#people compare it with sekiro

[valkyrievanessa]

i was thinking that i did made a post about Nine Sols here on tumblr, but no, i didn't. So i will talk about my new favorite game, or at least, a new part of the always changing mess that is my top 3 games (they always change positions between themselves, it depends of the day). It will have spoilers, tons of it.

so, nine sols. I love this game so much, like, it is the first game that i like it more than night in the woods (and depending of the day, i like night in the woods more). When i saw pictures and prints of this game, i thought it was a eastern fantasy game, but no, is sci-fi and i love it.

Yi as a protagonist is so amazing, the way this guy grows in the story is beautiful, painful too, really painful, but beautiful.

Yi relationship with his sister Heng is so sad, it will break your heart, because it was so painful, they were so happy and everything becomes hell. And when we learn that she was already dead for 500 years and the messages that we receive during the game was only reaching Yi now because of the distance made me so sad, i nearly cried, she deserved a better end, all the solarians deserved a better end, but no, Eigong refused to learn from her mistakes until the very end and she condemns the solarians two times, when she creates the Tianhuo and when she creates the mutants and believe that they where the hope and future of the solarians (they were no longer solarians, it could not be considered solarians anymore).

i made the true ending on my first try, because i liked this game so much that i just went and explored EVERYTHING, the only stuff i didn't manage to got was some itens that i didn't find (but i did find all the key items), for some reason, not even with a guide i could find them, so yeah, i will replay this game one day and try to have 100%.

The story is so tragic, we are looking at the last moments of a dying civilization, a civilization that is doing everything to survive, and with that, they also caused pain and suffering to others, like the humans that had their brain collected to keep the soulscape working (and also eaten, yeah, solarians got used to eat humans too, the game makes really obvious, shuanshuan made a dish to Yi that needed a human heart to be compleated).

I felt no simpathy to Eigong, Yanlao (even with the fact that i am a Historian, this motherfucker spend tons of space that could be used to save even more people to preserve rich people historical objects, only rich people objects) and Jiequan. But i was really sad with the fate of Goumang, Lady Ethereal, Fuxi, Nuwa and Ji. Nuwa died hugging her brother that had become a mutant and could no longer think (that the game implies that he was also her husband? i got this impression). Lady Ethereal had her brain removed and put in a Soulscape forever, where she was tormented by her own memories of her mistakes, Ji was a immortal that wanted to die, but just like Yi, i didn't want to fight him at all.

So in the end Yi dies to stop Eigong plan and Kuafu is the last Solarian in the Universe. All the rest is dead, totally dead. I wanted a way to save the solarians, but i know it was impossible, i am just mourning this civilization created for this game that went extinct because of a single character action, so yeah, my hatred for Eigong is really big, Yi died because she could not learn from her mistakes even in her very end.

But her fight is beautiful, all the boss fights in this game is amazing and Eigong is just the best of them (and the hardest), her 3rd phase is beautiful and the theme that plays on it, Yi's theme, makes the perfect finale, the perfect end of a civilization that will forever be gone from the universe

Yeah, i got really sad, cried a bit, but i understand the message of the story and enjoyed it a lot, i am still sad that there is no real way to save the solarians, but i also understand why this way don't exist (i would still like if they release a DLC that have a new ending hahaha).

Also this game have lesbian representation, Lady Ethereal is a lesbian (or sapphic, her specific sexuality was not confirmed), she had a girlfriend, i mean, her girlfriend was dead before new kunlun was even created, but she had a girlfriend and it is confirmed by the devs, Lady Ethereal and Xiaohe were lovers (this was not bury your gays situation, because nearly all the characters died horribly too)

i recommend Nine Sols, a lot, it is my favorite game, or at least, one of the top 3 of them (the other 2 are night in the woods and the missing j.j. macfield). So i recommend this game a lot. It is hard, really, really hard, but nothing impossible, so i do recommend.

[tatzelwyrm]

I need a moment to yell about what a tragic and interesting character Emma is.

Yes, she's been placed in a stereotypically female role as the healer and the guide for the male protagonist. She's a doctor, a caregiver, yes, but there is so much more to her. She is integral to so much of the heartbreak in this story and not because she isn't trying. She just can't escape it.

She's not a fighter, but she has a sword, and the reason she learned how to use it is specifically because she is waiting for a man who means the world to her to turn into a demon so she can kill him.

The Sculptor rescued her from a battlefield when she was a small child and starving. He helped raise her and eventually placed her in Dogen's care.

She visits him often, she asks for his advice on some really difficult, delicate matters.

This is her father in all the ways that matter (and he's actually a good father compared to some other fathers in this story). She clearly respects and loves him.

And she also knows that he is turning into a demon and the only thing she can do about it is make sure she is ready to kill him when the time comes.

Her relationship with Isshin is also tied up in this. Isshin is her lord. He is also her teacher, since he is the one who trained her in swordsmanship.

Isshin's skill with the sword is so fabled they call him the Sword Saint. This guy lives to swordfight. His greatest achievement (according to him) isn't killing a tyrant and freeing his country, it's developing his own fighting style and never stopped trying to improve it (and handing out pamphlets about it).

That's the guy Emma got to train her.

Isshin got a tutor to train his beloved grandson (as is proper), but he trained Emma himself and it doesn't come as a surprise once you learn that Isshin was the one who stopped the Sculptor from turning into Shura before.

Emma must have told him.

Imagine Emma asking Isshin to train her in swordsmanship. Isshin, who fought Shura and lived, must have looked at this small, waifish woman and asked her why. And then he ended up teaching her anyway.

Specifically so she can kill a demon.

(And the beautiful thing about this, in terms of Sekiro being a video game, is that this is not just something we're informed of, but it's reflected in the actual gameplay. If you end up fighting her, Emma's moveset is a slimmed down, slightly less reactive version of Grandpa Isshin's. She has the same perilous attacks (including the same grab), she has Ashina cross, she does that little slash if you stick too close.

Conversely, Genichiro, despite being Isshin's heir, fights nothing like his grandfather. Because he was taught by Tomoe. Actually, the way fighting styles are used for characterisation is another thing that has me raving about this game. Like the fact that Owl is the only enemy in the entire game who can perform a Mikiri counter...).

However, Isshin isn't just her lord and her teacher. He also dresses up as a mythological figure to hunt down spies and those of his grandson's allies he doesn't approve of in his castle. Emma knows this. Isshin knows Emma knows this and she gets away with teasing her about it. They have a cute, friendly relationship.

But more importantly, Isshin is also her patient and they both know he's dying.

There's this inevitableness about all of Emma's relationships. See also Genichiro: Emma and he were childhood friends. They used to hang out with Takeru and Tomoe by the sakura tree. If you share enough sake with her she'll tell you about how she used to sneak out of the castle to watch Genichiro pratice Tomoe's Lightning (and did Genichiro taking his shirt off when he does that move have anything to do with that?)

But she's spending enough time with Isshin to know that Genichiro's days, too, are numbered. And there's that sad memory in which she tells Kuro about the sediment and how people who use it lose their humanity bit by bit.

Oh, and since I mentioned Tomoe ... if you pursue the Purification route, you find out that Emma saw Tomoe attempt Purification (which only failed because she didn't have the Mortal Blade). Emma saw Tomoe, presumably her friend, attempt suicide. To spare Takeru.

And then there's Wolf and Kuro. Who not only act as a catalyst for the Genichiro situation to finally turn to shit. She also soon realises that Wolf and Kuro find themselves in the same bind as Takeru and Tomoe.

And with the knowledge that at least one of them has to die, one of them a small child, she chooses to let the child die and save the man. Witholding the information on how to attempt Purification is one of very few choices Emma actually gets to make in this story. Everything else is ripped from her control (Sculptor's condition, Isshin's condition, Genichiro's condition, the situation the entire country is in). And it's such an interesting choice to make for her.

There's this child, who is convinced that the only way to end the curse of immortality is for him to have his head cut off with a magic sword. And her choice is whether or not to tell the depressed Shinobi looking after this boy that there's an option for the child to live but it requires the Shinobi to cut his own head off instead.

And she chooses to say nothing.

She's making her decision and in doing so, she's effectively taking the choice away from Wolf. And it eventually leads to even more heartbreak, because if you actually make Wolf kill Kuro, Wolf is miserable for the rest of his days, taking the place of the Sculptor and set to eventually turn into a demon himself.

And that's so interesting.

And every day I'm cursing the gaming gods because Fromsoft hasn't made more story games like this.

Break my heart again, I can take it.

[beesmygod]

Yo Bea,

What are the best sources for reading up about fromsoft lore? I know we’ve got your meticulously batshit blood borne book (thank you very much by the way) but what about the other fromsoft entries?

Also what’s your general opinion on the Japanese vs English translation with Fromsoft entires? How much nuance is lost/how many misunderstandings arise from the way things have been changed over? I distinctly remember people thinking that with Elden Ring the English ending monologue for Ranni made her goals sound way more sinister than the Japanese translation

this will have an unsatisfying answer: in my opinion, there really isnt any. bloodborne is the most centralized of them all, imo, and i really chalk this up to it being a more self contained and western narrative (at least on the surface level) compared to games that are either spread across multiple games (dark souls) making them fuck huge to consider or they're elden ring which is also fuck huge lol. theres just a lot of information to process. these stupid games and the collective understanding of their story really comes from disparate random reddit and forum guys who just pipe in with their evidence and its up to a jury of their peers to decide if it passes the smell test or not. its an imperfect system that allows some crap through. but as the whole, the collaborative research efforts have proven to be an excellent example of a community coming together to solve problems that don't matter at all lol.

unfortunately the research method is usually looking up questions and characters as they come to you and seeing if anyone else noticed or followed your own train of thought. trawling a wiki until you see something that makes you go "hey what is that all about" and seeing if anyone else knows or at least has a lead. and then you go from there.

HOWEVER: shetani's lair has the best sekiro breakdown i have ever seen in my entire life and greatly influenced the bloodborne doc. her work is phenomenal and REALLY gets in the nitty gritty of the translation work. i don't think people can do much better for sekiro than her work. its very good and very long. great reading imo.

this kind of dovetails into translation: i tend to look at both translations when i look at the games. this is because of a peculiar oddity in how the games are made; most of the games (sekiro excluded) are intended to have english voice acting. so at least a major part of the game's text is english only and was intended to be that way. as is inevitable with any translation job, some nuance gets lost. it is hard to convey a lot of the nasty doublespeak and pointed ambiguity in the original jpn item descriptions, which is why i try to hold the fan-provided japanese translations up to the english translations to see what carried across, what didn't, and if anything was missed.

but this doesn't mean the translations are bad. if anything they are shockingly good considering the conditions the translators have to work with (the japanese they translate is is like. archaic apparently lol. with tight turn around before launch). sometimes i am blown away by the translator's ingenuity at threading what must often feel like an impossible needle. ranni's ending speech is def way crazier than it was intended to be and might be the biggest example of a scuffed translation in a from game. she says some insane shit implying she's about to annihilate all life on earth with the cold instead of taking the cold away with her lol. oops!

and as always, if you have questions i would love to try to answer them. or at least say "i dont know" lol

[tlgtw]

I don't have any evidence but I feel there a palpable sense of 'desperation' among waifu-brained FromSoft fans who are trying to deal with a game that is not very interested in catering to them.

Certainly there are no female characters who are sexualized themselves, with Malenia, Ranni, and Fia being the most obvious examples of this, their being almost completely unsexualized.

Malenia is a broad-shouldered woman who literally does not have sexual organs, and Ranni who we outright see naked at the end of her questline has a featureless body of cracked ceramics and rope.

It's atypical: Compared to Dark Souls 1 especially the difference is really apparent. (Quelaag, her sister, and Gwynevere off the top of my head)

And you've noticed it, too, right?

That 'desperation' in the shit fanart and posts I'm talking about?

A lot of people appear unwilling to accept those facts for Elden Ring's prominent female characters. (Like outside of wishing to fuck them they're just unfamiliar with drawing or talking about those characters.)

It's arguable even that Elden Ring has no waif-like characters whatsoever. (Although the likes of Roderika and Hyetta dispute this, their lack of popularity notwithstanding.)

A first since even Sekiro had Emma, with Emma's character being a woman who was evidently far too normal to have ever been considered a waifu, despite her having more lines and screentime than the Doll, the Firekeeper, and more, combined!

If this pattern continues with the female characters introduced in the DLC, I wonder what we'll see, then xd.

[prosciuttoon]

funny how people say they hate shuro because his family is rich meanwhile their favorite is Laios, the son of village chief the hypocrisy is astonishing lmao. they can just admit that they hate characters of color so much

i think when laios left his hometown/the army he was effectively cut off but cant say for sure. he does have nepo baby status but wouldnt say hes rich bc if he was he wouldnt have considered selling his partys equipment at the start of the manga. but u just made me realize smth anon

laios and shuro are already exact opposites/parallels(?) of each other, like, off the top of my head i cant remember exactly cuz ive been playing sekiro all day i can still see the ui. but like. laios being kinda free spirited, leaving a situation (like home) bc he had enough of it. while shuro being petrified in his position even if he doesnt like it (i.e not setting boundaries even tho he shouldve) (read this twitter thread they put it in better words).

and then heres another layer of that: their relationships w their respective dads. laios is so vocal about not liking his dad, hates being reminded of him and not wanting to look like him, etc. shuro also has contempt for His dad and the way he just does shit on a whim if he feels like it and also being constantly compared to him made him feel like nothing he did would matter. maybe he even resents his dad for having an affair w maizuru which is conflicting bc she was basically his nanny growing up and, 'rather than his parents, shuro felt admiration for maizuru' (adventurers bible). but he can never say this abt his dad ofc. thats just the rule. <- also yet another polar comparison between their cultures

theyre soooooo opposites. lol

anyways back to the ask. i dont think they can be compared on their nepo statuses, cuz laios has (at least tried to) cancelled his, but it does open up for interesting conversation about their personalities, so thanks for bringing it up!

however, for that reason... i dont really agree with ur point about ppl hating characters of colour - IF THIS is the evidence ur using - bc it doesnt work.

[girlballs]

Why don't you like ds3? I think most people, including myself, really like it.

i mean. for one thing i kinda don't like how linear the critical path is compared to DS2 (having Archdragon Peak as a fairly large hidden area was nice though), and the change from spell slots to FP without keeping consumable FP regeneration items around like in Demon's's S'ouls sucked complete ass and keeping that system for ER was one of the worst decisions they made for that game

but also. it's kinda just obvious that fromsoft didn't really want to make it? taken as a whole (base game + both DLCs) narratively there's a thread of "you shouldn't force a thing to stick around longer than it needs to" which really feels like a meta commentary on them being contractually obligated to make the two sequels- DS2 at least got creative with things but then they backpedaled severely with DS3, mechanically and narratively (a fun and lethal drinking game is to take a shot every time DS3 makes an explicit callback to DS1) and basically ignored all of the plot of DS2 in the process.

like there's Parts of DS3 i like but as a whole i think it's worse than DS2. i wish they hadn't used it as the foundation for Elden Ring and allowed themselves to take more inspiration from Bloodborne and Sekiro

[mrmurakumo]

It is no secret that one of the worst parts of the Fromsoft fandom are the people that feel compelled to compare everything to Berserk

Not just because they’re annoying as fuck, but also they’ve got it completely wrong, because REAL fans know that Fromsoft takes heavy inspiration from Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead films

The Hunter Rune? That’s a reference to the Evil Dead necronomicon, literally on the cover

Sulyvahn’s beasts? It’s a reference to when Ash Williams had to fight off crocodile-dogs in Evil Dead II

The Erdtree? That’s an Army of Darkness reference where Ash comes across a giant tree and said to him “Ash, you must overcome this Army of Darkness to return to your world!”

Miquella? Evil Dead reference. Who’s this “Griffith” you’re talking about? Are you confusing him with “Griffo” in the first Evil Dead?

Sekiro? Ash literally has a mechanical arm with a chainsaw attached to it. So yea, John Sekiro is literally just a Japanese ripoff of Ash Williams

Why do you think the Souls games take place in a Dark Fantasy setting? It’s all because Miyazaki watched Army of Darkness one day and decided that he wanted to make games based off of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead movies. My source is an old Famicon Tsūshin interview literally right before Demon’s Souls came out in Japan, trust

Greatsword? Guts is literally just Ash with a huge sword. So yes, Evil Dead reference

All roads lead to Evil Dead

[miirshroom]

Elden Ring and Introduction to the FromSoftware Meta-Narrative

If a rune is a story and a great rune is a great story, then what are the great stories represented by the Great Runes? The answer that I have arrived at: The abstract concept of FromSoftware's various videogame development pipelines. Afterall, the Elden Ring represents a metaphysical concept, so why not an examination of the past, present, and future identity of a company that produces videogames. Major spoilers ahead for Elden Ring, Bloodborne, and Armoured Core 6, and minor spoilers for several other FromSoft games.

Godrick's Great Rune

The Dark Souls (2011-2018) Great Rune seems obvious - Godrick's Great rune. If the 3 ringed shape wasn't the tip-off (corresponding to 3 games) then perhaps that the dragon figure on top of the Banished Knight helmet is the same creature as the Nameless King's mount. Dark Souls Eygon of Carim wears the Morne set and guards a fire keeper named Irena, while in Elden Ring Edgar of Castle Morne in Godrick's territory loses his eyes to frenzy after discovering the death of his daughter Irena.

Godrick himself seems to function as representative of Dark Souls Remastered, in a sense that the repulsive practice of grafting is being equated to the creative dead-end of revisiting old games such as Dark Souls (2011) and pasting on updated graphics and quality of life features while having to work around out-dated code. I think that Godefroy could be seen as a much earlier use of this practice as the difference between original Dark Souls and the Prepare to Die edition (2012) that included improvements + Artorius DLC. And Godwyn's parallel would be Dark Souls 3 (2016). I would thus consider Godwyn and Godrick as brothers in Elden Ring because in the internal logic of FromSoftware there were always planned to be a trilogy of Dark Souls games.

Dark Souls 2 is annoying to explain succinctly partially because it was directed by Naotoshi Zin Yui Taimura (correction: Naotoshi Zin was the supervisor, which was his role on all Dark Souls games as president of the company from 1986-2014) instead of Hidetaka Miyazaki. In short, there are some blurry lines between Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin and Bloodborne.

Malenia's and Miquella's Great Runes

Malenia herself has an obvious match in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019) - it is in the Dragon Rot being correlated to Scarlet Rot, the parallels between Malenia's dedication to Miquella and Wolf's dedication to Kuro, and that it's one of the few recent FromSoft games to be released without paid DLC or sequel (which as it happens is common among all empyrean and their game counterparts). Numerous people have commented that Malenia feels like a Sekiro boss to fight - although with the added twist of mechanics like clearing her poise break that allow her to "cheat" compared to the bosses of that game.

However, the exact nature of Malenia's Great Rune is more nebulous - probably could be a stand-in for multiple Japanese-style combat games in the catalogue including Shadow Assault: Tenchu (2008) and Otogi: Myth of Demons (2002). Certainly, it has been confirmed by FromSoftware representatives that Sekiro was internally considered a Tenchu game for some time before release, as discussed in the aptly titled 2018 GameSpot article "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Originally Started As A Tenchu Game".

Miquella may or may not have a Great Rune. If he does, it would correspond to games in a similar spirit to Déraciné (2018), the game which Miquella most likely represents. A much smaller game, the idea of which originated in the wake of Bloodborne's release at around the same time that the idea for Sekiro began to form - twin ideas. The game Kuon (2004) also seems to have served some inspiration for the Haligtree, as there is a side-story told about silkworms and a central Mulberry Tree in that game.

Radahn's Great Rune

Radahn's Rune represents the Armored Core franchise - or perhaps the broader idea of mech combat games - while he is himself a personification of Armoured Core 6: The Fires of Rubicon (2023). The opening part of his boss fight is an artillery bombardment, similar to the long range weapon capabilities of the AC units. The central motifs of AC6 are "fire" and "coral" - and the general theme of Caelid is using fire to control the rot that has eaten Radahn's mind and which manifests in the landscape as growths resembling coral reef.

A major part of Radahn's character is that he idolized Godfrey, who is himself embodying AC4 (2006)/4A (2008). The name "Loux" means "Lynx" - and in a departure from the Ravens of earlier titles AC4 introduces the Lynx units. It also simply makes sense that the progenitor of the Golden Lineage - who I previously correlated to Dark Souls - would be represented in the first game that Miyazaki directed.

And I can see the objection that this doesn't make sense because we know that Radahn must have been born before Malenia/Miquella, so how can he represent a game that came after? Simply: it's not about when the game idea was executed, but about when the concept was first proposed. FromSoftware probably knew that they would eventually return to Armoured Core at about the time they wrapped on AC5V.

Morgott and Mohg's Great Runes

Now that some boundary conditions have been set it is easier to speculate on the nature of Morgott and Mohg - AC5 (2012) and AC5V (2013), respectively. Points of comparison: 1) They are of the Golden Lineage as they preceded from AC4A represented by Godfrey, 2) They are omens that any game without Miyazaki attached will be perceived poorly in hindsight (as he did not direct either game), 3) The AC games were at the time FromSoftware's most well known and active franchise before being overshadowed by souls games - those touched by the Crucible were once considered divine and only later fell into disfavor.

But as I already mentioned, with speculation that Radahn holds the Armoured Core Great Rune Morgott and Mohg must have claimed some other stories. This also aids in understanding how they can exist as multiple copies - there is the version of them before and after claiming Great Runes that do not match their original natures. Morgott is the easiest to figure out - it's the Elden Ring (2022) Rune. There is one Great Rune in the entire game that is mandatory to beating the game, and it is the one held by Morgott. Perhaps this raises a question of how can the Elden Ring have a single Great Rune dedicated to itself, but as I have been attempting to describe - all FromSoftware games should be treated as a single body of work looking backwards from Elden Ring. The initial concept of an "Elden Ring" stretches back at least as far as Eternal Ring (2000), and Morgott's rune is described as an "anchor ring that houses the base" so it does have a central importance.

And there's a relatively straightforward answer to which game would be considered a twin to Elden Ring - Demon's Souls (2009). The leitmotif in the menu music for Elden Ring has been identified as a more triumphant version of the Demon's Souls menu music. The core themes of Elden Ring are also much concerned with philosophies of identity in much the same way that Demon's Souls explores the definition of the self as an entity that thinks (look up "Philosophical Analysis of Demon's Souls" by The Gemsbok on Youtube for more on this). And Elden Ring serves as something of a bookend to Demon's Souls - both games are divided into 6 sections via 6 stone structures (the Archstones of Demon's Souls and the Divine Towers of Elden Ring). The 6th Archstone of Demon's Souls is broken, but what lies beyond is a snowy landscape. Elden Ring finally provides access to that snowy landscape in the Forbidden Lands, which is again only available after defeating Morgott - and with the Great Rune being activated at the tower closest to this area.

But there are independent reasons why Mohg's Great Rune should be the one that encompasses Demon's Souls. The Demon's Souls franchise potential has been irreversibly corrupted by the recent remake. The philosophy is still generally intact - that is portrayed through text. But critical aspects of art design have been altered beyond recognition - mostly of interest to me is the portrayal of the Yellow Monk and the Fool's Idol and the area of Latria in general. Mohg himself has this in the design of his robes and trident which steal the motifs of the helix and the black flame but corrupt them in ways that read almost as gibberish compared to their deliberate uses elsewhere.

The four-armed doll of the Fool's Idol hints at who the original owner of this rune might have been - Ranni's mentor Renna. And through embodying the witch Renna, it may be that ownership of this rune was transfered to Ranni before she chose to discard it. Demon's Souls did generally fit the previously established criteria of Empyrean game (no sequels or DLC), but the potential for future games is lost now as creating a sequel to the original would alienate people confused by the aesthetic corruption of the remake. There is also a rabbithole here for what all this Great Rune encompasses because Demon's Souls itself did not spring out of nowhere - it is of a similar approach to game design that was previously last seen in Shadow Tower Abyss (2003) and Kingsfield IV (2001).

The Great Rune of the Unborn

The Great Rune of the Unborn is a difficult one to pin down through this method of unpacking the Great Runes as much as any other. It seems possible that Miquella wanted this Great Rune and thought that it could be obtained by arranging his own rebirth. It is also one of two stories that must be obtained for Ranni's Age of Stars to be possible (the other being Radahn's story) - indicating that it represents something that did not exist at the time of Elden Ring's release. Running low on demi-gods, perhaps this is best understood as Melina's Great Rune. It is implied through Melina's abilities to channel Marika's echoes and through her descriptor in the code "MarikaofDaughter" that she is an offspring of Marika. Contradictory to the other demi-gods who can typically be matched to FromSoftware games, Melina's bodiless status seems to indicate that she never has been and her burning at the Forge of Giants is acknowledgement that she never will be. A comparison can be drawn between Melina and the disembodied Ayre - voice of the Coral in AC6. The unrealized potential of the Great Rune of the Unborn seems a good match to Melina.

Rykard's Great Rune

So, by process of elimination there is one rune left and it is Rykard's Great Rune. Fitting that the one game candidate remaining is Bloodborne (2015). An article titled "How the Spirit of Bloodborne Lives on in Elden Ring" (posted on VG247 by Alan Wen) goes over the ways that Volcano Manor evokes Bloodborne. The Manor sits on top of a hidden town of gothic architecture similar to Yharnam being stacked on top Old Yharnam, the Ghiza's Wheel weapon found in the manor has a clear design lineage to the whirligig saw from Bloodborne, the Iron Virgin at Raya Lucaria transports the player to a secondary location similar to Bloodborne's Kidnappers. But to me, the most clear connection is the finding of the Serpent's Amnion and Rya's dismay of being born of a hideous ritual. This seems a form of call-back or iteration to the ending of Bloodborne that involves consuming four 3rds of umbilical cord and being reborn as a Great One - a repellent little squid-slug thing.

[digitalsatyr23]

Why I like Sekiro so much

Sometimes I think about how different Sekiro is compared to the From Software games made before and after it. I remember playing through it multiple times in order to get the platinum trophy and did my last run without the protective charm and the bell rung. It was an experience. Even four years later, I wish From Software made more games like it. Not necessarily in terms of gameplay, but in terms of story. (Continue reading if you like my ramblings)

Sekiro has the distinct advantage of having several story cutscenes and a playable character that isn’t just a blank slate. Wolf is fairly tame in terms of characterization (at least on the surface), but who he is and his relationship with those around him is far more interesting than your typical Souls game protagonist imo, and this is best expressed through another character (arguably the most important) in Sekiro - Isshin Ashina.

Isshin led a rebellion in order to free his people from those who had taken the land from them many years ago, and worked alongside many of the characters you meet throughout the game, including Owl, Lady Butterfly, GYOUBU MASATAKA ONIWAAAAA, and the Sculptor. When he slew General Tamura and claimed victory, he kept the general’s spear as a trophy until he later gifted it to Gyoubu (though we later see his sword saint incarnation use it in battle). He also was the one that prevented the Sculptor from becoming Shura by cutting off the Sculptor’s arm. My understanding is that when everything was said and done, Isshin just kicked it in the land of Ashina and watched over his people both directly and indirectly. Of course, the Central Forces later come a knocking to take over Ashina, which is what causes the events of the game to unfold.

By the time the game takes place, Isshin is old as hell and is succumbing to disease. Despite this, the Interior Ministry (a division of Central Forces) is still scared shitless of the guy and doesn’t find the nerve to press their final attack until they know damn certain that Isshin has breathed his last. For those who may not understand why, consider this video where you get to see what would have happened if the Interior Forces tried taking Isshin on mere hours before his death. Even though he is going to die, he continues roaming around Ashina and fighting the good fight because that’s just the kind of person he is. And while it may not be fully obvious in the beginning, he’s actually on Wolf’s side for almost the entire game, because he’s opposed to his grandson’s plan to use the rejuvenating water and Kuro’s blood, so Isshin sends Emma to help you out.

Now regarding how this connects back to Wolf... Wolf was orphaned during the events of the Ashina rebellion, and his family was very likely killed due to the conflict. Wolf was picked up by Owl and given his name, and went on to be trained by Owl and others (such as Lady Butterfly). Later, Wolf was appointed as the shinobi meant to guard the divine heir, Kuro. Kuro himself was part of the Hirata Clan, a branching house of Ashina, which is important to note considering Owl went on to secretly side with the Central Forces and attack the Hirata Estate using bandits. Owl pretended to die and charged Wolf with recovering Kuro, which led to Wolf fighting his old mentor, Lady Butterfly (who was Owl’s co-conspirator). If you played through those memories, you know the rest. Wolf defeats Lady Butterfly, but then Owl stabs Wolf in the back, leading to Kuro making the pact with Wolf, and the rest is largely a mystery because Wolf lost his memory of that night. Seemingly without purpose, Wolf lives in isolation and is considered a traitor by Ashina as they believed he was related to the attack on the Hirata estate (again, because Owl is a backstabbing piece of shit). It isn’t until a letter is given to Wolf by Emma telling him that Kuro yet lives and is in need of rescue once more that Wolf springs to life and you take control of him.

With all that out of the way, let’s consider the game’s story and the events so far. Wolf was orphaned as a result of Isshin trying to free his people from oppression, taken in by one of Isshin’s then allies Owl, trained by another of Isshin’s allies, Lady Butterfly, only for Wolf to later be betrayed by both Owl and Lady Butterfly, and then later called to action by Isshin and Emma to save one of his grandsons (Kuro) from another one of his grandsons (Genichiro), which requires you to be an absolute menace to both the Central Forces and Ashina Forces on your way to Kuro throughout the game. After you lose an arm in your first fight with Genichiro, you’re later brought to an old temple where you meet Emma and the Sculptor proper, who both aid you in your quest. Do you see how all of these characters are so nicely interconnected?

Now compare that to Dark Souls. I like Dark Souls. I have played and beaten it probably a dozen times, trying out different builds, routes, factions, and all that fun stuff. The story of Dark Souls isn’t bad per say, but consider who you are. You’re a nameless undead, one of many in the asylum by the time Oscar shows up and starts freeing the other undead. The person who went on to reach the First Flame could have been anyone. I know that’s the point, but just remember that you’re a nameless nobody that no one knows or believes in (until you meet decent people like Solaire and Andre of course) and your role in the lives of the other people you meet is largely incidental. This pattern continues through many of the souls games and even in Elden Ring where you once again play an almighty nobody who no one even knows and in some cases actively makes fun of and/or looks down on you. That’s fiiiiine I guess? And it’s not like Sekiro’s story is perfect or anything either, but it just feels like it has so much more going on with it, and even though the story is much smaller in scale, the stakes feel a lot higher. The boss fights also felt more engaging, too, because again, you have a history with almost every person you cross swords with. Every time you fight someone important, there is a damn good reason for you doing it, and not just because you walked into the wrong room at the wrong time.

I don’t know if this is considered official or not, but so much in Sekiro pointed towards this I accept it as canon. Isshin clearly sees Wolf as a part of his family. Isshin kinda has this tendency to adopt and take people under his wing because he understands how important it is to have someone there for you in trying times, and boy howdy does the land of Ashina know trying times. In many ways, Isshin is more of a foster father to Wolf than Owl ever was, and you feel this as you bump into him throughout the game, whether hanging out with him and sharing sake or finding Isshin when he’s in the middle of his “rat” extermination (when he’s the Tengu of Ashina, Isshin’s super hero persona as far as I’m concerned). You fight a ton of dudes on both sides of the conflict, largely because you were seen as a traitor by most of Ashina, and of course Genichiro wanting to stop you so he can enact his plans with Kuro, and this results in you killing a lot of people that were on Isshin’s side as you progress, but Isshin doesn’t begrudge you. Not really. He knows why you’re there and why you did what you had to since everyone is trying to put you in the dirt anyway. The only time Isshin opposes you is if you go the Shura route and kill Emma.

The Shura route always gets me when I think about it. Imagine how hurt Isshin must have felt seeing Wolf fall so far. Again, Isshin was mere hours from death by the time you fight him in that boss fight. Prior to that, you could have been chilling with him, sharing sake, and hearing him regale you with stories about the good ol’ days as Isshin tries to enjoy what little time he has left. Now he has to put you down because you’ve crossed a line you can never return from, the same way he helped his friend the Sculptor so many years ago. And the thing is, Isshin isn’t even strictly surprised. Wolf always had the potential to become Shura, and Isshin notices a glimmer of that in Wolf as he shares a couple drinks with him. Here’s the conversation you have with him when you give him monkey booze.

Wolf: I have something for you.

Isshin: Ah, Sekiro! You know me well. Why, if this isn't monkey booze! Hahh! So this is what it's like to breathe fire! Do you know what other name this sake goes by?

Wolf: I don't.

Isshin: You don't? They call it Shura's Wine. Shura's Wine. That's right! You know your stuff. Don't tell me you've been treating someone else to this. I killed one once, long ago...  Shura... Or something very much like it.

Wolf: What is Shura, exactly?

Isshin: Those who go on killing will eventually become Shura. They don't even remember why...  Simply enraptured... They kill solely for the joy it brings them. I saw it in your eyes, too. The shadow of Shura.

Wolf: .........

Isshin: Or at least, I thought I did.

Wolf: .........

Isshin: However, it appears I was mistaken. If Shura were to appear, I would have cut it down myself. (laughs)

And then of course what he says after you defeat Emma.

Isshin: Sekiro... You were a most unkind and inauspicious man... But for some reason I could not bring myself to hate you. It seems... I must cut you down before you fall to Shura.

Do you see the look in this man’s eye? He sees you as family. He trusted you. He aided you every step of the way along your journey, and now that you’ve betrayed that trust and are about to become an actual literal demon, he’s going to stop you. Despite the feelings he may have towards you, he knows that he cannot hesitate for even a moment, because hesitation is defeat.

I wouldn’t consider the Shura ending to be canon but there’s something so painful and beautiful about it. Even Kuro is in denial about what you’ve become, despite the dead bodies littering the floor around you. Sekiro has a ton of great moments like this that will stay with me for a long, long time. Even though I love From Software’s newest game, Elden Ring, the lack of moments like this sting real bad. There are so many characters you should have been able to interact with at some point before their fight, but for some reason you’re denied this. Think about Mohg, think about Malenia, or Rykard, or Hoarah Loux. It’s even possible for you to have a history with Hoarah Loux prior to the game if you choose the Hero starting class because it implies you were part of the same tribe, but this has no effect on the actual game’s story. Regardless, the lack of history and lack of connection to the various important figures in Elden Ring’s story just makes most of it ring hollow for me.

And that’s why I remember Sekiro so fondly. It stands out among From Software’s other recent titles because of its approach to its characters, story, and how interconnected everything is. I’m not asking for a Sekiro 2: Shadows Die Thrice. I’m just saying that maybe From Software should give Sekiro’s approach to story another go.

[mrhaitch]

MR HAITCH!!!! YOU ARE A SOULS GAMES PLAYER!!!!! This is wonderful news to me because I literally JUST started Elden Ring two days ago and let me preface this by saying, it was my first dark souls game. AND I’m still learning how to play on a ps5 controller because I usually play most games on keyboard. Double homicide, much? Now imagine my surprise and absolute befuddlement at the beautiful open world scenery AND my frustration at how the game has literally no direction????? Compared to the other games I usually play???????

Thankfully my brother was right next to me guiding me when I needed it but most of the time he just told me to play blind, which I’m trying to do. However, playing blind is kind of really hard when I’m hurtling atop my horse into the lake peacefully and suddenly a FUCKING DRAGON COMES DOWN AND TRIES TO FIGHT ME????? The speed at which I ran away while screaming was insane.

Anywho, sorry for the huge ramble but it’s just so much in that game with absolutely no guidance at all, and now I’ve resorted to just wandering the landscape and avoiding all enemies after I got absolutely bodied by my first boss… Absolutely any tips you can spare from your experience on this game would help 🙏 (btw I had chosen samurai as my class because who tf wouldn’t want to be a cool ass samurai)

And I’m also curious, how was your first souls games experience? 99.9% of people seem to say it was the bane of their existence, and I couldn’t agree more.

The Souls games are fair.

They're not difficult, they're just ruthlessly, uncompromisingly fair - if you make a mistake, you will die. Most games are built around fulfilling some kind of wish or want in the player, usually built on a personal fantasy, and this can make the Souls games feel victimising or cruel by denying or complicating that process of fulfillment. The loading screens in a soulsgame are time for reflection: what could I have done differently? Should I have rolled there, or is that a parryable attack? What am I going to try next?

It also rewards you for treating combat seriously: think about distance and reach when engaging enemies. If their reach is longer than yours, close the distance to rob them of that advantage, or vice versa.

My first Souls experience was with the original Dark Souls, and I was horrible at it. I built my character haphazardly and went at things with no plan or direction, and it punished me ruthlessly. Any progress was hard won, and I think I once spent two straight days (pre kids) fighting Smough and Ornstein over and over again until I got it. It was until Dark Souls 3 that I really figured it all out - then it was Bloodborne and Sekiro.

Be patient, do a little bit of research, treat every death as an opportunity to learn and improve. The only failure is when you give up completely.

[gnome2-1ish]

Bought black myth wukong and people keep comparing it to sekiro tbh i like this way more than sekiro it's more interesting and fun imo

[avatarofwar]

i saw you talk about wolf a few times from sekiro and was wondering if you'd want to share more of your thoughts on him or sekiro as a whole, the game really interests me compared to other dark souls games so i wanted to ask

sorry for the late reply but oh boy do I have thoughts abt wolf. trying not to spoil the game, so I'm gonna refrain from talking about the story. might go into just restating known things about the game, but I'd much rather play it safe and not spoil the story

before going to that. the game is very much different from dark souls (setting wise, while taking place in a fictional country it is in a historical setting. I cannot comment on the setting properly bc I don't know much about the time period, however), most notably in the combat (primarily shifting from a dodge-centric playstyle to a parry-centric playstyle (significantly easier than dark souls/elden ring parrying, however), with dodges having significantly shorter i-frames and being very unreliable for dodging attacks). it's very different but something I really enjoy, even if I'm not as good as I am at typical soulsborne combat. it's really fun when you get the hang of it, and while I might not be The Best at it (which is mostly bc of how different it is from soulsborne games, so ofc I'm not as good at is as I am at the other fromsoft games I've played), it's something I can still enjoy

a huge thing about sekiro is the difference in how the story is told. in soulsborne games the story is something you have to figure out; progressing through the main path doesn't give you enough to piece everything together if you don't read any lore. with sekiro, however, the story is significantly more obvious, on account of the playable character having unique ties to the world and its characters, rather than going the soulsborne route of being one of many people (wording hard, but the chosen undead for example is no one special, just one of many undead trying to link the flame). it's a very different method of storytelling, but is still something really good. for as much as I adore having to actively hunt down lore and story in soulsborne games, it's also great experiencing story through natural game progression

wolf is also canonically disabled (loses his left arm at the start of the game) and has a really fucking cool prosthetic that is a whole part of the combat system (even though I personally keep forgetting to use it). so good for him. he deserves a prosthetic that can have deadly weaponry attached to it. like a mini-flamethrower. he deserves a mini-flamethrower, as a treat.

putting the wolf thoughts beneath a read more because this is getting long and I might spoil some stuff (mostly relationship with another character, I'll try to refrain from story spoilers. also spoilers in general, but there might be some), and he has definitely become a blorbo (additionally, content warning for abuse)

first of all. wolf makes me want to throw myself off a cliff and I mean this in the most positive way ever. he is great and I love him but man he needs so much fucking therapy and he doesn't even realise it (therapy probably doesn't exist in that time period, but besides the point). he is very much traumatised and has been heavily shaped by it and doesn't even know it.

prior to the events of the game (I forgot how long ago it was) he was orphaned by war and got taken in by owl, a shinobi and also a piece of fucking garbage. owl raises wolf to be a shinobi under the iron code, with the number one rule being loyalty to his father (owl), with his master (kuro, the divine heir) a close second (and also to give his life for his master if necessary. which is also a whole other thing to get into).

owl is very explicitly abusive. he raises wolf as a tool rather than a person, and that upbringing severely affects wolf as a character - he is an incredibly capable shinobi, but lacks any skills other than that; he does not know how to be a proper person, he is a loyal wolf, but he does not know how to be anything other than that. hell, without spoiling too much about the context, there is a cutscene in which owl actively attempts to guilt trip wolf, going as far as using fake tears (saying anything specific is very spoilery. this isn't even the only horrid thing he's done, but I'm trying to refrain from too many spoilers).

wolf canonically does not value himself without anyone to serve (we see this at the beginning of the game, as events prior to the start of the game not yet known about leads him to believe he has no one to serve, and thus no purpose, so he isolates himself from the world in a well for 3 years). while he does have compassion for others (most notable example being concern over victims of dragonrot), he starts off the game driven primarily by duty. he is loyal to a fault, willing to do anything for kuro, but also valuing his service to kuro more than himself (cannot remember the exact wording, but when kuro expresses concern for how many times wolf has died for him, wolf states that it does not matter as it was in service to him).

there's also the fact that wolf canonically eats uncooked rice and genuinely doesn't know - as a fully grown adult - you are supposed to cook it, which is... genuinely something awful if you truly think about it and what more it implies about his upbringing especially considering it's one of the most basic things you could learn how to make (just... says a lot about owl if you seriously think about it).

he is a loyal wolf, but he doesn't know how to be more than that. he doesn't know how to just... exist for himself, to be his own person separate of his duty and he doesn't even recognise just how fucked up it is, because how could he, when he was shaped into this as a child, when his own father wanted him to be nothing more than a tool to use.

I could say a lot more about his relationships with other characters (that are actually good people) and how it just. makes me lose my mind, but this post is almost 1k words. so, simply put, kuro genuinely caring about him makes me so fucking emotional, especially bc of owl; his father might be horrible and an abuser, he might not know how to be more than he was raised, but at the very least he can serve someone who actively cares about him and his wellbeing.

[gae-blog]

I haven't beaten every boss in Shadow of the Erdtree yet, but I'm at the end and my thoughts on the game have solidified (no spoilers on bosses or story content, just general gameplay and design)

SotE feels like one step forward and one step back compared to the base game. The dlc improves upon many of the good elements of the original while failing to address, and compounding upon, the issues that ruined the last third of the base game for me.

From an aesthetic and "exploration" point of view, the dlc is a noticeable improvement. The environments feel more varied and memorable, the bosses' designs are some of the best Fromsoft has put out, and, even though you'll still be spending a lot of time exploring caves and catacombs, much more effort has clearly gone into making those environments distinct and fun.

I have plenty of complaints with the dlc, such as the copy and paste field bosses (which I will rant about if prompted), but most of my problems center around the fact that I do not the boss fights very much. They feel difficult for the sake of being difficult, like Fromsoft bought into their reputation for hard games and so felt the need to "up the ante" with every single fight. They suffer from all the flaws that I disliked about Elden Ring's later bosses, but where those was limited to the last couple fights, ever major boss in the dlc seems to suffer from them now. To list some of the things I do not like about SotE's bosses:

The camera is the worst it's ever been in any souls game. This is (hopefully) not intentional difficulty, but it means that a lot of bosses are as much a fight to see what's going on as it is to dodge attacks, which isn't helped by:

Attacks that favour flashiness and spectacle over visual clarity, making them extremely difficult to parse

Bosses do incredibly high damage, meaning you'll often get two-shot even with 60 vigor and appropriate Scadutree Blessings (which are their own can of worms)

All bosses have extremely high poise. Malenia was... Malenia, but at least once you learned her moveset, you could create openings by being aggressive and staggering her. That is not the case in the dlc

Very small punish windows, even after (extremely) long combos, with only enough time to heal or do 1-2 attack before the start of another combo

Sometimes bosses will end their combos on the other side of the arena, so by the time you run into range they've already started their next attack

50/50 fast-slow mixups and optional combo follow-ups

Every boss seems to be wearing heelys and have perfect tracking without corresponding animations, meaning that they will skate forward to hit you no matter where you stand, trivializing positioning

It feels like every boss was designed with hit trading in mind if you want to beat them in any reasonable amount of time

All of this culminates to make bosses feel like an ordeal (and not in the good way). When I beat a boss, I didn't feel like it was because I had mastered their moveset, I felt like I just got lucky. If you made me fight Genichiro, or any Sekiro boss, I'm confident I could beat them first try, because I know those fights and I have them figured out. If you asked me to do the same for any SotE boss, I don't think I could.

I don't feel qualified to call this objectively bad boss design, and a lot of people seem to be enjoying the bosses, but I can say that I do not like the direction that Fromsoft is going in. Comparing any fight in the dlc to something like Gael's fight feels like a night and day difference in boss philosophy. I think that Fromsoft is running up against the limitations of their own fight design, and they need to either take a step back and return to their roots, or they need to give the player more defensive options in order to keep up with the bosses (AKA make Sekiro 2 you cowards).

I did ultimately enjoy the dlc despite how much I've complained, but it's only reaffirmed the opinion I had when I finished the base game: I really hope Fromsoft's next game isn't another open world souls, because if it's going to have all the same flaws as Elden Ring and SotE then I can't really bring myself to be excited about it.

[beesmygod]

i'm a little jealous at how quickly you're mowing through these elden ring bosses but i guess i should have expected that from a more experienced fromsoft player! how does the combat/world feel compared to prior games?

im realizing its mostly a matter of knowing the "language" of the games so i know what to look out for. i've died 12000000000 deaths to learn the true secret of fromsoft games: swing the camera around to look for enemies waiting to leap out at you behind walls. and always check to make sure the elevator is there

it feels great! i have some small complaints but a lot of quality of life stuff they added is a godsend. they finally combined all the good parts of previous games without clipping off any beloved features.

pros: i really like the ash systems, i think they're fun and easy to understand. i understand fromsoft's insane, overly complicated leveling menus more than i think most people would, but i think they've finally whittled it down into something a normal person could reasonably come to understand. DS1 is like trying to read ancient sumerian, comparatively. everything about the map near perfect (i wish there was a way to mark things as "done" but that's like. it.). its astoundingly readable. the increase in "bonfire" locations is very appreciated. they did me a huge favor by cutting down on the repeat minibosses (so far) which was one of the worst parts of sekiro. the enemy and boss diversity is kind of nuts. i cannot believe how massive the map is and how complex it is. when i discovered there was a whole underground part i was blown away. despite these improvements, i do not feel like from is holding my hand; i like figuring things out for myself! i like getting verbal instructions from a character who expects you to remember what they said instead of giving you a fucking quest marker.

cons: (skill issue) dude i think they fiddled with the parry timing across games again (i was fiddling with ds3 before this) bc i am REALLY struggling lol. ALSO FIGURE OUT A CONTROL SCHEME AND STICK WITH IT!!!!!!!!! STOP CHANGING THE ESTUS BUTTON. MIYAZAKI'S WORST PRANK YET. i've also stated how amazing the game runs considering the sheer size of it all but twice now it's locked up on me to the point of crashing/near crashing. this might be an impossible to avoid hurdle considering im playing it on ps4.

also, critically regarding how fast i'm moving: its really getting in the way of comic. the faster i finish it, the less distracted i'll be. i needed a lark.

[less-than-three-3]

Lies of P might be the best souls game I've played

this is only half a joke tbh

There's so much talk about how yeah it might be one of the best soulslikes out there but it still can't reach the quality of the Fromsoft games and I'm just like... no, Neowiz has really got the baton and delivered a really great evolution of the linear Souls "genre".

There are definitely some rough spots (but so do the Souls games) but what they've presented and improved on is truly magnificent. It's not Bloodborne x Sekiro (PLEASE STOP SAYING THIS OML), but it is very much its own thing and does what it sets out to do very well, in a lot of aspects. Full ramblings below, some spoilers likely.

I want to preface everything I am going to say by reiterating that, though this delivers a lot of Souls elements excellently (and some not), this is very much its own game, and not only stands on its own two feet but runs a mile with them. I feel like a lot of folks play Soulslike games (even by Fromsoft themselves lol) and expect all their skills and knowledge to transfer over, or expect mechanics to work and present themselves just like in Souls games, and it's because those are the golden standard for many people. I get it, but it's still kind of meaningless - not because "the games can't compete/compare with them" but because they do different things and excel at providing different experiences; they may be "souls-like" in nature but there are so many different directions one could take with the genre.

And so I was elated to really get to know the mechanics of Lies of P (I'll refer to it as LoP). I won't lie, when I played the demo, I didn't really get it yet, so I definitely felt a little frustrated, but once you get the hang of it, the controls are so satisfying the whole way through (like the Souls games! wow!). I think maybe a lot of people forget that this learning curve is a huge part of what makes the Souls games tick, because they've put in so many hours into "getting good", and so when they have to go back up the curve, they feel frustrated again.

The main thing is, obviously, the parry system, which is pretty much the mechanic LoP really uses to separate itself from the From catalogue. Is it like Sekiro? Yeah sure yes both games use perfect parries to build stagger, but I contend that it is even still very distinct from Sekiro's parry system. In Sekiro, the game is the parry system, it's more or less how you actually kill most bosses, with Vitality only acting as a way to make progress to help you build up stagger.

In LoP, there's two big things that make it very different. The first is obvious as soon as you fight that first big dude with the parry tooltip - attack patterns are not nearly as rhythmic and fast paced as in Sekiro, mostly. Long windups and big tells make some aspects of getting used to parrying easy, but at the same time the timings can be very tricky and can demand a lot of attention. This alone really contributes to a very different game feel, even though they are both, nominally "perfect parry" systems.

Another thing is that the parry timing window is quite tight. Some would say it's too tight, but I honestly think a lot would be lost if the parrying were too easy. In Sekiro, the parry window is actually quite wide, but locks you out and heavily punishes you for fishing for parries, forcing you to be methodical and patient even if fights get hectic. In LoP, it's quite the opposite - there's a lot of time between attacks often, and it forces decision making and risk/reward between attempting to parry, blocking (and taking the rally-able damage), dodging, or hitting them (and maybe having time to parry or dodge still).

The delicate balance between these options is very important; if parrying were always the right option, then yeah it would just be Sekiro - that's not interesting. But perfect parrying is not the only way to build stagger which makes all options at least somewhat useful, and you can even build your p-organ (lol) and whetstone to help you build stagger with just attacks, more like Elden Ring's charged R2 stagger fishing. Sometimes if you aren't comfortable with a parry timing, then the right play is to dodge or block. Insisting there is only one right answer for approaching any given boss is inherently antithetical to this game's design - and I'd argue to Souls games in general.

And this brings me to another common complaint - the dodge isn't that good, and upgrade should not have been locked behind p-organ. I also really disagree with this, in part because I didn't actually really think the p-organ upgrades were that game changing. But it is also in part that if the dodge is too strong, like a DS3 roll, then again that balance is thrown out of wack and dodging becomes the right answer too often. This is still a "parry game", and if dodge becomes preferable to parrying, that's an issue. Parrying shouldn't be the only answer, but it also shouldn't be much weaker than other options. Additionally, having an especially weaker dodge at the beginning forces those stubborn Souls players to stop mashing the dodge button and force them to actually learn and engage with the parry mechanics - nudging you to learn without blatantly telling you to.

I did really enjoy the p-organ as a way to express and expand a player's build choices, though I felt like some nodes and slots were just completely useless, and the choice for which 2 nodes to go for was too obvious. If it were, for example, +1 heal, improved dodge, increased stagger damage, and damage mitigation, or something, that's a very compelling choice to do. But I don't use the cube and I don't think the stagger window is too short, etc., so I felt like some slots were just not that interesting. Phase 4 is a great example of a very compelling node choice, and I wished all of them were like that.

Though speaking of build choices, holy fucking shit this game's build options are SO COOL! I absolutely loved the modular weapon system, and I respecced a good few times to play with various different weapon combinations. The boss weapons were a little disappointing to me but that's ok because goddamn the weapon customization system carried the hell out of the game. I do wish the slash vs. stab proficiency wasn't as prominent but even with that, I was able to make so many silly weapons. Big sawblade baton/cleaver (which carried a lot of my playthrough), rocket wrench, crit dagger spear, etc.

Being able to use a blade I liked, keeping its upgrades, with a new handle that has a new moveset is just such an incredible idea that I can't believe From never thought of something like it. Each part also has their own weapon arts, and while they were a little homogenous at times, this kind of system has huge potential, especially if you can make it Ash of War-like and become a third layer of modularity. For a build diversity fanatic this was a goldmine, and I can see myself replaying it to get the other endings with a bunch of other weapon combinations and builds. For me, this was easily the best part of the game.

Something else I really liked that I think maybe would go under the wayside in discussions is how they present the story and quests. Souls fans might not like it if it feels too "handholdy" but I really appreciated the game telling me "yeah this NPC has shit to say to you right now". And the story itself was honestly pretty impressive, with some Souls-like "world discovery" moments but also mainly straightforwardly presenting moments and arcs, however intertwined. I did not expect what outwardly just looks like an edgy Pinocchio adaptation to have so much interesting lore, history, and plot moments. Probably one of the biggest surprise hits of the game for me.

But for as much as they really took the Souls formula and ran with it and elevated it, there are definitely some things I wished were improved on. The map design, both visually and in layout, was pretty disappointing. It's aesthetically good for sure, but nowhere near what From delivers. And in terms of layout, the maps are really quite linear, sure with twists and turns but hardly any exploration or branches to check out - map design elements I have come to know and love from playing the Soulsborne games.

Boss design I also felt was just a bit too inspired from Souls. Don't get me wrong, I think the boss quality is actually quite high and fits very well generally with the game's mechanics. But there are some bosses where I'm just like, ok I get why you wanted to include this because Souls has a habit of doing these, but you really didn't have to. There are a couple of bosses with extra appendages that swing after attacks (one especially takes after Gael, which I know people love, but..), and that's just really annoying to try to parry and I feel like I either end up bsing the parry, or I just eat the block chip damage. There are couple gank bosses... woo... I guess... But I did really enjoy most of the bosses (though nothing is breaking my top 10, probably). Just, I could really tell that this sure is a love letter to the Souls games from the boss design lol.

The music is actually quite good - boss themes and especially the records you collect are beautiful. But I am once again pretty disappointed by most of the game just being silent, which is a carry over from the Souls trilogy that I really wish did not carry over. Especially because there are segments that do have music that I really loved - notably the final area and the church with the organ music playing that fades out as you get further away from the main chapel. I dunno, it's not really worse than in the Souls games, but it just stings that much more that there is some really great music that they kind of just confine to the record player, which shows to me that they can make great ambient music but just didn't want to make any for the actual areas.

But despite that, overall, I truly loved playing this game. I think I honestly enjoyed it more than the Souls trilogy for sure, and maybe even more than Bloodborne (Sekiro and Elden Ring are still solidly near-perfect experiences and hard to beat). It plays nothing like Bloodborne, and is very distinct from Sekiro and the Souls games; it very boldly and excellently carves its own space within the genre. And with that post-credits scene (for which the big reveal was fucking hilarious), I surely cannot wait for what they make next, either a sequel or DLC, and the improvements they'll bring, as they expand this fairy-tale-verse (lol).

[ashinaisshin]

thought about my experience with some of the “souls-likes” i played recently and how my experience differed for each game. if i made time vs my git-gudness graphs for four games in particular (sekiro, elden ring, armored core vi, and sifu – i also played them in this order with some other games in between), they’d kinda look like this. explanation/rant about each game under cut…

sekiro: contrary to the common “it’s very hard at the start but once it clicks everything is a cakewalk” experience that i’ve heard many people had with sekiro, i felt like i was more in a loop of “i got gud - nope i didn’t - i got gud - nope” while i gradually improved in general over time during NG. then on NG+ i saw just how much easier everything became and went “wow i really got better at this game” (and proceeded to get clapped again by the difficulty of a charmless run on NG++)

elden ring: i had a slow start, not only about the combat itself but also just understanding all the stats and weapons and items etc.. but after stormveil i think i sorta got the hang of things and proceeded from there relatively smoothly, at least more smoothly than i expected (with some big bumps on hard bosses ofc), though i also felt like i never got as gud at ER as the other games by the end of NG, hence the flatter curve with a lower end point on my ER graph

armored core vi: i felt like i was honestly clueless about how to play ac6 for a VERY LONG TIME, maybe all the way till 1/2 or even 2/3 of NG, where i kept hitting walls after walls (though for some reason i still couldn’t put the game down lol), but then at some point things started to make sense. the more i played the easier things got, and in the end after NG++ i think ac6 is the “easiest” among these 4 games (only talking about pve) once you more or less master the mechanics. i think my initial trip up was probably mainly due to my unwillingness to understand the parts and builds, which imo is a lot more critical to a smooth progression through ac6 (especially during NG) compared to the other games. “banging head against bosses to learn patterns” was honestly a pretty viable strategy for the other games but less so for ac6

sifu: i think i was learning the game slowly but steadily at the start, a large part of it thanks to the extremely helpful training mode, but it was still a bumpy road, and kuroki especially was a big road block. i spent the most amount of time redoing the museum level and grinded XP there. but once i unlocked all the skills and got toward the end of NG/start of NG+, at one point i actually had a “click” where i just suddenly started playing the game a lot better, and i finished NG+ with wude ending much sooner than i thought. i’m still pretty clueless about how to combo and have yet to try master difficulty though, and i'm ready to get obliterated again lol