If video games were gangsters, the Souls series would definitely be regarded to have the most street cred. It’s often considered to be the last truly challenging AAA series left in the market. It is also the series with a very passionate fan base known for working together towards peeling off all the layers of the many secrets hidden in the Souls universe. And despite the series being truly remarkable in many aspects, the perceived insane difficulty of the games remains the most recognizable quality of From Software’s creation. The thing is, I’ve played all the (currently released in the West!) entries of the series except Demon’s Souls and I’ve come to the conclusion that people making generalizations about the difficulty is often a bit misleading. Ultimately, I feel at times that many potential players are discouraged from giving DS a fighting chance based on a rather simplistic way of looking at the games. Since DS III is upon us and I want every game-loving human being to take part in this glorious experience, let’s debunk ourselves some myths.
Let me start off by saying that I’m not a gaming ninja secretly bragging about my “hardcore” gaming skills. While I am an avid gamer I also happen to be a disabled gamer. My right hand’s flexibility and strength could be compared to this of a 3 years old baby ,one or two years away from mastering proper fine motor skills. What this means in practice is that I’m slow on the right trigger and kind of inaccurate with the right analog stick. Admittedly, this makes games with the traditional Third-Person Perspective less of a problem than FPS’es, for example. At the end of the day, however, I simply cannot consider myself more than an average gamer in terms of my overall skill. Yet, The Dark Souls series never seemed to be an impossible challenge. Generally speaking, I might get stuck on a boss for 2 or 3 hours of gameplay but I always prevail one way or another.
My secret to being decent at Dark Souls is that I never bought into the entire “Prepare to Die” marketing slogan. Do I think the Souls games are easy? God no! Deaths are obviously plentiful in Dark Souls and Yours Truly probably struggles a bit more than your average hollow warrior. What makes Dark Souls unique is that it’s that the path to victory is always clear and attainable, while your mistakes feel minuscule and completely avoidable. The Souls series’ true greatness lies in the ability to always tease you with the prospect of victory at your fingertips. Upon finally beating a difficult boss you are regularly filled with the peculiar realization that the challenge was in fact quite easy and the only obstacle that impeded progress was your own inadequacy.
From Software’s sublime game design strategy makes a point to reward methodical play as opposed to demanding pure skill. None of the core mechanics demand physical dexterity; they simply demand patience. The Souls games teach you to take that extra breath between your moves. The players are encouraged to think analytically and think about a difficult encounter in the same way one tends to strategize during a chess game. When you start seeing the game for what it really is, the experience becomes akin to learning a language. You’re progressively becoming more “fluent” and what seemed completely foreign to your brain not so long ago suddenly starts making perfect sense. And, as with learning languages, your willingness to power through the initial overwhelming stage is much more important than skill alone.
The moments when a scary boss fight suddenly starts making sense in your head is where Dark Souls games truly shine. I can hardly think of anything more satisfying in modern gaming. Incidentally, this is why I would actually be against introducing an easy mode into Dark Souls. Adjustable difficulty makes sense for almost all games and the fact that there is backlash against the invulnerable mode in Star Fox Zero is simply ridiculous. As a disabled gamer I know full well that games should always strive to be more accessible. Dark Souls, however, is my only exception to this rule.
The requirement to be methodical in your approach radiates from every element of From Software’s design. The game banks on you being analytical and ready to problem-solve. The way Dark Souls games build immersion is inherently tied to your commitment to the game. Introducing an easy mode would give players an option to effectively break the game. We wouldn’t be OK with that if it was a game-breaking technical bug and we shouldn’t OK with that in terms of breaking the game’s internal logic. The developer takes full responsibility for the experience they deliver and a challenge-less Dark Souls is simply not a Souls experience. At the same time, I’m all for a user-created offline easy mod. The customer always have the right to break the game at his or her own risk.
Dark Souls is still not an experience for everyone. While being a lot more accessible than many people assume, the game still requires a fair bit of finger dexterity and might be too much for some gamers. Also, If patience is really not your forte, DS might not be the perfect fit. Despite all this, I really believe that Dark Souls is one of these essential gaming experiences people should have on their bucket lists. Don’t let the “Prepare to Die” mantra discourage you, you should definitely try it out. Dark Souls wants you to develop a reciprocal relationship with it; the more you’ll give , the more you’ll get in return. If you are ready to commit, Dark Souls won’t mind that your skills are sub-par. Every death in DS is a wonderful learning experience that brings you closer to the ultimate goal of conquering the puzzle and slowly unraveling the mystery. The game teaches you to take a deep breath and slow down in demanding situations. And that lesson, while requiring quite a bit of commitment, may well benefit every one of us in a way that transcends video games.
Originally posted to Crippled Gaming on April 3rd, 2016.
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43 responses to “Why Dark Souls’ Notorious Difficulty is Largely a Myth”
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While I do think that the “difficulty” pushed in marketing simply omits the fact that it’s more of a learning curve, I do agree with what Viridian is saying here. The solo experience is a tricky one on your first run, blind, when traps and ambushes can result in cheap deaths. But, that’s Souls for you. I’ve known that since I first fell in a shadow-concealed hole in the Tower of Latria while chasing a shiny.
Example: In the undead settlement, when you reach that long corridor with a gank squad, plus an Evangelist up high, and an ambush waiting on the left, not once, but twice, counting the little assassin hanging from the ceiling. To a new or an inattentive player, this is a deathtrap. So, by that point you should have learned to look around, seeing any signs of misadventure in the environment. And without a bow, luring is near impossible. Situations like this are the reason DS appeals to a methodical player, and not a “twitch” player.
I’ve never found these games easy, and until I’m overleveled a bit, even mobs give me a rough time. Sometimes I just fast run / suicide run to grab the treasures, and use the upgrades and new weapons to go back and clear it properly. That’s just me taking what I know about Souls games and exploiting it when I need to. And I would say 95% of the bosses in these game, for me, cannot be soloed (again, I know lots of people do…but I can’t).
Difficulty is almost always linked to a lack of practice, in virtually everything. That’s why Souls games employ death as a learning experience, in the hopes that you will learn, and feel a sense of accomplishment once you succeed. It’s the hook.
I see a lot of nitpicking surrounding a very diplomatically written piece.
I’d point to one of the sentences in the first paragraph suggesting the generalizations about the difficulty aren’t doing the game a service.
Yes it’s difficult (the author mentions that pretty clearly). Hell, I remember in Demon’s Souls struggling mightily to take down the first soldier on the wooden planks outside the castle (the little makeshift walkway). I cleared the enemies before him with little difficulty because I had space to maneuver. I had been successful in the tutorial, on the stairs, past the first small room, up another short zone with my first set of strategies. Then BAM…I didn’t have space to use anymore.
There’s been very few games where I needed to evolve just to take down the wee little mobs.
But coming back to what I think I read…the difficulty is vastly overplayed in marketing and articles. I would absolutely call it top tier in difficulty, but from a general “this is what the game is about” concept, it’s really underselling the game a great deal.
The hardest “Souls” game is Slashy Souls. It is NOT the best Souls game. Flappy Bird is harder. Rogue Legacy is harder. Binding of Isaac is harder. I struggled more with Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic (love that game). Those games don’t have quite the magic the Souls games do though.
Sure they’re difficult. But that’s not as important as the billing would suggest.
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What I’m referring to is that every attack has a noticable (and comparitively long) windup you can spot. You can bait the attacks to learn patterns safely. Excluding some areas in DKS2 and the BoC you can or hear see every trap in advance. Because gear is more important than stats (in PvE) any character can get the tools to get the job done.
The odds are stacked against you, but it’s fair. You have ample opportunity to see and respond to everything. They almost never kill you just because they can, or set up impossible situations that you couldn’t have avoided by paying attention, and they also avoid making enemies damage sponges by simply cranking up enemy HP/damage without reguard for anything else. You die because you screwed up, not because the screwed you over.
They also have a habit of introducing you to nonlethal versions of traps (or lethal versions right near safe areas) so you can learn to spot and avoid it without risking much.
The point about inadequacy really rings true as a person who has now played 3 souls games + bloodborne prior to this game.
I now waltz into boss fights, dodge and block, figure out the patterns and how to avoid them pretty much instantly and proceed to wreck the boss- normally at the first time of asking. (albeit, I only have 5 boss souls to my name so far)
It does feel as though the difficulty is just a lack of understanding of the game and how it works. If you are a player who knows how to play the system- use bows to draw out enemies, or kill overly powerful foes from afar, abuse Iframes by rolling into attacks etc, it’s really not all that difficult.
To be honest what I really want to say with this, is it’s sad that every game requires the same skillset to me. If only things were different, I could actually suffer and struggle through each game like I did Dark Souls 1, I would really enjoy them more.
At least we still have jolly coop and PvP to keep it fun
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I think what Pirate is referring to is that fact that Dark Souls 3 provides a simple but thorough tutorial on how to play the game, as well as giving good, detailed explanations as to what all the stats do.
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This is one of those troll comments about these games that became a fact through sheer repetion. Yes, if you repeat something enough it becomes a “truth”. The designers of these games aren’t really interested in “playing fair”
Yes, I agree with Forum_Pirate.
You’ve introduced this false dichotomy where methodical and observant playing is not “skill”.
Dark Souls requires skill much in the same way chess does, you must be patient, methodical and observant. Just because you don’t have to memorize long button comboes and have lightening fast reflexes does not mean a game does not take a high degree of skill.
Dark Souls IS difficult, you’ve just become so accustomed to playing these games by now that a lot of the tricks and traps that Fromsoft employs in their games just doesn’t work on you any more.
Just because YOU are becoming more skilled does not mean the game is less difficult for others
Another clickbait BS “DS isn’t really hard” article. Total BS. These games are super hard to play solo because they are balanced for co-op. The proof of that is the AI gank squads. Defeating those on your own is a tedious game of pulling them one by one, or running past and hoping you won’t get bottlenecked somewhere. Your l33t parrying skills aren’t going to help you there. This isn’t fun and the gank squads are clearly there because people are expected to play online with summons. End of story as far as I’m concerned.
You’re wrong.
You’ve drawn an imaginary distinction. The ability to play methodically, learn to read attacks, properly asses the situation, maintain focus for lengthy periods of time, (ect.) *IS* skill. Skill isn’t just the physical aspects of a game. Requiring the high degree of focus and other mental abilities *IS* difficulty. It’s not a myth at all.
Giving you all the tools you need to succeed is called playing fair.
The difficulty is exaggerated in marketing and such, but the difficulty is very real. That exaggeration only works because the game is so hard to begin with.
well written article and speaks the truth.
Let me just say though I haven’t played a Souls game until VERY recently I’ve been aware of the games since I heard about Demon’s Souls announcement back whenever that was. When I was a member of the hg101 forums and there was some hype about the game on there. I recall one of the key things I read about the game was how difficult it was. Other aspects I’m sure were highlighted but the difficulty was what stood out to me in things like early previews and eventually reviews when the game launched stateside. This mentality of course just became more entrenched with Dark Souls and its greater popularity due to being multi-platform and having a bigger marketing budget from a company like Bandai-Namco. As the games’ difficulty became more and more publicized of course the publisher was going to hop on that bandwagon and advertise it as such. And let’s be honest it IS a game that does emphasize difficulty. The way the games punish you for death, the almost mocking way it tells you off when you died by saying, well, “YOU DIED” every time you do, it’s what people are going to pay attention to. The fact that Dark Souls 2 is so frequently criticized for being too easy (yes I am aware there a number of legitimate criticisms to be had of the game this is just one thing I want to focus on) because of too many bonfires, healing items, whatever just goes to show that it’s a meme that’s not only entrenched within the game’s marketing, but its fanbase as well. This pressure to make each game harder as I’ve read with glee from others that supposedly “Miyazaki said this will be the hardest game yet!!1oneone” means that in spite of the many other great things this series has offered the difficulty is the thing that’s gonna be talked about and not much can be done about it.
But… it is what it is. While there are definitely harder games out there it’s not unfair to say the Souls games are among the more difficult action-RPGs one can find out there. Not just the act of fighting enemies and bosses but all the rather obscure mechanics behind everything, the methods of progression, to anyone who can’t be bothered to try and learn these games it’s just something that’s going to frustrate, feel unrewarding and in the end there are a ton of other games to play that to many are going to be more worth their time. Hell as much as I like Dark Souls 1, 2 and (so far, mostly) 3, they’re hardly my favorite games of all time. There are a ton of aspects to these games that I think are obnoxious. Not enough to quit the games entirely, obviously, but they are time-consuming, and heavily flawed, and the quirks combined with its odd brand of difficulty means I can empathize with anyone who has no time for these games, as I often struggle with the games myself (until I reach a point where I understand the games and I don’t struggle so much… this has happened for the most part with the first two Dark Souls game, the third… might need more time to sink in). Not sure what makes them so appealing to me honestly. A combination of the settings/atmosphere and combat mechanics mostly probably and a lot of other little things.
The “Souls games are HxCx to the MAX MLG420noscope!!!” marketing is obnoxious, yes, not helped by segments of its playerbase and the gaming coverage outlets that spur this on. But these indeed are hard games. Hard for reasons that are unorthodox compared to most games, that will and have put a lot of people off. So if someone just up and quits playing after trying and failing to get into it, that is perfectly understandable, marketing or no. With such little time to spend on this earth and so many ways to spend it, if a Souls title doesn’t click, no amount of emphasizing “it’s about perseverance and overcoming obstacles and struggles” is going to change that person’s mind who would rather it be spent on other games that might also be hard but hard in ways that click with them better. We shouldn’t make a meme out of how hard these games are but it’s also a good forewarning at the same time that these indeed are hard games for [specified reasons] and it’s not unsound to make a point of that fact, just as long as that point isn’t shoved into everyone’s faces like it has been so much or used as an e-peen-measuring contest then all will be well.
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This is the exact point the video I posted conveys.
These types of articles are not plastered over the internet. Precisely the opposite. You more often find articles belittling the game’s marketed difficulty, calling the game trivial or articles calling it a variety of hyperbolic phrases, like “face destroying punishment”.
Also was the article even read? The point about patience and learning being cornerstones to success made the issue of a disability a non-factor. That was the author’s exact point, so his disability is not irrelevant, in fact the opposite. The game asks for thoughtful play, not fast twitch dominance.
I think the overall point being missed here is that the dominant marketing strategy for this game has been about Prepare to Die, and how hard and brutal it is, which is not a developmental cornerstone for From Software. This over emphasis on difficulty has given the outsider an inaccurate impression of what the game is all about. Anecdotally, I have several friends who won’t even touch the game because they have bought into the hype of difficulty and don’t feel they have the wherewithal to tackle the challenge, seeing it as some exercise in masochism. That’s unfortunate to me.
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I have seldom seen these. Mostly it’s, “Still hard as hell” articles.
Its like every time a new Souls game comes out, articles like these are plastered all over the internet.
It’s notoriously difficult compared to other AAA games, and it’s not mechanically difficult like, for instance, a game like Starcraft with 50 keybinds requiring 300 action per minute to compete.
Souls challenge is about attrition, patience, timing and memorization, so this articles point about being able to play with a busted hand is irrelevant.
“The path to victory is always clear and attainable” I beat Farron’s Legion through the power of sheer bullshit, so I can’t really comment.
To add to your post, here’s a Jim Sterling video talking about difficulty in Souls games
[BBvideo 560,340]https://youtu.be/SXUzbcNM6K0?list=PLlRceUcRZcK0E1Id3NHchFaxikvCvAVQe[/BBvideo]
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