It would take me far too long to explain on detail all my problems with the later games and my views on what Dark Souls does right. But let' just narrow it down to: when the late games need a bonfire right next to a bullshit boss, the ideal solution is not to have the bullshit boss. Dark Souls was never about the combat. And that's why all the games after it fail, they emphasise combat when combat is the weakest element.

Also Hirata Estate and Fountinhead are fine, but they're just linear maps. Not even close to the design brilliance of anything in Demon's or Dark Souls. Not even worthy of being compared to either. FromSoft design peaked with The Painted World in DS1

Anyway as I said we have fundamentally different views on what works and whst doesnt. We could go back and forth forever disagreeing

Album Rating: 4.5

"Also Hirata Estate and Fountinhead are fine, but they're just linear maps. Not even close to the design brilliance of anything in Demon's or Dark Souls"



Is that a joke? Both are huge worlds with perfect connections. New Londo Ruins? Shit. Crystal Cave? Shit. Tomb of the Giants? Mega shit. Lost Izalith? Mega shit. Duke's Archives would have been okay if the enemies weren't so awful. Depths? Shit. Demon Ruins? Shit. I think Painted World, Anor Londo, Undead Burg + Parish are all amazingly well designed though. And even though everyone shits on it (and maybe justifiably so) I've always liked Blighttown. And even though I took a shit on it, I think Sen's fortress is pretty damn cool, platforming just doesn't work in Souls games imo, and that applies to the run to the optional boss in Ariendel dlc for DS3. I mean, while we're talking areas I don't think the DLC is especially great outside of Oolacile Township, and even then there isn't a whole lot to it.

Album Rating: 4.5

And how is combat the weakest point of Souls? The combat is largely considered to be one of the best in an rpg game. It's so good it made it hard for me to appreciate other rpgs, and I know I'm not alone there.

the gyro shit tirade had me laughing

Album Rating: 4.5

Shit tirade? You're welcome for that boss guide btw.

Gyro you’re on a roll

Album Rating: 4.5

Hey man, I love the Souls series and basically everything Fromsoft has done to varying degrees. Just pointing out some of my grievances with the 1st game that people tend to overlook or justify in what I think are odd ways. Just seems weird to me to say the level design of Sekiro is passable but that nothing compares to DS1 when even the community at large agrees a lot of areas in DS1 are pretty mediocre or downright terrible esp in the endgame.

Not even sure where to start here, but:

- DS1 bonfire placements were on the whole solid and encouraging players to traverse the world manually DID work beautifully, but this all went to shit in the game's final section, which relies on fast travel even worse than DS2 (which at least was designed for fast travel)
- DS2 and especially DS3 boast some of the best levels in the series (Loyce, Shulva, Ringed City, Irithyll). It's interesting that the two most consistently praised DS1 levels (Anor Londo and Painted World) are also the two most cut off from the world's interconnectedness and probably its most linear maps - not that interconnectedness isn't great, but these two have always been excellent design purely on their own merits, and this is just as applicable to Fountainhead and Hirata. Throw in Ashina Castle and (just for the atmosphere) Mibu Village and you've got a new collection of From's finest
- SEKIRO IS SO INTERCONNECTED!!! The feeling of getting lost and being unsure which route to take/focus on is something I haven't had in the same way since DS1, and the game never stops you from following paths out of sync with the main story if you push for it
- Bed of Chaos remains the worst boss in the series bar none. Cannot believe this is up for debate.
- YES Gyro Blighttown is fab and so overlooked. Best FromSwamp to date
- Combat in these games has always been a strength, shitboxes and op builds aside. I mean, seriously - Bloodborne as subpar combat?? Gank fights peaked in DS2 but ever since have been toned down and pretty well executed (Friede/Ariandel, Demon in Pain/Below, Twin Princes). There are some ganks here but the game generally gives you more sophisticated tools to handle them with its stealth kill and puppetry mechanics

Album Rating: 4.5

Hell yes, Johnny! Thanks for backing me up here, felt as though I was losing my mind. In addition to the maps you added, I would say Sunken Valley seems somewhat overlooked. I loved the descent down to the poison swamp, and the gun valley was sick. Also think that the Outskirts is a fantastic introductory level, maybe even their best alongside Central Yharnam. Senpou Temple was a great time too tbh. If I'm being honest, I think this has the most consistently enjoyable level design of a From game. I can count a number of lackluster areas in all the souls games, but the only thing here that felt lacking (to me) was the Abandoned Dungeon and some of the Depths. The forest wasn't especially great and reminded me of the one from DS2 a bit, and the Dungeon was just too brief and only served to connect other areas.

Album Rating: 4.5

In my second run I went back to the well you start out in early on, to fight the mini boss I'd missed my first time through, and upon going back to the very start was delighted to see a hidden path leading to the Shaman mini boss in the Dungeon area. Really love how opened up the world feels, like you said it's easy to get lost and it's cool that you can do things out of order. DS2 and 3, even though I love them to bits, were much more linear. Bloodborne too was more in line with that linearity. All these games have branching paths eventually but nothing has felt as tangential and huge to me as 1 and Sekiro.

I mean calling all the areas shit, it had me laughing. No I appreciate it, still getting my ass handed in second phase mind you. Not quick enough with the umbrella to block the fire

Album Rating: 4.5

Oh fuck dude, that's my bad, I thought you meant my rant was shit. Fuck, I'm dumb lol. I don't hate DS1 areas either, but I do think a large enough % of them are inadequate in all of their games (Bloodborne included). When their level design is on, it's the best of any game series I've ever played, it just makes me sad to see such uninspired areas like Lost Izalith and Tomb of Giants.

No worries. Had him right down to the bottom of 2nd phase. Learning the moves a bit better so here's hoping

Album Rating: 4.5

Yeah it took me getting my teeth kicked in for a solid hour before I committed all his moves to memory. They actually have pretty huge tells for the most part too. If you can do phase 1 without taking much damage, you can easily do the rest of the fight, just a few added moves to be on the lookout for. Fight is an endurance test but I think it's pretty great for what it is. Would take it any day of the week over Laurence, The First Vicar.

When I get the occasional stun I try ichi double for the posture boost. Is the only tool that works against him the whistle? Can't seem to fire cracker stun

Album Rating: 4.5

Yeah fire crackers are totally useless. Poisoning him at the start of phase 2 is a legit strat people use. I actually didn't use any prosthetics on him, just stayed close and spanked that booty.

Used my laz sabimaru and it did poison but it's so little. I wonder if Sen throw would work. Kill his booty with money

Album Rating: 4.5

Lmao I keep forgetting that's a thing. I wasted so many firecrackers my first few fights, wondering why they weren't working since they always do on beast-types, and I figured demon wouldn't be too far from beast but was dead wrong. There's a cool bit of lore you get on him after you kill him too.