Dark Souls build variety is so complex and varyingly balanced that both your intepretation and Tulpaâs can be true at the same time, depending on which build category and which boss we are thinking about. I just raised another one about the shield stability stat above. âthose ignorant of some deep mechanical lore will be lost in a whirlwind of misdirecting numbersâ is precisely what happened to me there (and it interlocked with a problem about the more famously arcane poise stat).
And in part this stereotype is centered around magic builds, which are the clearest realization of it. I see the secondaryness of magic as a failure of Dark Soulsâs intended design rather than a deliberate virtue.
While I agree that most all builds are viable, I think the order of stats and using them as weapon gates are fairly subtle hints From didnât fully understand. Demonâs and Dark have characters that exist to tell you about the powers of clerical and arcane magic, which makes it feel first-class to me. The truly strong backstop they use is the defense stat buff that increments no matter which stat you buy; I think this is how they got over guessing what health players might end up with.
Itâs also notable that stat builds give players an out to blame their difficulties, which can be helpful; in Sekiro, one must blame themselves or god.
Agreed, this isnât academia and I agree that blog post seems to express a weird, unwarranted contempt towards Tulpaâs thoughtful opinion. I agree that Dark Souls discussion is filled with myths but Tulpa, and this forum in general, is really not very representative of that problem. If you wouldnât use this much invective against someoneâs position in person, then please donât do it on your blog either.
I think if the game just told me, very early on, âTRY TO PARRY EVERYTHINGâ and âMASH DEFLECTâ, my experience would have been a lot different. My first playthrough was largely me avoiding doing this because the game doesnât clue you into this, particularly against the bigger bosses, and so you try to play smart or creative and you end up getting punished for it, when just playing janky works a lot better when you havenât memorized all the patterns (which will take you tons of hours and isnât worth it unless you want to play to NG++++).
Because almost always the answer is just one button. Itâs so reductive and frustrating when you want to play creatively and the game just throttles you for trying to do so.
Yeah I read a post on here early on saying âmash deflectâ is a sane thing to do and that probably changed my whole experience of the game. Itâs hardly obvious that this is an intended strat.
If not explicitly âtry mashing deflectâ, it shouldâve at least explained the obscure facts that âblocking has a time window after you release the button where it continues to apply. Secondly, deflecting in proximity to a block will make the deflect harm your posture, unlike isolated deflectsâ.
Yep, except where a danger symbol appears, many bosses can be beaten almost purely with the L1 and R1 buttons, barely touching any other part of the controller except to close in if the boss ran off. They even made Combat Arts a combination of the buttons because it would be too much hassle to press any other button, apparently. The punch-out comparison is really apt
Agreed - aside from those reds, pretty much all the combat is a very linear back and forth (and Iâd argue the reds and movement are just an extension of that - Iâm not sure Iâd call it deeper for it, though Iâm sure many here will disagree). Technically you can do more, but itâs largely unnecessary and Iâve seen it harm people as much as it helps them, due to interrupting their typical cadence.
Sekiro is going to jam you into that round hole, no matter how square you want to be.
'Course we canât easily divorce the Soulsborne past pre-Sekiro, but I keep thinking itâs worth considering: how the response wouldâve been granted it had the same audience reaching potential, and everyone was left to gauge praise and criticize without those expectations or reference points.
Also my reheated take, this is a leaner cut than the meat trays before and everyoneâs still thinking how itâs the same restaurant. Get at me
Yeah I found it a bit odd that all four phases of Sword Saint, for all their nominal variety, ultimately could be reduced to punch-out. On the other hand, fire Isshin actually does require dodging and zoning
âPraiseâ and âcriticismâ inherently involves reference points though. Fully removed of context, a work is just itself and is neither good nor bad. Even in the rare case that a work is so distant from everything else that it is incomparable, typically such a work is either praised precisely for that reason, or criticized because it carries no virtues in any of the accepted frames.
No argument there. Lemme remain metaphoricâŚIâm making the case that thereâs a lot fresher chew, less cud and other pastures worth grazing. Away from this core set of touchpoints.
All over the place Iâd like to see more on this relating to Tenchu, Ninja Gaiden, Nioh, Way of the Samurai, tons more adjacent works of varying quality and accents to contrast and compare.
Yeah, for instance Astromechâs detecting influence from the Shadow of Mordor series, which he is probably one of the only people to notice. Fromâs influences have always been way way more varied than they get credit for â I would even go so far as to claim that they are a great studio because of their unparalleled ability to synthesize disparate influences (mechanically, in art direction, in emotional effects)
Itâs the synthesize thatâs really hard. Plenty of stuff comes out with new pieces glued together but so rarely are they pushed into something that actually works. Weâre in the midst of a golden era of almost-good-ideas that donât quite turn into real games in the endless waves of gorgeous, inspired indie titles that donât quite gel. AAA tends to stick to established modes because those have become games over the years with loops that are workable and satisfying. From has been able to change meaningful stuff, 2, maybe 3 times since and including Demonâs Souls (but Demonâs was such a leap in its own right, absolutely astounding) and it pretty much works and thatâs incredible. Like meauxdal says, these are big, big changes (posture pretty much replacing health is odd and its consequences are so well thought out itâs remarkable).
I think From gets a lot of mileage out of being willing to push their design to demand out of players. Requiring performance tends to clarify everything and restrict the playerâs ability to muddle through; much of Sekiroâs tightness comes from the restricted player palette, but with their added tightness they are able to ask more from players.
My personal experience (and Iâve told this anecdote before but it was eye-opening) was coming to Shadow of War, a huge buffet table of a game with some real interesting bits trapped under a restrictive combat system and a weedlike growth of systems, and building myself a difficulty mode, just for me, to push myself to use every situational trick and player skill. And what I ended up with was the first time that game could sing to me; the first time I was running scared, was getting the triumphs and tragedies every bit of dynamic difficulty was supposed to bring.
But it was exhausting to play and required the knowledge you only get from knowing those numbers and systems intents for years; our game couldnât bring up millions of people into the world where it really should live. It just has to live in the world as a glimmer seen briefly, potential in moments.
i would say the combat has made me draw more mental comparisons to God of War than Souls fwiw, what with the stun bars and unification of parrying/blocking.
i feel like Iâm less convinced of this idea than i used to be. the point of reference for whether a game is good is the alternative of not playing it. Iâm tempted to say certain qualia (jumping, striking, accelerating) are inherently enjoyable, even if they can be overstimulated. my favourite games would still be fun if there were no other games.
