Soulsborne/Sekiro type action games. Why am I perma stuck in can't git gud mode?

I know the short answer is that patience is not one of my virtues, but it still stings. I have been trying to git gud ever since the original Demons Souls on PS3, but eventually the stress of repeated deaths just saps all of my energy.

I am not going to post something stupid like "game needs difficulty settings" because too many people in the past have said that online just to troll. Even if I am not a troll, I am never going to make that request.

So one of two things usually happens. I engage in Jolly Cooperation, only to get full carried by someone who did git gud, but I still fail at environment deaths, or don't and wonder how I even made it to the bottom of blighttown in DS1. *When going solo, I always fail starting at Sens "funhouse"

This is the same for all soulslikes.

Only souls like I beat was Code Vein.

Can't beat the last 3 bosses of AI Limit

Stellar Blade is more like Sekiro, but the only reason why I beat SB is because of difficulty settings and other things like skill trees and equipment bonuses in SB that makes parry and dodge timing sinfully easy.


I love certain mechanics from these games (bonfire level up build locations, lore, atmosphere, settings) but everything else is soul crushing. Should I stop so I do not go gray haired before my time?

Feel free to roast me for being a bad gamer, because it is true.
 
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Well maybe change the way you approach this games ? Some people will have a heart attack for me saying this but.

Use guides! Fextralife has all guides for the main souls.. it wont help you get good.. but will help you choose classes, upgrade paths, builds, weapon upgrades, where to find itens and how to follow the "easier" and more natural paths in the story/game, it will make encounters less surprising and give you tips for how to approach them. In the end you will have to beat it but it will give the right direction.

And dont use too many summons and coop... try going solo until you learn.. and shut online off so you dont get invaded and become even more frustraded.

And dont mind diyng and loosing souls. One thing is this.. try to recover your souls but if you loose them fuck it! Dont go crazy! Just farm what you lost! And move on

Purists dont @me.
 
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For environment you just need to be careful until you build the confidence and awareness to know when to be aggressive and when to take things slow. The same can be said about boss fights. It's knowing when to block, parry, or dodge and when the boss opens up for attacks. With some of the parry heavy games (e.g. Sekiro and Khazan) the parry timing is often rhythmic, and you can count out when to tap the parry button. It's a matter of figuring out what the count cadence is for each enemy and move set they are using at that specific point in the fight.

Each game handles dodge and parry timing differently, so it's a matter of getting used to it for each game. I am generally pretty good at these games, but have to retrain myself for a few hours when I hop from one title to the next.

Example: 1 and a 2 and a 3 4 5
 
Sometimes it feels like you are bashing your head against the wall but really you need to just try to treat death not as defeat but a learning opportunity. All these games come down to pattern recognition. once you recognize the pattern you just need to execute it.
 
Oh I would play in this order

Demons souls - DS 1 - DS3 - SEKIRO.

sekiro is definitely the hardest and should be approached later.

Then you can play DS2 for fun but is not awsome like all the others

And last you can play the dogshit openworld one.

The best one is BLOODBORNE but just wait for the remake at this point.
 
I'm an extremely anxious person to the point it has badly affected my life in so many ways... The thing I did was to STFU and start feeling the rhythm, it literally is the only way, that also helped control my anxiety a little, no kidding...
 
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Oh I would play in this order

Demons souls - DS 1 - DS3 - SEKIRO.

sekiro is definitely the hardest and should be approached later.

Then you can play DS2 for fun but is not awsome like all the others

And last you can play the dogshit openworld one.

The best one is BLOODBORNE but just wait for the remake at this point.
Play Sekiro first.

The other games feel easy after that.
 
I cannot get Sekiro for the life of me, and it stings. I LOVE everything else about the game. But the combat confounds me. I understand that it is about parry timing and aggression. I cannot do anything with it past basic trash mobs. I destroy those dudes like nobody's business! Then I meet one of the samurai armored generals with 2 health balls and I just panic and get wrecked. I managed to suffer through a few bosses. I think I've started the game like 4 different times and make various progress before getting frustrated and just quitting again.
 
For me, I had to play a bunch of them. I played thru everything, including everything From has done, Nioh 2, Lies of P, Lords of the Fallen, Wukong, Nioh 1, ect

I did not really "git gud" until Lies of P, and after my probably 300+ hours in Elden Ring.

I was fine for a long time but not really comfortable seeking challenge, I mean like I would always summon, actively wait until I could get a summons off and try to avoid all the harder bosses. Fear was in my heart.

Something happened after about a thousand hours in to my souls-like journey. I started to feel like I was good and that others were worse than me. I started to look at videos of the "best" players and realize that I was actually not far behind them in several ways. I started to ask "why not me?" and so I started to try to solo bosses when I could. I would avoid summons and realized how easy it was to go into ng+ in these games(I always though it was hard). First ng+ is basically a victory lap.

So now I'm "gud" maybe, in a small way. I have no pride in that. It took time and dedication and I'm still not the best in PVP yet, but I'm "gud" at the PVE in these games when I buckle down, am sober, and try. Zero pride, but I do feel something else. A sense of accomplishment, however small. I think that is why these games are so loved. There is always more to learn.
 
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I cannot get Sekiro for the life of me, and it stings. I LOVE everything else about the game. But the combat confounds me. I understand that it is about parry timing and aggression. I cannot do anything with it past basic trash mobs. I destroy those dudes like nobody's business! Then I meet one of the samurai armored generals with 2 health balls and I just panic and get wrecked. I managed to suffer through a few bosses. I think I've started the game like 4 different times and make various progress before getting frustrated and just quitting again.
Sekiro is very different and the souls experience can only do so much for this game.. its very unique but so rewarding, its not the game for being agressive though imho like bloodborne or dark souls 3, its all about learning patterns, parrying and depleting the enemy poise. You cant think of demage, you have to think of poise depletion.
 
Some games you are good and some games your are not……that's life.

I'm absolutely shit at fighting and will never gonna good at it no matter how much I try.
 
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I never managed to get into the parry system of Sekiro. I just couldn't manage to get the timings right.
Maybe there is some trick to it, but I couldn't figure it out.
 
I cannot get Sekiro for the life of me, and it stings. I LOVE everything else about the game. But the combat confounds me. I understand that it is about parry timing and aggression. I cannot do anything with it past basic trash mobs. I destroy those dudes like nobody's business! Then I meet one of the samurai armored generals with 2 health balls and I just panic and get wrecked. I managed to suffer through a few bosses. I think I've started the game like 4 different times and make various progress before getting frustrated and just quitting again.

Sekiro is all about the feel. You have to stop concentrating so hard on combat and start trying to feel the rhythm.

One thing about Sekiro that I always didn't love is they put some really difficult ostensibly trash mobs very early in the game which makes the game seem harder than it is in order to get people to quit I guess? I was never really sure about why they do that but they like playing tricks on you. They will make a game absolutely insufferable for the first few hours and then the game opens up, you have more tools, you get some practice on easier mobs and you get better, by the end the game is much easier. Nioh 2 tries this as well. In Lies of P, the difficulty scaling is perfect. The last boss is the hardest boss. In Sekiro the Chained Ogre may be the highest body count enemy(because so many people quit on him) and he's at the very very start of the game.

They were messing with us hard in Sekiro. Regardless of how hard anybody found any particular enemy, I guarantee you one thing. They were intentionally messing with us, especially at the beginning of the game. Putting the Ogre there like that and then the optional encounter right before the snake that would make you pull your hair out(it is pure resource management) and finally the spear guy section

Traditionally game development would have seen early imbalanced trash mobs toned down but truth be told there is always a sense of forced scarcity when it comes to progress in a fromsoft game. They want a certain percentage to fail and not be able to progress in order to give those that can a catharsis. In a way it is very greedy, but if you work enough you can swap to the winning side, it just takes time and understanding that they are trying to mess with your head and you are capable of doing all of the things they are throwing at you. Also, you can't 100% rely on your "gudness" either, sometimes encounters are actually about perseverance and getting a good run, vs being good on the sticks. Sometimes everyone has to break down and learn mechanics.
 
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Sekiro is all about the feel. You have to stop concentrating so hard on combat and start trying to feel the rhythm.

One thing about Sekiro that I always didn't love is they put some really difficult ostensibly trash mobs very early in the game which makes the game seem harder than it is in order to get people to quit I guess? I was never really sure about why they do that but they like playing tricks on you. They will make a game absolutely insufferable for the first few hours and then the game opens up, you have more tools, you get some practice on easier mobs and you get better, by the end the game is much easier. Nioh 2 tries this as well. In Lies of P, the difficulty scaling is perfect. The last boss is the hardest boss. In Sekiro the Chained Ogre may be the highest body count enemy(because so many people quit on him) and he's at the very very start of the game.

They were messing with us hard in Sekiro. Regardless of how hard anybody found any particular enemy, I guarantee you one thing. They were intentionally messing with us, especially at the beginning of the game.


The point is, and I am not trying to be one of those corny From shills, each of these early encounters try to teach you an element of the game. Chained Ogre is very easy to beat once you realize his attack, while it does huge damage, has a huge windup. It's actually funny how exaggerated it is. He's also insanely weak to fire.

I thought the hardest boss was Lady Butterfly and then the first Owl.
 
Spending a day on Elden Ring expansion final boss is anything but fun, somehow I did it after all. Now this is really bad when you are so close to finish a game you've spent hours on just to give up and move on.
With that said I don't mind challenge, but an option for milder experience would be still preferred, not definitive easy mode. In my experience with souls games it just comes down to luck sometimes and that's not good either for your average player finishing the game and moving on.
 
Well maybe change the way you approach this games ? Some people will have a heart attack for me saying this but.

Use guides! Fextralife has all guides for the main souls.. it wont help you get good.. but will help you choose classes, upgrade paths, builds, weapon upgrades, where to find itens and how to follow the "easier" and more natural paths in the story/game, it will make encounters less surprising and give you tips for how to approach them. In the end you will have to beat it but it will give the right direction.

And dont use too many summons and coop... try going solo until you learn.. and shut online off so you dont get invaded and become even more frustraded.

And dont mind diyng and loosing souls. One thing is this.. try to recover your souls but if you loose them fuck it! Dont go crazy! Just farm what you lost! And move on

Purists dont @me.

No this is correct. I'd recommend fightincowboy's youtube for guides:



Use each run of a boss as a learning experience to get familiar with their attack patterns and the dodge/parry timing. These games are basically rhythm games when it comes to parrying/dodging.

Beyond that, you need to understand that the difficulty "options" are built in to these games through items/summons/etc, make sure you take a look at the various items you have in your inventory and think about how they can apply to the boss you're facing.

For example, my first run of elden ring was me being a casual scrub using summons, but on my second playthrough I was more familiar with everything so decided to go solo, utilise various crystal tears and it resulted in fights like this:



And this:



There is no such thing as failure in these games, only lessons.
 
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My advices for anyone playing Sekiro are:

Don't get greedy, pace your attacks, play cautiously and memorize the enemies attacks.


Sekiro is only an extremely hard game if the player isn't cautious and refuses to learn the enemies attack patterns.

The moment you start paying attention to those things the game will click with you, because parrying on Sekiro is quite easy to do and the mikiri counter window is generous.

On Demon's/Dark Souls and Elden Ring, if you don't want to gitgud, just use overpowered builds, for examples:

In Dark Souls you can use the Havel set + pyromancy spells.



While in Demon's Souls, starting as a royal and spamming spells will make the game way more accessible.



Those games have many builds that makes them more accessible.

You don't need to gitgud on them, you just need to find what works better for you, specially on Elden Ring.
 
The point is, and I am not trying to be one of those corny From shills, each of these early encounters try to teach you an element of the game. Chained Ogre is very easy to beat once you realize his attack, while it does huge damage, has a huge windup. It's actually funny how exaggerated it is. He's also insanely weak to fire.

I thought the hardest boss was Lady Butterfly and then the first Owl.
Understood and no offense to Sekiro. I've actually had that exact thing explained to me before. I 100% agree with it. That said, I don't think From Soft means no ill will by anything they put in there. I think they do want the player to have strife. It's about the juxtiposition of how you feel at the beginning of the game(weak and helpless) vs how you feel at the end(like a dark god). I think there is a touch of masochism there, just a hint. Like the game developers finally get to strike back at the whiney players. If there isn't in Sekrio I really think Team Ninja did in Nioh 2 and ESPECIALLY Wo Long Fallen Destiny. TN call it masocore for a reason.
 
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My uselessly two cents.

I always try to rush learning the mechanics on these games; it's like my brain wants me to play them faster than they should be.

Every time I slow down and really watch and get the flow and timing down, it becomes exponentially easier for me to click with it overall.
 
Understood and no offense to Sekiro. I've actually had that exact thing explained to me before. I 100% agree with it. That said, I don't think From Soft means no ill will by anything they put in there. I think they do want the player to have strife. It's about the juxtiposition of how you feel at the beginning of the game(weak and helpless) vs how you feel at the end(like a dark god). I think there is a touch of masochism there, just a hint. Like the game developers finally get to strike back at the whiney players. If there isn't in Sekrio I really think Team Ninja did in Nioh 2 and ESPECIALLY Wo Long Fallen Destiny. TN call it masocore for a reason.
That's true. I think From has actually said in the past they don't have difficulty levels because they want the player to feel like they accomplished something.

For me it wasn't Chained Ogre, it was Lady Butterfly.
 
Not that old, but I do have vision issues that cannot be corrected in my right eye, so it usually is closed. I am also deaf in my right ear and have some hearing loss in my left ear. Born with both conditions. But it only seems to affect games like the type I mentioned. I am fine when it comes to games like Nier, Bayonetta, and Devil May Cry.
 
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Demons Souls is the worst one to start with, I didn't play a souls game again until Bloodborne after that, and then it clicked. Git good is just code for levelling up, which isn't unlocked straight away in these games.

Once you can convert souls into strength and health the rest becomes much easier.
 
One thing I see a lot of people do in souls games is they totally ignore block and parry. In Eldin ring a good leveled up shield can outright block a lot of things with very little damage if at all.
 
Demons Souls is the worst one to start with, I didn't play a souls game again until Bloodborne after that, and then it clicked. Git good is just code for levelling up, which isn't unlocked straight away in these games.

Once you can convert souls into strength and health the rest becomes much easier.

huh? Demon's Souls is basically easy mode until a certain point in the game. it has some of the easiest bosses as well and is pretty linear.

I feel like it's a decent one to start with. Dark Souls for example has way more pitfalls at the start
 
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Do you use They/Them pronouns? Maybe have an ugly wife? Maybe have a child that is a full blown retard? Small penis?

These symptoms are not mild in nature and can cause "not getting good" syndrome to seem like and uphill battle even the strongest lead cannot overcome.

My advice is lose anything you answered yes to in the aforementioned paragraph. Drop them all, especially the retarded child and me thinks you will finish your heroes journey.


Good day, sir/madam/ or whatever type unicorn you are today.
 
Your like me, I went to the Dr about it. After trying many different ways of getting Gud, he diagnosed me with terminal staying shit disorder. Sadly it sounds like you may suffer the same condition.
 
Dark souls isn't hard. Trust. You can make it as easy as ya want. Without summons. In the first 10 minutes you can have the Drake sword. Which carries you through 60% of the game. Also the Uchi. Which can get you through the entire game. Or the zwiehander, also and end game weapon. All can be had at the start.

I like the uchi. Upgrade it. Massive bleed damage. You'll destroy everyone with ease. Scales with Dex.

Blight town is easy. Way overrated as "hard". It's far from it. Also you can access is via new Londo back way and skip the hard bits.
 
I know the short answer is that patience is not one of my virtues, but it still stings. I have been trying to git gud ever since the original Demons Souls on PS3, but eventually the stress of repeated deaths just saps all of my energy.

I am not going to post something stupid like "game needs difficulty settings" because too many people in the past have said that online just to troll. Even if I am not a troll, I am never going to make that request.

So one of two things usually happens. I engage in Jolly Cooperation, only to get full carried by someone who did git gud, but I still fail at environment deaths, or don't and wonder how I even made it to the bottom of blighttown in DS1. *When going solo, I always fail starting at Sens "funhouse"

This is the same for all soulslikes.

Only souls like I beat was Code Vein.

Can't beat the last 3 bosses of AI Limit

Stellar Blade is more like Sekiro, but the only reason why I beat SB is because of difficulty settings and other things like skill trees and equipment bonuses in SB that makes parry and dodge timing sinfully easy.


I love certain mechanics from these games (bonfire level up build locations, lore, atmosphere, settings) but everything else is soul crushing. Should I stop so I do not go gray haired before my time?

Feel free to roast me for being a bad gamer, because it is true.
How about Elden Ring? It's the more accessible and flexible of all Fromsoftware games.
 
How about Elden Ring? It's the more accessible and flexible of all Fromsoftware games.
Elden ring is great. No doubt. I'm sure for many, it was their first souls game.

I myself prefer the more smaller, interconnected world like DS1. Just me though
 
Do you use They/Them pronouns? Maybe have an ugly wife? Maybe have a child that is a full blown retard? Small penis?

These symptoms are not mild in nature and can cause "not getting good" syndrome to seem like and uphill battle even the strongest lead cannot overcome.

My advice is lose anything you answered yes to in the aforementioned paragraph. Drop them all, especially the retarded child and me thinks you will finish your heroes journey.


Good day, sir/madam/ or whatever type unicorn you are today.
simon cowell facepalm GIF
 
One thing I see a lot of people do in souls games is they totally ignore block and parry. In Eldin ring a good leveled up shield can outright block a lot of things with very little damage if at all.
You think? My impression is the first thing a noob player goes for is to hide behind a shield. Shields are tricky, most noobs/clinically bad players don't seem to grasp stamina management.
 
Good lord man, it's a joke. You need to get the sand out of your vagina. If you don't have a shopvac, I'll gladly overnight you one.

Calm down, child. People can laugh and just have a good time.

Edit: I apologize for the horrible joke. I am writing myself a strongly worded letter as we speak.
 
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I honestly would say patience is key with these games. I mean patience as in taking your time with the levels and enemies. Sometimes it's good to bait an enemy and watch theur movesets for a bit to learn them, advancing slowly through areas/levels so you don't tun into one of the many trap scenarios From are deviously good at.

Now Sekiro is a whole other beast. My key to success there was sound. You basically parry in rhythm until you get that full CLANK and then it's time to retaliate and start swinging. A lot of times that amounts to 1, 2, 3, CLANK or something equally as "musical".
 
You think? My impression is the first thing a noob player goes for is to hide behind a shield. Shields are tricky, most noobs/clinically bad players don't seem to grasp stamina management.
There's also the classic tank method. Just heavy armor. Giant sword. Poise ring. Just bonk and tank. Bonk and tank.
 
I got good on the earlier games just to burn out halfway through Elden Ring. I haven't touched a single Souls like game since and don't think I will. I guess just the level of having to be on your shit constantly became tiring. I know it will never happen but I'd love an easy mode in Elden Ring just so I can see the rest of the world.

My advice is if you don't enjoy playing solo and feel like you've given it your all, move on. You might end up getting there just to stop playing the genre entirely like I did.

If you aren't having fun, don't go for it anymore.
 
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I know the short answer is that patience is not one of my virtues, but it still stings. I have been trying to git gud ever since the original Demons Souls on PS3, but eventually the stress of repeated deaths just saps all of my energy.

I am not going to post something stupid like "game needs difficulty settings" because too many people in the past have said that online just to troll. Even if I am not a troll, I am never going to make that request.

So one of two things usually happens. I engage in Jolly Cooperation, only to get full carried by someone who did git gud, but I still fail at environment deaths, or don't and wonder how I even made it to the bottom of blighttown in DS1. *When going solo, I always fail starting at Sens "funhouse"

This is the same for all soulslikes.

Only souls like I beat was Code Vein.

Can't beat the last 3 bosses of AI Limit

Stellar Blade is more like Sekiro, but the only reason why I beat SB is because of difficulty settings and other things like skill trees and equipment bonuses in SB that makes parry and dodge timing sinfully easy.


I love certain mechanics from these games (bonfire level up build locations, lore, atmosphere, settings) but everything else is soul crushing. Should I stop so I do not go gray haired before my time?

Feel free to roast me for being a bad gamer, because it is true.
It sounds to me like your favorite part of Souls is the exploration/progression, NOT the boss fights, which have in time become more hardcore/reflex intensive. I don't see any problem with you enjoying the explorations bits and consulting help for the boss bits. Every game gives you tools to make fights easier (summons, buff consumables).
 
I know what you mean man.

I did finish Dark Souls 1 and 2, and loved it, especially 1. But I couldn't get past a certain church knight boss in 3 and I gave up. Patience is extremely important, but build as well. What doesn't help (me) is that as soon as I walk through the fog for a boss my heart starts racing, it's just not good. I wish it didn't happen, but it does. I finished 1 as warrior with fire magic, god that shit helped me tons with O&S. But I can't sit here and say I'm actually good at the games. I've never learned how to properly make use of iframes and roll through attacks.

Anyway, for a few months now I've been watching a elderly dad play DS for the very first time while his son coaches him on stuff, atm he's at the final boss actually. It's awesome to see how the dude improved over time with basic stuff like camera control and such, it's his first game too. In the most recent stream he decided to start learning how to parry in the very last area before the boss and he's way better than me with that.

What I noticed in those streams is his extraordinary patience, incredible. It's truly great to watch, so if you get discouraged playing the game, wanting to give up, maybe check it out.

 
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I never liked the Fromsoft games, but i do enjoy an occasional souls like. Rise of the Ronin is a good one that has a difficulty slider so try that one. The Jedi Survivor games are souls like "lite", much easier to play. I also just finished Lords of the Fallen, it's pretty great and the difficulty was just right. I'll admit i suck at Dark Souls, probably because i can't figure out to how to play the games with their clunky ps2 style controls. But Nioh, The Surge, Steelrising, and the others i mentioned are great and i was able to beat them without issues. Eventually they will just click in your brain and you'll start having fun.
 
huh? Demon's Souls is basically easy mode until a certain point in the game. it has some of the easiest bosses as well and is pretty linear.

I feel like it's a decent one to start with. Dark Souls for example has way more pitfalls at the start
It's a huge map with no indication of where to go or what to do. It's also one of the hardest to unlock the levelling up system.

I still find Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring much easier. (Aside from Dark souls 2 which chokes your health each death until you find a ring that prevents it from doing so.)
 
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I know people that play souls Games but at the same time are watching You tube videos about how to kill a boss , think this is some way of cheating yourself.

Also souls are easy in the way You can ask for help if You are sttrugling with a boss

Games like Sekiro and Wukong are they real deal.
 
It's a huge map with no indication of where to go or what to do. It's also one of the hardest to unlock the levelling up system.

are we talking about the same game? Demon's Souls is so linear that people refer to its segments with world and level numbers... like if I say World 1-1 or World 3-2 people who played the game know what I mean. 3-2 is upper latria for example. it's so linear that there are only bonfires on each world start and after each boss fight, which is how it's so easy to categorize the game into level numbers

you walk from 1 bonfire to the boss, and then get a new bonfire. that's all you do. yes there are some branching paths but it's super linear.

and I am not sure what you mean by unlocking the levelling up system... what do you mean unlock?
 
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are we talking about the same game? Demon's Souls is so linear that people refer to its segments with world and level numbers... like if I say World 1-1 or World 3-2 people who played the game know what I mean. 3-2 is upper latria for example. it's so linear that there are only bonfires on each world start and after each boss fight, which is how it's so easy to categorize the game into level numbers

you walk from 1 bonfire to the boss, and then get a new bonfire. that's all you do. yes there are some branching paths but it's super linear.

and I am not sure what you mean by unlocking the levelling up system... what do you mean unlock?
You have to journey around the map to unlock the gate at the beginning and fight the boss before you can level up your character.
Before that point, (without a guide) you are walking around a massive castle with no idea what to do. You also have to try get past a dragon on a bridge to reach a lever for opening said starting boss gate, if you can even make it that far.

It is not easy.

Compare that to Elden Ring, where you can literally walk without fighting anyone to reach the bonfire that activates your level-up system.
 
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