I managed to make it all the way to Farron Keep before I did the heavy exhale and controller squeeze. I have no idea what Fromsoft love about poison areas with slow movement and confusing landscape but god damn I despise these places. From Blighttown to Harvest Valley and now this. Add onto that the random watchdogs that keep invading and not letting me rest, all whilst being unable to find them because this area is so huge and full of paths...

On the plus side...all up to this point has felt very souls. Challenging but fair. From the exploration and learning to the constant ambushes and random arrows the size of trees crashing into my head, I've found myself laughing at deaths more than complaining...but please...no more poison areas...

Farron Keep for me, as well. So pleased to see the back of that place.

I haven't been frustrated with the game yet. I liked this games poison area.

Probably about the same amount of time! And the wonderful mix of frustation and elation keeps going... absolutely loving this game!

Catacombs, but that was mostly my own doing because I somehow managed to not find either bonfire until right before I beat Wolnir. Doing that run over and over again was not an enjoyable experience.

Catacombs, although the first swamp area was close. Between summoning a ton and being familiar with the series, I haven't really hit a lot of spots where I just keep dying over and over again. But the ninja skeletons in Catacombs and the crucified Hollows in the swamp messed me up so bad. The weird satyrs in the tunnels of the Demon Ruins did a number on me too.

Fuck Farron's Keep. I hated that area in Demon's Souls, I hated it in Dark Souls and now I hate it in Dark Souls 3. I don't remember if there was any area like this in Dark Souls 2, but if there were, I probably hated it as well. And not "hated" as in "ohh, that was really difficult, but I'm proud I got through it!", but rather "that was just three hours of my life I'll never get back, go fuck yourself From". Which is not the feeling this game is going for.

@gkhan: It's weird, the Blighttownish area in Dark Souls 2 wasn't actually bad at all. It was the Shrine of Amana and No Man's Wharf that filled that frustrating role for me there.

Those big dragon-dog-shaman enemies in the swamp were definitely my least favourite to fight as a dex build. Other than that I had a bit of trouble in Irithyll for some reason, just could not reliably kill those knight enemies.

So far, the game has not really frustrated me that much. Thats not to say the game is easy, but I suppose I have gotten used to staying calm since I have beaten all of the other Souls games ( and Bloodborne ).

( Sidenote, FUCK the Valley of Defilement from Demon Soul's. Just fuck that place )

I did some eye rolling because of the heavily mob based bosses early on, but didn't really get frustrated. Only time I've wanted to toss my controller is in the most optional of areas, and it's two bosses. One because I was in a bad mood anyways and just tried to rush, and the other BECAUSE ITS THE HARDEST BOSS I'VE FOUGHT IN SO LONG, potentially the hardest in the franchise for me? Pretty good fight though, I just wasn't used to the game demanding that much from me. Fuck you Nameless King you're alright.

The only thing that's bothered me was wolnir, I kept dying and wasn't sure why so after 3 deaths I just stopped playing. Went back and just watched and found it was the stupid smoke killing me. The game is fairly easy overall but it's still a great game, I don't think the difficulty is the thing for me anymore, it's just exploring and the actual gameplay. Killing dudes and getting that sharp sound at the same time is really nice.

Never, bring it on! Although, I've had some weirdness with not being able to sommon people. And my Farron invasions stopped. Maybe I out leveled them? :( I think I only need 10 more leaves to top out my cov rep... Lot's of people making poor PvP decisions... >:) Took me a few encounters to realize the Red Phantom in the crab-swamp wasn't a PC... o_o

Eh, I found the poison area in DS3 to be way way less tense and annoying then it's counterparts in previous game. For one the previous games have already prepared me for it, so there was no panic or hand wringing for me, I just took it very coolly and calculated, because previous experiences have taught us that regular poison is not that big of a deal it can just be healed through. Secondly the poison seems to do way less dmg then before, like really not anything significant, I explored most of the swamp while being constantly poisoned and just using an estus once in a while. Thirdly no framerate assery.

So yea, I really felt like this game's poison area was kind of mild.

I did get a bit frustrated with the Watcher covenant gankers double teaming me with fast weapons while lagging all over the place. So I went offline for that first area where they can invade non stop.

I was fine with Farron Keep. The poison does such little damage that it didn't feel like a huge issue. It wasn't until I hit Boreal Valley that I started to lose the much needed patience required to play these games. Although, I was playing the game quite a bit over a few (very fun) days so I might have just started burning out.

I've taken a break from the game for a couple days because I was struggling to have fun with it. I'll come back to it once I'm ready to be patient with it again.

I was really dreading Farron's Keep when I first arrived there. Looking back, it honestly wasn't that bad. I don't think I was ever that frustrated at any specific area. The Pontiff on the other hand was an exercise in patience.

Probably yesterday when I fought (mid game? boss spoiler) that Pontiff guy. Had so much trouble because I kept trying to kill his clone, then the one time I decided to play by "his rules" I found it way easier and wiped the floor with him. Maybe also compounded by the fact I'd played for 5 hours before that fight.

@turambar: I just got to the Pontiff fight and can tell it's going to take me a while. Possibly my fault for refusing to use a shield.

All of the location have been fine so far. I just let myself 've poisoned in the swamp and then healed through it, it's a lot more forgiving than previous games.

The first time I got really frustrated was the Deacons. Probably because I was using a rapier which didn't help with the mob but still. Fuck that fight.

Until I grappled with these fine gents.

Oh and the jailers can kiss my ass.

Finished the game the other day, nothing was terribly frustrating at all. I did skip two big optional areas though.

Honestly has not been too bad yet. Farron Keep was actually pleasant in comparison to Blighttown. Anytime I'm feeling frustrated I end up finding a shortcut and that cuts down on stress buildup considerably. I guess the worst part for me right now that I've put off is clearing that area near the Catacombs because I can't figure out how to deal with those fire dudes and their orb turrets, but even that isn't awful.

Not to say that I'm not finding the game challenging, but instead of just dying all the time like I did in the first Souls game, with my previous experience I'm able to scope out potentially fatal encounters and approach them at my pace, and that's been a lot of fun.

I only really experienced true frustration in the last of the optional areas. Some of the enemies in that area are no joke.

The gameplay had me smiling start to finish, no frustration... but certain NPCs REFUSING TO SHOW UP NO MATTER WHAT I DID frustrated me pretty badly. It worked fine first time through, but one wouldn't show up in NG+, and then in the third new game several just refused to show up. I'm pretty sure I rushed and missed triggers for most of them, but there's one that showed up in Firelink on my first game without me ever meeting him in either spot you're supposed to, and then was never in either spot or Firelink in the subsequent playthroughs. And his absence blocks other quests, so it was super double frustrating.

11 hours in and it hasn't been terrible. My least favorite parts were the swamp (because being slowed sucks more than being poisoned) and catacombs (which just seemed like a Chalice dungeon), but there's no area that I've considered terrible yet. Those both took an hour at most so it wasn't that bad of a roadblock, and they had some cool stuff in there. No impossible bosses yet, either.

I'm coming off Bloodborne with little affinity for the Souls games, but I like pretty much everything about this one. No frustration just yet.

I've never been more upset about being beaten by an invading phantom.

For real though, the dungeons are the worst of it for me. There's enemies in there that will lower your max health the longer you stay near them, and often they'll be situated in groups, and can deal a LOT of damage with their grab attack, which itself has kind of insane tracking.

The one who shall not be named is a ridiculously cool Boss but Fuuuuuck me is he hard.

I'm not a great Souls player (I did beat all the games except Demon's), so far I'm finding this game the hardest for me in the series.

But I didn't hate any area or bosses so far, been dying a ton but exploring this game is so much fun that I don't mind. I'm 35 hours in and just reached the "dragonslayer armour".

It's easy to call it for reals, but I think this is my favorite Souls overall.

No frustration. As a veteran, the game is kinda easy.

That area did it for me too, but not because of the poison. It was those basilisks, whose curse now goes "from zero to one hundred real quick." I used to plow though them in DaS, and only got into trouble if I missed a couple of swings. Now?: If I'm not facing them solo, I'm dead.

@tobbrobb: I just got disconnected from the servers and booted out of the game during that boss fight and dude had maybe 20% health left, I had 11 estus flasks left. I'm a tad annoyed.

The catacombs were my first part of frustration from a challenge standpoint (mostly because of the red-eyed guys; and since it took me ages to find either of the bonfires). My first part of any frustration was at the Cathedral of the Deep where I there was a long while when I had no idea where to go.

The only thing that's frustrated me is the balance From decided to go with for invasions. I don't mind that the odds are stacked against me, but in this case I think they took it a little too far.

Invading results in:

1. Less health
2. Halved Estus
3. Heavily prioritizes cooping partners, most invasions are 1v3
4. A surprisingly high chance to have a Blue Sentinel making it 1v4

I can usually only take out 2 Phantoms before I run out of Estus from the spammed light attacks. With that many players targeting you it's so hard to prevent them using each other for safe healing rotations, fights can go on for 10-15mins now. Unless the host is incompetent it's incredibly difficult to take someone out who has up to 15 Estus. Due to how fast the heal is it's borderline unpreventable.

Invading doesn't cause fear in players anymore, it's not a big event for someone going through their level because now they always have at least 1 coop partner to help them. The chances of being invaded when you're alone are very slim unless you choose to use the Dried Finger.

I hope they address this in future patches. I can see their intent was to have multiple invaders get in on an invasion and have it be a 3v3 brawl and those are fantastic scraps, but more often than not it's 1 invader vs 3 to 4 other players and then you get Giant Seeded.

Funnily enough the one time i got super pissed at the game was at 4 'normal' hollows. Crossbow, halberd, axe and estus blocking guy. Granted the halberd guy was one shotting me, so that wasnt' fun at all.

The frustration for me set in when I first arrived at Irithyll. I don't know why, but that area feels like an insane difficulty spike for me so far, and not in a fun way. Those dudes with their cold freezy blades seem like they just keep swinging and pivoting and skipping frames like CRAZY.

The poison swamp in this game is the worst of the worst imo in these games. Blighttown was alright (except the performance on PS3), Harvest Valley became a joke if you had lifegems, but Farron Keep is a nightmare. Not only are you slowed down by the thick bog (snaring is terrible in all games) but the various goatmen enemies are among the worst in the game, with their wild flailing and ridiculous damage output (also homing soul skulls? really?!). The game becomes much better again when you clear the first half of Irithyll.

@baronsamedi: I can see how it'll be frustrating but invasions were always in favor of the invaded. If you manage to kill the host he loses souls, progress, and ember. As an invader you only lose the cracked red eye. Also, at this point everyone who is doing active invasions has the uncracked version so the invader loses nothing. Plus, invaders now can use estus so fights drag on for fucking ever.

Even if the fight turns into a 1v1, invaders are so goddamn paranoid with being ganged on they will belt to the nearest enemy infested area to heal up.

At least now Invaders have to take into account that when they invade someone they go in knowing it's going to be a harder task.

I am going to assume since pretty much everyone is screaming bloody murders about this issue that From is going to either limit the amount of players or block estus use for the duration. Or have an active pvp arena. On any case, it's going be "fixed" so all you invaders can have the "big dick on the block" feeling. Last sentence should be taken as humor btw.

Back on topic. Frustration?! Nah. I am so far into these games that I am kinda over being frustrated. I do feel extremely fatigued though.

@mordukai: Oh I totally get that, I think the odds should be stacked in favor of the Host, after all I'm invading someone else's world. But like I said it just seems a little too far, it just becomes a crapshoot of spamming roll and hoping to get hitbox priority rather than any actual proper fighting. I understand there's dueling which is great, but I don't think invading should be nerfed so hard to the point where the combat system they've created melts into an amorphous blob of 5 weapons doing light attacks all in one spot then scattering to chug Estus only to become said blob again.

@baronsamedi: I am hoping they do something. More often then not From prefers the easy fix until they come up with something better. I am much more into jolly cooperation, but I can relate to frustrating pvp fights as I was very active with pvp in Demon's Souls.

I think Demon's Souls, was the put the invader and the host on the same level. The only thing I can dig up from memory is that Demon's Souls invaded had more HP.

I think if you count the Nightmare areas, and the sinister chalice dungeons, in Bloodborne then it has also put both players on even terms.

At least From hasn't lost a beat in making pvp a cluster fuck on launch.

@baronsamedi: I share your sentiments exactly. I was once involved in a massive brawl between the host, a white phantom, and a sunbro vs. a watchdog (me), two red invaders, a mound builder, and about 3 enemies. Until I was killed, it was fucking awesome.

But that only happened one time. 99% of the time, there's at least 2 white phantoms. People are a lot smarter about protecting against invasions (or they're ganking), so I wish that people could be more likely to be invaded by multiple people at once if they have buddies helping them.

@baronsamedi: @mordukai: Almost every time that I've invaded the host has ran back to the bonfire and summoned as many people as they can to help. A few times I've managed to kill their co-op partner just to have the host run back and summon the same person back in. It can be quite frustrating and often the host and phantoms will just sit at the bonfire refusing to move forward into the areas that still have enemies in them.

Needless to say, invading can be lame. I got fed up eventually so I took off all my armor and equipped a torch and started invading people and acting as a sort of guide, flailing my torch around and showing them where to go and pointing out hidden enemies. That was fun for a couple hours.

@immunity: I have played the Friendly Red Phantoms many times. It's actually fun.

Catacombs was really annoying.

As for Farron Keep... Dagger FP Skill destroys that area

Farron Keep was not so bad. One tough enemy for me in there but not too much otherwise. I could stand getting poisoned with how my Estus Flasks are now if it came down to it. Now running into the curse was bad but that was a fun flashback to 1.

NVM, I feel it. The catacombs area with the homing missiles is fucking hard and I can't get help. I've helped multiple people get to the bonfire, but for some reason I can't summon anyone. It just tells me "unable to summon" It's really fucking frustrating. >:(

the catacombs and archdragon peak were two places that frustrated me(glares at the rolly polly assholes). i'm sure there are other places but those are the two that i remember off the top of my head. i didn't think farron keep was that bad and got through it without much issue. i haven't had many issues with the bosses but that's probably because anytime i would run into a boss that i was struggling with i would just summon someone to help.

Edit: i'm not above cheesing stuff in this game. since arrows are dirt cheap and you can just farm titanite shards, large shards, and chunks so it's real easy to get your hands on enough mats to upgrade a bow to cheese tough enemies(like dragons) to death

Ithryll Dungeon just fucking sucks. Confusing and annoying.

I've played up to Lothric Castle, and so far, only a couple areas/enemies have annoyed me. The Smoldering Lake sucked because I couldn't figure out where those giant spears were coming from, but that was thankfully a short area. I hated that there was no counter to the jailers other than to kill them quickly. I had to run for my life through most of the Catacombs and was happy when that was over. But nothing has been as bad as that homing soul arrow / bottomless lake area in Dark Souls 2. Fuck, I hated that place.

Enemies that have frustrated me:

• Ninja skeletons in the Catacombs
• Pontiff Sulyvahn
• Boreal Dancer (second phase)
• Lorian, Elder Prince

Regarding the PvP mechanics, I haven't started invading people yet but I will say that my lone experience with it so far was in that area approaching Anor Londo. I ran out there, and all of a sudden I was invaded twice in 20 seconds, meanwhile there was already a gank squad of NPC invaders waiting around for me. I was fighting the gank squad 2v1 when the first invader showed up. He sat down and waited for me to kill them both. Then engaged me himself, and I was in the midst of an even fight with him when all of a sudden the second invader came out of nowhere and killed me with a plunge attack. Perhaps that's an isolated area, but I can say for certain that the odds were certainly NOT stacked in my favor at that point.

I didn't feel it. There were some instances when I thought I was going to have a worse time than I did, but this was a fairly frustration free Souls experience. The obligatory poison area was a lot shorter and less deadly, the obligatory catacomb sequence was actually bright enough and featured very few bonewheels, and while I felt the difficulty ratchet up in certain places, it became fairly easy to handle thanks to well placed bonfires and shortcuts.

Dark Souls 3 has a very "greatest hits" feel to it (and that's not a bad thing), but they seemed to tone down a lot of the elements that made those areas hot bullshit in the past. I'll take the Jailers of Ithryll Dungeon over the Mind Flayers in the Tower of Latria any day.

I generally find the first couple of areas to be the most frustrating because I'm still getting my bearings and trying to find equipment I like. After that, it's just dealing with basic frustrations.

Irithyll Borreal valley. Holy shit that place sucked with my slow ass two hander. I was getting destroyed. And the boss took me more than an hour to finally defeat him. I was not having fun. Then after resetting my skills and first time in souls having dex build with glorious katana made me a lot more happy. I still suck ass when fighting with silver knights. It feels like enemies hit a lot more harder than in previous souls. And while I like the amount of bonfires this time, sometimes the placement feels less smartly designed and more catering to new players.