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one thing that I absolutely despise about the black gulch is the fact that if any of those statues hit you in the head it's faster to just create a new character a play through the entire game until black gulch than wait for the stunlock to wear out
I cannot find words to describe how thankful I was for the fact that there's only like 7 enemies in the area (not counting the worms) and that their aggro range is incredibly short, otherwise this would've possibly been the most miserable, non dlc experience in DS2
Sekiro levels are nice cause even when they're bad, like Sunken Valley, you can just skip through them really easy with all the mobility options you have.
Idk i feel like u can light 3 fires in 3 mins and progress, and after come back to loot it whole, never had any issues with it, i hate road to sacrifice more because it is bland boring and feels longer
I'd go as far as to say that Farron keep is actually a decent area. A decent objective with can be approached by many paths, and good enemy variety. Important loot items and NPCs. And an amazing boss at the end.
I realized in subsequent playthroughs that Farron Keep really isn't that bad compared to other poison swamps, I can easily run through the whole area in like 5 minutes, light all the fires and open the way to Abyss Watchers. Meanwhile I still dread having to go through Blighttown even though I beat Dark Souls 1 multiple times. I haven't played Demon's Souls but that poison swamp looks excruciating to go through.
Not to mention that if you want to get every item, you need to do it more than once. Dark souls 2 has the worst boss runs in the whole franchise. Iron Passage, Frigid Outskirts, the one to the Gank squad, the one to Velstad, the other one to Sir Alonne... and many more. Cheers!
@@PantoniStrikesBackVelstadt? There are literally three hollows to kill to avoid all the pyromancers to spawn, and two knights that you could easily avoid if you wanted to. Unless you didn't unlock the shortcut, Velstadt has one of the shortest runbacks.
@@nicola4251 Yes, 3 hollows that you have to wait for them to appear slowly one by one. And careful with the bell's hitbox... Is not the worst/longest, but it's also a crappy one (imo).
The reasons you don't like Blighttown are the same reasons that I think it's so great. It has such a claustrophobic and confusing layout, which creates this amazing atmosphere of dread and tension, and in terms of actual level design, there are so many secrets and alternate paths to take throughout. And then I also really love the Valley of Defilement as well for mostly the same reasons.
I personally think that Nightmare Frontier is probably an honourable mention instead of Mensis just because the frenzy build up only happens at the start and after you get past the bridge, its not an issue. But nightmare frontier is a poison swamp (surprise surprise) with silverbeasts that are some of the most irritating enemies to fight imo. Also, the winter lanterns u need to get past to unlock the lift shortcut make it even worse than Mensis. Rant over thx if anyone reads all of this.
Also you can find and disable the Brain of Mensis relatively easy which is incredibly cathartic AND lets you go back and explore through the zone, you're MEANT to run into the danger blindly to find the source of the nightmare. unlike other awful zones, like Shrine of Amana, Frigid Outskirts, Lake of Rot that stay awful permanently the game actually lets you disable the main hazard to make level exploration for manageable. Its great compromise in level design, especially for a game thats supposed to be horror themed. You see this alot in games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil. The game pushing you out of your comfort zone into uncertain danger.
I dont think the frenzy build up from the brain of mensis is even bad. Like the build up it causes is so much weaker/slower than regular enemies i feel like its more of a cool creepy level detail than a legitimate threat/obstacle
I only go to the Nightmare Frontier to fight the Amygdala (and it's not even a good boss). In a relatively short game like Bloodborne I like to fight all the bosses to get as much as possible out of the game. Nightmare Frontier just doesn't have anything that's worth doing except for a boss fight. Definitely my least favorite area in the game
@@simonjohnson3424 ive noticed when invading other peoples worlds for pvp that most dont even bother completing the area bc patches and the shortcuts are still untouched
I feel like everyone goes easy on Yahargul, the difficulty of bloodborne really starts to show from there. Yahargul isn't just a creepy place but the buffed enemies actually pose a threat.
Bloodborne is my favourite Fromsoft game, and one of my favourite games of all time, but if I'm being completely honest: after the Forbidden Forest, the game takes a dip in quality, and doesn't pick back up again until the final boss. This is why I always save the DLC for the latter half of the game. It paces it out better imo.
Blighttown is unironically fucking awesome. The only complaints I ever had about it were back in the PS3 era (I was there, 3000 years ago) when the fps were bad. One of my most hated areas is the Iron Passage from DS2, which leads to the blue smelter demon. Filled to the brim with annoying, strong enemies, casters that shoot lightning at you and slow you down, and these stupid gates that you have to cross before they close and you only get one attempt before having to reload the entire area. And also literally all of the memory levels in DS2, especially the Memory of the Old Iron King (aka the Sir Alonne boss run).
I only recently came upon FromSoftware games. I didn't find it all that bad. Mostly because I had heard about it long before I even played the game so knew to be prepared. I'm not a "blind" player where I run through and figure things out on my own. I will look things up. And so I already knew to pack plenty of moss and get the appropriate ring and grind a bit for a few extra statuses.
Yea i never got the hate for Blighttown, it's only rivaled by anor londo based on how iconic it is. I played it on the 360 where it was also running at 5fps but somehow the area never bothered me.
Yeah genuinely blighttown was so sick, aside from that one place with the fire-keeper soul where there's all those blowdart dudes, I loved the whole area. Thought the whole area was just super creative. Reminded me of that goblin cave in the hobbit too which just made me love it more
I have no idea whether Nito is hard or not. I was so desperate not to run through the Tomb of Giants again after reaching him that I entered the Flow State and beat him in one go without any guides or summons. No idea how I pulled it off but it felt hella good to say farewell to the Tomb of Giants for the rest of the game.
@@Sabbathfaax nito can be cheesed if you have fog ring and slumbering dragoncrest ring, as long as you don't go to the back area you'll never aggro the skellys and nito by himself is pretty easy
Fun fact many people probably dont know about when DS2 originally released, Shrine of Amana was WORSE than it is now for only one reason....the casters attacks homed in so much that you COULD NOT sidestep, run to the side, run behind them etc, you HAD to roll or take cover i think they nerfed it a few months down the line
I legit don't know how the OG Shrine of Amana was meant to be beaten by melee players lol. That thing convinced 10(?) year old me to put DS2 down for a while and wait until they nerfed it haha, what a joke
@@HeroSword_P Possible, because those "dinosaurs" in Lost Izalith in Dark Souls 1 were way more aggressive in the release version of the game. With a later patch you were able to walk past them nearly without them noticing. Shrine of Armana ist very beautiful but movement is so extremely slow due to the water levels and the casters are just so painful.
I hate blighttown since in my first playthrough I somehow ended up entering blighttown from the Valley of Drakes only to decide to climb the scaffolding and ended up resting at the bonfire at the top of blighttown only to reach the depths entrance. So to summarise I somehow ended up using the shortcut to get into blighttown only to end up having to leave blighttown normally
I knew frigid outskirts would be high on this list. I remember countless times I had to run through that empty nightmare all to fight the duo reskin. Definitely deserves worst area.
did you summon co-op? It's explicitly designed as a co-op challenge. Even has that tombstone system so players who didn't have or hadn't unlocked the dlc could offer their signs to geoup up, plus multiple npc summons - though those admittedly were kind of trash. FO is pretty bad regardless, in that it's short & dull & the blizzard gimmick is annoying, but if you were soloing a zone designed for 2 to 3 players that part's kind of on you.
@Sception not a good enough reason for how bad it is plus awful boss. It wasn't obvious it was "intended" for multilayer (at least a fight like Radahn has 20 summon signs glowing all over the place) It is just scientifically terrible
Frigid outskirts is just different. There are many areas (especially from dark souls 2) which in my opinion are very bad, but none of them comes close to being as bad as frigid outskirts
Iron Passage Idk if i lucked out or went in prepared knowing how hated it is, but i didn't find Frigid Outskirts that terrible. Terrible in how there's nothing there? Oh yes no doubt. Iron Passage though, I've NEVER felt miserable playing a videogame until I played that area. I legit wanted to cry lmao. Took me 2 days to get through it
In defense of The Iron Keep, I find it quite nice that a huge castle is actually guarded properly and the guards don't just sit there waiting for you to attack before they kill you. As for the numbers, maybe reduce it by a couple but I don't mind it. For the shrine, archery only runs can really enjoy the beauty of the place as the enemies are a cake walk :) For Lost Izalith, to me, the only bad (or "unfinished" part to me is the lava run with all the dragon's butts standing around. Once you climb up the root to the final section, it is quite nice.
SOTFS changed the aggro range in Iron Keep. Before you had to get reasonably close before the knights aggroed. Now their aggro range is half the keep and they will swarm you in the first big area if you aren't careful.
I agree with nearly everything but the Swamp of Sorrow is the second worst for me. Not the Valley of Defilment. The swamp makes Farron Keep look like a fun time. Not to mention the shortcut being so far near the end that if you die trying to get it you might just want to die irl. The amount of times it made me quit or go somewhere else is insane.
I understand why you didn’t include iron passage, cave of the dead, or the gutter because otherwise this list would’ve just been dark souls 2 areas lol
@@bellbro62 ill die on the hill that the gutter is a good area. It is one of the few areas that is actually fun to explore and uses the torch well. This is coming from someone that hates most of the ds2 areas and doesnt see the dlc areas as peak souls level design
@@bellbro62 I'm playing Ds2 again, and to be fair, I kind of enjoyed The Gutter. Not a great level by any means, but I find kind of fun to go slowly through the place setting the torches on fire. I hated it at first, but now... not that bad. The main problem for me is that nothing's going on in that area. It's just a "corridor" between 2 areas with bosses. I would scrapped black gulch and made the Rotten the boss for the Gutter instead. Cheers!
As far as the Ritual Path goes, I went through that entire area in Shrine of Storms 4-2 completely & practically blind when I played the OG game. It’s not the worst, but visually, it’s not that impressive & the enemies still never gave me so much trouble. But I remember I accidentally dropped down, activated a switch, initiated a cutscene & promptly died after the cutscene was over, which was quite an experience.
I actually really like Farron Keep, i'll admit it's annoying at times, but i really dig the atmosphere of the place, also finding that ladder to that giant tower and admiring the view once you get untop of it is my favorite moment in DS.
The Iron Passage was probably the worst area I've ever experienced in a souls game, still get trauma when doing an all boss run in DS2 from that area .
i had a similar experience with the Blue Smelter Demon and the Iron Passage. at first i would get the summons involved to make the run up easier but kept choking in the boss fight. ended up going with the sprint past all enemies (and then roll at optimal times when that wizard puts the fat roll spell on you), and once i got to the boss used poison arrows and a greatsword to melt his health. also his move set once learned is pretty predictable, just gotta watch out for how long his sword is when infused with the blue flame/magic damage. felt so good to finally get that. additionally, the “shortcut” with the gate pull SUCKS due to the thing spitting flame balls at you while you try to roll past the axe-wielding enemies. the gate closes so quick and you can’t roll under it when it’s low. ugh
i would personally take blightown over the entire second half of dark souls. i absolutely loved the area, its honestly the only poison area in all the souls games that I actually enjoyed exploring
Yeah blighttown is like, average for me, I don't love it, I certainly do use the shortcut often when replaying the game, but I also sometimes go through the area when I feel like it. In term of poison swamps I did like the one in the sunken valley in sekiro as it was well designed in the way that it let you use your mobility options to circumvent it. I liked the other one less cause it's just a mini boss fight but not one I enjoy a lot, it's alright but I feel like more could have been done to let you outmanoeuver your opponents with the trees.
One trick thought it doesn't help enormously is to use Margit's Shackle on the platforms in the Lake of Rot. It triggers the basilisks nearby to come out and aggro on you. So you can kill them without needing to get afflicted by the rot.
I honestly don't see why Frigid Outskirts would be an objectively bad area. It has a very clear concept, it is challenging, but also optional, and adds a different flavour to how the game is normally played. I really don't remember it as a bad experience.
personally lake of rot is the best "worst area" in souls series. it is quite obvious which platform u have to run towards, and by the time i got to that area, i had just enough rot resistance to cross each of the rot sections in between without getting infected, so it was pretty cinematic experience, in the sense that i felt like i had plot armour with the way i reached each platform just in the nick of time. I even killed the dragonkin soldier by taking advantage of statue of marika in couple tries, then went ahead to the site of grace inside the cloister and even killed the rot tree but got scarlet rot infection and died. as i was trying to retrieve the runes my dumbass managed to die while platforming lost all the runes i got from the entire area. also, subterranean shunning grounds imo is easily the worst area in elden ring. omens, lobsters, shit ton of imps and occasionally the awful revenants, some parts of it are complete maze and extremely easy to get lost in and then after the mohg reskin, you have the hollowing platforming in the end to reach the 3 fingers.
i think the dreg heap should have been at least an honorable mention for one reason only: the angels. I know that you can kill a certain enemy to kill them but they are hidden so well that a lot of players probably don't know it exists. Here are some bonus things: hollow slaves that kill you unreasnably quickly for how fast they attack, infinetly respawning enemies, and great loot that forces you to explore and get repeatedly destroyed by angels.
Sekiro is so good that even the worst section (the Nightjar trail) of an otherwise great area (Ashina castle) wasn't even annoying to play, and you could even just run through if you knew where to go.
@IAMCHUMCHUM I'm sorry what? fountainhead palace doesn't pop? the giant serpent? the gun fort? Senpou temple? Then you also get mibu village that suddenly puts you in a lovecraft horror story. The castle is also a very cool and intricate area. And even hirata estate got a lot of nice set pieces. I struggled against owl father way too much so the arena lost some of it's charm but damn if arriving in the burning building and being greeted by lady butterfly only to get my ass kicked didn't wow me.
Man, I loved Iron Keep, but it is balls hard. Its one of those areas where it can be frustrating but it makes you really appreciate the way DS2 despawns enemies after you kill them a dozen times.
Scholar of the first sin ruined iron keep, i played it bunch of times on vanilla ps3/360 ds2 and it was NOWHERE near as bad sotfs. sotfs ruined so many areas of the game that were actually balanced and somewhat enjoyable.
You cannot tell me that the second level of the toxic area is better than the first one. The amount of sludging you have to do through the swamp just to get obliterated by a big guy because you can’t roll. Still gives me nightmares
The worst is trying to go for the NPC (I think it might be the Moonlight GS NPC, but memory fails me rn). You can't roll, you can't run, but she's dancing around you like a kender dosed on hard drugs and ten cans of red bull. Absolute bloody nightmare XD
If anyone who reads this is going through Lake of Rot, just use the Flame Cleanse Me Incantation. It only requires 12 faith so any starting class in the game can use it just by using faith boosting talismans.
Farron Keep isnt that bad, its more mediocre than anything. Blighttown however, one of the best areas in ds1, its truly the most overhated and underrated area in the series. The toxic enemies are absolutely stupid but they are pretty easy to kill, they only toxiced me like 3 times on a first playthrough.
At least with the lake of rot there's a lore reason for why it's so terrible (outer god of rot trapped within). The other examples on this list definitely feel like the developers are just being assholes for fun.
Hard disagree with the lake of rot. That area is meant to be run through. I didn't even know there were platforms on my first few runs through the game and still didn't mind the area. You can just sprint through with ~6 heals and you're fine.
Honestly, I think New Londo Ruins should've been on this list. It's one of the biggest areas in all of Dark Souls 1 with a boss pretty deep into it and several annoying enemies, all without having a bonfire at all. This makes the area basically unexplorable for me, which is a massive shame considering that thematically, it's one of the coolest areas in the game.
I completely agree. A bonfire would not save it from the bullshit of the ghosts but it would make it SO manageable. At this point I refuse to run from firelink when fighting 4 kings, but if I did I might have given up on NG+ because that fight is really tough
It's frustrating because if you remember the area well enough there *is* a shortcut, but it's easy to drop in the wrong place or, if you're a ditz like me, go the wrong flipping way! Opening the "shortcut" through the Valley of Drakes also just feels like a pure troll. And the worst is dropping in the right place, going past the Darkwraiths, summoning Beatrice, getting through the fog door and... dying because you forgot to put the bloody Covenant ring on. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....
Worst one is that area in Dark Souls 2 where it’s just a long dark empty corridor that takes hours to traverse and has creepy voices telling you that the government is coming for you. I don’t know what they were thinking when they included that in the game.
I mean yeah the area itslef is pretty good. But the enemies are by far the worst placed ones in any from game, alongside alonnes memory. Its kind of a problem with ds2 in general but thats the biggest offender
@@MaximillionPegasusJ.Crawford yeah i agree, there’s too many of them and that makes the level annoying sometimes, but personally, heide’s tower of flame is a little worse in that regard, epecially after you’ve beaten dragonrider in the SotFS version
@Crestfallen Warrior Well I never found the poison much of an issue as I'd usually just wear some leg armour and gloves that were more resistant to it. And I personally like the enemies there and that theres so many secrets and items all about that reward exploring the area. I enjoy the whole lighting the towers concept and like to do them in a different order each time. Demon fight above the Watchdog of Faron bit is cool too and the lore around the whole area is great too. I get why people don't like it cos let's be honest it is a pretty massive poison swamp area but i always find it fun to go through.
I hated the ritual path so much that I purposefully overleveled myself to breeze for it. The enemies felt so spammy and the thin walkways were annoying
I played through frigid outskirts just recently and it was actually quite ok compared to some other areas on this list tbh :D Also, I just played through DS1 and DS2 consecutively and I personally feel like DS1 has a higher quantity of baaaad areas than DS2. But that’s just my personal feeling :)
Suprised the Nightmare Frontier in Bloodborne isn't mentioned here. Poison swamps are bad enough, but poison swamps where you get consistenly and repeteadly one-shot by rock throwing yetis is a whole other level of annoying.
I think Farron keep is actually not that bad and the little patches of dirt you can stand on help a lot and they basically lead you to the 3 fires Edit: cathedral of the deep is way worse
Cathedral was the best low-level pvp spot though. It was a massive but intricate place with lot of interesting terrain. The only annoying thing were the giants in the mud pits but usually I just ignore them totally.
I personally think the Cathedral of the Deep is one of the few well designed and fun levels of Dark Souls 3, I don't understand why you are saying this.
The only reason I think people complain about the Frigid Outskirts too much is because it is ENTIRELY optional. There is literally almost NO reason to go there. Don't get me wrong, the area is UNFORGIVABLY shit, but why are you kicking YOURSELF in the balls and then complaining about the game kicking you in the balls? It's not a mandatory game area like Blighttown or the Shrine of Amana, it's not mandatory to get an alternate ending like the Lake of Rot, it's not even mandatory to beat the optional DLC and obtain one of the Crowns like Shulva - Sanctum City (shut up, that area sucks), there are no achievements that require you to beat it (since there aren't even any spells you need to find there for the Master achievements) and there's not even any good gear worth going there for- what, are you THAT desperate to find the Ring of the Living, the Mirrah Hat, or the Loyce Greatsword and Loyce Shield you get from the two Souls of the crappy bosses? Because there's literally _nothing_ else there aside from one Human Effigy, one Wilted Dusk Herb, and the chance to farm Bone Fists and Petrified Dragon Bones from the reindeer. I've never been bothered by the Frigid Outskirts because _I've never been dumb enough to go there!_
Honestly, unless you want to explore it all, there is only one toxic boy that you have to deal with. The rest of them are in one area off to the side. Now imagine if they made it mandatory to go through the toxic boys area.
Elden ring might be the only souls game I’ve ever played, but I still know it deserves more than just the number ten spot on this list. Consecrated Snowfields is arguable, and Subterranean Shunning-Grounds definitely deserves a spot.
Yeah the suberranean shunning grounds sucked big time, I kept dying over and over again getting mobbed by the small demon dudes. Going in circles, difficult to figure out how to get to Main boss through those pipes.
Constipated snowfields are somewhat redeemed by the fact that there's a map and a clear indication of the direction you want to go. Also the area with reduced visibility is not too big, and the only difficult enemy there is the bear.
I actually love Iron Keep but understand the frustration. Sen's Fortress is the maddest I've been playing any of these games (beaten DS2 and ER, going through DS1 for the first time rn). It's a legitimate slog to get through, and it's so easy to accidentally roll off to your death because of the limited rolling directions. It's boring, it's tedious, and everytime you die you gotta run through the whole thing again, at least Frigid Outskirts is entirely optional with an awful reward at the end, so you do it once to say you've done it and then never bother ever again, but Sen's Fortress is mandatory to progress.
Ember: Biggest and most frequent complaint about levels is how he can't just run through them. Also Ember: Complains how he HAS to run through Nightmare of Mensis.
The fact memory of alonne isnt on this list is crazy to me. I think the Alonne run back is the single worst boss run in ds2. (Dont count frigid outskirt as a boss run because that helps my mental state)
@@Chvse4U there aren’t poison areas any like in the other games. Lake of rot is basically nothing and the one in caelid doesn’t require going through. It also doesn’t have a clear path (and you have torrent). In the other games you have to stealth your way through them while dodging the enemy’s that already adjusted to the conditions of the area but in ER there aren’t any. Also there is not verticality when it comes to the level design in those two. Blighttown is peak level design in every way with its different sections, shortcuts, many different enemies, verticality and horizontality, secrets and the constant fear of dying, The one from demons souls is a big survival horror journey that actually justifies itself for being that stressful by not having to go through it more than 2 times due to the easy bossfights and DS3s is just okay but I still enjoy the area. Definitely the weakest of the three but I again like the survival horror aspect of those big things walking around. Bloodbornes is the only one I don’t like but I don’t thing you can even count the one in the nightmare frontier as one so whatever. Another big aspect would be the mobility. In ER they don’t slow the player down like in the other games. Being slow and vulnerable is one big aspect of the terror every single enemy conveys. I’ve never been so scared a little mosquitos than in DS1.
for me personally one of the most annoying areas is the crumbling farum azula. The only thing helping this place is placiduzax which is an amazing boss, the entire place is filled with annoying enemies and a super confusing layout. and then when you thought it couldnt get any worse, in comes the birds... that coupled with the godskin duo, all in all my least favourite area of elden ring
Just curious, for Dark Souls 2, did you olay the original release or the Scholar of the Forst Sin edition? Just wondering, because the Scholar version added enemies to the various areas.
I wouldn’t really consider frigid outskirts an area. It’s an optional boss run. There’s no real loot there, it doesn’t lead to anywhere else, no npc’s. It’s just the boss, and that’s it
The Iron Keep doesn't have too much enemies, it's the fact that their aggro range is so gigantic that they detect you the second you enter the area and hunt you down. You're not supposed to fight all those enemies at once yet people decide to aggro them anyways by running through the area.
Shrine of Amana: falling in water? just look down lol also just in general a lot of these come down to 'this was hard for me because i was unwilling to use ranged weapons or spells', and i dont mean for this to come off as arrogant or derisive, but... skill issue. Bonus tip: in the Tomb of the Giants, if you have a light source (skull lantern/sunlight maggot), you can use it to spot far-off enemies. It's hard to put into words, but if you look through the light around the item itself, you'll be able to spot far-off silhouettes and movement in the distance.
Lake of rot isnt even bad tbh. There are large platforms near the boss. And if you have flame cleanse me, most classes can use it to cure scarlot rot even with no faith investment if you use the faith knot tear or the +5 talisman.
I've never died to nito, but that's probably because I always make sure he's the last boss I fight, partially because I need the sunlight maggot from the demon ruins and most so I don't have to deal with the runback.
An honorable mention could also be Ya'argul (after you beat Rom and peel back the Blood Moon) from Bloodborne. The reason why is one reason and one reason only: Chime Maidens. They are, by far, the kinds of enemies I hate the most in the game because: 1. They are always in corners or in secret areas where you usually can't see them, 2. They respawn endless mobs that you already defeated and get all-out attacked (shout out to Persona 5 for that lol) all the time, evven when you know they are coming; and 3. even when you beat the respawned mobs, they don't givve you any blood echoes.
yeah, ritual path is so slow. it doesn’t help that you basically have to go through the full path every time, because there’s like no alternative options and it gets frustrating so easily.
Bro i got so lucky with Tomb of the Giants, I ran through there with no light, missed the bonfire, somehow didn't die to fall damage, and managed to get Nito first try so I'm GLAD I didn't die to him cause oml the area sounds god awful.
I wouldn't say that Nightmare of Mensis is anything bad since once you get to Mergo's Loft you don't have to go through the frenzy again (not counting the way to Brain of Mensis)
Blighttown is fine. I think people still have PTSD flashbacks to the god-awful lag from the original releases. And even if people still hate it, just use the Master Key and skip most of it.
Honestly i like both Blighttown and Farron Keep. The enemy placement is largely manageable (even the 3 groot doods in the middle), poison buildup can be managed relatively easily and the hidden loot makes exploring worthwhile. Farron Keep also had a really cool optional boss as a nod to DS1.
I’d say iron passage is worse than frigid outskirts, yeah frigid is a longer run but you can summon npcs and despawn them at the boss door iron passage is just pure hell
Blighttown is fairly the easiest of it all: comparing to the gutter from ds2 at least you can easily see where you should go next to progress, dogs don't have so sick movement like in ds3, and only in ds1 you have ring that removes movement penalty in the water. Also, you can just forget about 50% of this location by just getting master key which is thief starter item and could be chosen as a starting gift.
Haven't played other Souls games, but I would definitely replace Nightmare of Mensis with Nightmare Frontier. That place never fails to give me nightmares. Super confusing maze, boulder guys, poison swamp that restricts running + building up so fast despite eating antidote, *w i n t e r l a n t e r n* at tight walkpath
Lake of rot shouldnt be on this list, you go in there with the proper status ailments its literally just running around. The worst area in Elden ring is easily consecrated snowfields
Farron keep is the one area I never understood why everybody hates so much. Dark souls 3 was my first, and I’m literally replaying it right now, and just got through the keep about an hour ago. It really is not that bad. If you have any type of dagger that lets you quick step you’re gonna be fine. The first two fires are easy to find and, and the third one takes a little bit of trial and error but on my first Playthru, I only died like three times getting to it. Plus, it’s pretty generous with it bonfires compared to the other areas. Don’t get me wrong I definitely don’t love the area, but I don’t think it’s among the worst, and I would certainly rather go through Farron keep than the lake of rot or any other dark souls 2 areas mentioned
My least favourite area in all of bloodborne was the forbidden woods. The shadows of yharnam is a great fight, but that place is so confusing, I always get lost.
Farron keep was actually pretty decent, recall running through it my first time no problem, but Swamp of Sorrows...I hate that place with a passion; never once did I die in the Valley of Defilement till I went back to loot everything, and was introduced to those giant asshats that delight in jumping me
Haha, I remember my buddy (who I got into DS) wanted to troll me by telling me to speed run Tomb of the Giants. I obliged. To the left of the big sarcophagus-style bridge at the beginning (or maybe right after, don't remember), there is a ledge you can drop to. Hug the the right wall and keep going. I think you end up where those skeleton archers are (where the Patches path leads to) and boom, bonfire.
One thing to note, It's the Scholar of the First Sin version of Iron Keep that sucks, the original release had far fewer enemies and was reasonably balanced. And the same holds true for many areas in DS2 compared to SOTFS.
It's quite interesting how SOTFS made so much area more difficult while massively nerfing Drangleic castle (which, as the final area of the vanilla game from a story standpoint, deserved to be difficult). I don't get these choices at all.
@@alchemy5750 Yeah SOTFS honestly ruined the game, the original vanilla game was actually fairly well balanced outside of shrine of amana. i think a lot of people that hate on ds2 have ONLY ever played SOTFS edition. Its still the weakest game of the 3, but vanilla ds2 with the dlc was still a solid game overall.
Someone help I’m 30 hours in on my first dark souls remastered playthrough and I spent the first 10 being stuck in the tomb of the giants cause I thought it was the first area. Now I finally made it to blightown and idk what to do this place is hell
Frigid Outskirts was so bad that my first time through we gave up and skipped it. On our second run through the game we approached it carefully and had no trouble. It was actually almost fun. Still not a good gimmick, or a good area. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought at first.
Iron keep was fine In vanilla, IMHO. There were no bridge invasions, the aggro distance for the alonne knights was MUCH shorter, meaning you weren't getting snipped from across the map as you dealt with 3-4 of em at once. The boss run to the smelter demon was, by comparison much easier in vanilla.
I think I hate Black Gulch so much because one of the wikis lied out their ass and said the statues don’t respawn. So imagine my pain when I fucked up against the Rotten and saw every single statue back again.
You know Elden Ring levels are bangers when the only Elden Rinf area in the top 10 spot is lake of rot which is a super tiny optional area. I don’t even think it’s that bad considering the fact that it’s so tiny.
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Sad that has no ps5 version
one thing that I absolutely despise about the black gulch is the fact that if any of those statues hit you in the head it's faster to just create a new character a play through the entire game until black gulch than wait for the stunlock to wear out
Lol
I cannot find words to describe how thankful I was for the fact that there's only like 7 enemies in the area (not counting the worms) and that their aggro range is incredibly short, otherwise this would've possibly been the most miserable, non dlc experience in DS2
@@trofulds don't forget that Forlorn NPC invader
One of the easiest areas in DS2
@@danielgorka1262 no one said it's hard
Blighttown is a masterpiece in level design and no one can convince me otherwise
Framerate
@@Ironica82 ds1 remaster
@@Ironica82 DS Fix
@@Ironica82 that's only present in the original. Remaster fixes all of that
Masterpiece? No, but overhated? Yes
I love how none of Sekiro's areas are not even in the honorable mentions, goes to show how great of a game it is
Sekiro levels are nice cause even when they're bad, like Sunken Valley, you can just skip through them really easy with all the mobility options you have.
Imagine Blighttown with Sekiro mobility. Thats why Sekiro isnt mentioned.
it's not on the video because sekiro's worst area is the whole game
@@bernardoleao8328 what
@@bernardoleao8328 Hesitation is defeat.
I actually found farron keep to be very bearable for a swamp area. I HATE the path of sorrow in demons souls so much more
Yeah as bad as the other swamps are at least you can roll/sprint through them
Idk i feel like u can light 3 fires in 3 mins and progress, and after come back to loot it whole, never had any issues with it, i hate road to sacrifice more because it is bland boring and feels longer
I'd go as far as to say that Farron keep is actually a decent area. A decent objective with can be approached by many paths, and good enemy variety. Important loot items and NPCs. And an amazing boss at the end.
I realized in subsequent playthroughs that Farron Keep really isn't that bad compared to other poison swamps, I can easily run through the whole area in like 5 minutes, light all the fires and open the way to Abyss Watchers. Meanwhile I still dread having to go through Blighttown even though I beat Dark Souls 1 multiple times. I haven't played Demon's Souls but that poison swamp looks excruciating to go through.
I think it gets a lot better once you have actually seen a map of the area.
Before it is just confusing shithole.
Lets not forget about Iron Passage. The wizards slowing you down and horrendous enemy placement made that area a huge pain
Not to mention that if you want to get every item, you need to do it more than once.
Dark souls 2 has the worst boss runs in the whole franchise. Iron Passage, Frigid Outskirts, the one to the Gank squad, the one to Velstad, the other one to Sir Alonne... and many more.
Cheers!
@@PantoniStrikesBackVelstadt? There are literally three hollows to kill to avoid all the pyromancers to spawn, and two knights that you could easily avoid if you wanted to. Unless you didn't unlock the shortcut, Velstadt has one of the shortest runbacks.
@@nicola4251 Yes, 3 hollows that you have to wait for them to appear slowly one by one. And careful with the bell's hitbox...
Is not the worst/longest, but it's also a crappy one (imo).
@@PantoniStrikesBackdark as fuck area too
@@ЧистоеНебо-ш2ц Oh you mean the gutter? F that place
The reasons you don't like Blighttown are the same reasons that I think it's so great. It has such a claustrophobic and confusing layout, which creates this amazing atmosphere of dread and tension, and in terms of actual level design, there are so many secrets and alternate paths to take throughout.
And then I also really love the Valley of Defilement as well for mostly the same reasons.
I personally think that Nightmare Frontier is probably an honourable mention instead of Mensis just because the frenzy build up only happens at the start and after you get past the bridge, its not an issue. But nightmare frontier is a poison swamp (surprise surprise) with silverbeasts that are some of the most irritating enemies to fight imo. Also, the winter lanterns u need to get past to unlock the lift shortcut make it even worse than Mensis. Rant over thx if anyone reads all of this.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Also you can find and disable the Brain of Mensis relatively easy which is incredibly cathartic AND lets you go back and explore through the zone, you're MEANT to run into the danger blindly to find the source of the nightmare.
unlike other awful zones, like Shrine of Amana, Frigid Outskirts, Lake of Rot that stay awful permanently the game actually lets you disable the main hazard to make level exploration for manageable.
Its great compromise in level design, especially for a game thats supposed to be horror themed. You see this alot in games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil. The game pushing you out of your comfort zone into uncertain danger.
I dont think the frenzy build up from the brain of mensis is even bad. Like the build up it causes is so much weaker/slower than regular enemies i feel like its more of a cool creepy level detail than a legitimate threat/obstacle
I only go to the Nightmare Frontier to fight the Amygdala (and it's not even a good boss). In a relatively short game like Bloodborne I like to fight all the bosses to get as much as possible out of the game.
Nightmare Frontier just doesn't have anything that's worth doing except for a boss fight. Definitely my least favorite area in the game
@@simonjohnson3424 ive noticed when invading other peoples worlds for pvp that most dont even bother completing the area bc patches and the shortcuts are still untouched
I feel like everyone goes easy on Yahargul, the difficulty of bloodborne really starts to show from there. Yahargul isn't just a creepy place but the buffed enemies actually pose a threat.
I didnt hate yahar'gul but def can understand
Putting the laser beam amygdala right before the checkpoint was a low blow.
Bloodborne is my favourite Fromsoft game, and one of my favourite games of all time, but if I'm being completely honest: after the Forbidden Forest, the game takes a dip in quality, and doesn't pick back up again until the final boss. This is why I always save the DLC for the latter half of the game. It paces it out better imo.
@@jarltrippinabsolutely true i love bloodborne but man does it take quite the hit
I agree. I always run like a headless chicken through that area.
Blighttown is unironically fucking awesome. The only complaints I ever had about it were back in the PS3 era (I was there, 3000 years ago) when the fps were bad.
One of my most hated areas is the Iron Passage from DS2, which leads to the blue smelter demon. Filled to the brim with annoying, strong enemies, casters that shoot lightning at you and slow you down, and these stupid gates that you have to cross before they close and you only get one attempt before having to reload the entire area.
And also literally all of the memory levels in DS2, especially the Memory of the Old Iron King (aka the Sir Alonne boss run).
I only recently came upon FromSoftware games. I didn't find it all that bad. Mostly because I had heard about it long before I even played the game so knew to be prepared. I'm not a "blind" player where I run through and figure things out on my own. I will look things up. And so I already knew to pack plenty of moss and get the appropriate ring and grind a bit for a few extra statuses.
Yea i never got the hate for Blighttown, it's only rivaled by anor londo based on how iconic it is. I played it on the 360 where it was also running at 5fps but somehow the area never bothered me.
no that place sucks 😆
After recently playing through ds1 again,I got a whole new appreciation for blighttown
Yeah genuinely blighttown was so sick, aside from that one place with the fire-keeper soul where there's all those blowdart dudes, I loved the whole area. Thought the whole area was just super creative. Reminded me of that goblin cave in the hobbit too which just made me love it more
I have no idea whether Nito is hard or not. I was so desperate not to run through the Tomb of Giants again after reaching him that I entered the Flow State and beat him in one go without any guides or summons. No idea how I pulled it off but it felt hella good to say farewell to the Tomb of Giants for the rest of the game.
I'm on my 6th new game plus and I can say that the entire darksouls game is a cheese that is until tomb of the giants fuck those skeleton dogs.
Nito was incredibly easy
Hes probably the hardest endgame boss of base DS1 but that's not saying much. Fun fight though
@@Sabbathfaax nito can be cheesed if you have fog ring and slumbering dragoncrest ring, as long as you don't go to the back area you'll never aggro the skellys and nito by himself is pretty easy
Fun fact many people probably dont know about
when DS2 originally released, Shrine of Amana was WORSE than it is now for only one reason....the casters attacks homed in so much that you COULD NOT sidestep, run to the side, run behind them etc, you HAD to roll or take cover
i think they nerfed it a few months down the line
I legit don't know how the OG Shrine of Amana was meant to be beaten by melee players lol. That thing convinced 10(?) year old me to put DS2 down for a while and wait until they nerfed it haha, what a joke
@@patrikhigl1032 you roll... thats how. it was not that bad
I played the original PS3 version on release day and can only agree :D It was nothing else than a pain in the butt ^^
I thought it was just their range that had to get nerfed.
@@HeroSword_P
Possible, because those "dinosaurs" in Lost Izalith in Dark Souls 1 were way more aggressive in the release version of the game. With a later patch you were able to walk past them nearly without them noticing. Shrine of Armana ist very beautiful but movement is so extremely slow due to the water levels and the casters are just so painful.
I hate blighttown since in my first playthrough I somehow ended up entering blighttown from the Valley of Drakes only to decide to climb the scaffolding and ended up resting at the bonfire at the top of blighttown only to reach the depths entrance.
So to summarise I somehow ended up using the shortcut to get into blighttown only to end up having to leave blighttown normally
I'm surprised Iron Passage wasn't mentioned. It's awful trying to run through it
I knew frigid outskirts would be high on this list.
I remember countless times I had to run through that empty nightmare all to fight the duo reskin. Definitely deserves worst area.
Frigid outskirts is THE worst area
It literally doesnt get enough hate
did you summon co-op? It's explicitly designed as a co-op challenge. Even has that tombstone system so players who didn't have or hadn't unlocked the dlc could offer their signs to geoup up, plus multiple npc summons - though those admittedly were kind of trash. FO is pretty bad regardless, in that it's short & dull & the blizzard gimmick is annoying, but if you were soloing a zone designed for 2 to 3 players that part's kind of on you.
@Sception not a good enough reason for how bad it is plus awful boss. It wasn't obvious it was "intended" for multilayer (at least a fight like Radahn has 20 summon signs glowing all over the place)
It is just scientifically terrible
@@Malisteen i had one person summoned but I was on ps3 so no party chat.
Frigid outskirts is just different. There are many areas (especially from dark souls 2) which in my opinion are very bad, but none of them comes close to being as bad as frigid outskirts
Lmao true
Iron Passage
Idk if i lucked out or went in prepared knowing how hated it is, but i didn't find Frigid Outskirts that terrible. Terrible in how there's nothing there? Oh yes no doubt.
Iron Passage though, I've NEVER felt miserable playing a videogame until I played that area. I legit wanted to cry lmao. Took me 2 days to get through it
@@Osoch iron passage is definetly worse than frigid outskirts for me
@@titanmax111agreed, I had to keep running through it and desponding the enemies before I can even make it to the blue demon
Skill issue
In defense of The Iron Keep, I find it quite nice that a huge castle is actually guarded properly and the guards don't just sit there waiting for you to attack before they kill you. As for the numbers, maybe reduce it by a couple but I don't mind it.
For the shrine, archery only runs can really enjoy the beauty of the place as the enemies are a cake walk :)
For Lost Izalith, to me, the only bad (or "unfinished" part to me is the lava run with all the dragon's butts standing around. Once you climb up the root to the final section, it is quite nice.
SOTFS changed the aggro range in Iron Keep. Before you had to get reasonably close before the knights aggroed. Now their aggro range is half the keep and they will swarm you in the first big area if you aren't careful.
yeah I always keep a bow handy when I go through shrine of amana, I just snipe them off
@@sid1925 Spellcasters can use the binocular targeting trick to zap them at long range too.
@@WUZLE As they should. After all, they are defending the castle.
However, I only had multiple chase me when I play carelessly.
@@sid1925 poison arrows carried me through half of the game on my first playthrough
I agree with nearly everything but the Swamp of Sorrow is the second worst for me. Not the Valley of Defilment. The swamp makes Farron Keep look like a fun time. Not to mention the shortcut being so far near the end that if you die trying to get it you might just want to die irl. The amount of times it made me quit or go somewhere else is insane.
I understand why you didn’t include iron passage, cave of the dead, or the gutter because otherwise this list would’ve just been dark souls 2 areas lol
The Gutter is great, pretty much the only fun "dark" level in the whole series imo
@BellBrosTCG to each their own I suppose, imo it sucked a lot, especially the stupid dogs
@@bellbro62 ill die on the hill that the gutter is a good area. It is one of the few areas that is actually fun to explore and uses the torch well. This is coming from someone that hates most of the ds2 areas and doesnt see the dlc areas as peak souls level design
@@bellbro62 I'm playing Ds2 again, and to be fair, I kind of enjoyed The Gutter. Not a great level by any means, but I find kind of fun to go slowly through the place setting the torches on fire. I hated it at first, but now... not that bad.
The main problem for me is that nothing's going on in that area. It's just a "corridor" between 2 areas with bosses. I would scrapped black gulch and made the Rotten the boss for the Gutter instead.
Cheers!
As far as the Ritual Path goes, I went through that entire area in Shrine of Storms 4-2 completely & practically blind when I played the OG game. It’s not the worst, but visually, it’s not that impressive & the enemies still never gave me so much trouble. But I remember I accidentally dropped down, activated a switch, initiated a cutscene & promptly died after the cutscene was over, which was quite an experience.
I actually really like Farron Keep, i'll admit it's annoying at times, but i really dig the atmosphere of the place, also finding that ladder to that giant tower and admiring the view once you get untop of it is my favorite moment in DS.
The Iron Passage was probably the worst area I've ever experienced in a souls game, still get trauma when doing an all boss run in DS2 from that area .
Ya it's painful lol
i had a similar experience with the Blue Smelter Demon and the Iron Passage. at first i would get the summons involved to make the run up easier but kept choking in the boss fight. ended up going with the sprint past all enemies (and then roll at optimal times when that wizard puts the fat roll spell on you), and once i got to the boss used poison arrows and a greatsword to melt his health. also his move set once learned is pretty predictable, just gotta watch out for how long his sword is when infused with the blue flame/magic damage. felt so good to finally get that.
additionally, the “shortcut” with the gate pull SUCKS due to the thing spitting flame balls at you while you try to roll past the axe-wielding enemies. the gate closes so quick and you can’t roll under it when it’s low. ugh
Skill issue
i would personally take blightown over the entire second half of dark souls. i absolutely loved the area, its honestly the only poison area in all the souls games that I actually enjoyed exploring
After playing the gutter and black gulch I agree, it wasn't that bad in hindsight
If it wouldnt be for the blowdart snipers and the dog gank near the firekeeper soul, then it would be pretty okayish
Yeah blighttown is like, average for me, I don't love it, I certainly do use the shortcut often when replaying the game, but I also sometimes go through the area when I feel like it.
In term of poison swamps I did like the one in the sunken valley in sekiro as it was well designed in the way that it let you use your mobility options to circumvent it. I liked the other one less cause it's just a mini boss fight but not one I enjoy a lot, it's alright but I feel like more could have been done to let you outmanoeuver your opponents with the trees.
One trick thought it doesn't help enormously is to use Margit's Shackle on the platforms in the Lake of Rot. It triggers the basilisks nearby to come out and aggro on you. So you can kill them without needing to get afflicted by the rot.
I honestly don't see why Frigid Outskirts would be an objectively bad area. It has a very clear concept, it is challenging, but also optional, and adds a different flavour to how the game is normally played. I really don't remember it as a bad experience.
personally lake of rot is the best "worst area" in souls series. it is quite obvious which platform u have to run towards, and by the time i got to that area, i had just enough rot resistance to cross each of the rot sections in between without getting infected, so it was pretty cinematic experience, in the sense that i felt like i had plot armour with the way i reached each platform just in the nick of time. I even killed the dragonkin soldier by taking advantage of statue of marika in couple tries, then went ahead to the site of grace inside the cloister and even killed the rot tree but got scarlet rot infection and died. as i was trying to retrieve the runes my dumbass managed to die while platforming lost all the runes i got from the entire area.
also, subterranean shunning grounds imo is easily the worst area in elden ring. omens, lobsters, shit ton of imps and occasionally the awful revenants, some parts of it are complete maze and extremely easy to get lost in and then after the mohg reskin, you have the hollowing platforming in the end to reach the 3 fingers.
i think the dreg heap should have been at least an honorable mention for one reason only: the angels. I know that you can kill a certain enemy to kill them but they are hidden so well that a lot of players probably don't know it exists. Here are some bonus things: hollow slaves that kill you unreasnably quickly for how fast they attack, infinetly respawning enemies, and great loot that forces you to explore and get repeatedly destroyed by angels.
Sekiro is so good that even the worst section (the Nightjar trail) of an otherwise great area (Ashina castle) wasn't even annoying to play, and you could even just run through if you knew where to go.
@IAMCHUMCHUM I'm sorry what? fountainhead palace doesn't pop? the giant serpent? the gun fort? Senpou temple?
Then you also get mibu village that suddenly puts you in a lovecraft horror story.
The castle is also a very cool and intricate area. And even hirata estate got a lot of nice set pieces. I struggled against owl father way too much so the arena lost some of it's charm but damn if arriving in the burning building and being greeted by lady butterfly only to get my ass kicked didn't wow me.
@@Laezar1so you don't like it because you have a skill issue
@@josuke3698 I didn't say I don't like it? I just said it got a bit stale.
Man, I loved Iron Keep, but it is balls hard. Its one of those areas where it can be frustrating but it makes you really appreciate the way DS2 despawns enemies after you kill them a dozen times.
Why not get rid of that feature AND the swarms of enemies. I always feel like ds2 just throws so many enemies at me.
Your reason for liking it, is my reason why i hate it
Scholar of the first sin ruined iron keep, i played it bunch of times on vanilla ps3/360 ds2 and it was NOWHERE near as bad sotfs. sotfs ruined so many areas of the game that were actually balanced and somewhat enjoyable.
It's easy area
I complete iron keep with only 3 deaths I mean all location
SOFTS ruined iron keep brother, the vanilla is so much better, a pleasant experience i would say
You cannot tell me that the second level of the toxic area is better than the first one. The amount of sludging you have to do through the swamp just to get obliterated by a big guy because you can’t roll. Still gives me nightmares
The worst is trying to go for the NPC (I think it might be the Moonlight GS NPC, but memory fails me rn). You can't roll, you can't run, but she's dancing around you like a kender dosed on hard drugs and ten cans of red bull. Absolute bloody nightmare XD
If anyone who reads this is going through Lake of Rot, just use the Flame Cleanse Me Incantation. It only requires 12 faith so any starting class in the game can use it just by using faith boosting talismans.
Farron Keep isnt that bad, its more mediocre than anything. Blighttown however, one of the best areas in ds1, its truly the most overhated and underrated area in the series. The toxic enemies are absolutely stupid but they are pretty easy to kill, they only toxiced me like 3 times on a first playthrough.
Tip for the Lake of Rot, is to roll into the rot until it's at 95% then roll back on the land to get a less potent version of Scarlet Rot
I feel like I remember hearing ab that, haven't replayed Elden in a bit tho gonna have to start another playthrough soon- thx!!
Also, all classes can use Flame, Cleanse Me with the Two Fingers talisman equipped.
Try to avoid rolling because it causes the rot to linger on your character making you use multiple boluses to get rid of the buildup.
@sam s The point is to not get rid of the buildup. The lake of rot has a stronger version of rot, and getting the rot from it covering you is weaker
@@Spore_Spawn gamers learn about soap challenge
At least with the lake of rot there's a lore reason for why it's so terrible (outer god of rot trapped within). The other examples on this list definitely feel like the developers are just being assholes for fun.
Especially the frigid outskirts
Hard disagree with the lake of rot. That area is meant to be run through. I didn't even know there were platforms on my first few runs through the game and still didn't mind the area.
You can just sprint through with ~6 heals and you're fine.
Honestly, I think New Londo Ruins should've been on this list. It's one of the biggest areas in all of Dark Souls 1 with a boss pretty deep into it and several annoying enemies, all without having a bonfire at all. This makes the area basically unexplorable for me, which is a massive shame considering that thematically, it's one of the coolest areas in the game.
I completely agree. A bonfire would not save it from the bullshit of the ghosts but it would make it SO manageable. At this point I refuse to run from firelink when fighting 4 kings, but if I did I might have given up on NG+ because that fight is really tough
It's frustrating because if you remember the area well enough there *is* a shortcut, but it's easy to drop in the wrong place or, if you're a ditz like me, go the wrong flipping way! Opening the "shortcut" through the Valley of Drakes also just feels like a pure troll. And the worst is dropping in the right place, going past the Darkwraiths, summoning Beatrice, getting through the fog door and... dying because you forgot to put the bloody Covenant ring on. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....
Worst one is that area in Dark Souls 2 where it’s just a long dark empty corridor that takes hours to traverse and has creepy voices telling you that the government is coming for you. I don’t know what they were thinking when they included that in the game.
Iron Keep is one of the best designed areas in the game imo, not counting the windmill elevator, it’s just that the level itself is a good one
To each their own!
Agree, when I saw that I thought about how good the area was
I mean yeah the area itslef is pretty good. But the enemies are by far the worst placed ones in any from game, alongside alonnes memory. Its kind of a problem with ds2 in general but thats the biggest offender
It is a very pretty area, designweise. But the enemies there are annoying sind there are way to many of them.
@@MaximillionPegasusJ.Crawford yeah i agree, there’s too many of them and that makes the level annoying sometimes, but personally, heide’s tower of flame is a little worse in that regard, epecially after you’ve beaten dragonrider in the SotFS version
I'm going through the frigid outskirts on my first playthrough and my God I hate this area
Hot take: I actually like Faron Keep quite a lot
Would you care to explain yourself on this one?
@Crestfallen Warrior Well I never found the poison much of an issue as I'd usually just wear some leg armour and gloves that were more resistant to it. And I personally like the enemies there and that theres so many secrets and items all about that reward exploring the area. I enjoy the whole lighting the towers concept and like to do them in a different order each time. Demon fight above the Watchdog of Faron bit is cool too and the lore around the whole area is great too. I get why people don't like it cos let's be honest it is a pretty massive poison swamp area but i always find it fun to go through.
I hated the ritual path so much that I purposefully overleveled myself to breeze for it. The enemies felt so spammy and the thin walkways were annoying
I played through frigid outskirts just recently and it was actually quite ok compared to some other areas on this list tbh :D Also, I just played through DS1 and DS2 consecutively and I personally feel like DS1 has a higher quantity of baaaad areas than DS2. But that’s just my personal feeling :)
Suprised the Nightmare Frontier in Bloodborne isn't mentioned here. Poison swamps are bad enough, but poison swamps where you get consistenly and repeteadly one-shot by rock throwing yetis is a whole other level of annoying.
I think Farron keep is actually not that bad and the little patches of dirt you can stand on help a lot and they basically lead you to the 3 fires
Edit: cathedral of the deep is way worse
Cathedral was the best low-level pvp spot though. It was a massive but intricate place with lot of interesting terrain. The only annoying thing were the giants in the mud pits but usually I just ignore them totally.
I personally think the Cathedral of the Deep is one of the few well designed and fun levels of Dark Souls 3, I don't understand why you are saying this.
The only reason I think people complain about the Frigid Outskirts too much is because it is ENTIRELY optional. There is literally almost NO reason to go there. Don't get me wrong, the area is UNFORGIVABLY shit, but why are you kicking YOURSELF in the balls and then complaining about the game kicking you in the balls? It's not a mandatory game area like Blighttown or the Shrine of Amana, it's not mandatory to get an alternate ending like the Lake of Rot, it's not even mandatory to beat the optional DLC and obtain one of the Crowns like Shulva - Sanctum City (shut up, that area sucks), there are no achievements that require you to beat it (since there aren't even any spells you need to find there for the Master achievements) and there's not even any good gear worth going there for- what, are you THAT desperate to find the Ring of the Living, the Mirrah Hat, or the Loyce Greatsword and Loyce Shield you get from the two Souls of the crappy bosses? Because there's literally _nothing_ else there aside from one Human Effigy, one Wilted Dusk Herb, and the chance to farm Bone Fists and Petrified Dragon Bones from the reindeer. I've never been bothered by the Frigid Outskirts because _I've never been dumb enough to go there!_
Blight town has to be my favorite area in dark souls 1 I didn’t find it that bad I had like 100 purple moss clumps so maybe that’s why
That’s what I’m expecting a lot of ppl to say hahaha
Honestly, unless you want to explore it all, there is only one toxic boy that you have to deal with. The rest of them are in one area off to the side.
Now imagine if they made it mandatory to go through the toxic boys area.
1:13 SOTFS ruined DS2, on vanilla iron keep can get annoying but its completely bearable and easy to run by the guy at the bridge
Someone needs to make a tier list of the worst "worst areas in souls" videos and I think I'd place this one pretty high
Lake of rot is not bad , u have a map to know where to go . And it’s more crazy to think its worse than areas like sen fortress and iron passage
I would go through the farron keep a 100 times than any of the ds2 areas.
Damn lol
I dont think ds2 deserves that.
@@MaximillionPegasusJ.Crawford It does. I never had any problems with farron keep, but ds2's areas on the other hand...
The yahargul unseen village is really annoying
Elden ring might be the only souls game I’ve ever played, but I still know it deserves more than just the number ten spot on this list. Consecrated Snowfields is arguable, and Subterranean Shunning-Grounds definitely deserves a spot.
Play ds2 and you'll never complain about elden ring's areas again
Yeah the suberranean shunning grounds sucked big time, I kept dying over and over again getting mobbed by the small demon dudes. Going in circles, difficult to figure out how to get to Main boss through those pipes.
The snowfield is fine imo, but Ordina is the second worst thing man has come up with
Constipated snowfields are somewhat redeemed by the fact that there's a map and a clear indication of the direction you want to go. Also the area with reduced visibility is not too big, and the only difficult enemy there is the bear.
I actually love Iron Keep but understand the frustration.
Sen's Fortress is the maddest I've been playing any of these games (beaten DS2 and ER, going through DS1 for the first time rn). It's a legitimate slog to get through, and it's so easy to accidentally roll off to your death because of the limited rolling directions.
It's boring, it's tedious, and everytime you die you gotta run through the whole thing again, at least Frigid Outskirts is entirely optional with an awful reward at the end, so you do it once to say you've done it and then never bother ever again, but Sen's Fortress is mandatory to progress.
Frigid outskirt is amazing, with tough cool enemy design, also with lud and zallen, the best pets. I love it and 100% everyone else agrees
Ember: Biggest and most frequent complaint about levels is how he can't just run through them.
Also Ember: Complains how he HAS to run through Nightmare of Mensis.
Let's go new ranking ❤🎉
Yessssss
Your not walking across the air in the crystal caves it’s an invisible path that’s why you can see the snow land on it
Funny how most of the areas are from older games, safe to say fromsoft learned what fun is supposed to be. Totally not jinxing it 👀
The fact memory of alonne isnt on this list is crazy to me. I think the Alonne run back is the single worst boss run in ds2. (Dont count frigid outskirt as a boss run because that helps my mental state)
I unironically love every poison swamp in the games except Elden rings. I enjoy the survival horror aspect a lot.
Fair point hahahaha
What is different about Elden Rings poison swamps that make you not enjoy them as much?
@@Chvse4U there aren’t poison areas any like in the other games. Lake of rot is basically nothing and the one in caelid doesn’t require going through. It also doesn’t have a clear path (and you have torrent). In the other games you have to stealth your way through them while dodging the enemy’s that already adjusted to the conditions of the area but in ER there aren’t any. Also there is not verticality when it comes to the level design in those two.
Blighttown is peak level design in every way with its different sections, shortcuts, many different enemies, verticality and horizontality, secrets and the constant fear of dying,
The one from demons souls is a big survival horror journey that actually justifies itself for being that stressful by not having to go through it more than 2 times due to the easy bossfights and
DS3s is just okay but I still enjoy the area. Definitely the weakest of the three but I again like the survival horror aspect of those big things walking around.
Bloodbornes is the only one I don’t like but I don’t thing you can even count the one in the nightmare frontier as one so whatever.
Another big aspect would be the mobility. In ER they don’t slow the player down like in the other games. Being slow and vulnerable is one big aspect of the terror every single enemy conveys. I’ve never been so scared a little mosquitos than in DS1.
for me personally one of the most annoying areas is the crumbling farum azula. The only thing helping this place is placiduzax which is an amazing boss, the entire place is filled with annoying enemies and a super confusing layout. and then when you thought it couldnt get any worse, in comes the birds... that coupled with the godskin duo, all in all my least favourite area of elden ring
Just curious, for Dark Souls 2, did you olay the original release or the Scholar of the Forst Sin edition? Just wondering, because the Scholar version added enemies to the various areas.
I wouldn’t really consider frigid outskirts an area. It’s an optional boss run. There’s no real loot there, it doesn’t lead to anywhere else, no npc’s. It’s just the boss, and that’s it
The Iron Keep doesn't have too much enemies, it's the fact that their aggro range is so gigantic that they detect you the second you enter the area and hunt you down. You're not supposed to fight all those enemies at once yet people decide to aggro them anyways by running through the area.
That scarlet rot area just got worst in my opinion, because while fighitng Malenia, I realised the ressources to make the bolluses are limited...
ooooof
"Flame, cleanse me"
This is why I never make an ER character that has less than 12 faith. Bolluses are limited, but Flame Cleanse Me is not.
Shrine of Amana: falling in water? just look down lol
also just in general a lot of these come down to 'this was hard for me because i was unwilling to use ranged weapons or spells', and i dont mean for this to come off as arrogant or derisive, but... skill issue.
Bonus tip: in the Tomb of the Giants, if you have a light source (skull lantern/sunlight maggot), you can use it to spot far-off enemies. It's hard to put into words, but if you look through the light around the item itself, you'll be able to spot far-off silhouettes and movement in the distance.
Pro tip: if you roll in the lake of rot and then step out before the scarlet rot actually builds up to full, the rot damage will be about half as bad.
Lake of rot isnt even bad tbh. There are large platforms near the boss. And if you have flame cleanse me, most classes can use it to cure scarlot rot even with no faith investment if you use the faith knot tear or the +5 talisman.
I've never died to nito, but that's probably because I always make sure he's the last boss I fight, partially because I need the sunlight maggot from the demon ruins and most so I don't have to deal with the runback.
An honorable mention could also be Ya'argul (after you beat Rom and peel back the Blood Moon) from Bloodborne. The reason why is one reason and one reason only: Chime Maidens. They are, by far, the kinds of enemies I hate the most in the game because: 1. They are always in corners or in secret areas where you usually can't see them, 2. They respawn endless mobs that you already defeated and get all-out attacked (shout out to Persona 5 for that lol) all the time, evven when you know they are coming; and 3. even when you beat the respawned mobs, they don't givve you any blood echoes.
Don't forget the trio hunters that are harder than Orphan near the kidnapped lantern
Flame, Cleanse Me incantation got me through lake of rot. Just alot a few FP flasks and run your ass off.
yeah, ritual path is so slow. it doesn’t help that you basically have to go through the full path every time, because there’s like no alternative options and it gets frustrating so easily.
I actually like Farron Keep. I'm probably one of the few, but the layout is mostly fair, and I have a lot of fun running this area.
Bro i got so lucky with Tomb of the Giants, I ran through there with no light, missed the bonfire, somehow didn't die to fall damage, and managed to get Nito first try so I'm GLAD I didn't die to him cause oml the area sounds god awful.
I wouldn't say that Nightmare of Mensis is anything bad since once you get to Mergo's Loft you don't have to go through the frenzy again (not counting the way to Brain of Mensis)
Blighttown is fine. I think people still have PTSD flashbacks to the god-awful lag from the original releases. And even if people still hate it, just use the Master Key and skip most of it.
Honestly i like both Blighttown and Farron Keep. The enemy placement is largely manageable (even the 3 groot doods in the middle), poison buildup can be managed relatively easily and the hidden loot makes exploring worthwhile. Farron Keep also had a really cool optional boss as a nod to DS1.
Honestly, I don’t care if some people think this is recycled content. I always love watching a new Ember video 😆👍
I’d say iron passage is worse than frigid outskirts, yeah frigid is a longer run but you can summon npcs and despawn them at the boss door iron passage is just pure hell
Blighttown is fairly the easiest of it all: comparing to the gutter from ds2 at least you can easily see where you should go next to progress, dogs don't have so sick movement like in ds3, and only in ds1 you have ring that removes movement penalty in the water. Also, you can just forget about 50% of this location by just getting master key which is thief starter item and could be chosen as a starting gift.
Haven't played other Souls games, but I would definitely replace Nightmare of Mensis with Nightmare Frontier. That place never fails to give me nightmares.
Super confusing maze, boulder guys, poison swamp that restricts running + building up so fast despite eating antidote, *w i n t e r l a n t e r n* at tight walkpath
i honestly dont find farron swamp all that bad, my pick would be Irithyll Dungeon
Blighttown belongs nowhere near a top 10 worst areas list. It’s one of the best in ds1
Lake of rot shouldnt be on this list, you go in there with the proper status ailments its literally just running around. The worst area in Elden ring is easily consecrated snowfields
The self-awareness is so hilarious I almost forgot he put blightown higher than Iron Keep
Farron keep is the one area I never understood why everybody hates so much. Dark souls 3 was my first, and I’m literally replaying it right now, and just got through the keep about an hour ago.
It really is not that bad. If you have any type of dagger that lets you quick step you’re gonna be fine. The first two fires are easy to find and, and the third one takes a little bit of trial and error but on my first Playthru, I only died like three times getting to it. Plus, it’s pretty generous with it bonfires compared to the other areas.
Don’t get me wrong I definitely don’t love the area, but I don’t think it’s among the worst, and I would certainly rather go through Farron keep than the lake of rot or any other dark souls 2 areas mentioned
My least favourite area in all of bloodborne was the forbidden woods. The shadows of yharnam is a great fight, but that place is so confusing, I always get lost.
Farron keep was actually pretty decent, recall running through it my first time no problem, but Swamp of Sorrows...I hate that place with a passion; never once did I die in the Valley of Defilement till I went back to loot everything, and was introduced to those giant asshats that delight in jumping me
Haha, I remember my buddy (who I got into DS) wanted to troll me by telling me to speed run Tomb of the Giants. I obliged. To the left of the big sarcophagus-style bridge at the beginning (or maybe right after, don't remember), there is a ledge you can drop to. Hug the the right wall and keep going. I think you end up where those skeleton archers are (where the Patches path leads to) and boom, bonfire.
One thing to note, It's the Scholar of the First Sin version of Iron Keep that sucks, the original release had far fewer enemies and was reasonably balanced. And the same holds true for many areas in DS2 compared to SOTFS.
It's quite interesting how SOTFS made so much area more difficult while massively nerfing Drangleic castle (which, as the final area of the vanilla game from a story standpoint, deserved to be difficult). I don't get these choices at all.
@@alchemy5750 Yeah SOTFS honestly ruined the game, the original vanilla game was actually fairly well balanced outside of shrine of amana. i think a lot of people that hate on ds2 have ONLY ever played SOTFS edition. Its still the weakest game of the 3, but vanilla ds2 with the dlc was still a solid game overall.
Bro, I went insane in the blue smelter demon run. I still didn't recover from it
Someone help I’m 30 hours in on my first dark souls remastered playthrough and I spent the first 10 being stuck in the tomb of the giants cause I thought it was the first area. Now I finally made it to blightown and idk what to do this place is hell
Frigid Outskirts was so bad that my first time through we gave up and skipped it. On our second run through the game we approached it carefully and had no trouble. It was actually almost fun. Still not a good gimmick, or a good area. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought at first.
Iron keep was fine In vanilla, IMHO. There were no bridge invasions, the aggro distance for the alonne knights was MUCH shorter, meaning you weren't getting snipped from across the map as you dealt with 3-4 of em at once. The boss run to the smelter demon was, by comparison much easier in vanilla.
I think I hate Black Gulch so much because one of the wikis lied out their ass and said the statues don’t respawn. So imagine my pain when I fucked up against the Rotten and saw every single statue back again.
I love Blighttown! It’s really atmospheric and stressful, it’s like a long journey once you get all the way down.
No you dont
6:51 I wish more RUclipsrs were as wholesome as this
I made sure to pet my dog
You know Elden Ring levels are bangers when the only Elden Rinf area in the top 10 spot is lake of rot which is a super tiny optional area. I don’t even think it’s that bad considering the fact that it’s so tiny.
I would play naraka bladepoint, but it’s ain’t on PlayStation, and I’m not buying a pc for one game
At this point, everytime a new FromSoft games comes out, my first thought is “How many poison swamps will THIS one have?”