Gaming genres/terms being thrown around willy nilly

[Bazooka]

Now I like the Demon Soul/Dark Souls but it's gotten out of hand now as every game that is difficult and you have to watch enemy movement patterns is called a Dark Souls esque game, like it's a game type that came out of an egg in 2014 or whatever.? RPG elements, hard,die a lot? Its based on a dark Souls game.

Garry: I was playing FIFA 19 last night, played against Hull with CPU difficulty set to max, couldn't beat them and I died a lot because they won 12-0.
Dazza: Sounds like a Dark Souls esque game.
Garry: Yeah it's exactly like that, it's my favourite genre.

Another is the Open World genre, undoubtedly The Elder Scrolls and Fallout have been the champions of this model. Hell was The Legend of Zelda not open world?  It was 2d but a large land to explore on the NES.  But now the term is painted on every game with some level of exploration and RPG elements. Look on the back of the box of most new games that aren't sports or RTS etc and I bet it says "Explore a huge open world" which means it has more than one town.

Now of course these are marketing terms because Dark Souls and Skyrim etc have shited a lot of units, so the terms are known points of refernce.

There are probably other examples.

[madhair60]

Don't think I've ever seen a game called Souls-like that didn't obviously crib from Dark Souls

[madhair60]

The weird thing for me is Dark Souls has this reputation of being really hard when it's actually not, it's just that the encounters are more thoughtful and meaningful. It's incredibly generous to the player, really.

[Sin Agog]

'The Dark Souls Of...' is actually quite a handy shorthand for difficult but beatable once you learn the game's metaphorical crane kick. Anyone who hears it knows you're not talking about artificially inflated cheap shit.  I even sometimes apply it to arcade racers like Motorstorm Pacific Rift or Sonic Racing Transformed.  You can nail those higher difficulties once you work out what the fuck you're doing, and their hardness isn't because of rubber band malarkey.

[Sin Agog]

The weird thing for me is Dark Souls has this reputation of being really hard when it's actually not, it's just that the encounters are more thoughtful and meaningful. It's incredibly generous to the player, really.

Generous is not the word I'd use to describe Blighttown. 

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

You certainly can't say Dark Souls hasn't been ripped off a bunch - the recent Star Wars Jedi game is more than just inspired by it. At the same time, its elevation to a genre unto itself seems a bit over the top. "Doom Clones" eventually got called "First Person Shooters", but what would the equivalent be for Dark Souls? "Tactical Hack and Slash"? "More difficult than usual RPGs"?

Also, as I've said before, FromSoft didn't invent shit. God Hand was doing punishingly precise combat years before and you don't see people going all Brian Sewell over it.

[Noonling]

But now the term is painted on every game with some level of exploration and RPG elements. Look on the back of the box of most new games that aren't sports or RTS etc and I bet it says "Explore a huge open world" which means it has more than one town.

The description of Disco Elysium calls it "open world". It doesn't have more than one town, it's a small district with a handful of buildings.

"Roguelike" is a bit of a pet peeve, most of those I would classify as roguelite - I like both types, I just also like accurate classification. Hell, I don't even need it to be too accurate, I feel the term "roguelike" can include real-time games these days, as long as there is zero transference of benefits between one game and the next.

[H-O-W-L]

You certainly can't say Dark Souls hasn't been ripped off a bunch - the recent Star Wars Jedi game is more than just inspired by it. At the same time, its elevation to a genre unto itself seems a bit over the top. "Doom Clones" eventually got called "First Person Shooters", but what would the equivalent be for Dark Souls? "Tactical Hack and Slash"? "More difficult than usual RPGs"?

"Shit for cunts."

I jest.

[bgmnts]

I think Dark Souls-esque is fair to day because so many games ripped off their core mechanics in such a short space of times.

Nowadays even POINT AND CLICK NARRATIVE DRIVEN ADVENTURE GAMES have a fucking stamina meter. I'm looking at you, The Council, and you, Shenmue III.

Open world is different, I feel like Zelda is a big map full of different levels, same with Mario 64, you can traverse them easily enough but they don't feel like they have a continuity as much as an Elder Scrolls or a Grand Theft Auto.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I think Dark Souls-esque is fair to day because so many games ripped off their core mechanics in such a short space of times.

Nowadays even POINT AND CLICK NARRATIVE DRIVEN ADVENTURE GAMES have a fucking stamina meter.

Turn based RPGs have used stamina as a core mechanic forever. I'm not certain, but I'm fairly sure FromSoft didn't innovate its use in real-time combat either.

[bgmnts]

Turn based RPGs have used stamina as a core mechanic forever. I'm not certain, but I'm fairly sure FromSoft didn't innovate its use in real-time combat either.

Fair but Dark Souls has lead to the resurgence of this then. When something is as massive as Dark Souls, it will be emulated.

[Thursday]

Also, as I've said before, FromSoft didn't invent shit. God Hand was doing punishingly precise combat years before and you don't see people going all Brian Sewell over it.

I played God Hand on easy mode, wasn't on the level of playing Dark Souls for the first time. This is a silly example, even if your larger point has merit.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Then you didn't really play God Hand.

[madhair60]

Then you didn't really play God Hand.

Nice gatekeeping. Would you like to follow up by harrassing Zoe Quinn? Hmm? Hmmmm?

[remedial_gash]

Turn based RPGs have used stamina as a core mechanic forever. I'm not certain, but I'm fairly sure FromSoft didn't innovate its use in real-time combat either.

Think janky euro rpgs from the likes of pirhana bytes (Gothic series, risen elex) had been using stamina in fights from 2001 or so.

[evilcommiedictator]

Dark Souls also didn't the concept of hiding all of the mechanics of the game, that goes back to the c64 era

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Nice gatekeeping.

Thanks. It seemed appropriate, given that we're discussing Dark Souls.

[Thursday]

Typical of the gatekeeping I expect from the extremely toxic God Hand community. Great game, but it has the worst fans.

[madhair60]

Thanks. It seemed appropriate, given that we're discussing Dark Souls.

Yeah whatever. Go and comment on a Sarkeesian video, Boogie