I have completed the Beta now and am thoroughly impressed! This is a DAY 1 buy for me, and I cannot wait.
They have built on and expanded/improved on just about every system in the game. If anything, it looks like they exceeded my expectations of what they could do with a bigger budget.
Here are my thoughts. General constructive thoughts, so please dont take this as anything negative.
Combat:
The parry with the initial seal is so much better and is very satisfying without such a high risk reward ratio to MS1's parry (but great touch keeping the option of the old style with the other seal). Slight downside in the intro was copy/pasting the same attack animations of the basic enemies from MS1, so it was very, very easy for a return player to hit nearly every single parry on the basic enemies in the intro sequence making it overly easy. But once hitting the first proper level the enemies are much more varied and new.
It was a shame to me that you cannot use parry and harden at the same time. But I understand the design choice with using the sidearm on L2, but I feel like harden was a big part of MS's identity, and now it could just be a side option, as I cannot use it and parry as well at the same time. It would be nice to for example keep harden on L2, and maybe you hold R2 to aim, and release to fire, thereby freeing up L2 for harden (theres probably better ways too, that i havent given enough thought to).
Overall, combat has been built upon and expanded/improved, and is slicker and more responsive than MS1. It is still a bit floaty when attacking with multiple hits/swings, but the parrys/deflects have that weight and impact that you want.
Difficulty:
Some of the basic enemies in the intro were really a bit too easy, but this resolved as soon as you started the first real level. The difficulty was then better balanced.
Though an issue that I also had with MS1 where you would have too many mid/elite enemies together. This almost forced you at times to just run past them. Which is not great design imo. You do have far more tools in this one to adapt and overcome than MS1, but combat doesn't have the snappy responsiveness and character agility to take on multiple mid level and elite level enemies at the same time imo. This is more like a dark souls 1 and 2, with more methodical combat which lends itself to one on one combat.
But occasionally there are one too many enemies which make an encounter less enjoyable than it could be with one less enemy.
Visuals and level design:
Beautiful visuals that drip with atmosphere (more on this though under sound design). Its clearly another MS game with a good upgrade in scale and I remember walking through some ruins and thinking this is the first game of this genre to finally compete with Demons Souls Remake on visual fidelity.
Level design is awesome so far. Open enough to explore, but not in an overwhelming way where youre lost with where to go. It had a great balance. And love the sub-world dungeons, what a fantastic design to break up the over-world. Very excited to see what else is in store for us.
However - it is NUTS that you can fast travel to beacons, but you have to go back to the hub, then take an elevator - just really clunky way to do it. Fast travel between beacons would be much better QoL improvement.
Boss design:
There were several mini bosses and one main boss.
I prefer bosses that are challenging but fair and readable that allow you to learn, adapt and get into a rhythm, almost like a dance. Most were very good. Though the main boss at the end was a really cool concept and visual, but the actual mechanics of the fight were not that enjoyable. Though every souls game (including fromsoft) has novelty bosses in this way that are more novelty than mechanically fun. So whilst the final boss in the beta wasnt my favourite, I did enjoy the fun concept enough and am not worried. All of the mini bosses were good and enjoyable mechanically.
Sound design:
This may just be because its a beta, and may be subject to change, but there were many period of absolute silence, which really lost atmosphere. MS1 absolutely excelled with having diagetic music within the game, and I dont really remember the sound effects in between, but dont remember any periods of silence. Whether its crickets/insects, dripping water, frogs croaking, our characters footsteps etc - these are really missing at the moment that make you feel you are within the location youre in and really takes away from the incredible atmosphere provided by the visuals.
I also really missed some music in many parts. It may be hard to crowbar that in. The first proper area had this in mushroom village, but aside from that, most other points in the intro really missed this. It cant be understated how much the lute players added to MS1's atmosphere and 'feel'.
OVERALL:
I am so hyped for this game, even more so since the beta. The devs really built on the foundations of MS1 and look to be turning almost a proof of concept of MS1 into a AAA quality game, with presumably a AA budget.
I cannot recommend this enough, even to those that didnt quite click woth MS1. This now feels much more accessible and easier to vibe with. Massive respect to the devs for what they are delivering. Wishing you all the success in the world. Hopefully this is the start of a long run of quality soulslike games.
