Soulslike - Discussion, News, Memes
This is a community for discussion, news, and memes pertaining to the video game sub-genre "soulslike".
Given Lemmy's size, the definition of soulslike may be treated relatively loosely. While games like the numerous FromSoft titles, the recent Star Wars Jedi games, Lies of P, Nioh and similar games should be the focus, games that incorporate soulslike elements - like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous, for example - may also be discussed here.
Basic Lemmy-quette applies. Additionally, since flairs don't exist yet, please do make sure to include a marker to denote what game your post is about in square brackets for clarity's sake. An example could be:
[BB] This enemy is so difficult!
or
[DS1] Anyone struggling with the gargoyles?
Friends:
Should you have any questions, please do let me know.
- Druid
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The central theme of DS2 is that you're the Cursed One and that the Curse is slowly eating away at you so that you don't know who you are anymore, where you are, or why you are there.
For me, that is a pretty surreal setting.
Yes, but that setting is only portrayed in the introductory cutscene and some of the NPCs dialogue. You can play the full game without interacting at all with that theme. And gameplay IS the biggest part of FromSoft games, so I would argue that everything that isn't directly connected to that is not part of the central theme of the games. Humanity in Dark Souls 1 and 3 would be a good example of what I mean. It is part of the story, of the lore and also directly connected with the gameplay.
As I said. I find the idea fascinating and would like to play the game that they envisioned. But the current DS2 just doesnt really have a strong theme that is connected to everything, besides the monarchs and their crowns.
In my opinion, cutscenes, a shitton of NPC dialog, and visual design are more than enough to establish a theme. The main theme for DS2 is about the curse and the destruction of self that it brings. And the curse is very, very central to DS2. Since, as a gameplay example, when you die, you permanently lose a chunk of HP until you use a human effigy, which helps you remember yourself.