There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

Katana314 ,

I do not enjoy Soulslikes, but I really liked Tunic. Some things it has going for it:

  • It is extremely nonverbal, but what it does give you is invested in helping you figure out a path to success. By intention, that’s not always obvious. You may need to work out for yourself when to dodge or to block.
  • The atmosphere is bright and cheery, though it has its spooky and atmospheric bits.
  • The camera is top down, so you don’t need to manage the camera while playing.
  • Dying is not very punishing. You lose a bit of currency, which you can retain at the same spot; and that currency isn’t often critical to progress
Iapar ,

As the point of soulslikes is to overcome challenge, looking for something beginner friendly or easy is, in my opinion, not the right approach.

Play the fromsoft games in chronological order and skip the numbers entries if you are not interested in the stories.

So: Deamon’s souls -> dark souls -> bloodborne -> sekiro -> elden ring

Dark souls 2 wasn’t that great and has a lot of issues but it tried new stuff which I respect. Still wouldn’t recommend it.

Dark souls 3 was darks souls best of which made it a disappointment for me. You kinda know what will happen next and there wasn’t that much mystery because of that.

luciferofastora ,

I’ll die on the hill that DS2 was misunderstood, and rather than being a poor game it just caters to a specific taste in Souls games, which turned out to be the minority.

It’s rather unforgiving with Stamina and requires more in terms of positioning and timing to handle multiple enemies, such as lining them up to hit multiple in one swing or singling out a target to stunlock thanks to weaker poise. Healing also requires more consideration to pick the right window. I like that. It feels more like a harsh and dangerous world where you have to watch out for your own survival.

The Small White Soapstone often works for a quick trip to another world, earning souls, lifegems and regaining humanity with less commitment than a full summon, which encourages jolly cooperation by lowering the stakes and raising the reward. I like that.

I also like the changes to the weapon upgrades and the magic system. Pyromancy becomes an actual magic discipline, that can still be worked in alongside miracles, sorceries and particularly hexes, like having more attunement gives you more casts, consumables can restore spell uses and you can use materials to lower spell requirements, all of which affects character builds. Being able to respec means you can change or fix your build later on.

I’ll concede that the learning curve is bad. There’s more mechanical complexity to learn and less explanation than in DS1, and particularly the differences between the games aren’t obvious if you go at it with the expectations set by the original.

In a way, that makes it a bad “Dark Souls” 2, since you’re obviously expecting more of the same because it has the same name. Trying new stuff may be good, but changing existing systems is always a gamble whether the people trying and liking it outweigh those that didn’t like it or never even tried.

That many people ended up not liking them was unfortunate. Particularly with DS3 going so hard in the other direction, the approval of DS2 has diminished even further. Its playstyle just isn’t to everyone’s taste, and many people conflate “I didn’t like it” with “It’s shit”, which is a shame.

In summary, I think it’s a good game, even a good Dark Souls that innovates on the original, but it’s probably a bad entry point for the genre due to the steep learning curve, and a rough transition from more faster paced titles. I acknowledge it’s not for everyone, but I liked it.

Katana314 ,

What’s hard for some is easy for others, and vice versa. There’s definitely an appropriate level of intended challenge to any Soulslike game that makes it satisfying as you gradually overcome difficulties and adversity. Fall below that, for instance by spending 10 hours on the tutorial boss, OR breach that difficulty by never falling below 50% HP, and the experience loses luster.

No matter how much equipment is in it, Dark Souls is still on a pretty set level of difficulty, and it’s too high for a lot of people. Heck, there are other casual games out there that were “ultra hard” for some infrequent gamers I know.

retrieval4558 ,

Elden Ring for sure. Lots of tools to help with difficulty, and you can leave and go somewhere else.

danthehutt ,

I didn’t see it recommended here yet, but my suggestion is Dead Cells. It’s a 2D game not made by FromSoft but it has a very similar feel.

Sidyctism ,

I mean dead cells is a great game and so on… But a soulslike?

vortexal ,
@vortexal@lemmy.ml avatar

You could try Animus: Stand Alone, the android version isn’t available anymore but the PC, Xbox, Switch and iOS versions seem to still be available. It had a sequel called Animus: Harbinger but it seems like only the Switch and iOS versions are the only ones still available. There was also a third Animus game but Revenant is quite different from the first two.

Another game I can recommend is Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. It was only ever available for the PS2 and Xbox but it’s gameplay, especially during bosses, is similar to dark souls.

Lojcs ,

Fallen order. You can adjust the difficulty!

Burghler ,

Fallen order has this magnetic attraction between you and the enemy when swinging that really urked me. Felt likes souls on rails. Beautiful game though and nice levels

MentalEdge ,
@MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

Oggdo Boggdo flashbacks.

DebatableRaccoon ,

He’s just a harmless little froggo. It’ll be fiiiine

bestagon ,

“Oggdo Boggdo, I’ve come to bargain!”

MentalEdge ,
@MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

“For the love of all things holy, it’s just a pink poncho, please leave me alone.”

ampersandrew ,
@ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

Of the ones I’ve played, Elden Ring. The biggest aid for new players being that if something’s too tough, you just go somewhere easier and come back later. The opening area has a boss roaming a field designed to teach you exactly that lesson.

steal_your_face OP ,
@steal_your_face@lemmy.ml avatar

I’ve also heard the magic in Elden ring makes it easier than the others. Any thoughts on that?

bungle_in_the_jungle ,

I hate other souls like games but managed my way through Elden Ring because of this and what /u/ampersandrew said about going away and coming back after exploring and leveling a bit more.

steal_your_face OP ,
@steal_your_face@lemmy.ml avatar

Cool. How’d you like it?

bungle_in_the_jungle ,

I had a great time with it (mostly) but I don’t want to play it again… If that makes any sense? Ha ha.

msage ,

It’s too big. Simple as that.

luciferofastora ,

Doesn’t linking users work differently here? I thought @ampersandrew would be the canonical way to mention users, given that it includes their instance. I’m still fairly new to Lemmy, so maybe that’s app/instance-specific

bungle_in_the_jungle ,

Oh yeah, my bad. Did that completely on autopilot!

ampersandrew ,
@ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

The magic is similar to Dark Souls 3. I don’t know that it’s any more overtuned or anything, but there’s a lot of fun in finding broken builds, and there are tons of them.

ZombiFrancis ,

It is the most wizarding friendly game FromSoftware has made.

Through their other games the pattern was for wizards: the level getting to the boss was tough managing your spell uses, but then the boss was easy if you reserved enough.

In Elden Ring there are less ‘levels’ and almost none of the classic ‘runback’ to a boss if you die. So you almost always can full power a boss.

Which feels easier in comparison. Though the Elden Ring bosses were designed around that more.

Imminent DLC will shake things up too.

Piemanding ,

I liked the magic in Elden Ring. First Souls game I played magic in and I feel it was very strong. If you’re going with sorceries, just be aware that the first magic teacher is easily missed. Look up where they are if you get too far into the game without finding more magic.

squirrelwithnut ,

Elden Ring is the best one for beginners, because if you get stuck at a boss you can just leave that area and go somewhere else. You are very rarely ever “stuck”. That is not the case with any of the other Soulsborne games.

In addition, it has spirit summons which make the game significantly easier.

And since it’s the newest one AND has a DLC coming out soon, it’s also the most played one right now. So finding other players for co-op is easy.

I also consider the bosses, on the whole, to be the easiest of all of the FROM Software games.

Juice ,

I second this, one of my good friends only started gaming over covid. We were all hardcore souls players and helped her get through bloodborne and ds3 but she was basically just letting us handle most of the fighting. But when ER came out she got really into it and has played through solo several times. From Software took a lot of the pain points out of the format while keeping it challenging and fresh. Elden ring also has great online, I wasn’t a huge fan of the game (I prefer Bloodborne, Sekiro and AC 6) just I spent hundreds of hours just running around the Lands Between with my friends during covid.

squirrelwithnut , (edited )

Yeah you’re right. I forgot to mention that with Elden Ring, FROM smoothed away a lot of the rough edges of the older games. And because of that it is much easier to get into for newer players. I’m glad your friend enjoyed it.

ObsidianZed ,

Also the biggest positive is the capability of fast traveling from your map from anywhere as long as you aren’t in combat.

It removes the hesitation to explore areas from which you can’t return easily.

That’s the biggest thing that made Elden Ring significantly less stressful for me.

Plus you don’t have to worry about weapon durability.

bjmllr ,

Dark Souls 1, but play it almost like you’re studying for a test. Research and plan your build in advance. Go to the wiki early, often, and with wanton disregard for spoilers. Use every cheese and glitch to your advantage. If all that makes it too easy, then you can still go blind into anything else in the genre.

BreadOven ,

How I did it may not be the best. But damn, did I feel accomplished afterwards.

I went into DS1 without any background. I only looked up things when I was 100 % stuck (I played with the broken short sword for far too long). I definitely used some summons (mainly the NPC ones), but you could also choose not to.

Beating O&S the first time after a week or so of trying was one of the best feelings ever (don’t want to spoil anything hence the vagueness).

Elden Ring is definitely more beginner-friendly, but the sheer mechanics you can learn in DS1 will help in all soulsbourne games (maybe not Sekiro).

I have not played Demon souls, so maybe that’s a better jumping off point?

LaLuzDelSol ,

I had the same experience: I played DS1 almost completely blind (I’d seen my old roommates playing it years ago so I knew some of the tricks, in a half-remembered sort of way). It was hard, and I got stuck in a few places for a really long time but wow it was extremely rewarding. Anyways I’m not that good at videogames, if you’re persistent pretty much anyone can beat dark souls 1 I think

BreadOven ,

Agreed.

FracturedPelvis ,
@FracturedPelvis@lemmy.ml avatar

Blasphemous is not too hard and has a great story. Just don’t go to the mountains first.

n0xew ,

Not sure if it fits the bill, but it is categorized as a soulslike: Death Door. It’s an indie game, chill and cute atmosphere, still challenging but not too punishing. I haven’t played much soulslike before but I started this one on Steam Deck and I’m really digging it!

SoleInvictus ,

Oooh, that looks awesome! I’m not op but was browsing for ideas. Thanks for the recommendation.

DebatableRaccoon ,

Personally, I’d say Sekiro. You need to be good with timing but the experience is much more streamlined. There’s no equipment system so you don’t have to worry about finding what’s good for you, let alone slogging it through the first however many hours to get whatever items get recommended in Top X lists. Also, I find the movement system is much more to my liking. It feels immediate instead of trying to sprint through a field of porridge. However, if porridge is what you’re looking for, Sekiro is a poor pick for you.

Lies of P is also a good pick for having tighter movement and QoL upgrades over Souls games though I dare say a lot of fans will want to drag me across the coals for saying that.

Tiefa ,

I very much enjoyed Sekiro and it led me to Elden Ring that I then, in turn, did not enjoy at all. haha Sekiro feels much more approachable but it doesn’t have the replayability of other Souls games.

visor841 ,

Hm, what didn’t you enjoy about Elden Ring? I started with Sekiro, finished it, and have moved on to Elden Ring (in co-op tho). I have very much enjoyed both.

Tiefa ,

I guess the tuning of the game. With Sekiro there was, for the most part, a general linear path that you did to complete the game. You could go in some different ways but for the most part it was linear. With Elden Ring you can go in any way and as people have said, if you get stuck, go somewhere else and get higher level and go back. But I don’t like leaving so I would proceed to get dumpstered over and over and get frustrated which is entirely my own fault. But, in Sekiro it seemed like the difficulty of the encounters were created in regards to where you were in the story and even though they were hard, were better tuned to your character power. I bet co-op would be a ton of fun and could make my play through more enjoyable if I got back into it.

DebatableRaccoon ,

I’d have to agree with that. Sekiro has a lot of the trimmings of other From games while having a movement system much closer to the standard hack-n-slash adventure game like Assassin’s Creed or Ghost of Tsushima most recently.

dsemy ,

Sekiro feels much more approachable but it doesn’t have the replayability of other Souls games.

Interesting perspective; I actually have double the hours in Sekiro (164) compared to Elden Ring (86) and DS1 (88). And I also didn’t really like Elden Ring (though I really wanted to).

Tiefa ,

I guess I assumed Elden Ring would have more replayability due to all the classes you could do playthroughs with.

steal_your_face OP ,
@steal_your_face@lemmy.ml avatar

Elden Ring fans are salty at this comment lol. That does like it’d be better for my play style though.

DebatableRaccoon ,

I’m pretty used to it at this point. My best friend is a big Souls fan and is one of the many who refers to Elden Ring as the most approachable From game yet as well as Sekiro as possibly the hardest. The comments I’m used to seeing are ones calling X boss the hardest they’ve ever gone against and those are consistently the easiest for me. Personally, I’m terrible with the bosses that have a wind up for their attacks and make you wait for the timing as opposed to the ones where it’s almost pure reflex. If that sounds more your bag then I’d say Sekiro is your thing and you likely won’t enjoy DS or ER. Bloodborne is somewhere in the middle, debatably closer to Sekiro though I’ve seen arguments for both ways.

MrBobDobalina ,

Came to make the same recommendation. It depends on what aspect of the games you find intimidating. Most people recommending Elden Ring will likely be assuming that you mean mechanical difficulty, but in my case, the openness, variety, stat numbers etc of ER are all intimidating.

Sekiro is more approachable in this regard, the way forward is mostly clear, and the mechanics are clearly communicated, so you’re just left with practicing them until you’re good enough to progress.

I’d say that most people who say Sekiro is one of the hardest fromsoft games probably came from playing souls or Elden Ring and have the extra challenge of unlearning some of the foundations. I hadn’t played any, and though Sekiro is hard as hell sometimes, it clicked with me pretty quickly. Completed 3 endings and most of the optional, hardest content so far

ZombiFrancis ,

Sekiro, like Bloodborne, is different from the Dark Souls series. The mechanics, story, and atmosphere of each are distinct, with Elden Ring falling most closely with the Dark Soul series in mechanics and ‘feel’.

Dark Souls 1 has the best atmosphere and environmental storytelling, in my opinion. It really is clear how innovative and influential a game it was.

Sekiro is hard to play from a Dark Souls foundational playstyle. Sekiro players, I find, seem to have an easier time adapting to Dark Souls. So it may very well be a good start for a FromSoft game.

Beanedwizard ,

Lies of P is fairly easy in comparison to the FromSoftware souls games but it’s still a lot of fun. Great worldbuilding and some interesting mechanics too

WR5 ,

I found Lies of P much more challenging than any of the FromSoft games I’ve played. I loved it, don’t get me wrong, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for an easier introduction to the gameplay.

ohholyjesus ,

It’s got a huge focus on parrying, but it’s very forgiving on timing so it can be easy if you get that down. (But I’d still probably suggest starting with Elden Ring or Dark Souls 1).

WR5 ,

I think it’s actually less forgiving on timing, just in terms of parry window number of frames. If I remember correctly, your timing just has to come towards the end of the attack animation (as opposed to FromSoft parrying which is generally closer to the beginning) I think, or I may have those reversed. On top of that though, something like dark souls 1 is much slower paced and the combat feels more give-and-take where Lies of P to me felt like parry, dodge roll for an opening and punish.

simple ,

They did nerf the most difficult bosses and minibosses after release which made it a lot more approachable I think.

WR5 ,

Ah gotcha, maybe that was it. I still find the dark souls style combat much smoother and approachable for a beginner to not worry too much about parrying or other mechanics. I made my first playthrough of dark souls without ever learning most of them, just blocking, dodging, and attacking like duels. It felt less dependent on twitchy reflexes and more just repetition and reading the enemies movements. All great games, maybe it just comes down to preference!

Cowbee ,
@Cowbee@lemmy.ml avatar

Dark Souls 1. It’s not impossible and it has some of the best level design in the genre.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • [email protected]
  • random
  • lifeLocal
  • goranko
  • All magazines
    •