General Gaming What's the most difficult Souls game?

[best3444]

I only played Bloodborne and Elden Ring in the Souls franchise. I some how beat Bloodborne at release but I was obviously younger and had much better reflexes. Plus I had a medical procedure done that provided me vicodin and that made me so relaxed and patient it made the experience very, very pleasant.

 

I held my own in Elden Ring for 90 hours and I felt I was pretty successful for the most part.

 

The reason I'm creating this thread is because when I initially bought my PS5 I also bought Demon Souls. I only played it for approximately 2 hours since then because I was getting too frustrated with dieing.

 

My question is, how does Demon Souls rank amongst the souls games in terms of difficulty? I have the itch to get back to it but if you guys say it's one of the more difficult Souls games then I won't stand a chance.

 

I really want to love this game and I can appreciate solid difficulty but if it's to punishing then I'm going to have to forget about it.

 

@Bacon I know you're an expert on these games so what do you think?

[stepee]

I can only confirm that Demon Souls is kinda impossible for me and I beat Elden Ring

[Paperclyp]

If it counts, sekiro is the hardest one. I find them all to be relatively similar in difficultly after that, but to me demons is one of the easiest games they’ve made. It’s very exploitable and most of the bosses are pretty gimmicky. A few tough areas but if you can beat elden ring and bloodborne there’s no reason you can’t beat demons. 

[thedarkstark]

Definitely Sekiro. No way to cheese or over level. Get gud is the only way to beat it.

[best3444]

3 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

If it counts, sekiro is the hardest one. I find them all to be relatively similar in difficultly after that, but to me demons is one of the easiest games they’ve made. It’s very exploitable and most of the bosses are pretty gimmicky. A few tough areas but if you can beat elden ring and bloodborne there’s no reason you can’t beat demons. 

 

Yea, Sekiro would be impossible for me to beat. Is there any save spots in Demon Souls or camp fires? 

[skillzdadirecta]

Sekiro and Bloodborne . Sekiro by far though.

[thedarkstark]

6 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Yea, Sekiro would be impossible for me to beat. Is there any save spots in Demon Souls or camp fires? 

Dark souls 1 is the least forgiving in terms of bonfires imho. They're spread very far apart in some places and you cant fast travel until the very end. Demons souls has a central hub with "levels" and is probably easiest as long as you understand the world tendency mechanic.

[best3444]

1 minute ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Sekiro and Bloodborne . Sekiro by far though.

 

How did you do in Demon Souls? Did you play it on PS5?

[Bacon]

Demon's Souls is by far the easiest, but it is also the most punishing. There aren't any bonfires that serve as checkpoints in this game and there aren't many shortcuts or loops that the series had become known for. You basically have to one shot each stage to clear it. In soul form, without the cling ring, you are giga low on HP.

 

I also feel like it is the hardest to get a proper build going and with a strong weapon. In Elden Ring, it is very easy to become strong and settle on a build that will carry you through most of the game before ever leaving limgrave. Not so much in Demon's Souls. The reason why DeS is considered the easiest is that it is the most simple and the bosses are chumps. If you have beat all the other Soul's games by smacking enemies with a melee weapon and dodging attacks, Demon's Souls will feel like a slightly harder Zelda.

 

In terms of difficulty, the games have gotten progressively harder with each installment up until Elden Ring which was easier than Sekiro, at least 90% of the time anyway. Elden Ring can be the easiest of all the games by far depending on how you play.

 

Easiest - Hardest:

Elden Ring > Demon's Souls > Dark Souls > Dark Souls 2 > BB > Dark Souls 3 = Elden Ring (traditional melee playstyle) > Sekiro

 

And I do think BB is easier than DS3. Most of the bosses in BB aren't very hard, especially the final bosses, with the real challenge coming from the DLC or that once chalice dungeon take removes your HP.

[Bacon]

The easy mode in Demon's Souls, as it is with all souls games, is magic. I wanna say magic feels slightly weaker at the start of DeS when compared to DS1, but it is still strong and it lets you kill at range. Or you could summon help if you have PS+.

 

With Melee weapons, you obviously want high damage, but outside of bosses, a weapon that can stagger is king. Stun-lock those fuckers to death. I also feel like the remake is harder than the OG DeS because I feel like they changed how enemies stagger in the remake. In the remake, I remade my godly blessed build (high HP regen build) but my halberd wasn't staggering nearly as much as it use to. In the OG version, I stun-locked the hardest optional "boss" to death as every hit caused him to stagger, but that doesn't happen in the remake.

[Bjomesphat]

Sekiro is the hardest, but I wouldn't really consider it a Souls game. Souls adjacent, I guess.

 

Out of the traditional Souls games though, maybe DS2? But I think it's difficult for the wrong reasons like bad encounter design and overall not tightly tuned gameplay. DS1 I can do in my sleep. Bloodborne just really fits with my play style, so I actually find that to be pretty moderate overall. I haven't played DS3 since it released, but that might be the hardest in terms of fair difficulty.

[Bacon]

DS2 is very hard when you don't like it

 

Actually, it may be the actual hardest with SOTFS. I only ever played the base game and no DLC. While the DLC is good, I have no interest in playing SOTFS with how they changed enemy leashing. But I just can't stand the game feel of DS2 as well so I never bothered playing DS2 again once I got the platinum.

[best3444]

@Bacon So you can summon help for bosses? I will take your advice about using magic to separate my distance from enemies. 

 

Thanks for your tips!

[Bacon]

2 minutes ago, best3444 said:

So you can summon help for bosses?

Assuming there are summon signs around, yeah. I think you have to be in Human Form tho so that may present a challenge. I forgot about that.

3 minutes ago, best3444 said:

I will take your advice about using magic to separate my distance from enemies. 

If you are only two hours in just restart and roll the Royalty class. Pretty good class with great starting equipment.

[Xbob42]

I dunno. I guess Sekiro even though I found it bland and easy and have no idea why anyone struggled with it. But it's true you can't over level or use different strategies, which is why I found it so goddamn boring.

[Bacon]

Also, once you beat 1-1, go to 4-1, Shrine of Storms, and run speed run to the crescent falchion for a weapon with minor magic regen. Doesn't matter if you die. Just run until you get it before moving on to 2-1 or 1-2.

How To Get The Crescent Falchion In Demon's Souls

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Discover how you can get the Crescent Falchion early in Demon's Souls and how to upgrade the weapon with our handy guide right here.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Sekiro is unquestionably the most difficult because unlike the other titles, you're playing an essentially "fixed" character and therefore have to engage with the game on its own terms rather than "building" your way to success.

[Xbob42]

3 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Sekiro is unquestionably the most difficult because unlike the other titles, you're playing an essentially "fixed" character and therefore have to engage with the game on its own terms rather than "building" your way to success.

See, for me that actually made it easier. It means that they know exactly what your character will be for each boss, and you in turn know that the boss is totally beatable with what you have.

 

Unlike the other Souls games, where you have no idea if your build is total dogshit in general or for a specific boss. (And as someone who likes doing random ass builds, I have encountered a ton of bosses where my dumb custom build is just trash.)

It's the same way I find sections in games where you play as a different character for a short period of time easier: I know they have enough resources and whatever else to get through their section so I guess I play it a lot more confidently.

[DarkStar189]

Like you best, I also bought Demon Souls when I got my ps5, played about 2 hours and fell off.  I beat Elden Ring so maybe I’ll go back and try it out. Might wait a while though. Feels too soon to start up a whole new adventure.

[skillzdadirecta]

2 hours ago, best3444 said:

 

How did you do in Demon Souls? Did you play it on PS5?

I beat the original years ago. I own the PS5 one but haven't played it yet.

[eventide11]

The Demons Souls remake is way easier than the original. You should be fine if you start to enjoy the game. Then your motivation will make you look past the difficulty. And really, the difficulty isn't that bad. If my 47 year old ass can make a relatively easy time of the game. You should have little problem after you learn blocking, rolling and parrying. And yeah, magic is easy mode. 

[nublood]

My opinion, hardest to easiest:

 

-Sekiro

-Dark Souls

-Bloodborne

-Dark Souls 2 

-Dark Souls 3

-Demon Souls

[Keyser_Soze]

I would say Demon Souls since it has the fewest quality of life improvements such as bonfires, you basically have to one shot everything from the start

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

6 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

See, for me that actually made it easier. It means that they know exactly what your character will be for each boss, and you in turn know that the boss is totally beatable with what you have.

 

Unlike the other Souls games, where you have no idea if your build is total dogshit in general or for a specific boss. (And as someone who likes doing random ass builds, I have encountered a ton of bosses where my dumb custom build is just trash.)

It's the same way I find sections in games where you play as a different character for a short period of time easier: I know they have enough resources and whatever else to get through their section so I guess I play it a lot more confidently.

 

There's also a manual dexterity component in Sekiro that's not nearly as impirtant or simply not present in the other titles.

 

By that I mean that it's entirely possible to simply lack the requisite physical reflexes to progress in Sekiro.

[Bacon]

2 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

I would say Demon Souls since it has the fewest quality of life improvements such as bonfires, you basically have to one shot everything from the start

I said something similar, but I wouldn't say that makes it the hardest. Most people, from what I have seen, get stuck on bosses and this game has some of the easiest bosses by far. The Valley of Defilement has zero hard bosses. Even the Shrine of Storms lacks hard bosses. The harder bosses I would say belong to 2-1, 2-2, maybe 3-2, and 1-4. The hardest levels have shortcuts or open a path to the boss which is near the Archstone. Runbacks can be pretty long, but often without any enemies of consequence. Shrine of Storms probably has the worst runbacks IIRC with 1-2 being pretty bad should you die. Also, with few exceptions, once you have beaten the second boss in a world, the final boss of the world is just right next door.

 

There are actually more shortcuts than I thought. In 2-1 you can turn on the mill/elevator, 2-2 as a long falling section that lets you skip 90% of the level, 1-3 lets you open the gate but there are still plenty of enemies, 1-4 is pretty short but there is a ladder you can knock down that removes the hardest part of the runback, 5-2 brings down a bridge near the Archstone, the runback for 3-1 isn't bad once you unlock all the doors and turn of the ballista machine, and 3-2 shortens a lot once you drop the heart. Oh, and of course, the boss for 1-1 is right in front of the Archstone.

[Keyser_Soze]

3 hours ago, Bacon said:

I said something similar, but I wouldn't say that makes it the hardest. Most people, from what I have seen, get stuck on bosses and this game has some of the easiest bosses by far.

 

This is a thread about Best only and it will be hard for him no matter how easy the bosses are.

[best3444]

4 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

This is a thread about Best only and it will be hard for him no matter how easy the bosses are.

 

Yup. I really suck at games for the most part. 

[Keyser_Soze]

Personally I think the easiest one is Dark Souls 2. It's a lot more like Elden Ring. Plenty of NPC summon points, lots of bonfire / fast travel points, bosses aren't that challenging.

[gamer.tv]

I like how users in this thread are saying bosses in Dark Souls are easy. Whomp from SM64 is easy, even the Gargoyle’s in Dark Souls are quite tricky. 

[best3444]

I'm going to attempt this tomorrow and see how I do. I'm actually kinda nervous.  😓 

[Keyser_Soze]

5 hours ago, best3444 said:

I'm going to attempt this tomorrow and see how I do. I'm actually kinda nervous.  😓 

 

Breathe, relax, take your time. 🧘‍♀️

[Brian]

[best3444]

Well, I gave Demon Souls an hour and it's just too damn difficult and relenting. I'm just not cut out for this genre and have given up. It looks absolutely beautiful though. 

[nublood]

2 hours ago, best3444 said:

Well, I gave Demon Souls an hour and it's just too damn difficult and relenting. I'm just not cut out for this genre and have given up. It looks absolutely beautiful though. 

What class did you start with? 

[eventide11]

2 hours ago, best3444 said:

Well, I gave Demon Souls an hour and it's just too damn difficult and relenting. I'm just not cut out for this genre and have given up. It looks absolutely beautiful though. 

It's still the true showcase of how much more horsepower the PS5 has than the PS4. Horizon FW would be a close second.