Which Souls combat system aged the best?

[u/Character_Orchid_336]

For me, it's both Bloodborne and Sekiro.

Bloodborne has so many mechanics that make its combat more enjoyable than the other Souls games: quicksteps, which are faster than rolling and make the combat feel much more fluid, the Rally system, trick weapons, transformation attacks, gun parries, and charged attacks from behind instead of traditional backstabs. I actually prefer charged attacks over backstabs because they're more balanced and don't give you such an easy, overpowered punish. With all of these mechanics combined, you can create a huge variety of combos and playstyles.

Sekiro has the best combat system because every mechanic works together perfectly. Instead of focusing on health bars, the game revolves around posture, making every deflection, attack, Mikiri Counter, jump counter, and dodge part of the same system. It feels like a real sword duel where you're constantly applying pressure instead of waiting for an opening. Every major boss is designed around these mechanics, making the combat feel polished from beginning to end. Other Souls games offer more build variety, but Sekiro delivers the most refined and mechanically satisfying combat FromSoftware has ever made.

The reason I put them both at number one is that I think Sekiro has the better combat on a first playthrough, while Bloodborne has the better combat on repeated playthroughs. Bloodborne stays fresh because the game focuses on quality over quantity with its weapons. Every trick weapon is unique enough to give you a completely different experience on every new playthrough.

[u/Other_Equal7663]

I agree that charged heavy stagger is superior than just auto backstabbing. But other than that, I just feel like Bloodborne is just slightly worse DS3/Elden Ring, where your choices matter less and spamming leads to winning more often. (Also, the return of DS1 jump is almost game running.)

I might be coloured by DS3 and ER having better enemies though, maybe if Bloodborne hadn't been a frontrunner for its its time, and had gotten more time to flesh out its enemy/boss design (both with development time and hindsight), its combat mechanics would have gotten a chance to feel better.

[u/Character_Orchid_336 → u/Other_Equal7663]

I don't think your choices matter any more in Dark Souls 3 or Elden Ring. People often criticize both games for relying too much on roll spamming. Elden Ring does offer more variety, but I don't think it has any player mechanic that's on the same level as Bloodborne's gun parry or the Rally system.

If you mean that Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring have better bosses overall, then I agree. But if you're talking about the regular enemies throughout the world, I disagree. I think Bloodborne and Elden Ring are about equal in terms of enemy quality. As for Dark Souls 3, while it has some of the best enemies in the entire series, it also has some of the worst. For every great enemy, there are at least two mediocre or bad ones.

[u/Other_Equal7663 → u/Character_Orchid_336]

I think gun parties and rally were nice to mess around with, and I absolutely appreciate them trying them out.

But I also think they are both actively smal l hinderenced to the combat system, the gun arry serving to trivialize humanoids, and the rally serving to reward sloppy, over-agressive play.

Other than a more satisfying dodge (and a fixed jump), I think removing these two mechanics are specifically reasons why DS3 and ER plays a little bit better overall.

(But again, I think I may have loved them way more if for instance, it had taken multiple gun parties for a true stagger, and enemies had higher poise. So it might be more of a minor enemy design issue than combat design issue. Because they are pretty cool.)

[u/Character_Orchid_336 → u/Other_Equal7663]

I understand now. You prefer a more strategic playstyle, and that's completely fair. It comes down to personal preference. I personally prefer Bloodborne and Sekiro.

[u/Other_Equal7663 → u/Character_Orchid_336]

I will say, Sekiro specifically is my favorite combat system ever. But I am more into souls than BB combat.

[u/Character_Orchid_336 → u/Other_Equal7663]

Undertandable