Most Frustrating Side Quests In FromSoftware’s Games

In their Soulsborne series, FromSoftware has developed a unique approach towards non-player characters (NPCs), who communicate in enigmatic riddles and often display serious or even eccentric demeanors, sometimes bordering on insanity. These NPCs frequently present players with side missions that are not always straightforward, leaving it up to the player to decipher what they’re expected to do next. This intricate quest design has proven captivating for many gamers, as solving these cryptic tasks can lead to rewarding experiences.

Consequently, adopting this style of design may occasionally result in exasperation. Some of these side missions are so puzzling that it seems impossible to advance, while others intentionally conceal valuable information which could alter the way players tackle them. The most frustrating side quests aren’t even complex or mysterious; they’re simply repetitive. These FromSoftware side missions tend to overemphasize the developer’s lore-rich formula, and as a result, they become more annoying than satisfying.

Saving Solaire

Don’t Forget To Kill That One Unremarkable Bug

Launching the proceedings with everyone’s most beloved white sign summon: Solaire from Dark Souls. Solaire is adored for two significant reasons. Initially, he personifies an almost unimaginable optimism in a world as dismal and somber as Lordran. Secondly, he’s the NPC summon for the Bell Gargoyles boss fight, and has likely saved many players from quitting their Dark Souls adventure shortly after beginning. His storyline is rather captivating too. To put it simply, considering the affection his fanbase holds for him, Solaire’s questline can be quite demanding.

The challenge in completing Solaire’s quest is that several steps must be followed precisely to prevent him from becoming Hollow:

1. Locate The White Lady within Blighttown.
2. Gather 30 Humanity, a valuable resource, and give it all to her to open the locked door just before the entrance to Lost Izalith.
3. After passing through this newly opened passage, eliminate the nine Chaos Bugs hiding beyond the door.

However, even with perfect execution, players can still fail the quest if they inadvertently enter Lost Izalith prematurely or only manage to kill eight of the nine Chaos Bugs, leaving one to transform Solaire into a Hollow entity.

Big Hat Logan

Can You Stop Getting Locked Up For Five Minutes?!

Side Quest Found In: Dark Souls

In the game Dark Souls, if you’re creating a sorcery character, it’s beneficial to seek out Big Hat Logan, who offers some of the most powerful spells in the game, such as Homing Crystal Soulmass and Crystal Soul Spear. However, he often ends up trapped in cages.

Initially, Big Hat Logan is found confined within Sen’s Fortress, where getting the key to release him is inconvenient and retrieving the key back to the cage is even more frustrating. However, once he’s liberated, he returns to Firelink Shrine, offering his merchandise for a while. Later on, after players meet Seath the Scaleless and get incarcerated themselves, upon their release they will again find Big Hat Logan confined. Obtaining the key to this cell is even more tedious than the first time. What’s particularly vexing is that to advance Logan’s storyline (spoiler: it culminates with him losing his sanity), players must purchase all of his spells, which amount to over 183,000 Souls in total. The benefits of this endeavor aren’t insignificant, but it requires a considerable investment just to drive a character insane.

Siegmeyer Of Catarina

Sometimes, You Need To Help Yourself

Side Quest Found In: Dark Souls

In Dark Souls, Siegmeyer of Catarina’s questline can be frustrating due to the challenge of locating him repeatedly. Players must scour the game world extensively, as he’s frequently hidden in remote or obscure locations that are seldom visited. To make matters worse, he may hum a tune, but this doesn’t always make him easy to spot, especially when nestled deep within a corner of an area with little reason for players to explore there.

During the initial four encounters with Siegmeyer, this rule applies. However, in Lost Izalith, he requires assistance against some Chaos Eaters, positioned beneath him. If Siegmeyer loses more than half his health fighting these creatures, regardless of their defeat, he’ll perish, ending the questline. Killing the Chaos Eaters before speaking to Siegmeyer also concludes the quest, leaving no escape route. The unpredictable nature of NPC AI in Dark Souls makes maintaining Siegmeyer’s health during this fight a gamble. If players successfully manage (or rather, if things go their way since player actions only contribute partially), they can advance to the next step. Assuming they’ve found Sieglinde, disguised as a Golden Golem in the Duke’s Archives, they can locate Siegmeyer once more in Ash Lake. Unfortunately, he meets his end there. While Sieglinde offers some compensation for the effort, the outcome is still quite dissatisfying.

Royal Sorcerer Navlaan

Killing In The Name Of

One aspect that can be quite aggravating about the journey of the Royal Sorcerer Navlaan in Dark Souls 2 is twofold. Firstly, the adventure may not even commence properly if players accidentally trigger a seemingly harmless level close to Navlaan’s cell. This untimely action frees him, leading to several consequences: his questline becomes unattainable, and he invades as a red phantom multiple times during the remainder of the game.

If players find a way to bypass the lever and interact with Navlaan behind his foggy prison wall instead, here’s what happens: Humans won’t get anything from him, but Hollow characters will be offered a job as his personal assassin. They’ll be tasked with eliminating certain NPCs that Navlaan identifies, some of whom are crucial for leveling up. For each successful assassination, Navlaan asks for an item as evidence of the deed. However, these items can also be obtained without resorting to violence. The entire questline is a deceptive setup that leads players into believe they must kill key NPCs for decent rewards, when in reality, it’s all a trick. This unexpected twist is deliberate and can be quite aggravating, despite its intended design.

Laddersmith Gilligan

Is That Really A Job?

Side Quest Found In: Dark Souls 2

Lenigrast, the blacksmith, labels Laddersmith Gilligan as a rogue character. In the game Dark Souls 2, it’s this person who constructs ladders for players to use when they want to descend into the large pit smack in the center of Majula. He provides a range of ladders at different prices and lengths that lead to various depths within the pit.

Lenigrast, a blacksmith, refers to Laddersmith Gilligan as a disreputable character. In Dark Souls 2, he’s the one who builds ladders for players to use when they want to descend into the sizable pit in Majula’s center. He offers multiple types of ladders at various costs and lengths that lead to varying depths within the pit.

To begin with, these ladders seem completely redundant. Players can safely descend the pit by acquiring the Silvercat Ring from Shalquoir, which is useful in multiple areas, not just the pit. Alternatively, they can perform some intricate jumping maneuvers across the wooden planks that run horizontally through the pit at intervals. Unfortunately, Gillian demands a hefty price of 12,000 souls for a ladder leading to the bottom of the pit, which seems highly overpriced and suspicious. I must admit, I’m puzzled about what exactly a “laddersmith” is in this context.

Adella The Nun

During An Endless Nightmare, Is Jealousy Really Necessary?

In the game Bloodborne, you’ll meet Sister Adella, a nun from the Healing Church who has been taken captive by a Snatcher and held at Hypogean Gaol. If players manage to guide her back to the Odeon Chapel, she will converse with them and offer vials of her blood – a peculiar gesture that mirrors another NPC from the same chapel.

If a player first accepts blood from Adella and then accepts blood from Arianna three times, Adella may become jealous, kill Arianna, and subsequently go insane, attacking the player outside the Chapel. This sequence of events leads to the loss of two Non-Player Characters (NPCs). Losing Arianna can prevent players from accessing Bloodborne’s true ending and secret final boss. Given that accepting either woman’s blood appears harmless, it’s frustrating for players when they may not understand their error until it’s too late in the game.

Nepheli Loux

Back And Forth And Back And Forth

In my experience as a devoted fan, I must admit that FromSoftware’s sidequests often involve quite a bit of backtracking. This issue is amplified significantly in a sprawling open-world game like Elden Ring, where these journeys can span vast distances across the game’s extensive landscapes. Among all quests, none demonstrates this challenge more profoundly than Nepheli Loux’s.

Essentially, this adventure centers around locating Nepheli, who’s hiding in a secret spot. You chat with her there, then head back to Roundtable Hold for another chat. This process repeats three times. However, there’s a minor twist: you’ll need to return to the game’s initial zone to defeat the Grafted Scion and obtain Stormhawk King Ashes. That’s as intricate as it gets.

Nepheli’s questline also involves finishing Kenneth Haight’s task, adding a layer of complexity. Towards the end, you’ll need to travel back to Stormveil Castle for another chat with Nepheli. In return for your efforts, you’ll receive an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, which may seem underwhelming considering the amount of traveling you’ve done.

Honorable Mention: The Return Ending

Oh, Good… More Rice…

There’s room for discussion on whether this particular task qualifies as a side mission given that it ultimately points towards one of the endings in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. However, to finish this quest, players must deviate significantly from the game’s main progression line, and there’s no mandatory aspect to it; its sole purpose is to offer an additional ending known as the ‘Return ending’. Since it falls into a gray area, we’ve chosen to acknowledge it here as an honorable mention.

The challenge of this quest isn’t due to it being overly difficult or intentionally misleading; rather, it’s frustrating because it’s complex and rather tedious. To unlock the ‘Return’ ending in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, players often need to repeatedly converse with the Divine Child of Rejuvination. This game’s NPC dialogue is usually lengthy, but in this case, it seems excessively so. What makes it worse is that between long speeches from the Divine Child, players are tasked with completing various fetch quests for hard-to-find items. After retrieving these items and returning them to the Divine Child, more dialogue ensues. Sometimes, they even have to eat rice. This quest is virtually incomprehensible without a guide, and even with one, it remains a tedious task.

2025-09-08 22:08