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Soulsborne

Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2023 9:21 pm
by kupus
Recently I rediscovered my love and appreciation for the Souls series, and I played through pretty much all of the games available on PC.
Is anyone else here a fan? I'll be mentioning some spoilers down below for ds2 btw, in case anyone cares lmao.

What's your favourite souls game?
Area?
Bosses?
NPC?
Build?
Talk about whatever related to the games here! Even about souls-likes, since some of them are pretty recent and popular like Lies of P.

I'll start the thread with a bit of a controversial take - DS2 is probably my favourite out of the 4 I've played! I truly love how the main characters quest doesn't seem to be as grandiose as linking the fire is, and instead you are taken into a world that is significantly less important to the souls universe as a whole. Once it's finally time for you to meet the King everyone has been hyping you up for throughout the game you set your expectations high - only to instead get shocked at his wandering state. For some reason stuff like that really stuck out to me in ds2 in particular, even though tragic stories are really just fromsoft 101. The combat is significantly slower due to the lack of animation cancelling but it doesn't take too long to get used to. I'll admit it does lead to more poke and run away early moments until you learn the exact animation lengths of the weapon you're wielding but with correct positioning you can avoid this issue on some bosses. I also feel like this slower combat lends itself favourably to slow and heavy weapons, which I came to prefer because of this game. Meanwhile Elden Ring and DS3 are so fast I would often feel overwhelmed with a slower weapon, or god forbid a fat roll, something that feels like an almost impossible choice to go with in those two. I usually play almost naked or in cloth armor anyway so it doesn't concern me but it does feel like the general boss/enemy speed went way up with newer titles. Which isn't bad but it does change how you should approach the game, especially as a new player. Idk I came to appreciate all the differences in playstyles between each title and I can't call DS2 bad simply because it takes a slower approach? Also I definitely enjoyed the PVP most in DS2, DS1 feels like backstab simulator and DS3 is just hmmm too floaty for pvp. Also general pvper culture is a lot more polite and comfy in DS2 but that could just be circumstantial!
Last but not least, I really dislike and am confused by the "DS2 is too ganky" crowd. I feel like I got surprised by an enemy coming out of nowhere way more times in DS1 than DS2, but maybe I'm insane. All the hard runs to the bosses can also be countered by killing a handful of enemies that pose issues, it's not necessary to kill each and every one.... Ok thank you for coming to my ted talk :P

Re: Soulsborne

Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2023 12:44 pm
by Vencake
A very interesting take on DS2. Did you main heavy weapons in all 3 Dark Souls?
I never got to do pvp prior to DS3 but I'm glad you had a positive experience in DS2. I heard it was pretty magic heavy compared to #3, and 3 was full of hackers lol Also, you playing naked and having big weapons is giving me the image you played as some sort of barbarian!

Area - Any non-swamp area I s2g I HATE the swamps. Stop putting them in Fromsoft!!!
Bosses - Aldrich, simply because his concept and design is awesome especially with Gwyndolin merged.
NPC - Pate the mild mannered. I liked him in #2 and loved how they handled his branching story in #3! Brilliantly devious...
Build - for DS3 I did a pyro mix with a dark gem. I can't remember the exact build (but I can get it if I load it up), but it was a "safe" choice as magic in 3 is pretty bad and the whip is situational (but was very good for catching people in rolls). Parry was OP so I remember being able to switch the shield for the lightweight glove thingy that you parry easy with.

Re: Soulsborne

Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 11:31 am
by kupus
Vencake wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2023 12:44 pm A very interesting take on DS2. Did you main heavy weapons in all 3 Dark Souls?
I never got to do pvp prior to DS3 but I'm glad you had a positive experience in DS2. I heard it was pretty magic heavy compared to #3, and 3 was full of hackers lol Also, you playing naked and having big weapons is giving me the image you played as some sort of barbarian!

Area - Any non-swamp area I s2g I HATE the swamps. Stop putting them in Fromsoft!!!
Bosses - Aldrich, simply because his concept and design is awesome especially with Gwyndolin merged.
NPC - Pate the mild mannered. I liked him in #2 and loved how they handled his branching story in #3! Brilliantly devious...
Build - for DS3 I did a pyro mix with a dark gem. I can't remember the exact build (but I can get it if I load it up), but it was a "safe" choice as magic in 3 is pretty bad and the whip is situational (but was very good for catching people in rolls). Parry was OP so I remember being able to switch the shield for the lightweight glove thingy that you parry easy with.
Oh nooo I typed up a whole reply and then got logged off and lost it oops. Anyway thanks! In DS1 I ended up using the zweihander which I really had a lot of fun with, DS2 I used demons great hammer, the grand lance or twinblades depending on the situation (and considering weapon durability is a thing in ds2 more so than other titles it actually forced me to use other weapons), and in DS3 I just stuck to straight swords... I really couldn't decide what to go with in that one so I just went with a basic bitch choice. Everything lighter felt too light and everything heavier made me feel like I sucked bad at the game but also DS3 was the first one I played now as I got back into fromsoft games so it felt like the safest choice :cry:

Regarding pvp, there indeed is more magic in ds2 but it always feels easy to counter, meanwhile ds1 pvp always leaves me seething :(
I definitely did look like a barbarian in ds2, until I put on those silly butterfly wings and furry pants lmfao

You're so right for hating on swamps, I feel like big open areas in general tend to be kinda boring and uninspired... Like the Demon Ruins with the 10 lazily placed Taurus Demons cracked me up when I first saw it!
Ohhh Aldrich does have an amazing design that's true!! I really love wearing gwyndolins set in DS1 lmao
I love Pate too!!!! Probably my favourite version of patches, also his voice is pretty great. Generally I really loved the voice acting in DS2
Personally I mostly avoided magic in the souls series unless it was required to cheese something (like saving solaire by killing the chaos bugs with poison through gates...) because I went with a magic build in elden ring so I got a bit sick of magic. Pyro is pretty fun though, I went pyro in my first ds2 playthrough ages ago...

Re: Soulsborne

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2023 3:24 pm
by Vencake
kupus wrote: Wed Oct 04, 2023 11:31 am Oh nooo I typed up a whole reply and then got logged off and lost it oops. Anyway thanks! In DS1 I ended up using the zweihander which I really had a lot of fun with, DS2 I used demons great hammer, the grand lance or twinblades depending on the situation (and considering weapon durability is a thing in ds2 more so than other titles it actually forced me to use other weapons), and in DS3 I just stuck to straight swords... I really couldn't decide what to go with in that one so I just went with a basic bitch choice. Everything lighter felt too light and everything heavier made me feel like I sucked bad at the game but also DS3 was the first one I played now as I got back into fromsoft games so it felt like the safest choice :cry:

Regarding pvp, there indeed is more magic in ds2 but it always feels easy to counter, meanwhile ds1 pvp always leaves me seething :(
I definitely did look like a barbarian in ds2, until I put on those silly butterfly wings and furry pants lmfao

You're so right for hating on swamps, I feel like big open areas in general tend to be kinda boring and uninspired... Like the Demon Ruins with the 10 lazily placed Taurus Demons cracked me up when I first saw it!
Ohhh Aldrich does have an amazing design that's true!! I really love wearing gwyndolins set in DS1 lmao
I love Pate too!!!! Probably my favourite version of patches, also his voice is pretty great. Generally I really loved the voice acting in DS2
Personally I mostly avoided magic in the souls series unless it was required to cheese something (like saving solaire by killing the chaos bugs with poison through gates...) because I went with a magic build in elden ring so I got a bit sick of magic. Pyro is pretty fun though, I went pyro in my first ds2 playthrough ages ago...
RIP your original post

It's fun to find someone who actually plays with heavy weapons/playstyle...I'm the total opposite - I can't stand it! Oh! Do you remember when poise was a thing? LOL What were your thoughts on it?

Mm I agree. DS on a whole does a good job but DS2's VAs felt like...idk dreary, fitting, eerie...? Very suited to their roles and place in the universe. Hard to explain! I've also not played DS2 since it came out so it's harder to remember.
I have to admit I cheesed once with magic, I think it was the original souls though. You could send magic over a wall to the boss iirc and I spammed it lmao. Ds1 felt super janky so I never finished it s:

ALSO...I'm surprised no one else here plays/played soulsborne games! Or if they're lurking :!: