First time playing a souls game. Why the fuck is it so hard?

Because you don't know how the game works. As you play you'll learn and it'll get easier.

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In this thread we list things Dark Souls 2 did that were far better than Dark Souls 3. I'll start:

>No bonfire and no death challenge where you can beat the game without resting at a bonfire or dying to gain a reward and bragging rights

>Non-linear first half of the game allows you to rush straight to the areas of the game that contain the items for your build

>Chugging Estus immobilizes you, and the heal isn't instantaneous meaning trying to chug while someone is sticking close to you will result in death

>Stamina regeneration is tied to weight, so a character at 10% burden will recover their bar faster than a character at 70% burden, giving an advantage and a reason to make a low burden character

>Poise exists and armor provides relevant, but not overpowering damage reduction, giving an advantage and a reason to make a high burden character

>Phantoms and Dark Spirits cannot chug estus, spirits can only heal via spell useage which is slow. This makes fighting outnumbered even without mob assistance possible since any damage you do sticks

>Can only perform four rolls before running out of stamina

>Can only perform 5 attacks of a rapier or straight sword before running out of stamina

>Parrying has longer recovery frames and consumes more stamina, making parry fishing riskier and makes parrying require higher skill

>Power stance allowing for unique combinations of dual wielding and unlocking an alternative moveset for weapons

>Being able to use the full moveset of a weapon in your off-hand including running, rolling, backstepping, etc. attacks rather than just being able to do a basic R1 swing and blocking with the weapon as it is in Ds3 (lmao who would ever want to weapon block)

>Bell Tower covenant providing two unique optional areas to PvP for Titanite Chunks, Slabs, and Twinkling, making farming for upgrades fun

>Bonfire ascetics to replay bosses you like and or gain items from NG+ and beyond without grinding through the whole game again

>>382817179
>First time playing

GEE I WONDER WHY?!

also 2 is the easiest because it despawns certain enemies after to either die to them a lot or kill them off

>>382817402
>Dark souls 2
>Poise exists and armor provides relevant damage reduction

Yeah, no.

>>382817179
Dark Souls 2 is specifically made to be as frustrating and cheap as possible.
Go play 3 instead, it's much better balanced. Or 1 and get imba weapons.

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>>382817301
>>382817434
>dark souls 2 is easy
>first enemies of the game
Not even 2 hours in and I know this shit is cheap.

>>382817179
Because at the start of DS2 you have a really shit roll. Combine that with the awful hitboxes on those hippo cunts and you've got an all-day ticket to the shit buffet. It also gives you 1 estus only at the start and reduces your hp every time you die so if you're not doing well the game makes things even harder for some fucking reason.
Level ADP to get some more iframes, check the well in majula for another estus and never forget that strike-damage is OP as shit.

>>382817402
>only 5 attacks of a rapier
Enough to one-stunlock kill most low lvls in pvp. Cheapshit.

>>382818953
You went the wrong way dumbass

>picks the worst of the series
>is having difficulty getting into it
Hmmm....

>>382817179

Plays slow OP. This games look as if they are action adventure, but they are a bit closer to puzzle. Plus, get that AGL up soon so you can do decent rolls.

>>382818953
have you not played an open ended rpg before? If the enemies in an area seem way too tough you're going the wrong way (90% of the time at least)

>>382817402
All sorts of builds are viable in the game, meta is pretty open.

Also has the single best stat system in the Souls series.

>>382821981
If that were true, why is Adaptability a skill?

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>>382817402
>Bone Fist
That's all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaG43ArzxV8

>>382818953
lmao wait until the heide knights get up

>>382819859
>Worst game in the series
But that's DS3. DS2 is the best of them all.

>>382819859
>worst
lol

>>382822282
>randomly stands in one place
>sways left and right instantly
Deepest gameplay

>>382822069
?

Adaptability is a great stat, increases Poise, I-frames and poison dmg/res, so plenty of builds use it in several ways. What's wrong with it in your opinion?

>>382822590
It shouldn't be a skillpoint sink along with endurance, there was nothing wrong with dark souls 1.

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>>382817179
>Why the fuck is it so hard?
lol

>>382818953
>being this shit at the game
only people that whine about artifical difficulty in ds2 are people who wear vengarl's helmet while wielding an ugs.

>>382822990
Those or the ones who like enemies with elemental weakness or ones you can parry. You know, something not found in das2.

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>>382817179
>First time playing a souls game
>Dark Souls 2
I stopped reading there.

>>382822749
It's not too much of a sink imo, at least if you use magic, which you always should.

I'm not saying every character should be a mage, but all should at least use a few spells that worked well with their build.

Plus, more frequent level ups make it much less of a chore to actually sink the points.

>>382823137
You can parry most of the enemies in the game but unlike other titles it actually requires some form of skill.

>>382823440
No, it's just a smaller window of parry which is not positively compensated. You can take damage and the animation lasts longer.
>most enemies
Oh like the giant hook guys or giant hammer guys in earthen peak? Fuck off, you can't parry tough looking enemies. It's a waste of time.

>>382823689
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6W9zk0RSDU
okay then

it's normal to struggle in the first few areas, especially if you're playing hollow at 50% health.. Be sure to grab the Fire Longsword and then the Ring of Binding (limits your HP reduction when hollow). Those items will help a lot.

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>>382824215
Why does this piece of shit look like it was made on an entirely different engine.

>>382824513
It almost is with that directx 11 support
>dark souls will never run silky smooth 60+fps

>>382817179
Are you using a controller or keyboard?

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>>382824513
because dark souls 2 is shit. demon souls, a game 6 years older than dark souls 2 looks better.

>>382824883
DsFix. Played the entire game for a third time with it, perfect not one problem.

>>382817434
That hardly makes the game easier, only less frustrating.

>>382822302
>DS2 is the best of them all.
Did you play all of them? DS2 is the worst by far. Artificial Difficulty, thematic clusterfuck, and just too many areas and bosses. The game is the definition of quantity over quality.

>>382825134
I'm also using dsfix, just my processor is not being utilized and microstutters often or I simply get low FPS. Mind you, I've benchmarked on 1024x768 resolution.

Dark Souls 3 is the best Souls game. Prove me wrong. Protip: you can't.

>>382825709
DaS3 > DaS > BB > DaS2 > DeS

>>382825709
SHIT SOULS 3
>the most linear of all the games, even compared to DeS and BB
>nostalgiafag reference pandering out the ass
>rehashed characters
>Lowest Boss count after DeS
>Half the bosses are gimmicks
>Boss weapons shit as usual, despite having 4 games to draw experience from
>weapons in general are 90% quality based
>these quality weapons are also usually the best weapons in their class
>some weapons have retarded stat requirements where they don't even scale with said stats, which also happens to be quality
>armor system a horrible imbalanced mess
>the heaviest armors are the heaviest they have ever been in the series, while offering basically no additional defense over medium/light sets
>poise implemented in such a stupid way that only Greatswords and Maces get the most bang for the buck
>Some UGSs, GAs, and Hammers weigh more than entire armor sets
>Equip load is now done by VIT, which for some reason gives LESS per level than fucking dark souls 2
>Souls required to level up not adjusted for splitting stats into two
>a majority of the small weapons sped up to bloodborne speed, but some of the larger weapons have been made SLOWER and consume MORE STAMINA
>rolls cost next to nothing with extremely fast recovery and many iframes
>magic is garbage
>faith is garbage
>FP system is weird
>Too many useless fucking stats
>WAs are mostly just special r2s or powerstance moves copypasted with an explosion or two at the end
>MLGS is the worst its ever been
>awful covenants
>covenants are stickers which can be changed on the go
>shitty rewards
>Dragon form the worst its ever been in both aesthetic and practical sense
>community now filled with normies who hold hands with their SL 800 Friends to get through the game
>invaders have the most disadvantage compared to all other games in the series
>First DLC was a 1.5 hour long disappointment with a rehashed arena
>Second DLC had no end despite being the very last dark souls thing we'll get for the forseeable future

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>>382818972
>Combine that with the awful hitboxes on those hippo cunts and you've got an all-day ticket to the shit buffet.

>>382825918
Get DSCM launcher. Not that it'll help in any way since nobody summons or places signs.
It's full of rabid cunts who do the "Shrug" emote and white crystal back, waiting for their friends to summon them.

>>382825709
Agreed. 3 is far more consistent in quality than 1, while 1 has some parts better than 3.

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>>382822917
lol

>>382825294
What processor are you using?

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>>382825931
>Dark Souls 2 was their first souls game

>>382826375
Desktop is i3 560 @ 2.9GHz, laptop i5 4200U @2.5GHz. Both capable processors. HD 5670 and GT 750M respectively.
Dark Souls 2 runs very stable 60fps on both, too.

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What builds do you find most enjoyable for each game?

I enjoyed a great weapon, black iron armor, strength character in Dark Souls and a lightly armored rapier build in Dark Souls 2.

>>382825285
I have played all of them other than bloodborne. DKS3 feels like it has more artificial difficulty. I didn't find DKS2 particularly difficult other than some sections and I really liked the level design.

I think the overabundant themes played to the genre's strengths and made it feel fleshed out and the fact it had so many areas made it feel like a real adventure through a forgotten kingdom to me, not to mention the excellent scenic views. The level design is much stronger in DKS1 with the brilliant interconnectivity, but DKS2 actually has much less linearity.

Also the overall design of DKS2 really reminded me of Demon's Souls. In fact, DKS2 feels much more like a sequel to DS in regards to its design than DKS1.

>>382826690
Dark Souls 1 strenght builds are just Hard mode. Out of all STR weapons, I find the man-serpent greatsword + crystal weapon spell to be the most viable option in terms of attack speed and moveset.

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>>382826589
>HD 5670
>i3 560
I think you're overestimating your specs

>>382817179
You are probably doing it wrong

>>382826924
Those are more than enough to run what dark souls 1 has to offer, it's just an unoptimised game that needs brute force to be maxed out. I've never witnessed more than 70% GPU useage and 60% CPU useage in it.

>>382825918
It's not the same thing on offline mode.

>>382826690
STR build with a great club in 1 and quality with a broadsword in the other 2

DS2 gives the wrong idea of how Souls games work.
The other games arent 90% ambushes and abusing enemy count.

>>382817179
Speaking of builds, I HIGHLY suggest you take a stroll over to the dragon sanctum and pick up the sanctum crossbow.
Make it dark and have some stats in dark (faith+int) and wear the dark clutch ring. The damage on the special attack is ludicrous. for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNXBrGd3Nc4

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>>382827065
Okay, You're actually right about that, Im running an i5 6600k 4.2ghz, gtx 970.
>it's just an unoptimised game
Yea the port was shit but that was because it was built around consoles and released a year later half assed.
>Dark Souls 2 runs very stable 60fps on both
Of course, they realized how ridiculously bad the original port of DaS was.
Can you run DaS3 at respectable settings?

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>>382827374
>struggling against anything but a boss in a souls game.

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>>382826838

>not to mention the excellent scenic views
DS2 is hideous though. I still think it's a better game than DS3 overall, but they got absolute amateurs working on it. Even the DLC areas have ridiculous tiling issues and blurry textures.

>Change the hollowing system to be more DeS-like, but accumulate over time
>In a game where 95% of deaths will be from unexpected ambushes
This is why DS2 is shit, the enemies aren't even well designed or difficult on their own, you just get instantly swarmed by them on so many occasions it's downright retarded.

>>382827374
Nooooo,

Those things are completely unheard of in DKS1 and DeS, New Londo ghosts or the multiple graveyards totally aren't a thing where this happens.

Ambushes are an element of Dark Souls design, and make actually playing the game much more exciting.

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>>382828174
This, the bosses and maps were so ridiculously terrible.
I almost put down the game when I found and beat the ratboss.
>The ratboss
>rat
>boss

>>382828147
Still better than DKS1

I do have issue with some textures in the game though. Graphs aside I think the art direction was pretty top notch.

>>382817179
Because they couldn't make a good challenging game, so they ramped up the artificial difficulty with overpowered enemies so autistic contrarians would love.

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>>382828345
Clearly, you aren't supposed to fight either mobs since one respawn and the other require consumable items. They're just there for intimidation and don't drop anything of value.
>>382828013
No, I can't run the game on complete hacked bare minimum at more than 25fps. Pic related.

>>382828538

It absolutely isn't. Dark Souls is much better at hiding its ugly parts. Nothing in the entire series looks as bad as Shaded Woods.

>>382828345
When DS1 has ambushes, you can reasonably expect this to happen, or otherwise play around it.
For example, in Dark souls 1, there's a room full of silver knights in Anor Londo, you can see two of them clearly at the other end of the room, but there's also one waiting at the doorway, a careful player would notice it and lure it out, which you can easily do.
In Dark Souls 2, In the No-Man's wharf you open a door and it instantly explodes, damaging you and knocking you to the ground revealing three of those pyromancer spider things in a tiny room.

>>382828114
And that's where it shits the bed
>hey here's ornstein alone
>and 10x more gargoyles
>and a dragonrider
>and twin dragonriders
>and the other 10 variations of knight boss
>and a dragon

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>>382828669
its time to upgrade those parts.

>>382825918
I've played and beaten all souls games including bloodborne offline. Very enjoyable

>>382829269
My cousin is gifting me his old pc: i5 2400, r7 250x, 10gb ram...
I can buy a 1050TI maybe, should I?

>>382828945
shaded woods is such trash, there's at least 3 breaks in the level geometry frequently peppered with "hole ahead" messages

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>>382828538
DaS>DaS3>DaS2
Anyone that says otherwise is a troll or Neo/v/irgin.
Dark Souls 3 is only linear because for some reason warping is already an option at the beginning of the game which took away what content it had. still DaS3 lived up to what fans wanted, it had the best boss fights and themes and side characters.

>>382829416
Make some money around 500, sell all that shit.
make a new computer.

>>382824215
Damn, that's some godawful music.

>>382828945
I actually really liked Shaded Woods as a level, but yeah, it wasn't very good looking outside of Mist area which is a pain but I loved it regardless.

My biggest complain though would be the lack of enemy variety in the Shaded Ruins, and the Lion Warriors were so ez too.

>>382817179
Game is not hard, you are playing it wrong.
Could be said about all 3 games.
Prove me wrong.

If you think the game is hard is probably cause you are rushing the areas, aggroing too many enemies and getting warmed by them. Or using your weapons suboptimally.
>>382818953
Easy pezy.
Wait for them to attack.
I said wait, idiot. Don't just roll as soon as you see them attacking. These guys aim for you for like 2-3 seconds before attacking.
After that, hit 2-3 times.
Repeat.

This is the same for 99% of the enemies.

>>382830035
I have 200 euro long time savings. Maybe I can sell the computer for 250 ,then what? Can I make a desktop tower for 450 better than upgraded current one?

Out of all the Souls games you picked literally the worst one.

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>>382829885
>DaS3 lived up to what fans wanted
I agree. As someone who never played das1, 3 was just the perfect game for me. All the new areas I'd never seen. All the refreshing and definitely new characters rip with depth and originality and in no way reminiscent of a previous game was amazing. All the amazingly different ways to complete the game BRIMMING with different paths and secrets. Amazing.
And it's all topped off with the steller dlc that finally answers ALL the questions and is definitely a high point to leave an acclaimed series on. Absolutely PERFECT.

Might as well ask here.

I'm late to the DaS3 party, playing through for the first time. Not my favorite of the series, but I'm enjoying it. Is the DLC a substantial addition to the game or can I skip it without missing much? Very rarely do I ever even consider buying DLC but Bloodborne's was so good I'd consider it necessary so I'm curious.

>>382831352
Ashes of Ariandel is mediocre
The Ringed City is good but nowhere near the level of The Old Hunters

I'd say don't bother until they're really cheap.

>>382817179
Do yourself a favor and don't play DS3 until you've beaten DS2, DS1,
Demon's and Bloodborne, otherwise you'll probably drop DS3 faster than you picked it up.

I think my biggest problem with Dark Souls 3 is threefold
>how much it constantly recalls the first one
>how boring the bosses and themes are
>how disappointedly easy it is

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>>382832991
>how boring the bosses and themes are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTSosahXOik
>how disappointedly easy it is
That was the thing about Dark Souls, once you've played it, it gets considerable easy, you know EVERYTHING, when to parry, attack, roll, etc.
>how much it constantly recalls the first one
Because it was made by the original team which loved their first game and not some poorly educated developers and programmers. .

>>382832991
>how boring the bosses are

If 3's bosses are boring I have no idea how you've played any of the games in the entire series, especially 2

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Slug through it. I started with 2 as well and I promise you it's a ton of fun. I ended up preordering 3, playing through 1 while waiting for 3, then picking up a PS4 and Bloodborne after finishing 3's DLC.
It gets easier, and you'll have a lot of fun

>>382833987
It's like, oh boy, another caster. Champion Gundyr was probably the most fun and even he was dissapointedly easy. And the themes are kind of bad too. Another swamp? Another lava area? It all looks and feels like they were riding on Dark Souls coattails and being too scared to try their own things.

>>382825931
Why are you so upset, friend?

>>382833916
I meant theme as in the level's motif, not the actual song.

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>>382832991
>>how boring the bosses and themes are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=padfkzGThWc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCHU2JWtyC8

>>382828983
Encounters also work that way in DKS2, in No Man's Warf itself there's a stair with an enemy throwing oil and fire bombs at you from the top.

Most would charge ahead and then find themselves surrounded by 4 or so enemies, but if you take an alternative route through a nearby house you can get the drop on them all.

In Iron Keep there's a similar level with 4 Alonne Knights in a room. If you take the main path you gotta fight them head on and its not easy, but if you search around you can find a secret way in with a ballista to help you kill the foes and keep the high ground.

I really do think encounter design is pretty good in DS2

>>382835058
>theme can only mean one thing

>>382828983
Also I don't remember any fire-spitting spiders in No Man's Warf.

Is that a SotFS thing?

>>382836547
I don't remember any exploding doors either.

>>382836451
>bosses AND themes mean only theme

>>382837367
>note I didn't say "bosses' themes" and went for "bosses AND themes"

>>382837031
Right?

There was the infamous door to nothing but that was in Lost Bastille.

>>382825285
>Artificial Difficulty, thematic clusterfuck, and just too many areas and bosses

explain

>>382818953
Oh, a bait thread