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Soulslike - Discussion, News, Memes

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This is a community for discussion, news, and memes pertaining to the video game sub-genre "soulslike".

Given Lemmy's size, the definition of soulslike may be treated relatively loosely. While games like the numerous FromSoft titles, the recent Star Wars Jedi games, Lies of P, Nioh and similar games should be the focus, games that incorporate soulslike elements - like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous, for example - may also be discussed here.

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[BB] This enemy is so difficult!

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[DS1] Anyone struggling with the gargoyles?

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[Discussion] Which Soulslike will you be playing this weekend and auto-refilling vs. consumable healing - which do you prefer? (infosec.pub)
submitted 14 hours ago by v4ld1z@lemmy.zip to c/soulslike@lemmy.zip
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Healing is a staple of any soulslike. From the very beginning, Demon's Souls introduced healing items to the genre to fight off the dangers of the world. The healing items were consumable, however, forcing the player to either get good enough to use fewer healing items or find spots to farm the various levels of healing items to have a stash.

Dark Souls ditched the types of consumable grass and instead introduced the Estus Flask - the healing item that comes with several healing charges which auto-refill when you rest at a bonfire or die.

Apart from Bloodborne, which had Blood Vials (controversial), Estus Flasks or similar have become a mainstay of the genre. But which of these are better for the game and which do you prefer?

Estus Flasks come with limited charges, but they refill automatically, so you don't have to farm healing items and can just focus on the boss fight that's giving you trouble. Consumable healing usually comes in larger quantities (20 Blood Vials plus a couple extra if you use specific runes), so you have more healing at your disposal in a boss fight, hence you can be more aggressive and reckless, but you run the risk of running out of healing at some point, so you might have to farm them at some point.

Thoughts?

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[–] Keegen@lemmy.zip 8 points 13 hours ago

I like Dark Souls 2's mixed system the most (I'm one of the 5 weirdos who actually enjoys that game the most out of the Souls trilogy). You start off with a very limited Estus count but can supplement it with consumable Lifegems and healing miracles (makes especially those feel so much more valuable). I liked DS2's approach to consumables the most in general, they were powerful and pretty useful for all kinds of builds but never necessary, it added that extra RPG element to the game of using consumables to help you overcome some of the harder moments while still letting you win through sheer skill if you choose.