For those who had trouble getting into Souls/Bloodborne, what helped you?

[Mozendo]

So I tried a few times to get into the series but never did, and I want to give it another change because I really do enjoy the setting of these games. Recently after playing the Code Vein demo and enjoying it I decided to give dark souls 3 another try and kept dying at the first boss several times and I just felt that I was playing wrong.

I was wondering for people who had been in my situation what helped you and also for the experience players what advice can you give, is there a newbie build for the games?

I have
Dark Souls 1 (Non-remastered on PC)
Dark Souls 3 (PC)
Bloodborne

 

[DFG]

Have you tried following a YouTube walkthrough until you get the hang of it? Probably should start with Dark Souls 1 still

 

[AxeVince]

Lords of the Fallen.
Helped me get into the mechanics, and understand how bosses can work in those games.
Even though I played plenty of die and retry in the past, LotF bosses are easy to read and teaches me what to look for in Souls-like bosses to beat them.

 

[Deleted member 13015]

It hit me when I watched a streamer play Bloodborne; And not just any streamer, but someone who is a big Souls fan and is very good at those games.

I copied what they did, and it all started to click.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Using Wiki's and playing a build that was cheap as fuck.
I don't think I would be where I am now with Souls Games if not for the Royal in Demon's Souls.

I'd probably recommend playing DS1 on PC (Non-remastered is fine) and either go for a pyromancer.
Also go for the drake sword, a lot of people will tell you otherwise. But it does help for a good bit and won't need any upgrades right away (There will be other weapons stronger than it). It's a good "easy" mode to get the feel of things in the first part of the game.

 

[astro]

If they ever released bloodborne withou the frame pacing issues at 60fps+, I think I could get into a souls game. I adored the combat in that game, but those issues made it too uncomfortable for me to focus as much as was required.

I've tried all 3 Dark Souls on PC, but the combat has never felt as good and never hooked me.

So I think BB next gen remaster might do it, if it happens. And if I get the bug, I might find other titles from From more appealing.

 

[texhnolyze]

A guide/walkhtrough. No shame.

 

[Strings]

I just tried playing them more lol. I got Demon's Souls, fell off after about two hours, then got sucked into it when I went back two months later.

Look into the Drake Sword for Dark Souls 1 (a relatively overpowered weapon you can get via a cool interaction that will see you through most of the game). You do need to beat two bosses to reach it though (which shouldn't be too difficult as a pyromancer?).

 

[ShroudOfFate]

Watching Hbomberguy's Dark Souls 2 video really helped me enjoy Souls games. In the video he talks about how playing conservatively with sword and shield is the 'wrong' way to play and being ultra aggressive is the way to have the most fun. Bloodborne is designed to be played that way but playing Dark Souls in a similar style is amazing.

And it's not really a Souls game, but Sekiro really cemented this playstyle for me too. These games are just not fun to play if you are cautious and worry about the penalty of death constantly.

Here's the video if you're interested in giving it a look.

 

[Servbot24]

I just suddenly started liking it

if you gave it a few tries then I'd move on

 

[Raggen]

Lords of the Fallen.
Helped me get into the mechanics, and understand how bosses can work in those games.
Even though I played plenty of die and retry in the past, LotF bosses are easy to read and teaches me what to look for in Souls-like bosses to beat them.

Click to shrink...

Same here. I started with Bloodborne when that came out, but put it down In rage after Blood Starved Beast. But meditation actually changed my outlook on the Fromsoft games. Years later I fired up Demon's Souls and fought my want through the rolling skeletons and that felt like a victory. When I finally beat Bloodborne It felt like I had grown as a person.

 

[joeblow]

Bought Demon's Souls near launch and really enjoyed playing the game at first. It had a cool "just one more try" addiction going for it.

I ran past the first portal door you come to and fought some mid-sized guard at some dead end and he killed me. I wanted to take him out and kept trying, eventually learning how to time my parry with his attacks. It eventually got boring since I barely did any damage to him while I didn't take damage because of my parry timing. I eventually quit and never played another Souls game for years.

Bloodborne's artistic style caught my attention and I got it day one. Eventually I played through the entire thing without any guides and had a blast. So much so that I then got Dark Souls I on my PC, polished it up with visual mods and played all the way through it. The gameplay was definitely more janky and the progression was a lot less logical than BB, but again I REALLY enjoyed the overall experience.

I don't like to get burned out on genres, so when I heard mixed things about DS2 and skipped it. I also haven't played DS3. My plan is to go back to the series with Demon's Souls as an upcoming PS5 remake, now armed with a better feel for the flow of these type of games (I bet I wasn't supposed to fight the guard yet and instead go through the portal, lol). After that, I'm hoping for a BB2 announcement.

 

[Obi]

Playing with a friend made the games massively better for me. I was really disappointed that Sekiro was solo only.

 

[Rob]

For the first boss in DS3, it's supposed to break you. It took me several tries when I first played to figure it out. It's basically teaching you what to expect going into DS3.

As for me, I tried playing DS1 and DS2, but I couldn't get into the series until Bloodborne. The combat was faster and everything felt better. Because of that, I was able to get into DS3 far more than I had with the other games. I've tried going back to DS1 with the Remastered, but I couldn't make it too much further than my first attempt.

 

[JudgmentJay]

Bought Demon's Souls near launch and really enjoyed playing the game at first. It had a cool "just one more try" addiction going for it.

I ran past the first portal door you come to and fought some mid-sized guard on at some dead end and he killed me. I wanted to take him out and kept trying, eventually learning how to time my parry with his attacks. It eventually got boring since I barely did any damage to him while I didn't take damage because of my parry timing. I eventually quit and never played another Souls game for years.

Bloodborne's artistic style caught my attention and I got it day one. Eventually I played through the entire thing without any guides and had a blast. So much so that I then got Dark Souls I on my PC, polished it up with visual mods and played all the way through it. The gameplay was definitely more janky and the progression was a lot less logical than BB, but again I REALLY enjoyed the overall experience.

I don't like to get burned out on genres, so when I heard mixed things about DS2 and skipped it. I also haven't played DS3. My plan is to go back to the series with Demon's Souls as an upcoming PS5 remake, now armed with a better feel for the flow of these type of games (I bet I wasn't supposed to fight the guard yet and instead go through the portal, lol). After that, I'm hoping for a BB2 announcement.

Click to shrink...

If you're talking about the red-eyed knight then yeah there's no point in killing him that early. He's guarding optional end-game content.

 

[Cronogear]

I tried playing Demon's Souls when it first came out thanks to the good word of mouth. The first time I played I thought it was a fairly plain action RPG and didn't really see what the big deal was, so I dropped it after a couple hours.

Then when Dark Souls was first announced and everyone went nuts, I said decided I would finally force myself to play Demon's Souls all the way through, just to see what the fuss was all about. It was somewhere around the Tower of Latria that the game finally clicked for me. Been a big Souls fan (aside from Sekiro) ever since.

 

[Ploid 6.0]

Demon's Souls Deluxe Edition, guide book.

 

[Premium Ghoul]

Took me like 30 hours of bashing my head against Demon's Souls before I actually liked it. What changed it for me was finally trying as many different weapons as I could and finding something that worked for me (Crushing Claymore).

Now the Souls series is one of my favourites of all time.

 

[RisingStar]

1) Free time
2) General intrigue in the lore and setting in Bloodborne
3) Learning that you don't have to fight every single thing in front of you. Running is a strategy, (Yahar'Gul pretty much).
4) Asking for help when possible, (not necessarily through co-op but ask friends for clues or hints or just watch a walkthrough if you don't care about spoilers).
5) Desire to beat the game

I was unemployed when I finally picked up Bloodborne and had loads of time. It was a great way to vent out my general frustrations too. Honestly the last game I played where I stayed up till 2am just to beat a boss.

Bloodborne is still the only Souls/Bourne game I finished. I started Demon's Souls but the clunkiness back in 2012 made me quit after the second boss. Bloodborne just controls fantastic and teaches you to get better as you play it more.

 

[Marble]

Tried them all but only got into Bloodborne. The mystery and atmosphere just kept me trying.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

Played Demons Souls, gave up after a while. Played Dark Souls, same deal. Then Started taking turns playing through Bloodborne and it changed my mind on the whole series which I went back through afterwards (still going through DS3 DLC trying to beat Sister Friede now).

Bloodborne was just the perfect mix of a really cool setting and the more aggressive gameplay that really made it work.

 

[Bastables]

Not sure it'll be helpful considering your title Include both games, but for me it was over the corse of a year powering through Bloodborne, the lack of a shield as (Hbomber have pointed out) guided me to a more dodge and parry play style that had me finally compleating Darksouls on PS4 and on switch. The lessons of aggression have meant that I'm revisiting the Castlevania collection, Hollowknight and Darksouls 2, which I'm hoping to complete before the end of the year.

I never compleated any Castlevania game before Blood borne or any Souls game either.

Bloodborne is great as with scaling and upgrade you can actully play through to completion, where as Darksoul's more multi path upgrade system you can actually ruin your weapon upgrading it. (when your character has not invested in the correct attributes).

 

[Coi]

Play with friends or join a community where you can play and mix the campaign with some fun pvp!!

 

[IrishNinja]

friends tried pushing demons souls from jump, i traded for it but gave up quick - like 9 months later, one buddy came by & put on a clinic. i was hooked after that.

dark souls had me following epicnamebro's guide when i got stuck, which really helped too

ended up platting demons, dark 1 and bloodborne, bailed early on 2 and got my ass kicked in 3 but i should go back to the latter one day

 

[Deleted member 42105]

Slow combat and lack of direction really turned me off big time, but after I got into those youtube guides it just clicked in like a lego.

Top 5 favorite series easy.

 

[Aneru]

I tried the series over and over again with no luck. Then I started watching some challenge runs on twitch for Bloodborne that sparked my interest to try again. So I found a guide for a easy beginner's build and it finally clicked. It helps a lot when you finally understand the mechanics of the games. They can be really obtuse but once you understand stuff like upgrading weapons, stat scaling, summoning, etc it gets a lot easier. In retrospect I think the hardest part for a new player is not the enemy difficulty but the obtuseness of the systems. Once you get one game down the rest are much easier. I went from thinking the games are too hard to beating the entire soulesborne series this year.

 

[GiantBreadbug]

Got BB at launch on a whim since all my friends played Souls obsessively. I bounced off of it a bit when the difficulty was just smacking me down and wound up not playing it for like four months (I was also busy with life things). When I finally came back to it, it just clicked. I dunno what happened, but just taking some time away from it somehow made it immediately accessible when I returned.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

DS1 is the most beginner friendly IMO. You can appreciate Bloodborne better once DS1 has let you build up expectations that BB then shatters.

It took me 3 or so tries to get into the game- but now it's one of my favorites of all time.

 

[Blade Wolf]

Lords of the Fallen.
Helped me get into the mechanics, and understand how bosses can work in those games.
Even though I played plenty of die and retry in the past, LotF bosses are easy to read and teaches me what to look for in Souls-like bosses to beat them.

Click to shrink...

I am really glad to hear other Souls-likes helping people getting into the genre.

Though for people who's already very much into Souls games, LofF could feel like a dumbed-down clone.

 

[Deleted member 19996]

Nothing. Still love The Surge and The Surge 2, but can't stand any of the Dark Souls games or Bloodborne.

 

[Futabaisthebest<3]

Sekiro helps things difficult to deal like parry and patterns all thanks to Youtube while dealing with mini-bosses/bosses. It also make previous DS games looks cheap compared to it.

Hell, I beaten 3 playthroughs without help and it changed everything.

 

[RedSwirl]

Actually planning out my character build and understanding what the stats do.

 

[Vex]

Op do you have any videos of you fighting the first boss? That will help us analyze precisely what you are doing wrong.

 

[Ruu]

I tried Dark Souls 1 for years and haaaaated it. I eventually was just like "everyone loves these games so much so I have to see why." I brute forced through the first couple hours and then all of a sudden I just hit this moment where I was like ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shit. I get it. And now DS1 is easily one of my top 5 games of all time. So glad I pushed through.

 

[Deleted member 56909]

Ds 3 to me is arguably the worst one since it combines the best of bloodbourne without implementing it's dodging to a souls setting. So you get a mixed bag of overly agressive enemies and bosses that you really can't counter very easily. Which makes it the hardest and most unfair souls game to me. Your better of jumping into bloodbourne equipping the axe (which is my favorite starter( and just spin to win.(there's also the kirkhammer which is a hammer sword which is a delight to use and a magic pizza cutter in the dlc) That game is arguably my favorite next to demon souls which is also the easiest souls game. I highly recommend ds 2 since it's the easiest to get into and then going to ds1. If you don't like ds 1 that's perfectly fine.
Edit: I have bloodbourne platted.
Also I was kind of crazy and loved to kill every enemy in my path before the boss so the game took longer to best and I was a bit over leveled.

 

[Ayirek]

I just took it slow, learned enemy attack patterns, when they were open, things like that. I didn't love it til I beat the Taurus Demon. That was a huge sense of accomplishment. Plus, exploring the shit out of Darkroot Garden as soon as i had access to it helped. Such a gorgeous area.

 

[tatwo]

This is quite sad but graphics. Took me until 3 to get into Souls. BB is one of my favorite games now.

I tried DS1 on pc but it looked so bad and couldn't get dsfix to work properly.

 

[KillLaCam]

Playing co-op with a friend for the first 3rd of bloodborne.

 

[raketenrolf]

So I tried a few times to get into the series but never did, and I want to give it another change because I really do enjoy the setting of these games. Recently after playing the Code Vein demo and enjoying it I decided to give dark souls 3 another try and kept dying at the first boss several times and I just felt that I was playing wrong.

I was wondering for people who had been in my situation what helped you and also for the experience players what advice can you give, is there a newbie build for the games?

I have
Dark Souls 1 (Non-remastered on PC)
Dark Souls 3 (PC)
Bloodborne

Click to shrink...

Choose a class in the beginning that is easier to play with. Try Pyro and throw some fire at this boss. You will become better after a while.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

Ds 3 to me is arguably the worst one since it combines the best of bloodbourne without implementing it's dodging to a souls setting. So you get a mixed bag of overly agressive enemies and bosses that you really can't counter very easily. Which makes it the hardest and most unfair souls game to me. Your better of jumping into bloodbourne equipping the axe (which is my favorite starter( and just spin to win.(there's also the kirkhammer which is a hammer sword which is a delight to use and a magic pizza cutter in the dlc) That game is arguably my favorite next to demon souls which is also the easiest souls game. I highly recommend ds 2 since it's the easiest to get into and then going to ds1. If you don't like ds 1 that's perfectly fine.
Edit: I have bloodbourne platted.
Also I was kind of crazy and loved to kill every enemy in my path before the boss so the game took longer to best and I was a bit over leveled.

Click to shrink...

That's interesting because DS3 has felt like the easiest Souls game by far, at least until the very end+dlc where it suddenly ramps up the difficulty. That said, its probably my favourite Dark Souls because of the changes it made, as well as being visually stunning.

 

[kimbaka]

Demon's Souls was the first one I played back when it was pretty new. I was getting my ass handed to me at first until I watched a YouTube playthrough of someone going through the bridge in 1-2 and defeating Tower Knight. It helped me realize a lot of the things I was doing wrong and everything just clicked after that. I was able to get through everything else on my own and have gone through all Dark Souls games without too much trouble. It really is true when people say the hardest Souls game is whichever you play first.

 

[robot]

I watched most of a playthrough of Demon's Souls before it was even localized and well before I got it in my own hands. Can't say for sure how I would have played it going in blind but I think the playthrough taught me the pace you should explore these games. Slow and steady, always check your corners, etc. As for combat, at least with the early games you can just do

hold shield up->enemy attack bounces off->you counter attack->repeat

and win 90% of most fights. Not the most fun way to play but it gets results.

 

[CJCW?]

80% persistence, 20% wiki. A little help from the internet was needed, but really the will to keep trying was the most important part.

 

[MeltedDreams]

Playing as pyromancer in Dark Souls - this was the easy mode and how i got into these games. It didn't took long until brilliant atmosphere sucked me in.
Since then i'm always starting as deprived with minimal upgrading. Really no shame in making cheesy build or looking at guide for your first Souls experience.

btw before DS i was trying blindly Demon's and noped. I did come back to it ages later lol.

 

[Rendering...]

It hit me when I watched a streamer play Bloodborne; And not just any streamer, but someone who is a big Souls fan and is very good at those games.

I copied what they did, and it all started to click.

Click to shrink...

This is probably the best advice.

 

[FondsNL]

Couldn't get into Dark Souls in the day...
Loved the atmosphere of Bloodborne and stuck with it... the faster combat also resonated a bit more with me.
After that I went back and played all of them.

 

[Gangster Gastino]

Dark Souls 1: pour all your points into strength, vitality and endurance. Get the zweihander/great sword. Two-hand the weapon. Smash everything in your way.

 

[Timelord19]

My first playtrought in Dark souls was a nightmare because I was BAD, until it clicked for me. I know it's the meme but if you play you finally "git gud".

The thing that is more hard to lear is to control the greed of "I can hit the enemy one more time"

 

[Fatmanp]

Honestly? Jason Schreier got me into Bloodborne listening to Split screen.

 

[Deleted member 5028]

Using Wiki's and playing a build that was cheap as fuck.
I don't think I would be where I am now with Souls Games if not for the Royal in Demon's Souls.

I'd probably recommend playing DS1 on PC (Non-remastered is fine) and either go for a pyromancer.
Also go for the drake sword, a lot of people will tell you otherwise. But it does help for a good bit and won't need any upgrades right away (There will be other weapons stronger than it). It's a good "easy" mode to get the feel of things in the first part of the game.

Click to shrink...

This is exactly what I did back in 2011 and it did the trick for me!