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SvennoJ on 24 January 2021
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Runa216 said:

Souls games are weird as hell. I played Demon's Souls and thought it was fine but nothing special and avoided the franchise until Bloodborne came out. The first time I beat Bloodborne it was really just a case of me 'not letting the game beat me', and by the end I genuinely didn't like it. I thought it was unfair, obtuse, unclear, and just a mess that gave me more frustration than it was worth.

but then I started NG+ after convincing my friend to play it and watching him struggle with Central Yharnam. I remembered where things were and what to do and where to go. I remembered tactics. I kinda disliked - maybe even hated - the game upon first completion but on subsequent playthroughs I quickly came to love it and now consider it among my favourite games of all time. In fact, of my top ten games of all time, it is the only one NOT on the Super Nintendo. It might actually go down as my single favourite game of all time if things persist. Once it gets the same nostalgia factor as those SNES games, it might be my favourite.

Same thing happened with Dark souls. First time through I actually kinda hated it. sure, it had some bosses and areas that I loved, but for every Ornstein and Smough there was a Bed of Chaos. for every anor Londo, there was Lost Izalith. Once I played the remaster on Ps4/Switch, something changed and I went from hating it to loving it. It's obtuse, the controls are not that great, it's insanely difficult and seemingly unfair most of the time, but the community aspect of it and the self-imposed desire to 'conquer' it results in some of the most satisfying senses of euphoria I've ever gotten in gaming. What starts as a game you struggle against and combat becomes a game that I love playing. Once you 'get' it and it clicks, it often becomes a favourite. I definitely understand both halves of the spectrum, given its nature as a game you have to learn to love, not something you just pick up and enjoy. This isn't Spider-Man PS4 or God of War, it's not an easy to pick up and play game, it's a game you gotta work at for the combat AND story.

In my experience, people either hate it, don't get it, and think it's overrated or they love it and rank them among their favourites. I'm in the latter camp but I 100% understand why so many people feel the opposite. I don't tend to get bitchy with people who dislike Souls because I understand that it's not for everyone. I feel no need to be condescending about 'git gud' or 'you just don't get it', because it's so deliberately obtuse and challenging in many ways.

I recommend playing Bloodborne or Dark Souls III. Both of those games have stunningly similar level and world design to dark Souls, but both of them have far more refined control and gameplay options as well as much better bosses and (in my opinion) a better world. If you got as far as the Crystal Caves in Dark souls, then you have the tenacity to power through Dark Souls III or Bloodborne. and if you get that euphoric, hard-won sensation of accomplishment, it's all worth it.

Interesting, I went from loving DS to disliking it in NG++, same with DS2, hence I quit the franchise.

I love the exploration, yet without that the game falls apart imo. There's not much left to enjoy on subsequent play throughs and all the annoyances start to add up. Maybe I'll give BB a try some day, not feeling like it yet. I definitely have no desire to ever play DS again even though it's in my top 10 best games of all times.

The difference is, I get that 'euphoric sensation' from discovering things / finding things out, while overcoming a boss battle at most leaves me with a 'glad that's over, now I can get back to the fun stuff' And when that 'fun stuff', the discovery phase runs out, the game is as good as done for me.

Anyway, good to know BB has similar level design to DS, that was its strong point. The reason I never started BB is that it relies more on swordplay, parrying, stuff I never got along with in DS. Hence I went the magic route with lots of shield block action. Parrying is one thing I can never figure out in video games, I always time it wrong.

I guess I gave up on Dark souls as well after my third attempt haha. The first one ended in a restart, the second was amazing, the third, ng+ was bleh, only saved by not having explored two sections yet in my second attempt. By ng++ I realized the magic was gone forever and nothing but clunkiness remained.