>>716176630>>716180545>>716185034>Dark Souls 1 has a mechanic where you get infected with a parasite, and if you feed it 100k souls, you get a worm on your head.More so than complexity, I think what has been lacking from subsequent Fromsoft games is the Adventure. DeS,DS, and DS2 I think all made great attempts at creating a sense of adventure. There's places to get lost, places to find weird things, hidden places, impossible places, weird NPCs to find, weird mechanics to engage with that really are kinda pointless but are good set dressing.
If anyone has played TTRPGS (D&D and the like) you know what I'm saying. A good DM inserts these little quirks into their games/story. It might be irrelevant, but you're free to engage with it regardless. It adds flavour and life to what would otherwise be a generic dungeon crawl/fantasy hack and slash.
I think the Pit in Majula is the best example of this. There's this pit. You die if you drop down. But if you buy this really expensive ring you can just survive. But the area down there is pretty hard. Or you can wait till later in the game until you find a guy who builds ladders (himself not easy to find), who will then charge you through the nose to build a ladder into the pit. But how deep? All the way? Half way? You don't know what to expect. There's locked doors, a covenant, a bosses, treasures, but you have no way of knowing until you take the plunge.