Souls-likes

[Lagduf]

Me, Hornhead and 'duf.

The Dream Team.

I’m on Team FagBox.

 

[Taiso]

I’m on Team FagBox.

There will likely be cross play.

 

[Yoshi]

I need some advice. I've played Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Dark Souls: Remastered, and Elden Ring, I believe in that order. I am ready to circle back to Dark Souls II. I already have both vanilla and Scholar of the First Sin. Should I play both? Should I skip right to the latter? Why?

 

[SML]

I need some advice. I've played Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Dark Souls: Remastered, and Elden Ring, I believe in that order. I am ready to circle back to Dark Souls II. I already have both vanilla and Scholar of the First Sin. Should I play both? Should I skip right to the latter? Why?

Do you have all the DLC for Vanilla?

You'll hear mixed advice from people (SotFS has more PvE ganks, which is what people are most likely to hate about it). The item needed to do weapon infusions is available to you MUCH earlier in Scholar. That alone might make it worth playing first.

 

[Yoshi]

Do you have all the DLC for Vanilla?

I do not.

 

[SML]

I do not.

Okay, definitely SotFS then. The DLC areas are a huge upgrade to the overall experience.

 

[jro]

Me, Hornhead and 'duf.

The Dream Team.

I am down to actually get a headset to talk to actual people if you are accepting applications.

edit, @Yoshi , I second SML re DS 2 Vanilla vs Scholar. Scholar has a few really helpful tweaks in design that make it a smoother experience, and the DLC for it, while quite hard, has some of the best bosses and areas of any From game ever, not kidding. Each of the three main parts has two normal dungeon-type areas and then one that's meant to be a unique challenge from anything else in the game, and those are brutal AF but really satisfying to play and ultimately beat. The run to Alonne is awesome and Alonne himself is a better boss than anything in the main game by a lot, the Triple Gank in Sunken King is very intense and hard but also very fair, Fume Knight is brilliant, getting to Ava after Horse-F Alley feels awesome, and the lead up to and the fight against Burnt Ivory King feels unique and rewarding. Highly recommended. I would still probably argue that it's at worst the second-best DLC From made for any of their pre-ER games, topped only by The Old Hunters.

Oh, and random weird aside, but Tails of Iron 2 somehow kind of sucks balls. I really liked the first one, finished the main game and got I think all but one secondary mission, it looked nice, had Doug Cockle doing charming narration, and most importantly, played really well. The sequel still looks and sounds the same (Cockle is back, which alone helps a lot), but somehow it now plays mostly like shit. Parrying is meant to be half your defense in the series (dodging certain attacks is the other half), and for some bizarre reason, in the new one, the window is cut down to what I'd guess is a LoP-esque 14 MS from the original game's Sekiro window of 45 MS. And enemy attack damage is cranked through the roof, with every boss able to two-shot you now. Parrying is so ineffective and badly implemented that on the second boss fight I ended up just dodging literally everything and never trying to parry, which is what most reviewers did also. It's just bad, unfortunately. No idea how a dev makes a really good first game and then just ruins the mechanics in the sequel for no reason.

 

[SML]

edit, @Yoshi , I second SML re DS 2 Vanilla vs Scholar.

 

[HornheaDD]

Started up Lies of P again. Didnt know where the hell to go so I just started over since I was probably only like 2 hours into it but hadnt played it in quite a long time. The game finally opened up a bit and Im enjoying it decently. Though Im not a fan of having to return to the hub world/level to level up every time. Pumps the breaks hard on exploration. I guess you unlock the ability to level up at any bonfire at some point, but eh that should have been in place from bonfire 1.

Definitely see the Bloodborne influence in it, but then I realized that there seems to be a little Souls in it too because of carry weight. Was never a fan of the whole capacity thing in Dark Souls so that's definitely a meh aspect of it.

But its funny/endearing just how much they are aping/love-lettering Bloodborne down to NPCs in buildings coughing, and asking for bits and bobs. Im at some robot furnace bot right now that doesn't seem to difficult but gets a teensy bit cheap toward the last phase of the battle.

 

[Yoshi]

There will likely be cross play.

There is not. There is also no two-player support. So it's three-player on the same platform only. That combination likely kills it for me.

 

[ggallegos1]

Started up Lies of P again. Didnt know where the hell to go so I just started over since I was probably only like 2 hours into it but hadnt played it in quite a long time. The game finally opened up a bit and Im enjoying it decently. Though Im not a fan of having to return to the hub world/level to level up every time. Pumps the breaks hard on exploration. I guess you unlock the ability to level up at any bonfire at some point, but eh that should have been in place from bonfire 1.

Definitely see the Bloodborne influence in it, but then I realized that there seems to be a little Souls in it too because of carry weight. Was never a fan of the whole capacity thing in Dark Souls so that's definitely a meh aspect of it.

But its funny/endearing just how much they are aping/love-lettering Bloodborne down to NPCs in buildings coughing, and asking for bits and bobs. Im at some robot furnace bot right now that doesn't seem to difficult but gets a teensy bit cheap toward the last phase of the battle.

You unlock the ability to save wherever toward the end of the game, but it remains for NG+. There are numerous amulets that assist with weight, especially necessary for the improved defense frames.

Can't wait for the DLC, might start a new run just for that. We did a technique build at first, but once you get a bunch of cranks you can basically force any weapon to scale for you. It's a blast.

 

[Taiso]

There is not. There is also no two-player support. So it's three-player on the same platform only. That combination likely kills it for me.

Well that is...

..and you knew this was coming...

FUCKING GAY.

 

[Taiso]

So I played through a significant amount of the Khazan demo.

It's good.

It's really, really good.

I wouldn't call it a Dark Souls killer but I like the visual style, the flow of the gameplay and the skill tree system. The enemy variety so far has been interesting, the level design of the demo area wraps in and out of itself, winding up and down and makikng you curious enough to keep exploring. I like that the inventory system is easy to understand and breaks down the stat increases in a plain, easily understandable manner.

I also appreciate that the narrative is more personal, tied to this guy trying to rid himself of these wrathful spirits that have all coalesced into one new entity that is now possessing him. It's nothing new in this or any other medium, but it still makes the story more....human, I guess? Dark Souls, for all of its magnificent lore, tends to be a little obtuse in its approach. This is more like watching a movie or an anime where a lot of the grimdark themes are presented through the filter of a protagonist as opposed to everyone around him, although there's plenty of that too.

I'm interested to see what other early iterations of the Dungeon Fighter universe we get to see here.

There really isn't anything 'new' here but they manage to bring a bunch of nice systems under one umbrella.

I just beat the third boss of the 'three weapons' trials. Saved at the crystal after that fight and taking a break. I can't imagine there's much more to go for the demo.

I'll certainly day one this.

 

[Taiso]

Finished the demo for Khazan.

Parrying is going to be a necessity in this game in order to advance, since reducing the enemy's stamina to put them in a vulnerable state can be a challenge. Especially bosses.

It's a fun demo and it should be a good game.

 

[Taiso]

So my roomie started playing Dark Souls on my recommendation and also because I wanted to watch her sperg about how hard the game can be.

She's adapting pretty well but she's a very tentative player. Overlevels before moving on. I told her about the Firedrake Sword and how to get it and that has helped her tremendously. She's gotten past the Bell Tower Gargoyles and the Capra Demon (the narrow arena and getting cornered by the dogs really infuriated her so I told her about the stair glitch to help her out). She's ready to move on to Darkroot Basin. I told her she needs the key item from BLacksmith Andre to advance beyond a certain point. She's killed the Titanite Demon so she is adapting.

She told me that she sees a lot of hate for the first game in the series. I told her I've never heard about people hating the first game, but hat there is a lot of division about the second game.

Can anyone explain to me why anyone would call the first one the worst game in the series?

 

[SML]

QoL stuff like covenant switching (addressed in the Remastered version), needing to get the Lordvessel before you can warp, limited ring slots, equipment requiring maintenance (no automatic repairs at bonfires).

I'd disagree with most of those complaints, except maybe the equipment maintenance.

 

[Lagduf]

Any hate I’ve ever seen is from people whose first Souls game was not DS1 or Demons Souls.

 

[Taiso]

So basically, anyone that didn't start at the beginning.

It's like the world didn't exist before they were born.

This is why I tell people to always start with the first game in any series by date of release. You can appreciate the QoL and changes more that way.

 

[HornheaDD]

Any hate I’ve ever seen is from people whose first Souls game was not DS1 or Demons Souls.

Im not 100% sure but I think I tried Dark Souls 3 before Bloodborne. I can't remember. But I know the first time I played DS3 I wasn't a fan because I didn't get how those games worked.

Then I got Bloodborne and hated on it at first. Hated the control scheme, but then it clicked and there's no other way I can imagine even playing BB. Bloodborne is the goat.

 

[Lagduf]

I still need to beat Dark Souls 2

 

[Taiso]

I still need to beat Dark Souls 2

IMO, you aren't missing much. It's...fine. I agree with a lot of the criticisms.

Dark Souls 3 is so much better. It's my favorite in the series, even though it's the easiest.

 

[max 330 megafartz]

So my roomie started playing Dark Souls on my recommendation and also because I wanted to watch her sperg about how hard the game can be.

She's adapting pretty well but she's a very tentative player. Overlevels before moving on. I told her about the Firedrake Sword and how to get it and that has helped her tremendously. She's gotten past the Bell Tower Gargoyles and the Capra Demon (the narrow arena and getting cornered by the dogs really infuriated her so I told her about the stair glitch to help her out). She's ready to move on to Darkroot Basin. I told her she needs the key item from BLacksmith Andre to advance beyond a certain point. She's killed the Titanite Demon so she is adapting.

She told me that she sees a lot of hate for the first game in the series. I told her I've never heard about people hating the first game, but hat there is a lot of division about the second game.

Can anyone explain to me why anyone would call the first one the worst game in the series?

Dark souls one is the only souls-like game i have ever played and i gave up nearly right out of the gate when i was trying to fight the things with knives that roll up and spin dash at you. That is the level of retard i am. I hate dark souls. Could barely even get past the archways with the dragon breathing fire at me.
Soo…. Maybe some other people hate the first one because it’s all they have ever played. I dunno. Maybe im just real special!

 

[Taiso]

The people that she was seeing complaining about Dark Souls were saying that later entries in the series are better so they were persevering.

My man max 330 megafartz went hollow

 

[Lagduf]

Dark Souls 1’s level design and interconnected world is unparalleled. It can make it tough when you don’t know where you’re supposed to go. Especially all the people who make it to pinwheel and then realize they have to go back, or who keep trying to go to New London before you’re able, etc.

Dark Souls 1 is the only game I ever bothered to get 1000/1000 achievement points for.

The parry timing in DS2 really messed with me so DS2 onward I’ve been a shield user lol. I really like how they changed shields in Elden Ring.

There is nothing like seeing Quelaag for the first time, finally beating blight town, , escaping the wretched den’s fortress, or beholding Anor Londo in its glory.

I can’t wait til your roommate gets to the silver knight archers

 

[max 330 megafartz]

The people that she was seeing complaining about Dark Souls were saying that later entries in the series are better so they were persevering.

My man max 330 megafartz went hollow

Maybe some day ill try another souls-like, or even just dark souls 1 again…. But i usually just opt to play katamari damacy or a sega game lol