I was completely blown away by the open world even after already being impressed with Breath of the Wild for similar reasons.
Sadly it's a slow but sure decline after Limgrave. I have completed almost every Fromsoft ARPG since Demon's Souls and this game is basically just Dark Souls III but open world. It's cool for sure, and they did a great job since this seems like a natural fit for a series with gradually bigger levels as time went on, but by the end I just wanted it to be over. The worst offender for this is the re-used content and poorly-designed bosses that just become a game of 'guess the animation length' until you remember them well enough to win.
RPGs usually have what are essentially stat checks serving as bottlenecks for progress. This game doesn't feel much different, it's clear when you are supposed to go off and explore to get some better stats before trying again.
However, the Souls games rely a lot on their satisfying combat to carry them. When the progress is as nonlinear as this they have to resort to intentionally inflated health bars, damage output, and combo lengths to force you to go off and level up first. This does not work for a combat system based around responsiveness compared to it's contemporaries.
At least this time they give you more options to spam your way through if you don't feel like grinding but I do miss the more considered enemy design and pacing from earlier games.
I suppose this was the compromise needed to transfer this formula to an open-world. It's still a compelling open world at that - I couldn't pull myself away from start to finish. Though when looking back at my time with this it's not one I'm going to be itching to come back to any time soon. Those first few hours were brilliant though.
Sadly it's a slow but sure decline after Limgrave. I have completed almost every Fromsoft ARPG since Demon's Souls and this game is basically just Dark Souls III but open world. It's cool for sure, and they did a great job since this seems like a natural fit for a series with gradually bigger levels as time went on, but by the end I just wanted it to be over. The worst offender for this is the re-used content and poorly-designed bosses that just become a game of 'guess the animation length' until you remember them well enough to win.
RPGs usually have what are essentially stat checks serving as bottlenecks for progress. This game doesn't feel much different, it's clear when you are supposed to go off and explore to get some better stats before trying again.
However, the Souls games rely a lot on their satisfying combat to carry them. When the progress is as nonlinear as this they have to resort to intentionally inflated health bars, damage output, and combo lengths to force you to go off and level up first. This does not work for a combat system based around responsiveness compared to it's contemporaries.
At least this time they give you more options to spam your way through if you don't feel like grinding but I do miss the more considered enemy design and pacing from earlier games.
I suppose this was the compromise needed to transfer this formula to an open-world. It's still a compelling open world at that - I couldn't pull myself away from start to finish. Though when looking back at my time with this it's not one I'm going to be itching to come back to any time soon. Those first few hours were brilliant though.