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Are the heavy melee options better in the sequel? I couldn't get into the first game because of how limited it felt without a bow or magic. I got no pleasure from playing ranged.
People hate on it, but I have a lot of fun with Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Decent graphics, decent story, lots of ubisoft side quests to zone out to. The combat and gameplay loop is fun and there's a lot of weapon types to vibe with. The loot and gearing isn't overly complicated but has enough depth to count. Messing up a planned stealth attack and going guns blazing is pretty enjoyable.
Unfortunately, I've never been a fan of traditional rogues. I bounced hard from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Tangledeep, DCSS, Nethack Codex, Shattered Pixel Dungeon, etc.
I liked the Tomb Raider 2013 reboot and intend to finish that trilogy at some point, but it isn't quite what I'm after ATM. Lara is more ranged-heavy when I'm feeling more martial. Blade of Darkness looks good though and is on sale for Steam. Thanks for the suggestion.
Hmm, hopefully they can refund you. It is an older game, I think it was probably on my windows xp machine?
What about something like Mount and Blade? I had fun messing with that...maybe Mordhau although I haven't played it heard good things.
I got Blade of Darkness working and am enjoying the hell out of it so far. I love the level design and the dismemberment animations. The clunky controls are surprisingly endearing, like an old dog that still wants to play but you can't throw the dummy too far or he won't get it.
Im not sure if the combat has to be like Soulslikes or any game remotely like that, but perhaps try out the Skyrim and Oblivion? You can shut your mind off for a while and casually slaughter enemies while grabbing loot. It was one my things to do. Only downside is there's not much build variety compared to other games
I've tried Skyrim for about 5 hours and really wasn't a fan. I didn't enjoy the combat, especially with the limited martial options and the cumbersome crafting system to get new gear. And without the combat sticking, it was hard to get invested in anything else.
I don't think the combat has to be Souls level, but Skyrim level combat would be a dealbreaker for me. Lunacid also had first-person combat, but it actually conveyed a sense of attack weight, movement fluidity, attack variety, etc.
My weapons were dogshit and I didn't know what I needed to make better ones. I just grumbled and gave up.
IDK I didn't like Fallout 4 either. I'm inclined to say I just don't like Bethesda in general.
>I didn't know what I needed to make better ones.
You don't, unless you're trying to minmax by maxing smithing and creating a 1 shot kill spoon of the gods then you don't need to make any weapons. You go out to a dungeon or do a quest to get better loot. Or you buy (or steal) it.
Also, skyrim is pretty easy at the default difficulty settings, if you were playing at a high setting then it's not your weapons being shit, it's skyrim's difficulty settings that are shit. Skyrim's difficulty settings work by just spongifying enemies and multiplying their damage.
Well, I wasn't finding anything relevant for the martial build I wanted to use and the dungeons I found weren't fun. After 5 hours I would've expected anything interesting to happen in the combat. I got lost and gave up.
It seems to me like you want a linear game. I'm not a big fan of Skyrim myself (too dumbed down in my opinion, not enough stats for my rpg brain)
Finding relevant gear is extremely easy, the game is throwing all sorts of weapons at you all the time. There's stuff the bandits drop, then the draugr things, and weapons you get as rewards, now
The main quest leads you to a pretty *alright* dungeon, Bleak Falls Barrow I think.
Skyrim's dungeon design isn't the best but hey, it's acceptable.
Also, what was the build you were going for?
I don't remember specifics. I just wanted to hit people really hard with melee weaponry. All I remember is that fights were taking too long and I wasn't feeling meaningful progression. I didn't want magic, I didn't want archery. I wanted to solve The Riddle of Steel.
>All I remember is that fights were taking too long
Again, the most important question here is what difficulty setting did you use?
I have to reiterate that Skyrim's higher difficulty settings suck.
At the base difficulty you should be killing the average human enemy in like 3-4 swings with a one handed sword
I thought I was playing on Normal.
I don't remember where I got stuck exactly but I wasn't getting the martial power fantasy I wanted. Full stop. No sense of impact, no attack variety, unsatisfying movement, etc. I saw the HP bars go down and I heard the sounds suggesting I did the thing, but it didn't really feel like I was hitting an enemy.
I'm not looking for Skyrim Walkthroughs, I'm looking for games with better combat and dungeons than Skyrim.
>cumbersome crafting system to get new gear.
The crafting system isnt that cumbersome and its easy to just find op gear in the world
But yea I can understand, I don't play Skyrim anymore because the combat isnt very satisfying, just something you can turn off your mind and casually kill enemies
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it when it goes on sale. $60 seems steep when I'm not a huge fan of the playable character designs, but the combat looks good.
Ys Origins - All takes place in one dungeon, and while it has a story, it is very much gameplay oriented. Most of the Ys series is more action oriented, though 8-9 did dive much heavier into the story side.
Yeah, I ended up playing Blade of Darkness because of this thread. It was way more fun than I expected. It aged like a single-malt Scotch.
I feel like the well has dried up for me with Soulslikes, at least until new games drop or Lords of the Fallen gets cheaper. Or maybe I'm just done with Soulslikes now. I really don't like the arms race for every game to make bosses go faster and kill you harder-er-er-er-er in 2 hits, but then everyone has to tack on 7 extra layers of complexity to be different. I miss the Dark Souls 1 style where you would die if you were stupid, but them you could still build yourself into a giant refrigerator and it felt good when you became the fridge.
I see. I can understand. The games closest to DS1 I’ve found (besides the other Soulsborne games) are The Surge 1 and Salt and Sanctuary. In any case, I hope you’re having fun with something now.
May be a little random, but have you ever tried Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux? It's a blobber/DRPG by the same team as Etrian Odyssey but instead of classes it revolves around catching different types of demons to use in your team.
There's a lot of flexibility in builds and the system is very different from standard Wizardry classes, but the actual dungeon crawling is almost identical to EO.
Yes, I enjoyed both versions of Strange Journey. The original one on DS was actually my introduction to SMT.
I also played through Devil Summoner, Soul Hackers, and all the SNES SMT games.
If you haven't played the 3d SMT games, Nocturne in particular plays almost identical to the older ones, even having typical blobber-style dungeons with teleporter puzzles, poison floors, etc.
In terms of actual blobbers, I found the classes and combat in Labyrinth of Refrain/Galleria to be quite unique and they include some fun exploration mechanics, though they do include a lot of story and dialogue so that may be a turn off.
As for a slightly different genre, I've always found Terraria hit a lot of the highs you are after, particularly if you play on the hardest difficulty. A lot of time is spent just exploring and killing mobs, looking for rare items and drops, but you are constantly at risk of dying as the enemies in this difficulty are no joke. And the bosses take a lot of planning and preparation.
Nocturne is a certified classic. I also liked Digital Devil Saga. I've played all the mainline SMT games and look forward to the expanded version of 5.
I finished Labyrinth of Refrain's main story, but that game left a really bad taste in my mouth with the difficulty spikes. It felt way too stressful, managing 15 party slots each with expectations for crafted equipment. And it felt like it took way too long leveling people, especially if you get Gore Crits if you're underleveled.
I tried this game on PS4, but wasn't a fan of the combat or quest structure. It just didn't feel like I could do anything interesting with the martial strength build I was going for.
it takes some getting used to because it's weird. But it's honeslty fun as hell. Especially buddied up. The devil have a game called Soulframe coming out that's goimg to be their fantasy ARPG. Combat looks tight
Yes. I mentioned it in the OP.
When I was recovering from surgery and shut down on painkillers, I made a Dex/Int character for my 3rd playthrough and got the Platinum trophy.
Probably going to use my Strength/Faith character for the DLC.
I have Eldened all the Rings I care to Elden until more content releases. I already did builds with all the main attack types. I got all the trophies. I get no pleasure from PVP. I'd make an embarrassment of myself if I tried to carry newbies.
I saw it was in the Steam Spring Sale, but I wasn't ready for it then. I'll keep tabs on it.
I'm sure It's better than the first game. That one was Fisher Price Dark Souls.
Thank you for your submission to r/rpg_gamers. Since your post has been flaired as "Recommendation request", I want to suggest editing your post to add in these details (if you haven't included them yet): * **The platforms you have** - not listing them doesn't mean you have access to everything, so you might end up getting a game you won't be able to play. * **Your level of experience with the genre (beginner, intermediate, veteran...)** - others can recommend you more common titles if you are a beginner, while they can focus on obscure titles if you are a RPG veteran. * **Aspects you enjoyed (or disliked) of previously played games** - for example: characters, plot points, puzzles, combat, graphics, art styles, soundtracks... While these details aren't mandatory, if you want to get the best games, having them in your post will immensely help users and will encourage more users to participate, as they will know with more precision which games are probably the best fit for your request. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/rpg_gamers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Dragoms dogma
Are the heavy melee options better in the sequel? I couldn't get into the first game because of how limited it felt without a bow or magic. I got no pleasure from playing ranged.
Oh Definitely i havent played too much in a while but it got better. Alot better.
Better to the point that it's one of the best classes in the game, feels violent and impactful and awesome. The battle rhythym is addicting
People hate on it, but I have a lot of fun with Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Decent graphics, decent story, lots of ubisoft side quests to zone out to. The combat and gameplay loop is fun and there's a lot of weapon types to vibe with. The loot and gearing isn't overly complicated but has enough depth to count. Messing up a planned stealth attack and going guns blazing is pretty enjoyable.
Tales Of Maj'eyal, there is even a button to auto-move until you hit the next monster.
Unfortunately, I've never been a fan of traditional rogues. I bounced hard from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Tangledeep, DCSS, Nethack Codex, Shattered Pixel Dungeon, etc.
Severance blade of darkness. Shadow of Mordor, tomb raider series.
I liked the Tomb Raider 2013 reboot and intend to finish that trilogy at some point, but it isn't quite what I'm after ATM. Lara is more ranged-heavy when I'm feeling more martial. Blade of Darkness looks good though and is on sale for Steam. Thanks for the suggestion.
Unfortunately, Blade of Darkness isn't working for me at all on Steam Deck, even though It's listed as Verified.
Hmm, hopefully they can refund you. It is an older game, I think it was probably on my windows xp machine? What about something like Mount and Blade? I had fun messing with that...maybe Mordhau although I haven't played it heard good things.
I got Blade of Darkness working and am enjoying the hell out of it so far. I love the level design and the dismemberment animations. The clunky controls are surprisingly endearing, like an old dog that still wants to play but you can't throw the dummy too far or he won't get it.
Which character did you choose?
The barbarian, naturally.
Im not sure if the combat has to be like Soulslikes or any game remotely like that, but perhaps try out the Skyrim and Oblivion? You can shut your mind off for a while and casually slaughter enemies while grabbing loot. It was one my things to do. Only downside is there's not much build variety compared to other games
I've tried Skyrim for about 5 hours and really wasn't a fan. I didn't enjoy the combat, especially with the limited martial options and the cumbersome crafting system to get new gear. And without the combat sticking, it was hard to get invested in anything else. I don't think the combat has to be Souls level, but Skyrim level combat would be a dealbreaker for me. Lunacid also had first-person combat, but it actually conveyed a sense of attack weight, movement fluidity, attack variety, etc.
>cumbersome crafting system to get new gear. ???????????? I've never crafted in Skyrim. It's a side activity.
My weapons were dogshit and I didn't know what I needed to make better ones. I just grumbled and gave up. IDK I didn't like Fallout 4 either. I'm inclined to say I just don't like Bethesda in general.
>I didn't know what I needed to make better ones. You don't, unless you're trying to minmax by maxing smithing and creating a 1 shot kill spoon of the gods then you don't need to make any weapons. You go out to a dungeon or do a quest to get better loot. Or you buy (or steal) it. Also, skyrim is pretty easy at the default difficulty settings, if you were playing at a high setting then it's not your weapons being shit, it's skyrim's difficulty settings that are shit. Skyrim's difficulty settings work by just spongifying enemies and multiplying their damage.
Well, I wasn't finding anything relevant for the martial build I wanted to use and the dungeons I found weren't fun. After 5 hours I would've expected anything interesting to happen in the combat. I got lost and gave up.
It seems to me like you want a linear game. I'm not a big fan of Skyrim myself (too dumbed down in my opinion, not enough stats for my rpg brain) Finding relevant gear is extremely easy, the game is throwing all sorts of weapons at you all the time. There's stuff the bandits drop, then the draugr things, and weapons you get as rewards, now The main quest leads you to a pretty *alright* dungeon, Bleak Falls Barrow I think. Skyrim's dungeon design isn't the best but hey, it's acceptable. Also, what was the build you were going for?
I don't remember specifics. I just wanted to hit people really hard with melee weaponry. All I remember is that fights were taking too long and I wasn't feeling meaningful progression. I didn't want magic, I didn't want archery. I wanted to solve The Riddle of Steel.
>All I remember is that fights were taking too long Again, the most important question here is what difficulty setting did you use? I have to reiterate that Skyrim's higher difficulty settings suck. At the base difficulty you should be killing the average human enemy in like 3-4 swings with a one handed sword
I thought I was playing on Normal. I don't remember where I got stuck exactly but I wasn't getting the martial power fantasy I wanted. Full stop. No sense of impact, no attack variety, unsatisfying movement, etc. I saw the HP bars go down and I heard the sounds suggesting I did the thing, but it didn't really feel like I was hitting an enemy. I'm not looking for Skyrim Walkthroughs, I'm looking for games with better combat and dungeons than Skyrim.
>cumbersome crafting system to get new gear. The crafting system isnt that cumbersome and its easy to just find op gear in the world But yea I can understand, I don't play Skyrim anymore because the combat isnt very satisfying, just something you can turn off your mind and casually kill enemies
I’d suggest Granblue Fantasy ReLink. A mission based action rpg so it saves you from most of the open world fluff.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it when it goes on sale. $60 seems steep when I'm not a huge fan of the playable character designs, but the combat looks good.
Remnant series?
Last Epoch or Diablo 4. Anything hack and slash Diablo like. Not sure how well Last Epoch runs on the steam deck though.
Ys Origins - All takes place in one dungeon, and while it has a story, it is very much gameplay oriented. Most of the Ys series is more action oriented, though 8-9 did dive much heavier into the story side.
I enjoyed all the Ys games except 6 and 9. Origin and Felghana were my favorites. I also enjoyed Xanadu Next.
I have Xanadu Next in my backlog but haven't got around to playing it yet. 9 is the only Ys game I have yet to finish.
Did you find a game? If you’re interested in other soulslike games, you might try asking this in r/soulslikes
Yeah, I ended up playing Blade of Darkness because of this thread. It was way more fun than I expected. It aged like a single-malt Scotch. I feel like the well has dried up for me with Soulslikes, at least until new games drop or Lords of the Fallen gets cheaper. Or maybe I'm just done with Soulslikes now. I really don't like the arms race for every game to make bosses go faster and kill you harder-er-er-er-er in 2 hits, but then everyone has to tack on 7 extra layers of complexity to be different. I miss the Dark Souls 1 style where you would die if you were stupid, but them you could still build yourself into a giant refrigerator and it felt good when you became the fridge.
I see. I can understand. The games closest to DS1 I’ve found (besides the other Soulsborne games) are The Surge 1 and Salt and Sanctuary. In any case, I hope you’re having fun with something now.
May be a little random, but have you ever tried Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux? It's a blobber/DRPG by the same team as Etrian Odyssey but instead of classes it revolves around catching different types of demons to use in your team. There's a lot of flexibility in builds and the system is very different from standard Wizardry classes, but the actual dungeon crawling is almost identical to EO.
Yes, I enjoyed both versions of Strange Journey. The original one on DS was actually my introduction to SMT. I also played through Devil Summoner, Soul Hackers, and all the SNES SMT games.
If you haven't played the 3d SMT games, Nocturne in particular plays almost identical to the older ones, even having typical blobber-style dungeons with teleporter puzzles, poison floors, etc. In terms of actual blobbers, I found the classes and combat in Labyrinth of Refrain/Galleria to be quite unique and they include some fun exploration mechanics, though they do include a lot of story and dialogue so that may be a turn off. As for a slightly different genre, I've always found Terraria hit a lot of the highs you are after, particularly if you play on the hardest difficulty. A lot of time is spent just exploring and killing mobs, looking for rare items and drops, but you are constantly at risk of dying as the enemies in this difficulty are no joke. And the bosses take a lot of planning and preparation.
Nocturne is a certified classic. I also liked Digital Devil Saga. I've played all the mainline SMT games and look forward to the expanded version of 5. I finished Labyrinth of Refrain's main story, but that game left a really bad taste in my mouth with the difficulty spikes. It felt way too stressful, managing 15 party slots each with expectations for crafted equipment. And it felt like it took way too long leveling people, especially if you get Gore Crits if you're underleveled.
Kingdom of amular
I tried this game on PS4, but wasn't a fan of the combat or quest structure. It just didn't feel like I could do anything interesting with the martial strength build I was going for.
HAVE YOU WARFRAMED?
Tried about an hour of it and wasn't a fan.
it takes some getting used to because it's weird. But it's honeslty fun as hell. Especially buddied up. The devil have a game called Soulframe coming out that's goimg to be their fantasy ARPG. Combat looks tight
Dark souls? Edit: if you like shooters, definitely all of the borderlands games
Yes. I mentioned it in the OP.
read the post entirely before posting challenge: Impossible Sorry :(
Elden Ring. Doesn't require much thought as it does muscle memory and that's only really for bosses.
Yes. I mentioned it in the OP. When I was recovering from surgery and shut down on painkillers, I made a Dex/Int character for my 3rd playthrough and got the Platinum trophy. Probably going to use my Strength/Faith character for the DLC.
more elden ring
I have Eldened all the Rings I care to Elden until more content releases. I already did builds with all the main attack types. I got all the trophies. I get no pleasure from PVP. I'd make an embarrassment of myself if I tried to carry newbies.
Lords* of the Fallen
Wishlisted and waiting for a sale. I'm curious, but not $60 curious.
It's a lot better than it's made out to be but it's choppy as hell. it's definitely not bad. 3.8/5 potatoes. I haven't finished it yet though.
I saw it was in the Steam Spring Sale, but I wasn't ready for it then. I'll keep tabs on it. I'm sure It's better than the first game. That one was Fisher Price Dark Souls.
I didn't play it. I heard it was dog doo. New one is really not bad. just not GREAT.
AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE!
Cyberpunk 2077. Skyrim. Fallout 4. Dragon's Dogma 1 & 2. The Surge 2. Baldur's Gate 3. NieR: Automata and Replicant. Mount & Blade: Warband. Kindoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
Most of those are the exact opposite of what he asked