The Souls Series

[HUNK]

So I figure I should make a new thread, cause its been years since I've even been active here but I appreciate my account still existing. So how bout ya pull up a spot by the bonfire and lets talk about Soulsborne.

Have you played any of these games? Dark Souls 1-3, Demon Souls, Bloodborne. Are you from the future or have you played the beta for Elden Ring? What are your favorites and why?

Little background on my history with the series.
I tend to dislike most popular things so while the first and second Dark Souls were in their hayday, I was binging Berserk for the first time and ignoring these "hard for the sake of it" games that even my close friends were raving about.
Fast forward to 2015, I'm in between jobs and pretty broke so I don't even have video games in my life. A good friend of mine lets me borrow (indefinitely, like I still have it) his old xbox360 and I can't get anything new but I can play the games he already had downloaded, including Dark Souls. Enough time had sufficiently passed that I figured I'd give em a try. Well DS one ate me up and spit me out laughing all the while and I started two cause I wanted a fresh start. Dark Souls 2 I found to be a little more player friendly. Its combat is even slower and while its the same basic control scheme, just playing 1 and 2 will show you how different they "feel".

Dark Souls 2 was the first that I beat and now I've been playing the remaster of 1 on ps4 and even though its the first game I got a platinum trophy for, I still play through today just to mess around and invade, and help folks and stuff. Im bout halfway through Bloodborne and its messing me up... Much faster paced and a far greater focus on timing your button presses right, where Dark Souls is more about watching your opponent and acting accordingly. Same thing here, but most of your enemies are faster.

So I'd love to hear what y'all have to say about the series and your own experiences with it. Sorry if this is already a thread somewhere... I was a bit lazy and only checked like a page or two...

[Zargabaath]

For me, I followed the series, for the most part, of the developer. Mind you of remastered or upgraded versions. Dark Souls 1 Remasterd, Dark Souls II: SotS, Bloodborne, Dark Souls III, Demons Souls, and now playing Sekiro. I did not bring my PS5 out to Japan and subsequent places I will be as it is a wee bit large. Hence, I have not played Elden Ring though I plan to get once I return along with Strangers of Paradise and Triangle Strategy for the Switch - neither here or ther.

I find Dark Souls I, Bloodborne, and Demons Souls to be very tight well done games, highlighting their stories. I like that in Dark Souls II they branched out, giving it, its own character or style. However, I did find the revisiting of areas and lore in DSIII from primarily DS1 a bit unoriginal and bland. Mind you, I don't think it out of the ordinary that the character in DSIII would not know or be aware of events transpiring in DSI. We, as humans, can look back at history before A.D. or C.E. and know quite a bit. I may find it a tad different in the Dark Souls universe as it seems there are cataclysmic or civilization ending moments that "reset" history but, following the norms of actual history not outlandish.

To be honest I wish their new game plus didn't add a difficulty but allowed the player to really enjoy the game. Perhaps a new game plus-plus, as there are some changes they do in new game plus to switch things up. It does seem like a series that I would like to play over, much like Final Fantasy. I don't know if I am slowly creeping away from FF to Soulsborne. I still enjoy the FF series. Though I did want to start a new FFXII file while out here overseas and instead did the DLC of Dark Souls III and start Sekiro.

I would like that by the time I return to the states I will have beaten Sekiro to start an Elden Ring file.