On flip side I guess Darksiders 3 is really zoomed in?
I can see the problems with both and more camera options is always best.
In other news, I saw a friend was playing through Dark Souls 2 and people had compared Ashen to DS2 so I suddenly had the itch.
Wow my skills have devolved. It's gotten so bad I've died to the Pursuer twice and I imagine it'll take a bit more to relearn it not helped by the different controls in Nioh.
But it's kind of nice to show that the slower speed souls games can be just as difficult as the fast paced murderfests.
What tends to be the most favored souls game? Dark Souls 3 is the only one I ever made a lot of progress in. I actually thought I might finish it but got sidetracked. Reading through this thread for me wanting to play one - and I have all three - but I want to start fresh. What do you guys think: 1, 2, or 3?
I had been thinking of grabbing Ashen but figured I own 3 unfinished Dark Souls, so I should play those first.
What tends to be the most favored souls game? Dark Souls 3 is the only one I ever made a lot of progress in. I actually thought I might finish it but got sidetracked. Reading through this thread for me wanting to play one - and I have all three - but I want to start fresh. What do you guys think: 1, 2, or 3?
I had been thinking of grabbing Ashen but figured I own 3 unfinished Dark Souls, so I should play those first.
Honestly, all of them are strong. Start with 1 just because it has stuff that the latter games improve on, while still absolutely being worth playing.
2 and 3 both diverge from 1 in different ways. 2 is more different from 1, while 3 is pretty much just a straight speed-up and refinement of 1's style.
What tends to be the most favored souls game? Dark Souls 3 is the only one I ever made a lot of progress in. I actually thought I might finish it but got sidetracked. Reading through this thread for me wanting to play one - and I have all three - but I want to start fresh. What do you guys think: 1, 2, or 3?
I had been thinking of grabbing Ashen but figured I own 3 unfinished Dark Souls, so I should play those first.
Honestly, all of them are strong. Start with 1 just because it has stuff that the latter games improve on, while still absolutely being worth playing.
2 and 3 both diverge from 1 in different ways. 2 is more different from 1, while 3 is pretty much just a straight speed-up and refinement of 1's style.
Of the three, which do you think has the most atmospheric world? I was really pulled into the level design of 3 and felt super immersed. I'd have felt even more so, I'm sure, had I played far enough in 1 (I think) where there is an area that is shared between the two games.
What tends to be the most favored souls game? Dark Souls 3 is the only one I ever made a lot of progress in. I actually thought I might finish it but got sidetracked. Reading through this thread for me wanting to play one - and I have all three - but I want to start fresh. What do you guys think: 1, 2, or 3?
I had been thinking of grabbing Ashen but figured I own 3 unfinished Dark Souls, so I should play those first.
Honestly, all of them are strong. Start with 1 just because it has stuff that the latter games improve on, while still absolutely being worth playing.
2 and 3 both diverge from 1 in different ways. 2 is more different from 1, while 3 is pretty much just a straight speed-up and refinement of 1's style.
Of the three, which do you think has the most atmospheric world? I was really pulled into the level design of 3 and felt super immersed. I'd have felt even more so, I'm sure, had I played far enough in 1 (I think) where there is an area that is shared between the two games.
They're all strong on that front, though DS2's environmental consistency gets questioned sometimes. DS1 and DS3 are much more directly connected than DS2 is to either, so if you enjoyed DS3 I'd definitely go to DS1. DS3 is a direct sequel to DS1, with locations and the specifics of the plot directly linked, where DS2 is happening somewhere else (maybe) with different but related lore and no repeat characters.
Edit: To answer your question directly, I'd say 1=2>3, but I'd not dare to say my opinion's the popular one. I expect most people would say 1 hands down.
Dark Souls 2 Scholar is the best souls game. Just what it does with Majula in having a home base that you enjoy coming back to and filling out is good, and its story is the coolest of all of them.
I DO love filling out a home base with goodies, I won't lie. I don't know anything about any of the DLC for any of the games since I never made it that far, but that sounds up my alley.
Dark Souls 2 Scholar is the best souls game. Just what it does with Majula in having a home base that you enjoy coming back to and filling out is good, and its story is the coolest of all of them.
DS2 proponents unite! There are dozens of us, dozens!
Just make sure you level your adaptability (to 20?)
Dark Souls 2 Scholar is the best souls game. Just what it does with Majula in having a home base that you enjoy coming back to and filling out is good, and its story is the coolest of all of them.
Majula is the most hopeful place in any of the Souls games. It's just this little bubble of peace.
I have a single complaint about the Scholar edition, and that is the one knight they added on the stairs up to the dragon platform in Heide's tower. I don't know why - he's absolutely nothing special - but that guy has killed me an embarrassing number of times.
I get some of the criticism of DS2, particularly the way some of the areas are connected, but it's overshadowed by the good times I've had sunbroing and fending off invaders. And the DLC is brilliant.
2 had the best core gameplay to me. 3 was too linear which meant that half the possible builds you could pursue didn’t really come online until the game was mostly over and until then there was little reason not to just straight sword forever. The game tried to borrow from the frenetic pacing of Bloodborne without any of the mechanics that made that work.
I enjoy Dark Souls 1 and 2 a lot for different reasons, but Dark Souls 3 disappointed me on almost every level.
Dark Souls 2 Scholar is the best souls game. Just what it does with Majula in having a home base that you enjoy coming back to and filling out is good, and its story is the coolest of all of them.
Majula is the most hopeful place in any of the Souls games. It's just this little bubble of peace.
I have a single complaint about the Scholar edition, and that is the one knight they added on the stairs up to the dragon platform in Heide's tower. I don't know why - he's absolutely nothing special - but that guy has killed me an embarrassing number of times.
I get some of the criticism of DS2, particularly the way some of the areas are connected, but it's overshadowed by the good times I've had sunbroing and fending off invaders. And the DLC is brilliant.
He's the only one using a spear and it's a completely different moveset than what you've been getting used to with all the sword guys leading up to him.
Dark Souls 2 Scholar is the best souls game. Just what it does with Majula in having a home base that you enjoy coming back to and filling out is good, and its story is the coolest of all of them.
Majula is the most hopeful place in any of the Souls games. It's just this little bubble of peace.
I have a single complaint about the Scholar edition, and that is the one knight they added on the stairs up to the dragon platform in Heide's tower. I don't know why - he's absolutely nothing special - but that guy has killed me an embarrassing number of times.
I get some of the criticism of DS2, particularly the way some of the areas are connected, but it's overshadowed by the good times I've had sunbroing and fending off invaders. And the DLC is brilliant.
He's the only one using a spear and it's a completely different moveset than what you've been getting used to with all the sword guys leading up to him.
I am absolutely going to steal this excuse for later. Thank you for salvaging the remaining shreds of my ego.
In more Souls-like news, my Nioh glory grind is finally over. I found a mission in the first DLC area that was just absolutely full of phantoms to resurrect.
I need to do some serious sunbroing to build up my levels. I'm at 115-ish and the DLC is harsh. FUN, mind you, I'm not complaining, but I'm having to burn sloth talismans on some of the new yokai and that feels a little like cheating.
Yeah I would do just a stupid amount of sunbroing and get a nice amount of glory.
But the big boost was from Clan Battles, especially if you were high rank in a small clan, you'd get a silly amount of glory even if you were on the losing side.
Yup, you can unlock skins of other characters for Glory (a currency you get from defeating revenants/pvping/sun broing/participating in clan battles).
Armor is no longer visible but small price to pay in order to be my waifu.
Only bad part is you don't unlock this option till about half way through the game and the female skins are ridiculously expensive compared to the males. Talking 6-10k for lots of guys where all the women start at 70k.
Yup, you can unlock skins of other characters for Glory (a currency you get from defeating revenants/pvping/sun broing/participating in clan battles).
Armor is no longer visible but small price to pay in order to be my waifu.
Only bad part is you don't unlock this option till about half way through the game and the female skins are ridiculously expensive compared to the males. Talking 6-10k for lots of guys where all the women start at 70k.
To follow up on this a bit for anyone who might be interested. I don't actually know how much glory you get for clan battles, but glory for being summoned for co-op play seemed to be about 1000-1500 glory presuming that you fight a boss with your partner and win. Revenants are the gravestones of players that you can see in your game, you can summon them and fight them and you get anywhere from about 60 to 200 glory depending on their level versus yours. It took quite a while to get 70000 glory. I found a side mission that would always have at least a dozen graves lying around right at the zone-in point and did that for a while. Also got a ton of equipment to break down for forging components, which was nice.
Some of the cheaper skins seem like they would be fun for co-op, since there are skins of some of the enemy models etc.
So for Clan Battles glory gained it seems to depend on two things: if you're on the winning side and how highly ranked you are in your clan.
Winning will net you an extra 10k or more glory while losing will generate a paltry 2k or something low like that. However, both sides will get a percentage discount on the glory store thus making things much more affordable. I think I had a 5-6% discount but seeing the female characters are 70k that is a few thousand glory shaved off.
Your rank in your clan seems to net far more as the small clan I was in and my constant sunbroing saw me ranked 4th in my clan which ended up netting like 60k glory once the battle had finished.
While you still will primarily do coop for glory (no idea how much pvp nets you) the clan battle can be that nice big push to get you to the higher costs/allow you to buy lots of emotes, items, or equipment.
Bleh. Sounds like too many hoops for something that should just be at the start of the game if they're gonna do it.
I've got plenty of soulslikes at least.
If Nioh has a fault, it’s that nobody said “hey, we have a few too many systems here and could probably drop a couple of them without anyone noticing.”
That’s kind of a Koei/Tecmo thing, though. My favorite example of that is from their “Nights of Azure” RPG, which is basically a goofy-but-ever-so-dramatic fan service game that inexplicably has a ship cargo trading simulator side game that you unlock at some point.
I was thinking about trying to decide my order for the Soulslikes, including actual Fromsoft games, but realized it would be inaccurate no matter because of the different metrics to consider. So I'll just ramble instead.
DS1 devoured my life for a long time--months and months--once I finally sat down with a controller instead of trying it KBAM and bouncing off before Taurus. I'd never played a single-player game like that before. But the back end of the game is crap and the gameplay is tied with DeS for worst.
DS2 has the most hours from me, as far as I know, and may be my favorite, but I liked it the least on my first time through of nearly any of them. It was a huge disappointment and frustration on my first play through. Story is great, characters are great, and Majula theme is 'Dark Souls music' in my head. Though I played it the first time through with SotFS; vanilla must have been much worse, since the DLC carries so much of the weight there. The roll animation is sad.
I'm not big on the story of DS3, and none of the zones really awed me, but I love the speed and weapon arts and various QoL and system changes it made. In a sense, it's the best of the trilogy, and it's certainly got a lot of time from me. Maybe more than DS2--I played a ton of it on a pirated copy before I bought it, so my steam numbers aren't reliable.
Nioh awed me at first touch, but the loot grind system, the repetitive environments and enemies, and the dependence on weird tricks and skill spam made me lose a lot of interest in the latter half. Maybe when I get back into it something will click like with DS2, though. There's something there, I think.
I played DeS after all the Dark Souls games, but it was still quite solid. Relatively jank and simple, but really good. I think I like the setting and story more than DS1/3. Almost every boss is a gimmick fight, though, which was disappointing.
Lords of the Fallen is sllllllllooooooooooow. Like, you move physically slow and also enemies take too long to die unless you spam running attacks with a big weapon. And the plot is crap. It's better than it sounds, but I can't see myself replaying it.
The Surge also has sort of weird movement, but doesn't feel weird because you're strapped into a weird shambling exoskeleton. The plot is a huge improvement over LotF, but the environments feel impossibly samey to the point it's disorienting. It has it's own stuff, while still being a quality product and very Soulslike. Arguably the best non-From Soulslike for that reason. Needs more bosses and more enemy variety, though. Like most Soulslikes.
Ashen feels kind of like Dragon's Dogma at times, but it's definitely a Soulslike. I like that it's very much a Souls story with the light and dark epic cycle stuff, but toned differently. The characters are neat, and I like the village building/relationship quests thing. Weapons are boring as sin, build variety is nonexistent, and some areas are a drag with 5 billion enemies that aren't particularly interesting to fight. I'd say it's a really good game, but it won't pull hundreds of hours from me; what would I even be doing different on a replay? I'd be really excited to see more from these guys.
I don't have a PS4, but eyeballing it and spoiling it, let's just assume Bloodborne is my favorite in story and gameplay. I might try the PS4 streaming service to play it soon. I kind of hate the thought of my ability to play it being gated by a sub, though, so I'm thinking of getting a PS4 soon instead. That's $300 for one game, though....Two, maybe, since I'll pick of GoW2018 if I do.
I guess I'll also talk about the Souls-flavored Metroidvanias.
Salt & Sanctuary was fun the first time through, but the art was a turn-off and weapons didn't feel interesting enough to warrant another playthrough. I literally don't remember the plot and when I think about the platforming sections I still get irrationally mad.
Dead Cells feels great, but it won't finish so I can't do much more than poke it from time to time. I wonder if it has or will have any story worth caring about. HAving to change weapons isn't really my thing, but using custom game mode to manipulate my game doesn't feel honest to the challenge. Anyway, I don't want to burn myself out on an incomplete build, so I'll at least wait until a final boss that's THE final boss is in.
Hollow Knight is the best Metroidvania that exists, probably. Maybe not the best for its time, but it's feels like the culmination of everything before it. Everything about it is incredible, from story to design to fights. I doubt I'll replay it when I finish it, except maybe some time years later, since build variety is nothing, but what a ride. I still like the Dark Souls games better, though.
I feel 2D Soulslike is an underrepresented field but a nice 2.5D one is Pharaonic. Not the longest, or the best, but goes all in on its setting and has some fun mechanics.
I did a lengthy review back when I beat it and it's currently a steal on Steam at $3.74
Had a good time with this game. It's a side scroller Dark Souls game with an Egyptian theme.
The main draw is the combat, which is slow but deliberate as you balance your stamina between attacking, dodging, blocking, parrying and recovery. The only tricky part is sometimes getting hit during a dodge due to not quite figuring out the iframes. The game can throw a bunch of enemies at you and have some checkpoints that you must clear all enemies to proceed but the tougher ones are usually optional for gear you won't acquire otherwise. Being 2D, the enemies you have to worry about are naturally the ones right next to you, but some enemies have ranged weapons or spears to keep things interesting and sometimes there is a trap present in the arena. While a number of enemies can be tough there moves are all very readable, including special moves that cannot be dodged (blue trail) or blocked (red trail), so it becomes a game of pattern recognition. Due to lacking a visceral attack I didn't find parrying all that useful as only some enemies would not just bounce off my shield that I would dodge instead.
Equipment is divided into heavy and light variants, be the nimble rogue dodging in and landing a few cuts or the mighty warrior brandishing a large mace to crush your enemies or a mix of both. The gear is mostly reflected in defense, weight (a penalty to your maximum stamina), and swiftness, making a light equipment character much more nimble but fragile than a slow warrior. There are also powerful rings you can buy or find but the main draw is the use of your backpack. Backpacks come in offensive and support variants where offensive lets you be sort of a mage while support gives you buffs and tends to be more melee focused. While you can't master everything, I decided to go full heavy armor, heavy weapons, great shields, and support backpacks but had enough points to put into Light Weapons when I wanted to change tactics. There is a nice variety of weapons from daggers and swords to maces and spears and each has their own moveset consisting of light and strong attacks though most combos are no more than 2-4 moves in part due to limited stamina. Gear comes in tiers and even if you don't have the right level you'll be able to equip it, but you will take a penalty to stamina or speed while using it. On the other hand, if you like a lower tier weapon you can keep using it as you'll actually get a stamina bonus but it was usually best to have the latest and greatest.
Overally I think the game came to about 10-12 hours? The game is pretty linear as the one time I did jump ahead in areas, it suddenly became a huge grind due to being underleveled (once you hit the experience threshold you immediately gain max health, stamina, and mana) and my gear was not up to par. The story is pretty straight forward stuff, not horrendous, but nothing to really write home about though there are multiple endings. There is some fun references to other video games as well and it has a nice bit of humor to it which I always enjoy.
I need more games like I need a hole in my head, but that IS a reasonable price and they even make a Mac version so dang.
Playing as Tome in Nioh is really fun. I don’t think there’s actually any difference in how the combat works, but it turns out that being physically smaller (and not, you know, visibly armored) changes the sensation of the game. Worth the glory grind.
Forging and reforming continues to be overly confusing. I had a hat with Enemy Sense in it and I’d like to get that on my latest hat as well but I have sunk a ton of money into reforging traits without seeing that one come up and I’m not sure I actually can get it.
Nioh wasn't even on my radar and I'd never looked at it, but I watched a little of the intro parts after seeing it mentioned here and it definitely got me a little interested, though Kamar's post earlier made me a little less interested.
Nioh definitely has MMO item loot (I thought of it more like Borderlands, but it can feel silly finding/grafting repeats of a legendary sword, etc.) and other systems that I can see driving people off. But man I just had too much of a blast with it.
Also yeah I'm not sure what it is about Tome that makes her so fun (other being a rad lady smith out kicking ass). She does move faster due to her smaller model but I'm not sure that translates into an Oddjob height advantage for avoiding enemies.
I need more games like I need a hole in my head, but that IS a reasonable price and they even make a Mac version so dang.
My discovery queue also spat out Void Memory for $5 which seems to be another positiviely reviewed 2D Soulslike but I have not had the pleasure of playing it.
Edit: Though reading the description it appears to be pretty boiler plate Souls setting. At least Pharaonic puts you in vibrant Egypt.
The Nioh loot gets a lot more reasonable when you have the smithing books and are just making your own stuff and turning anything you loot into raw materials. I do a four piece Red Dragon Armor/four piece Warrior of the West combo so I get two different set bonuses, and having the books means that I can always make pieces of both sets to my current level so it doesn’t matter what I loot.
Accessories are a bit of a mixed bag because I almost always want Kodama sense on one and Treasure sense on the other if I can manage it. Sometimes I’m using level 150 armor and weapons and level 100ish accessories so I can get those effects.
I also have The Surge waiting for me when I get around to it. Ironically I am actually very bad at hard games, I’ve just developed an awful lot of patience.
The Nioh loot gets a lot more reasonable when you have the smithing books and are just making your own stuff and turning anything you loot into raw materials. I do a four piece Red Dragon Armor/four piece Warrior of the West combo so I get two different set bonuses, and having the books means that I can always make pieces of both sets to my current level so it doesn’t matter what I loot.
Accessories are a bit of a mixed bag because I almost always want Kodama sense on one and Treasure sense on the other if I can manage it. Sometimes I’m using level 150 armor and weapons and level 100ish accessories so I can get those effects.
I also have The Surge waiting for me when I get around to it. Ironically I am actually very bad at hard games, I’ve just developed an awful lot of patience.
I never went that far into Nioh, I just got the platinum and then quit, but it is probably my favorite non-From soulslike. Surge was good, but lacked boss design plus had some confusing level design. Plus they just released another dlc so even though I bought the version with all the DLC at the time now I need to buy another, which is annoying. Nioh reused levels but they were relatively clearly laid out. Plus it had some really cool boss fights. I didn't mind the loot system, as long as you approach it in a borderlands fashion. Basically decide what you want then just upgrade it with all the extra stuff. Assuming I have the funds, Nioh and Surge 2 will probably be day one for me.
My opinion of Nioh might be tainted because when I went back to finish it after getting distracted by other games, I opened up my final session to beat the game with The Samurai from Sawayama, which made me long for death. And I found a few end game fights with multiple enemies that could one-shot me (like a certain room full of glass chambers) infuriating rather than challenging as well.
When the best advice you can get is 'get them stuck on the environment or you're dead', I feel like an encounter's not really designed right.
I couldn't get into Nioh at all and ended up refunding it on Steam. I don't know if it got better but that first level after the tutorial was worse than anything in dark Souls in terms of design. Also the hit boxes felt wonky, especially on that boss with the balls and chains.
For 2d soulike games I'll second Hollow Knight being an amazing game. I hope they plan on making a second.
Date Masamune down, probably 40 or 50 deaths figuring out how he works. Really the perfect example of a Soulslike boss, just a steady progression from "this guy is bullshit" to "ok, I'm starting to see what he's doing" to "ok, now I know what I need to do to react to his attacks, it's just getting the execution down" to "THERE'S A PHASE TWO?" and repeat.
There's a phase three, too.
Of course it turns out there's another boss after him in DLC 1 and that is where I call it a good time to take a break.
Honestly this is why I did a mage build for Nioh because it gave me a whole bunch of tools for dealing with opponents (and Sloth talisman is super OP--BUT doesn't work as well in the DLCs).
Like all souls games, there is no such thing as cheese or underhanded tactics.
Fighting yokai? Stack two elements on them to get them confused and in an easily stunned state.
Fighting tough humans? Put a leech talisman on them so they don't regen Ki and are easier to grapple.
I won't say Nioh is without feeling like some BS deaths, but it gives you the tools (and pretty plentiful character rerolls) to experiment to what you like.
Just going to repost my review of Nioh in the spoiler if anyone wants my more thorough breakdown
Nioh is a Dark Soulsy game made by Team Ninja (yes that Team Ninja) set in a Japan during the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu. In this world there are spirit stones called Amrita that individuals are using to nefarious ends and seek to gather as much as they can by instigating constant conflict in Japan.
Wow this turned out way bigger than I thought so hiding it in spoilers:
You play as William, an Irish sailor/pirate that was used to find out about Amrita and then betrayed who escapes from prison to hunt down those who wronged him. His hunt causes him to become embroiled in the politics of Japan, a land shared by humans and spirits. The man he hunts has allied himself with Ishida Mitsunari, Tokugawa's enemy in this period. Together, Ishida and the mysterious man exploit Amrita to give themselves an edge in the war, turning humans into Yokai. Their ruthlessness is not contained to just the war, as bandits and pirates prowl the wilderness while the malignant conflict has caused Yokai to sprout up and cause problems throughout Japan.
Yes my weeb friends, you can do that running sword slash, drawing your katana from the hilt in an awesome move. You can also wield a huge axe to maul your enemies at. Or you can wield the huge odachi, chain kusarigama, a spear, dual swords, or tonfa.
There are also bows, rifles, and hand canons to deal damage from afar. Ammo is rather limited though so don't think about carrying around 200 arrows to fight that Yokai. However, additional ammo can be found during a level.
Weapons come in a variety of rarities with different abilities and specialties on each though these can be reforged at the
You get two melee and two ranged slots so you can find pairings you really enjoy but the game also encourages you to mix it up, providing options for tackling any situation.
As you use weapons you will increase your familiarity with them, increasing their stats and damage. Maxing familiarity allows for them to pass on traits in Soul Matching.
There is also ninjitsu (ninja skills) based around stealth, poison, bombs, and traps.
Omnyo magic (ying yang magic) is the primarily spell casting with various utility spells. While there are temporary weapon enhancements and the basic shot spells, many more change up the formula so you aren't just casting different forms of magic missile.
There are 5 elements, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning. Each can be build up and inflict a different status effect on your enemies, fire causes damage over time, water causes increase physical damage. Weapons may have additional elemental damage, but there is no true conversion of all damage like Dark Souls' holy/dark/etc, so a weapon enhancement needs to be used to really take advantage of the elemental effects to devastate your enemies.
As you use weapons or use certain items, you'll acquire Samurai/Ninjitsu/Omnyo points that can be used to unlock additional abilities/skills for you to use in combat. Along with the training missions in the dojo and the ease of respecing, Nioh encourages experimentation to find your niche. The points from use are not infinite however so don't think you can be a master of all weapons.
All weapons can be transformed to look like other weapons. So get a powerful new spear but it looks too plain? Just pay a small fee to the blacksmith and she'll get it looking like any other spear you've ever picked up.
There are no stats required to use any weapons, but skills are mostly unlocked on the individual level (the dodge + recover ki is one of the few that is shared), making it worth respecing if you find a weapon more to your liking.
Dress to Impress
Armor comes in three types: light, medium, and heavy. Naturally each comes with progressive protection and weight which will affect your Ki regeneration rate (covered in another section) and how much damage you take from attacks.
And boy howdy you will take a lot of damage.
While the game could feel easy at times, if you messed up, the game could punish you hard and fast. What was an easy run could suddenly go bottoms up as you underestimate a spearman skeleton just a little too much.
Blocking and dodging to avoid damage in this first place is always best, but when you do take those hits, your armor can be the difference between life and death. Certain spells can also increase your physical or elemental armor, so wear the right gear for the right fight.
There are equipment sets that give you additional bonuses for more pieces you're wearing. However, you must have the proper stats to take advantage of these bonuses otherwise they will be grayed out and the equipment name will be in red.
Naturally fashion souls is a point of interest in these series and like weapons all armor can be transformed to look like any other piece of armor, including different types. So a nimble samurai could make their equipment look like the heaviest armor they've found while actually wearing light armor and having the higher Ki regeneration--but still taking major hits.
Skins of other characters can eventually be unlocked and used to play as other characters although your armor will no longer be visible or change. However, they take Glory instead of Gold which is earned by killing Revenants (summonable red ghosts from the bloodstains of other fallen players) or by doing coop missions with other players (covered later). Alas, while most characters are quite affordable, the female characters can cost around 70k, which is somewhat baffling. Oh well, coop is so much fun I didn't have too much of an issue accumulating it, thanks in part of a boost from Clan Battles.
Soul Matching
Have a piece of equipment that is falling behind in level but has great stats? Sacrifice another piece of equipment to have it match the higher level--for a fee. The blacksmith will soul match the equipment, but the closer the sacrificed piece is to the old, the smaller the cost. This was my major money sink as the cost can be from a few thousand to over a million.
Sometimes you find new equipment but want to carry over some stats from an older item? Well you can also do that if it has the correct symbol and you have maxed familiarity with that weapon.
Soothe the Pain
As for healing, Kodama will provide you with a set of healing elixirs which they replenish whenever you die or return to one of their shrines. You can carry more, to a max of around 11, and the rest are stored and used to replenish after a death/going to a shrine and you can find them while fighting enemies or breaking open barrels. The heal is quick, but not always your full health, but the limited amount makes you think before using it. There are some healings spells and hot springs that can give heals over time but they are much slower acting and won't be able to save you from the big blows.
Honestly this is the perfect solution to my problem with Bloodborne's vials. You'll always have some, not as many as you'd like, but you don't have to remember to buy elixirs/grind them to keep making progress, but it can help if you do.
Keep up Your Stamina Ki
You do have a Stamina bar, called Ki in this game, that limits how much you can run, dodge, and fight until it recovers but this has a unique trick to it: you can instantly recover lost stamina by pressing a correct button at an appropriate time called a Ki burst. This also has the double effect of purifying any Yokai pollution you are standing in--black rings that slow down your Ki recovery. Your armor will affect this rate though items and spells can help improve or diminish it.
Managing your, and your enemies', Ki is essential, not only for performing actions but if you are reduced to zero by enemy actions (damage does both physical and some amount of Ki damage, depending on the attack) you are forced into a recovery period, unable to move while you catch your breath and where you can be grappled for massive damage. This also applies to your enemies and can be essential for taking down harder opponents, and so exploiting the glowing weak spots (Amrita implanted into bodies) can really help when fighting Yokai while human opponents are grappled for the ridiculous amount of damage.
Early on I would recommend unlocking the skill that allows you to recover your Ki when you use a dodge, otherwise you may find yourself in a bad position with no Ki to your name.
The best part? You can totally ignore it, though things will be harder for you.
Walking with the Spirits
Accompanying William on his quest are the various spirits of Japan that can give him an edge on his quest.
Each spirit is aligned with one of the 5 elements and provides various buffs to William, such as increasing physical damage or ninjitsu powers.
As William collects Amrita from enemies/loot, the spirit's power will accumulate, allowing William to temporarily harness the spirits powers and infuse his weapon with it, turning it into a Living Weapon. The effect is twofold as William's health bar is replaced by the Living Weapon which can save you if you're on the brink and channels the elemental power to use to attack your foes.
Be careful though! While the Living Weapon slowly drains over time (can be replenished by collecting additional Amrita), using the weapon or taking damage will decrease the bar much faster. Should an attack reduce your Living Weapon to zero, the additional damage will go to your normal health, so if you were on the brink before you'll wind up dead.
There are 3 Stances:
High: Huge damage, slower attacks, slow roll
Mid: Defense, huge boost to blocking, medium attacks, medium damage, fast roll.
Low: Dodging, dodging become obscenely fast, fast attacks, low damage.
This is how you can mix things up for attack and defense and gives a variety of different move sets for each weapon. Learning which stance to use and when it's best to switch is a vital part of the game--that you can freely ignore. Some skills you unlock will focus on these changes.
Honestly I usually just stick to one stance, only changing if I need something now, like low stance for hitting a crouched enemy when my mid stance attacks are passing over them. Low stance's quick attacks can also be useful for applying status effects to enemies.
While high stance has its benefits, you are taking a huge risk while in it. Remember, you can't do huge damage if you're dead!
Strange New World
Level design overall is pretty good. While they're each segregated and not an entire world like Dark Souls they generally follow the same design philosophy, providing shortcuts back to Shrines and finding new and interesting ways to wind around.
Since there are submissions you can do for additional rewards the maps will be repeated but will be changed in some way such as enemy placement or starting place. Admittedly it could get a bit repetitive at times but they always felt solid.
A Little Help from my Friends
Having trouble taking down that big boss? Level getting you down? Well there are those willing to assist you with JOLLY COOPERATION!
Just use the shrine to summon a visitor. Just be careful, because if you as the host die (or as a visitor), that's it for the run and the person will have to be resummoned.
You can also search for people in need of help with the super useful and quick build in finder. My play time was seriously lengthened becasuse it is so easy to help people out. And while there is no trading, generally you'll still get equipment that is right at your level, though sometimes it's lower. Helping someone complete a level will net around 1000 glory and is the best way to accumulate this currency.
PvP is also a thing in Nioh though I never did it. Invasions ala Soulsborne are not a thing unless you use an item allowing people to invade. Any online activity is completely at your whimsy and you can do what you will. There is also an arena I believe that allows for more focused dueling.
There is also the Clan Battle which is less PvP focused than you would think. At a certain point you'll be prompted to join a Clan which comes with its own set of unique perks to help you with your playstyle. All clans are split into Red and White and each week are pitted against each other to collect the most Glory. This can be done by defeating Revenants (red blood stain ghosts), Cooping, fighting and defeating other players, or donating specific items to your clan efforts. At the end of the week, a winner is decided and they get both a large amount of glory (I received 30k) and a discount on all items in the Glory shop (mine was ~5.5% which seeing the ladies cost 70k, took down a few thousand). The clans are then randomly scrambled back in to Red and White, making it so one side should not always be winning. The losing side still gets a sizable reward so it is worth doing.
You can switch your Clan at any time, but depending on how close it is to the end of a Clan Battle it will reduce the reward you'd receive, so sometimes it's better to wait it out.
In conclusion, while it undeniably it has some problems, you can kite enemies and get in some cheap shots and the Sloth (slowing) talisman makes fights laughably easy--unless it messes up when you mean to dodge--but it is overall awesome.
Go check out Nioh if you want to play a very fun Dark Soulsy game that manage to improve on the formula.
Edit: Also I had forgotten about Blasphemous though it might not be a "true" soulslike.
Sundered is kind of a SoulsRogueLike in that dying sends you back to the start, but you don't lose anything for it, except the map layout within each area resets, but any shortcuts you've found stay open. It's on the borderline of the genre but I love it so i'm going to talk about it anyway.
They just had a big patch that adds in co-op and a new quest line and areas so i'm replaying it. Fuck this is a good-ass game. If what you love about Dark Souls is the atmosphere and are more flexible on the specifics of the gameplay then you really should try this one. Plus it's $5 on Steam right now.
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I can see the problems with both and more camera options is always best.
In other news, I saw a friend was playing through Dark Souls 2 and people had compared Ashen to DS2 so I suddenly had the itch.
Wow my skills have devolved. It's gotten so bad I've died to the Pursuer twice and I imagine it'll take a bit more to relearn it not helped by the different controls in Nioh.
But it's kind of nice to show that the slower speed souls games can be just as difficult as the fast paced murderfests.
I had been thinking of grabbing Ashen but figured I own 3 unfinished Dark Souls, so I should play those first.
Honestly, all of them are strong. Start with 1 just because it has stuff that the latter games improve on, while still absolutely being worth playing.
2 and 3 both diverge from 1 in different ways. 2 is more different from 1, while 3 is pretty much just a straight speed-up and refinement of 1's style.
Of the three, which do you think has the most atmospheric world? I was really pulled into the level design of 3 and felt super immersed. I'd have felt even more so, I'm sure, had I played far enough in 1 (I think) where there is an area that is shared between the two games.
They're all strong on that front, though DS2's environmental consistency gets questioned sometimes. DS1 and DS3 are much more directly connected than DS2 is to either, so if you enjoyed DS3 I'd definitely go to DS1. DS3 is a direct sequel to DS1, with locations and the specifics of the plot directly linked, where DS2 is happening somewhere else (maybe) with different but related lore and no repeat characters.
Edit: To answer your question directly, I'd say 1=2>3, but I'd not dare to say my opinion's the popular one. I expect most people would say 1 hands down.
DS2 proponents unite! There are dozens of us, dozens!
Just make sure you level your adaptability (to 20?)
I think that 1 should be played before 3. 2 can be played whenever since it's fairly disconnected from the others.
CorriganX on Steam and just about everywhere else.
Majula is the most hopeful place in any of the Souls games. It's just this little bubble of peace.
I have a single complaint about the Scholar edition, and that is the one knight they added on the stairs up to the dragon platform in Heide's tower. I don't know why - he's absolutely nothing special - but that guy has killed me an embarrassing number of times.
I get some of the criticism of DS2, particularly the way some of the areas are connected, but it's overshadowed by the good times I've had sunbroing and fending off invaders. And the DLC is brilliant.
I enjoy Dark Souls 1 and 2 a lot for different reasons, but Dark Souls 3 disappointed me on almost every level.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
He's the only one using a spear and it's a completely different moveset than what you've been getting used to with all the sword guys leading up to him.
I am absolutely going to steal this excuse for later. Thank you for salvaging the remaining shreds of my ego.
In more Souls-like news, my Nioh glory grind is finally over. I found a mission in the first DLC area that was just absolutely full of phantoms to resurrect.
I need to do some serious sunbroing to build up my levels. I'm at 115-ish and the DLC is harsh. FUN, mind you, I'm not complaining, but I'm having to burn sloth talismans on some of the new yokai and that feels a little like cheating.
But the big boost was from Clan Battles, especially if you were high rank in a small clan, you'd get a silly amount of glory even if you were on the losing side.
Armor is no longer visible but small price to pay in order to be my waifu.
Only bad part is you don't unlock this option till about half way through the game and the female skins are ridiculously expensive compared to the males. Talking 6-10k for lots of guys where all the women start at 70k.
To follow up on this a bit for anyone who might be interested. I don't actually know how much glory you get for clan battles, but glory for being summoned for co-op play seemed to be about 1000-1500 glory presuming that you fight a boss with your partner and win. Revenants are the gravestones of players that you can see in your game, you can summon them and fight them and you get anywhere from about 60 to 200 glory depending on their level versus yours. It took quite a while to get 70000 glory. I found a side mission that would always have at least a dozen graves lying around right at the zone-in point and did that for a while. Also got a ton of equipment to break down for forging components, which was nice.
Some of the cheaper skins seem like they would be fun for co-op, since there are skins of some of the enemy models etc.
Winning will net you an extra 10k or more glory while losing will generate a paltry 2k or something low like that. However, both sides will get a percentage discount on the glory store thus making things much more affordable. I think I had a 5-6% discount but seeing the female characters are 70k that is a few thousand glory shaved off.
Your rank in your clan seems to net far more as the small clan I was in and my constant sunbroing saw me ranked 4th in my clan which ended up netting like 60k glory once the battle had finished.
While you still will primarily do coop for glory (no idea how much pvp nets you) the clan battle can be that nice big push to get you to the higher costs/allow you to buy lots of emotes, items, or equipment.
I've got plenty of soulslikes at least.
If Nioh has a fault, it’s that nobody said “hey, we have a few too many systems here and could probably drop a couple of them without anyone noticing.”
That’s kind of a Koei/Tecmo thing, though. My favorite example of that is from their “Nights of Azure” RPG, which is basically a goofy-but-ever-so-dramatic fan service game that inexplicably has a ship cargo trading simulator side game that you unlock at some point.
DS1 devoured my life for a long time--months and months--once I finally sat down with a controller instead of trying it KBAM and bouncing off before Taurus. I'd never played a single-player game like that before. But the back end of the game is crap and the gameplay is tied with DeS for worst.
DS2 has the most hours from me, as far as I know, and may be my favorite, but I liked it the least on my first time through of nearly any of them. It was a huge disappointment and frustration on my first play through. Story is great, characters are great, and Majula theme is 'Dark Souls music' in my head. Though I played it the first time through with SotFS; vanilla must have been much worse, since the DLC carries so much of the weight there. The roll animation is sad.
I'm not big on the story of DS3, and none of the zones really awed me, but I love the speed and weapon arts and various QoL and system changes it made. In a sense, it's the best of the trilogy, and it's certainly got a lot of time from me. Maybe more than DS2--I played a ton of it on a pirated copy before I bought it, so my steam numbers aren't reliable.
Nioh awed me at first touch, but the loot grind system, the repetitive environments and enemies, and the dependence on weird tricks and skill spam made me lose a lot of interest in the latter half. Maybe when I get back into it something will click like with DS2, though. There's something there, I think.
I played DeS after all the Dark Souls games, but it was still quite solid. Relatively jank and simple, but really good. I think I like the setting and story more than DS1/3. Almost every boss is a gimmick fight, though, which was disappointing.
Lords of the Fallen is sllllllllooooooooooow. Like, you move physically slow and also enemies take too long to die unless you spam running attacks with a big weapon. And the plot is crap. It's better than it sounds, but I can't see myself replaying it.
The Surge also has sort of weird movement, but doesn't feel weird because you're strapped into a weird shambling exoskeleton. The plot is a huge improvement over LotF, but the environments feel impossibly samey to the point it's disorienting. It has it's own stuff, while still being a quality product and very Soulslike. Arguably the best non-From Soulslike for that reason. Needs more bosses and more enemy variety, though. Like most Soulslikes.
Ashen feels kind of like Dragon's Dogma at times, but it's definitely a Soulslike. I like that it's very much a Souls story with the light and dark epic cycle stuff, but toned differently. The characters are neat, and I like the village building/relationship quests thing. Weapons are boring as sin, build variety is nonexistent, and some areas are a drag with 5 billion enemies that aren't particularly interesting to fight. I'd say it's a really good game, but it won't pull hundreds of hours from me; what would I even be doing different on a replay? I'd be really excited to see more from these guys.
I don't have a PS4, but eyeballing it and spoiling it, let's just assume Bloodborne is my favorite in story and gameplay. I might try the PS4 streaming service to play it soon. I kind of hate the thought of my ability to play it being gated by a sub, though, so I'm thinking of getting a PS4 soon instead. That's $300 for one game, though....Two, maybe, since I'll pick of GoW2018 if I do.
I guess I'll also talk about the Souls-flavored Metroidvanias.
Salt & Sanctuary was fun the first time through, but the art was a turn-off and weapons didn't feel interesting enough to warrant another playthrough. I literally don't remember the plot and when I think about the platforming sections I still get irrationally mad.
Dead Cells feels great, but it won't finish so I can't do much more than poke it from time to time. I wonder if it has or will have any story worth caring about. HAving to change weapons isn't really my thing, but using custom game mode to manipulate my game doesn't feel honest to the challenge. Anyway, I don't want to burn myself out on an incomplete build, so I'll at least wait until a final boss that's THE final boss is in.
Hollow Knight is the best Metroidvania that exists, probably. Maybe not the best for its time, but it's feels like the culmination of everything before it. Everything about it is incredible, from story to design to fights. I doubt I'll replay it when I finish it, except maybe some time years later, since build variety is nothing, but what a ride. I still like the Dark Souls games better, though.
I did a lengthy review back when I beat it and it's currently a steal on Steam at $3.74
The main draw is the combat, which is slow but deliberate as you balance your stamina between attacking, dodging, blocking, parrying and recovery. The only tricky part is sometimes getting hit during a dodge due to not quite figuring out the iframes. The game can throw a bunch of enemies at you and have some checkpoints that you must clear all enemies to proceed but the tougher ones are usually optional for gear you won't acquire otherwise. Being 2D, the enemies you have to worry about are naturally the ones right next to you, but some enemies have ranged weapons or spears to keep things interesting and sometimes there is a trap present in the arena. While a number of enemies can be tough there moves are all very readable, including special moves that cannot be dodged (blue trail) or blocked (red trail), so it becomes a game of pattern recognition. Due to lacking a visceral attack I didn't find parrying all that useful as only some enemies would not just bounce off my shield that I would dodge instead.
Equipment is divided into heavy and light variants, be the nimble rogue dodging in and landing a few cuts or the mighty warrior brandishing a large mace to crush your enemies or a mix of both. The gear is mostly reflected in defense, weight (a penalty to your maximum stamina), and swiftness, making a light equipment character much more nimble but fragile than a slow warrior. There are also powerful rings you can buy or find but the main draw is the use of your backpack. Backpacks come in offensive and support variants where offensive lets you be sort of a mage while support gives you buffs and tends to be more melee focused. While you can't master everything, I decided to go full heavy armor, heavy weapons, great shields, and support backpacks but had enough points to put into Light Weapons when I wanted to change tactics. There is a nice variety of weapons from daggers and swords to maces and spears and each has their own moveset consisting of light and strong attacks though most combos are no more than 2-4 moves in part due to limited stamina. Gear comes in tiers and even if you don't have the right level you'll be able to equip it, but you will take a penalty to stamina or speed while using it. On the other hand, if you like a lower tier weapon you can keep using it as you'll actually get a stamina bonus but it was usually best to have the latest and greatest.
Overally I think the game came to about 10-12 hours? The game is pretty linear as the one time I did jump ahead in areas, it suddenly became a huge grind due to being underleveled (once you hit the experience threshold you immediately gain max health, stamina, and mana) and my gear was not up to par. The story is pretty straight forward stuff, not horrendous, but nothing to really write home about though there are multiple endings. There is some fun references to other video games as well and it has a nice bit of humor to it which I always enjoy.
Playing as Tome in Nioh is really fun. I don’t think there’s actually any difference in how the combat works, but it turns out that being physically smaller (and not, you know, visibly armored) changes the sensation of the game. Worth the glory grind.
Forging and reforming continues to be overly confusing. I had a hat with Enemy Sense in it and I’d like to get that on my latest hat as well but I have sunk a ton of money into reforging traits without seeing that one come up and I’m not sure I actually can get it.
Steam Winter Sale is on like Donkey Kong.
Also yeah I'm not sure what it is about Tome that makes her so fun (other being a rad lady smith out kicking ass). She does move faster due to her smaller model but I'm not sure that translates into an Oddjob height advantage for avoiding enemies.
Have I shilled enough for Nioh?
My discovery queue also spat out Void Memory for $5 which seems to be another positiviely reviewed 2D Soulslike but I have not had the pleasure of playing it.
Edit: Though reading the description it appears to be pretty boiler plate Souls setting. At least Pharaonic puts you in vibrant Egypt.
Accessories are a bit of a mixed bag because I almost always want Kodama sense on one and Treasure sense on the other if I can manage it. Sometimes I’m using level 150 armor and weapons and level 100ish accessories so I can get those effects.
I also have The Surge waiting for me when I get around to it. Ironically I am actually very bad at hard games, I’ve just developed an awful lot of patience.
I never went that far into Nioh, I just got the platinum and then quit, but it is probably my favorite non-From soulslike. Surge was good, but lacked boss design plus had some confusing level design. Plus they just released another dlc so even though I bought the version with all the DLC at the time now I need to buy another, which is annoying. Nioh reused levels but they were relatively clearly laid out. Plus it had some really cool boss fights. I didn't mind the loot system, as long as you approach it in a borderlands fashion. Basically decide what you want then just upgrade it with all the extra stuff. Assuming I have the funds, Nioh and Surge 2 will probably be day one for me.
PSN:Furlion
When the best advice you can get is 'get them stuck on the environment or you're dead', I feel like an encounter's not really designed right.
For 2d soulike games I'll second Hollow Knight being an amazing game. I hope they plan on making a second.
Of course it turns out there's another boss after him in DLC 1 and that is where I call it a good time to take a break.
Like all souls games, there is no such thing as cheese or underhanded tactics.
Fighting yokai? Stack two elements on them to get them confused and in an easily stunned state.
Fighting tough humans? Put a leech talisman on them so they don't regen Ki and are easier to grapple.
I won't say Nioh is without feeling like some BS deaths, but it gives you the tools (and pretty plentiful character rerolls) to experiment to what you like.
Just going to repost my review of Nioh in the spoiler if anyone wants my more thorough breakdown
Edit: Also I had forgotten about Blasphemous though it might not be a "true" soulslike.
They just had a big patch that adds in co-op and a new quest line and areas so i'm replaying it. Fuck this is a good-ass game. If what you love about Dark Souls is the atmosphere and are more flexible on the specifics of the gameplay then you really should try this one. Plus it's $5 on Steam right now.