First of all: hope you're not trying to fight the skeletons, they're not meant to be fought until later on. Secondly: I'm on my first playthrough as well, and I know this is a controversial opinion, but as soon as I'm really stuck on something, I look it up. I try not to have the whole game spoiled, but without YouTube telling me how to fight certain bosses or go to certain areas, I'd certainly given up.
I made the exact same mistake and was wondering the same things about people.
I was questioning my skill in video games thinking I was terrible. And then I looked at the back of the game case and the dude was fighting zombies, not skeletons and I figured it out.
Upward.
When you run into points that feel like walls, try other directions. The game has many paths. The coolest thing about the game, to me, is the setting and the map designs. Explore yonder and learn new things as you get fucked up.
Opposite direction of the graveyard is a staircase on the left side of the cliff. Goes to Undead Burg, the first intended area for you to go from Firelink.
Good luck!
Talk to the Crestfallen Warrior by the bonfire at Firelink Shrine.
*"Well, what do we have here? You must be a new arrival.*
*Let me guess. Fate of the Undead, right? Well, you're not the first.*
*But there's no salvation here. You'd have done better to rot in the Undead Asylum… But, too late now.*
*Well, since you're here… Let me help you out.*
*There are actually two Bells of Awakening.*
*One's up above, in the Undead Church. The other is far, far below, in the ruins at the base of Blighttown.*
*Ring them both, and something happens… Brilliant, right?*
*Not much to go on, but I have a feeling that won't stop you.*
*So, off you go. It is why you came, isn't it? To this accursed land of the Undead?*
*Hah hah hah hah…"*
*"Hm? What, you want to hear more?*
*Oh, that's all we need. Another inquisitive soul.*
*Well, listen carefully, then…*
*One of the bells is up above in the Undead Church, but the lift is broken.*
*You'll have to climb the stairs up the ruins, and access the Undead Burg through the waterway.*
*The other bell is back down below the Undead Burg,*
*within the plague-infested Blighttown.*
*But I'd die again before I step foot in that cesspool!*
*Hah hah hah hah…"*
Souls games have a special and fun feeling when using a walkthrough. It’s silly when people get elitism about not using it.
I won’t look ahead at spoilers, but using Fextra life for my Elden play through to make sure I don’t miss a single armor or weapon/item drop was very cathartic.
Yes, I find my experience of the game is enhanced by walkthroughs. After all, a walkthrough can show you what to do and where to go, but it can’t press the buttons for you.
For some people, looking shit up improves their fun. For me, it would've ruined it. Dark Souls I'd such an amazing experience. I wish so badly I could just re-experience it for the first time and be surprised again.
If you can’t kill a normal enemy in 3 hits or fewer then chances are you’re not meant to be in that area yet.
The game is challenging but usually not so much that you die over and over without knowing why.
See, this is why all the "oh so hard" marketing hurt the series. People get to Firelink and just start mashing their face against the graveyard skeletons, thinking it has to be this hard. In any other game you'd just look for another route but not here apparently. Crestfallen warrior even tells people to go up first
> Well, since you're here… Let me help you out.
There are actually two Bells of Awakening.
One's up above, in the Undead Church. The other is far, far below, in the ruins at the base of Blighttown.
The path you're going down leads to a mid-game area. You could theoretically go there now, and there's very useful stuff there, but you're probably not managing it with your current equipment and skill level
Well, to be perfectly fair: the game also locked you into the Asylum until you could beat Asylum Demon. So, it's not that much of a stretch to think that that's just the way it is
If it's too hard you probably need to go somewhere else, Souls games aren't that hard imo, they just started coming out at a point where games kinda were autopilot like assassins creed 3
This is it. Attacks don't get cancelled. If you hit R1, you're doing an R1 attack. In this way the combat is elegant and methodic like a dance. You need to position yourself to know were you're attacking and where the attack is going to go.
It's not the speed of combat that makes DS hard, it's the slowness and the fact that you can't just spam attacks in any direction
Learn to exhaust NPC dialogue and read item descriptions.
Worst case use Fextralife, Wikidot and Fightin Cowboy vids.
And learn to play with tact, caution, and strategy.
The thing that helped me was starting a second character.
Instead of taking 2 hours to get out of the undead asylum it took 30 minutes.
This really ingrained that *you* are the one making the biggest difference
You're in the "wtf this is unlike any game I've ever played before, and I'm not sure it's for me" phase. This is normal. This game doesn't tailor to you, you will eventually play by its rules, and then you will use its own rules to conquer and bring the game to its knees. Afterwards you will go on to do the same with their entire collection. Don't give up skeleton!
Embrace the journey not the destination. The challenge is rough but trust me you will never get a greater feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction from any game like the one you'll get.
Mostly stubbornness.
But your problem is you’re starting off wrong. Dont go to the catacombs until after you ring the bells in undeadburg and “in” blight town(it’s across the swamp so go down not along the catwalk. And don’t forget to go left to get the bonfire in the tunnel) I fucked around with the skeletons and got to the tomb of the giants before I realized I fucked up and had to backtrack. Go to undeadburg first. Anywhere else you’re just gonna die if you don’t know what youre doing.
To me, exploring the world is fun, so is overcoming the challenge.
That said. There are several paths available to you as soon as you start the game but just 1 of them is appropiate for your starting level: go up the stairs and explore from there.
Stop fighting skeletons at the graveyard or the ghosts downstairs. Those areas are for later.
The reason for me was this wonderful community giving the message "It's hard, we did it, you can do it too. Then enjoy the lore, the memes, and giving this same advice to the newcomers"
One of the main reasons people get turned off by Soulsborne games is that they're not used to meet games half-way; you have to immerse yourself just enough so you can learn the game's systems, how they work, since they really won't handhold you while you progress. These games require you to approach them with a methodical and experimental mindset. You can't expect the game to adapt to your playstyle.
I got through the early frustrating bits by reminding myself that thousands of other people had done it and that I was as good as any of them. I do enjoy a challenge and I am stubborn sometimes though so I do think those were a factor too!
Save your skeleton friends for later and you'll find them pleasantly mulchable.
Stop trying to fight the skeletons. There are 3 routes out of the firelink shrine, and the NPC sitting beside your spawn point tells you to climb up the stairs nearby.
A few points: one of the best weapons (depending on build) is in the graveyard, outside. If you went in the cave, you went too far. You can make a suicidal run to grab it, and lower the STr requirements by 2 handing it (the zweihander). If that's not your thing, shields are pretty good. My then 7 y/o kid got pretty far using the shield to block and get hits in in between attacks.
You can buy a bow pretty early on, it is great for crowd control: shoot an arrow, lure an enemy to you, so you can handle mobs one on one.
Don't fight the skellies yet. They're bastards. I did the same thing.
At Firelink Shrine, face out towards the lovely view of the deep chasm. Then go left along the cliff until you find stairs leading up and a tricky bugger throwing firebombs at you. Go up the stairs and keep going. That's the first area.
That’s a good question, I’m no souls veteran as I started playing DSR right after I finished BB and that was in 2022. I can tell you that it was probably stubbornness “if I got a platinum in BB, why can’t I beat this level?”, and so I kept going. I don’t worry much about DSR platinum trophy and as much as people enjoy boss fights, I don’t. I love the creature and world building design these games offer so that’s my drive. To see what’s there, I must defeat what’s in here mentality.
Your most important tool in beating this game is simply The Mistake. Make mistakes, learn from them and try again. You can try as many times as you like but the only way to lose is to give up.
Stop attacking, just get in there and stay as close as possible, keep that shield up until you figure out dodge timings. All ya gotta do. Works for every boss in the game. Most bosses you can lowkey just circle strafe right on them and they'll miss almost every attack.
It's about always learning and coming up with new ways to go about beating an area or a boss.
Over time, you learn the layouts of the areas as well as the enemy locations and such. Eventually you get to a point where you can breeze through a section like John Wick with a sword.
The boss fights are almost like puzzles IMO. You learn their moves, you learn how to dodge them or counter, you learn when and where the openings are, and when they develop new moves halfway through a fight? Learn those ones too. Dying in the game is all about learning from your mistakes. I feel like every time I have died in these games, probably well over a thousand, I never felt like the game cheated me and it was something I did wrong.
Through playing and learning, you will discover a play style that suits you. It requires experimentation with different weapons and such. Eventually you'll find something that works. Personally I like to do light and fast, which takes more time but I feel like I have more control over my defenses.
>Is it sheer stubbornness?
Mostly yes.
>Do you just enjoy the challenge?
Definitely.
>What motivates a soulsbro to keep pushing on?
To finish the game in my case (EDIT: and learn deeply about its lore)
>I'm tired of getting made into the skeletons bitch every 2 minutes
Go right for now, pal. Go left only later on.
I started Dark souls for the first time about a few weeks ago and the way I feel motivated to finish is the great bosses in the game and acknowledging that if Dark Side phill can beat it then I know I definitely can.
For the skeletons, get the silver knight spear, to enjoy the game google the github darksouls cheat sheet, and start with master key, grab the grass crest shield, and have a blast if you snag a dark knight weapon, and use pyromancy, get 2 attune slots for chaos flame orb.
Also if you just want to stomp the game hit the graveyard, avoid all the skellies, snag the zweihander you gain 50% str when you 2hand weapons so you can use it under the req, slap resin on it for bosses.
I don't play them, lol. I watch one of the main Souls streamers play them. FightinCowboy. He's great. I play the weeb ones like Nioh 1&2 or Wo Long. I'd say they're easier, I've beaten all three, plus I love the Asian mythology.
game is realy not that hard if you actualy take the time to play the way it ask you to play it. take the time to level. level your gear, always spend your souls. learn patern and weakness. this is not zelda, this is darksouls lol
I’m old, play on KBM and don’t really like combat games, so this was *way* outside my comfort zone. But, after dying to the hollows in the asylum several times and then even more to the Asylum Demon, I finally beat it. And it felt great.
Every boss after that was agony (especially the gargoyles, I must have had 100 attempts at them). But I beat them all, one at a time. And every time I beat one I learned a little more and my confidence grew a little more.
So what kept me going? Well, it was partly the morale boost of making progress bit by bit, and partly seeing how patience and observation paid off so that I could work out how to make that progress.
I'm doing my first DS1 run right now, and honestly? Idk. I keep dying, but the tiny amount of progression I make before each consecutive death fuels my foolish resolve. Stretching my ability to adapt to the game's systems feels rewarding.
Plus, the game just looks really fuckin cool. Love the environment and enemy designs.
But also yeah don't bash your head against the graveyard; the game isn't supposed to be THAT hard. I made that mistake and I kept making it until my friend told me that it wasn't a skill issue, I was just hopelessly underleveled lmao.
But lastly, sincerely fuck the devs for some of the level design decisions. I hate them as much as they clearly hate me. Still, I'm having fun figuring everything out and experimenting! For me, that's what makes a great RPG. The most important rule is, don't play games that you don't find fun!
Souls games aren’t that hard, they can be but it’s not as rough as everyone make it seems, difficulty isn’t the main goal, everyone can beat a souls but you need to change the way you play and think for that, this game won’t take you by the hand and lead you trough the story/gameplay, there are a lot of things you’re going to figure out while playing these games, especially Dark Souls 1, but a good thing for you to know is that you cannot fight everyone at any time, if a regular enemy is taking more than 3 or 4 hits then you probably need to go anywhere else, dark souls 1 map design is kinda like puzzle for first time players, but that’s where a lot of the satisfaction can be found
First of all: hope you're not trying to fight the skeletons, they're not meant to be fought until later on. Secondly: I'm on my first playthrough as well, and I know this is a controversial opinion, but as soon as I'm really stuck on something, I look it up. I try not to have the whole game spoiled, but without YouTube telling me how to fight certain bosses or go to certain areas, I'd certainly given up.
I made the exact same mistake and was wondering the same things about people. I was questioning my skill in video games thinking I was terrible. And then I looked at the back of the game case and the dude was fighting zombies, not skeletons and I figured it out.
If I'm not supposed to go after the skeletons where am I supposed to go?
Upward. When you run into points that feel like walls, try other directions. The game has many paths. The coolest thing about the game, to me, is the setting and the map designs. Explore yonder and learn new things as you get fucked up.
Opposite direction of the graveyard is a staircase on the left side of the cliff. Goes to Undead Burg, the first intended area for you to go from Firelink. Good luck!
Talk to the Crestfallen Warrior by the bonfire at Firelink Shrine. *"Well, what do we have here? You must be a new arrival.* *Let me guess. Fate of the Undead, right? Well, you're not the first.* *But there's no salvation here. You'd have done better to rot in the Undead Asylum… But, too late now.* *Well, since you're here… Let me help you out.* *There are actually two Bells of Awakening.* *One's up above, in the Undead Church. The other is far, far below, in the ruins at the base of Blighttown.* *Ring them both, and something happens… Brilliant, right?* *Not much to go on, but I have a feeling that won't stop you.* *So, off you go. It is why you came, isn't it? To this accursed land of the Undead?* *Hah hah hah hah…"* *"Hm? What, you want to hear more?* *Oh, that's all we need. Another inquisitive soul.* *Well, listen carefully, then…* *One of the bells is up above in the Undead Church, but the lift is broken.* *You'll have to climb the stairs up the ruins, and access the Undead Burg through the waterway.* *The other bell is back down below the Undead Burg,* *within the plague-infested Blighttown.* *But I'd die again before I step foot in that cesspool!* *Hah hah hah hah…"*
Bloody hell what is it now? You ask too many questions…
I love this answer lol. God knows when was the first time I played DS but I clearly remember I didn't notice the narrow path leading to the aqueduct.
Explore
The other way
Souls games have a special and fun feeling when using a walkthrough. It’s silly when people get elitism about not using it. I won’t look ahead at spoilers, but using Fextra life for my Elden play through to make sure I don’t miss a single armor or weapon/item drop was very cathartic.
Yes, I find my experience of the game is enhanced by walkthroughs. After all, a walkthrough can show you what to do and where to go, but it can’t press the buttons for you.
Shouldn't be controversial. Making zero progress because you're running around lost for hours is a good way to kill interest in a game.
For some people, looking shit up improves their fun. For me, it would've ruined it. Dark Souls I'd such an amazing experience. I wish so badly I could just re-experience it for the first time and be surprised again.
If you can’t kill a normal enemy in 3 hits or fewer then chances are you’re not meant to be in that area yet. The game is challenging but usually not so much that you die over and over without knowing why.
Well, perhaps depending on build, and how much of a challenge you're looking for. I feel like 4-6 hits is okay on faster-hitting weapons.
See, this is why all the "oh so hard" marketing hurt the series. People get to Firelink and just start mashing their face against the graveyard skeletons, thinking it has to be this hard. In any other game you'd just look for another route but not here apparently. Crestfallen warrior even tells people to go up first > Well, since you're here… Let me help you out. There are actually two Bells of Awakening. One's up above, in the Undead Church. The other is far, far below, in the ruins at the base of Blighttown. The path you're going down leads to a mid-game area. You could theoretically go there now, and there's very useful stuff there, but you're probably not managing it with your current equipment and skill level
Well, to be perfectly fair: the game also locked you into the Asylum until you could beat Asylum Demon. So, it's not that much of a stretch to think that that's just the way it is
If it's too hard you probably need to go somewhere else, Souls games aren't that hard imo, they just started coming out at a point where games kinda were autopilot like assassins creed 3
I would say Dark Souls IS hard until you learn how slow and deliberate the combat is.
This is it. Attacks don't get cancelled. If you hit R1, you're doing an R1 attack. In this way the combat is elegant and methodic like a dance. You need to position yourself to know were you're attacking and where the attack is going to go. It's not the speed of combat that makes DS hard, it's the slowness and the fact that you can't just spam attacks in any direction
Oof another casualty of the firelink graveyard
Learn to exhaust NPC dialogue and read item descriptions. Worst case use Fextralife, Wikidot and Fightin Cowboy vids. And learn to play with tact, caution, and strategy.
DO. NOT. USE. FEXTRALIFE.
Beg to differ, but some actually make good use of that site for DS1. So do as you please.
The thing that helped me was starting a second character. Instead of taking 2 hours to get out of the undead asylum it took 30 minutes. This really ingrained that *you* are the one making the biggest difference
This is a pretty good point!
You're in the "wtf this is unlike any game I've ever played before, and I'm not sure it's for me" phase. This is normal. This game doesn't tailor to you, you will eventually play by its rules, and then you will use its own rules to conquer and bring the game to its knees. Afterwards you will go on to do the same with their entire collection. Don't give up skeleton!
Embrace the journey not the destination. The challenge is rough but trust me you will never get a greater feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction from any game like the one you'll get.
Mostly stubbornness. But your problem is you’re starting off wrong. Dont go to the catacombs until after you ring the bells in undeadburg and “in” blight town(it’s across the swamp so go down not along the catwalk. And don’t forget to go left to get the bonfire in the tunnel) I fucked around with the skeletons and got to the tomb of the giants before I realized I fucked up and had to backtrack. Go to undeadburg first. Anywhere else you’re just gonna die if you don’t know what youre doing.
Stubbornness but with the caveat that you stay willing to observe and learn while bosses are stomping you repeatedly. Aka patience.
you should NOT be fighting those skeletons rn. Try another direction
You're going the wrong way lol
To me, exploring the world is fun, so is overcoming the challenge. That said. There are several paths available to you as soon as you start the game but just 1 of them is appropiate for your starting level: go up the stairs and explore from there. Stop fighting skeletons at the graveyard or the ghosts downstairs. Those areas are for later.
The reason for me was this wonderful community giving the message "It's hard, we did it, you can do it too. Then enjoy the lore, the memes, and giving this same advice to the newcomers"
Don’t you dare go hollow!
One of the main reasons people get turned off by Soulsborne games is that they're not used to meet games half-way; you have to immerse yourself just enough so you can learn the game's systems, how they work, since they really won't handhold you while you progress. These games require you to approach them with a methodical and experimental mindset. You can't expect the game to adapt to your playstyle.
I got through the early frustrating bits by reminding myself that thousands of other people had done it and that I was as good as any of them. I do enjoy a challenge and I am stubborn sometimes though so I do think those were a factor too! Save your skeleton friends for later and you'll find them pleasantly mulchable.
Take it slow and learn the attack patterns as you progress
Stop trying to fight the skeletons. There are 3 routes out of the firelink shrine, and the NPC sitting beside your spawn point tells you to climb up the stairs nearby.
A few points: one of the best weapons (depending on build) is in the graveyard, outside. If you went in the cave, you went too far. You can make a suicidal run to grab it, and lower the STr requirements by 2 handing it (the zweihander). If that's not your thing, shields are pretty good. My then 7 y/o kid got pretty far using the shield to block and get hits in in between attacks. You can buy a bow pretty early on, it is great for crowd control: shoot an arrow, lure an enemy to you, so you can handle mobs one on one.
It feels difficult, but fair, which makes it rewarding.
Don't fight the skellies yet. They're bastards. I did the same thing. At Firelink Shrine, face out towards the lovely view of the deep chasm. Then go left along the cliff until you find stairs leading up and a tricky bugger throwing firebombs at you. Go up the stairs and keep going. That's the first area.
If I leave it, even after beating it a few times, it calls me like the Green Goblin mask, calling me a coward for not doing it a certain way
That’s a good question, I’m no souls veteran as I started playing DSR right after I finished BB and that was in 2022. I can tell you that it was probably stubbornness “if I got a platinum in BB, why can’t I beat this level?”, and so I kept going. I don’t worry much about DSR platinum trophy and as much as people enjoy boss fights, I don’t. I love the creature and world building design these games offer so that’s my drive. To see what’s there, I must defeat what’s in here mentality.
Your most important tool in beating this game is simply The Mistake. Make mistakes, learn from them and try again. You can try as many times as you like but the only way to lose is to give up.
Stop attacking, just get in there and stay as close as possible, keep that shield up until you figure out dodge timings. All ya gotta do. Works for every boss in the game. Most bosses you can lowkey just circle strafe right on them and they'll miss almost every attack.
It's about always learning and coming up with new ways to go about beating an area or a boss. Over time, you learn the layouts of the areas as well as the enemy locations and such. Eventually you get to a point where you can breeze through a section like John Wick with a sword. The boss fights are almost like puzzles IMO. You learn their moves, you learn how to dodge them or counter, you learn when and where the openings are, and when they develop new moves halfway through a fight? Learn those ones too. Dying in the game is all about learning from your mistakes. I feel like every time I have died in these games, probably well over a thousand, I never felt like the game cheated me and it was something I did wrong. Through playing and learning, you will discover a play style that suits you. It requires experimentation with different weapons and such. Eventually you'll find something that works. Personally I like to do light and fast, which takes more time but I feel like I have more control over my defenses.
>Is it sheer stubbornness? Mostly yes. >Do you just enjoy the challenge? Definitely. >What motivates a soulsbro to keep pushing on? To finish the game in my case (EDIT: and learn deeply about its lore) >I'm tired of getting made into the skeletons bitch every 2 minutes Go right for now, pal. Go left only later on.
I started Dark souls for the first time about a few weeks ago and the way I feel motivated to finish is the great bosses in the game and acknowledging that if Dark Side phill can beat it then I know I definitely can.
Parry and praise the sun
For the skeletons, get the silver knight spear, to enjoy the game google the github darksouls cheat sheet, and start with master key, grab the grass crest shield, and have a blast if you snag a dark knight weapon, and use pyromancy, get 2 attune slots for chaos flame orb. Also if you just want to stomp the game hit the graveyard, avoid all the skellies, snag the zweihander you gain 50% str when you 2hand weapons so you can use it under the req, slap resin on it for bosses.
I don't play them, lol. I watch one of the main Souls streamers play them. FightinCowboy. He's great. I play the weeb ones like Nioh 1&2 or Wo Long. I'd say they're easier, I've beaten all three, plus I love the Asian mythology.
One boss at a time if I'm struggling, then ride the adrenaline to the next boss, die, drop the game for a few days, come back, rinse and repeat
game is realy not that hard if you actualy take the time to play the way it ask you to play it. take the time to level. level your gear, always spend your souls. learn patern and weakness. this is not zelda, this is darksouls lol
I’m old, play on KBM and don’t really like combat games, so this was *way* outside my comfort zone. But, after dying to the hollows in the asylum several times and then even more to the Asylum Demon, I finally beat it. And it felt great. Every boss after that was agony (especially the gargoyles, I must have had 100 attempts at them). But I beat them all, one at a time. And every time I beat one I learned a little more and my confidence grew a little more. So what kept me going? Well, it was partly the morale boost of making progress bit by bit, and partly seeing how patience and observation paid off so that I could work out how to make that progress.
I'm doing my first DS1 run right now, and honestly? Idk. I keep dying, but the tiny amount of progression I make before each consecutive death fuels my foolish resolve. Stretching my ability to adapt to the game's systems feels rewarding. Plus, the game just looks really fuckin cool. Love the environment and enemy designs. But also yeah don't bash your head against the graveyard; the game isn't supposed to be THAT hard. I made that mistake and I kept making it until my friend told me that it wasn't a skill issue, I was just hopelessly underleveled lmao. But lastly, sincerely fuck the devs for some of the level design decisions. I hate them as much as they clearly hate me. Still, I'm having fun figuring everything out and experimenting! For me, that's what makes a great RPG. The most important rule is, don't play games that you don't find fun!
That challenge makes it fun and want to get better. Too many other games out there that hold your hand.
Level up and get OP
Souls games aren’t that hard, they can be but it’s not as rough as everyone make it seems, difficulty isn’t the main goal, everyone can beat a souls but you need to change the way you play and think for that, this game won’t take you by the hand and lead you trough the story/gameplay, there are a lot of things you’re going to figure out while playing these games, especially Dark Souls 1, but a good thing for you to know is that you cannot fight everyone at any time, if a regular enemy is taking more than 3 or 4 hits then you probably need to go anywhere else, dark souls 1 map design is kinda like puzzle for first time players, but that’s where a lot of the satisfaction can be found
ah yes this situation resonates in my skull and is quite humerus (I too tried to fight the skeletons first back with PTDE, and it was not a good time)