Soulsborne

[Mr. Brightside]

I figured that the Souls games were deserving of their own thread, truly all the games (aside from DSII) are fantastic. Below are my reviews after playing the games within the last year or so.

Dark Souls 1 still holds up pretty well, the movement and combat is definitely a lot more clunky than Bloodborne, Sekiro and even DS3. The strange thing about Dark Souls 1 was I found it way easier than the other games (barring Demon's Souls) not sure if it's because I'm more used to the series now, or its age but the most attempts I took at a boss was two. Still a very good game and I do love the feeling of everything being inter-connected. 8/10

Dark Souls 2, boy what a fucking slog this game was, 90 hours to complete the main game and DLC and honestly the DLC was very uninspiring. On the whole it is similar to DS1 but less connected and another couple of bad changes were losing bits of your health bar when you died, which seems very stupid for a Souls game and enemies de-spawning after you kill them too many times making farming a bit harder. Other than that I found it pretty easy again, the two Smelter Demons game me the most trouble, but the biggest issue with this game (apart from it being uninspiring and lengthy) was the amount of absolute bullshit in the game. In DS1 you have Blighttown, fair enough. In DS3 you have Farron Keep, fair enough. In DS2 every area seems to have some level of bullshit (poison, toxic, petrify and so on) and they seemed to have upped the amount of obnoxious shit too, like the amount of casters or bow users just griefing the shit out of you. And the worse of all, those wee fucking statues that spit poison at you, honestly the worst area of any game I think I've ever played. All in all, a real let down and I think it shows that Miyazaki was probably focused on Bloodborne at the time. 6/10

Just Platinumed Bloodborne (11/10). What a fucking game. I think it might be my favourite FromSoftware game (although I do love DS3 and Sekiro (apart from the boss I'm currently stuck on)) and very probably one of my favourite games of all time.

I had previously played it after beating most of the first Dark Souls but not fully completing it and at that time my love, grasp and knowledge of the FromSoft games was minimal and as such gave up on it pretty quick.
However after completing Dark Souls 3 during original lockdown and then being mentally broken by Genichiro Ashina (whilst really enjoying Sekiro) I recently hopped back aboard the Souls train by playing Demon's Souls. I loved that enough that I thought I should give Bloodborne a proper go.
I am so glad I did, it is simply an incredible game, from a combat point of view, to maze-like interconnected level design, character design (both player/hunter and bosses) and lastly the world itself is beautiful in its sorta neo-Gothic dilapidatedness. I had heard stories of how the bosses in Bloodborne were considered some of the hardest and whilst that is true I didn't find it bad at all, a lot of them I beat in one go and the most attempts I took to kill one was I think 5 (fucking Micolash spamming A Call Beyond constantly, the p***k) so I found them challenging but ultimately fair, which is the point in Souls games.

Personally the combat is Souls at its best, whilst I am usually a big sword and shield user, the shield (mostly) being irrelevant in Bloodborne is very refreshing, because the visceral system is glorious, there was simply nothing better than parrying and the visceral-ing Maria to absolutely batter her.
The story itself seemed more easy to follow than previous Souls games, and it leads to some heart-wrenching moments where you do truly question who the monster is here.

11/10, with DS3 being 10.5/10 and Sekiro being 10/10.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 10/10

Magnificent. Brutal. Beautiful. Heart-pounding. Fascinating. Frustrating. These are just some of the words you could use to describe this game. 
I'm not as big a fan of this as Bloodborne or DS3, however it is not far behind. It is significantly more linear and a lot more overt in its storytelling, meaning there is, sadly a decent amount less environmental storytelling, which is a shame. 
Combat is very good, the posture system is great and learning to mikiri counter and jump on people's heads when they go for a sweep attack are very satisfying once you know which is which, more difficult if you don't, like me, understand Japanese. The pacing of combat is similar to Bloodborne and again having no shield really encourages you to be on the front foot most of the time which I love, although I do prefer Bloodborne.
The aesthetic is gorgeous, feudal Japan always looks beautiful with the pampas grass and cherry blossoms and Sekiro really leans into that, the buildings and monuments are beautiful too. 
Enemies for the most part are a bit human and not eldritch monstrosity enough for me, there are exceptions of course. However with most of the enemies being human-ish I feel that seems to add a bit of grounded-ness and also adds to the intensity and speed on most of the fights. 
The bosses are rock fucking solid, dirty cheating b*****ds, I have never felt unfairly wronged more often in a Souls game than in this, easily the hardest in the FromSoft games. However with that there are some truly memorable fights, Guardian Ape (both times) is a really intense and satisfying fight, Lady Butterfly is an early skill check and very difficult, Owl (father) is one of the most intense fights, same goes for Isshin Ashina the Sword Saint (and absolute cheating c**t) the sense of achievement when you beat them is incredible. Even Gyoubu is a really cool set-piece boss. 
However I would like to add a special mention for the little bitch Genichiro, absolute w**k-stain that I beat of three separate occasions and just wouldn't fucking die, until he did. Hope you enjoyed the many lightening reversals I did to you, you little c**t.

Only real negative if you will was just how difficult some of the bosses could be, and you would literally just have to facetank them until you done it, unlike other Souls games where summons were available, I think maybe either have summons available as a last resort or, and I think the game would really benefit from this, it should have something similar to the rally system in Bloodborne to allow you the chance to get some of your health back. In Sekiro I think it would work because it would be a genuine risk for the players because the enemies are so aggressive that if you go in for the rally and f**k it up, you're basically guaranteed to die.

Overall another fantastic game from FromSoftware and I would slot it easily into third place being Bloodborne (11/10) and Dark Souls 3 (10.5/10).

Completed Demon's Souls (9/10) last night, by far the easiest Soulsborne gaming experience so far. However it was really excellent and should be the blueprint for how every remaster or remake is made.
The game looks beautiful, it runs excellently and loading times are very quick. Combat felt very smooth and refined and seems quite balanced between all different types (magic, faith, dex, strength etc). Some of the quality of life upgrades they made were vital as well, like being able to send things straight to your storage if you can't carry it.
For anyone wanting to get into the Soulslike games, I would highly recommend this as the gateway game.

[forameus]

I know I'm in the minority, but I have never got into these games.  I've tried (I think) two of the Dark Souls titles, and Bloodborne, and none of them grabbed me.  I never really found the gameplay loop that interesting, 

[Steve_Wilkos]

Dark Souls II has to be one of the biggest downgrades in gaming history. 

There is a nonsensical part where you have to use a torch to light a steel beam in a windmill to make the boss easier. Then after beating the boss, you take a lift up the windmill to find yourself in a lava infested castle.

That is bad enough, but when compared to how well the world in Dark Souls interconnected it is diabolical.  

[Richey Edwards]

1 hour ago, Steve_Wilkos said:

Dark Souls II has to be one of the biggest downgrades in gaming history. 

There is a nonsensical part where you have to use a torch to light a steel beam in a windmill to make the boss easier. Then after beating the boss, you take a lift up the windmill to find yourself in a lava infested castle.

That is bad enough, but when compared to how well the world in Dark Souls interconnected it is diabolical.  

I genuinely thought Dark Souls 2 was so annoying. I gave up on it.

[SweeperDee]

Elden Ring, Sekiro, Bloodborne, DS3, 1, 2, then demon souls. 
 

Criminal how poorly Bloodborne performs these days though, surely not that hard to up it to 60fps? 

[GNU_Linux]

1 hour ago, SweeperDee said:

Elden Ring, Sekiro, Bloodborne, DS3, 1, 2, then demon souls. 
 

Criminal how poorly Bloodborne performs these days though, surely not that hard to up it to 60fps? 

The issue with Bloodborne is that the game's engine plus physics, logic, timings etc are all tied to fps.

[Ludo*1]

If Bloodborne is being included in the list, then my favourite simply has to be Nightmare Creatures for PS1.

 

A classic.

[Ludo*1]

In all seriousness, I struggled with Bloodborne and that put me off pretty much that style of game but thanks to @Mr. Brightside very informative post, I might give Demon's Souls a crack since it's free on Ps5 Premium I believe.

[SweeperDee]

1 hour ago, GNU_Linux said:

The issue with Bloodborne is that the game's engine plus physics, logic, timings etc are all tied to fps.

Same with all Souls games no? That’s why they can be glitched easily. 

[ConcernedReferee]

Dark Souls 1 is the best for me, I've still to finish Elden Ring and never got a chance to play Demon's Souls but the way the world of 1 is so inter-connected really made it special.

I wanted to like Sekiro but it just annoyed me to the point of switching off out of frustration and never going back to it 

Edited December 30, 2022 by ConcernedReferee
forgot about Sekiro

[well fan for life]

Just finished NG+2 on Elden Ring and it was a slog. Went for a completely different build and relied on melee as opposed to arcane/faith. Still one of the best games I've played in years but I'm definitely done until DLC. I cannae face losing my mind against Malenia & Maliketh again. 

[Mr. Brightside]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wo_Long:_Fallen_Dynasty

If you're feeling like you need a Souls fix, Team Ninja (developers of Nioh 1 and 2) might have you covered.

[GiGi]

I've only completed Elden Ring of them all. I have played a wee bit of Sekiro which was brilliant, a wee bit of Bloodborne which was a bit less brilliant, and a few hours of Dark Souls which was way easier than the others. 

I would buy them all on PC to get through them but the Dark Souls remaster is dearer than what I paid for Elden Ring unless I'm shopping in the wrong place. 

[Mr. Brightside]

FromSoftware announced Elden Ring DLC today, finally!

 

[Mr. Brightside]

I just realised that unless I start a new game, I'll be playing the DLC on NG+3. Damn.

[Have some faith in Magic]

On 20/01/2023 at 01:14, Mr. Brightside said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wo_Long:_Fallen_Dynasty

If you're feeling like you need a Souls fix, Team Ninja (developers of Nioh 1 and 2) might have you covered.

Excellent

I didn't realise there was something that close. 

Nioh 2 kept me sane during the first COVID lockdown. 

[Anonapersona]

Bloodborne is my favorite but I've played Demon's Souls more than any other. On NG+49 with the remake.

[ConcernedReferee]

All great games but Dark Souls 1 and the interconnected nature of the world is what makes it my fave 

[Jives Miguel]

Just started Elden Ring having never played any before this. A few hours in in the first area (Limgrave is it?) and been getting my c**t kicked in. Anyone give me a few pointers on the following?

Where the f**k am I actually meant to go or what am I supposed to do? Just anywhere I fancy?

Do enemies have levels or anything, how am I supposed to know if I'm in an area/fighting enemies that I'm underleveled for? I'm a bit feart to go in dungeons and fight enemies because the price of dying after I've just came a big long distance and cant find a grace site seems too high What do I actually lose when I die, just money? Any tips for finding grace sites? I went all the way east to the area where there's big massive bears, and I couldn't find one grace site. Felt like a waste of time.

Also the golden rune things, are these just sold to vendors for currency? Is there any other use I should save them for?

 

[Mr. Brightside]

On 06/03/2023 at 14:10, Jives Miguel said:

Just started Elden Ring having never played any before this. A few hours in in the first area (Limgrave is it?) and been getting my c**t kicked in. Anyone give me a few pointers on the following?

Where the f**k am I actually meant to go or what am I supposed to do? Just anywhere I fancy?

Do enemies have levels or anything, how am I supposed to know if I'm in an area/fighting enemies that I'm underleveled for? I'm a bit feart to go in dungeons and fight enemies because the price of dying after I've just came a big long distance and cant find a grace site seems too high What do I actually lose when I die, just money? Any tips for finding grace sites? I went all the way east to the area where there's big massive bears, and I couldn't find one grace site. Felt like a waste of time.

Also the golden rune things, are these just sold to vendors for currency? Is there any other use I should save them for?

 

This is a pretty good guide for a newcomer, you can follow it all the way through to the end if you want, or just watch the first one to get an idea of what to do.