• FromSoftware Megathread XV: Soulsborne Dies Twice
    999 replies, posted
At least DS2 has poise
Wanna elaborate a little?
As much as I liked DS3 I remember spending the majority of the game frustrated with the enemies and the level design. DS2 has big problems but even at its worse I was still having fun. So much of DS3 feels like a slog through levels and enemies that are just purposefully designed to be a pain in the ass. Plus it tries to be bloodborne and Dark souls at the same time and fails at being either.
Exactly the same for me except reverse DS2 and DS3 in your post.
I'd be lying if i've said i didn't like DaSIII. It is just the least i do. It'd be best of both worlds if it just improved upon last entries instead of becoming some kind of a weird amalgamation of DaS and BB. Don't get me wrong, i like BB very much, but why doing such a turn?
All the games have good sides and bad sides. They all had different gameplay systems and development processes. I’m pretty sure everyone in this thread played all 3 games 100 hours each so how bad can any of them really be? None are immune to criticism though.
Bloodborne's biggest flaw is that it has jack shit when it comes to build variety which hurts really replayability.
I have never mastered shoot parrying (yet) but my second playthrough was still infinitely easier than the first one. I barely even died outside of boss fights, and even the famed Orphan of Kos (which I had never fought before), I got at my fourth try. Honestly? That charged strong attack with the Hunter's Axe is overpowered as all hell. I didn't even know it existed on my first playthough so that might be why...
Bloodbornes biggest flaw is the fucking snake pit before burgerworth, I don't even mind the shadows just navigating that fucking everything looks the same woods and never having a milisecond to breathe because there's always a fucking snake bush around the corner.
Is sekiro out yet?
The problem with DS2 is it never rises above passable. At its best, it's a perfectly serviceable souls game with typical souls enemies and forgettable bosses. At its worst, it's a painful experience made by devs who clearly had no understanding of the themes or balancing of the first game and just said "You know what, fuck the player, kick them in the balls then laugh at them". DS3, on the other hand, is mostly passable, with occasional rises to pretty damn good and occasional dips to somewhat bad. DS1 is still the best game in the Dark series, although its mechanics aren't as polished as later games, the content is consistently brilliant in the first half of the game with the second half being mostly above average except for places like Lost Izalith.
Honestly I think you could swap DS2 and DS3 and it would be a perfectly accurate description of how I feel. Also replace the second half of DS1 being "above average" with being "an enormous plummet in quality and generally pretty bad"
My unimportant opinion: I love both DS2 and DS3, but for different reasons. I'd probably lean towards DS3 more, but I think every game offers something that's worth their weight.
Let's all just agree that the DLC content is the best content in all of the games.
I think I enjoy reminiscing about DS2 more than I do playing it. It's kind of hard to explain, but DS2 felt like a dream. When you play it in the moment, things don't really mesh well together and it's an okay game and an okay dark souls game. But when you realize that everyone comes to Drangleic and begins to forget what it is they're doing or why they're there, it really starts to reflect on how the entire world is dream-like. I really want to do a bigger write-up on why I like this about DS2, but it feels difficult to do because it's like I'm trying to write down the bits and pieces of a dream I barely remember years ago.
Maybe it's because I was aware of the development troubles the game went through before I played it but those parts of DS2's layout came across as stitched together rather than a deliberate tonal thing Looking at you Huntsman's Copse -> Harvest Valley -> Iron Keep Then you compare the to the bits that obviously were planned to fit together DS1 style where you can see them from each other and flow naturally, like the areas around Majula
I did it! Decided to try a SL1 run of DS1 (Pyromancer/Blacksmith Giant Hammer build, of course) and after 3+ hours of non-stop trying and cursing... https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110377/8c461742-51b7-4ae3-9fc5-c613c4bd19f6/20181118071857_1.jpg No hits taken, too! VERY narrowly avoided one of the dark attacks. No idea how it wasn't a hit. Easily my proudest Souls moment.
Late to toot the horn here, but what killed me about DS3 was the lack of poise for the player, and some of the enemies. I'm not trying to make a hot take or a joke - it legitimately was unfun (for me) that the easiest way to pick up and roll the entire game was to get the longest, fastest one-handed sword and stunlock basically everything into submission. I made multiple attempts to switch it up and just kept coming back because that combo was too good (and heavy armor did fuckall to be quiet honest.) The entire game becomes a bit of a blur when every enemy sans bosses and some uniques is just "run up, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, get out low stamina, repeat." I don't remember my mindset being so locked-in and repetitive in DS1/2. I had a lot of other small complaints about DS3 that kept me from putting it as high as the others (although it's still a great game); but that sticks out to me the most. Dark Souls 2 has it's issues, but probably remains my favorite just for the volume of content and viability of swapping into some goofy builds. Some areas were dumpster fires, but I don't remember getting stuck on any for all that long. If there's anything the series has, I think that somewhere in the franchise (+ Bloodborne) is the right mix for someone.
Sometimes I say I didn't really like DS3 and then I remember the time I played Lords of the Fallen and all its sins are forgiven.
Dude Lord of the Fallen was a big flush for me, so many dmg sponges in that game especially the bosses
Once Dark Souls 3's "poise" system was fixed was when I really started appreciating it. Hyper-armor made it so that you had to couple heavy armors with heavy weapons and coupling fast weapons with heavy armors usually had little use aside damage absorption. It felt amazing being decked out in heavy armor, with a big-ass sword and having some quality/dex build try to whip out their backup UGS and horribly fail the trade.
What soiled DS2 for me is the "What should have happened" moments. Like there was supposedly a big lightning storm covering Drangelic Castle in shadow but all you see is a broken black skybox full of nothing. The time travel element, while cool, was not as explored as thought of ie the business with the Emerald Herald's origin. Her story as to why she was tied to all of this was rushed out the door in the original game. "Oh and before you kill the final boss, I'm actually immortal tied to the bonfires through dragon's blood and Vendrick's brother Aldia, but you probably knew that. I wished all of the content from SOTFS was there from the beginning plus graphical upgrades it would be a better game without the DLC. DSIII could be fine without the DLC, but we got them because Artorias set the standards for expansions to the original game. Which is not a bad thing.
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/IlliterateFoolishBat-mobile.mp4
There is so many layers to this.
Mario 64 map, DOOM shotgun, Fortnite hud, and a Dark Souls boss. Am I missing anything?
Quake FOV
Good to see some new gameplay from Witchfire.
I love DS2 for this reason
Real talk, I think having Manus the final boss of AotA was a miss step, they should 100 percent had Artorias be corrupted by the abyss but had him wander into the arena after you slay Manus, pitting you and his former devoted wolf against him. Even the history would be better claiming that Artorias died while slaying Manus making him a martyr of sorts. Iunno just my thoughts.
imo while DS2 might be "passable" in it's entirety, it's consistence without much dips in the whole experience. Whereas DS have a almost perfect first half and an unfinished second half, and DS3 can go from "great" to "terrible" from time to time.
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