Dark Souls 3 VS Elden Ring: Which Game Should You Play First?

[@mariagc2953]

I know this is random, but thanks to your souls videos I decided to finally try Elden ring (Waited 2 years to buy it because I tend to overthink a lot when to buy games that are 50-60$ since for me it's a lot of money, as I want to make 100% sure I will enjoy it) and I can say it was the best decision I could make, as your videos where the little push I needed to try them and now I'm already into all the souls universe, already finished ER + DLC ( Bayle and Midra where by far my favs bossfights) and now I got the trilogy and almost near to reach Artorias for the first time!. (Beated last year p5 but since people tell souls games are really hard, I doubted if my skills would be enough). So thank you Primacon for your souls videos :D💜✨

[@Primacon]

That’s so amazing to hear!! I am glad you chose to get Elden Ring! It’s one of a kind gaming experience. Thanks for watching and supporting the channel by the way!

[@HazzaWazza13]

Both are amazing, but I prefer Elden ring.

[@K.aO.secondary]

Dark Souls 2 🗿

[@luismatias5985]

For the Harcdore❤

[@slashbased]

For the mentally ill 🗿

[@Phirestar]

I’ve played about 10 hours of Elden Ring, since starting my very first playthrough a couple days ago, and I’m going into it as my fourth FromSoft game, having put over 500 across the Dark Souls trilogy. Keep that in mind as you read this. Elden Ring is a _gargantuan, monolithic_ sized _mountain_ of a game. All 10 hours of my playtime thus far have been in Limgrave, the _starting zone_ of the game. The gameplay footage I’d seen, prior to playing it myself, led me to believe that this region was much, _much_ smaller than it turned out to be - about 3-4x my expectation. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that you could build an entire game in just this one area by itself, and it is only a small portion of the entire game world. My point is: Elden Ring can feel extremely overwhelming due to its scale, and that’s especially true for someone new to the series. I have the advantage of being an experience Soulsborne fan, and even I run into some trouble when tackling exploration and progression. The main issue I’ve had is gauging whether or not I am strong enough to take on a specific boss or section of the map, and this is very relevant for anyone who’s unfamiliar with these games. In previous FromSoft titles - and that’s including Dark Souls 1 - levels were structured in a way that the player will naturally encounter enemies that’re appropriate for their current level to take on, and in the rare circumstance where something is meant to be fought later on, like the skeletons in the graveyard next to Firelink Shrine, it’s typically made pretty obvious by how much more difficult it is to fight compared to the stuff along the intended path. This is *not* the case in an open world. While the sites of grace guide the player on the path to their primary goal(s), many of the obstacles along the way exist to halt progress until the player has ventured out into the world and leveled up their character. The Tree Sentinel, the enemies at the Stormgate, and Margit, The Fell Omen are all balanced to be highly difficult at the very beginning of the game, and the only means of tackling two of these challenges at the start is by sneaking around and galloping past them on Torrent. Once a person new to Elden Ring reaches Margit by adhering strongly to following grace, they’ll hit a wall and potentially get stuck believing they’re meant to overcome this boss while vastly under-leveled and struggle for hours, if not quitting out of frustration. Assuming that you’re able to figure this out, and make the decision to wander off from the main path in search of easier foes, you’ll likely still find it tough to kill most things. I explored south and eventually made my way across the bridge to the Weeping Peninsula, where I discovered the Impaler’s Catacombs and fought the first boss that I felt strong enough to overcome: one of the Erdtree Burial Watchdogs. It wasn’t a smooth victory, and it took me about 8 or 9 tries to finally kill it, but once I analyzed how much damage I was taking versus dealing, I felt comfortable enough that I could do it. Since then, I’ve made it all the way to Castle Morne at the bottom of the map and killed Leonine Misbegotten. I was a lot more uncertain of my chances here, due to the speed and aggression of the boss, but after 8-9 respective attempts here, I was able to beat him through a combination of spells, spirit ash, fire bombs, _and_ guard counters to finish him off with a posture break. The thing that shocked me was the amount of runes that this boss dropped. Despite lying at the end of a particularly difficult location - requiring me to sneak around and get past a giant archer who can shoot the player from miles away, on top of making it through all the creatures inhabiting the castle itself - this boss, Leonine, only dropped 3,800 runes on death. For context, when I managed to arrive and slay him, the numbers of runes I needed to level once was around 1,600 or more, which means that I only received about 1 or possibl 2 levels for killing this, again, very fast and _very_ aggressive boss. Enough runes to just give me a small boost to either my health, my FP, or my Intelligence to boost my spells’ damage. I bring this up, because it shows how much more gradual leveling up is due to the scale of the open world; in the Dark Souls series, killing a boss would usually give you _at least_ enough souls for 2-3 levels, sometimes even 5+ at the very early stages of the game where levels cost pennies. When I saw how much I struggled to beat him, and how little the reward for doing it was, my perception of “difficulty versus reward” that I built up from playing Dark Souls was thrown out the window entirely. All of this is to highlight one key design change which separates Elden Ring from other FromSoftware IPs. In a game like Dark Souls 3, you will always end up _exactly_ where you’re supposed to go and will _always_ be _appropriately equipped_ to handle the challenges. In Elden Ring’s open world structure, you not only need to be capable of figuring out _how_ to overcome a boss or a group of enemies, but you also need the necessary problem-solving skills to know when you’re not ready to take it on. And in my opinion, that is going to be too much to ask of some players who’ve never experienced a Soulsborne game before. To make an analogy of this: if playing Dark Souls 3 is like driving a car in a GTA title, then switching to Elden Ring is the equivalent of going into Euro Truck Simulator with a steering wheel and gear shift, and trying to drive the truck _correctly_ like you would in the real world. For as much as what’s been said of Elden Ring’s open world nature making the game more accessible by removing the “hitting a brick wall” scenarios, I feel that the opposite can be just as much a problem, where some new players may find it impossible to find a way to progress due to the sensation of _everything_ being too strong for them to take it on, and there not being enough hard barriers to push the in the proper direction. This is a problem unique to Elden Ring, as every other game in the series either completely restricts your options or pushing you with a fairly heavy hand. I won’t say that playing Elden Ring as your first FromSoft game is a recipe for disaster, because obviously it has worked for many, judging by the number of new fans brought into the series by Elden Ring’s sales figures. But I feel strongly about what I’ve said here, and I think it’s worth a good consideration when making the decision on what game to experience first. Don’t allow the discussions surrounding the game’s difficulty and accessibility mislead your into believing that you can have an easy time because to the open world. This is _not_ an easy game, no matter what people are saying online of their own experiences, and you _will_ get your ass kicked just as hard as any FromSoft title, regardless of where you go looking for something less powerful to fight.

[@Phirestar]

And just so we’re clear on this: Elden Ring is a _phenominally_ great game. It has been one of the most captivating experiences I’ve ever had while playing a video game, to the point that I’ve had to pull myself away from playing for too long out of concern that I would just sit there and forego eating and drinking to play it. None of my comment is meaning to suggest that this makes Elden Ring a bad game. It’s just a lot more complicated to get into as a first-timer compared to prior entries, in my own experience. If anything, its design is possibly even _more_ unfriendly to new players than Dark Souls was considered to be.

[@user-yd2fm8ev6h]

Holy shit you wrote a whole essay

[@MisterDraiman]

ER is a “big” open world that is so boring to explore because of the monstrous amount of copy/paste. At the same time, the most interesting locations are “linear” castles that you want to get to quickly from the open world. The problem with level balance is also due to the open world, as the developer can only roughly understand at what level the player will arrive at a location. So many problems arise from the open world and so little benefit from it.

[@cvdeiana]

This

[@marLamaDeo]

This is very subjective. Many people state the actual open world of ER is the greatest ever made and others say exactly what you said haha

[@breakout8904]

@@marLamaDeo I say both! The first playthrough of ER was amazing but I find it easily the hardest souls game to play through afterward.

[@finlaytemple1744]

Nah man, if you are bored exploring this world I don't know what to tell you

[@breakout8904]

@@finlaytemple1744 Because there is no exploring once I have done everything? all the enjoyment I get out of it now is the amazing boss rush mod.

[@vikasvinaydas8903]

Bro should reach nameless king in ds3 and then comment

[@Lucas-dr6ho]

Play ER If on fence, if still unsure then move onto BB, but probs should do ds trilogy in order without skipping, makes for a much greater experience

[@NT-sx2bd]

Both are amazing, I can't choose between them. I love them both so much

[@Primacon]

Like And subscribe if you enjoyed the video!! More Dark Souls 3: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJTIdmmjl6qNr5o

[@Thyfop]

Should not have played sekiro first

[@bart5715]

You definitely should reference this video at some point after finishing all of ds3. In my opinion the second half of the game is so UNBELIEVABLY different from the first (in a good way) that you are almost certain to change your mind on some things and that would be interesting to see.

[@leonardusbeaker638]

The bosses in the second half and dlc are peak in my opinion

[@fotnite_]

Elden Ring was also my first fromsoft game, first played it a couple years ago. But earlier this year I went on a fromsoft bender and beat all of the Dark Souls games as well as Bloodborne. Despite what a lot of peolle see as "jank combat", I actually feel like these games flow extremely well, and can basically be replayed infinitely. I mean, I just replayed DS3 while staying level 1 the whole time, and my replay of Elden Ring for the DLC was even more enjoyable than the first time I played it, even though I was just coming off of having beaten all of DS1 and about half of DS2. I'll probably replay Bloodborne pretty soon as well.

[@reiwilogaming5027]

In my opinion the best to start with is dark souls 1.

The answer is Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon.

[@waterfish16]

best video game is life no doubt W graphics W immersion W sound effects personally God Software cooked with this game

[@Primacon]

I hate that it’s permadeath

[@Runninglizards]

Yeah but the story sucks if you get the wrong seed

[@plsnomore]

​@@Primacon How do you know though? Maybe you just respawn in a different character lol.

[@alanmacdonald1457]

lame comment god is also lame

[@Kawaiilolrofl]

Ds1 > bb > ds2 > ds3 > DeS > ER

[@dovargorath2722]

I'd personally say It's not for everyone and has some issues But there are merits to it √ DeS > Ds1 > ds2 > Ds3 > bb > sekiro > ER ^ ^ If you have access only if you want It has aged It's my favourite It's very unique and It's not for everyone Honestly You can play them in any order though but i wouldn't say start with sekiro because that one is very different from the rest I'd also suggest start with an older one because it's harder to go back to the old ones after you have adjusted to the newer ones That's just my opinion

[@gigabit6226]

@@dovargorath2722 So you think demons souls is the best? or did you mean to use ""?

[@dovargorath2722]

​@@gigabit6226I was just saying play order I want using the symbol in that sense i was just using it as an arrow

[@eddiezivkovic1767]

you have not played enough.

[@egg_64.]

play them is order. Dark souls 1, 2, 3, Elden Ring.

[@laurencequayle7751]

I have done the same, 200+ hours in elden ring and tried dark souls 3, beat it in three days. The bosses are much easier, even if the sellsword twinblades are a sort of easy mode. However, the world is so distinct both are great games and i look forward to more of your dark souls videos. (Also the wait for silksong is too much now)

[@Messmer-The-Impaler-n8i]

Personally I played them in the order ER->Sekiro->DS3->DS1->DS2->BB. ER bosses are harder to grasp but much more satisfying to master. I played ER first loved it. But I couldnt kick the habit of using summons, what did I do? I played DS3. Easier to grasp, combat is basic, and more room for error. Then I played DS1, that taught me exploration and level design quirks. I learned to deal with enemy mobs. I was better able to explore the Legacy Dungeons in ER because of that. Then I returned to ER, for a strictly no-summons experience. I am now on my 2nd RL1 run of ER, and have completed the SL1 in DS3 and Base Vitality in Sekiro.

[@Messihaz]

the regular mobs in DS3 are harder than the bosses of DS1

[@cagobello9412]

Some ds3 bosses gave me absolute hell. Like Pontiff, Lothric twins, Nameless King, Sister Friede. And killing them felt great But ER? Bosses are very easy. It's pretty boring honestly. Two or three tries and boss is gone. And Morgot 1st try. Only the Mohg under Leyndell was challenging so far. ER is easier because of lower input delay and much better readable attacks. I still havent finish the game but I hope this legendary Malena is gonna be good. Because so far, it feels like I'm playing AC:Odyssey again

[@lunialation666]

mmmm i was unable to play any souls games for the longest time, as i was underage and didn't earn enough to buy a pc for the games, and i only had my fathers ps3. then when i got out of bootcamp i bought a laptop, and my first souls game i played was elden ring, i played that game for nearly 300 hours, started another file for the dlc, then i got dark souls 3. both games were AMAZING, everybody saying elden ring is bad is wrong. and as of today my favorite game of al time is still elden ring. i hope that the next game fromsoft makes is WAY BETTER, because the game was amazing, i am just sad that i couldn't play elden ring when starscourge was still un-nerfed, but all in all it was the perfect game for me.

[@comradecatbug5289]

The next game? What about the older ones? Dont just ignore them

[@lunialation666]

@ ive already played them im getting sekiro next paycheck to play that one

[@dy11ann]

i think elden ring can be much easier or harder because a lot of people will over level than come back to bosses but in ds3 u cant really do that so it really depends on how you play elden

[@TyBayagaAgain]

i started souls games with ER. Was intimidated by Dark Souls 3 start with spellswords game is easy. First tried most bosses runs to the bosses are harder than the boss. Suprised ppl say this game is hard. i like the environment of DS better feels more grounded in reality some how but ER is a better game imo

[@hassaanrs8263]

I finished ds3 and both dlcs because I wanted to get into elden ring but wanted to play a souls game first. I made the right choice and tbh elden ring is a lot harder unless u play some broken magic build Also ds3 is my favorite

[@Dallanimation]

Both is good

[@AkashThePerson]

PRIMACON I CHALLENGE YOU TO AN ABSRAD RACE

[@wareagle9343]

Melenia is still the one of the hardest souls bosses, aside from maybe 2 in ds1 cought cough. Ds 3 has some challenging bosses that would give most of elden rings main bosses a run for their money you are still at the beginning. Sister friede will banish your sanity, midir will probably eat you alive and I will go as far to say that Gael is the best boss in all of the souls series.

[@MrMetallix]

I have a lot of hours in all souls games except demon souls… I played the original demon souls very little… and I have less hours in bloodborne, but still a lot. I’m and Xbox main so I don’t play the PlayStation exclusives as much

[@giteausuperstar]

I’m sorry but you’ve only played 10 hours of DS3 and reached abyss watchers. That makes you massively under qualified to be giving advice.

[@Primacon]

Brother if you need more than 10 hours to make up your mind if you like a game or not then you’re insane. I literally say nothing but good things about ds3 in the video. There is nothing to “qualify here” I’m just talking about which game is better to play first.

[@cheeto8653]

@@Primaconhes right in regard w the bosses bro, the last 20% of the game is insanely hard and you cant leave the boss and come back like you can in er, you just have to beat it

[@comradecatbug5289]

​@@PrimaconGoing by absolute numbers is the wrong approach here. 10 hours is enough to play some games multiple times through (think Sayonara Wild Hearts or Swallow the Sea) while only scratching the surface on others (examples would inculde Dragon Age: The Veilguard or Elden Ring). Relative numbers (i.e. rough percentage) are therefore better. With 10 hours, you've played through a third of DS3 AT MOST, and if you're at the Abyss Watchers, it's more like 20-25 %. With just a fraction of the game completed, you can give some thoughts or first impressions, but you are definitely not well equipped to review it. Many, many games begin to show flaws and/or strengths only after the halfway point, and therefore at least one full playthrough is needed for a review. I will list two examples below: Devil May Cry 1: In this game you spend the first fourth fighting just a couple of enemy types, with most of your abilites still locked. The enemy variety is at the lowest here and you don't have access to your full moveset, therefore it is impossible to judge the depth of the combat system, which only reveals itself on the latter stages (and most would argue that you need several playthroughs to understand it). At the same time, over the course of the first half of the game you get introduced to several of the recurring bosses, but you won't know that you'll end up fighting each of them multiple times, making boss variety seem deceptively large. Judging the game too early will lead to underappreciating the depth of the combat while overappreciating the boss design. Twelve Minutes: As a mystery-driven time loop game, this one is at it's most interesting in the very beginning. It has a narrative hook and you have lots of avenues to explore and unravel bits and pieces of the story. Unfortunately, the time loop also leads to a TON of repetition in the core gameplay, requiring more and more menial work to reach each new plotpoint. As you progress through the story, you'll inevitably start feeling jaded from this repetition and at the same time, the missing pieces that had you hooked initially will be solved one by one, substracting from the intrigue. Lastly, the ending of the game reveals several inconsistencies that for many players will break the whole story. This is a game that reveals all of its weaknesses in the latter stages, making an early review wildly inaccurate. Of course, not all games are like this. Some stay mostly the same from beginning to end. Mark of The Ninja would be a good example. But there is no way to know that if you're playing a game for the first time.

[@Veryglupo]

Day ninteen[?] of giving primacon random rainworld tips and very real spoilers until he continues his rainworld playthrough. Tip of the day: rot cysts (you'll know them when you seem them) have no sight, only hearing. this means can be maneuvered around by throwing a rock in the direction opposite of where you heading, luring them away from you and allow you to get by. Spoiler of the day: Im pretty sure youtube deleted yesterdays comment for it mentioning the horrible drug crisis among garbage worms, shocking.

[@Hiya0-gs2ss]

I hope sir, for your own sanity and mine, that primacon continues his playthrough

[@Veryglupo]

@@Hiya0-gs2ss I quite literally have run out of tips to give primacon, i think i'll have to retire tomorrow.

[@Hiya0-gs2ss]

@@Veryglupo Never retire

[@JuhoSprite]

Wait these are different games💀

[@beef_baby]

Yes! The one called Elden Ring is a game called Elden Ring, and the one called Dark Souls 3 is a game called Dark Souls 3, and they are not the same game 😁 hope that helped!

[@JuhoSprite]

@@beef_baby not rly im still confused they look the same to me

[@beef_baby]

@@JuhoSprite One was released in 2016 and one in 2022, Elden Ring is the spiritual successor to the Dark Souls series, it’s the same genre of games

[@JuhoSprite]

@@beef_baby dude I know they just seem the same to me still

[@beef_baby]

@@JuhoSprite Yeah I’m saying the reason they look similar is because one is the spiritual successor to the other

[@comradecatbug5289]

I have problems with pretty much every single part of this video. The one that bugs me the most is the blatant and downright disrespectful disregard for the previous games of the series. Nevermind the spiritual predecessor that was Demon's Souls, even Dark Souls 1 and 2 are ignored right until the very end of the video despite being part of the same continuity. It's disrespectful to those games to not even acknowledge their existence. Just because they have a successor and a more recent iteration of themselves doesn't remove their own value as games. It is fine to make a video comparing Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring specifically, but the previous games of the series deserve a note at the very least, and preferably some reasoning as to why they're being excluded from the conversation. Most of my other problems stem from a common source. You HAVE NOT played enough to be comparing these games. You cannot possibly assess accurately the differences having completed around 1/4 of Dark Souls 3. You've barely beaten a handful of bosses, so you can't comment on their overall difficulty through the whole game. Trying to do so would be like saying Elden Ring bosses are easy when you haven't encountered Mohg, Malenia, Maliketh, Hoarah Loux or any of the endgame bosses, really. Same goes for the story. The cryptic lore of Dark Souls is often most confusing at the beginning but slowly becomes clearer as you get a fuller picture. At the beginning of the game it is still way too early to say how easy to understand the story will be because you only have a couple of pieces. Furthermore, you're in no position to evaluate it because you're playing the last entry of a trilogy without having played the other two games. Imagine jumping straight into Return of The King, having no previous knowledge about the lore of The Middle Earth, and midway through being like "this story is super confusing." Lastly, and this is a minor issue: No, souls games aren't all about the bosses. Generally, both souls games and souls-likes can be separated into those that have an emphasis on exploration, and those that focus on the bosses. While Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3 fall into the latter category, many of the older titles were more heavy on the exploration side, especially Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 2. It's sad how commonly people look at this and think that the bosses are bad due to the technical limitations at the time, missing the point that these games had a different focus. It's easy to write it off as dated game design, but there actually remains a substantial part of the fanbase that enjoyed this design more and feels disappointed by how FROM has changed their approach. Proof of this sentiment are critiques that lament Elden Ring and even DS3 fro being too lenient on resource management while also making every boss into a bombastic battle, such as Ratatoskr's, Joseph Anderson's or Aesir Aesthertic's. And this too, is something you'd understand if you'd played the whole series.

[@אבשלוםכהן-ש8צ]

Primacon would you play sekiro?

[@Primacon]

I am wayyyy too bad to beat Sekiro

[@אבשלוםכהן-ש8צ]

@Primacon Have you tried the game. It isn't as hard as people make it to be. Elden Ring is much much harder especially if you don't use sammons.

[@srikzh]

The games look super cool but just sound incredibly tedious to the point of not being fun so I haven't touched any of them.

[@IgnoranceIsBliss808]

You should play DS2 first because its the only way you can like it. Once you know the other (better ) ones DS2 feels like shit😂 I'd say play DS3 first and if you mastered that you can get trough elden ring but its not really the same the other way around. You could say Elden Ring is better as a one time experience also easier if you choose to make it easier while DS3 is more difficult, way less tools to help you if (If you're stuck you're stuck) but when you mastered it , it also has so much more replay value bc its so linear Sorry for my bad english btw , not my first language 😅

[@micklucas1451]

I like ds3 more personally

[@cvdeiana]

Not only is DS3 better but Elden Ring isn't even anywhere near the best in the series, terribly overrated game.

[@jokyda]

Rather subjective….