Keeping with the promise to keep the blog's diverse, we now have our second LIST. This one is an obvious one for anyone who knows me. For the people who do not know me, I love... LOVE me some From Software (aka Fromsoft) games especially their Souls and Souls-like games. I own most physical copies of them and proudly display them. Fromsoft has truly re-defined and mastered the Action Role Playing Game genre to the point where now they are so many 'Souls-like' or Souls clones. I have played a lot of them and now I feel I can make a LIST that talks about my favorites.
NOTE: I have not completed Dark Souls II or Demon's Souls so these games will not be listed. I aim to play Demon's Souls (I pretty much bought a PS3 to do so) and I do own Dark Souls II but have just never got around to playing it. I started both but never got into them but as I said, eventually I will get back to them. Without more to say...
Coming in at the bottom spot
BLOODBORNE: This maybe surprising for some because a lot of From fans have Bloodborne as their favorite game or one of their top ones and for me it is my least favorite especially compared to its cousins. Also funny is this is technically my first Fromsoft game I played and beaten. I have the platinum for this game so I've invested time in it and I love the setting and story so why is it at the bottom?
Honestly, I feel Bloodborne is a great gateway drug to how good Fromsoft games are but when you dig deep, like really deep it also shows a lot of things I can did not like about their games. BB has one of the most archaic control schemes when it comes to 'jumping' and tying it into a the run button causes a lot of errors which should be able to be avoided. The middle of the game is bogged down with one of the worsts areas (The Forbidden Woods) to me and every-time I arrived their I always try my best to rush through it. The 'builds' or lack of them also restricts the game in ways I did not enjoy. I remember trying to do a 'Arcane' build and focus on being a mage type but you truly do not see the benefits in investing into it till very late in the game and everything before that is a real struggle. The bosses in the base game are also pretty underwhelming, ranging from Rom's spiders constantly swamping you and chasing after it to the very frustrating Micolash 'fight'. People who have played BB know exactly what I am talking about. The healing system is a massive step back and constantly having to farm healing vials whilst in the middle of play session is a real dampener on immersion. Now one of the faults above is corrected with the 'The Old Hunters' DLC where most of the bosses are amazing and rank up there with some of From's best efforts but despite that and 'The Old Hunters' being one of the best DLCs From has ever made, Bloodborne ranks at the bottom for me now. My last time playing this game I really stopped enjoying myself and I feel it might have given me a negative bias against it. I do feel if I ever play Dark Souls II it would no longer be the bottom of the bottom because let's be honest, we know how jank DS II is, but out of the games I have completed, this is where it ranks.
Up Next: This was a tough one and I went back and forward with it
DARK SOULS REMASTERED: Full disclosure; I have only played Dark Souls Remastered. I would love to play the original but 24 frames Blight-town is not how anyone should played the game. However the 'Soul' of Dark Souls Remastered is still From despite it being done in partnership with another company (QLOC I believe). Also I need to discuss context wise when I played DS. I played DS after I had firmly became a Fromsoft fan, I had, at the time completed Bloodborne, Sekiro and Dark Souls 3. Therefore I knew exactly what I was getting myself into.
DS at its core is why I love Fromsoft games. The challenge is great, the bosses are amazing, the level design and the thought that goes behind them shows real craftsmanship and the game just feels amazing to play. Sure, we still have the jank run to jump mechanic but I did not notice as much in DS because the enemies in DS are a bit less aggressive then say Bloodborne enemies. I also love the mechanics in DS much more than BB. I love the parrying with shields, the ability to cart around enemies and backstab them and the weapons on offer allow a lot of different approaches. DS also adds challenges like decapitating bosses tails for different boss items which sadly has not continued in other From games. Magic is fun to use in this game too and you do not have to only spec into that before it becomes helpful. I have beaten it a couple times and every-time as I play it I always find enjoyment in it. Even at my most frustrated (fighting against Manus in the DLC is the closest I got) I still wanted to keep playing it.
Some of the things I do not enjoy about it are few and far between. Of course the Bed of Chaos boss is horrible, the backend of the game's areas do overstay their welcome (especially the Demon Ruins *shudder*) and I do not like how restrictive the endings are where you basically pick one or the other but the bad is nothing compared to the good. As I said, it was up in the air who would take this place for a while before I finally decided but overall, it is an amazing game that I can replay at anytime.
Speaking of, up next.
ELDEN RING: I personal feel you can not upload anything Elden Ring related without the amazing theme song coming on and blowing out your speakers. It is such a amazing tune and it really gets you in the mood for the epic that lies before you and an epic it is.
ER, From Software's magnus opus is truly the pinnacle of From lessons it learned while making all their previous Souls games. It takes everything enjoyable about those games and amps it to eleven. More bosses, more areas, more exploration, more classes and viable builds. Techniques are enhanced to include 'Ashes of War' to include more variety in your attacks and on top of all that, multiple ways to complete the games that truly changes it. It is understandable that after doing so much in ONE game why From had to take break from it and make something completely different in Armored Core 6 and why the 'Shadow of the Erdtree' DLC is taking so long. There is so much done so well that following this up becomes a almost impossible task and I do not envy them. So why is this my third favorite From game? Well I kind of answered it above, it is just too much sometimes.
I can not call myself a completion focused gamer but I will not lie that if I truly enjoy something, I do go in and when I go in it means I want to do everything possible. I want to see every area, fight every boss and pick all the items and thoroughly look in ever nook and cranny for gameplay. I am also very pedantic when it comes to playing games, I seldom like to get lost and I like doing things with a purpose. If I am going to an area, I am going so I can pick up a item or fight a boss. So when I first dug into ER, I did that. I explored nearly every side quest with each NPC, I explored catacombs after catacombs and made sure I fought every boss I could find. I was all in. My final time in ER on my first playthrough clocked in at over 200 hrs and I enjoyed almost all of it. ER also learned from previous From games and it does not waste your time with long runbacks to the bosses (cough DS II cough), ways to make fights easier without having to summon fellow players (which I do not like as a solo player) in the form of Spirit summons and fast travel being unlocked from the beginning. Also Torrent, your trusty stead helps you traverse the lands so much faster to so you do not have to walk everywhere. It fixed so much issues but the problem is after your first amazing playthrough, if you explored everything and did everything it becomes least incentive to do it all over again. Sure you can rush pass certain areas and only focus on the major storyline bosses but it feels like a dis-service to ignore some of the best content just to rush to a respective ending. Unlike some people I do not mind fighting challenging bosses like Melania if I am ready for the challenge. She is one of my favorite bosses, design-wise and fighting against her really is a thrill when tackled with the right mindset. Also sadly ER is also where Fromsoft constantly caved to the 'patch' culture that is running rampant in videos games, where if enough people complain about something it gets nerfed as a result and the continuously nerfing of really strong tools constantly meant some endgame builds were ruined as a result (my favorite 'Dagger and Flame' build for example) and some weapons were not as strong. Balance makes sense in a PvP focused game but they even nerfed it in the PvE where your only enemy is the CPU and that does not sit right with me. If we want to rock OP builds, we should be allowed to.
In the end, I have only beaten Elden Ring once and I have tried now 3 separate times to do it again but just the scope of all I want to do is what I can do always stops me. It is a big investment and sometimes you only have enough hours to game. Also the reskinning of bosses kind of gets egregious especially near the end, a person can only fight a gargoyle or tree spirit x amount of times before it becomes too much of a good thing. As a one off experience, ER might be my number one game but as an ongoing experience and making me want to dive in again and play it all over again like I did with previous Fromsoft games it is much lower, hence number 3. I know I'll come back for the forthcoming DLC tho so maybe that might change its ranking but we shall see.
Up next, our silver medal winner.
DARK SOULS III: Oh my gosh, the stories I can tell about my experience with this game. If Dark Souls III was based completely on my first couple experiences with it, this would have ranked last. The first couple times I played DS III, I remember getting stuck at the brick wall that is its first boss, Gundyr. I died so many times against him and at this time, I had beaten Bloodborne and started and was enjoying Sekiro so I was wondering what was wrong with me. Eventually I won and I continued to play but soon I got lost in the numerous side paths and one night I was so bored playing it on stream I stopped playing and went to sleep instead. I continued through and soon I encounter arguably my least favorite area in Souls games and to this day, one of my areas I always dread entering; Farron Keep. A lot of people hate Sen's Fortress or Lost Izalith in DS or Cathcombs of Carthus (which I do not like either). But Farron Keep and it poison, it slow moving sludge that restricts movement, windy paths and the insanely OP enemies really made me doubt why I was playing this game. I eventually got to the boss, the Abyss Watchers, one of the best bosses I heard and I struggled against them too. I struggled so hard (the runback was also particularly long too) that after I beat them and saw my next stop was a rather mid area (aforementioned Cathcombs) I rage quitted the game. Yes, I rage quitted on my second favorite Fromsoft game after beating a boss. It got my down that much that I knew I did not like it. If the Abyss Watchers was one of the best bosses this game had to offer and I barely enjoyed fighting them how else could this game appeal to me I thought. Again, the context is important. I just finished BB, I was playing Sekiro and really enjoying it but for some strange reason, at that time, the Souls formula did not click for me so I was done with it.
And I was done with it, for many moons and after a lot of time away (during this time off I completed Sekiro and really enjoyed myself, I believe I replayed Bloodborne too) in the back of my head I was thinking, maybe I was too harsh on DS III. I realized I did enjoy Fromsoft games. So I decided to try it again but this time from a complete different approach. I realized I was playing it but BB rules or Sekiro's rules and I had to play it by Dark Souls way of thinking. Maybe I needed a shield, maybe I need to work on strafing and incorporating movement into my battles and than it clicked and when I say it clicked, I was locked in. Now I understood when to move instead of the frantic dashing I was doing in BB, I was not locked into using one weapon like I was in Sekiro so when one weapon's moveset did not suit me I changed to a different one. I had guides to tell me where to go and where to get important items and I had a plan. Every-time I played I had goals to aim for and this mindset has taken me into every Souls I have played since. By playing it by its terms, I embraced DS III vision and than I really started enjoying myself. I have now beaten the game multiple times with multiple builds and I can honestly say I can start up a new run today and still have a ball playing it. It is why it comes above ER because ER I have to psych myself up to play it whilst DS III is like a well-worn shoe. I can pick it up and slip right back into what I enjoy about it and there is so much to like.
The combat system in DS III takes everything I enjoyed about DS Remastered and just makes it better. Parries are more fun and you have other ways of parrying, backstabbing is still as amazing as ever, the bosses are still challenging but with the signature tells which helps you learn their patterns so you can conquer them. I know now the Abyss Watchers love to do this flourish of attacks into a massive diving attack which is prime back stabbing opportunity. I know the Nameless King (one of my favorite bosses of all From games) openings and when to exploits them for maximum gain. Slave Knight Gael and me have had many epic battles trading blows till only one of us is left standing and I loved every minute of it. DS III takes everything I love about Fromsoft Souls' games and just make its better. My best comparison is the leap Namco made from Tekken 3 to Tekken 5 (and strangely Tekken 4 is their Dark Souls II). We took what you liked and just made it better. Your Welcome! they said. However as I said above, its is my favorite Souls' game not my favorite From Software game. No, that honor belongs to another.
SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE: I could gush about this game for days but the sake of brevity and the fact that this has already been a long rambling read I will keep it concise. I LOVE Sekiro. I love the setting, I love the characters, I love the lore, I love the fact that I can kill the most annoying From enemy (dogs) with a single shuriken and most of all, I love the combat system and the fact that it is the most skill rewarding game I have ever played. In Sekiro if you suck, you can not go farm another area so you can get a bigger life bar or rely on spirit summons or magic builds to help you win. If you want to win, you truly need to 'Gid Gud' as the Fromsoft fans love to say. However the feeling you get when you conquer your enemies is second to none.
Let it be known, beyond a shadow of a doubt, my favorite concept in action games is parrying. I enjoy it so much that my wife whom I frequently discuss my adventures with in these games has gone on to call me 'Parry Park' (Park being a Korean last name as we love tons of Korean media so its ingrained itself into our lives). I mentioned it the previous games in this list and From has made it a point to include it in some way in all their games. Well Sekiro takes that and amplifies to the point where if you aren't parrying and engaging in a parrying competition with your enemy, you are not winning. This concept is daunting for some but once you get into the rhythm of it, it is addictive. It is true to the core of the game and its philosophies too so that if you embrace it it becomes second nature to you and you become a true sword saint.
Yes, Sekiro has great areas to explore, yes, Sekiro has a dedicated jump button (which Elden Ring incorporated into its design too, thank goodness), it also started the dedicated save spots before bosses so the runbacks become less frequent and less annoying (which ER also borrowed, again thank goodness) but the combat system and it succinct skill trees that enhances its combat is where it shines. Some people bemoan it only has one weapon and you are limited to the builds you can make and that is true but Sekiro's combat system is not built around that. It is all about engaging with the enemy and making them see the fearlessness in your eyes. I have beaten this game so many times and got multiple endings, I have explored every area and I still find things to do every-time I replay it. When this game added the boss rush as its only post launch content, I dedicated many hours to just replaying it on that alone and earning all the prizes from it. Some say its replay-ability is lower than other Fromsoft games and I say it is only lower if you do not love what it gives you. If you love the challenge it gives you, you will never get bored.
Sure its not a perfect game. Some mini bosses and even bosses are re-used and the Demon of Hatred can eat a bowl of penises but what it does well, it does really well and it is my favorite From Software game.
AV
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