From Software Elden Ring - From Software's new game with writing by GRRM

[Bohrain]

Died at the same time as the dragonic knight before Maliketh boss room. Boss died but I got zero runes, I must've been particularly unlucky with the timing since this happened once before but I got the runes last time. Probably didn't matter much since it probably wasn't worth a level at that point.
Got through Maliketh on third try. Essentially cheating with Tiche summon and rotten breath. But I just don't enjoy massive bosses that either kill you instantly or force you to scramble behind a pillar to sip a flask after one hit.

 

[MajorMace]

The constant debate about which FromSoft game is the best is funny because it seems like 90% simply think that the one they played first is the best.

Tower of Latria from Demon's Souls is objectively the best set of levels in the entire Souls series.

You'll love Bloodborne when you'll play it then. It also doesn't suffer something like Valley of Defilement, as a nice bonus.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Pretending that Souls games are more about muh roleplaying than action is really fucking cute.

Exploration, LARPing and character development are the grand pillars of souls/ER though. Otherwise you get Nioh; good game that seems a """souls-like""" at first glance but turns out to actually be Ninja Gaiden with stats. So yeah, it's in fact pretty cute to think souls games are action oriented.

 

[NJClaw]

It also doesn't suffer something like Valley of Defilement, as a nice bonus.

Valley of Defilement is a great area and every time I replay DeS I enjoy it even more don't @ me

 

[MajorMace]

Lucky you. I find it lacking in everything but atmosphere. I did play Dark Souls before Demon's Souls, and maybe was I burnt on Blighttown back then though.

But I insist that making Latria Tower (very understandably so) the high point of Demon's Souls and then claiming Bloodborne isn't masterpiece material makes little sense to me.
Bloodborne is mostly Latria Tower : The Game.

 

[Bohrain]

Beat Malenia and the rest of the game. Felt like beating both Malenia and Elden Beast came down to RNG, they only ended up using the moves I could somewhat consistently dodge on the times I beat them. Malenia used waterfowl dance once or not at all on that attempt. Also I think I accidentally deleted my save when I tried to get the different endings without having to fight Elden Beast again by replacing the save file. But I wouldn't bother with NG+ either way so whatever. Think I'll play the Dark Souls in order now that I got ER out of the way.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Beat Malenia and the rest of the game. Felt like beating both Malenia and Elden Beast came down to RNG, they only ended up using the moves I could somewhat consistently dodge on the times I beat them. Malenia used waterfowl dance once or not at all on that attempt. Also I think I accidentally deleted my save when I tried to get the different endings without having to fight Elden Beast again by replacing the save file. But I wouldn't bother with NG+ either way so whatever. Think I'll play the Dark Souls in order now that I got ER out of the way.

In FS boss design there's certain health thresholds that trigger certain events. In DS3, there is a way to keep the Crystal Sage from activating his second phase, by fucking up this threshold.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Pretending that Souls games are more about muh roleplaying than action is really fucking cute.

Exploration, LARPing and character development are the grand pillars of souls/ER though. Otherwise you get Nioh; good game that seems a """souls-like""" at first glance but turns out to actually be Ninja Gaiden with stats. So yeah, it's in fact pretty cute to think souls games are action oriented.

Demon's Souls is already a combat-focused game where that combat is action-oriented, but this shouldn't obscure the fact that it still contains substantial exploration-related and character-related RPG aspects, which enables it to be considered a role-playing game, rather than an action game with RPG elements. Dark Souls and DS II are much the same, but Bloodborne drastically reduced the character build possibilities while increasing substantially the dependence on player-based physical skill relative to the three earlier games, resulting in something that cannot be considered an RPG. My understanding of Sekiro, which I haven't played, is that it moved even further away from being an RPG. DS III was affected by Bloodborne's combat, though not to the extent some people claim, while Elden Ring attempted to enhance exploration via the adoption of an Open World environment (the success of this change is open to argument) and also offers a variety of options for the player to rely on during combat (spirit summons, weapon skills) though having otherwise more dependence on the player's physical skills than the early Souls games. My preference is that Fromsoft will move away from this schizoid combat style more towards what it had originally implemented, if not even further in the direction of the King's Field games, though this is almost certainly a vain hope.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I argued before that the best of both worlds would be for FromSoft to just explore both directions in tandem, which... i suspect is exactly what they are doing.

From what i've seen of Sekiro shows that team B is now fully experienced so the amateurish jank contained in DS2 is no longer an issue. And while my original prediction for a Sekiro 2 or another game in that vein didn't pan out, the recent announcement of the Armored Core shows From still understands the value of diversifying their portfolio, even if games now take a lot longer to develop so they cannot afford the same degree of variation they had in the early days.

So before Elden Ring 2, we are likely going to see another Sekiro-esque game or maybe something else entirely, especially since combat focused games like that are less resource intensive to develop so why not.

 

[Doktor Best]

Everyone who says stats dont matter in Fromsoft games immediately reveals himself as someone who never attempted an SL1 run. Try to do so and see just how much stats matter in those games. There is a vast difference between being able to tank 3 to 5 big hits and killing the boss with 20 hits vs being a guaranteed oneshot and having to hit the boss twice as much (and this is assuming youre playing a glasscannon build with consumables)

Stats dont completely circumvent bossmechanics and of course they shouldnt, but that doesnt mean Elden Ring is an action game.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

My understanding of Sekiro, which I haven't played, is that it moved even further away from being an RPG.

It did, but well worth playing. Great game in spite of focusing the combat around 1 simple mechanic (deflecting/parry). More DS than Nioh still.

 

[fork]

Dark Souls > Dark Souls 2 > Demon's Souls > Sekiro > Dark Souls 3 > Bloodborne > Elden Ring.

 

[Child of Malkav]

 

[cruel]

I smile whenever I see those discussions and DS2 being placed anywhere close to the top. The game that objectively has:
- the worst level design of any souls game
- worst bosses (not a single good boss in base game)
- pretty bad encounter design
- very poor atmosphere (with small exceptions)
- almost no memorable moments (outside of maybe Majula and Gutter)

The only good things are build variety and PvP balance, and that's it. Stop joking guys.

 

[D_X]

I smile whenever I see those discussions and DS2 being placed anywhere close to the top.

That's because you have shit taste. Sorry, it's terminal, nothing can be done.

 

[fork]

I smile whenever I see those discussions and DS2 being placed anywhere close to the top.

That's because you have shit taste. Sorry, it's terminal, nothing can be done.

Then what's your problem with my list, faggit?

 

[D_X]

Then what's your problem with my list, faggit?

Bloodborne near the bottom, under DS3 and Sekiro doesn't belong on that list.

 

[fork]

DS3 is better than Bloodborne. Sekiro not belonging on the list is debatable; depending on the criteria, neither do Bloodborne and Elden Ring.
I stand by my ranking.

 

[D_X]

DS3 is better than Bloodborne.

Absolutely not. They tried to insert Bloodborne into Dark Souls with DS3 and absolutely managed to miss the point of what made their own game work and what we got was an abomination between the 2 systems.

Sekiro not belonging on the list is debatable.

It's an action game. Other than the respawn mechanic it doesn't really have any similarity to the Souls games. Might as well list AC5 in that list since it's a From game released after DeS.

What's actualy is debatable is if it's a good game or not.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Other than the respawn mechanic it doesn't really have any similarity to the Souls games.

Areas and area bosses, fog walls, bonfire/idols whatever, resting respawns enemies, flask for healing, upgrades to increase flask uses, same kind of interaction with NPCs and responses, same cryptic writing style, bosses with multiple phases, numerous "door does not open from this side", enemies drop emblems/souls required to power your prosthetic tools. Just some that I remember.
You: one similarity.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

"door does not open from this side"

Why is it always you don't have the right.

 

[Anonona]

Many of those are not unique to Souls game and are quite common in many 3D adventure games. In fact the only ones that I would call "unique" to the souls games are the respawning enemies when resting, the flask healing and the interaction with NPCs (sort of, not that unique and the dragonrot system is a new mechanic), and the first two elements were implemented on the Souls games to try and imitate the level structure of older games in a semi-open environment, where enemies respawned when restarting a level or leaving a room. If you consider Dark Souls a throwback to the Igavanias, then Sekiro would be one to classic Castlevanias (mainly due to the core combat sharing similar fundamental design, that is, the use of a single main weapon and multiple subweapons that work best in certain contexts) and therefore those systems are perfect for this game.

same cryptic writing style

I disagree, beyond a certain ambiguity with some elements of the story, the plot of Sekiro is very much straightforward, with characters explaining their motivations and the world.

 

[Elttharion]

Demon Souls = Dark Souls = Dark Souls 2 = Bloodborne = Dark Souls 3 = Sekiro = Elden Ring

No, I will not elaborate

Spoiler

 

[Child of Malkav]

Many of those are not unique to Souls game and are quite common in many 3D adventure games. In fact the only ones that I would call "unique" to the souls games are the respawning enemies when resting, the flask healing and the interaction with NPCs (sort of, not that unique and the dragonrot system is a new mechanic), and the first two elements were implemented on the Souls games to try and imitate the level structure of older games in a semi-open environment, where enemies respawned when restarting a level or leaving a room. If you consider Dark Souls a throwback to the Igavanias, then Sekiro would be one to classic Castlevanias (mainly due to the core combat sharing similar fundamental design, that is, the use of a single main weapon and multiple subweapons that work best in certain contexts) and therefore those systems are perfect for this game.

same cryptic writing style

I disagree, beyond a certain ambiguity with some elements of the story, the plot of Sekiro is very much straightforward, with characters explaining their motivations and the world.

All I'm saying is there is more than just 1 similarity. Surface level or not, unique to souls or not, doesn't matter. It's Tenchu with souls elements. Not RPG elements but others.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Many of those are not unique to Souls game and are quite common in many 3D adventure games. In fact the only ones that I would call "unique" to the souls games are the respawning enemies when resting, the flask healing and the interaction with NPCs (sort of, not that unique and the dragonrot system is a new mechanic), and the first two elements were implemented on the Souls games to try and imitate the level structure of older games in a semi-open environment, where enemies respawned when restarting a level or leaving a room. If you consider Dark Souls a throwback to the Igavanias, then Sekiro would be one to classic Castlevanias (mainly due to the core combat sharing similar fundamental design, that is, the use of a single main weapon and multiple subweapons that work best in certain contexts) and therefore those systems are perfect for this game.

same cryptic writing style

I disagree, beyond a certain ambiguity with some elements of the story, the plot of Sekiro is very much straightforward, with characters explaining their motivations and the world.

All I'm saying is there is more than just 1 similarity. Surface level or not, unique to souls or not, doesn't matter. It's Tenchu with souls elements. Not RPG elements but others.

well wouldn't you know

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sekiro-shadows-die-twice-originally-started-as-a-t/1100-6461426/