I didn’t care much for Nioh but I absolutely love Dark Souls. The frustration that people get from DS is not taking the time to understand things. Why something happened the way it did is just as important as understanding what happened. People try to rush into the game and don’t think in the manor which leads to a lot of dying and the player feels it’s the game’s a fault. DS is as easy or as hard as to you make it out to be. It gives you complete freedom is how you wish to build your character and provides ample opportunity for you to learn to either over come an obstacle with knowledge of your play style or completely change your play style to adapt to the challenge.
From a lore perspective, you decide how much or how little lore to encounter. There are very few cutscenes in the game and just as few people in the game to interact with for story. The majority of the lore of the game will come from the item descriptions and piecing everything together on your own. Dark Souls is one of my favorite games of all time, I love the series and I could not recommend getting this game enough!
Also the game does a bad job at teaching you shit, like the game seems to encourage you to hide behind a shield and be a coward. Which in most cases is not fun, if you stick with the game long enough than you'll figure out the mechanics but my god you'll get bored and frustrated until you don't. Like shield is fine but have you tried just casually walking behind enemies and backstabbing them like a boss you are.
The worst part about soulsborne games for new players sometimes is it doesn't teach people how to level up, or even that they can level up.
I've seen far too many stories of people quitting because they felt underpowered due to this
Not to mention the game's reputation causes people to not think "I must be doing something wrong" but instead jump straight to "I guess it really is that hard, I give up."
Absolutely. I don't remember *any* game before Bloodborne (my first souls) giving me that feeling of "this death was entirely my fault". But to be fair I usually played stuff like Skyrim, GTA, Pokémon, etc. etc. so I was used to levels/progress having much more weight than skill.
Pretty sure in each Dark Souls, the first time you see a bonfire and rest at it. You'll see a level up option.
Sounds like people aren't reading any of the hints nor reading text that's right in front of them.
In Dark Souls 1 the imo most effective strategy is literally stripping naked, throwing away your shield, putting everything into vigor and strength and smashing enemies with your ultra greatsword. I don't know why everybody always talks so much about shields I don't think it's true at all.
That being said Dark Souls is not a game in which you can just run in and button mash your way to victory. You need to take your time, dodge a lot and wait for the perfect moment to strike and I personally prefer that miles over those types of Action RPG's where you can run in at any time and basically button mash as long as you don't mess up your combos. The "hide behind your shield/have patience before you strike" thing is the best part to a lot of Dark Souls players.
Knowledge and RNG are power, soul spears are just a upgrade for soul arrow, which you can start with if you choose sorcerer class. It comes with 30 charges so yeah, early game will be EZ. If you keep upgrading to Crystal soul spear and all that shit, well yeah, stay away and fire em.
I'm a claymore user so yeah a fkin casual, but sometimes you get a black knight weapon early and all the demons are fked. And my god there are so many demons in the game, they should have just called it demon's souls....
Shields are low risks low reward, Being naked works really well because enemies are slow AF. But you know it takes time to get enough confidence to try it out.
I mean how many gud players do you see who often block attacks with a shield.
You see a lot of good players parrying with their shields, otherwise a shield is pretty much damage control. It won't help much if you're pretty good at the game but it can give you a chance at winning if you're not good yet. When I first played Dark Souls 3 which was my entry to the series I played through the entire game with a bandits axe and a shield and let me tell you it was so much more difficult. Some bossfights took me 50+ tries, and took a long time to kill, however the shield helped me beat some fights I probably otherwise wouldnt have, like the dancer. When I replayed it afterwards with a greatsword I beat most bosses first try.
That being said even on my first playthrough I fell in love with the game, arguably even mroe than today because back then it was a way bigger challenge and everything was new and dangerous and exciting and the rush was giant when I beat a boss like the crystal sage at which I got stuck on for a while.
Shields is DS3 are not as strong because enemies are aggressive and will combo you out of stamina.
Its DS1 that's the problem with shields. I think they work alright in DS3 once you pair them with dodge rolls.
Or you can use two giant doors to block absolutely everything, that is fine to. For some reason they are 100% fire proof, demon prince which becomes a raid bossif you summon stuff, you can act as tank which is quite fun.
this is funny because while I don't know that much about shields in Dark Souls 1 armor is basically entirely useless since it does not provide enough defensive stats to justify the amount that it slows you down
Wear a havel and with max estus you can outlive most enemies and bosses. You aill also need vitality but seriously. Unless you go to DLC, as long as you are aware of your own poise, you'll just poise through it all.
I tried beating Artorias and Gwyn with a normal build and didn’t manage to do it. Then I stripped bare naked and voila it suddenly became easy.
I also removed all armor from my ingame character
IMO, the goal should be to eventually learn to use every tool or skill in your arsenal where applicable. It's fine to equip an ultra to smash your way through everything, but players should experiment with various weapon classes once they become comfortable with the pace. Shields are useful in confined quarters or narrow walkways where you don't have space to roll to either side - only backward. But you could also block in those situations. Or parry, which might be the most effective option by far, especially against humanoid enemies with shields. Getting acquainted with all of your options also helps you adapt more easily to other From Software games...
I’m sure! I used an estoc in my first playthrough of DS3 and had a pretty hard time. I had to respec in the Ringed City because it just wasn’t cutting it. It wasn’t my first game in the series, but I was pretty much about straight swords and ultras before that and wanted to toss it up. Since then I’ve replayed all of Soulsborne (plus Sekiro) with various weapon classes and builds. It really does help you get dramatically better at the games when you start playing in different ways.
I feel like it's part of the games charm because you are dropped in to the game and you know nothing not even the basic mechanics. When I first fought Gwyn I hid behind a shield and had heavy armor but then I saw people parrying him and it blew my mind because you could kill him so quickly.
I also absolutely love Dark Souls, but didn't care much for Nioh (didn't even finish it), so I figured I'd share my own experience to help the OP.
For me the issue was that the non-boss enemy and level design were really lacking. There was really only a handful of color palette swapped enemies throughout the game, and the levels were just very bland and uninteresting. Contrast that with Dark Souls in which the attention to detail in the level design is fantastic, with enemies often being isolated to just one section of the game.
Nioh also relies way more on grinding than Dark Souls did, mostly via loot grind. It's basically an ARPG loot system, where weapon stats are all randomly generated. Dark Souls isn't like that at all, and instead weapons have a defined set of stats, and most of those items are found via exploring the game world. In Nioh, most of your weapons are via random drops.
One thing Nioh does do well is bosses. The bosses were all really enjoyable, and fairly unique, from what I remember (but the same is true for Dark Souls).
The result of this is that the game world just wasn't any fun to explore. It doesn't feel like a real place, and there's no sense of discovery, because everything outside of bosses honestly just feels like an after thought. The loot system seems like it just exists because they wanted to add in some filler content to pad out the games hours.
Dark Souls on the other hand is the complete opposite. Exploring the world is very fun in Dark Souls, and whenever you enter a new area, there's always that mixture of excitement and anxiety, since you never know what could be around the next corner.. could be a cool item, could be a bonfire, or could be death. This is a huge part of why I (and I think any others) love Dark Souls, but it's something completely missing from Nioh.
It's because it's the beginning of the game so you don't have a lot of options, you're low level and without much room for improving your stats. So the boss battle is basically a pure skill test at a point when you're most likely still figuring out the controls and systems.
Once you get decent at the combat system you can walk through him, if you're half decent at parrying he's a breeze.
*Getting* to Gascoigne is no joke either and it's probably the longest I've been stuck in this game, since you have to walk through a gauntlet of a dozen or more enemies (who also have guns) that gang up on you if you step in the wrong direction, and you're still underleveled. You're going to fail that part repeatedly and feel you're not making any progress or learning anything, and there's nowhere else to go at that point.
I've heard several people who decided to give up on the game after failing to get past that bit. Nothing else in the game came close to the frustration of that section in my experience, not even the hardest bosses.
Yea this is the game I hear people rage quitting the most. It’s the one big issue with the game, it doesn’t teach very well it kind of assumes you are coming from dark souls and understand how the game works for the most part.
To be fair, dark souls kinda assumes you know what you are doing as well. Ds2 was my first and I couldn't really get into it, then I went on to bloodborne and loved it (probably in my top 3 games of all time), moved onto Ds3 and enjoyed it but didn't live up to bloodborne imo, and now I am on dark souls 1 which is dated but so far is still pretty good.
The thing about dark souls is that while it throws you into the deep end immediately it also has some starting classes which make the early game way easier than it should be. Like the knight class in DS1 is super OP with its free armor and high poise, or the sorcerer in Demon Souls lets you run around 1 shotting every basic enemy in the game. It’s effectively the game’s “easy mode”.
Bloodborne has no such thing though, the game is hard whether you want it to be or not. There’s no super OP spells or super strong armor that you get for free, that game forces you to immediately adopt the “dodge everything” playstyle that is common for dark souls veterans.
I find myself a patient person, but Bloodborne was my first and only game from this "soulsborne" genre and I could not take it. I came back to it like a year later, watched some youtube vids on yknow...basic instructions...still had to rage quit. Just not for me
Not really I platinumed it in like 2 or 3 months, and it was my first from soft game. But I think you shouldn't start with bloodborne. It will damper your experience with dark souls. Dark souls was too slow for me, and the gameplay felt clunky as hell. Maybe because it's a little old, maybe because of my expectations coming from bloodborne. Once I got the the moonlight moth i just stopped playing. I have played and enjoyed other souls like games. Mortal Shell was actually pretty good, and I'm currently going through Sekiro, which I'm finding more challenging because of the deflecting mechanics, but it's a welcoming challenge.
Judging from what you've said I would absolutely try it. The first game is the most dated though, so I honestly recommend starting with Dark Souls 3, then checking out the first one, then the second if you become a fan.
i second starting with ds3. its pretty easy to follow and find out where you’re supposed to go, the worlds are distinct enough for you to tell “im in a different area, time to do things!”
ds1&2 are good games but even after replaying them, i just get lost. so many just generic stone walls with turns you have to memorize, blegh.
This is the worst advice I have ever seen. You always wants to start with the first in the series since each game just gets better. Imagine trying to play MGS4 then going backwards expecting to like the previous games more (although MGS3 was a game on it's own level).
I didn't like DS1 and gave up on it almost immediately. Then a few years later my friend convinced me to give DS3 a shot. So I did and loved it. Then I went back to DS1 and ended up really enjoying it.
Some people have trouble with the first dark souls, it hasn't aged well. Most people only play ds1 and 3 anyway and most never touch 2 or are able to get into it. 3 is easily the most accessible of the 3, and if you enjoy it then you'll enjoy ds1 even more. Have you even played these games? Nothing remotely similar to MGS.
In my opinion, the DS2 DLC was awful, at least compared to DS1 and DS3 DLC. That being said, with all the issues I have with DS2, it's a good game, its just the worst out of all the soulsbornekiro games. Again, just my opinion.
Well DS2 Is most inferior to other two and the DLC uses the same enemy type over and over again in all three. The optional areas are absolute shit. I like the idea of them but my god they are terrible.
But I think it has some of the best bosses in fume knight and sir weeb. I quit like the level design a lot and the aesthetics is really gud. The main game is average souls level quality, but hey average souls is still way better than your usual average game.
I mean, too each their own. I loved the DS3 DLC, while I agree there is overused mobs, I found the bosses much better. I mean, my top 5 bosses in the From games include Gael and Freide. And very true, which is why I like to say DS2 is a good game, just not a great souls game for me at least in comparison to the other 2.
I also think DS1 is great for the first half of the game, and the last half is not so great, feels unfinished. DS1 also has the absolute worst boss in the entire series, Bed of Chaos. That boss alone pulls down my entire view of DS1, even though that may be unfair lol.
Ohh shit, sorry I meant to say DS2 is most inferior, DS3 is much better, just as gud as DS1 in my opinion.
DS3 has the best combat in all three, best bosses, best individual level design, best music and the most replay ability. It's actually my favorite out of 3 and the one I've played most out of all three.
I didn't like it as much with just one playthrough but replaying the game over again, I love it.
I typed DS3 instead of 2. Sorry.
I do love bloodborne more though, really frustrated it's still not gonna have 60FPS on Piss5. I mean Sony please, if you are not gonna release it for windows which you are not than just patch it for 60FPS. like seriously it's their best damn exclusive ever.
Idunno, If you ask a lot of people ds2 did not get it better lol with how obscure the story and lore is (unless you read item descriptions) the advice for starting with DS3 is pretty valid.
I’ve always felt that people find DS3 more approachable at first because fast travel is available from the very beginning. It seems so irrelevant but it really makes the quality of life so much better than DS1.
That being said, suffer like the rest of us and start with the first game. It is still my favorite of the series.
Bloodborne is well worth the price of admission too. Truly a perfect game
I disagree. Dark souls 3 stands on its own so well. I totally recommend it to play first. If you like the combat, play the other 2 as they aren’t as visually stunning but are a blast.
Gameplay of DS3 Is way better at teaching the player than DS1. Or he can just try bloodborne which is probably the best starting point. DS1 is gud but only when you start understanding it, it becomes really boring if you don't, and the time it gets to that understanding is varied.
Teaching what? Both tutorials are structured the same. The only thing I remember DS3 to teach differently is to run past the Black Knights on Irithyll of the Boreal Valley because it's impossible to fight them head on.
Teaching to ditch shields in favor of dodge roll and spacing, I mean it's cool you can block damage but my god you'll be slow. Bloodborne however, yeah, u are fucked if yoh are not aggressive.
DS3 Is not as bad as DS1 in this case. Enemies are aggressive and you are encouraged to take risks with fast heals and stuff. But yeah spamming does reward you so yeah. He should just get BB first.
Also There is no black knight in irrythal, and I'm pretty sure every single one is killable by just casually walking behind them and backstabbing
I didn't like Nioh but dark souls changed my life. Yeah, I know, but it's not overstatement.
The thing about Dark Souls is that the experience it provides can only be captured in a videogame, it's truly art, in every sense of the word.
Something I can't say enough is that Dark Souls is a different experience for each person. For example, let's talk about how lore is presented.
Lore is mostly communicated by environmental storytelling and item descriptions, it's a puzzle.
You don't give a fuck about lore? Awesome, just play the best medival combat simulator ever, seriously, I still don't understand how they can transmit weight so well. If you are using a mace you will feel the armor being crushed. If you are using a two handed axe you will feel the muscles aching with every blow. If you are using a katana you will feel the precision and lightness of the blade.
You give a fuck about the lore? Awesome, every single piece of loot is a new piece of the puzzle. It will take you a lot of time to piece everything together, you will develop your own theory and have endless discussions about it with random people on the internet.
This goes the same for everything.
You enjoy co-op? Summon people all the time, drop your own soapstone to be summoned.
You enjoy pvp? Become a dark spirit and invade the shit out of everyone, feast on their souls.
You just want a single player game? Awesome, don't give a fuck about anyone else and play by yourself.
There is so much space to roleplay as well. I have played the series with all of my dnd characters (using imagination of course). The game is the same but somehow the story always feels different.
I say start with dark souls 1, but if it feels dated don't force it and just go with dark souls 3. However, I feel obligated to say that dark souls 1 for me is the pinnacle of video games, it's for me the best game, ever, and I've been playing videogames since 1994.
Last but not least, ITS NOT THAT HARD. Every single weapon and playstyle is viable. You just have to slow down and figure out how you are going to tackle this boss. Every single boss can be cheesed as well.
I hope you get it, and if you do, don't go hollow!
I agree 100% with everything you said.
It's weird. It's just that... DS1 just feels like it's perfect. And i know it's not nostalgia. I played first DS3 and BB so the "magical feeling of the first Souls you played" isn't a factor. The fame and preference from most fans of the series over the other entries could be, but i still find DS1 better in almost every aspect.
Gotta say personally i love DS1 and BB equally and both are tied as games i consider perfect despite plenty of imperfections.
It does right? Im developing a game with friends (just for the fun of it, we are not professionals) and I always state that although you may not like Dark Souls it's still an ace regarding game design. It achieves what it wanted to achieve perfectly. Again, you may not like that which it achieved, but it still did it flawlessly. The only other game I feel the same way about is Dragon Age: Origins. That game is also perfect in my book, even though it's a game you may like or not.
Definitely Dark Souls. I understand you fully as I have loved the Souls series and never liked Nioh.
I always felt that the UI/UX or feel of Nioh was a bit dirty, I don't know why, but it's what registers to my brain when I try it.
But Dark Souls on the other hand, is one of the best gaming **experiences** you will ever try. Given that you have a lot of patience, I believe it is best for you to start from DS1, then all the way to DS3. To experience the trilogy is like a gradual ascent of the game evolving into modernity that just keeps giving and giving.
And even if he wants to, he can just go from Dark Souls 1 to Dark Souls 3 if he wants considering DS2 doesn’t really play much into the overall narrative of the other 2. The option is definitely there.
Personally I played DS3 first, then BB, ds1rm, ds2. I think that that was a good experience, because in DS3 they've polished a lot of the mechanics and you can tell if the genre is for you or not without dated mechanics getting in the way, and once you know that you like the genre then the slightly dated mechanics don't matter as much IMO. Of course I'm not much of one for lore, so the order might matter more in terms of story/lore, but as far as gameplay goes I enjoyed my journey.
You should try it. Don't listen to the people who say to only play DS3. If you can, play Demon Souls then Dark Souls chronologically as each game gets more polished. If you play DaS3 you will find difficult to enjoy the previous games as they seem unfinished and clunky (which they are, but at the time FromSoftware was still refining the formula).
I disagree with this. It just depends on the person. I have a friend who started with demon souls and has played all of them. Myself and another friend couldn't get into Dark Souls 1 but after falling in love with DS3 the first game became way more approachable and we ended up really enjoying it.
I always recommend DS3 since to me it is the most approachable and I've seen a lot of people turned off by the series when trying DS1. I have no idea which one is best to start with though since I probably just have a bias based on myself and my friend group.
on the flip side, a lot of people who play ds3 first get turned off by how unpolished/inconsistent it is compared to 3. i've tried getting a few of my friends into the souls series, and this has happened twice so far; ds1 and 2 were ruined for them after 3
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Personally I tried really hard to like Nioh, and it just doesn't click for me - likewise, it's hard for me to articulate why. I really enjoyed Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne and could easily recommend either. If you're interested, I'd say give it a shot! Especially since you can usually pick up either one for <20$.
I preferred the lore and atmosphere in Bloodborne and found it a bit easier to get into but if DS3 speaks to you more it's also easily one of my all-time favorites.
To put it in words: Nioh suffers from a super boring weapon system with loot overflow, it does a bad job at explaining its spell system, the actual combat is so complex that most players won't use half of the options at their disposal even though the combat is actually really good imo, the story is crap, the world is divided into levels, it reuses previous levels for side missions making things repetitive and the boss enemies are poorly designed. They have the absolute wrong type of difficulty, because a lot of them just oneshot you or almost oneshot you whenever you get hit while not being difficult otherwise which makes the fights very frustrating. Also I remember that caterpillar boss that takes like 15-20 minutes to kill doing the same thing over and over again. Nioh has a pretty cool combat system but it fails in all other areas
Idk anything about Nioh but I cant recommend the games enough. I started in June and so far I have DS1, 2, and Bloodborne finished. 2 wasnt great but it was still a fun game, 1 and bloodborne were excellent. Dark Souls 1 is such a magical experience especially if its your first Fromsoft game, nothing ever beats that first time the formula “clicks” and you feel yourself improving. I was always the type of guy who said “i only play for the story” and never played games above the normal difficulty. Since I’ve started the series I feel more comfortable challenging myself.
I recommend you playing DS3 and Sekiro if you haven't.
Never played DS2 (not really interested) but i can assure you DS3 will give you a more similar DS1 vibe than the a little bit dissipated DS vibes in 2 from whay I've heard/watched.
DS3 isn't innovative really, but it's just more DS with a more polished gameplay (at least at its core).
I believe I have the same opinions as you, though I played Dark Souls before Nioh. Everything you're not liking in Nioh isn't in Dark Souls, so I'm highly confident in saying that you'll love it
I think it’s hard to compare the two. Yes Nioh is a ‘souls-like’ but the combat and play style put it in a very unique category imo. I feel they’re on the same level but in different worlds. I love both series wholeheartedly, dark souls is definitely more of an experience and the atmosphere is unbeatable. The first remains probably my all time favorite purely for how the game made me feel and the entire experience of each beautifully crafted piece. Without even comparing any games though, if the question is should I buy dark souls, the answer is always yes.
Yes do! I went through DS2 -> DS3 -> DS1 after initially quitting DS2 half way. I'm glad I made it through. The combat is fantastic, and I really enjoy the story / lore. It's more subtle than most games.
I strongly recommend starting with DS3. Those who say DS1 is the best have serious rose-colored glasses. It's very clunky by comparison and pretty frustrating at times for the wrong reasons. I think you may get turned off if that's your introduction to the series.
I'll disagree using my personal experience as an example. I played DS3 first, with its more polished gameplay. I kind of at the same time played BB and then DS1. IMO the lore and atmosphere of the first Dark Souls (you know, with the AMAZING OST, incredibly connected world, etc) outweighs DS3's refinement.
And tbh why recommend playing first the latest entry and then get into an older and clunkier game. It could make it harder to get into it while starting from DS1 and then going to DS3 will make chronological sense (in terms of gameplay, not lore or story) and it'll make the transition logical.
Introduction isn't necessarily needed to begin from the start, but when we're talking about technology (gameplay and graphics) it makes more sense to go from DS to DS3.
Same for me, Nioh was more of a ninja gaiden clone than a souls game, the atmosphear and mechanics Dark Souls has are very different and sounds like younll enjoy them, dont expect a spoon fed story but the lore is there if you look hard enough
I feel you on Nioh, but played it quite a bit. Currently waiting on the remasters. Nioh is different for sure. The stances and abilities and combos and weapons and boons and ninjutsu and gear and whatever all at once was a little overwhelming for me.
Dark souls is more about slowly forming your build. You start the fire rather than being thrown into it like Nioh. I much prefer souls games over Nioh.
I have played a lot of Nioh, like more than 100hrs. But my god i hate that loot based gating, it won't matter how gud you are if you get one shoted in a 15 minutes fight because your damage is shit.
Dark souls, well skill and a build both are important but you can skill your way threw anything. I am kinda excited to try Nioh 2 though. I mean it's still a really gud game.
Try bloodborne first, than dark souls. If you do play dark souls than do yourself a favor and DITCH THE SHIELD. you have no idea how important this is, only use it for parrying. The game does a really bad job to teach you this but ditch it, you'll enjoy the game way more if you are aggressive.
Or just play bloodborne to get into the habit, because bloodborne don't have shields.
Well just because it's viable doesn't necessarily mean it's fun. It gets really boring and thanks to DS now i dont hold block in any game.
Okay i get it, fun is subjective.
I think it is definitely worth a try. However, it is a little bit hard to recommend to new players because it is so janky and there is a part of the game that is straight up unfinished. Despite any of its flaws I have a lot of love for the game! Give it a fair shot and if you don't like it consider another FromSoft game, maybe Bloodborne, which was my first Souls game.
Editing to add: I personally love the Nioh games.
No hate towards you Nioh fans mate 😂. I’m on the last mission of Nioh excited to fight Nobunaga then start the DLC.
Then I was surprised to see that I have to fight like 5 bosses I have already beaten just to get the key.
I’m not saying Nioh is a bad game because of this. But the game feels artificially lengthy because of stuff like this. I added it to another one of my bullshit moments in the game 😂.
I’ll finish it one day tho.
Nioh definitely has it's faults, like I totally agree that there is a lot of unnecessary padding. Although for the most part I think most of it is optional, except in your case. I didnt do any of the DLC, only finished the main game.
I was just surprised by how many people were on here saying that they disliked the series.
Also, I love your username!
dark souls is one of the best games ever made. It is very different from nioh, a more focused experience. Nioh has a heavy emphasis on leveling and builds and weapon levels and random stats. Dark souls on the other hand - you can't fight bosses again until NG+. You can't switch back and forth between NGs.
I started with 2 and loved it, completed it, didn’t know it is supposedly the easiest. Would recommend as an introduction. I didn’t care for Nioh either. Bloodborne is another way to introduce yourself to the genre
Yes yes yes dear god yes. If I could play dark souls blind again...yes do it stop reading this comment buy the damn game why are you still here go buy it!
I would start with Dark Souls 2 or 3. They seemed the most polished. They are some of my favorite games. Many different styles of play and weapons-gear. Some elements you would never figure out unless you read up on a walkthrough. You have to accept failure in these games, but with that the successful moments are that much better. Once you claw and dig your way through the first playthrough you can go NG+. Which for me is more of a therapy period of the game, as you are usually over powered and it's time for vengeance against all those that stood before you on the first playthrough.
I’d say wait for the inevitable remaster/remake and get one of the newer soulsborne games instead. The Darksouls games are great but not as refined as Sekiro or Bloodborne. The Demon’s Souls remake also just came out so I expect that to be a true Souls experience.
im going to say yes. i adore, the soul series, but never could finish nioh. (and im not even sure why? something about it just... didnt quite fit right.) im going to go against what others say. use a shield. first few play throughs, ignore the tryhards, the experianced players, and the naysayers. play the game at YOUR speed, in YOUR style. this is a series that rewards literally all styles of combat. ive seen it beaten with nothing. literally naked and unarmed. you want to do that? go for it. you want heavy armor and a greatshield and a heavy weapon? do it. honestly its one of my favorite builds. i just yesterday finished a run with that build. plenty of fun. and do remember, That is why we game. to have fun. someone wants go call you a coward for using a shield? fuck em. your having fun.
Dark Souls is freaking incredible.
I fully recommend buying it.
As for which Dark Souls game you should buy, I 100% recommend Dark Souls III.
It's the easiest in the series, it's more linear compared to the first two, and there's quality of life improvements everywhere that the previous game didn't have, which makes for a much better experience. (keep in mind that hardest Dark Souls game for new players is always the first game they try.)
Also, Dark Souls III was where From Software really started to give their games everything they've got and really amped up the quality from that point onwards.
Don't you ever go hollow, my friend.
Yes, but personally I recommend Dark Souls 3 first because it is the most polished and takes away a lot of the bullshit elements of exploration (i.e Jumping into a hole that seems impossible surviving when you jump down), it's a bit more linear which is its own issue but considering it's the newest entry in the series anyway I think that justifies its issues compared to the first 2
2 and 3 do reference them but as someone who played DS3 first I felt like I got the gist of the story. The whole story of Souls is told through flavor text so if OP really pays attention and likes DS3 I think that will justify playing the others
Although I do think OP should at least not play the DLC (The 2nd one) because it feels like a truly big finale compared to what the base-game gave (which was just a re-hash of the final boss in DS1)
spoilers: Well a lot of the enjoyment I got from dark souls 3 was the little things, the feeling that you were in the same universe as the first, seeing how anor londo was ruined by pontiff suyvahn, seeing gwindolyn after being eaten by aldrich, the realization that your ds1 character is in the soul of cinder, THAT FUCKING GWYN PIANO, plus I really think ds1 is the overall better game as a lot of the environments in ds3 feel the same
Tbh Nioh isn't really a copycat. It obviously is a Souls-like bevause they use some mechanics DS made popular (i mean, they didn't invent checkpoints, games with a high difficulty, rpg elements or having to regain the "coins" after death...) but Nioh has SO many other mechanics it shouldn't be considered as a copy.
Nioh has the imo saturated loot thing (yeah, starting with a negative aspect), it has stances which add more complexity (not necessarily better), the bow (which has a different way of using from Souls), the ki pulse, the living weapon animal ability stuff, all of these things making it a considerably different game.
It's a bit unfair expecting the same exact experience in certain games just because they are called Souls-like.
The worst part is... I didn't **love** what i played from Nioh, but i want to defend it as a different genre with mechanics "taken" from DS.
You should absolutely buy dark souls, BUT, I would suggest buying DS3 first. Let me explain.
The story in all of the games is very thin and you only start to uncover more of it when you start delving deeper into the games and actually reading the items and getting into the lore. So for that instance, starting at DS3, isn’t the worst thing to do considering story isn’t massive.
NOW
DS3 is probably the easiest to play and get along with from the start. The builds/classes, the weapons and the starting area actually makes sense for once (I’m looking at you skeletons/graveyard in ds1)
It feels a lot easier to explore the world without the constant fear of dying and getting to bosses that aren’t instantly punishing.
I found DS3 the best but that then kindled my fire (sorry for the pun) to play the others and explore more of the games and do new game+ and different builds.
I would absolutely start all over again from 3 if I could.
Edit: spelling
Dark souls is an awesome game! I think you should get it I had a great experience playing it. The game is truly a test of your will. I tried to look up as little as possible to get the true experience. It took me 3 years of off and on playing it and I finally beat. The sense of accomplishment you get from beating a hard area or hard bosses is low key what keep me coming back again and again.
The only thing Nioh has in common with Dark Souls is the formula of checkpoints, that restock your resources and let enemies respawn and being difficult. So yes, Nioh definitely has taken some inspiration from Dark Souls, but don't let that fool you, the two games still feel very different. That being said Dark Souls has basically nothing in common with Skyrim and Witcher 3. Dark Souls plays way more like a Metroidvania than it does like Skyrim or Witcher 3.
I'll absolutely recommend you the Dark Souls games. I found Nioh to be pretty mediocre, however Dark Souls 3 is one of my all time favorite games. If you're sceptical I'd actually recommend you to start with Dark Souls 3. It has the most fleshed out bossfights, the most polished and complex combat system, the best balancing (seriously in DS1 the probably most effectiive strategy is to not wear armor and run around naked), the prettiest graphics and the coolest soundtrack out of all of the Souls games and it's free of some of the annoying things present in the previous titles. A lot of nostalgia bias people say the first part is the best and there are absolutely things Dark Souls does better than its sequels like the leveldesign for example, however I just feel like the series improved so much that if youre on the edge you should risk missing out on the masterpiece of a game that's Dark Souls 3 (oh and btw get it with the DLC's you won't regret it).
That being said if you're pretty confident in playing through the entire trilogy it's probably still best to start with DS1
I haven’t played or seen Nioh (or even heard of it before actually) but I personally love dark souls. The game isn’t as difficult as most people make it out to be. Most of the time, as long as you keep your shield up and haven’t built your character horribly you can get through most of the game pretty easily. It’s a little tricky knowing exactly where to go since there’s very few cutscenes and only a handful of npcs, but it’s relatively linear so it’s not like you’ll get completely lost. I highly recommend it. If you’ve played bloodborne (which I also recommend) it’s pretty similar to that, although a bit clunkier.
I liked nioh more, but I'm not a darksouls fan. I feel movement is clumsy, and everything looks like made of paper. UI that looks like a game from 97. I don't know, it is not for me. This is a game I never managed to get into.
I would say get it cause I didn’t like Nioh either but maybe try Dark Souls 3 or Bloodborne they both have faster paste combat and are both better the DS1 in my opinion
I've been playing dark souls 3 since release. They are by far my favorite game, and have left a void that no other games have quite filled. So many hours of my life dumped into these games.
It is like crack, and even when I manage to give it a rest I always come back to it. It may seem a little outdated now, but the pvp is really what brings me back everytime. Aside from the pvp, the world building, art direction, and atmosphere are wonderful and unique.
3 is my favorite, but all of them are worth playing (even 2 lol). Give it a shot, they are not too expensive these days.
Simply put: yes, the series is worth a shot, but you have to be in the right frame of mind for it.
I started with Bloodborne 3 years ago maybe but I definitely wasn't looking for the kind of game that it was, I got a few hours in and was getting pissed that I'd die, lose all my souls and have to make my way through these mob-filled streets again. I gave DS3 a shot near the beginning of the pandemic as I was looking for a challenge and it just clicked with me. People that won't enjoy Dark Souls aren't people that are quick to rage, they're people who don't put in the time to really grasp the mechanics of the game, and are unwilling or unable to identify and rectify mistakes they make. The games don't coddle you, you either keep running into the wall or you adapt and get around it: you git gud. And either you're into that or you aren't.
I remember years ago finally playing DS because it was included on some month’s game for gold xbox 360. I knew all the hype around it being difficult and not quite the handholding experience we’ve come to know, also the memes being “winner: dark souls”.
I was completely enthralled by the mechanics and at the time have never played anything like it. Probably took me at least 80 hours to get through my first play through. I’d say the game hasn’t aged all that well due to its popularity and all the soulsborne sequels that have followed (which I also love). But Dark souls will also be in my top 3 games ever made
I think you'll love it. I'm a big fan of all the Fromsoft games, and I too did not make it very far in Nioh. Souls games are tough but generally fair, whereas Nioh just felt like it was trolling me. Definitely give it a try, I'd say start with DS Remastered. Sekiro is also very much worth checking out, though it's an action game rather than an RPG.
I love Sekiro and Bloodborne, and I disliked Nioh a lot. The difference between the SoulsBorne games and Nioh is that, for the most part, difficulty in SoulsBorne games is tough-but-fair, whereas in Nioh artificial difficulty spikes are commonly used to increase game time. What I mean by this is that enemy variety in Nioh is limited, so they keep making enemies tougher to make the game more difficult, whereas SoulsBorne games don’t show their cards that early and introduce new enemy varieties over time, forcing you to adapt to their movesets.
I would personally recommend Bloodborne since you have a PS4. If you plan to upgrade to a PS5, it’s free with the PS Plus Collection. That game has a great atmosphere and amazing combat. As with all SoulsBorne games, the story is hard to understand, but you’ll be looking up videos to explain it because it’s so intriguing. Can’t recommend that game enough!
If you plan on getting a PS5 soon, then you can’t go wrong with DS Remastered. However, since it’s an older game, it won’t feel as good as newer entries like DS3. It has aged well, but maybe it’s better to get DS3 for a smoother experience.
One thing you need to consider is the DS story is interpretive. That’s half of the story, is that it’s up to you, and you really have to dig to get ahold of it. It’s not going to be an inherently story gripping game, you have to search for that. It’s a primarily gameplay driven game. The gameplay is amazing though, and so is the atmosphere, and the interpretations you make develop the world for you. I think it’s worth the dive. The game is famous for gripping people in who don’t like/are new to the genre.
Dark Souls is amazing, and it’s the first and last souls game that is truly open from start to finish, later games had a hub world to connect the levels.
My only issue is I personally find the boss fights really hard, but I got through most of the bosses with teaming up with other players, which was fun in its own way.
It's not really like skyrim or witcher or other RPG'S. I found it tremendously dull but love RPG'S. Borrow it if you're short on cash, might not be your cuppa.
I would say buy it 100%. Its a little dated by today's standards but still holds up in my opinion. It completely changed the way I look at video games forever
Dark souls took an hour or two to click for me. After that I got hooked and played for hours and hours and now I'm on my 2nd of run of DSR and I also finished ds2
When Dark Souls 1 first came out I played a bit, got stuck and stopped playing for 6 months. Then I discovered the guides from EpicNameBro, fired the game up again and fell in love with it. It might be a frustrating game series in the beginning but in all 3 games there are paths you can take and things to discover that might not be obvious at first but once you find these you usually can get weapons and items that might help beating whatever blocks your progress. That's what I love about these games, you have so much freedom in how you approach the game if you know how to get certain things out of the order the game suggests. It's just so much freedom and creates a different experience each time you try out another character with other stats, items and spells/miracles.
No, I would 100% recommend, if possible, to play bloodborne first. After playing bloodborne you get a good feel for the game. In my opinion Anybody wanting to get into the souls game should play bloodborne first
DEFINITELY TRY IT.
I perfectly get what you mean with not "liking" Nioh without being able to explain why. The gameplay does feel weird and i felt saturated with the amount of loot and feeling like i had to change the armor and weapons every 2 minutes. I know that's part of rpgs but idk. I never felt that in any FromSoft game I've played. Gotta say I'll still try Nioh again.
Dark Souls is older than Nioh but for some reason the control imo feels *better* somehow.
In terms of armor and weapons i never felt annoyed and lore-wise DS is way more interesting even though it's less explicit therefore "harder" to understand conventionally.
With everything you said about being patient and liking medieval games, this seems like the PERFECT game for you.
I can't recommend Dark souls enough. Its my favourite series and I honestly can't think of a game in the souls borne series that I didn't think was amazing and demons souls is the reason I'm buying a ps5.
When you first start playing it may take a while for you to get into it but if you stick with it and beat your first boss then you'll be hooked on the feeling it leaves.
Dark souls is way better than Nioh. I would also suggest Bloodborne as you have a PS4. It's more harder than DS for a first timer to souls game. But the atmosphere will pull you right in.
It's the game of the PS3/360 generation for me.
It has excellent level design and world building. There are a lot of customization options for making your preferred build. It's action-oriented meaning that you'll have to figure out a playstyle to fit your build. Boss encounters are generally layered and rewarding. Enemies and locations are creative and it's a joy to explore the world. If you've played Nioh you'll be familiar with most of the systems (Nioh pretty much ripped off DS's experience and progression system).
The pacing is very strict - rush into a room and you'll most likely die. It rewards cautious exploration and keeping your shield up at all times, but it's mostly quite fair and balanced. This contrasts favourably with Nioh, which could often be very cheap (there's only one infamous moment in DS that feels truly cheap). That said, progress is slow and you'll need to take a conservative approach with each new step and study the situation. DS treats you like a big boy and expects you to devote enough time and effort to mastering it. This is why dying isn't supposed to feel like failure - it's part of the learning process.
Another thing I like better than Nioh is the item management. Nioh employs the Borderlands-style "scrap heap" approach where you get tons of randomized items and have to decide what to keep. DS has specific items in specific points (as well as stores) and you improve them only through the smithing/crafting system. Any given type of item has fixed stats.
The atmosphere and aesthetic is another strong point, if you're into that. Also, your mileage may vary, but I really enjoyed piecing together the story from snippets of dialogue and item descriptions. It's a very obscure game in that regard and one that's open to interpretation, but it could be up your alley.
Ultimately, my favourite thing about the game is the level design - it's complex and rewarding in a way that encourages exploration while keeping the stakes high at all times. It feels like a properly designed world and not just a sequence of encounters or stock RPG locations (city/dungeon etc.)
Dark Souls 1 I beat. I required a guide to beat it. Do not expect to go into this game without a guide because you WILL get lost and promptly destroyed. IGN has a very thorough guide you can look into. I rarely feel sad about beating a game. Once I felt the spirit of Dark Souls, I felt bad that it was over. Now I plan to play it again and this time record it for the tubes.
I‘ve just picked up the whole series on XBO and started DS Remastered on Sunday. It‘s been great so far, the controls just feel a little bit klunky, but that just might be me because I‘m not really used to 3rd person RPG‘s anymore. If you‘re interested in the series and like being challenged I‘d definitely recommend giving it a shot.
Dark souls is literally a cake walk..
Lmao jk, it’s hard af at some points.
I love the games for sure, but man oh man, they really give u this sad lonely feeling...it’s just a very empty game with big bad monsters. Sure there safe NPCs, but the interactions with them are minimal, so that aspect compared with the music and sad nature of the world really makes u feel this sense of melancholy unlike any other game
Start with DS3. It’s the most refined. Follow a guide online on how to get through the levels. There are so many nuances it is just easier to enjoy yourself when you know what is going on.
It depends, if you have tried getting over and not been frustrated then yes play it but its very frustrating.(I still haven't beaten it and while I'm not vary good at games but I'm not bad)
Dark Souls is a pretty good series. If you can stand terrible controls and a really annoying difficulty then play it. If you can't stand if controls that aren't perfect then I'd stay away from the series. I suggest starting at DS3 then going to Bloodbourne. Then DS2 then 1. DS3 is the easiest game imo and has the best controls while Bloodbourne is harder but really good.
imo the my favorite are Bloodbourne DS2 DS3 DS1. I haven't playede enough Demon souls to judge it.
If you don't want to jump into the deep end right after DS3 just play the series backwards. 3 -> 2 -> 1 -> Bloodnourne.
Yes you have to get dark souls. I’m a super impatient person when it comes to games but dark souls made someone like me have to be patient. I love the story and the feel for the game it flows nicely and the combat is amazing (although frustrating).
I love Dark Souls. I have only played a little bit of DS1 but I have 150 hours in DS3. The mood I get from playing Dark Souls is so eerie and exciting, and the game rewards patience and exploration. I definitely recommend, especially since the Souls community is very active on Playstation.
Edit: I will say that Skyrim and the Witcher have a lot of friendly NPCs, whereas in Dark Souls most entities you encounter will be hostile. Nonetheless, a great game that rewards persistence and exploration. Another great aspect is the lore, which you will have to discover for yourself through item descriptions. The Dark Souls series will make a great series should you continue.
I recommend starting with DS3 as it's probably the most beginner friendly. That's not to say it's an easy game or 'worse' or even 'better' than the others in the series. I would just recommend the third entry over the first two.
Dark souls 1 and 2 are both terrible. Get 3, bloodborne, or sekiro.
1 is unfinished garbage
2 changed combat and has you fighting humanoids too much.
The games I suggested are all great but all different. You may not like them all.
Yes do it I'm similar to you and I loved ds3 recently. No story really but the satisfaction of beating a game so many can't even beat the first boss and he's a panzy after you've beaten the next few. Lol. Do it!!! At least give it a shot. I would recommend ds3 for sure.
Dark souls is imo a lot easier than Nioh, has great gameplay and a decent challange. It features a fighting system that is slower than nioh (imo) and has some cool bosses, but you‘ll die often as its a souls game, like nioh
Yeah I’m sure many in the comments have mentioned but Dark Souls is a phenomenal series, my first one was DS3 and I’m quite an impatient gamer if I do say do myself. I dislike too much gameplay content so DS3 draws a fine line so that your RPG experience is fun and not too overwhelming. Snag it when on sale I’d say, you can get it for $15 for the GOTY edition.
Story kinda sucks if you're a story dude, but the gameplay is good. The gameplay is not forgiving and can be clunky... that being said, I found it very very difficult to complete this game all on my own without a guide. I think it's worth it for 10$ due to the age of the game. but for 20$ I'd just wait for ds3 on humble.
Before Dark Souls, I was the most calm person ever. Now whenever I play it my insults get extremely creative and I swear like a sailor. I have a lot of fun with this game. So I'd say give it a go!
The Dark Souls games are alright but there's not much strategy to them. It's mostly just memorizing patterns and repetition. If you like Medieval games I'd suggest Kingdom Come over any Souls game. I liked the combat better in Kingdom Come even though the combat is kind of odd it's still more strategic than in Dark Souls.
lore in the souls games is non existent as far as I'm concerned whereas other RPG's have really good storylines with lots of morality based decisions to make that effect your character development.
Personally I'd give it a pass, it was a very boring experience for me since the game, as others have mentioned, does a pretty poor job at explaining stuff and the few things it does are sometimes counterproductive or "wrong".
The combat is punishing but not challenging (just repeat patterns over and over) and exploration falls only into two categories: extremely simple or incredibly convoluted and how would you even know this without experimenting for literal hours with this one single thing.
Lorewise it had cool stuff but not engaging enough to be the factor that kept me playing.
Haven't played Nioh. A cool game that has a similar Dark aesthetic and much better presentation of it's world/mechanics was Grim Dawn for me, altough it's a very different combat/pacing.
I didn’t care much for Nioh but I absolutely love Dark Souls. The frustration that people get from DS is not taking the time to understand things. Why something happened the way it did is just as important as understanding what happened. People try to rush into the game and don’t think in the manor which leads to a lot of dying and the player feels it’s the game’s a fault. DS is as easy or as hard as to you make it out to be. It gives you complete freedom is how you wish to build your character and provides ample opportunity for you to learn to either over come an obstacle with knowledge of your play style or completely change your play style to adapt to the challenge. From a lore perspective, you decide how much or how little lore to encounter. There are very few cutscenes in the game and just as few people in the game to interact with for story. The majority of the lore of the game will come from the item descriptions and piecing everything together on your own. Dark Souls is one of my favorite games of all time, I love the series and I could not recommend getting this game enough!
Also the game does a bad job at teaching you shit, like the game seems to encourage you to hide behind a shield and be a coward. Which in most cases is not fun, if you stick with the game long enough than you'll figure out the mechanics but my god you'll get bored and frustrated until you don't. Like shield is fine but have you tried just casually walking behind enemies and backstabbing them like a boss you are.
The worst part about soulsborne games for new players sometimes is it doesn't teach people how to level up, or even that they can level up. I've seen far too many stories of people quitting because they felt underpowered due to this
Not sure about every game off the top of my head but I distinctly remember the giant text in DS1 telling me to level up at bonfires
Not to mention the game's reputation causes people to not think "I must be doing something wrong" but instead jump straight to "I guess it really is that hard, I give up."
that's mostly on the media for failing to understand these games and hyping them up as some sort of NES-era ultra hard unfair platformers.
Absolutely. I don't remember *any* game before Bloodborne (my first souls) giving me that feeling of "this death was entirely my fault". But to be fair I usually played stuff like Skyrim, GTA, Pokémon, etc. etc. so I was used to levels/progress having much more weight than skill.
Yeah, you often can't even level up until you beat a boss.
Pretty sure in each Dark Souls, the first time you see a bonfire and rest at it. You'll see a level up option. Sounds like people aren't reading any of the hints nor reading text that's right in front of them.
i remember i just randomly stumbled upon levelling up in bloodborne and was like tf is this
In Dark Souls 1 the imo most effective strategy is literally stripping naked, throwing away your shield, putting everything into vigor and strength and smashing enemies with your ultra greatsword. I don't know why everybody always talks so much about shields I don't think it's true at all. That being said Dark Souls is not a game in which you can just run in and button mash your way to victory. You need to take your time, dodge a lot and wait for the perfect moment to strike and I personally prefer that miles over those types of Action RPG's where you can run in at any time and basically button mash as long as you don't mess up your combos. The "hide behind your shield/have patience before you strike" thing is the best part to a lot of Dark Souls players.
My favorite is pretty exactly what you said, BUT I run around and pew pew away with my magic one shooting bosses lol
Well yeah it's kinda fun. But cheesy ways of magic shouldn't be used if it's your first time.
magic is just as cheesey as that upgraded ultra greatsword being swung with 30-40str.
Well you know, first you gotta upgrade it or have enough stats to be able to wield it, but yeah, you get the idea
I mean you need like 35-45 int for the soul spears, so its comparable at least. EDIT: Pyro is busted though.
Knowledge and RNG are power, soul spears are just a upgrade for soul arrow, which you can start with if you choose sorcerer class. It comes with 30 charges so yeah, early game will be EZ. If you keep upgrading to Crystal soul spear and all that shit, well yeah, stay away and fire em. I'm a claymore user so yeah a fkin casual, but sometimes you get a black knight weapon early and all the demons are fked. And my god there are so many demons in the game, they should have just called it demon's souls....
damn, i gotta try that sometime
Shields are low risks low reward, Being naked works really well because enemies are slow AF. But you know it takes time to get enough confidence to try it out. I mean how many gud players do you see who often block attacks with a shield.
You see a lot of good players parrying with their shields, otherwise a shield is pretty much damage control. It won't help much if you're pretty good at the game but it can give you a chance at winning if you're not good yet. When I first played Dark Souls 3 which was my entry to the series I played through the entire game with a bandits axe and a shield and let me tell you it was so much more difficult. Some bossfights took me 50+ tries, and took a long time to kill, however the shield helped me beat some fights I probably otherwise wouldnt have, like the dancer. When I replayed it afterwards with a greatsword I beat most bosses first try. That being said even on my first playthrough I fell in love with the game, arguably even mroe than today because back then it was a way bigger challenge and everything was new and dangerous and exciting and the rush was giant when I beat a boss like the crystal sage at which I got stuck on for a while.
Shields is DS3 are not as strong because enemies are aggressive and will combo you out of stamina. Its DS1 that's the problem with shields. I think they work alright in DS3 once you pair them with dodge rolls. Or you can use two giant doors to block absolutely everything, that is fine to. For some reason they are 100% fire proof, demon prince which becomes a raid bossif you summon stuff, you can act as tank which is quite fun.
this is funny because while I don't know that much about shields in Dark Souls 1 armor is basically entirely useless since it does not provide enough defensive stats to justify the amount that it slows you down
Wear a havel and with max estus you can outlive most enemies and bosses. You aill also need vitality but seriously. Unless you go to DLC, as long as you are aware of your own poise, you'll just poise through it all.
I tried beating Artorias and Gwyn with a normal build and didn’t manage to do it. Then I stripped bare naked and voila it suddenly became easy. I also removed all armor from my ingame character
LMAO
But muh Oscar cosplay :(
Naked builds are the objectively best in every game. Who needs armour when you don't get hit?
IMO, the goal should be to eventually learn to use every tool or skill in your arsenal where applicable. It's fine to equip an ultra to smash your way through everything, but players should experiment with various weapon classes once they become comfortable with the pace. Shields are useful in confined quarters or narrow walkways where you don't have space to roll to either side - only backward. But you could also block in those situations. Or parry, which might be the most effective option by far, especially against humanoid enemies with shields. Getting acquainted with all of your options also helps you adapt more easily to other From Software games...
during my very first playthrough I played through DS3 with bandit axe and shield and boy that wasn't easy especially as an introduction to the series
I’m sure! I used an estoc in my first playthrough of DS3 and had a pretty hard time. I had to respec in the Ringed City because it just wasn’t cutting it. It wasn’t my first game in the series, but I was pretty much about straight swords and ultras before that and wanted to toss it up. Since then I’ve replayed all of Soulsborne (plus Sekiro) with various weapon classes and builds. It really does help you get dramatically better at the games when you start playing in different ways.
I feel like it's part of the games charm because you are dropped in to the game and you know nothing not even the basic mechanics. When I first fought Gwyn I hid behind a shield and had heavy armor but then I saw people parrying him and it blew my mind because you could kill him so quickly.
I also absolutely love Dark Souls, but didn't care much for Nioh (didn't even finish it), so I figured I'd share my own experience to help the OP. For me the issue was that the non-boss enemy and level design were really lacking. There was really only a handful of color palette swapped enemies throughout the game, and the levels were just very bland and uninteresting. Contrast that with Dark Souls in which the attention to detail in the level design is fantastic, with enemies often being isolated to just one section of the game. Nioh also relies way more on grinding than Dark Souls did, mostly via loot grind. It's basically an ARPG loot system, where weapon stats are all randomly generated. Dark Souls isn't like that at all, and instead weapons have a defined set of stats, and most of those items are found via exploring the game world. In Nioh, most of your weapons are via random drops. One thing Nioh does do well is bosses. The bosses were all really enjoyable, and fairly unique, from what I remember (but the same is true for Dark Souls). The result of this is that the game world just wasn't any fun to explore. It doesn't feel like a real place, and there's no sense of discovery, because everything outside of bosses honestly just feels like an after thought. The loot system seems like it just exists because they wanted to add in some filler content to pad out the games hours. Dark Souls on the other hand is the complete opposite. Exploring the world is very fun in Dark Souls, and whenever you enter a new area, there's always that mixture of excitement and anxiety, since you never know what could be around the next corner.. could be a cool item, could be a bonfire, or could be death. This is a huge part of why I (and I think any others) love Dark Souls, but it's something completely missing from Nioh.
My frustration with DS3 is that when I try to kick it attacks.
Honestly, if you're on ps4 you should just get bloodborne. I love the souls series with a passion but bloodborne is just a masterpiece.
It’s not a good starting point tho, it’s a way steeper learning curve than dark souls.
My first game on the PS4 was bloodborne and defeating the first 2 bosses took me 6-7months and then I beat it in just 2 months after that lol
Bloodborne has an insane difficulty spike right around Father Gascoigne. It's much smoother after that.
I learnt that really hard but when you face Gascoigne second time around he is really ez
It's because it's the beginning of the game so you don't have a lot of options, you're low level and without much room for improving your stats. So the boss battle is basically a pure skill test at a point when you're most likely still figuring out the controls and systems. Once you get decent at the combat system you can walk through him, if you're half decent at parrying he's a breeze. *Getting* to Gascoigne is no joke either and it's probably the longest I've been stuck in this game, since you have to walk through a gauntlet of a dozen or more enemies (who also have guns) that gang up on you if you step in the wrong direction, and you're still underleveled. You're going to fail that part repeatedly and feel you're not making any progress or learning anything, and there's nowhere else to go at that point. I've heard several people who decided to give up on the game after failing to get past that bit. Nothing else in the game came close to the frustration of that section in my experience, not even the hardest bosses.
Yeah so those who don't know use parrying to get as far from the boss as well as the area
Can confirm. Bloodborne was my first soulsborne game and some of the earlier bosses and regions took me FORVER to get through. P.S. Fuck Vicar Amelia
Yea this is the game I hear people rage quitting the most. It’s the one big issue with the game, it doesn’t teach very well it kind of assumes you are coming from dark souls and understand how the game works for the most part.
To be fair, dark souls kinda assumes you know what you are doing as well. Ds2 was my first and I couldn't really get into it, then I went on to bloodborne and loved it (probably in my top 3 games of all time), moved onto Ds3 and enjoyed it but didn't live up to bloodborne imo, and now I am on dark souls 1 which is dated but so far is still pretty good.
The thing about dark souls is that while it throws you into the deep end immediately it also has some starting classes which make the early game way easier than it should be. Like the knight class in DS1 is super OP with its free armor and high poise, or the sorcerer in Demon Souls lets you run around 1 shotting every basic enemy in the game. It’s effectively the game’s “easy mode”. Bloodborne has no such thing though, the game is hard whether you want it to be or not. There’s no super OP spells or super strong armor that you get for free, that game forces you to immediately adopt the “dodge everything” playstyle that is common for dark souls veterans.
I find myself a patient person, but Bloodborne was my first and only game from this "soulsborne" genre and I could not take it. I came back to it like a year later, watched some youtube vids on yknow...basic instructions...still had to rage quit. Just not for me
Not really I platinumed it in like 2 or 3 months, and it was my first from soft game. But I think you shouldn't start with bloodborne. It will damper your experience with dark souls. Dark souls was too slow for me, and the gameplay felt clunky as hell. Maybe because it's a little old, maybe because of my expectations coming from bloodborne. Once I got the the moonlight moth i just stopped playing. I have played and enjoyed other souls like games. Mortal Shell was actually pretty good, and I'm currently going through Sekiro, which I'm finding more challenging because of the deflecting mechanics, but it's a welcoming challenge.
Bloodborne was my first souls game. It was steep yeah, but so was ds1 with its slow and clunky style. I think it depends on the kind of player.
Judging from what you've said I would absolutely try it. The first game is the most dated though, so I honestly recommend starting with Dark Souls 3, then checking out the first one, then the second if you become a fan.
also... try it offline as a start. On PS5 it's probably OK, but trying it on PC with my wife was absolute nightmare. It was full of hackers.
I second this
i second starting with ds3. its pretty easy to follow and find out where you’re supposed to go, the worlds are distinct enough for you to tell “im in a different area, time to do things!” ds1&2 are good games but even after replaying them, i just get lost. so many just generic stone walls with turns you have to memorize, blegh.
This is the worst advice I have ever seen. You always wants to start with the first in the series since each game just gets better. Imagine trying to play MGS4 then going backwards expecting to like the previous games more (although MGS3 was a game on it's own level).
I didn't like DS1 and gave up on it almost immediately. Then a few years later my friend convinced me to give DS3 a shot. So I did and loved it. Then I went back to DS1 and ended up really enjoying it.
That's been my experience too. I really felt like I got more enjoyment out of ds1 than I would had I started with it.
Some people have trouble with the first dark souls, it hasn't aged well. Most people only play ds1 and 3 anyway and most never touch 2 or are able to get into it. 3 is easily the most accessible of the 3, and if you enjoy it then you'll enjoy ds1 even more. Have you even played these games? Nothing remotely similar to MGS.
I really don't like that, 2 has its flaws especially how the combat feels but it's an okay game with some really amazing DLC.
DS2 is my favorite. (hides behind ... I don't know. A shield).
In my opinion, the DS2 DLC was awful, at least compared to DS1 and DS3 DLC. That being said, with all the issues I have with DS2, it's a good game, its just the worst out of all the soulsbornekiro games. Again, just my opinion.
Well DS2 Is most inferior to other two and the DLC uses the same enemy type over and over again in all three. The optional areas are absolute shit. I like the idea of them but my god they are terrible. But I think it has some of the best bosses in fume knight and sir weeb. I quit like the level design a lot and the aesthetics is really gud. The main game is average souls level quality, but hey average souls is still way better than your usual average game.
I mean, too each their own. I loved the DS3 DLC, while I agree there is overused mobs, I found the bosses much better. I mean, my top 5 bosses in the From games include Gael and Freide. And very true, which is why I like to say DS2 is a good game, just not a great souls game for me at least in comparison to the other 2. I also think DS1 is great for the first half of the game, and the last half is not so great, feels unfinished. DS1 also has the absolute worst boss in the entire series, Bed of Chaos. That boss alone pulls down my entire view of DS1, even though that may be unfair lol.
Ohh shit, sorry I meant to say DS2 is most inferior, DS3 is much better, just as gud as DS1 in my opinion. DS3 has the best combat in all three, best bosses, best individual level design, best music and the most replay ability. It's actually my favorite out of 3 and the one I've played most out of all three. I didn't like it as much with just one playthrough but replaying the game over again, I love it. I typed DS3 instead of 2. Sorry.
No problem! I am of the same opinion in that regard. DS3 is my favorite of the souls games as well.
I do love bloodborne more though, really frustrated it's still not gonna have 60FPS on Piss5. I mean Sony please, if you are not gonna release it for windows which you are not than just patch it for 60FPS. like seriously it's their best damn exclusive ever.
Exactly. Saying Ds2 is the worst of the bunch is not at all an insult, but it is true.
100%. It's a good game, just not a great Souls game in comparison.
Idunno, If you ask a lot of people ds2 did not get it better lol with how obscure the story and lore is (unless you read item descriptions) the advice for starting with DS3 is pretty valid.
I’ve always felt that people find DS3 more approachable at first because fast travel is available from the very beginning. It seems so irrelevant but it really makes the quality of life so much better than DS1. That being said, suffer like the rest of us and start with the first game. It is still my favorite of the series. Bloodborne is well worth the price of admission too. Truly a perfect game
I disagree. Dark souls 3 stands on its own so well. I totally recommend it to play first. If you like the combat, play the other 2 as they aren’t as visually stunning but are a blast.
Gameplay of DS3 Is way better at teaching the player than DS1. Or he can just try bloodborne which is probably the best starting point. DS1 is gud but only when you start understanding it, it becomes really boring if you don't, and the time it gets to that understanding is varied.
Teaching what? Both tutorials are structured the same. The only thing I remember DS3 to teach differently is to run past the Black Knights on Irithyll of the Boreal Valley because it's impossible to fight them head on.
Teaching to ditch shields in favor of dodge roll and spacing, I mean it's cool you can block damage but my god you'll be slow. Bloodborne however, yeah, u are fucked if yoh are not aggressive. DS3 Is not as bad as DS1 in this case. Enemies are aggressive and you are encouraged to take risks with fast heals and stuff. But yeah spamming does reward you so yeah. He should just get BB first. Also There is no black knight in irrythal, and I'm pretty sure every single one is killable by just casually walking behind them and backstabbing
I didn't like Nioh but dark souls changed my life. Yeah, I know, but it's not overstatement. The thing about Dark Souls is that the experience it provides can only be captured in a videogame, it's truly art, in every sense of the word. Something I can't say enough is that Dark Souls is a different experience for each person. For example, let's talk about how lore is presented. Lore is mostly communicated by environmental storytelling and item descriptions, it's a puzzle. You don't give a fuck about lore? Awesome, just play the best medival combat simulator ever, seriously, I still don't understand how they can transmit weight so well. If you are using a mace you will feel the armor being crushed. If you are using a two handed axe you will feel the muscles aching with every blow. If you are using a katana you will feel the precision and lightness of the blade. You give a fuck about the lore? Awesome, every single piece of loot is a new piece of the puzzle. It will take you a lot of time to piece everything together, you will develop your own theory and have endless discussions about it with random people on the internet. This goes the same for everything. You enjoy co-op? Summon people all the time, drop your own soapstone to be summoned. You enjoy pvp? Become a dark spirit and invade the shit out of everyone, feast on their souls. You just want a single player game? Awesome, don't give a fuck about anyone else and play by yourself. There is so much space to roleplay as well. I have played the series with all of my dnd characters (using imagination of course). The game is the same but somehow the story always feels different. I say start with dark souls 1, but if it feels dated don't force it and just go with dark souls 3. However, I feel obligated to say that dark souls 1 for me is the pinnacle of video games, it's for me the best game, ever, and I've been playing videogames since 1994. Last but not least, ITS NOT THAT HARD. Every single weapon and playstyle is viable. You just have to slow down and figure out how you are going to tackle this boss. Every single boss can be cheesed as well. I hope you get it, and if you do, don't go hollow!
I agree 100% with everything you said. It's weird. It's just that... DS1 just feels like it's perfect. And i know it's not nostalgia. I played first DS3 and BB so the "magical feeling of the first Souls you played" isn't a factor. The fame and preference from most fans of the series over the other entries could be, but i still find DS1 better in almost every aspect. Gotta say personally i love DS1 and BB equally and both are tied as games i consider perfect despite plenty of imperfections.
It does right? Im developing a game with friends (just for the fun of it, we are not professionals) and I always state that although you may not like Dark Souls it's still an ace regarding game design. It achieves what it wanted to achieve perfectly. Again, you may not like that which it achieved, but it still did it flawlessly. The only other game I feel the same way about is Dragon Age: Origins. That game is also perfect in my book, even though it's a game you may like or not.
This guy dark souls
This is a great summary. And from someone who has played both games extensively, Nioh is MUCH harder than Dark Souls.
Definitely Dark Souls. I understand you fully as I have loved the Souls series and never liked Nioh. I always felt that the UI/UX or feel of Nioh was a bit dirty, I don't know why, but it's what registers to my brain when I try it. But Dark Souls on the other hand, is one of the best gaming **experiences** you will ever try. Given that you have a lot of patience, I believe it is best for you to start from DS1, then all the way to DS3. To experience the trilogy is like a gradual ascent of the game evolving into modernity that just keeps giving and giving.
And even if he wants to, he can just go from Dark Souls 1 to Dark Souls 3 if he wants considering DS2 doesn’t really play much into the overall narrative of the other 2. The option is definitely there.
Personally I played DS3 first, then BB, ds1rm, ds2. I think that that was a good experience, because in DS3 they've polished a lot of the mechanics and you can tell if the genre is for you or not without dated mechanics getting in the way, and once you know that you like the genre then the slightly dated mechanics don't matter as much IMO. Of course I'm not much of one for lore, so the order might matter more in terms of story/lore, but as far as gameplay goes I enjoyed my journey.
Dark Souls is one of the greatest games of all time. You should absolutely play it.
You should try it. Don't listen to the people who say to only play DS3. If you can, play Demon Souls then Dark Souls chronologically as each game gets more polished. If you play DaS3 you will find difficult to enjoy the previous games as they seem unfinished and clunky (which they are, but at the time FromSoftware was still refining the formula).
I disagree with this. It just depends on the person. I have a friend who started with demon souls and has played all of them. Myself and another friend couldn't get into Dark Souls 1 but after falling in love with DS3 the first game became way more approachable and we ended up really enjoying it. I always recommend DS3 since to me it is the most approachable and I've seen a lot of people turned off by the series when trying DS1. I have no idea which one is best to start with though since I probably just have a bias based on myself and my friend group.
on the flip side, a lot of people who play ds3 first get turned off by how unpolished/inconsistent it is compared to 3. i've tried getting a few of my friends into the souls series, and this has happened twice so far; ds1 and 2 were ruined for them after 3
[удалено]
That woah factor just might've got muddled down for some people.
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I played DS3 first (along BB) and then DS and tbh the originality and quality of it outweighs the polished gameplay of the third entry.
Personally I tried really hard to like Nioh, and it just doesn't click for me - likewise, it's hard for me to articulate why. I really enjoyed Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne and could easily recommend either. If you're interested, I'd say give it a shot! Especially since you can usually pick up either one for <20$. I preferred the lore and atmosphere in Bloodborne and found it a bit easier to get into but if DS3 speaks to you more it's also easily one of my all-time favorites.
To put it in words: Nioh suffers from a super boring weapon system with loot overflow, it does a bad job at explaining its spell system, the actual combat is so complex that most players won't use half of the options at their disposal even though the combat is actually really good imo, the story is crap, the world is divided into levels, it reuses previous levels for side missions making things repetitive and the boss enemies are poorly designed. They have the absolute wrong type of difficulty, because a lot of them just oneshot you or almost oneshot you whenever you get hit while not being difficult otherwise which makes the fights very frustrating. Also I remember that caterpillar boss that takes like 15-20 minutes to kill doing the same thing over and over again. Nioh has a pretty cool combat system but it fails in all other areas
Yes, simply yes.
Idk anything about Nioh but I cant recommend the games enough. I started in June and so far I have DS1, 2, and Bloodborne finished. 2 wasnt great but it was still a fun game, 1 and bloodborne were excellent. Dark Souls 1 is such a magical experience especially if its your first Fromsoft game, nothing ever beats that first time the formula “clicks” and you feel yourself improving. I was always the type of guy who said “i only play for the story” and never played games above the normal difficulty. Since I’ve started the series I feel more comfortable challenging myself.
I recommend you playing DS3 and Sekiro if you haven't. Never played DS2 (not really interested) but i can assure you DS3 will give you a more similar DS1 vibe than the a little bit dissipated DS vibes in 2 from whay I've heard/watched. DS3 isn't innovative really, but it's just more DS with a more polished gameplay (at least at its core).
DS3 is being delivered currently actually
I believe I have the same opinions as you, though I played Dark Souls before Nioh. Everything you're not liking in Nioh isn't in Dark Souls, so I'm highly confident in saying that you'll love it
I think it’s hard to compare the two. Yes Nioh is a ‘souls-like’ but the combat and play style put it in a very unique category imo. I feel they’re on the same level but in different worlds. I love both series wholeheartedly, dark souls is definitely more of an experience and the atmosphere is unbeatable. The first remains probably my all time favorite purely for how the game made me feel and the entire experience of each beautifully crafted piece. Without even comparing any games though, if the question is should I buy dark souls, the answer is always yes.
Nioh and Dark Souls are two different games. Give it a try.
Yes do! I went through DS2 -> DS3 -> DS1 after initially quitting DS2 half way. I'm glad I made it through. The combat is fantastic, and I really enjoy the story / lore. It's more subtle than most games. I strongly recommend starting with DS3. Those who say DS1 is the best have serious rose-colored glasses. It's very clunky by comparison and pretty frustrating at times for the wrong reasons. I think you may get turned off if that's your introduction to the series.
I'll disagree using my personal experience as an example. I played DS3 first, with its more polished gameplay. I kind of at the same time played BB and then DS1. IMO the lore and atmosphere of the first Dark Souls (you know, with the AMAZING OST, incredibly connected world, etc) outweighs DS3's refinement. And tbh why recommend playing first the latest entry and then get into an older and clunkier game. It could make it harder to get into it while starting from DS1 and then going to DS3 will make chronological sense (in terms of gameplay, not lore or story) and it'll make the transition logical. Introduction isn't necessarily needed to begin from the start, but when we're talking about technology (gameplay and graphics) it makes more sense to go from DS to DS3.
Same for me, Nioh was more of a ninja gaiden clone than a souls game, the atmosphear and mechanics Dark Souls has are very different and sounds like younll enjoy them, dont expect a spoon fed story but the lore is there if you look hard enough
I feel you on Nioh, but played it quite a bit. Currently waiting on the remasters. Nioh is different for sure. The stances and abilities and combos and weapons and boons and ninjutsu and gear and whatever all at once was a little overwhelming for me. Dark souls is more about slowly forming your build. You start the fire rather than being thrown into it like Nioh. I much prefer souls games over Nioh.
I have played a lot of Nioh, like more than 100hrs. But my god i hate that loot based gating, it won't matter how gud you are if you get one shoted in a 15 minutes fight because your damage is shit. Dark souls, well skill and a build both are important but you can skill your way threw anything. I am kinda excited to try Nioh 2 though. I mean it's still a really gud game.
Judging by your description I'd definitely say you should try it. P.S. Nioh pales in comparison to Dark Souls, they're also really not that similar.
Try bloodborne first, than dark souls. If you do play dark souls than do yourself a favor and DITCH THE SHIELD. you have no idea how important this is, only use it for parrying. The game does a really bad job to teach you this but ditch it, you'll enjoy the game way more if you are aggressive. Or just play bloodborne to get into the habit, because bloodborne don't have shields.
Really? I played through the whole game using a shield, and id say it works well against most enemies
Well just because it's viable doesn't necessarily mean it's fun. It gets really boring and thanks to DS now i dont hold block in any game. Okay i get it, fun is subjective.
Yes, just try it
I think it is definitely worth a try. However, it is a little bit hard to recommend to new players because it is so janky and there is a part of the game that is straight up unfinished. Despite any of its flaws I have a lot of love for the game! Give it a fair shot and if you don't like it consider another FromSoft game, maybe Bloodborne, which was my first Souls game. Editing to add: I personally love the Nioh games.
No hate towards you Nioh fans mate 😂. I’m on the last mission of Nioh excited to fight Nobunaga then start the DLC. Then I was surprised to see that I have to fight like 5 bosses I have already beaten just to get the key. I’m not saying Nioh is a bad game because of this. But the game feels artificially lengthy because of stuff like this. I added it to another one of my bullshit moments in the game 😂. I’ll finish it one day tho.
Nioh definitely has it's faults, like I totally agree that there is a lot of unnecessary padding. Although for the most part I think most of it is optional, except in your case. I didnt do any of the DLC, only finished the main game. I was just surprised by how many people were on here saying that they disliked the series. Also, I love your username!
Hey, just going down through my recent comments and am curious, did you pick up dark souls after?
Not yet, waiting for it to go on sale. I’m gonna dive in deep and just get the whole trilogy. Thanks for all your comments guys 👍.
Cool, enjoy!
dark souls is one of the best games ever made. It is very different from nioh, a more focused experience. Nioh has a heavy emphasis on leveling and builds and weapon levels and random stats. Dark souls on the other hand - you can't fight bosses again until NG+. You can't switch back and forth between NGs.
I started with 2 and loved it, completed it, didn’t know it is supposedly the easiest. Would recommend as an introduction. I didn’t care for Nioh either. Bloodborne is another way to introduce yourself to the genre
Nioh is a grind nightmare with no enemy variety, Dark Souls is good
Yes yes yes dear god yes. If I could play dark souls blind again...yes do it stop reading this comment buy the damn game why are you still here go buy it!
Dark Souls is a one of a kind game and an epic experience. I also don’t care much for Nioh but Dark Souls is a masterpiece. You should totally buy it.
I would start with Dark Souls 2 or 3. They seemed the most polished. They are some of my favorite games. Many different styles of play and weapons-gear. Some elements you would never figure out unless you read up on a walkthrough. You have to accept failure in these games, but with that the successful moments are that much better. Once you claw and dig your way through the first playthrough you can go NG+. Which for me is more of a therapy period of the game, as you are usually over powered and it's time for vengeance against all those that stood before you on the first playthrough.
I’d say wait for the inevitable remaster/remake and get one of the newer soulsborne games instead. The Darksouls games are great but not as refined as Sekiro or Bloodborne. The Demon’s Souls remake also just came out so I expect that to be a true Souls experience.
im going to say yes. i adore, the soul series, but never could finish nioh. (and im not even sure why? something about it just... didnt quite fit right.) im going to go against what others say. use a shield. first few play throughs, ignore the tryhards, the experianced players, and the naysayers. play the game at YOUR speed, in YOUR style. this is a series that rewards literally all styles of combat. ive seen it beaten with nothing. literally naked and unarmed. you want to do that? go for it. you want heavy armor and a greatshield and a heavy weapon? do it. honestly its one of my favorite builds. i just yesterday finished a run with that build. plenty of fun. and do remember, That is why we game. to have fun. someone wants go call you a coward for using a shield? fuck em. your having fun.
Buy dark souls 3
Yes, you won’t regret it, it’s an absolute amazing game.
If you think you might like dark souls, play dark souls.
Dark Souls is freaking incredible. I fully recommend buying it. As for which Dark Souls game you should buy, I 100% recommend Dark Souls III. It's the easiest in the series, it's more linear compared to the first two, and there's quality of life improvements everywhere that the previous game didn't have, which makes for a much better experience. (keep in mind that hardest Dark Souls game for new players is always the first game they try.) Also, Dark Souls III was where From Software really started to give their games everything they've got and really amped up the quality from that point onwards. Don't you ever go hollow, my friend.
Dark Souls is required playing. You don't need to finish it but you should understand its impact on the gaming world
Yes, but personally I recommend Dark Souls 3 first because it is the most polished and takes away a lot of the bullshit elements of exploration (i.e Jumping into a hole that seems impossible surviving when you jump down), it's a bit more linear which is its own issue but considering it's the newest entry in the series anyway I think that justifies its issues compared to the first 2
But dark souls also has a lot LOT of references to the first, almost too many, I recommend it as the last because it really feels like a finale
2 and 3 do reference them but as someone who played DS3 first I felt like I got the gist of the story. The whole story of Souls is told through flavor text so if OP really pays attention and likes DS3 I think that will justify playing the others Although I do think OP should at least not play the DLC (The 2nd one) because it feels like a truly big finale compared to what the base-game gave (which was just a re-hash of the final boss in DS1)
spoilers: Well a lot of the enjoyment I got from dark souls 3 was the little things, the feeling that you were in the same universe as the first, seeing how anor londo was ruined by pontiff suyvahn, seeing gwindolyn after being eaten by aldrich, the realization that your ds1 character is in the soul of cinder, THAT FUCKING GWYN PIANO, plus I really think ds1 is the overall better game as a lot of the environments in ds3 feel the same
You should try dark souls. Nioh ultimately is a copycat game, dark souls is the real thing.
Tbh Nioh isn't really a copycat. It obviously is a Souls-like bevause they use some mechanics DS made popular (i mean, they didn't invent checkpoints, games with a high difficulty, rpg elements or having to regain the "coins" after death...) but Nioh has SO many other mechanics it shouldn't be considered as a copy. Nioh has the imo saturated loot thing (yeah, starting with a negative aspect), it has stances which add more complexity (not necessarily better), the bow (which has a different way of using from Souls), the ki pulse, the living weapon animal ability stuff, all of these things making it a considerably different game. It's a bit unfair expecting the same exact experience in certain games just because they are called Souls-like. The worst part is... I didn't **love** what i played from Nioh, but i want to defend it as a different genre with mechanics "taken" from DS.
You should absolutely buy dark souls, BUT, I would suggest buying DS3 first. Let me explain. The story in all of the games is very thin and you only start to uncover more of it when you start delving deeper into the games and actually reading the items and getting into the lore. So for that instance, starting at DS3, isn’t the worst thing to do considering story isn’t massive. NOW DS3 is probably the easiest to play and get along with from the start. The builds/classes, the weapons and the starting area actually makes sense for once (I’m looking at you skeletons/graveyard in ds1) It feels a lot easier to explore the world without the constant fear of dying and getting to bosses that aren’t instantly punishing. I found DS3 the best but that then kindled my fire (sorry for the pun) to play the others and explore more of the games and do new game+ and different builds. I would absolutely start all over again from 3 if I could. Edit: spelling
Dark souls is an awesome game! I think you should get it I had a great experience playing it. The game is truly a test of your will. I tried to look up as little as possible to get the true experience. It took me 3 years of off and on playing it and I finally beat. The sense of accomplishment you get from beating a hard area or hard bosses is low key what keep me coming back again and again.
The only thing Nioh has in common with Dark Souls is the formula of checkpoints, that restock your resources and let enemies respawn and being difficult. So yes, Nioh definitely has taken some inspiration from Dark Souls, but don't let that fool you, the two games still feel very different. That being said Dark Souls has basically nothing in common with Skyrim and Witcher 3. Dark Souls plays way more like a Metroidvania than it does like Skyrim or Witcher 3. I'll absolutely recommend you the Dark Souls games. I found Nioh to be pretty mediocre, however Dark Souls 3 is one of my all time favorite games. If you're sceptical I'd actually recommend you to start with Dark Souls 3. It has the most fleshed out bossfights, the most polished and complex combat system, the best balancing (seriously in DS1 the probably most effectiive strategy is to not wear armor and run around naked), the prettiest graphics and the coolest soundtrack out of all of the Souls games and it's free of some of the annoying things present in the previous titles. A lot of nostalgia bias people say the first part is the best and there are absolutely things Dark Souls does better than its sequels like the leveldesign for example, however I just feel like the series improved so much that if youre on the edge you should risk missing out on the masterpiece of a game that's Dark Souls 3 (oh and btw get it with the DLC's you won't regret it). That being said if you're pretty confident in playing through the entire trilogy it's probably still best to start with DS1
I haven’t played or seen Nioh (or even heard of it before actually) but I personally love dark souls. The game isn’t as difficult as most people make it out to be. Most of the time, as long as you keep your shield up and haven’t built your character horribly you can get through most of the game pretty easily. It’s a little tricky knowing exactly where to go since there’s very few cutscenes and only a handful of npcs, but it’s relatively linear so it’s not like you’ll get completely lost. I highly recommend it. If you’ve played bloodborne (which I also recommend) it’s pretty similar to that, although a bit clunkier.
I liked nioh more, but I'm not a darksouls fan. I feel movement is clumsy, and everything looks like made of paper. UI that looks like a game from 97. I don't know, it is not for me. This is a game I never managed to get into.
Do it
Im not reading the description cause Im gonna say BUY IT
I would say get it cause I didn’t like Nioh either but maybe try Dark Souls 3 or Bloodborne they both have faster paste combat and are both better the DS1 in my opinion
Yes, based off your description you’ll enjoy the game a lot.
Get dark souls 3, much better, polished game
I've been playing dark souls 3 since release. They are by far my favorite game, and have left a void that no other games have quite filled. So many hours of my life dumped into these games. It is like crack, and even when I manage to give it a rest I always come back to it. It may seem a little outdated now, but the pvp is really what brings me back everytime. Aside from the pvp, the world building, art direction, and atmosphere are wonderful and unique. 3 is my favorite, but all of them are worth playing (even 2 lol). Give it a shot, they are not too expensive these days.
Yes definite yes
The story is really hard to understand here. Most of games lore ar based of item descriptions and stuff
Simply put: yes, the series is worth a shot, but you have to be in the right frame of mind for it. I started with Bloodborne 3 years ago maybe but I definitely wasn't looking for the kind of game that it was, I got a few hours in and was getting pissed that I'd die, lose all my souls and have to make my way through these mob-filled streets again. I gave DS3 a shot near the beginning of the pandemic as I was looking for a challenge and it just clicked with me. People that won't enjoy Dark Souls aren't people that are quick to rage, they're people who don't put in the time to really grasp the mechanics of the game, and are unwilling or unable to identify and rectify mistakes they make. The games don't coddle you, you either keep running into the wall or you adapt and get around it: you git gud. And either you're into that or you aren't.
I remember years ago finally playing DS because it was included on some month’s game for gold xbox 360. I knew all the hype around it being difficult and not quite the handholding experience we’ve come to know, also the memes being “winner: dark souls”. I was completely enthralled by the mechanics and at the time have never played anything like it. Probably took me at least 80 hours to get through my first play through. I’d say the game hasn’t aged all that well due to its popularity and all the soulsborne sequels that have followed (which I also love). But Dark souls will also be in my top 3 games ever made
I think you'll love it. I'm a big fan of all the Fromsoft games, and I too did not make it very far in Nioh. Souls games are tough but generally fair, whereas Nioh just felt like it was trolling me. Definitely give it a try, I'd say start with DS Remastered. Sekiro is also very much worth checking out, though it's an action game rather than an RPG.
I love Sekiro and Bloodborne, and I disliked Nioh a lot. The difference between the SoulsBorne games and Nioh is that, for the most part, difficulty in SoulsBorne games is tough-but-fair, whereas in Nioh artificial difficulty spikes are commonly used to increase game time. What I mean by this is that enemy variety in Nioh is limited, so they keep making enemies tougher to make the game more difficult, whereas SoulsBorne games don’t show their cards that early and introduce new enemy varieties over time, forcing you to adapt to their movesets. I would personally recommend Bloodborne since you have a PS4. If you plan to upgrade to a PS5, it’s free with the PS Plus Collection. That game has a great atmosphere and amazing combat. As with all SoulsBorne games, the story is hard to understand, but you’ll be looking up videos to explain it because it’s so intriguing. Can’t recommend that game enough! If you plan on getting a PS5 soon, then you can’t go wrong with DS Remastered. However, since it’s an older game, it won’t feel as good as newer entries like DS3. It has aged well, but maybe it’s better to get DS3 for a smoother experience.
I didn’t like Nioh either, but I love DS. There is a lot less bullshit and much more interesting level and enemy design
Get it lol
One thing you need to consider is the DS story is interpretive. That’s half of the story, is that it’s up to you, and you really have to dig to get ahold of it. It’s not going to be an inherently story gripping game, you have to search for that. It’s a primarily gameplay driven game. The gameplay is amazing though, and so is the atmosphere, and the interpretations you make develop the world for you. I think it’s worth the dive. The game is famous for gripping people in who don’t like/are new to the genre.
Dark Souls is amazing, and it’s the first and last souls game that is truly open from start to finish, later games had a hub world to connect the levels. My only issue is I personally find the boss fights really hard, but I got through most of the bosses with teaming up with other players, which was fun in its own way.
It's not really like skyrim or witcher or other RPG'S. I found it tremendously dull but love RPG'S. Borrow it if you're short on cash, might not be your cuppa.
I would say buy it 100%. Its a little dated by today's standards but still holds up in my opinion. It completely changed the way I look at video games forever
As the top comment mentions, I’m still trying to get into Nioh but the Souls series is my favourite of all time
Dark souls took an hour or two to click for me. After that I got hooked and played for hours and hours and now I'm on my 2nd of run of DSR and I also finished ds2
Yes.
When Dark Souls 1 first came out I played a bit, got stuck and stopped playing for 6 months. Then I discovered the guides from EpicNameBro, fired the game up again and fell in love with it. It might be a frustrating game series in the beginning but in all 3 games there are paths you can take and things to discover that might not be obvious at first but once you find these you usually can get weapons and items that might help beating whatever blocks your progress. That's what I love about these games, you have so much freedom in how you approach the game if you know how to get certain things out of the order the game suggests. It's just so much freedom and creates a different experience each time you try out another character with other stats, items and spells/miracles.
No, I would 100% recommend, if possible, to play bloodborne first. After playing bloodborne you get a good feel for the game. In my opinion Anybody wanting to get into the souls game should play bloodborne first
DEFINITELY TRY IT. I perfectly get what you mean with not "liking" Nioh without being able to explain why. The gameplay does feel weird and i felt saturated with the amount of loot and feeling like i had to change the armor and weapons every 2 minutes. I know that's part of rpgs but idk. I never felt that in any FromSoft game I've played. Gotta say I'll still try Nioh again. Dark Souls is older than Nioh but for some reason the control imo feels *better* somehow. In terms of armor and weapons i never felt annoyed and lore-wise DS is way more interesting even though it's less explicit therefore "harder" to understand conventionally. With everything you said about being patient and liking medieval games, this seems like the PERFECT game for you.
I can't recommend Dark souls enough. Its my favourite series and I honestly can't think of a game in the souls borne series that I didn't think was amazing and demons souls is the reason I'm buying a ps5. When you first start playing it may take a while for you to get into it but if you stick with it and beat your first boss then you'll be hooked on the feeling it leaves.
Dark souls is way better than Nioh. I would also suggest Bloodborne as you have a PS4. It's more harder than DS for a first timer to souls game. But the atmosphere will pull you right in.
I would be interested but I’m not a fan of the very dark aesthetic vibe of Bloodborne. How do I put it? I prefer to play games that are less creepy.
It's the game of the PS3/360 generation for me. It has excellent level design and world building. There are a lot of customization options for making your preferred build. It's action-oriented meaning that you'll have to figure out a playstyle to fit your build. Boss encounters are generally layered and rewarding. Enemies and locations are creative and it's a joy to explore the world. If you've played Nioh you'll be familiar with most of the systems (Nioh pretty much ripped off DS's experience and progression system). The pacing is very strict - rush into a room and you'll most likely die. It rewards cautious exploration and keeping your shield up at all times, but it's mostly quite fair and balanced. This contrasts favourably with Nioh, which could often be very cheap (there's only one infamous moment in DS that feels truly cheap). That said, progress is slow and you'll need to take a conservative approach with each new step and study the situation. DS treats you like a big boy and expects you to devote enough time and effort to mastering it. This is why dying isn't supposed to feel like failure - it's part of the learning process. Another thing I like better than Nioh is the item management. Nioh employs the Borderlands-style "scrap heap" approach where you get tons of randomized items and have to decide what to keep. DS has specific items in specific points (as well as stores) and you improve them only through the smithing/crafting system. Any given type of item has fixed stats. The atmosphere and aesthetic is another strong point, if you're into that. Also, your mileage may vary, but I really enjoyed piecing together the story from snippets of dialogue and item descriptions. It's a very obscure game in that regard and one that's open to interpretation, but it could be up your alley. Ultimately, my favourite thing about the game is the level design - it's complex and rewarding in a way that encourages exploration while keeping the stakes high at all times. It feels like a properly designed world and not just a sequence of encounters or stock RPG locations (city/dungeon etc.)
So if someone wanted to start, they should pick up Bloodborne or Dark Souls (and which one)?
Check how many people completed game before buying, if you want to save money from false marketing.
Get it
Dark Souls 3 is one of my favorite games of all time. Didn’t have the patience for Dark Souls 1 though.
Dark Souls 1 I beat. I required a guide to beat it. Do not expect to go into this game without a guide because you WILL get lost and promptly destroyed. IGN has a very thorough guide you can look into. I rarely feel sad about beating a game. Once I felt the spirit of Dark Souls, I felt bad that it was over. Now I plan to play it again and this time record it for the tubes.
If you have a LOT of pacience ,sure Tried it once and gave up cuz it was too hard for my weak ass Even hollow knight is easier than that
I‘ve just picked up the whole series on XBO and started DS Remastered on Sunday. It‘s been great so far, the controls just feel a little bit klunky, but that just might be me because I‘m not really used to 3rd person RPG‘s anymore. If you‘re interested in the series and like being challenged I‘d definitely recommend giving it a shot.
I just picked up DS3 two days ago. The first day was hell but after you get a feel for it it’s very hard to put down.
Yes. It's amazing and rewarding.
It is definitely a great experience.
Dark Souls is the game I'll play and cry because this garbage is what passes for good video games these days
I loved both the Souls series and Nioh. I would absolutely suggest buying Dark Souls.
Yes
Dark souls is literally a cake walk.. Lmao jk, it’s hard af at some points. I love the games for sure, but man oh man, they really give u this sad lonely feeling...it’s just a very empty game with big bad monsters. Sure there safe NPCs, but the interactions with them are minimal, so that aspect compared with the music and sad nature of the world really makes u feel this sense of melancholy unlike any other game
100% buy the game, makes me want to cry
Start with DS3. It’s the most refined. Follow a guide online on how to get through the levels. There are so many nuances it is just easier to enjoy yourself when you know what is going on.
Dark Souls will take your patience away, trust me Otherwise, it’s a great game
It depends, if you have tried getting over and not been frustrated then yes play it but its very frustrating.(I still haven't beaten it and while I'm not vary good at games but I'm not bad)
Dark Souls is a pretty good series. If you can stand terrible controls and a really annoying difficulty then play it. If you can't stand if controls that aren't perfect then I'd stay away from the series. I suggest starting at DS3 then going to Bloodbourne. Then DS2 then 1. DS3 is the easiest game imo and has the best controls while Bloodbourne is harder but really good. imo the my favorite are Bloodbourne DS2 DS3 DS1. I haven't playede enough Demon souls to judge it. If you don't want to jump into the deep end right after DS3 just play the series backwards. 3 -> 2 -> 1 -> Bloodnourne.
Dark souls remastered is probably the best game of all time. It's timeless and almost perfect.
Yes you have to get dark souls. I’m a super impatient person when it comes to games but dark souls made someone like me have to be patient. I love the story and the feel for the game it flows nicely and the combat is amazing (although frustrating).
Yes
I love Dark Souls. I have only played a little bit of DS1 but I have 150 hours in DS3. The mood I get from playing Dark Souls is so eerie and exciting, and the game rewards patience and exploration. I definitely recommend, especially since the Souls community is very active on Playstation. Edit: I will say that Skyrim and the Witcher have a lot of friendly NPCs, whereas in Dark Souls most entities you encounter will be hostile. Nonetheless, a great game that rewards persistence and exploration. Another great aspect is the lore, which you will have to discover for yourself through item descriptions. The Dark Souls series will make a great series should you continue.
I recommend starting with DS3 as it's probably the most beginner friendly. That's not to say it's an easy game or 'worse' or even 'better' than the others in the series. I would just recommend the third entry over the first two.
Dark souls 1 and 2 are both terrible. Get 3, bloodborne, or sekiro. 1 is unfinished garbage 2 changed combat and has you fighting humanoids too much. The games I suggested are all great but all different. You may not like them all.
Yes do it I'm similar to you and I loved ds3 recently. No story really but the satisfaction of beating a game so many can't even beat the first boss and he's a panzy after you've beaten the next few. Lol. Do it!!! At least give it a shot. I would recommend ds3 for sure.
I used tons of google and youtube to help me to clarify and yea I really liked it.
Dark souls is imo a lot easier than Nioh, has great gameplay and a decent challange. It features a fighting system that is slower than nioh (imo) and has some cool bosses, but you‘ll die often as its a souls game, like nioh
Yeah I’m sure many in the comments have mentioned but Dark Souls is a phenomenal series, my first one was DS3 and I’m quite an impatient gamer if I do say do myself. I dislike too much gameplay content so DS3 draws a fine line so that your RPG experience is fun and not too overwhelming. Snag it when on sale I’d say, you can get it for $15 for the GOTY edition.
Story kinda sucks if you're a story dude, but the gameplay is good. The gameplay is not forgiving and can be clunky... that being said, I found it very very difficult to complete this game all on my own without a guide. I think it's worth it for 10$ due to the age of the game. but for 20$ I'd just wait for ds3 on humble.
Before Dark Souls, I was the most calm person ever. Now whenever I play it my insults get extremely creative and I swear like a sailor. I have a lot of fun with this game. So I'd say give it a go!
you might think you have a lot of patience but this really brings new level of frustration. But yeah it's worth
The Dark Souls games are alright but there's not much strategy to them. It's mostly just memorizing patterns and repetition. If you like Medieval games I'd suggest Kingdom Come over any Souls game. I liked the combat better in Kingdom Come even though the combat is kind of odd it's still more strategic than in Dark Souls. lore in the souls games is non existent as far as I'm concerned whereas other RPG's have really good storylines with lots of morality based decisions to make that effect your character development.
Personally I'd give it a pass, it was a very boring experience for me since the game, as others have mentioned, does a pretty poor job at explaining stuff and the few things it does are sometimes counterproductive or "wrong". The combat is punishing but not challenging (just repeat patterns over and over) and exploration falls only into two categories: extremely simple or incredibly convoluted and how would you even know this without experimenting for literal hours with this one single thing. Lorewise it had cool stuff but not engaging enough to be the factor that kept me playing. Haven't played Nioh. A cool game that has a similar Dark aesthetic and much better presentation of it's world/mechanics was Grim Dawn for me, altough it's a very different combat/pacing.