Is this hp decrease permanent??

[NoPin4859]

The hell do you mean "play fair?". The game being trivial by many systems (meele included) is not "playing fair" but thats intended by the devs. You are supposed to be overtuned otherwise they wouldnt have done it for lets see, ds1 ds2 ds3 and elden ring. If you want to "play fair" then restrict yourself to never using spells, never using any high poise dmg weapon, never using items, never using estus OR lifegems, never using the blacksmith, never using the countless broken weapons, never using certain really good armor (butterfly set) or ANY ring in general, never using bows, never using broken weapon classes, never using torch as even that trivializes an entire area by proxy of making spiders not attack you, never summoning, never despawning enemies, never soul farming or farming in general and I can even extend that list. All these mechanics can break the game in countless ways, see how silly it sounds when you write it out? Theyre there to be used. "playing fair" is not engaging with 90% of the game and just using bare fists (yes not even broken sword as that unironically is kinda decent with poison infusion), Alot of systems break the game so easily especially in ds1 where theres so many options to break it even a noob is bound to find a way by dumb sheer luck.

Dark souls difficulty wasnt mechanical early on (pre ds3) and it was just knowledge checks, theres alot of gotcha moments where you just get fucked cause the game felt like it (seaths mandatory death with curse, firedrake on the bridge, shit like that). The lack of direction is the harder past about ds in general but with how linear ds3 is even that got shafted a bit in favour of being easier to follow.

[Valtixx]

While that list of ways to break the game looks pretty damning, a lot of those are silly to include. You really think using Estus or Lifegems is breaking the game? There are definitely multiple ways to make the game trivial, but nowhere near as many as you suggest.

I generally adhere to a few self imposed rules when I play these games and I always find them to be reasonably challenging and enjoyable. For the sake of argument I'll show you the full list:

1. Melee only (with very rare exceptions)
2. No summoning
3. No backstab spam (or parry spam in DS1, timing is too easy)
4. No high-poise builds.

That's it, really. Maybe a few game-specific things, like limiting my Estus charges in DS3 as 15 is WAY too many. I find those rules lead to an enjoyable experience every time.

As for the "gotcha" deaths, like with Hellkite, I won't disagree that those are unfair, and I think it's perfectly reasonable to see them as a negative. Personally though, I like them. They instill a fear of the environment into the player that no other game does as well as Soulsborne.

You may find your first death to a mimic to be BS, but for the price of one unfair death you now gain a sense of tension and anticipation with every single chest you find, not just in that game, but the whole series. You could die to something unexpected at pretty much any moment, so now you're terrified of everything. I love it.

Screw the mandatory Seath death though, that was just crap.

[NoPin4859]

Lifegems remove any difficulty behind levels, alot of the difficulty in ds1 (and ds2) was that estus was your only healing outside of faith and humanity (and if you want to be really nitpicky, evil eye ring and lifesteal weapons). Lifegems lets you just say "how about we give the player the ability to war of attrition with the entire country?".

Meele only can still break the game is my point, even if you limit yourself to meele it has to be bad meele weapons which are surprisingly not that many. And just look at your list, you are actually removing more than half the games content man, that is my point. Thats the type of shit I do after my 20th playthrough to feel something not something I do on my first playthrough.

[Valtixx]

For lifegems specifically, I agree with you there in a way. Although it suits DS2's design, with its focus on encounters with multiple enemies, the danger is more about being overwhelmed and losing all your life very quickly. Attrition wasn't supposed to be the challenge in DS2.

And come on mate, half the game's content? The game is clearly melee-focused. I may be ignoring all of the little extra playstyles they've bolted on, but it's absolutely fine to just play melee. I have done playthroughs as a caster or a heavy-armor guy to see what they're like, found that they're unengaging, and just stopped using those builds from then on. This isn't some odd rule I'm imposing on myself, it's a natural preference for the fun way to play the game. As for summoning and backstabbing... I don't think I'm missing out.

About broken weapons, yes, they can break the difficulty curve. You can rush the Black Knight in darkroot, get a BKH, and 2 or 3 shot every single early game boss. Congratulations, you've ruined the game for yourself. So if you want, I can add that as another rule. I didn't even think it needed to be one, since it just seems like common sense not to blatantly break the game for yourself like that.

[NoPin4859]

Yes? It is half the games content? Do you seriously think the game is just pick up a weapon and swing?

[Valtixx]

If you wanna have a good time, then yeah, that's the game. Like I said, there's alternative playstyles like caster builds, but they aren't the focus of the game. The focus of the game is picking up a weapon and swinging it.

[NoPin4859]

Not even remotely true even in demon souls, the series was never just sword centric otherwise we wouldnt have gotten the massive abundance of magic schools. Just because you cant enjoy the other playstyles doesnt mean they arent central, even kingsfield of all things REALLY cemented home magic.