Yes, the first cycle of the game (aka the tutorial) is very easy. I find a "sameyness" to a lot of roguelikes, which is part of the reason I don't like them. The variety of weapon sets and how it changes your playing style mitigates this.

Animavore wrote:Preferred Hollow Knight though. Another platformer that takes from the Dark Souls blueprint.

That's funny, I never thought of Hollow Knight as having a connection to Dark Souls, to me it was just a standard metroidvania with an unusual atmosphere. How do you see it?

SafeAsMilk wrote:

Animavore wrote:Preferred Hollow Knight though. Another platformer that takes from the Dark Souls blueprint.

That's funny, I never thought of Hollow Knight as having a connection to Dark Souls, to me it was just a standard metroidvania with an unusual atmosphere. How do you see it?

You have checkpoints in areas of respite like DS with its bonfires. You lose all you credits (can't remember what they call them) when you die and you have to retrieve them and lost them if you die on the way. It has a focus on areas and boss fights. It has an interconnected world with shortcuts. It also has a vague plot with odd NPCs and a morbid atmosphere.

Dark Souls is probably a Metroidvania anyway.

Thommo wrote:I keep hearing great things about Dead Cells, but it just didn't grab me. I played for about 90 mins without dying and it just felt super samey.

Did you not finish the game in that time?

Other than losing your credits (can't remember what you lose if you die in SotN...nothing maybe?) and the vague plot/mopey atmosphere, those are all standard in metroidvanias. I'll have to ruminate on the idea of DS being a metroidvania!

Some Metroidvania elements are there. The interlocking world which begins limited in where you can go but gradually opens up as you get specific items or find keys or levers is probably the most obvious one. Also the use of rolls to avoid attacks may be argued.

It does have an RPG layer over this though so it's a hybrid of some sort. In the same way DOOM is.

The light RPG/stat elements in DS are in SotN as well! Though not in Hollow Knight, if I recall. No "builds" in either, though. Roll/dodge for sure, though since that move doesn't appear in the mother of metroidvanias (Super Metroid!) I don't consider it a defining element

I think one of the biggest cases for Dark Souls being a Metroidvania is when you take Dark Souls and flatten it to 2-D you get the utterly brilliant Salt and Sanctuary which is almost certainly a Metroidvania.

Ooh, hadn't even heard about that one, will check it out!

Animavore wrote:

Thommo wrote:I keep hearing great things about Dead Cells, but it just didn't grab me. I played for about 90 mins without dying and it just felt super samey.

Did you not finish the game in that time?

I checked my playtime, it was actually only about 45 mins. I don't know why it didn't grab me, but it didn't. It seems to happen from time to time. Funnily enough Hollow Knight was another game that I just didn't get on with. Played for about 4 or 5 hours and realised it felt like a chore and stopped.

I suspect I just don't like Metroidvanias, I don't recall ever playing one that I loved and I read people praising them a lot.

On a less whingey note I've been playing and loving Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout and Spiritfarer the last couple of weeks. Two very different games, to put it mildly. My only regret is getting Fall Guys on steam instead of on PS4. I can barely play a game without a hacker now. There is some fun to be had in sabotaging your own team when you get a hacker on it in one of the team events at least though.

I Fall Guys

As if the internet is spying on me this just popped into my feed. Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, and their relation to Dark Souls.



Also totally forgot about this guy.

Jim liked Dead Cells... I keep forgetting to check it out.

Oh, I didn't notice the discussion about "metroidvania"... Jim has a video on that too. I guess platforming would exclude DS. "Souls-like" gets a mention @ 15:18.

I just finished the tutorial of Crusader Kings 3 and there's so much info to take in I feel like I need to lie down for a bit.

What happens when you pit Dark Souls bosses against each other?

Is this using an editor/mod, or is this in DS3 itself?

The concept's cool, and I like the big boss's character animations (and sound effects), but... mostly all I see in scenarios like this is all the 'enemies' pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

I wonder what would happen if the AI were programmed to... like... actually pit them against him.

Now that I'm playing Crusader Kings 3 it's not so bad. I feel like I should've just dived right in and winged it rather than play the tutorial. I haven't even retained much of the info from that playthrough.

Trying Dead Cells.
I suck at it. Not a surprise though.

aban57 wrote:Trying Dead Cells.
I suck at it. Not a surprise though.

The audacity... smh.



I’m currently inching through Doom (2016), which I thought would be just fun destruction (it is) but I’ve turned it into an easter egg hunt (boooooooo!).