Arseniy Yavorśkyi

Dark Souls isn't a perfect game, by any means. but it's mostly fair, which is why it's worth pushing through the learning phase. meanwhile in other games difficult encounters are hard not because the player is doing something wrong, but simply because the odds are stacked against him. I'll watch these videos. although, the one from Wisecrack seems to contain some information that is factually incorrect, judging by the comments.

delightfully ironic, coming from you. but… if you ever decide to actually talk about the topic, you're welcome to post here. just make sure to write concisely, and don't make your posts look like scribbles from a madman's diary.

take it easy, pal.

TL;DR how much should players be expected to invest into a game before they start having fun? About a month ago Ross played ~2 hours of Dark Souls on Twitch. When the stream recording was uploaded to YouTube, many heated discussions took place in the comments. Unfortunately, that comment section has become too messy and toxic to produce anything useful. That's why I'm bringing this topic here — I'm hoping for a meaningful conversation. Souls games hold a very special place in my heart, and with Ross being my favorite YouTuber, I couldn't wait to hear his opinion on one of them. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Like many others, I was sorely disappointed by Ross's decision to rush through the rest of the game with cheats (invincibility and one-hit-kill). I admit, I might've been a little overbearing in my efforts to convince Ross to play properly, but I was desperate. As I was one of the first to comment, I had an opportunity to get several direct responses from Ross. What he said boils down to, essentially, the same thing he's told us before: if a game starts feeling like work, he'd rather do actual work. I used to agree with this rationale — indeed, what's point of spending time on entertainment, if it fails to entertain? Now I see that this approach is too simplistic, it fails to account for many important aspects. If the game is unbalanced, or bugged, then yeah, Ross's approach makes sense. But when it's not the game's fault? Such as when the player isn't paying enough attention, or is unwilling to learn, then what? Countless people struggle with Dark Souls (or any other game that has a learning curve) because of those very reasons. The video of Ross playing Dark Souls for the first time: He struggles, but he's doing pretty good for a first-timer (a number of people in the chat also corroborate this). But Ross himself doesn't think so, judging by the name of the video, and its description. The second stream, this time with cheats: Is Ross having more fun when playing with cheats like he said he is? He just looks bored and annoyed to me, more so than in the first stream. Further reading/watching: I found a video that talks about the value of challenge in video games: Dark Souls Critique by Joseph Anderson (playlist link) — a level-headed, yet brutally-honest examinations of this game's various flaws. I will edit this post and add more videos and articles on this topic when I find them (if you know of any, I encourage you to post them in this thread). If any of you are interested in speaking your mind on this matter, I ask you to do so with civility and respect towards others.

the ending isn't lame, it just doesn't make any goddamn sense. the best way to enjoy this game is to ignore the story and simply get immersed in the carnage.

Deadly Premonition shares some of the quirky humor of this game, but aside from that these games are nothing alike. Deadly Premonition is also very janky and rather unpleasant to control, at least with keyboard and mouse, and it has a lot of very… questionable… design decisions. I haven't finished it, so I assume the story is the main draw, and the atmosphere was kinda cool in the parts that I've played, but the actual gameplay that you have to go through to get from one story bit to the next is more tedious than fun.

I've played every Souls game on PC, as well as a good number of Souls-likes, including the ones that are two-dimensional (Salf & Sanctuary, DarkMaus, Blasphemous, Dark Devotion, etc), and all of them had support for mouse buttons. so tell me: why does Hollow Knight need to be an exception? would it kill the devs to write two additional lines of code? sure, I could adapt (or use an AHK script to remap the input), but why am I being put into position where I have to do that? what makes it worth not having mouse support? there's no good reason, just like there was no good reason for From Software to leave Dark Souls resolution-locked. the only reason is lack of concern. don't go telling me there's no difference between clicking a mouse button and pressing a keyboard key — there is a difference, and, in the context of a Souls-like game, it's significant. I'll never forget the pain in my left wrist that I got after beating Lady Butterfly in Sekiro. I admit, it only got so extreme because I relied on dodging too much, but the fact remains: it's more straining to use keyboard keys than mouse buttons. maybe I have some sort of condition that I'm not aware of, and normal people feel no difference. maybe, but then we hit the accessibility issue… except… it's about the most basic input option that is expected to be supported on this platform, for this type of game. it's idiotic to defend its absence.

the number of dimensions is irrelevant. this game's design and structure are similar to Souls, and that's all that matters. it's even circulated heavily throughout the Souls community, you think this would've happened to just any random game? come on. in regards to mouse support. every game that involves quick and *precise* actions, especially combat, needs to have mouse support, because it's faster to click a mouse button than to press a keyboard key. I always knew this, but the knowledge became explicit when I played Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. if I left the parry action bound to Left Alt, like I normally do in Souls, I would've never beaten that game. in general, I'm very used to using the mouse for primary combat actions, so if the game doesn't allow that, I feel uncomfortable with the controls, which is unacceptable for a game of this kind. besides, it's not like there's a legitimate reason for not programming three bloody mouse buttons, it's just pure laziness in the middle of an otherwise decent product.

hrmph, this game… what should I say about this game… well, it's one of the very rare cases of 'great game, can't recommend'. the reason for that is it's INCOMPLETE – you only get the first half of the story, which ends on a (deliberately) comical over-the-top cliffhanger. now, you might be thinking: that doesn't sound too bad, plenty of great games do that. NO. this game was planned to have two 'seasons', the first for setting things up and building up the mystery (and hyping you up), and the second for actual story resolution and payoff. the sales were poor, so the second season was canceled, and then the director left the development studio because of a terminal illness. he later blocked everyone who talked to him about D4 on Twitter, including yours truly. we will NEVER get the ending to this magnificent mind-fuck of a game. it doesn't even live up to its own name anymore, since, you know, the 'dream' has 'died', get it? just… move along, spare yourself the pain.

how? the same way I used the mouse in every Souls and Souls-like game.

the meat of the game is its melee combat. so, 2D Action.

so? other games of this genre don't have this restriction.

addictive as hell! couldn't get enough of this game. thank god there's an arena mode.

excellent 2D Souls-like. even though Ross classified it as a platformer, that's not really what this game is about (platforming is the least interesting part). combat, atmosphere, story — that's the main course.

this game would've worked much better if it was a linear story-driven shooter/brawler.

this game has no mouse support. wait, I think that didn't came out right. what I meant to say is that THIS PC GAME FROM 2017 HAS NO MOUSE SUPPORT. to put this into perspective: even the original, legendarily horrible Dark Souls port had basic mouse support (it felt awful to use, but it was functional enough for me to beat the game). no such luxury here — because having support for the primary input device of this platform is a luxury, apparently.

The Surge successfully copies the Souls formula, and this time with a personality of its own! it's a huge improvement over this developer's previous game, Lords of the Fallen (which, I should point out, is still a decent game in it's own right). Pros: - intense tactical & reactive combat. - fantastic hub-based level design with clever shortcuts, reminiscent of the original Dark Souls. - interesting story, setting, and sci-fi concepts. - dismemberment of enemies as a looting mechanic. - soul-crushing difficulty really makes you feel like you achieve something when you overcome it. - great visual style. - good graphics, solid performance. Cons: - some weapons and attacks are significantly more useful than others. - late-game enemies are so powerful that you have to fill most of the implant slots with health boosts, otherwise the game gets frustrating. - bland characters, especially the protagonist. - the game does a poor job of explaining how to defeat certain difficult enemies. - the ending is not particularly satisfying, considering the absolute hell we have to go through to get there. overall, The Surge is a great game as long as you can get over some of its quirks and don't have wrong expectations. I absolutely recommend it, unless you are a 'casual' gamer that doesn't like to be challenged.

the original got boring after about 10 minutes.

puzzles in this game are beyond obtuse.

apart from its atmosphere and artstyle, this game doesn't have much to offer.

kinda boring. didn't finish it.

great atmosphere and interesting story, but the trippy sequences were tedious.

a true MASTERPIECE of its genre. says everything it needs to say without uttering a single word. powerful atmosphere & story. delivered some of the best gaming experiences of my life.

one of the best of its kind. really drives home the point of "psychological horror". psychosis & nightmares, what else could you possibly want?