Soulslike - Discussion, News, Memes

I like the Estus system—it gives you a lot more room to experiment and have fun with the game. Getting more consumable heals just feels like grocery shopping.

Refillable heals over consumables any day, but I'll always love combining HP regen over time and heal on crit passives.

I'll be finishing up my third playthrough of Lords of the Fallen this weekend, getting the umbral ending with an umbral build. Fungal pickaxe + poison weapon + bloodbane ring + the umbral eye that boosts your damage in exchange for turning it all into wither type melts just about everything, and most of the spells are pretty good too.

After that, might try dusting off Elden Ring after seeing that post a few days ago about multiplayer activity actually being good with the seamless mod. Anyone have favourite invasion spots?

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.

I've got a DS3 run on the go that I might finish. Just need to beat the Ringed City bosses minus Demon Twins, and Old Demon King because I forgot about him.

I think the refilling Estus system is best overall. Farming for heals in Demon's Souls kinda sucked imo, especially when I got stuck in a few places and burned through all my grass.

I did like the lifegems in DS2 and their contrast to Estus, especially how the gems healed less but let you still walk while snorting them, versus the Estus making you stand still but healing more overall.

I am all in on the flasks resetting at a bonfire. In fact I wish all consumables were like that.

One of the few things I really liked about the Witcher 3's mechanics was how (if I remember right) the consumables reset in a similar way estus does. You found or crafted the thing and then the items you find around the world were used to upgrade them. It was a nice balance - you still search the world for the upgrade materials but once you have the item you can use it knowing you can easily refill it.

Biggest reason for me is that it is annoying to have to farm for items and I could see myself trying out a wider variety of builds based around the various consumables in the games if I didn't know I'd have to grind to replenish the supply however often. I am also the kind of player that never uses consumables because 'what if I need it later?' and this would rectify that problem too.

the grass system was something I enjoyed a lot in DeS. expensive yes, but I liked being able to heal different amounts and it puts some good pressure on performance when you run out of the good stuff and you gotta make do with whatever you have. The game is not super hard so I never felt the need to farm, otherwise it would probably be terrible.

Consumable heals are a ^tiny^ annoyance in bloodborne when staring a new run, but not significant, if I could edit the game I would change other stuff first, like weapon durability or fast travel, etc.

Estus is maybe too comfy in DS 1/ 3 but really appreciated in Elden Ring and others of similar difficulty

I'll be playing more Enotria, I didn't progress much this week. Only to the 4th major boss I think. This area is probably my favourite so far.

Also restarted DS3, I was planning to rush it but I wanna keep progressing some character quests so I'll have to do a bunch of side stuff again

So I'll be bouncing between the two.

The Surge has the best healing system IMO. First off, it's got options. You can heal a medium chunk at once, or a bigger amount over a period of time. You can even swap out the healing utility for a different utility altogether or use both healing tools at once. Next, you get X charges every rest/reset, but you can also gain more by attacking something and building up energy.

But altogether, all of them are light years ahead of LOOSE WALL MEAT like in NES and SNES classics.

No Soulslikes for me this weekend, I am still on the Withering Rooms kick I've been on for the last two weeks or so. I finished my first playthrough today, got an ending I think might be canon (considering the upcoming sequel) and then immediately went into NG+. There is an extra ending exclusive to NG+, and I'm curious to see what that payoff is like. So far the NG+ experience has been pretty remixed, so it feels somewhat fresh. Also feels snappier - certain puzzles and story beats seem removed in NG+ so it might play a lot faster. There are also some new and pretty cool mechanics introduced.

Overall I can't say enough good things about this game. The world building, the exploration, the story, the art direction, the vibes, the mechanics... It's such a good and unique game.

prefer the estus system, I don't really want to spend time farming for blood echos so I can buy more vials lol

Probably going to play Armored Core VI this weekend if any soulslike, otherwise Helldivers & DRG.

I like the OG, and enjoy the hacks that let the charge beam gather health in Super Metroid