The game ramps up too hard without a way to level and gear yourself. There is no explanation as too how to play the game,. No Tutorial or tips on how where or what to do. The enemies are too hard. Gear is not adequate and breaks (for no reason). Combat is slow and cumbersome and the aiming mechanic is a guess…sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
I’ve tried 3 times to get into the game and it just seems like it’s broken. Sometimes when I start a new game, I get gear and other times, I’m stuck with a weapon that is borderline useless.
Also, parrying sucks! How the hell are you supposed to parry a triple attack with a staff?
I’ve beat ER, Souls games, Sekiro, etc and they at least give you a chance to gear up wtihout harsh penalties.
So what gives? Are you going to fix the game or just continue to isolate people who actually want to give it a fair shake?
In all seriousness. It is a work in progress. I do agree that the beginning is Way Way Way harder than any other part of the game, the tutorial is barebones. There are a lot of things promised, like an in game compendium with all the affix explanation and there is a lot of work being put into it constantly. If you are feeling like there isnt enough information available right now to enjoy the game properly, I would say wait until further development is done.
Or join the discord and discuss strategy/gameplay and how to overcome things there : )
for me personally the game is more on the less difficult side.
durability does not really matter, durability loss on death was nerfed almost into meaningless. in the starting area you find enough repair powder and after opening the door to the blacksmith he repairs your equipment for free until you reach sacrament. and once you reach it, well u get access to upgrades, shops, enchantments etc, which makes the following regions really do-able.
yes starting gear is nothing fancy, but even with a basic sword you can fight all enemies. it has been done countless times.
but you can parry with staffs and 2 hand weapons, which u can not in dark souls (or any other souls like i know). so it is still viable.
the combat honestly feels good to me. hits feel juicy enough and depending on your equip load evasion is as expected. you also slow roll in dark souls when too heavy.
the aiming is busted, i agree there, auto aim/lock on is terrible, it does focus random enemies rather than the closest one and turning it off is even worse, because u lose lock on when u walk too far away or change direction. this also is discussed in countless threads, maybe you could contribute your opinion there: Lock On Completely Broken
this game imo really shines with exploration and map design. finding new shortcuts and searching every inch of the map is super rewarding and imo comparable to great games like the fromsoft games.
and aside from all that we will be getting more and more changes. there is a skill tree in discussion, multiplayer will come and i am sure we will get some sort of rework with crafting and enchanting things.
One of the bigger issues is white gear availability - the common weapons. T1 items are readily available through filmore pre Sacrament. T2 and T3 not so much, one might want to play with a polearm but can spend 2 hours without finding any.
I wouldn’t say the enemies are too hard, but there are vast differences between early and late game. Ideally, early game we get more stamina so we can attack and dodge more regularly and late game could use tuning. I’m fine with the enemy attack patterns you’ll get used to them even though some have ridiculous tracking.
As for gear breaking, grab an offhand and slot utility runes such as repair on it.
in reality the game is “difficult” only until you arrive in the city, once you have the right equipment to have useful skills and equipment with a weapon with valid runes the game becomes very simple… on YouTube you can find many videos that can help you
It’s partially a survival game meaning you have to ACTUALLY gear up and prep versus slamming your head against the wall until you win. If you’re not doing damage the most likely thing is you’re not leveling up your weapons, it makes a vast difference. Past that I can’t agree on difficulty this is probably the easiest game that happens to have a soulslike combat system besides ER.
Unlimited heals, enemies stay dead, affixes available on all gear, MH style buffs, unlimited weapon arts not capped by your number of flasks, etc
Super Mario Wonder is on the less difficult side. NO rogue or souls game is on the less difficult and you pretending that the game is “too easy” is a slap in the face for those who struggle to try and play the game.
Parrying is utter trash. When you do it, enemies straight up ignore you and attack through you. It SHOULD stun them. It SHOULD give you an advantage and encourage you for using the game mechanic. It does NOT!
As for exploration, the game is too dark at night, which leads you to fall off cliffs, miss resources, and leave you bumbling around as you’re trying to gather resources to deal with the stupid difficulty of the game and the constant need to heal. (Is it really so hard to be able to allow you to heal at a camp or whisper like every other game in the genre? )
The bottom line is that it is taking away from the fun of the game and discouraging you from getting good at playing it. Most people who are on these forums have been playing this game…A LOT! They are already geared up, have their gear in their chests, so they can play around. For those of us who actually find these types of games challenging, it’s a bad experience. There is absolutely no reason to have to deal with durability on equipment, not being able to respec, things are too damn expensive in the world, the town is unnecessarily large and spread out (you coud literally put all of the vendors within reach of each other and make the game WAY more enjoyable and people would want to come to town.)
This is after playing for 3-4 hours a night, where I have defeated the first boss. I’ve tried to move forward, but I can’t because I get one or two shotted by everything in the game. So even when I’m TRYING to parry and I miss (because every enemy has unrelealistic stutters to all of their move sets and the hit box for the parry is not working correctly), I die. When I die, I lose money and time having to repair my gear. (Insert the cycle OVER and OVER AND OVER AND OVER again!)
They are going to isolate and miss out on a large amount of people playing this game because they are not listening to the vast majority of people reviewing the game saying it’s TOO DAMN HARD in the beginning of the game…and that sucks, because I REALLY like the game and I llove Ori and I want them to succussed.
There is nothing easy about the game…even for a souls game, the combat in the beginning is stupidly hard and the game ramps up too quickly. If they are wielding an axe, they have 3-4 move sets that if you mess up the parry or dodge (because you’re constantly out of focus…how does focus even work1??! The game doesn’t explain it at all!), you die. Most people who are claiming the game is too easy are living off of Youtubers who told them how to build their character. For someone who just wants to play a game, have a challenge, and rejoice in the victory, it’s a bad experience in it’s current state. As for upgrading your gear, I’d like to ask you HOW??? There is no explanation on how to do this and even if you farm the beginning of the game for all of the resources, you run out as soon as you come to town to get the upgrades to be able to level your gear. Kudos on you for being able to scour the internet and found out that information, but I have not been able to find it and I’m not going to listen to some stupid YouTuber bragging about how amazing his build is and scan through their useless videos for tips.
The idea is basically to have a secondary or even tertiary unenchanted weapon slotted in another main weapon slot. It can be any weapon as long as it has 3 empty rune slots. You might have to spend some plague ichor to unlock those slots at the Rookery.
Then you unlock and upgrade Eleanor’s enchantment shop with Maker Danos, he should be in the town center. If you go up the stairs where captain Randolf, the daily quest guy, is standing. You will find him fairly easily.
Eleanor sells various utility runes. Repair being one of them alongside others that provide buffs such as poise defense, stamina, health etc. You want to purchase those and slot them into the unenchanted weapons. Then when you have spare focus you can use them before a boss fight and use repair when your gear starts breaking. The heal rune can also help you out as you exchange focus to regenerate some health. These utility runes are very valuable and I do think the game can do a better job at explaining that or helping new players discover it.
As for how to gain focus, there are various potions that are worth making and keeping. But, weapons also have a stat on them that tells you how much focus they regenerate with each hit.
Difficulty
With regards to your comments on the difficulty of the game. Yeah, most of us are in endgame and the game is significantly easier there. I also think that the hardest part of the game is directly after you reach Sacrament. There is a massive spike in difficulty, which I experienced as well. Think of the guy in the War Room for example. He two shots you and you tickle him. The beginning of the game is probably the best experience you can have as it is the best balance between too easy and too hard. End game is basically overriding enemies with your attacks and face tanking thru what they do.
Some tips that I don’t think others have mentioned are:
Invest heavily into health, I have 27.
Wear Plate, it gives a massive armor bonus and there are currently almost no incentives to wearing anything else. Devs are already aware of this.
Ensure you have high poise defense so enemies don’t push you around. Which feels horrible when it happens. I have enough poise defense, around 45-50, where I can swing my sword and cancel enemy animations 100% of the time, except for bosses. Unsure if you can do the same with less, haven’t tested exact values.
Infuse your gear at the enchantress. Elemental damage on weapons is huge so is extra armor and focus gain. X% focus gain and X% chance to refill focus on hit/damage is especially useful for melee.
16-19 stamina seems to be the sweet spot. Also depends on enchantments, but I make sure I can swing my sword and finish my entire chain and have some leftover for a dodge or two.
These are all things I found out on my own.
You mean those 30 min videos with a clickbait title where the information that you came for is somewhere obscurely hidden in the video
I would say the forums are a better place for getting information. Most of the conclusions I have made stem from myself and not from w/e some random youtuber thinks for some clicks.
If you have more questions or want me to elaborate on things I am more than happy to help as long as you are polite with me. I don’t know much about magic/ranged builds tho.
Cool, thanks for the tips. I’m lv8 and it’s taken me a week to get there. So…what do I do in the meantime to actually get high level when everything kills me in a few hits?
I think you’re correct. I’ve almost uninstalled the game multiple times as I can barely do the new “quests” that are being given in the town. I die ALL THE TIME! It’s NOT fun!
Right when I felt like I was getting used to the game, they turned up the difficulty level. Even when I went back to the beginning location, it’s too F’n hard! Kudos to those who can figure out how not to die by the halberd wielding manic who kills you in three hits on a 5 hit combo. You can’t be near him, because then the parry doesn’t work. You can’t be far away from him, because then he throws fire bombs at you that take up half the screen. That dude belongs in the later half of the game.
If you would turn down the difficulty on the game and allow people to practice (without durability penalties), they might be able to keep a higher player retention. .,…and if you’re touting that you made Ori and the Blind Forest, then you need to present that level of accessibility and enjoyment.
…because right now Moon Studios, you are catering to the minority and allowing your egos to power you through the development and design of the game. If you listen to the numberous reviews on YouTube of people who played the game extensively, you have some serious work that needs to be done before this game can go live.
They are initially locked, so you have to spend 2 plague ichor to unlock them. Then just drag them in there. And, you can then swap weapons to make use of their runes, for me it is ''Z".
Potions are an option, you can also make them with recipes. I don’t bother with that though. But, the biggest way to gain focus more steadily is through enchants. Buy gear from the blacksmith and enchant it. it can be very costly, if you go for pure random enchants. And, at the point where you are at simply infusing items should be enough. But, if you have enough gold try some enchants and try to get lucky.
The Chipped Topaz, gem found by digging or in chests, is focussed on enhancing focus. So:
Gloves → 6-20% focus on parry.
Pants → 1-3 Focus on Focus Use.
Helmet → Focus Gain increased by 6-20%.
Body → Focus increased by 7-25%.
Weapon → 1-2% Focus on Damage Dealt.
The helmet infusement is the most important and the weapon one scales with max focus. Which isn’t good unless you have tons of it.
As for the possible enchants you can roll, just to give you an idea:
a armor pieces can roll up to 30% increased Focus Gain, which if stacked is Massive.
a weapon can roll ‘‘Focus Regeneration’’ and ‘‘Gain Focus on Damage Dealt’’.
I’d set a short term goal of getting a powerful weapon. So try some weapons from the blacksmith, easy access to weapons, enchant and see if you have some good rolls. Then infuse that weapon with good rools, if it has an elemental enchant MATCH the same element. Different elements don’t stack. A fully enchanted/infused/upgraded weapon should be prio 1 to make the game easier. Because it ends combat faster, you will still die as quickly, but you will have to dodge less as your time to kill enemies decreases.
I’d also avoid bigger enemies until you have a better weapon. Especially that big halberd guy with the bombs, late dodging towards him does help tho. But, you need a lot of stamina to deal with him. The part you are in right now is for sure the hardest. So picking your fights and farming chests is probably the most important part in order to progress.
parrying does stagger/stun them. it just does not give you a riposte.
and on the difficulty side we will just have to agree to disagree. there are tons of games where when u die, u lose all your EXP and your inventory and have to go get it back or its all gone. here you lose nothing. u can die 10 times and your weapon is still at 50% durability.
and if you get 1shot by everything past sacrament, i can only tell you to upgrade your gear. it did not happen to me with multiple characters. Upping gear is the most important thing. So go do some bounties and daily challenges, get some good gear and coin there and upgrade your stuff.
it is NOT a majority saying it is too hard. on the contrary. most people are probably grinding crucible right now, and i am sure people would NOT do that if they thought the game was too hard
