The Souls Series: Yay or Nay?

[trouble time]

Wait-Dragon Quest was first? I thought Final Fantasy 1 was first, but maybe I was wrong. Am I?

Yeah Dragon Quest was a year earlier

 

[SpyroFan67]

Yeah Dragon Quest was a year earlier

Oops! Lol. But Square Enix owns the rights to both, at least.

 

[murilloc]

Absolutely love all of them, and Sekiro is my all-time favorite game!
The setting, the gameplay, the story... Perfect!

 

[TRIDIUM]

I have extensively played 1 2 and 3 and a little bit of Elden Ring!

I would highly recommend if you have access to all of the games though to play it in order of Demon Souls -> 1 -> 2 -> 3 and I don't really know if Bloodborne/Elden ring are in the same story line but I would recommend them as well!

Take this as a warning the games are meant to be extremely hard and difficult and you will die over and over again on probably any game in the list, but once you actually accomplish a boss or roadblock that you've been stuck on, and get used to the combat system with parrying/roll dodging it's so satisfying, and also not looking things up on the wiki pages and finding secret items and shortcuts is really cool too!

"You will die over and over again" You just summed up my souslike experience.

 

[TheAM-Dol]

In another thread about Dark Souls, I already shared my opinion on it. So if you don't mind, I'm just gonna copy-paste what I wrote previously.

I certainly don't [hate Dark Souls]. I've always wanted to get into the games, but just never found them enjoyable. That hasn't stopped me from continually buying the latest From Soft game in hopes "this will be the one I can finally stick with!" regardless, I have a lot of respect for these games.
What I do generally dislike is the trend of "Souls-like" games. It's not even the games themselves I dislike, it's just the lack of creativity and the "me too!" design: they always do vague, open ended story telling in a bleak world, they always have to have a punishing first boss which when slain will always have a dim background with text fading in that says "Beast Slain", and likewise upon death text that says "You died". Bonfires, exp dropped on death, limited healing items, enemies respawn after healing, unforgiving combat, etc. Some of these things taken in part is totally fine. But it's the fact that it's like most souls-like devs aren't so much "inspired" by Dark Souls, but more like they wish they had MADE Dark Souls. It reminds me of the frustration I felt with the lost potential of MMOs as during their hayday, they all gravitated to being WoW, instead of trying to explore the potential of the genre. The same feeling exists with Souls-likes in that they all just want to be the game that already exists instead of using the building blocks the original game created to set out and explore the potential of the genre.

 

[ATT_Turan]

The only other series I can think of that has combat as good as the Souls games is the Monster Hunter series.

See, I completely disagree but I think the opinion makes perfect sense. I recently tried whatever the newest Monster Hunter is and got it refunded that evening.

I think the controls are obtuse and janky, which is exactly what I think about Dark Souls - so it absolutely makes sense that someone who likes one would enjoy the other.

 

[Alright]

Don't have an opinion on them at the moment as I haven't played them but if I ever get
around to playing them I'll let you know what I think of them then.

If I do like them, I probably still won't like them as much as Final Fantasy or Kingdom
Hearts, because I'm more of a Square Enix fan. Final Fantasy 1 on the NES was the first
RPG game ever for a console, so that makes it revolutionary for its time and even today
that's saying something. More than 30 years after that game came out, Square Enix is
still in my opinion one of the kings of making RPG games.

If you're deep into JRPGs, then I can't imagine you will like Souls game lol
They aren't "bad" games per se, but I have no idea how they got so popular in the first place. I'm guessing they must've filled in some vacuum in the industry or something at the time.

 

[Misbegotten_Abomination]

Absolutely love them; Great soundtracks, challenging combat, and the "House of Leaves"-like storytelling approach. Although I'd never recommend them. I'll take YOU DIED every ten minutes over thirty kids screaming racial obscenities in my ear.

 

[murilloc]

The thing about the souls series is that it's not THAT hard as people think it is.
Sure, it's unforgiving sometimes, but it's also entirely up to the player to overcome such difficulties.
It's like Cuphead, it's exclusively skill-based, and that's the catch for me.
The feeling of overcoming a major boss after so many trial and errors is thrilling, breathtaking, emotional...
It's so addicting and satisfying that dying a lot is just part of the process.
I get it that people that want to play games to chill and relax and have a good time would surely pass these games, but i thing everyone should at least give it a try.

 

[SpyroFan67]

Absolutely love them; Great soundtracks, challenging combat, and the "House of Leaves"-like storytelling approach. Although I'd never recommend them. I'll take YOU DIED every ten minutes over thirty kids screaming racial obscenities in my ear.

Yeah-online multiplayer is toxic, isn't it?

 

[Misbegotten_Abomination]

Yeah-online multiplayer is toxic, isn't it?

It comes with the territory I suppose being anonymous and all. Journey had the right idea, just a shame it was so short.

 

[Tai_MT]

I'm... ambivalent on the Souls series, mostly?

I played Dark Souls 1. There was a noticeable delay between when I'd push a button and an animation would begin. This made all combat extremely jank. I wrote off the entire series as "difficult because of crap controls".

Years later, Elden Ring comes out. My friend is playing it so I go, "Okay, maybe it's good". I pick it up, play a bunch solo, play a bunch with my friend, and enjoy the game.

So, I go back and try Dark Souls 1 again. Delay issue is gone. Game works pretty well. So, I played it and completed it.

So, my opinion on the games is just this:
1. They're fun. I wouldn't say they're "masterpieces" in any sense of the word. Solid 7's out of 10's.
2. They have a myriad of problems that I don't really think will ever be fixed. Combat is one of those issues. It can be fun, but most of the time it feels monotonous, tedious, and dull. Probably why a lot of people play sub-obtimally... because making the game harder for yourself than it has to be is a great way to "feel engaged" and "like combat is fun". But, that's just not my thing. If I have to impose restrictions on myself to make the game fun... then the game was designed poorly to begin with.
3. The story is... meh. They COULD be good stories... but the fact that you have to hunt for most of the story through flavor text or NPC's which you may never run into... Means it's a poorly told story. It's great for people who like to "work for the story", but I'm not an amateur detective seeking internet points through making YouTube Lore videos... so... not for me. The game is great for just "kill everything until the credits roll". It would really make a fantastic Dungeon Crawler with no story at all.
4. Difficulty is largely exaggerated. Anyone who says "Git Gud" unironically appears to be just... REALLY BAD at the game. As in, they think the game is actually difficult. The Souls series are basically some of the most "accessible" games I've ever played. Can't beat a boss? Level up equipment or yourself. Cakewalk now. Can't parry? Then don't, dodge roll instead. Still having issues with a fight? Use some summons. There are tons of ways to beat these games because of all the "built in" difficulty selectors. They're actually probably some of the "easiest" games I've played where I didn't really have to think all that hard. Watch enemies to spot telegraphs, learn those telegraphs, dodge, follow up hits if you can, rinse and repeat until enemy/boss dies. If you can complete a standard boss encounter in an MMO, the Souls games have nothing new to show you, and you won't feel challenged in the slightest.

So... I think they're good games. They've got serious problems. They've got an undeserved reputation for "difficulty". They're a bit "overhyped" in certain circles as well.

But, you know, good 7 out of 10 games.

Like The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2.

 

[HexMozart88]

Dark Souls and Cuphead are what give me faith when people say my games are too hard. /hj

 

[Purple-H]

I've enjoyed all that I've played (Demon's Souls [PS3], Dark Souls 1-3, Bloodborne). I'm not as into the Dark Souls sequels, but the first one and the other games without sequels that I've played I've quite enjoyed. Even the two I don't like as much I would still prefer to play instead of most action RPGs out there. I look forward to playing Elden Ring and Sekiro one day when I can find the time, and Armored Core 6, though that's a little off topic.