With the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Demon's Souls Remake being well-received and Nioh 2 being well-reviewed, there's no better time to review both franchises. Now, from an objective standpoint, comparing FromSoft's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dark Souls series and Team Ninja's Nioh series is goofy as they're two completely dif💟ferent games that just share some foundational ideas.
But both series take difficulty incredibly seriously -- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:something we hope🍒 Elden Ring ౠdoes as well. So, let's take a look at what exactly makes each of 💦these game series so mind-bogglingly addicting yet unabashedly hard.
Updated February 25th, 2021 by Jacob Buchalter: Since this list first came out, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nioh 2 came to PC and the Demon’s Souls Remaster was finally released. And both of these games got a pretty positive reception from the community. That said, Demon’s Souls 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:reminded a lot us of mechanics from the older FromSoft games that we’re glad they’ve changed or fixed. In contrast, Nioh 2 is a true sequel in that it fixes a lot of problems from the original while introducing some new issues of its own. Let’s take another little look at both franchises' difficulties and the studios' thoughts🦂 on designing difficult games.
14 Dark Souls: Commitment To Attacks🐈
This first one is more of a thing in the earlier FromSoftware games, but aspects of it do still apply even in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Bloodborne. By design, many of these titles require you to hard commit to every attack, especially with heavier weapons. It's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a bit rough for beginners, but oh-so-satisfying once you get used to it.
Can't swing a Dragon's Tooth without a bit of inherent risk, right? Of course, this is to encourage you to put ♏importan🌞ce on when to pick and choose your attacks. Nioh is absolutely more forgiving in that respect.
13 Nioh: So Many 🌌Mecha🍎nics & Systems To Learn
Unlike the first 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dark Souls or even Demon Souls, Nioh had an entire genre to reference for its me✱chanical systems. Whereas FromSoftware slowly worked out the kinks from Dark Souls 1 to DS3, Team Ninja could sort of use their progression as a reference without any of the risk.
And, as such, Nioh has a ton of mechanics within it, some would almost say too much. Living Weapons, Ki, Amrita, Stats, Armor, Armor Set Bonuses, and figuring out whi🍸ch Guardian Spirit is the best are jus🍸t several. It's a game built upon the backs of the giants that came before it and it's one of the 𒁃reasons Nioh and its sequel feel so absurdly polished.
12 Dark Souls: Freedom Is Both A Blessing And A Curse ♉ ꦚ
You don’t have to play Nioh comple🐼tely linearly, buꦜt Nioh and its sequel are games that are broken down into levels rather than taking place within one giant map. So, you do have to sort of stay on the main path for the most part. Meanwhile, in Dark Souls games, you can go whatever way you want and explore from the get-go -- even if that means going into an area where you're almost guaranteed to die.
After all, how many of us went down to the graveyard in the first game, only to find that we were massively underpowered to take on the skeleton mob there or the catacombs beneath? Dark Souls🎉 has more freedom, but that’s also what makes it more difficult.
11 Nioh: You Can Always Rely On Living Weapon & Y𒀰okai Shift
Nioh was meant to be a more streamlined and approachable game for those who were interested in the Dark Souls format. That concept was clear from the beginning as it had a lot of story, the world was broken into levels, and the online was more integral to the game itself. It was supposed to be 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a game for Demon's Souls fanatics, but a bit easier.
But, the whole Living Weapon system introduced in the first game gave you way too much le🉐eway in certain battles since you didn’t technically take damage while in the Living Weapon state. Players could just use it to get out of risky situations. Nioh 2 only added to these free escape methods with the Yokai Shift and Burst Counter systems.
10 🐻 Dark Souls: Mean-Spirited Environmental Hazards
Don’t get us wrong, the Nioh games have a bunch of different environmental hazards. In fact, some would argue that the traps in Nioh are more punishing than the ones in the Dark Souls games considering most of them can insta-kill William. But, the thing about traps in Nioh is that, most of the time, there’s an obvious visual tell or some easy wa⛦y to see them coming.
In Dark Souls games, you didn’t know there was a gigantic arrow coming for you in Anor Londo until it went straight through your torso and cast you into the abyss! Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 2, in particular, could be really☂ harsh with these unexpected traps. Thankfully From Software h♐as learned its lesson over time in regards to these traps.
9 🌱 Nioh: Early🐻-Game Health Sponges
This was fixed a bit in Nioh 2, but there are some real big health sponges early on in the game. Bosses like the ওOni-type Yokai and Cyclops felt like a test of patience where players had to swipe at them, back off, swipe at them, and repeat until♏ they either got impatient and died or you finally broke their Ki Gauge.
Of course, after leveling up a bit and learning some Skills, these enemies became much easier to handle. But, there are just a lot of enemies in t♏he early levels that feel artificially tanky -- especially compared to the early levels of Dark Souls. A൩nd no, the Black Knights from DS1 don't count (obviously).
8 Dark So🅘uls: Always Open To Invasion
The invasion system was such a unique concept, but it also split the DS fanbase in two. On one hand, fans love being able to invade people while they run through the game and attempt to ruin their day (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:especially those Darkwraith dorks). But, on the other hand, p🦋layers just want to experience the game at their own paces without being forcefully rushed or killed by an invading enemy.
Of course, in later games, they made it a bit easier to avoid that part of the gameplay experience. But, in the earlier titles, it was either run around as a shrไiveled husk with less health or face the invaders.
7 ꦦ ༒ Nioh: Always Ready Te Be One-Shotted By Enemies
Nioh and its sequel are chock-full 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:of bulky lads and bosses as we've already mentioned. But, the amount of enemies who can essentially one-shot our fearless protagonist is way higher than you'd exꦑpect.
Part of this is due to the faster pace of Nioh's combat and part of its due to Nioh sharing the trait of 168澳🎀洲幸运5开奖网:giant creepy monstrosities 𒈔with Bloodborne. But mostly, it's just simply because enemies hit harder on average in Nioh. Of course,⛄ Dark Souls 2 had similar early-ga൲me behemoths, but the franchise started to move away from these as time went on.
6 🐈 Dark Souls: The Parry System
The Soulsborne "Parrying" system has gone through numerous iterations throughout the years. With each new version, the timing is different. First, there was parrying in Demons' Souls which felt way too precise then there was Dark Souls which took a bit of getting used to but was easier on average. Next was DSII which was almost too easy and ruined its PVP scene; 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:after that was Bloodborne which was just parrying with a gun.
Finally, we had🧸 Dark Souls 3 which felt like a nice blend between the older games with some of Bloodborne's much-needed speed. But, because messing up a parry could lead to death, this actually made the games harder if you were the type who couldn't ignore a chance to try and parry again.
5 💯 Nioh: The Ki And Skill System
Funnily enough, Nioh also has parrying, but that's not th✅e primary system it pushes on you. Each skill tree (except the ax) has its own parry skill and its own ways to use it. But, unlike the Souls games, William can't parry anything unrealistic for a human to parry. In the FromSoftware titles, if you're was using the right weapon and nailed the timing, you ca☂n parry almost any boss.
That's not all though as Nioh also has the whole Ki and Ki Pulse system where you constantly have to micro-manage your Ki Pulse timing. Add༒ the stance system, Ki Break system, Omnoyo Magic system, and all the other systems Nioh has on top of that, and it becomes a lot to balance at once.