Hi folks,

I’m having a blast in this game and compared to more recent similar games (pinokeiro puppets lie twice, dark souls 3, elden ring, hellpoint etc) finding it much less difficult, more comparable to dark souls 1 or demons souls. I don’t consider myself hugely skilled at these games, I couldn’t finish ringed city or lies of p for example.

Reading though it seems there’s a rather polarised perception of difficulty. Some people, many claiming to be highly skilled players, are struggling and others like me seem to find it comfortable.

Discussion around these games is very difficult, as whether something is hard becomes a stand in for validity of opinion and moral character in the flame wars.

Beehaw might be the one place we can discuss this and learn what people are doing differently.

Explicit housekeeping: your feelings are real and valid, you cannot be wrong about finding something hard or easy. I don’t want anyone litigating that.

you don’t need to be particularly good at something to have a valid opinion on whether or not you like something either.

So how are people playing and how are they finding it?

I started as a bucket granny. I have been using short swords, I am currently using a fire/physical split damage Rusty cutter or something, most of my stats are in umbral magic which so far is not very good or useful (20/20 stats, 2 spells from dead eyeball man). I am a methodical slow player, drawing things out with range and baiting enemies into areas I have cleared. I am favouring dodge and parries over blocking. I tend to use mostly 2h hits and kicks with soul flaying big guys. I am at medium armour weight.

I have found the game to feel very similar to ds1 as mentioned, or older monster hunter. Slow inputs, deliberate spacing etc. I would say it feels quite approachable so far although ranged sniping has caused problems in a couple of places I have felt it fair aside from that.

How about you?