I hate to have the choice between Very easy - easy - normal - hard - very hard. I always end up choosing hard, often regretting that I didn't choose very hard. I love that games only have one difficulty. DS does it well. They have made their difficulty level possible for every one to beat, even if it means dying a bunch of times or farming a bit for leveling up. I remember the first time I played a souls-like (Bloodborne and DS3). I died to every enemy for the first few hours.
8:16 what I think a successor would be: Elden Ring was not only a big success due to the massive size, but also the lore. Truly, what could be the "after" would be an exploration of the 5 (or 6) different endings to Elden Ring. Something where the goal is to see the real world ramifications of The Age of Stars, Dungeater getting his way, Chaos ending, and how you as a Tarnished survive and affect change. Linear story telling is great, but branching paths and more conclusions of actions would be truly interesting from a new game plus and lore perspective, each time you play through "fixing" or "changing" the world around you. In a way DS1, 2 and 3 were just that. I mean Gael literally is at the END OF THE WORLD it is implied WE created when we otherwise could have chosen to do other things. Alternatively, for "what's next" for FromSoft: I think if you want more of the same, that's great. But it's time for them to explore doing a different setting. And while I want a Greco-Roman setting, or an Egyptian setting, or even a Norse Mythology setting... I believe the truly best setting would be an almost Alien, Sci-Fi, Heaven and Hell, or Cyberpunk-esque setting. While other Developers have done it in a manner of speaking, FromSoft could really capture us with a formulaic Dark Souls, but with a different setting and new end game goal. The ambiguity of the lore and goals would remain, but the idea of us emerging in a dystopian world, only in another Dark Souls setting would be too recycled. A new coat of paint really would keep us coming back for more while the game mechanics and ultimate "you're a random person trying to take down the gods of this realm" can always be the staple. I mean, literally even a setting where it's werewolves and vampires, cryptids like a wendigo, and demons would work. There are endless ways to slightly tweak the appearance but keep the same formula, and feel amazing and new. From a gameplay mechanics next step, honestly the only things they can do would damage their franchise. Another Open World risks burn out from us if it's not "different enough". A HORSE was a risk in Elden Ring lol. Integration of players, world events, live service, PvP, and Seasons, all don't really have a place as the main focus in a Fromsoft game. So if it's about weapons, bring Bloodborn Trick Weapons in, create a setting where the craziest and most unique weapons can be used but still be balanced. If it's enemies, make them "bullshit" and work more on intelligence, hit boxes, and unique approaches like ambushing and parrying. Overall, there's just not a lot to do to make the next game insanely better, it's more about delivering something SOLID, what the fans want and expect, while keeping it polished and wish enough familiarity, yet newness, to keep us satiated. Dark Souls 4, Elden Ring 2, Sekiro 2, Bloodborn 2, Armored Core 7, all of it is essentially playing it safe to give the fans what they NEED, not what they want. If they played it unsafe, then it needs to be a new creative approach that is either full on Horror, full on a new Genre (like Monster Hunter or Fallout or Halo), or full on investment in different mediums. A Movie or gritty TV series. Something that is a love letter for all the greatness they've created without being a complete departure from Dark Souls.
The "Cummmfpk" dungeon in Bloodborne proves that difficulty options would not harm the legacy of these games in the slightest. Bloodborne is still heralded as the pinnacle of the souls experience by a strong contigent of the souls fanbase, despite the fact that it has one of the MOST glaring exploits easily accessible to anyone who is capable cheesing two boss fights, all you need is Blood Cocktails and the Music Box and the game is over. Unlimited XP and Money to max your character before you even fight vicar amelia. and comments shown plenty of people have used it to lower the barrier to entry, practice the games mechanics and then replay it without the exploit... thats the thing people dont understand about difficulty modes, usually NORMAL people who have a POSITIVE experience with a game, are more likely to replay it, understand its mechanics better, and climb the ladder of difficulty settings like going from Normal to Heroic to Legendary in Halo, or Human, to Son of Sparda to Dante must Die in Devil May Cry. Because the honest truth is no one gives a crap how you play video games in your personal time. EDIT: This is also why the summon system FAILS as a difficulty "alternative". Calling a player thats better at the game than you is NOT teaching you how to play or improving your skill. For as much of a legend Let Me Solo Her is, his efforts didn't teach anyone how to actually properly fight Malenia, and its not his fault, its not his JOB to teach the players how to beat her, its Fromsoft's job, and much like people need to stop letting Bethesda get away with releasing broken games just because "The Fans Will Fix it" We need to hold Fromsoftware accountable for teaching the players instead of letting them rely on "The Fans To Teach".
I can't really agree to you saying the games don't have a hard mode. You can play DS1 at SL1 on NG+7 with calamity ring equipped and without weapon upgrades. DS2 has the Company of Champions and Sekiro the Demon Bell and Kuros Charm. I don't really see why not getting an achievement would discourage you from doing something like that, but I'm not an achievement hunter after all. All games, except Sekiro, also have a kind of easy mode with player or NPC summons and messages guiding you to secrets you might miss on your own.
NO! It being difficult is what makes it a SOULS game!!! I am a 57 year old granny with MS and I beat DSR, DS3 and Elden Ring. If a boss is too hard use a summon< thats easy mode.
The reason i disagree with your "average person" crap is that a link to the pas, a game on snes, was beaten by literally children and that game is just as difficult and weird logic with secrets. Honestly, i feel people sell others so short. Water temple anyone? Teachers literally tell kids, we can do hard things. There are so many harder games than dark souls, even in different genres
The water temple wasnt infamous because it was hard unless your name rhymes with *_"MARIN MANSON"_* then the water temple never KILLED anyone, it was infamous because it was TEDIOUS AF to get through, having to unequip and reequip the iron boots to traverse the underwater portion and going back and forth to raise the water level. thats why the 3DS version completely destroyed the water temple discussion forever by streamlining that process. Theres also the fact that walk throughs are much more easier to follow with puzzles than challenges that require reflex and manual dexterity. A walk through can tell you the steps to get through a dungeon. a walkthrough however cant give you the reaction time to land a frame perfect parry on Gundyr.
I hate to have the choice between Very easy - easy - normal - hard - very hard. I always end up choosing hard, often regretting that I didn't choose very hard. I love that games only have one difficulty. DS does it well. They have made their difficulty level possible for every one to beat, even if it means dying a bunch of times or farming a bit for leveling up.
I remember the first time I played a souls-like (Bloodborne and DS3). I died to every enemy for the first few hours.
8:16 what I think a successor would be:
Elden Ring was not only a big success due to the massive size, but also the lore. Truly, what could be the "after" would be an exploration of the 5 (or 6) different endings to Elden Ring. Something where the goal is to see the real world ramifications of The Age of Stars, Dungeater getting his way, Chaos ending, and how you as a Tarnished survive and affect change. Linear story telling is great, but branching paths and more conclusions of actions would be truly interesting from a new game plus and lore perspective, each time you play through "fixing" or "changing" the world around you. In a way DS1, 2 and 3 were just that. I mean Gael literally is at the END OF THE WORLD it is implied WE created when we otherwise could have chosen to do other things.
Alternatively, for "what's next" for FromSoft: I think if you want more of the same, that's great. But it's time for them to explore doing a different setting. And while I want a Greco-Roman setting, or an Egyptian setting, or even a Norse Mythology setting... I believe the truly best setting would be an almost Alien, Sci-Fi, Heaven and Hell, or Cyberpunk-esque setting.
While other Developers have done it in a manner of speaking, FromSoft could really capture us with a formulaic Dark Souls, but with a different setting and new end game goal. The ambiguity of the lore and goals would remain, but the idea of us emerging in a dystopian world, only in another Dark Souls setting would be too recycled. A new coat of paint really would keep us coming back for more while the game mechanics and ultimate "you're a random person trying to take down the gods of this realm" can always be the staple.
I mean, literally even a setting where it's werewolves and vampires, cryptids like a wendigo, and demons would work. There are endless ways to slightly tweak the appearance but keep the same formula, and feel amazing and new.
From a gameplay mechanics next step, honestly the only things they can do would damage their franchise. Another Open World risks burn out from us if it's not "different enough". A HORSE was a risk in Elden Ring lol. Integration of players, world events, live service, PvP, and Seasons, all don't really have a place as the main focus in a Fromsoft game.
So if it's about weapons, bring Bloodborn Trick Weapons in, create a setting where the craziest and most unique weapons can be used but still be balanced.
If it's enemies, make them "bullshit" and work more on intelligence, hit boxes, and unique approaches like ambushing and parrying.
Overall, there's just not a lot to do to make the next game insanely better, it's more about delivering something SOLID, what the fans want and expect, while keeping it polished and wish enough familiarity, yet newness, to keep us satiated.
Dark Souls 4, Elden Ring 2, Sekiro 2, Bloodborn 2, Armored Core 7, all of it is essentially playing it safe to give the fans what they NEED, not what they want. If they played it unsafe, then it needs to be a new creative approach that is either full on Horror, full on a new Genre (like Monster Hunter or Fallout or Halo), or full on investment in different mediums. A Movie or gritty TV series. Something that is a love letter for all the greatness they've created without being a complete departure from Dark Souls.
The "Cummmfpk" dungeon in Bloodborne proves that difficulty options would not harm the legacy of these games in the slightest. Bloodborne is still heralded as the pinnacle of the souls experience by a strong contigent of the souls fanbase, despite the fact that it has one of the MOST glaring exploits easily accessible to anyone who is capable cheesing two boss fights, all you need is Blood Cocktails and the Music Box and the game is over. Unlimited XP and Money to max your character before you even fight vicar amelia. and comments shown plenty of people have used it to lower the barrier to entry, practice the games mechanics and then replay it without the exploit... thats the thing people dont understand about difficulty modes, usually NORMAL people who have a POSITIVE experience with a game, are more likely to replay it, understand its mechanics better, and climb the ladder of difficulty settings
like going from Normal to Heroic to Legendary in Halo, or Human, to Son of Sparda to Dante must Die in Devil May Cry.
Because the honest truth is no one gives a crap how you play video games in your personal time.
EDIT: This is also why the summon system FAILS as a difficulty "alternative". Calling a player thats better at the game than you is NOT teaching you how to play or improving your skill. For as much of a legend Let Me Solo Her is, his efforts didn't teach anyone how to actually properly fight Malenia, and its not his fault, its not his JOB to teach the players how to beat her, its Fromsoft's job, and much like people need to stop letting Bethesda get away with releasing broken games just because "The Fans Will Fix it" We need to hold Fromsoftware accountable for teaching the players instead of letting them rely on "The Fans To Teach".
I can't really agree to you saying the games don't have a hard mode. You can play DS1 at SL1 on NG+7 with calamity ring equipped and without weapon upgrades. DS2 has the Company of Champions and Sekiro the Demon Bell and Kuros Charm. I don't really see why not getting an achievement would discourage you from doing something like that, but I'm not an achievement hunter after all. All games, except Sekiro, also have a kind of easy mode with player or NPC summons and messages guiding you to secrets you might miss on your own.
Yes. It’s none of anybodies business how I enjoy MY game. You play with one hand behind your back and eat a cookie.
There will always be people who will think the game is too hard
NO! It being difficult is what makes it a SOULS game!!! I am a 57 year old granny with MS and I beat DSR, DS3 and Elden Ring. If a boss is too hard use a summon< thats easy mode.
The reason i disagree with your "average person" crap is that a link to the pas, a game on snes, was beaten by literally children and that game is just as difficult and weird logic with secrets. Honestly, i feel people sell others so short. Water temple anyone? Teachers literally tell kids, we can do hard things. There are so many harder games than dark souls, even in different genres
The water temple wasnt infamous because it was hard unless your name rhymes with *_"MARIN MANSON"_* then the water temple never KILLED anyone, it was infamous because it was TEDIOUS AF to get through, having to unequip and reequip the iron boots to traverse the underwater portion and going back and forth to raise the water level. thats why the 3DS version completely destroyed the water temple discussion forever by streamlining that process.
Theres also the fact that walk throughs are much more easier to follow with puzzles than challenges that require reflex and manual dexterity. A walk through can tell you the steps to get through a dungeon. a walkthrough however cant give you the reaction time to land a frame perfect parry on Gundyr.