Level your browser’s STR/DEX by maining Opera at https://operagx.gg/Manley Here is another Dark Souls Video essay by a white guy with a checkmark. Dark Souls...
I haven’t played Demon’s Souls, but what hindered my enjoyment with Dark Souls the most is the poor checkpoint locations. Bed of Chaos would be less hated if the player didn’t have to walk 2 minutes each try. I don’t want to play a walking simulator!
I can imagine many others not having the patience for this kind of stuff. I almost gave up for good at O&S. It’s still a game I appreciate.
Elden Ring resolved the problems with checkpoints, and that game turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time.
Funnily enough, I enjoy Elden Ring’s world less due to free usage of fast travel. The cohesion and linking design of the world means less when it’s all a blur of fast travels and ignoring the shape of it all.
I also found running around large open spaces on a horse and having many more reused dungeon assets and items to be less interesting than the very deliberate and more dense world of Dark Souls, but that’s not to say I think Elden Ring isnt great, but it’s a real ideological difference in what you’re looking for between the two
This is my opinion about every game that came after Dark Souls 1, although I think the drawbacks are a lot more visible in 2&3 in Elden Ring - as you pointed out about the open world. Finding the shortcuts in the first one (like Darkroot Garden connecting the Parish to the Burg) is a feeling that’s never been replicated for me in the later games.
I loved the way that you had to really think about and understand the world to get around. If I grinded humanity in the Depths and then needed to go to Anor Londo or something, I would stand there and imagine the path I would need to take, and the layout of the world would sort of unfold in my mind’s eye in the path that’d I’d have to run to get there, and that was always so satisfying and amazingly grounding and immersive for me. not only the lack of fast travel, but the lack of a map.
It just never happened like that again after that game.
I agree, and I hope FromSoft will return to a similar interconnected map layout as Dark Souls in the future. Or at least incorporate it better in an open world.
That one is the standout. I’m not sure why that doesn’t have a Stake of Marika just outside it. It’s still much better than Bed of Chaos, Four Kings or Seath.
Absolutely, and I can’t think of another one that’s too long. Even the way to Rennala isn’t dangerous (once you learn to dodge the balls), which I’m very happy about. And she’s easy enough to be beatable on your first attempt once you’ve learned her patterns.
I haven’t played Demon’s Souls, but what hindered my enjoyment with Dark Souls the most is the poor checkpoint locations. Bed of Chaos would be less hated if the player didn’t have to walk 2 minutes each try. I don’t want to play a walking simulator!
I can imagine many others not having the patience for this kind of stuff. I almost gave up for good at O&S. It’s still a game I appreciate.
Elden Ring resolved the problems with checkpoints, and that game turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time.
Funnily enough, I enjoy Elden Ring’s world less due to free usage of fast travel. The cohesion and linking design of the world means less when it’s all a blur of fast travels and ignoring the shape of it all.
I also found running around large open spaces on a horse and having many more reused dungeon assets and items to be less interesting than the very deliberate and more dense world of Dark Souls, but that’s not to say I think Elden Ring isnt great, but it’s a real ideological difference in what you’re looking for between the two
This is my opinion about every game that came after Dark Souls 1, although I think the drawbacks are a lot more visible in 2&3 in Elden Ring - as you pointed out about the open world. Finding the shortcuts in the first one (like Darkroot Garden connecting the Parish to the Burg) is a feeling that’s never been replicated for me in the later games.
I loved the way that you had to really think about and understand the world to get around. If I grinded humanity in the Depths and then needed to go to Anor Londo or something, I would stand there and imagine the path I would need to take, and the layout of the world would sort of unfold in my mind’s eye in the path that’d I’d have to run to get there, and that was always so satisfying and amazingly grounding and immersive for me. not only the lack of fast travel, but the lack of a map.
It just never happened like that again after that game.
I agree, and I hope FromSoft will return to a similar interconnected map layout as Dark Souls in the future. Or at least incorporate it better in an open world.
Except for Raya Lucaria. The way to Rennala is a bit too long for my taste.
That one is the standout. I’m not sure why that doesn’t have a Stake of Marika just outside it. It’s still much better than Bed of Chaos, Four Kings or Seath.
Absolutely, and I can’t think of another one that’s too long. Even the way to Rennala isn’t dangerous (once you learn to dodge the balls), which I’m very happy about. And she’s easy enough to be beatable on your first attempt once you’ve learned her patterns.