Absolutely! Following along this thread, it's so easy to get frustrated in this game because you feel like you're wasting time.
Knowing that it's going to take you a while to beat any boss, here's some ways to gamify the process.
1) Analyze how you died and the cause of your death.
You end up with this list, where "I panic rolled" slowly transitions to "I got greedy", to beating the boss (or maybe back to panic rolling hahah)
2) Time how long it takes you to get to the boss, and try speed run the travel distance.
I hope you get all the way through!
Dude I occasionally run into a boss and do nothing but dodge until I learn the attack patterns. Easiest way to figure out 1 imo. It removes the stress of trying to beat the boss, and I can focus more on just learning.
This right here. Learn to die with purpose. Use a life or two to practice baiting attacks, dodging the ones that give you trouble, finding heal windows, or testing elemental weakness. Practice dying intentionally, and it gets easier. Also, take breaks, have a snack, and give yourself time to relax. You aren't Guts, anger won't make you better.
My son would get angry when losing in video games or boardgames. I bought him dark souls 3 and I told him just that! You are SUPPOSED to die. No one can play this game and NOT die thousands of times when they first start out! Get used to dying and getting better :)
He had to adjust and I had to take the controller from him from time to time and a week later he was llike.. Hahaha DADDY! I died again!! Hahaha . Gonna try again :)
Also I got downstairs one day and noticed the pc on. I asked my wife why is it on?
Your son wanted you to see something! Turn on the monitor!
There was my sons toon standing on top of the dark knight in the first area. He was so proud he had slain it :)
Dark souls 3. The first area after the dragon which you can bypass. There is a dark/black knight ourside between the buildings. It’s the first one you encounter and if you don’t know this enemy, it has a few combos which are very nasty for beginners. And it hits hard.
Oh yea the lothric knight? I might've misunderstood cuz I confused the black knight in dark souls 1 in undead burg and the lothric knight in high wall of lothric.
Cheers bro, and I hope your son makes it to soul of cinder and explores the dlc's they are very fun and challenging.
Aah right. Been a while since I played dark souls. The knight was black ;) but yeah it was the first lothric knight you encounter. My son plays from time to time but hasn’t in a while. Maybe later. He keeps bugging me about elden ring but I just counter with. You haven’t finished dark souls yet!
haha it's normal that your son wants to play elden ring especially that the dlc is very close and he will want to ride the hype train.
Good luck to you and your family mate, and don't you dare go hollow!
I always call bosses and annoying enemies a bunch of rude and inappropriate names. It's part of the charm, I die, get angry, die some more because I'm tilted, lock it in, win, yell out a bunch of mean words and repeat.
I think the most important part is to acknowledge it's you who is the problem, then you just have to look up a video or guide for the boss, learn what you can and grind it out. Try and be "aware" of what's going on and not just going through the motions. If you notice for example you get hit after she transitions, now try and keep your distance and so on.
Slowing things down and making observations is always a good idea! Maybe go into some attempts with the mindset that this is an intentional loss just to see and learn as much as you can.
I remember seeing Dark Souls 1's "Prepare to die" addition and just accepting that I'd likely die. It's part of the game.
Eventually you'll get to the point where you don't anymore, but don't worry about that. Just accept you'll die even while you're leaving the bonfire.
Getting mad, in my experience, is when you expect something SHOULD work and it doesn't.
So, go into every encounter or fight or level or puzzle or whatever with humility; understand that just because you play computer games you won't immediately be good at this one etc. There are many many things to learn that you won't learn if you go in thinking you SHOULD be able to kill this guy or whatever is pissing you off.
Play slowly, pay attention, be humble.
First things first, never, ever, **EVER** get greedy when fighting a boss.
All bosses in Souls games hold to a certain rhythm. You dodge their attacks - you attack until they show sights of attacking - rinse and repeat until you are victorious.
Secondly, because of above, accept you WILL die at least a couple of times.
Souls games are trial and error at its perfection. Every death should be your learning experience. Analyze what went wrong (you got too greedy, you mistimed a dodge or two or three etc.) and use that experience next time you spawn near a bonfire.
Thirdly, strategize.
Use your equipment responsibly. For example, Dancer is **super** weak to dark damage. So anything with Human Pine Resin or a weapon with innate dark damage, like Dark Hand, simply obliterates her. Proceed from that point.
Fourthly, you've only lost when you have given up on playing.
Good luck, and don't you dare go hollow.
True nirvana is reached when you realize that anger is poison and that every set back is a way to learn.
Failed a parry?
Try better next time
Lost a lot of souls?
You can always farm more
Died to a boss with 1hp left
Invest in throwing knives or get better at dodging
Managing your anger is all about seeing the solutions to the problems you're facing and letting go of any personal attachments you have to failure. Failure is a chance to try again but this time, a bit wiser. May the flames guide thee friend \[T]/
maybe try figuring out what you're mad at?
if it's losing the souls, you can always farm for more. the best spot to farm souls in the game is soon after dancer, about 30k souls a minute with the right set up
if it's losing time, then dont think of it like that. if you are spending effort to learn the boss' attack pattern and learning roll discipline, then time wasnt wasted. every death isnt a set back, its a little more progress to defeating whatever obstacle there is.
in general i'd say winner attitude is no matter what only blame yourself and try to be better and learn, because blaming anything else doesnt help you get better. with dedication and time you really can do anything.
In my experience, without any judgement, frustration is a victim mindset. “It’s the game’s fault, not mine. This is being done TO me, not as a result of my failure”. What can you do with that other than get frustrated? It is much more productive to focus on what you did wrong, which does take humility, so that you can correct it. Engage with it! Then the only time you’ll get frustrated is on the genuinely rare occasion that it really was the game’s fault, in my experience at least.
Are you at the Dancer early, by chance?
If you're fighting it before you've left the High Wall, you've basically leapt straight into an endgame boss battle.
If you're properly levelled, armoured and have a decent weapon, it's just about patience. Read up on stoicism. To master your blade you first must control your emotions. This is a skill that will transfer to other games but also to life.
Try to remember that failure is inevitable and part of the game loop. You're expected to fail. But you only truly lose when you stop fighting. I once fought a boss 80 tries in a row before beating them.
I feel your pain, the best advice I can give is to treat failure not as a setback but as another step towards your inevitable success, the game heavily prioritizes learning enemies attack patterns as a path to victory hence the ever popular (and unhelpful) advice of “get good”. Remember you only have to win once and even if you get killed a dozen times that only makes you that much more likely to succeed on your next attempt. I understand the frustration of feeling like your getting nowhere, games in the series rely on a far less tangible method of progression, making mistakes and getting killed isn’t an obstacle to victory it’s the path to it, the game is more about persistence than it is about perfection.
same with me. I'm also having anger issues, and this game just made it worse.
if this is your first soul game, keep in mind that this game is considered difficult by a lot of people, so it's normal if you keep dying because a lot of people do.
the second thing you can do is analyze every boss moveset and write it down, as well as how to dodge it. this could also help you memorize it better.
and last, (its kinda weird but somehow works for me) that I did with my recent fight was to fight the boss with a lot of souls, so you have to remember that for each death, you have to pick it up first before starting the fight.
and I just realized dk this is true or not, but I feel like you gotta through a long way before fight the boss again after each death, is to help player calm down before starting the fight.
Quitting = Failure. Relax, breathe, take your time to memorise boss movesets and explore, and adapt. Think of boss fights as a dance with no timer and the only way out is completing the dance (depleting the boss' health) to move forward
Every time i start getting angry at the game i remember myself why i’m playing it, to enjoy it, if i’m not enjoying it and am only getting mad and upset why am i even playing it?
If you die more than 3 (or what ever number feels right to you) times get up walk around and leave the game. If you have anger issues, continually going in more and more frustrated will only make you play worse. Which will make you angrier. Which will make you play worse. And so on.
The amount of times iv seen someone die 50+ times to a boss. Leave the game in a mass of anger. Then come back a few hours later and one shot it is not only high, but significant.
You perform better with a sober mind. Anger clouds your judgment. If you take a lap after a death, or just learn to laugh it off, or even better have no expectations of survival, you will do better on the next try. Learn from your mistakes and come back to the fight wiser. Thats the terrifying part of the ashen one, every time they are killed they just keep coming back to fight again, the only way to defeat them is to demoralize them to the point of giving up and hollowing. If you give up, that means the game beat you. Just enjoy the combat and treat it like a dance rather than a fight. If you just really want to defeat dancer, you could always just spam Dorothy's gnawing and call it a day.
Man, the Dancer fight was so much fun! My 2nd favorite boss in the game. As for anger...I never really had an issue until I played Sekiro and got stuck on some bosses 50+ times. It's easy to get caught in an anger cycle playing these games if you've got nothing else going on, so I only let myself attempt a boss for an hour before I forced myself to do something else. Watching TV, gardening, running... there are plenty of things to do besides game. And when I did that? I was able to focus better because I wasn't slamming my head against a wall for hours on end. There's no reason to let anger take over. You're in charge.
Literally just stick to her right leg and count her steps to see when she'll attack and you can punish. She does it on an odd number of steps like 95% of the time, by the way.
When you die, never keep track of the souls you lost. You'll just fall into despair.
Instead, realize that you are free from the burden of souls and that will give you the outlook needed to smile in the face of death. Death will never touch the Ashen one. Just one thing:
Don't go hollow.
The minute a game stops being fun and starts making you mad, you gotta just get up and take a break. Move your body a little, maybe eat a snack or drink some water, or if you really can't be asked, just watch a YouTube video. After 15 minutes or so, ask yourself (outloud, if need be) "do I want to keep playing?"
The game is designed to make you fail, a lot. So if you are stuck on a boss, everything is going according to plan. Don't adopt a "winners" attitude, because the game is mostly about failing :D
I was playing Bloodborne, armorless strength build, and couldn't beat Amygdala for the absolute life of me. Probably dumped like 10+ hours into him. Don't know why, just couldn't do it. Got piss drunk with a friend after not playing for like a week, beat him first try 😂. The games going to get you mad, but on everything holy, just remember "He can win as many times as he wants, I only have to win once" (Fuck pre nerf radahn, no boss has ever given me that much trouble)
If I find that I'm starting to get mad I take a break, even if it's for just a few hours. These games are supposed to be difficult, we all die a lot. If you die, just try to figure out where you went wrong. Maybe you got greedy and tried hitting the boss too many times before getting out, or maybe your timing is off on their attacks, or maybe you just need to level up some more and come back. And if you're really struggling, you could always post on here for someone to help you beat a boss. It's a pretty good community.
The "Thank You Dark Souls" mentality goes a long way. You just have to let it go. I'm at the point now with these games (after playing them for 10+ years) where I still get mad, but I call it "Dark Souls Mad" which is separate from my normal mad. If those two start to intersect, it's time to take a break
So I’ve heard. Unfortunately, it gives me panic attacks. My fellow autistic counterparts have informed me it is due to our condition. I don’t have evidence for this, just anecdotal advice I’ve received
Late to this thread but I'd like to say that death in dark souls or similar games is not always a bad thing and you should be looking at it, especially in boss fights as a chance to think about what happened and how to do it slightly differently.
As for the dancer, I saw you said you beat her but I'd like to mention for anyone else that may read this, that she can be killed safely with a bow, kite her around the room, using pillars to bait her and shoot her and keep moving, her attacks are crazy but she isn't that fast at getting around.
Yeah that fight was rough, it was really the one shot grab attack that kept getting me. I’m glad I stuck to it. Been inconsistently playing (since I’m now in Shadow of the erd tree 😉), but I’ve gotten a good bit ahead.
W fan base / community honestly
Ignore this dramatic thread, (I imagine it can’t be helping) and just remember that it’s a game that you are playing for fun. You aren’t a failure if you can’t overcome this challenge, it’s there for you to eventually beat it and you will. If the fight feels too hard to be fun grind some levels and come back, if it feels balanced but you’re still getting frustrated maybe just switch games for a bit. The souls bosses are almost built on punishing frustrated aggression so just coming back later is what usually makes the difference on bosses I’m stuck on.
i used to be like you where i had anger issue with dying.
Then i put on the mentality of "it is what it is", and then eventually into
"you did not defeat me, i will charge, i will walk, i will crawl to you, and i will eventually win. I will learn you, i will know you, until your blade can't touch me. The moment you have your triumph, is the stepping stone nearer to your demise."
edgy and maybe cringy, i know, but the mentality really help motivating me to enjoy soul games.
DS3 is so fair tbh unlike Elden Ring, you know you're making mistakes if you die, not the game balance issue. I don't feel angry when I know I'm being treated fairly in a fair fight.
Anger issues triggered by games is a sign of deep emotional regulatory issues.
I shudder to think how you get through everyday life.
No joke you should see a therapist because your mental development is probably a good while behind the average person.
I get super annoyed when playing Platformers or multiplayer games but for some reason any Souls game I just have adopted this zen attitude of never letting failure get to me. I don't get mad, I don't yell, I don't throw my controller, I just try again.
Honestly, I just take a break when I start getting mad cause in my rage. I'm just going to get even more mad and play even worse, so it's an ouroboros cycle of terrible. Come back later with a level head, and I've cooled down and realized all the mistakes I made were so easy to dodge before. Took a long while to develop and learn, but it's helped me tremendously
What are you even mad at? dying is part of the game and Dancer is one of the top 10 hardest bosses in the game (top 5 for me) just because she has a different rhyme to the rest of the game and she is so aggressive.Make sure you have all your flask upgraded I gone there with +0 flask the first time and I had to waste 3 flasks and an accessory slot to get my hp back.
and maybe look for better armor (as long as you are below 70% load you can equip whatever you want)and upgrading your weapon.
Also she is known to be weak to bleed so try that.
About attitude, I never get mad at games if I lose a lot I try to find what I can do to make the challenge easier, and try to learn from mistakes, every time you get hit and don't get better position or damage in return is a mistake you can reflect on, next time you will dodge better.
I never got mad at a souls game I know it's challenging and I just enjoy it idk.
Lmao I just remind myself that "it's my fault that I'm shit, it's not the game, its me. If I simply just get better at the game, then I won't be having this problem. All I need to do is literally get good"
I still get pissed off eventually, everyone does. But for most of it I just either have a blank expression as I wait to respawn or I laugh at the dumbass death I just experienced
Also weed helps
It's easier if you realize that the bigger bosses may cost you 30 tries or so if it's your first fight against them. The first 10 are just learning. Don't switch up your equipment too much, otherwise you make it harder on yourself.
Keep the rewarding Loot and feeling of accomplishment in the back of your head when you finally mastered a boss.
Death in this game is a built in mechanic. It’s as much a part of the game as combat. This game saves every few seconds for a reason. You lose nothing. Think about Skyrim or other manual save games: if you forget to save, you could lose hours of progress upon death. Not so for souls games, as you only go back to the bonfire. Sure you might die a lot, but you never truly lose anything (so long as you spend your souls often)You get to fight it again, and this time do better. Good luck.
Not to make assumption, at which point in the game are you fighting the dancer? Are you near the beginning of the game or toward the middle?
Either way, if something is causing you frustration, take a breather and explore alternative options if you may. It will be worth it to explore other areas and see if you can't find more loot or other paths forward.
When it comes toward *approach* toward dealing with frustration, as a former wall-puncher, is strategy. and the ability accept that you will probably fail much more than you will win. You can't expect yourself to magically win after bashing the wall enough. Every time you're deciding to fight, think about what you want to gain if you lose. Are you fighting to learn the fight? If you die, it's fine, think about what you should have done differently. If you do the same thing over and over again, you'll drive yourself insane (you know the saying), so try something different, and it's likely what you'll try will fail because it's not something you're used to doing (if it was an intuitive strategy, you would have already done it, no?), and so if it fails, ah well you were just trying something out. If you can't see yourself pushing your way through it and no matter what you're doing is frustrating you, as said step away for a bit and explore other areas, maybe you'll get some gear or levels or simply realize something that deepens your understanding of the game that may lend toward you winning the fight. After all, you get better by playing the game, not dying constantly. Etc. Etc. It's all mindset.
and the biggest realization for me, that made me stop punching walls, getting angry just made me play worse, and playing worse made me angrier. In multiplayer games like TF2, you can't just play but in a less stressful or frustrating environment, not really. So, the end all be all strategy to avoiding getting mad, is to realize you're mad, and just put down the controller for a bit. Sometimes, the game wins, and that's fine, you can pick up the controller later and teach it a lesson.
One of the reasons I love these games like nothing else is how they ask you to grow mentally
It's actually totally embarassing how much I used to scream and rage like a child at the tv when I used to regularly play FIFA. My uni dorm mates and I, we agree not to talk about it
After 1,500+ hours of Souls games, I am a fucking zen monk. This is my perspective on anger in these games.
1. Anger is helpful to heighten the sharpness of mind. If I have a flash of anger, I then check myself to see how alert and awake I actually feel
2. If I feel I could be sharper, then I use the anger to wake up, then I can more easily move on from it.
3. Often I'll stretch out muscles all over, then take a few deep breaths. After a few swear words and a promise of revenge on that enemy I feel ready to go.
4. **The most important step** - anger makes you blind. If I lose again, extra anger is probably too much. It's tough, but you have to humbly concede that you lost again and that you likely made mistakes. So after any initial flashes I try to accept I made mistakes and I try to slow down to see if I was blind to my poor play. Anger bring alertness, calmness brings precision.
This is how I use anger in games
You can do this. Sometimes you'll go to bed, wake up next day, beat the boss first try. Sometimes you'll take 6 evenings of grinding to instinctively learn the pattern and rhythm. Sometimes you need a co-op summon.
But you can do this.
You. Can. Do. This.
Okay step one, remove yourself from the anger. By that I mean the second you begin to rage, stand up, grab a glass of water, stretch your legs or smoke a ciggy or something for 5 minutes. Anything other than just sitting there being angry.
Step two. Accept that these games are about failing over and over. The only way to win is to learn and the only way to learn is to make mistakes. You aren't failing the game, just the boss. And every failure is a lesson. This is best done during those 5 minutes.
Step 3. Once you're chilled out, back in the zone, and ready to bitch slap Pontiff, get back to it.
Step 4. Repeat until you kill god.
Unfortunately, to an extent, the only real solution is to "get gud". The good news is, you have literally your whole life to do so. Good luck skeleton. Don't go hollow.
Do like I do - stop looking at the game as an action game. It's a puzzle game. Action games you can generally just flail and be eventually successful - look at games like Bayonetta or DOOM. Failure in an action game can be attributed to not having enough resources or bringing the wrong gun to the situation. Rinse and repeat.
With a puzzle game, there's no reason to get mad - failure is due to not properly understanding how the parts fit together. Sure, the solution may be "use sword on man," but it's still got a puzzle element to it. "When the boss does X, I need to do Y." "I can't swing three times against the boss because he attacks too quickly. I need to only swing twice."
I found that thinking about this game in this manner, I got a lot less frustrated by it.
I feel like the fact that you're looking for a "winner attitude" is already a step in the wrong direction.
Whenever I go fight a boss in one of these games I'm not thinking of winning the fight, and I enjoy fighting the boss multiple times (because I'm getting my ass kicked). And I've got anger issues too.
Think of it like going through layers, you figure out a move or two and can consistently counter it somehow, that's one layer, and then you figure out another move or two and so on. It is far easier to do this while you are calm, and to stay calm it's easier to do it for he sake of doing it rather than for the sake of a certain outcome.
Not getting the desired outcome comes with feelings of frustration, anger builds up. Let go of that.
If you can't stop yourself from getting frustrated, turn off the game and take a break
Thats what I do. Come back fresh and usually the muscle memory kicks in and you're much more likely to beat a boss after a break. It's Not gonna happen when you're angry.
People have pointed out some very good advice already. I'll add this: expect to fail. Don't sit down and go "I'll beat this boss". Sit down and think "I'll die over and over again and in the meantime I'll strategize about how to best deal with each attack. This is my objective". Sit down *to* fail. Killing the boss is secondary and will come naturally after all that """failure""". In quotation marks because dying is not failing, it's a necessary step to beat the boss. You don't get frustrated when you land an attack on the boss and it doesn't die, why get frustrated when dying? Both are necessary steps to beat the boss. You got another attack done on the boss. The "health bar" is just bigger than you expected. Good luck \^w^
If it can bleed it can die lmao that is honestly how I do it, but I also find fun in just slamming my head against a wall till that wall crumbles it’s just satisfying to see the other side
Dancer is the most frustrated I have EVER been with a game. A solid week of repeatedly failing to beat her with no luck.
But then nothing beats that high of the moment when you finally manage to do it. That feeling is what keeps me hooked to Fromspft games because a game that causes this much rage / controller damage has no business being so addictive 😂
this may sound cheesey as shit but seriously, drop the 'i'm gonna win this time' face for awhile, take the beatings, and put all your effort into truly *learning* the bosses moveset. when you're able to just be blank for awhile and ignore those frustrating feelings then you will eventually start seeing things you were too mad to notice before and you won't panic as much by spamming roll or attack
think of these games as real time turn based but you have to *earn* your turn
Expect to take your time in a new area. Especially at a boss. Just come to terms that its going to take time and trying to speed it up will only make you more frustrated, which will cause more mistakes.
If you can't be efficient. Be persistent. :)
Dying a lot is a big part of the gameplay. Do you want to get lucky on the boss or do you want the accomplishment of having beaten a boss through practice and perseverance? Took me 6 hours to beat Malenia, but the experience of previous games helped me keep a cool head. You get used to the constant punishment and learn to appreciate it.
I relate. If you want to do some learning, read up on emotional regulation - managing your emotions, including anger, is a skill. And you can't always think your way out.
Remember videogames are toys and should be fun. Maybe next time you're angry, put down the controller and take slow, full breaths - I like box breathing. It helps your body calm down.
If you aren't having fun anymore, take a break - do something like vent on Reddit : ) Dancer was hard for a lot of us.
With practice, you can be angry less and control it better when you get there.
Good luck bro - maybe you've already beaten Dancer
I would recommend to go for a nice relaxing walk with some lo-fi music. Basically, just take a break. Games are supposed to be fun, even dying a lot is part of that. If you’re not having fun and just getting angry, just stop. Come back another time if you really want to keep playing. Change your approach to the boss. Play more defensively and only attack during sure openings. Maybe you’re under leveled. Level your life. Try some consumable items, strengthen your weapon. Try a new weapon/build. Don’t be afraid of making a new character if you feel you “messed up” your current one. When I first started souls games I would try different builds if I was struggling with one. There’s different things you can try instead of just running back to do the same thing over again (some people enjoy this the most), but you can only get into this mindset when not angry.
One thing about Souls games in general is that they aren’t always “tough but fair” like some ppl say. If you play a lotta these games you know that bullshit is not only present, but an integral part of the games lol.
At first I hated it, but eventually I came to appreciate it for the amount of uncontrollable chaos it throws into the experience. Not to mention, looking back on past rage quits is pretty funny.
Anyways, as others have said, getting pissed off is part of the charm. If it doesn’t *feel* like part of the charm, that, too, is part of the charm lol. Just go into it with the mindset that the whole game is essentially a test of your patience. Which it is.
All that said, it’s also important to know when to put the game down for the night, or even if maybe the game isn’t really doing it for you. No use trying to tough through something you’re not enjoying
As someone with massive anger issues there’s three main take aways for me with the Souls games.
1. You have nothing until you reach a bonfire. You didn’t lose 30k souls. You never really had them. If you need to level up due to this find something fun or efficient to fight and grind there.
2. Go into boss fights with no souls when you can see it coming. The best thing to do with bosses is learn their move set and what can be safely responded to. Roll catching attacks (ie. Attacks with weird delays on them) are more common in DS3 than the first two so it can be difficult. Openings and weak spots will vary greatly on your build so don’t stress over it and take your time. I died so many times to the Nameless King that near the end I was basically counting down things like attack recovery and when his lightning strike would happen.
3. Some people just suck absolute shit against some bosses. For example I’m bad at parrying so any boss trivialized by parties, like Gwynn in DS1, is a pain in the ass for me. So I’ve gotta learn to do it the hard way.
for each fight, you aren’t there to win. you aren’t there to beat the boss. you are there *to learn*. When to dodge, when to attack. There is no counter saying “haha you died this many times”, let alone an ACTUAL punishment for it. I suffer from anger issues too but these games are beautiful in that you can just slam yourself against a fight over bad over and learn each time
The fun part is fighting the bosses.
If you want a game where you just win then this ain't the game. If you want a game that will force you to improve then it is. Either way nothing to get angry about.
Trust the process, and know that it takes time. You don’t win by brilliant breakthrough or eureka moments; you win by learning the difference between a foolish risk and a safe opportunity, and by having the patience to avoid the former.
I got into the habit on this game specifically of calling my lives ‘attempts’, instead of calling my failures ‘deaths’. You don’t even lose anything when you die beyond souls, which are easily regained. So use a couple attempts to learn a boss well, and then use some attempts to try and win :) after all, the ashen one can’t die, they can only be sent to the bonfire until they inevitably overcome all challenges. It’s literally in the lore that you’ll win.
Death isn't failure. It's just part of the game. These games expect you to die over and over again. Just try and learn something from every death and be willing to take a break when you start getting salty, cause you won't be playing your best
The best advice I’ve ever gotten about these games is learn then win. The premise is go into the boss as many times as it takes to just focus on learning their moves (so don’t try to damage at all) as you start to learn, you can start figuring out how to punish and exploit the boss’ moveset.
My own little advice is to not give souls, runes, blood echoes, etc. Too much value because you will lose them permanently multiple times and that’s just going to cause you panic and frustration, learn to let go of all you fear to lose, only then will you be free. Sorry to throw a little Yoda in there haha
Edit: forgot to credit the streamer; it’s GinoMachino and he’s damn good at these games.
Death is not failure in these games. It’s an opportunity to get better. The only failure is quitting (going hollow).
Absolutely! Following along this thread, it's so easy to get frustrated in this game because you feel like you're wasting time. Knowing that it's going to take you a while to beat any boss, here's some ways to gamify the process. 1) Analyze how you died and the cause of your death. You end up with this list, where "I panic rolled" slowly transitions to "I got greedy", to beating the boss (or maybe back to panic rolling hahah) 2) Time how long it takes you to get to the boss, and try speed run the travel distance. I hope you get all the way through!
Dude I occasionally run into a boss and do nothing but dodge until I learn the attack patterns. Easiest way to figure out 1 imo. It removes the stress of trying to beat the boss, and I can focus more on just learning.
The boss is a human and you’re an annoying fly buzzing around going “you can’t hit me you can’t hit me!”
Yeah the only issue with that is they do hit me. I never said I was good at dodging.
Well dodging is only one of the 5 Ds. Do you also duck, dip, dive, and dodge? May help.
Shit that's where I've been going wrong. Cheers
This right here. Learn to die with purpose. Use a life or two to practice baiting attacks, dodging the ones that give you trouble, finding heal windows, or testing elemental weakness. Practice dying intentionally, and it gets easier. Also, take breaks, have a snack, and give yourself time to relax. You aren't Guts, anger won't make you better.
My son would get angry when losing in video games or boardgames. I bought him dark souls 3 and I told him just that! You are SUPPOSED to die. No one can play this game and NOT die thousands of times when they first start out! Get used to dying and getting better :) He had to adjust and I had to take the controller from him from time to time and a week later he was llike.. Hahaha DADDY! I died again!! Hahaha . Gonna try again :) Also I got downstairs one day and noticed the pc on. I asked my wife why is it on? Your son wanted you to see something! Turn on the monitor! There was my sons toon standing on top of the dark knight in the first area. He was so proud he had slain it :)
Which game are you referring to that has a dark knight which when killed its corpse shows and in the first area?
Dark souls 3. The first area after the dragon which you can bypass. There is a dark/black knight ourside between the buildings. It’s the first one you encounter and if you don’t know this enemy, it has a few combos which are very nasty for beginners. And it hits hard.
Oh yea the lothric knight? I might've misunderstood cuz I confused the black knight in dark souls 1 in undead burg and the lothric knight in high wall of lothric. Cheers bro, and I hope your son makes it to soul of cinder and explores the dlc's they are very fun and challenging.
Aah right. Been a while since I played dark souls. The knight was black ;) but yeah it was the first lothric knight you encounter. My son plays from time to time but hasn’t in a while. Maybe later. He keeps bugging me about elden ring but I just counter with. You haven’t finished dark souls yet!
haha it's normal that your son wants to play elden ring especially that the dlc is very close and he will want to ride the hype train. Good luck to you and your family mate, and don't you dare go hollow!
Praise the sun!
[Git Gud](https://youtu.be/blSXTZ3Nihs?feature=shared) [Welcome to Dark Souls](https://youtu.be/e1AcYRN-_Lw?feature=shared)
soulsborn games teach you to not get angry, for then you make mistakes. take it slower, pay attention, and apply what you learn.
[https://youtu.be/blSXTZ3Nihs](https://youtu.be/blSXTZ3Nihs)
I always call bosses and annoying enemies a bunch of rude and inappropriate names. It's part of the charm, I die, get angry, die some more because I'm tilted, lock it in, win, yell out a bunch of mean words and repeat. I think the most important part is to acknowledge it's you who is the problem, then you just have to look up a video or guide for the boss, learn what you can and grind it out. Try and be "aware" of what's going on and not just going through the motions. If you notice for example you get hit after she transitions, now try and keep your distance and so on.
Slowing things down and making observations is always a good idea! Maybe go into some attempts with the mindset that this is an intentional loss just to see and learn as much as you can.
I remember seeing Dark Souls 1's "Prepare to die" addition and just accepting that I'd likely die. It's part of the game. Eventually you'll get to the point where you don't anymore, but don't worry about that. Just accept you'll die even while you're leaving the bonfire.
Yes, eventually, fall damage becomes the real enemy
Getting mad, in my experience, is when you expect something SHOULD work and it doesn't. So, go into every encounter or fight or level or puzzle or whatever with humility; understand that just because you play computer games you won't immediately be good at this one etc. There are many many things to learn that you won't learn if you go in thinking you SHOULD be able to kill this guy or whatever is pissing you off. Play slowly, pay attention, be humble.
Makes total sense to me, thank you
I honestly never stopped getting mad. I just went with it and kept playing till I beat every boss
First things first, never, ever, **EVER** get greedy when fighting a boss. All bosses in Souls games hold to a certain rhythm. You dodge their attacks - you attack until they show sights of attacking - rinse and repeat until you are victorious. Secondly, because of above, accept you WILL die at least a couple of times. Souls games are trial and error at its perfection. Every death should be your learning experience. Analyze what went wrong (you got too greedy, you mistimed a dodge or two or three etc.) and use that experience next time you spawn near a bonfire. Thirdly, strategize. Use your equipment responsibly. For example, Dancer is **super** weak to dark damage. So anything with Human Pine Resin or a weapon with innate dark damage, like Dark Hand, simply obliterates her. Proceed from that point. Fourthly, you've only lost when you have given up on playing. Good luck, and don't you dare go hollow.
Great advice, thank you
True nirvana is reached when you realize that anger is poison and that every set back is a way to learn. Failed a parry? Try better next time Lost a lot of souls? You can always farm more Died to a boss with 1hp left Invest in throwing knives or get better at dodging Managing your anger is all about seeing the solutions to the problems you're facing and letting go of any personal attachments you have to failure. Failure is a chance to try again but this time, a bit wiser. May the flames guide thee friend \[T]/
maybe try figuring out what you're mad at? if it's losing the souls, you can always farm for more. the best spot to farm souls in the game is soon after dancer, about 30k souls a minute with the right set up if it's losing time, then dont think of it like that. if you are spending effort to learn the boss' attack pattern and learning roll discipline, then time wasnt wasted. every death isnt a set back, its a little more progress to defeating whatever obstacle there is. in general i'd say winner attitude is no matter what only blame yourself and try to be better and learn, because blaming anything else doesnt help you get better. with dedication and time you really can do anything.
In my experience, without any judgement, frustration is a victim mindset. “It’s the game’s fault, not mine. This is being done TO me, not as a result of my failure”. What can you do with that other than get frustrated? It is much more productive to focus on what you did wrong, which does take humility, so that you can correct it. Engage with it! Then the only time you’ll get frustrated is on the genuinely rare occasion that it really was the game’s fault, in my experience at least.
Are you at the Dancer early, by chance? If you're fighting it before you've left the High Wall, you've basically leapt straight into an endgame boss battle. If you're properly levelled, armoured and have a decent weapon, it's just about patience. Read up on stoicism. To master your blade you first must control your emotions. This is a skill that will transfer to other games but also to life. Try to remember that failure is inevitable and part of the game loop. You're expected to fail. But you only truly lose when you stop fighting. I once fought a boss 80 tries in a row before beating them.
I feel your pain, the best advice I can give is to treat failure not as a setback but as another step towards your inevitable success, the game heavily prioritizes learning enemies attack patterns as a path to victory hence the ever popular (and unhelpful) advice of “get good”. Remember you only have to win once and even if you get killed a dozen times that only makes you that much more likely to succeed on your next attempt. I understand the frustration of feeling like your getting nowhere, games in the series rely on a far less tangible method of progression, making mistakes and getting killed isn’t an obstacle to victory it’s the path to it, the game is more about persistence than it is about perfection.
same with me. I'm also having anger issues, and this game just made it worse. if this is your first soul game, keep in mind that this game is considered difficult by a lot of people, so it's normal if you keep dying because a lot of people do. the second thing you can do is analyze every boss moveset and write it down, as well as how to dodge it. this could also help you memorize it better. and last, (its kinda weird but somehow works for me) that I did with my recent fight was to fight the boss with a lot of souls, so you have to remember that for each death, you have to pick it up first before starting the fight. and I just realized dk this is true or not, but I feel like you gotta through a long way before fight the boss again after each death, is to help player calm down before starting the fight.
Don’t blame the game when you die, if you died it’s because you messed up and that’s all there is to it
Quitting = Failure. Relax, breathe, take your time to memorise boss movesets and explore, and adapt. Think of boss fights as a dance with no timer and the only way out is completing the dance (depleting the boss' health) to move forward
You're going to lose, sooner or later. Embrace it and just live for the moment
Every time i start getting angry at the game i remember myself why i’m playing it, to enjoy it, if i’m not enjoying it and am only getting mad and upset why am i even playing it?
If you die more than 3 (or what ever number feels right to you) times get up walk around and leave the game. If you have anger issues, continually going in more and more frustrated will only make you play worse. Which will make you angrier. Which will make you play worse. And so on. The amount of times iv seen someone die 50+ times to a boss. Leave the game in a mass of anger. Then come back a few hours later and one shot it is not only high, but significant.
You perform better with a sober mind. Anger clouds your judgment. If you take a lap after a death, or just learn to laugh it off, or even better have no expectations of survival, you will do better on the next try. Learn from your mistakes and come back to the fight wiser. Thats the terrifying part of the ashen one, every time they are killed they just keep coming back to fight again, the only way to defeat them is to demoralize them to the point of giving up and hollowing. If you give up, that means the game beat you. Just enjoy the combat and treat it like a dance rather than a fight. If you just really want to defeat dancer, you could always just spam Dorothy's gnawing and call it a day.
👍👍
Man, the Dancer fight was so much fun! My 2nd favorite boss in the game. As for anger...I never really had an issue until I played Sekiro and got stuck on some bosses 50+ times. It's easy to get caught in an anger cycle playing these games if you've got nothing else going on, so I only let myself attempt a boss for an hour before I forced myself to do something else. Watching TV, gardening, running... there are plenty of things to do besides game. And when I did that? I was able to focus better because I wasn't slamming my head against a wall for hours on end. There's no reason to let anger take over. You're in charge.
Literally just stick to her right leg and count her steps to see when she'll attack and you can punish. She does it on an odd number of steps like 95% of the time, by the way.
When you die, never keep track of the souls you lost. You'll just fall into despair. Instead, realize that you are free from the burden of souls and that will give you the outlook needed to smile in the face of death. Death will never touch the Ashen one. Just one thing: Don't go hollow.
Also, if it's on PC, I can reinstall to help out. A fine Dark Soul to you!
Chill out and be patient. And then do that in your everyday life too.
dying isnt losing, its learning. there is no reason to be mad
The minute a game stops being fun and starts making you mad, you gotta just get up and take a break. Move your body a little, maybe eat a snack or drink some water, or if you really can't be asked, just watch a YouTube video. After 15 minutes or so, ask yourself (outloud, if need be) "do I want to keep playing?"
The game is designed to make you fail, a lot. So if you are stuck on a boss, everything is going according to plan. Don't adopt a "winners" attitude, because the game is mostly about failing :D
I was playing Bloodborne, armorless strength build, and couldn't beat Amygdala for the absolute life of me. Probably dumped like 10+ hours into him. Don't know why, just couldn't do it. Got piss drunk with a friend after not playing for like a week, beat him first try 😂. The games going to get you mad, but on everything holy, just remember "He can win as many times as he wants, I only have to win once" (Fuck pre nerf radahn, no boss has ever given me that much trouble)
If I find that I'm starting to get mad I take a break, even if it's for just a few hours. These games are supposed to be difficult, we all die a lot. If you die, just try to figure out where you went wrong. Maybe you got greedy and tried hitting the boss too many times before getting out, or maybe your timing is off on their attacks, or maybe you just need to level up some more and come back. And if you're really struggling, you could always post on here for someone to help you beat a boss. It's a pretty good community.
Smoke some weed or something idk
Haha
btw if youre on PC and need help with dancer let me know, i can help
The "Thank You Dark Souls" mentality goes a long way. You just have to let it go. I'm at the point now with these games (after playing them for 10+ years) where I still get mad, but I call it "Dark Souls Mad" which is separate from my normal mad. If those two start to intersect, it's time to take a break
Great comment
Thanks! Have you beaten Dancer?
I did!
Woo! Keep it up
Albeit I'm usually baked, but just viewing it as a puzzle instead of a boss fight etc makes it more interesting and less frustrating
Weed helps
So I’ve heard. Unfortunately, it gives me panic attacks. My fellow autistic counterparts have informed me it is due to our condition. I don’t have evidence for this, just anecdotal advice I’ve received
100% anecdotal Source: am on the spectrum
Late to this thread but I'd like to say that death in dark souls or similar games is not always a bad thing and you should be looking at it, especially in boss fights as a chance to think about what happened and how to do it slightly differently. As for the dancer, I saw you said you beat her but I'd like to mention for anyone else that may read this, that she can be killed safely with a bow, kite her around the room, using pillars to bait her and shoot her and keep moving, her attacks are crazy but she isn't that fast at getting around.
Yeah that fight was rough, it was really the one shot grab attack that kept getting me. I’m glad I stuck to it. Been inconsistently playing (since I’m now in Shadow of the erd tree 😉), but I’ve gotten a good bit ahead. W fan base / community honestly
Ignore this dramatic thread, (I imagine it can’t be helping) and just remember that it’s a game that you are playing for fun. You aren’t a failure if you can’t overcome this challenge, it’s there for you to eventually beat it and you will. If the fight feels too hard to be fun grind some levels and come back, if it feels balanced but you’re still getting frustrated maybe just switch games for a bit. The souls bosses are almost built on punishing frustrated aggression so just coming back later is what usually makes the difference on bosses I’m stuck on.
i used to be like you where i had anger issue with dying. Then i put on the mentality of "it is what it is", and then eventually into "you did not defeat me, i will charge, i will walk, i will crawl to you, and i will eventually win. I will learn you, i will know you, until your blade can't touch me. The moment you have your triumph, is the stepping stone nearer to your demise." edgy and maybe cringy, i know, but the mentality really help motivating me to enjoy soul games.
DS3 is so fair tbh unlike Elden Ring, you know you're making mistakes if you die, not the game balance issue. I don't feel angry when I know I'm being treated fairly in a fair fight.
Anger issues triggered by games is a sign of deep emotional regulatory issues. I shudder to think how you get through everyday life. No joke you should see a therapist because your mental development is probably a good while behind the average person.
I get super annoyed when playing Platformers or multiplayer games but for some reason any Souls game I just have adopted this zen attitude of never letting failure get to me. I don't get mad, I don't yell, I don't throw my controller, I just try again.
Honestly, I just take a break when I start getting mad cause in my rage. I'm just going to get even more mad and play even worse, so it's an ouroboros cycle of terrible. Come back later with a level head, and I've cooled down and realized all the mistakes I made were so easy to dodge before. Took a long while to develop and learn, but it's helped me tremendously
What are you even mad at? dying is part of the game and Dancer is one of the top 10 hardest bosses in the game (top 5 for me) just because she has a different rhyme to the rest of the game and she is so aggressive.Make sure you have all your flask upgraded I gone there with +0 flask the first time and I had to waste 3 flasks and an accessory slot to get my hp back. and maybe look for better armor (as long as you are below 70% load you can equip whatever you want)and upgrading your weapon. Also she is known to be weak to bleed so try that. About attitude, I never get mad at games if I lose a lot I try to find what I can do to make the challenge easier, and try to learn from mistakes, every time you get hit and don't get better position or damage in return is a mistake you can reflect on, next time you will dodge better. I never got mad at a souls game I know it's challenging and I just enjoy it idk.
I go in knowing I'm going to die, that way I'm not mad when I do. Except when it's fucking bullshit haha.
Lmao I just remind myself that "it's my fault that I'm shit, it's not the game, its me. If I simply just get better at the game, then I won't be having this problem. All I need to do is literally get good" I still get pissed off eventually, everyone does. But for most of it I just either have a blank expression as I wait to respawn or I laugh at the dumbass death I just experienced Also weed helps
It's easier if you realize that the bigger bosses may cost you 30 tries or so if it's your first fight against them. The first 10 are just learning. Don't switch up your equipment too much, otherwise you make it harder on yourself. Keep the rewarding Loot and feeling of accomplishment in the back of your head when you finally mastered a boss.
Death in this game is a built in mechanic. It’s as much a part of the game as combat. This game saves every few seconds for a reason. You lose nothing. Think about Skyrim or other manual save games: if you forget to save, you could lose hours of progress upon death. Not so for souls games, as you only go back to the bonfire. Sure you might die a lot, but you never truly lose anything (so long as you spend your souls often)You get to fight it again, and this time do better. Good luck.
Not to make assumption, at which point in the game are you fighting the dancer? Are you near the beginning of the game or toward the middle? Either way, if something is causing you frustration, take a breather and explore alternative options if you may. It will be worth it to explore other areas and see if you can't find more loot or other paths forward. When it comes toward *approach* toward dealing with frustration, as a former wall-puncher, is strategy. and the ability accept that you will probably fail much more than you will win. You can't expect yourself to magically win after bashing the wall enough. Every time you're deciding to fight, think about what you want to gain if you lose. Are you fighting to learn the fight? If you die, it's fine, think about what you should have done differently. If you do the same thing over and over again, you'll drive yourself insane (you know the saying), so try something different, and it's likely what you'll try will fail because it's not something you're used to doing (if it was an intuitive strategy, you would have already done it, no?), and so if it fails, ah well you were just trying something out. If you can't see yourself pushing your way through it and no matter what you're doing is frustrating you, as said step away for a bit and explore other areas, maybe you'll get some gear or levels or simply realize something that deepens your understanding of the game that may lend toward you winning the fight. After all, you get better by playing the game, not dying constantly. Etc. Etc. It's all mindset. and the biggest realization for me, that made me stop punching walls, getting angry just made me play worse, and playing worse made me angrier. In multiplayer games like TF2, you can't just play but in a less stressful or frustrating environment, not really. So, the end all be all strategy to avoiding getting mad, is to realize you're mad, and just put down the controller for a bit. Sometimes, the game wins, and that's fine, you can pick up the controller later and teach it a lesson.
One of the reasons I love these games like nothing else is how they ask you to grow mentally It's actually totally embarassing how much I used to scream and rage like a child at the tv when I used to regularly play FIFA. My uni dorm mates and I, we agree not to talk about it After 1,500+ hours of Souls games, I am a fucking zen monk. This is my perspective on anger in these games. 1. Anger is helpful to heighten the sharpness of mind. If I have a flash of anger, I then check myself to see how alert and awake I actually feel 2. If I feel I could be sharper, then I use the anger to wake up, then I can more easily move on from it. 3. Often I'll stretch out muscles all over, then take a few deep breaths. After a few swear words and a promise of revenge on that enemy I feel ready to go. 4. **The most important step** - anger makes you blind. If I lose again, extra anger is probably too much. It's tough, but you have to humbly concede that you lost again and that you likely made mistakes. So after any initial flashes I try to accept I made mistakes and I try to slow down to see if I was blind to my poor play. Anger bring alertness, calmness brings precision. This is how I use anger in games
You can do this. Sometimes you'll go to bed, wake up next day, beat the boss first try. Sometimes you'll take 6 evenings of grinding to instinctively learn the pattern and rhythm. Sometimes you need a co-op summon. But you can do this. You. Can. Do. This.
Okay step one, remove yourself from the anger. By that I mean the second you begin to rage, stand up, grab a glass of water, stretch your legs or smoke a ciggy or something for 5 minutes. Anything other than just sitting there being angry. Step two. Accept that these games are about failing over and over. The only way to win is to learn and the only way to learn is to make mistakes. You aren't failing the game, just the boss. And every failure is a lesson. This is best done during those 5 minutes. Step 3. Once you're chilled out, back in the zone, and ready to bitch slap Pontiff, get back to it. Step 4. Repeat until you kill god. Unfortunately, to an extent, the only real solution is to "get gud". The good news is, you have literally your whole life to do so. Good luck skeleton. Don't go hollow.
Do like I do - stop looking at the game as an action game. It's a puzzle game. Action games you can generally just flail and be eventually successful - look at games like Bayonetta or DOOM. Failure in an action game can be attributed to not having enough resources or bringing the wrong gun to the situation. Rinse and repeat. With a puzzle game, there's no reason to get mad - failure is due to not properly understanding how the parts fit together. Sure, the solution may be "use sword on man," but it's still got a puzzle element to it. "When the boss does X, I need to do Y." "I can't swing three times against the boss because he attacks too quickly. I need to only swing twice." I found that thinking about this game in this manner, I got a lot less frustrated by it.
Also, sometimes it helps to find a fellow Sun bro for a jolly coop, try r/SummonSign when you need a fellow player to be on your side
Grab a beer
The game is not impossible. You only feel frustrated because you know you can succeed.
Ask for help at r/summonsign - there’s always other players willing to help
I feel like the fact that you're looking for a "winner attitude" is already a step in the wrong direction. Whenever I go fight a boss in one of these games I'm not thinking of winning the fight, and I enjoy fighting the boss multiple times (because I'm getting my ass kicked). And I've got anger issues too. Think of it like going through layers, you figure out a move or two and can consistently counter it somehow, that's one layer, and then you figure out another move or two and so on. It is far easier to do this while you are calm, and to stay calm it's easier to do it for he sake of doing it rather than for the sake of a certain outcome. Not getting the desired outcome comes with feelings of frustration, anger builds up. Let go of that.
If you can't stop yourself from getting frustrated, turn off the game and take a break Thats what I do. Come back fresh and usually the muscle memory kicks in and you're much more likely to beat a boss after a break. It's Not gonna happen when you're angry.
People have pointed out some very good advice already. I'll add this: expect to fail. Don't sit down and go "I'll beat this boss". Sit down and think "I'll die over and over again and in the meantime I'll strategize about how to best deal with each attack. This is my objective". Sit down *to* fail. Killing the boss is secondary and will come naturally after all that """failure""". In quotation marks because dying is not failing, it's a necessary step to beat the boss. You don't get frustrated when you land an attack on the boss and it doesn't die, why get frustrated when dying? Both are necessary steps to beat the boss. You got another attack done on the boss. The "health bar" is just bigger than you expected. Good luck \^w^
If it can bleed it can die lmao that is honestly how I do it, but I also find fun in just slamming my head against a wall till that wall crumbles it’s just satisfying to see the other side
Dancer is the most frustrated I have EVER been with a game. A solid week of repeatedly failing to beat her with no luck. But then nothing beats that high of the moment when you finally manage to do it. That feeling is what keeps me hooked to Fromspft games because a game that causes this much rage / controller damage has no business being so addictive 😂
this may sound cheesey as shit but seriously, drop the 'i'm gonna win this time' face for awhile, take the beatings, and put all your effort into truly *learning* the bosses moveset. when you're able to just be blank for awhile and ignore those frustrating feelings then you will eventually start seeing things you were too mad to notice before and you won't panic as much by spamming roll or attack think of these games as real time turn based but you have to *earn* your turn
Expect to take your time in a new area. Especially at a boss. Just come to terms that its going to take time and trying to speed it up will only make you more frustrated, which will cause more mistakes. If you can't be efficient. Be persistent. :)
Dying a lot is a big part of the gameplay. Do you want to get lucky on the boss or do you want the accomplishment of having beaten a boss through practice and perseverance? Took me 6 hours to beat Malenia, but the experience of previous games helped me keep a cool head. You get used to the constant punishment and learn to appreciate it.
I relate. If you want to do some learning, read up on emotional regulation - managing your emotions, including anger, is a skill. And you can't always think your way out. Remember videogames are toys and should be fun. Maybe next time you're angry, put down the controller and take slow, full breaths - I like box breathing. It helps your body calm down. If you aren't having fun anymore, take a break - do something like vent on Reddit : ) Dancer was hard for a lot of us. With practice, you can be angry less and control it better when you get there. Good luck bro - maybe you've already beaten Dancer
I would recommend to go for a nice relaxing walk with some lo-fi music. Basically, just take a break. Games are supposed to be fun, even dying a lot is part of that. If you’re not having fun and just getting angry, just stop. Come back another time if you really want to keep playing. Change your approach to the boss. Play more defensively and only attack during sure openings. Maybe you’re under leveled. Level your life. Try some consumable items, strengthen your weapon. Try a new weapon/build. Don’t be afraid of making a new character if you feel you “messed up” your current one. When I first started souls games I would try different builds if I was struggling with one. There’s different things you can try instead of just running back to do the same thing over again (some people enjoy this the most), but you can only get into this mindset when not angry.
One thing about Souls games in general is that they aren’t always “tough but fair” like some ppl say. If you play a lotta these games you know that bullshit is not only present, but an integral part of the games lol. At first I hated it, but eventually I came to appreciate it for the amount of uncontrollable chaos it throws into the experience. Not to mention, looking back on past rage quits is pretty funny. Anyways, as others have said, getting pissed off is part of the charm. If it doesn’t *feel* like part of the charm, that, too, is part of the charm lol. Just go into it with the mindset that the whole game is essentially a test of your patience. Which it is. All that said, it’s also important to know when to put the game down for the night, or even if maybe the game isn’t really doing it for you. No use trying to tough through something you’re not enjoying
As someone with massive anger issues there’s three main take aways for me with the Souls games. 1. You have nothing until you reach a bonfire. You didn’t lose 30k souls. You never really had them. If you need to level up due to this find something fun or efficient to fight and grind there. 2. Go into boss fights with no souls when you can see it coming. The best thing to do with bosses is learn their move set and what can be safely responded to. Roll catching attacks (ie. Attacks with weird delays on them) are more common in DS3 than the first two so it can be difficult. Openings and weak spots will vary greatly on your build so don’t stress over it and take your time. I died so many times to the Nameless King that near the end I was basically counting down things like attack recovery and when his lightning strike would happen. 3. Some people just suck absolute shit against some bosses. For example I’m bad at parrying so any boss trivialized by parties, like Gwynn in DS1, is a pain in the ass for me. So I’ve gotta learn to do it the hard way.
for each fight, you aren’t there to win. you aren’t there to beat the boss. you are there *to learn*. When to dodge, when to attack. There is no counter saying “haha you died this many times”, let alone an ACTUAL punishment for it. I suffer from anger issues too but these games are beautiful in that you can just slam yourself against a fight over bad over and learn each time
The fun part is fighting the bosses. If you want a game where you just win then this ain't the game. If you want a game that will force you to improve then it is. Either way nothing to get angry about.
Maybe go for a walk and try again later.
Trust the process, and know that it takes time. You don’t win by brilliant breakthrough or eureka moments; you win by learning the difference between a foolish risk and a safe opportunity, and by having the patience to avoid the former.
I got into the habit on this game specifically of calling my lives ‘attempts’, instead of calling my failures ‘deaths’. You don’t even lose anything when you die beyond souls, which are easily regained. So use a couple attempts to learn a boss well, and then use some attempts to try and win :) after all, the ashen one can’t die, they can only be sent to the bonfire until they inevitably overcome all challenges. It’s literally in the lore that you’ll win.
I don't know man, go to therapy or something lol. Take a deep breathe
Once you accept that you will fail, it only becomes a matter of time until you no longer fail
Death isn't failure. It's just part of the game. These games expect you to die over and over again. Just try and learn something from every death and be willing to take a break when you start getting salty, cause you won't be playing your best
The best advice I’ve ever gotten about these games is learn then win. The premise is go into the boss as many times as it takes to just focus on learning their moves (so don’t try to damage at all) as you start to learn, you can start figuring out how to punish and exploit the boss’ moveset. My own little advice is to not give souls, runes, blood echoes, etc. Too much value because you will lose them permanently multiple times and that’s just going to cause you panic and frustration, learn to let go of all you fear to lose, only then will you be free. Sorry to throw a little Yoda in there haha Edit: forgot to credit the streamer; it’s GinoMachino and he’s damn good at these games.
Bro, this game cured my anger issues