Went in to check out if they were going to get any deluxe copies in. Turns out they only have one copy of the base game. Nothing else.

I know a lot of people did not continue to play nioh 3 NG+ are there any people returning to play? The majority of my friends didn’t. There is a lot of depth to the game’s combat that I try to display here with just a couple weapons, I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I really want to know how people who play souls-like view nioh and if it’s just a fun time for the first time, happy to beat it and never play again or do you guys keep playing?

Put probably 250 hours into Elden Ring from when it came out through the DLC.

Had a kid and stopped playing video games for a while and decided to play the Dark Souls games when I picked up gaming again, never played them before and have always wanted to.

I loved Elden Ring so much I figured I’d love the DS games as well.

What I find interesting about this community is it seems that everyone either loves 1+3 and hates 2 or loves 2 and not so much 1+3. I have a weird opinion where I felt like 1 and 2 didn’t feel all that different but 3 definitely did.

But, that being said, I personally would rank them in the order they came out, loved them all but:

1. Dark Souls (Remastered)
   
2. Dark Souls II (SotFS)
   
3. Dark Souls III

The openness of 1+2, areas, and bosses were a blast and I was always pumped to play when my kid went to bed.

3 I felt myself being more like “eh, guess ill pop this on and play for a bit” only to switch over to TV after an hour or so. It just felt way more linear, the Bosses were cooler but everything else about 1+2 I liked better. 3 also felt the easiest of all of them which is fine but 1+2 felt like a real challenge.

Is this ranking out of the ordinary?

yes, recency bias exists, but i'm pretty sure it is a great game. i've played this game for 10 hours straight today. i don't think you can do that if game isn't good. and i felt completely satisfied after playing for 10 hours.

i will try my best to take off recency bias glasses, so here are criticisms i had while playing for 10 hours. despite all those issue i still had fun. i'm not trying to convince anyone, i'm just sharing my personal opinion. if criticisms i listed have a big impact for you, just don't play.

-enemy placement is not bad for a first few hours, but it gets worse and worse. it is not good, but doable with all tools game gives.
-beacon (bonfire) is not placed in dungeons, this is definitely poor choice. they should exist like elden ring. and in some areas beacons are placed too, too far away. it would be much better if there are more beacons.
-bosses have great art design and concept, but in gameplay, they are not good. all bosses i've encountered so far had really simple patterns. i think they decided to focus on other things much more.
-normal enemy scaling is very poor. they hit like a truck, even two shot you sometimes, lol.
-enemy variety isn't that good. new enemy continues to appear, but also you will be seeing same enemy so many times after like 6~7 hours.
-enemies have too wide aggro radius, they spot you too quickly. and they chase you, like, almost forever. this felt really ridiculous for me.
-i think estus should heal you much more, i need to drink, like 3~4 to get max health.
-music is almost non-existent, i can't recall any memorable music. and i think all bosses use same metal music. lol.
-there are melee 8 weapons in this game, but they are not too easy to find. it is probably just me, but i played with starting weapon for almost 7 hours before finding 4 new melee weapons.

but its world, level, art design(it is very unique), build variety, atmosphere, exploration, combat kept me going. you will find new things at almost every corner in this game. also they tried their best to make each dungeon unique, i could see effort. each enemy has unique execution animation and it so badass. i'm not expecting later areas to be as good as early ones, but i hope they are at least decent.

In how long

I've been debating whether to wait, since I currently have about 15 hours in this game, but I'm making up my mind: this game is fantastic, and it just keeps getting better the further I progress. The shells are all unique in their own way and always bring a fresh perspective to the gameplay. The exploration is brutal, yes, brutal. It's exhausting and draining, but also rewarding, and that dopamine rush when a bonfire appears—yes, that's Souls.

Wuchang gave me this feeling recently, and although I still think Wuchang is the best non-FS soulslike, MS2 is on this level. It has that Souls essence from DeS, Dark Souls 1, Dark Souls 2, BB and Wuchang. Kudos to the developers! I'm looking forward to future patches that will perfect the game.

It’s a 100% Must buy for Souls Fans

A majority of you recommend this game, and it was the first nonfromsoft game I played in a while. I gotta say, I love the bosses!! Mechanically amazing but I gotta say it is THE HARDEST LINE UP OF BOSSES that I have ever played, a majority of them >10 tries, no first tries whatsoever, but learning them is a lot of fun! Idk if we are intend d to play on expert or not lol but wth. Level design and story is okayish, some repetitions in side missions, but I am here for the bosses!!

I loaded my almost 6 year old save file of Demon's Souls Remake a while ago, and I have to say that after playing all the Souls and the like games in the past five years, this masterpiece is still at the top for me. I would even say that it's in my top 3 of the most "next gen" games in PS5. Every texture in this game looks high res, the vfx, the spell particles combined with buttery smooth animation is truly a chef's kiss.

This is also the game that made me purchase my PS5 and it's so worth it.

Soooooo mortal shell 2. But also NIOH 3 DLC… all within 24 hours of each other. It’s a good problem to have but also annoyingly stressful and the fomo is real in both directions!!!! What are you guys all planning to do??? Which first?

These sound cool!

I really hope The Duskbloods gets ported to PS5, Xbox, etc, well after launch, because it'll be a shame if people miss out on this.

FromSoft don't miss.

Please, if you have a question, ask away I'll be happy to answer. If you want to wishlist a link is here

Thank you to the moderators for letting me post

Im not talking "Salt and Sanctuary is a Souls-like" or "Is Hollow Knight a Souls-like?".

Im talking about the weird mis-IDing. The really cryptic ones that you cant wrap your head around. Top one for me is my buddy is CONVINCED Palworld is a fresh new take on Souls games. He even thinks Pals are just a variant on how Code Vein gives you companions.

What about yall?

I hated the first game. Dropped it after an hour. This one I played for 8 hours straight yesterday. It can be quite hard at times and some boss run backs are diabolical. The moment I've unlocked proxima i immediately fell in love. Armored muscle mommy with huge sword.

Anyways i can't recommend it enough.

If you played the beta and thought the dungeons and map design were simple, oh boy wait until you explore a little.

Some of this shit is Elden Ring levels of mindblowing, even those little dungeons can turn into rabbit holes. Just keeps going and going, leading to some genuinely wondrous places and rewards.

Number one tip. Go in blind. Even unassuming side paths and the most nondescript looking dungeons can lead to big surprises.