Can't find balanced difficulty - Hard is too easy, but nightmare is too hard!

[Komaru]

I have already played this game on Playstation 4 on hard difficulty (but never finished it), but I wanted just little bit more challenge, since only half of the bosses managed to kill me, and I didn't even parry them with flash guard back then.

So now when I have this game on PC, I tried Inferno difficulty and barely managed to get to the Coral Woods area by using parrying skills that I learned from Sekiro. However the mob enemies in that area absolutely rekt my ♥♥♥.

So I lowered the difficulty to nightmare setting, but the enemies in that area are still kicking my ♥♥♥.

What makes this so difficult is that unlike in Sekiro, in YS 8 you can't spam parries (these parries have a long cooldown window) and you have to land the parry about half second before they hit you. And since everything kills you in one, or two hits, you have to parry everything perfectly without mistakes.

Those jumping crabs are an absolute nightmare to parry! Even when they telegraph their jumping attack, their jump distance varies just little bit, making it very hard to count when to parry.

So should I bang my head against a wall with these hardgore difficulties, or should I continue using Hard difficulty setting like I did before?

Or maybe I should take no parries challenge on hard difficulty?
Maybe that would balance it out!

[Fluff Fact⚙ry]

Unlearn the parry skill from Sekiro. Both Flash Move and Flash Guard you are supposed to use them a bit earlier before the attack hit, not right the moment attack hit. That means if you see the enemy about to swing their hit, trigger FG already.

And you don't have to spam parry, it won't increase EXTRA gauge like previous games anyway, just do it rhythmically: FG -> charge attack (to recover SP) -> FG -> skill -> FG -> repeat.

Also, it's better to combine both FM and FG as doing this could extend your protection further, just do a FG first for easier FM chance.

In addition, be aware that after rolling/evading you cannot instantly trigger FG but for a tiny time, and this tiny time could be your fatal death.

If you are afraid of losing FG or FM, you can also use accessories that extend their duration. Or, the faster you kill enemies the lesser you get hit -> equip all the strongest you can have (+STR cape and armors, x2 damage Mask, SP usage reduction), and start using party formation 2x Slash (Adol & Dana) - 1x Anyone you like (Sahad for biggest DMG, Laxia for flexible control, Hummel for EXTRA and extra autododge, Ricotta for stun and movement interference) if available.

Moreover, don't be greedy trying to kill everything on the way, you would risk yourself dying more if you don't know them well, in fact you only kill enough for upgrades only and move on.

Lastly, focus, stay calm and practice FM/FG, they didn't name it Nightmare/Inferno without a reason.

p.s: You should see "Infinity Nightmare/Inferno", it's even worse than you can think.

[RazielOneX]

Try playing at Hard but without using any healing items at boss fights, except for status recovery medicine. Did this with the final bosses and although not really a challenge, the game became more like older YS titles which have no usable healing items.

Also don't worry about difficulty too much now as when you beat the game (the true ending) you get access to Time Attack mode and can refight every boss at all difficulties with 3, 2 or only one party member.

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by Ysna Eideen:

Unlearn the parry skill from Sekiro. Both Flash Move and Flash Guard you are supposed to use them a bit earlier before the attack hit, not right the moment attack hit. That means if you see the enemy about to swing their hit, trigger FG already.

That's wrong. Flash Guard does require you to use it before the attack animation, but Flash Move requires you to use it as you are about to get hit. The 2 have different timings for their use.

Also @OP:

Remember that you dont just have ''parry'' you can use Flast Move as well. While it has a higher cooldown then Sekiro's parry, it also gives a huge window of invulnerability and can even be reapplied during that window.

Nightmare and Inferno difficulty has a pretty big gap between them. If they both feel as ''the same'' it means you arent very used to this game's combat. You'll have to practice using Flash Guard and Flash Move as unlike @ hard you can't survive without using those moves.

[Nope]

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

...
Nightmare and Inferno difficulty has a pretty big gap between them. If they both feel as ''the same'' it means you arent very used to this game's combat. You'll have to practice using Flash Guard and Flash Move as unlike @ hard you can't survive without using those moves.

I disagree on this one, Inferno and nightmare feel pretty much the same. I've finished nightmare run on Vita version before (first playthrough), currently doing a run on inferno
The only thing that make inferno different from nightmare is the limited healing items on inferno. You can count the damage enemies deal too but the different is not that much as it's only the matter of you surviving an extra attack before they kill you

[Tiasmoon]

If they feel the same to you when you did Nightmare on a blind run and Inferno after you've already experienced the content then that shows there's a gap between the two.
Otherwise Inferno would feel easier to you then Nightmare did on your NG. (since you already know the boss's patterns, what to expect, etc)

In short, you are better now then you were before so it feels similar.

Originally posted by Nope:

You can count the damage enemies deal too but the different is not that much as it's only the matter of you surviving an extra attack before they kill you

The difference between dying in one or two hits is pretty huge. The difference between 2 and 3 hits not as big, but still quite large. It means you can afford that many less mistakes in close proximity.

People often seem to make the mistake to judge a difficulty only on their second/third playthrough of a game. No idea why. A second playthrough is always going to be easier due to accumulated knowledge and experience. (and in case of action games, even muscle memory)

The game was easier for me on my second playthrough Inferno then it was on my first. Inferno, dropped to nightmare @ spider boss. However dropping it down from Inferno to Nightmare made a colossal difference at the time. Also because boss stats are notably a lot lower, meaning you can deal a lot more damage.