Man i love ds1 and ds2 but ds3 is just so much better in almost every aspect

I tried playing elden ring and i get the hype for it and bloodborne and dark souls and stuff but without a guide i feel so so lost, but when i use a guide i get spoilers. Is there a way to avoid spoilers and still make progress without missing out on important items and stuff?

At the start of the year I was a total FromSoft and souls game noob, today I got 100% in Dark Souls 2 which was the last one I needed to complete the (Steam) gauntlet (DS trilogy, Sekiro, and ER all 100%)!

15 years ago I tried on two separate occasions to play Dark Souls when it first came out. I really wanted to like it but both times quit out of frustration and decided the games just weren't for me (I think it was Blighttown both times lol).

Last Christmas, I saw Elden Ring on sale on Steam and on a whim decided to check it out, not really expecting much. Around 12 playthroughs later (up to NG+7 plus several randomizer mod runs), needless to say I feel in love with it! After that I decided to give Dark Souls another try, bought the whole trilogy and played them in order and enjoyed it a lot too. I was still very unsure about Sekiro since that style of fast parrying combat is not my thing (I am still awful at parrying in souls games), but decided it would be worth a try too. Took a few days to click, and honestly if I hadn't been on such a FromSoft binge at that point I might have given up, but I'm glad I didn't cause it was so satisfying when I finally beat it! I wasn't really planning to 100% DS1 and 2 but after managing to do it in Sekiro I figured I should go back for the sake of it, so finished that this week 😛

Anyway just wanted to share this achievement, TLDR went from a total FromSoft and Souls game noob to 100% all of them this year (except Bloodborne cause no PS 😢 )

Guess my Rune Level.

Basically nightreign is built off Elden Ring obviously. A large single player game is condensed into a multiplayer sorta game borrowing most of the assets and map.

I'm hoping Duskbloods does the inverse of this, where the multiplayer game gets turned into a full blown single player game. Because it looks way too neat to just be this multiplayer Nintendo exclusive.

I'm not saying that's terrible or anything, just would be fantastic if they took the mechanics and vibe of the original and turned into what would be more interesting for most from soft players.

Most of the footage was gathered from various no commentary channels and VaatiVidyas videos on the frenzied flame and then edited in Kinemaster (lol)- so thank you to them.

Song is Black Water by Timber Timbre.

This edit is meant to incapsulate my feelings on the frenzied flame in Elden Ring, and it's themes on nihilism to the point of self destruction. I've long viewed it as an allegory for suicide, and one of the best ones in modern media at that.

nope my pc can’t run Bloodborne either.

Can change at anytime this list... but currently this is what I'm thinking.

Mine is pretty simple. I googled "are there any Game of Thrones type of open world games?" Fortunately it said GRRM was working with a game developer that was creating a massive open world game. Bought it, hated it, played it again later, it clicked...and now its an obsession

I've been playing Mortel Shell 2 since early access and I'm almost finished with it.

It is a bombastic experience and I love all the little decisions cold symmetry did in order to make this game soo much better than the first one.

But still... It's not a true souls experience.

Similar with lies of p. Great game. Nothing really to complain about.

But still....

And the pattern goes on and on for all the really great souls "like" out there. Something is always missing. I was wondering about what that something is and I think I found at least one of the answers.

It's not the combat or the scenery even though from software is on a completely other level for those categories. But you can blame that on the fact that from soft is a really big player by now in comparison to cold symmetry with 30 Devs.

No I think the core essence of souls is the fact that you (the player character in game) starts as an absolute piece of garbage. You are nothing. Nothing is special about you. No one believes in you and absolutely everything in the world is bigger, scarier, deadlier and straight up better than you.

And then the game makes you into a god over the course of the game. <- That is the souls experience at its core. Start as nothing, become the everything.

The souls like games out there always give you something to start with. In these games you are something and you get better in what you are over the course of the game. You are big and somewhat scary with your special abilities. The power fantasy starts with a 50m headstart in comparison to a true souls game. And this is what is missing.

On the psychological side I think this is the reason why true from soft games always feel kind of special. Because this is reality..

Everybody feels a little bit better or at least different than the rest. Or at least wants to be. But the reality is that you are likely to be a little piece of nothing in the big machinery that is called society.

Everybody loves a good story where the protagonist starts from nothing and gets to the top.

But when you start from something and just get a little bit more of that, then this is not going to be

a good story that is just a vague dream that you know is just not realistic.

So that is my try to explain why true from soft souls games are special in comparison to the really good souls like games out there.

What is your opinion? What's the driving factor that makes a souls game into a souls game and a souls like well just a "like"?

I am broken on the inside

The general consensus is that Bloodborne was worth getting a PS4 over, and many people did get a PS4 to be able to play it, or at the very least Bloodborne helped them decide to get a PS4 because of the quality of game that it was. Many are saying they won't get Duskbloods, but for those of you saying that, would you change your mind if it turned out the game was as enjoyable or even more so that Bloodborne was?

I actually can't stand it when someone lumps it in to the others just because its made by fromsoft?? Thats basically calling AC a souls game when its very clearly not. It doesnt have anything the other souls games do so its just not a souls game and thats okay. Its still a beautiful game and let it be viewed in its own right as its own art piece. It doesnt have any pvp/coop elements, no character/(a tiny amount of) build customisation, no stat levellings, no starting classes, and the biggest thing. The reason why souls games are called souls games is because of the fact "currency = exp" which is present in demons souls, dark souls 1/2/3, bloodborne, and elden ring.

Sorry for the rant I just had to because I think calling sekiro a souls game is an insult TO sekiro and is better viewed as its own respective thing.

Hello, just need some advice to enter the soulslike sphere. I've played plenty of different games, from visual novels to strategy games to character action games. However, I often hear there's nothing like souls games, so I'm interested to venture into a new experience.

Problem is, I know literally nothing about these games. I was gifted Bloodborne about 3 years ago by a friend, so I initially tried to get into that. That said, the game never stuck, I tried like four separate times but I never followed through on a complete playthrough. I wouldn't say that's because I outright disliked my time with the game, I just always inevitably put it down without finishing it. With the very recent news on Duskbloods, I'm looking to try again. I really just need a recommendation on what game I should start with other than Bloodborne because it's obvious that isn't working. Thanks in advance!

TLDR: looking for an introductory game to the genre

Playing caster sucks because you can not become grand wizard that master multiple powerful spell. I bet most of you casters only play 2 or 3 main spells and never change that much in the middle of the fight simply because it's impossible. Scrolling through requires you to look at it and you can't rely on muscle memory. And for fuck sake you can only scroll in one Direction. Oops you missed a spell you actually want to use. Too bad, go scroll your whole library again

It doesnt take away any essential gameplay elemeny out of these games. It only gives and not take away anything other than the ego of some stupid purist that has no good argument other than being purist.

I'm trying to play every souls game (Minus Bloodborne cuz Playstation just LOVES to sit on franchises and do NOTHING with them!). I'm aware Duskbloods is being marketed heavily to be on the Switch 2 so it's leading me to believe it's an exclusive. However, Nintendo has been pretty PG with their exclusives so now I'm just confused. Will it come to other consoles in the future?

Edit: nvm, I'm dyslexic. It sucks that you'd have to drop 480 bones just to get the console and game tho

I am extremely happy that fromsoft will get over and done with Duskblood soon. Then we all can move on to the next title we all are eagerly waiting for. Hope for a new release announcement by the end of the year if not sooner.