What PlayStation games are you playing ?

The world is actually far less gloomy than all their previous games. One area I was exploring last night was very stunning and vibrant. But the nature of the world is very much monstrous and mystical at its core that there will always be some element of gloom and eldritch horrors, and some areas are very destitute and barren.

I would say if you were doing a magic build, try to balance it a little with melee at the start, as oftentimes magic can take a bit of levelling up until it becomes useful and you have access to better spells. I'd also recommend watching starter videos for the best way to start as a magic build, as it tends to be more complicated than just "Hit things with weapon". Different spells can require different items and work with different skills/attributes.

I posted similar on the Elden Ring game thread yesterday, but the way to look at deaths in these games is that it isn't always a failure, but a gameplay mechanic. If you die to enemies in an area, you lose your runes (the currency you use to level up, buy items with etc). But if you can make it back there, not only will you get those back, but you'll also have earned more while trying to get back there. You should also have an easier time getting back there as you'll know what enemies are where and will have already explored for items etc. You might still die on the way there and lose everything (if you die without having picked up the runes you previously lost, they're gone), but the idea of risk vs reward is just core to everything in the game.

Elden Ring probably is the most accessible of the main Souls games (Sekiro was probably the most accessible overall as there are no starting classes, no gating of weapons/attributes, no real build variety), and there are a lot of Quality of Life things in this game that weren't in previous. As it's open world, upgrade materials and stuff feels a lot easier to find/source, and like you say if you're struggling with one thing, move away and find something else. There's an optional boss right outside the starting area that I died to too often at the start (and even a while later when I'd levelled up a bit), but I waited until I was stronger, came back and beat him.

It is very much still a Souls game. There definitely are bullsh*t/cheap deaths. One area I was in last night I was riding around on my horse looking like a glowing pin cushion because f*ckers were hitting me with giant glowing arrows from miles away in every direction. Arrows bigger than me sticking out of my head and couldn't heal quick enough. And some of the ways you're supposed to proceed to solve puzzles can be honestly quite bizarre. The lack of a pause function doesn't help either. Menus don't pause the game. In Demons Souls on PS5 you could enter photo mode which actually would pause the game, but that's not here, so it can be hard to sort out items for your quick select etc in the heat of battle.

For me though, I only started liking Souls games when I started going into them knowing and accepting those flaws. I am sometimes googling to see what I'm supposed to do with certain objects. I am sometimes googling to see what the best weapons/items for my build are and where to get them. I am googling how to complete some NPC side stuff. But at the same time, I'm also just wandering around and seeing what I can find. I'm never really going to understand the story or characters while playing, I'm just not. I'll catch an explainer video in a few months.

Open world games a lot of the time are filled with "Here are ten types of activities/collectibles and there's 5-10 of each dotted around the map. Go!" Last night I was still finding new things I hadn't experienced before 30+ hours into the game, or variances of things I had seen that I didn't even realise I was doing until I'd completed it, as I was just working my way through an area.

Also with combat, patience is just key. I was struggling against a boss for a while the past few nights (would try him a few times, get annoyed, leave, try again once I'd levelled up more. Thankfully a checkpoint right outside his area). But I was failing because I was staying too close to him, couldn't read his attacks, and couldn't get away quick enough. Last night I beat him by keeping my distance, learning to read his attacks better for a few tries (again, going into boss fights knowing you're going to die can help, but try to go in with as few runes as possible so it doesn't matter if you lose them), and then picking my openings. Jump in for a few hits, jump back out again. If you try to just wail on enemies like it's a hack n' slash game, they'll show you what hack n' slash truly is. I still get caught out with that though as oftentimes, you don't know how powerful or tanky an enemy is until you start hitting them, and usually then you're already in the danger zone.

I would genuinely say there's absolutely no issue in watching a few "Tips and Tricks before you start" or "Things the game doesn't explain to you" videos before you start. I kinda knew what to expect from this game as it's just variances of their systems from their other games, but it can be a stumbling block if you're not used to them.

I'd even say for the most part, most minor bosses go down in 1-3 tries. I beat a few last night first try. Even two of the main bosses a few nights ago I beat on the second or third try. And one minor boss I had been having difficulty with the past few nights, I beat, and later in another area found a similar boss and was able to take him down first time because of what I'd learnt from the other.

The games are always really difficult at the start, but after that most of the deaths are usually your own fault for being too aggressive/greedy and being punished for it, or not paying enough attention to where enemies are, not luring them to deal with them individually etc. But even with difficult bosses, accepting you're going to die numerous times allows you to go into the fights and focus on learning their attacks the first few times.

But there's also a lot of help available in this game. NPC summons for a lot of the main bosses, and the ashes summons are great for taking the bosses' attention and focus so you can get some hits in, or get out to heal.

The difficulty in Souls games is really just tough at the start, then it evens out, and then there can be weird difficulty spikes just depending on what you do or where you go.

Yeah a lot of the long-range magic attacks have the same animation, but as you progress you get abilities like a magic greatbow, and magic sword attacks. Some magic builds can also involve having a staff in your left hand and sword in your right hand, and you can imbue your sword with magic/fire/lightning while still using magic with your staff. Summoning can make the bosses ignore you a bit too, but it's just one tactic you can use which you don't have to. They rarely last more than half the fight anyway so after that you're on your own.

If you wanted a melee build but without shield, you can two-hand one weapon for more damage, or use a weapon in each hand. Each weapon/item has a weight though, so it'll tell you if you go into what's called 'Heavy Load', which will make your dodges slower (aka Fat-rolling). I was using two swords at the start, now I have a katana in one and I switch between shield and staff in the other depending on the enemies/circumstances.

You also don't have to google anything. NPC quests aren't that big a deal. You might miss out on good rewards, but they might not suit your build/playstyle anyway. The story will progress regardless. The option is just there if you need it or if you're stuck.

Good stuff, glad you're liking it.

Regarding the lack of a pause menu, it's more to do with it being an online game. Because you can summon other players to help you or be invaded by other players, you can't fully pause the game. You're unlikely to be invaded unless you start invading other people (I'm nearly 70hours in and haven't been invaded I think because I haven't engaged with the multiplayer), as it essentially acts as an invitation, but it just means the pause function is off for everyone. Likewise the white shadows of other players are in real-time, they're other players on your server in the same area as you. I think the only FromSoftware game with a pause is Sekiro because there were no invasions or multiplayer.

As for the messages, for the most part you can just ignore them. They're usually only worth checking out if you see a few of them close together, say in a hallway or something. They might give useful info for something you're about to face, or a possible secret/alternative area or path. You tend to become blind to them after a while and only notice them in particular circumstances. The only time they're a real pain is people putting them at the end of a ladder, meaning sometimes you end up reading the message instead of climbing. It's fairly good at prioritising actions over messages/bloodstains though. That said, it can be worth putting a few down yourself if you think it'll be helpful. If someone rates your message as good, it'll give you a health boost if you're low on health. Most of the time I've had full health anyway so didn't matter, but it's actually really helped me a few times.

And I think inventory and equipment are on different menus just because of the sheer amount of items and categories. Equipment focuses on your load out specifically, you choose what items/weapons/armour to have on you. Inventory is just everything you have, and means you can read item descriptions, view maps or letters, use items like golden runes directly from there rather than having to equip them.

The game definitely isn't perfect, and Souls games in general can be needlessly convoluted and obtuse in many regards, but I'm nearly 70hours in and still experiencing new things in the game, and there's still areas I know I haven't even reached yet.

Saw talk online that people are completing elden ring in 33 minutes.

Just looked it up because I wasn't sure. In Elden Ring, you only get invaded if you're doing co-op, or if you use a specific item to allow it. Like I said, I'm nearing 70 hours in and haven't been invaded.

As for not being able to pause, yeah it can be a pain alright. Not sure if there's anything you can do with it (eg. Pressing PS button to return to PS menu, not sure if it pauses your game state).

I'm playing GHOSTWIRE TOYKO . Its different and it's good Lush graphics..and good story line ..I was playing elden ring jst got bored of it .dark depressive place..samey samey environments And running around .slash hackem .demon souls is far richer and nicer graphics but I'm so glad i bought GHOSTWIRE. It's a breath of fresh air

I played most of the Bloodborne DLC. It's great. It's definitely a step up in difficulty, some really tough new enemies and bosses. Only reason I didn't complete was I got to the last area, already knew what was coming and what the final boss was like, and just wasn't feeling it any more. It's at least on par with the difficulty of late-game Elden Ring, if not more difficult. Final boss is meant to be one of the most difficult in all SoulsBorne games. Got partway through the last area and just decided I'd hit my limit. The second-to-last boss was just terrific, maybe my favourite boss fight in the entire game. For me it just wasn't going to top that.

I absolutely loved Demon's Souls. Technically it was my first "Souls" game, as I'd only played Sekiro and Bloodborne before it. I'm sure going back to it having played Elden Ring it's going to feel very archaic in much of the design, and without the quality of life improvements that have come with the later Souls and Elden Ring games. If going for the platinum (which for some strange reason, I assume you would be), you'll definitely have to follow some sort of guide. The game has these weird systems (World Tendency) which are very badly explained, and affects things like NPCs, side paths in the games, enemy and item locations etc, so even outside of save-scumming for the different item/spells trophies there are things you need to do or not do which could be difficult to remedy if you don't get it right.

The majority of the gameplay is very much a pared-down Elden Ring though. Combat is Souls combat, without things like weapon arts and jump attacks like in Elden Ring (still have light/heavy/charge attacks). No jumping also means trying to get around side-paths involves dodge-rolling off ledges with good timing etc, which can be frustrating. There are also far fewer checkpoints, though you can still open shortcuts. It means if you die to a boss, you're not respawning outside their fog door and trying again; you're back to the start of the area and either fighting or running your way back to them with whatever shortcuts you've unlocked. But the game is also much shorter. It's divided into 5 separate areas with 3-4 stages in each. As you can pretty much tackle them in any order (Worlds are referred to as 1-1, 1-2, 2-1 etc), it means depending what order you do them in, some of the areas and bosses you do last you might be pretty overpowered for. So if you do all worlds in order, you can have a very easy time in World 5. Or you can do the first stage of each world, then the second stage of each world for more natural progression, but some items might be more beneficial to have earlier, like an item in 3-2 might be great to have in 5-1 etc.

So it's fairly subjective. Some of the things people might not like about Demon's Souls, I found to be part of its charm. It also looks and plays great on PS5 and was designed for it, so much better Dualsense features than Elden Ring or anything.

But I know what you mean about Souls games causing an itch you can't scratch. That's why I recommend knowing their flaws before you go into them, and knowing those things are going to annoy you. There can be so many things in these games that feel pure bullsh*t, or poorly explained, or "How the f*ck was I meant to deal with that?!" But once you accept those, and accept you'll die repeatedly etc, you enjoy the games' strong points so much more, and the actual core of the games in terms of gameplay, level design, boss design, and even the amount of choice you're given, are just so satisfying.

Started Tiny Tina's Wonderlands last night. Seems okay so far. Obviously very much like Borderlands, but seems to have enough small differences at the start that might evolve into bigger differences later. Only played just over an hour but might restart and go for a different build. I went Spellcaster or whatever it's called, but the Action Skill is terrible.

The maps feel incredibly bland so far though.

You will. Trying to backtrack is definitely the most frustrating part of the game. I was enjoying the game enough to want to platinum it, but that really started to make it a struggle at the end. It is a great game though.

Yeah, the map, and the constant respawning of enemies you've already killed, did my head in on this. Enjoyed it early doors but soon became a grind, quit about half way through and no intention of going back tbh. Shame as enjoyed the combat and atmosphere of the SW universe, that part felt well done