What would you want from a Dark Souls clone?

[JohnnyDelRay]

.

I've only ever seen one game do this right.

@Zhukov oh? And what game might that be?

If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not get into a my-favourite-game-is-better-than-your-favourite-game argument.

I find them unutterably dull.

I'm actually to-the-bone curious what game does this right too. Not because I'm a Souls fan (I only played DS, and though it was a heap of fun, was not a ground-breaking second coming of action RPG that most people thought it was). No, I'm just curious because I've *never* seen it been done properly in a game, and am wondering what you had in mind.

The closest I've seen is actually way back in almost Virtua Fighter era PS2, 3D-ish beat 'em ups. I used to play one called Kensei Sacred Fist which had block animations for individual strikes, parries and dodges, and I'd never seen that been done before. But that was a fighting game. To see it in a hack-n-slash would be pretty damn revolutionary.

The closest I've seen is Witcher 3, but there's still a strange binary reaction from getting hit and taking damage, to the sudden ragdoll that happens once the life bar is totally depleted (which caused some awesome glitches in other games like Skyrim)

 

[Saelune]

I would love a Souls game that allows me to pause but apparently wanting such a ludicrous feature would make the game casual and I should gitgud and go back to CoD.

The only reason you can't pause is because it's a multiplayer game.

Except that every version has had some way to play offline minus DS2. Bloodborne specifically had an Offline option when starting the main menu yet it did not allow you to pause. When I'm online I understand why I cannot pause, but cannot fathom why FromSoftware thought it was fine to not allow me to pause when I'm in offline mode.

Still, because it's a multiplayer game. They didn't wanna design it differently for the offline mode. If it didn't have MP, they would have let you pause.

It saves everywhere and after practically every little change though, so I was never bothered by lack of a pause. The only time you can't quite from menu is during active MP moments, which sucks when they happen to be glitched out with spammers.

 

[Saelune]

I would love a Souls game that allows me to pause but apparently wanting such a ludicrous feature would make the game casual and I should gitgud and go back to CoD.

The only reason you can't pause is because it's a multiplayer game.

Except that every version has had some way to play offline minus DS2. Bloodborne specifically had an Offline option when starting the main menu yet it did not allow you to pause. When I'm online I understand why I cannot pause, but cannot fathom why FromSoftware thought it was fine to not allow me to pause when I'm in offline mode.

Still, because it's a multiplayer game. They didn't wanna design it differently for the offline mode. If it didn't have MP, they would have let you pause.

I would disagree with you. I have played all the games almost exclusively as a single player game and enjoyed them greatly. The multiplayer portion never really interested me. I only dabbled in the occasional invasion. I never felt that the game was sold on it's multiplayer. I get that for some people multiplayer it is the reason they buy and play, but I always felt that it was an afterthought feature.

You disagree with me that it's a multiplayer game? But it is. It sells itself partly on its online features. Personally, I wouldn't mind if they dropped the MP completely, as I said on the last page.

The pausing thing is not a big deal, IMO. Takes about 5 sec to log out to the main menu and 5 sec. to log back in. No progress lost. That's how you pause. If you're in the middle of combat, don't answer your phone. You can call/text them back. And if your wife tries to interrupt you, tell her to STFU until you can get to a stopping point.

Sometimes menu quitting during these moments can actually be beneficial as they can often reset a bad situation you may find yourself in, as far as enemies are concerned. I probably varies a lot more with NPC interaction though, as certain actions or conversations are saved more often.

 

[Saelune]

I would love a Souls game that allows me to pause but apparently wanting such a ludicrous feature would make the game casual and I should gitgud and go back to CoD.

The only reason you can't pause is because it's a multiplayer game.

Except that every version has had some way to play offline minus DS2. Bloodborne specifically had an Offline option when starting the main menu yet it did not allow you to pause. When I'm online I understand why I cannot pause, but cannot fathom why FromSoftware thought it was fine to not allow me to pause when I'm in offline mode.

Still, because it's a multiplayer game. They didn't wanna design it differently for the offline mode. If it didn't have MP, they would have let you pause.

It saves everywhere and after practically every little change though, so I was never bothered by lack of a pause. The only time you can't quite from menu is during active MP moments, which sucks when they happen to be glitched out with spammers.

I'm not complaining about it. Just giving a reason.

Yeah I was only elaborating a bit on the good and bad of it.

 

[Saelune]

I would love a Souls game that allows me to pause but apparently wanting such a ludicrous feature would make the game casual and I should gitgud and go back to CoD.

The only reason you can't pause is because it's a multiplayer game.

Except that every version has had some way to play offline minus DS2. Bloodborne specifically had an Offline option when starting the main menu yet it did not allow you to pause. When I'm online I understand why I cannot pause, but cannot fathom why FromSoftware thought it was fine to not allow me to pause when I'm in offline mode.

Still, because it's a multiplayer game. They didn't wanna design it differently for the offline mode. If it didn't have MP, they would have let you pause.

I would disagree with you. I have played all the games almost exclusively as a single player game and enjoyed them greatly. The multiplayer portion never really interested me. I only dabbled in the occasional invasion. I never felt that the game was sold on it's multiplayer. I get that for some people multiplayer it is the reason they buy and play, but I always felt that it was an afterthought feature.

You disagree with me that it's a multiplayer game? But it is. It sells itself partly on its online features. Personally, I wouldn't mind if they dropped the MP completely, as I said on the last page.

I don't think I explained myself well. Its obviously a multiplayer game, but felt it could benefit from a pause feature when playing in single player. Especially when games like Diablo 3 and Borderlands do this already.

Diablo 3 and Borderlands isnt about being harsh though. Even without online, the idea that searching through your backpack leaves you vulnerable to enemies makes sense. Thats really what it is.

 

[mysecondlife]

Good level design that is consistent throughout the game. After my time in Lost Izalith, it felt as if all the fun I had with Dark Souls were invalidated.

 

[wings012]

A more direct storyline would be nice. Yeah yeah ambient storytelling and all that jazz, but sometimes I just want a story rubbed in my face rather than playing item description archaeologist.

Proper coop support would be nice too. I couldn't in seven hells find my friends in DS1. DS3 was better with the passwords but it still ran into issues here and there. While I do like the thematic appeal of random encounters with invaders, the covenants and the whole shifting world stuff - when I wanna just play with my friends, the less hassle the better.

 

[Wasted]

I would love a Souls game that allows me to pause but apparently wanting such a ludicrous feature would make the game casual and I should gitgud and go back to CoD.

The only reason you can't pause is because it's a multiplayer game.

Except that every version has had some way to play offline minus DS2. Bloodborne specifically had an Offline option when starting the main menu yet it did not allow you to pause. When I'm online I understand why I cannot pause, but cannot fathom why FromSoftware thought it was fine to not allow me to pause when I'm in offline mode.

Still, because it's a multiplayer game. They didn't wanna design it differently for the offline mode. If it didn't have MP, they would have let you pause.

I would disagree with you. I have played all the games almost exclusively as a single player game and enjoyed them greatly. The multiplayer portion never really interested me. I only dabbled in the occasional invasion. I never felt that the game was sold on it's multiplayer. I get that for some people multiplayer it is the reason they buy and play, but I always felt that it was an afterthought feature.

You disagree with me that it's a multiplayer game? But it is. It sells itself partly on its online features. Personally, I wouldn't mind if they dropped the MP completely, as I said on the last page.

I don't think I explained myself well. Its obviously a multiplayer game, but felt it could benefit from a pause feature when playing in single player. Especially when games like Diablo 3 and Borderlands do this already.

Diablo 3 and Borderlands isnt about being harsh though. Even without online, the idea that searching through your backpack leaves you vulnerable to enemies makes sense. Thats really what it is.

Searching through your backpack could still be left real-time as it with the Start button while pausing could be the Select/Back button.

 

[Zombie Proof]

I spent some time with Necropolis the other night. It's a pretty dope Souls-esque Roguelike. I love Dark Souls and this hit all the right buttons. Gonna try co op with a buddy over mumble at some point soon.

 

[My name is Fiction]

In a good Darksouls clone i like good ranged options. [sub]magic in Ds3 don't count lol[/sub]
Niohs Health system looks like a good compromise between bloodborns farm heavy limited health pots and Ds3 infinite healing stratos. So yeah definitely want that.
A blend of Social engineering tools that play on the gameplay between the online and single player if it has it. [sub]Nothing is more fashionable than cosplaying as a random enemy[/sub]

The more I think about it I got a way longer list of things I DONT need.
The level being spatially realistic is not a must for me, levels can only be so different when they are acouple miles apart. OR more like its unrealistic to expect a developer to put the resources into that and get the same output.
I want refined mechanics first.