Dark Souls easier than Demon's Souls?

[KiloFox]

so i'm playing the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls after beating it about 2 or 3 years ago, and i'm not terribly far, i just beat the undead Burg area and all. but so far, it is quite noticeably easier than its predecessor... it took me months to get past teh first area, and at least several days to beat Phalanx (the first real boss in Demon's Souls) but i've only been playing ehre for a couple of hours and have 2 demons under my belt already. sure it has its hard points, but that's only because i'm CLEARLY not leveled for that area, not for lac of skill, just being simply overpowered by the enemy.

who knows, maybe i'll come across something that reminds me of Demon's Souls, but so far, Dark Souls is actually quite a bit easier...

 

[King Billi]

It seems to me that whichever game people played first is the one they consider harder.

I guess because they're both so similar in design and mechanics that after playing either one you bypass alot of the difficulty from the second that comes just from learning how to play it... Do you reckon?

 

[Mr_Terrific]

I still can't beat the second boss in Dark Souls solo. As soon as I enter through the gateway, I'm either murdered by the demon or raped by the hounds.

Yeah, the ManEaters were a ***** but the whole of Dark Souls feels like the ManEater fight...to me at least.

 

[shrekfan246]

Yeah, I think that Dark Souls is easier than Demon's Souls.

Blighttown is the first place that really makes most people rage, from what I've seen, and even then there's a back entrance that severely cuts down the amount of time you need to spend in there.

Demon's Souls really front-loads all of the difficulty, which it kind of has to by virtue of the open hub that lets you go to any of the locations from the very beginning. Dark Souls has a far more open world, but at the same time it's a lot more structured. The Catacombs are clearly not meant to be the first thing new players are attempting to tackle when they start the game. The further you get, though, the more difficult things start becoming. And if you get the DLC for Dark Souls, well... it doesn't pull any punches, that's for sure.

 

[Sack of Cheese]

It seems to me that whichever game people played first is the one they consider harder.

I guess because they're both so similar in design and mechanics that after playing either one you bypass alot of the difficulty from the second that comes just from learning how to play it... Do you reckon?

I agree. I played Demon's souls after Dark souls and I thought it was easier.
One of my friends also did this and he thought so too.

I only had some troubles with King Allant and Flamelurker fights, the other bosses were pretty easy.

 

[redknightalex]

It seems to me that whichever game people played first is the one they consider harder.

I guess because they're both so similar in design and mechanics that after playing either one you bypass alot of the difficulty from the second that comes just from learning how to play it... Do you reckon?

This will probably be the reasoning behind every answer, even if it isn't fully realized. I have both games, only started (never finished) the first as it was too challenging and, apparently, playing a character that can't role in combat is how you get killed. What happened to role-playing? Argh.

Dark Souls, from all that I'm heard, is a bit easier than its spiritual predecessor. But, that's what I've heard.

 

[krazykidd]

It seems to me that whichever game people played first is the one they consider harder.

I guess because they're both so similar in design and mechanics that after playing either one you bypass alot of the difficulty from the second that comes just from learning how to play it... Do you reckon?

This . The first one you played was harder . Why? Because after playing on of the two you know what to expect . Rather than going in completly blind .

 

[Twilight_guy]

Oh my gosh. This has to become a thing. I want to see threads about this. It's the kind of community eating itself over an issue and destroying its own existence over its own stupid issue that I want to see. Oh so delicious!

Both are based around similar gameplay aspects. As with any skill, as you get experience with it, you get better at it. Experience playing one game caries over to the other. Similar to how playing Pacman makes you better at Mrs. Pacman despite them being different games.

 

[The_Echo]

I don't think that either Dark Souls or Demon's Souls is the harder one. Dark Souls improved upon the learning curve of Demon's, so you kind of know what you're doing more quickly.

However, Demon's Souls was more about the environment and traps. Boulders, arrow traps, hidden enemies, the whole shebang. The only area this really applies in Dark Souls is Sen's Fortress. Other than that, it's about fighting through the enemy, not the world.

I think both games are equally difficult, just in different ways.

 

[ClockworkUniverse]

In general, I'd say that Dark Souls is the easier game in normal play, but Demon's Souls is more exploitable.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I don't think that either Dark Souls or Demon's Souls is the harder one. Dark Souls improved upon the learning curve of Demon's, so you kind of know what you're doing more quickly.

However, Demon's Souls was more about the environment and traps. Boulders, arrow traps, hidden enemies, the whole shebang. The only area this really applies in Dark Souls is Sen's Fortress. Other than that, it's about fighting through the enemy, not the world.

I think both games are equally difficult, just in different ways.

I agree with this. That Demon's Souls was more about the environment and traps, which is what made me enjoy Demon's Souls more than Dark Souls(don't get me wrong, I absolutely love both games), but my biggest disappointment with Dark Souls was that the enemies were a vastly bigger threat. In Demon's Souls, there were several more areas throughout the game that I had to be much more cautious of the environment I was in, compared to Dark Souls.

But as people have been agreeing with, the one you play first will most likely be the one you find harder. They're both fundamentally the same at the core of their mechanics and whichever you play first will ready you for whatever's to come in the other game.

And even now, having beaten both games(I've Platinum'd Demon's Souls, I've only got the Miracle Trophy to go for Dark Souls), I still find Demon's Souls to be a more difficult game. In Dark Souls, you're conditioned to fight multiple enemies all the freaking time. You almost never fight just one enemy; there's always another one nearby or coming at you. So as I go through Dark Souls, I see hordes coming at once(I'm looking at you, Undead Church) and I shrug it off, kicking their ass like a maniac, chanting Fuck yeah! when I'm finished killing them all. As compared to Demon's Souls, fighting a multitude of enemies at one time isn't quite so commonplace. So when I'm playing Demon's Souls and I get ganged on I'm like, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!

To sum it up: That could be just me, but the enemies of Demon's Souls are infinitely more threatening than the enemies of Dark Souls. To the point that fighting multiple enemies as a significantly more dangerous situation in Demon's Souls, than it is in Dark Souls.

TL;DR: Dark Souls is definitely easier than Demon's Souls.

 

[BreakfastMan]

You know, it could just be that since you beat the first game, you are much better and actually have a handle on what you are doing and how to approach it, therefore making it much easier... Just a thought...

Anyway, my thoughts on it? Dark Souls isn't easier than Demon's; it is less punishing. Think about it: no more world tendency system, no more carry weight limit, no more having your max health halved while in undead mode, no more having too beat a boss to get to the next checkpoint, checkpoints and bosses much closer together... Dark Souls is monumentally more forgiving than Demon's.

 

[IFS]

It seems to me that whichever game people played first is the one they consider harder.

I guess because they're both so similar in design and mechanics that after playing either one you bypass alot of the difficulty from the second that comes just from learning how to play it... Do you reckon?

This, pretty much this.

I just recently started playing Demon's Souls having first played Dark Souls, and I'm finding it much easier than its successor so far. I think it is mostly that having gone through one you've learned it well enough that the other comes easier.

 

[Zetona]

Maybe Demon's Souls was harder, but it was less consistent. I don't have time for a long answer here, but many more bosses Demon's Souls were ridiculously tough (Garl Vinland, King Dorian or whatever his name was, the False King) with massive health-draining attacks, but could be beaten with practically no risk (liberal use of Poison Cloud, or in the case of Leechmonger, spamming fire arrows from the ledge where you first enter the arena). The game had some fairly straightforward areas and some incredibly cheap and frustrating ones (World 5-2 anyone?). I feel like Dark Souls is a bit more consistent. It's harder to beat the bosses with cheap tactics and in turn the bosses are less able to kill you cheaply (Ceaseless Discharge being the major exception to both cases).

 

[ShinyCharizard]

I found that most of the bosses in Demon's Souls were easier (except for the Flamelurker). But progressing through the world was harder and most of the normal enemies were more difficult in Demon's Souls (The red eye knights and black skeletons were ridiculously difficult).

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I like Dark much more than Demon's, but I'm not really sure about difficulty.

The only reason I died so much in Demon's was because I didn't know what to expect.


Although, Demon's did have swamp fetus monsters. while Dark had catacomb baby skeletons...



Valley of Defilement was the true test of that game...

 

[sXeth]

Yeah, I'd go with "You probably think its easier because you already know how to play it. Similar to how all FPSes these days seem easy to the long-term gamer audience, because at this point, most of them grew up on Doom/Quake/etc

 

[Pebkio]

I'mma say that Demon's Souls was probably harder than Dark Souls. But only in the over-all sense... because four kings in NG+ can go straight to the icy pit of hell. But I think, in general, as a first ip thing, the controls in Demon's Souls were a bit more awkward and item use was badly designed. Everything else seemed on par with each other though.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Opinion:
Demon's Souls is more based on preparation of your character (weight limit for inventory items, no consistent healing item, warping from nexus)

Dark Souls is more based on what your character needs at the exact moment and how your character will evolve (blacksmith locations are gradual, no weight limit for inventory items, get warp at the half-way point, checkpoints instead of nexus)

On the bosses, it's much to my surprise that the bosses in Dark Souls require more strategy. The only bosses I had serious trouble with were the Maneaters and False King Allant, however, I may have to revise the statement because I had help from Biorr for Penetrator.

Otherwise:
Phalanx is a battle of patience.
Tower Knight, Flamelurker, Fool's Idol, Adjudicator, and Old Hero are just a matter of being defensive.
Armored Spider, Leechmonger, and Dirty Colossus are easily rushed.
Dragon God isn't really a boss as much as it is "hit three things to win and be sure not to die."
Old Monk is only hard depending the PvP.
Storm King is just a matter of figuring out an item description.
Allant and Astraea are plot boss fights

I still like the bosses though.


As for what others have said:

I don't think that either Dark Souls or Demon's Souls is the harder one. Dark Souls improved upon the learning curve of Demon's, so you kind of know what you're doing more quickly.

However, Demon's Souls was more about the environment and traps. Boulders, arrow traps, hidden enemies, the whole shebang. The only area this really applies in Dark Souls is Sen's Fortress. Other than that, it's about fighting through the enemy, not the world.

I think both games are equally difficult, just in different ways.

This response is the one I agree with the most.

But this guy:

Demon's Souls is more exploitable.

Has an excellent point. It is much easier to break Demon's Souls than Dark Souls. Without working too hard, you can at max out three sets of healing items (that are cheap) by utilizing the re-spawning enemies that give many souls.

I believe when making Dark Souls it was a conscious decision to make it so large soul giving enemies were rarer or did not respawn. Also many enemies in Demon's Souls had 100% item drops, the only enemies in Dark Souls that have 100% drops are in the final area of the game.

Dark Souls's practical healing item (the one you use in combat most often) is limited up to 20 uses, theoretically you can get 99 humanity with enough grinding (DLC made it possible to get twin humanity now, so that's a total of 198+20 healing items).

Exius Xavarus also has a excellent though, Demon's Souls forces you to be much more strategical concerning the enemies. You can take 3 armored Knights easily in Dark Souls, in Demon's Souls you best be prepared if you do the same thing.

 

[Korten12]

I like Dark much more than Demon's, but I'm not really sure about difficulty.

The only reason I died so much in Demon's was because I didn't know what to expect.


Although, Demon's did have swamp fetus monsters. while Dark had catacomb baby skeletons...



Valley of Defilement was the true test of that game...

Still one of the best songs in the series. Also one of the saddest bosses next to Sif (Post-DLC) and Artorias.