There's so many janky elements in this game, but I am generally willing to excuse it due to how much fun this game is.

I feel like all of the FromSoft games I've always came away with a sour note, but as I keep playing this game on new playthroughs; I start to appreciate them even more. This one is the game I seem to just keep appreciating more about it as I keep replaying.

All of the bosses are difficult, but not really in such a way that I feel defeating them becomes a chore rather than entertaining. I mean, sometimes I still get a bit frustrated at myself because the outdated mechanics do get in the way at times, but largely I feel I've become good enough at how this plays that it's not much of an issue.

I feel though, Dark Souls does have certain things it does right as opposed to the other titles FromSoft has released since then. Notably the parry system. I like how forgiving it is once you really know how it works. I get that they probably realized how overpowered it was, which is why in modern games its frame-based depending on what weapon you use, but the muscle memory has meant that I've had a really hard time adapting to other games.

Overall though this is probably my favorite soulslike game. It's definitely the one I return to most at this point, and still always get excited every time I start a new playthrough.