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

[Multidirectional]

Somebody said Nioh can rival FS games aesthetically? Missed that post but it's obviously untrue. FS completely outshines Team Ninja in the area of presentation. Some of us just like the way Team Ninja design combat and prefer it over FS style of combat.

 

[Anonona]

Missed that post but it's obviously untrue. FS completely outshines Team Ninja in the area of presentation.

I think that there is one area where it does reach From's level, or at least comes close; the Yokai and spirit design. The way the enemies are based on Japanese folklore while giving them a coherent artistic vision and elaborated designs is great, probably my favorite thing aesthetically from Nioh's games.

 

[Multidirectional]

I think that there is one area where it does reach From's level, or at least comes close; the Yokai and spirit design. The way the enemies are based on Japanese folklore while giving them a coherent artistic vision and elaborated designs is great, probably my favorite thing aesthetically from Nioh's games.

Yeah that's true, there's definitely some pretty cool looking Yokai throughout Nioh 2, among both regular enemies and bosses.

 

[Silverfish]

Any non-Fromsoftware souls-like worth playing?

Most of them tbh. Nioh, despite the lies being spread these last few posts, absolutely competes with Fromsoft in terms of atmosphere & presentation. One oddball recommendation is the original Lords of the Fallen, which is kind of shitty, but is trivial to break in half and as such has some comedic / relaxation value.

 

[Anonona]

If aesthetics and explorations are the main qualities, the new Lord of the fallen I think is actually pretty good in both aspects. The game had a very rocky development and was rushed, so it is very janky and somewhat unfinished, but the environment and level design for the most part are pretty good. There is also the Umbral world mechanic which is an exploration focused mechanic where if you die or use your lamp, you can interact with an alternate dimension, allowing you to reach new places and find hidden treasure. Also great fanshion imo.

Be warned though, most NPCs are quite ugly and the game is very janky, with low enemy variety and some late levels being worse due to being rushed, but still interesting enough to try out.

If you like Soulslike I'll recommend trying metroidvanias (they are pretty much the same thing), including 2d's ones. Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, Nine Sols, Castlevania games from SotN onward, etc. They share both good aesthetics, rewarding explorations and simple but fun and challenging combat systems and a variety of bosses, with some of them having some decent RPG's elements.

 

[Hell Swarm]

If aesthetics and explorations are the main qualities, the new Lord of the fallen I think is actually pretty good in both aspects. The game had a very rocky development and was rushed, so it is very janky and somewhat unfinished, but the environment and level design for the most part are pretty good. There is also the Umbral world mechanic which is an exploration focused mechanic where if you die or use your lamp, you can interact with an alternate dimension, allowing you to reach new places and find hidden treasure. Also great fanshion imo.

Be warned though, most NPCs are quite ugly and the game is very janky, with low enemy variety and some late levels being worse due to being rushed, but still interesting enough to try out.

If you like Soulslike I'll recommend trying metroidvanias (they are pretty much the same thing), including 2d's ones. Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, Nine Sols, Castlevania games from SotN onward, etc. They share both good aesthetics, rewarding explorations and simple but fun and challenging combat systems and a variety of bosses, with some of them having some decent RPG's elements.

TBH you just described From games there too. It's pathetic how the fanboys have to lie about posts being made that weren't so they can try and shit on superior games. Sorry From drones, lying about what was said just makes you look like a no games faggot.

Blasphemous 2 is one of the best souls likes ever made.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Nioh, despite the lies being spread these last few posts, absolutely competes with Fromsoft in terms of atmosphere & presentation.

It absolutely does not.

 

[racofer]

 

[Silverfish]

It absolutely does not.

"No crumbling old cathedrals and the poison in the swamp can be removed. 0/10. Learn aesthetics, Team Ninja."

 

[Old Bald Bad]

FromSoftware games have amazing art direction. But after playing Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 1, 2, 3, and Bloodborne, I think I have seen it all: cathedrals, caves, swamps, fortresses.

In the case of Dark Souls 3, they got extremely lazy with the lighting and color. It’s like they did not hire a lighting artist and said, “Don’t worry, we will put a gray filter on the ground and a yellow filter in the sky. Job well done, guys.” Thanks to Sekiro, they proved they still have the ability to put good color in their games and create something fresh.

As for Souls-like games to play outside of FromSoftware’s titles: Why play anything else? FromSoftware already has six Souls games, and I’m surprised that people play all of them and still crave more. Or, in the worst case, you can replay them with different builds and weapons.

 

[The Decline]

As for Souls-like games to play outside of FromSoftware’s titles: Why play anything else? FromSoftware already has six Souls games, and I’m surprised that people play all of them and still crave more. Or, in the worst case, you can replay them with different builds and weapons.

Different settings and styles and different takes on the overall combat system. Lots of souls-like games are worth playing.

 

[Decado]

Haha, Nioh. Ugh.

 

[Decado]

As for Souls-like games to play outside of FromSoftware’s titles: Why play anything else? FromSoftware already has six Souls games, and I’m surprised that people play all of them and still crave more. Or, in the worst case, you can replay them with different builds and weapons.

Different settings and styles and different takes on the overall combat system. Lots of souls-like games are worth playing.

iMO the game with the least replay value (from a build variety perspective) is Sekiro. But it is also an amazing game. The lack of build variety actually helps make it less cheesable. You either learn how to deflect properly, or you die. It is the hardest of all the Souls games, I think.

 

[Lyric Suite]

FromSoftware games have amazing art direction. But after playing Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 1, 2, 3, and Bloodborne, I think I have seen it all: cathedrals, caves, swamps, fortresses.

Yeah but you being bored with those enviorments has nothing to do with whether FromSoft's art is in fact objectively superior to that of Nioh (which it is).

Nioh too can also be considered quite "generic" if your metric is the amount of times you got exposed to its setting. Every art form can fall into that. Watch enough Renaissance art and you'll end up thinking Michelangelo is boring as shit but that doesn't mean his art isn't objectively greater than that of most of his contemporaries. It's just that you can only see the Pieta' so many times before you feel you've seen it enough.

It's a common phenomena in fandom that eventually you are going to get bored with the "best" until you begin to convince yourself the games you overlooked because they didn't seem as good at first were actually better all along, which is not an objective assessment at all, it's just that they are now fresh to you because you never played them before.

During the years i hang around the various classical forums it was very common for people to fish out lesser known composers and claim that they were just as good as those in the established canon if not better even, but in reality they never were. If you spend decades listening to Bach, Mozart or Beethoven you WILL eventually get bored with them, at which point you may think all those minor composers you ignored before are actualy better where as it's just the hype generated by the novelty that is warping your perception.

 

[toro]

Any non-Fromsoftware souls-like worth playing?
I consider buying the funny crab game.

Crab game is great. Worth a play
Lies of P is.. okay? It's soft bloodborne and about as good as you'll get if you want a bloodborne clone.
Lords of the fallen is good but it's own spin on things can be annoying.
Mortal Shell has a cool gimmick but the world feels linear and confined.
Nioh series is weeb souls. Much more complex combat but maps feel more gamey.
The Surge 1 and 2. Robot souls.
Ashen is an absolute gem. Very simple graphics but it feels like a souls game. Lots of exploration and depth with beautiful music.
Hell point. Souls set on a space station orbitting a black hole. Not many enemies but very creepy bosses.
Bleak faith. Ripping off a different manga than berserk souls. Complete jank top to bottom but the world is fascinating.

Good stuff:
Asterigos: Curse of the Stars
Sands of Aura
Salt and Sanctuary
Black Myth: Wukong (this I did not play but it looks decent)

Stay away from:
Thymesia
Steelrising
Code Vein

Other mentions:
Ashen was abandoned by the devs. They also released another flop called Flintlock and they work with Sweet Baby Inc.
The Surge 1 and 2 suffer from backtracking galore. They are soul crashing.
New Lords of the Fallen is garbage. The original game is better.

Bottom line:
FromSoftware has monopoly on the genre. Elden Ring is close to pure decline but no other dev is able to come closer.
On the other hand, Dragon's Dogma 2 combat shits all over DaS combat.

 

[Lyric Suite]

On the other hand, Dragon's Dogma 2 combat shits all over DaS combat.

In what way?

 

[Old Bald Bad]

I tried many, but it seems like most of them are unplayable for me.

The Surge 1 & 2: Mech suit souls-like? Cool, I guess. One hour into the game, I had to navigate through a narrow and dark tunnel with flickering lights. I refunded it immediately. Stupid developers—were they trying to kill people by triggering photosensitive epilepsy and motion sickness at the same time?

Code Vein: Anime souls-like. Wasted $15. Why did I buy this shit in the first place?

Lies of P: Played 2 hours on GamePass. I guess the combat is fine, but I'm not interested in the setting. I'm playing as a 15-year-old puppet? Fighting other puppets? No, thanks.

What else? Nioh 1 & 2: While they are good games, like others said, they don't fit in the souls-like genre. After leveling my character above level 10 and unlocking some skills, these games become a totally different beast. Very fast and reward aggression.

Lords of the Fallen: This one I haven't tried.

Bottom line:
FromSoftware has monopoly on the genre

That's exactly what I think.

 

[Haplo]

I've had some fun with Code Vein. Though don't really expect a souls' experience from it. VERY different - over the top anime style and atmosphere.

 

[Hell Swarm]

The Surge 1 & 2: Mech suit souls-like? Cool, I guess. One hour into the game, I had to navigate through a narrow and dark tunnel with flickering lights. I refunded it immediately. Stupid developers—were they trying to kill people by triggering photosensitive epilepsy and motion sickness at the same time?

If you can't handle flashing lights don't play video games period. DLC is probably worse on this front.

What else? Nioh 1 & 2: While they are good games, like others said, they don't fit in the souls-like genre. After leveling my character above level 10 and unlocking some skills, these games become a totally different beast. Very fast and reward aggression.

Bloodbrorne is not a souls like then?

Is Elden ring not a souls like if I mod it to be faster?

I finished the Tarnished mod last night and have to say it was a pretty good time. Waiting on the DLC to get updated then I'll play through that. My build was fucking retarded because I kept having to switch up what I used due to enemy weaknesses. So my final load out at level 200 was.

Scholars armament, frozen weapon, ice crag, glint arc and carrian phalanx.
Rellana's Staff on right hand, staff on left hand, a magma dagger that drops pools of lava every hit, Radahn's great bow (Spears for damage, magic arrows to regen MP and holy arrows to regen HP), a flail and a the turtle shield buffed up to be 99% phys block.

My build was completely broken and it was needed for the bosses. They have massive HP pools and it was taking a lot of work to stay alive with some of the new move sets. Adding dodges rather than rolls really speeds the game up but also adds some interesting problems. Since ER is a faggot game where bosses are designed to roll catch and lock on worse than dark souls 2 you soon learned a lot of your dodge windows no longer apply. If you have an extended/faster dodge you could dodge like you would a roll and end up being hit because the boss kept tracking you to your new location and swung then. I focused on being fast and putting down magma pools to control groups of enemies and using the staff/flail to stun lock larger things. Arc was essential to managing how many enemies we were facing. It wasn't uncommon for me to be bowling 20 enemies all together to prevent them rushing us down while my coop partner used AOE weapon arts to keep the mini bosses staggered. It took coordination and team work to survive encounters and when you're attacking a castle or a major choke point you really need to plan what you're doing and pick targets. The new buffed archery applies to enemies as well and they will fuck you up badly if you're not prepared. Expect snipers every where and fuck the cripple bitches with their homing arrows covering narrow paths like a machine gun.

Highly recommend playing with seemless coop if only for the respawning mechanics (turn off coop mods HP pool modifiers. The mod is already balanced for coop and the extra health will make later boss fights take 30 minutes or so). You have to deal with properly fortified locations where 10+ crossbows will target you at once and almost every entry way is blocked by a boss so you can't just skip it. You need to be tactical and even then you will struggle to survive quite often. Chests and doorways being locked behind mini bosses is a great addition to the series. It forces you to engage with the world and the systems. Getting into the capital feels like you're entering a war zone heavily defended not just running past 10 guys and a gargoyle on a leisurely walk. There is a single player version where you get a 30% damage buff but the game is so clearly not designed for it and it would be a lame experience. It's balanced for at least 1 and possibly 3 coop companions. There's very little chance you're surviving fighting 2 lions dropping deathblight while multiple archers and mages attack you from higher areas. And golem archers constantly get put in really nasty places you have to fight your way through to even touch. It feels unfair at first but once you learn what to expect and stop treating it like From's trash you realize just how well put together it is. Difficult, very challenging but very rewarding. I hope future souls likes will take some of the lessons this mod can offer and implement them into future games. Sadly because it's an ultra hard coop mod it doesn't suit streamers and youtubers so it's unlikely to pick up traction. If you have any friends (sorry lyric) install it and seemless coop and have a jolly good time. Limgrave will be a shock but you will adapt and you will get to play with some new combat systems and explore a bunch of new combos (unlike Elden ring base where nothing mixes together, here elemental weapons complement each other and you do have combos you can switch up for different situations).

I'd give it a solid 9/10. It's hard but you always have tools to deal with the difficulty. Shame From are such bad devs they will never see how good this mod is and learn a thing from it. They'll make Demon souls+7 with no additions or changes like they always have and always will.

 

[Old Bald Bad]

I've had some fun with Code Vein. Though don't really expect a souls' experience from it. VERY different - over the top anime style and atmosphere.

I will give it another try.

The Surge 1 & 2: Mech suit souls-like? Cool, I guess. One hour into the game, I had to navigate through a narrow and dark tunnel with flickering lights. I refunded it immediately. Stupid developers—were they trying to kill people by triggering photosensitive epilepsy and motion sickness at the same time?

If you can't handle flashing lights don't play video games period. DLC is probably worse on this front.

What else? Nioh 1 & 2: While they are good games, like others said, they don't fit in the souls-like genre. After leveling my character above level 10 and unlocking some skills, these games become a totally different beast. Very fast and reward aggression.

Bloodbrorne is not a souls like then?

Is Elden ring not a souls like if I mod it to be faster?

I get it. Everybody has a different opinion about what is “souls-like.” Mine revolves around the importance of the stamina bar. In Nioh games, when you unlock certain passives and skills, the stamina bar becomes irrelevant because you can Ki-Pulse and do other things to replenish your stamina. In Souls games, no matter how much you speed it up, you still have to manage your stamina bar. Sometimes, you have to wait for your stamina bar to recover, which makes the combat slower. I’m not sure if “slower” is the right word here, but I hope you get what I mean.

 

[Hell Swarm]

In Souls games, no matter how much you speed it up, you still have to manage your stamina bar. Sometimes, you have to wait for your stamina bar to recover, which makes the combat slower. I’m not sure if “slower” is the right word here, but I hope you get what I mean.

One of the major complaints about Dark souls 3, bloodborne and Elden ring is that stamina is irrelevant. You always have enough to spam dodges.

And one of the major complaints about Dark souls 2 by people who don't like it is the stamina bar is very tight and you have to manage it.

Same series, very different stamina management mechanics.

 

[toro]

On the other hand, Dragon's Dogma 2 combat shits all over DaS combat.

In what way?

DD2 combat doesn't devolve into a retarded dance, roll fest or R1 spamming. It's simply refreshing to be liberated from all that bullshit.
Then there is no lock in DD2 therefore mobility and positioning is more important than in ER. Also the spells are much better than the ones from ER.
DD2's combat is balanced for multiple enemies while in ER aggroing more than one enemy means that you are fucked. ER's combat cannot into multiple enemies.
DD2's physics engine is simply better than ER's physics implementation and this is reflected in better animations and more organic/natural fights.
DD2's fights are grounded compared to ER's anime fights (jumping while handling two heavy swords and wearing heavy armor is so retarded).
DD2's combat is simply fun. Fighting a lizard in DD2 is more fun than a retarded super buffed ER boss.
DD2's combat represents a step forward in the right direction while ER's combat is already creatively bankrupt (how much faster can you make a boss spin!?).

 

[Silverfish]

DD2's fights are grounded compared to ER's anime fights (jumping while handling two heavy swords and wearing heavy armor is so retarded).

Okay, but warrior jumping attacks have always been fairly potent in DD.

 

[Lyric Suite]

DD2's fights are grounded compared to ER's anime fights

If you say so, but i distinctly remember seeing DMC animu shit in some Dragon Dogma videos i've seen.

 

[Silverfish]

DMC animu shit

Don't be silly.