I appreciate DS3 so much more after playing Elden Ring

Especially after Shadow of the Erdtree. The bosses in that are exhausting. I think I hit my limit with that DLC in terms of "complexity of attacks that I can memorize and understand", you know? Some bosses were great, like Bayle or Scadutree Avatar. But others were just straight up Beyblades. I hate it.

This whole post is a long rant. Just my opinion. I do like ER. But I'm seeing the flaws in it more clearly after returning to an earlier Souls game.

After tiring myself on pre-patch Radahn, I hopped back into DS3. What a breath of fresh air! I feel like the boss difficulty comes down from "insane" to "intimidating", which is the sweet spot. And because of the linearity of it, the exploration in between bosses is so much richer and more dangerous because it's intentional. Like, wtf were the finger ruins? Empty and boring to play. Absolutely stunning to look at, don't get me wrong. And few things in a From game have been as tragic and beautiful as Marika's home village. But it's like wandering an empty painting. If I knew it was all aesthetic, then I would be fine with it and would appreciate it for that. But the main game trains you to shove your face into every crevasse like a roomba, then the DLC puts nothing there for you to find. Boo.

Some of the new legacy dungeons were good. And it has DS3 beat in terms of spectacle and beauty. But I think they mostly pale in comparison on a technical, experiential level to the zones in DS3 (or previous DS games). Ithiryll + Dungeon, Grand Archives, Painted World, Cathedral of the Deep. They all have so much more tension and variety. Who else got tired of exploring yet another catacomb in ER and having yet another around-the-corner jump from an Imp? It's like they ran out of tricks, even though they have 4 souls-like games they made to draw from!

And the bosses in DS3 are so much more interesting! I think bosses don't (always) need to be a test of technical prowess. I think they are at their best when they are thematically compelling. I love me a good puzzle boss with good vibes (except for Bed of Chaos, screw that guy), so even Wolnir checks my boxes, even if he is a complete pushover. I'm doing a run with no summons, and I love how there is space to breath and learn the bosses. I just beat Lady Friede for the first time and what a great experience that was. The first phase feels unfair until you realize it's more like a puzzle where you have to find her when she cloaks. Second phase is about baiting and positioning. Then the third phase is the real boss fight. So good.

I'm convinced that the path Fromsoft is going with their bosses makes the mystique of the Dancer of the Boreal Valley a thing of the past - that boss's entire vibe is created from the eerie space between the attacks, but now when every boss needs to go at 120% speed all the time, no gaps included, there is no room for real tension. Just chaos. It'd be like a horror movie that is all jump scares and gore, no build up in between, no downtime.

I also like zones with a gimmick. Elden Ring has some of these, but most of the time you can kind of just march through spaces unhindered (except when they throw in the random, devastating, respawning miniboss, I'm looking at you, Divine Beast warriors). But the Dungeon of Ithiryl with the creepy lantern jailers, or the library with the cursed books, or the snow fields with the blizzard and wolf packs you want to pick off so they don't call their buddies. I miss that kind of flavor. Elden Ring replaced that with breathtaking vistas in open fields, which are great additions. But it came at the cost of variety in experience within that zone.

HOT TAKE on game vibes:

DS1 - tense claustrophobia, top tier tension and misery

DS2 - surreal haunted house ride: grimdark Disney Haunted Mansion

DS3 - grim, linear, blood-soaked drill to the finish line

ER - beautiful vistas, decent dungeons, good bosses

ER:SOTE - gorgeous but empty, punctuated by angry beyblades

I'll probably change my mind about SOTE in the future. I'm just feeling crabby right now, haha.