Any one else a fan of their games (dark souls/Elden ring/bloodborne/Sekiro) other than @RedDevilsShinja who I know has played them all i played a bit of Sekiro a couple of years ago then went on to bloodborne. Since then I’ve literally played all of their games that I can get hold of and I’ve now gone back to Sekiro to play it all the way through. They are very challenging games (if you play them without co-op or help) but they are so rewarding when you’ve finally beaten a boss that squashed you easily the first dozen tries, and seems almost insurmountable when you first face off with them Elden ring is probably the game I have put the most amount of time in to and imo is the best game I’ve played. It’s not perfect, as with all from soft games, it’s easy to miss shit, misinterpret something, kill something in the wrong order which screws up that quest line. But the combat side of it is fantastic, unmatched imo especially Sekiro, and the fact that you have to improve to be able to progress the game. If not you’ll hit roadblocks and probably chuck the controller through the monitor
Yep, I loved them all until Elden Ring, which I've still not finished because honestly I was burnt out on it by the end (and quite frankly, I don't think it's actually any good compared to their other games). I also need to play armoured core but I'm going to wait a bit for that as I've never like mech games before. Sekiro's combat is the best combat I've experienced in any game, not felt a rush like finally beating Isshin the first time. If I was to rank them I think it'd look like this; 1. Bloodborne - Gothic horror + Cosmic horror + it's the closest other than Sekiro to a true action game whilst still retaining enough rpg elements to help replayability + the best From Soft atmosphere since the OG Demon's Souls, some of the best level design (Yharnam is just amazing) means it's easily the best imo. Come on Sony give us ps5 remaster (don't let ****ing Bluepoint anywhere near tho) with 60fps. If I was to have one criticism about the game it would be that Byrgenwerth should have been a large dungeon style area akin to Anor Londo, it being so small when it's talked about constantly up until you get there is a disappointment and the base game is a wee bit short as a result imo. 2. Sekrio - By far the best combat, a refreshing setting vs all the medieval settings of the other games, super pretty, yeh we need more of this please From. 3. Demon's Souls - This is probs only this high due to nostalgia, but it's still got the best atmosphere out of any of their games, the world tendency mechanic whilst having received much criticism I actually like, it gives incentive to run through the levels again once you've kill the bosses, the most in depth smithing trees, the most unique bosses out of the franchise, amazing stuff. Nothing will ever come close to figuring out all the secrets of the game with that small but dedicated community back in the day. 4. Dark Souls - Peak From level design, up until Fatboyslim it is the greatest game of all time imo but Lost Izalith and the other parts of the game where they clearly ran out of time and resources hurts it too much . 5. Dark Souls 3 - Amazing level design, some amazing bosses, the combat is tweak a bit to feel fresh (weapon arts ect) I wish the world was a bit less linear though there are only a couple of branching paths and some of the bonfire placements are a bit strange. 6. Elden Ring - Limgrave is amazing and most of Lunaria is pretty stunning too and even though it's a bit empty Siofra River is unbelievable, the best part of my playthrough (so far) was discovering it and exploring it. The game has some of the the best vista's they've ever made, but it comes at a cost imo. The world is too big and once you get past 30-40 hours the repetition starts to bit and things become TEDIOUS, how can a game this big only have 9 unique bosses when their other games have 20+ unique bosses? What makes this worse too is that all the bosses are reaction timing checks, long gone are the days of bosses like the old hero and his interesting mechanic of not being able to find you if you're using thiefs ring, light armour and slow walking to silence your movement so he can't find you. Couple this with long horse rides between what could have been procedurally generated dungeons and only a few areas with proper fromsoft level design makes the quality content feel sparse. I really hope the next game, if it is to be an open world, is a bit more dense and has a better ratio of complex dungeons to filler dungeons, more unique bosses and fewer repeats ect. 7. Dark Souls 2 - Yeh nah this is just a bad game, there's a lot of cope about this game that's frankly a bit silly imo, the changes to how iframes work makes the game feel very clunky until you've levelled agility (I think) up enough, coupled with less than stellar level design, poor enemy placement, lots of mobs, mobs disappearing after being killed 10 (IIRC) , uninspired boss design and a world that physically doesn't make any sense (enough has already been said about earthern peak to iron keep that it doesn't need to be gone over again). Dark souls 2 was peak fashionsouls however, the pvp was arguably the best in the franchise and I LOVED bonfire ascetics, this is something that needs to return imo, being able to level up a bonfire to ng+ before getting to the end of the game is genius. Demon's souls ps5 - utterly shit don't bother, bluepoint ruined the atmosphere, what they did to Latria is unforgiveable. I actually had the game in 2010 but chose barbarian class as I liked the idea of not being fixed going down one build and thought barbarian gave the most freedom in this regard. Yeh I sucked at it so bad at the game that I couldn't even get through 1-1 to the lever when the dark souls trailer dropped off when I went back to smashing my head against the wall and love bloomed, I played nothing but Demon's Souls from beating the Phalanx until I got dark souls as a Christmas present.
I’ve not played demon souls or ds2 but I’ve played the rest now (not armoured core). I played the remastered dark souls which I thought was the weakest of the 5. I honestly struggle to split the rest of them they are 4 of the best games I’ve ever played for mostly different reason. I love open world games so Eden ring was an absolute dream for me. I played it for about 6 months, got the platinum trophy and completed ng+ multiple times using a different build each play through. I can see your point though, it’s absolutely huge. That’s fine for me, the only game I played that I felt was too big was assassins creed odyssey. What sets the game apart for me is all of the viable builds you can use. I generally always play dexterity builds but I played it to completion as a pure mage, strength build and faith dex, intelligence dex. You don’t have nearly the same options in the other soulsbourne games. And it is a tough challenge if you don’t use spirit ashes. It can be the hardest or easiest from game depending on how you want to play it. It’s a shame you didn’t make it to the end as there’s a couple of good legacy dungeons at end game, especially crumbling farum Azula. if you didn’t make it there it’s a bit like archdragon peak from ds3, but much bigger, more variety and a number of tough boss fights, even tougher than the nameless king imo. There’s 3 major boss fights (including a secret boss) a few mini bosses and all of the enemies are tough. I think it’s the most impressive level of all soulsbourne type games
I think bloodborne is the most satisfying, and the setting and lovecaftian influence is incredible. Gutted they haven’t made a follow up. I played half of Sekiro prior to bloodborne but I struggled, so moved on. Spending 2 days running in circles around yarnham getting my arse handed to me pretty much was my tutorial. After that I didn’t have too much trouble with any main story bosses. Defiled amygdahla, the giant with the chains on his back and fckin abhorrent beast caused my plenty of problems but that’s about it. I thought the dlc was tough throughout but manageable and the only bias that gave me any real trouble was Lawrence. Orphan of kos I generally have no issue with because he’s so easily partied. And that is my only issue with the game, if you can learn the parry timings the game becomes pretty trial. I played a new character through recently and the only bosses in the game that took me more than 2 goes were Lawrence, Ludwig and defiled amygadahla. Even the 2 sharks down the well were easy, I just stayed cautious and bated the attacks that I can parry. The bloody crow of cainhurst is the hardest fight in the game, imo. I also love the idea of the trick weapons but tbh in my many play throughs I always end up using the saw spear and chikage/Rakuyo. Such a waste I actually found ds3 far more challenging than bloodborne. Possibly due to never using a shield, which probably makes some fights in it harder. I think most of the areas are tough but fair (not including farrens keep, the area with the ballista/worm/dungeons and the jail). The bosses were all fairly challenging from mid game to the end, and both the dlcs were tough with some great boss fights. Nameless king, Gael and sister freid were all great fights, tough but fair again, and dark eater midr is my personal hardest boss. The only fight that’sI found the ringed city far harder than the old hunters
Here From the 1st one, Demon's Souls, on I became a fan. Played it on my old PS3 back then and most certainly died a hundreds deaths but never gave up because I wanted the Platinum trophy Up until now I still get shivers when hearing the orchestral music when entering the cavern of Maiden Astrea and the "Take your precious Demon Soul" . A masterpiece! I played Dark Souls 1, 2, 3. And then came Bloodborne on PS4. I played some other Souls-like games like Nioh but never got the same excitement from these like the originals from FromSoftware.
Now I’ve gone back to Sekiro I am finding it much more manageable. In fact I’m not having a particularly rough time of it at all relative to the other from games and certainly easier than my first go on Sekiro. I am only just getting to end game so I know I’ve got the tough fights ahead of me. There’s been a marked jump in difficulty now I’m back at ashina castle - the invaders are a lot tougher than the ones there before. I’ve had no road blocks with any boss fights, I’ve passed all the skill checks pretty easily. Though o have tip toed through the whole game and been ultra careful on my first play through. The 1 thing that killed me over and over again was the headless in ashina outskirts, and that was due to my own arrogance thinking I could beat him right at the start of the game. I couldn’t! Corrupted monk took me took me 8-10 tries, which is frustrating because that really isn’t a tough fight. I have actively sought out the regular enemies that have caused me problems - Ashina elite, nightjar ninjas, Samurai generals and shinobi hunters have all been difficult at times. I have repeatedly fought them over and over again and now I know all their moves. I’m back at ashina castle, I’ve killed all the mini bosses and re found the sculptures so owl father is up next If I was to rank the games I’ve played difficulty wise, I’d have to say Elden ring is by far the hardest or easiest depending on how you play it. If you don’t use coop/spirit ashes it can be incredibly challenging in parts. Sekiro is a game you can’t really cheese or over level so that probably is the hardest for most players. Lots of people really seem to struggle with bloodborne for similar reasons but I’ve probably found these the 2 easier ones. That’s probably as they were my introduction to from games so the fast, aggressive playstyle feels more natural than using/hiding behind a shield. That may change depending on how much trouble the 2 final bosses give me on Sekiro, as I know they’re supposed to be very tough fights I’ve got platinums on Elden rind and bloodborne and both of the was an absolute grind to get. The one thing I get from soulsbourne games (unlike other games I’ve played) is a real sense of achievement in beating the game, and an actual adrenaline rush when I’ve finally beat a boss that seemed impossible to beat 2 hours before (f**k you dark eater midr, and f**k you abhorrent beast). you not played Sekiro or Elden ring mate?
In a wierd way my new found love of from soft games is in some ways spoiling my enjoyment of other games. I’ve played Horozon FW, god of war, miles morales and ghost of tshushima in between these games. I’ve really enjoyed everyone one of them (especially ghost of tshushima) but none of them gave me a real challenge, even on the hardest difficulty. This was something just not that important to me before first playing bloodborne
TBF Demon's was literally the first one and I can get why somebody going back to it after playing the more recent ones might look at it as a bit weak, but at the same time I really do hope you can find a ps3 version of it at some point as the atmosphere is totally different. Demon's PS3 Latria is still the greatest area they've ever made imo, it's perfect and haunting, the constant drone of the insects, Lord Rydell's groans of pain and anguish echoing around the whole prison, the rattling of doors, the bells of the mind flayers, Once Royal Mistress' song as you get closer to her, it's amazing. If you are to play DS2 play the normal version, not Scholar, people think Scholar is better but I really don't agree at all, the enemy placement is even worse in Scholar imo. I promise I'll finish Elden Ring at some point and give it a second play through but if I'm to be honest I just don't think I like open worlds, especially the modern ones that lack density of content. I play dex/mage builds on my first run through, and then start messing with faith dex builds, pure mage builds pure dex builds but almost never play strength builds, I dislike slow weapons in games. IDK I still think (from what I've played) that charmless demon bell Sekiro is WAY harder than anything in Elden Ring, granted an opinion made without having complete Elden Ring yet. Lawrence is the hardest non chalice dungeon boss in the game imo and I one shotted Kos because of parry I couldn't believe it after I finished it that people were struggling so much with him. I usually play with the threaded cane, but also love Saw Cleaver, Pizza Cutter (Whirligig Saw) Tonitrus and Simon's Bowblade. In a way I don't really want a follow up to Bloodborne, I don't see how they can top it, but at the same time I'd be so god damn hyped if they announced it. DS3 is harder than Bloodborne imo, Bloodborne can be cheesed to **** if you're super aggressive getting the part breaks to stun lock them and you can build your character so you just one shot bosses, as far as I'm aware that's not possible in DS3. Farrens Keep sucks man I really hate that area, it's like they intentionally made the most evil version of their poison swamp to finish the series off. The biggest challenge with Midr is the camera, but standing infront of his face makes it pretty manageable imo, Freid was the hardest boss in DS3 I really struggled with that fight, I really hated the final phase. OMG yes, Maiden Astrea is another perfect moment in Demon's, unbelievable encounter. I love Nioh, Nioh 2 is one of my fav games of all time and I'd have it between Dark Souls 1 and 3 in my ranking but I wouldn't really considering them similar games. Nioh is much more akin to a fighting game and when you git gud you can dominate a boss in a way you can't on any of the Soulsborne bosses by just combo'ing them to death, especially if you break their ki. Just look at how this guy gives the first boss in this montage no room to breath at all, it's an amazing game when you get into the flow of battle properly. I have like 500 hours into Nioh 2 Do a charmless demon bell run. The Headless are evil enemies dude, I always hated fighting them when I was playing the game. All the from games are easy when using coop/spirit ashes, it's literally easy mode for the game lol. Sekiro is defo the hardest imo and it's not even close, no boss has ever gotten my stuck as much Isshin the first time round, easily the boss that took the longest for me in any souls game. I'll be honest I really struggled with BB when I first started it but that's because I was 100% a shield turtler before playing it I've platinumed Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne, tried doing Demon's Souls once but after failing to get the pure moonlightstone after my 4th play through I decided the grinds for the pure stones was bullshit and gave up You're playing loads of cinematic games here tbf so get why you feel like other games feel lacking. Personally, if you've not played them yet I'd recommend you play Nioh 1 + 2, they're a fair bit different from Souls once you get into the endgame properly but the early game is quite similar to souls in terms of needing good positioning, learning boss attack patterns not having much leeway to getting him ect and honestly they're just amazing games. Also and Monster Hunter game is well worth playing, World/Iceborne is amazing and the earlier games are kinda hardcore in how slow paced and methodical they are with needing good positioning and finding the right opportunity to heal, sharpen your weapon, buff up ect. I'm currently playing through MH:Rise right now and really enjoying it even though I wish it was a bit more immersive with more emphasis on the other things the game provides like older titles rather than the streamlined boss rush it kinda feels like.
No. Not yet I didn't play the Remake (Remaster?) of Demon's Souls on PS5 (simple reason: I still don't have a PS5 , my 6 year old PS4pro is still enough for me) so can't judge about it but the PS3 version from 2009 is still my favourite FromSoftware game, even though the graphic is of course not the best (was even old fashioned imo when the game was new). But it still has its charm even today. (Although I often cursed it when I played it. Some serious lags and frame rate drops in certain areas made it a pain in the ass to play on PS3 sometimes back then) Oh yeah, Latria. Never felt such a dense atmosphere in a game back then. Don't get me wrong when I wrote that Nioh from Team Ninja didn't give me the same excitement than the FromSoftware. It is still a fantastic game though Yes, the grinding of the stones for the weapons trophy was a pain in the ass. I don't know how long I tried to get the damn "Reiner Klingenstein (Pure Bladestone)". He didn't drop for me, that was an impudence from the developer
I was loving Elden Ring but stopedp playing it for a while, think it was when GoW released, and just haven't been able to get back into it. Think I'm stuck somewhere in Liurnia of the Lakes and have no idea what to do!
you’ve got to get in to the palace in the centre of the map. There’s a key next to it by a dragon. You don’t have to kill it, you can nip in, grab it and ride off quickly. Beat the big boss in the palace (can’t remember her name) and you can get to a lift to the next area. Or there is a secret entrance to the next area right at the very very top of the liurna map. Either way You have to kill 2 Demi gods to progress to the mid-later stages of the game. You’d have killed Godrich so it’s either radavahn in calid or the boss is liurna
I always play dex builds as well. Not just because the slow weapons but also the stamina management is a nightmare. it’s gone it 2-3 swings! Katanas and curved swords are my general go to. If your close to the end of Eden ring it will definitely be worth finishing. You clearly like a challenge and the last few bosses are all challenging if playing solo. Mohg, melania, godskin duo, and malakeith are 4 of the toughest fights in the whole back catalogue imo. And That’s not including the last 3 boss fights which are all pretty challenging as well. Far harder than anything I’ve beaten on Sekiro, though i still have the demon of hatred and isshin fights to go, which I know are gonna be tough.
Yep I’d have to agree on Lawrence. Toughest for me on my first play through and my most recent play through as well. The only fight that took me more than 2 attempts other than the last 2 defiled bosses and the bloody crow of cainhurst. He took me literally hours first time. The only other boss that took me any where near as long was the first abhorrent beast fight in the dungeons. And that was because I didn’t change up my strategy which clearly wasn’t working. As soon as I beat him the first time (not including the doorway cheese in the forbidden forest) I’ve found him easy since the bosses in the base game were way too easy. I think peoples perception are skewed because Gascoine is a tough first boss! Lots of people seemed to struggle with blood starved beast as well, but after that all the bosses are pretty trivial, maybe other than ebriatas? The difficulty seems front ended whilst players are learning the basics. I’ve seen so many people claim bloodborne has the harder bosses, ds3 has the harder areas/mobs. Agree with the second part but I just don’t understand how nameless king, souls cinder, dancer, twin princes, abys watchers, pontiff silvahn are easier bosses than bloodborne? The first few bosses are a joke but they get steadily harder, which is as it should be orphan of kos was a real surprise for me and I think we’re in the minority that haven’t found him that hard. I heard how tough the fight was so I just tried learning his moves the first few goes and literally beat him on my 3rd try when I wasn’t even trying. Thought I’d fluked it but he only took me a few goes the next time round. He’s too easy to parry, as is lady Maria, logarious, gehrman. That is my only issue with the game, these fights could’ve all been pretty challenging but they’re trivialised as soon as you know the parry timings. And unlike the DS/Elden ring, there’s little risk to parrying. I can’t parry for shit in those games, and the risk is too high to learn properly. . The only things that are tough, that you can parry, are the things that can parry you back - fck you bloody crow of cainhurst!
yeah I’ll probably tackle that on ng+. I’ve already got the 2 more arduous endings in the bag, got the frozen tears and killed my memory dad! Just fought true monk, so pretty much at end game. Unlike every other from games there’s very few boss fights I’ve not loved, other than maybe the headless fights and folding screen monkeys. The combat system is amazing
The game is easy as piss lol, even Gascoine is easy if you can parry people at the time were just caught of guard because they were so used to turtling behind a shield and he's more aggressive than most bosses previously made by From. People probably struggle with BSB because of the poison effect, constant chip damage can easily put you in range of a ko in any game, couple it with it's aggression and that people are still getting used to the game I get it. I loved the bsb fight though. All this BB talk is making me want to go replay it lol. DS3 has consistently the hardest bosses imo, I really struggled with Nameless King I won't lie and Twin Princes even though they didn't and don't take many attempts is always a rough fight because of the odd timing of the attacks, something I wish they'd stop doing as much. You can make bosses hard without odd timed attacks, see MH. I can parry everything in Dark Souls 1, it's pretty easy but the vast majority of the bosses in that game can't be parried (ruining Gwyn is always great fun though). For future games they tweaked how parrying works so it's more difficult but for whatever reason BB has the same parry mechanics timing except you can do it from a distance and dash in to get the critical hit. Parrying is great fun though imo, when you get on a roll with it and parry everything successfully you feel like a god. If you feel like this you should do a play through where you refuse to parry. I love the monkeys because it's a play on see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil and it's a bit different from the normal fights. It helps that they focused on quality vs quantity in the game. My fav boss is the guardian ape, the move set the ape has is great and the setting is beautiful, the bait and switch during the fight had me going so much first time I fought it and I think it's the best the camera has ever been in a fight against a big boss.
I’ve had the demon bell on pretty constant since I got to the idol. Hardness training for the last 2 bosses! I have been taking it off for the Boss and mini boss fights though, so just the regular mobs. Will definitely give it a go for my ng+ run Currently learning the reverse lightning counter against one of the monk enemies in the fountain palace area. It’s actually pretty easy to pull off when you work out what to do! I think the reason people struggle so much in this game is they can’t get their head around how aggressive you need to be. Give guys like the purple ninjas any space and they’re a nightmare. Put it on them constantly and they are easy! I play all of the from games like this, probably due to bloodborne being my first. And I think that’s why I tend to find Elden ring and ds3 much harder than bloodborne and Sekiro. And I’m guessing most players that have the last 2 as the hardest from games, are probably souls vets that struggle to change up their play style, like I clearly do
i struggle with Dragon bosses in all of the soulsbourne games. I think Midr was the only fight that I actually thought 'am i gonna beat him'? I did and i won't fight him ever again! Nameless king took me ages as well. the first part of it was easy and then hed smash me as soon as I got ion to stage 2. That was a great fight though. None of the bosses other than Midr and nameless king took me many tries but from Abys Watchers onwards, i don't think I beat any boss on the first couple of tries. They were all pretty challenging. As opposed to BB where there are bosses that have never beaten me, and i must have played through 7 or 8 times now
TBF I can't ever be bothered fighting Midr again, even if you're good the fight takes forever because his health bar is so big. As for the Nameless King, I actually love the fight, but I really hate the arena, the nondescript cloud floor that you fight on, whilst thematically well tied into the fight it really messes with my depth perspective in the game and movement feels so weird in it. I hate the 4 kings fight for the same reason and the only reason I don't hate Rom is because rom is a complete push over (Rennala was also a push over but I've only ever fought her once so not going to make judgement yet). EDIT: Speaking of From games, just by coincidence the below video was recommended to me on YT and holy shit, I had forgotten just how bad the controls were/are, I thought it was just the agility = iframes that was the problem with the game having not played it for over a decade but it's so much worse than I remember. Time stamp is 10:15 ish to 15:00 ish. Thank **** they only did this on one game
Demon of hatred is beating my arse! Fighting him for about an hour now and can get him end of the 2nd - start of the third phase. I’m personally finding this a harder fight than isshin
