this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2025
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DS3 is smoother and more polished, and the linearity means you don't risk going Catacombs or New Londo first, that's true. But I think DS3 gets hard way before Irithyll. All the bosses are harder than anything in DS1 and Iudex Gundyr could be a roadblock right off the bat. (Oh I forgot to mention, I really liked Champion Gundyr too as a boss.) Anyway I guess Asylum Demon could be a roadblock too if they don't realise you are supposed to run past him at first. But the first couple of areas really aren't that bad. Take it slow and keep a shield up when you round every corner and you'll be alright through almost all of it. The only real problem I see early on is Capra Demon. I guess the basilisks are a bit of a gotcha.
I personally found a lot of challenges in the early areas of DS3. Felt like there were lots of roll catches and annoying enemies, like the Lothric Knights. Road of Sacrifices into Farron Keep felt like absolute ass and were awful areas, those crow enemies were hard to deal with and unfun to fight, and likewise the jumping goats in Farron Keep.
If by monster bosses just oversized bosses count then I can get behind it. There are several that come to mind where you fight the camera more than the boss and get hit by things from offsceen while exasperatedly yelling "I can't fucking see anything Miyazaki!" at the screen.
Sister Friede was just incredibly hard and also having incredibly long Phase 1 and 2 which made trying to learn the difficult Phase 3 take forever and felt like just disrespectful of my time. Felt like every attempt would take 10 minutes to get through the first two phases only to get one-shot instantly in phase 3. Absolutely hated it.
If even you can't beat Midir I might just keep postponing it. I still have my save lying around but it's been a while and I'm kind of on a Ninja Gaiden kick at the moment as difficult games go.
I feel like if you can beat Gundyr you can at least struggle through the first part of the game. I agree the Road of Sacrifices to Farron Keep is pretty rough but it’s also pretty easy to run straight through. Even if you don’t know the way it’s not too convoluted. Once you reach Irithyll though it gets considerably harder, especially boss-wise. Pontiff is a nightmare if you can’t parry. Conversely, all the bosses before him are relatively straightforward, even if a little hard. But with a few attempts I don’t think it’s a severe challenge quite like Pontiff is. From that point on it’s pretty tough the rest of the way though, with a couple minor exceptions.
I’d say Midir and Gael are kind of like Kalameet and Artorias. Whichever you found harder in DS1 will probably carry over to DS3. I found Kalameet way harder, and I also find Midir way harder. Artorias, while challenging, was a lot easier to me, just like Gael. You can also challenge Gael without fighting Midir. Midir is completely optional, just like Kalameet.
If you haven’t already, you should give the ER DLC a try. It’s probably their best content to date. It’s definitely harder than the base game, but like the base game, you can cheese it if you need to. The only exception is the final boss, who is only really possible if you cheese it, and even then is tremendously difficult. But the rest of the DLC is a fair challenge and really fun.
Yeah Pontiff was a weird parry check, felt impossible before I tried parrying and then got it in like two tries.
Honestly in DS1 DLC I didn't struggle with either Kalameet or Artorias. Artorias is one of my favourite bosses, just such cool lore and design and such a fun fight - but sadly anticlimactically easy. Manus though was a challenge I thought.
Realistically I am more likely to try Sekiro than the ER DLC honestly. It's weird but Elden Ring just never truly grabbed me. Played it on release and had a great time with it discovering it like uncharted territory but after finishing it it felt like a one-and-done. Haven't had the desire to play it again or watch others play it, despite enjoying watching people stream Dark Souls still.
Also my backlog is criminally long as it is, and yet I keep buying games every deep sale.
We’re definitely different players, I found Artorias and Kalameet far harder than Friede or Malenia.
That’s fair. I’m a massive ER fan, probably my all-time favourite game, I’m actually currently playing it while responding to my inbox. I’ve maxed out playthroughs on PC and deleted some for new runs, plus I have played it several times on PS5, so I’m thinking maybe 15-20 times I’ve beaten the game. I think the DLC is the best content they’ve ever released. But if you were meh on the base game you probably wouldn’t like it as much as I did.
I feel you on the backlog though, mine is quite large and only getting worse. I really need to play some unplayed games but I keep replaying Souls and Elder Scrolls games. Oh well.
After many years when I was younger playing the same games over and over I've tried to be stern with myself over the past few years and have a reasonably strict no-replay policy. I too default to comfort food if I let myself and constantly feel the pull to go back to Baldur's Gate 2, Fallout: New Vegas or STALKER: Anomaly again and again. But I've been challenging myself with trying to experience new things as a sort of cultural enrichment and mostly been happier for it. There were so many huge releases I missed that I've been able to experience over the past couple of years.
It definitely is harder on the wallet though, even doing 90% of the shopping on deep sales.
I should probably implement a similar system. Elden Ring, Dark Souls 1 & 3, Sekiro, Oblivion, and Skyrim probably take up >90% of my all-time playtime. At the same time, I’ve got a strong itch to replay Sekiro again so maybe after one more playthrough of that.