Board 8 > What is your favorite "Soulsborne" game?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I don't want this to turn into another argument on genre/classification so let's just agree to use these imperfect terms. (I won't be able to help myself if anyone mentions Sekiro so just don't do it!)

Details and discussion are most welcome; I know there's a decent amount of love for the series at large around here.

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Bruh we know it's Soulsbornekiro fuck I hate that shit

Also Bloodborne. I prefer the faster paced combat and the fact that it doesn't fall apart near the end of the game.

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Dark Souls 1 > Dark Souls 3 > Bloodborne > Demon's Souls > Dark Souls 2 for me


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to this day I don't understand why people started adding borne to the end of Souls. it started happening before the game even came out too! by now we should all understand and accept that it's on the same continuum and the extremely minor ways in which it's unique aren't enough to warrant inclusion in the name.

anyway my answer is one of the first three games depending on the day of the week. the first two are perfect while Dark Souls 2 has a bunch of interesting tangents it goes down that make me feel like it overcomes most of the common criticism. Bloodborne is a step below and Dark Souls 3 is just fine.

having said all this I don't think there's been diminishing returns by FromSoft. Bloodborne by design is more restrictive and that puts a cap on how much I appreciate it. DS3 is just them spinning the wheels in narrative and level design, it's still unmatched mechanically.

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is the version on switch good?
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Probably dark souls 1 but thats when i sucked at games the least so lol

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Soul Calibur 3 if it counts.

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I legitimately think Dark Souls 3 has the highest quality of bosses, Aldrich is the only one that I think less than favorably about. There are some gimmick ones (hello Yhorm) but they were gimmicks that I enjoyed.

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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

I legitimately think Dark Souls 3 has the highest quality of bosses,

some of the bosses are fantastic but I think DeSo, DS1 and BB all either have a higher percentage or higher outright total of great bosses

this also made me realize I've completely detached how I feel about the bosses from how I feel about the individual games. huh

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I'm sorry to be the guy to set you off but I might honestly prefer Sekiro over all of them... but since you don't consider it to be a part of this discussion I voted Bloodborne!

Fast paced action is more enjoyable and the trick weapons are super creative and unique. Much prefer the quality over quantity approach.

Sekiro is slightly better though and is a souls game fight me

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Super technically I have not completed Dark Souls 3 (I've faced every boss in the core game except the final boss, completed Ashes of Ariandel, and am currently making my way through Ringed City) and I have not played Demon's Souls but what I'm currently at is...

Bloodborne > Dark Souls 1 > Dark Souls 3 > Dark Souls 2

I had Dark Souls 2 and 3 reversed earlier but I've flipped on it since Dark Souls III's late-game has been pretty great. I think the triple-whammy of Nameless King, Twin Princes, and Friede is what got it to jump 2 for me personally because I faced those 3 almost back-to-back-to-back and they were all really great fights.

Nothing beats the trick weapons, atmosphere, and style from Bloodborne. Dark Souls III basically tries to emulate it with the Dark Souls flavor but can't quite reach those heights and I think it loses some of Dark Souls own unique flavor in doing so so I think I still rate the original above it. Also I think world/level-design takes a bit of a hit in 3 compared to 2 and especially 1 but eh.

All amazing games. Bloodborne is 10/10 and a legit Game of the Decade contender. The 3 Dark Souls are all 9+ for sure.

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CassandraCain posted...

I'm sorry to be the guy to set you off but I might honestly prefer Sekiro over all of them... but since you don't consider it to be a part of this discussion I voted Bloodborne!

Fast paced action is more enjoyable and the trick weapons are super creative and unique. Much prefer the quality over quantity approach.

Sekiro is slightly better though and is a souls game fight me

Sekiro is my second favorite soulsborne game I got ya brah

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Bloodborne > DS3 > DS1 > DS2 > Sekiro > Demon's Souls

all are great games, though. I'm a big Dark Souls 2 apologist. DS3 and 1 I flip on a lot because 3 is just superior mechanically in every way, but 1 just has that special something and more cohesive world that makes it such a tighter experience. Plus I feel like 3 really drops the ball on its DLC, something 1 and 2 smash out of the park.

Bloodborne I think has the best atmosphere and story in the series and even though it's a bit more limited I like the hybrid action/RPG it goes for without going too restrictive like Sekiro. And honestly, Sekiro was a blast to play in terms of action but it didn't grip me enough for me to struggle through the last few bosses.

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metaIslug posted...

And it doesn't suck off DS1 and is self-contained

This is weird because one of the biggest complaints I tend to hear about DS2's lore and aesthetics is that it's kind of a reskin of DS1! I don't agree with it, I think both DS2 and DS3 have good twists on the DS1 themes, but just saying.

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UltimaterializerX posted...

The fuck is wrong with Sekiro?

Nothing's wrong with Sekiro, I just assume they're mostly referring to Sekiro being considerably different from the others gameplay-wise

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I would like to clarify that Dark Souls 2 is fantastic, while Scholar of the First Sin is a mess. Some parts are improved while other parts are wildly unimproved.

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i have a soft spot for dark souls 2, because i think it's the one with the best pvp. i spent hours at the dragon bridge dueling with other dragonbros, and the rat & tower covenants were entertaining if nothing else.

however, it is the one with the most "nothing" bosses- guys with swords that you sidestep and attack from behind

it also let down the fanbase by throwing in tons of allusions to DS1 without being connected in any way. the way that dark souls lore works, fans couldn't actually figure that out until they had scoured through the entire game. they should've just done a better job at the beginning of establishing expectations and a sense of place. to be honest, i think this is a weakness of the series as a whole.

perfect example is that one boss that is almost a carbon copy of ornstein for no particular reason other than to get your hopes up.

once you get past that shock, the self-contained lore is totally fine

it's hard to say which is my favorite. i think i played too many all in a row at once and they all kind of blend together. I played dark souls 2, bloodborne, and dark souls 3 on release because I wanted to play with my friends, and one per year was just too much- I overdosed.

i was sort of into sekiro, with it's vastly improved gameplay, but once i realized the plot was the exact same thing as every single other soulsborne game- running around and fighting to end immortality- I almost immediately stopped being interested in the game.

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UltimaterializerX posted...

The fuck is wrong with Sekiro?

Nothings wrong with it, its great. The reason i rate it lower is that to me theres no real variety in it. all the bosses are beat the same way with the same weapon.

With the Dark Souls games and even Bloodborne you can approach the game different ways. "Do i want to go strength and use a big huge sword or do i want to play the Magic wielder and fire off spells or even go skill based and use a thin blade with precise fast attacks.

This is where Sakiro fails for me. You use the same weapon from start to finish with no option to play it with different builds. Yes you get powers but you cant beat the game with them alone ( at least i dont think you can)

But as i said Sakiro is still a really fun game.

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I like Bloodborne so much more than Demon's and Dark Souls that I'm not sure if I'll ever revisit those games. The builds are more streamlined in BB, sure, but the individual weapons are so unique and fun, that "weapon runs" replaced "build runs". I also went gaga for the overall world and level design, whereas I wasn't the biggest fan of those aspects of Dark Souls.

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og Demon's Souls

hoping the rumors of a remake on PS5 are real

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It's super cool to see this range of opinions! Just why I made this thread.~

For my own two cents, I think Bloodborne is the true perfection of the Souls style of game. The trick weapons are all ridiculously fun and the game's overall approach to armor and weapons solves every single issue I had with the games up until that point. (Namely that a lot of stuff was just better than other stuff to the point that those lesser items became pointless, which just begs the question of why they exist IMO.) The bosses are all amazing, the atmosphere is darn near unbeatable, and the moment-to-moment gameplay feels better than anything like it because of all the little tweaks done to promote aggressive play. It's a damn beautiful game and one of the best ever IMO.

The folks bringing up Sekiro have been nothing but pleasant so in lieu of going on a classification bender I'll just say that Sekiro is also ridiculously good albeit in a wildly different way than Bloodborne.

ninkendo posted...

og Demon's Souls

hoping the rumors of a remake on PS5 are real

I would LOVE for this to be true. There's so much about Demon's Souls that I would love to see realized with all the polish and lessons learned from the games that have followed. Even without any additional polish, The Nexus has yet to be beaten as a hub in the series IMO.

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I don't think a better action game than Bloodborne will ever be made, and I'm okay with that.

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Oh please let those remake rumors be true. I been wishing for just a remaster of Demon's Souls, if we get a legit remake it could become my favorite of them all.

And I realize now why I currently slightly favor Sekiro over Bloodborne even though the latter is an overall better game for several reasons. Sekiro's controls are just so damn smooth. And it stands out to me since Jedi Fallen Order copies the same combat system without also copying the polish. I mean I love that game but it's sluggish compared to Sekiro.

If Bloodborne was released now with said mastery over the smooth controls it would be an 11/10 game instead of just a measly 10/10 game

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Bloodborne > DS3 > DS2's DLC > DS1 > DS2 main

Sekiro is a bit weird because I generally didn't like it as much as From's other action games, but I really appreciate it having an actual plot instead of vague lore all over. (Not like I dislike vague lore all over, I just got a little worn of it after four games of it being the entire story)

I haven't played Demon's Souls because I never had a PS3, so I'd definitely be into a remake

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Need my world tendency

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CassandraCain posted...

And I realize now why I currently slightly favor Sekiro over Bloodborne even though the latter is an overall better game for several reasons. Sekiro's controls are just so damn smooth. And it stands out to me since Jedi Fallen Order copies the same combat system without also copying the polish. I mean I love that game but it's sluggish compared to Sekiro.

Sekiro is a bit of a weird one, for how awesome it is. I would go so far it 100% achieves exactly what it was going for with its combat to an unsurpassed level. The only rub is that there's really only one way you can play that game. If you like parry porn it's going to knock your socks off and over the horizon, but if you don't dig it then there's really nothing there for you. You won't be able to change your build, try a different weapon or mingle with spells etc to find a new way of playing as you'd be able to with the Soulsborne gang.

I personally love it so in a world where these games were even in the same genre I'd put it just barely below Bloodborne.

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Nioh

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LOLIAmAnAlt posted...

Nioh

I just finished this over the weekend and absolutely fell in love with it! Musing on the game and it's comparisons with From's offerings is actually a big part of what drove me to make this topic. Honestly I think for the depth of its combat and customization alone it hangs with the best of them. If Bloodborne is S tier then I'd say Nioh is solidly in A with Dark Souls 1. Definitely depends on what you're looking to get out of the game, though, as I'd say Nioh doesn't really excel at anything that's not pure gameplay and general themeing.

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you have to learn to parry to play path of further hardships though since damage goes through blocking.

I ain't arguing genres, Sekiro is a souls game cuz all games made by FromSoft are Souls

I will admit that parry porn is highly arousing to me, but you can play the game in different ways. Skills and prosthetic tools provide some unique and fun alternatives to combat. However yeah learning the parry timing is still the most efficient method but I dig it. Feels good every time and the clang sound effect is music to my ears.

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I wasn't big on Nioh for two reasons. The big one is that one of my favourite parts of From's games is exploring the big, interconnected world, which Nioh doesn't have with its separated levels.

The other is that I hate, hate, hate randomly generated equipment and having to pick up four thousand swords and compare all their random buffs and do crafting shit to move buffs around and create a super duper sword and uuuuuuuuuuuuugh.

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Bloodborne > Dark Souls > Demon's Souls = Dark Souls 3 > Dark Souls 2.

CassandraCain posted...

I ain't arguing genres, Sekiro is a souls game cuz all games made by FromSoft are Souls

I will admit that parry porn is highly arousing to me, but you can play the game in different ways. Skills and prosthetic tools provide some unique and fun alternatives to combat. However yeah learning the parry timing is still the most efficient method but I dig it. Feels good every time and the clang sound effect is music to my ears.

can't believe armored core is a souls game

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I knew you were gonna bring that up so yeah it's a souls game now that's official

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https://youtu.be/30BFiSOP8JU

Ah yes, my favorite Souls game.

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It's got the Moonlight Greatsword, of course it's a Souls game

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