I think the Ringed City wins the reward for having the most pain in the ass enemy sets going on for it. The Ringed Knights are not so bad since they take decent damage and it's more of a matter of dodging their attacks but their buffs can be troublesome especially when it changes up their combos. The regular cannon fodder enemies are not so bad as long as you notice them before they notice you with their damn lightning miracles and the ones that cause Curse buildup for just being near them. The headless fatty's became a lot easier once I learned they take ridiculous damage from plunging attacks. Made that staircase area much easier to handle. The cricket men are only annoying because they back off preventing my full combo from landing but they're pretty easy regardless.

Course the two biggest pains in my ass have been the Angels and the Summoner Giants. They can make simple zones into a serious gauntlet of trouble if you're not careful and deal with ASAP. I am annoyed the giants are not perma death like the angels though since they're also basically stage hazards, oh well. Also, it was not cool to bring back the Dragon Armor boss as a regular enemy but it could be worse...The in-game invasions have also caught me off guard, especially since they happen regardless if you're embered or not. I'm only grateful they don't spam estus healing like Hawkwood and Reinhold did. Took down the crossbow guy in the garden area and eccentric Silver Knight Ledo.

I've also noticed I'm being stalked by a dragon again. I'm guessing this is the Midir the one NPC told me about that she wanted me to put out their misery. All I'm doing is trying not to have flashbacks to the Ancient Dragon and Kalameet from the previous entries. My biggest sad moment is that the damn Ringed Knights will just not drop their main armor, I keep getting their helmets, gauntlets and leggings, but not the cool main armor with the Darksign on it. I did get their cool weapons but not their shields.

So far it's been a slow process, having found the +3 variation of the Gold and Silver Serpent Rings, I've been able to amass quite a few items and souls but it's just as easy to lose all the souls if I'm not paying attention. Progress has been slow especially since it appears my only options on where to go involve fighting the Mini-Boss Dragon Armor or head in the direction to Midir.