Lords of the Fallen - action-RPG reboot from Hexworks

[cvv]

Isn't this game kinda bad compared to other soulslikes like Lies of P?

Today it's a very good soulslike. It was broken af on release so people shat on it - and a bunch of psychos joined the hate party - but they improved the game massively since.

Hard to compare to LoP, which is Bloodborne inspired, while LotF is based on Dark Souls. It has a wider variety of builds and playstyles (for example pure magic or range are very viable), co-op, much better level design and worse boss fights than LoP.

 

[Lord_Potato]

you have extremely low standards for entertainment,

Nope. I didn't liked TW3,

Yup, checks out

 

[Cryomancer]

Yup, checks out

I didn't said that TW3 is bad. I watched the game and found amazing in every aspect. For me don't matter how great the game is, if it forces me to play as a swordsman, I pass.

Hard to compare to LoP, which is Bloodborne inspired, while LotF is based on Dark Souls. It has a wider variety of builds and playstyles (for example pure magic or range are very viable), co-op, much better level design and worse boss fights than LoP.

One huge difference is that magical classes are quite capable on melee and martial classes are quite capable at range. You get a magical lightsaber after the first boss as a "cultist/priest". All martial classes start with grenades, crossbows, throwable javelins and etc.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Still hatefuck the fact that they called their second soulslike by the exact same title as the first one. How hard was it to come up with a different "X of the Fallen" so people could tell their games apart? It's a dumb title anyway, doesn't refer to anything specific in-game afaik.

Because the first LOTF game was fucking bad, that's why. Shit controls, shit character development, abysmal fights, abysmal bosses, etc. It has a voiced MC too, and it's just a generic space marine type guy. Back then, the people kept calling them out for being a souls clone (they weren't as popular as they are now, and LOTF had at least AA ambitions). Some guy (iirc the lead developer) had something of a mental breakdown because LOTF was NOT a souls clone, kept kinda fighting with people on twitter over it. The new one isn't exactly better either, and on top of that, it has shit optimization. People really forgot about this game when Lies of P came out. Cute shotas can't be defeated.

 

[Sibelius]

A twitter poll is nothing but an empty gesture towards people.

What were you doing for the past 20 years? It may be a gesture, but in these days it is not an empty one. This is good, because if we can go back to developers making games, instead of taking a political stance, then this also means more focus on technical aspects of games (such as gameplay or optimalization) as well.

These devs have tried to make souls clones twice, and they've failed both times. I'm not holding my breath for a good game from them, so far they've shown to be incapable of making something that's not virtually shovelware.

You say that with such conviction and authority, yet it is complete shite.

The recent LotF was Hexwork's first game, the first LotF was made by Deck 13, who developed The Surge 1 & 2. I've finished them all and enjoyed them to varying degrees, my rankings:

LotF 2023>The Surge>The Surge 2>LotF 2014

I liked the Umbral Lamp concept, where it failed for me was the time limit for exploring the Umbral world. I also didn't like that the number of mobs increased the longer you stayed, would prefer it if it was something similar to Demon's Souls where enemies in Black World Tendency hit like trucks and have more resistances, but are not more numerous.

There were performance issues as well, but this was one of the very first Unreal Engine 5 games, so issues are to be expected when you are one of the pioneers (and it's your first game ) . The level design, art direction, combat and bosses were all very good, not excellent, but a solid 8/10 (some of the architectural design/art was 10/10 excellent).

 

[cvv]

The level design, art direction, combat and bosses were all very good, not excellent, but a solid 8/10 (some of the architectural design/art was 10/10 excellent).

Agreed, except for me the bosses were... disappointing. Mechanically average, p. good spectacle-wise but very easy. I killed most of them in 2 attempts max and I'm definitely not a a great souls player.

Bosses aside tho, everything else was either very good or outstanding. The areas in-between bosses were pleasantly challenging. Tough mobs, labyrinthine level design, further complicated by the world switching mechanics.... I guess that's why so many noobs cried and bubbled about "enemies hit too hard" and "I'm getting lost". Good times.

 

[JarlFrank]

much better level design and worse boss fights than LoP.

So it's just plain better than LoP because fuck boss fights, most overhyped part of the Souls formula.

 

[Cryomancer]

Bosses, the boss that I had more trouble was a hammer guy. Not due him but due the very small arena + poor camera. The camera made it very hard to know where I was and where I should go to escape his deadly magma attack. I only won against him by spamming Barrage of Echoes.

Anyway, about Retard Era butthurt. They are calling CI Chud Incorpored games (link to their thread ). We went from having different attributes and even classes depending on gender to body type A/B. In Dungeon Lords, only females can be Valkyries. It makes sense. In ShadowBane, Warlocks could only be male. And they were quite strong. They could enslave/dominate humanoid NPC, at max level for even lv 40 NPCs could be dominated for half an hour and plus AOE mesmer/snare and you could clear hordes of enemies, could also levitate at very fast speed. The basic spammable attack had a stun effect(with diminishing returns). Sadly devs made so you can't use such skills in players and the game is full PvP. In FL1/2, the society treated you differently if you where male or female. You could only whore yourself if female. In VtMB, you could complete a quest by sleeping with a dude if you are a non female nosferatu. This is how gender should be in RPGs.

 

[toro]

Lotf fanbois are like a human centipede: they simply like shit.

 

[JarlFrank]

This is how gender should be in RPGs.

Yes exactly, it should not only be a cosmetic option but also a gameplay option, just like class and race and every other character creation choice you make in an RPG. The more consequences every choice has, the better.

 

[cvv]

much better level design and worse boss fights than LoP.

So it's just plain better than LoP because fuck boss fights, most overhyped part of the Souls formula.

Entirely depends what you're looking for in these games. I for one MUCH prefer games with great level design, even at the expense of boss fights or whatever else.

But I feel I'm in the minority, most souls fans would only fight bosses in these games if they could. Part of the reason, I suspect, why Black Myth Wukong popped off so much - it's a boss rush game and not trying to hide it.

 

[Jinn]

It's kind of been talked to death in this thread between a few of us, but Lords of the Fallen is a dungeon crawler and ARPG first and foremost. This is as close to Dark Souls 2 as you can get, with some of the best exploration in this sub-genre. This makes the game one of my favorites and I genuinely think its great, because exploration and meaningful RPG mechanics are what I value most. There's a lot in it besides that to love as well. JarlFrank, if you enjoyed Bleak Faith as much as you seemed to, you're going to love this. This kind of takes a lot of what you appreciated about that game and does it waaaaay better.

Part of the reason, I suspect, why Black Myth Wukong popped off so much - it's a boss rush game and not trying to hide it.

Common misconception arrived at by superficial means by people who haven't played the game, and arrived at by laziness, lack of curiosity, and a misunderstanding of the genre at large by those who have played it and parrot such nonsense. Wukong has better exploration and encounter variety than Lies of P - for an example and easiest comparison - by far. See some of my latest posts in the Black Myth thread if you're curious.

 

[Yosharian]

Actually I like exploration at least as much, if not more than, boss fights so this sounds like my cup of tea. Thanks for the info.

 

[cvv]

Common misconception arrived at by superficial means by people who haven't played the game, and arrived at by laziness, lack of curiosity, and a misunderstanding of the genre at large by those who have played it and parrot such nonsense.

I haven't played it but I've read it in comments and heard it from Tubers and such. For example watching a few streams from the TGA it was all over various chats. I've just accepted it.

Anyway I'm gonna play Wukong as soon as it's on sale and see for myself.

 

[JarlFrank]

@JarlFrank, if you enjoyed Bleak Faith as much as you seemed to, you're going to love this. This kind of takes a lot of what you appreciated about that game and does it waaaaay better.

Thanks, I already bought it during the last Steam sale precisely because that's what people were saying - it does the exploration aspect of Soulslikes very well. Gonna check it out soonish.

 

[jaekl]

Yeah you explore a room full of crates and the game designers hope you forgot that there were mooks hiding behind the crates in the last 80 rooms full of crates you explored so you might be stupid enough to fall for the ambush. Then you attach the sticks of butter to your boots for maximum forward momentum with each swing. Then you laboriously drag your lantern arm (which wastes a slot that could've had something cool instead but you're stuck with the shitty time-wasting lantern) over every wall looking through the spooky land of blue skulls for secrets or little goblins to click on because there are no player messages. Oh well, who needs fun stuff like messages when you have plenty of the same enemies copied with incrementally higher health throughout the entire game??

Stealing from dark souls so thoroughly with the tone and graphics was a bad decision because it simply brings up memories of much better games that you could be playing instead.

 

[Skinwalker]

Lords of the Fallen is incomparably better than Lies of Poo. No comparison.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

A twitter poll is nothing but an empty gesture towards people.

What were you doing for the past 20 years? It may be a gesture, but in these days it is not an empty one. This is good, because if we can go back to developers making games, instead of taking a political stance, then this also means more focus on technical aspects of games (such as gameplay or optimalization) as well.

These devs have tried to make souls clones twice, and they've failed both times. I'm not holding my breath for a good game from them, so far they've shown to be incapable of making something that's not virtually shovelware.

You say that with such conviction and authority, yet it is complete shite.

The recent LotF was Hexwork's first game, the first LotF was made by Deck 13, who developed The Surge 1 & 2. I've finished them all and enjoyed them to varying degrees, my rankings:

LotF 2023>The Surge>The Surge 2>LotF 2014

I liked the Umbral Lamp concept, where it failed for me was the time limit for exploring the Umbral world. I also didn't like that the number of mobs increased the longer you stayed, would prefer it if it was something similar to Demon's Souls where enemies in Black World Tendency hit like trucks and have more resistances, but are not more numerous.

There were performance issues as well, but this was one of the very first Unreal Engine 5 games, so issues are to be expected when you are one of the pioneers (and it's your first game ) . The level design, art direction, combat and bosses were all very good, not excellent, but a solid 8/10 (some of the architectural design/art was 10/10 excellent).

I'll give you something. You're much more resistant to mediocre slop than me.

 

[Elttharion]

 

[Yosharian]

Well shit. I sense a purchase coming up

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Isn't this game kinda bad compared to other soulslikes like Lies of P?

Today it's a very good soulslike. It was broken af on release so people shat on it - and a bunch of psychos joined the hate party - but they improved the game massively since.

Hard to compare to LoP, which is Bloodborne inspired, while LotF is based on Dark Souls. It has a wider variety of builds and playstyles (for example pure magic or range are very viable), co-op, much better level design and worse boss fights than LoP.

I played it recently. It's still a piece of garbage.

 

[Yosharian]

Alright I tried this out today. It stutters really badly. My rig is a 7800X3D + 3080, so not exactly potato-tier. I think this is just a combination of bad optimisation on PC + UE5 being terrible. Refunded it, not going to waste my time on a poorly-optimised console game.

Shame cos it looked fairly interesting

 

[cvv]

Alright I tried this out today. It stutters really badly. My rig is a 7800X3D + 3080, so not exactly potato-tier. I think this is just a combination of bad optimisation on PC + UE5 being terrible.

And maybe obsolete drivers? When did you last update?

Btw how long was your patience? IIRC it stuttered for me really bad when I first launched it, for about 10 minutes or so. Turned out it was compiling shaders. P. stupid to let people play while some heavy processing is going on in the background but there you go. If you ever feel like re-buying and trying again, leave it be for about 10 minutes and then play.

 

[Paul_cz]

Yeah I tried LOTF twice and had zero stuttering each time. Perfectly smooth 60 and it looked great (5800X3D 3080Ti).
I just wish it wasnt a soulslike, I am so over those.

 

[Yosharian]

Alright I tried this out today. It stutters really badly. My rig is a 7800X3D + 3080, so not exactly potato-tier. I think this is just a combination of bad optimisation on PC + UE5 being terrible.

And maybe obsolete drivers? When did you last update?

Btw how long was your patience? IIRC it stuttered for me really bad when I first launched it, for about 10 minutes or so. Turned out it was compiling shaders. P. stupid to let people play while some heavy processing is going on in the background but there you go. If you ever feel like re-buying and trying again, leave it be for about 10 minutes and then play.

Hmm. Well, I refunded it now. Damn.