What are you playing now?

[Rath Darkblade]

I'm not logged out, no. For some reason, the forum stopped logging me out. *shrug* I'm not sure why, but I'm not complaining.

[JasefWisener]

Finished Elden Ring and moved onto Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin baybee

[Tawmis]

Finished Elden Ring and moved onto Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin baybee

I thought Elden Ring (I know nothing of it) was one of those "has no ends." You can literally grow plants, raise animals, etc?

[MusicallyInspired]

I....hadn't heard that. But I haven't played it yet either.

[Tawmis]

I....hadn't heard that. But I haven't played it yet either.

I googlized it. It does have an ending. Multiple, as a matter of fact.
But to see each ending, ye need to start the game all over.

I checked - I was actually thinking of Horizon: Zero Dawn.

Both are new games.

[Rath Darkblade]

Horizon: Zero Dawn isn't that new. It was released in 2017. I suspect you mean Horizon: Forbidden West.

Finished Elden Ring and moved onto Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin baybee

I thought Elden Ring (I know nothing of it) was one of those "has no ends." You can literally grow plants, raise animals, etc?

You can do that in Skyrim too, and Skyrim has an end ... of sorts. But yeah, the Elder Scrolls games are ones that don't really have a "Game over".

[DeadPoolX]

Elden Ring is a "souls-like" game and has nothing to do with the Elder Scrolls or, as far as I know, growing plants or farming. It's similar to Dark Souls, and other games like it.

Never been a big fan of "souls-like" games since they're designed around being inconvenient, frustrating, and insanely difficult. Not the way I want to spend my recreation time, but apparently a lot of people like "souls-like" games, so maybe they're just masochists.

[Rath Darkblade]

Huh. I looked up "souls-like" games and found one that I've played -- The Witcher 2. I didn't like it very much; it was very difficult and very dark, with hardly any comic relief (or any other relief). Not very likeable.

Are the "Pillars of Eternity" games 'souls-like'? The first one probably isn't, but the second one appears to be. What about "Dragon Age: Inquisition"? It has more than enough darkness and difficulty.

[MusicallyInspired]

Witcher 2 is a Souls-like? Huh.

[Tawmis]

Are the "Pillars of Eternity" games 'souls-like'? The first one probably isn't

Which is ironic, considering the character you play.

[DeadPoolX]

Huh. I looked up "souls-like" games and found one that I've played -- The Witcher 2. I didn't like it very much; it was very difficult and very dark, with hardly any comic relief (or any other relief). Not very likeable.

No, The Witcher 2 is NOT a souls-like game in any shape or form. If it were you'd lose all progress if/when you die, be limited to checkpoint saves, all enemies would respawn whenever you use a checkpoint to save, etc.

The Witcher 2 plays like a normal (fairly easy) third-person RPG, similar to many others in the genre, such as the Mass Effect series (only ME has guns, but you get the point).

In addition... according to the link you posted, The Witcher 2 also drew some inspiration from Batman: Arkham Asylum and Heavy Rain... so does that mean The Witcher 2 is suddenly a Metroidvania/third-person stealth combat game or a quick-time event adventure game? No, it doesn't, and you should know that.

Witcher 2 is a Souls-like? Huh.

No, it's not. The Witcher 2 may have been inspired by the "souls-like" genre in some minor ways, but it has no primary "souls-like" game mechanics, which means it's no more a "souls-like" than Quest For Glory. After all, if I try hard enough, I could come up with something to tie QFG to the "souls-like" genre even though doing so would be idiotic.

Are the "Pillars of Eternity" games 'souls-like'? The first one probably isn't, but the second one appears to be. What about "Dragon Age: Inquisition"? It has more than enough darkness and difficulty.

No, PoE 1 and 2 are most definitely NOT souls-like games, and neither is Dragon Age: Inquisition!

"Souls-like" doesn't mean "dark and/or difficult!" That criteria could apply to all sorts of games, not the least of which are Gabriel Knight and QFG4, because those games are dark and I imagine quite a few people would find those games difficult.


Since you're obviously very misinformed, Rath, here's a description of "souls-like" gameplay:

"Soulslike games typically have a high level of difficulty where repeated player-character death is expected and incorporated as part of the gameplay, losing all progress if certain checkpoints have not been reached.

Soulslike games also usually have means to permanently improve the player-character's abilities as to be able to progress further, often by a type of currency that can be earned and spent, but may be lost or abandoned between deaths if not appropriately managed, similar to the souls in the Souls series. This mechanic provides a means to avoid an outright failure state, where the player must restart the game completely and lose all progress, while still providing a risk-and-reward system to make the game challenging to the player.

The need for repeated playthroughs can be viewed as a type of self-improvement for the player, either through gradual improvement of their character, or improving their own skills and strategies within the game.

Combat in soulslike games may also be methodical, requiring the player to monitor stamina to avoid overexertion of their character, and often is based on "animation priority" actions that prevent the player from cancelling movement until the animation has been played out, leaving them vulnerable to enemy attacks."
Source: Wikipedia entry on "souls-like" games.

Something else to understand is that most gamers are incredibly stupid, so they tend to label any game that looks like other popular games as being part of that group. In other words, I've repeatedly seen people list any game, regardless of genre, as "souls-like" when the gameplay is NOTHING like a real "souls-like" game at all just because it visually resembles one or may have a slightly similar game mechanic involved.

[MusicallyInspired]

Okay. Yeah, I didn't think it did. Thanks for clarifying. That never made sense when I heard it lol.

It's also worth noting that when people say that "such-and-such game" is "the Dark Souls of such-and-such game franchise" all they mean is that it's one of the most difficult and/or challenging games in that game series. Not that the gameplay is anything like a Souls-like.

I still have not played a Soulslike, though I've had Dark Souls in my Steam library for a long time now. I've heard great things about Elden Ring even from people who have traditionally not liked Soulslike games. I kind of really want to pick it up now. I enjoy a good challenge. Doom Eternal was challenging in a different way and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of just needing to strap up and refine your skills until you master a gameplay mechanic.

[DeadPoolX]

It's also worth noting that when people say that "such-and-such game" is "the Dark Souls of such-and-such game franchise" all they mean is that it's one of the most difficult and/or challenging games in that game series. Not that the gameplay is anything like a Souls-like.

True, but I've seen a lot of people put "souls-like" tags on games on Steam that aren't in any shape or form a souls-like simply because there may be a few similar game elements or even just look similar.

I still have not played a Soulslike, though I've had Dark Souls in my Steam library for a long time now.

The closest I've played (for any length of time) is a game called Remnant: From the Ashes in co-op with Maia, but I really wouldn't classify it as a souls-like. Maybe a souls-lite at best, but it has more in-common with "third-person action games with a few RPG elements"... yet it's called a souls-like for whatever reason.

I did try Dark Souls, but it wasn't fun. I don't mean "it was too difficult," I mean the gameplay and controls were awful, so I was basically forcing myself to play it and then I thought, "Why am I doing this?" So I stopped and uninstalled it. I have no desire to "work at a game" because if I'm going to work, I'm either going to get paid or do something to increase a real life skill that'll actually have some payoff.

That said, I've never tried Dark Souls 2 or 3, so it's entirely possible those games were a lot better, but I just don't care at this point.

[Rath Darkblade]

Sigh. Since the forum ate my reply to MI and Tawm (above) -- again (that's the fourth time the forum ate my reply on this thread) ...

I only wished to say that when I looked up "Soulslike" on wikipedia, it had this to say:

Other games outside of the genre cited to have been influenced by the Souls series include The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2011),[25] Destiny (2014),[26] Shovel Knight (2014),[27][28] Titan Souls (2015),[27] The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015),[29] Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018),[30] and God of War (2018).[31] Similar death mechanics are used in Nier: Automata (2017)[32] and Hollow Knight (2017).[17]

(emphasis mine)

So, clearly I misunderstood what Soulslike is. Sorry!

[DeadPoolX]

Sigh. Since the forum ate my reply to MI and Tawm (above) -- again (that's the fourth time the forum ate my reply on this thread) ...

That's weird that it's happened four times in the same thread. I have no idea why this would be occurring or more to the point, why only with you. That suggests there's something awry on your end, but what?

In the meantime, I'd suggest copying and pasting anything you write (in this thread at least) to a txt file and saving it before you click "submit." If your post gets eaten again, you'll still have your original reply and just in case there's something in the reply that's "not playing nice" with the board we'd also be able to examine it.