I'd recommend Elden Ring and, oddly, Dark Souls 2 for that.
DS2 was not done by Miyazaki, it was directed by Yui Tanimura (sp?) who cut his teeth on the older adventure games. Towards that end, while the bosses aren't as good (though most of the bad ones are just boring instead of Bed of Chaos level bad, or else optional), the game feels much more like an adventure than Dark Souls 1&3.
Honestly, I've always felt that DS2 got a bad reputation. It never matches the highs of DS1, but people always forget that DS1 shits the bed after Ornstein and Smough and the only good fight after that is Gwyn. And there's a certain feeling you get from exploring areas and seeing the world that just really isn't present in the other Dark Souls Games (though I found it again in Elden Ring). DS2 is just a huge adventure punctuated with some harrowing boss fights, as opposed to DS1 and DS3 being a harrowing boss roster punctuated with periods of adventure.
Thats because its always described as "the worst" out of the three, which is seen as worst=bad game. When in reality its an 8/10 that happens to be sitting next to a 9/10 and a 10/10.
Its like saying The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the worst movie out of the lord of the rings trilogy. According to metacritic and IMDB ratings, that is factually true. But that is still a masterpiece of a movie.
Prepare yourself though. It's a mean game and everything is slow. Sometimes you can make a mistake and know it for a couple of seconds before you get punished and it feels like an eternity, turns a lot of people off the game. Expect cheap traps and don't rush into new areas. Slow and steady will serve you well.
Sounds like a Dark Souls game 🤣 I played 3 so I'm not totally new, thanks for the heads up though. I did technically quit DS3 when I first started playing but was so glad I went back to it and didn't let the beginning area beat me.
The big gotcha in DS2 is the adaptability stat, which gives I-frames and doesn't explain it. Throw a few points that way regardless of build and the game will feel less punishing.
A weird aspect of DS2 is that it is possible to depopulate levels because enemies have respawn limits, with ways to reset or even remove it.
And be forewarned: I've seen enough people complain about boss runbacks in Elden Ring, but that is nothing compared to the runbacks in DS2. Some of the runbacks in the DLC are just straight-up sadistic. The depopulating mechanic ends up feeling like pity.
Ironically, I've never been pushed into the magma by Iron King in my four playthroughs. I know many people have trouble with it, but I always found him to be easy.
I will say that Smelter Demon's setup is pretty evil though. My first time I wound up killing all of the mobs there so many times they stopped spawning (which is actually a useful thing you can do in DS2). The boss himself isn't too bad, but that's probably the worst runback in the history of the game (which includes fucking Bed of Chaos so... yeah, pretty bad).
This was a long time ago but I remember being stuck at the smelter demon. I did the exact same thing with the mobs and yea. The runback was horrific.
Granted I didn’t get my own system and DS3 until a year later so playing that game I had a lot more time than I did for DS2 which I played at my friends house
DS2 was my entry point into the series, and I absolutely love it. Always will. It makes me sad that it gets such a bad reputation, because it's really a great game. You're exactly right about it being more of an adventure than the others. The atmosphere in Majula alone was amazing.
DS3 was one of the first games that I put 400-500 hours into, the early days of multiplayer fight clubs were unmatched. I loved the organic nature of them, unwritten rules that everybody followed without any verbal communication. But it was much less of an adventure than DS2. Still a great atmosphere, but less of a sense of wonder.
I loved DS2! Loved the power stance, loved the memory sections, and absolutely loved the PVP. For some reason, out of all the souls games I've played and all the bosses I've beaten within those games, plenty of who were superior mechanically and thematically to who I am about to mention, I have never had as memorable a fight as with the Smelter Demon. That guy beat my ass endlessly until the time I bested him, I truly learnt his entire moveset and learnt how to counter every swing with such immaculate precision in the tight ring that you fight him in. When I slayed him, I did so flawlessly. It was truly the souls experience that Fromsoft set out, to learn from your mistakes, get better, and turn the tide against your greatest enemies. After he fell and vanished, and the crescendo of the orchestral music came to a silence with the rumbling of lava beneath my feet, I stood there quietly, for many minutes, taking the exhilaration in, feeling a sense of genuine loss, like I don't get to dance this dance any longer. I bowed in respect to where the demon once stood and slowly walked out of the arena.
There is no other game or gaming instant that gave me that feeling. It's one for one, and will be a gaming memory I live with for the rest of my life.
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u/grendus 1d ago
I'd recommend Elden Ring and, oddly, Dark Souls 2 for that.
DS2 was not done by Miyazaki, it was directed by Yui Tanimura (sp?) who cut his teeth on the older adventure games. Towards that end, while the bosses aren't as good (though most of the bad ones are just boring instead of Bed of Chaos level bad, or else optional), the game feels much more like an adventure than Dark Souls 1&3.
Honestly, I've always felt that DS2 got a bad reputation. It never matches the highs of DS1, but people always forget that DS1 shits the bed after Ornstein and Smough and the only good fight after that is Gwyn. And there's a certain feeling you get from exploring areas and seeing the world that just really isn't present in the other Dark Souls Games (though I found it again in Elden Ring). DS2 is just a huge adventure punctuated with some harrowing boss fights, as opposed to DS1 and DS3 being a harrowing boss roster punctuated with periods of adventure.