u/Designer-Tomatillo21

If anyone still hasn't played Khazan, it has some of the best combat and boss fights in the genre (the levels in between are just average. But the boss fights are top top tier.

It rarely gets sales, and when it does its usually 20% off - but currently its 40% off on Steam or 60% off for a steam key on Loaded.com (formerly known as cdkeys i.e. the most trusted key site).

https://www.loaded.com/the-first-berserker-khazan-pc-steam

(I am in UK/Europe, so cant be sure this is the same price in all regions).

Im sure many of you already know this - but in case this would make anyone's day/plsythrough like it did for me - the Deflect Me Not mod - is compatible with Convergence, and several other big mods.

If not familiar - DMN adds Sekiro deflecting (and dodges, though you can keep normal Elden Ring rolls if preferred). For me, deflecting was the only thing missing from Convergence on my first Convergence playthrough.

I'm now doing my second Convergence playthrough, with the DLC overhaul - and having just played Sekiro, I was missing Deflecting far too much. And finding out and adding DMN has absolutely transformed the game to an even higher level.

Even better still is that it couldnt be easier to install.

- install Convergence as they tell you to

- download just the DMN x Convergence patch from the Deflect Me Not mod files page

- extract the DMN x Convergence patch into the "mod" folder in the Convergence install, and say "yes" when it asks to replace files. it should be asking to replace "regulation.bin" and some other stuff. That's it! (The base install of deflect me not, when its not patching an existing mod, looks much more complex, but so easy when its added as a patch like this).

https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenring/mods/4138

Supported mods:

Elden Ring Reborn

The Convergence

McKenyu's Moveset Modpack

Clever's Moveset Modpack

(There is also support for the merged Convergence and Clevers Moveset mod/patch).

Shout out to to the legends that make this all possible.

EDIT: If you want to switch the roll back to vanilla instead of Sekiro dodge. Or use lots of other combat options like using Isshin or Lady Butterfly's combat mechanics instead of Sekiro:

• You can change all options easily by modifying the file "c0000.hks" in "mods/action/script/" in the Convergence folder.

After giving up 2 years ago, I finally trained myself to get good at Sekiro, after running the gauntlet of every other soulsborne/soulslike game. Im a late 30's gamers, who grew up on Nes, Snes, N64 etc. Then up until a couple of years ago, when i moved to PC, I mostly played Games like Tlou, uncharted, far cry, assassin's creed, god of war. Games that did not massively test your reflexes.

In 2023-ish fell in love with all of with the other fromsoft games, after trying Demons souls remake on PsPlus and eventually got good enough to beat every boss and dlc boss in the souls series, and elden ring/bloodborne.

But when I moved into Sekiro, it just kicked my ass!!

I was finally just about managing/learning to deflect by around Genichiro - though parrying and then also having to remember to not parry but either mikiri counter or jump away from perilous attacks was just too much for my brain/hands. I feel like younger gamers that grew up up on souls games pick it up much easier.

Once I got to the Guardian Ape, I put the game down defeated... and decided it just wasnt for me despite the consensus being how magical the combat was. With other souls games, even when getting my ass kicked, I would be enjoying it, getting better and better each round. But with Sekiro it was just frustration, not fun.

However, i then ran the gauntlet of every other big soulslike e.g. lies of P which I managed to get the hang of as its just one button to parry, no perilous attacks mixed in. Then LotF, Wuchang. Wolong, Khazan, Enotria and Nioh 2 and 3. (Few other smaller ones too).

Thanks to the likes of LoP, Khazan, I finally trained myself to be decent at parrying. And learned to build reflexes that I didnt have as a gamer that started on Mario and Goldeneye.

I came back to Sekiro last week, and started a new save file. and i could finally process the co-ordination needed to deflect, jump and mikiri counter, and finally got the absolute magic that everyone speaks of. I beat the ape in around 15 mins and I went from feeling defeated and inadequate in my first attempt to play this game, To feeling the absolute rush of smashing those bosses that clowned me.

Yesterday, I beat Isshin Sword Saint, and then finished off my playthrough by beating Demon of Hatred. I get it now guys... now that I got gud... And WOW, what an experience... 👌🙌

TLDR: Sekiro defeated me, until it didnt.... after 1000 hours across every other souls like games.

Im just so hyped right now with the last few weeks of game fests, and updates etc dropping.

Until now very few soulslikes have really been able to match up with the greatness of Fromsoft in terms of game quality. Some have been close. But From just have that little bit of extra magic that you cant quite put your finger on.

But now, though its slightly premature to say - but playing Mortal Shell 2, and seeing LotF 2 gameplay, we're now at a point where soulslikes are really starting to hang at a much closer level of greatness as FromSoft.

All this just to say - not only are we in for some amazing experiences outside of From - but this will also push FromSoft, and Miyazaki and his team to not get complacent and to continue dropping absolutely incredible games for us.

"A rising tide lifts all boats" - as they say, and we will benefit big time!

I have completed the Beta now and am thoroughly impressed! This is a DAY 1 buy for me, and I cannot wait.

They have built on and expanded/improved on just about every system in the game. If anything, it looks like they exceeded my expectations of what they could do with a bigger budget.

Here are my thoughts. General constructive thoughts, so please dont take this as anything negative.

Combat:

The parry with the initial seal is so much better and is very satisfying without such a high risk reward ratio to MS1's parry (but great touch keeping the option of the old style with the other seal). Slight downside in the intro was copy/pasting the same attack animations of the basic enemies from MS1, so it was very, very easy for a return player to hit nearly every single parry on the basic enemies in the intro sequence making it overly easy. But once hitting the first proper level the enemies are much more varied and new.

It was a shame to me that you cannot use parry and harden at the same time. But I understand the design choice with using the sidearm on L2, but I feel like harden was a big part of MS's identity, and now it could just be a side option, as I cannot use it and parry as well at the same time. It would be nice to for example keep harden on L2, and maybe you hold R2 to aim, and release to fire, thereby freeing up L2 for harden (theres probably better ways too, that i havent given enough thought to).

Overall, combat has been built upon and expanded/improved, and is slicker and more responsive than MS1. It is still a bit floaty when attacking with multiple hits/swings, but the parrys/deflects have that weight and impact that you want.

Difficulty:

Some of the basic enemies in the intro were really a bit too easy, but this resolved as soon as you started the first real level. The difficulty was then better balanced.

Though an issue that I also had with MS1 where you would have too many mid/elite enemies together. This almost forced you at times to just run past them. Which is not great design imo.  You do have far more tools in this one to adapt and overcome than MS1, but combat doesn't have the snappy responsiveness and character agility to take on multiple mid level and elite level enemies at the same time imo. This is more like a dark souls 1 and 2, with more methodical combat which lends itself to one on one combat.

But occasionally there are one too many enemies which make an encounter less enjoyable than it could be with one less enemy.

Visuals and level design:

Beautiful visuals that drip with atmosphere (more on this though under sound design). Its clearly another MS game with a good upgrade in scale and I remember walking through some ruins and thinking this is the first game of this genre to finally compete with Demons Souls Remake on visual fidelity.

Level design is awesome so far. Open enough to explore, but not in an overwhelming way where youre lost with where to go. It had a great balance. And love the sub-world dungeons, what a fantastic design to break up the over-world. Very excited to see what else is in store for us.

However - it is NUTS that you can fast travel to beacons, but you have to go back to the hub, then take an elevator - just really clunky way to do it. Fast travel between beacons would be much better QoL improvement.

Boss design:

There were several mini bosses and one main boss.

I prefer bosses that are challenging but fair and readable that allow you to learn, adapt and get into a rhythm, almost like a dance. Most were very good. Though the main boss at the end was a really cool concept and visual, but the actual mechanics of the fight were not that enjoyable. Though every souls game (including fromsoft) has novelty bosses in this way that are more novelty than mechanically fun. So whilst the final boss in the beta wasnt my favourite, I did enjoy the fun concept enough and am not worried. All of the mini bosses were good and enjoyable mechanically.

Sound design:

This may just be because its a beta, and may be subject to change, but there were many period of absolute silence, which really lost atmosphere. MS1 absolutely excelled with having diagetic music within the game, and I dont really remember the sound effects in between, but dont remember any periods of silence. Whether its crickets/insects, dripping water, frogs croaking, our characters footsteps etc - these are really missing at the moment that make you feel you are within the location youre in and really takes away from the incredible atmosphere provided by the visuals.

I also really missed some music in many parts. It may be hard to crowbar that in. The first proper area had this in mushroom village, but aside from that, most other points in the intro really missed this. It cant be understated how much the lute players added to MS1's atmosphere and 'feel'.

OVERALL:

I am so hyped for this game, even more so since the beta. The devs really built on the foundations of MS1 and look to be turning almost a proof of concept of MS1 into a AAA quality game, with presumably a AA budget.

I cannot recommend this enough, even to those that didnt quite click woth MS1. This now feels much more accessible and easier to vibe with. Massive respect to the devs for what they are delivering. Wishing you all the success in the world. Hopefully this is the start of a long run of quality soulslike games.

Fromsoft and Team Ninja are not experts in story heavy games. And the old hack and slash God of War games wouldn't work as well in this era.

But imagine Fromsoft got their hands on the older stule of GoW and sprinkled their magic formulae of atmosphere, boss fights, combat, world building (and that magical art direction).

Less side characters (e.g. boy) and less dialogue heavy story than the modern GoW/Ragnarok, but a gameplay heavy campaign of a Kratos prequel on a crusade of vengeance with respawning enemies, bosses and corpse runs to keep lost souls/XP.

I think Fromsoft would nail this. A bit like Team Ninja getting their hands on the Final Fantasy franchise with Stranger of Paradise, it would be a fun fantasy imagining Miyazaki putting his spin on the older style of GoW games.

(This is just mental masturbation "for fun" post lol. I know this is not a realistic thing).

EDIT: let me know what you think would be great about that - or another franchise you think would be handled great with a spin off entry in a different style. E.g. CD Project Red would have nailed an open world Star Wars game imo, rather than what Ubisoft did with Outlaws.