Souls-like/Souls-borne (and similar Action RPGs) thread

[SilverEars]

And people say Bloodborne is hard.

 

[SilverEars]

This is one of the funniest comments I've seen for a souls game. I could see why it has such a high viewcount.

 

[SilverEars]

This is one of the funniest comments I've seen for a souls game. I could see why it has such a high viewcount.

Oh my gawd. Their Dark Souls one is the funniest. lol. I guess the better the game, the funnier crap can happen in the game. You have to play Dark Souls to understand why watching first time players is so entertaining. There is so much crap to deal with in DS1 that you'd can emphasize. It's basically an NES era video game mindset in a modern world.

 

[SilverEars]

For those in to Souls-like genre, I like to recommend the Darksiders series. I played all 3 games in the series, and I got to say that the aesthetic and level designs are fantastic. The controls can get a little janky at times, and not as heavily RPG like Dark Souls, but Darksiders 2 and 3 has greater RPG elements than the first.

I think Fromsoft took some ideas from Darksiders series like torrent. Darksiders is the first game I've played that you can summon the hose on the fly like in Elden Ring, but this game first came out back in 2010. Visual style is quite timeless like the Souls series. Also, the voice acting is very good like the Dark Souls series.

I also notice that Darksiders has level designs like Crumbling Farum Azula from Elden Ring. I think people at Fromsoft took some ideas from the Darksiders series.

It also a dark fantasy like dark souls. I played them all in the highest difficulty setting and I recommend that for souls vets.

In contrast, if we look back at the Zelda games, we can see how the Zelda series has not aged very well. I tried play Skyward Sword recently and it looks so dull and boring. Controls are horrible due to being adapted from Wii controls. Daraksiders on the other hand aged much better.

 

[SilverEars]

Hellpoint is pretty good. Combat is janky like Dark Souls 1, but level design is out of this world. I just luv exploring in this game. Boss battles are underwhelming, but I like the weapon varieties and exploration. It's a very engaging game. When I saw the videos, it looked really bad, but playing it, it's actually pretty good. I like it better than Nioh 2 and Code Vein. I would put this game at the top souls-like right after From Soft games along side Darksiders. Other souls-likes I would put beneath. Pretty good for work done by 10 people. Much better than Nioh games.

I luv the atmosphere and the sound. Way way better than the hyped up Stray cat game. Booooring.

 

[WilliamBlake]

For me Dark souls, first chapter is one of the best game ever, I played the second and third chapters but the first is unrivaled, I wish I could play bloodborne but i use only pc,

 

[SilverEars]

For me Dark souls, first chapter is one of the best game ever, I played the second and third chapters but the first is unrivaled, I wish I could play bloodborne but i use only pc,

The first one is great for those into lore and general level design. The 3rd one excels in applying new tech in terms of controls for combat, which is why the 3rd is considered to have the best boss fights. The world is definitely better with the first one, and the way the lore is express is just awesome! DS1 is a classic like SOTN, there's a high replay value. Even more so than any Castlevania game. Souls-lieks are today's Castlevanias, but in 3D 3rd person perspective.

So awesome how the lore is expressed. People luv this game a lot and play it over and over again and don't get bored. That's a well designed game.


It's such a unique design, I guess kinda like Castlevania back in the days. You start out as an undead, which so different!

When I first played it, I hated Blight town, but it's my fav area due to being like a maze. I luv level/dungeon designs, and luv going through maze like areas. It's fun! I also like the challenges of poison swamps. Something interesting about figuring out how to get through poison areas.


I think what makes Blight town intersting is that it seems so off putting and overwhelmingly challenging when you first experience it, and then going through it after you conquer it, it feels so satisfying! Conquering Blight town feels so good!

Lately, I've been playing Pascal's Wager, which is originally a mobile game and they released it for consoles/PC as a 'Definitive edition.' I highly recommend for Souls fans. The level design is very well done, and has lots of fun secrets, and interesting upgrade system. Combat is janky, but the system kinda works. Just for the fun of exploration alone, I put as one of the top Souls-likes. Very engaging game. It has a mixed feel of Bloodborne and janky combat of Dark Souls.

 

[WilliamBlake]

The first one is great for those into lore and general level design. The 3rd one excels in applying new tech in terms of controls for combat, which is why the 3rd is considered to have the best boss fights. The world is definitely better with the first one, and the way the lore is express is just awesome! DS1 is a classic like SOTN, there's a high replay value. Even more so than any Castlevania game. Souls-lieks are today's Castlevanias, but in 3D 3rd person perspective.

So awesome how the lore is expressed. People luv this game a lot and play it over and over again and don't get bored. That's a well designed game.


It's such a unique design, I guess kinda like Castlevania back in the days. You start out as an undead, which so different!

When I first played it, I hated Blight town, but it's my fav area due to being like a maze. I luv level/dungeon designs, and luv going through maze like areas. It's fun! I also like the challenges of poison swamps. Something interesting about figuring out how to get through poison areas.


I think what makes Blight town intersting is that it seems so off putting and overwhelmingly challenging when you first experience it, and then going through it after you conquer it, it feels so satisfying! Conquering Blight town feels so good!

Lately, I've been playing Pascal's Wager, which is originally a mobile game and they released it for consoles/PC as a 'Definitive edition.' I highly recommend for Souls fans. The level design is very well done, and has lots of fun secrets, and interesting upgrade system. Combat is janky, but the system kinda works. Just for the fun of exploration alone, I put as one of the top Souls-likes. Very engaging game. It has a mixed feel of Bloodborne and janky combat of Dark Souls.

yes, as you said the first dark souls has just an incredible level design, and is mainly the reason I played again again and again, blight town is also my favourite area, just stunning when you play the first time!

 

[SilverEars]

What I learned from Dark Souls is that we have preconceived ideas of what is bad/wrong due to cultural conditioning. It's always the stuff that looks like the light is good, and dark is bad. I feel like Dark Souls showed me to become more objective in how I view things. Just because something is dark/black isn't objectively bad. Also, you shouldn't be afraid from the such prejudices. Like back in the days that people would label as witches/witchcrafts. It was of course the church that did this, and anything not like them is wrong/bad.

Dark Souls goes against cultural norms. It's not trying to look like some cutesy anime looking game, but it tries to be itself. it's not trying to please anybody or cater to the conditioning. People should throw away their cultural conditioning norms and play Dark Souls and become more objective in how they see things. lol

I hope Elden Ring hasn't changed Fromsoft. I hope they continue to make games that doesn't cater to the masses, but makes them for the sake of making innovative ideas that they feel that is how it should be done. I don't need another anime looking game.

I feel like Elden Ring changed the company to be influenced in trying to please the masses instead of making original content like Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Sekiro (which are their top 3 works).

I like the original PS3 Demon's Souls lore intro the best. I just luv the voice actress used and the way it's told. The crackling of the fire wood. Just works.

 

[WilliamBlake]

What I learned from Dark Souls is that we have preconceived ideas of what is bad/wrong due to cultural conditioning. It's always the stuff that looks like the light is good, and dark is bad. I feel like Dark Souls showed me to become more objective in how I view things. Just because something is dark/black isn't objectively bad. Also, you shouldn't be afraid from the such prejudices. Like back in the days that people would label as witches/witchcrafts. It was of course the church that did this, and anything not like them is wrong/bad.

Dark Souls goes against cultural norms. It's not trying to look like some cutesy anime looking game, but it tries to be itself. it's not trying to please anybody or cater to the conditioning. People should throw away their cultural conditioning norms and play Dark Souls and become more objective in how they see things. lol

I hope Elden Ring hasn't changed Fromsoft. I hope they continue to make games that doesn't cater to the masses, but makes them for the sake of making innovative ideas that they feel that is how it should be done. I don't need another anime looking game.

I feel like Elden Ring changed the company to be influenced in trying to please the masses instead of making original content like Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Sekiro (which are their top 3 works).

I like the original PS3 Demon's Souls lore intro the best. I just luv the voice actress used and the way it's told. The crackling of the fire wood. Just works.

I agree with you, apparently seems to be an almost plotless game, but it digs deep, is subtle.
And I hope too that the success of ER doesn't influence negatively from software, well at least I have several games that I still have to play; I really hope they will bring demon's souls and bloodborne on PC.

 

[SilverEars]

I'm currently playing Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King, and I like it. I just luv the way the visuals are designed aestitically, and the world looks amazing. Very intriguing world that makes me want to explore it. Level design is done really really well in this game. It make me want to dig into it and explore everything. Combat and enemy design isn't so good. If they improved that, this would be such a great game. Definitely better designed world wise than Zelda games. This is how Zelda should feel.

This game is definitely worth trying. It shouldn't' be rated so low. I would give it 8/10. Most of the complaints are the lack of enemy variety and not so great combat system, which are valid.

I really think that there was alot of work designing the world with it's secrets. Boss fights are pretty good despite it's weird combat system. Definitely a lot of effort went into this game.

 

[SilverEars]

Now trying Lords of the Fallen, which I didn't even consider in the past due to bad reputation, but I'm a Souls-likes person, and there's really isn't much out there.

The game looks good even after all these years, but the combat is just terrible. Anyway, I'll just play this for the exploration because that's what I like about Souls-likes and metroidvanias, the exploration through dungeons.

I'm a big fan of this gamer guy, Fighting Cowboy, and I see why he's into Souls-likes and luvs big weapons. He's a big fan of Berserk. I maybe as well, although I never read the manga. I like the dark fantasy atmosphere and going through dungeons. These kinds of games are right up my alley! I feel like I'm just like him when it comes to taste of big weapons that does massive damages! lol In terms of style, it has that brute style I like.

 

[SilverEars]

Boss battles are super telegraphed and lame. Level design gets old really fast. Only interesting part is loot and the visual aesthetics. Level design is boring as Nioh series.

 

[SilverEars]

Been playing Ashen, which is a semi indie titles like the others I've mentioned here.

Ashen is probably of the most polished of Souls-likes, but with low polygon graphics, which is it's unique style.

The game makes me rage too much. The graphics looks very friendly at first, but then when I first went inside the Amiren dungeon, the long path is pretty much impossible to get through. Probably the most difficult dungeon I've ever experience. FromSoft dungeons are very fair compared this dungeon.

I like the open world like design, and I think Elden Ring took a lot of good open world ideas from this game. Like the mapping system, and loot hiding in the towers in the open world, but this game is excellent when it comes to hiding loot. It's really fun exploring due to this.

The design is more like outside world design, not dungeon, and it does an excellent job at such design.

Some of the later level remind me of Blight town from DS1, and it's quite fun to explore. The part makes me rage is that there are ambushes setup everywhere, and losing 20k souls makes you rage hard.

Weapon and armor variety sucks through. The co-op mechanics is bad, but I play solo without the AI. It's quite different in the beginning when playing solo, but it gets easier.

I recommend this one.

This dungeon is ridiculously difficult to get through.

 

[SilverEars]

Looks like Souls-like genre is really growing, and there's much greater presence with during this fall's gamescon.

This one is currently highly anticipated