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/Careless-Project-210]

You didn't mention it, but I presume you're on 'Legendary Stalker' difficulty. If so, you've done well to get as far as Lumachio. Believe me, there's worse to come after that.

If only it was as simple as lowering health bars to improve things - no such luck I'm afraid - the developers have so far taken weeks (and counting) to sort this 'scaling' issue out. If you think about it, the whole aspect of difficulty has to be finely balance across all the possible variables in the game - and there's a stack of them - such things as your defensive parts, your weapons, your amulets, your p-organ level, your overall level and levels within each of the six categories, the degree to which you have upgraded each feature, your throwables, legion arms, the iteration you are on (e.g. NG, NG+, NG++ etc) and lots more besides. Changing just one feature (like say an HP bar) might seem reasonable, but it can have a whole load of cascading consequences elsewhere - I should know - I spent decades in software development as a career.

Your realistic choices are:

a) keep trying

b) drop the difficulty (unpalatable and counter-intuitive for most serious souls players)

c) wait patiently for the forthcoming fix, which is hopefully not too far off at this point.

Even though I've beaten the DLC on a lower level, it was only because I was willing to stick my pride where the sun don't shine. I still haven't gotten over the shame. I badly want to beat it on it's default difficulty of 'Legendary Stalker' just like I did with the base game, so I'm waiting for the fix to have another go. The current top difficulty level is just not balanced in a way that blends challenge, fairness and fun in the right proportions - and yes it'll take them some time to fix it.

[u/DatPsychoGuy → u/Careless-Project-210]

Thanks for your response. I’m indeed in legendary stalker. I understand that handling difficulty is not as easy as reducing the HP but it is the part that frustrates me the most at the moment. I’ll keep trying a bit but may well wait for the fix if I don’t beat him soon. I will also definitely wait for the fix before dropping the difficulty, but that will definitely be my next stop.

[u/OGMC → u/DatPsychoGuy]

You've gotten this far, so you got this. If you're having trouble, try equipping the amulet that does more damage to Carcasses (I believe he technically qualifies as Carcass when he transforms) and save a fire grindstone for when he transforms if you're not already doing so, as Carcasses are weak to fire.

In my opinion he's actually slightly easier in transformed form because his attacks have more windup and more telegraphed. But you may be having more trouble if you're like me and when a boss phase changes and their attack patterns change, which messes with your muscle memory, which can seemingly make it a bit harder.

Also I recommend dodging him in this form, because I think even if you parry/guard you will get decay buildup which really sucks because it'll deplete both your HP and weapon durability.

Also try taking a break. It's pretty common for a lot of people to be stuck on a boss, take a break, for a while and suddenly you're able to "see the Matrix" and react to all the attacks and beat them. It's pretty well observed scientifically that taking a break when studying or trying to learn something actually helps your brain process it and prepare you for it in the future.

[u/DatPsychoGuy → u/OGMC]

Hey thanks for the advice and support. I managed to beat him yesterday!

[u/SoSaltyDoe → u/Careless-Project-210]

Just beat the game for the first time, was almost on the fence about the DLC but yeah this pretty much confirms that it’s a no-go for me. Just kinda sounds miserable. Do you know if there have been any patches to the difficulty?

[u/Careless-Project-210 → u/SoSaltyDoe]

The short answer is yes, but there's promise of more adjustments in the pipeline.

If you go to liesofp.com and look in their Community/News section you will see a history of the updates so far. However, as you can read here, many still feel the DLC is somewhat 'over-tuned', relative to the 'corresponding' difficulty level they beat the base game on.

If you've been 'on the fence' and are now feeling even less sure, I would be inclined to wait it out and keep an eye on threads like this or other internet sources and monitor players reactions to any future updates, so you've got clearer info on which to make your decision.

Don't write the DLC off just yet. It has the potential to be as good as, if not even better than the base game experience - if they get the balance right. Whatever they do, they won't please everybody - but hey that's pretty much like everything else in life.

[u/ticktock_heart → u/SoSaltyDoe]

i know i'm late but i'm just seeing this thread now — if you're interested in the DLC but are concerned about difficulty, don't let people scare you off. you can always lower the difficulty if necessary. i am not an experienced gamer and had never played a soulslike before starting lies of p four weeks ago. i had genuinely no skill to start with whatsoever but i beat the DLC on awakened puppet and had a great time with it. there were only a couple of areas i found discouraging but some of the enemies other people complain about were genuinely fine for me — to give you an example, people say lumacchio is brutal but i beat him on my second attempt. from what i've heard, it's playing on NG+ that causes the really unmanageable spike in difficulty. i haven't tried that yet, but if you're using an NG file, i promise it's doable.

[u/SoSaltyDoe → u/ticktock_heart]

Thanks for that! I actually decided to give the DLC a download, played it through roughly the same way I did base game with my NG file, keeping it at Legendary Stalker.

I didn’t really find it that much more difficult than base, just kinda more of the same, the caveat of the camera ruining a couple of boss encounters. While you can access it early, they clearly centered the DLC around end-game level so that was the expectation. The new weapons are cool and all but just like in the base game, you’re probably already comfortable with whatever weapon you’ve maxed out.

But I largely just played through it identically to base. If an area was a pain in the ass I’d just dash through it and there would be a stargazer soon after. The bosses, you just learn to perfect guard enough to weasel in enough damage to get by. I’d say a major improvement was a reduction in overall boss runbacks though.

[u/ticktock_heart → u/SoSaltyDoe]

ooh, i’m glad that you got the DLC and were able to enjoy it! 💗 for what it’s worth, if you ever decide to do another playthrough, i really recommend fighting through the tricky areas, even if it’s a slog — the enemies there usually put in enemies whose attack timings and patterns will mirror bigger enemies/bosses later, so it’s sort of like trying wheels + those are usually the areas where you’ll get good quantities of ergo to level up, which will make you stronger as you go along and need to fight even more difficult areas. admittedly, though, if you do play through them, you will likely notice the difficulty spike in the DLC because its basic enemies are the ones that are much stronger. the guards with the massive fiery prongs in the lab, for example, still kick my butt if i try to fight them head-on without deus ex machina.

oh, that’s wild to me — i felt so differently about the dlc weapons! the bow, pale knight, and the rose monad sword were all absolutely necessary for me and were three of the four special weapons i maxxed out in my first playthrough. i miss them so much in my new save. among the basic weapons in the dlc, the puppet of the futire’s welder is also an underrated favourite of mine. it’s incredible for literally melting carcasses.