Dan takes a stroll through some of the more memorable and engaging yarns in gaming and picks his favourites.
Dark Souls and its antecedent, Demon's Souls, changed the gaming industry, but some games came away with the wrong lesson.
I’m not at all saying the souls like games are bad. The fans speak to how good the games are, but those games just bore me to tears. It’s just combat combat combat. I know the worlds are interesting and there is lore if you search for it, but there just aren’t enough lulls in all the fighting to enjoy any of the art and lore. Wish there were more story elements.
Are you saying people can't have a preference towards story-driven games?
My wife is, frankly, not very coordinated, and that's a big reason she gravitates towards easier gameplay and more story.
And having many people (gamers) who have many different preferences and opinions is very good for the gaming industry.
You don't have to understand, but you certainly should be thankful and respectful, because diverse interests bring variety. That's a great thing to have for anyone who loves games.
I’ll try to explain. Not everyone wants to only do combat for 50 hours. Lack of combat doesn’t mean boring to some people. I never said I didn’t want there to be combat, but when there is a beautiful intricate open world with lore it would be nice to have the time to explore it and have some down time. In the souls games there is very little in the way of narrative, cutscenes, or exploration other than just finding the next boss. Too much of any one element can be boring. Sorry if that is too big of a concept for you.
"I never said I didn’t want there to be combat, but when there is a beautiful intricate open world with lore it would be nice to have the time to explore it and have some down time. In the souls games there is very little in the way of narrative, cutscenes, or exploration other than just finding the next boss."
These games are quite well known for their lore and narrative, it just isn't spoon fed to you. I really appreciate that the games aren't out to insult your intelligence and trusts you to read item descriptions, explore locations, meet NPCs, and put the pieces together. The macro level narrative is easy enough to understand, but it's when you want that granular understanding of the lore that you need to explore, talk to people, find items, play the DLC, etc etc. It often invites multiple playthroughs. It's one of the unique qualities about these games where you don't have to learn what happened/what's happening in detail, but it's a lot of fun. Reminds me of reading the diary entries in Resident Evil titles.
Yes, there's a ton of combat (who would've thought in a broken world of miserable vagabonds and corrupt abominations, am I right?) but they do a great job of varying it: you can play defensively, aggressively, evasively, from a distance (bows, spells, pyromancies), with various weapons, and any combinations thereof while incorporating secondary weapon effects like elements, toxicity/poison, bleeding effects. The combat isn't stagnant. If you find it boring, you might not be exploring your possibilities very well.
"Too much of any one element can be boring. Sorry if that is too big of a concept for you."
You don't have to be condescending about it. I don't take issue with you not liking these games or finding them boring, but I also think your take is a bit myopic.
That's what people love about it. It's all about the Gameplay, challenge, world building. What more do you want from a game.
I though Gameplay was one of if not the most important aspect of a game? What's your idea of a better souls like game then?
"What's your idea of a better souls like game then?"
World building isn't the only element of story that people care about. That user said, "more story elements (plot, characterization, story growth, etc) and less combat."
It's perfectly healthy for people to express why they don't like From Software games, because a new dev might create a new, amazing game that bridges those dislikes into the genre for something new.
It's also great that you love all the aspects that Souls have brought to the gaming industry. Enjoy what you enjoy and let others do the same.
Some people prefer games where you spend more time watching than playing, and that's okay. Everyone doesn't have to have the same tastes.
Are CBR so desperate to generate clicks to their articles that they've got obviously spam accounts leaving random positive comments? sakshi97978 & arpitachowdhary9797 in case they've been marked as spam by the time you see this comment.
I thought I was the only one that noticed the spammish nature of those accounts. Glad to see I wasn't the only one
Thanks to their innovative approach to gaming, RPGs like Dark Souls, Final Fantasy VII, and Dragon Quest left a significant impact on the genre.
GF365: "Exceptionally powerful enemies in games are almost always more difficult to defeat than ordinary enemies. But there are instances where these supposedly powerful foes turn out to be just pushovers. These are some of the easiest boss fights in games that aren't easy."
Patches is 'dim-witted'? I don't know about that. That's what he wants you to think maybe.
I don't remember TW3 bosses being easy but I played it on Death March and a crippled peasant armed with a broken twig could one hit kill you.
I feel that Dark Souls never gets enough praise beyond the fact that it's an actual challenge. To the point where you just end up super frustrated. It's a little unfair really. I'd like to address that by stating that YES. It has a plot to it. Yes there's more to a story than cut scenes and dialogue.
There's a deep world there - but it's up to you to see it.
Okami
MGS3
Conker
Beyond good & Evil
....
Bioshock, The Darkness, Alan Wake, Assassin's Creed 2, Heavy Rain, TWD Telltale (I really loved it).
That's it?
No Deus Ex
No KOTOR
No Spec Ops the line
No Red Dead Redemption
No Warcraft 3
No Ico
Not to mention the others. This is more of a random list then a top list.
GTA San Andreas
Uncharted 2
inFamous 2
God if War 3
Jak 2
^ Those are 5 games that had stories that I genuinely liked.
This latest Generation has given us some well fleshed out stories. It's only going to get better.