The Vent Club

>Roy taking a filthy shit on that video

almost made me spit out my water, goddamn i felt the heat coming off my screen when i was reading that

>Stranglehold

haven't heard anyone mention that game since 2009. the fact that that's on there but not the Max Payne games is brutal, ngl.

>Souls mentions

alright alright now we're talkin'...

>he only mentions parrying and BB's trick system

...well, at least he mentioned a couple of things

>Final Fantasy MMO UI

blight upon thine eyes

>Paper Mario mini-game

don't even know what to say to this one

>Arkham

i guess i have to be Roy's evil doppelganger yet again-- sorry bud-- cuz i'm with Infinity on this one. i have no problem with casual-- whatever you wanna call it-- action games existing, not every game needs to be super deep and tough as nails, but it's just the worst to me and i can't stand that it's been virtually every combat system since 2009. people enjoy it, that's cool, but there's no reason it should be every game ever, no combat system should be, but it is, and it's identical every single time. and it sucks for me because i love Batman so it'd be nice to play a great Batman game but they're forever condemned to be Arkham turds. does anybody have a list of every game that has that FreeFlow system? i'd love/hate to see that.

beyond that i just don't enjoy the combat system or the stealth my biggest issue is how it's 'evolved' since Asylum. every subsequent Batman game has made it more complicated but i don't see how it added any more depth, it's just more and more hoops i have to memorize and jump through that all do the same shit; stun an enemy/temporarily take an enemy out of the fight. if i'm gonna play a simple action game then give me a simple action game, not some ridiculously convoluted Rythm Game-y/finger Twister-y/Simon Says-y bullshit.

Roy, your fave vidya game commentator talked about Hi-Fi Rush and style rankings. Pretty convoluted 10:01 video that can be summarised as "more guns/ammo/checkpoints = Rambo, fewer = cautions/survival horror", but @10:13 is the relevant part.

"A scoring system might make one player feel  competitive - and eager to replay every level. But it could make another player feel  judged - and eager to get a Steam refund."

Imagine refunding a game because you got a D-rank. Not even failed, just got an arbitrary score from the dev that hurt your feelings. OTOH, as much as I like Bayo, the strict requirements for Platinum gives most levels a sense of "thank God that's over, I'm never doing that again".

You could argue a Mikami scoreboard that tells you the facts: time, kills, deaths, etc. in a non-judgemental fashion gets round that. But to miss the easy argument about style ranks being arbitrary and say that some people may get refunds if they're taxed too hard sounds like a kid doing a school report on something he discovered 5 minutes ago. Ironic that he's the vidya game ambassador they put in schools and unis.

"Take the new Tango game, Hi-Fi Rush:  it clearly wants you to feel like a rockstar as you brawl along to the beat -  but as someone with zero musical ability, I just felt like a bumbling idiot."

Yes, the musical ability is the reason he's struggling in this action game. Since he's an expert on style systems, he'd slay at any other action game.

Speaking of Steam Refunds, how's everyone feeling about the Spring Sale? Seems a little weak to me. No FromSoft games on sale, plus some games like Witcher 3 went up in price, which I expected after the next-gen patch.

I don't understand how anyone who gets all sad and insecure of ranking in a video game, manages to navigate life on even a basic level.

Such mechanically blind losers SHOULD be judged. Hard.
They SHOULD be pushed to improve instead of being catered to.

GMTK doesn't know what he's talking about and should never male his own game.

>feels like a bumbling idiot
That's more because his IS one than the game. Go play something else then.

>quitting a game because you aren't immediately good at it
Reminded of that Ayn Rand quote, if stairs are enough to dissuade someone from entering a library, do you even want that sort of person in the library?

Anyway I don't see that score has anything to do with feeling like an idiot because you suck at it. Astral Chain once handed out S+ for a boss fight where I died 3 times, that didn't make me feel any better about dying.

They want to win without putting in the work.

Why not play easy, you say?

They can't, because even they feel stupid on easy.and it's offensive to them. They want to play on the same level as players who are good. They just don't want to have learn how. Like those piece of shit AI 'artists'.

So they scream for nerfs and removals of certain sections and whatnot.

I don't know if they realize or not but what they're going for is the normalization of 'easy' normal/hard modes.
Then they'll be able to play and appear good even on the hardest modes because years of screeching has dumbed these modes down.

Thats what it looks like to me anyway.

> nerfs
Actually annoyed by this as it's relevant for me currently: Team Ninja nerfed the only hard (and optional!) boss fight in the game because players complained about it. You willingly buy a game from a developer known for hard games, and it's not even main-content...yet you still complain. It reminds me of players starting up Hard Mode in a game and being shocked that they're dying. Bro...

> my favourite YT'ber
I really am a salty mf

> analysis
Guy talks fancy, but he's in the same category as that doc fella on Twitter. Somehow convinced designers that he's smart while he has no clue what he's talking about regarding what truly makes a game great. He's constantly looking for correlations without any really data to back it up.

He's Ernie: https://youtu.be/zwsmqZLCKPE?t=42

Guy's also a pretty big sell-out since he's in the market, his GoW2018 video was pretty bad as he overlooked both what truly was great about the axe and didn't mention the bad parts - it felt like a 12 year old's schoolplay ground argument.

Man, I really don't like him hahahaah

> ayn quote
Writing that one down.

> why not play on Easy
This popped up during the recent 'water room' discourse on Twitter. Players were asking hard content from RE4 to be absent in the remake, to which my reply was: "just...please on Easy". The mode is there for a reason. People need to stop thinking people care about how they play games. They don't. You wanna play on Easy? Go ahead. Hell I did the same with NGS2 when I first started, same with RE4.

>if stairs are enough to dissuade someone from entering a library, do you even want that sort of person in the library?

Wheelchair users: "Am I a joke to you?"

Remember when Troy Baker said if you don't like the story of Tlou2 you should make your own game? Mark Brown shows us what happens when you do. Doesn't make you a better critic.

Speaking of, I knew that ending was coming, but it just didn't work in TV format. Needed to stew for an extra 5-20 mins.

Speaking of people being bad at RE4, saw this incredible extract from the RE4make IGN review.

"In preparation for this review I returned to the original game for the first time in years and was shocked at how badly this remake was needed. The movement of main star Leon Kennedy felt ridiculously restricted; he struggles to get around as though he’s wearing an old pair of skinny jeans that haven’t fit him since his police academy days, and is immobilised anytime he gets his gun out as though he’s incapable of independent control over his hands and feet at the same time. By modern standards it’s absurd, and would absolutely put off a lot of newcomers before they could begin to understand why this game is so highly regarded."

How fucking bad can you be at your fucking job if you can't even understand the mechanics (and the reason for their existance) of RE4? I see this line of reasoning constantly. People bitch about the absence of certain mechanics in certain games just because those are present in their favourite game, without understanding that the lack of a mechanic can be good depending on the situation.
You can't move and shoot in RE4 unlike in GOW so game bad.
Oh fuck I'm starting to sound like GMTK.

>GMTK vid
It's fine until the scoring system point. Do casuals really care about that? It also depends a lot on the game. I tried Pizza Tower recently and the scoring there makes sense because the levels are heavily designed around it, but you can ignore scores completely if you want to (and only miss on cosmetics). Action game scores often are badly implemented or can be easily be abused, and the games don't even beat you on the head if you get a D or whatever. If you really care about it then learn how they work and get better. Don't understand the issue there.

>Spring Sale
The usual, nothing too exciting. One thing to note is Forspoken with a 33% discount after less than two months (lol). Also a chunky discount on FFVII Intergrade (heard good things about it).

No surprise from IGN.

Whoever this mechanically blind fool is, bet he just passed through RE4 like he'll pass through the remake, like many others, never touchng it again and forgetting it exists, moving on to the next big, mechanically void release.

I'm excited for the remake but seeing people say shit like that about RE4 is infuriating. How much does moving and shooting add to these games in the grand scheme of things? Pretty sure if I couldn't move and shoot in TEW it wouldn't affect my feelings toward the game whatsoever.

>that IGN blurb

my boy Mickey Fatlips wrote that gem, don't pay him any mind fellas

>Thats what it looks like to me anyway.
This is how I've felt about Souls 'haters' insisting that the games need an Easy mode, but didn't know how to put it into words. One individual in particular even ranted about a Reddit post (don't worry, I don't visit that place, just going off by what he says about it) where some parent introduced Souls to his children at a relatively early age. Said he was mad at the father for making such a horrible mistake, and that he'd lose sleep (or something along the lines) for knowing that more elitist scumbags were going to potentially plague the Souls community a decade later.

This while he insults Souls fans for being supportive to him (can't stand when someone says that 'he can do it', or that 'they believe in him', because they just CAN'T understand that he CAN'T do it AT ALL).

He also admitted that he was legally blind, yet somehow still plays games regularly.

Sounds like a psycho.

One more before the RE4make release. From TheGamer:

"After the success of Resident Evil 2 Remake, the directors said they weren't interested in remaking Resident Evil 4 because it was already a masterpiece. As someone who rates the original among my all-time favorites, I find that absurd. As exceptional and important as Resident Evil 4 is, it has plenty of flaws as well.

RE4 is overly long and poorly paced, particularly in the final few hours. As a full-length escort mission, it can often be tedious and annoying as well. It has some of the series' worst boss fights, and, most damning of all, its success led to quick time events sticking around a decade longer than they should have. Resident Evil 4 was never a perfect game, but by addressing every flaw and enhancing every aspect of gameplay, Resident Evil 4 Remake is."

Bonus points for referencing GoW 2018 twice in the actual review (another game where people needed to shit on the previous games in order to put the new one on a pedistal).

>final few hours
Classic line from normies who want the game to be horror(but actually don’t). Island has some of the best encounters in the game.

>full-length escort mission
Here’s this completely dishonest bullshit again. RE4 has 19 chapters and Ashley is with you for around 5 or 6 of them. How the fuck is that “full-length”.

Besides, there’s dumpsters and hiding spots for her in some areas. Journos should love that considering they don’t actually like interacting with the games they play.

>shit on previous game to prop up new one
Just shows how completely devoid of character and integrity these clowns actually are. The chronic consumerists that plague our society have to hate old things to get hyped up about new ones(which will just happen to the new product once enough time passes).

The Metacritic is interesting. Glowing scores, but the lower you go, the more blurbs acknowledging it can't replace the original. Think IGN/Gamespot jumped the gun with their 10/10s. Lowest score for PS5 is 70. I think Rock Paper Shotgun summed it up best:

This is not a replacement of the original game. Far from it. In my mind, it occupies the same space as its (exceptional) VR version. A retelling of a classic crafted on its own terms. A brilliant action shooter that is big and daft and brilliant. When asked what my favourite game of all time is moving forward, my answer will remain the same, only richer and more complex as a result of this excellent remake. Resident Evil 4, I’ll say, and whatever interpretation they think of will be entirely correct.

> full length escort quest
I once did the math and there's like 8 fights in the entire game where you escort her. Ironically I think this version has her present way more during combat.

Beme pulling his nonsense again.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/241018-devil-may-cry-5/80387500#22

We need to talk about IGN's NGB review.



It's by Mitchell Saltzmann, the character action guy at IGN that gave Wanted Dead a 4.

Passing mentions:

GoW4, HiFi Rush, Bayo 1, Bayo 3

Mentions in detail:

DMC5, MGR, NGB

No mention of NG2/3/Sigmas. Doesn't define "Pure Action Game" as opposed to Action RPGs.

Conclusion: "when it comes to its action, Ninja Gaiden Black is a masterclass of combat design, and is the one game that I keep coming back to on a yearly basis. All because of this particular blend of deep combat, challenging and aggressive enemy design, and unparalleled mobility options."

The shade thrown at MGR at 5:50. It's like "Real videogamers don't skip Devil May Cry 2". Or Raiden grabbed Fortune's forcefield from MGS2.

There are other games with aggressive enemies he glossed over. I would reverse his order and say MGR is more aggressive than DMC5. When I went back to it, the upgraded basic soldiers surprised me with their aggression. When he says "hard difficulty equivalents", I assume he means Hard (MGR) and SoS (DMC5), which again affects aggression.

NG Master Collection is at an all-time low price for the next 24h. But if NGB and vanilla 2 aren't on the table, what's the point? Maybe this'll light a fire under KT.

I noticed that Ryu looks at enemies while blocking. Does that mean anything gameplay wise?

>IGN NG video
Trash. Why is it always the comparison game with these people? And why is always the same few games, every single time?

DMC3/5. MGR. Bayo1. And now NuGow.

Do other games not exist to these people? I know IGN is notoriously stupid and gave God Hand a 3, but why does it never get brought up? It has things other action games don’t do(actual high/lows, attack mapping).

He talked at a pretty surface level too. Not surprising when you spend half the video talking about other games.

I think it’s funny that HiFi Rush even got mentioned. The game seems to have been totally forgotten right after release.

I hear HiFi Rush get brought up alot, but always from an anti-AAA point. Never the merits of the game, just "look at this EA/Activision/Ubisoft, this is what gamers want: fun games that aren't hyped to death, filled with microtransactions or broken at launch". And yet that's exactly what they buy. They're the best/worst consumers, depending on which side of the fence you're on. PC gaming has it worse. "The 4080 is overpriced, I'll have 10".

Sounds more like he's a casual enjoyer of the genre, likes to replay Ninja Gaiden every once in a while and was allowed to make a fluff-piece editorial about it. Nothing more. Nothing bad with that mind you, but also to give some insight in that you shouldn't expect too much from the content.

> why always comparisons
Shows their lack of creative writing and analysis.

> HiFi rush
Honestly everything about that game is great to me, except the gameplay haha. For some reason that game puts me to sleep and I have no idea as to why.

@Infinity_Divide

He also made a video on God Hand, and it's like he is both apologizing for liking a game that IGN reviewed badly, and also shitting on it at the same time cause he had to due to IGN or something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z5eZTJai1w&ab_channel=IGN

With videos like this, I'd rather have them not talking about action games at all.

Hi-Fi Rush combat was really fun although the color coded shields that you can only break with specific cooldown attacks really annoyed me.

I love how the different combos have different properties and use cases, and the finishers rewarding good planning and positioning while also not being i-framed which means you gotta play well to benefit from them.

Yeah honestly I don't know why HiFi isn't clicking with me tbh. I mean, obviously some parts hit me wrong (like CDs and color coded shields) but there's a lot of other high quality stuff in there but I just have zero urge to play it. Might be a mood thing, I'll see how it goes later-on.

Is it the rhythm aspect? Does it feel more like a hindrance that stifles player creativity and enemy actions, since they have to sync up to the beat? That's what I thought when I first saw it. Without the rhythm, the game's USP's are 2D/3D graphics and comedy, which are great, but might not carry it.

You can see the outlines of the pitch they would've given at GDC or Microsoft:

"Ever since Crypt of the NecroDancer in 2015, rhythm games have had a resurgence. We've seen rhythm shooters like Bullets Per Minute and Metal: Hellsinger take the world by storm. Now, our product will incorporate rhythm gameplay into an often under-served market. HiFi Rush combines exhilarating gameplay with punk graphics. There's enough anime to attract the weaboos, but not enough to repulse normies. We also use a mix of licensed music, such as NIN and the Prodigy to emphasise the punk aesthetic (don't ask what happens to the game when the licensing rights run out).

Why action? The strong commercial and critical successes of DMC5, Bayonetta 3 and especially the reimagined God of War duology show that the gaming audience is hungry for pure action games. The best pure action games of all time have come out in the last 5 years, and we are sure we can cater to this audience. Strong sales of Cyberpunk show that audiences are still amenable to sci-fi dystopias about capitalist realism and mala fide corporations. Microsoft would be the perfect partner for distribution, as the Gamepass model supports our smaller production and marketing budget.

Speaking of, we would like to try a form of guerrilla marketing that has not been used for a while. During a developer direct, we introduce our game, then launch at the end of it. Everyone who doesn't live on r/gamingleaksandrumours would be shocked, and we expect our model to be copied by publishers big and small for the foreseeable future. The immediate release, Gamepass access and $30 MSRP give us confidence of wide appeal, not to mention "good guy points" from gamers and reviewers to help with our guerrilla marketing. This truly will be the Dark Souls of rhythm-based character action games."

>Hi-Fi Rush

I really enjoyed my initial playthrough of it but found it didn't have anything that really made me want to dive in for another playthrough or try the Bloody Palace-type mode. It didn't really click with me past the surface level of the mechanics. From memory I think I only used 3 or 4 different combo strings. If I forced myself to play more I'd probably change my mind.

Like Raeng said, I found that all the aesthetic elements were really well done - great art, fun story and characters, good soundtrack. It's quite rare to praise all of those in the same action title. It's a shame the gameplay didn't hook me in more - it's not bad or anything, I just didn't find that depth or addictive element that is in my favourites. I usually say my favourite action games have "rhythmic" combat - it's funny that this game quite literally does have rhythm combat, but it didn't manage to become one of my all-timers.

I played it via Game Pass, but I have no doubt that I'll see it on sale in a year or two and go "oh yeah, I've gotta play that again".

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/best-video-games-all-time
This fucking list, man. Wouldn't be complete without a MCU reference.

"Rather than shuffle Ocarina of Time, Dark Souls and Ico across a big list according to our own whims, we decided to get our friends involved. [...]
That meant gathering together a massive collective of our favourite developers, streamers, directors and journalists in the business. Think of it as an “Avengers assemble” moment."

At least OG RE4 is on the list and not the remake.

Pretty funny video. It’s in the subtlety’s.

>The list
Another ranking based on popularity and financial success, not merit, by marketing specialists desguised as gaming experts. Funny that they included DA:O. I never noticed that it was particularly successful or popular, at least compared to likes of Mass Effect, but then I saw mention of the upcoming entry in the franchise. "New one is on the way? We have to give props to the old one." That explains why Botw is on the top.

> the vid
It's pretty alright. It spread itself too thin, becasue of the broad scope of the subject. Video doesn't have any significant insights or depth due to lack of focus. It's a collection of truisms instead of well thought out video and those skits only distract from the points made.

Edit: I've watch his vid on Dark souls' difficulty and it was so fucking dumb. The narrative that souls games perfected difficulty in video games is mind numbing. Their wide-spread appeal is in-part due to appearing in a time when other mainstream games abandoned challenging design at large. Souls difficulty is on accessible side and is not absolute, ultimate challenge that people who don't seek challenging games potrait it to be. Also all this talk about "like you got to learn like boss' attacks, man" like it's something unheard of it.

https://youtu.be/zUBvRnu8NeQ
What do you guys think of this video?

That is too long.

> Doom vid
Honestly, I've watched 10 min of it and couldn't force myself to watch it any further. it's immediately off putting that he plays someone else's vid and comments on it as it goes instead of constructing proper arguments. He even has to give petty responses to non-essential sentences. It looks more like he has a bone to pick with Mayo and others than has anything interesting to say. Without a highlight or description of the problem being given, that's all I can say, because those sort of commentaries on someone else's content is just lazy.

Meaningless video, I watched 30 minutes and heard nothing that hasn't been said ad nauseam since the games release. Even if his points are correct he never provides any evidence or justification for what he says and fails to provide any new insights on the game. Can't imagine why anyone would sit through 2 and a half hours of this filler content.

I need to vent for a bit. I apologize. I've become the enemy of so many action games community. Got banned from yet another Bayonetta discord group because I'm a "tryhard gamer who only cares about glitches". And I had to open my big fucking mouth about my views on FF16 because it's no doubt gonna bring the wrath of the FF fans and their "It's AN RPG! OF COURSE YOU CAN'T JUGGLE!" which is so funny because the game was being initially being praised for being more DMC-like, so why the hell can't I voice my view on such a matter? These communities are gonna be the end of me.

This is largely the reason I've started applying for game development classes. Someone vented to me saying I know more about PG so why don't I make my own game? You know what? I WILL. I will craft the game I've wanted. And it will probably suck anyway.

>Discord
Used to go to so many YouTube critiques,forums, Reddit and such to see everybody’s opinion on games and I always felt empty. Like they added nothing new and was just people who were dark souls fanboys.

>FF16
It looks ok. Saw the mini boss on twitter and it’s hilariously garbage. Honestly I feel like action games fans have become too used to stuff like dark souls where big enemy’s don’t really have much hit reactions(could be wrong) and just limit the player. It’s a trend that started happening in action games a lot and people just accept it for some reason.

Action game communities are fragmented, hate each other and only played a couple of select titles from the genre as a whole. Sometimes you can have nice discussions but it's rare. This place is probably the best for such things and Discord and Reddit are the worse, since you can't go too much against the most popular opinions without getting banned/downvoted. I used to go on /v/ more often but not anymore since it is also filled with tribalism and casuals who don't know anything (even though is much better than the other sites, but that's not saying much). I only go there when I'm in a mood to argue, but I found out YT comments are even better for that. Pick a controversial video, select "Recent comments" and go nuts.

>"I'm gonna make my own action game, with blackjack and hookers"
Sounds good.

> setnaro
Saw the post, I agree with what you said so you have my support (as always). That said I think you should really start looking for a place where you feel you can say what you feel instead of where you can find the most activity (maybe? Not sure those are the right words). Discord and Reddit are great in that they bustle with activity; as such they are good places to talk, but they also tend to go hive-mind. Same with Twitter. You reply to a pro-FFXVI post in a critical manner, that's not what the hive-mind wants, so you're expelled for thinking critically. Go to a GoW-reddit to talk critically about GoW, and you're downvoted and shunned. Even doing something like praising Sigma 2 / 3:RE on a Ninja Gaiden reddit can get you into trouble at times.

Going by your posts I feel like you just want to talk shop, and honestly the worst places for that are discord and reddit. Places like Gamefaqs or even /V/ are better I'd say (and of course here, but I don't want to toot my own horn too much haha).

>Reddit and discord
I just find people there to be so, well… shallow minded. Like they always say the same repetitive critique and I give them tips how to deal with it yet they ignore it(because the game didn’t force them to!!!!!!!). Or say they already knew it yet complain still even though those solutions literally fix that issue.

>tryhard gamer who only cares about glitches
I'm honestly confused as to which glitches are being referred to here, I'm no expert of bayo 1 but in my time playing as well as in the handful of pure plat runs I've seen I can't think of anything that I would refer to as a glitch. Is there some high level tech that I missed (and if there is I'd love to know) or is it just a case of people trying to label things that they don't fully understand.

The majority are not worth talking to.

>glitches that are being referred to
The latter case probably. The same people who just do s,s,t in GOW and equate any tech like tricking and cycle-canceling to out-of-bound glitches or infinite magic regen. I even heard dark souls fanboys calling any kind of animation canceling as exploits.

>Hit reactions in FFXVI
Or like Behemoths from DMC V, but in general I feel like action games have became so standardized in modern times that they either must take cues from souls or be DMC or else it's bad. People have been so condition to liking those lame enemy designs, that they freak out when they meet actually challenging foes. I remember try-hard casuals who thought too high of thier skill after beating slightly more difficult games than average spaz out and call bosses in Elden Ring unfair and bad, because now they require more strategy than just pattern-rolling memorization. Now they're agressive, react to positioning, and punish coward tactics like panic-healing. Peak FROM Boss design imo, but I digress.

>mass community centres
Maybe if you're looking to piss someone off with your opinion, otherwise it's waste of time to look for fruitful conversations among drones.

It started as a joke from Khayaam at the time, but people these days simply call DMC/Souls "most action games". Once you make this change in your mind, so much becomes clear.

"Oh this game has an emphasis on efficiency, unlike most action games".
"Oh this game has RPG mechanics, unlike most action games".
"Ah I see this game doesn't have a style meter, unlike most action games".
"Seems like this game has agressive enemies, unlike most action games".

Find+Replace "most action games" with either DMC or Souls and you've basically cracked the code.

> floating hitboxes
I honestly blame Belial from DMC4 for this in some regard. It's a fun boss, but it became the trend way too fast. The downside of enemies and bosses like it, is that you're generally 'just pressing buttons' until he dies (specific stagger situations aside). The result is that everyone feels accomplished when fighting them, since you just can do cool things without much consideration for stun, juggle or any other type of value. You just press cool buttons, cool effects happen and enemyHP meter goes down: so good (I still want to see an action-game with the juggle properties and limitations of MvC3 one day.)

Souls itself also went away from it pretty fast. Demon's Souls had a lot of wacky fights, while Dark1 was pretty unique too with most bosses also having plenty of stagger values. You could even infinitely loop a few, while others could also be conisstently staggered (or interreupted). This mostly went away later.

Even something as simple as avoiding an attack through positioning, instead of a hardwired dodge/parry, is going away slowly (just look at RE4R).

> animation canceling 'glitches'
Have we truly sunk so low as a species?

>Stagger values in souls
I still remember them making the motherfuckers that you meet at the beginning of Sunken Crown DLC highly resistible to staggers on purpose. I think ER isn't half-bad in this regard. I like knives being tools to delay enemy recovery, but I might bit biased toward this game.

>Fate of our species
Our history will now be periodize in accordance with FROM titles. As DMC community eventually dwindles in-face of ever growing fanbase of FROM games, we will eventually start calling action games "Ninja-blades-Likes".

> souls
Shooters will now be called "arrow-build games".

>elden ring bosses react to positioning
Remember watching some high level play with the Maliketh boss and he looked sooooo good. Really unique boss imo. Of course, joseph Anderson didn’t like that since it requires skill.

>ER Bosses
They're so unlike usual FROM Bosses that it looks like someone else made them. Love their aggression, behaviour (not just simple patterns) and stagger mechanic. They really fun to play around with. I've manage to get Draconic Sentinel into semi-loop of casting fireballs forward and upclose by rolling in and out using dodge attacks.

I saw a graph of Margit's attacks. It's just looks like combo tree. it's like opposite version of DMC, where it's the player who has limited moveset and bosses have this huge, elaborate attack strings lol.

>Maliketh
My only complaint that it would be better if BC modified your parry for the fight or was just ash of war. As item it's bit inconvenient to use due to controls.

>said graph for reference

That looks really fucking cool. May get the game just for the bosses. Heard it was also fun.

If you're planing on getting it, I recommend forgoing most Dark Souls habbits (if you have any). Few heads ups:

>Combat:
- enemy punish usual dark souls habbits, you'll have to find new openings instead of waiting till they finish attack sequence (and don't heal carelessly),
- don't stick too closely to your build, experiment with different weapons, ashes of war, and items (I've found vanila shield&sword boring way to play)
- lvl up vigor, late-game bosses deal huge amount of dmg and too many think that they can beat them flawlessly after few attempts.

>Exploration:
- don't feel force to explore everything on the map if you don't want to, many side-dungeons reuse same assets, so they might be visually exhausting (treat the game's world as pick and choose your adventure),
- you may look few things up (game likes to be cryptic when it comes to quests),
- it's more fun to navigate the world using landscape instead of waypoints (The world isn't too visually cluttered, because of it some call it "empty").

>combat
Interesting stuff. Haven't played Souls stuff in a while but in general this sounds refreshing. Making your own openings by exploiting the boss moveset seems fun, especially if staggers are involved. Don't know when I'll play ER since I'm busy with MHGU but I'll remember this when I start eventually.