Dude I recently played through that game and man Nightmare King Grimm was an absolute wall of a skillcheck. Took me hours to finally beat him. Incredible theme though.

You know you're fucked when one of the only two fullscreen title cards in the game pops up accompanied by the immediate orchestral slap in the face. In a game of amazing boss fights, this one stands out

City of Tears’ Action layer has percussion.

Same!! I only visited her again to show him that not everything in the game was doom and gloomy. I've never had something in a game turn around and bite my ass clean off like that. :(

Supposedly there is a legit way to beat it without it happening, but it affects the % complete and makes the game even harder.

* This ended up a bit longer than expected, sorry.

Mostly that "most punishing game series ever" trope that gets tossed around so much. My reflexes and patience ain't nowhere near what they used to be - which, granted, ain't saying much - so I assumed I'd find myself raging at it, and I'm not a fan of getting pissed at recreational activities I'm supposed to be enjoying.

Then one day someone posted here about how the 2004 release of Ninja Gaiden was like DS's grandpappy or something to that affect, and back then I aced that game with a drunken, shit-eating grin on my face. I already love the "simplicity" of Metroidvanias, so I thought ~10 years of life-altering mistakes, booze, and pill abuse couldn't have fucked me out that badly, right? Right? How hard could a "2D" game really be?

The answer was "plenty," but it struck a chord I had forgotten the sound of. For the first time in over a decade I found myself leaning in, standing up, saying shit like "Oh come on!!", but it wasn't at the game; it was at me, swinging my nail too early, getting greedy on offense, misjudging how hard I had to press jump, or simply not looking down before carelessly dropping into a new area (damn Primal Aspids and Giant Hoppers.)

It took some hours but I genuinely felt like an engine that had just been cranked up for the first time in ages; sure there was schmutz clogging the intake, the fuel was starting to coagulate, but I needed to get back out on the highway and blow it out if I planned to keep using it. If I "broke down" then at least I could say I tried.

>!When Myra attacked me, I gave the kid the controller, asked him to put her down, get me to a bench, and I went to collect myself.!< He lost all my Geo, but the kid adored it. Decided I'd take a break and see how he'd go about it; He's going all-in on a "mage" build, where I relied solely on the Nail - spells were just for progression uses and some i-frames here and there. We're gonna beat it/start the Grimm Troupe stuff at the same time; don't get much time with him and he usually goes for stuff like Borderlands, Rainbow Six, Titanfall, Roblox, or Fortnite; which is fun to watch, sure; but he (well, we) can be as careless and spaztic as we want without many "consequences." Always fun to see how quickly kids shift gears and adapt to shit, especially compared to my raggedy ass.

Also I just don't want it end yet. At least not until there's a better idea on when Silksong will roll out :(

A lot of people who aren't very good at video games or who don't have a lot of time to play are put off by games that are compared to Dark Souls.

No one ever says a game is "the Dark Souls of genre" because they're saying it has great atmosphere, deep lore, and an incredibly well-made level system that connects its levels together so well — which are all great attributes of the first Dark Souls.

What people usually mean by "the Dark Souls of genre" is unrelenting difficulty, a brutal checkpoint system, complicated inventory management, and harsh consequences upon death.

I can totally get why someone who only has maybe an hour a day to play would see something compared to Dark Souls and decide to avoid it because they don't want to spend weeks dying to the same boss until they've perfectly memorized its moveset — which is the image of Dark Souls that a lot of its fanbase has cultivated.

To be clear: I fucking love Dark Souls. I've played and replayed Demon's Souls, DS1–3, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring more times than I can count.

Apparently something specific triggers it; but I didn't know what. If that "event" doesn't happen, neither does the "problem." I'll spoiler it since there's no doubt some newer folks around this post; according to the wiki:

>!She begins showing signs of infection after defeating Soul Master - ergo learning the Desolate Dive spell. When I visited her, she outright attacked me, which apparently happens after getting the spell and the Crystal Heart.!<

How in the world people beat the game without doing those is beyond me, but someone figured it out.

No directive is one thing but like Dark Souls games when you die you respawn far away from where you were and then need to do all that way again and defeat all the enemies in the way again

Played them both

In my opinion, the difficulty levels are built in.

If you want to play the game, the main story line is tough but certainly achievable with some practicing and strategy.

Let's consider the base game up to the bass final boss fight "easy." There are certain achievements that require fighting different bosses that are more difficult.

Then, there is the Pantheon of Gods which is absolutely fucking sadistic.

I love this game. I was absolutely horrible when I started. I played this game alone and no other game for weeks or months. I got every achievement. Except one. I cannot beat the final boss of the pantheon of God's. And I'm at peace with that. It is an achievement that must be earned with no easy way out. I think that's part of what makes this game special. If you're looking for a quick game to 100% or get a platinum trophy on, this is absolutely not that game.

I don't think either are required for progression.