I thought souls- like fans love tough bosses. Enjoy it then. I think they should git gud. /s
For full disclosure, I suck at souls-like and I beat Elden Ring by cheating(completely offline). I have been called Mentally removed for wanting an easy mode. I don’t like souls like fans, not all, just some of the more hardcore ones.
I’ve been playing video games my whole life and I’ve never been able to “git gud” at any game. I’m not going to put a significant amount of time and effort getting good at a game to figure out if I even like it
I love souls games but I love them for the lore. there’s just so. much. god. damn. lore in those games. I will spend hours, days, even months just picking up every item I can to read the description and get a tiny little nugget of lore. Sure I love the boss fights and I really love this DLC because I felt the base game was too easy. I mean when you’ve played all the previous Souls games Elden Ring is by far the easiest one, so this DLC makes me feel like i’m playing Dark Souls again.
All that being said I agree with you, I think there should be an easy mode or what I would call a “explore mode” where you can just go around and easily fight things while building the story for yourself.
I don’t do difficult games cause of physical issues. I tried Elden Ring and was very impressed, but ultimately it was unplayable for me even trying to go easy.
What do you recommend cheat wise? I’m running on Linux and I really don’t care about online.
Honestly, it was not enough. With Easy Mode mod, I could actually explore the game world and immerse myself more than I would ever have. One of my favourite moments is when I was fighting Dragonkin boss in front a giant throne occupied by a massive skeleton in first underground city. It was amazing. I could never experience it without that mod. I am too easily frustrated.
To clarify: I support easy mode. I am curious: Would it be more rewarding for you to explore and deep dive into the world, or to beat a boss on the normal difficulty? I totally see the appeal of both honestly lol
As someone who has never used story mode/easy mode options, I agree with you completely.
Nine Sols, Celeste, Hades. Some of my favorite ‘hardcore’ games with great stories and great difficulty options. The only result of their presence is letting more people play the games who wouldn’t have otherwise. I don’t feel like my experience is cheapened in any way if others use the options.
And even if I don’t use them now, maybe there comes a day when my hands can’t keep up anymore, and I’ll be very grateful to be able to keep participating in my favorite hobby. Just an unambiguous good imo
I mean, that’s what the person above me was specifically replying to.
Does it affect you in any way that they were able to enjoy the game via the easy mode mod? Would it have affected you if that setting was just available in the menu?
I think it would take away from the game if you could just change the difficulty from the settings.
Part of what makes souls games special is that they put a wall in front of you and it’s up to you to figure out how to get past it. You can make it easier on you by asking for help through summons, spirits, improving your build or you can learn how to fight them with what you already have.
I guess I just don’t really resonate with that idea, personally.
In Nine Sols you can turn on story mode and access sliders to adjust the combat however you want. It disables boss achievements. I’m still perfectly able to enjoy the intended experience regardless of what anyone else does.
Coming from someone who buys every fromsoft game day 1 and enjoys them thoroughly as-is, at this point I genuinely think it’s just a marketing thing. Pretty much every other game has accessibility options, and you really never see anyone complaining about it as if it somehow ruined the game for them. On the contrary, other communities are proud of the accessibility options and are glad to welcome all different types of players.
Yeah, so I love these games, but I don’t love the gatekeeping mentality the community has. Just leave the people alone and let others play how they want for the love of melania…
Some people like developing an artistic skill. This is that. Fuck up on the piano? Start that part over and get it right this time. Fuck up in elden ring? Start that part over and get it right this time. Both have acceptable amounts of variation that lead to success. Elden ring is in fact easier, because things can change that aren’t solely your skill level (stats/gear). There’s a lot of reasons the souls series and similar games are conducive to speedrunning, this loop of self-improvement is a major one.
When I read comments like yours, they come across as saying “practicing anything is stupid and I do not see the benefit”. It’s easy: practicing anything is fun and you only get to see the benefit after you fail, then succeed. If there’s some mental disconnect you have where you can’t envision success for yourself, or you think succeeding won’t be fun, it certainly isn’t the fault of the game or the community.
And some people don’t want to deal with the difficulty and just want to explore. Sure, it’s not rewarding for you, but it is for them. So yeah, I think a separate easy mode would be fine as long as you still get to choose it and it’s not forced on you.
Exploring the DLC instead of ramming your head against bosses LITERALLY makes it easier, providing ~60% damage reduction BEFORE ARMOR in the dlc zone via scattered consumables. You didn’t even try to play the game you are implying you want to
Actually, I’ve beaten the game several times, but go off, king. Anyhow, an easy mode has zero affect on me so I don’t see the issue with it. It’s really weird how upset you are about this.
There already is an “easy mode”. It’s an RPG, you can just over-level yourself and max out your weapon upgrades if it’s too hard. If that’s not enough you can summon two whole players to do the fighting for you.
To prep for the DLC I made a new character, beelined it to my favorite spot to grind runes, and with my character at level 100 I just went through the world 1/2-shotting all the mobs. Then for all the bosses I couldn’t kill in a handful of shots I just summoned two people to help. It does take patience but you can make the base game an absolute cakewalk.
Well, again, a separate easy mode wouldn’t affect you at all. Not everyone is going to be like you. You and I find it rewarding to overcome the difficulties the game presents, and for people who want an easy mode to explore and have a chill time with, it’d be just as rewarding for them to focus on what they want to focus on. I really don’t see the point of getting all bent out of shape over it. Even papa Miyazaki said he is OK with people wanting to use mods to make the game easier or to do silly things (as long as it’s offline so it doesn’t ruin it for others), as long as they’re having fun, that’s all that matters. I would be fine with an easy mode. Everyone has different definitions of fun, after all, and tbh, I do see the obvious appeal of an easy mode. It would expand the player base, for one. It’d open it up for casual less skilled players, which I see as a net win. The gatekeeping mentality of this community has to go.
I didn’t say it did affect me or that I’m against it. I’m just saying the problem people are having already has a solution, it’s just not as simple as 1 button.
Once you’ve played enough, the fact that it’s hard makes it better. I remember the first time I played dark souls, (dark souls III) I beat the 2nd boss months after the first try (i didn’t play continuously for those months obviously). I was just unable to beat it. I looked at the wiki for builds, for that specific boss starts and so on.
Once I beat it, though, I kinda knew how to play, and the fact that the bosses were hard made it better, since now I got a big dopamine hit after I finally killed them after tens of tries.
Now, most games I play I beat them on the first try. Not because I’m good, but because the games are easy. I watch other people play and they kill them first try too. I don’t get that same sense of “oh this is a boss, it’s gonna be hard but fun.” Instead I think “oh no, I was having fun oneshotting everyone and now here comes the bullet sponge”.
Have you tried being zealously masochistic and self-flagellant? Gitting gud is another option.
But really though there’s something endearing about a game being ruthlessly difficult with no easy mode slider. I’m normally the type of guy to crank everything down to easy to have a relaxing time, but when I’m in the mood for it Souls games scratch that itch juuuuust right.
Look, I personally consider myself a “hardcore” fan, but I don’t have a problem with legitimate criticisms. Things like the need for optimizations, bug fixes, etc. The criticisms of the DLC by other so-called “hardcore” fans, are not legitimate. The problem is, these people are straight fucking morons that can’t bother to learn the game in the first place. They think they can just run to the bosses with their over-leveled, NG+17 character and expect to use the same methods they used for the base game and beat it the first day it’s out. IT IS NOT THE SAME. The DLC is like playing a “sequel” that let’s you load your character and equipment from the previous game so you can look cool, but your still starting from essentially zero. You HAVE to level up the new stuff to get back to where you were power-wise, which means you HAVE to explore, and you HAVE to change up how you approach things. You cannot just rush through the bosses to see the ending. You HAVE to play the game to be able to play the game, and the pissy babies can’t fucking grasp that.
The real problem with the “community” is that a huge, huge amount of its members are shitty, asshole children with shitty, asshole parents that buy them these games, which they shouldn’t be playing in the first place. The other big part of the community are the shitty neckbeards that are still children mentally.
All that said, if you genuinely suck at a game, that game isn’t for you. That’s why I quit playing Balatro. Not everyone is good at everything they try to do- like how my birth-giver was a home ec major (yes, that was actually a thing), but she can’t cook for shit. She can fuck up Kraft Dinner. But damn can she sew, and craft, and all the rest. (She’s still a narcissistic sociopath, so she can fuck right off.) So if you like the game, but can’t play it, maybe just watch a streamer or something so you can still enjoy it. Hell, my wife was so into Elden Ring just from watching me play that I bought it for her so she could play it. She tried. She really, really tried. But she just couldn’t do it. So we got a refund and she still loves watching me play so she can get to experience it. Not everything is, or needs to be, for everyone.
I thought souls- like fans love tough bosses. Enjoy it then. I think they should git gud. /s
For full disclosure, I suck at souls-like and I beat Elden Ring by cheating(completely offline). I have been called Mentally removed for wanting an easy mode. I don’t like souls like fans, not all, just some of the more hardcore ones.
I’ve been playing video games my whole life and I’ve never been able to “git gud” at any game. I’m not going to put a significant amount of time and effort getting good at a game to figure out if I even like it
Getting good is what the games are about. There is no post-“git gud” phase of playing their games.
I play them offline because no way am I playing with that mostly asshole fanbase
If you’re playing solo you can’t be invaded.
I love souls games but I love them for the lore. there’s just so. much. god. damn. lore in those games. I will spend hours, days, even months just picking up every item I can to read the description and get a tiny little nugget of lore. Sure I love the boss fights and I really love this DLC because I felt the base game was too easy. I mean when you’ve played all the previous Souls games Elden Ring is by far the easiest one, so this DLC makes me feel like i’m playing Dark Souls again.
All that being said I agree with you, I think there should be an easy mode or what I would call a “explore mode” where you can just go around and easily fight things while building the story for yourself.
I don’t do difficult games cause of physical issues. I tried Elden Ring and was very impressed, but ultimately it was unplayable for me even trying to go easy.
What do you recommend cheat wise? I’m running on Linux and I really don’t care about online.
There is a mod called Easy Mode mod that you can use.
Agreed. I’m glad there’s so many difficulty sliders built into this game: big variety of guns, NPC summons, spirit summons.
Honestly, it was not enough. With Easy Mode mod, I could actually explore the game world and immerse myself more than I would ever have. One of my favourite moments is when I was fighting Dragonkin boss in front a giant throne occupied by a massive skeleton in first underground city. It was amazing. I could never experience it without that mod. I am too easily frustrated.
To clarify: I support easy mode. I am curious: Would it be more rewarding for you to explore and deep dive into the world, or to beat a boss on the normal difficulty? I totally see the appeal of both honestly lol
Being able to explore the world is much more satisfying to me than being able to beat a boss. To me exploration is the main appeal of the Elden Ring.
Say it louder for the people in the back please! They seem to think you are ruining the game for yourself, and by mysterious proxy, themselves…
As someone who has never used story mode/easy mode options, I agree with you completely.
Nine Sols, Celeste, Hades. Some of my favorite ‘hardcore’ games with great stories and great difficulty options. The only result of their presence is letting more people play the games who wouldn’t have otherwise. I don’t feel like my experience is cheapened in any way if others use the options.
And even if I don’t use them now, maybe there comes a day when my hands can’t keep up anymore, and I’ll be very grateful to be able to keep participating in my favorite hobby. Just an unambiguous good imo
Elden Ring already has things like spirit summons to make the game trivial, there is no need for an easier mode.
I mean, that’s what the person above me was specifically replying to.
Does it affect you in any way that they were able to enjoy the game via the easy mode mod? Would it have affected you if that setting was just available in the menu?
I think it would take away from the game if you could just change the difficulty from the settings.
Part of what makes souls games special is that they put a wall in front of you and it’s up to you to figure out how to get past it. You can make it easier on you by asking for help through summons, spirits, improving your build or you can learn how to fight them with what you already have.
I guess I just don’t really resonate with that idea, personally.
In Nine Sols you can turn on story mode and access sliders to adjust the combat however you want. It disables boss achievements. I’m still perfectly able to enjoy the intended experience regardless of what anyone else does.
Coming from someone who buys every fromsoft game day 1 and enjoys them thoroughly as-is, at this point I genuinely think it’s just a marketing thing. Pretty much every other game has accessibility options, and you really never see anyone complaining about it as if it somehow ruined the game for them. On the contrary, other communities are proud of the accessibility options and are glad to welcome all different types of players.
Yeah, so I love these games, but I don’t love the gatekeeping mentality the community has. Just leave the people alone and let others play how they want for the love of melania…
YOU think it would. Many, many people don’t think so. Just throwing that out there
An easier mode has no impact on you so who cares how other people choose to play?
You really need to be zealously masochistic and self-flagellant to enjoy that kind of shit. I don’t know how people do it.
Some people like developing an artistic skill. This is that. Fuck up on the piano? Start that part over and get it right this time. Fuck up in elden ring? Start that part over and get it right this time. Both have acceptable amounts of variation that lead to success. Elden ring is in fact easier, because things can change that aren’t solely your skill level (stats/gear). There’s a lot of reasons the souls series and similar games are conducive to speedrunning, this loop of self-improvement is a major one.
When I read comments like yours, they come across as saying “practicing anything is stupid and I do not see the benefit”. It’s easy: practicing anything is fun and you only get to see the benefit after you fail, then succeed. If there’s some mental disconnect you have where you can’t envision success for yourself, or you think succeeding won’t be fun, it certainly isn’t the fault of the game or the community.
And some people don’t want to deal with the difficulty and just want to explore. Sure, it’s not rewarding for you, but it is for them. So yeah, I think a separate easy mode would be fine as long as you still get to choose it and it’s not forced on you.
Exploring the DLC instead of ramming your head against bosses LITERALLY makes it easier, providing ~60% damage reduction BEFORE ARMOR in the dlc zone via scattered consumables. You didn’t even try to play the game you are implying you want to
Actually, I’ve beaten the game several times, but go off, king. Anyhow, an easy mode has zero affect on me so I don’t see the issue with it. It’s really weird how upset you are about this.
There already is an “easy mode”. It’s an RPG, you can just over-level yourself and max out your weapon upgrades if it’s too hard. If that’s not enough you can summon two whole players to do the fighting for you.
To prep for the DLC I made a new character, beelined it to my favorite spot to grind runes, and with my character at level 100 I just went through the world 1/2-shotting all the mobs. Then for all the bosses I couldn’t kill in a handful of shots I just summoned two people to help. It does take patience but you can make the base game an absolute cakewalk.
Well, again, a separate easy mode wouldn’t affect you at all. Not everyone is going to be like you. You and I find it rewarding to overcome the difficulties the game presents, and for people who want an easy mode to explore and have a chill time with, it’d be just as rewarding for them to focus on what they want to focus on. I really don’t see the point of getting all bent out of shape over it. Even papa Miyazaki said he is OK with people wanting to use mods to make the game easier or to do silly things (as long as it’s offline so it doesn’t ruin it for others), as long as they’re having fun, that’s all that matters. I would be fine with an easy mode. Everyone has different definitions of fun, after all, and tbh, I do see the obvious appeal of an easy mode. It would expand the player base, for one. It’d open it up for casual less skilled players, which I see as a net win. The gatekeeping mentality of this community has to go.
I didn’t say it did affect me or that I’m against it. I’m just saying the problem people are having already has a solution, it’s just not as simple as 1 button.
Once you’ve played enough, the fact that it’s hard makes it better. I remember the first time I played dark souls, (dark souls III) I beat the 2nd boss months after the first try (i didn’t play continuously for those months obviously). I was just unable to beat it. I looked at the wiki for builds, for that specific boss starts and so on.
Once I beat it, though, I kinda knew how to play, and the fact that the bosses were hard made it better, since now I got a big dopamine hit after I finally killed them after tens of tries.
Now, most games I play I beat them on the first try. Not because I’m good, but because the games are easy. I watch other people play and they kill them first try too. I don’t get that same sense of “oh this is a boss, it’s gonna be hard but fun.” Instead I think “oh no, I was having fun oneshotting everyone and now here comes the bullet sponge”.
Have you tried being zealously masochistic and self-flagellant? Gitting gud is another option.
But really though there’s something endearing about a game being ruthlessly difficult with no easy mode slider. I’m normally the type of guy to crank everything down to easy to have a relaxing time, but when I’m in the mood for it Souls games scratch that itch juuuuust right.
Look, I personally consider myself a “hardcore” fan, but I don’t have a problem with legitimate criticisms. Things like the need for optimizations, bug fixes, etc. The criticisms of the DLC by other so-called “hardcore” fans, are not legitimate. The problem is, these people are straight fucking morons that can’t bother to learn the game in the first place. They think they can just run to the bosses with their over-leveled, NG+17 character and expect to use the same methods they used for the base game and beat it the first day it’s out. IT IS NOT THE SAME. The DLC is like playing a “sequel” that let’s you load your character and equipment from the previous game so you can look cool, but your still starting from essentially zero. You HAVE to level up the new stuff to get back to where you were power-wise, which means you HAVE to explore, and you HAVE to change up how you approach things. You cannot just rush through the bosses to see the ending. You HAVE to play the game to be able to play the game, and the pissy babies can’t fucking grasp that.
The real problem with the “community” is that a huge, huge amount of its members are shitty, asshole children with shitty, asshole parents that buy them these games, which they shouldn’t be playing in the first place. The other big part of the community are the shitty neckbeards that are still children mentally.
All that said, if you genuinely suck at a game, that game isn’t for you. That’s why I quit playing Balatro. Not everyone is good at everything they try to do- like how my birth-giver was a home ec major (yes, that was actually a thing), but she can’t cook for shit. She can fuck up Kraft Dinner. But damn can she sew, and craft, and all the rest. (She’s still a narcissistic sociopath, so she can fuck right off.) So if you like the game, but can’t play it, maybe just watch a streamer or something so you can still enjoy it. Hell, my wife was so into Elden Ring just from watching me play that I bought it for her so she could play it. She tried. She really, really tried. But she just couldn’t do it. So we got a refund and she still loves watching me play so she can get to experience it. Not everything is, or needs to be, for everyone.