Druid[Discussion] Which Soulslike will you be playing this weekend and what would you like a potential second DLC for Elden Ring to be about?
GrantUsEyesWith SOTE and Nightreign, (still need to do the dlc) I think I’m good on Elden Ring/ adjacent content for a while. The world and story are already so expansive… What I’d like more lore on could be addressed with an official comic,. that would be very nice. Melina, Outer God stuff, Family drama you name it. I don’t think they come up with anything else but if they do, I’ll happily partake.
What I’m playing…I’m busting at the seams with reverence for this game right now. Apologies in advance ‘cause I’m about to be an annoying fuck, proceed at your own risk.
Sekiro is an elegant display of artistry in every level. truly a gaming achievement of the highest category. I’ll sing it’s praises ‘till the day I die.
Amongst all the recent DLSS 5 talk, and what feels like the imminent slopification of all visual media, being immersed in a word this beautiful feels like a balm for my soul, I needed it. they did such a fine job with these landscapes and scenery (it’s FS so I wouldn’t expect less) but the setting is so different and I’m completely taken by it. The music and cutscenes and are all incredible as well, character design and animation… Ugh, fantastic. As a whole it has brought me to the brink of tears a couple of times.
the fight design…It was a surprise discovering the variety of the encounters. not every boss needs to be addressed the same. It’s also very nice in terms of pacing as some are more like a puzzle (?) or just pure spectacle, and those serve as palette cleanser between the tough stuff, a lovely balance.
The combat system (yes, again) ahhh the sweet dopamine release of the combat. The simplicity of it, it’s joyous. at this point I feel like I have it down pretty well, and my gameplay feels fairly clean-ish which, again sparks lots of joy… (thanks Lies of P ♡ ). Even though the game does not demand perfection, I do feel incentivized to give my best performance. I want to match the challenge that is presented to me, and honor the fight’s design.. Wolf needs to look good.
Some major story points have happened, so I feel i’m very close to the end. My very surface level knowledge of Japanese history and lore leave my with a feeling that there’s much nuance that I’m missing. so I wanna dig deeper once I’m done with this run. (If anyone has a good recs for some essays or videos on the game please share, I’d appreciate it a lot)
other random thoughts:
-Lots of hidden stuff to find. Revisiting areas also yields some fun surprises, tho I’m inclined to think I did several things in a weird order, which also explains the gameplay friction I experienced in the beginning.
-Man, when did we lose our spark as apes? Apes are great.
-The Guts-Wolf parallelz are a little deeper than I thought, always love the berserk refs.
I’m glad you’re enjoying your time with Sekiro as much as you are. The game’s always brushed off as lesser because it’s not a “true” soulslike, but come on. I’d say it’s better than its predecessors in some regards even.
I’ll have a look what I can find in terms of video recommendations outside the usual suspects like Vaati. Since the story-telling is a little more straightforward compared to the average affairs, there’s not too much to speculate on, but I’ll look around :)
The game’s always brushed off as lesser because it’s not a “true” soulslike.
Lesser??? This is news to me D: completely unacceptable. is it it’s own thing? yeah, but wtf with that reasoning.
there’s not too much to speculate on
I’m thinking more about the significance of stuff that we as a western audience might miss. There must be some interesting things, I’ll look around as well.
Just reddit elitists mainly :)
Oh yea, gotcha. Have you found the more or less last major location of the game? You get there in a special way and that special way has a significance in Japanese culture. One tidbit I remember learning about in a video, for example
Yeah! Precisely that kind of stuff is what I’m talking about!
As of right now Ashina is burning and I’m exploring the castle again before going to Kuro; this feels certainly like the endgame. I Might go and try to tackle the shichimen warriors now as well before proceeding…
I’m surprised how short the game is, but it’s very tight so I’m not complaining.
Yea you’re pretty much at the end. You’ve got two possible endings to pursue right now, depending on what previous steps you followed.
The first playthrough usually takes the longest, but overall it’s pretty short, that’s true. I recently did a re-run of the game and I probably finished it in a couple hours. And that’s after not playing game for a couple years. I’ve had runs where it was even faster