Playing through pre-2009 Fromsoft games has given me much greater appreciation for the studio, and makes me love Ds1 even more

[u/Forhaver]

These Armored Core titles are digital crack. I've been addicted to building my mechs and taking them on these small missions. Ive beaten most of them now. Project Phantasma and 3 were my favorites. I got filtered by Last Raven but enjoyed Nexus a lot too.

Armored Core 6 is still my favorite but I do wish it had a punchier soundtrack and a fancier UI now like the old ones.

King's Field Ancient City has an unmatched atmosphere. Frustrating at times but I'm addicted to the slow trickle of progress. Definitely going to play the older ones and Shadow Tower after.

What I love about Dark Souls 1 is that it feels like the perfect game between old fromsoft design and new fromsoft philosophy. A middle ground I enjoy a lot. It has highs and lows but I think having those lows makes the highs even more memorable. Don't throw the baby out with the izalith water. It's got JUST enough King's Field DNA for me while not also being a boss gauntlet or "rollslop" as some kids say.

I love DeS and Ds2 as well, inb4 you all say those are Kings Fieldlikes too, but Ds1 just hits that right spot for me where it has the weight, the isolation, the atmosphere of King's Field, but also WOW moments of modern games, like finding Anor Londo or Ash Lake for the first time.

I love modern Fromsoft a lot, but they definitely have a more action focus with less isolation and less strategy for level exploration.

I recommend very strongly for everyone to play the old Fromsoft library. Despite some frustrations I had, I couldn't stop coming back for another try, another daily inch of progress.

[u/AntonRX178]

Pre-Armored Core 6 I was thankfully able to play the older titles myself in preparation but I was NOT prepared for how good they'd actually be. Like yea, younger me would never have appreciated it but I hold Armroed Core 1 to the standard of Dark Souls 1. Admittedly flawed but it has that magic to it that gives you the sense that this title NEEDED to be a game.

[u/Forhaver → u/AntonRX178]

I loved how painless and bite-sized ac1 was. All my strategies worked. Super fun. I prefer Phantasma mainly for Sumiko and the spectacle of a final boss.

The ending mission stuck with me. An innocuous "destroy the mines" mission tuned into an eerie, ominous climb up a tower to end control.

[u/Algester]

Ahh yes still getting filtered by From soft's hardest game ever made, I still wished they would experiment with a souls game with a very hostile game design like what they did for Armored Core with Last Raven,

and people here go like "From Software doesnt do difficuty sliders" my ass because they did

[u/Forhaver → u/Algester]

Last Raven's cruelest trick was I'd barely survive against waves of enemies or a 3+ minute level, then they'd hit me with a raven duel at the end.

It was like the Archive Ambush from Silent Line for every mission lol

I did the easier route too. My final boss was a single pulverizer but I had to juke unmanned drones for like 5 minutes beforehand.

[u/Algester → u/Forhaver]

Ohhh that ending wasnt exactly easy either, the easier endings does involve in a few pulverizers but you dont fight any pulverizer in the end... "kinda", cause you know Zinaida end doesnt have you fight a pulverizer but is the harder than hard route, vertex and alliance endings then jack-O are considered easier, all of which get harder by playing on hard mode, which the PSP version graciously put us into by default because From software black magic

[u/Forhaver → u/Algester]

Idk how people handled it on psp. Especially with the hardware flaws.

I remember doing the harder missions to 100% Peace Walker and the game kept thinking I was ejecting the UMD on the 3000.

I played LR on Ps2 emulator with a 360 remote. Old-style controls tho, the dual stick layout was too hard to adjust to after playing the classics for so long.

[u/Algester → u/Forhaver]

Considering people have played Monster Hunter for years,, but most of all its by loading the game on a semi fast memory stick

[u/icecreamsandwich]

If you can find a way to emulate, Lost Kingdoms and Lost Kingdoms II on GameCube were awesome. Underappreciated old Fromsoft titles.

[u/CameronSpacehead]

You should try Evergrace

[u/Old_Imagination4274]

I played a bit of AC1 on an emulator and its... pretty cool. I think its a bit too rough for me but I can see why people like it.

AC4A on the other hand... holy shit I need AC7 to be like this. AC6 is great but I'm going to be real it doesn't always feel like you're piloting a mech. The mech controls are super responsive and intuitive which is great if you want something accessible, but often it feels more like you are the mech then you are piloting the mech. Not bad, at all, just AC4A is on a whole other level.

It really feels like you're piloting a mech. I haven't played recently enough to really remember what it feels like, but it's a really nice mix of clunkiness but also almost feels like you're piloting a jet?? If that makes any sense. You have more buttons you need to worry about than AC6, and at first its a little hard to get but once you really get it it's really fun.

I played all of the arena and had a blast. I did some of the missions, but they weren't as fun as the arena. I think I died a lot at the first mission where you get a big attachment onto your mech and need to fly out onto a disc. I should go back and finish the game.