With the whole ‘open world’ thing I was kind of hoping that this was going to be more like Dragon’s Dogma than a classic Souls game.
It’s not. It’s extremely Dark Souls in terms of gameplay (albeit with Sekiro‘s stealth system), which I consider notably inferior balance-wise to DD. The exploration/discovery aspects on the other hand are far, far better. Exploring the various nooks and crannies of the map actually feels legitimately rewarding, with plenty of unique or unusual things to find scattered about… which puts me in a bit of a bind.
I want to keep playing to collect stuff, but don’t really want to deal with bullshit enemies or the ‘dodge 10 attacks, strike once or twice’ style of boss fight the game seems especially fond of. Well, I’ll play it by ear I guess with a focus toward a Dex/Arcane build targeted toward weapons like Eleonora’s Poleblade, Rivers of Blood, Reduvia, Ripple Blade, and the Serpent Bow.
Some extremely important things to do right at the start which aren’t immediately obvious:
– Clearing the Tutorial area rewards a gesture.
– Once you get outside, head north to find a ruined church.
– Inside is a merchant and a weapon upgrade location.
– Follow the road northeast to reach Gate Ruins (the small cross on your map).
– Activate a save point just north of it to unlock the leveling system and horse riding.
– Clear the ruins to find a map and an item which unlocks the weapon enchantment system.
– Farm levels/Smith Stones if you want, then rest until nightfall and warp back to the church.
– A new NPC will be there who’ll unlock the spirit summoning system.
Now all the basics are available to explore as you please.