lol true, and i feel so great when I kill those mofos!

Dark Souls is difficult, very difficult. Sure mastering the controls (that I really wouldn't describe as clunky) is a very big part of it, but another big part is just awareness, not paying attention for even one moment can cost your life immediately, overestimating your skill and underestimating your enemies can kill you easily as well.

I feel that the difficulty of the game stems from it just demanding a completely different level of concentration and awareness than other games, one mistakes can cost you dearly, every enemy can kill you.. those are things that just aren't present in most games.

This comes from a kinda drunk individual that only played Dark Souls (but at least Dark Souls was the last game I really played as well).

No, the controls are great, the only issue I found was having roll and jump on the same button but it's not a big deal. Dark Souls is difficult because it punishes players for making poor choices. It gets easier the more you play it and the more experienced you are but places like Arnor Londo rooftops are still difficult.

true, a lot of people think that DS is a slow hack and slash, concentration is key.

It feels heavy, that's because they made realistic, you'll be fine if you just improve stats such as dex or strength, but you also have to think. :) Timing. :D Don't make mistake, this isn't like Devil May Cry.

Getting the controls is a big part yes, but it's also unforgiving in that enemies deal a lot of damage and you're usually bombarded by enemies. One hit and you're pretty much done. But I don't consider the controls clunky at all.

Edit: I think most people consider it very difficult because you will die to random enemies a lot! With most games the non boss enemies are just there for you to farm and kill til you get to a boss. With Dark Souls getting through some areas is just as hard if not harder than bosses.

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The game is hard but it's not the hardest game ever as many people make it out to be. It's a fair game, if you fuck up then you lose if you do something right then you get rewarded. Simple.

The game, unlike most games these days, offers an actual challenge. You can't go in and rush forward head down. Battles are strategic, even if repetitive after a while. Bosses are the meat of the game though.

The industry just doesn't produce challenging games like that anymore because of how casual, for the lack of a better word, gamers have become over the last decade. People don't want to invest time and energy into a game anymore, they just want to buckle up for the ride.

The game if difficult compared to what gamers are now used to. But it isn't THAT difficult. A lot of the 8bits and 16 bits era games are much harder.

I don't think Dark Souls is that hard. Just use your brain or magic and it will be pretty easy. The souls games punish people for their ignorance, stupidity and carelessness. Some of them held more true to that than others. The controls were fine. Demon Souls was probably the more difficult out of them.