This is the second post about my ideal soulslike. Here is the first post from yesterday in which I managed to list 3 things that I would/would not include. The platforming thing is a big one. In fact, if I were the monarch for the day, I would decree that no non-platforming games could have platforming in it. Period. I’ve just had too many non-platforming games cram platforming in them, and none of them have been any good. Again, I know this is partly my own issues, but it’s so fucking frustrating.
Back to what I want in a soulslike.
4. Bring something new to the table. This is a tricky one because there are some unspoken rules that have to be followed for soulsikes devs. Bonfires, souls as XP/monies, etc. The names may be different, but they have to be there. Another is run/dodge on B. This is one of my gripes with Stranger in Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. Run/dodge is on A, and that ain’t ever going to happen. I believe it’s the same with Nioh 2, if I remember correctly. It’s because they want to put one of the three blocks on B (the other two are on LB and…LT in certain circumstances), which is irritating as fuck. As a result, I rarely use dodge or run in Stranger in Paradise. No, you can’t change it–at least there’s no way to change it that I’ve found. And I hate it.
Back when Salt and Sanctuary (Ska Studio) came out, there was one control scheme–this was on the PS whatever it came out on. The run/dodge was on LT. Er, L2. L. Fucking. 2. That was fucking bullshit and so many people pointed it out By the time it came out on PC, you could change the controls. Which is how every game should be. There is no excuse in this day and age not to let people reconfig their buttons.
Sheesh.
Back to bringing something new to the table. This is the reason it’s so tricky. Yes, they have to do something that isn’t just iterative, but stray too far, and it’s no longer a soulslike. You can’t get fans to agree what makes a soulslike a soulslike, exactly, but they sure as hell know when a game isn’t doing it right.
Lies of P (Round8 Studio/NEOWIZ) is held up as a recent soulslike that nailed it. The thing is, though, it’s really iterative. When RKG streamed the demo, they were commenting on how close to a From game it was. “Taking the piss” was muttered more than once by the lads. I learned you can’t sue for infringement in most cases in game development (unless it’s the stealing of assets), which means you can pretty much copy a game beat for beat and not have to worry about it. Which is what Lies of P did.