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less-than-three-3 · 6 months

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Lies of P might be the best souls game I've played

this is only half a joke tbh

There's so much talk about how yeah it might be one of the best soulslikes out there but it still can't reach the quality of the Fromsoft games and I'm just like... no, Neowiz has really got the baton and delivered a really great evolution of the linear Souls "genre".

There are definitely some rough spots (but so do the Souls games) but what they've presented and improved on is truly magnificent. It's not Bloodborne x Sekiro (PLEASE STOP SAYING THIS OML), but it is very much its own thing and does what it sets out to do very well, in a lot of aspects. Full ramblings below, some spoilers likely.

I want to preface everything I am going to say by reiterating that, though this delivers a lot of Souls elements excellently (and some not), this is very much its own game, and not only stands on its own two feet but runs a mile with them. I feel like a lot of folks play Soulslike games (even by Fromsoft themselves lol) and expect all their skills and knowledge to transfer over, or expect mechanics to work and present themselves just like in Souls games, and it's because those are the golden standard for many people. I get it, but it's still kind of meaningless - not because "the games can't compete/compare with them" but because they do different things and excel at providing different experiences; they may be "souls-like" in nature but there are so many different directions one could take with the genre.

And so I was elated to really get to know the mechanics of Lies of P (I'll refer to it as LoP). I won't lie, when I played the demo, I didn't really get it yet, so I definitely felt a little frustrated, but once you get the hang of it, the controls are so satisfying the whole way through (like the Souls games! wow!). I think maybe a lot of people forget that this learning curve is a huge part of what makes the Souls games tick, because they've put in so many hours into "getting good", and so when they have to go back up the curve, they feel frustrated again.

The main thing is, obviously, the parry system, which is pretty much the mechanic LoP really uses to separate itself from the From catalogue. Is it like Sekiro? Yeah sure yes both games use perfect parries to build stagger, but I contend that it is even still very distinct from Sekiro's parry system. In Sekiro, the game is the parry system, it's more or less how you actually kill most bosses, with Vitality only acting as a way to make progress to help you build up stagger.

In LoP, there's two big things that make it very different. The first is obvious as soon as you fight that first big dude with the parry tooltip - attack patterns are not nearly as rhythmic and fast paced as in Sekiro, mostly. Long windups and big tells make some aspects of getting used to parrying easy, but at the same time the timings can be very tricky and can demand a lot of attention. This alone really contributes to a very different game feel, even though they are both, nominally "perfect parry" systems.

Another thing is that the parry timing window is quite tight. Some would say it's too tight, but I honestly think a lot would be lost if the parrying were too easy. In Sekiro, the parry window is actually quite wide, but locks you out and heavily punishes you for fishing for parries, forcing you to be methodical and patient even if fights get hectic. In LoP, it's quite the opposite - there's a lot of time between attacks often, and it forces decision making and risk/reward between attempting to parry, blocking (and taking the rally-able damage), dodging, or hitting them (and maybe having time to parry or dodge still).

The delicate balance between these options is very important; if parrying were always the right option, then yeah it would just be Sekiro - that's not interesting. But perfect parrying is not the only way to build stagger which makes all options at least somewhat useful, and you can even build your p-organ (lol) and whetstone to help you build stagger with just attacks, more like Elden Ring's charged R2 stagger fishing. Sometimes if you aren't comfortable with a parry timing, then the right play is to dodge or block. Insisting there is only one right answer for approaching any given boss is inherently antithetical to this game's design - and I'd argue to Souls games in general.

And this brings me to another common complaint - the dodge isn't that good, and upgrade should not have been locked behind p-organ. I also really disagree with this, in part because I didn't actually really think the p-organ upgrades were that game changing. But it is also in part that if the dodge is too strong, like a DS3 roll, then again that balance is thrown out of wack and dodging becomes the right answer too often. This is still a "parry game", and if dodge becomes preferable to parrying, that's an issue. Parrying shouldn't be the only answer, but it also shouldn't be much weaker than other options. Additionally, having an especially weaker dodge at the beginning forces those stubborn Souls players to stop mashing the dodge button and force them to actually learn and engage with the parry mechanics - nudging you to learn without blatantly telling you to.

I did really enjoy the p-organ as a way to express and expand a player's build choices, though I felt like some nodes and slots were just completely useless, and the choice for which 2 nodes to go for was too obvious. If it were, for example, +1 heal, improved dodge, increased stagger damage, and damage mitigation, or something, that's a very compelling choice to do. But I don't use the cube and I don't think the stagger window is too short, etc., so I felt like some slots were just not that interesting. Phase 4 is a great example of a very compelling node choice, and I wished all of them were like that.

Though speaking of build choices, holy fucking shit this game's build options are SO COOL! I absolutely loved the modular weapon system, and I respecced a good few times to play with various different weapon combinations. The boss weapons were a little disappointing to me but that's ok because goddamn the weapon customization system carried the hell out of the game. I do wish the slash vs. stab proficiency wasn't as prominent but even with that, I was able to make so many silly weapons. Big sawblade baton/cleaver (which carried a lot of my playthrough), rocket wrench, crit dagger spear, etc.

Being able to use a blade I liked, keeping its upgrades, with a new handle that has a new moveset is just such an incredible idea that I can't believe From never thought of something like it. Each part also has their own weapon arts, and while they were a little homogenous at times, this kind of system has huge potential, especially if you can make it Ash of War-like and become a third layer of modularity. For a build diversity fanatic this was a goldmine, and I can see myself replaying it to get the other endings with a bunch of other weapon combinations and builds. For me, this was easily the best part of the game.

Something else I really liked that I think maybe would go under the wayside in discussions is how they present the story and quests. Souls fans might not like it if it feels too "handholdy" but I really appreciated the game telling me "yeah this NPC has shit to say to you right now". And the story itself was honestly pretty impressive, with some Souls-like "world discovery" moments but also mainly straightforwardly presenting moments and arcs, however intertwined. I did not expect what outwardly just looks like an edgy Pinocchio adaptation to have so much interesting lore, history, and plot moments. Probably one of the biggest surprise hits of the game for me.

But for as much as they really took the Souls formula and ran with it and elevated it, there are definitely some things I wished were improved on. The map design, both visually and in layout, was pretty disappointing. It's aesthetically good for sure, but nowhere near what From delivers. And in terms of layout, the maps are really quite linear, sure with twists and turns but hardly any exploration or branches to check out - map design elements I have come to know and love from playing the Soulsborne games.

Boss design I also felt was just a bit too inspired from Souls. Don't get me wrong, I think the boss quality is actually quite high and fits very well generally with the game's mechanics. But there are some bosses where I'm just like, ok I get why you wanted to include this because Souls has a habit of doing these, but you really didn't have to. There are a couple of bosses with extra appendages that swing after attacks (one especially takes after Gael, which I know people love, but..), and that's just really annoying to try to parry and I feel like I either end up bsing the parry, or I just eat the block chip damage. There are couple gank bosses... woo... I guess... But I did really enjoy most of the bosses (though nothing is breaking my top 10, probably). Just, I could really tell that this sure is a love letter to the Souls games from the boss design lol.

The music is actually quite good - boss themes and especially the records you collect are beautiful. But I am once again pretty disappointed by most of the game just being silent, which is a carry over from the Souls trilogy that I really wish did not carry over. Especially because there are segments that do have music that I really loved - notably the final area and the church with the organ music playing that fades out as you get further away from the main chapel. I dunno, it's not really worse than in the Souls games, but it just stings that much more that there is some really great music that they kind of just confine to the record player, which shows to me that they can make great ambient music but just didn't want to make any for the actual areas.

But despite that, overall, I truly loved playing this game. I think I honestly enjoyed it more than the Souls trilogy for sure, and maybe even more than Bloodborne (Sekiro and Elden Ring are still solidly near-perfect experiences and hard to beat). It plays nothing like Bloodborne, and is very distinct from Sekiro and the Souls games; it very boldly and excellently carves its own space within the genre. And with that post-credits scene (for which the big reveal was fucking hilarious), I surely cannot wait for what they make next, either a sequel or DLC, and the improvements they'll bring, as they expand this fairy-tale-verse (lol).

#lies of p

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less-than-three-3 · 8 months

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Armored Core 6 - it's good enough

Like probably 90% of people who've been playing AC6, I'm new to the AC franchise after playing the rest of Fromsoft's modern games, and while the game was pretty fun and I could see why it's a cult classic series, I don't know that it really pulled me in as strongly as I thought it would.

Again I thought the game was fun, don't get me wrong, but I definitely did not feel the strong draw to keep playing more and more like I did with other games - like with Elden Ring or the DS trilogy, to compare it with other Fromsoft titles. I will voice what I think contributed to that below, but the tldr is just that the structure and variety didn't really work for me (but it's likely a preference thing). No spoilers below.

I think the first and foremost obvious thing about the AC games is their mission-based format - and of course I knew they were like this going in. I mostly, consciously, viewed this as a positive, allowing me to pace myself better instead of playing for like 4 hours straight or something, and giving me the satisfaction of attempting different missions (read: bosses) with new builds. At the same time, though, I feel like in retrospect this felt a little limiting, especially in terms of plot structure.

Because of the format, essentially the whole story is told through mission debriefs, between-mission dialogues, and somewhat through events of the missions, and that just made me feel less invested, I feel, up until pretty much the endgame where you make a couple pretty big decisions. It also didn't really feel like a natural progression for the most part either, again until the latter half of the game, so I think for many people I'd understand if you feel disconnected from the story entirely because I don't think it does much to pull you in. There's even a multi-part mission that has the breaks to go back to the garage between different otherwise continuous segments of infiltrating a structure. It feels like the story is there to justify the game, as opposed to a world built for the game with the game being used to express that world's events. To many people that's enough, and I get that, but to me it kind of felt like a bit of a letdown.

But at least the game itself is well worth justification - this should really come as no surprise. Of course, being a game from the combat director of Sekiro, the combat and bosses are wonderful (though of course it is what you make of it). The transition from ranged sustained fire to the melee burst of the offhand is always such a satisfying loop. Stagger is very well implemented here, if maybe a little exploitable, and really adds to build considerations and combat approach. Ignoring the stupid "filter" discourse that I luckily have stopped seeing much of, this game does wonderfully to encourage build experimentation and searching for The Answer to various situations - not even just bosses, but scenarios like defense maps or long range/close quarters engagements need you to be flexible with your available AC builds or weapon options.

I do wish, though, that the weapons were generally more interesting. I think the melees are all wonderful and I genuinely love them all, but the guns and explosives were just like, ok. They each had their purposes, don't get me wrong, but I never felt that excited to use a new one for the most part. It kind of feels like the Souls trilogy weapon variety - it's technically there, but I feel like they all play fairly similarly and there's nothing that crazy different about them. That's fine, of course; AC is a series essentially built for number crunchers and spreadsheet lovers, and the weapon considerations do very well to really make you think about your stat tradeoffs. At the same time, though, I feel like to me that wore off about halfway through, since new additions to the shop just weren't particularly interesting or meaningfully more powerful. It's about that point where I just said fuck it and used double miniguns lol, and that honestly was mostly sustainable for the entirety of the second half.

It's not just the weapons though, I felt like the legs and general body considerations were mostly not too interesting, to me. But for this I feel like this might just be a personal issue. I pretty much stuck with the same couple legs for the entire game, and I really didn't feel like the entire rest of the leg options were particularly fun. I wish there were much more leg variety - the tank treads are actually a very good example of this kind of variety, but I felt like nothing else really spoke to me. But again that feels very much like a personal thing. The booster options were really cool though, I loved toying around with different booster options (and was really disappointed when tank treads had their own booster tied into them).

I had fun though! It's very noticeably a very good game, but just nothing topping my personal charts. I'd recommend it for sure - but maybe not as much as I'd recommend the Souls games (on sale on Steam right now!).

#armored core vi

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