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[Timeaisis]

The DLC bosses from Bloodborne wave right back

I still felt DS3 bosses were harder, especially the Nameless King. Harder than anything in Bloodborne. The hardest thing is The Old Hunters is Laurence, as far as I'm concerned. Yes, Ludwig and the Orphan, but I eventually beat those solo. I could never do that with Nameless King.

Let's just put it this way. I never had to summon to defeat a boss in Bloodborne, DLC included. In the last 3/4 of DS3, especially for the optional bosses, I had to summon quite a bit. Maybe I'm just better at Bloodborne. Who knows.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

i doubt that's true. i thought DS3 is quite easy to finish.

After 4 games of practice sure.

 

[Jingo]

Bloodborne was my first souls game and i had more trouble with dark souls 3, bloodborne its difficult in the start, than you get used to it.

 

[JadedWriter]

So NG+ Demons Souls on Pure Black World Tendency vs Dark Souls 3?

 

[shimon]

So NG+ Demons Souls on Pure Black World Tendency vs Dark Souls 3?

I say Demons.

 

[striferser]

So NG+ Demons Souls on Pure Black World Tendency vs Dark Souls 3?

Demon. Unless you play asian unpatched and use meat cleaver

 

[KittenMaster]

A lot of the reason Dark Souls 3 is harder is because Bloodborne still carries over a trait from Dark Souls 1 where enemies have openings and blind spots you can get to, especially with the locked on dodge and stamina consumption is very low in Bloodborne (to the point where you rarely need to level stamina) This also means that more weapon types are viable.

Dark Souls 3 has far more aggressive enemies with attacks with better tracking, requiring you to dodge through them much more frequently, which is more stamina taxing. They also present fewer openings unless they're staggered, making anything slower than a battle axe very hard to use.

 

[old manatee]

The difficulty in these games is inextricably connected to what build you are using.

 

[JadedWriter]

I say Demons.

*gets a partial parry* "You Died..."

 

[CloudWolf]

DS1 the first time was easier than DeS the first time. Still had a lot of trouble with Bed of Chaos, Manus, and Gwyn. I still get triggered at people saying Gwyn is a perfect "theme" boss because of how easy he is when you parry him. I didn't know about that strategy at all, and my god was he a relentless monster on that first playthrough! Took me more than an hour, but I eventually mastered dodging just about every single attack of his.

I feel like Gwyn is extremely easy if you try anything else than fight him head on. The first time I fought him I parried him to death, so the second time I decided to not do that, but I was specced as a Pyromancer. One Fire Tempest later and he was down, took me like 5 seconds.

 

[Dr. Benton Quest]

Get the feeling BB was the first souls game for a lot of people in this thread.

BB is the easiest game in the series. Half of that is because I played two souls games before it, and the other half is that it doesn't remotely punish mistakes in the same way.

I don't even really consider BB and DS3 in the same genre.

 

[JadedWriter]

Get the feeling BB was the first souls game for a lot of people in this thread.

BB is the easiest game in the series. Half of that is because I played two souls games before it, and the other half is that it doesn't remotely punish mistakes in the same way.

I don't even really consider BB and DS3 in the same genre.

I don't exactly think one is easier than the other, but their design philosophies are a lot different. It's harder to fuck up your build in BB unless you roll all in on a bloodtinge or arcane build the first time you play it without knowing what weapons work for those builds. The DS games to me are a lot different in that regard. You kind of have to be a bit more careful with your leveling. Though I will say this, the added agility on BB makes it a lot easier, unless you're too used to turtling behind a shield. I also think going from BB to DS 2 is a fucking nightmare.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

The boss i dread the most in the series is actually the Ancient Dragon of DS2 as the breath attack just feels too cheap and difficult to really gauge.

Scholar of the First Sin greatly nerfed that fire breath. It does half the damage, doesn't one-shot anyone unless you're one of those dumb players who never level up your HP.

Even in the vanilla game, if you prepared carefully, it wouldn't one-shot you.

DEFINITELY Bloodborne.

I've played them all, and DkS3 was the easiest except for perhaps DeS.

lol Demon's is by far the easiest. Sooo easy to totally become OP to the point of breaking the game.

So NG+ Demons Souls on Pure Black World Tendency vs Dark Souls 3?

Dark Souls 3. Demon's is just too easy to break, as I said. You can one-shot the Maneaters with Firestorm, FFS.

 

[JadedWriter]

Dark Souls 3. Demon's is just too easy to break, as I said. You can one-shot the Maneaters with Firestorm, FFS.

You know...ENB is probably making his life difficult there by not rolling a magic character.

 

[Alej]

I don't know but BB feels more difficult at the start. I'd say the two are not that difficult if you take account of coop.

Then, Bloodborne is the pinnacle of the souls games, it is stellar, hard or not. I'm saying that as a guy on board since the beginning.

I would say Demon's Souls was the hardest to me because it was the first one, though. But i guess it is the easiest now if you take the whole picture.

 

[Rien]

Havent played the dlc's of DS3 yet but i had more trouble with BB including Old Hunters. The only boss that gave me trouble on DS3 were the Princes and Soul of Cinder. The rest were less then 4 tries. Mostly one or two.
Reminds me i have to get the dlc's when they are in a sale.

 

[Trogdor1123]

He can be, since Cleric Beast is optional. Most people will fight Cleric Beast first, though.

really? i didnt know that. I should replay it.

 

[Melchiah]

I'm really surprised people think DS3 is harder.

Nothing in DS3 comes close to some of the stuff in Chalice Dungeons. Plus DS3 has shields. I don't know how many of you used them but some while ago I decided to do a PT using greatshields...Let's just say I was surprised to how effective this shit is.

I played DS3 with a shield-carrying strength build, but due to the encumberance I couldn't use the great shields. The smaller shields didn't really help against something like Champion Gundyr, which would have been easier boss with BB's parry mechanic. I never managed to master the mechanic in DS3, whereas in BB it made bosses like Blood-starved Beast, Martyr Logarius, and Maria much easier.

 

[Ethelwulf]

Bb was muy first souls game. Way more difficult than ds3.

 

[Super Stardust]

if you include the dlcs I would say bloodborne, I think orphan is the hardest boss in any video game.

 

[electroaffe]

Bloodborne's first area is brutal but the rest w/o DLC is pretty easy. Dark Souls 3 is better balanced and harder in general.

OoK on NG+ was one the hardest Souls-challenges for me though.

 

[Melchiah]

if you include the dlcs I would say bloodborne, I think orphan is the hardest boss in any video game.

It certainly is very hard, but I managed to beat it by myself on normal and NG+. Whereas I had to summon Valtr for the Laurence fight on normal, and I couldn't beat him on NG+ even with the improved version of Valtr (that you get after completing the League questline).

 

[xviper]

i'm a soulsborne series vet who started since Demon's souls

the difficulty of the games are like this:

Dark souls 1 > Demon's souls > Dark souls 2 > Bloodborne >>>>>> Dark souls 3

 

[Rozart]

How is DeS the hardest? I mean it's been a while since I last played it but I can't think of any DeS bosses that I found excruciatingly challenging. Unpopular opinion here but I do miss DeS's gimmicky bosses though.

Anyway, it's Dark Souls 3 for me. The Nameless King, The Dancer of Boreal Valley (I /hated/ her), Pontiff Sulyvahn, The Twin Princes were all notably difficult bosses that I really dread facing.

Still, I don't think I can put myself through OoK and that second to last chalice dungeon boss (the one right before the Queen) ever again. Those two were won by absolute pure luck. OoK is still the hardest Soulsborne boss I've faced-- I'm pretty sure it took me close to 60 tries to defeat him.

 

[Soar]

A lot of the reason Dark Souls 3 is harder is because Bloodborne still carries over a trait from Dark Souls 1 where enemies have openings and blind spots you can get to, especially with the locked on dodge and stamina consumption is very low in Bloodborne (to the point where you rarely need to level stamina) This also means that more weapon types are viable.

Dark Souls 3 has far more aggressive enemies with attacks with better tracking, requiring you to dodge through them much more frequently, which is more stamina taxing. They also present fewer openings unless they're staggered, making anything slower than a battle axe very hard to use.

I completed the second half of DS3 and the dlcs solo with a rapier so it's doable. It's super silly because when I tried an ultra greatsword in NG+ it made everything so freaking easy with instant stagger.

 

[Hypron]

DeS is the easiest by far. There are like 2 challenging bosses in the game (which aren't that challenging if you're levelled up properly).

 

[Egida]

IMO DeS is the hardest when it was your first Souls "experience". When I saw the game I thought I could go merrily dual wielding katanas running and slashing right and left like in Oblivion.

Dark Souls was easy on comparison, as I had already learned to watch for traps, to know where would be enemies waiting to ambush me, to face enemies one at a time and wait for the right moment to attack.

 

[dreamfall]

Honestly, whichever Souls game you started with feels like the most difficult.

Figuring out the combat and approaching the game - it’s such a novel experience, one I kind of wish I could re-experience.

I played Dark Souls first, and S+O were the hardest boss solo for me. I mean, I summoned for Nameless King in III also after dying a bunch. I played Demon’s right after the first Dark title and it felt much easier (I also liked it more!). Incredible games all around.

 

[KarneeKarnay]

Bloodborne felt more difficult because the learning curb and early game were really punishing. DS3 < Blooborne.

However in DS3 DLCs we got some bosses that were much harder than most of Bloodborne and it's DLC, barring that last DLC boss.

In this case DS3 with DLC > Bloodorne with DLC.

However if you include the chalice dungeons, Bloodbonre wins easy. Those bosses and areas are some of the hardest challenges in the series.

 

[Melchiah]

Honestly, whichever Souls game you started with feels like the most difficult.

Figuring out the combat and approaching the game - it’s such a novel experience, one I kind of wish I could re-experience.

I played Dark Souls first, and S+O were the hardest boss solo for me. I mean, I summoned for Nameless King in III also after dying a bunch. I played Demon’s right after the first Dark title and it felt much easier (I also liked it more!). Incredible games all around.

It's the opposite for me. BB was my first, and eventhough it was extremely challenging I had more problems with DS3. Particularly in the beginning, due to the limited amount of Estus Flasks, which was never an issue in BB. Plus, the mechanics I had learned in BB, like parrying, didn't apply to DS3.

 

[Subpar Spatula]

Bloodborne is easier by a lot. You get super OP speed / character movement agility that dodging things is super easy. The bosses don't scale well with this speed where as Dark Souls you're sort of handicapped if you go for that speed.

 

[shimon]

To be fair we were talking about NG+ Demons Souls on Pure Black World Tendency in Souls Form vs Dark Souls 3.

 

[Rozart]

Honestly, whichever Souls game you started with feels like the most difficult.

Nah. I started with Dark Souls 1. Found Dark Souls 3 to be much harder.

Bloodborne is easier by a lot. You get super OP speed / character movement agility that dodging things is super easy. The bosses don't scale well with this speed where as Dark Souls you're sort of handicapped if you go for that speed.

Yup, the fluidity of the dodges and backsteps in BB made things a lot more manageable. Plus, you get the added bonus of looking stylish as fuck during battles! BB also has the health regaining system which could help you out if you're in a panicked pinch.

...Man, I forgot how well BB plays.

 

[RossoneR]

Get the feeling BB was the first souls game for a lot of people in this thread.

BB is the easiest game in the series. Half of that is because I played two souls games before it, and the other half is that it doesn't remotely punish mistakes in the same way.

I don't even really consider BB and DS3 in the same genre.

Including dlc and dungeons? Impossible. Platinumed DS1, DS3,BB, ended up like ng++++ in DeS and DS2.

Begging of BB, cursed dungeons and ng+ Kos, Laurence, Ludwig > anything i did in other games. I play solo so cant comment how s BB in coop. Also saves re more frequent in Souls and u can rock huge sword with some great spells.

 

[Melchiah]

Including dlc and dungeons? Impossible. Platinumed DS1, DS3,BB, ended up like ng++++ in DeS and DS2.

Begging of BB, cursed dungeons and ng+ Kos, Laurence, Ludwig > anything i did in other games. I play solo so cant comment how s BB in coop. Also saves re more frequent in Souls and u can rock huge sword with some great spells.

I think the difficulty of Defiled Chalice tends to be exaggerated. Its bosses were more of a test of patience, and I had far more issues with beating the more aggressive bosses, like Pthumerian Descendant in Ihyll Chalice and Orphan of Kos. It's also much easier to overlevel your character in BB than DS3. Hell, my NG+ and chalice veteran is at 230 level. My secondary BB character is at level 130 after 53 hours, whereas the DS3 character is at level 110 after 82 hours. It helps, that you only need to level up three stats in BB, and the chalices and the Mensis farming route grant you a plenty of Blood Echoes.
EDIT: Plus the gems increase weapon damage much more than DS3's infusion.

What stopped me from platinuming DS3 was the excessive collecthaton, that demanded partaking in PVP.

 

[neurosisxeno]

I played Demon's Souls when it came out and put it down and never picked it back up after like 6 frustrating hours. I avoided the series until Bloodborne, which I bought, installed, and literally never played. I let a friend borrow my copy and recently grabbed Dark Souls III to start tinkering around with. If you go into DS3 with no prior experience, it is pretty ruthless. Even the tutorial boss was a pain in the ass for me. Then you get thrown into Lothric Tower and get ambushed by Dragon's. those annoying Pus of Man things, and the Lothric Knights that will turn 1 small mistake into a 3-4 hit combo every time.

I can't comment until I get Bloodborne back and actually start playing it, but DS3 is pretty damn rough if you are new to the series. The way enemies just chain together attacks makes Stamina Management a huge part of the game that takes entirely too long for people to realize, and a few of the mechanics aren't well explained--it never told me early on that having your shield up greatly decreased Stamina regen, and once I realized that some enemies became easily 3x easier.

All I can say is I got way more frustrated with Demon's Souls than I have with DS3. Demon's Souls seemed hell bent on just fucking with you. It was tons of traps and blind corners into enemies just for the sake of making sure you never felt safe and the entire journey felt like running an obstacle course more than anything. Oddly enough the friend of mine that borrowed BB only put like 8-10 hours into it, and hasn't played since. He's been meaning to get it back to me, saying he can't get the mechanics down and it just drives him nuts. He had played DS2 or DS3 and made it most of the way through the game, so I suspect for him BB was way harder, but I think it depends on peoples play styles and past experiences.

 

[JadedWriter]

To be fair we were talking about NG+ Demons Souls on Pure Black World Tendency in Souls Form vs Dark Souls 3.

Yeah base Demon's Souls isn't that bad...NG+ on the other hand on PBWT...yikes...in soul form...it's pretty easy to get one shotted.