Can we agree the first Dark Souls isn't a very good game?

[Zaq "That Guy" Buzzkill]

So, as Christmas is coming I decided to get a gift for myself, namely the Dark Souls trilogy on the PS4. I had only played the first game a bit in the past, but I have also completed Bloodborne and though it was great (which what I'll be mostly comparing it too) and I saw a couple playthroughs of Dark Souls 3 so I figured I'd enjoy all the games.

Boy was I wrong, this game is hard. I don't mean it's hard in the Bloodborne "I know what I did wrong" or "I have a good strategy but my reflexes just weren't fast enough that time" hard. I mean it hard in the unfair, legitimately flawed sense. Enemies are stupidly hard to fight,most because you have a wide swing attack and lots of them are in close-quarters where your sword hits the wall, and archers are stupidly frustrating and have a long range so kiting the melee enemies takes awhile, and the bosses (at least the two I've faced so far) mostly just make big sweeping attacks and they're only an issue because, like standard enemeis they are in tight, close-quarters where its hard to dodge and one of them even had f***ing archers shooting at me.

This is not a good trial-and-error, "I'm getting better," "Pump your fist when you kill a boss" type hard game, this is not a game where you "git gud," it is a game where you get lucky sometimes, gnash your teeth because the one guy from three rooms ago stabbed you in the back, and killing a boss only amounts in a "meh, that happened" reaction.

Dark souls is not a good game, and I can't remember the last time I was so pissed off at a game. Please give me consolation, and promise me the other two games are good (which I've heard they actually are).

[Deleted]

Dark Souls 1 is actually my favorite of the series - for all its technical warts, in terms of world building, lore, atmosphere and boss fights it can’t be beat IMO. But it’s much, much different than Bloodborne - much slower and much more deliberate. A lot of what you consider gameplay flaws are deliberate choices - for example, a weapon with a wide sweeping attack is no good in tight corridors, but that same weapon might have a good thrusting that works better in confined spaces. That sort of thing. I’d recommend trying 3 if you want the most Bloodborne-like experience, i.e. lots of frantic dodging.

[häšhtå.gdālėÿ]

It’s my least favorite of the series, but I still enjoy it enough.

DS1 and DS2 are both vastly different from DS3 and BB. You HAVE to take a slower more methodical, block/defense-heavy approach. I got destroyed by DS2 Remaster for years before baring down and actually learning how to play. In DS3 I never even used a shield, I can’t survive without a 100 physical block shield in DS1&2.

[brown bricks]

I've purchased all three and the remastered version for the Switch. I think they're okay-ish games that are vastly overrated. I feel like Dark Souls really started the "The game is extremely hard. That's the gimmick." trend that I really hate/am sick of.

[Bo Rida]

Try going the pyro route, it makes things a bit easier iirc.

[Deleted]

The series has really just always struck me as something I wouldn't on any level enjoy so I've never bothered with it.

Music isn't bad though.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

I played it for 10 minutes, was killed instantly by the first monster, and just gave up and never came back to it.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

The game isn't really good on any technical level, but the masochism makes me keep trying to beat it.

I just can't let the game win like that, even though I am still crap at after all these years.

[Alice Syndrome]

I got lost early on because the loopback in that game is stupid. I never bothered going back after the giant boar boss

[chrom]

Do I wanna be challenged? Yes

Do I want to spend 50 hours trying to get past the first boss? Hell No