:monocle:

[Monocle]

You know what... that makes perfect sense lmfao. I didn't even think about the platinum connection.

[Moonface]

Now that you've started your first FromSoft game, do you think you'll want to have a bash at playing any of their other games at some point?

[Monocle]

uhhh honestly? I might go back and play Dark Souls 1. Gary gave it to me and I'm terrible so I dropped it lol. I dunno if Elden Ring made me better but I'm still willing to go back and try

[Moonface]

For me my first Souls game was Bloodborne which I think might be the best introduction to the series because of the lack of weight management and the mechanic that allows health recovery after being attacked if you respond quickly with an attack of your own. It's still a tough game but has a pure focus on the combat and giving you more shots at keeping the battle in your favour.

Absolutely do not touch Sekiro without having got to grips with any of the other Souls games though. That game is brutal for timing parries and it's best to try mastering that in one of the other games where it isn't the sole focus of the combat. Being unable to parry in Sekiro is basically death in most of the significant bosses.

[Monocle]

but Sekiro is the one closest to my interests! damn it. I mainly parry anyway so maybe it won't be that bad for me.

[Moonface]

Sekiro was my first game that involved any type of parrying mechanic so I found it hard to learn because I was doing so in a game that will kick your head in, but if you're good with reading an enemy attack and timing your parry for the moment their attack would land then you might have an easier time than I did grasping the game. XD

[Monocle]

It's always been on my list but the souls like combat turned me off. but I think Elden Ring is helping to ease me into the genre more

[Moonface]

I'm not sure if I'd say Sekiro has much Souls-like combat. There's no dodge rolling and fights are all about breaking posture, which is done primarily through attacking and parrying. It's also the only one that has no ability to level up or pick classes or weapons, so everything you tackle is designed to be done with one set of stats and your sword, meaning you can't go into anything under leveled or with a bad build. There are skill points to use, but even if you grinded that out it wouldn't make you overpowered because they're just different attacks you can use that are all built around the current level your character is, which only goes up through beating bosses.

[Monocle]

so it's purely about skill. huh. I like that. really a good way of teaching people to understand the controls and patience. learning patterns and shit.

this game will destroy me lmao

[Moonface]

Yeah, it takes some getting used to but another nice thing about the game is that unlike other Souls games, your XP isn't all dropped on death because the game has a skill point system, so when your XP gets high enough you gain a skill point and your XP bar resets, so the only XP you lose is what's in the bar. If you try to max the bar before entering a new area that feels iffy, then you can walk in with the skill points stored safely and not worry too much about losing XP because your bar is fresh and almost empty anyway.

So even when the game can destroy you, there isn't an issue of losing every bit of your character progress like what happens in every other Souls game.

[Monocle]

that's not a bad mechanic at all. you can still lose progress but it isn't so devastating like losing tons of souls or runes. because maaaan. I lost 100k runes the other day and I was fucking furious

[Moonface]

Yeah, the more painful thing to lose in Sekiro is money, because you will always lose 50% of it on death and it isn't retrievable. Luckily there are items that can store money which prevents you from losing any money contained in them, so even with that there are still ways to reduce the impact. I suspect the game has such forgiveness and leniency to compensate for the lack of builds and over leveling that other Souls games let you do.

[Monocle]

what's the money used for anyway? since it's so skill based I can't imagine there's a lot to buy

[Moonface]

what's the money used for anyway? since it's so skill based I can't imagine there's a lot to buy

The best way to think of money is how souls are used in a regular Souls game to buy items from vendors, like consumables and such. It's also used (with materials) to upgrade your prosthetic tools too.

[Monocle]

oooh. I like that. Nothing to increase stats but still little things to improve yourself aside from just being good.

hmmm might have to buy this soon enough