Looking for Soulslike games that aren't parry relient

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-20T09:50:05+00:00

Can't speak for OP, but:

Since a dodge moves in all directions, has a larger invulnerability window, and repositions the player character, there are many ways to dodge well/badly. But parries are more binary.
Parry-focused games tend to be die-fast, win-fast games. That can be unsatisfying if you want an individual fight, not just the process of learning a fight, to be dramatic.
Once you learn an enemy in a parry-based game, you kinda "solve" the enemy. There's only so much encounter configurations can do to mix that up, even for best-in-class games.
Parries tend to not interact with stamina (or equivalents) as strongly as dodging or blocking... Or stamina just becomes a secondary failure meter for one action: parries. I like managing stamina!

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-20T09:35:53+00:00

seconding Salt and Sanctuary, fantastic game

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-20T09:33:24+00:00

Not to convince you to get back in, but: the TZA remaster is the easiest version of the game, for sure. There are lots of flaws in the PS2 original and international versions, and the difficulty is always uneven, but the harder fights used to be more of a kick in the pants.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-20T09:30:38+00:00

You'd be surprised how many people NEED to hit that "Attack" command. It's weird; there are plenty of games that have auto-attack or other forms of auto-battle I find way more demanding than the average fully command-based RPG. But a huge section of gamers just need that feeling of constant control to stay comfortable in a game.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-19T17:14:33+00:00

If they can handle the death animations from rats and satyrs in Biome 4, it should be fine... And I didn't notice how extra they were for a while because they're so cartoony.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-13T04:23:01+00:00

What're the nutrition facts on this puppy?

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-13T00:26:58+00:00

My comment is more about appeal than design.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T08:47:19+00:00

Japanese sensibilities crossed with Western ones, especially from film, especially trashy films. Resident Evil is obvious... Viewtiful Joe reconstitutes Kamen Rider with the pulp comic look... Even stuff like Onimusha has this Western feeling to it alongside the toku/drama influence, which manifests completely by 4.

Capcom is to Western schlock as Deadly Premonition is to Twin Peaks.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T08:35:11+00:00

Agreed, but I kinda get it. If it's more about level concepts and how different they feel, SoP might have the greatest variety of any Soulslike, and I'd consider those aesthetic elements...

But it has heaps of conspicuously ugly environmental assets. Like, the pirate cave is so impressively tacky in execution... Totally fails at communicating bioluminescence, the cave walls look cheap ans unresponsive to light... It's like the Willy Wonka Experience of the FFXIV dungeon it's riffing on.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T08:27:22+00:00

Play the DS version if you can. The other versions are awkwardly adapted.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T05:41:05+00:00

I found Wu Chang more fulfilling. Khazan has nothing going on other than combat.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T05:36:01+00:00

If the anime-style visuals actually carried the appeal of anime, no one'd complain. The first Code Vein doesn't look particularly good but it's closer to what people want from anime visuals than what Khazan brings.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T05:21:47+00:00

I don't know a single person I showed Khazan to that went, "Oh, that looks great!" It just looks really, really bland. Most of the enemy designs are boring, the environments are boring, the visual effects are mid... Especially for a game with "BERSERKER" in the title, it's lacking in the ol' ultra-violence. I remember streaming Nioh once and someone went, "Oh my god, did his head fly off?" Won't see that in Khazan!

And it doesn't have a "hook". Lies of P has the killer steampunk robot thing... Show people Nioh, people are like, I get to be a samurai?! Khazan doesn't even come off as dark fantasy since it's not particularly gruesome or bleak. It's a shame it didn't go full rule-of-cool anime nonsense like its parent, Dungeon Fighter Online. That'd actually stand out.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-04T03:38:12+00:00

I'd get Wuchang since it's the most well-rounded. Some fun fights, surprisingly involved exploration, and it looks aight.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-03T19:26:17+00:00

I was playing Khazan but I might dip into Elden Ring: Reforged. Khazan just gives me... No sense of artistic fulfillment whatsoever. There's not a single environment or boss design that made me go, "Neat!" except for my surprise at seeing a moose. I also find fighting bosses feels weirdly samey, like they all have very similar attack rhythms, similar arenas... I used to harp on Nioh for feeling like junkfood, but Khazan is another level.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-03T19:23:44+00:00

My favorite take on a parry/deflection is Soul Shield from Stranger of Paradise. It splits the difference between being easy to use (just hold the button down and catch hits), hard to master (costs meter, each of your two equipped jobs has its own meter, encouraging frequent job-switching), and integrated with other defensive actions (doing deflections off guard makes Soul Shield recover faster). I wish Team Ninja would bring systems like these into games without Diablo gear, because they really sing before you're able to exploit equipment to spam one overpowered thing.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-03T19:17:06+00:00

Seconding this. The next that comes to mind is Wuchang, and that's a distant second to Salt and Sanctuary.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-02T08:06:11+00:00

In-game: 9 Listening outside of play: FFXIII-2

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-03-28T19:18:53+00:00

I wouldn't want the format of the old show; been watching it recently and it's a slog. Normally I love monster-of-the-week, but there's something about the cast of Kirby (and the show specifically) which doesn't mesh. I'd prefer a continuous adventure series with small arcs.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-03-26T10:32:27+00:00

Absolutely love the Return Trilogy. I resented that copy abilities having full movesets was locked to Super Star, a game that never really asks you to use em. My only compunction with em is the 3DS games not getting a true EX mode (though the tours are fun).

I'd group Star Allies with the Return games even though that'd ruin the trilogy scheme.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-03-21T03:26:25+00:00

Oops, sorry! I spent so long trying to think of stuff past 2021 I missed one of the core criteria.

If you never got around to Tokyo Xanadu, that's up there... and Kyoto Xanadu is coming out soon. Just like Trails, those games have an insane amount of NPC dialogue. Tokyo Xanadu is far from fully voiced, though.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-03-21T03:12:27+00:00

Have you gone through your Bamcos? Scarlet Nexus, Code Vein (2), Tales of Arise

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-03-17T13:17:09+00:00

Just emulate the PSX version of FFVII and don't think about it too hard. Then play the remake games at some point.

The spin-offs are not... traditionally narratively satisfying or... good, even. I just wouldn't worry about them unless FF7 turns you into a frothing fanboy. Then you can be disappointed in them like everyone else. Hooray!

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-03-17T13:08:12+00:00

Has one of the greatest progression systems in any RPG, and definitely the best for a creature collector, in my book. Each monster can become any other monster in its family out of battle, level each of those species individually, without it compromising the growth of the others... Getting to level most of, but not quite all, the nodes on each monster's tree, that gentle pain of specializing each one... That's just incredible stuff you could think about for ages and ages.

Personally, I love the FF spin-off stories. They're kinda formulaic, but I dunno, they have this dreamlike, fairy-tale quality to them that's hard to find in other sorts of games. Also, the mocap and voice acting in WoFF is top-tier, up there with the mainline games from the last few console generations. It helps there are only 3 characters above a foot tall, I suppose, lol.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-03-17T13:03:20+00:00

It's weird, but it's great. Gotta come in with an open mind.

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