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[Jer]

My biggest issue with Dark Souls II was the map. Dark Souls was a triumph of world design, where things connected in coherent ways, even when those ways were surprising, and the extreme verticality of the map gave it this really unusual feel for an RPG. Meanwhile, Dark Souls II felt like a bunch of disconnected levels where you walked through corridors that obscured your view to move from one level to another, and they didn’t necessarily have anything to do with each other thematically or geographically. I distinctly remember taking an elevator up to a lava area at one point, which makes absolutely no sense unless you arrived at the bottom of an active volcano first, which the game never telegraphed to you at all.

Bloodborne also had a very coherent map, as did Dark Souls III to a lesser extent. Demon’s Souls was disconnected linear by design, so it was kind of its own animal.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

My biggest issue with Dark Souls II was the map. Dark Souls was a triumph of world design, where things connected in coherent ways, even when those ways were surprising, and the extreme verticality of the map gave it this really unusual feel for an RPG. Meanwhile, Dark Souls II felt like a bunch of disconnected levels where you walked through corridors that obscured your view to move from one level to another, and they didn’t necessarily have anything to do with each other thematically or geographically. I distinctly remember taking an elevator up to a lava area at one point, which makes absolutely no sense unless you arrived at the bottom of an active volcano first, which the game never telegraphed to you at all.

Bloodborne also had a very coherent map, as did Dark Souls III to a lesser extent. Demon’s Souls was disconnected linear by design, so it was kind of its own animal.

Yep, that's often said as a criticism and it's absolutely true, especially the elevator ride from Earthen Peak up to the lava-filled Iron Keep that you mention.

However, I personally haven't noticed that during the actual gameplay, only in hindsight. On my playthrough I actually loved how sprawling and chaotic it was.



But to each his own - like I said, the criticism is totally valid, just saying why it doesn't hold that much significance for me, personally.

Also, for some reason, the game felt much more emotional to me, it remained in my memory much longer even after only one walkthrough. Things like cleaning up the Pilgrims of Dark areas to confront Darklurker, that insane spider village with Duke's Dear Freja at the end, the hollow Vendrick wandering aimlessly in rounds, Nashandra and the curse-bulding up portrait of her... it felt very different. Don't know exactly why. (and again, similar to Elden Ring, in a way)

 

[Vaenyr]

I get the issue with DS2's world not feeling as coherent, but it doesn't bother me to be honest. Dark Souls was praised a lot, but in the end it simply worked like a metroidvania (which is one of my favorite genres). It works but I prefer the more linear design, at least in Souls games.
I'd rather have a well designed linear level with fast travel, than an area that has shortcuts to previous parts of the world that are often just an elevator or the super long tunnel that connects Firelink Shrine with Lower Undead Burg.

In metroidvania games you usually get some kind of ability that allows new traversal options and exploration. Stuff like double jumps, grappling hooks/beams, air dashes, swimming/diving. In such games it is great to be able to go to old areas and uncover new secrets. Dark Souls on the other hand doesn't have any new abilities to gain and most shortcuts are just "open this door/step on this button" which isn't particularly exciting to me.

---

Before I played any of these games I didn't think that I'd like them, but there's something incredibly satisfying about exploring the areas, taking all loot with you and finishing an area with a boss fight. It's like a giant checklist and I guess it stimulates something in my lizard brain lol

@JudasMyGuide I have the SotFS edition with the DLCs included and I'll definitely play those as well. Did the Gutter and Black Gulch yesterday. The former was a neat echo of upper Blighttown and I enjoyed that part, the latter annoyed me because of the enormous amount of poison dart statues. Those suckers decimate your weapon durability and I started using some junk weapons to keep a bit of sanity. I also died a couple of time to the Rotten because I had heard that severing the arm without a weapon will yield a Pharros' Stone, but that annoyed me too much and I went on the offensive in the next try. Was more important to keep the summon alive so that I can get one of the achievements later.

Edit: Another thing I remembered. DS1 is filled with areas that have very slim walkways and bottom less pits. Even Firelink is surrounded by those. DS2 has its fair share from what I've seen so far, but there are also many areas that allow you to run around without worrying that you'll fall to your doom. I get the feeling that Lordran itself is hollow due to all the pits lol

 

[BludBrutha]

Look here, look listen. Appearing offline doesn’t stop it.

 

[DJMayes]

The first half of Dark Souls is a masterclass in world and level design. I'm a huge fan of DS3 and ER too, but neither of them manage to come close to how well made everything pre-Anor Londo is, in my opinion.

 

[Onhell]

Finally finished King of Cards on Shovel Knight. If Shovel Knight is Mega Man, King Knight is Wario, down to his overworld map and alternate exits from stages. I really enjoyed it. Watched a review criticizing those very aspects, that it felt too short, disjointed and lack of boss battles as the levels are shorter. That's exactly what I liked about it. To be fair, The reviewer played it on release years ago and had waited a year or so for it to drop, I played each game back to back, so by the time I got to King of Cards it felt like a welcomed change of pace. He also disliked Joustus, the card mini-game. Again, I enjoyed it, also the variety within the game. In Gwent you could change your deck, but the game itself was the same. Here, you could change your deck AND depending on your oponent, the board itself changed with hazzards and obstacles. I did what I could as far as the collectathon went. I won all the cards from the people I could, but I am missing a few that I have to buy from Chester and there is one in the Crag of Joustus I just can't find. It says it's in a chest, but I've explored everything and there are no more breakable walls. I'm assuming it's connected to the guy looking for Oolong, but is distracted by the music "far away." I might just have to look this one up. So I can't get the rest unless I buy them and If I'm going to replay levels, might as well do it on NG+.

Also watched the new trailer for Judas. Judas is Ken Levine's new baby (System shock 2, Bioshock 1 and Infinite.) The reviews are mixed. The consensus isn't. They all point out the obvious, that it's Bioshock... IN SPAAAACE! And whether that's good or bad. For example, many people are disappointed in Starfield for "only" being Skyrim in space. Apparently Levine had said that the reason he left the previous studio and created Ghost Story Games, was because of "creative differences" and because he wanted to do something "new." And well.... Essentially making Bioshock 4 isn't new, or maybe that's exactly what he wanted to do, but the studio didn't want that for Bioshock back in the day... who knows. I myself will get it. I LOVED Bioshock, so I'm willing to do more of the same, but I can see where people are disappointed.

 

[Vaenyr]

I've only played bits and pieces of Shovel Knight over the years but never the entire thing. I'll have to get back to that, but there are some other games and indies I wanna play before that (chief among them Hollow Knight).

Finished the Shrine of Amana in DS2 today and it thankfully wasn't as painful as I feared. Though I learned my lesson: Had 40k souls and needed another 15k or so to be able to get two level ups, so I thought I'll just farm some more enemies before warping back to Majula. After looting a chest I didn't notice a gap in the water and fell to my doom. No biggie, it happens. While fighting my way back to my bloodstain I fought against the Ogre in the area, got a bit too greedy, ran out of stamina, didn't heal fast enough and got killed. Bye-bye 40k souls and one level up ;_;
From now on I'll always warp back to level up as soon as I can. I don't mind losing souls here and there, but losing a relatively big amount due to arrogance hurts, not gonna lie lol

 

[Meliegree]

Arkham Origins & Arkham Knight. I tried to pick up Suicide Squad yesterday but after what I saw in the reviews & seeing it with my own eyes I asked for a refund. One of the biggest disappointments I've had recently when it comes to gaming.

Arkham Origins, on the other hand, positively disappointed me. The game plays a bit like Arkham City, although the level of the plot, in my opinion, is not as good as the above-mentioned title. It would probably be better if AO was DLC for Arkham City.

Still, beating up criminals with Batman is as fun as ever.

I can't wait to get back to Arkham Knight - I played on the console and thanks to the 55' screen I felt like I was watching a Batman movie.

 

[Azas]

Abandoned playing video games long ago. My personal favorites:
Heroes of Might & Magic III
Quake II
Warcraft II
STARCRAFT
Grim Fandango
Arcanum
Far Cry
Diablo II

 

[Saapanael]

I want to play Metro Exodus but I’m afraid of encountering spider enemies. I don’t like big-ass spiders in video games, they trigger my phobia pretty bad. There were nasty ones in Doom 3 that kept jump-scaring me as a kid and I couldn’t play it any further. Then Skyrim, The Witcher etc.

 

[Onhell]

I want to play Metro Exodus but I’m afraid of encountering spider enemies. I don’t like big-ass spiders in video games, they trigger my phobia pretty bad. There were nasty ones in Doom 3 that kept jump-scaring me as a kid and I couldn’t play it any further. Then Skyrim, The Witcher etc.

The bad news is there are big spider enemies, the good news is you get to light them on fire and shoot the shit out of them. I like some survival/horror games for the same reason I like horror movies, it's a safe way to face my phobias. One of my biggest fears is being chased and feeling helpless. Some of my favorite gaming experiences? Outlast LOL. Would I play it again? Hell no! hahaha. Also Little Nightmares.

 

[Onhell]

Abandoned playing video games long ago. My personal favorites:
Heroes of Might & Magic III
Quake II
Warcraft II
STARCRAFT
Grim Fandango
Arcanum
Far Cry
Diablo II

Seems you abandoned video games around the time I did. Warcraft II, Diablo I and II and Starcraft (with it's expansion Brood Wars) were of the last video games I played before a loooooong hiatus. Part of it was I hated the consoles at the time. Going from the Atari 2500 to the NES felt revolutionary, then the Super NES/Genesis rivalry was amazing (I had a Genesis, but played the SNES at my neighbors). PS1? N64? Graphics looked awful to me. I didn't understand why people were going nuts when everything looked like shit and super bland. Very polygonal with plain backgrounds. It wasn't until the 360 when I really went, wait a minute... things are finally looking better.

I've heard people say that if you get past the graphics there are some true gems in there (Golden Eye, Turok, original Tomb Raider trilogy, etc. And I do remember Golden Eye being super fun with friends, but just wasn't for me in general.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

original Tomb Raider trilogy

You know, I've spent hundreds of hours in various From Software and other souls-like games and Tomb Raider III is still probably the hardest game I've ever finished.


Anyway, decided to spend some time gaming yesterday, I'm getting into Bloodborne finally, beat Father Gascoigne yesterday on my third try (the first boss took just one attempt). I'm starting to really like the game.

 

[Vaenyr]

I know that From's approach to boss battles changed from Bloodborne and DS3 onwards to become more hectic with little room for error, but so far I've to say that the difficulty of these games is vastly oversold. It takes a bit to adjust to them but as of now I've had no issues with any of the bosses. In DS1 for example I died dozens of times due to falling off random cliffs, but (at least in NG) died exactly 2 times against bosses: The very first fight against Asylum Demon (because I didn't see the door you were supposed to run through and tried to fight it) and Artorias. Then in NG+ there were a couple more deaths against Gwyn.

In DS2 I've had a few more deaths due to impatience or bad spatial awareness (the little lava pit right against the wall in the Old Iron King fight lol). Fought Ancient Dragon yesterday, died on my first try due to having too low fire resistence, but second try was quite easy if a bit long.

I've probably died more times against the secret boss in Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind (arguably one of the best designed ARPG boss fights in the history of gaming) than I've died in DeS, DS1 and DS2 combined lol

 

[JudasMyGuide]

I know that From's approach to boss battles changed from Bloodborne and DS3 onwards to become more hectic with little room for error, but so far I've to say that the difficulty of these games is vastly oversold. It takes a bit to adjust to them but as of now I've had no issues with any of the bosses. In DS1 for example I died dozens of times due to falling off random cliffs, but (at least in NG) died exactly 2 times against bosses: The very first fight against Asylum Demon (because I didn't see the door you were supposed to run through and tried to fight it) and Artorias. Then in NG+ there were a couple more deaths against Gwyn.

In DS2 I've had a few more deaths due to impatience or bad spatial awareness (the little lava pit right against the wall in the Old Iron King fight lol). Fought Ancient Dragon yesterday, died on my first try due to having too low fire resistence, but second try was quite easy if a bit long.

I've probably died more times against the secret boss in Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind (arguably one of the best designed ARPG boss fights in the history of gaming) than I've died in DeS, DS1 and DS2 combined lol

IMO it is

1. the general adjustment, the first hours in any FS game tend to be cruel, especially with how oblique the games are

2. You haven't seen the hard bosses yet. I haven't played Demon Souls, but in DS 1 the only really hard boss is Manus (especially if you don't use the medailon) and maybe Ornstein and Smough, especially the first tume around. In 2 it's mostly the bosses from the DLC, the ones in the base game are quite easy, IIRC. Let me know after you fight Fume Knight, the Slumbering Dragon, Burnt Ivory King or sir Alonne. Or Elena, the Squalid Queen. Or that insane gank trio in the Crown of the Sunken King DLC.

Also, all above is supposing no summons, of course. I personally always go "no summons, no cheese, no shield".

You're right the bosses get harder from 3 onwards. Even in the base game there is Pontiff Sulyvahn, for example, whom I find easier than many other people do, but he's still no slouch. The bonus bosses and DLC ones are truly where it's at - Sister Friede, Midir, Gael or the fucking Nameless King (for me the hardest boss in the trilogy).

Elden Ring ups the ante still. Malenia is doable, but you will cry. Godskin Duo is ridiculous. However, a lot of the fights are genuinely fun.

However, so far still the hardest From boss for me was Owl (Father) from Sekiro. We'll see what Bloodborne does with that.

 

[Vaenyr]

Oh, I'm sure that I've only scratched the surface so far. I'll keep y'all updated on my progress through these games.

Another thing that's different to other games is that, if you have the patience for it, you can grind out souls and levels to push your stats quite high. Sure, there are diminishing returns, but you can get quite tanky. Yozora in KH3 on the other hand will destroy you in the span of a few seconds and you have to learn how to deal with every single attack since the fight doesn't care about your level or your stats.

My biggest frustration in a Souls game so far were the freaking elevators in Blighttown with their wonky hit detection. Probably my most deaths so far were there (or the archers in Anor Londo).

Gonna do the memories today, then it's onwards to the DLC. After that I'll finish the game, grind out The Rotten a ton of times and continue to NG+ and NG++ for the final trophies.

 

[Saapanael]

I’ve never played any FromSoftware games or anything else in this genre but where would you recommend I start if I wanted to try it? I play on PC.

The bad news is there are big spider enemies, the good news is you get to light them on fire and shoot the shit out of them. I like some survival/horror games for the same reason I like horror movies, it's a safe way to face my phobias. One of my biggest fears is being chased and feeling helpless. Some of my favorite gaming experiences? Outlast LOL. Would I play it again? Hell no! hahaha. Also Little Nightmares.

Thanks for the info. Outlast also seems really interesting, I might try out that one.

 

[Jer]

I’ve never played any FromSoftware games or anything else in this genre but where would you recommend I start if I wanted to try it? I play on PC.

The first Dark Souls would be my recommendation. Not sure what the state of graphics support is for that one on PC, if you’d need mods to get the results you want or whatever, as I’m on console.

If you enjoy that one and want to change things up a bit afterward, I’d suggest Sekiro next. I don’t think they’ve released Bloodborne on PC.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

I’ve never played any FromSoftware games or anything else in this genre but where would you recommend I start if I wanted to try it? I play on PC.

A lot of people got into From Software through Dark Souls 3 or Bloodborne, Bloodborne is PS4-exclusive, so Dark Souls 3 is usually probably considered the golden standard for PC/Xbox players. Until Elden Ring came, it was the most popular and the most well-known, I'd say. It's also in between, not as breakneck-hectic as Sekiro or Bloodborne and not as slow and methodical as Dark Souls 1, like I said, somewhere in between. (I'm now trying to be objective, I like other games more, but DS3 is generally very beloved among the general public).

There's another option - Elden Ring is really popular, because it is the first from game that got really big and it can be really good for a newbie - there's, like, a million options to make the game easier or more fun for yourself, a million things to discover, if you get stuck, you can go around discovering million other things. Thousands of weapons you could try to combine, million types of potential playthroughs. As for the "money spent - content" ratio, there's nothing like ER - like Joseph Anderson has said - 'it's not "Dark Souls 4", it's "Dark Souls 4, 5 and 6", an AAA game that is being sold at full price and still feels like it's being sold on sale, underpriced'.

Dark Souls series (especially 1 and 3) is more about overcoming obstacles, Elden Ring (and DS 2 to a degree, but that may be just me talking) are more about discovery and sense of wonder (and general atmosphere of the place).

I personally started with Dark Souls 1 and it's still my favourite, along with Elden Ring, because it was the first and your first from software game you'll never forget. However, it is the slowest and the "clunkiest" game of them all, in a way that's also a plus (like I said, the combat is more methodical, slower) and the level design is amazing - everybody who finished the game could lead you anywhere in the world completely blind - but I don't know if you'd like it, too. In general, I'd say DS 3 or Elden Ring is the safer bet.

Sekiro is completely different, to a degree, it has an ingenious combat mechanic (you are dealing damage to health and posture, the two meters are interconnected, it's closest to an actual swordfight as you could ever get) and amazing atmosphere, but it's a rather separate thing altogether.

 

[Meliegree]

I want to play Metro Exodus but I’m afraid of encountering spider enemies. I don’t like big-ass spiders in video games, they trigger my phobia pretty bad. There were nasty ones in Doom 3 that kept jump-scaring me as a kid and I couldn’t play it any further. Then Skyrim, The Witcher etc.

I feel you. That mission was super problematic for me. On a good side:
1) It's not too long.
2) I finished it with looking only at walls/floor so with little motivation you can do it also.
3) From what I remember you can change diff mid game, so you can go to easy, run through this mission, and then switch back to the difficulty that you like.