I got this is a bundle with a few other titles and so far I have played 2 of them. Salt and Sanctuary I played second because I liked how dark it looked. The art looked great and I don't mind a 2d side-scrolling game. In many ways I prefer them because maps and all that other bollocks aren't terribly necessary.
Now when i read that it is "Souls-like" this immediately scared me because this of course is a reference to Dark Souls which was is and always will be entirely too difficult for me. I do not have the patience or free time to master a game of this magnitude and will not do so.
The closest I ever even came to trying was Nioh and after losing to the first boss in that game 20 times in a row or so I was like "fuck this.... the first boss? seriously?"
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Unfortunately, the exact same thing has happened to me with Salt and Sanctuary. You tool around a bit and kill a few dudes here and there and it is misleadingly easy and then a bit later you find yourself at the very first boss who is 40 times your size.
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I have a strategy with bosses in games of this sort where before I even try to engage and cause any damage I will normally try to understand their attack patterns and "tells" before I even try to have a swing at them. I tried that with this guy but you are dealing with a very small area that you have access to, very limited dodging capabilities.
Also, on the very first boss they have two of his moves be unblockable and while these won't kill you, they do enough damage that you better not get hit by too many of them. He isn't very fast and I think this is by design to give you a chance to hide in the corners and use your healing items (which don't do insta-heal by the way, it takes time to charge) and depending on which button you have assigned this to, you may not remember and accidentally just stand there like a toolbag with their shield up.
The guy who made this video is clearly quite skilled at the game but even would have died a couple of times over if he hadn't retreated to the corner and used healing flasks.
People out there can go ahead and tell me to "git gud" and trust me, on public forums more popular than this one that is exactly what they are doing. I am not sure what kind of person it takes in order to excel at this game but it is someone that has a much greater sense of patience than I do. I did finally defeat the first boss after 20 tries or so but if the very first boss in a game give me that much trouble, it is normally a really good sign that the game is going to get a LOT more difficult as you proceed.
So this game looks fun from the trailers that I have seen and I am just happy that I ended up only paying a few dollars for it because honestly man, this game is way out of my ability range. I can not enjoy a game this complicated and let this be a warning to any of you guys out there that unless you are on a totally different level than I am, you probably aren't going to enjoy this either.
Go head and tell me to git gud noob, I don't mind. I am a casual, and I know that. Games of this difficulty level are not for me and I don't think they ever will be.