The trilogy and the souls series in general is pretty much the peak of the third person melee-focused 3D action RPG genre and the supreme jack of all trades of everything i like about video games and everything a good video game should be: simple but satisfying combat, a challenge, infinite replayability and customization thanks to the insane build variety, cool level design, cool boss fights, great enemy variety, cool music, memorable characters...
The series has my favorite stamina system in videogames: is in the perfect balance between not be too restrictive and not be too permissive, covering all your ofensive and defensive options (all forms of attacking, blocking with shields, parrying, dodge, running, even your weight affects stamina regeneration and has a negative stamina mechanic) instead like in most games where the stamina bar is either an artificial limitation, a bar for some special moves or just for sprinting and climbing, in this games it's such an integral part of the experience and it has so much synergy with the rest of the mechanics that something is lost without it.
And a little nitpick but I like the status effect system, having a gauge that slowly fills up per area of contact or per hit is an amazing way to implement status ailments in a melee action-rpg without resorting to nasty RNG or making it instant, more action-rpg should do it and if you hate moviegames dark souls games are pretty much the antitesis of those.
No wonder he ended up creating an entire subgenre of action RPG and his mainstream success is probably part of the reason why we're seeing more melee action RPGs in general, as this franchise has shown the industry that those types of games have a great potential yet to be discovered.
The series has my favorite stamina system in videogames: is in the perfect balance between not be too restrictive and not be too permissive, covering all your ofensive and defensive options (all forms of attacking, blocking with shields, parrying, dodge, running, even your weight affects stamina regeneration and has a negative stamina mechanic) instead like in most games where the stamina bar is either an artificial limitation, a bar for some special moves or just for sprinting and climbing, in this games it's such an integral part of the experience and it has so much synergy with the rest of the mechanics that something is lost without it.
And a little nitpick but I like the status effect system, having a gauge that slowly fills up per area of contact or per hit is an amazing way to implement status ailments in a melee action-rpg without resorting to nasty RNG or making it instant, more action-rpg should do it and if you hate moviegames dark souls games are pretty much the antitesis of those.
No wonder he ended up creating an entire subgenre of action RPG and his mainstream success is probably part of the reason why we're seeing more melee action RPGs in general, as this franchise has shown the industry that those types of games have a great potential yet to be discovered.