From Khazan to Wukong to even Elden Ring: Long gone are the days of very methodical, deliberate combat like in Dark Souls 1 or even Dark Souls 3.

I’m not sure if it can be exactly pinpointed to it, but with the release of Bloodborne, the genre experienced a noticeable change towards fast-paced combat that doesn’t give much breathing-room, considering DS3 as well as Elden Ring are noticeably faster with their combat compared to previous entries. Games like Khazan, Wukong or Wuchang take it even further, leaning more so in the direction of third-person action games like Devil May Cry.

Boss fights with huge strings of combos, wide-reaching attacks, leaving barely any time to prepare for the next wave of attacks, are what comes to mind. In Khazan, for example, I felt well-prepared for these because Khazan can be equally flashy with his combos - it’s a more even playing field. However, in Elden Ring, I was struggling quite a lot, personally, because the tools I have access to aren’t congruent with the amount of BS hurled my way with some enemies.

How do you like this evolution in combat? Do you prefer the slower, more methodical gameplay from earlier entries, or do you welcome the change of pace, adapting to modern audiences?

  • Coelacanth@feddit.nuEnglish
    20·
    16 days ago

    There is definitely an arms race happening that is not necessarily to my liking. Ultimately I think both styles should be able to coexist, and faster games like Nioh and Khazan that start bordering on CAG territory but with stamina can be released alongside slower and more tactical Soulslikes.

    But the pace is only one thing, the actual moveset design is something I dislike more I think. This escalation of fakeouts and infinitely delayed attacks with increasingly small reaction windows is just not to my personal taste, and one of my major gripes with modern Fromsoft design. I understand that between their attachment to their image of creating really hard games and their audience getting more skillful over time they feel the need to escalate, I just don’t enjoy this particular aspect. These delayed attacks overemphasize memorization of patterns, which while it does add to the difficulty stand in the way of me being able to play in a flow state.

    I also think the punish windows are getting too small, and sometimes it feels like you have to roll for like a minute straight for every time you earn the right to press R1 once, but I guess that is a separate issue.