I think you hit the nail on the head there with dark souls. I was trying to understand why it didn't really grab me besides the game's difficulty level. You were basically thrown into this world and not even given missions or hints where to go. They say players are suppose to make their own story. If I'm playing a game I want to have a purpose for doing some things.I want to be excited for this game cause it looks great but the Dark Souls games lacked motivating story for me. I had no reason, direction, or purpose to be doing what I was doing and going where I was going. If this is similar to that I might just get super bored with it. Plus the combat was almost too deliberate for me. At high level with a katana I wanted to move like Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden lol.
I don't need hand holding.. this game looks great and I'll own it.
Good post. :thumbsup:DA:I is a fun game, but it's pretty casual hand holdy stuff. Minimap with quest objectives clearly marked on it, simplified attribute system, simplified tactics, healing cut out of the game in favor of easymode barriers + guard system, cut scenes tell you EXACTLY what's expected of you to progress the story to the next point. It's baby's first RPG, basically.
It's still fun. But saying the game doesn't hold your hand is absurd.
Meanwhile, Dark Souls has a reputation of being hardcore, but it reminds me of old school exploration games... Like Castelvania, Metroid, and the original Zelda. You're dropped into the world without much direction, and need to work through puzzles and challenges to get to the next area. Save points can be sparse, tension builds before a boss encounter...
DA:I is a fun game, but it's pretty casual hand holdy stuff. Minimap with quest objectives clearly marked on it, simplified attribute system, simplified tactics, healing cut out of the game in favor of easymode barriers + guard system, cut scenes tell you EXACTLY what's expected of you to progress the story to the next point. It's baby's first RPG, basically.
It's still fun. But saying the game doesn't hold your hand is absurd.
Meanwhile, Dark Souls has a reputation of being hardcore, but it reminds me of old school exploration games... Like Castelvania, Metroid, and the original Zelda. You're dropped into the world without much direction, and need to work through puzzles and challenges to get to the next area. Save points can be sparse, tension builds before a boss encounter...
Hand holding means you are guided to the end with no freedom in how you do it. The map has nothing to do with that. You have free roam of the world and are not ever once forced to go a particular path. Hell you even make your own story as you go in Dragon Age.
Hardcore is a buzzword without real meaning. You want hard? Go play Ninja Gaiden on Hard. The souls games weren't hard, they just glitched out and enemies attacked through walls and pushed you off ledges you had to traverse. It was bad design. Zelda is like Dragon Age in many ways. You have a story and are told where to go to continue the quest but you don't have to. Same thing. Hell they even put annoying sidekicks in a couple zelda games to remind you where to go.
From software has never been good at telling a good story, they just haven't. This is something they need to work on and that's the truth. Which is why I hope Bloodborne has a cohesive story to tell the player. Otherwise like I said, bored. It has nothing to do with whatever buzzword or phrase you want to throw out trying to insinuate that some people are not "hardcore" enough. That's ridiculous. I've beaten plenty of difficult games before, but they all had better game play and fight mechanics or better story. You have your opinion and I have mine. If from software wants me to buy their games they need better story. When I finished Dark Souls (got it for around $5 on steam) I still didn't know what I did. That's no good. There's a reason there's so many people on youtube trying to explain the lore and story. You shouldn't have to explain it.
Hand holding means you are guided to the end with no freedom in how you do it. The map has nothing to do with that. You have free roam of the world and are not ever once forced to go a particular path. Hell you even make your own story as you go in Dragon Age.
Hardcore is a buzzword without real meaning. You want hard? Go play Ninja Gaiden on Hard. The souls games weren't hard, they just glitched out and enemies attacked through walls and pushed you off ledges you had to traverse. It was bad design. Zelda is like Dragon Age in many ways. You have a story and are told where to go to continue the quest but you don't have to. Same thing. Hell they even put annoying sidekicks in a couple zelda games to remind you where to go.
From software has never been good at telling a good story, they just haven't. This is something they need to work on and that's the truth. Which is why I hope Bloodborne has a cohesive story to tell the player. Otherwise like I said, bored. It has nothing to do with whatever buzzword or phrase you want to throw out trying to insinuate that some people are not "hardcore" enough. That's ridiculous. I've beaten plenty of difficult games before, but they all had better game play and fight mechanics or better story. You have your opinion and I have mine. If from software wants me to buy their games they need better story. When I finished Dark Souls (got it for around $5 on steam) I still didn't know what I did. That's no good. There's a reason there's so many people on youtube trying to explain the lore and story. You shouldn't have to explain it.
I understand that mechanic you describe. I guess some people enjoy just being challenged and don't need the sense of feeling that they have progressed through a narrative.Something doesn't have to be a scripted cut-scene fest like The Order 1886, to be holding your hand. A cut scene changing slightly because you chose a different dialogue choice, isn't meaningful impact on the game world, IMO. You seem to be having difficulty looking at DA:I objectively, since you had a good time playing it recently. To clarify, I do like the game, but think its a streamlined experience with heavy guides.
When I said the Souls series has a reputation for being "hardcore" I gave sentiment that I didn't really agree in my next breath comparing it to some classic exploration games in it's spirit and pacing. When I mentioned Zelda, I specifically clarified that I meant the original NES Zelda, which was before the helpful "go that way" sidekicks were added. The OG Zelda didn't have any cinematic opening, or explanation of a grand mission. It just plopped you into the middle of the world, the old man hands you the wooden sword... and then it's up to you to figure it out.
Recently younger kids have been playing Super Metroid on the Wii U, and getting stuck all over the place, since in this day of age when the player encounter's an obstacle the game just hands you the answer.
I think the story-telling in Dark Souls is pretty subtle, or even lacking, since it's not the point. The motivation to move through the game, isn't to progress some story driven narrative, like is the case with most modern games. You're not trying to get to the next cut scene, you're trying to break past the latest challenge set in front of you.
I understand all that but you have to give me a reason to overcome the challenge. Why am I doing it? I could pick any number of games and go fight stuff examples include Monster Hunter, Soul Sacrifice, Pokemon. I just need a reason, a why. You know what I'm saying I'm sure.
That's how I am. I need a point to it beyond just "oh look I wandered over here and got one shotted. Let me try to beat that thing now." If I got a questline that said "a powerful monster called <insert name here> blocks the gateway to the Halls of Shadow which will unlock your pathway further into the castle." even if you never tell me where that is. I would eventually figure it out and when I get there I'll know that this is the way to go.
So you end up with a crappy ending like what you get with mass effect 3 you could have just YouTube'd the video and story. All those options you do lead to the same prescripted endings at most they vary by 1 or 2 options
The game look awesome and dark. Don't know much about it but it's from the same devs that got us Dark Souls, so it can only be at least good.
www.playstation.com/en-us/games/bloodborne-ps4/
http://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Bloodborne+Wiki
It might actually be the game that make me buy a PS4 finally...
I just hope its decent enough to keep me engaged. I don't need hand holding but I do need to have a purpose or a goal to achieve throughout the gameplay.
What I'm worried about is repetition in combat because at least in the soles games you had different classes and variances in weapons whereas now you have one sword like weapon and a gun. Not sure about magic or how that works in bloodborne.
I like the look of the flamethrower from those gifs. Really looks interesting so we shall see. I remember in dark souls I'd have to watch YouTube videos of the areas you could go in because I feared going somewhere and being stuck there with hard enemies. I wasn't good at the game and not knowing where I could go based on my level made it somewhat uninteresting.They're not taking out variances in weapons.... the alpha had 4 significantly different main weapon options (Saw Cleaver, Hunter Axe, the big ol' Kirkhammer, and quick Warped Twinblades), and two different gun options (pistol or blunderbuss). So, you can see gameplay footage out there with different weapon types already... I know the co-op demonstration featured someone using a Kirkhammer.
There also seems to be a little variance on starting stats, so you can pick a character that starts off with a bit more of the "Skill" stat, and use weapons that scale with that, as an example, or go with a more Strength based build.
Those aren't the only options though. There's other cool weapons, like a Scythe main weapon, or "Flamethrower" gun option. The Threaded Cane is like a sword whip.
http://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Weapons