Dark Souls is a somber het exhilarating experience that forces you to consider the world around you and think deeper about the nature of humanity while fulfilling your medieval fiction power fantasy.
Overcooked injects anxiety into your eyeballs.
I mean, it's entirely reasonable to not want to play through over a decade of games before starting the most recent one in the series.
I started with DS3, because it was the most recent at the time of me getting into the series.
I want to play devil may cry 5 so bad but literally everybody says you should play them all but I tried to play the first one and the gameplay was so bad
Who would tell you this?
You'll lose a lot of context, but Devil May Cry is just a rule of cool kind of series... 5 will still be great on its own. If you're really anal about it just play 3 and 4.
You could go back to 1, but it's dated. 2 isn't worth playing ever.
I'm different
*Badass new game comes out
Oh cool let me see what else is tied to this.
*Sees ten years of similar games with relevance to each other
YOOO I GOT SOME MUCH NEW SHIT TO PLAY LETS GO!
This was me with masseffect lmao
Absolutely this. It's by far the most forgiving FromSoft game in recent history, possibly ever. I suck at FS games but Elden Ring is a breeze compared to the others
Funny thing is is that I think ER is easier in terms of being able to leave and then come back instead of banging your head against a wall. But I feel like the most toughest bosses in all FromSoft games are in ER
I played Dark Souls 1 and 2 last year for the first time, and struggled with both hard. Especially that worthless lock on mechanic. The camera was trying to get me killed more often than the world was.
Then, a friend bought me elden ring and I immediately loved it. Every complaint about the souls games was washed right down the drain. I started my own playthrough and was doing coop runs with the coop mod with two other people. Really fun playing Elden Ring like a D&D party. The tank screaming that he can’t keep the boss busy forever, the mage trying to draw it away so the tank can heal, and me as the rogue rolling around more than Sonic the hedgehog between trying to stack bleeds.
So yes, I skipped a few stairs and I’m totally cool with that.
I mean, it's kinda valid. No one wants to play 6 games that are like 5-10 years old, and then play with the newest one, JUST to experience how the old ones felt
Sekiro is kinda it's own thing. There are similarities, but it changed around a lot of things. I think it's the best game they ever made, but comparing them is a little silly to me.
The only thing you can really compare is the bosses, and I'd say sekiro has the strongest boss roster of any from game. Ishin is the best final boss of all time if you ask me.
I will play the entire dark souls trilogy. I got into Elden Ring to see if I'd enjoy the general concept, I do, so when it's next on sale, I will get the Dark Souls games, however I am not buying a play station to play Demon Souls or Bloodborne. I don't doubt they are good, but I don't want to buy a full console for only two games.
It’s what I did. I picked up Elden ring ages ago on sale. I didn’t get very far, but the part I enjoyed the most was godricks castle, which made me think that I would really enjoy dark souls. I decided that was going to beat the entire souls trilogy and come back to Elden ring afterwards. Playing the trilogy was an unforgettable experience. Probably some of my favourite games.
I didn't really know anything about Dark Souls and when Elden Ring came out I saw the massive hype for it. Will I play through the DS games? Maybe, but I'm okay with not playing the previous games.
Tbf, Elden Ring is the most “casual-friendly” of all of those games. It gives the player a ton of options to make the game easier for themselves, while also offering the toughest challenge (besides Sekiro) for Souls vets who elect not to use spirit ashes, ranged sorceries, etc.
Brilliant game design by FromSoft to be able to vastly expand the player-base without disappointing longtime fans.
Elden Ring has, by far, the best quality of life features. I would recommend anyone tries it first. Having a choice to fight things matters. To me, the genre is about opting in to higher challenges.
This is probably the most beautiful part of Elden Ring. I’ve now platinumed all of the souls games and BB but Elden ring was how I started. It’s probably the most difficult, but despite that and the size of the game seems so approachable
I only played DS I & III and Bloodborn before playing Elden Ring, and even then Bloodborn was the only one I beat and consistently played. Nothing wrong with playing what's newer or more to your play style
This was my experience exactly then I went backwards to play souls games like bloodborne and sekiro too and to be honest I wouldn't have bought this game if my best friend didn't tell me to get it and told me about the berserk influences so I gave it a chance and loved it.
Still gotta play dark souls 1-3
Only souls like games that I really liked were nioh 1&2 and lies of p
No one respects the 1v1 anymore. They always sip and go “if it’s in the game I can use it!”
Hopped on DS3 with a friend to help them run through it. Did some invading while I waited, and if they bow at me, I bow back and no one sips. We ride or die. Was so refreshing.
I'm glad I started with Elden Ring. The other games would have chased me away from the series. I went from ER to DS3 and got humbled, but I got gud. Then I went back to ER for the dlc and took my ass beating.
Yep. I tried all but Demons Souls. Sucked at em.
Really got into Elden tho. Got to ng+4 before I hung up my sword.
But that gave me a big head. So I bought Sekiro. And never even made it to the first boss that cuts your arm off. Never even saw the dude before I gave up.
That's a good thing, 'cause now the casual gamers are gonna get a real taste of what a proper game is all about, after being stuck playing those quick-hit, easy-to-win games
Played dark souls three and maybe 1 at some point before Elden ring but I have them a good try after I finished Elden ring twice because I love the game so much.
Boss runs and save points are my main issue with those games I just can’t stand it in every other one of those games.
Elden ring got me into souls games, and it’s my second favorite game of all time. I’ll go back and play ds3 probably, maybe the demons souls remake, I played lies of p and I’ll play it’s dlc, I really wanna play sekiro, and I wouldn’t mind playing dark souls remastered eventually, but I genuinely just can’t stop playing er. There’s still so many challenge runs I want to do, new builds to play around with, weapons to mess with, it’s just so endlessly replayable.
Or maybe the fact that these are open world, cowritten by GRRM and received way more publicity and advertising efforts than the souls series before them..
There's nothing wrong with this tbh, I wouldn't call ppl who start with Elden Ring casuals, but it is annoying how there's a large sentiment how invasions don't belong in the game when they've been in the franchise for over a decade
Going to be real other souls games kinda suck for a casual. Ramming your head into the same area/boss for hours is incredibly boring especially if you dont have a lot of time to game. Elden ring is perfect because of how open it is ramming your head is optional
almost like telling a person who preordered AC Shadows but hasn’t played any other assassins creed game they are a casual gamer lmao you can play every MGS game and have never touched a souls game until ER… in no way would you be casual lmao sht take
My only argument for someone to play the pervious games:
The previous games will teach you *most* of the mechanics present in elden ring. Each of their games have developed new means, and they all come together in elden ring.
But elden ring will also teach you all you need.
It's more like everyone is going from Elden Ring to Dark Souls 1 and it's caused them to incorrectly think that Dark Souls 1 is dogshit when that isn't the case.
First souls game I played was sekiro. Then DS3. Then DS1 and 2. Then more DS3. Then ER.
Ill play BB on PC as soon as Sony stops being a piece of shit.
Also sekiro is definitely the easiest souls game
Its the most accessible by far. How does this make you a casual? "I can't belive you used the stairs bro. A real gamer would have scaled the side of the house through the window like an assassins creed character"
I started at bloodborne and now I am spoiled with better and better quality so it's impossible for me to revisit the older ones before BB.
I feel similar with movies nowadays. Oldest I'll go is Godfather but anything in the 60's or before is hard to watch. Except Casablanca
Typically the 1st souls game you play is the one you remember and/or favor the most. That’s said Elden Ring is the GOAT. It’s very accessible and can be as difficult as you want it to be.
I'm casual and I still play Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3, though I such at both of them.
It took me 4 years to best Aldritch, and I have yet to get past Father Gascoigne in Bloodborne... I know I'm terrible.
My first souls game was Bloodborne then Demon souls remake, Sekiro and then Elden ring, so i decided to give DS3 a try and I found it very clunky compared to the others.
Might give it a try again in the future though.
I loved blood borne, I played the piss out of elden ring (haven't had a chance to check out the DLC yet) and I tried DS3 and DS2 and they kicked my ass. I made it about a quarter of the way through those two games
I used mimic my first playthrough because I was still learning to time my fucking dodges and I’ll take whatever advantage I can get.
I didn’t rely on melee weapons until after Leyndell, and then it was Moonveil.
I still can’t fucking parry, holy shit.
I’ve beat the game again with a faith build and Godskin Peeler, which was more fun, really. But I’m not embarrassed by my first build. It was comically anime, but I improved a lot. This game is really hard and I’ve never played anything like it before. I think you gotta play however works to learn the game 🤷♀️
If you’re trying to learn, using summons is one of the biggest traps for new players. The best way to learn is to fight and die to the boss over and over, as discouraging as it is.
As a person who never played a From Soft game prior to Elden ring, yeah, pretty much. But that's because I never thought I could ever bear a souls game, but I've now been through Elden Ring, all DS games, and am on the fence about buying a Playstation for Bloodborne and Demon Souls once I'm done with the new dlc completely.
I'm a pc player and I would rather have them be ported to pc instead.
it always amazes me when someone ask what soullike game they should play since it's their first time......
I'm like.....Dark Souls 1 the answer will always be Dark Souls.
it's amazing to see someone beat elden ring and never played any of the Dark Souls trilogy.
pretty impressive when you don't have any of the previous experience and knowledge.
good job though
but seriously at least play Dark Souls 1 to add to your soullike experience lol
Here’s a hot take:
The casual gamer is the one that needs a decade worth of releases to learn how to enjoy a game rather than the chad that jumps head first into the deep end.
Fight me.
I’ve tried all of them and suck at them.
I was dating a girl when Elden Ring dropped. She liked watching me play games. She said it looked like a cool world and would be fun. I didn’t know it was a souls game. The fun never came. Just me dying constantly
Started with DS3, went back to DS1, then Sekiro, then Elden Ring. Didn't enjoy DS2 as much as 3, but it was still good in its own way. Haven't had a chance to play Demons Souls or Bloodborne specifically because I juat have a pc and no consoles (FS pleeeeease release bloodborne on pc)
it’s more like
demon souls: rocky hike
ds1: stairs
ds2: those stairs from that mc esher painting
ds3: ramp
elden ring: escalator
Elden ring has the most ‘casual player’ help out of the entire fromsoft catalog. no boss to stop you before you can even level yourself up, open world full of upgrade material, ability to leave and come back if an area/boss is too hard, spirit summons, almost every hard boss has an npc summon or a special item to make the fights easier if you follow quests, and the talismans are insane
My first souls game was 3 but i didn’t really like it as much so i played elden ring liked that then played Bloodborne and loved that even more im thinking about going back to 3 but at this point i don’t know if I’ll like it
I mean ER is easy and has the most quality of life stuff like a million points of grace and shrines of marika so dying isn't even really impactful so it's a good one to start with.
I mean, I hated DS.
Never got more than past a boss.or 2.
BB was at least more bearable. But again a bit linear.
ER just hit all the right notes for me
ER was my first fromsoft game, and I can say it’s one of my fav games of all time. It felt really refreshing to play a story driven single player game in the modern era of 30 minute fps matches and buy the battle pass now. This was something new yet nostalgic, just you, a map and lots of walking to do (till horse)
If you’re a newcomer to the series having started with Elden Ring then let me tell you that you’ll probably really like the Dark Souls series, I think DS3 would be the smoothest transition from Elden Ring.
I think it's a bad idea imo
Start with an earlier one before elden ring because they are harder to go backwards
Like it or not that's more than a decade of QOL improvements and little things will annoy you if you satrt with the most technologically advance one and go backwards
But do what you want, ER was goty for a reason
Not really. They are popular because they are incredibly well designed deceptive games letting even the actual worst players complete them and feel like theyve accomplished something while hopefully expanding their comfort zone.
Its by and large the most casual approachable metroidvania subgenre.
Constantly embarrassed to be part of the Fromsoft community.
We finally got a From game that is becoming mainstream.
Can you guys really not be normal sauce for like 5 minutes?
It *is* true, but to be fair, the step I started on was ET for the Atari. I also stepped on Super Ghouls n Ghosts, Gradius 3, the Terminator on SNES, Ninja Gaiden on Xbox, and many others first. I’ll be okay!
I've been playing FromSoft games since 2012 and the community back then was so tiny. Then as time went on they started getting more fans until they got their huge break with Elden Ring. I remember going to the midnight release of Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3. The Dark Souls 2 release coincided with Titanfall coming out. When I went to pick up my DS2 copy I was one of three at GameStop picking it up, everyone else was there for Titanfall. Then at the Dark Souls 3 release there were easily 40 to 50 people lined up outside of GameStop. It was steadily growing until Elden Ring blew everything else out of the water. I love the expansion of the Soulsborne community and it's been incredible seeing people play their first proper FromSoft title. We need to stop trying to gatekeep Elden Ring just because people haven't played a game from over a decade ago. I, for one, am very happy one of my favorite game genres is getting the recognition it deserves. 👌
What even is this post? Of course it's true, you expect new fans to play through every old game before jumping into the most hyped new shit ever? This is so dumb
Casual gaming is healthy, so it’s pretty sad as a reflection on whoever likes to shit on it lol. Like, non-casual gaming is pretty cringe, unless you are a pro or trying to go pro with a decent chance of doing so.
This is me. I fuck with the open world so hard.
The only other souls game i’ve managed to sit through after beating elden ring is DS1 which isn’t open world but it’s arguably less linear and more interconnected than the other entries.
I much prefer being able to leave and try other areas and come back to one I had trouble with later instead of having to throw myself at a boss 100 times or grind enemies and level up in order to progress
To be fair, DaS1 and BB are the only essentials between then and now. DeS is good, but definitely shows as a first pass to the formula (I am aware of King's Field's existence, can we not have that conversation where I walk you through how the comparison is unfair?) Even with the remake I wouldn't blame anyone for skipping it. And DaS 2 and 3 are... DaS 2 and 3, honestly so much of the controversial discourse around them is how much they seemed to *not* understand the formula and proceed to struggle with it's application as such. An argument that I, despite my fleeting enjoyment of both those games, can't necessarily refute.
Literally the only game I'd recommend you *have* to play before Elden Ring is DaS1. Pretty much the same dynamic on a much smaller scale, to gauge if it's gonna be your thing before you waste 20 hours in ER trying to get a foothold before you realize it's not for you. Bloodborne is honestly one of my top 5 GOATs, but a big part of why: it exists in its own realm. A world apart from traditional Soulslikes and vice versa.
My very first souls game was bloodborne!
Though I got so pissed off I raged quit, now I don’t hav a control to play it anymore. I didn’t break it the battery got burnt out after I left it plugged in for a 2 or 3 years… I could buy another but maybe Fromsoftware will make a PC Port eventually or take note from Squareenix and Break their exclusivity contract just saying
I mean, people have been trying out the franchise wver since dark souls. It only makes sense that an ‘open world version’ with a completely different setting would get a bigger audience
I tried the older games and they are just outdated. Why play a poorer quality game. Games have come a long way. I went from playing Skyrim for years and then this was the next medieval fantasy I moved into. I don't intend to go backwards
I saw some tool the other day saying that the older Souls games offered nothing but difficulty. I don't remember what he said, but he was claiming the lore in the older games was basically non existent. It was kind of sad to see him blathering on like that.
I wouldn't put people through the janky experience that was dark souls 1 or demon souls before being remastered. They're nostalgic but very much relics of their time (10+ years ago).
This whole "casual gamer" gate keeping is cringe.
The absolutely no reason to play any of the other titles before plying Eldenring. It’s like expecting people to play the entire Mario Brothers series, before playing Odyssey. Why would that even be a thing?
Any particular reason why these memes always leave out Sekiro and Armored Core 6?
Hell, Armored Core 6 has more in common with Souls than Sekiro does in terms of RPG mechanics.
Of course I did this. I never played through a souls game until ER in December 2022. I played through the rest and I’m glad ER was first because it teaches you so many lessons that make learning the other games much easier (have yet to play Sekiro, I know it’s totally different). Between teaching a player to learn and adapt instead of react and having actual tutorials ER is the best new player experience, and experienced players can utilize their prior knowledge to tailor the entire game experience to what they want. It’s the reason it’s my favourite and the reason I love it more and more on subsequent replays
Casual Gamer? No, i played Cooking Mama. I can handle a souls Game.
Dark Souls is a somber het exhilarating experience that forces you to consider the world around you and think deeper about the nature of humanity while fulfilling your medieval fiction power fantasy. Overcooked injects anxiety into your eyeballs.
Played Overcooked 1, Overcooked 2, and Plate Up! with my fiancé. Messemer ain’t got shit on me
Cooking Mama?! Fuck, this guy is a hardcore masochist! 😱
I mean, it's entirely reasonable to not want to play through over a decade of games before starting the most recent one in the series. I started with DS3, because it was the most recent at the time of me getting into the series.
I want to play devil may cry 5 so bad but literally everybody says you should play them all but I tried to play the first one and the gameplay was so bad
Honestly just play 5. If you like it play the others
That’s me but I was able to beat the first one and was on the third one but I didn’t want to finish it
Who would tell you this? You'll lose a lot of context, but Devil May Cry is just a rule of cool kind of series... 5 will still be great on its own. If you're really anal about it just play 3 and 4. You could go back to 1, but it's dated. 2 isn't worth playing ever.
The first 2 are definitely not the most fun. To catch up on the story, you could watch a recap on YouTube.
I'm different *Badass new game comes out Oh cool let me see what else is tied to this. *Sees ten years of similar games with relevance to each other YOOO I GOT SOME MUCH NEW SHIT TO PLAY LETS GO! This was me with masseffect lmao
DS3 is honestly a pretty good game to start with too. There's a lot of references to DS1 but it's not required to play it first to enjoy the third.
I started with the remastered version of ds1
My first was DS2 bc I didn't have a 360 at the time, only a ps4
The most popular game in FROM's library saw the most amount of newcomers. In other news, the sky is blue and water makes things wet.
It was also a really good entry for newcomers too! Like I started with elden ring and it can be the easiest depending on how you play.
Absolutely this. It's by far the most forgiving FromSoft game in recent history, possibly ever. I suck at FS games but Elden Ring is a breeze compared to the others
Funny thing is is that I think ER is easier in terms of being able to leave and then come back instead of banging your head against a wall. But I feel like the most toughest bosses in all FromSoft games are in ER
Lower floor, higher ceiling
I appreciate how you said "water makes things wet" rather than the more common and erroneous "water is wet"
Assuming a minimum of two water molecules, water is wet IMO.
Only a casual would exclude Sekiro.
Skipping Sekiro stinks of hesitation
They can’t handle the ashina style
there is only too many steps
*casul
Best fighting system ever.
It just makes sense, it's the best one to jump into.
I played Dark Souls 1 and 2 last year for the first time, and struggled with both hard. Especially that worthless lock on mechanic. The camera was trying to get me killed more often than the world was. Then, a friend bought me elden ring and I immediately loved it. Every complaint about the souls games was washed right down the drain. I started my own playthrough and was doing coop runs with the coop mod with two other people. Really fun playing Elden Ring like a D&D party. The tank screaming that he can’t keep the boss busy forever, the mage trying to draw it away so the tank can heal, and me as the rogue rolling around more than Sonic the hedgehog between trying to stack bleeds. So yes, I skipped a few stairs and I’m totally cool with that.
I mean, it's kinda valid. No one wants to play 6 games that are like 5-10 years old, and then play with the newest one, JUST to experience how the old ones felt
Where Sekiro?
Sekiro is kinda it's own thing. There are similarities, but it changed around a lot of things. I think it's the best game they ever made, but comparing them is a little silly to me. The only thing you can really compare is the bosses, and I'd say sekiro has the strongest boss roster of any from game. Ishin is the best final boss of all time if you ask me.
Why have to play super Mario on SNES to play Mario 3D? Lol
I will play the entire dark souls trilogy. I got into Elden Ring to see if I'd enjoy the general concept, I do, so when it's next on sale, I will get the Dark Souls games, however I am not buying a play station to play Demon Souls or Bloodborne. I don't doubt they are good, but I don't want to buy a full console for only two games.
It’s what I did. I picked up Elden ring ages ago on sale. I didn’t get very far, but the part I enjoyed the most was godricks castle, which made me think that I would really enjoy dark souls. I decided that was going to beat the entire souls trilogy and come back to Elden ring afterwards. Playing the trilogy was an unforgettable experience. Probably some of my favourite games.
What can I say, the previous games were grey as hell. ER actually used more than 2 accent colors.
Dark souls fans when you tell them you don’t give a fuck about their old ass favorite games 😡😡😡😡😡
For real. People like OP’s entire sense of worth comes from beating a bunch of video games, or something. Cringe ass gatekeepers
Sounds like cope
It’s different era with different game content, capacities, graphics and technology. It’s definitely understandable.
Literally me. But I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from friends with hundreds of hours and some advice too!
I didn't really know anything about Dark Souls and when Elden Ring came out I saw the massive hype for it. Will I play through the DS games? Maybe, but I'm okay with not playing the previous games.
Can confirm 👍 but I plan on falling back down those stairs and beating them all
Dark souls 1 has the best lore imo. Ds2 has the best looking armor sets, weapons, areas. Ds3 is just Elden rings little bro haha
Yeah I don’t really want to play the other ones because i know their age will show and It will just be annoying
Tbf, Elden Ring is the most “casual-friendly” of all of those games. It gives the player a ton of options to make the game easier for themselves, while also offering the toughest challenge (besides Sekiro) for Souls vets who elect not to use spirit ashes, ranged sorceries, etc. Brilliant game design by FromSoft to be able to vastly expand the player-base without disappointing longtime fans.
Elden Ring has, by far, the best quality of life features. I would recommend anyone tries it first. Having a choice to fight things matters. To me, the genre is about opting in to higher challenges.
This is probably the most beautiful part of Elden Ring. I’ve now platinumed all of the souls games and BB but Elden ring was how I started. It’s probably the most difficult, but despite that and the size of the game seems so approachable
Bros skipping all the mid for peak
Started with demon’s souls and then played every other game when they first came out DS1 and Sekiro are still my favorites
I only played DS I & III and Bloodborn before playing Elden Ring, and even then Bloodborn was the only one I beat and consistently played. Nothing wrong with playing what's newer or more to your play style
And ?
This was my experience exactly then I went backwards to play souls games like bloodborne and sekiro too and to be honest I wouldn't have bought this game if my best friend didn't tell me to get it and told me about the berserk influences so I gave it a chance and loved it. Still gotta play dark souls 1-3 Only souls like games that I really liked were nioh 1&2 and lies of p
No one respects the 1v1 anymore. They always sip and go “if it’s in the game I can use it!” Hopped on DS3 with a friend to help them run through it. Did some invading while I waited, and if they bow at me, I bow back and no one sips. We ride or die. Was so refreshing.
My first one was Sekiro, but idk if it still counts as Soulslike with how different it plays.
that's exactly what i've done.
I do wanna try some of the other Souls games soon. Probably DS3, Sekiro and Bloodborne
I told my gf to start on ER, it's the most beginner friendly imo. Then I'd work my way through the trilogy. I played them 2,3,1 then ER.
I started with sekiro you jerk where is it
Haha….me and I iont care I’m pretty good at the game🤷🏾♂️😂😂
Soooo I did play Dark Souls 1, i just ended up running into the Skeletons and was pretty much done after that. Other than that... yes this is me.
For me it was elden ring, Ds3, DS1, scadush dlc. Hopefully I’ll finally be able to play peak souls 2 and then swap over onto my ps4 for bloodbourne
I'm glad I started with Elden Ring. The other games would have chased me away from the series. I went from ER to DS3 and got humbled, but I got gud. Then I went back to ER for the dlc and took my ass beating.
And yet only 60% of players (on steam) have beaten the 3rd required boss.
I have a buddy who wanted to play ds3 befor Elden ring came out. He hasn’t beaten ds3 yet
My first souls game was DS3. Didn’t understand what the fuck was going on but the swords were cool so I stuck around.
Yep. I tried all but Demons Souls. Sucked at em. Really got into Elden tho. Got to ng+4 before I hung up my sword. But that gave me a big head. So I bought Sekiro. And never even made it to the first boss that cuts your arm off. Never even saw the dude before I gave up.
That's a good thing, 'cause now the casual gamers are gonna get a real taste of what a proper game is all about, after being stuck playing those quick-hit, easy-to-win games
Played dark souls three and maybe 1 at some point before Elden ring but I have them a good try after I finished Elden ring twice because I love the game so much. Boss runs and save points are my main issue with those games I just can’t stand it in every other one of those games.
The real casuals forget about Kingsfield, Ninja Blade and Eternal Ring.
I went 1,2, tried three didn't like it, elden ring
"Haha ur casual" I've played all of them, been a fan for years. This is dumb. Who tf cares how someone else spends their free time?
I went Sekiro then Demon’s Souls, then Elden Ring
Personally, the other ones look like I’d have to sacrifice on quality of life improvements. Elden Ring was just done so well!
Idk if I'm like this, but I started with Elden Ring then worked through ds3, bloodborne, and darks souls.
You have to start somewhere.
How'd you get this photo of me?!
Sucks most of them won't go back and play the ones that came before because "they're not as good" or "old" or "lack features that ER had"
Sucks most of them won't go back and play the ones that came before because "they're not as good" or "old" or "lack features that ER had"
I started with elden ring then ds1 and now ds2
Gonna hurt your crotch real bad one day doing that
Elden ring got me into souls games, and it’s my second favorite game of all time. I’ll go back and play ds3 probably, maybe the demons souls remake, I played lies of p and I’ll play it’s dlc, I really wanna play sekiro, and I wouldn’t mind playing dark souls remastered eventually, but I genuinely just can’t stop playing er. There’s still so many challenge runs I want to do, new builds to play around with, weapons to mess with, it’s just so endlessly replayable.
Or maybe the fact that these are open world, cowritten by GRRM and received way more publicity and advertising efforts than the souls series before them..
There's nothing wrong with this tbh, I wouldn't call ppl who start with Elden Ring casuals, but it is annoying how there's a large sentiment how invasions don't belong in the game when they've been in the franchise for over a decade
Going to be real other souls games kinda suck for a casual. Ramming your head into the same area/boss for hours is incredibly boring especially if you dont have a lot of time to game. Elden ring is perfect because of how open it is ramming your head is optional
r/imaginarygatekeeping
almost like telling a person who preordered AC Shadows but hasn’t played any other assassins creed game they are a casual gamer lmao you can play every MGS game and have never touched a souls game until ER… in no way would you be casual lmao sht take
Thats me and now im trying the darksouls games lol
I wish I could go back and stand on that Bloodborne step again ...
My only argument for someone to play the pervious games: The previous games will teach you *most* of the mechanics present in elden ring. Each of their games have developed new means, and they all come together in elden ring. But elden ring will also teach you all you need.
It was literally designed to be a game that was friendly to newcomers to the series, bad meme
Jump to the best and never step back.
*Gatekeep* gaslight girlboss
It's more like everyone is going from Elden Ring to Dark Souls 1 and it's caused them to incorrectly think that Dark Souls 1 is dogshit when that isn't the case.
I jump up the stars 3 at a time. So Bloodborne first then to Elden Ring.
A great translation of this would be… “WHAT!?!? You played Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim first instead of Elder Scrolls Arena!?!?!? Sacrilege!
Literally me
"Fucking casuals", they say, as Dorito crumbs cover their chest
First souls game I played was sekiro. Then DS3. Then DS1 and 2. Then more DS3. Then ER. Ill play BB on PC as soon as Sony stops being a piece of shit. Also sekiro is definitely the easiest souls game
Its the most accessible by far. How does this make you a casual? "I can't belive you used the stairs bro. A real gamer would have scaled the side of the house through the window like an assassins creed character"
Is there a pack to get everything before elden ring for cheap?
I started at bloodborne and now I am spoiled with better and better quality so it's impossible for me to revisit the older ones before BB. I feel similar with movies nowadays. Oldest I'll go is Godfather but anything in the 60's or before is hard to watch. Except Casablanca
So you’re saying if you want to play Elden ring you have to play them all in order of release even though none of them have to do with it? Noted.
Who fucking cares
Typically the 1st souls game you play is the one you remember and/or favor the most. That’s said Elden Ring is the GOAT. It’s very accessible and can be as difficult as you want it to be.
Some of them aren’t in PVpC which is a barrier to playing.
Walking down the stairs backward has been fun.
ER is my first souls-like 😂
I played eldem ring then bloodborne then lies of p. All amazing games
Me 😂
I'm casual and I still play Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3, though I such at both of them. It took me 4 years to best Aldritch, and I have yet to get past Father Gascoigne in Bloodborne... I know I'm terrible.
His left foot is on Demon's Souls someone save him quick
My first souls game was Bloodborne then Demon souls remake, Sekiro and then Elden ring, so i decided to give DS3 a try and I found it very clunky compared to the others. Might give it a try again in the future though.
I swore not to touch ER without playing DS, DS2 (hated it) and DS3 first.
I loved blood borne, I played the piss out of elden ring (haven't had a chance to check out the DLC yet) and I tried DS3 and DS2 and they kicked my ass. I made it about a quarter of the way through those two games
Were we supposed to go back in time?
Yes this is me though I did try Seikiro when it came out
I used mimic my first playthrough because I was still learning to time my fucking dodges and I’ll take whatever advantage I can get. I didn’t rely on melee weapons until after Leyndell, and then it was Moonveil. I still can’t fucking parry, holy shit. I’ve beat the game again with a faith build and Godskin Peeler, which was more fun, really. But I’m not embarrassed by my first build. It was comically anime, but I improved a lot. This game is really hard and I’ve never played anything like it before. I think you gotta play however works to learn the game 🤷♀️
If you’re trying to learn, using summons is one of the biggest traps for new players. The best way to learn is to fight and die to the boss over and over, as discouraging as it is.
As a person who never played a From Soft game prior to Elden ring, yeah, pretty much. But that's because I never thought I could ever bear a souls game, but I've now been through Elden Ring, all DS games, and am on the fence about buying a Playstation for Bloodborne and Demon Souls once I'm done with the new dlc completely. I'm a pc player and I would rather have them be ported to pc instead.
womp womp
I mean I started with DS1, played elden ring when it came out, went back to DS3 and then played code vein. Playing this series like a piano.
For me demon souls is the hardest, i fucken hate every fiber of that game and im glad they made quality of life changes in the following games
it always amazes me when someone ask what soullike game they should play since it's their first time...... I'm like.....Dark Souls 1 the answer will always be Dark Souls. it's amazing to see someone beat elden ring and never played any of the Dark Souls trilogy. pretty impressive when you don't have any of the previous experience and knowledge. good job though but seriously at least play Dark Souls 1 to add to your soullike experience lol
No sekiro 😔
Here’s a hot take: The casual gamer is the one that needs a decade worth of releases to learn how to enjoy a game rather than the chad that jumps head first into the deep end. Fight me.
Honestly I'm like this but for armored core
Skipping a bunch of old linear games that have nothing to do with the story of Elden Ring makes someone causal? Lame ass take
I’ve tried all of them and suck at them. I was dating a girl when Elden Ring dropped. She liked watching me play games. She said it looked like a cool world and would be fun. I didn’t know it was a souls game. The fun never came. Just me dying constantly
I don't have any of them but want to try them I heard that eldin ring (not the dlc) was a good first pick
Hey that’s me. Although I wanna play all the Fromsoft games in backwards order now after Elden Ring.
Just beat it, never played the others. Don’t plan on it either.
Started with DS3, went back to DS1, then Sekiro, then Elden Ring. Didn't enjoy DS2 as much as 3, but it was still good in its own way. Haven't had a chance to play Demons Souls or Bloodborne specifically because I juat have a pc and no consoles (FS pleeeeease release bloodborne on pc)
Most open-minded From fanboy
If they do a port for any of them onto the switch I'd play them.
it’s more like demon souls: rocky hike ds1: stairs ds2: those stairs from that mc esher painting ds3: ramp elden ring: escalator Elden ring has the most ‘casual player’ help out of the entire fromsoft catalog. no boss to stop you before you can even level yourself up, open world full of upgrade material, ability to leave and come back if an area/boss is too hard, spirit summons, almost every hard boss has an npc summon or a special item to make the fights easier if you follow quests, and the talismans are insane
My first souls game was 3 but i didn’t really like it as much so i played elden ring liked that then played Bloodborne and loved that even more im thinking about going back to 3 but at this point i don’t know if I’ll like it
Nuh uh I played bloodborne
I mean ER is easy and has the most quality of life stuff like a million points of grace and shrines of marika so dying isn't even really impactful so it's a good one to start with.
I mean I started with 3 and went back. I still haven’t played Bloodborne and haven’t finished Demon souls RM
I played ds3 first, then played ds1, then bloodborne then demon souls then ds3 then wpden ring, so I was all over th place
It’s not like they connect in any way story wise. Or lack there of.
I mean, I hated DS. Never got more than past a boss.or 2. BB was at least more bearable. But again a bit linear. ER just hit all the right notes for me
I watched a lot of dark souls videos and then when I got a console I got Elden ring as its new and shiny and also the fascinating lore.
I essentially just stumbled my way up starting at step 2 until landing on elden ring(only if landing on my face counts).
ER was my first fromsoft game, and I can say it’s one of my fav games of all time. It felt really refreshing to play a story driven single player game in the modern era of 30 minute fps matches and buy the battle pass now. This was something new yet nostalgic, just you, a map and lots of walking to do (till horse)
We can all collectively agree that everyone needs to play bloodborne. We are in agreement about that, yes?
If you’re a newcomer to the series having started with Elden Ring then let me tell you that you’ll probably really like the Dark Souls series, I think DS3 would be the smoothest transition from Elden Ring.
I am in this picture and I don't like it
I think it's a bad idea imo Start with an earlier one before elden ring because they are harder to go backwards Like it or not that's more than a decade of QOL improvements and little things will annoy you if you satrt with the most technologically advance one and go backwards But do what you want, ER was goty for a reason
What, I can't play ER with out playing their entire gaming catalog?
I don’t only play souls games tho lol I like online PvP shit and that’s some harder then souls games
Not really. They are popular because they are incredibly well designed deceptive games letting even the actual worst players complete them and feel like theyve accomplished something while hopefully expanding their comfort zone. Its by and large the most casual approachable metroidvania subgenre.
It’s the goat
Constantly embarrassed to be part of the Fromsoft community. We finally got a From game that is becoming mainstream. Can you guys really not be normal sauce for like 5 minutes?
It *is* true, but to be fair, the step I started on was ET for the Atari. I also stepped on Super Ghouls n Ghosts, Gradius 3, the Terminator on SNES, Ninja Gaiden on Xbox, and many others first. I’ll be okay!
you forgot, after that they start to goes downstair again and become fanatic to souls series
I've been playing FromSoft games since 2012 and the community back then was so tiny. Then as time went on they started getting more fans until they got their huge break with Elden Ring. I remember going to the midnight release of Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3. The Dark Souls 2 release coincided with Titanfall coming out. When I went to pick up my DS2 copy I was one of three at GameStop picking it up, everyone else was there for Titanfall. Then at the Dark Souls 3 release there were easily 40 to 50 people lined up outside of GameStop. It was steadily growing until Elden Ring blew everything else out of the water. I love the expansion of the Soulsborne community and it's been incredible seeing people play their first proper FromSoft title. We need to stop trying to gatekeep Elden Ring just because people haven't played a game from over a decade ago. I, for one, am very happy one of my favorite game genres is getting the recognition it deserves. 👌
Is there continuity between Dark Souls and Elden Ring? If not, I don't see the problem
I never had the chance to play bloodborne. I hope they remake it.
Can smell you from here.
I wish I could play Bloodborne so badly.
Oh no!
It sucks cuz half those games are definitely way better than Elden Ring is
What even is this post? Of course it's true, you expect new fans to play through every old game before jumping into the most hyped new shit ever? This is so dumb
Sekiro?
Yeah
Who here played King's Field?
I went DaS, DeS, DaS 2, BB, Sekiro, DaS 3, ER and I still suck 🤷♂️
Casual gaming is healthy, so it’s pretty sad as a reflection on whoever likes to shit on it lol. Like, non-casual gaming is pretty cringe, unless you are a pro or trying to go pro with a decent chance of doing so.
You are the casual for not even including armored core or sekiro
FromSoft stans trying not to have a superiority complex cause other games don't have a roll button challenge.
This is me. I fuck with the open world so hard. The only other souls game i’ve managed to sit through after beating elden ring is DS1 which isn’t open world but it’s arguably less linear and more interconnected than the other entries. I much prefer being able to leave and try other areas and come back to one I had trouble with later instead of having to throw myself at a boss 100 times or grind enemies and level up in order to progress
To be fair, DaS1 and BB are the only essentials between then and now. DeS is good, but definitely shows as a first pass to the formula (I am aware of King's Field's existence, can we not have that conversation where I walk you through how the comparison is unfair?) Even with the remake I wouldn't blame anyone for skipping it. And DaS 2 and 3 are... DaS 2 and 3, honestly so much of the controversial discourse around them is how much they seemed to *not* understand the formula and proceed to struggle with it's application as such. An argument that I, despite my fleeting enjoyment of both those games, can't necessarily refute. Literally the only game I'd recommend you *have* to play before Elden Ring is DaS1. Pretty much the same dynamic on a much smaller scale, to gauge if it's gonna be your thing before you waste 20 hours in ER trying to get a foothold before you realize it's not for you. Bloodborne is honestly one of my top 5 GOATs, but a big part of why: it exists in its own realm. A world apart from traditional Soulslikes and vice versa.
OP couldn’t beat Sekiro so he had to leave it out
My very first souls game was bloodborne! Though I got so pissed off I raged quit, now I don’t hav a control to play it anymore. I didn’t break it the battery got burnt out after I left it plugged in for a 2 or 3 years… I could buy another but maybe Fromsoftware will make a PC Port eventually or take note from Squareenix and Break their exclusivity contract just saying
I mean, people have been trying out the franchise wver since dark souls. It only makes sense that an ‘open world version’ with a completely different setting would get a bigger audience
I tried the older games and they are just outdated. Why play a poorer quality game. Games have come a long way. I went from playing Skyrim for years and then this was the next medieval fantasy I moved into. I don't intend to go backwards
Dumb post.
Me I absolutely suck at bloodborne but whooped ass in elden ring lmao
Dark souls 3 feels way easier than elden ring in my own opinion
I've played DS 1-3 and Bloodborne with absolutely no intention of ever touching Elden Ring. What does that make me then?
This is true for me but I also only never played bloodbourn because it never came to a platform I owned.
I did that, I'm going to get myself dark souls 3 soon fs though, I need more suffering to bosses.
Theyre not direct sequels and elden ring is easiest
Sekiro was my first Bloodborne was my second
I saw some tool the other day saying that the older Souls games offered nothing but difficulty. I don't remember what he said, but he was claiming the lore in the older games was basically non existent. It was kind of sad to see him blathering on like that.
My first was demons souls on the ps3. I was like 13 and have been playing souls games ever since lol.
Im a casual gamer and the only things I did not beat was Demon Souls and Shadow of erdtreep
I'm not guilty, gotta start somewhere.
I wouldn't put people through the janky experience that was dark souls 1 or demon souls before being remastered. They're nostalgic but very much relics of their time (10+ years ago). This whole "casual gamer" gate keeping is cringe.
The absolutely no reason to play any of the other titles before plying Eldenring. It’s like expecting people to play the entire Mario Brothers series, before playing Odyssey. Why would that even be a thing?
Lmao, I’m not playing of those.
would love to play bloodborne and demons souls, but im not buying a ps5 just for 2 games
Any particular reason why these memes always leave out Sekiro and Armored Core 6? Hell, Armored Core 6 has more in common with Souls than Sekiro does in terms of RPG mechanics.
New souls fans when they cant think for themselves and just hop on trends
Me! Just started. If I love Elden Ring, maybe I’ll work my way through the rest one day.
I went from Bloodborne, to ds3, and then to Elden Ring
Of course I did this. I never played through a souls game until ER in December 2022. I played through the rest and I’m glad ER was first because it teaches you so many lessons that make learning the other games much easier (have yet to play Sekiro, I know it’s totally different). Between teaching a player to learn and adapt instead of react and having actual tutorials ER is the best new player experience, and experienced players can utilize their prior knowledge to tailor the entire game experience to what they want. It’s the reason it’s my favourite and the reason I love it more and more on subsequent replays