The Souls trilogy is on sale (first time in two years) and all three work great on Deck.
marigo
joined 2 years ago
What kind of build were you using? Heavy weapons are a ton of fun in 2, especially pancaking enemies with the greatsword. There's the power stance system for dual wielding too.
I first tried DS1 a few months after it launched, around the end of 2011, and I got completely stuck against O&S despite throwing myself against the fight for hours. I had no idea about stats or scaling when I started, and felt like I had irreparably messed up my character. I'm sure it was fine, but I restarted from scratch after taking a small break. Running back through the early game and having a much smoother time fired me up for the rematch. Suddenly the game clicked, and the realisation of how far I'd come since first starting pushed me to keep going.
Gen 1/2 dual blades were precision weapons, surprisingly. You were rooted to the spot and locked into animations a lot more than in later games, without the benefit of constant stunlocking like you'd get with GS or hammer. You often couldn't reach weakpoints either, so they were all about carefully chipping at the feet to get trips and then going ham for a few seconds after they topple. Very fun weapons, but mashing would get you killed quickly.
I hop weapons a lot, but always fall back on SnS. For the longest time I avoided SnS since it was treated by the community back then as a weak beginner weapon and something players upgrade from once they learn how to play, but I love its versatility. It's the most comfortable for me when learning new fights due to its speed and precision, and there are always tons of weapons to build and play with since raw/element/status are all viable. Wide range para SnS when playing with friends is always fun.
My ex at the time picked up Freedom 2 not long after launch, and I asked him about it after seeing it sat on his shelf. He gave me it to keep since he got so frustrated with the controls and not knowing what to do, but I fell in love. I sucked at the game, but would spend hours gathering materials and building new gear to try out. Since then I've played all of the localised games, as well as fan translations and the recent private servers for 1/Tri and Frontier. Can't wait to try out the online for Dos too.
I could maybe see a return to Dark Souls at some point way in the future, more like a soft reboot or expanded reimagining of 1 to cash in on the name. I don't think it'll happen for a long time though, similar to the big gap between RE4 and its remake, or the upcoming MGS3. I also doubt Miyazaki would be the project leader since he prefers to try new things.
IMO part of the appeal of Souls games is piecing together the lore and background of the world, and the DS trilogy exhausted a lot of that. People want more of the same because it feels comfy and familiar, but the lore was designed to have gaps and there's only so much they can add before it starts to feel like bloat. I'd prefer to see fresh experiences each time, but would love to see a return to the puzzle+trap level design of DeS/DS1 and more heavy, deliberate combat.
I prefer classic since I grew up with it, but modern controls are completely valid and it's a shame to see the way so many people treat Modern players. I don't think it reflects well on the community to push away new players when most people will never be at a level where modern vs classic is the deciding factor in a match. Getting salty when losing to modern players or using it as an excuse just encourages toxicity towards beginners and those dipping their toes into the genre.
IMO it doesn't need to replace Reddit for everyone or grow to be a direct competitor. As long as there are enough users to keep communities active and discussions going, it's a nice alternative for people who want to get away from Reddit or other social media sites. I like that threads are active for longer than a few hours before dropping off, and since posts are slower I don't find myself mindlessly scrolling. Lemmy feels more like a mid 2000s forum but with better usability.