Since we're talking about areas, it's interesting how the areas were the main difficulty of the old games whereas the new ones focus more on bossfights being the main difficulty.
Elden ring was really annoying with that, just breezing through areas and getting walled by the boss for a while. I think all 3 dark souls games and bloodborne balanced area and boss difficulties well, demons souls was more biased towards areas and sekiro/elden ring more towards bosses.
Absolutely this, and on the whole, I preferred that older approach because it felt like a more overall cohesive experience. The bosses used to be a capstone to the challenge of an area, but now they feel more like an entirely separate challenge unto themselves.
Exactly, but Sekiro's combat system only works well on bosses where you csn use more tools and skills of your character... Elden ring is just simply tiring. @@jebbushu711
I won't ever forget my first visit to Yahar'gul, before the change. Going down through the workshop thinking I must have found some incredibly secret area... Only to be snatched by the first enemy and find myself in a fucking jail cell which took me hours to escape. God damn it
@Zeronum2 Yahar’gul changes during the playthrough. You can reach it early via Hypogean Gaol, where it looks rather normal while having a creepy choir, only to turn into a nightmare once you’ve defeated Rom.
@@Phantom17685 woops ty for your explanation. I knew that part i thought they meant the devs patched the game and it was a little different a few years ago. I only started playing way way later so I assumed the OP meant the game was changed sorry about that
I think I had a harder time with the Specimen Storehouse than the Haligtree, just because of the confusing design and those god awful Fire Knights. It’s objectively a really great level though. I love that it all takes place within a single tall spire and that there are so many areas the Shadow Keep/Specimen Storehouse connects to
Those fire knights are easy if you just equip a smithscript shield. That shield is crazy good in both pvp and pve. The enemies will flinch every time it hits them and it interrupts their attacks specially if you catch them while casting a spell. Extremely useful. I got spoiled about throwing weapons and shield in particular so I picked it up and it suited my build pretty well. It requires so little fp and has so much range that if you have the stats for it it can take care or the fire knights on its own. If not just end it with your regular melee weapon when they get close enough.
@Cynsham yea staggering them is game changing because they're just way too aggressive otherwise. I would consistently take a ton of damage from them anytime I used lighter weapons and then dust them with a greatsword that could stagger them in one hit
I honestly think Central Yarnham is one of the toughest areas of any Souls game. Absolute baptism of fire in terms of enemy clusters and highly complex exploration. I know so many people who bounced off those two wolves on the bridge. And even the bit right near the start with the townspeople gathered roubd the bonfire is really tough. And then you've got the sewers, the Cleric Beast AND Father Gascoigne - phew! There's nothing easy about it
Bloodborne was my first souls type game and I agree. I was thinking the whole time how tf am I even going to be able to progress if these first enemies are killing me in just a few hits and then you find the trolls, the wolves, the underground lizard-like enemies or Cleric Beast and when you die you go all the way back to the beginning. That area was a lot more challenging that the rest of the game because I just had no clue that I needed to level up, upgrade my weapons or locate the shortcut.
ha those wolves are exactly where i stopped! I beat the first boss first try (did use a buttload of heals, but first try) and then those two wolves just destroyed me over and over and I was like okaaaay
DS1 was my first souls and the only thing I knew about those games were that they’re hard. Not that they’re fair but hard, just that they’re hard. Long story short I didn’t saw the door and went to the tomb of the giants right after the gargoyles just to reach a golden fog gate that tells me I have to go back. I mean nothing seemed wrong to me. It’s the ”hardest game ever made“ so I didn’t mind the difficulty and the boss of the area seemed perfectly balanced for an early game fight. Right at the beginning of my first souls I conquered the hardest and most draining area I’ve ever went through in a video game… twice, because I had to go back up after reaching the bottom. Keep in mind that I just started the game so I didn’t even really knew the controls at that point. It took me about a week but I can’t remember having so much fun going through a souls area ever again. Every inch felt like an accomplishment and I really missed that in all the games after DS2. And I don’t even like DS2 lmao. I also got lucky and earned myself a black knight halbert in the tomb of the giants. So I actually got rewarded with the best weapon in the entire game.
This encounter probably traumatized me in such a way that I actually really love all the other painful and slow areas pretty much everyone hates. From the swamp of sorrow to blind town. I even like Farron Keep because of that. I like areas where you get really anxious about dying. In other areas you respawn and that it just in those you loose so much progress that you’re starting to panic at even the smallest enemy you encounter. It’s pure survival horror and that’s amazing.
On my first ds1 playthrough I didn't know you can use a lantern, so I finished Tomb of the Giants in the dark, moving inch by inch, and bro it felt like ACCOMPLISHMENT
WAIT, THERE'S A TELEPORTING POOL IN YAHAR'GUL? How have I gone three full playthroughs without ever even seeing this thing, let alone using it? Hell, I'd never even heard of it until this video, and I've been a part of the Souls community for years now. Well, uh...thanks, I guess? If I ever replay Bloodborne again I'll try to find it on my own.
thats why exploration is ALWAYS your bestfriend in soulsborne games. search every nook and cranny of an area and youll eventually be surprised on what youll find. ive played ds1 in two playthroughs and i never knew about certain hidden bonfires which wouldve made my first playthroughs easier
@@scythepapa8877: Exploration should be such an important part of the Soulsborne experience. Makes me really annoyed whenever I see someone just rushing all the boss fights and ignoring everything else in between. To be clear, it's one thing to play that way in a speedrun, but it should never be considered the most important part of the game. These games have so much to offer beyond just a gauntlet of ever increasingly hard bosses.
Top content as usual, mate. Totally agree RE: map edges in Shrine of Amana. Taking tentative steps in the murky water whilst being shot at by Amana Priestesses and trying to work out, “Does that bit underwater ahead look a tiny bit darker? Is that a map edge or a hallucination brought on by PTSD?” Ah, the memories.
I actually struggled more on sen's. I cleared the catacombs (not tomb of giants) just before Sen's but it still took like 100 attempts even after I had 20 flasks. I did not find the goddam bonfire
It was the last straw for dark souls as a new souls player, I think they put skeletons and the entrance to the hardest area next to the starting area intentionally, miyazaki was super evil for that.
Bloodborne has its fair share of maddening levels, but nothing compares to the Research Hall…and then the Fishing Hamlet in the DLC. Absolutely insane.
I remember my first trip to The Catacombs. I got to the bottom and talked to the Blacksmith. Killed Pinwheel. Couldnt firgure out where i was going in the Tomb of the Giants. Got stuck because i couldnt find my way back out. Then quit that character and started a new guy🤣🤣
DS3 I still think the hardest area is Irithyll Dungeon, only because of the lack of immediate shortcuts and chokepoint at the very end. Ringed City has hard enemies and bad ganks but I also think it’s pretty generous with bonfires? I guess it depends on whether or not it’s your first playthrough also since Ringed City becomes easier if you know where to go whereas Irithyll Dungeon is very hard to just run through
Don't forget one of the most obnoxious enemies in souls history that is the jailers that can remove your health just by looking at you, slowing you down and two or three shotting you with their branding iron. You have giants, rats, skeletal knights, basilisks and monstrosity of sin. Absolutely dreadful.
for DS1, Undead Burg doesn't get talked about enough as a hard beginning area. The first bridge with undead throwing firebombs at you, the room with the shield hollows, the explosive barrel, Taurus Demon, the hellkite drake, the bull, two potential black knight encounters, the first proper buffed up enemies in the hollow knights, or the berenike knight if one is unfortunate enough to go through the church with the wizard spamming spells at the top. And at last, after all that, another bonfire. That whole stretch is just brutal, even if you know kindling and use humanities to get 10 flasks. Even if you unlock the ladder and elevator shortcuts, it's still too long a stretch between the two bonfires when one has barely started getting their bearings on the game.
There's the sunlight altar bonfire right after Taurus demon across the Hellkite bridge, plus a shortcut from Undead burg though, so it isn't too bad once you get that one unlocked
Great list. For DS1 I’d have to go with Anor Londo for 3 reasons. The rafters with the painting guardians, the arrow knights on the roof run, and the boss run back past those darned fatty knights.
I totally agree with the choice of location from the Elden Ring. ^^ After going through the entirety of Consecrated Snowfield and solving the puzzle in Ordina Liturgical Town, the beginning of Haligtree is a reward no player deserves. And it doesn't get any better as you progress down, the only redeeming qualities are Loretta, pretty good loot like Marika's Soreseal or Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, and for me personally, Elphael is a visually stunning location, and unfortunately a very difficult one as well.
The Haligtree and Farum Azula was where Elden Ring finally broke me on my first playthrough, I was already fatigued just wishing the game STOPPED at Leyndell that I was becoming physically naeuseated seeing areas populated with nothing but mini bosses I had fought 40 hours ago with overinflated damage stats. I was so tired of the playthrough that I forsook my favorite aspect of Souls games, *"Exploration"* and I just started blindly sprinting from grace to grace to boss fight, and it only got worse from there with just how awful the endgame bosses were.
5-2 is hell during black world tendency for me. Dark Souls I'd say Oolacile Township, Dark Souls 2 I'd pick the Iron Passage. Bloodborne is Fishing Hamlet. Dark Souls 3 is Ringed City and Elden Ring is the Haligtree.
Iron passage is not hard, it’s meant to be a progression bump for the player. Of you can successfully clear out the way 12 times, the enemies are gone. All soulsgames have this, and it’s annoying, not hard
@tehgokushow7226 Killing them before 12 times is not a walk in the park. Everybody also has different experiences for the games, one might find a place hard while the others not so much. The only place I know where the enemies have no respawn limit is Frigid Outskirts, which can be easily cleared with a heavy weapon like the dragon tooth and the stone ring. Shrine of Amana was terrible for me on my first playthrough but I'm very used to the layout, so can avoid being ganked better.
Great list Billy, I agree with most of your choices. Shout out to Yahar'gul as one of only two locations in souls to make me legitimately rage (the other being Earthen Peak Ruins in DS3).
man i remember the first time i played elden ring, i opened a chest the teleported me to caelid in the mines. thw fuckers took no damage amd i struggled so hard to get out, only to be greeted by a hellish red sky and ghost enemies. good times
abyssal woods was actually my hardest area in elden ring since i can run through everything in all of the other areas/ legacy dungeons but not the abyssal woods because not only it can only be accessable through a very hard catacomb with jori at the end, but also because of the ways you can get lost, the aged ones one shotting most players, and especially the length of the area because torrent can't be summoned due to the frenzied flame burning spirits. along with midra's manse which is pretty tame in comparison but still can demolish you with the horned warrior spirits
i didn't find abyssal woods hard, I just found them annoying and disappointing. there's really nothing to find or explore, and the untouchables being completely invulnerable unless you parry them isn't a cool mechanic, it's honestly just annoying. not to mention the fact that the only way you learn their weakness is by reading a note in Midra's Manse, AFTER you've already gone through the entire area and had to sneak past all the untouchables/winter lanterns
I never found the haligtree to be that bad, even on my first playthrough. For me the hardest was Farum Azula. The lightning spam, the fast enimies and the tanky beasts were enough to be frustrating. Still love the area
I love that your argument for not Tomb of Giants, Sen's fortress and Blighttown is, you've had enough trouble with them that now optimal paths are burned into your mind which to me sounds like they SHOULD be the hardest, not anymore but they def were XD
First hardest Ds1: tomb of giants Ds2: frigid outskirts Ds3: ringed city Bloodborne: fishing hamlet Sekiro: hirata estate Elden ring: shadow keep Second hardest Ds1: blight town Ds2: Brume tower Ds3: lothric castle Bloodborne: spooky woods Sekiro: second ashina castle Elden ring: haligtree Third hardest Ds1: sens fortress Ds2: iron keep Ds3: Farrons keep Bloodboorne: teleported yahargul Sekiro: fountain head place Elden ring: emir elim Ovveral area difficultly ranking Ds1: 9/10 Ds2: 9.5/10 Ds3: 6/10 Bloodborne: 7.5/10 Sekiro 6/10 Elden ring 5/10 ( made this list before watching the video and I’ve only played ds1 and ds2 once and played the others a bit more especially ds3 and Elden ring)
I think the main reason Elden Ring areas can be "easier" is because it's an open world game and most, if not all of the difficult open world enemies can simply be skipped if you don't want to fight them
I’m so sorry billy but It’s been long enough to tell you that you’ve been pronouncing amygdala completely wrong in every video the enemy is mentioned and I feel bad for letting you continue like this, please forgive me 🙏.
HOLY SHIT I've never seen your face before - I promise this is a compliment, I literally squealed with glee that you look so much like Dr Neo Cortex from the Crash Bandicoot series. Like holy shit, actually him in real life. He's probably my favorite character in anything, period. That makes this channel SO MUCH better for me, you have no idea. Keep it going Billy!!!!!
Great list, man! Mostly agree, and although Bloodborne leveles are perfectly balanced, I always have trouble with Nightmare Frontier. It's confusing, and most enemies can mess you up if you're not careful. Also the Winter Lanterns are placed in spots you're already in a disadvantage
Idk, I remember Huntsman's Copse being a lot harder than Shrine of Amana. Those executioner dudes are stupidly strong, and you have to fight all of them on the runback to executioner's chariot. Also fuck that boss.
Some really good choices here! Some unusual picks as well. Here's mine: 01. Shrine Of Storms (4-2): Completely agree with you on this one. In other areas in Demon's Souls, deaths can be mitigated by simply taking your time and playing carefully. Even in the bowels of the Valley Of Defilement. In 4-2, however, you WILL die. You may think you won't, but you WILL. It's a linear, cramped, one way path filled with enemies positioned perfectly to keep you from running straight to the end. Shrine Of Storms is easily my least favorite archstone, and 4-2, my least favorite level in the game. 02. Sen's Fortress: Here's the thing, combat in Dark Souls is for the most part a much more deliberate affair. The design was before the likes of Elden Ring or even Dark Souls 3, where normal enemies have infinite combos where you have to roll like your life depends on it, dancing around duel flaming swords for a full minute before you have a window to attack. It's because of this, that I genuinely believe that most of the areas in the original Dark Souls can be conquered with relative ease simply by coming prepared, and playing defensively. This goes for areas like Blighttown, and the Gravelord's, dark as night bunghole, known as Tomb Of The Giants. Even The Catacombs can become significantly easier if you come equipped with a Divine weapon. Sen's Fortress, on the other hand, has to be learned. No matter how careful you are, any first time player WILL die to it's many traps, multiple times over! I actually really like Sen's Fortress. It's like walking straight into the idiot parade with your head held high and your defensive walls up, thinking you know exactly what to expect and nothing can surprise you. Only for the little bastards to still find sneaky ways to cause you pain! 03. Frigid Outskirts: I know, I know. Not all of us can have a hot take on our list! Though to be fair, Shrine Of Amana is a totally viable pick for hardest area. It takes incredible patience and care to navigate it. Plus, it only takes dying once and the enemies respawning to entirely mess up your tedious progress! That said, I still gotta give it to Reindeer F***land. Honestly, it's as much for the frustration of the experience as it is the difficulty. Which is actually very similar to Shrine Of Amana... 04. Defiled Chalice Dungeon: I totally get that you probably weren't considering the Chalice Dungeons for the list, and that's completely understandable. In terms of sheer difficulty in Bloodborne, however, I don't think it gets much worse than here. I mean, I don't consider Bloodborne to be all that easy on the whole anyway. In fact, I'd argue it's amongst the hardest of the Fromsoft Souls games. But the Defiled Chalice Dungeon takes it to another level, and by the most artificial means possible. It's like, really? Why doesn't Miyazaki just hire some crazy arsehole to find me and chop off one of my thumbs, and then let me try to finish the game.... 05. The Ringed City: After thinking on it, I've come to the conclusion that the Ringed City is as good a choice as any for "hardest" area in Dark Souls 3. In general, there's plenty of tough sections in just about every area of Dark Souls 3, to the point that I'm not sure any one particularly overshadows another. Plus the enemy AI is in general much more dangerous, with the crazy combos and levels of aggression. This does all pretty much culminate with The Ringed City. Those Ringed City Knights being a perfect example of the enemy AI being pushed to deadly levels. In fact, there's actually just a lot of stuff in general that can kill you. Solid choice mate! 06. Ashina Castle: I've only played Sekiro once and while I completed it in two playthroughs, Shura ending and all, I never really got the hang of it. I struggled and powered through it by playing like I was playing Dark Souls. So unfortunately, I don't really feel like I properly conquered the game, which is something I plan to remedy in the future. Because of this, I find it quite hard to pick a definitively "hardest" location. So I'll defer to your choice. One thing I do remember is exactly what you said in this video. Stealth and even just avoidance can trivialize many of the regular enemies. Just play slowly, and methodically. So I guess Ashina Castle is fine choice. It's near the end game, with tougher enemies, and lot's of em'. Ashina Castle will do. 07. Miquella's Haligtree: I haven't played the dlc yet, cause the world is unfair. So yeah, it's this one. Not only does it feature a plethora of difficult enemies, but gravity is virtually guaranteed to cost you multiple deaths. And that's even with treading carefully and taking your time. Then once you climb down to Ephael, you get to look forward to Scarlet Rot, Kindreds Of Rot, and Revenants...both of which are two of THE most aggravating enemies in all of Souls. Your reward at the end is, as you mentioned, getting reamed by Malenia upwards of seventy times while she explains to you why penetration isn't only for gals...
Don't know if youre aware or now Billy, but the guys with humanity heads in the ringed city can be damn near insta killed with a unique plunge attack! Really helpful for that busy staircasee ☺️
Yeah, I knew that ^^ My problem was that due to their AI, they almost never left themselves in a position to where I could plunging attack them, and with just how many of them swarm you the further down the stairs you go, the less feasible the strategy becomes.
All things considered, I agree with Catacombs for DS1, but only if we ignore the route through Blighttown from the Depths that most people take on their first playthrough, especially if they don't know better.
For me personally the Shadow keep proved more difficult than both Enir Ilim and the Haligtree. Maybe it comes down to yet another case of every player struggling with different things because I have not heard that many people talk about it's difficulty. I did visit the area quite early but I still didn't expect to be steamrolled so immensely by the twinblade wielding black knights and especially the fire knights which were difficult but manageable with heavy weapons and completely destructive when I tried to fight them with a lighter one. At least the placement of sites of grace are very very generous and in my second playthrough I struggled a lot less. Though I will never forget how often I died there during my first exploration.
I love your videos, and do watch / listen to them while playing games myself. That said....have you considered doing lists for games outside the soulsborne series? Souls games not created by FromSoft? There are great Souls-Type games out there, like NioH or The Surge with boss fights on par with Fromsoft's. I know you did lists on Lies of P, but I think it would be great to see other Souls-Type games being featured. On a personal note, Dark Souls 3 was my first ever Souls game. The brick wall for me was the second boss (The one after the Tutorial one.....Crystal Dog(?)). Never got past it (Skill Issue)....but it still got me interested in other Soulsborne and Souls-type games. I have all the main Soulsborne games (made by Fromsoft), as well as dozens of Souls-Type games....and enjoy them. I'll get back to DS3, but since I have them all, I'm working on going through them in order. I have far more experience (aka...."Got Gud"), so when I get to that boss again, I know I'll have an easier time. Keep up the excellent lists and such. I also watch a few other Souls-borne creators like Rusty and theDeModcracy.
Cani just say that an idea for community ranking outside of boss difficulty is area difficulty so you can compile all the areas in one vidio mabey just an idea you can first finish up the boss difficulty before the area difficulty
Haven’t played half these games (demon, dark, bloodborn and sekiro) but I will comment on the others. Ds2 is a unique case, because unlike the others, you can systematically clear out the enemies in a given zone. That being said, that shrine I had to systematically clear out to get through it. There was never a change I’d live if I tried to just run through. Ds3 I don’t really find any area difficult anymore, but I fully understand why you placed the ringed city there. My hardest area will still remain irithyl dungeon. Though not really difficult anymore, I still cannot figure how to Prevent that max hp down effect from the jailers. Yes, it’s quite short but I always dread that run. As for Elden ring, I honestly didn’t find any of the dlc areas to be particularly unnecessarily difficult. There are certainly some obnoxious areas like the madness river with the lantern people, and I detest the ruins leading up to the rot boss. While I did struggle a lot in the halagtree, if you take it slowly, you can work your way through eventually, farum azula though, that place always gives me trouble. I play as a mage and those beastmen just close the distance soo quickly that I’m always having to back step, often off ledges.
I'd say Hirata Estate is the most difficult area in Sekiro, simply because there's so many enemies surrounding the drunkard that you have to deal with. Most other levels you can just stealth or run passed the enemies including ashina castle every time you come back there, but Hirata remains an annoying hurdle when you have to deal with the gank squad to progress the level
10:15 This was exactly how I felt about Ringed City and I've end up skipping most of the enemies through entire thing, excluding maybe Dragonslayer Armor. Still for me the most obnoxious area in DS3 was the dungeon with enemies taking away your hp just by looking at you. It was downright insane.
I agree that the Haligtree is the hardest area in Elden Ring, albeit it's one that I'm personally excited to tackle whenever I replay the game. If anything, I actually find the Elphael portion easier than the first half of the dungeon. Granted, that's mainly because I know my way around to where I can avoid the particularly gnarly encounters with ease, so I tend to activate all the checkpoints and then go back to more thoroughly clear out sections as I feel like it.
I wouldn't call it tough, it's just an annoying area. You can parry the winter lanterns to make them vulnerable, but unless you look it up online you don't find that out in game until you've already reached Midra's Manse and gotten past all of them
I was going to say that I am surprised I haven't seen more people mention this one. Probably wouldn't have been good for the video to feature yet another dark underground area.
For me: DeS - Valley of Defilement. Those narrow paths with unblockable goblins... DS1 - Sen's Fortress. Gave me really hard time on my first few playthroughs. DS2 - Frigid. Fucking. Outskirts. DS3 - Archdragon Peak. Somehow always gives me trouble. Sekiro - didn't play ER - Elphael for those five revenant fights in the lower level.
Demon's Souls: 4-2 is correct for all the reasons stated in the video, just horrible! Dark Souls 1: kind of hard to decide with zones like Blighttown being the obvious answer or Lost Izalith with it's stupid boss and stupidly long run back but I think New Londo ruins takes the cake for me with it's equally if not worse run back, precarious ledges and ghosts everywhere and just an overall zone that I dread going to every playthrough. Dark Souls 2: Frigid Outskirts would win if I considered that a real zone but it's just a big icy field full of death reindeer and that's dumb. Iron Keep for me in the main game with its ridiculous amount of enemies that seem to aggro from miles away when you walk over set invisible triggers oh and lava, why not? Dark Souls 3: Maybe Ringed City or Dredge Heap if including the DLCs, if not then idk, Irithyl Dungeon or something maybe. Elden Ring: I guess Haligtree, enough said. Didn't play Bloodborne or Sekiro:
Kudos for not picking blight town. Overhyped area. Finding the "back entrance" is so much easier than finding the depths. At least for me on my first playthrough. Going in through the "back" makes the area disappointingly easy for the reputation that it has.
Normally on regular play through none of the levels are too hard in demon souls, but in a SL1 run, they are some of the hardest in the series. Particularly the first swamp level and the boss run in the final level.
agreed with elden ring location. i went into enir lim expecting a elphael 10x more difficult but was surprised it seems like a cake walk compared to the elphael/haligtree.
Yahar’gul actually kicked my shit in my latest playthrough. The enemy placements are so awful, it just feels like there’s hordes of enemies everywhere.
My personal ranking, assuming you fight and explore at least 80% of each area: Demon's Souls: Island's Edge (4-1) - Them skelly boys, man. And some of the tight paths where you have to fight them don't help either. That said, I personally don't feel any area in this game is notably hard. Dark Souls: Blighttown - Toxic darts + Souls semi-platforming = BS. Still a good area overall, but man was it hard on that first run. Dark Souls 2: Brume Tower - While I think that the area gives the player more tools and options to deal with the ganks than many claim, that doesn't make them easy either. Combine that with Ashen Idols and complex level design and it's pretty easily at the top of the game's difficulty. Bloodborne: Central Yharnam - While a fair bit easier on subsequent runs, that first time is BRUTAL, excessively so seeing as the game doesn't even have a tutorial. Dark Souls 3: Ringed City - The easiest thing about it is the level design. The enemies and bosses, on the other hand, are equipped with the largest strap-on known to man, lined with sand-paper. Like with Brume Tower, good usage of the level design helps deal with most of them in a manageable way, like the staircase section, but that requires creativity, skill, and some trial-and-error. Sekiro: Ashina Castle (+ Reservoir) - Has one of the most brutal line-ups of bosses and mini-bosses... ever. The regular enemy encounters, individually and collectively, strains your reflexes and tactical acumen to the limit, and is probably the most difficult one in the series. Not to mention it changes twice, needing to learn their configurations multiple times. Elden Ring: Miquella's Haligtree - Brutal enemy encounters, very high scaling, and precarious level design. Need I say more.
I think difficulty also depends significantly on when you approach an area and how thoroughly you're exploring it. Ringed City is a bitch because lots of elite enemies but its also postgame dlc when you're all decked out. Trying to 100% Farrum swamp is similarly tricky imo, because you're much weaker and the whole area slows you down and poisons you. Also Elder Ghrus are a menace and there's like 30 Basilisks. Speedrunning Farrum Swamp is easy tho. For Bloodborne I'd have to go with Research Hall, tons of lethal falls plus high enemy density, its one of the only places I use Blue Elixirs. And for Sekiro I'd go with Hirata Estate, specifically the Owl Father version. Starts you off with a Lone Shadow mini-boss that calls in like 12 ninja dogs, rare place with serious environmental hazards (fire) to damage you, lots of elite enemies, including taro troops, shadows and spear monks, plus a gank mini-boss in the Juzo do-over. And Owl Father, who is a pretty tough boss.
I personally struggled much more on the first part of the Haligtree. Those bubble blowing bastatds were definitely the bane of my life for about 4 hours.
I think the hardest area in bloodbourne is the upper cathedral ward near the make contact gesture - those multiple brain suckers are the most annoying + the chilling shriek music.
For Elden ring I agree that it's hard for decent players but for noobies like myself I would put stormveil castle in it's place. The amount of knights that are stronger than you on the side path. The knife birds with exploding barrels and don't forget Godrick with his wind attack and his delayed ones that take 4 business days to land. Either that or raya lucaria with mages and rennala being able to summon, like "I'm the one who can summon, not you"
I probably died more times going from Prayer Room to Elphael Inner Wall than i did with any of the bosses leading up to Malenia. Combined lmao Elphael Inner Wall to Haligtree Roots wasnt too bad, aside from dealing with the Kindred of Rot enemies
honestly my hardest area in ds3 is the dungeon. idk what it is but those Jailers are so annoying since they can bring you to 1 hp which means you'll have to be good to not get hit and then you have the annoying giant as you try to cross and then RATS, and then to top it all off more jailers. i just hate that area so much and I always forget that the statue is right there, and I also forget that theres no ladder at the bonfire before yhorm(unless there is and I've been suffering for playthroughs for no reason)
How? Like I get Catacombs, but true Dark Souls hits are The Depths and New Londo. Also the ritual path is pretty hard but Swamp of Sorrow gives it a run for its money.
I find the Depths relatively easy myself. But I'm in the minority on that one. New Londo, the only real threat aside from knowing to use Transient Curses, is the Ghost House. One threatening moment doesn't really make it the hardest level for me. But I totally see why others feel that way ^^ Swamp of Sorrow... I guess I never actually found it hard? Tedious, but I think I only ever died in that level once? And it was because some enemies killed the shopkeeper.
Currently on my 1st ever DS1 playthrough, almost done with it (stuck on Bed of chaos) catacombs is the one and only part of the entire game that actually got me frustrated to the point of screaming. Rest of it has been a highly enjoyable experience… But that shit right there was *ROUGH*
Im gonna say ringed city before i watch, that tormented me Edit: i didnt know they were getting solit game by game, i rank ds3 ringed city the most frustrating part of any of the games i played. I havent played any souls borne earlier than bloodborne
No cheesing the shrine? Take a bow and poison arrows. Idk if that qualifies as cheesing per se, but you can take everything out from across the map 😁 I no longer have the patience to do it any other way. As for the Haligtree... My god, man. From went all out on that one. An absolute gauntlet of pain that was.
I don't know, in Elphael you can skip pretty much everything. You're forced to face the Horned Warriors in Enir-Ilim, and for the life of me I can't seem to learn their moveset
I don't find the haligtree to be hard at all i probalby died more in redmane castle, i actually think raya lucaria is the hardest if you are low level.
tbh I’d agree with ds2 shrine if you didn’t already mention the DLCs therefore post shrine nerf. but I also can’t really pinpoint a ‘toughest’ area in ds2 as the game is very simple once you get a feel for the mechanics.
Since we're talking about areas, it's interesting how the areas were the main difficulty of the old games whereas the new ones focus more on bossfights being the main difficulty.
I started with Elden Ring and then went back to the first Dark Souls, so that difference was night and day to me.
Elden ring was really annoying with that, just breezing through areas and getting walled by the boss for a while. I think all 3 dark souls games and bloodborne balanced area and boss difficulties well, demons souls was more biased towards areas and sekiro/elden ring more towards bosses.
Absolutely this, and on the whole, I preferred that older approach because it felt like a more overall cohesive experience. The bosses used to be a capstone to the challenge of an area, but now they feel more like an entirely separate challenge unto themselves.
I personally prefer the new approach tho
Exactly, but Sekiro's combat system only works well on bosses where you csn use more tools and skills of your character... Elden ring is just simply tiring. @@jebbushu711
I won't ever forget my first visit to Yahar'gul, before the change. Going down through the workshop thinking I must have found some incredibly secret area... Only to be snatched by the first enemy and find myself in a fucking jail cell which took me hours to escape. God damn it
Which game?
@@hornation Bloodborne
What did they change
@Zeronum2 Yahar’gul changes during the playthrough. You can reach it early via Hypogean Gaol, where it looks rather normal while having a creepy choir, only to turn into a nightmare once you’ve defeated Rom.
@@Phantom17685 woops ty for your explanation. I knew that part i thought they meant the devs patched the game and it was a little different a few years ago. I only started playing way way later so I assumed the OP meant the game was changed sorry about that
I think I had a harder time with the Specimen Storehouse than the Haligtree, just because of the confusing design and those god awful Fire Knights. It’s objectively a really great level though. I love that it all takes place within a single tall spire and that there are so many areas the Shadow Keep/Specimen Storehouse connects to
Those fire knights are easy if you just equip a smithscript shield. That shield is crazy good in both pvp and pve. The enemies will flinch every time it hits them and it interrupts their attacks specially if you catch them while casting a spell. Extremely useful. I got spoiled about throwing weapons and shield in particular so I picked it up and it suited my build pretty well. It requires so little fp and has so much range that if you have the stats for it it can take care or the fire knights on its own. If not just end it with your regular melee weapon when they get close enough.
My butthole was puckered up sneaking through that place lol those fire knights are no joke
The fire knights are a lot easier if you're using a weapon large enough to stagger them on hit
@Cynsham yea staggering them is game changing because they're just way too aggressive otherwise. I would consistently take a ton of damage from them anytime I used lighter weapons and then dust them with a greatsword that could stagger them in one hit
Valid take lol the Storehouse was confusing as fuck
I honestly think Central Yarnham is one of the toughest areas of any Souls game. Absolute baptism of fire in terms of enemy clusters and highly complex exploration. I know so many people who bounced off those two wolves on the bridge. And even the bit right near the start with the townspeople gathered roubd the bonfire is really tough. And then you've got the sewers, the Cleric Beast AND Father Gascoigne - phew! There's nothing easy about it
Bloodborne was my first souls type game and I agree. I was thinking the whole time how tf am I even going to be able to progress if these first enemies are killing me in just a few hits and then you find the trolls, the wolves, the underground lizard-like enemies or Cleric Beast and when you die you go all the way back to the beginning. That area was a lot more challenging that the rest of the game because I just had no clue that I needed to level up, upgrade my weapons or locate the shortcut.
ha those wolves are exactly where i stopped! I beat the first boss first try (did use a buttload of heals, but first try) and then those two wolves just destroyed me over and over and I was like okaaaay
DS1 was my first souls and the only thing I knew about those games were that they’re hard. Not that they’re fair but hard, just that they’re hard. Long story short I didn’t saw the door and went to the tomb of the giants right after the gargoyles just to reach a golden fog gate that tells me I have to go back. I mean nothing seemed wrong to me. It’s the ”hardest game ever made“ so I didn’t mind the difficulty and the boss of the area seemed perfectly balanced for an early game fight. Right at the beginning of my first souls I conquered the hardest and most draining area I’ve ever went through in a video game… twice, because I had to go back up after reaching the bottom. Keep in mind that I just started the game so I didn’t even really knew the controls at that point. It took me about a week but I can’t remember having so much fun going through a souls area ever again. Every inch felt like an accomplishment and I really missed that in all the games after DS2. And I don’t even like DS2 lmao. I also got lucky and earned myself a black knight halbert in the tomb of the giants. So I actually got rewarded with the best weapon in the entire game.
This encounter probably traumatized me in such a way that I actually really love all the other painful and slow areas pretty much everyone hates. From the swamp of sorrow to blind town. I even like Farron Keep because of that. I like areas where you get really anxious about dying. In other areas you respawn and that it just in those you loose so much progress that you’re starting to panic at even the smallest enemy you encounter. It’s pure survival horror and that’s amazing.
@@mt2r-music honestly pretty cool just goes to show how different of an experience different people can have with these games lol
I'm almost certain pinwheel was placed there to make new players think they are on the right track which is diabolical
I had the same experience and totally feel you. Ds1 is still my favourite souls Game🙌🏼
On my first ds1 playthrough I didn't know you can use a lantern, so I finished Tomb of the Giants in the dark, moving inch by inch, and bro it felt like ACCOMPLISHMENT
WAIT, THERE'S A TELEPORTING POOL IN YAHAR'GUL? How have I gone three full playthroughs without ever even seeing this thing, let alone using it? Hell, I'd never even heard of it until this video, and I've been a part of the Souls community for years now. Well, uh...thanks, I guess? If I ever replay Bloodborne again I'll try to find it on my own.
thats why exploration is ALWAYS your bestfriend in soulsborne games. search every nook and cranny of an area and youll eventually be surprised on what youll find. ive played ds1 in two playthroughs and i never knew about certain hidden bonfires which wouldve made my first playthroughs easier
@@scythepapa8877: Exploration should be such an important part of the Soulsborne experience. Makes me really annoyed whenever I see someone just rushing all the boss fights and ignoring everything else in between.
To be clear, it's one thing to play that way in a speedrun, but it should never be considered the most important part of the game. These games have so much to offer beyond just a gauntlet of ever increasingly hard bosses.
Top content as usual, mate. Totally agree RE: map edges in Shrine of Amana. Taking tentative steps in the murky water whilst being shot at by Amana Priestesses and trying to work out, “Does that bit underwater ahead look a tiny bit darker? Is that a map edge or a hallucination brought on by PTSD?” Ah, the memories.
The catacombs for dark souls 1 is a really good pick for it. I hated it on my first play though and dies to patch’s messing with the bridge
I went there wayyy to early in my playthrough just to find out nito was blocked so I had to make my way all the way out of there
I actually struggled more on sen's. I cleared the catacombs (not tomb of giants) just before Sen's but it still took like 100 attempts even after I had 20 flasks. I did not find the goddam bonfire
It was the last straw for dark souls as a new souls player, I think they put skeletons and the entrance to the hardest area next to the starting area intentionally, miyazaki was super evil for that.
That's the reason why I kill Patches on sight, every time, in every game
Bloodborne has its fair share of maddening levels, but nothing compares to the Research Hall…and then the Fishing Hamlet in the DLC. Absolutely insane.
I remember my first trip to The Catacombs. I got to the bottom and talked to the Blacksmith. Killed Pinwheel. Couldnt firgure out where i was going in the Tomb of the Giants. Got stuck because i couldnt find my way back out. Then quit that character and started a new guy🤣🤣
DS3 I still think the hardest area is Irithyll Dungeon, only because of the lack of immediate shortcuts and chokepoint at the very end. Ringed City has hard enemies and bad ganks but I also think it’s pretty generous with bonfires? I guess it depends on whether or not it’s your first playthrough also since Ringed City becomes easier if you know where to go whereas Irithyll Dungeon is very hard to just run through
Oh FIVE mimics in Irithyll dungeon drove me craaaazy i almost lost my mind
This location is cursed
Don't forget one of the most obnoxious enemies in souls history that is the jailers that can remove your health just by looking at you, slowing you down and two or three shotting you with their branding iron. You have giants, rats, skeletal knights, basilisks and monstrosity of sin. Absolutely dreadful.
for DS1, Undead Burg doesn't get talked about enough as a hard beginning area.
The first bridge with undead throwing firebombs at you, the room with the shield hollows, the explosive barrel, Taurus Demon, the hellkite drake, the bull, two potential black knight encounters, the first proper buffed up enemies in the hollow knights, or the berenike knight if one is unfortunate enough to go through the church with the wizard spamming spells at the top.
And at last, after all that, another bonfire.
That whole stretch is just brutal, even if you know kindling and use humanities to get 10 flasks. Even if you unlock the ladder and elevator shortcuts, it's still too long a stretch between the two bonfires when one has barely started getting their bearings on the game.
There's the sunlight altar bonfire right after Taurus demon across the Hellkite bridge, plus a shortcut from Undead burg though, so it isn't too bad once you get that one unlocked
Burg is laughably easy compared to ds2 early game with its hollowing+durability mechanics and high wall of lothric
Great list. For DS1 I’d have to go with Anor Londo for 3 reasons. The rafters with the painting guardians, the arrow knights on the roof run, and the boss run back past those darned fatty knights.
I totally agree with the choice of location from the Elden Ring. ^^
After going through the entirety of Consecrated Snowfield and solving the puzzle in Ordina Liturgical Town, the beginning of Haligtree is a reward no player deserves. And it doesn't get any better as you progress down, the only redeeming qualities are Loretta, pretty good loot like Marika's Soreseal or Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, and for me personally, Elphael is a visually stunning location, and unfortunately a very difficult one as well.
That place was soooo rough.
The Haligtree and Farum Azula was where Elden Ring finally broke me on my first playthrough, I was already fatigued just wishing the game STOPPED at Leyndell that I was becoming physically naeuseated seeing areas populated with nothing but mini bosses I had fought 40 hours ago with overinflated damage stats. I was so tired of the playthrough that I forsook my favorite aspect of Souls games, *"Exploration"*
and I just started blindly sprinting from grace to grace to boss fight, and it only got worse from there with just how awful the endgame bosses were.
Its much easier with a fantastic greatbow, hit everything once and they simply fall off the branches making it if anything super easy
Haligtree is definitely an area that I don't enjoy going to
ER: Stormveil castle. Birds. DS1: Anor Londo. Archers. Sekiro: Fountainhead palace. Elders
ER: Birds, and those whirlwind knights. Ugh
Lies of P- feeling good in the background was a nice touch
3:55 Good one. Safety of peanweels bossfight🤣
5-2 is hell during black world tendency for me. Dark Souls I'd say Oolacile Township, Dark Souls 2 I'd pick the Iron Passage. Bloodborne is Fishing Hamlet. Dark Souls 3 is Ringed City and Elden Ring is the Haligtree.
Iron passage is not hard, it’s meant to be a progression bump for the player. Of you can successfully clear out the way 12 times, the enemies are gone. All soulsgames have this, and it’s annoying, not hard
@tehgokushow7226 Killing them before 12 times is not a walk in the park. Everybody also has different experiences for the games, one might find a place hard while the others not so much. The only place I know where the enemies have no respawn limit is Frigid Outskirts, which can be easily cleared with a heavy weapon like the dragon tooth and the stone ring. Shrine of Amana was terrible for me on my first playthrough but I'm very used to the layout, so can avoid being ganked better.
@@KeyrunBenji nobody said it was a walk in the park, i said IF you manage to clear the enemies 12 times, they won’t respawn. FFS
@tehgokushow7226 Why are you so angry?
I've noticed as the games progress, the bosses get harder whereas the levels get easier.
Great list Billy, I agree with most of your choices. Shout out to Yahar'gul as one of only two locations in souls to make me legitimately rage (the other being Earthen Peak Ruins in DS3).
man i remember the first time i played elden ring, i opened a chest the teleported me to caelid in the mines. thw fuckers took no damage amd i struggled so hard to get out, only to be greeted by a hellish red sky and ghost enemies. good times
abyssal woods was actually my hardest area in elden ring since i can run through everything in all of the other areas/ legacy dungeons but not the abyssal woods because not only it can only be accessable through a very hard catacomb with jori at the end, but also because of the ways you can get lost, the aged ones one shotting most players, and especially the length of the area because torrent can't be summoned due to the frenzied flame burning spirits. along with midra's manse which is pretty tame in comparison but still can demolish you with the horned warrior spirits
i didn't find abyssal woods hard, I just found them annoying and disappointing. there's really nothing to find or explore, and the untouchables being completely invulnerable unless you parry them isn't a cool mechanic, it's honestly just annoying. not to mention the fact that the only way you learn their weakness is by reading a note in Midra's Manse, AFTER you've already gone through the entire area and had to sneak past all the untouchables/winter lanterns
research hall is way more difficult than gabagool
Absolutely
Your videos always slap, so glad to be here mate
While I'm burnt out on Souls games; I'll never get burnt out on listening to Billy S talk about Souls games.
Dude, I love how you played "Feel" during that section you were talking. Instant classic!
I never found the haligtree to be that bad, even on my first playthrough. For me the hardest was Farum Azula. The lightning spam, the fast enimies and the tanky beasts were enough to be frustrating. Still love the area
I love that your argument for not Tomb of Giants, Sen's fortress and Blighttown is, you've had enough trouble with them that now optimal paths are burned into your mind
which to me sounds like they SHOULD be the hardest, not anymore but they def were XD
First hardest
Ds1: tomb of giants
Ds2: frigid outskirts
Ds3: ringed city
Bloodborne: fishing hamlet
Sekiro: hirata estate
Elden ring: shadow keep
Second hardest
Ds1: blight town
Ds2: Brume tower
Ds3: lothric castle
Bloodborne: spooky woods
Sekiro: second ashina castle
Elden ring: haligtree
Third hardest
Ds1: sens fortress
Ds2: iron keep
Ds3: Farrons keep
Bloodboorne: teleported yahargul
Sekiro: fountain head place
Elden ring: emir elim
Ovveral area difficultly ranking
Ds1: 9/10
Ds2: 9.5/10
Ds3: 6/10
Bloodborne: 7.5/10
Sekiro 6/10
Elden ring 5/10
( made this list before watching the video and I’ve only played ds1 and ds2 once and played the others a bit more especially ds3 and Elden ring)
Overall difficulty ranking doesn't make sense
I think the main reason Elden Ring areas can be "easier" is because it's an open world game and most, if not all of the difficult open world enemies can simply be skipped if you don't want to fight them
Shrine of Amana was rough, especially if you get invaded
I’m so sorry billy but It’s been long enough to tell you that you’ve been pronouncing amygdala completely wrong in every video the enemy is mentioned and I feel bad for letting you continue like this, please forgive me 🙏.
Patches pronounces it that way
@MrLabpro patches is a stinky loser who pronounces amygdala wrong and misinforms people who have never heard the word before
Amig-dala (like the d sound dahlia but no I) 😅 amygdala like the brain part. Potato potahto
Almond all-mahnd
Literally how it's pronounced in game
HOLY SHIT I've never seen your face before - I promise this is a compliment, I literally squealed with glee that you look so much like Dr Neo Cortex from the Crash Bandicoot series. Like holy shit, actually him in real life. He's probably my favorite character in anything, period. That makes this channel SO MUCH better for me, you have no idea. Keep it going Billy!!!!!
Great list, man! Mostly agree, and although Bloodborne leveles are perfectly balanced, I always have trouble with Nightmare Frontier. It's confusing, and most enemies can mess you up if you're not careful. Also the Winter Lanterns are placed in spots you're already in a disadvantage
Idk, I remember Huntsman's Copse being a lot harder than Shrine of Amana. Those executioner dudes are stupidly strong, and you have to fight all of them on the runback to executioner's chariot. Also fuck that boss.
Some really good choices here! Some unusual picks as well. Here's mine:
01. Shrine Of Storms (4-2):
Completely agree with you on this one. In other areas in Demon's Souls, deaths can be mitigated by simply taking your time and playing carefully. Even in the bowels of the Valley Of Defilement. In 4-2, however, you WILL die. You may think you won't, but you WILL. It's a linear, cramped, one way path filled with enemies positioned perfectly to keep you from running straight to the end. Shrine Of Storms is easily my least favorite archstone, and 4-2, my least favorite level in the game.
02. Sen's Fortress:
Here's the thing, combat in Dark Souls is for the most part a much more deliberate affair. The design was before the likes of Elden Ring or even Dark Souls 3, where normal enemies have infinite combos where you have to roll like your life depends on it, dancing around duel flaming swords for a full minute before you have a window to attack. It's because of this, that I genuinely believe that most of the areas in the original Dark Souls can be conquered with relative ease simply by coming prepared, and playing defensively. This goes for areas like Blighttown, and the Gravelord's, dark as night bunghole, known as Tomb Of The Giants. Even The Catacombs can become significantly easier if you come equipped with a Divine weapon. Sen's Fortress, on the other hand, has to be learned. No matter how careful you are, any first time player WILL die to it's many traps, multiple times over! I actually really like Sen's Fortress. It's like walking straight into the idiot parade with your head held high and your defensive walls up, thinking you know exactly what to expect and nothing can surprise you. Only for the little bastards to still find sneaky ways to cause you pain!
03. Frigid Outskirts:
I know, I know. Not all of us can have a hot take on our list! Though to be fair, Shrine Of Amana is a totally viable pick for hardest area. It takes incredible patience and care to navigate it. Plus, it only takes dying once and the enemies respawning to entirely mess up your tedious progress! That said, I still gotta give it to Reindeer F***land. Honestly, it's as much for the frustration of the experience as it is the difficulty. Which is actually very similar to Shrine Of Amana...
04. Defiled Chalice Dungeon:
I totally get that you probably weren't considering the Chalice Dungeons for the list, and that's completely understandable. In terms of sheer difficulty in Bloodborne, however, I don't think it gets much worse than here. I mean, I don't consider Bloodborne to be all that easy on the whole anyway. In fact, I'd argue it's amongst the hardest of the Fromsoft Souls games. But the Defiled Chalice Dungeon takes it to another level, and by the most artificial means possible. It's like, really? Why doesn't Miyazaki just hire some crazy arsehole to find me and chop off one of my thumbs, and then let me try to finish the game....
05. The Ringed City:
After thinking on it, I've come to the conclusion that the Ringed City is as good a choice as any for "hardest" area in Dark Souls 3. In general, there's plenty of tough sections in just about every area of Dark Souls 3, to the point that I'm not sure any one particularly overshadows another. Plus the enemy AI is in general much more dangerous, with the crazy combos and levels of aggression. This does all pretty much culminate with The Ringed City. Those Ringed City Knights being a perfect example of the enemy AI being pushed to deadly levels. In fact, there's actually just a lot of stuff in general that can kill you. Solid choice mate!
06. Ashina Castle:
I've only played Sekiro once and while I completed it in two playthroughs, Shura ending and all, I never really got the hang of it. I struggled and powered through it by playing like I was playing Dark Souls. So unfortunately, I don't really feel like I properly conquered the game, which is something I plan to remedy in the future. Because of this, I find it quite hard to pick a definitively "hardest" location. So I'll defer to your choice. One thing I do remember is exactly what you said in this video. Stealth and even just avoidance can trivialize many of the regular enemies. Just play slowly, and methodically. So I guess Ashina Castle is fine choice. It's near the end game, with tougher enemies, and lot's of em'. Ashina Castle will do.
07. Miquella's Haligtree:
I haven't played the dlc yet, cause the world is unfair. So yeah, it's this one. Not only does it feature a plethora of difficult enemies, but gravity is virtually guaranteed to cost you multiple deaths. And that's even with treading carefully and taking your time. Then once you climb down to Ephael, you get to look forward to Scarlet Rot, Kindreds Of Rot, and Revenants...both of which are two of THE most aggravating enemies in all of Souls. Your reward at the end is, as you mentioned, getting reamed by Malenia upwards of seventy times while she explains to you why penetration isn't only for gals...
That area in Fountainhead across the water with the platforms and tons of high level enemies on the way to the Sakura tree is pretty brutal!
5-1 is the hardest in Demon's Souls, and the boss literally doesn't attack there..
When the ministry attacks, Ashana castle it’s literally no joke you have run for your life
Great video topic
Don't know if youre aware or now Billy, but the guys with humanity heads in the ringed city can be damn near insta killed with a unique plunge attack! Really helpful for that busy staircasee ☺️
Yeah, I knew that ^^ My problem was that due to their AI, they almost never left themselves in a position to where I could plunging attack them, and with just how many of them swarm you the further down the stairs you go, the less feasible the strategy becomes.
All things considered, I agree with Catacombs for DS1, but only if we ignore the route through Blighttown from the Depths that most people take on their first playthrough, especially if they don't know better.
Blighttown has inflicted generational trauma on souls players
For me personally the Shadow keep proved more difficult than both Enir Ilim and the Haligtree.
Maybe it comes down to yet another case of every player struggling with different things because I have not heard that many people talk about it's difficulty.
I did visit the area quite early but I still didn't expect to be steamrolled so immensely by the twinblade wielding black knights and especially the fire knights which were difficult but manageable with heavy weapons and completely destructive when I tried to fight them with a lighter one.
At least the placement of sites of grace are very very generous and in my second playthrough I struggled a lot less.
Though I will never forget how often I died there during my first exploration.
In Elden Ring, for me its goddamn Farum Azula. Unfair boss battle with Godskin Duo rest in my memory forever.
“The safety of pinwheels bossfight” lmao
Demon Souls 4-2 is what's stopping me from replaying the game. Just thinking about the area exhausts me.
I love your videos, and do watch / listen to them while playing games myself. That said....have you considered doing lists for games outside the soulsborne series? Souls games not created by FromSoft? There are great Souls-Type games out there, like NioH or The Surge with boss fights on par with Fromsoft's. I know you did lists on Lies of P, but I think it would be great to see other Souls-Type games being featured.
On a personal note, Dark Souls 3 was my first ever Souls game. The brick wall for me was the second boss (The one after the Tutorial one.....Crystal Dog(?)). Never got past it (Skill Issue)....but it still got me interested in other Soulsborne and Souls-type games. I have all the main Soulsborne games (made by Fromsoft), as well as dozens of Souls-Type games....and enjoy them. I'll get back to DS3, but since I have them all, I'm working on going through them in order. I have far more experience (aka...."Got Gud"), so when I get to that boss again, I know I'll have an easier time.
Keep up the excellent lists and such. I also watch a few other Souls-borne creators like Rusty and theDeModcracy.
Love how u put that lies of p track in there. The music in that game is way too good
Cani just say that an idea for community ranking outside of boss difficulty is area difficulty so you can compile all the areas in one vidio mabey just an idea you can first finish up the boss difficulty before the area difficulty
Lettarly secends leter when i watch the vidio you mention the area ranling
Haven’t played half these games (demon, dark, bloodborn and sekiro) but I will comment on the others. Ds2 is a unique case, because unlike the others, you can systematically clear out the enemies in a given zone. That being said, that shrine I had to systematically clear out to get through it. There was never a change I’d live if I tried to just run through.
Ds3 I don’t really find any area difficult anymore, but I fully understand why you placed the ringed city there. My hardest area will still remain irithyl dungeon. Though not really difficult anymore, I still cannot figure how to
Prevent that max hp down effect from the jailers. Yes, it’s quite short but I always dread that run.
As for Elden ring, I honestly didn’t find any of the dlc areas to be particularly unnecessarily difficult. There are certainly some obnoxious areas like the madness river with the lantern people, and I detest the ruins leading up to the rot boss. While I did struggle a lot in the halagtree, if you take it slowly, you can work your way through eventually, farum azula though, that place always gives me trouble. I play as a mage and those beastmen just close the distance soo quickly that I’m always having to back step, often off ledges.
I'd say Hirata Estate is the most difficult area in Sekiro, simply because there's so many enemies surrounding the drunkard that you have to deal with. Most other levels you can just stealth or run passed the enemies including ashina castle every time you come back there, but Hirata remains an annoying hurdle when you have to deal with the gank squad to progress the level
10:15 This was exactly how I felt about Ringed City and I've end up skipping most of the enemies through entire thing, excluding maybe Dragonslayer Armor. Still for me the most obnoxious area in DS3 was the dungeon with enemies taking away your hp just by looking at you. It was downright insane.
I agree that the Haligtree is the hardest area in Elden Ring, albeit it's one that I'm personally excited to tackle whenever I replay the game. If anything, I actually find the Elphael portion easier than the first half of the dungeon. Granted, that's mainly because I know my way around to where I can avoid the particularly gnarly encounters with ease, so I tend to activate all the checkpoints and then go back to more thoroughly clear out sections as I feel like it.
The ringed city has to be the highest peak of any fromsoft area in terms of difficulty easily, the amount of tough enemies is just insane
Shout out to the Lies of P OST in the background, beautiful beautiful song
Best npcs or npc questlines next? Or maybe a poison swamp ranking
7:08 blasted 😂
Use a bow for shrine of amana. It's not that hard like that. Don't just rush through it.
Sen’s Fortress and Tomb of Giants on a blind play-through were rough back in 2012. Especially being my first Souls game.
These lists are always tough to make. Especially when your skill that you remember for your first games is far worse than your 4th or 5th souls game.
I FKN love your content bro
I think the Abyssal woods was an insanely tough area because of the unkillable enemies chasing you through the area
you can kill them by parrying their harry potter wand grab attacks but the timing is kinda wank.
Literally the worst area in a Soulsborne game. From went too far there.
I wouldn't call it tough, it's just an annoying area. You can parry the winter lanterns to make them vulnerable, but unless you look it up online you don't find that out in game until you've already reached Midra's Manse and gotten past all of them
Shunning grounds from Elden Ring are harder than Haligtree to be honest.
I was going to say that I am surprised I haven't seen more people mention this one. Probably wouldn't have been good for the video to feature yet another dark underground area.
For me:
DeS - Valley of Defilement. Those narrow paths with unblockable goblins...
DS1 - Sen's Fortress. Gave me really hard time on my first few playthroughs.
DS2 - Frigid. Fucking. Outskirts.
DS3 - Archdragon Peak. Somehow always gives me trouble.
Sekiro - didn't play
ER - Elphael for those five revenant fights in the lower level.
Ringed City DLC is hard enough by itself made nearly impossible if you play with a friend because Invaders in this area are soulless.
Demon's Souls: 4-2 is correct for all the reasons stated in the video, just horrible!
Dark Souls 1: kind of hard to decide with zones like Blighttown being the obvious answer or Lost Izalith with it's stupid boss and stupidly long run back but I think New Londo ruins takes the cake for me with it's equally if not worse run back, precarious ledges and ghosts everywhere and just an overall zone that I dread going to every playthrough.
Dark Souls 2: Frigid Outskirts would win if I considered that a real zone but it's just a big icy field full of death reindeer and that's dumb. Iron Keep for me in the main game with its ridiculous amount of enemies that seem to aggro from miles away when you walk over set invisible triggers oh and lava, why not?
Dark Souls 3: Maybe Ringed City or Dredge Heap if including the DLCs, if not then idk, Irithyl Dungeon or something maybe.
Elden Ring: I guess Haligtree, enough said.
Didn't play Bloodborne or Sekiro:
Shrine of Amana can be cheesed. Just takes forever. Fight each enemy, one at a time, until they stop respawning. Same for any DS2 area.
Kudos for not picking blight town. Overhyped area. Finding the "back entrance" is so much easier than finding the depths. At least for me on my first playthrough. Going in through the "back" makes the area disappointingly easy for the reputation that it has.
for ds3, I think its either the irithyll dungeon or the catacombs after abyss watchers because I always get lost
I like the lies of p soundtrack in the background
Normally on regular play through none of the levels are too hard in demon souls, but in a SL1 run, they are some of the hardest in the series. Particularly the first swamp level and the boss run in the final level.
agreed with elden ring location. i went into enir lim expecting a elphael 10x more difficult but was surprised it seems like a cake walk compared to the elphael/haligtree.
I agree with all of your picks
Yahar’gul actually kicked my shit in my latest playthrough. The enemy placements are so awful, it just feels like there’s hordes of enemies everywhere.
Yea that level has almost no breathing room
Catacombs… I have trauma from that place.
My personal ranking, assuming you fight and explore at least 80% of each area:
Demon's Souls: Island's Edge (4-1) - Them skelly boys, man. And some of the tight paths where you have to fight them don't help either. That said, I personally don't feel any area in this game is notably hard.
Dark Souls: Blighttown - Toxic darts + Souls semi-platforming = BS. Still a good area overall, but man was it hard on that first run.
Dark Souls 2: Brume Tower - While I think that the area gives the player more tools and options to deal with the ganks than many claim, that doesn't make them easy either. Combine that with Ashen Idols and complex level design and it's pretty easily at the top of the game's difficulty.
Bloodborne: Central Yharnam - While a fair bit easier on subsequent runs, that first time is BRUTAL, excessively so seeing as the game doesn't even have a tutorial.
Dark Souls 3: Ringed City - The easiest thing about it is the level design. The enemies and bosses, on the other hand, are equipped with the largest strap-on known to man, lined with sand-paper. Like with Brume Tower, good usage of the level design helps deal with most of them in a manageable way, like the staircase section, but that requires creativity, skill, and some trial-and-error.
Sekiro: Ashina Castle (+ Reservoir) - Has one of the most brutal line-ups of bosses and mini-bosses... ever. The regular enemy encounters, individually and collectively, strains your reflexes and tactical acumen to the limit, and is probably the most difficult one in the series. Not to mention it changes twice, needing to learn their configurations multiple times.
Elden Ring: Miquella's Haligtree - Brutal enemy encounters, very high scaling, and precarious level design. Need I say more.
Good list! I would have swamp of sorrows and fountainhead instead tho but love the vid! And those enemies in Enir illum can fuck right off the bat
Ahhh shrine of amana, almost made me throw my controller through the wall lmao
I think difficulty also depends significantly on when you approach an area and how thoroughly you're exploring it. Ringed City is a bitch because lots of elite enemies but its also postgame dlc when you're all decked out. Trying to 100% Farrum swamp is similarly tricky imo, because you're much weaker and the whole area slows you down and poisons you. Also Elder Ghrus are a menace and there's like 30 Basilisks. Speedrunning Farrum Swamp is easy tho.
For Bloodborne I'd have to go with Research Hall, tons of lethal falls plus high enemy density, its one of the only places I use Blue Elixirs.
And for Sekiro I'd go with Hirata Estate, specifically the Owl Father version. Starts you off with a Lone Shadow mini-boss that calls in like 12 ninja dogs, rare place with serious environmental hazards (fire) to damage you, lots of elite enemies, including taro troops, shadows and spear monks, plus a gank mini-boss in the Juzo do-over. And Owl Father, who is a pretty tough boss.
In DS3, Ringed City is the hardest but Irithyll Dungeon is by far the most annoying lol
I personally struggled much more on the first part of the Haligtree. Those bubble blowing bastatds were definitely the bane of my life for about 4 hours.
No argument I agree with the Haligtree. So big and such a variety of enemies along with the 2nd hardest Souls boss all time.
I think the hardest area in bloodbourne is the upper cathedral ward near the make contact gesture - those multiple brain suckers are the most annoying + the chilling shriek music.
Just visited Shrine of Amana for the first time just a few hours ago.
the lone shadows become really easy i found once you learn their attacks
For Elden ring I agree that it's hard for decent players but for noobies like myself I would put stormveil castle in it's place. The amount of knights that are stronger than you on the side path. The knife birds with exploding barrels and don't forget Godrick with his wind attack and his delayed ones that take 4 business days to land. Either that or raya lucaria with mages and rennala being able to summon, like "I'm the one who can summon, not you"
I probably died more times going from Prayer Room to Elphael Inner Wall than i did with any of the bosses leading up to Malenia. Combined lmao
Elphael Inner Wall to Haligtree Roots wasnt too bad, aside from dealing with the Kindred of Rot enemies
honestly my hardest area in ds3 is the dungeon. idk what it is but those Jailers are so annoying since they can bring you to 1 hp which means you'll have to be good to not get hit and then you have the annoying giant as you try to cross and then RATS, and then to top it all off more jailers. i just hate that area so much and I always forget that the statue is right there, and I also forget that theres no ladder at the bonfire before yhorm(unless there is and I've been suffering for playthroughs for no reason)
Im going through the ritual path right now in demon's souls and I've let the world tendency fall into pure black, so I have to admit, I'm stuck.
9:52 WITH A HAIL OF HARPOONS
How? Like I get Catacombs, but true Dark Souls hits are The Depths and New Londo. Also the ritual path is pretty hard but Swamp of Sorrow gives it a run for its money.
I find the Depths relatively easy myself. But I'm in the minority on that one. New Londo, the only real threat aside from knowing to use Transient Curses, is the Ghost House. One threatening moment doesn't really make it the hardest level for me. But I totally see why others feel that way ^^
Swamp of Sorrow... I guess I never actually found it hard? Tedious, but I think I only ever died in that level once? And it was because some enemies killed the shopkeeper.
Currently on my 1st ever DS1 playthrough, almost done with it (stuck on Bed of chaos) catacombs is the one and only part of the entire game that actually got me frustrated to the point of screaming. Rest of it has been a highly enjoyable experience… But that shit right there was *ROUGH*
Iron keep nr1
Im gonna say ringed city before i watch, that tormented me
Edit: i didnt know they were getting solit game by game, i rank ds3 ringed city the most frustrating part of any of the games i played. I havent played any souls borne earlier than bloodborne
No cheesing the shrine? Take a bow and poison arrows. Idk if that qualifies as cheesing per se, but you can take everything out from across the map 😁 I no longer have the patience to do it any other way.
As for the Haligtree... My god, man. From went all out on that one. An absolute gauntlet of pain that was.
I feel like this guy would get more subs if he spoke like a real human
I don't know, in Elphael you can skip pretty much everything. You're forced to face the Horned Warriors in Enir-Ilim, and for the life of me I can't seem to learn their moveset
Miquella's Haligtree is harder than I realized, goddamn.
That outro music from Xenoblade 3 😍
I don't find the haligtree to be hard at all i probalby died more in redmane castle, i actually think raya lucaria is the hardest if you are low level.
tbh I’d agree with ds2 shrine if you didn’t already mention the DLCs therefore post shrine nerf. but I also can’t really pinpoint a ‘toughest’ area in ds2 as the game is very simple once you get a feel for the mechanics.