I never played a souls game before now, and i just beat pic related, is it all downhill from here? The final bosses of each stage apart from the false king (who was still pretty easy just not a joke) being piss easy was a bit disappointing but the levels and progression all felt really good and the lovecraftian story was fun. It always sounded like these games were just bossathons and im wondering if the next entries are like that or were like this
>>741490192>is it all downhill from here?Yes. Unironically.
>>741490192>lovecraftianFucking kill yourself. But to answer your question no, DS1 is pretty good despite losing steam by the end, THEN it's all downhill and never recovers.
>>741490349It is properly lovecraftian, not just tower of latria with le reddit squids and stuff but apparently faggots say it pulls largely from berserk which itself pulls from lovecraft
>>741490192>is it all downhill from here?Yes, because normalfags like their easy modo, leading to a series of dumbed down games. Each easier than the last.
>>741490192Play dark souls 1 and then go straight to their older games, kings field 4 is even better than demon souls. They used to make tons of original games back then before Miyahacki started shitting out the same game over and over again
>>741490570Are you telling me the following games are even easier than this one? The only bosses i didnt kill on the first go were flamelurker, maneater and false king allant, i thought these were le hard games
>>741490192demon's and dark 1 are the pinnacle for art (games as art), 2 and 3 are great games but lower art
>>741490736he's being dumb
>>741490737What about bloodborne?
>>741490192this is the worst one so it's actually all uphill from theredark souls 3 mogs the shit out of it
>>741490192>is it all downhill from hereno, dark souls 1 is at worst a side grade to demons souls, and sekiro has its own merits despite the garbage trend it has unfortunately inspired.
>>741490798bloodborne above 2/3, has the benefit of being a fresh setting
Dark Souls / Dark Souls 2 / Elden Ring>Estus is greater than grinding grass and blood vials>More diverse locations>Open-world>Most weapons are samey and reskin >Lots of bosses (most are jank)>The massive decline in quality after Anor Londo / Leyndell>DLCs are the highlight of the gamesDemon's Souls / Bloodborne / Dark Souls 3>Better level design>Better NPCs and their respective quests>Quality over quantity (Less is more)>Hub area (Nexus, Hunter's Dream, Firelink)>Level up waifu (Maiden in Black, Doll, Firekeeper)>Boletaria, Yarnham and Lothric and its surroundings feel like one place and have the same cool atmosphere throughout the game
>>741490192Demon's Souls has the worst bosses of any game, by far. That aspect is improved with each successive title.
>>741490736>Are you telling meNo, I'm writing to you. If you go by casuals like in this thread then every new entry is harder than the last, with Elden Ring eclipsing all others.
>>741490838Biggest similarity between Demons Souls and Dark Souls 3: you start out in Boletarian Palace / Lothric Castle in the beginning before going on a journey across various regions and returning back to Boletaria/Lothric for the finale with Demon King/Prince Lorian and Lothric before the final boss>“All of Dark Souls 3’s design is basically based on Miyazaki's own personal preference">Dark Souls 3 brings back the Mana/Focus bar from Demon's Souls instead of the Spell Cast system from DS1>Auto-revival (embering) after a boss (or helping as a phantom)>plus you have the five thrones which are a lot like the portals to the different worlds>A hub system like Demon’s Souls. The Firekeeper is literally the Maiden in black fire defense woman" (火防女) which is also the same term for the Fire Keepers in Dark Souls.>Rolling Functions the same exact way as DeS, because med rolling was buffed so fucking hard that the difference between fast roling and med rolling is so small that staying right under the fat roll minimum is required for every build.>Giving the player character clear motivations up front and keeping the end goal in sight, just like in Demon's Souls>Lothric Castle / Great Archives / Cursed Garden is influenced by Boletaria Castle. The run-up to twin princes being 1-3's run up to Penetrator, the corrupted form of Metas>Irithyll Dungeon does indeed have some heavy Tower of Latria vibes, full of backtracking and going from one side to the other for keys>All of the areas fit together like pieces of a puzzle and how everything came together to form one grand world>Inspired by the great, memorable map designs of Demon's Souls
>>741490736They are definitely not easier but they all just become glorified boss rush games in which all you do is memorize obfuscated boss attack patterns
>>741490975>but they all just become glorified boss rush games in which all you do is memorize obfuscated boss attack patternsWhen was the exact point this started?
>>741490975>boss rushWhen does this get the worst, so far i only bought dark souls 1 and 2 and planned on buying bloodborne and 3 but not elden ring
>>741490975>boss rushthis is a you problem
>>741490192Demon's Souls had a pretty troubled development and the final product is a mess because basically no one on the team knew what they were doing making an Action RPG like that. DS1 has one really bad area, but is otherwise an improvement. Especially in boss design.DS2 and DS3 are generally further improvements.
>>741490192DS1 is the best souls game, you don't really need to play any of the other souls games. demons souls itself is pretty meh
>>741491013When players got good enough to not take 2 hours to get through 1-1 or the Undead Burgh. Most levels in later entries are longer than they were in old games. But players just run through clubbing enemies to death instead of slowly walking around with their shield up all day like they used to.
>>741491013Dark souls 1 DLC, the prepare to die edition and internets circlejerk around le difficulty specifically
>>741490415This is just that Boss Baby meme where idiots (mostly redditors) think everything pulls from Lovecraft and Berserk because it's all they know. Berserkfags in particular are extremely one-note and cannot see a greatsword without immediately yelling about how it's just like Berserk, when in reality DS just has Beeserk references because it was popular at the time, same as Monhun having a Guts sword.
>>741491282Im glad i dont watch tranime
>>741490570>normalfags like their easy modo,demon souls is the easiest in the series by a wide margin
>>741490603KF4 is very good, but those opening segments really drag until you hit the more interesting areas.>>741490192Along with KF4 there's also the fan translation of Shadow Tower Abyss. Feels more like a theme park ride with how linear levels are compared to KF4 (occasional branching paths aside), but so is Demon's Souls. It may actually align closer to Demon's Souls due to that and its emphasis on using ambience to set the tone rather than using music.
>>741490192Demon's Souls (PS3) is the best one they made yes. It's the most eclectic, interesting, creativeDark Souls 1 maybe could've beaten it out, but it's a lot bigger and you can tell because after a certain point in the game you will encounter some areas that are of a vastly lower quality than the rest of the game.Demon's Souls is a lot more consistent.
>>741491282Miyazaki is openly a fan of both Berserk and Lovecraft's work.
>>741491075Don't get fooled by contrarian retards none of these games are boss rushes and they are all good to great, just play them and make your own opinions
Something I miss about DeS and DaS1 is that the zones were bigger and more detailed overall than later games with total slop zones
>>741490603Kings Field games are more obvious examples of 'just make the same game 4 times' than any Souls game. Fromsoft, prior to Miyazaki, was only not a shovelware company because Armored Core happened to be good. Everything else was jank.
>>741490192Now play Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Skip the other two as they're shit
>>741491562>Kings Field games are more obvious examples of 'just make the same game 4 times' than any Souls game.>Fromsoft, prior to Miyazaki, was only not a shovelware company because Armored Core happened to be good. Everything else was jank.Redpill me on Fromsoft prior to miyazaki, and after miyazaki
>>741490192Bloodborne is the only one of these kind of games that I really like. Too bad half of the bosses kind of suck.
>>741491439Which is why he puts in references to both, doesn't mean the entire game is just that.
>>741491625nta but there's not much more to tell. From was able to experiment with more quirky ideas then, but usually to mixed results. After Dark Souls became such a hit, they're more or less just the "Souls/Armored Core company" with few exceptions.
>>741490192>It always sounded like these games were just bossathonsIt's a shame but this is what the fanbase demanded over time, and Fromsoft delivered.DaS2 is another title that has strong level design with unique puzzles and gimmicks, and mostly very easy and meh bosses.
>>741491625They are a company that used to make 5+ games a year and had a lot of different teams. Some are a masterpiece some are legit dogshit but at least they were all different unlike now. I mean they made a MonHun animal crossing, a great coop platforming game, jrpgs, rail shooters and w.e else plus their mainline franchises all in the same span of time they take now to release fortnite souls and fortnite souls for switch 2
>>741490192>is it all downhill from here?Pretty much.Sekiro is still a lot of fun, partially because it's such a huge deviation from the "Souls formula" in terms of pacing and design.
>>741490192Actually, its all downhill from the ds1 dlc. Love the game, but thats really where the focus started shifting.
>>741492393People complain about Demon's Souls' Archdemons being "puzzle bosses," but difficulty wasn't what drew me to the game to begin with. I don't even remember people complaining about them until Dark Souls advertised itself on its PC release with the "prepare to die" tagline and the series overall shift in focus following this.
>>741491518DS3's locations were way more detailed than anything in Demon's Souls or DS1, just simply because of technological improvements.
>>741492941Its especially painful for me because PC PTDE is the first one I played because I didnt have a ps3 and emulation hasnt gotten there yet. Strange kind of feeling knowing your favorite is the most likely culprit for the series downfall.
>>741492941Miyazaki was already fielding interviews about why he made such a hard game before Dark Souls 1 came out. https://gameinformer.com/games/demons_souls/b/ps3/archive/2009/11/05/feature-demon-s-souls-director-discusses-difficulty-sequels-and-more.aspxDemon's Souls was considered a hard game in its time.
>>741493147Don't be retarded. Dark Souls is better than Demon's Souls. Dark Souls 2 and 3 are better than Demon's Souls. Not having any shitty puzzle bosses is not a flaw.
>>741492941it was a cultural thing at the time that games had become too easy
>>741493223You are the retarded here my friend. Elden ring thread is that way.
>>741490736Demon's Souls is largely considered the easiest Souls game. Every subsequent game is a big step-up in difficulty until it eventually gets completely ridiculous in Elden Ring DLC (just look up Messmer on YouTube for a laugh, he attacks like 15 times in a row and each attack does half of your health).Anyway, the Souls threads on /v/ are usually very low IQ and people just spam contrarian nonsense (like DS2 being the best in the series lmao), so don't take anything seriously, including this post. Just play the games in release order and form your own opinions.
>>741490192All the other main games, (Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring) are better and have even better level design. Dark Souls 2 and 3 are worse but still worth playing and still have good level design.
>>741493161It was considered difficult, there's no questioning that. Especially in the era of games it was released in. Otherwise Dark Souls wouldn't have even gotten to the point of advertising itself as such.I was really just talking about players' perception of DeS bosses and how it changed in retrospect. At least from my memory.
>>741493313Every day we tick closer to the next Fromsoft ARPG that doesn't have anything as awful as the Armored Spider or Dragon God, is a good one. There is one good puzzle boss in Demon's Souls. The Fool's Idol. There is basically one good world in Demon's Souls, in general. Latria. The Shrine of Storms was almost good, but the first map drags it down.
>>741493463again, wrong thread buddy
>>741490192It's all uphill from here, DeS is fine but it's clearly the weakest entry held up by the fact that most don't have an opinion because they didn't play it and most that did are 100% nostalgia blind. Future games have more focus on exploration and quests compared to how linear and simple DeS is.
>>741493006No, most locations in DaS3 are ugly as shit and make no sense compared to DeS and DaS1
>>741493147>Its especially painful for me because PC PTDE is the first one I played because I didnt have a ps3 and emulation hasnt gotten there yet. Strange kind of feeling knowing your favorite is the most likely culprit for the series downfall.The problem wasn't with Dark Souls PTDE PC. It was with the fanbase
>>741493689sad delusion
>>741493587>Future games have more focus on exploration and questsHoly kek >compared to how linear and simple DeS isBased youtube expert who never played the game
>>741493764You don't know shit, I'm sorry
>>741493816>a castle>a cathedral>a catacomb>a swampaaa it's all so confusing
>>741493767If you're gonna argue each DeS area isn't very linear I wanna hear it, I could use a good laugh. The only game that comes close is DS3 and even that has more exploration just by the nature of being a bigger game.
>>741493764It's true though, DS3 looks like shit compared to Demon's Souls, we're comparing a base PS4 game vs a PS5 launch title, the difference is night and day.
>>741493915I was more commenting on the make no sense part, if you don't like the graphical style that's reasonable
>>741493767Being able to enter worlds in almost any order doesn't change that each game map is a straight line.
>>741493902Every Souls level is "linear", the progression through the game is far less linear than DaS3
>>741494013Every "map" in DaS3 is a straight line too...
>>741494017>Every Souls level is "linear"wrong
>>741493915As we know, Bluepoint invented Demon's Souls.
>>741490892You are literally autistic and not the high functioning kind either, dumbest post ITT it's incredible that someone can be make literally dozens of wrong claims with so few words, really astonishing stuff
>>741494017They really aren't, except for DS3. They're both linear but DS3 just has more areas to go in general and they do actually branch on occasion, usually to just one small area, but they do. It's already been said but being able to do each area in any order doesn't change them all being essentially straight lines.I'm not calling DeS bad, but the more I played the more I realized it was a simple, small game that future entries built, expanded and vastly improved upon
>>741490192Demon's Souls is good but Dark Souls I uses the same engine, builds upon the formula and is a superior game. The story mirrors Demon's Souls a lot. Do play and do enjoy it.DS2 is a weird abortion of an unrelated project labeled as Dark Souls sequel for marketing purposes.Bloodborne is an actual spiritual successor of DS1 that tries to make the game more action-paced. Great in itself, but opens room to...DS3. Which is a quick cashgrab made in a year using Bloodborne assets. This is where the boss-slop thing got popularized. Still decent compared to DS2 but it's the game that encapsulates all the memetic criticism that you were aware of.Sekiro experiments with a unique self-contained gameplay loop and is considered the best game in the list by many due to how much it deviated from Dark Souls. But keep in mind, it's boss-rush the game.Elden Ring is DS3slop but multiple times bigger.
>>741494836all wrong, good job
>>741494392I actually think it's a misrepresentation of das3 generally.High wall is linearundead settlement is notroad of sacrifices linear until you get to the forest then it's notcathedral is notfarron keep is notcatacombs is linearash lake is notirythill is kinda linear in parts but it isn't actuallyanor londo lmaoirythill dungeon is a lot of circling back but it's linearprofane capital isn't linear but it's a small areaarch dragon peak is linearlothric castle is notuntended graves is just the tutorial but darkashes of ariandel is notringed city is pretty linear
>>741495029Yeah, I think DS3's linearity gets comically exaggerated because people don't like it. It's more linear than most of the other games but from the way people talk you'd think it's FF13 when it's nowhere close.
>>741490892>The massive decline in quality after Anor Londo>DLCs are the highlight of the gamesin dark souls 1 the dlc is included in the game and you would do it after anor londo in a normal progression, so how the fuck can it be both the highlight and a massive decline of quality?
>>741495365That and there's a lot less level interconnection than there was in dark souls 1, firelink/darkroot/blight town/new londo all connecting to valley of drakes was really cool.
>>741494836all right, bad job
>>741490192DeSu is mainly stage focused game. The next entries get more and more boss oriented, with a lot of short areas. I would say Elden Ring balances that with the open world having a lot of locations resembling DeSu in design.
