Souls-likes

[Gentlegamer]

My PS4 got the Blue Light of Death, and I lost all my saves, including my DSIII characters. ProTip: back up your PS4 saves

 

[jro]

I finished Code Vein yesterday. My opinion of it hasn't changed much at all from early impressions. Super unpolished, really repetitive enemies. Horrendous level design almost from start to finish.

The third-to-last boss fight was actually really good, kind of a ripoff of Ornstein and Smough, and then that's followed up by two awful bosses that break the game's mechanics horribly if you're playing with AI instead of a human partner.

Not recommended.

 

[Yoshi]

Thank you for taking one for the team and sharing.

 

[jro]

I finished The Surge 2 on Saturday. I liked it a lot better than the first one- it's faster and much more responsive in both movement and combat, the character leveling system is smoother, the healing mechanic is much more intuitive, level design is better, and the camera is only terrible sometimes instead of almost all the time.

Really solid game. Plays well. Fun equipment upgrade system. 12 main boss fights (and a few hidden ones that are re-skinned tougher versions of previous) instead of just 5 like in the first game. Weird difficulty curve, with the second boss (Little Johnny) being probably the hardest in the game due to the gimmicky nature of the fight and the fact that it comes early on, so you're not leveled much and you're probably still learning the gameplay. Good final boss that felt appropriately grandiose, even if Deck 13 blatantly curbed from Sekiro and Bloodborne for the setting.

Definitely worth playing if you're a fan of the genre.

 

[k'_127]

Nioh 2 beta starts tomorrow.

 

[greedostick]

Anyone else playing Remnant: From the Ashes? Even though it scales damage taken and received, it's pretty clearly intended to be played in multi-player given the boss fight mechanics. It's also pretty damn good at hitting that DS sweet spot of tough, borderline annoying sometimes, but always making you feel like you're getting better and will win next time.

My brother is asking me to buy this game. He says it's a lot of fun, and is very souls likes.

Gonna pull the trigger Friday most likely.

 

[jro]

Nioh 2 beta starts tomorrow.

I started it yesterday, then my controller died. So far it feels like a good evolution of the first one, no massive changes but a few little things that are cool, i.e. Burst counters, the new multi-segmented blade weapon style, and the new skill tree. I kinda miss playing as William, but the character creator is suitably robust. I haven't gotten to him (her?) yet, but the boss looks quite challenging.

My brother is asking me to buy this game. He says it's a lot of fun, and is very souls likes.

Gonna pull the trigger Friday most likely.

I definitely recommend it. There are a few boss fights that feel like BS at first, but they're all doable with enough practice. Several in particular have a really satisfying learning curve of FUCK ME NO WAY to hmm I'm getting it I think to hey that dude was a little bitch. The last boss is probably the best example. Very unique mechanics to the fight, and once you learn them and understand how to counter it, beating it is super satisfying.

 

[greedostick]

I started it yesterday, then my controller died. So far it feels like a good evolution of the first one, no massive changes but a few little things that are cool, i.e. Burst counters, the new multi-segmented blade weapon style, and the new skill tree. I kinda miss playing as William, but the character creator is suitably robust. I haven't gotten to him (her?) yet, but the boss looks quite challenging.


I definitely recommend it. There are a few boss fights that feel like BS at first, but they're all doable with enough practice. Several in particular have a really satisfying learning curve of FUCK ME NO WAY to hmm I'm getting it I think to hey that dude was a little bitch. The last boss is probably the best example. Very unique mechanics to the fight, and once you learn them and understand how to counter it, beating it is super satisfying.

Is the beta ps4 exclusive?

 

[jro]

Is the beta ps4 exclusive?

It is. And it's incredibly difficult. I beat Nioh on Way of the Strong and all of the DLC, and I've finished most of the games in the genre, but the N2 beta is just really really hard. Died over and over halfway through, and annoyingly. Stunned on the first hit, rest of the combo kills me.

Quick Google search suggests it's not just me, the difficulty balance is just off. I still love the basic gameplay but TN has to fix the balance before release.

 

[greedostick]

It is. And it's incredibly difficult. I beat Nioh on Way of the Strong and all of the DLC, and I've finished most of the games in the genre, but the N2 beta is just really really hard. Died over and over halfway through, and annoyingly. Stunned on the first hit, rest of the combo kills me.

Quick Google search suggests it's not just me, the difficulty balance is just off. I still love the basic gameplay but TN has to fix the balance before release.

I thought the first stage in Nioh 1 was bullshit. The ball and chain guy. After that it wasn't that bad with exception of a few stages. Maybe it's just a bad first stage again.

I personally hope it's pretty unforgiving. But not until you get a few levels in to start getting your build together.

 

[jro]

Finished the DLC for Ashen, had no idea it existed until a few days ago. Decent, overall, still does a really nice job with melee combat, but nothing special. Most of the areas have lava flows or lakes, and the AI kept walking into it and dying, and it wouldn't re-spawn at all beyond the proper checkpoints, unlike in the main game. Very far between checkpoints. And the balance was odd- easy enough most of the way through to make me think it's clearly not intended for a post-game character, but then the boss tanks hits like no enemy in the main game and also constantly slowly heals. Far harder than any boss in the main game. Can't upgrade equipment beyond what was possible in the main game. Took me maybe 2.5 hours, tops.

 

[ggallegos1]

Would Jedi: Fallen Order fit in this thread? This went completely under the radar for me, was thinking of getting it because it looks fantastic and I'm always down for original stories

 

[jro]

Would Jedi: Fallen Order fit in this thread? This went completely under the radar for me, was thinking of getting it because it looks fantastic and I'm always down for original stories

I just now noticed this, sorry for such a late response. JFO has some fundamental similarities to the genre- there are healing spots that also respawn any enemies in the area that had been killed, and combat is generally similar in how you have to rely on learning the opponent's capabilities and spacing over fast twitch response, but it uses a poise meter that's actually much more similar to Sekiro in how you or the enemy can have your block broken, and (often only) then have major damage inflicted. Oh, and you drop some of your experience points upon death, but it's never more than one level's worth and it's generally easy to get them back. The combat is much, much less polished than any proper Souls game and most of the rip-offs in the genre, too, frankly. The last two boss fights use the mechanics very well, but much of the rest of the game's fighting feels sloppy. Not flat-out bad, but it'll be a letdown if you're expecting From-level of quality in the fighting. Again, my bad, this is probably entirely too late. Harder to see useful posts in this subforum with so many trash threads clogging it.

 

[jro]

I finally finished Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin. I used to hate it, had the hardest time getting a feel for it.

Got over my block on it, though, and I actually really like it. It reminds me of Demon's Souls more than any other game in the series, in the way the levels are designed (smaller, discrete areas), the way your max health is reduced when hollow, and the healing mechanics (fewer Estus but near infinite consumables if you want them).

Maybe a few too many bosses. 32 in the main game, 41 counting DLC, and not many of them are what I'd consider really good by From standards.

Tons of build flexibility. Good lore.

 

[Late]

Yeah, it's not a bad game at all, I don't get the knee-jerk hate it seems to get.

 

[greedostick]

DS2 is a great game. People can say what they will, but the fact is DS2 is still better that 90% of the games released that gen. It's just so happens to be the worst in the series. That doesn't make it bad in general, just in comparison.

 

[Kid Panda]

DS2's only saving grace is the amount of bosses it has. Otherwise it's a mess.

 

[jro]

After mostly resigning myself to the idea that I'd never finish it, I managed to get through Frigid Outskirts in the Ivory King section of DS2. It's amazingly difficult, even when you know the genre and the game pretty well. The unicorns, man, they just keep coming, multiple times I'd get 4 spawning at the same time.

But, as with all things DS, it's still "fair." After dying on the route a half-dozen times I said fuck these horses and just killed them until they stopped spawning and then headed on to Lud and Zallen and beat them no trouble, they're much easier than the trip.

That was the last of my 41 bosses. Several in the DLC were really good, with Fume Knight, Sinh, Alonne, Burnt Ivory King, Aava, and Graverobber/Havel/Archer all being very tough but also fun/interesting to fight. The only two main game bosses I'd put on that same tier would be the Ancient Dragon and Darklurker.

edit: I agree that the game is messy and unfocused in a lot of ways, and somehow manages to ask for even more from the player than the others, but if it clicks, it's really engaging. Maybe somewhat due to those flaws actually.

 

[jro]

Finally beat all five bosses in The Old Hunters Bloodborne DLC on NG+. Laurence's third phase may be my least favorite boss design in the entire series, it's just obnoxious. He took me around 20 or 25 tries and was definitely the hardest time I've had on any boss in a From game. Orphan of Kos was tedious in phase 2, but was mitigated a lot with how you can blow through phase 1 so fast with viscerals. Maria, great boss, logical, interesting, fair phases throughout. Living Failures... sure. Kinda dumb, but mechanically interesting and actually pretty fun to fight. Ludwig only took me two tries, and I don't remember much of him at all, other than the cool visual design.

And, having just recently put 110 hours into Scholar of the First Sin followed by half-ish of DS3 on NG+ and then a similar amount of Bloodborne on NG+ plus its DLC (I've finished the others also, just been a little longer since I played them), I'm confident in saying that Bloodborne has by far the best gameplay in the series, but the limits it puts on play style keep it from being my outright favorite. Though, come to think of it, limiting play style is probably a big factor in making the combat so well-tuned and smooth in BB.

 

[Late]

This reminds me that I have to get Bloodborne GotY, never played the DLC and now that I'm off PS+ I have no access to the base game either.

 

[jro]

This reminds me that I have to get Bloodborne GotY, never played the DLC and now that I'm off PS+ I have no access to the base game either.

Should be pretty cheap at least probably cost less or the same than buying the DLC by itself.

Playing through The Old Hunters is good practice for the main game. Fought Blood-Starved Beast last night. On NG I remember her being quite difficult. This time (NG+) her tells, dodge windows, and parry windows all seemed massive and I couldn't believe how much trouble I had before.

 

[greedostick]

This reminds me that I have to get Bloodborne GotY, never played the DLC and now that I'm off PS+ I have no access to the base game either.

You want the European one. I can't remember why, but I bought that one cause it had all the dlc on disc or something.

 

[Gentlegamer]

You want the European one. I can't remember why, but I bought that one cause it had all the dlc on disc or something.

It does

 

[shadowsfollow]

They say is always your first that becomes your favorite in these type of games. For me it was DS1, I've done it all in PvE working on getting +7 on all the different versions. So far I got Xbone (all achievements), +5 on Switch (wish it had achievements), +2 on Steam, using different builds to keep things interesting. Currently working on a no miracle no magic run, all melee and pyromancy, of course this worn't be too great for PvP but it's just for fun anyway. It's hard not to be tempted to level up over PvP caps.

I tried Lords of the Fallen and I couldn't get into it, felt like Gears of War trying to be dark souls, lol, I dunno, just didn't click for me.
Nioh was excellent!
Shadows Die Twice is also amazing. Wouldn't mind a Ninja Gaiden in this direction, doesn't have to be 4, just a spin off or something.

I enjoy Lobos Jr streams on youtube a lot and all the different mods to DS1, it's pretty cool having access to a Boss Rush mode and such.

 

[greedostick]

You all should try Remnant: From the Ashes. Kinda Soul-ish, but more about gun play, for the most part. Really fun game.