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[keraj37]

How do you cope with frustration and tedious repetition?
How do you find time to grind and farm in these games?
Why do you like it?

Okay these are 3 questions, but somehow linked together.

Context:

As you can see, I played like 7h Demon's Souls and uninstalled it afterwards.
It was my first and last From game.
The few first hours were fun, I admit, but after I realize that to level up any skill I need to grind for 1h, and I would still be nothing and considered low level shmuck, I said I quit. Where is the fun in it?
And, oh, I played as Royal, considered the easiest class to start in this game, I don't want to know how I end up being knight or whatever of that sort.

 

[existensmaximum]

I actually like grinding, it's almost like meditation to me. Also I like the feeling of working towards a goal, and in the Souls games the reward is sooo satisfying. So it's just worth it.

However I don't feel like these games are supposed to be about grinding all the time, I only do it sometimes for very specific purposes.

 

[TintoConCasera]

How do you cope with frustration and tedious repetition?

I don't, I don't get frustrated just for dying a few times on a videogame. When that happens, just try and think what you did wrong and come back with a new strategy. Just like IRL.

And no, I don't think those games are tediously repetitive. If you die that much, you can always go to a different area and try your luck there.

How do you find time to grind and farm in these games?

I don't do that. Those games are about player skill, not numbers.

Why do you like it?

It's fun. I love games with sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, nice sense of exploration and cool enemy designs. Souls games have all those things.

 

[NeverYouMind]

I love finding treasure and testing out differences in all the new equipment. I also like the puzzle like challenges in their levels. I don't much care for losing your experience/currency when you inevitably get caught by an unexpected variation in challenge. To me it is not about grinding, but about adventure.

 

[SlimySnake]

How do you cope with frustration and tedious repetition?

I have stopped playing these games.

How do you find time to grind and farm in these games?

I no longer have the time or energy to grind and farm.

Why do you like it?

I no longer like it.


Demon Souls remake was brutal coming off of sekiro. I thought i had beaten the souls formula but nope, i had to relearn everything because of the lack of shortcuts, but eventually on the second or third try the game clicked with me when i realized that the bosses were easy and the levels were the real challenge. Still, it might have been the last straw for me because i didnt last long in elden ring.

 

[Coconutt]

Grinding? I just call it getting good.

 

[Banjo64]

It’s not tedious repetition unless you’re doing it wrong.

You face a boss and try to learn its attack patterns and weaknesses until you know all of the tells and can smash it to pieces.

Again, no grinding or farming required. I just Google ‘good early armour/weapon’ in X game for whatever build I want. You can usually rock something good even at low levels.

 

[Missingnomer]

These games aren't really "grindy" for me. The meme of "git gud" is frustrating, but true. You can watch YouTube videos of people killing the hardest bosses in any souls game at level 1, naked, and not rolling. It's actually amazing how you can beat these games with pure skill. Grinding is only for people who don't want to learn the move sets and reactions for enemies/bosses. If you don't want to learn the fights, then you have to over-level. I think if you have to over-level, the games get tedious.

 

[nkarafo]

I don't really grind in these games. Leveling up doesn't make that much of a difference, just the needed stats that allow you to use something.

Being level 120 or lvl 170 is about a single hit difference (both in defense and offense) most of the time. It helps but you will never become the kind of god you do in other games when you are over leveled.

Other than that, i love the small steps you do every time you overcome an obstacle.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Do something else rather than throwing yourself at the boss over and over, there's always other things to do in From games, do more prep work, or just put the game down for a while. I've often found just sleeping on a boss fight after trying a few times can help as you come back fresher and with the timings more memorized.

Bloodborne was my first and I just found it was compelling enough to give me a new level of stick-to-it in a game and made me a better gamer. There's some games that just have bullshit unfair mechanics in a boss fight, but usually From games are hard but fair, you die knowing what mistake you made to die, and that I can tolerate more than a poor stage design or bullet sponge boss with unstaggerable/unblockable grabs or something.

 

[LazyParrot]

Unless you want to use a certain item, you shouldn't have to grind at all. Either get better at the mechanics so you don't die as often, or look up a cheap build or strat that trivializes the parts of the game you're having problems with. There's always plenty of those in these games.

 

[Holammer]

I enjoy souls like because I'm a madman and I enjoy the challenge and grind.
If you want to play a good game that respects the player and is enjoyable, try Breath of the Wild or something else instead.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

How do you cope with frustration and tedious repetition?
How do you find time to grind and farm in these games?
Why do you like it?

Okay these are 3 questions, but somehow linked together.

Context:

As you can see, I played like 7h Demon's Souls and uninstalled it afterwards.
It was my first and last From game.
The few first hours were fun, I admit, but after I realize that to level up any skill I need to grind for 1h, and I would still be nothing and considered low level shmuck, I said I quit. Where is the fun in it?
And, oh, I played as Royal, considered the easiest class to start in this game, I don't want to know how I end up being knight or whatever of that sort.

I have the power of perseverance in life... So if I set my mind to things...

I do them and finish them. I'm not one of those who give up.

If I finish Gollum... I can finish anything.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I don't grind, not ever felt i had to.

 

[Robb]

It’s more about the combat and learning enemy patterns, rather than specifically grinding to level up, from what I’ve gathered. Kind of similar to Monster Hunter in that regard.

I personally don’t enjoy that kind of gameplay/combat myself though.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

The joy of exploration and desire to finish what I started was enough when I was younger. Then I spent years playing the other games in the hope to recapture the feelings I got in Demon's souls, and it sometimes happen again.

 

[Fredrik]

I’m no hardcore Souls player so I feel like I’m the king of the world when I finally clear a difficult area. Feels awesome!

When I started playing Elden Ring I went in thinking I wouidn’t even beat the first boss. And it took me 3 hours to beat Margit for the first time…. I screamed when he went down! So awesome

Upside, I learned all mechanics during that boss fight and later Godrick which was equally difficult. After that I could go through the whole game. Currently on my 5th playthrough. It’s my #2 best game of all time. Super Metroid is #1.

 

[Antwix]

-I don't think the game is very repetitive. Sure, you're casting the same spells or swinging the same sword throughout your playthrough but that can be said about almost every video game out there. In Zelda, you're doing the same attacks. Same with DMC, or Stellar Blade, or any action game out there.

-Grinding isn't really necessary. Farming isn't either unless you're looking for an RNG drop of armor/weapons from a specific enemy. Playing through the game normally typically grants you enough souls/runes to properly level up and stay within the level range of each area.

-I like the settings of the games but I really like the mechanics more. Unless you're fighting trash mobs, you need to usually think about your strategy and how you're picking and choosing when to attack. Reading movesets and reacting properly is critical. I like that it's not just a mindless button masher. The armor, spells, weapons, and lore are all super cool too.

 

[acm2000]

in my younger days i wouldve loved "souls likes" but fuck that shit now, im in my 40s and have limited game time, give me narrative driven solo games any day of the week.

 

[bender]

For grinding, I typical just put my summon sign in front of boss doors I find fun or am trying to learn. These days, I mostly play the games in co-op which means going through every area twice. that's probably ~30% more souls earned than playing solo, but it also helps you learn enemy behaviors and how to best tackle them. Combine those two things and I'm usually over-leveled. I say usually as the end game content in Elden Ring is a bit different than most Souls games.

 

[ToadMan]

Souls games can be finished with zero grinding - but of course that requires knowledge and practice of the game mechanics.

To me that's the genius of these games - they scale inherently to your improving knowledge and ability. There are naked and no death/hit play throughs out there. The grinding makes the game easier, but it's not required.

 

[GHG]

The most entertaining thing is seeing how butthurt some people get over these games.

 

[adamsapple]

The most entertaining thing is seeing how butthurt some people get over these games.

I know right, last time I felt like playing one of them, I just popped Lies of P on PC with cheats up the wazoo

 

[Little Chicken]

I think perhaps you've heard a lot about the games and taken too much on board. People will grind for a long time but only so they can create the top builds which require rare materials. In some instances you may feel like you need to run through levels in order to grind for souls to level up with, but this isn't necessary either.

Just play to progress like you would with any other game. Yes you might get stuck dying repeatedly to a certain boss or section of a level, but the more you play the more you learn right?

 

[Hudo]

Sounds like a skill issue.

 

[AV]

You don't really grind in Souls games, it's near worthless. It might get you a little further than before but you're not going to be able to beat the whole game just by increasing a few stats, it's an action game. You bash your head against bosses until you win.

Demon's Souls is an interesting one to start with because the bosses are the easiest part, except for one, maybe two.

Also people like to pretend that it doesn't "count" if you use anything other than a naked character with a big two hander. Ignore those people. The reason Souls games don't have a difficulty selector in the menu is because it's all baked into the game. Use a magic build, use a big shield, use NPC summons, use real player summons. Elden Ring has even more. They're literally all just game mechanics, not cheat codes. Then when you feel more confident you rely on those tools less and less until you're doing the aforementioned naked 2H runs.

 

[LectureMaster]

The exploration, the character progress, and the bosses are just so fun.

I wouldn't call it grind, in stead, it's great replayability.

 

[Bert Big Balls]

How do you cope with frustration and tedious repetition?
How do you find time to grind and farm in these games?
Why do you like it?

Okay these are 3 questions, but somehow linked together.

Context:

As you can see, I played like 7h Demon's Souls and uninstalled it afterwards.
It was my first and last From game.
The few first hours were fun, I admit, but after I realize that to level up any skill I need to grind for 1h, and I would still be nothing and considered low level shmuck, I said I quit. Where is the fun in it?
And, oh, I played as Royal, considered the easiest class to start in this game, I don't want to know how I end up being knight or whatever of that sort.

I suck at these games but I actually completed Demons souls by going sorcerer (basically easy mode). It's a fantastic game imo but I doubt I'd have completed it with a melee class.

 

[diffusionx]

Two things. One is that From games are "old school" in the actual old school way. Like go on YouTube and you can see just how short NES games are, when you know them. Like BattleToads is a 45 minute game. Silver Surfer is 30 minutes. The challenge is learning the enemy. When I go into a new boss, I will treat the first few (hundred) attempts as learning. Obviously this is not always fun and not for everyone, quite often I'm not in the mood for it.

The other, most of these games "stack", like obviously there are differences game-to-game but if you sweat through Demons Souls then pick up Dark Souls, a lot of the mechanics and skills transfer over. It's how you get people beating bosses in their underwear in the first week after release.

 

[Aion002]

I like everything from them, but the combat and challenge are my favorite things.

The frustration of being defeated fuels me to just get better and is actually fun for me, even when I know that some enemies are totally unfair, I really enjoy killing bullshit broken overpowered enemies.

About the grind and the farm... I don't do that, I just play the game and level up naturally. If I get stucked on a boss, I never decide to farm xp and level up, I just try my best until I can. Worst case scenario, I just go explore some other area, try a different build, invade or help someone, those are all activities that I really enjoy.

I think you started Demon's Souls with the wrong mentality.

Just explore the stages, level up as you explore, summon someone to help you, try different weapons and learn more about the combat.

Souls games are all about exploration and getting good at the combat, if those two things don't click with you... Just move on, they aren't for you.

 

[Rodolink]

i have finished all souls, sekiro, bloodborne and elden ring games, and am still "not gut" duck that crap. i love the games and everything but i considered twice before getting into armored core, and thrice before getting into the elden ring dlc.
but to be fair, you can play these games as easy or hard as you want.
if you want the hard mode, play solo and melee.
you want easy mode, summon online ppl and use OP spells etc...
but yeah gets very frustrating and tiresome, wish there were GameShark tricks to go through the story and fun exploration parts easily xD

 

[IAmRei]

How do you cope with frustration and tedious repetition?
How do you find time to grind and farm in these games?
Why do you like it?

Okay these are 3 questions, but somehow linked together.

Context:

As you can see, I played like 7h Demon's Souls and uninstalled it afterwards.
It was my first and last From game.
The few first hours were fun, I admit, but after I realize that to level up any skill I need to grind for 1h, and I would still be nothing and considered low level shmuck, I said I quit. Where is the fun in it?
And, oh, I played as Royal, considered the easiest class to start in this game, I don't want to know how I end up being knight or whatever of that sort.

The souls are games that makes you feel inferior yet it somehow you will still be able to overcome the difficulties if you somehow, gitgud by learning by doing. Its like megaman but in 3D, like contra but without gun and in 3D.

Overcoming hardship is the part of the fun. It might not the case for some. Some might hate it, but if you can overcome and having bittersweet victory from your difficultness, i think thats the fun they intended.

Demon soul in ps5 imo, lacking the proper souls gritty dan dark grim sense btw. Thus makes it a beautiful game, but too beautiful for the theme. In souls, usually there is twisted sense of beautiful in grim dark way. And this make souls, a proper dark fantasy without too much explain via story. They dont need proper story telling.

They left lot of stories, from the grim dark cryptic, and somehow from difficulties you wrote yourselves.
And thats how dark souls, elden, sekiro, or mostly souls like feels like proper dark fantasy games...

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

 

[AlphaDump]

Getting gud is typically synonymous with, I looked online like everyone else for farming souls spots and overleveled the fuck out my character to continously inch towards the finish line.

Also adderall.

 

[Solidus_T]

You absolutely do not need to grind in these games, and in most cases it is counterproductive. Just progress through the game and you will get enough souls to get what you want, as well as access to more items, treasure, abilities etc that you would be missing out on if you just sat in one low level area to grind out levels.

 

[DonF]

Thing is that you dont need to grind. There are level 1 runs on youtube. You just need to get good. I love the sense of discovery on FROM games. Elden ring is by far the best in that aspect. What I dont like its the lack of direction old FROM games had (Elden ring is way better in this aspect)

I actually dropped demons souls because I had some very busy 6 months and I dont remember where I was in that game, so I will have to get a new run from the beggining.

The cryptic story and gameplay progession I could do without. But gameplay wise, you have to be very careful and thorough in every step. You have to actually learn the moveset of most enemies and take advantage of every item and weapon.

 

[Paltheos]

How do you cope with frustration and tedious repetition?
How do you find time to grind and farm in these games?
Why do you like it?

Replaying the levels, if I die, is an exercise in optimization and also gives me the opportunity to look out for alternate paths I might have missed the first time and gives me some time to think about the fight I lost. Some of the earlier games do however have 'fog door runs' that are too long. The Four Kings run in Dark Souls 1 is infamous for how stupid-long it is, even with unintended shortcuts, for example.

Some people have said grinding isn't necessary or even fruitful. This isn't entirely accurate. It's not as effective and often grinding will just give you an extra edge. Generally you do need to learn the fights.

I like them because they're 'challenging but fair', or at least they were challenging and fair. I think From's gone too far in the difficult direction without considering fairness without also cheesing, which is a real letdown for me. In From's better games, all sources of damage can be blocked or avoided and counter opportunities are available without asking an unreasonable amount from the player. You might have just not developed a sufficient baseline skillset - That's definitely something that's learned playing these games. Or maybe it's not for you. Demon's Souls is a fair game though.

 

[Arachnid]

I don't really get frustrated if I lose. It's just a learning experience. I've literally never had to grind in a From game.

It doesn't feel repetitive due to varied biomes, enemies, builds, and boss designs/patterns.

I like them because they're GOAT tier games with love put into them.

 

[Randall365]

I guess for me it is the fact that you are not grinding in the conventional sense - you are learning the mechanics, enemy patterns/attacks etc. It is therefore not just a case of doing the same thing but with a ton or armour and higher attack - you actually improve the way you play.

By the time you come to a boss, you are playing at a high level and then when you overcome them it is a real sense of achievement.

 

[Boss Mog]

The questions I wanna ask are:

1) How do you enjoy the slow, clunky combat?
2) How do you put up with the poor performance/poor frame-pacing these games almost always seem to have?

 

[Aenima]

The fun is in the learning process and overcoming the challenges. If the game reach the point of frustation, its either a bad design choice or a player skill issue, or just the player not playing the game as intended.

If you felt the need to grind in Demon Souls, then it was a player issue and not a game issue as thers absolutely zero need to grind in Demon Souls. But as your 1st Souls game, thers a whole learning process you need to go through as these games dont play like any normal action RPGs. Watching some tips on the internet will help you understand the game mechanics as alot of things are not explained in the game.

 

[Arsic]

I don’t recall grinding in any of these games.

You aren’t meant to fight every monster from campfire to campfire. A lot of areas often become something I call “dead man runs.” Where I need to blast through the area running and hope I don’t die.

The majority of my level ups in souls games come from the bosses and the souls they drop to spend.

It’s also important to spend a solid amount in health, stamina, and focus on one primary stat like STR or DEX.

Don’t be too heavy in gear so you can roll. Fat roll is generally death in these games.

I think that’s it for general tips. Don’t be afraid to summon players to help or npcs if you want a more casual time. Also magic builds tend to start off hard but then make the whole game piss easy. So try magic if you just want to enjoy the spectacle of it all and not the challenge.

 

[tommib]

How do you cope with frustration and tedious repetition?
How do you find time to grind and farm in these games?
Why do you like it?

Okay these are 3 questions, but somehow linked together.

Context:

As you can see, I played like 7h Demon's Souls and uninstalled it afterwards.
It was my first and last From game.
The few first hours were fun, I admit, but after I realize that to level up any skill I need to grind for 1h, and I would still be nothing and considered low level shmuck, I said I quit. Where is the fun in it?
And, oh, I played as Royal, considered the easiest class to start in this game, I don't want to know how I end up being knight or whatever of that sort.

You either like the games or not. If you like them, you’ll do everything in their honour.

 

[Fbh]

One thing I like is that your skill as a player is sort of more important than your stats. I find most bosses fun because it's about learning their patterns and how to counter them, more than just grinding for levels until your numbers are bigger than theirs, which is how a lot of RPGs do things.

In part because of that, I've never felt like I really had to grind or farm in these games. Like maybe a couple of times for one of the rarer upgrade materials, or when you are just 1 stat point short from being able to equip a new weapon. But the last time I went out of my way to spend more than 10 minutes to farm souls was probably my first playthrough of Dark Souls 1 on Ps3.

Also if you want an easier time the games basically have an easy mode built in, it's called summoning other players

 

[Portugeezer]

I explore everywhere and play them very slow and methodically, which minimises deaths and maximises my available XP.

End up with a solid build.

 

[VideoGameEnjoyer]

Grinding has lost all meaning when you seem to be using it in the context of like grinding in an MMO?

'Grinding' in Souls games is called getting better, learning environments, finding out what works and what doesn't in different situations, etc. If you don't like that, fine. But I don't think your are describing your issues very well.

 

[KeepThemEyesOpen]

You don't have to grind to level up, that is an option but it's also not necessary. I find grinding boring, just learn from your mistakes, pick up your dropped souls and try again. This is how I have been playing since the beginning and I feel like this how it was made to be played.

 

[tommib]

I explore everywhere and play them very slow and methodically, which minimises deaths and maximises my available XP.

End up with a solid build.

Demon’s Souls clicked back in the day when I realised I had to stop at every new area and study what was going on and be ultra careful. I’ll never forget being in a tunnel and my sword hitting a wall and not hitting the enemy and dying because of it.

Thread carefully and think about what you’re doing. Be ultra defensive before being cocky enough to just attack everything. Raise your shield at all times. Eventually you’ll be two-handling a sword for the entirety of NG+.

 

[AJUMP23]

Some of you never grew up playing OG Final Fantasy and it shows. An hour grinding is not a big deal.

I find in many FROM games there is always something fun to explore, and if you are good enough you don't have to grind. You just have to learn how to fight. And there are lots of different styles to fight. I personally love to turtle and hit hard.

 

[cireza]

but after I realize that to level up any skill I need to grind for 1h

You don't have to grind in Demon's Souls.

Honestly, the first Demon's Souls is pretty easy. The game is about figuring out where to go and how to progress. Grinding is never required. If you fail somewhere, simply go elsewhere and return later.