Poll: Which is the best game in the Souls Franchise?
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Woops, could have phrased that better. What I mean is that despite the padding I still enjoy playing through it, and it always takes a longer time than DS1. I think I could beat DS1 in under 5 hours without trying to speedrun, since you can skip absolutely massive chunks of it with just a couple of tricks (the Catacombs drop and Master Key first and foremost).hanselthecaretaker said:
I also feel DSII is (in an odd way whose appeal is entirely subjective) superior in the sense that it forces the player to engage the enemies more. DS1 has entire sections where you can literally just run past all the enemies: Upper Undead Burg and Undead Parish, the route to Ornstein and Smough, Tomb of the Giants once you know the way, Darkroot Garden and so on. Note that these are entirely from the perspective of a player who's defeated the game multiple times and therefore knows all the routes, but I feel it takes away from the challenge when large portions of the game just feel like a race to the next boss. Dark Souls II has that too, but to a lesser extent. In Earthen Peak, Drangleic Castle, No Man's Wharf, Shrine of Amana, Brightstone Cove and many others you simply have to engage and overcome the enemies. As I said, it's subjective to the extreme, and some may see it as lazy padding but to me it feels more rewarding when a game forces me to prove that I can beat the normal enemies as well in New Game+, and not just know the routes well enough to run past all of them. Also the fact that DSII is (bafflingly still) the only game in the series where New game+ doesn't merely change damage and Hp numbers, it adds entirely new threats as well, means the core gameplay experience changes instead of staying the same.
Since I've only played Bloodborne, I have to vote Bloodborne lol.
I was really hoping that they would release a Souls collection so I could play all the others.
I might just buy Dark Souls 3 on its own, I absolutely love Bloddborne, and if DS3 is just medieval armored Bloodborne,
then I'm all in 2017.
I am late to everything
I was really hoping that they would release a Souls collection so I could play all the others.
I might just buy Dark Souls 3 on its own, I absolutely love Bloddborne, and if DS3 is just medieval armored Bloodborne,
then I'm all in 2017.
I am late to everything
Hey, if it makes you feel better, I only played the first game this year and now I'm trying to get into Demons. God knows how long it'll take me to get to DS2, DS3 and BB.Cold Shiny said:Since I've only played Bloodborne, I have to vote Bloodborne lol.
I was really hoping that they would release a Souls collection so I could play all the others.
I might just buy Dark Souls 3 on its own, I absolutely love Bloddborne, and if DS3 is just medieval armored Bloodborne,
then I'm all in 2017.
I am late to everything
Dark Souls III:
The first Dark Souls will always hold a special place in my heart. Being the introduction to the series will always have those memories of failed attempts, adapting to enemies, making your personal playstyle work and reaching the ultimate reward of perseverance. While this is a close one, I feel that the first Dark Souls is a mixed bag of low and high points. (Unfinished areas and poorly-designed boss fights remain as sore points.)
Dark Souls III trims a lot of the fat from previous titles. As a result it feels more focused on it's strengths. The combat is definitely faster, enemies are more varied and aggressive, but it never loses sight of a meticulous approach, a well-timed switch to an appropriate secondary weapon or creative use of a weapon art is a reward to the player's wits. The speed of the combat strikes a good balance between defense, evasion and offense -- and personally, the game rewarded cleverly timed bursts of aggression from the player.
Dark Souls III also presents the strongest roster of bosses in the series to challenge different builds across the spectrum. (Admittedly, the Crystal Sage is a joke. It's not exactly the poorly-designed Bed of Chaos. It's just a little unsatisfying.) From a thematic standpoint, visual spectacle, intriguing challenge or just pure intimidation -- the bosses ooze with character. The final boss in particular is a poignant homage to previous Dark Souls players.
There's a plethora of wonderful weapons, so the only limit is your creativity. Menus are simpler to navigate, everything you need is conveniently located in Firelink Shrine which cuts out some unnecessary commutes and exploration of the environment is still rewarding in its own right.
I don't particularly agree about the allegations of fanservice or recycled lore. In a game about prolonging the cycle, ushering in a new age and bearing witness to the degradation of mighty figures and beautiful locales -- it's fitting to feature callbacks and clever nods to the player. The development of the lore provides an anchor -- a connection for the player -- in order to further the world building if one wishes to look for that.
To be fair, I hear that the PVP is lacking and overrun by the "metagame". Magic also seems to have lost it's overpowered nature. Ironically, I play exclusively offline with pure melee builds, so this didn't affect me. Although I hope those that enjoy PVP and magic have had their woes fixed.
Honorable mention to the soundtrack this time around! The Abyss Watchers & The Twin Princes in particular.
Oh, and the Farron Greatsword...you beautiful spinny-whooshy-swishy beast.
The first Dark Souls will always hold a special place in my heart. Being the introduction to the series will always have those memories of failed attempts, adapting to enemies, making your personal playstyle work and reaching the ultimate reward of perseverance. While this is a close one, I feel that the first Dark Souls is a mixed bag of low and high points. (Unfinished areas and poorly-designed boss fights remain as sore points.)
Dark Souls III trims a lot of the fat from previous titles. As a result it feels more focused on it's strengths. The combat is definitely faster, enemies are more varied and aggressive, but it never loses sight of a meticulous approach, a well-timed switch to an appropriate secondary weapon or creative use of a weapon art is a reward to the player's wits. The speed of the combat strikes a good balance between defense, evasion and offense -- and personally, the game rewarded cleverly timed bursts of aggression from the player.
Dark Souls III also presents the strongest roster of bosses in the series to challenge different builds across the spectrum. (Admittedly, the Crystal Sage is a joke. It's not exactly the poorly-designed Bed of Chaos. It's just a little unsatisfying.) From a thematic standpoint, visual spectacle, intriguing challenge or just pure intimidation -- the bosses ooze with character. The final boss in particular is a poignant homage to previous Dark Souls players.
There's a plethora of wonderful weapons, so the only limit is your creativity. Menus are simpler to navigate, everything you need is conveniently located in Firelink Shrine which cuts out some unnecessary commutes and exploration of the environment is still rewarding in its own right.
I don't particularly agree about the allegations of fanservice or recycled lore. In a game about prolonging the cycle, ushering in a new age and bearing witness to the degradation of mighty figures and beautiful locales -- it's fitting to feature callbacks and clever nods to the player. The development of the lore provides an anchor -- a connection for the player -- in order to further the world building if one wishes to look for that.
To be fair, I hear that the PVP is lacking and overrun by the "metagame". Magic also seems to have lost it's overpowered nature. Ironically, I play exclusively offline with pure melee builds, so this didn't affect me. Although I hope those that enjoy PVP and magic have had their woes fixed.
Honorable mention to the soundtrack this time around! The Abyss Watchers & The Twin Princes in particular.
Oh, and the Farron Greatsword...you beautiful spinny-whooshy-swishy beast.
It seems like I'm pretty much on the same track as most people, with Dark Souls being my personal favorite, but honestly I don't begrudge anyone who thinks any of the 5 games the best. My personal list (excluding demon's souls as I never played it personally, but have watched friends playing it) is as follows: Dark Souls, Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne, and finally Dark Souls 2. Honestly though I thought they were all pretty great in their own ways. Dark Souls was my personal favorite due to both PvP being at what I consider the peak, plus the level design / atmosphere being awesome. Dark Souls 3 was one of the more interesting of the games to me due to the blend of Bloodborn's action oriented combat with the Dark Souls design choice. Bloodborne takes third slot despite it being one of my personal favorite games for PS4, this has more to do with the design aesthetic and PvP options than it does game mechanics and design. Finally Dark Souls 2 is my least favorite due to massive issues with the PvP, NetCode, and weapon design (not to mention being subpar on level design and aesthetic).
Dark Souls has to take the top spot for me, even though it doesn't hold up well in terms of graphics or controls to the later entries. It's just got so many memorable sections: the hell that is Blighttown, the bastard archers in Anor Londo, Ornstein and Smough, etc. And of course, it was our first foray into the Souls universe (AFAIK, Demon's Souls was only loosely related, if at all), with its characteristic subtle storytelling and all. But most of all, DS1's tone is just right, you're not some conquering hero or prophesied one, you're just one very alone undead in a land of dead gods and madness. Hell, even what you're doing is barely explained and up to interpretation (and the machinations of scrote-face snakes).
Oh yeah, and Ash Lake. Just, motherfucking Ash Lake [http://archive.vaultmx.com/images/games/DarkSouls/Ash%20Lake%20Vacation%20Photos/Ash%20Lake/2012-09-02_00036.jpg].
Oh yeah, and Ash Lake. Just, motherfucking Ash Lake [http://archive.vaultmx.com/images/games/DarkSouls/Ash%20Lake%20Vacation%20Photos/Ash%20Lake/2012-09-02_00036.jpg].
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The graphics in Dark Souls 1 are actually surprisingly good...if you play the PC version.Ravinoff said:
The majority of the textures in that game are extremely high quality and detailed and the consoles weren't able to show them properly.
Of course they still look dated by today's standards, but not nearly as much as I would have expected, because I played Dark Souls 1 on the xbox 360 and it really wasn't a looker (cool environments and good art direction, but not the best looking game by technical standards).
From my least to most favourite...
I... really do NOT like Dark Souls 2, I dislike a lot of the way they changed Humanity and the way that functioned in terms of online play and the levels, bosses (Old Iron King), themes, and story are easily the laziest in the series. The game lacks any of the magnificent thematic oomph that the other games had.
Demons Souls comes next, it's amazing and it's the first, it's still beautiful and haunting and has some amazing themes of its own (the source of magic and miracles) but it has some really weird ideas in it because it was the first one (world tendency, how impossible it is to get some upgrade materials, etc). It's still right up in my top 25 games, the only reason it's here is because the other three are exceptional.
Now, the last three are within an hair of one another in my opinion, but, I'm going to put Bloodborne here because, despite the early levels capturing that feel of interconnectedness from DS1, and the INCREDIBLE aesthetics in here, either a filthy, diseased look reminiscent of art from the Black Death, or dark, foreboding gothic horror, to the transition we get into the otherworldly lovecraftian aesthetic and how the world changes as you gain more and more 'insight'. Some of the "dream within a dream WwooooooOOOoooo" style elements piss me off because it just doesn't give anything grounding, it's a 13 year old's idea of "deep and mysterious". Furthermore, the NPCs in that game are the flat out worst in the series, they do one thing, maybe do it again another time, then they die. Aside from those gripes, the mechanics, and the levels, and the bosses are just amazing.
Out of these last two... Damnit, I have to dive Dark Souls this spot... I adore this game, it's in my top 5 games of all time, but the later levels like Izalith and reused elements from Demons that don't quite work just mean it doesn't make the cut... But, if you ask me to ever recommend a Souls game to someone, it's going to be this one because it's the quitisential experience of the series and the later games are only improved by playing this one first, while this game needs you to go into it fresh and discover the world for yourself. The only thing that REALLY holds this game back is places like Izalith which are just a chore to do every time and BONEWHEEL SKELETONS! [http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/608/139/975.jpg]
So, by process of elimination... Dark Souls 3 is my favourite but only by a gnat's whisker. It's the game with the most consistent quality, it writes the horrible Dark Souls 2 mostly out of the story, it's a little to big on calling back to Dark Souls in places but From Software have always reused designs and assets (even Seath in DS1 was a reused design from one of their Kings Field titles) so I can overlook that because they seem to try and make things different enough. The combat has some issues, miracles and magic are nerfed and the change from Poise to the Hyper Armour system causes issues with certain kinds of armour and the builds around those. Still, it's the game that brings elements from EVERY previous game, from the increased speed and amazing boss designs of Bloodborne, to the magnificent hub space from Demons Souls, to the increased ring and weapon equip slots and flexibility from Dark Souls 2, to the atmosphere and feel of Dark Souls, it takes a little bit from every game and then adds its own, new mechanics that make it its own game. I think the story is a little too much like DS1 but I do still enjoy it and it gives us the NPC stories in the world that make the series really stand out more than anything else.
Please note, I did not count DLC in this list, if I did, Dark Souls would beat 3 hands down, Artorias Of The Abyss is AMAZING and Artorias himself is my single favourite fight of the series. The painting we get with Dark Souls 3 is interesting but lacks the same sheer brilliance that tied AOTA magnificently into the tone and themes of the first game.
I... really do NOT like Dark Souls 2, I dislike a lot of the way they changed Humanity and the way that functioned in terms of online play and the levels, bosses (Old Iron King), themes, and story are easily the laziest in the series. The game lacks any of the magnificent thematic oomph that the other games had.
Demons Souls comes next, it's amazing and it's the first, it's still beautiful and haunting and has some amazing themes of its own (the source of magic and miracles) but it has some really weird ideas in it because it was the first one (world tendency, how impossible it is to get some upgrade materials, etc). It's still right up in my top 25 games, the only reason it's here is because the other three are exceptional.
Now, the last three are within an hair of one another in my opinion, but, I'm going to put Bloodborne here because, despite the early levels capturing that feel of interconnectedness from DS1, and the INCREDIBLE aesthetics in here, either a filthy, diseased look reminiscent of art from the Black Death, or dark, foreboding gothic horror, to the transition we get into the otherworldly lovecraftian aesthetic and how the world changes as you gain more and more 'insight'. Some of the "dream within a dream WwooooooOOOoooo" style elements piss me off because it just doesn't give anything grounding, it's a 13 year old's idea of "deep and mysterious". Furthermore, the NPCs in that game are the flat out worst in the series, they do one thing, maybe do it again another time, then they die. Aside from those gripes, the mechanics, and the levels, and the bosses are just amazing.
Out of these last two... Damnit, I have to dive Dark Souls this spot... I adore this game, it's in my top 5 games of all time, but the later levels like Izalith and reused elements from Demons that don't quite work just mean it doesn't make the cut... But, if you ask me to ever recommend a Souls game to someone, it's going to be this one because it's the quitisential experience of the series and the later games are only improved by playing this one first, while this game needs you to go into it fresh and discover the world for yourself. The only thing that REALLY holds this game back is places like Izalith which are just a chore to do every time and BONEWHEEL SKELETONS! [http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/608/139/975.jpg]
So, by process of elimination... Dark Souls 3 is my favourite but only by a gnat's whisker. It's the game with the most consistent quality, it writes the horrible Dark Souls 2 mostly out of the story, it's a little to big on calling back to Dark Souls in places but From Software have always reused designs and assets (even Seath in DS1 was a reused design from one of their Kings Field titles) so I can overlook that because they seem to try and make things different enough. The combat has some issues, miracles and magic are nerfed and the change from Poise to the Hyper Armour system causes issues with certain kinds of armour and the builds around those. Still, it's the game that brings elements from EVERY previous game, from the increased speed and amazing boss designs of Bloodborne, to the magnificent hub space from Demons Souls, to the increased ring and weapon equip slots and flexibility from Dark Souls 2, to the atmosphere and feel of Dark Souls, it takes a little bit from every game and then adds its own, new mechanics that make it its own game. I think the story is a little too much like DS1 but I do still enjoy it and it gives us the NPC stories in the world that make the series really stand out more than anything else.
Please note, I did not count DLC in this list, if I did, Dark Souls would beat 3 hands down, Artorias Of The Abyss is AMAZING and Artorias himself is my single favourite fight of the series. The painting we get with Dark Souls 3 is interesting but lacks the same sheer brilliance that tied AOTA magnificently into the tone and themes of the first game.
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There is a sort of blur on everything, you're right, but I think it was a stylistic choice to make things seem like they have a bit of an ethereal glow. I personally think it works but I can understand why someone might dislike it or think it makes the visuals look muddy.Ravinoff said:
Would probably have to go with Demons simply because of the setting and lore which gave a greater sense of depth to me than Dark Souls and Bloodbourne.
It was also the first in the series and I played it on release so I suppose the others suffered from the oh right more of the same again vibe whereas when it came out Demons Souls actually felt refreshing. Level design wise it would have to be Dark Souls for me though as Demons was all over the place ranging from amazing to ones that made Blight town look amazing.
There were just not enough changes after Demons to really make Dark Souls stand out for me and it also felt contained in that it did not leave me wanting a sequel/successor so early which is why it took me years to even bother picking up Dark Souls and why I still havent and probably never will bother with DS2 and 3.
I also massively preffered the magic system in Demons Souls oh and the last boss and some of those black phantoms were terrifying. Also loved how players could become one of the bosses and if you won you got the silly bandage hat
It was also the first in the series and I played it on release so I suppose the others suffered from the oh right more of the same again vibe whereas when it came out Demons Souls actually felt refreshing. Level design wise it would have to be Dark Souls for me though as Demons was all over the place ranging from amazing to ones that made Blight town look amazing.
There were just not enough changes after Demons to really make Dark Souls stand out for me and it also felt contained in that it did not leave me wanting a sequel/successor so early which is why it took me years to even bother picking up Dark Souls and why I still havent and probably never will bother with DS2 and 3.
I also massively preffered the magic system in Demons Souls oh and the last boss and some of those black phantoms were terrifying. Also loved how players could become one of the bosses and if you won you got the silly bandage hat
Really, none of the other games in the series manages to quite capture the magic of the original Dark Souls. All of them are brilliant in different ways: DS1 had the perfect balance of playability and difficulty, though if I were to remake that game, there would be a handful of QoL changes (no more different varieties of titanite, you can sell at any vendor, etc.). DS2 had the best atmosphere; even though the world was much more linear, I really liked the characters and the feel of the world itself. DS3 has the best boss fights (say what you will about Ashes of Andariel, but the final boss fight of the expansion makes it worth the price of entry), and is also the most user-friendly, even if heavy armor and pure magic builds are awful.
I've never played Demon's Souls, however, so I can't really give an opinion on it, and I really feel like Bloodborne is different enough to be placed apart from the rest of the series. Still...every game in the series is worth playing, even though the others can't quite compare with the original.
I've never played Demon's Souls, however, so I can't really give an opinion on it, and I really feel like Bloodborne is different enough to be placed apart from the rest of the series. Still...every game in the series is worth playing, even though the others can't quite compare with the original.
Probably Demon's for me. It was the first I played so that's probably a bit factor, but I liked the setting, levels and music a lot more than the rest of the games. I also kind of preferred how the levels were laid out, with a hub and warp zones to the different levels.
Dark Souls 3 was the most consistently great game to me. The original Dark Souls would've gotten my vote, but the second half really is kinda mediocre compared to what game before it.
Haven't played Bloodborne.
Haven't played Bloodborne.