I remember being so intimidated by the game before playing it for the first time and struggling a lot with the beginning sections of the game. I remember fighting the first black knight in undead burg and thinking I would never beat it. After giving up a few times, I finally managed to kill him by blocking and then circling around. I’ve grown much more as a player since then, but that was definitely the moment where I knew I could overcome the challenges thrown at me. What about you guys?
I was struggling so much in the beginning, even before the first boss. But when I learned that Dark Souls is a game of patience (block/dodge, attack, repeat) it clicked for me. The first real challenge after that where the two Gargoyles. After beating them I knew that I could beat the whole game. That boss simply is a DPS check and if you pass it the rest of the game should be manageable.
The only boss I struggled with after that (ignoring DLC) was the four kings, which simply is an upgraded DPS check. Solved it by upgrading my weapon and using paper. But only after many tries of trying to brute force my way through.
I find it so interesting how different people struggle in different areas, and with the bosses in particular. I didn’t have too much trouble with the gargoyles, but bosses like the moonlight butterfly made me really buckle down and figure out how to beat them. It really was just a game of patience as you said!
I played the game blind for the first time last year and I was so intimidated by the butterfly (you can see it from outside the arena) that I did not even go into the fight until much later. The fight then lasted 2 cycles of me dodging for what felt like 5 minutes and then slashing the butterfly when it came down to sit. I was way over leveled by that point.
It’s different for everyone! I don’t think I was ever over leveled for anything in ds1 which was probably good for a first playthrough. I’ve encountered that problem in the other games on first playthroughs but it was never anything too serious.