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after not having gamed for ~5 months... decided to start up Dark Souls 2
this'll be a while
fairly confident if i didnt play that next i'd probably never play it with Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring still in my backlog as well
GTA VI delayed until May 2026
after not having gamed for ~5 months... decided to start up Dark Souls 2
this'll be a while
fairly confident if i didnt play that next i'd probably never play it with Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring still in my backlog as well
Last edited by spurraider21; 2 Weeks Ago at 11:21 AM.
Still not playing last of us 2? smh
tbh i have at least half a dozen "still not playing x????" type games in my backlog. bb has been on my ass about elden ring as well.
i just know DS2 is the one most likely to be left in the dust if i dont play it
it all went to when i started playing Warzone with my buddies for a better part of 2-3 years
If Expedition 33 is the evolution of the turn-based RPG, then I'm here for it. I'm 6 hours in and it's so good. Normally I don't say this because I'm not one to pay attention to it but the music is ing great.
tbh i have at least half a dozen "still not playing x????" type games in my backlog. bb has been on my ass about elden ring as well.
i just know DS2 is the one most likely to be left in the dust if i dont play it
it all went to when i started playing Warzone with my buddies for a better part of 2-3 years
Anyways that's not how backlogs work. You will never play all the games you buy so why opt for the FromSoft game universally considered the worst instead of playing arguably the best one?
Damn I really gotta check this out. So many RPG in my backlog though from FFVII Rebirth to SMT V Vengeance to Metaphor ReFantasio. Still never finished Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth either.
i will not concede this
Anyways that's not how backlogs work. You will never play all the games you buy so why opt for the FromSoft game universally considered the worst instead of playing arguably the best one?
also, sekiro is by far the most stand-alone of the major FromSoft les. unique combat, world design, etc. no weapons/armor to find or upgrade, no blacksmiths. combat arts.
elden ring by all accounts is one of the GOATs but from what i know is very much an extension of the souls games as far as core game mechanics. playing the newer shinier versions tends to make the older ones feel ty and hard to play (unless you've already played it before and have some nostalgia). from what i can tell dark souls 3 holds up remarkably well to the point i can comfortably play elden ring before that one without it feeling bad.
and im aware DS2 is considered the worst of the FromSoft games, but that has some "skinniest kid at fat camp" vibes. just feel like i'd literally never play it if i play DS3 and Elden Ring before it
Last edited by spurraider21; 2 Weeks Ago at 11:27 PM.
Pretty crazy
enjoying Dark Souls 2 so far. just cleared out the first main area. frankly took a long time to actually get to the first boss which was a letdown, the last giant. i think he would have made more sense as a tutorial boss if he came much earlier in the game. by the time you get to him you've had to go through quite a bit, unlike Asylum Demon from DS1.
at least the next boss, pursuer was a good fight. he stomped me with the surprise appearance earlier by just instantly grabbing me with his sword. still took me a few attempts to get the timing down. i played DS1 like a coward with heavy shields and whatnot, trying to avoid that this game, trying to just roll through stuff more and two-hand my weapon instead.
interesting changes from DS1. way more consumable healing other than estus. feels a little cheap. but at the same time, feels like the animation to use heal items is ridiculously slow and punishing. losing a bit of your max health with every death also adds an element of strategy of deciding to go human, but the human effigies arent all that common, whereas i felt like i was never short on humanity items in DS1. so ive spent a ton of the game hollow and at lower health, which seems to go as far down as 50%. if i had a sense of how common the human effigies were i would be more inclined to stay human more, but never really seems worth until i feel im ready to beat a boss and just need the health back.
having immediate ability to teleport between bonfires is a nice quality of life change.
really glad i decided to play DS2. though i think the gameplay holds up well enough that i dont think playing DS3 or Elden Ring first would have "ruined" it or anything.
im very much enjoying it and for the most part i think the areas are well designed. i think the runbacks to bosses are probably the single worst part of the game. the runback to the chariot guy is just insanely long and tedious.
weapon durability also seems like a bigger issue than other entries, so i just have to make sure i carry some repair powder. really just feels like an unncessary nuisance.
other criticism is the stone statutes that you need the particular items to move out of the way. theyre not that plentiful and its hard to keep track of "if i get a spare one, i should remember to go back and clear this stone". i think its a pretty dumb mechanic. the typical locked door with a key somewhere else in the level is a much more intuitive version of that mechanic. they already have the locks with the pharros key or whatever, but those keys are more plentiful. the stone statue things just seems unnecessary
otherwise the mechanic of losing some of your max HP each time you die is kind of interesting, and early game it made it a very fun decision of whether or not to consume a somewhat uncommon human effigy to undo it or not. you didnt want to use one every time you died until you felt like you really mastered the area up to the next boss. and then by having to play through that area with decreased health, it really does force you to get good, and then you pop one when you feel you actually have a good enough feel for the boss where you can actually put your max health to use. i rather enjoyed that tension, but its has become trivialized because the human effigies are more and more common as you go.
Took a break from Oblivion to play Doom the Dark Ages on game pass. Pretty fun. As usual with Doom it's super fast paced and the new mechanics are pretty neat though I'm not a fan of the focus on melee and the constant different attacks or counters you need to memorize for various enemies. But it looks and runs great for a new game which is atypical these days
One of the best things about Elden Ring is most of that crap is eliminated. You can usually activate a checkpoint right before a boss fight.
good to know. sekiro was great that way too. usually had pretty close spot to the boss, and if not, your character was so damn fast you could usually sprint to wherever you needed without having to engage many enemies, if at all.
while the game is still enjoyable, i can see why its considered the weakest of the series (i havent played DS3 yet, but by all accounts that game is phenomenal). the areas definitely lack the interconnectivity of other games, and even within the levels, there arent the same nifty shortcuts that i've been used to.
the boss quality is also subpar. i know they have a ton of bosses in the game, so im not expecting them all to be bangers, but hardly any of these are memorable at all.
- pursuer fight and intro was cool. so good that they have him return throughout the game several times, at which point the novelty is completely worn
- bringing back ornstein was kind of funny and fan service-y. but if you need a retread boss in what, the second main area a player goes? thats a sign of desparation
- some of these boss fights dont deserve health bars. the skeleton lords were so weak. the one where you just kill a bunch of rats. theres one with a "congregation" or whatever which just feels like 7-8 regular enemies
- youd think the "great souls" would at least have good quality. old iron king feels like ceaseless discharge from DS1. the spider one was solid. but rotten and lost sinner just feel like generic bosses with swords. ok they have a slow, telegraphed combo of swipes. they have a slow, telegraphed overhead smash. and then... rinse repeat?
drangleic castle feels like it should have been somewhat climactic like anor londo was culminating in ornstein and smough. the castle was mostly ok. but the 2 boss fights there? doing dragonrider again (this time theres 2! so createive!). and then at the end the looking glass knight... yes he looked very cool. the raining atmosphere and music was great. but the fight itself? same general theme as what i just described. telegraphed swipe combo. telegraphed overhead smash. except at the end he slams his shield down and summons one guy to help him who isnt that good.
this is where ive left off. maybe the boss quality gets better in the endgame.
otherwis this game is otherwise more unintuitive than other entries in the series. i had to look up wtf to do after getting the 4 great souls. i had come across a few doors that wanted a sign of the king before, figured i could go there now. no. no shot i was going to remember some shrine i hadnt encountered for days in a nondescript area. maybe when i returned to the level up lady she should have told me to proceed through the woods, instead of just telling me i can go to the castle. how tf do i get to the castle? had to look it up which felt sad.
at least in DS1, when you ring the bells, it SHOWS you the gates of sens fortress rising, and you remember it. when you place the lordvessel, it SHOWS the big yellow doors open up. i hadnt visited all those spots before, but had seen the one in anor londo, demon ruins is easy to tell even if you havent explored it yet. and then i knew i hadnt explored new londo or the crypts yet, so those made sense as progression points. no such epiphany in DS2, just not designed as well
still glad i decided to play thorugh the game though, the souls formula resonates with me, even if they can be exhausting
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