I don't know anyone IRL I can explain this to, or discuss this with
Played Dark Souls for a little, but not much. Elden Ring, I beat and loved.
With Demon's Souls lately, and this week... I spent no less than 4 days going the wrong. fkn. direction.
Got my little mace, a shield, and a wand for spells (I like being a battle mage, sue me!)
This Maneater boss was beating my ass, so I needed some help.
Found out about a spell I could buy if I could save a witch. So, I went to that level and headed for where I thought the witch was, but I had the world tendency of black, so the game was so much harder and I couldn't get past these double-spawning black phantom fat officials.
So, I needed some help. Didn't even understand world tendency, had to Google that a couple times Found out about a way to reset neutral in the first act, if I got rid of some executioner lady. I go back, but she wasn't there. Needed pure black world tendency, I guess. I go get my little stone to resurrect my body, got killed and then cheesed the executioner by accident because she fell into a pit after she spawned.
Okay, reset to neutral. Go back to area, past where the black phantom fat officials were, and fought my way to a fog door. Where was the witch?? Oh. Oh no.
I had to open a door, behind me the whole time to get a key for a gate nearby the spawn where I'd start each run, for the past four days. Before resetting my world tendency. AND I already had the dang key.
Okay. Pop myself in, get the next key, rescue some joe schmo?? Find out where the witch actually is, through a gate and up some stairs. Well, I've already had the dang disguise to get the guy to drop the stairs and could've rescued her so easy.
Got her, got the spell. But... Needed another memory slot, so I grind out 3 levels for 18+ INT and can now cast a big fire storm, thinking minimal damage. The spell destroys everything, and it's fkn awesome.
I take that spell and go burn the man-eater boss dudes with ease in my second try, after fighting a black phantom mind flayer on some stairs and getting my ass kicked 4 times.
Man-eater dead, I can finally move on.
I now understand why folks said Elden Ring was so easy. Still, climbing castles and whipping spells and smackin' heads with a mace is so freakin' satisfying. I bought Dark Souls 1 & 2 on sale and I'm so excited to play them. Getting lost and back tracking and figuring out NPC quests, giving up on all that and googling just to find out it's even easier than I thought or waaayyyyy more confusing is part of the fun. But a mace and an epic spell is all I need, IRL.
I fkn LOVE fromsoft.
First souls game I played was demons souls and nothing came close to that since. You never forget your first etc. Maybe bloodborne. I know most people loved the dark souls series but to me it always felt like a rehash of much of the same that was truly novel and captivating in demons souls. Of course happy that many more people got to experience souls games with the move away from the Sony IP. Yet still for me the best souls games are those that were made exclusively for PlayStation, for better or worse.
Completely agree, the atmosphere was something special in Demon's Souls, the music and mood of the hub area was spot on, nothing has matched that
I'll concede the hub in Demon's Souls is much better than Elden Ring. No matter what, I turned down the wrong corridor. Either looking for the blacksmith, or the twins, or the two fingers, didn't matter. Every damn time, I'd go down the wrong way.
Plus, it felt... Empty? Demon's Souls hub is much larger but still has an aesthetic that feels like everyone is scared, tired, or restless. I like that you can "save" people like Dead Rising and see them back at camp. It feels more immersive. Elden Ring has that too, but not as many NPCs end up there from what I remember. It's more that they'd always leave the hub, like the lady who hugs. Plus, after the burning of the tree, it's completely abandoned except the black might guy. Always feel bad that I couldn't get him out. It's like the people in the hub all just served as exposition on the lore of the world, not "real" people. I didn't go back there nearly as much as in Demon's Souls
Bloodborne was my first. It was always... Okay. I still don't know what the hell was happening. Apparently there's a night mode you can unlock??? I consider Elden Ring my first true one. I played the hell out of the base game. I've only got to complete the final boss twice to unlock all the trophies lol. But I definitely need to pick up the dlc one day soon.
Gameplay-wise, I think I prefer Bloodborne to DS titles for whatever reason. Setting as well. It's the only other one besides Sekiro that I've beaten so far...
It wasn't the first one I tried, but the first one that "clicked" for me was Sekiro, and it's still in my top 3 favorite games of all time.
After that, the other titles started making sense. But nothing compares to Sekiro.