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.
Disregarding lack of time, that is. Is there any particular mechanic you were not fond of? Was a game too difficult for you? Was it the overall enjoyment of the game?
Pic totally unrelated :]
Lords of the Fallen (remake) just felt a little too floaty to me. I might have ended up liking the game if I gave it more of a shot, but the very first boss was enough for me already. Maybe I'll get back to it at some point, but I doubt it
I used to play every souls like, I started with dark souls in my teens and played every single one, even went back for demon souls. My favorites (and the only from soft I still play) are bloodborne and Sekiro.
I got to Elden Ring and I was honestly already burnt out on the style. I managed to force myself through 99% of the game, got probably 90% of the way through the final boss's health bar (terrible boss IMO) after a couple fights and my desire to play souls games just..died. I don't think I ever went back and beat it.
Seems like eventually the "excitement" on beating bosses just....went away for me in souls games. It is still there for games more actiony, where it feels like there is more to learn on the player side than the boss side. Nioh has never gotten old to me, because the weapons are complex and the game is begging you to break it. Games like DMC5 and Ninja Gaiden 4 (which I beat last night, so much fun) have so much more for the player to learn of their own skillset than a souls game and they remain infinitely more interesting to me.
I stopped playing Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.
The combat gameplay was too repetitive. Boss fights were mostly the same: dodge/parry and hit em with my bamboo stick. Even the sounds were repetitive.
Acutally the first Lords of the fallen. Hated the mechanic of slowly losing my souls but being forced into slow clunky combat.
Darksouls 2, because I didn't stop smashing my head against the chariot boss. Just didn't do that on my second play through a while later and had a great time
Dark Souls 2. The level design felt so much worse than DS1 and every area felt like a joyless slog. I have no desire to return.
Elden Ring. Open worlds make me tired, because I try to explore every nook and cranny. I have returned to this one, dealing with the open world as just a place between major points of interest. I only explore if I see something interesting. I’ve made it further than I had before and still want to keep going.
Nioh 2. Nothing bad to say, just put in 60 hours and still wasn’t done so I went to play something else for a change of pace. I will definitely be back at some point. It’s a lot of fun. “Too much content”, as if that’s a bad thing. I hear higher difficulty levels are new experiences with new gear and enemy types and placements, too.
Bloodborne :(
motion sickness... really need a proper 60fps remaster some day
Now that's a QoL change then. Never heard of people getting motion sick from a lack of FPS. Fortunately, I've not experienced that ever even though I'm prone to getting motion sick quite easily... Brains are weird
Dark souls 2. I really wanted a badass spear and all I found was the great lance so I used all of that and it made the game way to hard for me. Then I somehow lost my save cause steam didnt cloud save it. I havent been motivated to restart ds2 cause I did not enjoy the early game.
Yes. But it’s my own fault. ADHD when it comes to games and a lack of time.
Dark Souls 2,3, and Bloodborne.
I'm just not good enough.
I had 20-30 hours into each one, and just wasn't making progress. Even if you're enjoying the story, not being able to progress just kinda sucks.
Would difficulty options help you give it another try? It's a very divicive (?) topic, and I feel like it'd bring more good than bad to the genre
I honestly don't know. I don't know if I would try them again, but a new game that was similar concepts and story, but had difficulty levels that allowed me to progress--despite generally sucking--might keep me playing it.
Dark Souls 3. I have all these huge build plans and want to revisit it, but I always lose interest super quickly after thinking about all the mediocre areas i gotta get through and frustrastion of the enemies that almost encourage you to just run past all of them. Really sucks too, cuz the endgame stuff is great, I just cant be bothered with the tedium of everything between Undead Settlement and Irythil or whats its name.
Dark Souls when I got my ass handed to me repeatedly in Blightown. Came back a couple of months later and started over.
Original Lord's of the Fallen because it was so bland, I made it about an hour in.
The Surge like 75% of the way through - I slogged my way through most of the game, but the level design towards the end was lacking and I wasn't interested in continuing, it was too difficult.
Right now, DS1. With the fucking Four Kings of all things. My save corrupted at Blighttown twice, and I kept going. I ran through Ornstein and Smough first try. My patience and my build are pretty good, I'd say. But I just cannot beat these fucking guys. To the point where I've just had to focus on other games for a little bit.
The four kings are, unintuitively, a DPS check. Make sure your weapon is upgraded as much as possible, and play aggressively and you'll have more success. The real problems come when you can't kill them fast enough before a new one spawns in. Either way, good luck! It's a tough fight but if you beat O&S you can take these guys too.
That fucking runback is so atrocious it deals psychic damage irl.
Did you find the short route? You don't have to fight anything.
Down the stairs, over the bridge, run past the ghosts. Jump off the ledge. Run forward a bit and drop down, and you're outside the boss room. There might be a ladder you have to kick down first. It's been a while.
I hope this works because you just stopped me from going hollow if so
It does, yes. It's not a super obvious one to find, on your own, and it still takes almost a minute. But it's much better. Here: video guide.
Was thinking about it backwards and at first I was like "eh, not that bad after the ghost room elevator." Then I remembered you had to run all the fuck way from the very first bonfire in the game! Get lucky one of the ghost drops a couple transient curses too otherwise you only got like 4 tries unless you wanted to try the four kings with half HP.
Praise Marika and her stakes.
The lazy way to beat them is to pile on the armor until you can barely roll, stack any stat buffs you can, buff your weapons, tank most of the damage, and heal when you need to.
Havel's armor has heavy poise and you can take some good hits without staggering.
If you have pyromancy, Power Within is a good attack and stamina buff.
Yes, all those I tried. I mean isn't it the whole concept of this type of games?
Waaaa it's too hard
-- me
Same. I have a bunch of them, have tried most of what I have, and really want to play through them cuz they sound really rewarding. Instead I find them rage-inducingly, frustratingly difficult and I’m just not that into being frustrated and mad for hours at a time. If I was, there’s some humans I could talk to for similar effect..
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I could not stand Sekiro. I'm not saying it's a bad game at all, but it's not for me. On just about every level it felt like a game that was designed to not appeal to what I enjoy, even though I've played all of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring enough to complete 100% runs at lvl 1.
Overall, my impression of Sekiro strikes me as the devs saying "you play by my specific rules, or you don't play at all." I tried to like it, gave it over 15 hours of my time, and didn't enjoy anything other than some pretty environments. Probably never picking the game up again, even though I'm currently tempted to go back to Dark Souls 1 again for my annual playthrough.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
It's probably my second favorite fromsoft after bloodborne and it's a shame, but I totally see how some people can experience the game this way. In the end the game is just pattern recognition of bosses and how well you can parry, once you learn that the game is practically "solved" but I like that style.
Totally understand your perspective, because it is def the only souls game where you are forced to play a certain way, if you don't it will be suffering.
Dang.
I'd give just about anything to play this game again for the first time.
I loved sekiro tbh and I'm sorry to hear your experience with it. It's definitely not a game for everyone.
Like another commentor said I wish I could play it for the first time again. It broke my dodge only habit and when I returned to other fs games I can now parry like no one's business and it's breathed new life into my play styles. It also made for a fun time through expedition 33 for the parry mechanic.
I stopped playing DS3 because Silksong came out... I resumed last weekend -- after recently beating Silksong -- and while it took me a bit to remember what the hell I was doing and how to control my character, I managed to defeat a demon and stumble my way through most of Smouldering Lake (to the point that I found the boss, at least) so I guess I haven't forgotten everything in the interim.
Sekiro: I guess it's unfair to say that I started, it wouldn't run on my video card beyond the intro.
DS3: I beat it but I had just run through DS1 and 2 and was too burnt out by the time I got to the DLC.
Elden Ring: multiple save file corruptions. Probably would have pushed through anyway but my video card took the whole rig down and now it feels too daunting to start over from scratch.
Bloodborne: Rom, the Vacuous Spider. Enough said.
Orphan Of Kos, because I knew it was going to take a few attempts and then Silksong came out.
Lady Maria about six years ago because I was just chewing through my vials and needed a more chill game for a while. I started from scratch when I came back this year and beat her fairly easily.
Sekiro. Between the insane difficulty and me not knowing where to go or what to do next I just kinda stopped bothering
I so recommend you give it another shake. Everyone said it, but until like 2 years ago I didn't understand what everyone was saying. It truly is a rhythm game. Even the big gate keeper genechiro (? Dunno how to spell it) really only boils down to like 5-6 easily recognizable patterns. It took me 3 days of hours after work grinding, with YouTube's help. But I'm kinda into the banging of head against brick wall until it cracks.
But once it clicked, it really clicked.
After you beat him, you get a memory you can use to re fight him. I didn't even use one gourd. After that the game became so much easier!
The "parry" window is so much more forgiving than you're used to, you just got tap it kinda quick. Shit, you could probably spam it fast enough for most fights. But it's such a beautiful game!
Like I know all souls games are pretty in a dark way, but sekiro hits different with the actual foliage, wilting cherry blossom trees, non human skeleton like mountain sides. I beg everyone to try your best to get through at least to that boss, cause he really is a teacher more than a roadblock. You've surmounted seemingly impossible challenges before and came out victorious. You can do it again, it's so rewarding!
DS1: Really enjoyed it until the pitch-black area. People convinced me to go back to it, and I eventually made it to the bottom of the pit... but I hadn't rung the second bell, so the path was closed. (There's no fast travel in DS1, so I would have to climb all the way back out).
Sekiro: Grapling hook is fun, stealth is fun, thought the combat was dumb and too clunky. Gave up at the first fire troll or whatever it was. Absoluetly loved Nine Sols though.
In general I have no tolerance for "just git gud" as an excuse for bad game design. If it's not fun, then I don't play it.
Flaming giant guy being so early in Sekiro is actually a totally fair reason to drop it. I STILL cheese him years later because his grab hitboxes are so shit, he is one of the only enemies in the game I feel are indefensible garbage.
Oof there IS fast travel in DS1 after you reach Anor Londo 😅 you really aren't meant to be in the tomb for the giants until you've unlocked it
I think the whole area should have been scrapped from the game tbh... but why don't they just close the entrace??
You really have to go through a lot of difficult stuff to get to the tomb of the giants, and once you enter it's a large difficulty spike. That difficulty spike really is intended to encourage you to leave and come back at a later time. It has it's issues, but when you come back prepared (and with a light source of some kind), it really does have a lot to offer as an area.
It's not difficult to get to at all. The entrance is right behind the first shrine
Navigating down the catacombs is hardly an easy thing to do early in the game, and is full of traps and enemies that come back to life. It's not a linear game, so sometimes you wander into areas that are too tough for you, you just have to leave and try again later.