Because we should never forget, here is mine in response to any news about Tesla:

The third Soul Reaver was it.

The recent remaster is good but a new modern version would be most welcome. A sequel? Homer noises.

Hmmm. 42 months, you say?

How about an actual successor to Legacy of Kain?

Your superpower is math. Your weakness is that it only applies to orgies.

The Federation shall hear of this.

What’s a group orgy?

Hope you enjoy it.

It (Elden Ring) is a great Souls game. The end.

Well, thanks for telling us. Perhaps seek treatment?

Yeah, somebody screenshot this for The Headline.

I vehemently disagree. I slogged my way through that game so I could speak with experience on the subject. That game only feels fair to Souls players because it tried to be less annoying difficult than the games that preceded it.

It’s unfair, the bosses are too large for the screen and your character wins by luck and repetition. No skill required (because it’s luck when you beat a boss).

I cannot stress enough how much disdain I have for “Souls-like” as a category. Developers should note: Putting that descriptor in your game is shutting out a vast majority of the gaming community. The fans are a niche; a sliver of the gaming community.

I have no problem with people liking the genre but the genre is not mainstream for a reason. We can have challenge in a game without it being frustrating.

You’ve identified one part of the issue and it’s a valid one.

Aside from aging, games have also evolved into lazy design. What used to be difficulty was really innovation a decade+ ago. Take a game like the original Soul Reaver. The bosses required specific skills and strategies you had to figure out in order to win. If you didn’t figure it out they would laugh and mock you for failing. It was genius and you felt accomplished when you figured it out.

Contrast that to Elden Ring. The moveset isn’t intuitive and your character moves like it’s not attached to the world.

The bosses are just extremely higher health bars and your health bar is on the opposite end of theirs. That’s it. That’s the game difficulty.

So “strategy” just means dodging until you can get a hit on the overly large boss and repeat for long periods until someone dies. I find it lazy and uninspiring.

So yeah, you’re not crazy.

Jesus Christ, you people are insufferable.

Go away.

Ok. Enjoy the frustration, I guess.

As I said in my original comment, the lesson was to move on and come back when you were ready, whatever form that took.

That boss required timing, skill and pattern recognition later in the game. With multiple skills unlocked it’s fine.

It’s a hard fight but not unfair.

This was an issue with two things: People are too used to the timing in Souls games and hate change.

The second and most probable reason was the fact that the game had some bad input delay at certain resolutions. It can be rectified by changing your graphics settings in-game. This was my particular issue and I fixed it using a YouTube video. I’ll try to find it and link it back here in an edit.

EDIT: Didn’t find the exact one I used but this addresses the same issue with fixes.

Yes, and I think so for unpopular reasons.

I’m the rare person that finds anything “Souls-like” insufferable and annoying. I avoid those games because they’re built on frustration and anger-inducing difficulty spikes. This game is not those things but the internet will not stop saying it’s a Souls-like. That’s because Souls fans thinks Souls games are a positive comparison when it simply turns off most gamers outside that fandom.

The Souls comparison was the reason I almost never touched Black Myth.

Then I tried it on a friend’s console and my mind changed.

Black Myth has a story. Not something you have to create in your head (cough, Elden Ring) based on environmental clues but an actual story based on Chinese myths and folk tales.

It drives you. It motivates you. You want to keep playing to see the next thing. The environment and the enemies and the fighting styles and the character you play drip atmosphere and mystery and substance and style.

The place where this game shines is where most games in a similar genre falter. It keeps the power fantasy intact.

In this game you are the threat. You are the one with the power. If you can’t beat someone come back because not too further up you’ll discover the power or skill to come back and destroy that enemy.

There is difficulty to be had but not once was it unfair or anger-inducing. A boss defeating you is a lesson to move on and come back. The movements aren’t you just rolling around and hoping you don’t get hit like another annoying series I won’t mention again.

Fun. This game is fun. Gamers like fun, yes?

LoOk here.