1. I played through Bloodborne and found it challenging but not really all that difficult except for a few fuck you areas and bosses. Are the Dark Souls games comparative in that regard? I'm up for somewhat of a challenge but if this series is just an asshole I'd like to know what I'm in for. How much of the difficulty can be subverted by grinding? I don't really have a problem with that if I enjoy the gameplay.

2. Is an included BC Dark Souls 1 enough of an incentive to pick the Xbox One version of DS3 over the PS4? I have a 7 year old PC so that's not currently an option. Do I even need to play through DS1 if I watched the entirety of Load Our Last Souls?

3. How similar is the gameplay to Bloodborne? Can I spec in a way to focus on dodging over blocking? Is it as fast? Should I spec towards magic if I'm not a big fan of blocking? what skill is that?

4. How cryptic is it? I only really remember having to use a guide a couple times in Bloodborne when I couldn't figure out where to go / what to do.

5. What's different in the current gen versions of Dark Souls 2? I know they're remixed/rebalanced in some way but I have no idea what they are. How essential is that game anyway? I hear a lot of people bagging on it.

6. Is playing multiple Souls games at the same time viable or the most confusing thing in the world? We've got a few weeks so I could conceivably still be working on DS1 when DS3 comes out.

7. How is your day going? You good?

1. People generally find the games to get easier, that's mainly because they are already used to the type of game they are I'd assume. I'd think if you found BB easy you shouldn't find any Souls games that difficulty except for maybe a few spot. Grinding won't do anything if you're just bad as you'll still need to dodge/block, but it will let you hit stronger. Figure out the build you want and go for it. I always go in blind so I generally go with a typical str/end/vit build and go in tanking stuff while still being able to fast roll.

2. The part they start playing in Dark Souls in LoLS is only about 20% of the game so I'd say it's worth it still! In regards to the X1 thing, I'm a tad irrational in my thinking that playstation is the only place/way to play the Souls games and am a bit soured about the Xbox/PC (and I irrationally blame them for any modding that happened to pop up in the Ps3 version/s) soo go for whatever's most comfortable to you? Sounds like a good deal though.

3. They're slower than Bloodborne by quite a bit, I'd think. If you make a light dex build it'll play similarly since you'd probably be rolling/twohanding/dual weilding a lot.

4. In regards to where to go, you shouldn't have any problems. Story-wise, Bloodborne was the most upfront of them all imo.

5. imo, DaS2 is the worst of them all. It just has so many issues but it has some cool things. The difference is mainly the enemies were moved around, more players in a game (4 to 6 I think?), has the DLC packaged in and I believe it's also more difficult. I've never played the current gen one (I'll get to it sometime when I can bring myself to rebuy a game I already own/100%'d) but I'd say start w/ the older one simply because it's always felt/seemed like the current gen one was for people that've beaten it already.

6. It could get confused as they have some mechanical changes in between (circle to slide down ladders in DaS1, just lets go in DaS2 (hello very first death...) and I know DaS3 will be closer to Bloodborne in speed which could really mess you up.

7. Goin' good. Playing some Division currently while watching Load Our Last Souls actually, wondering if my copy of DoAX3 will actually be here monday as the tracker is estimating or not.

1. Probably similar to Bloodborne in this regard. Souls games have this reputation of being uber-difficult, but it's really more about paying attention. One of the series' favorite tricks is to let you play through an area/enemy type to the point where you start to feel confident. That's when your attention starts to wander and you get fucked.

2. Depends on what you want. The original DS is probably my favorite Souls game, so if you haven't played it, it might be worth picking up, particularly if they've improved performance or graphics any. That said, I probably don't know enough about the various versions to give a good answer. You can probably get most of the plot stuff by watching streams or reading through a wiki, if that's what you're worried about.

3. I found that they were superficially similar, but very different experiences. I'd say Dark Souls tends to be slower and deliberate in the combat pacing. Souls is more about "picking your moment" and less about "getting in there" and being fast. For example, there's no "rally" mechanic like there was in Bloodborne - once you lose health, it's gone until you use an Estus. That said, it's totally possible to make a light-armor fast rolling character type.

For some people, the fast pace was a plus of Bloodborne. For me, I missed the build variety of Dark Souls. Kinda a taste thing.

As far as magic goes, you have to pick either Miracles, Sorcery, or Pyromancy, all of which use different stats for scaling. Look at a wiki for that stuff as it's a bit much to go into here.

4. In terms of "cryptic," it depends on what you mean. The plot can be kinda convoluted, even more so with the loose continuity that's gotten built up around the series. In terms of actual gameplay, it's sorta 50-50 I guess? There isn't anything particularly confusing about the path for mainlining the games and you probably don't need a guide for that. The secrets and covenant based stuff can get a bit harder to suss out, but the sense of shared discovery is why a community has also built up around these games.

5. Mostly enemy placement and graphics/performance. Plus the current gen versions all come with the SotFS content included. I wouldn't call the game "essential." Personally, it's my least favorite Souls game. While it improved a lot of the gameplay mechanics it wasn't really memorable in any way beyond that. It also appear to kinda be the black sheep plot wise. DS1 and what I've seen of DS3 imply a pretty strong continuity in terms of setting and some characters. DS2 was just kinda out there in a lot of respects.

6. I've never tried that, so I couldn't really say. If I were to do it, I'd probably play through them in order, but then you'd likely miss out on the shared community freak out when DS3 comes out.

1: Dark Souls games aren't that hard. They can be punishing, but not that hard. There is a...legend around those games that people happily buy into and propagate. For instance, around this Salt and Sanctuary game I've heard some of the GB crew talking about how obtuse or hard to understand some item descriptions are in the Souls games. Apart from the alternate use of things like the Darkmoon Seance Ring or Lloyds Talisman, or the purpose of the Peculiar Doll, things are clearly laid out in those descriptions. People like the idea of Dark Souls being this harrowing gauntlet of nightmares and mysteries, but here's thing thing: it isn't.

2: Load Our Last Souls starts about halfway through the game. I'd recommend playing through the entirety of it, but if what you saw in the videos is enough for you, then don't worry about it.

3: DS 1 and 2 are slower, in regards to combat. You can focus on dodging over blocking, and in fact, I would recommend doing so. Fast roll is the way to go. Pyromancy is entirely based on how much you've leveled up your Pyromancy Hand. Miracles are based on Faith, and Sorceries are based on Intelligence.

4: How cryptic is it? Refer to 1. There are a few stumbling blocks, but the critical path through the game is easy enough to follow.

5: Dark Souls 2 is a bit of a mess, but I think it's entirely worth playing through (the SotFS edition, mind you). DS2 has three big differences with the its predecessor. The first being the durability of your weapons. You'll need multiple weapons, so get used to switching to whatever your alternate is when your primary is at risk of breaking (durability is restored upon reaching a bonfire, unless it's broken. Go to a blacksmith if that's the case). The second is the Humanity system. When you die, a chunk of your maximum life is temporarily removed until you have either used a Human Effigy or have successfully helped another player beat a boss. There may be other ways, but those are the two I know work. The last major difference is that you are basically always capable of being invaded. You can burn a human effigy to reduce this, but from time to time you'll have to deal with PvP, whereas in DS you can opt out entirely by never becoming human. This may not bother you, though. I hate it, but still stuck it out, and think it's worth other people doing the same. Hopefully that says something.

Dark Souls 2 is all over the place, but my favorite Souls content is in that game. In terms of quality, that game runs the whole gambit. There is some god-awful, rank bullshit in that game, there are some outstanding masterpieces, and everything inbetween. The Crown of the Old Iron King DLC in particular is the best thing in the entire franchise.

6: I think the main issue would probably be character movement.

7: Thanks for asking! I'm doing well.

@shoey920:

I'll try to address all your concerns in a numbered format!

1. You can subvert all of the difficulty by grinding. If you overlevel yourself bosses and enemies will be a total joke. I personally don't find this fun but if you prefer to do this you can absolutely do it. The combat is a different style than Bloodborne, but some things will be familiar to you. The controls are very similar, but the combat is much slower paced and incentivizes first time players to choose a more defensive than offensive build. There are a few areas that suck (The much maligned Blighttown) and a few areas that are hard but in a very fun way (Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo). Where Bloodborne rewards fast reflexes and crowd control ability, Dark Souls rewards patience and situational awareness.

2. No idea on this one - Dark Souls 1 is cheap as hell these days and I don't have any inkling of if the PS4 or Xbox One versions will be better. However, I watched Load Our Last Souls prior to playing Dark Souls, and it inspired me to try the series. It's now my favorite game series. Do with that knowledge what you will, but I think playing a Souls game and watching a Souls game are very different things.

3. You do not need to spec for blocking. If you have the stats to use a particular shield, you can and you'll block just fine. The most important thing about blocking in Dark Souls is ensuring your shield has 100% physical block reduction, which ensures you won't take partial damage from a blocked hit. You are welcome to create a build which focuses on dodging. All you'd need to do is wear light armor so that you can roll quickly. It's extremely viable but more difficult in some ways than a blocking character. Some fights will be easier, some will be harder. The combat is much slower and dodging is slower than in Bloodborne, but your enemies are also slower. It's easier to outsmart enemies in Dark Souls than Bloodborne. Magic abilities won't replace your need to dodge or roll, but you will be able to focus more on kiting enemies. Miracles require faith and attunement, magic requires intelligence and attunement, and pyromancy requires only attunement and reinforcing the pyromancy flame item with a vendor. Hexes require both intelligence and faith, plus attunement. You won't encounter them until later in the game.

4. Dark Souls is more cryptic than Bloodborne, full stop. There are more hidden areas and items, the way items work are more confusing, and the mechanics are more obscured. You can handle it if you beat Bloodborne, and there are a very few secrets that may "require" a guide. Player notes should be more than enough with some patience. You can do it. (Edit: I should mention, the critical path through the game is very simple to follow and should give you no trouble at all.)

5. Dark Souls 2 is a great game. Some feel Dark Souls is better, I personally think it's a better starting point. The HD versions of Dark Souls 2 rebalance the start of the game to be much more difficult and include the DLC, plus better textures and 60 fps gameplay. Again, you can handle it.

6. Depends on the person. The skills translate from game to game. The only game that's extremely different from Dark Souls 1 & 2 and Bloodborne is Demon's Souls. It's also very good. Dark Souls 3 seems very similar to Dark Souls from what I've seen.

7. Great, thanks for asking! Hope yours is good too.

Performance on Xbox One is currently pretty similar to bloodborne. It's mostly 30 but there are some areas and particular enemy types that cause it to chug a little bit. When the proper English release date rolls around there's gonna be a day one patch but I don't really expect the performance to change that much. Maybe though!

Thanks guys, I think I feel comfortable enough to preorder now. I'll probably go XBO just so I have the first game but I'll likely hold off on playing it until after I beat Dark Souls III. I suspect by the tone of your answers that playing both at the same time, especially for the first time... isn't exactly ideal.

Quantum Break is out the week before so I won't have a shortage of things to play.

One more question: are there optional areas/bosses like in Bloodborne? (in general I realize most of you aren't playing DS3 yet)

Yep! Lots of optional and hidden stuff.

@asilentprotagonist: I once played through Saints Row IV on an Xbox 360 so I'm pretty used to a bad framerate at this point. I can deal with hitchiness here and there as someone who plays a lot of console games.

1. You can count on the Souls games to have one or two "Fuck You" areas and probably as many bosses. Souls games offer a wider variety of offensive and defensive strategies, so generally if you hit a road block you can experiment and find a way through it. In my experience, overcoming specific humps in Bloodborne required me to beat my head against the obstacle until I got simply got it right.

2. Having the original is an awesome, awesome incentive. Watching Dark Souls and playing Dark Souls are two vastly different experiences, and the original is simply one of the greatest games of the last generation. That said, it's worth making sure you go in with some realistic expectations about the game: The Xbox 360 version of Dark Souls, while totally playable, can really suffer from framerate dips. This problem is only consistent in one area, but it can pop up randomly during bouts of action, and since the game's mechanics are so anchored to precision and timing, having framerate hiccups can be fairly detrimental to parts of your experience. Again, this version of the game is still wonderful, but has flaws you will have to reckon with.

3. Dark Souls is similar to Bloodborne in countless ways. Instead of parrying with a gun, you'll be parrying with a shield, which you'll also utilize to stymie or outright block physical damage. Or, if you really want to dodge, you can make Endurance your stat of choice and keep your armor and equipment light. You'll be rolling everywhere. You won't necessarily need to distribute points in favor of magic if you aren't blocking. Wielding a two-handed weapon and rolling through all attacks is still a totally viable upgrade path. But Pyromancy and Miracles--the game's equivalent of spells--can be extremely helpful.

4. My first time through Dark Souls, I ended up relying on FAQs and guides and forums quite a bit when it came to items. Often, I'd clear an area to my satisfaction first, then consult a guide to see if I'd missed anything after the fact. Honestly, I have no qualm with keeping a guide handy in these games. The challenge is largely derived from your skill and patience, in any case. Just generally, the rule of thumb with Dark Souls is: if you find yourself completely and hilariously overmatched by the area's regular goons, you probably took a wrong turn somewhere and need to either get better equipment/skills or come back later.

5. I love Dark Souls 2. In some ways, it's a tighter game than the original. Scholar of the First Sin is the definitive way to experience it now. It contains all of the game's DLC and relocates a bunch of enemies from the original game, including a boss that now chases you throughout your playthrough.

6. I'd suggest you start playing Dark Souls until Dark Souls 3 unlocks. Then, just jump to the new game. You want to get a feel for the combat and maybe even your preferred playstyle. Some of the systems and mechanics will probably be somewhat different, but at least you'll have a foundation of knowledge to work from. What you risk here is just flat-out exhaustion, though. I guess it depends on your level of excitement and tolerance. If you're afraid of being burnt out, maybe you just wait for Dark Souls 3 and then work backward from there.

7. Dude, yeah! Day's going well! Hope you're having a good one, too!

I haven't played Bloodborne myself so my comparisons between them might be off. But I can talk about the differences between DSI and DSII.

Difficulty is about the same across the games. Except maybe the DSII remake which I haven't played but does things like add late game enemies to the beginning of the game. It's more tuned for people already played DSII. But the difficulty comes down to your skill at souls games mostly. Leveling really doesn't factor in that much and the real power you get from leveling is being able to equip new stuff. Usually weapons or spells but those are still gated by actually get far enough to find the good stuff.

But there is a difference between the difficulties between DS and DSII which is DSII employs much more 'cheap' difficulty. Most bosses in DSII are hard because they throw multiple enemies at you.

There's also how they changed "poise" between both games. Poise is a stat which determines if an attack will cause you or an enemy to stagger interrupting whatever they were doing. In DS this mechanic could actually be used to your advantage. You could wear heavy armor to ensure you never get stun locked to death. Or you could wield the biggest heaviest and slowest weapon you can find and be sure a good clean strike from it will break through the enemies defense and stop them in their tracks.

In DSII poise is about 1/4 as effective on you and the enemies get like 10 times the amount of it. This means just about any unblocked attack will stun you and a good chunk of them still will without a really good shield. Also you will never stagger most of the enemies in the game rendering two hand weapons pretty much useless only giving a slight range and damage advantage for being way worse across the board.

There are also a lot of enemies with infinite stamina in DSII meaning they can just keep swinging at you without stopping. In an particularly terrible section of the game near the end is filled with a bunch of enemies with infinite stamina and poise. They will just keep swinging until you are dead and with a melee weapon you really can't do anything about it.

The roll is also less reliable in DSII. Mainly because the enemies have incredible hit tracking and wonky ass hit boxes on their attacks. You will be fighting a giant boss and you will roll behind them just as they begin to take a massive swing. They will have completely turned 180 degrees by the time they finished their swing and their attack will look like it missed you by half a foot and you will find yourself suddenly dead.

As far as speed compared to Bloodborne is concerned these game will definitely be slower. There no quick dash in the games. You can spec to be quick and dodgy. Pretty much any build want to be dodging attacks as much as possible they just have different ease at doing it. DSI does have a ring that will turn your roll into a faster flip. Which is probably the closest build to playing like Bloodborne you can get.

Also don't take all this to mean that DSII is terrible. It's still a souls game and it still very good. All of that stuff ends up coming out as more as a difference in feel between both games. Individual preference will decide which one you like more.

As a Bloodborne player that couldn't get into Dark Souls that much (despite absolutely loving BB as my GOTY), this is a handy post.

I'll answer q3 because I'm playing an imported Dark Souls 3 now. Dodging feels like it's encouraged over blocking (though in these games you should always carry a light shield in case) - it's very fast but so are the enemies. It looks and feels like the Demon's Souls roll but it's not locked into 4 directions. If you haven't played that, it doesn't feel too different from the Bloodborne dodges but you have to remember that equip load % affects the distance you roll.

One thing you will have to get used to is that the attacks after dodging don't home in on the enemy you're locked on to like they did in Bloodborne. Weapon reach matters more as a result, subject to playstyle.

People are mostly sour about Scholars of the First Sin because it updated the game to directx 11 while Dark Souls 2 was DirectX 9. The owners of that original release didn't receive the update to DirectX 11. This change created two multiplayer ' groups' that are bound by the version they play on. It's not possible to team up with a friend that doesn't have your particular version of Dark Souls 2.

On top of that, they offered a upgrade path for Dark Souls 2 players, but that was still pretty steep (30$ if i remember correct)

I'm currently slogging through Dark Souls right now and "plan" on trying to beat the sequel if i can get through this one. I've played a bit of every souls game and probably put the most time and had the most fun with bloodborne. Bloodborne is definitely the easiest one but only because the controls are just so much smoother than the other 3, it also has gameplay mechanics that force you to be more on the attack, while darksouls(demon souls) reward hiding behind a shield and waiting for a counter attack more than anything. You can make a faster class and dark souls 2 has the ability to dual wield, but honestly shield and sword is the standard for me and seems like the way the game was designed to be played for the average player. I find the difficulty in the souls games to be more around level design and figuring out how to fight guys with giant attack ranges on a small battle plane where falling off is easy (so dodging and rolling isn't always viable in every area). Bloodborne didn't have as much of that from what i remember as it was pretty much built for a fast paced play style (which i think is why more than a few were sour on it).

@shoey920:

1. The gameplay in Bloodborne is certainly different but I found it to be more or less on the same level of difficulty as Dark Souls. You can absolutely subvert the difficultly in all Souls games by grinding.

2. You don't NEED to play through Dark Souls to enjoy Dark Souls 3. That said, if you enjoyed Bloodborne, and you end up enjoying Dark Souls 3, you should absolutely go back to DS, DS2, and even Demon's Souls because they are all awesome. If you own both PS4 and XB1, I imagine that those two versions should be extremely similar. Therefore, yeah, the DS1 pack in on XB1 may be enough to tip the scales that way.

3. Bloodborne is much faster than Dark Souls, but I'm hearing that DS3 is somewhere in the middle. Dark Souls has way more options on how to spec your character than Bloodborne did so you shouldn't have any problem playing PvE however you want. No, you don't need to spec toward a magic user if you don't want to block. If you want to play melee without a shield, you can two hand a big ass weapon, dualwield, play as full magic user, or play a hybrid spell/sword. The blocking statistic in Souls games is "poise" and you can't actually invest in it directly. It's a combination of your equipment and your stats. And even if you aren't using a shield, you shouldn't ignore it entirely as it still affects how quickly you will get staggered.

4. I think that Dark Souls is equally cryptic to Bloodborne. Anyone who says they found Cainhurst on their own is full of shit.

5. The newer version of DS2 (SotFS) is an improvement over the original DS2, in pretty much every way -- graphically, enemy placement, and lore. I suggest you play it and develop your own opinions. Personally, I love Ds2 -- it was my 2014 GOTY. It certainly has its flaws but so does DS1. I honestly think that people are a little bit ridiculous (internet outrage!) with their criticism of that game, and I kind of roll my eyes when people act like Ds1 is the greatest thing ever but Ds2 is somehow crap. They really aren't terribly dissimilar.

6. I'd suggest playing them one a time because there are certain things you can do in some Souls games that you can't do in other Souls games. The most annoying of those changes for me personally is the inability to roll diagonally while locked on in DS1 and Demons. I feel like I always die at least once whenever going back to those before I can make the adjustment.

7. I'm cool, man, thanks for asking.

1. Dark Souls in my opinion has a higher overall level of difficulty than Bloodborne. The ways the areas are designed encourage you to be a bit more patient and observe your surroundings, unless you want to get killed easily. Some of the levels ( New Londo is one example ) at first seem fuck-off hard, but even these areas can be beaten after you discover their trick or after careful progression through the level. Grinding honestly takes forever in order to beat an area by being over leveled, and even then the enemies can kill you easily if you are careless, so all grinding serves here is to suck away your time and your fun with the game. Some bosses will also fuck you up pretty badly, but thats ok since we all went through it.

2. I would say pick up DS3 on whatever platform you want, regardless of the DS1 pack-in. Unless you want to save around 20 to 30 bucks, which I totally get. In regard to Dark Souls 1, I consider it to be a fun game. I beat all of the Souls games, and DS1 and Bloodborne are at the top of the list for me. Plus, its cool to see the game that made the series popular for posterity.

3. Dark Souls is not as speedy as Bloodborne, and missed attacks or badly timed rolls and stuff have a bigger backlash than in Bloodborne. You can totally play this game with no shield, or by dodging and rolling around, but it is not as simple as in Bloodborne. If you hate blocking, don't spec in magic purely for defensive techniques. Rolling is your number 1 friend for avoiding damage. Magic is a bit more offensive. ( I would definitely go with a shield though. It can save your ass, but the choice is up to you.)

4. It is very cryptic. Some areas are kind of hidden, and item descriptions have the same mystique as the one in all the other games, including Bloodborne.

5. DS2 is still really good, but some people ( Like me ) are very picky and think the level designs are not as strong as the ones in DS1. However, its still a fun Souls game and I would still play through it at least once. As for the updated re release, the major changes were placements of certain enemies, items ( I think ?) and a good frame rate on the consoles. Its a nice improvement over the base game, so if you play DS2, get Scholar of The First Sin. You also get all of the DLC areas packed in as well. ( BTW there are a few weird glitches like a weapon degradation bug in this version, so watch out. )

6. That depends on your willingness to juggle playing multiple games at once. The only hurdle there is to relearn a few basic concepts that differ from game to game, but it should be a piece of cake for you. I played these games one at a time.

7. I'm having a great day thank you.

This is a really good post, and talking about these games is always a blast. Hope my answers helped duder.

It's a similar difficult level. I found Bloodborne a bit harder because I usually play as a tank and use the shield quite a lot.

And yes get the Xbox version. It's worth it to be able to play DS1 on a current console.

I guess this is as good a place to ask as any. I have a question too!

I've played Bloodborne, and Dark Souls 2 (back to back last year, Bloodborne awakened something inside me that couldn't be satiated), and I'm partway through the original. Something about it feels off to me. It might just be the area I'm in (Blight Town), but it just doesn't seem like it's worth it to keep playing. Does the game get substantially better after that point? I just feel like I'm fighting bad framerates and weird camera angles more than anything else.

Blighttown fucking sucks. It's far and away the game's most tiring, most unrelenting, most oppressive section. And, like you've already said, some of that has nothing to do with the level's in-world challenges. It's all frame-y animations and awkward mechanics.

The sections beyond Blighttown will surely test your patience. There are brutal boss fights yet to come and sections you may very well just find unfair. But at least it all feels deliberate. Blighttown is, simply, a mess, but your only option to enjoy Dark Souls 1 is to push through. Summon if you have to. Just get through Blighttown.

P.S. -- In Blighttown, a torch means a ladder. If you're lost, look for a torch.

P.P.S -- If you have the Master Key as your starting item you can go from Firelink Shrine to New Londo Ruins to the Valley of Drakes to Blighttown SUPER quickly. It's basically Blighttown's back door. Once there, you can follow the scaffolding down and reach the area boss almost immediately, skipping 90% of the work. If it's your first time playing the game, I wouldn't totally recommend it--Blighttown is supposed to be something of a rite of passage--but if it's between that and straight up just not playing the game ever again, then take the shortcut.

@inevpatoria: Thanks for the response. I'm actually at the boss right now, I've just been feeling the joy drain out of me. The sewers were rough, then The Depths were rough, and now this is rough. I just needed to know it was worth it. It's good to know that Blight Town is just overall shit. That makes me feel better.

@theantihippie: I played Dark Souls 1 on PC a few years ago and came back to tackle a second playthrough on PS3 (for those hot trophies) and holy shit I forgot how much I hate Blighttown. It's even worse on PS3 where the framerate sometimes drops below 10 fps. I played through the beginning of the game in two sittings and stopped at Blighttown, where I then stopped for two months because I wasn't in a mood to play through it. FYI, the guys who shoot toxic darts at you don't respawn, so don't worry about making suicide runs on them until you clear them out. I then powered through the area (getting all items) in about an hour and it's just such a slog, even if you know what you're doing. It's the kind of difficult that's also not fun at all. Bonfire spoiler for you if you want it: Once you reach the bottom of Blighttown, run to your left and hug the wall until you find an alcove in the wall. This small tunnel houses the lower bonfire for Blighttown, allowing you to skip the horrible section you just climbed down.

I really think that the shithole that is Blighttown really isn't indicative of the quality of Dark Souls. The boss of the area isn't even difficult, the only way she'll kill you is if you get caught by some of her bullshit desperation moves that are nearly impossible to react to. Once you beat Blighttown you get to the best two areas in the game, Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo, and the bosses and areas following are varied and fun overall. I think you should power through Blighttown. Use a guide for it if you need to, but don't quit now. Sen's Fortress is so fucking fun.

@quid_pro_bono: yeah this area sucks, i'm playing it for the first time and it's terrible. It's dark and relies on shitty platforming. It's not difficult really, but just hard to navigate with lots of trolling enemies. I mean i had to google to find out where the boss was, terrible level design. I'm honestly not sure if I need to fight this boss as i've already ran passed the area and rested at another bonfire as there is really no indication of what needs to be done in this game, besides ringing 2 bells lol. smfh.

Once I realised the darty guys didn't respawn, I made several suicide efforts to clear those out.

@oursin_360I don't know if this counts as a spoiler, but

Well, I guess it's not technically Blighttown.

@theantihippie: haha, yeah and i probably wouldn't have found it on my own, at least not before my patience ran out lol. Boss was super easy though, beat it on the first try