It's about where gaming was at when Dark Souls came out. Ghosts n Goblins and Castlevania were old hat by then, gamers had been conditioned and became accustomed to thorough tutorials, handholding, objective markers, the whole thing by then. The way Dark Souls made a huge point of not holding your hand was as much a surprising success as it was a tribute to those games of old.
It showed that the gaming community at large still wanted that, it wasn't dead by choice, it was designed out of the popular by large companies catering to the lowest common denominator, and having a studio be brave enough to take that chance was not something you could take for granted at the time.
I saw the trailer for demons souls and I just bought it. I loved it so much, hands down one of my favorites. Since then I’ve bought every souls game and I binge them hard putting in hundreds of hours. They’re top shelf. I don’t get the hate.
Some of the fans give the impression that the game is cruel. Despite Miyazaki’s outright abuse kink as a design influence, nearly every From game offers so many tools for selecting a difficulty level you prefer, but it asks that you reflect on why you’re failing, engage with the game on its own terms, and be deliberate about your choices as a player. Some of the players have a crass or dishonest relationship with that carefully tunable difficulty, and they say “git gud”, even though the only interesting thing to say is how you personally did that, and the emotional moments and insights you may have gained along the way.
The main exception is Sekiro, which seems to have chosen to prioritise forcing you to mind meld with the protagonist in gameplay terms as a way of subjecting you to the emotions and themes of the story. It’s the one I’m having the most trouble getting into, but even having bounced off it twice I can already taste how amazing victory would be.
I haven’t played Demon’s Souls, but what hindered my enjoyment with Dark Souls the most is the poor checkpoint locations. Bed of Chaos would be less hated if the player didn’t have to walk 2 minutes each try. I don’t want to play a walking simulator!
I can imagine many others not having the patience for this kind of stuff. I almost gave up for good at O&S. It’s still a game I appreciate.
Elden Ring resolved the problems with checkpoints, and that game turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time.
That one is the standout. I’m not sure why that doesn’t have a Stake of Marika just outside it. It’s still much better than Bed of Chaos, Four Kings or Seath.
Absolutely, and I can’t think of another one that’s too long. Even the way to Rennala isn’t dangerous (once you learn to dodge the balls), which I’m very happy about. And she’s easy enough to be beatable on your first attempt once you’ve learned her patterns.
Funnily enough, I enjoy Elden Ring's world less due to free usage of fast travel. The cohesion and linking design of the world means less when it's all a blur of fast travels and ignoring the shape of it all.
I also found running around large open spaces on a horse and having many more reused dungeon assets and items to be less interesting than the very deliberate and more dense world of Dark Souls, but that's not to say I think Elden Ring isnt great, but it's a real ideological difference in what you're looking for between the two
I agree, and I hope FromSoft will return to a similar interconnected map layout as Dark Souls in the future. Or at least incorporate it better in an open world.
This is my opinion about every game that came after Dark Souls 1, although I think the drawbacks are a lot more visible in 2&3 in Elden Ring - as you pointed out about the open world. Finding the shortcuts in the first one (like Darkroot Garden connecting the Parish to the Burg) is a feeling that’s never been replicated for me in the later games.
I loved the way that you had to really think about and understand the world to get around. If I grinded humanity in the Depths and then needed to go to Anor Londo or something, I would stand there and imagine the path I would need to take, and the layout of the world would sort of unfold in my mind's eye in the path that'd I'd have to run to get there, and that was always so satisfying and amazingly grounding and immersive for me. not only the lack of fast travel, but the lack of a map.
It just never happened like that again after that game.
Agreed, it’s easily one of my favorite series. I can’t believe how much Bloodborne I played during the covid lockdown. I had multiple runs going with different friend combinations, not to mention the amount of time spent in chalice dungeons. I should play Bloodborne again…
I absolutely think they should remaster it or something for steam. It’s probably my favorite game they’ve made, I’d buy it again full price no problem. It’s crazy how much time I put into that game
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