Soulsborne Thread #10

[BigBossBalrog]

It's a shame Bandai didn't go through with it. Art is gorgeous. And I think the setting would be perfect for a 2d Metroidvania. It'd be cool to see a Elden Ring 2d Spin-off in the vein. 

It

 

[TheCzarsHussar]

The controversy with ai is deplorable, but goddamn this is fascinating

 

[BigBossBalrog]

3 minutes ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

The controversy with ai is deplorable, but goddamn this is fascinating

 

Why does Gywn look like David Bowie 

That's quite possibly the most surreal video i've ever watched. I love how the Gargoyles are just big dudes in armor 

[TheCzarsHussar]

20 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

Why does Gywn look like David Bowie 

That's quite possibly the most surreal video i've ever watched. I love how the Gargoyles are just big dudes in armor 

Credit where it's due, the art gave off a perfect 80's dark fantasy vibe. It feels almost uncanny how nostalgic those are

[The Good Doctor]

6 hours ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

It feels almost uncanny how nostalgic those are

The uncanny part is that it was created by a damn toaster. This world needs to Ad some Victoriam to its diet. 

[BigBossBalrog]

Been watching some Universal horror movies on Criterion I admit, i'm yearning for Bloodborne again. My Elden Ring honeymoon phase is over...and it's still an almost-perfect game in my opinion  But I think Bloodborne can still match in in some areas.  And as much as I love the Tolkienish Mythology themed art direction, I still can't get enough of BB's Gothic Horror elegance.  

I also love how it focuses on a single city, and fleshes out it and it's supernatural mythos so well. 

I think Elden Ring is better overall, but I do hope it's success doesn't kill more focused and tighter Soulsborne games.

It's a good think i'd say you make two GOAT's within six years of each other, FROM is killing it. 

[BigBossBalrog]

Like come the fuck on; how the hell do you come up with a Lightning infused Skeleton fucking Werewolf 

[The Good Doctor]

6 hours ago, BigBossBalrog said:

My Elden Ring honeymoon phase is over...and it's still an almost-perfect game in my opinion  But I think Bloodborne can still match in in some areas

I’ll do you one better, Bloodborne still surpasses it in many ways. Better atmosphere, pacing, combat, music, less repetitive, and more unique enemies and bosses. ER is great, and easily the biggest and most diverse of these games in what it offers, but it is far from perfect. Bloodborne is tight.

[BigBossBalrog]

4 hours ago, The Good Doctor said:

I’ll do you one better, Bloodborne still surpasses it in many ways. Better atmosphere, pacing, combat, music, less repetitive, and more unique enemies and bosses. ER is great, and easily the biggest and most diverse of these games in what it offers, but it is far from perfect. Bloodborne is tight.

I think Bloodborne's extra tightness may come from the fact it had such a high budget compared to the other games. (Sony compared to Bandai Namco ) 

I do agree about the atmosphere, music, and pacing, but when it comes to the others, I think quantity is it's own quality. It's hard to compare gameplay when there design goals are so different. Like when I think of enemy and boss diversity it's a little bit annoying to see the asset reuse, but what other game to ER's scale has a fraction of it's combat encounter variety? 

Overall gameplay too is super subjective . Bloodborne's is a good deal more polished, but Elden Ring offers so much more in versatility, even compared to Dark Souls. And it is quite polished, even if it's less so compared to Bloodborne's. Preference comes down to it. 

[TheCzarsHussar]

3 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

I think Bloodborne's extra tightness may come from the fact it had such a high budget compared to the other games. (Sony compared to Bandai Namco ) 

I do agree about the atmosphere, music, and pacing, but when it comes to the others, I think quantity is it's own quality. It's hard to compare gameplay when there design goals are so different. Like when I think of enemy and boss diversity it's a little bit annoying to see the asset reuse, but what other game to ER's scale has a fraction of it's combat encounter variety? 

Overall gameplay too is super subjective . Bloodborne's is a good deal more polished, but Elden Ring offers so much more in versatility, even compared to Dark Souls. And it is quite polished, even if it's less so compared to Bloodborne's. Preference comes down to it. 

Bloodborne pvp was also a bit janky.

It actually reminds me a lot of early Elden Ring pvp with how broken it was. I've been two shot at meta level by ungodly powerful fire/electric saw cleavers at 50 vigor before.

[BigBossBalrog]

1 minute ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

Bloodborne pvp was also a bit janky.

It actually reminds me a lot of early Elden Ring pvp with how broken it was. I've been two shot at meta level by ungodly powerful fire/electric saw cleavers at 50 vigor before.

Every Souls-game has janky ass pvp 

[TheCzarsHussar]

Just now, BigBossBalrog said:

Every Souls-game has janky ass pvp 

It has really severe connection issues, not the boring Lost Connection, Return to your world fucker kind. But the fun getting stunlocked from twelve feet away kind.

I swear for a game with such tight, amazing hitboxes, it turns into vanilla ds2 in pvp

[The Good Doctor]

19 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

I think quantity is it's own quality.

Agreed, it can be. That’s why I give ER props for that. And it has tons of variety even with the reused bosses and enemy types sprinkled throughout. But repetition can get stale. Putrid tree spirits and Erdtree avatars come to mind. And I’ll die on the hill that the imp-filled crypts are awful before you even make it past Liurnia.

And I don’t think the boss roster is that great in either game. Bloodborne has higher highs and lower lows, but ER seems to throw its weaker bosses at you a lot more often than its good ones. Not that I would want the likes of Malenia, Maliketh, or Radahn getting reused any more than I’d want Maria or the Orphan of Kos to be. 

[The Good Doctor]

ER blows BB out of the water in PvP, though. And it’s only gotten better.

The only annoying part is overabundance of "meta" builds that get so old to fight. The game has sooooo much variety of build types, you kinda hope that you’ll get to go up against them all. But over half the time, it’s the same four or so builds. 

[BigBossBalrog]

1 minute ago, The Good Doctor said:

Agreed, it can be. That’s why I give ER props for that. And it has tons of variety even with the reused bosses and enemy types sprinkled throughout. But repetition can get stale. Putrid tree spirits and Erdtree avatars come to mind. And I’ll die on the hill that the imp-filled crypts are awful before you even make it past Liurnia.

And I don’t think the boss roster is that great in either game. Bloodborne has higher highs and lower lows, but ER seems to throw its weaker bosses at you a lot more often than its good ones. Not that I would want the likes of Malenia, Maliketh, or Radahn getting reused any more than I’d want Maria or the Orphan of Kos to be. 

I see people forget most of the amazing ones were added by Old Hunters (Which is really well-integrated but still)   By industry standards, there all pretty much head's over everyone else in general boss quality. But when it comes to FROM there merely "good". 

Vanilla Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro blew them out of the water in that regard. And it's DLC just added to that. 

[BigBossBalrog]

2 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

ER blows BB out of the water in PvP, though. And it’s only gotten better.

The only annoying part is overabundance of "meta" builds that get so old to fight. The game has sooooo much variety of build types, you kinda hope that you’ll get to go up against them all. But over half the time, it’s the same four or so builds. 

I'm actually hearing if you play on lower soul levels, there's a ton more variety when it comes to Arena builds, might want to try it. 

[The Good Doctor]

1 minute ago, BigBossBalrog said:

I'm actually hearing if you play on lower soul levels, there's a ton more variety when it comes to Arena builds, might want to try it. 

That’s why I’ve recently made a couple characters who I’m gonna keep below 40. 

[TheCzarsHussar]

Ironically the dark souls with the most variety and number of playstyles is Ds2.

The armors might on average be uglier, but it's wealth of weapons and spells has yet to be topped.

Even in movesets it's unrivaled. So many weapons have unique movesets and even share some attacks from other classes.

For example Creighton's Dragonslayer Crescent Axe (which makes a return in ds3) has one handed short sword r1's, heavy axe r2's. Two handed r1's swing using the greatsword horizontal moveset but much faster, and it has a unique two handed r2

[TheCzarsHussar]

That's just with one weapon, there's like two dozen that have such cool movesets

[BigBossBalrog]

2 minutes ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

Ironically the dark souls with the most variety and number of playstyles is Ds2.

The armors might on average be uglier, but it's wealth of weapons and spells has yet to be topped.

Even in movesets it's unrivaled. So many weapons have unique movesets and even share some attacks from other classes.

For example Creighton's Dragonslayer Crescent Axe (which makes a return in ds3) has one handed short sword r1's, heavy axe r2's. Two handed r1's swing using the greatsword horizontal moveset but much faster, and it has a unique two handed r2

Too bad the rest of the game, barring it's DLC areas, is a mess   (A fun mess, but still a mess) 

[TheCzarsHussar]

1 minute ago, BigBossBalrog said:

Too bad the rest of the game, barring it's DLC areas, is a mess   (A fun mess, but still a mess) 

Shit at this point I really only play ds2 for invasions

[The Good Doctor]

I just have no interest in DS2 at all.  

To be honest I’ve pretty much moved away from Dark Souls entirely. I might replay 1 or 3 some day for the bosses, but by and large I’ve closed the book on that world and am satisfied with where it has ended. My attention has turned to the future with Elden Ring.

Or hell, maybe Sekiro one of these days if I ever find the time. 

[BigBossBalrog]

1 minute ago, The Good Doctor said:

I just have no interest in DS2 at all.  

To be honest I’ve pretty much moved away from Dark Souls entirely. I might replay 1 or 3 some day for the bosses, but by and large I’ve closed the book on that world and am satisfied with where it has ended. My attention has turned to the future with Elden Ring.

Or hell, maybe Sekiro one of these days if I ever find the time. 

Do it, Sekiro has the most polished combat and bosses by far  Some of the later bosses feel like a hit of crack cocaine when it all comes together 

[BigBossBalrog]

Oh and I think it's story and presentation were a huge step up. 

[The Good Doctor]

8 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

Do it, Sekiro has the most polished combat and bosses by far  Some of the later bosses feel like a hit of crack cocaine when it all comes together 

That’s what I always hear, but any time I load my save, I’m completely lost both mechanically and in terms of my physical location in the world.  May just have to bite the bullet and restart. 

I also hear it’s got the best storytelling From has done, which, I mean… low bar. But still, I wouldn’t mind a game that actually has a compelling present day story and characters that’s told through more than vague item descriptions. In my opinion, ER’s storytelling would’ve improved drastically if Melina had provided more personal stakes and motivations throughout the game. Kinda like Ranni did during her questline.