“Ok, now I figured out the pattern, I know what this fucker is gonna do, this’ll be a piece of cake!”
Proceed to get murdered in half the time.
This is genuinely why i don’t like souls likes. I can be good. I can learn a lot. But ultimately, it’s this cycle almost every single boss. Almost win first time, then get murdered two or three time while you learn the pattern. Then when you think you’ve got it they throw out a modified version of a move that your used to avoiding but has something extra on it. And then the other half of the time I get killed by something that’s not technically random bullshit but feels like bullshit. And i just hate that gameplay loop. Nothing wrong with the game i just dont enjoy its core loop lol
I wonder if they program them to appear easier the first time, but still programmed to kill you before they die. I’ve seen a lot of games being developed where the developers talk about doing shit like this to “enhance” the experience.
One that really stood out to me was health bars in the red when you were still at 40% health.
Everything is deception.
A lot of the dark souls bosses have some cutscenes or intros the first time that position them and the player somewhere different than when you return through the fog wall for round 2.
Since most of the bosses act on your position, just that difference can make round 2 feel way different.
That may play a part but I think it’s more so everyone plays more patient and cautiously in the first encounter and that is kind of the style of play that Dark Souls requires. The second time around we get more impatient and aggressive and get punished hard for it.
Most fights are easier when you’re more aggressive imo, the issue is at first go I just frantically dodge roll from everything that looks like an attack while afterwards I don’t thinking I’m out of range while I’m not. There are also the attacks that only trigger if you get close enough or in other specific situations that get you once you think you know the moveset
No I don’t think so, this is something ive experienced in many games since I was little. My theory is this, you get into a boss battle, you don’t know what’s happening, you’re acting on instinct, then you get to a tricky last part and die.
You load back up, you’re still full of adrenaline, you’re reeling from what happened. Your lizard brain is fighting with your human brain in a battle of control vs strategy and you’re overthinking tactics, which dont mesh well with the beginning part of the fight.
You continue this cycle a few more times until you can finally just do the first part on pure practice and focus the actual strategy on the last part. A few more deaths there to apply it correctly and youve beaten the boss
I just lean into it at this point. Round 1 is for getting a feel for the fight. Rounds 2-58 are for trying stuff out to see what works and where I should be aggressive vs cautious.
This is such a well-known phenomenon that it needs to be seriously studied somehow.
It’s the bell curve.
To a certain extent not knowing what you’re doing can be helpful. It makes you unpredictable. The second time you know what to expect so you’re actually strategizing instead of acting on instinct.
I’ve definitely noticed in myself that sometimes I get into a groove where I don’t really even think about what I’m doing, just reacting to each thing the boss does as it happens and somehow not thinking real hard about it improves performance.
Japanese martial arts practitioners can spend years achieving that state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushin_(mental_state)
Hilarious. I thought I was the only one.
Margit, super close my first time. Then failing six times. Then succeeding. Then trash talking.
