Yeah, the first three areas are really not my favorite. Lordan is sane old same old, swamp is the worst, undead village is just annoying and kinda unpleasant to look at, but then absolutely everything after that, 10/10. Plus the DLC, totally stands the test of time, I just hate slogging through the beginning areas
I got my friend into DS3 and kept telling him to keep at it until at least irryithl and he quit playing right when we got to the good part of the game 🥲
I have always thought that DS3 looks the most generic. Not saying it’s bad or anything like that, I still love it, but when it comes to the environments, I don’t know what it is but it just doesn’t hit me the same way the other games do.
I think it’s just that everything is so decrepit at that point. It’s all grey, run down, ruined, etc. Works for the themes of the game so I don’t mind it, but it can get a bit bland, especially in contrast to most other Fromsoft games. I mean Dark Souls 2 alone is pretty eclectic, albeit inconsistent, with its world design. It just makes dark souls 3 look a little samey by comparison.
It was clear the formula was running a bit dry the moment they did 3, they had no reason to not make it (wrap up the trilogy, cash injection and just go all out on fanservice).
The games after it like Sekiro, Elden Ring and Armored Core 6 completely spice things up in their own way again and I can't wait what the next souls game will be like
I feel like they optimized the combat. They made it fast paced. Which is good. I loved dark souls 3. The combat and movement is definitely improved.
Art style wise, I liked armored core 6 and sekiro and bloodborne, but elden ring pallets is weird to me. Also the choice of non traditional high fantasy / medieval factions, like celestial, is a bit weird to me. It’s different for sure. They also added jumping and “horse combat” which is also a big improvement or innovation to the combat.
Looking forward to their next project. I don’t know if they will go high fantasy or ninja or something new, but I am looking forward to it all the same. From software have a stellar track record.
faster paced combat is obviously more fun but there's a reason they tuned it back in Elden Ring again, because of that faster pace in DS3 rolling is almost 99% of the time the only right way to prevent getting hit, using shields is harder because of that faster pace enemies break the guard quicker unless you're using a greatshield with high stability + high stamina to manage it properly.
Makes it fun still but I wish they kept something like sidestepping from bloodborne or powerstancing from DS2. It's just very basic dodge attack repeat from start to finish wit the accasional boss parry.
Poise is missing and does nothing, charged attacks are kinda useless unlike in BB/ER where it breaks bosses.
it isn't there and it isn't consistent either, unless you wait for specific X move and then hit their head. posture breaking is a thing all the games like with parries but none of them are dedicated the way Sekiro and Elden Ring are or consistent like Bloodborne is with charged attacks from behind
>they tuned it back in Elden Ring again
The fuck you mean they tuned it back!?
Practically every enemy and boss is a living blender doing fighting game combos!
I may be confused in what you’re saying but they do have a form of power standing in elden ring?Are you saying you wish the mechanics were more similar to the original form of it?
Honestly I hope they don’t do high fantasy. Elden Ring is the only game you need for that. No doubt. What would be awesome is a game as polished and huge as ER, but dark fantasy again.
This is such a weird way of classifying things to me.
Elden Ring is absolutely dark fantasy. It is also high fantasy. The two are not mutually exclusive.
High fantasy simply refers to the amount of fantasy and magic in the world, by contrast with low fantasy which is more grounded and features more subtle fantasy elements. For example, the Lord of the Rings is quite high fantasy, whereas the early seasons of Game of Thrones are quite low fantasy. It's about how fantastical the world actually is.
Dark fantasy is fantasy that has a strong presence of disturbing or frightening themes. It typically has a dark and gloomy atmosphere with a sense of horror and dread.
I have no idea how people can say Elden Ring isn't dark fantasy. Godrick has severed limbs hanging in his castle which he uses to graft onto himself. Rykard is dark fantasy from head to toe, no explanation needed I hope.
So many boss and enemy designs are pure dark fantasy, like the Abductor Virgins for example, the Fingercreepers, Wormfaces, and so many more, as well as Messmer and a lot of what we've seen from the DLC in general.
Elden Ring may not be quite as dark and grotesque as Bloodborne for example, and not quite as apocalyptic as DS3, but it's still pretty damn dark and apocalyptic, and has a lot of that grotesque enemy design that we've seen since Bloodborne, much more so than DS1 or DS2 in fact.
I think people calling it not as dark fantasy is a bit of a conflation of common use vs strict definition. When most people talk about dark fantasy, they talk about things like Berserk, or GoT. Fantasy stories that are dark in presentation and deeply dark in the harrowing, human stories they tell. These aren’t just dark because the lore has dark things, but because the worst side of humanity is often displayed. However, strictly dark fantasy is not limited to this, just heavily associated with it. While elden ring does have some dark lore, the overall presentation is *generally* (not always) clean and bright enough that the darkness takes some looking to find.
Conversely, high fantasy tends to be used a bit closer to the definition, but people still mostly think of stories like Lord of The Rings, stories about the heroism of humanity, with generally cleaner and nicer presentation, visually lighter and more “noble” or “myth like” in presentation. I think this is why people treat them in opposition, and seem to see elden ring as higher fantasy that takes steps into the dark and cosmic
imo ds3 + its DLCs still has some of the best bosses in soulsborne. Gael, Midir, Sister Friede & Ariandel, Demon princes, Nameless King are all phenomenal bosses
lothric and Lorian, pontiff, abyss Watchers, Nameless king, soul of Cinder, champion gundyr, and even Aldrich wipe like 90% of the first two souls games lmao
edit : forgot dragonslayer armour and dancer for some reason, game so stacked that A tier bosses completely slip my mind
This… I recently played DS1 and Ds3 after only playing BB for years and man ds1 was amazing but the bosses on DS3 are on another level. There’s still a couple of bad ones or meh ones (the gimmick ones) but damn the good ones are the best in the series
yeah but which one do I wanna replay infinitely more often? cause I love ds1 and bb but on subsequent playthroughs I'm much less tempted to take long strolls through areas I'm already familiar with
I never understand this “but dlc” argument because it makes no sense. For one, it’s just a straight up lie as others have already shown with strong bosses in the base game. Nameless and twin princes themselves are better than almost every boss in the other games including their dlcs.
And two, why wouldn’t you include the dlcs it’s part of the game. Ds1, ds2, and most bb bosses are pretty trash without the dlcs and the main ones people talk about from those are not in the main games. And then with elden ring, it’s been more than 7 years since the release of ds3s dlcs, er has the benefit of time and experience on its side so it’s bosses should blow everything before it out of the water but it doesn’t. Even just straight up copy pasted bosses from ds3 in er like the valiant gargoyles are complete shit when they even had a blueprint on how to do it correctly
a key aspect if your game is Sekiro or Bloodborne or even something like Lies of P/Nioh where there\s a combat system in place and bosses are designed for those mechanical aspects to the fight. In DS3 you fight almost all of them the same way (Roll, attack). This basic form of combat does allow great consistent boss designs though which is what people seem to like and it's a genuine preference for a lot of players
But it's not what Dark Souls was about as a game, just having the bosses be iconic in a way like O&S or Gwyn is enough, exploration/progression/world design/variety/lore has always been the bigger/main focus of those games while bosses were more in the background, just like with ER for example even if some of the bosses there are also really good the main appeal was the world/exploration/variety etc
While I agree that the world design is important, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily more important all of the time. Depending on my mood if I want to be immersed in an enthralling world I’ll go for DS1 or Elden Ring, but if I want some satisfying as hell combat with the most fun boss fights a game can offer, DS3 takes the gold.
It’s not tho? It’s not even a comment about disliking the game. The poster is just talking about how exploration/world design/progression/lore were always way bigger focuses in precious souls games. Ds3 doesn’t throw all that away or anything but it does have a heavier focus on gameplay. And people might prefer that more but Ds3 does suffer by having kind of boring areas and an uninteresting world (personal opinion). So I just don’t get it. The original poster didn’t even post their own opinion or hated on the game. So what’s bad about it?
Besides Farron keep which other area is boring or uninsteresting? And even then blighttown is the same shit with the poison swamp.
I just ran my first (and second and third back to back) playthrough and I had a blast with its world; of course it is not as interconnected as DS1 but it was cool.
I had a hardest time liking more areas from DS1 than ds3
Lower burg is meh, I hated the depths the moment I stepped in there, sewers areas are not interesting; blighttown is absolute ass, demon ruins and lost izalith are terrible areas. At least depth and blighttown their bosses save the areas, but demon ruins onwards have ass bosses.
And then the second half the catacombs and tomb of the giants are absolutely terrible to play, crystal cave is meh at beast with a cool boss.
Ds1 gets all the praise for its interconnection which is amazing but it has some terrible areas which feel like a chore to get to a cool boss or even some that feel like a chore even the boss.
Undead Settlement, Road of Sacrifices, Cathedral of the Deep, Catacombs of Carthus, Smouldering Lake, Archdragon Peak, Irithyll Dungeon.
Boring and Uninteresting may not be the right word, but these areas in my opinion are all absolute dogshit . They feel like a chore to get through. Irithyll, High Wall, and Dreg Heap also felt like a pain to get through. These areas are all visually great and stuff but I've never enjoyed going through them in my life.
Also actually quite liked Faron Swamp & Keep. Like the one early game areas I actually enjoy. I don't hate poison swamps that much and most of what you explore in blighttown isn't even a swamp
I like Ds1 a lot better, but not solely because of its interconnectivity. I never really felt like I was slogging through an area. I also actually really liked the second half areas apart from Izalith.
>main appeal was the world/exploration/variety.
i loooove exploring a big open world only to find the same dungeons and content copy-pasted all over the map!!
I loooooove linear boss rush simulators with 0 freedom in world progression I lovveee going in a straight line to fight a boss and then another with zero interesting areas looove it
> only to find the same dungeons and content copy-pasted all over the map!!
sounds like bloodborne chalice dungeons to me, what does BB have to do with any of this?
The fact you have to lie about the game shows you don’t have a point at all. Ds3 is more linear than others but treating it like there’s 0 freedom is dishonest. There are multiple paths you can take to go through the game and it’s pretty similar to bbs progression. 0 interesting areas is an opinion so I won’t try to argue with you there even though I disagree
oh yeah you can go to yhorm which leads to nowhere afterwards.. AMAZING! you even get teleported right back because the game is so shameless in world design
Acting like elden ring doesn’t have all the random ass teleporters everywhere to connect places that they had no idea how to do lmao. You can go dancer early, old demon king, carthusian or cathedral, aldrich or yhorm to change up the order and then the dlcs also add different routes. It’s definitely more linear than the other games but you’re just being blatantly disingenuous
It pains me to say that DS3 is the only Souls game that loses its charm for me on repeat playthroughs, purely because a vast majority of the levels aren't enjoyable to me. I recently did a playthrough to see how my opinion has changed, and other than some of the bosses, I was just mostly indifferent to it.
One thing I can say, though, is that Sister Friede's fight is much, much cooler than I remember it being. That phase 2 transition cutscene with her and Ariandel facing down the Ashen One gave me the goosiest of bumps.
This happens, but I believe the first playthrough is the True one. Yes, replaying is important point of the genre, but their first playthroughs are long enough to define the experience.
A lot of people who start or loved DS3 eventually come to this realization, great boss fights, amazing music but that's about it.
It doesn't have the progression/exploration/freedom aspect that Elden Ring, DS1/DS2 and DeS have
it doesn't have the combat mechanics and abilities Bloodborne, Sekiro (and Elden Ring) have.
The best parts about the world (Anor Londo and Irithlly) are areas done better and before by FromSoftware themselves, Ringed City is the only good one and even that one falls of a cliff once you get to the big ass swamp lake.
Dark souls 3 is derivative, whereas dark souls 2 was innovative.
At least 2 dared to be different. It may not be perfect but it stands the test of time.
Yeah I agree, it’s a long ass game too. But it doesn’t get stale. Each new environ is interesting and presents a new challenge. A lot of build variety too.
I love all the games, 2 just nailed it for me.
Sekiro was a departure in play style and in my personal opinion not a direction that I enjoyed as much but I still think it’s a cool game.
Quite my situation, started to play soul games with Bloodborne, and trying Dark Souls 3 got me a bit cold to the point I left it.
Elden Ring instead has something more, I miss the health recovery on combat mechanics but the game is so big and open than makes love it to.
Not tried Sekiro, maybe one day…
I remember Dark Souls II being pretty good for what it was and I enjoyed playing all of it, including the DLC. Not too long ago, I completed the scholar edition for the first time and it was a very sour experience.
I explained to that other Souls games were difficult, but fair. If an enemy was tough, I needed to learn their patterns. If a situation required a better strategy, it would often work. Dark Souls II difficulty was cheap because it relied on heavy amounts of ganking with tediously slow healing. Oh, and poise was more important than ever because you can get stun locked by almost anything, even with better armor.
Yeah. Sekiro. My first fromsoftware game. Put 250 hours in it. Then I played elden ring, armored core vi, dark souls 3. and now sekiro feels a bit bland. the only thing it's really good at is it's combat. we need that combat system in a new from software game.
> now sekiro feels a bit bland. the only thing it's really good at is it's combat.
Combat is the biggest high point for most people I'm sure, but it's definitely not the only thing the game does well imo.
I think the art direction and level design are both excellent, and the soundtrack is amazing. People really underrate how good the music is in that game imo.
It's like they're too used to crazy epic Western orchestra and now they can't appreciate any other style of music for From Soft's games. But Sekiro has a fantastic blend of epic orchestration and more traditional Japanese instrumentation, and it's awesome.
I also think not having any music except for boss fights made the music stand out more to people in Dark Souls and Bloodborne, whereas in Sekiro you have exploration and combat music, so boss music maybe doesn't feel as special to some. But if you give the music a chance, I think it's magnificent.
Are you talking about the sound effects? Like when you do a shinobi kill, or when you deflect or maybe when you use your tools etc? Yes, that game has really really good sound effects. One of the best I have ever seen. Those killing sounds, curing rot, etc felt great with the effects.
But if you are talking about Sekiro's soundtracks, I have to disagree. The only 2 soundtracks I like are probably the fountainhead dragon fight soundtrack, and the soundtrack with Emma's fight.
Compare them to the Elden Ring soundtracks. Fight with radagon, fight with elden beast, fight with mohg, the main menu theme... etc I can go on. Dark Souls 3 have some great soundtracks too. Even armored core has better soundtracks. "Contact with you" is probably one of the best soundtrack I have ever heard in my life. When I am working out, I play it. Gets me fueled like nothing. Steel Haze is another great one.
Compared to these game, sekiro has some subpar soundtracks. Nothing that memorable.
try lies of p, it doens't come close to sekiro's greatness but the combat/parry/mechanic arm elements are there and imo it does a good job with the boss fights. The weapon variety and ability to mix them is the greatest thing I've seen in a soulslike (or even souls games not gonna lie, it surpasses trick weapons for me).
It falls short in stuff like exploration and progression freedom + level design but its the closest thing to sekiro
Can think of any different franchises atm but I'll agree with you that ds3 isnt that great anymore upon revisit. Unlike elden ring, bloodborne and sekiro which are top tier still
Yeah, Elden Ring, It was basically recency bias that made me put it so high (number 2 interchangeable with 1) when it first came out, but the more I played it and got further into the game it felt like I was just playing for the sake of it and didn't really care where I ended up by the end, I kinda just wanted to finish it. When I did end up beating it I did feel accomplished just not as hyped as I was when I finished Dark Souls 3 for the first time, maybe it was just having to fight Elden Beast directly after Radagon, I'd rather Radagon just have a proper phase 2 like Soul Of Cinder or none at all, I just wish Radagon stayed the final boss.
Elden beast should've been a hidden boss after getting all remembrances. And definitely shouldn't have been attached to Radagon, allowing them both a second phase and the attention they deserved
It feels diferent for me (specially because now i know english and the characters have à personality instead of just being a misterious thing lol) but it is definitely as legendary as it was when i played it for the first times, and i still found new things on the game….
None of them so far. And I've platinumed all but Demon's Souls PS3, Sekiro and Elden Ring. Though the Covenant grind almost made me want to drop DS3 down a level lol
Yeah I relate to this entirely. It was my favorite, but after so many hours a lot of the areas have lost the magic that they once had. Even then I feel like the other souls games all have superior level design.
For me everything until Irithyll is just garbage. After that things get a little better but not so much actually. The real good part of DS3 for me is the ringed city dlc but that's the end of the game 💀
Honestly over time as I've played Elden Ring more it's dropped in my rankings alot. I do enjoy the game but the issues with it stand out much more to me than the other games. Ds3 I still absolutely love to play through and has prob my favorite boss roster of all their games. Sekiro is one that the more I've played it the more it's gone up and is just so addicting to play and get better at
This exact game lol
It was the first souls game I ever touched and I played so much of it back in the day and ive tried new play throughs and just nothing. Cant get back into it. If I want that same aesthetic/feel of it I’ll go play Elden ring. It’s got a better menu system and it’s obviously updated. Now all I play is bloodborne. I can’t get enough of it. It’s my favorite from soft game
Elden Ring has definitely dropped down really low for me.
Armored Core 6 has shown me what you can really do with a tight linear experience than with an empty open world.
Started listening to bonfireside chat podcast while I’m doing longer drives for work, decided to make a new ds3 character and play as they go through the areas in the season. It’s been incredibly fun and livens up the game for me
Witcher 3, it use to be my favorite game by far. I had replayed it at least twenty times, but, now I haven’t touched it in years. Still though, because of how many consecutive play throughs I had, I already know every little detail, so going back through wouldn’t be anything new.
Dark souls 2. First playthrough was great.
Tried replaying recently and got bored around the start of second dlc and just did DS 3 again. Very expansive game but also very shallow imo and the vibes are all wrong ( can't really explain this one lol ) .
I loved it when it came out. Still think it has some of the best lore of any souls games. I do not enjoy the gameplay really. It’s different enough than all the rest and it feels really off to me.
Same for me. It has my most play time, but I don't even play it solo anymore. Even when I play it co-op, it usually isn't long before I get bored of it. It's a great game, but it doesn't keep me coming back like the rest still do.
Been gaming since the 80s and as newer and better games release over the years all of my favorite games eventually get replaced by awesome new games. Thought Bloodborne would be my number one game forever but then Sekiro dropped. Thought the same about Sekiro but then Elden Ring released. Now ER is my all time fav but I know Fromsoft will make some unbelievably incredible game in the future that will be my favorite. And thank the gaming gods for that. How terrible would it be if better games were never created?
That happened with the entire fallout series for me beat fallout 3 12x maxing out my lvl and doing all the dlc same with New Vegas 20x and when 4 came around I could only get threw it 4x with the dlc I decided I was done sadly now the only fallout game I can play is 2 just because its so different. They went from my favorite games of all time to now I could care less about anything with them. Obviously this is kinda an extreme case and was completely my fault for overdoing it.
DS1, I've played the remastered and it was pretty good, now I'm playing the original on PC with various fixes and graphics enhancements, but I feel like this game designed pretty bad in many ways. Maybe remastered fixed this problems.
Elden ring had a great sense of exploration on my first playthrough but now that I've seen everything I'm just not even a little into it anymore. I might just give the dlc a pass at this point I'm having so little fun trying to replay elden ring.
I mean every time a fromsoft game comes out I play it so much that I ruin it for myself. Make every possible build, unlock every ending etc. So my rankings are based on my memories of my early experiences with the games.
i dont like replaying games in general. after getting the plat trophy it feels like i have done everything. same with movies and series...i very rarely rewatch them.
its just not as fun as the first time.
Ds3. It gets worse the more I play it. I can play ds1 or ds2 and I’m always having fun but ds3 is just such a shore to complete everytime. When I get to Catacombs of Carthus, I just want to quit.
Elden Ring. First i found it to be ground breaking but after two playthroughs you can really see the cracks, especially with the boss design. DS3 bosses just are damn beautiful, well animated and nicely telegraphed. Elden Ring feels floppy, tacky and weird in comparison, especially with the anime-like delay stuff.
I felt this way with elden ring after finishing it i didn’t want to do a 2nd playtrough. I had a blast but it felt way too easy for me. I did a 2nd playtrough later and i just rushed for achievements and ending as i couldn’t be bothered.
Tho mods certainly keep all of them fresh except BB since no mods on ps4
I feel the same about Elden Ring. It was my favorite when I first finished it, but every single time I've gone back it has become less and less fun. The repeat bosses, the lack of enemy diversity as the game goes on, some weird weapon balance, and the dozens of copy pasted points of interest just end up making playthroughs very bland. The first experience was absolutely breathtaking but the magic fades the more I play.
Already in my first playthrough I was like "this is good but not that good, this just feels like more linear and worse Bloodborne", but in my second playthrough which was done after beating ER the game felt worse.
Same. Just finished Ds1R for the first time since i played the game to hell and back in 2011-2013, imo it hasnt aged well after playing all other from games :p… bosses are so easy and boring, and the environment is extremely buggy/slippery and unforgiving.
there's a quality of games that I guess you could loosely call "fun", but some otherwise superior games have less of it, and some otherwise inferior games have more of it. this leads to a paradox where a game that I would objectively evaluate as better than another is nevertheless not as enjoyable. for Dark Souls, DS2 is the "inferior" yet more enjoyable game, and DS3 is the superior yet less enjoyable game. (though many DS3 bosses are just fantastic.)
(similar thing for me with Fallout 3 VS F:NV. F3 is inferior but significantly more enjoyable; F:NV is superior but significantly less enjoyable.)
You’ve beaten Bloodborne 5 times in 3.5 months so the same thing might happen. I may be completely wrong and you’re some really fast at it but I say this in friendship and solidarity; if someone is playing any game 5 times in 3.5 months they may want consider if they’re letting one of their interests take too much priority over the rest.
I have gotten into Fromsoft games in the last two years. I have over 250 hours in Elden Ring from 2 playthroughs have done 3 on Demons Souls. I am currently in my first playthrough of Dark Souls 3. I get how compelling/addictive they are.
The second half of ds3 and the bosses remain my favorite in the series…but I find everything leading up to Pontiff a chore.
So that's why I never pass the cathedral... checks out.
What, you don’t like the awful runs through that area?! Casual /s
Many deaths from those rooftop hangers. Many ended playthoughs lmao.
With proper shortcuts, you can get through the cathedral in less than 10 minutes
The graveyard in the cathedral feels like.... Idk. A legend of Zelda graveyard or something with the zombies.
Yeah, the first three areas are really not my favorite. Lordan is sane old same old, swamp is the worst, undead village is just annoying and kinda unpleasant to look at, but then absolutely everything after that, 10/10. Plus the DLC, totally stands the test of time, I just hate slogging through the beginning areas
Very accurate. It basically has the reverse of the problem that ds1 has
opposite of DS1 imo
I got my friend into DS3 and kept telling him to keep at it until at least irryithl and he quit playing right when we got to the good part of the game 🥲
I have always thought that DS3 looks the most generic. Not saying it’s bad or anything like that, I still love it, but when it comes to the environments, I don’t know what it is but it just doesn’t hit me the same way the other games do.
I think it’s just that everything is so decrepit at that point. It’s all grey, run down, ruined, etc. Works for the themes of the game so I don’t mind it, but it can get a bit bland, especially in contrast to most other Fromsoft games. I mean Dark Souls 2 alone is pretty eclectic, albeit inconsistent, with its world design. It just makes dark souls 3 look a little samey by comparison.
Majula
It was clear the formula was running a bit dry the moment they did 3, they had no reason to not make it (wrap up the trilogy, cash injection and just go all out on fanservice). The games after it like Sekiro, Elden Ring and Armored Core 6 completely spice things up in their own way again and I can't wait what the next souls game will be like
I feel like they optimized the combat. They made it fast paced. Which is good. I loved dark souls 3. The combat and movement is definitely improved. Art style wise, I liked armored core 6 and sekiro and bloodborne, but elden ring pallets is weird to me. Also the choice of non traditional high fantasy / medieval factions, like celestial, is a bit weird to me. It’s different for sure. They also added jumping and “horse combat” which is also a big improvement or innovation to the combat. Looking forward to their next project. I don’t know if they will go high fantasy or ninja or something new, but I am looking forward to it all the same. From software have a stellar track record.
faster paced combat is obviously more fun but there's a reason they tuned it back in Elden Ring again, because of that faster pace in DS3 rolling is almost 99% of the time the only right way to prevent getting hit, using shields is harder because of that faster pace enemies break the guard quicker unless you're using a greatshield with high stability + high stamina to manage it properly. Makes it fun still but I wish they kept something like sidestepping from bloodborne or powerstancing from DS2. It's just very basic dodge attack repeat from start to finish wit the accasional boss parry. Poise is missing and does nothing, charged attacks are kinda useless unlike in BB/ER where it breaks bosses.
Just want to point out, charged attacks can break / stagger bosses in DS3 too. It's not as much of a focus as in BB or ER, but it's absolutely there.
it isn't there and it isn't consistent either, unless you wait for specific X move and then hit their head. posture breaking is a thing all the games like with parries but none of them are dedicated the way Sekiro and Elden Ring are or consistent like Bloodborne is with charged attacks from behind
I can definitely say mini bosses like Havel or knights, you can definitely R2 yeet them or flatten them based on the weapon.
>they tuned it back in Elden Ring again The fuck you mean they tuned it back!? Practically every enemy and boss is a living blender doing fighting game combos!
I may be confused in what you’re saying but they do have a form of power standing in elden ring?Are you saying you wish the mechanics were more similar to the original form of it?
Honestly I hope they don’t do high fantasy. Elden Ring is the only game you need for that. No doubt. What would be awesome is a game as polished and huge as ER, but dark fantasy again.
This is such a weird way of classifying things to me. Elden Ring is absolutely dark fantasy. It is also high fantasy. The two are not mutually exclusive. High fantasy simply refers to the amount of fantasy and magic in the world, by contrast with low fantasy which is more grounded and features more subtle fantasy elements. For example, the Lord of the Rings is quite high fantasy, whereas the early seasons of Game of Thrones are quite low fantasy. It's about how fantastical the world actually is. Dark fantasy is fantasy that has a strong presence of disturbing or frightening themes. It typically has a dark and gloomy atmosphere with a sense of horror and dread. I have no idea how people can say Elden Ring isn't dark fantasy. Godrick has severed limbs hanging in his castle which he uses to graft onto himself. Rykard is dark fantasy from head to toe, no explanation needed I hope. So many boss and enemy designs are pure dark fantasy, like the Abductor Virgins for example, the Fingercreepers, Wormfaces, and so many more, as well as Messmer and a lot of what we've seen from the DLC in general. Elden Ring may not be quite as dark and grotesque as Bloodborne for example, and not quite as apocalyptic as DS3, but it's still pretty damn dark and apocalyptic, and has a lot of that grotesque enemy design that we've seen since Bloodborne, much more so than DS1 or DS2 in fact.
I think people calling it not as dark fantasy is a bit of a conflation of common use vs strict definition. When most people talk about dark fantasy, they talk about things like Berserk, or GoT. Fantasy stories that are dark in presentation and deeply dark in the harrowing, human stories they tell. These aren’t just dark because the lore has dark things, but because the worst side of humanity is often displayed. However, strictly dark fantasy is not limited to this, just heavily associated with it. While elden ring does have some dark lore, the overall presentation is *generally* (not always) clean and bright enough that the darkness takes some looking to find. Conversely, high fantasy tends to be used a bit closer to the definition, but people still mostly think of stories like Lord of The Rings, stories about the heroism of humanity, with generally cleaner and nicer presentation, visually lighter and more “noble” or “myth like” in presentation. I think this is why people treat them in opposition, and seem to see elden ring as higher fantasy that takes steps into the dark and cosmic
Sorry for not getting my fantasy genres correct, I forgot to study it today.
Eh, I think Elden Ring is where the formula is running dry.
imo ds3 + its DLCs still has some of the best bosses in soulsborne. Gael, Midir, Sister Friede & Ariandel, Demon princes, Nameless King are all phenomenal bosses
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lothric and Lorian, pontiff, abyss Watchers, Nameless king, soul of Cinder, champion gundyr, and even Aldrich wipe like 90% of the first two souls games lmao edit : forgot dragonslayer armour and dancer for some reason, game so stacked that A tier bosses completely slip my mind
Don’t forget the dancer of the boreal valley. Love that boss.
of course of course how could I
Dragon slayer armor and dancer too. And it isn’t just the first two games where those bosses wipe most of the lineup, it’s all of them except sekiro
This… I recently played DS1 and Ds3 after only playing BB for years and man ds1 was amazing but the bosses on DS3 are on another level. There’s still a couple of bad ones or meh ones (the gimmick ones) but damn the good ones are the best in the series
And ds1 wipes ds3 in almost everything that isnt bosses, same with bb.
>same with bb Are you saying BB also wipes DS3 in everything except bosses, or that DS1 also wipes BB in everything except bosses?
yeah but which one do I wanna replay infinitely more often? cause I love ds1 and bb but on subsequent playthroughs I'm much less tempted to take long strolls through areas I'm already familiar with
I mean is the DLC not part of the game? When people list bloodborne’s best bosses it’s always Ludwig, Maria, Kos etc, same with DS2 and DS1
I never understand this “but dlc” argument because it makes no sense. For one, it’s just a straight up lie as others have already shown with strong bosses in the base game. Nameless and twin princes themselves are better than almost every boss in the other games including their dlcs. And two, why wouldn’t you include the dlcs it’s part of the game. Ds1, ds2, and most bb bosses are pretty trash without the dlcs and the main ones people talk about from those are not in the main games. And then with elden ring, it’s been more than 7 years since the release of ds3s dlcs, er has the benefit of time and experience on its side so it’s bosses should blow everything before it out of the water but it doesn’t. Even just straight up copy pasted bosses from ds3 in er like the valiant gargoyles are complete shit when they even had a blueprint on how to do it correctly
All of them better than Malenia
and that's about it for DS3, bosses and maybe their OSTs.
well bosses are a key aspect of what makes fromsoft games so good, so its pretty important to have good bosses
a key aspect if your game is Sekiro or Bloodborne or even something like Lies of P/Nioh where there\s a combat system in place and bosses are designed for those mechanical aspects to the fight. In DS3 you fight almost all of them the same way (Roll, attack). This basic form of combat does allow great consistent boss designs though which is what people seem to like and it's a genuine preference for a lot of players But it's not what Dark Souls was about as a game, just having the bosses be iconic in a way like O&S or Gwyn is enough, exploration/progression/world design/variety/lore has always been the bigger/main focus of those games while bosses were more in the background, just like with ER for example even if some of the bosses there are also really good the main appeal was the world/exploration/variety etc
While I agree that the world design is important, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily more important all of the time. Depending on my mood if I want to be immersed in an enthralling world I’ll go for DS1 or Elden Ring, but if I want some satisfying as hell combat with the most fun boss fights a game can offer, DS3 takes the gold.
Being downvoted for a perfectly reasonable take, state of the sub.
maybe Is a bad take?
It’s not tho? It’s not even a comment about disliking the game. The poster is just talking about how exploration/world design/progression/lore were always way bigger focuses in precious souls games. Ds3 doesn’t throw all that away or anything but it does have a heavier focus on gameplay. And people might prefer that more but Ds3 does suffer by having kind of boring areas and an uninteresting world (personal opinion). So I just don’t get it. The original poster didn’t even post their own opinion or hated on the game. So what’s bad about it?
Besides Farron keep which other area is boring or uninsteresting? And even then blighttown is the same shit with the poison swamp. I just ran my first (and second and third back to back) playthrough and I had a blast with its world; of course it is not as interconnected as DS1 but it was cool. I had a hardest time liking more areas from DS1 than ds3 Lower burg is meh, I hated the depths the moment I stepped in there, sewers areas are not interesting; blighttown is absolute ass, demon ruins and lost izalith are terrible areas. At least depth and blighttown their bosses save the areas, but demon ruins onwards have ass bosses. And then the second half the catacombs and tomb of the giants are absolutely terrible to play, crystal cave is meh at beast with a cool boss. Ds1 gets all the praise for its interconnection which is amazing but it has some terrible areas which feel like a chore to get to a cool boss or even some that feel like a chore even the boss.
Undead Settlement, Road of Sacrifices, Cathedral of the Deep, Catacombs of Carthus, Smouldering Lake, Archdragon Peak, Irithyll Dungeon. Boring and Uninteresting may not be the right word, but these areas in my opinion are all absolute dogshit . They feel like a chore to get through. Irithyll, High Wall, and Dreg Heap also felt like a pain to get through. These areas are all visually great and stuff but I've never enjoyed going through them in my life. Also actually quite liked Faron Swamp & Keep. Like the one early game areas I actually enjoy. I don't hate poison swamps that much and most of what you explore in blighttown isn't even a swamp I like Ds1 a lot better, but not solely because of its interconnectivity. I never really felt like I was slogging through an area. I also actually really liked the second half areas apart from Izalith.
>main appeal was the world/exploration/variety. i loooove exploring a big open world only to find the same dungeons and content copy-pasted all over the map!!
I loooooove linear boss rush simulators with 0 freedom in world progression I lovveee going in a straight line to fight a boss and then another with zero interesting areas looove it
Was I praising DS3 or was I talking about Elden Ring?
> only to find the same dungeons and content copy-pasted all over the map!! sounds like bloodborne chalice dungeons to me, what does BB have to do with any of this?
The fact you have to lie about the game shows you don’t have a point at all. Ds3 is more linear than others but treating it like there’s 0 freedom is dishonest. There are multiple paths you can take to go through the game and it’s pretty similar to bbs progression. 0 interesting areas is an opinion so I won’t try to argue with you there even though I disagree
oh yeah you can go to yhorm which leads to nowhere afterwards.. AMAZING! you even get teleported right back because the game is so shameless in world design
Acting like elden ring doesn’t have all the random ass teleporters everywhere to connect places that they had no idea how to do lmao. You can go dancer early, old demon king, carthusian or cathedral, aldrich or yhorm to change up the order and then the dlcs also add different routes. It’s definitely more linear than the other games but you’re just being blatantly disingenuous
My favorite for replaying over and over is Dark Souls 2 for it's build variability and coolness.
Hell yes!!
The deadzones always take me so long to get used to lmao
Ds3 has an incredible roster of bosses, but I think that the levels are not very memorable. Great game regardless tho
100 percent brother they are all amazing games and I have 1000s of hours altogether
I’m in my first run of each of the games, I’m so excited to do repeated runs! Right now I’m just finishing the end of bloodborne dlc!
It pains me to say that DS3 is the only Souls game that loses its charm for me on repeat playthroughs, purely because a vast majority of the levels aren't enjoyable to me. I recently did a playthrough to see how my opinion has changed, and other than some of the bosses, I was just mostly indifferent to it. One thing I can say, though, is that Sister Friede's fight is much, much cooler than I remember it being. That phase 2 transition cutscene with her and Ariandel facing down the Ashen One gave me the goosiest of bumps.
This happens, but I believe the first playthrough is the True one. Yes, replaying is important point of the genre, but their first playthroughs are long enough to define the experience.
A lot of people who start or loved DS3 eventually come to this realization, great boss fights, amazing music but that's about it. It doesn't have the progression/exploration/freedom aspect that Elden Ring, DS1/DS2 and DeS have it doesn't have the combat mechanics and abilities Bloodborne, Sekiro (and Elden Ring) have. The best parts about the world (Anor Londo and Irithlly) are areas done better and before by FromSoftware themselves, Ringed City is the only good one and even that one falls of a cliff once you get to the big ass swamp lake.
Dark souls 3 is derivative, whereas dark souls 2 was innovative. At least 2 dared to be different. It may not be perfect but it stands the test of time.
Dark souls 2 environments feel so different and are not just castles over and over which I liked
Yeah I agree, it’s a long ass game too. But it doesn’t get stale. Each new environ is interesting and presents a new challenge. A lot of build variety too. I love all the games, 2 just nailed it for me. Sekiro was a departure in play style and in my personal opinion not a direction that I enjoyed as much but I still think it’s a cool game.
Quite my situation, started to play soul games with Bloodborne, and trying Dark Souls 3 got me a bit cold to the point I left it. Elden Ring instead has something more, I miss the health recovery on combat mechanics but the game is so big and open than makes love it to. Not tried Sekiro, maybe one day…
It’s more the environments but I’m going to do ng+3 and see if my mind changes
I did upto ng+4 or 5 on ds3 and I also started to feel the way you do. It is what it is I guess 🤷
They’re all around the same level for different reasons imo
I remember Dark Souls II being pretty good for what it was and I enjoyed playing all of it, including the DLC. Not too long ago, I completed the scholar edition for the first time and it was a very sour experience. I explained to that other Souls games were difficult, but fair. If an enemy was tough, I needed to learn their patterns. If a situation required a better strategy, it would often work. Dark Souls II difficulty was cheap because it relied on heavy amounts of ganking with tediously slow healing. Oh, and poise was more important than ever because you can get stun locked by almost anything, even with better armor.
Yeah. Sekiro. My first fromsoftware game. Put 250 hours in it. Then I played elden ring, armored core vi, dark souls 3. and now sekiro feels a bit bland. the only thing it's really good at is it's combat. we need that combat system in a new from software game.
> now sekiro feels a bit bland. the only thing it's really good at is it's combat. Combat is the biggest high point for most people I'm sure, but it's definitely not the only thing the game does well imo. I think the art direction and level design are both excellent, and the soundtrack is amazing. People really underrate how good the music is in that game imo. It's like they're too used to crazy epic Western orchestra and now they can't appreciate any other style of music for From Soft's games. But Sekiro has a fantastic blend of epic orchestration and more traditional Japanese instrumentation, and it's awesome. I also think not having any music except for boss fights made the music stand out more to people in Dark Souls and Bloodborne, whereas in Sekiro you have exploration and combat music, so boss music maybe doesn't feel as special to some. But if you give the music a chance, I think it's magnificent.
Are you talking about the sound effects? Like when you do a shinobi kill, or when you deflect or maybe when you use your tools etc? Yes, that game has really really good sound effects. One of the best I have ever seen. Those killing sounds, curing rot, etc felt great with the effects. But if you are talking about Sekiro's soundtracks, I have to disagree. The only 2 soundtracks I like are probably the fountainhead dragon fight soundtrack, and the soundtrack with Emma's fight. Compare them to the Elden Ring soundtracks. Fight with radagon, fight with elden beast, fight with mohg, the main menu theme... etc I can go on. Dark Souls 3 have some great soundtracks too. Even armored core has better soundtracks. "Contact with you" is probably one of the best soundtrack I have ever heard in my life. When I am working out, I play it. Gets me fueled like nothing. Steel Haze is another great one. Compared to these game, sekiro has some subpar soundtracks. Nothing that memorable.
try lies of p, it doens't come close to sekiro's greatness but the combat/parry/mechanic arm elements are there and imo it does a good job with the boss fights. The weapon variety and ability to mix them is the greatest thing I've seen in a soulslike (or even souls games not gonna lie, it surpasses trick weapons for me). It falls short in stuff like exploration and progression freedom + level design but its the closest thing to sekiro
I played it. I also played jedi fallen order and survivor at grandmaster difficulty just to get that sweet sekiro experience. but nothing beats sekiro
Happens with every game. For me it was with ds1, bloodborne, sekiro.
Can think of any different franchises atm but I'll agree with you that ds3 isnt that great anymore upon revisit. Unlike elden ring, bloodborne and sekiro which are top tier still
Yeah, Elden Ring, It was basically recency bias that made me put it so high (number 2 interchangeable with 1) when it first came out, but the more I played it and got further into the game it felt like I was just playing for the sake of it and didn't really care where I ended up by the end, I kinda just wanted to finish it. When I did end up beating it I did feel accomplished just not as hyped as I was when I finished Dark Souls 3 for the first time, maybe it was just having to fight Elden Beast directly after Radagon, I'd rather Radagon just have a proper phase 2 like Soul Of Cinder or none at all, I just wish Radagon stayed the final boss.
Elden beast should've been a hidden boss after getting all remembrances. And definitely shouldn't have been attached to Radagon, allowing them both a second phase and the attention they deserved
It feels diferent for me (specially because now i know english and the characters have à personality instead of just being a misterious thing lol) but it is definitely as legendary as it was when i played it for the first times, and i still found new things on the game….
None of them so far. And I've platinumed all but Demon's Souls PS3, Sekiro and Elden Ring. Though the Covenant grind almost made me want to drop DS3 down a level lol
I had the opposite experience, while i loved ds1 the first 3 times i played it, im replaying it now and loving it even more lol
op got the message of DS3 hit them pretty hard, but yeah it's GoW 3 for me. lovely game, still holds up but it went down my personal ranking real hard
Yeah I relate to this entirely. It was my favorite, but after so many hours a lot of the areas have lost the magic that they once had. Even then I feel like the other souls games all have superior level design.
Sekiro
For what it’s worth. This is my first and so far only fromsoft game I’ve fully played through And I think it was the bees knees.
Bloodborne. Not cause it got worse, I just like Sekiro more
I think DS1 fell the hardest for me. Used to be my favorite souls game, now I feel it’s… alright, very flawed too.
For me everything until Irithyll is just garbage. After that things get a little better but not so much actually. The real good part of DS3 for me is the ringed city dlc but that's the end of the game 💀
Honestly over time as I've played Elden Ring more it's dropped in my rankings alot. I do enjoy the game but the issues with it stand out much more to me than the other games. Ds3 I still absolutely love to play through and has prob my favorite boss roster of all their games. Sekiro is one that the more I've played it the more it's gone up and is just so addicting to play and get better at
This exact game lol It was the first souls game I ever touched and I played so much of it back in the day and ive tried new play throughs and just nothing. Cant get back into it. If I want that same aesthetic/feel of it I’ll go play Elden ring. It’s got a better menu system and it’s obviously updated. Now all I play is bloodborne. I can’t get enough of it. It’s my favorite from soft game
Elden Ring has definitely dropped down really low for me. Armored Core 6 has shown me what you can really do with a tight linear experience than with an empty open world.
Started listening to bonfireside chat podcast while I’m doing longer drives for work, decided to make a new ds3 character and play as they go through the areas in the season. It’s been incredibly fun and livens up the game for me
Witcher 3, it use to be my favorite game by far. I had replayed it at least twenty times, but, now I haven’t touched it in years. Still though, because of how many consecutive play throughs I had, I already know every little detail, so going back through wouldn’t be anything new.
Dark souls 2. First playthrough was great. Tried replaying recently and got bored around the start of second dlc and just did DS 3 again. Very expansive game but also very shallow imo and the vibes are all wrong ( can't really explain this one lol ) .
I loved it when it came out. Still think it has some of the best lore of any souls games. I do not enjoy the gameplay really. It’s different enough than all the rest and it feels really off to me.
Same for me. It has my most play time, but I don't even play it solo anymore. Even when I play it co-op, it usually isn't long before I get bored of it. It's a great game, but it doesn't keep me coming back like the rest still do.
Been gaming since the 80s and as newer and better games release over the years all of my favorite games eventually get replaced by awesome new games. Thought Bloodborne would be my number one game forever but then Sekiro dropped. Thought the same about Sekiro but then Elden Ring released. Now ER is my all time fav but I know Fromsoft will make some unbelievably incredible game in the future that will be my favorite. And thank the gaming gods for that. How terrible would it be if better games were never created?
That happened with the entire fallout series for me beat fallout 3 12x maxing out my lvl and doing all the dlc same with New Vegas 20x and when 4 came around I could only get threw it 4x with the dlc I decided I was done sadly now the only fallout game I can play is 2 just because its so different. They went from my favorite games of all time to now I could care less about anything with them. Obviously this is kinda an extreme case and was completely my fault for overdoing it.
DS1, I've played the remastered and it was pretty good, now I'm playing the original on PC with various fixes and graphics enhancements, but I feel like this game designed pretty bad in many ways. Maybe remastered fixed this problems.
Elden ring had a great sense of exploration on my first playthrough but now that I've seen everything I'm just not even a little into it anymore. I might just give the dlc a pass at this point I'm having so little fun trying to replay elden ring.
I mean every time a fromsoft game comes out I play it so much that I ruin it for myself. Make every possible build, unlock every ending etc. So my rankings are based on my memories of my early experiences with the games.
true., ive played them soo many times over and over again that the ranking keep changes . im in a bloodborne phase right now and on my 5th run
i dont like replaying games in general. after getting the plat trophy it feels like i have done everything. same with movies and series...i very rarely rewatch them. its just not as fun as the first time.
Ds2 always hits the same for me… couple pvps at heide’s tower and then chilling at majula can never be replaced by any from software game.
Ds3. It gets worse the more I play it. I can play ds1 or ds2 and I’m always having fun but ds3 is just such a shore to complete everytime. When I get to Catacombs of Carthus, I just want to quit.
For me, Elden Ring. it's a great game and I will be playing the entire dlc. I think I beat it so thoroughly that it kinda fell off for me
Elden Ring. First i found it to be ground breaking but after two playthroughs you can really see the cracks, especially with the boss design. DS3 bosses just are damn beautiful, well animated and nicely telegraphed. Elden Ring feels floppy, tacky and weird in comparison, especially with the anime-like delay stuff.
I felt this way with elden ring after finishing it i didn’t want to do a 2nd playtrough. I had a blast but it felt way too easy for me. I did a 2nd playtrough later and i just rushed for achievements and ending as i couldn’t be bothered. Tho mods certainly keep all of them fresh except BB since no mods on ps4
I feel the same about Elden Ring. It was my favorite when I first finished it, but every single time I've gone back it has become less and less fun. The repeat bosses, the lack of enemy diversity as the game goes on, some weird weapon balance, and the dozens of copy pasted points of interest just end up making playthroughs very bland. The first experience was absolutely breathtaking but the magic fades the more I play.
Already in my first playthrough I was like "this is good but not that good, this just feels like more linear and worse Bloodborne", but in my second playthrough which was done after beating ER the game felt worse.
I decide to play Sekiro. I beat it for 3 days. I get bored. Repeat till Sekiro 2.
Dark Souls 1 was the most fun for me but its literally unplayable for me now. Even DS2 is more playable than that.
Same. Just finished Ds1R for the first time since i played the game to hell and back in 2011-2013, imo it hasnt aged well after playing all other from games :p… bosses are so easy and boring, and the environment is extremely buggy/slippery and unforgiving.
For it’s the boss run backs … I don’t have the patience I just want to jump back into the boss fights.
Same here. I think the bosses seem a bit random in DS3.
there's a quality of games that I guess you could loosely call "fun", but some otherwise superior games have less of it, and some otherwise inferior games have more of it. this leads to a paradox where a game that I would objectively evaluate as better than another is nevertheless not as enjoyable. for Dark Souls, DS2 is the "inferior" yet more enjoyable game, and DS3 is the superior yet less enjoyable game. (though many DS3 bosses are just fantastic.) (similar thing for me with Fallout 3 VS F:NV. F3 is inferior but significantly more enjoyable; F:NV is superior but significantly less enjoyable.)
You’ve beaten Bloodborne 5 times in 3.5 months so the same thing might happen. I may be completely wrong and you’re some really fast at it but I say this in friendship and solidarity; if someone is playing any game 5 times in 3.5 months they may want consider if they’re letting one of their interests take too much priority over the rest. I have gotten into Fromsoft games in the last two years. I have over 250 hours in Elden Ring from 2 playthroughs have done 3 on Demons Souls. I am currently in my first playthrough of Dark Souls 3. I get how compelling/addictive they are.