You realize these games were more than just the bosses right?

>visuals is shit
>medieval stuff, shit stuff. Give me ak47s
>closed world
>magic stuff, we're not kids. Magic isn't real
>shit bosses
>shit enemies
>lore is stuck on items, it's a type of storytelling that only autistic kids like.

Tell me why people like fromcuck again?

>>713317940 (OP)
the boss fights are the worst part of the game

>>713318279
souls games were never about the boss fights alone

take away dark souls 3 bosses what does dark souls 3 have?

Tense, atmospheric dungeon crawling isn't marketable like "flashy boss rollslop 4".

>>713319513
I think they're on 7 now.

>>713319513
dont get me wrong I like 3 and elden ring but nothing comes close to what 1 and 2 accomplished in terms of fun dungeon crawling at least elden rings dungeons have good depth

>>713318354
that one sequence you have with siegward and the demon king, it is basically just a boss fight but that’s not why it’s cool. that’s it IMO

>>713319652
Name 3 good Elden Ring dungeons

>>713319749
every legacy dungeon

>>713319820
>Farum Azula
>Haligtree
nothing worth saying about volcano manor either

>>713317940 (OP)
Yeah but the boss fights were the culmination of every area.

>>713320081
Actually, 3 and Elden Ring suffer from this, being the opposite, whereas 1 and 2's bosses felt like something that would've been their area name any boss in 3 and elden ring that said bosses matched the tone of their rescpective dungeon I can only think of 2 in elden ring

>>713317940 (OP)
Elden Ring is more than just bosses. It also has a big, boring open world.

>>713320367
go back to tiktok zoomernigger

>>713317940 (OP)
People watch their favorite streamer and then just run past everything what do you mean.

Best part of SOTE was the really long side dungeons.

>>713320252
This is so insanely true about 3, and 3fags will still claim it wasn’t redesigned with everything being shuffled around last second even though it’s so fucking obvious

>>713317940 (OP)
Dark Souls was fun because of the world. Bosses were actually kinda shit besides a few standouts. Elden Ring is the opposite. Despite the open world it's a boss rush where you don't give a shit about the world because it's so fucking boring and empty. The elevator from Undead Parish to Firelink was cooler than anything in Elden Ring.

>>713320398
tiktok zoomer loves elden ring though

>>713320517
I still like 3 despite all of this. It's still the weakest in the series in my opinion, and I always judge those who say it's the best, mainly because these are the people who ruined the series instead of good atmospheric dungeon crawling we have roll slop bosses

>>713320563
I could not imagine this opinion, especially in the DLC. You are definitely correct for NG+ but not that first run. Makes me think you played ER A LOT.

>>713317940 (OP)
Its also about killing yourself 100 times for upgrade items that you will probably never use

>>713320987
nta, but after a while of seeing the same bosses and enemies in incredibly linear dungeons, you kinda stop caring. its the same for me in Skyrim. yeah, "technically" they're all different, but they sure as hell don't feel like it

>>713320252
I think the problem is that with each release they move further and further away from the original design philosophy of Demon's Souls.

The bosses were just a capstone for each level, which was the actual focus. Personally I miss the bosses that felt more like puzzles than skill challenges, but Elden Ring has obviously moved us in the opposite direction

>>713320563
I was disappointed with SOTE; while it was fun, it was a letdown, especially with those Scadu fragments. The dlc should've just been about making interesting dungeons and a cool open world to explore without having to collect those useless fragments I wish they went the route of you having to do all these dungeons. Then those dungeons would give you a key to open to the final boss, but what we got was an underbaked dlc that didn't even feel finished.

Real talk. Was instant bonfire warping a positive addition to the series, or was it just a free pass for more linearity in areas?

>>713320987
The scale of ER is impressive, that's not up for debate. But it also feels empty and boring a lot of the time, and its scale is actually a detriment to the game. Mountaintops reusing Caelid enemies and having NOTHING new to show that far into the game actually retroactively made Caelid and other areas feel less unique and just made me wish the game would end. Despite that, my favorite area of the game was Farum Azula because it feels like it could be in Dark Souls. I would much rather have a small but finely crafted game world than a sprawling mass with the same enemy camps and cookbooks strewn about. I like ER but damn we are never getting anything like Dark Souls 1 again at this rate- we are so far removed from what made Ds1 a cult classic.

>>713321220
it was a free pass
granted, they couldnt even do it right in dark souls 1, and quite frankly i don't think FromSoft is capable of it.
Lords of the Fallen was able to do it, fucking Starfield does it

>>713321169
I like how Dark Souls 1 and 2 feel like classic Legend of Zelda games. Bosses arent shit and im tired of people saying 1 and 2 bosses were shit because they arent most people who say this probably started with 3 or sekiro these games were slow paced atmospheric and intense dungeon crawlers and werent that hard they were never meant to be hard especially if you went at a snails pace. nightrein is what every zoomer once out of a fromsoft game, a boss rush roll,l slop fest

>>713321063
I guess I could get that. I definitely had Drauger fatigue. What's worse is by modern standards ER had variety. I don't get why so many games these days reuse assets. Id much prefer lower quality variety than the perfectly same 6 monsters in FF16 / DD2 / RE8.

>>713321359
>But it also feels empty and boring a lot of the time
I never felt this way, it reminds me of Botw where every corner of the map is full of content and besides the legacy dungeons are kino

>>713321359
Claire Obscure Expedition 33 gives me hope that small studios with 20 million using AI can bring back tight focused games again.

>>713321454
BotW was a bizare game for me. No peaks, no valleys, 200 hours of 7/10 relaxation. I finally got bored 20 min before beating it.

>>713320563
>The elevator from Undead Parish to Firelink was cooler than anything in Elden Ring.
Siofra River elevator is literally cooler

>>713321169
>but Elden Ring has obviously moved us in the opposite direction
I lament the distance from demons & I feel like ER was a massive improvement over DS3 in every conceivable way save for the recycling of course which from just had to put in there to balance all the good they did.

>>713321454
honest questions here, and I'm not trying to be condescending or demeaning. How many times have you played through Elden Ring? Do you 100% every playthrough? Completing every single dungeon, picked up every bit of loot? How often did you look stuff up?

>>713321714
self-plagiarism and 1 did it better anyway

>>713321815
i mean ash lake, not firelink by the way

>>713321714
double fake wall from the Three Fingers room to Deeproot Depths is also cooler.

>>713318279
spbp

They were indicators of progression, but otherwise detracted from the real game.

>>713321714
Undead Parish to Firelink was cool because it connected the starting zone to a later zone in a seamless way. On your first playthrough you have likely been away from Firelink for hours at that point and have lost track of how far you have travelled. The moment when you realize this elevator returns you to the beginning is unexpected, useful, and clever. Siofra looks cool but it's all spectacle. It's not really clever in the same way that Dark Souls is clever with its interconnectivity.

>>713321790
i have over 800 hours in Elden Ring My first playthrough was a mess, and I did look up plenty of stuff, but I did that with basically every Souls title

>>713317940 (OP)
Yes, the exploration and dungeon crawling are the best parts. I don't really get it why bosses ended up being such a big deal in the series.

>>713322152
they arent a big deal in the series its the faggots that started with 3 and elden ring claim it to be the case

people who say 3 and elden ring are the best have no taste in gaming and are probably black

>>713322003
I imagine most ER players play 1 for the first time and rip and tear through everything and don’t understand why the elevator felt like a big deal for an inexperienced player

>>713321220
>>713321220
free pass i'd say
early ds1 is so fun because you have to route it yourself

>>713322257
I did play DaS1 after ER and the game felt really easy indeed. DeS also felt incredibly easy other than that Valley of Defilement swamp being a huge pain in the ass.

>>713317940 (OP)
The bosses are its weakest department, the fun of it was just to explore stuff and kill random zombies while you try to decide which weapon to main.

>>713322003
Honestly, it's not fair to compare the two, because they're doing two different things. The Siofra Well elevator is impressive because of the spectacle, yes, but its also, once again, imparting into the player the sheer scale of Elden Ring as a whole. The way it just keeps going down at high speeds for way longer than you'd expect, and how the scope of your surroundings keep expanding from the elevator walls into a cathedral and then in purple space magic land underground. This sense of scale is then firmly cemented by the player checking their map and looking around at some point, and realizing that that the map may have just doubled in size when it gives you a whole new underground map to fill out. The impact only hits harder the longer you hold off on going deep underground, because if you've been to Limgrave+W.Peninsula+Liurnia+Caelid or whatever at this point, you now realize how much more you gotta explore. Of course, depending on how you feel about the game, this might fill you with despair or annoyance, but from what I've seen it seems like the most common reaction is awe, shock, and excitement.

>>713317940 (OP)
Only the first DS had structural integrity and life philosophy.

>>713319749
Leyndell Catacombs
Auriza Side Tomb
Gelmir Hero's Grave
Gaol Cave
Every SotE goal and catacomb, but especially Darklight Catacombs
The dungeons in ER get really good after the game takes the kid gloves off. If you started skipping them after Liurnia you missed out on tons of good dungeon crawling with creative layouts, few to no checkpoints, and no fast travel.

>>713318279
totally agree

>>713324051
>few to no checkpoints, and no fast travel
Doesn't make level design good by itself. Most of the time it's detrimental.

>>713319652
>at least elden rings dungeons have good depth
kek

>>713323405
Siofra fits that adage of "wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle". It may have scale, but so little of it is ever actually used. it's a problem in the entire game. too much land, not enough content. Sense of scale means nothing if that scale is barren

>>713317940 (OP)
The level design & enemies worked in tandem to screw you over, like Anar Londo's silver knight archer's being a threat just cause of having to walk that narrow arch of the flying butress.
Elden Ring instead has foe's that have even more accurate ( bullshit ) greatbow sniping, but its never to make you fall to your doom.

Some levels test your endurance, like the Catacombs or Blight Town especially ..not just how long you can tolerate sub 15 FPS.
Blight Town for example is designed to constantly lead a new player around to various toxic dart spammers.

Of the SotE dlc, i can only recall the rafters section within the impaler's castle which reminds me of the old style of level design. Most of the dlc was very lacking in that aspect, except for the smithies, pot dungeons & catacombs.

>>713321374
I'm looking to buy LotF on the steam sale since people have recommended it to me based on what I've asked. Does it have fast travel or is it conditional like in DS1?

Elden Ring was a bad game.

>>713317940 (OP)
Yeah. Exploring is great.

>>713325185
I think Fromsoftware still have the talent to make good legacy dungeons but I agree with your entire post, especially about how they used to use environment + enemies as a threat whereas now it's just enemies. If they made ER and had all of the legacy dungeons connected together without the big open world except for select bits I think it would be a better game because of it. Fast travel ruined this series, but then looking back it really looks like Dark Souls 1 was an anomaly and is the odd one out so I can only deduce Miyazaki is a hack.

>>713325359
NG it's on, but NG+ is conditional
its a fun game though, i highly recommend it. probably one of the better early soulslike

>>713324712
Overabundant checkpointing and guaranteed free escape is inherently detrimental to any dungeon crawling experience and it's actually something I strongly dislike about ER's legacy dungeons. I get that they wanted the game to be approachable by people who've never played a Souls game before but I feel like they went too far with checkpoints in the overworld and legacy dungeons and just how many tutorial-tier dungeons there are before they start getting interesting. People would have a better opinion of the dungeons if they didn't save all the good ones for the latter half of the game, and the rest of the game would have more tension if you didn't get a conveniently placed grace or stake immediately before every single encounter that's remotely capable of killing you.

I want to play DS1 but can't decide should I go with remaster or OG.
I have only OG for now on steam. I really want online features like invasions and vagrants but I don't want shitty graphics and pay full price for the game I already have

>>713317940 (OP)
yeah, why do you think das1 is considered the best by many still

>>713326929
>I don't want shitty graphics
Just get the remaster then

>>713325897
>probably one of the better early soulslike
Were you talking about the old one? I'm talking about the recent/reboot version.

>>713323589
ds2 has some incredible levels, that you cant run through, thats the beauty of ds2 for me, ds1 is a bit of a run through but i usually dont because i enjoy the level design but ds2 you cant really run through levels cause youll lose health if you die and the levels are harder. Every single other souls game you run through collecting everything, and then youll find some mob you can grind when you need souls it's kinda like a jrpg in that aspect.

>>713327278
Yes, the newer one. I didn't much care for the original. It was okay, but too clunky for me.

>>713326929
I only have original version, you just have to ask yourself if online is worth the asking price of remastered. I've been tempted myself before.

>>713327278
>>713327419
oh, i meant "early soulslike" because the newer one, Lords of the Fallen 2023, is similar to DeS, Ds1, and Ds2. In that there's more of a focus on levels and exploration and less on bosses, yet the bosses are pretty good too.

>>713327292
You better run because if you take too long you will get invaded, even if you are undead you still get invaded, got to rush to finish the shitty game with its shitty ass levels like blighttown but even more vertical and dark, poison hellhole and poison hellhole again but more poisonous now.

>>713327550
yeah i guess you do start running through everything during/after blighttown kek. No wonder all my runs tend to fizzle out after that

>>713327292
>ds2 has some incredible levels
It would be, if half the levels can't be described at "straight line" or "Y junction".

>Play DAS2 wondering what crazy monsters they'll throw at me after DAS1
>Just a bunch of guys with swords

>>713327694
hey, those hollows with dark broken swords don't fuck around

>>713327292
>ds2 has some incredible levels

Legitimately the only well designed area is No-man's Wharf and vanilla doesn't have the shortcut bridge

Shulva's the other best area which I initially expected to hate but really came to love and I would think it's peak DAS2, if not for the fact that it's DLC.

>>713327732
Until I play 3 and see something worse, this is without question the dumbest fuck basic enemy in any Souls game.

A cartoony eye sore that they put way too many of in the game and it's not even like it's that interesting to fight.

>>713327513
>>713327419
Thanks for the replies bro, looking forward to picking it up.

>>713327798
I disagree. Forest of Fallen Giants, Lost Bastille, and Dragon Arie come to mind. And obviously the DLCs. I enjoy most of the levels, and i think for me is the levels I don't enjoy are kinda sandwiched between levels i do. Where as in Dark Souls 1, after Sens' Fortress, I just don't care anymore to continue. My playthroughs pretty much end at Iron Golem.

>>713327912
love that guy
filters players all the time