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Anyone else suffering "Souls Fatigue"?

Marty-McFly

Banned
Disclaimer: I'm well aware they're some of the very best games in the industry. Some purity in a sea of cinematic mediocrity, and I'm probably going to catch flak for this. I'm not even going to get into all the "Soulslikes"... not sure how that even became a sub genre, but let's get right to the main entries. I'm just about tapping out here. Sure they're all great games, but how many times can I walk into through the foggy gates and dodge roll, parry, risposte. It feels to me like variations of the same (admittedly great) game done over and over again in a different setting with the balance tweeked sometimes in favor of defence (Souls), aggressiveness (Bloodborne), or stealth and parry (Seikiro). I was expecting something fresh with Elden Ring but it looks like Dark Souls with stealth and mounts, and I'm not big on the visuals. It's probably the least excited I've been for a new Souls.

Actually, I was more excited for Bloodborne when it was announced and I still think it's the creme de la creme of Soulsborne gaming. They nailed the artstyle and combat.
 

TheSHEEEP

Gold Member
You get fatigued from everything you play too much of.
It's why I almost always play 3-5 different games at the same time - well, in rotation, that is.

Anyway, when it comes to series formula, the most important rule - which unfortunately developers often forget - is:
If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Elden Ring seems to follow that rule (adding elements without changing the core), so I'll certainly play it.
 
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I'm not. I think we need more, at least quality ones, not average indie/AA ones. When I'll be able to play a sci-fi souls-like with a big budget, I'll be satisfied. The Surge series was something similar to what I wanted but they're only half of it.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
quite o the contrary

Adam Scott Hbo GIF by Big Little Lies
 

K2D

Banned
Not at all. Give me more souls! Not Dark Souls 2 though.. Give me Elden Ring. Give me Nightfall.
 
Not really.
For me to play through Soulslike takes ages...
It's a nice game to have on the side, come back to when you want to get punished.
 

Ellery

Member
Honestly no. I can't wait to buy Elden Ring and obsess over a new kind of open world Souls and see Miyazakis approach of open world. I hope it will surprise me in a positive way, because I don't need too many open world games
 

Soodanim

Member
I'm not fatigued by any means, but since I've had time away from the series/genre I'm becoming more open to games with mechanics that aren't quite as solid as Souls, like Witcher and Elex. It's more than likely a coincidence, though.
 

K2D

Banned
You get fatigued from everything you play too much of.
It's why I almost always play 3-5 different games at the same time - well, in rotation, that is.
Good point!
With;
Breath of the Wild (Master Mode) and
RE Village on heavy rotation,

and

Ghost of Tsushima and
Death Strandings coming in hot,

and

Demon's Souls
Darksouls 3
FF7 Remake
Subnautica
Mass Effect and
Fallout 4 on the back burner..


There's a lot of room for more Souls in my diet..!
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Nope, more please.

I still play DS3 and bloodborne almost daily.
If anything I am DS2 fatigued. Lol played through that game way too many times.
 

Aldynes

Member
I only play solo when doing souls games, so years ago after the first Demon's Souls came out in Europe, I've played each souls games months after their hype as faded, taking my time, it worked well for me that way and it adds to the atmosphere too, solitude.

That and there's all the wiki stuff completed for you to dive in so there's that also.
 

Aion002

Member
No GIF


I am actually playing Sekiro for the sixth time (already got the plat near the launch) and working towards Nioh 2 plat in another psn account just for fun.

I can't wait for Elden Ring.
 
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yansolo

Member
yes and i still havent finished the first, left it in the tomb of the giants

quality game though, just gotta be in the mood to play it, too stressful
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Elden Ring sounds like it's about to spice things up in exactly the right way. The natural evolution of Souls.
 

RyRy93

Member
Souls games are the only games I don't feel fatigue towards.
Great combat, great art, great OSTs, great bosses, great world design, replayability and minimal cutscenes, not much to dislike IMO.
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
If its made by Miyazaki, its day 1. I cant get bored of it. Cant wait for Elden ring and the next Miyazaki game.
I also hope they make another Sekiro too. The true ending was left open

Other Souls like games I just dont bother with them really
 
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Con-Z-epT

Live from NeoGAF, it's Friday Night!
These games are a feast for the senses in so many ways, that i don't see myself getting fatigued by them.

Maybe if you play all of them in quick succession.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
Not at all. A new Souls game from Miyazaki and co is a like a big event. Very exciting stuff. In fact, I like the Souls formula so much that other genres and games I used to enjoy are not my cup of tea anymore. I can see myself only playing Souls games in the future. They are beginning to stack up and have huge replayability. Absolutely 💕 it
 

Paasei

Member
The gameplay those games bring combined with the difficulty, is now its own genre, instead of just being a RPG that is hard.

I'm more tired of the term than the games.
 

LordPezix

Member
No not really. I think this is easily avoided by playing a plethora of games. FPS, platform, story, racing, RTS, survival.

If anything it would be neat to have even more games.

Love me some souls style side scrollers. Blasphemous was wonderful.

I do recognize the formula becoming very popular though.
 

fersnake

Member
No, I play mostly genshin impact on PC , Apex legends, cod warzone, and a couple days ago I started to play God of war on PS5 at 60 fps and thank God I waited this time. So glad they changed the gameplay to souls like. Need to finish dark souls 3 and wait for elder ring too.
 

Graciaus

Member
I added 3 games to my wishlist this week all with a soulslike tag. The only issue is no one has produced a better game then From. Keep them coming.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I’m not fatigued, but I think a small break might make Elden Ring a lot better. I recently played Bloodborne NG+ with the DLC and it was my 5th playthrough of the game since it launched. After I cleared the DLC I thought about Chalice dungeons and turned it off. I didn’t feel like farming for ritual items. Before that I had finished NG+++ of Dark Souls 3. While I love these games a lot. I think I might need to slow it down. I have NG++ going in Dark Souls 2: SotFS and I turned it off because I don’t want to overdo it. If you spend enough time away, the feeling comes back. I am ready for Elden Ring. I’m excited for it. It’s all new. New skills, new world, new secrets to unlock, and etc. This type of genre is one my all time favorite video game genres. I think you can get tired of the same thing. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m sick of them. I think that’s being too harsh.
 

Ceadeus

Gold Member
At the time when DS3 came out I felt like i'd already seen the game before. Making my way through another poisoned forest, I've started being kind of neutral towards the setting.

It's good but it resembles way too much to their previous entry. I would not mind either if Miyazaki would start telling its story through some epic rendered cutscenes.

Because we know they can do it. Remember the DS2 intro or the reveal trailer of the same game. They were fantastic!

Or maybe making some little changes like dynamic weathers or even better sense of exploration. Like having to use a torch that needs souls to keep being lit, destroying cracked walls revealing hidden rooms, making your way through some crevices etc... Why not some sort of hole at some point, that would be the entrance to hell and the world would be upside down or something. It could be used as a choice and a point of no return. Like, you would get a different ending by deciding not to go in. A little bit like in Symphony of the night.

I love DS but man we've already seen the usual hobo village and poisoned area. I hope Elden Ring to reach new heights!
 
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Winter John

Gold Member
Kind of. I looked at Sekiro, read the reviews and decided to skip it. The thought of another souls after DS3, Nioh, Ashen and Mortal Shell was too much. Especially when people were saying it's actually harder. I'm definitely interested in Elden Ring. It looks like they've shaken the formula up with the open world and the horsey.
 

junguler

Banned
if you are on pc try installing some mods, they do a pretty good job of keeping things interesting or download one of those megamule save files that make testing different builds really easy (offline of course) or be like me and use cheat engine and set every stat to 99 and unlock and upgrade everything and make it a casual game.
 

Haggard

Banned
Agreed.
When one of the previewers described Elden Ring as "just like Dark Souls 3, but bigger" my interest in that game waned significantly.
Great games each of its own, but at least I definitely need a refresh of the formula as it starts to feel like replaying old games at this point.
Elden Ring went from "preorder" to "maybe if the reviews are stellar" for me.
 
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Shai-Tan

Banned
one reason I’m into random indie games is to avoid the samey ness of genre. There’s thousands of “rogue like” indie games but at least in that case one is an action melee game, one is a shooter, one is a deck builder, etc. There’s also VR which is comparatively low quality but sufficiently different enough to be appealing to someone like me that has played too many games in established 2d genre to not have a meh response to anything but top 0.5%
 

sircaw

Banned
I think souls games can be tiresome at some stages.

but i think the main reason for that, is in its obscure setting.

I found myself enjoying the games much more once i had completed them, then going onto youtube and watching videos about the lore, the characters, and the settings.

It might sound a little bit crazy, but there is a guy called Vaatividya that does lore explanations, it can be fascinating.
It adds so much to the game, knowing, understanding the world you in. Having extra nuance to the setting you're playing, IMO makes the game so much less tiresome.

I think it's a shame that a lot of people miss out on some of the most important aspects of the game as it is often hidden in riddles or obscure text and writing.
 

tassletine

Member
I adore these games and recently played Ds1 again (for the 4th time) but I see your point.

My only real concern is that, what we're getting is watered down more mainstream gameplay, rather than something unique, which I would much prefer.

Sekiro was great but no Bloodborne, which like you, I think is the pinnacle, so yes I'm concerned.
I thought there, they tried too hard to make Sekiro accessible (dumb help prompts well into almost half the game) then just ramped up that boss difficulty to give it that From edge. Tthe actual levels in that game are quite empty, easy and ultimately boring (despite being beautiful) and without the extra tinkering you do in most souls (the RPG elements) there's just really not much to explore.
I was left with the feeling that I'd seen it all once it was over which I've never had with a Souls game. I REALLY hope that with this, they're not stretched too thin and we get some of that mystery back.

The only other thing that concerns me is that DS has terrible AI and I would like an overhaul of that. Just something more reactive to your playstyle and less cheap. Whilst it's fun to be able to exploit that crap, it's definitely had it's day. One of the things that struck me playing ds1 again recently was how little the series has actually progressed. Even Sekiro, almost feels like a mod. I'd really like a level editor to be released for it, Nintendo style, so that world could carry on forever... Then From can move onto something else.

What I'm hoping for though is that they just nail it, and we get a game that is mysterious and you can play for years uncovering it's secrets. What I really don't want is some dumb story that is trying to grab my emotions.
 

cireza

Member
It got boring at Dark Souls 3 for me, and even 1 was a already a bit boring. I had of course started with Demon's Souls.

Dark Souls II was a nice surprise though, as I enjoyed a lot the changes made to the game, with the importance of the torch, the Pharros Stones and their effects and optional places. It felt very refreshing.

I enjoyed Sekiro though.

I am not too excited about Elden Ring. Hopefully it can surprise me in a good way.
 

tassletine

Member
I was already pretty fatigued when DS3 hit. I hated most of my time with that game.
After Sekiro, my thirst for Souls games is gone for a long time.
DS3 is over rated. The combat is better than the rest, but the puzzle elements of the stages and design are watered down and the enemies lack variety. Another knight? Another Castle.ughh!
Both DS1 and 2 basically follow the same structure which is -- Branching paths, pick the wrong one and you will almost certainly die. A great deal of 3 is just one long corridor with very little deviation.
DS2 has far more imagination in it's level design. 3 was mostly fan service.
 
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