Darksouls world

I was struggling so much in the beginning, even before the first boss. But when I learned that Dark Souls is a game of patience (block/dodge, attack, repeat) it clicked for me. The first real challenge after that where the two Gargoyles. After beating them I knew that I could beat the whole game. That boss simply is a DPS check and if you pass it the rest of the game should be manageable.

The only boss I struggled with after that (ignoring DLC) was the four kings, which simply is an upgraded DPS check. Solved it by upgrading my weapon and using paper. But only after many tries of trying to brute force my way through.

I was exposed to the game via a lets-play by MFPallytime. Figured I'd never play such hard games, so I watched a stream. They tutorialed a LOT of cheese for the game, speedrunning the whole thing in a couple hours with very noob friendly strats.

I saw it and thought I could do it too - and I've since gotten much better! Sure, I used an AI glitch to beat the Torus demon the first time, but now I can beat them game with the more 'intended' routes. Beat Elden Ring without any spoilers at all, proud of how I've grown.

I only have Gwyn to beat for my first play through, and still haven't realised it.

I first tried DS1 a few months after it launched, around the end of 2011, and I got completely stuck against O&S despite throwing myself against the fight for hours. I had no idea about stats or scaling when I started, and felt like I had irreparably messed up my character. I'm sure it was fine, but I restarted from scratch after taking a small break. Running back through the early game and having a much smoother time fired me up for the rematch. Suddenly the game clicked, and the realisation of how far I'd come since first starting pushed me to keep going.

When I saw how much worse Asmingold was playing than me and still making progress 😂