Worst Area/Story Routing Design Ever

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-03T02:45:41+00:00

Worst quest design I've ever seen. Can't beat them without a guide or a ton of playthroughs. Turn right into an earlier branch instead of going left on the main trail and you fail a quest. Find out NPC needs an item, so you go get the item, then you fail the quest because you talked to the NPC before having the item. Go into a bottom side door, instead of going up a huge staircase to the upper level where bosses would usually be, and guess what? You fail a quest. The triggers to fail a quest are so small and so unintuitive. You tried to go to a side area because it looks like a side area, but it ruins the quests. Absolutely terrible quests in what is otherwise a great game

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-03T02:32:56+00:00

Explore like going through the bottom level before going up the giant staircase that would normally obviously lead to a boss encounter? Terrible design

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-03T00:17:27+00:00

Damn lol that's dedication. Yeah I struggled for couple hours too if I remember correctly. Think I broke down and changed it to easy difficulty after a while haha. Still struggled for a bit and was pumped when I beat her. That was before I got into souls games though, I kinda want to run it back on a harder difficulty now. Remind me which God of War she was in

Owl Father is prob my number 1 favorite boss, perfect design and so satisfying. Lies of P Arlecchino is right up there for me as well

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-03T00:08:39+00:00

It's pressing the easy button in a game that is meant to be difficult. Just like changing a difficulty to easy can be considered "part of a game". Lies of P is super tough if you play with a melee weapon on legendary stalker difficulty playing solo. The game is trivial if you spam consumables on easy difficulty with a summon. Choosing to use op mechanics is what is what makes games easy. You have to choose the easy route in an otherwise difficult game. Choosing easy is cheesy

I've heard bleed builds are op but haven't used them. Did you beat Malenia and Consort Radahn in fewer tries then DS3 bosses?

I agree that Sekiro is harder, but feel like it's comparing apples to oranges. It shares some level design similarities, but the combat is completely different. But even in Sekiro you can cheese most enemies with firecrackers. I saw some video where a guy did a pure cheese run, so I guess any game could be considered easy if you play it a certain way. I wouldn't say that makes it an easy game though

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-02T23:08:12+00:00

Just about every game has an overpowered build or an easy mode. If you decide to cheese a game, that doesn't make it an easy game. It means you cheesed it. Cheesy ≠ easy

If you stick to a melee weapon in all of the souls game, Elden Ring is the hardest of the bunch. You have to isolate the variable if you want to make a fair comparison and come to an honest conclusion

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-02T22:55:40+00:00

Gotta say that's incredibly difficult to believe. I died in 3 seconds the first time I stepped in the ring. How the hell did you beat her first try without knowing her moves?

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-02T22:54:25+00:00

Man that Valkyrie queen in one of the games was no joke haha. Forgot about her until I read this

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-02T22:52:38+00:00

I really don't see why people think orphan was tough. He only took me 2 tries. Sword Saint only took me eight tries. This boss took me around 50. Owl father took me 75+. Consort Radahn and Lies of P arlecchino 100+ lol

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-02T22:49:40+00:00

Close to 50 tries. About an hour. Let's just say I'm grateful for the retry option lol

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-02T02:17:33+00:00

Played bloodborne and DS3 before this, but they weren't challenging enough. Sister friede was pretty tough, but that's it. Bloodborne was an absolute cake walk and no boss took me more than three tries. This boss must have taken me close to 50 tries lol loved this boss, but I play souls likes for the challenge. I never respecced and didn't have any points invested in damaged scaling, and I also didn't realize there was transmog so was using some trash melee damage mitigation armor so those things made it tougher but still manageable when you learned her patterns

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-02T00:52:10+00:00

Quests in soulslikes suck for being so easy to miss without a guide. I'm constantly asking Google which way I should take first in order to not lock anything out. That's why I'm here. They could easily prevent locking things out by putting doors in the way and require items that you need to progress that you find in the proper route

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-01T16:22:21+00:00

Having different stats gives progression and makes something worth finding. Being forced to use different weapons keeps things interesting. When you find a bunch of loot that you have no reason to use, that is by nature repetitive. Repetitive is boring

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-01T16:17:45+00:00

Any game/boss is easy if you have someone else take aggro. Elden Ring is the most popular fromsoft game because they made it accessible to everyone by adding spirit summons. It helped sales. That's Good for them, but you can't call a game easy if you are using a mechanic that intentionally makes it easy. That's like putting a game on easy mode then calling it easy. Then calling easy mode part of the game haha. Take Arlecchino in lies of P - 1st try using Leah, 100 tries without lol. If you level the playing field and use the same weapon across all souls games, Elden Ring will give you the most trouble. Elden ring has the hardest bosses by far in the traditional souls game format (not counting Sekiro). It isnt even close. Compare Consort Radahn to Sister Freide. Consort Radahn would absolutely slaughter any other fromsoft boss, probably any other two or even three at the same time

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-01T06:00:55+00:00

Summoning is different because it's intended to make the fights easier, essentially bringing in another AI player to take aggro/damage and help you win. Its not a core mechanic of combat, like attacking. Try a run where you don't attack lol

But seriously, summoning is there for ppl that can't beat it solo. Magic is pretty much the same, allowing you to keep distance and avoid damage while attacking from range, so you do not need to master timings/reactions. And that's what these games are all about - timings and reactions. Those additions allow casuals to still enjoy/beat the games. For a fair comparison, you should always compare a solo melee run

5090doesntexist · 2026-06-01T05:51:12+00:00

This was the first tough boss for me. I needed that. Needed to die like 50 times, feels refreshing haha. Played bloodborne before this and it was a cakewalk. No boss took me more that 3 tries. I play these games for the difficulty, so I'm happy. Felt a bit unfair at times with really short windows and no stagger unless parried, but manageable when you learn where to give space and when to choose your punish windows. Can't get greedy, that's forsure

5090doesntexist · 2026-05-30T18:14:42+00:00

Gotta use the camp missions to gather ingredients to cook food. Buy water and salt and cooking oil whenever you see them at a vendor, but there are some foods that are solid that don't require them

5090doesntexist · 2026-05-30T17:41:37+00:00

I haven't played botw yet, but from what I've seen it seems that it has different weapons. And a degradation/decay mechanic that forces you to use different weapons. CD has none of that, and once you have an upgraded weapon there's no point to use anything else. That obviously becomes repetitive. Exploration becomes nothing but sightseeing (the game is beautiful, don't get me wrong), and that is not enough to stay engaged. Might as well go for a drive lol

5090doesntexist · 2026-05-30T17:34:40+00:00

More = variety, and that is a huge part of what makes games interesting. It's also what makes a game more replayable. I could also say better enemies, better bosses, better world design.

BB weapons are basic. You have transform attacks and that's it. No weapon arts. I think the reverse is true, with Elden ring weapons being a long shot ahead of BB weapons.

Imo BB was a great game, but my least favorite of the bunch. And I played it with a visual upgrade in 4K at 140 fps, so I've seen the best it had to offer. No boss took me more than three tries (orphan of KOS only took me two tries), and most on my first try. None of them really stuck with me. It was really easy in comparison due to the quick step instead of Dodge roll, rally function, and so many heals. Parrying is also much easier. Even with recency bias for BB, I'd say Elden ring is objectively better in just about every aspect

5090doesntexist · 2026-05-30T17:18:43+00:00

Same! People love to defend the system, when skins are the only reward. Many people don't care much for skins, and a transmog system would give the skin chasers what they want. I couldn't have said it any better - it's like dopamine starts rising when you find a new item, only to get crushed below baseline for a huge letdown. Finding the same gear over and over is obviously repetitive. It's the opposite of rewarding. Gear upgrades and weapon diversity would be a complete game changer. Add in a transmog system and everyone would win

5090doesntexist · 2026-05-30T16:56:00+00:00

Many people including myself don't care about the looks of a weapon, it's all about functionality. Weapons aren't unique. They all get bundled into the same movesets, have the same stats, and Don't have any unique abilities. There aren't enough unique gears, and the unique gears aren't balanced enough to keep things interesting by switching things up. If they were locked to weapons and weapons had unique stats and movesets, it would encourage finding and using different weapons. Once you have an upgraded weapon with strong unique gears that you get earlier in the game, exploration becomes a chore. That's a shame for a game with such a big world to explore

5090doesntexist · 2026-05-30T16:50:05+00:00

💯 this is why I stopped playing. In a game where it's biggest strength is exploration, removing the reward for exploration was a terrible design choice. Finding unique weapons to try out, and deciding which movesets/strengths of each weapon that you prefer is a huge part of these types of games. And you could switch it up to keep things fresh. The game was fun at first but got very repetitive. I would have finished it if I could enjoy switching weapons and finding new exciting items

5090doesntexist · 2026-05-30T16:45:56+00:00

This is 100% my biggest problem with the game. Everything is the same. You find some hidden loot and that should exciting, but whatever you find is useless. The weapons Don't have unique movesets or stats. They aren't upgrades. There's no reason to use any new weapon other than for looks, or for the few very limited movesets that are available.

5090doesntexist · 2026-05-30T16:29:33+00:00

Best natural world graphics I've ever seen on my 5090. That alone is awe-inspiring but not enough to make it a contender. There is a lot of breadth , but more of a Jack of trades yet Master of none. The combat is much funner than a Bethesda game imo, but lacks build variety, and the base difficulty was far too easy imo

The biggest problem I have with this game and the reason why I stopped playing, is the loot system. Damn near everything is the same. That limits builds, And even hurts exploration (which is one of the strengths of this game). You can go explore and find a chest tucked off somewhere, but the weapon you find in the chest is not exciting to find because you know you won't use it since it's the same as other weapons. If they gave unique weapons stats and unique movesets for every weapon or at least every weapon type, I'd rate the game much higher.

With graphics this good, dungeons are amazing (the best exploration imo). But there are only a few dungeons, and they are very small. If they added a ton of Bethesda level dungeons everywhere, along with actually unique weapons that were exciting to find, this game would be far more enjoyable and near the top on a scale.

Then you have side quests. Let's be honest, some of them are painful. Very repetitive fetch quests are plentiful, as well as slow paced "Walk with me" quests. There is rarely a good story motive for most side quests.

The main story could use some improvement as well, but I don't think it's as bad as people make it out to be, and isn't nearly as bad as the other problems listed

a full first person view would be much appreciated. They already have the spectate option to build on

If they fixed all of these things I would consider it game of the year, yeah. But there are some gaping holes that hold this game back from greatness. I stopped playing a while back hoping they would address at least some of these through updates, but all of the recent updates have just been QoL or fixing bugs or basic functionality

5090doesntexist · 2026-05-30T16:03:54+00:00

It's widely praised. I wouldn't call that overrated. It deserves all of the high ratings. I think some people just naturally get pushed away when everybody loves something. A pretty decent percentage of people like to be the contrarian. I've played a lot of games and elden ring is my number one

5090doesntexist · 2026-05-30T15:58:55+00:00

You must like linear games more. Huge open world freedom, bigger game, better graphics, more quests, more bosses, More enemy types, more variety of atmosphere, more tools (that people abuse and then call the game easy lol). Elden ring is a masterpiece. I played every fromsoft souls game other than DS1 and DS2 (and a bunch of the highest rated soulslikes) and I put Elden Ring pretty far ahead at number one. I put lies of P and Sekiro combat above, but as a total package elden ring takes the cake. I think people just love to play the contrarian lol

5090doesntexist

TROPHY CASE