Pixel Critique writes: Dark Souls has been described as one of the most “pure” gaming experiences available. For some time, I took that to mean that it was a return to the roots that gaming was established on, and cut down on the fluff that has cluttered certain aspects of the medium since then. In a way, that’s true. But, in a much more serious way, describing Dark Souls as a pure experience effectively conveys its kindred resemblance to a pure narcotic, and the way that accepting it into your life can send your pleasure center into a downward, narrow spiral.
"Dark Souls: Archthrones is like playing a brand new FromSoftware game, and that speaks volumes about just how much good modding can do," says Hanzala from eXputer.
Parrying has been creeping into more games, with almost every high-profile title of the last few years featuring it in some way. Why?
i understand the authors frustration i'm not the best at parrying in games. not that i can't complete a game that requires it but it is a definite harder thing for me than other kinds of techniques in games. which might be the main reason it's so heavily added in games nowadays. want to make your game challenging without having to do a lot of work? just add a parry boss. (what i mean by parry boss is a boss you have to beat by parrying such that their attacks will kill you otherwise)
I always think it's fine as long as such games also have the roll/dodge panic button. But I understand the will to parry, it seems so cinematic in a fight when you pull it off.
Dark Souls 2 remains a divisive entry in the landmark RPG franchise, but Hidetaka Miyazaki believes it led to the success of Elden Ring.
DS2 was fine. While there was a bit of recycling assets or ideas for bosses, it was a bigger more open Dark Souls. The Fume knight boss is one of the hardest bosses in the series until Sekiro and Elden Ring were released.
The problem with Dark Souls 2 was the same problem when a different director takes over for a sequel to an outstanding movie. It typically (there are exceptions) doesn’t have the feel and vision of the previous movie.
I wouldn’t say Dark Souls 2 is terrible. Had Dark Souls 1 never been a thing and we got this, I think it would have been praised more. The problem is it didn’t have the Miyazaki touch to it and felt pretty derivative. The soundtrack is a banger though.
And it will happen in the future when he doesn’t touch them as he is planning on.
I like DS 2, might even be my favorite of the 3. But it's a hard sell, there's so many obscure things you need to do to make it an enjoyable experience. So always find it hard to recommend, but it is worth the trouble.
I'm going through something similar myself.
It's such a unique game that, if you dig it, there's really nothing else that can fill the void.
Except for Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 2 I suppose...
I Adore the Souls series, Ive put thousands of hours into it already and it really is hard to not compare other games to it, it's spectacular and gives you a sense of accomplishment like few other games.
Literally 90% of ppl that enjoy the series say this (myself included)
I read articles like this and feel like everyone is speaking a different language than me.
I remember like 3 or 4 years ago when Demon Souls was coming out and it seemed like everyone was enamored with the concept that the game was hard. It got to such a point where every article, forum post or reply in reference to the game was "This game is seriously the hardest game to ever exist. Only true gamers can handle it and trust me you will need some backup underwear and the lights turned on at all times as you cry out for your mother!" Looking back it was quite successful in terms of "viral marketing", since I had to see why this game was so hard.
However, even after getting the platinum, I still fail to see what makes this series so great that it ruins all other gaming experiences. I mean, at its core, the Soul games are not hard, just challenging. Most of the games difficulty stems from simply learning from your mistakes. This isn't unlike a number of other games, though it does relate to a lot of the hypocrisy* you see in the game media.
Anyway, while people praise the games harshness, I've always found the esoteric nature to be tiring and at times tedious. In fact, when I lost my save (locked and PS3 YLODed) I was forced to restart. Even though it had been roughly 2 years since I played the game, I marveled at how easy the game was. Having died to that level so many times in the past, I remembered practically every trick / trap and was able to beat the first stage on my first try. I suppose maybe this is the thing that people really love about the Souls games. The fact that it's challenging and can seem impossible, though it's entirely possible for anyone with enough patience to finish the game.
Hard to say, but I am sure I'll get a bunch of disagrees because I don't like the game and it's amazing.
* Spelunker HD features a lot of the elements Demon / Dark Souls was praised for, but those same elements were typically held against the game and resulted in it getting a 54 on Metacritic ( http://www.metacritic.com/g... ) with many reviews in the 2 - 4 range.
The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls ruined me because to me, there is nothing better or quite like those two games.