an ailment that occurs in the early game?? (I know there are some vendors that sell purging stones, but I accidentally hit them when trying to skip dialogue so now they're hostile to me and I cannot reset them.

Dead enemies get stuck to you constantly which is annoying, why do they even have physics?

No travel from bonfire to bonfire sucks too, especially when you have to run all the way to an end game area to get an item to cure your curse, just to run all the way back where you could quite easily end up getting cursed again.

Alot of those are just the dark souls experience and pretty easy to not have issues with.
1 don't try to spam outta dialogue.
2 you do get travel between bonfires eventually.
3 dead physics just roll a few times they fly off of you and its kinda funny to watch.
4 sounds like you are sequence breaking. I never once encountered anything that can curse me prior to end game (fast travel obtained).

The game is meant to punish you when you fail and makes you run back to said boss tbh part of the experience just like how sometimes you get blackholed off the side of a cliff (magically get dragged down it when you never even touched the side). Bed of Chaos is the highlight of this with the insanely annoying running to get back to it over and over even via the hidden path.

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

Originally posted by King Robert Baratheon:

This, and also it's like...do people not know to count? It only makes sense to play a game series in numerical order.

If you have so many issues with DS1, coming from DS3, that you would consider DS1 to "suck" (and it goes beyond just venting frustration), i doubt having played it first would've made much of a difference, since it would've still been the exact same game regardless.

And people, who have played and enjoyed the later games have no issues coming back to this one either. Or even the original Demon's Souls, which is on a whole 'nother level of jank and strange design choices as well as full of not so great gimmick bosses. BoC wouldn't have looked out of place in that game. I've even played it after DS3 and enjoyed my time with it, though perhaps because i've played all the later soulsgames already. It felt kinda like a sight-seeing tour of all the things and ideas later referenced or improved upon.

Exactly this. I started on ER and bloodborne then came to DS1 and i gotta say DS1 is easy with my experience from those games and turning out to be one of my favorite games out of all the games I played so far. been parrying normie enemies alot and I already understand rolling pretty well to not panic roll. The only game I did have issue with is Demon Souls which was insanely crazy compared to even DS1. They had some insane balacing issues with Demon Souls. Bosses with 1/4th the health of a DS1 boss but can dish out way more dmg and take way less dmg out of gate. Though I'll admit I do enjoy Demon Souls even though it gave me issues compared to the others. Almost completed DS1 already and loving every minute just dislike some of the souls experience moments (bs kills and magically falling to death when i survived it prior lol)


Edit: If you are having dmg issues just simply do claymore and stunlock everything and make sure to +10 it asap. I run Brass armor (untill i did that Elite Knight was my go to).

[Michanicks]

Originally posted by Brianna:

I just got into soulslike games recently and so far I beat Sekiro and DS3. I picked this up recently and since it was the OG i thought I'd really like it, but it just feels like a chore? like everything is designed to be annoying, rather than challenging?

If you think this game is annoying, then i assume you would not want to try Dark Souls 2 out.

Originally posted by Brianna:

Gargoyle fight for instance, if you die its a pretty annoying run back up past a bunch of enemies, and even then the fight is essentially just running around the rooftop and waiting for an opening. Nothing fun about it. Whenever I beat a boss in this game, I don't get that satisfaction that I got from the other games. It's more like "Oh thank god that's done with."

In many hardcore games you have to wait for opening in bossfight, that the part of the fight, and in most souls likes runup to the boss is part of the bossfight. I don't remember a single From Software games where all the bosses had a easy access. I don't understand why DS1 is a problem.

Originally posted by Brianna:

I got cursed recently in the depths and had to travel all the way to the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Ash Lake, which I can only assume is an end game area based on how much HP the enemies have, just to try and farm an item to cure an ailment that occurs in the early game?? (I know there are some vendors that sell purging stones, but I accidentally hit them when trying to skip dialogue so now they're hostile to me and I cannot reset them.

Did you hit both of the Vendors, including the one in the bell tower?
If so, i can suggest an exteme solution: starting the new game, if you are in Depths, then you are didn't go far enough, it's just a first quart of the game, so you don't lose much.

Originally posted by Brianna:

Dead enemies get stuck to you constantly which is annoying, why do they even have physics?

I agree, that's not funny, that's immersion breaking.

Originally posted by Brianna:

No travel from bonfire to bonfire sucks too, especially when you have to run all the way to an end game area to get an item to cure your curse, just to run all the way back where you could quite easily end up getting cursed again.

Bonfire travels will open after the bossfight in Anor Londo.
And i don't understand how you are getting cursed in the first place, if you know what causes curse, all you have to do is avoid the mist and eventually kill the basilisk. Can't do it fast enough? What weapon you have, what upgrade?

Originally posted by Brianna:

Idk I'm not trying to ♥♥♥♥ on the game, I know It's beloved by most, I just really can't see the appeal, it feels like a huge chore. Maybe It's because I'm coming from a fast paced game like Sekiro and I haven't adjusted to the slower pace of DS1, or maybe peoples opinions of this game are highly influenced by nostalgia, but I'm having a real hard time 'getting into' this game.

It's not a bad game, it's just different, more slow-paced, more strategical.
DLC have faster DS3-like bosses.
If that will make your life any easier, you can't try heavy armor and big shields, because they are working in that game and may help you to access new kind of experience.

[I Throw Rocks At Trains]

I played ds3 first, loved it. then played dsr and loved it better.. ♥♥♥♥♥ masterclass in level design (for its time). I think that is why I appreciate the remake of the original best

[Silent]

Originally posted by King Robert Baratheon:

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

yeah this is why i always tell people to start with DS1.

cause if you play DS3/modern games first, you will notice the absence of all the improvements/streamlining they made over the years and more often than not that's a negative experience.

whereas if you play chronologically, you will just see those things as what they were, improvements.

This, and also it's like...do people not know to count? It only makes sense to play a game series in numerical order. Otherwise this type of crap happens.

If I started with Dark Souls I, I probably wouldn't have continued in the series. Which is odd because I am enjoying Demon Souls.

[King Robert Baratheon]

Originally posted by Silent:

Originally posted by King Robert Baratheon:

This, and also it's like...do people not know to count? It only makes sense to play a game series in numerical order. Otherwise this type of crap happens.

If I started with Dark Souls I, I probably wouldn't have continued in the series. Which is odd because I am enjoying Demon Souls.

Why would you think I care about your opinion if you're basically saying DS1 is a bad game? Go kick rocks. Another person to add to my block list (and usually I do this when someone is talking badly about DS2, not DS1).