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I was watching a video by Frost (used to be with Second Wind doing the Cold Takes) about extraction shooters and their recent rise to popularity and what it means for gaming. He mentioned there that Miyazaki seems to be a fan of Tarkov and that he took inspiration for their upcoming multiplayer games from the game, concluding that both Nightreign as well as Duskbloods could be considered "extraction" games. Does that fit the bill?

I mean, in a sense it does: you drop into the world, no resources which you need to farm up, you fight enemies and explore the map for more resources and weapons, and you lose all your progress once you die. Could this be a new sub-genre, then?

Recent statistics for PS5 video game sales suggest that, on a title-by-title basis, most contemporary video game releases favour digital copies over physical copies. Physical is still holding on at slightly less than 50%, but digital sales definitely have been going up these past few years.

Where do you see yourself? Is there any soulslike you own a digital copy of and would like a physical one - for collection purposes or otherwise?

I know of Sekiro and Khazan so far - Sekiro via its reflections and Inner variants, and Khazan via just repeating the boss fight where you fought them initially. I quite like both and think it's cool to re-experience the fights if you feel like it. Which other soulslikes do that?

For lack of a better word, I mean these ARPG elements or looter shooter elements of loot dropping in numerous rarities with stats and random attributes to min-max and crafting and stuff like that. Khazan uses this and, as far as I know, Nioh does as well.

I'm a little torn on this. On the one hand, it opens up build variety and presents an incentive to play the game outside of story progression and bosses in the form of grinding out materials to build weapons and armour, tailored to your liking and playstyle. On the other hand, crafting oftentimes isn't really worthwhile since a random drop off an enemy could have better stats, making your time spent wasted, in a sense. It also breaks the flow of the game so often for me because I keep checking my gear upon another pickup. I have to actively stop myself from checking every single loot drop and just re-check my gear once I return to the hub.

What's your opinion? Do you like it when soulslikes bring in elements from other game genres o

I feel like this has become a somewhat contentious topic as of recent. Upon release, ER was heralded as a grand new direction for soulslikes, praised for its seamless open world, amazing bosses and freedom of choice. It's regarded as one of the best open world games, being put in the same conversations as games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

However, not everyone seems to resonate with the game equally: repetive mini bosses and dungeons, rather empty open stretches in the overworld, leading to the feeling of just being funneled from one boss to another (at least on repeat playthroughs). Its lack of tight linearity compared to "classic" soulslikes is also brought up as a negative sometimes, with people wishing for more tight and honed experiences.

What's your guys' thoughts on this? I feel like Elden Ring is owed a huge deal since it's the de facto soulslike that's brought in millions of players who would never have touched a soulslike ever. It's debatable whethe

I was playing Khazan yesterday and fought Viper who gave me a lot of trouble for some reason. After struggling through its health bar and thinking it's finally over, a cutscene plays and a hidden second phase starts. At first, it kinda pissed me off, but after giving it a few more tries, it was fine in the end. Still a little annoying.

Other soulslike mainstays do this quite often too: Godfrey and Hora Loux, Malenia, many of the Lies of P bosses like King of Puppets, the Green Swamp Monster, Nameless Puppet.

Sekiro is quite upfront with its phases since the red dot indicators show how many healthbars a boss has. Apart from Guardian Ape and the final boss (if you know you know), I'm not sure if there's any bosses with surprise second phases.

Sister Friede does this in DS3 from what I've heard? Haven't played the game yet

Do you mind when bosses do this? What's your reaction? Does it make you want to fight the boss any less?

We all know them, we all love them: bonfires. I mean lamps. Eh, sites of grace. Sculptor's Idol! Whatever...

Which "bonfire" has the best integration into its respective game's lore and world building, though? Can't comment on Dark Souls too much since I haven't really played any of them, but I feel like the lamps in Bloodborne fit the game quite well. They serve as a guiding lamp in the darkness and bleakness that is the world of Bloodborne, shepherding hunters to the Hunter's Dream, to safety.

Which is your pick?

Most people agree on the second half of DS1 being rushed and quite bad compared to the iconic status of the first half of the game. Did you find it as bad though? I've not played DS1 till the end myself, so I can't tell. From what I've heard and seen on YouTube as well as judging by From's self-assessment, the second half was a little rushed, thus leading to the drop in quality. Is that true?

I've still got a couple to clear off my backlog.

I've finished Bloodborne and Sekiro multiple times, have finished Demon's Souls once, and we're on our second playthrough of Elden Ring. I have not really played any of the Dark Souls, however.

DS1 was actually the first one I've ever played after watching PewDiePie play the game (holy shit, this was ages ago). I didn't really get the game and I didn't know what a soulslike is yet, so I dropped the game quite quickly after killing the Taurus Demon.

Fast forward to a couple years ago, I bought the DS collection for PS4 and started a playthrough of DS1 and DS3 which I've both played a couple hours of but then dropped again because I preferred the other FS games.

I would really like to play DS2 sometime soon, however. I want to know if the game is really as bad as people make it out to be or if it's just hyperbole.