I got the souls fatigue, pa!

BossLackey

BossLackey

Gold Member
My favorite genre of video game is undoubtedly "3rd Person Swing Sword into Faces".

Ninja Gaiden and DMC owned my soul in the early 2000s as you can imagine as well as just about any half-decent action game of that era.

Then in 2009, on a whim, I picked up the then-new Demon's Souls for PS3 from my local GameStop and everything changed.

Even as early as the first level, I quickly felt a shift in my taste for games. It was like I discovered a better version of steak that was more delicious than anything from before. Unfortunately, this was the only "turbo steak" in existence and I just finished eating it.

Terrible metaphors aside, when I saw the first trailer for the upcoming Dark Souls, I hopped aboard a hype train to outer space. The grim dark tone, the ambiguous narrative, more medieval armor and enemies, castle walls, and most importantly, sick-ass giant monsters!

2011 and Dark Souls releases and it's the best thing I've ever played (if you were lucky enough to be part of r/darksouls at that time, it was the most magical shared experience possible).

Since then, nothing has changed. It's still the best game I've ever played and I continued to purchase each and every From Software release and consumed them greedily.

But now I've grown older. I'm 36 with a wife and several animals and a demanding job (and maybe a kid soon) and my patience for these protracted challenges is heavily waning.

After a hard day, I don't know if smashing my head against the brick wall that is "the latest souls like" is in the cards anymore, Yug'!

But it's been hard to let go. I've kept up with every From game and almost every non-from imitator (for better or worse. Mostly the latter lol)

And while dropping the non-From stuff is easy, returning to Elden Ring after beating it for Shadow of the Erdtree felt like an obligation more than anything.

In fact, I never finished it. For the first time in 16 years, I didn't finish a From game.

Time changes all. War has changed. Etc.
 
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Dark Souls is the peak of the genre, and imo From took their later games in the wrong direction by focusing so much on bosses and not near enough on the dungeon crawl aspect of the game.

OP if you are tired of the challenge but still want to swing sword into someone else's face, check out the Dragon's Dogma games.
 
TintoConCasera said:
Dark Souls is the peak of the genre, and imo From took their later games in the wrong direction by focusing so much on bosses and not near enough on the dungeon crawl aspect of the game.

OP if you are tired of the challenge but still want to swing sword into someone else's face, check out the Dragon's Dogma games.
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You sweet summer child. Capcom owns 2500 shares of my ass. I've played just about everything even remotely resembling Dark Souls.

Played the hell out of DD at release and again for the DLC and now for DD2 (which had a lot of problems but I still loved it).
 
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''Souls'' games released after Dark Souls 3 (2016): Elden Ring (2022), Nightreign (2025)
Non ''Souls'' games released after Dark Souls 3: Sekiro (2019), AC6 (2023)

You have fatigure over two games? I'm not lashing out against you but I'm growing tired of FromSoftware haters (see fools a few posts above mine).
 
Too much of a good thing sours the experience. That's why I've been keeping away from most imitators and diversify my experience with other favourite genres. My rotation is something like this Fromsoft -> jRPG -> Startegy/Tactical -> cRPG -> Retro-bangers -> back to Fromsoft and sprinke in FPS games, Cozy games and interesting Indies. Gives me the breathing room to actually miss a genre by the time I boot it up.

Growing out of a genere or realigning priorities is also quite normal, life is ever changing after all. I had to step back from gaming for 3-4 years to focus on important IRL stuff, but once a gamer... 😁
 
I've got my own aversion to any title containing the word 'Soul'.
All games and threads get put on ignore.
Including this one.
 
Of course you have it.

I started having mine with Dark Souls. Yeah, I was coming from Demons Souls on Asia PS3, loved the game. And Dark Souls arrived, it was great, but it wasn't that much better while being pretty much the exact same thing. Actually, it was worse on my aspects. And then I played 2, I liked it better, it had a few novelties and I find a better world design.

And then 3 just killed me. It was just more of the same, with a super linear world. Elden Ring I can't even play it, way too much bloat. I managed to enjoy Sekiro, even though revisiting the same places was not great.

I think it is a good formula but you can only play so many games in this style. One every two years, something like that. Otherwise you will get bored.
 
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The Cartographer said:
Souls'' games released after Dark Souls 3 (2016): Elden Ring (2022), Nightreign (2025)
Non ''Souls'' games released after Dark Souls 3: Sekiro (2019), AC6 (2023)

You have fatigure over two games? I'm not lashing out against you but I'm growing tired of FromSoftware haters (see fools a few posts above mine).
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I think the fatigue comes from people playing too many Souls clones in short amount of time.

The amount of Souls clones have doubled over the years.
 
I mostly play From Softwares games when it comes to Souls, and those games I never get tired of. But I am wary of Souls-likes, especially the recent Chinese knock offs which all look the same to me. If you go down that rabbit hole I can understand you get fatigued by the genre.
 
The Cartographer said:
''Souls'' games released after Dark Souls 3 (2016): Elden Ring (2022), Nightreign (2025)
Non ''Souls'' games released after Dark Souls 3: Sekiro (2019), AC6 (2023)

You have fatigure over two games? I'm not lashing out against you but I'm growing tired of FromSoftware haters (see fools a few posts above mine).
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Two games!? What are you talking about?

I'm talking about ALL From games since 2009 and nearly all imitators (except AC6)

Demon's Souls
Dark Souls
Dark Souls DLC
Dark Souls II
Dark Souls II DLC
Bloodborne
Bloodborne DLC
Dark Souls III
Dark Souls III DLC
Sekiro
Elden Ring
Elden Ring DLC
Elden Ring Nightreign
Lies of P
Lies of P DLC
First Berserker Khazan
AI Limit
Nioh
Nioh DLC
Nioh 2
Nioh 2 DLC
Wo Long
Black Myth Wukong
Wuchang
Another Crab's Adventure
The Surge
The Surge 2
Code Vein


I've played all of these and Im sure I'm forgetting stuff.
 
Yea I was playing Elden Ring but I'm just burned out on that style of game for now, Clair Obscur was an amazing breath of fresh air, and the best game I've played in years, maybe since BG3

Thief1987 said:
I couldn't insinuate you as I don't know you and didn't even read the OP because it's too long. I respond to the sentence in the title, that's all.
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BossLackey said:
Two games!? What are you talking about?

I'm talking about ALL From games since 2009 and nearly all imitators (except AC6)

Demon's Souls
Dark Souls
Dark Souls DLC
Dark Souls II
Dark Souls II DLC
Bloodborne
Bloodborne DLC
Dark Souls III
Dark Souls III DLC
Sekiro
Elden Ring
Elden Ring DLC
Elden Ring Nightreign
Lies of P
Lies of P DLC
First Berserker Khazan
AI Limit
Nioh
Nioh DLC
Nioh 2
Nioh 2 DLC
Wo Long
Black Myth Wukong
Wuchang
Another Crab's Adventure
The Surge
The Surge 2
Code Vein


I've played all of these and Im sure I'm forgetting stuff.
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Buddy, you have ''Souls-like'' fatigue at best plus inflating your list with DLCs is bizarre.

As for me, I've played all the From games since the beginning, all the Team Ninja Nioh-like and Code Vein and I still go strong.
 
Thief1987 said:
and didn't even read the OP because it's too long. I respond to the sentence in the title, that's all.
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Wow dude amazing wya to contribute to the thread. Guess I won't be reading your posts either.
 
The Cartographer said:
Buddy, you have ''Souls-like'' fatigue at best plus inflating your list with DLCs is bizarre.

As for me, I've played all the From games since the beginning, all the Team Ninja Nioh-like and Code Vein and I still go strong.
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The DLC is extra content. I don't find the bizarre to list it.

It was Elden Ring that did it though. I haven't had the same desire since it came out.
 
BossLackey said:
The DLC is extra content. I don't find the bizarre to list it.

It was Elden Ring that did it though. I haven't had the same desire since it came out.
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I find it bizarre because expansions in FromSoftware games immediately become such an integral part of the original games that for me it's hard to imagine them as just ''extra'' content, to be listed separetely. Can you even imagine replaying Bloodborne without doing The Old Hunters? I know I can't.

Well, to be fair Elden Ring can be a very, very taxing experience so it's not surprising that some people, just like you, say they don't want to play it anymore after beating once or twice.
 
I am kinda done with Swords, Souls and DMC style combat altogether.
We need to bring FPS/TPS single player back.
 
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BossLackey said:
The DLC is extra content. I don't find the bizarre to list it.

It was Elden Ring that did it though. I haven't had the same desire since it came out.
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Elden ring is when from took a hard pivot from fair but challenging bosses into cheaply punishing with infinite stamina and combo chains that they can alter based on your inputs.

Being open world also robbed the game's locales of character and made them feel procedurally generated, though I guess from's endless reuse of assets did that on some level for their previous games as well.

There comes a point where a game director's tricks grow stale, and people like hideo come off as pretentious wanna-be auteurs. Elden ring was that point for miyazaki.
 
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There are games of all different genres constantly being released. You can just ignore the soulslike and move to something else.
There is no shame in starting to prefer other genres.

For me, I only play FromSoftware souls games, I don't touch any soulslike from other devs and I play very few games a year, so I'm still enjoying them.
 
It's understandable in your situation. One day soon, your kid is going to want to keep playing but you'll be exhausted and you've already played with them for an hour. But to them, it won't be enough. Your wife will want attention, gifts, vacations, the honey-do list done, you'll do your best but need to rest at some point, and to her, it won't be enough. Your job, which is already demanding, will inevitably add more and more to your workload. You'll try to hit all your deadlines and keep quality up, but to them, it won't be enough.

And one day, after all the work is done, after you've given all your have during the day and everyone is asleep, you'll sit down for a precious few minutes with a video game to escape. You're not going to want to play a Soulslike, the last thing you'll want to play is a game that tells you you're not enough.

Join us, newly christened fellow Dad of NeoGAF. Come play turn based anime slop games that won't challenge you in any way.
 
I realized I had it with Elden Ring. I haven't sworn off the genre completely but the investment is a big ask. The game has to be exceptional.
 
Variahunter said:
DS 2 having a better world design than DS 1...?

Michael Jordan Lol GIF
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DS2 has *some* good locales. But thats what happens when you swing 40+ times. You're bound to get a home-run or two.

For me its still dead last in every regard (especially when you take dlc into account. Fuckin' Reindeer fuckland)

I will argue that Sekiro probably has the best design (alongside bloodborne. Yharnam is the best starting area in a souls game and i will fight that)
 
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BossLackey said:
Ohhh. Sorry. I didn't realize english was your second language.
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I love a response that's either highly empathetic, or a savage burn. 😂
 
I finished Dark Souls, Lords of the Fallen, Dark Souls 2, Bloodborne

I enjoyed them all, but I never want to play another one again
 
Of course, it could be much more than just "Souls" fatigue. I feel like that about playing games in general, but still very enthused about some of them. Generally, today I look for great story and setting/artstyle than for sick and challenging gameplay, although I do still appreciate it.
Thing with Souls is that gameplay evolved very little over years I guess, so it could explain the drop in interest.
 
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Mr Hyde said:
I mostly play From Softwares games when it comes to Souls, and those games I never get tired of. But I am wary of Souls-likes, especially the recent Chinese knock offs which all look the same to me. If you go down that rabbit hole I can understand you get fatigued by the genre.
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Yea I don't know if I've beat any of the souls likes. The surge came the closest and I got near the end. I just stick to From games now.
 
No such thing as fatigue unless you play the same genre every week/month nonstop. No one is forcing you to play souls-like games every month. In the last month I played a first person looter shooter, a third person roguelike, a crpg, a walking sim horror game and in a few days I'll play a metroidvania. How the fuck do you get fatigue with so many genres releasing? I highly doubt you only like one genre aka "swords in the face" as you put it because if you did, you would not be fatigued by it besides the fact that "swords in the face" can be also in first person, metroid style, diablo-like, etc.
 
I played ER to death for a very long time, exhausting pretty much every idea I could think of. Then the DLC came along and I didn't think nearly as highly of it as the bSe game. I burned out on the game if not the genre, and I've been playing other things.

I'll probably get Lies of P one day, but you know what they say: too much of a good thing...
 
TintoConCasera said:
Dark Souls is the peak of the genre, and imo From took their later games in the wrong direction by focusing so much on bosses and not near enough on the dungeon crawl aspect of the game.

OP if you are tired of the challenge but still want to swing sword into someone else's face, check out the Dragon's Dogma games.
Click to expand...
I would play more Souls games if they had Dark Souls 1 level design. The atmosphere, lore and exploration is probably why I play the games the most. A lot of the clones out there just copy the combat system and it's bland as all hell.
 
Shifty1897 said:
It's understandable in your situation. One day soon, your kid is going to want to keep playing but you'll be exhausted and you've already played with them for an hour. But to them, it won't be enough. Your wife will want attention, gifts, vacations, the honey-do list done, you'll do your best but need to rest at some point, and to her, it won't be enough. Your job, which is already demanding, will inevitably add more and more to your workload. You'll try to hit all your deadlines and keep quality up, but to them, it won't be enough.

And one day, after all the work is done, after you've given all your have during the day and everyone is asleep, you'll sit down for a precious few minutes with a video game to escape. You're not going to want to play a Soulslike, the last thing you'll want to play is a game that tells you you're not enough.

Join us, newly christened fellow Dad of NeoGAF. Come play turn based anime slop games that won't challenge you in any way.
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It's funny you say that. That's PRECISELY what I'm been gravitating towards.

Much easier on the psyche 😂
 
I'm mostly done with From's own Souls after ER. I like a challenge, but not that shameless amount of trolling. DS1 was too much of a good thing, I never enjoyed another Souls as much as it. And I'm probably not touching ER ever again, let alone try the DLC.

It seems I'm not completely done with the genre at large, though. Lies of P was a nice change of pace. Not the best game, but different enough from proper Souls to interest me. Anyway, the genre has been overdone to death and Souls's *ahem* "philosophies" have contaminated enough games as it is. It's perfectly understandable to be tired of it, especially if you have a family and responsibilities.
 
The first one I played gave me fatigue. I'm not autistic enough to keep dying over and over like that and consider it fun.
 
Yes, I have it too. But I really got it with the Elden Ring add-on and stopped playing somewhere around halfway through.
 
I'm in the same exact situation(wife, kid, job, animals). I dont have the energy for souls likes now. Each one seems to have their learning curve and i dont have the patience anymore. I just want mindlessly hack 'n slash away. None of this methodical crap. Another Crab's Treasure wasnt bad, and neither was Lords of the Fallen.
 
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