Voice acting is such high quality with FromSoft souls games. Same for the dialog. It's unusual for dialog of a Japanese game to not be corny sounding (English probably is the primary language).
Code Vein (CV) is a game in the 'souls-like' genre. The genre was created by FromSoft's Dark/Demon's Souls games.
I was searching for any good souls-like games outside FromSoft's and two I found to be closest were Nioh (2) and Code Vein. Like I've posted earlier, I've gotten bored of Nioh 2, and stopped playing. The levels and fighting mechanics got repetiative 1/4 of the way through.
I expected Code Vein to be worse, especially with first impressions, but it surprisingly turned itself around, and became engaging. The story is quite cheezy, and cut-scenes are not worth watching for the story. It's a typical jrpg cheeziness. Also, the character art style is far from Dark Souls style. Characters are of anime style, and very weeby. Art style is totally for weebs.
I don't mind the art style, it looks well rendered and looks stylish. I wish they put some effort into the story and dialog.
However, I do find the gameplay attribute, level-up system, character skills system to be pretty good. I usually don't dig into such aspect unless the game is difficult, and this game is very difficult if playing solo. I would say it's a more difficult game than souls-borne series, particularly the bosses. Majority of the bosses in Souls-borne games are walk in the park.
But, this game's level design and general design is not as well polished as the souls-borne series. Gameplay mechanics in souls-borne game are much better.
Still, I think this game has some interesting elements, and some bosses are addictively difficult that I want to fight over and over again. It causes me to dig deeper into optimizing the character equipment and skills to beat these bosses. So far, it's more engaging game than Nioh 2.
Early levels are quite dull, but the levels do get better after the initial set. I hope the game doesn't get worse, but better.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - Terrible, terrible, terrible game! Puzzles are stupid and repetitive! There is no hud? Game is so pretentious! This game is the biggest mistake reviewers made in giving it a high rating. This game is nothing special.
The Ascent - I'm having fun with this game. The loot is not as in depth like Diablo, although people say it's Diablo with guns. It's fun just blasting everything with guns in isometric perspective. More fun than first person because you can see everything. Something about the gameplay that's rough around the edges. I wish there was more depth to it, and more balanced out. Visuals is the best part, luv the cyberpunk visuals!
I found her playthrough of Dark Souls really entertaining. She runs into same pitfall's I have when I first played it, but I think she makes some smarter decisions than I did. Overall, she played better than I did my first time. She had no trouble with Bloodborne, but I think this game really got on her nerves. lol. It makes me think Dark Souls is harder than Bloodborne. It's fun watching her reactions to a lot of the obstacles. I found her reaction to her first illusionary wall just priceless. lol.
If a game makes other people's playthrough entertaining to watch, the game was an EXPERIENCE. I think it's more entertaining to watch Dark Souls newbie playthroughs than Bloodborne, because of the way it's setup for failure. Bloodborne is much easier to get adjusted to.
Excellent quote from one of the commenters of her videos:
"You are doing so well but you should be less afraid and more curious and adventurous in order to have fun and not miss anything. You found that bonfire out of curiosity only otherwise you would have kept suffering."
^Curiosity gives you an advantage in this game, and fear makes you reluctant to explore, and not good for you. With curiosity, you take risks, and risks reaps high rewards in this game. Dark Souls is more than the typical. There's philosophy in it as well.
Hades is certainly an experience. One of the best games I have ever played for sure. I already got all the achievements and I’m working on 100%-ing it completely, as well as doing some speedruns. The game is fun, challenging, hilarious, goofy, well written, easy to get into, and with ample depth. Nothing but praise here. Except poison. Screw poison.
As for Dark Souls 3, this is my first Dark Souls game. I’m only playing it on stream, so haven’t touched it in a couple of weeks when I was sick, but it’s hilarious fun sometimes.
Hades is certainly an experience. One of the best games I have ever played for sure. I already got all the achievements and I’m working on 100%-ing it completely, as well as doing some speedruns. The game is fun, challenging, hilarious, goofy, well written, easy to get into, and with ample depth. Nothing but praise here. Except poison. Screw poison.
As for Dark Souls 3, this is my first Dark Souls game. I’m only playing it on stream, so haven’t touched it in a couple of weeks when I was sick, but it’s hilarious fun sometimes.
To get you introduced to the Souls series I think Dark Souls 3 or Bloodborne are solid choices to start out with. Although, I would go as far as to recommend Bloodborne over DS3 as the first game. Because I think it's the easiest and the game people with no souls experience start out with (And they seem to ease into the game and get them into the Souls series.).
I would go in this order.
BB
DS3
DS1
DS2
Sekiro
BB and DS3 is good way to ease you into the series, and then at some point Sekiro would be the hardest challenge if up for it. Bosses are quite tough.
Also, Demon's Souls remake on PS5 is quite the treat visually, and I actually like world design of the game better than other DS games, but not as abundant of interestting boss designs. DS3 has the best and most interesting boss designs. DS1 has the best reputation for world design.
Personally, I like the weapon mechanics of Demon's Souls and DS2.
Etrian Odyssey games generally are the ‘evolved’ version of PC RPGs from the eighties and nineties (although nineties started going ‘more 3D’ with Ultima Underworld, vs the straight dungeon ‘blobbers’ such as Might and Magic (series), Eye of the Beholder (series) etc.. )
Whilst Etrian Odyssey is a Nintendo handheld affair ONLY (useful using the touch screen to map the dungeon as you play along..), a great game, although ‘not quite as tight’, would go to Labyrinth of Refrain: Dusk Witch (Dronya).
Labyrinth of Refrain is what happens when a blobber gets a budget. We have cut scenes and ‘voice acting’, albeit the story is shoehorned in haphazardly with the dungeon runs, the notion of one of these ancient cRPGs being done with ‘a budget’ is awesome. (PC/Switch and maybe more…)
Labyrinth of Refrain is a solid ‘high’ 8 score.. eg 8.8 or 8.7. I am being generous as the Etrian Odyssey games surely are not (all) 9s, and Labyrinth of Refrain is a drop in ‘game tightness’, which ultimately is what is so rewarding about these games in the first place.
(anyone can make a game with ‘all over the place’ balance, such as Might and Magic X, which ultimately hurts gameplay and longevity, vs say ‘Etrian’ series of games)
For the family, right now, it is Planet Coaster. I literally remote play (a playstation) onto an ipad/tablet so I can sit on couch beside partner and ‘play as well’.
Planet Coaster is a 9. (even supports keyboard and mouse controls on ‘the consoles’) Is next months PSPlus game too, so ‘bonus’!!
Planet Coaster is Roller Coaster Tycoon without the ‘tycoon’ in the title (and sans waterslides as given later RCT games). This game is addictive and I have never seen my partner lose so much of anyday/everyday to a game. Even Skyrim didn’t pull her in this much to gaming… (it was the start of the hobby that has gone through phases from Mario Kart to Animal Crossing and ultimately now comes shopping with me to the game store).
My goto game is Returnal (rogue game (my fave genre outside of ‘great RPGs’), and whilst Hades has the art and fun aesthetic, Returnal does ‘scary’ and ‘bullet hell’ with a budget. Unique and something that Rogue gamers like myself have probably always wanted to see (a rogue game with incredible graphics and sound, and 10/10 gameplay)..
Tetris (the trippy one with the incredible music and graphics) has been a nice update…. (easy to fire up for a quick play whilst waiting for family to ‘get to the couch for family TV time’..)
If my PC was setup and connected, my daily Battlefield 1 expedition would be prefaced with Ziggurat. Ziggurat is the perfect ‘warm up’ for online shooters and fast paced gaming.
Ziggurat deserves more love that it receives. It is one of gamings ‘perfect’ expeditions. Know what you want to do and do it better than anyone else before; Ziggurat is a shooter than knows how to have fun and ‘acknowledges’ its source materials’. (must buy)
My Fav Dark Souls weapon, and I don't know why I didn't try it with DS3. I think I went with Lothric Knight Sword and claymore. Greatsword feels so right with Dark Souls games. I luv the way the sword snaps back up for a 2nd hit after hitting downward (while 2 handed).
Also, I've been playing The Surge 2, and having a blast. I think this game is real fun. This is what Cyberpunk 2077 should have been like. Gameplay and RPG elements are much much better than Cyberpunk 2077. Deck 13 should have gotten the budget that CD projekt Red gotten, and they would have done much much better job.
This is game is considered Souls-like, but quite different from Dark Souls. Gameplay is quite engaging, and I like how they do the shortcuts. Shortcuts make so much sense in this game.
To get you introduced to the Souls series I think Dark Souls 3 or Bloodborne are solid choices to start out with. Although, I would go as far as to recommend Bloodborne over DS3 as the first game. Because I think it's the easiest and the game people with no souls experience start out with (And they seem to ease into the game and get them into the Souls series.).
I would go in this order.
BB
DS3
DS1
DS2
Sekiro
BB and DS3 is good way to ease you into the series, and then at some point Sekiro would be the hardest challenge if up for it. Bosses are quite tough.
Also, Demon's Souls remake on PS5 is quite the treat visually, and I actually like world design of the game better than other DS games, but not as abundant of interestting boss designs. DS3 has the best and most interesting boss designs. DS1 has the best reputation for world design.
Personally, I like the weapon mechanics of Demon's Souls and DS2.
I do not own a PlayStation console, so playing on the PC, DS3 seemed like the perfect choice. I plan on playing DS1, DS2 and then Sekiro later, possibly venturing into other “souls-like” games like Ni-Oh if the audience likes it on my stream
I do not own a PlayStation console, so playing on the PC, DS3 seemed like the perfect choice. I plan on playing DS1, DS2 and then Sekiro later, possibly venturing into other “souls-like” games like Ni-Oh if the audience likes it on my stream
From what I see, if you are a good looking gal that over-reacts to FromSofts Soulsborne games, you can get a lot of views from streams/videos. Soulsborne games are perfect candidates for gameplay video entertainment because all the interesting pitfalls players can run into, and people that has experienced those games luv to see how others react. Veteran of those games like t o watch others play because watching newbs play makes it feels like playing the game for the first time again. Playing it the first time blindly is the highest experience you can attain. Once the game is predictable, it loses it's charm IMO.
I think Soulsborne games are most popular to watch people play. I've noticed that people like to see females play Soulsborne becuase of their reactions and it's probably less common, particularly very newbie types are the most fun to watch. Watching their skill progress is interesting and then it becomes kinda gets dull once they progress to the a good level. So, watching a skilled player isn't entertaining.
Soulsborne games are akin to watching people go through obstacle courses on TV. These reaction videos are effective if the game evokes high emotions of the player with great challenges, etc.. Otherwise, people would not be interested to see people play some simple 3rd person shooter. The viewer has to be able to emphasize with the player. They are expecting to see the struggle they went through. It's akin to army comrades understanding each other from same tough experiences. This only arrises from challenging things. Simple things do not do anything to a person.
Hades is certainly an experience. One of the best games I have ever played for sure. I already got all the achievements and I’m working on 100%-ing it completely, as well as doing some speedruns. The game is fun, challenging, hilarious, goofy, well written, easy to get into, and with ample depth. Nothing but praise here. Except poison. Screw poison.
As for Dark Souls 3, this is my first Dark Souls game. I’m only playing it on stream, so haven’t touched it in a couple of weeks when I was sick, but it’s hilarious fun sometimes.
I can't stop playing Hades. It's just so good, the writing is great but even when you've gotten through all the storylines, the combat is so diverse and visceral. Supergiant doesn't make bad games. Ever. And yes, screw poison... I take so much pleasure deflecting Satyr attacks back at them, the little bastards.
I've been trying to pick back up Metroid Dread and Ender Lilies, both of which are simply fantastic games, but the whole appeal of Hades is that you can run through it in less than 20 minutes sometimes, whereas I've been ten hours or so into both of those Metroidvania/2D Soulslikes for some time now.
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