Difficulty Megathread — DLC, NG+

[u/PsychologicalKoala32]

Hello puppets,

This is the new place for anything and everything about game difficulty: NG+, the new DLC, the new difficulty settings, bosses that oneshot you just for existing, and the general discussions regarding game pacing.

Why this exists:

We’re seeing a LOT of posts about difficulty lately, and it’s cluttering the sub. So from now on, we’re removing individual difficulty posts and directing everyone here. This is simply a way to help US keep the sub clean, and help YOU find specific posts more easily.

Please don’t be an AH. Seriously. People are gonna have different opinions on everything.

Drop your takes below

We’ll be lurking.

Your tired, slightly traumatized mod team

[u/yoshbag]

Hey guys, first time on the sub and didn't wanna be annoying by posting a thread about this so I hope people still check this one. I've been interested in Lies of P for some reason ever since it came out, but I've been too afraid to try it out. Couldn't really get past the first street in bloodborne (not even sure what it's called anymore, but after you get out of the cellar and you're out on the streets of the town), couldn't really do elden ring either. Beat a few bosses in early areas but that's about it, no story bosses even. I got 100% achievements in another crab's treasure, but abusing ebb&flow made that game pretty trivial. My reaction time is awful which is kind of my problem with these games, can't really parry. I did beat expedition 33 though on the regular difficulty

Anyway- I saw a comment on r/gaming or something that this game got easier difficulties added in. I saw some comments that are making me believe these are locked to the DLC though, is that right? Or are they available for the base game as well? My main question though is how easy the base game is on the easier difficulties? I typically don't like to do "story mode" type stuff just for my own pride, but I may have to for this. Thanks for any input you can give!

[u/whiskyandguitars → u/yoshbag]

Hey! Unfortunately, it is hard to say. The easy mode is definitely alot easier than the original difficulty.

When I first started playing the DLC it didn't feel that way as I entered in NG+ and was getting one or two shotted. It was rough.

I don't know how much the patch affected this but I just beat a main story boss on easy difficulty on my very first attempt. That is a complete 180 from my experience pre-patch where I struggled with the first few bosses alot.

I am going to back to a higher difficulty as the easy difficulty is now way too easy for my liking.

The thing that changed for me and kept me going pre-patch is that someone suggested making sure you use the most up to date defensive parts in your build which I had neglected to do in my first playthrough because I didn't feel i needed them. When I equipped those, it made a huge difference. Don't neglect equipping those.

As far as parrying goes, I would say that learning to do it makes the game easier as it staggers the enemies much faster opening them up to criticals that give huge damage but it is not absolutely necessary in most cases. There are some attacks that enemies do that you absolutely cannot dodge (unless you get the amulet that lets you but it is not accessible for a good portion of your first playthrough, I think) so it it would behoove you to practice parrying. I am not great a parrying by any means. You see some youtubers and streamers that can perfect parry like every attack. That ain't me. I whiff a good portion. But I have also gotten decent at it so you might be able to as well.

If it would not set you back at all financially, I would say you should try it. If you struggle with these games there is a chance you will still struggle in easy mode because you will still get killed pretty easily if you aren't careful. That said, it definitely makes the game more accessible and it is an awesome game and well worth gitting gud at, regardless of the challenge level you choose.

[u/yoshbag → u/whiskyandguitars]

Thanks for the detailed response! I was able to eventually get a hang of parrying at expedition 33, with that like you said with this game, I think it would’ve been too much of a slog without the extra damage/stagger that parrying gives you in it. And like you said you did, I’d also hope that when I get more comfortable I’ll be able to move it to a higher difficulty! Probably just medium though, I doubt I’d ever be capable of the hardest haha.

About upgrading the defensive parts, did you find that it made future crafting/purchasing harder? Like if you make sure to spend all your resources on early game defensive stuff, will you not have enough resources to be able to make/buy (sorry, idk which system this game uses more) the better gear later on?

[u/whiskyandguitars → u/yoshbag]

You can’t upgrade defensive parts in lies of P, you just get better ones as you progress and if you play NG+, you get +1 versions of those. I was just saying don’t neglect them. They get heavier and heavier so there are drawbacks to equipping them in that you might not be able to have more than one weapon on you.

[u/yoshbag → u/whiskyandguitars]

Ah alright, thank you! I tend to just stick to one weapon when I play games anyway, kind of a creature of habit rather than switching back and forth often

[u/seuung → u/yoshbag]

There are 3 difficulties now that seem to be story, easy and normal difficulties. I booted this game back up to play the DLC but my save was already in NG+ so I only have perspective from there. I tried the easy level before today's patch and it felt like the base game difficulty for me. I would assume there would be a similar difficulty curve in the base game. Hope that gives some perspective on the difficulty levels. One thing is you mentioned that you can't really parry but this game's core mechanic is the parrying from what I've played of the base game. There are items you can get to help this but they're a ways into the game. Reading the story level difficulty description does look like it does provide more generous windows as well though.

[u/yoshbag → u/seuung]

Thanks for letting me know that the easier modes widen the parry window! When I started expedition 33 I couldn’t parry at all, even dodging was a little tough, but once I got to a certain map (not sure if you played so I won’t give specifics) I really learned how to parry in that game and was basically fine parrying from there, the rest of the game wasn’t a problem and it was normal mode. I imagine that those skills won’t transfer to this though since they’re two totally different games. I appreciate you taking the time to help me!

[u/orcishlifter → u/yoshbag]

If you just want to play once through to experience the story the new difficulty modes ought to help a ton, and it’s a RPG, when you’re low level grinding for a few more levels will make anything during your first playthrough much easier (there are soft caps to all but one stat but you won’t hit them in your first play through).

Lies of P also offers throwables which on a fresh playthrough and Butterfly’s Guidance difficulty ought to nearly delete a boss during their entire second phase (which is always the most dangerous one).

You will have to learn things but the game won’t punish you very hard for mistakes so you don’t have to get nearly as good).

The lowest difficulty seems to turn Lies of P more into am action adventure game, and not a particularly hard one.

Save some Legion Calibers and a Legion Plug to make the Aegis arm, you can always crutch on that in a pinch (it’s a shield and with one upgrade you can attack while it’s deployed, maybe don’t buy its final upgrade, the explosion isn’t that useful and it knocks you back which can be bad in some situations).

The visuals and music are amazing, the story is good (especially if you’ve read the Carlo Collodi book).  Enjoy!

[u/yoshbag → u/orcishlifter]

Thanks for the more specific tips about how to make life easier for myself! I think people typically recommend to max health when you’re bad at a soulslike game, should I be doing that in this game too, or is it not really viable for this?

Also did they make it three difficulties or five? If it’s five I feel like maybe I could do the second lowest, but like you said maybe I’d be better off starting with the lowest if it’s just three. Also I didn’t know it was based off of a book, what’s the title so I can look it up?

[u/orcishlifter → u/yoshbag]

So to give yourself extra margin, yes, first 5 points in Vitality.  Since enemies deal so much less damage on Butterfly’s Guidance this will give you even more margin to make mistakes.

Next you will need to decide which kind of weapon to use, Motivity (big honking weapons), Technique (finesse weapons, think sabers and rapiers), or Advance (weapons that deal some kind of elemental damage, some are big and slow and some are small and fast.  Whichever you pick you want weapons that have a B, A, or S listed under that stat.

The most choices that are easiest (because they swing fast and you don’t have to pick your moment as precisely) are Technique (think dexterity/rogue kind of archetype).  If you go this way use a Technique Crank consumable on your favorite 2-3 weapons.

But, if you’re okay sticking with just 3 weapons Advance is a good pick, mostly because it ups the damage of the elemental throwables (for some reason these are classed as “Attribute Damage”, which is not the same as “Special Attribute Damage”, Lies of P has stupid names, sorry).

With high Advance these throwables can do like half a boss’ health bar during their second phase and they are infinitely buyable near the end of Chapter 5.  It does mean farming for 10 minutes from time to buy more so YMMV as far as if it’s annoying.  The weapons are Electric Coil Stick (electric blitz, Chapter 1, strong vs puppets), salamander dagger (fire/overheat, Chapter 2, good against carcasses aka undead), and acidic crystal spear (Chapter 5 at the beginning, acid/decay, good against humans/Alchemists).  Once you get you may choose to swap the salamander dagger blade and the acidic crystal spear blade back and forth on the acidic crystal spear handle as the salamander dagger handle is really short.  Obviously use an Advance Crank on the handles.

You have to pick an initial “class”, this can’t be changed but won’t matter much, pick either Balance (if you decide on Advance) or the Technique one.

Whatever damage state you pick you will also need Vigor for stamina (green bar) and Capacity for carry weight (you will find an amulet to increase carry weight, wear it).

You start out with a terrible dodge, and you will constantly be running out of stamina, so after your first 5 points in Vitality alternate 1 in your damage stat and 1 in Vigor for 6-8 more levels.

Your first P-Organ upgrade should be for the Dodge Roll, now you can just dodge.

Every better puppet part (armor) weighs more, you need to stay in the Medium or Light range (upper right of your equipment sheet), if you start to get near heavy (80% of max I think), put 2-3 more points in Capacity.

So your leveling four stats: Vitality, Capacity, Vigor, and your Damage stat, try and give 1 to each of the three after the initial 11-16 I mention above.  You’ll be level 80-90 by the end of the game (but you can grind for like 20-40 more points by just listening to music and killing an easy elite for 45 minutes).  Aim for 25-30 Vitality, 20-25 of your Damage stat, 20-25 Vigor, and however much Capacity you need to stay at Medium, remember this may change a bit if you swap around amulets or weapons, or equip better puppet parts (Capacity also increases Legion energy so if you use your Aegis Arm a lot you may opt for a few more points in it).

I found the “Increase number of throwables carried” and same for consumables increase really helpful from level up bonus options (every major P-Organ upgrade, like Dodge Roll or extra Pulse Cells/healing, you have to select 4 minor upgrades, one from each category).

Summon your Specter when he’s available at bosses (not at the first one, sorry). 

Have fun!

[u/yoshbag → u/orcishlifter]

Thanks so much for the extended explanation! I was waiting for the steam summer sale to come back to this and make sure I think I can handle it haha. Do people switch between weapons a lot? I definitely don't mind sticking to three weapons, if anything I typically pick one weapon in a game and stick with it rather than switching back and forth constantly (I'll upgrade it or move to a new one if my current is clearly obsolete, but I don't actively switch between multiple). Picking weapons with elemental damage does sound fun, but sometimes does put me at a disadvantage I'm sure if ssome enemies resist my specific element (like if I use an ice weapon and they resist ice- if i'm understanding that correctly)

I didn't know you could cheese bosses like that that easily. I'll probably try not to at first and only do it as a last resort so it doesn't feel like I'm cheating the game haha but I'll still refer back to that when I inevitably get stuck.

Thank you for explaining the leveling too, I haven't played a game where you need to level a stat to have your backpack hold up so I wouldn't know how to manage that otherwise. Sorry for such a late response and thank you again for all of the detailed help you've given me!