Best Souls-like to start with?

[royce]

Tried Sekiro, directly from FromSoftware, and got bored after dying like 10 times with one of the first bosses.

Got 30 hours into Hollow Knight, which is categorized as Souls-like, and left it after defeating the first major boss, the Mantis Lords I believe they're called.

Didn't find neither of those appealing for me to keep going, but I still want to give the Souls saga a try, this time without going in blindly.

So, which game of 'em all would be the best for me to do a complete playthrough? I'd like to 100% one of them too at least, but trully enjoying it.

[peppermint hollows]

Hollow Knight is definitely more of a metroidvania than a Souls-like. Sekiro imo is mechanically a lot different from the actual Souls game, and also for me is much harder.

I think Dark Souls 3 is probably the easiest to start with, but it's a lot faster paced compared to Dark Souls 1 and 2. Dark Souls 1 is slower paced in comparison and there's a lot of cheese, but it's also underbaked and the game has some glaring issues with polish in the latter half of it (it was unfortunately rushed to release). Some people also find it clunky.

DS2 is the black sheep of the souls game but imo it's severely overhated. There's definitely some major flaws but it's not as bad as people say and has some positive aspects about it that I like.

I originally played all of them on console and have been going back and slowly trying to 100% them all on PC, though it's been in my backlog for a while. I also haven't had the chance to get around to playing and beating Elden Ring but a lot of people really liked ER as well, but I can't personally comment.

[Beni]

xd

[royce]

Originally posted by peppermint hollows:

Hollow Knight is definitely more of a metroidvania than a Souls-like. Sekiro imo is mechanically a lot different from the actual Souls game, and also for me is much harder.

I think Dark Souls 3 is probably the easiest to start with, but it's a lot faster paced compared to Dark Souls 1 and 2. Dark Souls 1 is slower paced in comparison and there's a lot of cheese, but it's also underbaked and the game has some glaring issues with polish in the latter half of it (it was unfortunately rushed to release). Some people also find it clunky.

DS2 is the black sheep of the souls game but imo it's severely overhated. There's definitely some major flaws but it's not as bad as people say and has some positive aspects about it that I like.

I originally played all of them on console and have been going back and slowly trying to 100% them all on PC, though it's been in my backlog for a while. I also haven't had the chance to get around to playing and beating Elden Ring but a lot of people really liked ER as well, but I can't personally comment.

Thank you for your opinion.

I also found Sekiro mostly different in mechanics while watching some gameplays, DS seemed easier somehow too.

Just wondering, would I be missing some story-related context if I start with Dark Souls 3? I feel that if I like it I'll eventually play the other releases so It would be great to not mix all the storylines.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by royce:

Just wondering, would I be missing some story-related context if I start with Dark Souls 3? I feel that if I like it I'll eventually play the other releases so It would be great to not mix all the storylines.

There really is little to no connection between their stories, honestly. You could play them in any order.

[peppermint hollows]

Originally posted by royce:

Originally posted by peppermint hollows:

Hollow Knight is definitely more of a metroidvania than a Souls-like. Sekiro imo is mechanically a lot different from the actual Souls game, and also for me is much harder.

I think Dark Souls 3 is probably the easiest to start with, but it's a lot faster paced compared to Dark Souls 1 and 2. Dark Souls 1 is slower paced in comparison and there's a lot of cheese, but it's also underbaked and the game has some glaring issues with polish in the latter half of it (it was unfortunately rushed to release). Some people also find it clunky.

DS2 is the black sheep of the souls game but imo it's severely overhated. There's definitely some major flaws but it's not as bad as people say and has some positive aspects about it that I like.

I originally played all of them on console and have been going back and slowly trying to 100% them all on PC, though it's been in my backlog for a while. I also haven't had the chance to get around to playing and beating Elden Ring but a lot of people really liked ER as well, but I can't personally comment.

Thank you for your opinion.

I also found Sekiro mostly different in mechanics while watching some gameplays, DS seemed easier somehow too.

Just wondering, would I be missing some story-related context if I start with Dark Souls 3? I feel that if I like it I'll eventually play the other releases so It would be great to not mix all the storylines.

The Dark Souls games are not very story-heavy. That said you'll definitely miss a lot of references and nods towards the earlier games, in particular there's a lot of fanservice towards the first game in DS3. Other than that though, you don't really need to play DS1 to understand it. Although you probably won't understand most of it anyway, but that's because most of the story in all 3 of the games is hidden behind descriptions of items, NPC dialogue, and similar types of indirect storytelling.

Even as someone who has played all of these games dozens of times and probably hundreds of hours total I only understand the story and lore pretty loosely lol.

[royce]

Originally posted by Spawn of Totoro:

There really is little to no connection between their stories, honestly. You could play them in any order.

Originally posted by peppermint hollows:

The Dark Souls games are not very story-heavy. That said you'll definitely miss a lot of references and nods towards the earlier games, in particular there's a lot of fanservice towards the first game in DS3. Other than that though, you don't really need to play DS1 to understand it. Although you probably won't understand most of it anyway, but that's because most of the story in all 3 of the games is hidden behind descriptions of items, NPC dialogue, and similar types of indirect storytelling.

Even as someone who has played all of these games dozens of times and probably hundreds of hours total I only understand the story and lore pretty loosely lol.

Fair enough, I want to get the point of the game though, while Sekiro's main plot was pretty straightforward like 'there's this issue, solve it getting there... defeating those...', I get the Souls are more discreet regarding storytelling, but I have no trouble with having to read more and get to the edge of it.

Thanks again for your comments.