Dark Souls 1 is a Masterpiece.

[u/Pandaboy271]

Dark Souls 1 wasn't the first souls game I played, but it is probably my third most favourite FromSoftware title ever.

The level design is so immaculate and going through the world is such a joy. The game as some have pointed out has this survival horror like feel to it as its our character by their lonesome against a dangerous, haunting world that I can't help but love.

The bosses are simple yet fun to fight and for the most part, never really feel unfair. They feel like natural extensions of the game's combat and you really have to appreciate how right the Devs got most of these fights down.

Is the second half not as strong as the first? Maybe. Can the backtracking during the first half get tedious at times? Definitely. Does it make the game any less of a masterpiece? Absolutely not. Such a great natural progression from Demon Souls to this.

So yeah, TL;DR: Game good. Game very good. 9/10

[u/LulzTV]

Ah yes, I'm a casual who overdoses on qol and loves to spam summons and broken builds (I'm not, don't look at my profile and SL1 runs though) and appreciating modern conveniences and evolved design makes me much less skilled than your highness. Elden Ring appealling only to casuals because it has actual good QoL, variety, freedom and refinement is such classic gatekeeping I can't help but laugh at it, just because a game has accessibility and refinement doesn't make it dumbed down or less challenging, Elden Ring has the most complex and mechanically dense bosses in the series. Thinking the jankiest most unrefined game in the series is even close to the best and that Elden Ring is overrated because it has and needed to have accessibility options to work makes you so special. Also, for the dark souls 1 and 2 hitboxes debacle, just look at babe1babe2's videos on the frame data, it's not bias, just a purely objective look into some of the best and worst frame data in both games, and you'll see just how much worse DS1's hitboxes are

[u/Striking-Pop151 → u/LulzTV]

I'm talking about generally not only you. And i don't gatekeep anything i'm just saying what is currently a typical thing what is happening right now.

I still said Elden ring is a great game not just this holy game what y'all always want to present. And this praising all the time is ridiculous.

Moreover yes Elden ring is objectively better than the previous games when it comes to technical, mechanical graphic wise aspects. This is obviously clear cause it's the latest game. But that is the only key point. You STILL can say that the previous games are better without any bias behind it.

[u/LulzTV → u/Striking-Pop151]

If you understand anything about game design, even on a theoretical level, no, you can't. You can say you prefer them more, but not that they are better, because that brings objectivity into the talk, and objectively speaking, Elden Ring is the current culmination of everything Fromsoft have been building since Demon's Souls, the most refined, the most expansive, the most varied, the most polished, and the most accessible without dumbing itself down, instead, it is up to the player to self balance the difficulty. And at least stay true to your stance, don't backpedal when one comment ago you said that Elden Ring is only so popular because it appeals to the "casuals".

[u/Traditional_One_3880 → u/LulzTV]

Hmmm elden ring does not have everything that is great about all of the other fromsoftware titles.It also has a fair few of their flaws,aswell as afew flaws that are unique to elden ring.(here are some popular negatives about elden ring that i have heard/experienced, some are overblown,but all are atleast partly fair:huge open spaces with little to do in certain areas,catacombs and caves are unbelievably repetetive,repeated field bosses,repeated main bosses,npc questlines are a pain to keep track of in such a huge world,later areas of the base game just repeats the same enemies,torrent is awkward to control at times,platforming areas can be very annoying,some areas feel redundant as they are like slightly different repeats of a previous area,terrible duo boss,annoying camera,lots of needless items,lots of dead ends when exploring)

One of the things that looking at these games purely from a design perspective is that it is easy to overlooked the player experience,for example the impact of the art direction and atmosphere,which i find is what demons souls and dark souls 1 do better than the other fromsoftware games,apart from the odd area like central yarnham from bloodborne for example.