Are the other Souls games worth playing?

[Fat_Mason]

I just recently finished Dark Souls 3. It's the only Souls game I've played so far. Is it worth it to purchase the previous two Dark Souls or are they gonna feel clunky and terrible compared to the third?

[Sparhawk 59]

Yes DSR and 2 are really clunky compared to 3. Elden Ring runs smoothly like 3. However if you like souls then no harm trying them

[Fat_Mason]

I'd love to play Elden Ring but my poor ol' computer just wouldn't be able to digest all that.
I'll probably start DSR next. I appreciate your input.

[VanishingClimax]

if you love souls and a challenge then why not

[shotgun awesome!]

if you wanna cry play ds2 if you want more dark souls play ds1/DSR

[Sc0rpiTr0n]

Originally posted by Fat_Mason:

Is it worth it to purchase the previous two Dark Souls or are they gonna feel clunky and terrible compared to the third?

For gameplay reasons; not worthy.
For atmosphere, characters, world exploration and interesting bosses: very worthy.

[Rosenoire]

Only the first one

[urabe mikoto]

The first one is as great as DS3, don't listen to the bs above. If you can, you should play DeS too

[ZTL-Altima]

DS1 is the best game From Software ever made. Must play.
DS2 can be skipped.
Elden Ring is worth playing to see the open world, but any experienced Souls player will feel major disappointments.

[Josh]

Play 3 and then 2 and then sekiro. Skip Ds1

[SomeOne [RB]]

DS2 has some awful mechanics and definitely is not as good as ds1 or ds3, but imo it is worth playing too. Gonna get all achievements in the original one ones I'm in mood for it. If you liked ds3, you should also enjoy the other games.

Also take a look at Sekiro. Finished it in October and enjoyed it as well as souls games.

[Greywander]

Both games are worth playing. DS3 is probably the most polished of the three, but it rides a bit too much on fanservice. There's a lot of references to DS1 and 2 that don't really feel like they fit.

DS1 had the most soul, IMO. Later games improved on the mechanics, but suffered the curse of being a sequel in a series that wasn't intended to have a sequel. The maps are a lot more interconnected with lots of shortcuts, which I like better. I also like the story better, despite how basic it is; it just feels more "mythological", if that makes sense.

DS2 is the black sheep of the bunch. They got overambitious and bit off more than they could chew. I think a lot of the hate is undeserved, but I will say the game is a bit of a slog. It's a long game. I still enjoyed my time with it, but I was glad when it was over. While the main game suffered a troubled development, the DLC steps up the quality. A flawed but fun game.

[Yal]

Dark Souls 2 had the most content in the entire series until Elden Ring released, and it also runs much better than DS1 for some reason (goes for both DS1:PtDE and DS1R). I think DS2 even has more bosses than ER, there's very few reused bosses (I can think of like 2 instances in total, 5 if you count "the boss comes back as a regular enemy later" cases)

I played them in reverse order and went from being super disappointed in DS3 not living up to DS1's reputation which had been hyped up to me a lot at that point, to instantly falling in love with DS2. The game's just so much more positive and colorful after DS3's constant drab gray sludge.

[FIRE]

Yes, all of them are good. Bosses might feel like a bit of a letdown in 2 but it's still a great game overall. The dlcs especially were great.

[FIRE]

Originally posted by Yal:

I think DS2 even has more bosses than ER, there's very few reused bosses (I can think of like 2 instances in total, 5 if you count "the boss comes back as a regular enemy later" cases)

It doesn't. Even without counting all the reused bosses ER has more by a long mile.

[FIRE]

Originally posted by Parsify:

DS1 is the best game From Software ever made. Must play.
DS2 can be skipped.
Elden Ring is worth playing to see the open world, but any experienced Souls player will feel major disappointments.

Honestly I had major disappointments with every single souls game not just ER when I started playing another.

going from ds1 to ds2 I got more content and variety but the level design was worse and bosses a bit more boring

going from ds2 to ds3 I got extremely good bosses and faster paced gameplay but the exploration felt worse because it's way more linear

going from dark souls to ER I got a ton of content, more polished gameplay, more build variety, great visuals but the open world made the game much worse and too many things were copy-pasted. The best parts of ER are the legacy dungeons like leyndell, stormveil, liurnia academy etc.

In the end they are all great games with flaws. Each one does certain things better and worse.