The First AAA Souls-Like: Lords of the Fallen - what went wrong?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มิ.ย. 2024
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Lords of the Fallen was the first souls-like with a budget that tried to imitate the success of Dark Souls. It's a mixed bag, but why exactly doesn't it measure up?
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twitch: / iron_pineapple
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 intro
0:53 the biggest problem
2:57 story/main character
3:37 starting classes
4:10 first impressions, first area, animations
4:46 boss designs(?)
5:34 bonus exp, visuals
6:38 npc dilemma
7:14 floaty combat
8:40 recovering exp is a problem
9:18 boss 3 & 4, demon zone, heavy breathing
10:16 broken magic
11:39 catacombs & sidequest rant
13:26 boss 5, the citadel, story context
14:20 enemy design problems
15:48 the remaining 5 bosses
16:57 closing thoughts
18:20 sponsor/outro
thank you to help from:
Grapfic for help with the thumbnail: / grapfic
Onua for creating the SFM pose of the Solaire and the Lords of the Fallen guy in the thumbnail: / odynom - เกม
Hi, developer here. Let's just pretend for a second you didn't hate the game as much as you just expressed and let us clarify something: We're not involved in the development of Lords of the Fallen 2. If you want to see if we care about feedback and are able to learn from criticism, please check out the Surge games. But yeah, there were some fair points in the video, not gonna lie 😅 -Phil
Yo, thanks for the response! It's super cool to hear from one of the original devs!
Bro, The Surge 2 was such a jam, picked it up on steam sale and it just stole an entire week from me. It was a massive improvement over the first one in the series as well and I can't wait for another like it.
Surge 1(good) and 2 (great) games
The Surge did everything better!
The Surge 2 was such a great game! I even enjoyed it more than dark souls in *some* aspects
"If everything is edgy, nothing is"
A bit busy characters and environments design.
So many spikes.
I read that in Syndrome's voice
@@CelestialDraconis You are doing it right :)
you're talking about dark souls 3 right?
Oh hey Sun Wukong. Rare to see a fellow Musou fan
@@SeanHiruki Love Warriors series. It even made me to read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Journey to the West".
If you want to have an enemy that can't be backstabbed, don't just have him turn around instantly, have it be some crunchy amalgamation who is facing both directions at once
Shout out to flexile sentry.
Or armored up like the turtle knights in dark souls 2.
Shoutout to Ryomen Sukuna from nioh 2
Darkwraiths in DS3 dodging 90% of my backstabs and going for Dark Hand
These "commander" "guardian" "worshipper" "infiltrator" "champion" "beast" "annihilator" "judge" bosses sound very original and unique i dont see the problem
ye so damn unique man
It’s not unique dog whatsoever stfu😭 it’s the definition of unoriginal
they actually spelled worshipper as "worshiper" in the boss bar. mental
lords of the fallen 2: judgement day
First Warden was sick as fuck tho tbh
"all of the dark none of the soul" this statement made me feel something.
lmao I appreciate the comment, it was such a cheesy dumb line that I almost cut it last minute
@@IronPineapple Are you kidding. That was amazing.
@@IronPineapple It's cheesy but I think it's simple enough to keep in the viewer's mind when or if they talk about LOTF with anyone. Not to mention it *makes sense* in the context of how dark the whole game is.
@@IronPineapple that line was honestly inspiring and put a lot into perspective.
@@IronPineapple It was an incredible line though.
If you're going to make every boss a knight, why not give it an Arthur's round table theme? There's 12 knights right there for free.
12? Dude, that's Charlemagne's number. Arthur had in excess of 200 iirc.
@@andyknightwarden9746 the table must have been big then
@@joseisrael2946 😂😂😂😂
They did something to that affect in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, in that you have to murder your former knight brethren, transformed into vampiric monstrosities.
yeah people tend to forget how many knights there were, mostly cause pop culture just pretends most of them don’t exist, even tho they’re all super cool, like the two werewolf knights, the literal capital G Giant knight, the knight who can shoot fire from his hands, and it was also multi cultural and multi religious, with multiple Arabic and Muslim knights. And a lot of them existed in folklore outside of Arthur, the Round table was kinda like the Medieval Europe equivalent to the Avengers
When he said “all of the dark, none of the soul” I felt that
Did you feel it in your dark or in your soul, though???
Just like Dark souls 2
😔
It’s always the darkest before the soul - John darksouls
@@Hermit1O1 we found the redditor boys
I like how you're actually really very fair. You end up on "mediocre" instead of an exaggerated "bad", and find purely positive things to compliment in a game you don't like. That speaks to a very commendable degree of rationality and maturity in how you evaluate games.
The way he evaluates games is amazing. He has a lot of perspective, and explains every aspect he likes and dislikes about something. Usually going as far as to say "I understand that some may like the part I dislike, so here's the game for you"
Yeah iron pineapple is pretty analytic in his videos, far more so than game journalists like ign.
This is why i love his content. Hes very clear about how this is all his opinion, is very fair in his analysis of games. Hell sometimes i think he's too nice and i love some games that are admittedly very rough 😂
I don't recall him saying "mediocre" in the video
Aaah it feels good to hear IronPineapple's comforting voice again
hey thanks!
@@IronPineapple keep up the good work bro
Can anyone tell me what game is in 0:54?
Update: I found it
@@KrispyBread uhhhh I don't remember the name but he's covered it in a previous vid
what voice? since when can a metallic fruit wearing a six-eyed helmet with sunglasses speak?
Dark souls: Quick rolls, timed counters, giant but relatively quick bosses.
Lord of the Fallen: I LIKE THEM CHUNKY
Try mortal shell
مواليد 21 يناير 1988) هو مليونير برازيلي برتغالي مدير ومدون فيديو وممثل وممثل كوميدي وكاتب. إنه أحد مستخدمي TH-cam المعروفين في البرازيل مع أكثر من 42 مليون مشترك [2] مما يجعل قناته في المرتبة 43 الأكثر اشتراكًا على موقع الويب. بدأ حياته المهنية على TH-cam بالحديث عن المشاهير والأفلام والأنشطة اليومية بطريقة انتقادية أو كوميدية ، كونه أول قناة على TH-cam تصل إلى 17 مليون مشترك في البرازيل. [3] وهو أيضًا شقيق TH-camr Luccas Neto. تركز مقاطع الفيديو الخاصة به حاليًا على الترفيه العام.
@Luis Martinez
quick to beat, I'm pretty sure they mean
sorry i cant hear you over the sound of my fatrolling
Did you play even play Dark Souls 1? Better recheck the game and its fat fast rolls. Rolling in DS was Garbage before DS3, thats why everyone completes his first playthrough with a Shield. Didnt need that in LOTF btw. but yes it was Slow.
I think something underappreciated in the Souls games is how slow they are, or rather how slowly they encourage you to play. I think that's why something like animation cancelling and the experience regain timer stands out so much here. In the Souls games I've played I feel like 99/100 of my deaths happen because I'm not careful/patient enough.
Ah yes, the old classic, "One more slash before dodging! ... ...Turned out to be a fatal mistake, yes."
@@hazukichanx408 way more times than I could count lmao, it's so easy to get greedy
That’s honestly why the more aggressive combat style of Bloodborne didn’t grab me nearly as much: I played that last of the series and learned up to that point that being patient and defensive were key, only to suddenly be told “GO FAST HIT EVERYTHING”. Needless to say Bloodborne is my least favorite.
That’s also why they’ve deviated from this play style in future titles like Bloodborne, Sekiro, DS3, and Elden Ring. Slow is boring and easy
@@lowresolutionbunnyfeng3919 I haven't played Bloodborne or Sekiro, but Elden Ring feels like it's the same style as DS. Most individual boss attacks are faster for sure, but you can still beat them all easily by being very patient and studying each pattern before attempting to actually retaliate (except Malenia with her Waterfowl attack; I usually just give myself 60 vig and tank the damage from that one).
There was one cool thing that I remember about and I didn't see you mention - there were some conditions where if you kill a boss in a certain way you get a different reward. That was kinda cool - like with cutting the tail in ds1
Only real ones got the gargoyle’s great axe😎
I got every single achievement in this game..... The one thing I will actually give it credit for is getting the legendary weapons by defeating each boss under a certain set of criteria.... OH! And for the love of God, please look up final boss glitch, there is a chance the final boss will completely jump off the stage right at the start, allowing you to win immediately. Happened to me first playthrough
I think the legendary weapons are a cool idea, but I found the requirements for almost all of them to be pretty lame and unfun, like "beat this boss without taking damage". Was hoping for something cooler along the lines of "chop off the dragon's tail." Was going to mention them, but cut it from my script.
@@IronPineapple Ah yes the overused chop the creature tail during the fight.
@@IronPineapple that's how it works in the surge(by the same devs), you get a base version of the boss weapon for beating the boss and the real fancy version for destroying a certain part.
honestly deck 13 is a great example of a dev who keeps improving with every game, this one is kinda bland and just ok but the surge 2 really stands on it's own with a unique setting and mechanics and is easily one of the best soulslikes out there
I utilised that glitch on my last (third playthrough) on the final boss only because the new game scaling is terrible with most enemies and bosses being complete pushovers in your first playthrough only to become absolute gods in your second and third ng.
@@TeeBeeOhh It's mind blowing that this game was and The Surge were made by the same teams. Love Surge 1 and 2.
The names of the bosses are so inspired and creative.
“Infiltrator”
“Worshipper”
“Annihilator”
Truly unique names.
Mastu... Oh, wait!
The gang's all here! I wonder if "Infiltrator" will return in Lords of the Fallen 2? What are the lore implications of "Annihilator" and how will this impact the sequel?
It sounds like darksiders haha
dont forget the best one!
"beast"
And they didn’t even spell “Worshipper” right (5:09)
Cannot emphasize enough how much I appreciate the countdown during the sponsered bit. It actually made me not skip because I know exactly how much was coming and didn't gamble of 5 seconds or 2 minutes.
Also, despite its flaws, the exp multiplier actually seems really cool.
fromsoftware: "hey lets do hard enemies with various mechanics and give them some movesets"
Lords of the Fallen: "hey lets do slow enemies that only have damage and HP"
Lords of the fallen
Dev:"hey artist what's that boss you're working on"
Artist *crying*:"i only know how to model knights"
“All of the the dark, none of the soul” Good line man
🤟😔
"Every soul has its dark"
-Dark Soul, famous protagonist from the hit franchise Dark Souls
yeah cheers bro ill drink to that
right after he said that i got an ad for the movie Soul
@@Dsonsee Time for crab
-Dark Soul after getting to Road of Sacrifices
"The classic dynamic duo, Ornstein and Ornstein" lmao, that was great
Do you also enjoy magic shows and theme parks? If so, an amazing world awaits you outside.
to be fair, dark souls 3 has the demon prince which obviously start with 2 very similar demons as well and thats one hell of a boss fight
@@Xzibitfreek One of my favorite boss fights for sure
@@jeremiahmgallagher3508 til you get to NG+ and the demon prince got tons of HP jesus
The main character felt like he was wearing cement shoes and walking on the ocean floor.
I love The Surge and The Surge 2. They did a phenomenal job with those games especially the second game and the improvement over the first.
If only the surge 2 looked better.
I dont know what happened with the art direction but the game looks so bad compared to the 1.
The surge has to many issues, the health management is a joke. 3 hits and you dead with o mater how many health implants.
"Pretend this is late game footage"
Nice crystal soul spear man. You one shotted Gundyr.
The Devs wont make Lords of the Fallen 2 , because they parted ways with the Publisher wich owns the rights. The Devs made The Surge 1 + 2 after Lords of the Fallen.
thanks
Which are really phenomenal games, especially 2. 2 is probably the best "soulslike" out there.
Surge sucks tho
The Surge 2 is literally a better souls game than DS2 (not counting the pvp since Surge 2 has no PVP).
@@jer4d I've heard a lot about Nioh 2 too!
1) I love the way you do comedy. Just those quick comments or cuts to something silly, and then it's gone again. Always gets me by surprise and makes me grin.
2) Same for your sponsor ads. The way you do them is genuinely funny.
With the recent trailer for the sequel it's definitely looking like the franchise is evolving its style. The new art direction looks like its leaning much more into the dark fantasy/heavy metal/Mordor kind of look and I dig that, especially with the song they chose and Jospeh Quin's narration. It certainly seems like there's more personality there now, but how's the gamplay gonna be? We'll have to wait and see.
it’s “Dark Soul,” the famous protagonist of the hit franchise, Dark Souls! known for his famous quotes: ”All of the dark, none of the soul 😔”
No, it's "Every dark has its soul"
Wait I thought Halo was the protagonist of Dark Souls?
@@connoroneal7405 No, you're thinking of Zelda.
"Every soul has its dark..."
@fucku weebsnfurries What’s wrong with my cat, he was a thad
That tower shield guy is when I stopped playing. It became too clear that the design just isn't there.
Same here
I did too and in all honsty i always thought I sucked till this vid. I always thought the must be something obvious you can do to this guy but I guess not lol
I stopped playing after the third room lmao.
Have you guys ever tried: run + strong attack?
@@AltioraQuaeriteCH I don't know it's been years since I played it.
It's really fun to watch you breakdown this game and analyze it from a design perspective. Would love to see you do more videos of specific games!!
Now that lords or the fallen (two) got revealed, it looks a lot better and has a cool mechanic of going from evil world to good world. I hope when it comes out it ends up being good, but who knows.
Different devs tho
I come from the future.
It was... eh
u DIDNT PUT ANY ATTRIBUTE POINTS ON AGAILITY
2nd u play with heavy waeopon
3rd heavy armor
Tip:
Make rogue build put on hit-gountlet or op daggers
Play mid weight armor
Attribute health up to 30
And agility 30
Tgere u go ure op now
Dont forget about stealth op class abilities...
It wasnt bad, i enjoyed it and wanna go back but it could be better, by the final zone i was kinda just ready for it to be over
And the final boss of radiant ending... just wow... never doing that ending again.
Dude out here always sayin ‘why should I play your game over one of the souls games’ when ‘You’ve already played all the souls games’ is a perfectly valid answer
I agree it's a valid answer, I was just explaining why it's not enough for me lol
It's still a valid question, though. I would rather plays Dark Souls 1 for the 50th time than Lords of the Fallen, and that's not even considering the various game changing mods it has.
@@HypothermicBacklash lords of the fallen isnt good by any means but if it wasnt for the clunky combat and roll i would probably play it. I remember playing the first 30 minutes and couldnt do anymore because of the slowness of it
Dude he even said it. "if you cant get enough of ds gameplay, then go for it"
@@spaghettisauce1104 The heavy feel of the game is the main reason I enjoy playing it. If it wasn't designed so you are a tank with this slow movement and attacks then it would have no niche.
This game makes me feel like I’m playing as Leroy Jenkins.
As u should
God dammit Leroy
Alright chums let's do this
@@ryuuteimaru5858 *time's up let's do this
@Ryan Vetter it’s ok Ryan. Everyone here is friends. But your abusive drinking is causing a rift in are friendship. I don’t want to get a call one day saying you died in a car crash from you drinking and driving. Please, let’s us help you. Where here for you. It’ll be ok.
Idk why but seeing a salt and sanctuary clip in the opening to the video makes me really happy, also love the Ashen shoutout, I played that game near launch and it was great!
The 2023 Lords of the Fallen is really good.
Ah yes, CHONK souls.
Edit: also yes I played some of this. I got bored and stopped when I reached that one boss who has like lightning or something and one shots you if you don't hide in the gazebo.
That boss actually sounds so lame xD
The graveyard boss or something? Fuck I just remember stopping after the game told me to hide in the gazebo and then I got hit by his shit anyway
That sounds like a Nioh boss
@@ThisAdamGuy except in Nioh there is nowhere to hide
@@salsashark4133 yeah there is. Same as the comment, hide underneath the gazebo thing and it can't get you.
"However, this is not an Ashen video, as much as you may now want it to be."
Guilty as charged.
Ashen video when?
Honestly, dark souls with more exploration and an evolving hub area seems like a dream game to me
Lol, I just bought the game today.
@@churibman It is pretty fun. I recommend it
Don't wait for the video, play the game, it is fantastic
i started this game when I was younger, it was on battle pass and as a souls-fiend i just had to try it... i couldn't make it past the first enemy without losing all interest which was something so unexpected that whenever i had scrolled past the game from then on, i figured i should've tried it again. i'm glad i saw this video as you put into words what tiny me couldn't. thanks for saving my time
This is a super interesting video.
For me in 2014 , I loooved this game, and I had a lot of friends who did aswell, even soul players.
I think this was because in 2014, as you mentioned, there wasn’t really any other soul alternatives at all, and you really have to take that heavily into consideration when you play this game. This was simply the easier souls game, I didn’t have the coordination or the patience to play real souls games back then (I do now) so this game just hypnotised me with a difficulty that was hard enough to give me a challenge but chill enough for me to come home from work and have a somewhat relaxing experience, and I literally felt like I was a part of a group I wasn’t able or even good enough to join.
I never noticed this amount of repetitive enemy patterns that you can easily cheese your way through… again, I simply wasn’t good enough or had patience enough for a souls game so this was why my experience was so wildly different . I was a fast paced rogue’ish character in constant panic - and it was amazing!
NOW I’ve been playing bloodbourne without finishing it , and about 2/3 of souls 3, and I still don’t have what it takes,.I really really understand the game why we play it now though, and trying my best at Elden ring at the moment.
I really do see the game from your angle now, and that’s what makes it so god damn interesting - simply this game was good, but it could only peak, succeed and attract new people to the souls genre in 2014. It was the breakthrough to the souls like genre, because you don’t have a movement without a follower.
"At the end of this zone, we get to fight Quelaag, but significantly less hot... *because there's no fire attacks* "
They had us in the first half, not gonna lie
So did Quelaag
مواليد 21 يناير 1988) هو مليونير برازيلي برتغالي مدير ومدون فيديو وممثل وممثل كوميدي وكاتب. إنه أحد مستخدمي TH-cam المعروفين في البرازيل مع أكثر من 42 مليون مشترك [2] مما يجعل قناته في المرتبة 43 الأكثر اشتراكًا على موقع الويب. بدأ حياته المهنية على TH-cam بالحديث عن المشاهير والأفلام والأنشطة اليومية بطريقة انتقادية أو كوميدية ، كونه أول قناة على TH-cam تصل إلى 17 مليون مشترك في البرازيل. [3] وهو أيضًا شقيق TH-camr Luccas Neto. تركز مقاطع الفيديو الخاصة به حاليًا على الترفيه العام.
@@Walter-su4ni walter white wtf are you going on about
@@ratatouilledrinksclorax9897 bot
@@Walter-su4ni my man talking about Felipe Neto loooool
I can't believe they even copied having a rushed second half
I dont think Demon Ruins and Izalith equal the second half of the game
@@ideyaa3640 Duke's Archives is fine, but the Crystal Cave is super short. Tomb of the Giants is also short. New Londo post-draining? Also short.
They're not *bad* areas, and a huge step above Lost Izalith, but they are a decline in quality compared to the rest of the game. Plus the fact that you just head straight there, run around a bit, beat the bosses, and boom, you're on the path to Gwyn. It's a fine enough finish, but the first half of the game is definitely much better.
@@xSilentZeroXx it is funny how you took half of every area and said they were short,
Tomb of Giant is connected with the catacombs, New Londo pre and post draining is still one area, so you do one half of the area and leave, then come back later to do the other half and complain about it being too short? really?
@Lagarto Verde The second half of the game is a big step down in terms of quality. It is a well known fact that the game's second half is not in the form it was originally intended to be in. Izalith is trash for obvious reasons. The Duke's Archives spammed high defense enemies and archers at the end of hallways but isn't too bad, and Crystal Cave is barely an area and what it has is mediocre at best with the stupid invisible pathway gimmick and poor and uninspired enemy placement and design. Tomb of the Giants is horrible because the darkness is a fucking stupid mechanic. The area is insanely cheap and frustrating, getting most of its difficulty from players falling off the edge and enemies that are spammy and do insane damage, with the last area before Nito being a Pinwheel clone spamfest. New Londo is pure spam as well, especially the part before you drain the water. It's an endless string of dozens of enemies that ambush you from every direction constantly and is extremely frustrating and uninspired. The lower part isn't too bad but it's still not nearly as good as it could have been.
damn thats hard burn.
at 6:38 you mention a problem with the NPCs & the story giving you a choice that doesn't actually change anything, but that choice does change things. If you save the monk from falling then you can double back & go talk to him. I don't remember all the details of what happens, it's been a while since I played the game, but I remember that part clearly.
This game had two good ideas:
The option to trade more XP for higher risk
Having the dash back to all your stuff be timed (which didn't work well with the rest of the game)
If nothing else, those ideas are worth reusing, and I'd love to see the second implemented into a movement shooter.
oh fuck a movement shooter with one or two punishing ass mechanics would be amazing
My friend, I am here to tell you about The Surge 1& 2.
So what you’re saying is that Metroid should make a souls like to succeed.
I would play the shit out of a metroid souls like
Metroid Prime Souls
@@casulscrub5978 Would you honestly though? Or does that just sound good in your head rather than in practice?
@@gamerinatrance3618 I'm pretty easy to please, so probably
@@gamerinatrance3618 I think it'd be fun.
"The game adds tracking and sliding even when you aren't locked on"
So you get what the ai enemies in dark souls get.
DS2 is horrible for this. It's a bit better in DS3.
@@StabStabStabStabby At least it's not like in DS1 where the enemies super zoom you.
Having played and beaten DS2 and watching this video it's not half that bad. DS2 has no sliding and the aim tracking is minimal. If it was worse I would have considered it maybe a hard game, but as it is DS2 is the easiest of the series.
@@RuneKatashima Assasin Maldron.jpg
@@RuneKatashima DS2:SOTFS has so many more enemies in an area I'm getting my ass whooped. 😩
I freaking loved this game. To be fair I played it before I ever played a Souls game. Maybe college nostalgia is clouding my judgement, but I beat it three times in a row back in the day.
Hey, we like what we like, nothing wrong with enjoying something as long as you can accept that others might not. Personally LOTF never looked that great to me, many of the reasons Iron Pineapple listed are why, but I am intrigued by the new game, even though the recent trailer was cinematic only I'm intrigued to see how much the franchise will evolve.
LOTF is pure kino and a great game - this dude just likes to shit on stuff
LOTF is not a bad game. It is a bit lack luster in inspiration though. That is why everyone is crapping on it. It copied Dark Souls but missed the mark on what made Dark Souls so outsandingly great. As did ALL of the Dark Souls sequels... I hear Elden Ring is back to form though. I dont know, I refuse to buy AAA games at release anymore because I refuse to pay full price to essentially be a beta tester.
@@Astrochronic you could pirate triple a games. Not like they would care (the developers, that is)
@@dootpooter4740”this dude” actually is known for going very easy on games and being overly positive.
We need a follow up video on the new LotF game.
Why is the Banjo-Kazooie Music so iconic and brilliant in its own IP, yet so demeaning when cut over another game?? I love it
Banjo, and to the same extent, conker, have a really crass and crude aesthetic and humour to them. So when that music is put into something that is trying to take it self seriously, this is what you get.
I'm curious how many people actually played this game
first
never bothered. I was told it was easy. Not a good rep for a souls-like
I just downloaded it I’ll get back to you
I did. I freakin hated playing it
I have, for a little bit
So after Lords of the Fallen the developers, Deck 13 did go on to make the Surge 1 +2, and with 3 financially successful games to learn from, I actually have some hope for the new The Lords of the Fallen. Which wasn't a financial failure, it sold quite well due to the lack of souls like at the time. I remember there was quite a buzz about it at the time.
Though the only thing I really remember about the game, was the straight sword's strange wind up before swinging, and how it would put off the timing of a follow up swing.
Very interested in the The Lords of the Fallen after GOTY 2022 trailer
yeah, the first trailer was also just too good :D i hope the game can actually keep up.
after playing elden ring id really play more souls likes
Thing to note: the devs of the first game aren’t making the sequel, Deck13 went on from LotF to make the Surge and Surge 2
Damn! No wonder! I like some of the concepts and gameplay elements in Surge, but I just could not finish it because the combat felt... *gross* . It was unexplainably uncomfortable to play. Now it all makes sense.
Yeah, the first Surge was definitely a marked improvement but combat just wasn’t there yet. The Surge 2 though? Much much better
@Mr. Arsinius What the hell does that even mean? The surge was great and The surge 2 even better. The combat was fun as hell and the way you get loot in that game should be in every other RPG.
@@TheDoctorThrax fun fact deck 13 commented on this video lol
@@Rileykard the combat in the surge has really good ideas, and the way you get loot is awesome, but it's also horribly executed, especially in the first game. The targeting of limbs barely works, the enemy designs barely make use of the mechanic, with 2 or so exceptions, the average person will reach retirement age by the time most of the weapons finish swinging, tons of uncancelable combo attacks that will keep going seconds after you finish pressing buttons, jank as fuck hit detection, and a bunch of other issues that, while not that much of a problem on their own, but add up to make a really unsatisfying combat experience.
My favourite line in Lord of the fallen is "Now I have become the lords of the fallen". Really gives me shivers, just as Dark Soul's iconic "Every soul has its dark".
Platinumed the game for a friend, I remember the big sword you get from the Citadel being op when used with the backstab spell. Also wasn't there some sort of timing aspect with fast weapons to get more damage?
one Interresting, although to cryptic element to the Bosses is that each one has a secret "hard mode" or challenge attached to them, which when fulfilled, grants you there boss weapon.
Its so committed to being a Souls clone, it even has the out-of-money-under-developed second half! Incredible
@@cenciende9401 Everything except Grand Archives after Anor Londo
@@cenciende9401 Demon ruins and lost izalith. Are you on drugs?
@@cenciende9401 lol dude even Miyazaki and FromSoft have admitted this was the case in areas like Lost Izalith. If you didn't notice, maybe you're on drugs, or have had your head severely under the sand. It's one of the most commonly brought up points as to why DS1 gets hate. Which, by the way, I'm not doing. That's just the facts. Sober up m8
@@cenciende9401 I've played Dark Souls 1 for hundreds (possibly a thousand) hours. And I thought it was pretty good, but still prefer Demon's Souls.
However, after replaying it on PC like a week ago, can't help but notice how shitty some stuff is. Izalith is easily the worst area in the game, everything in it from the eye sore visuals to the awful bosses is just bad. Grand Archives are cool but I never liked them, though I'll say they're well designed save for the mandatory boss death (unless you know and can perform a super specific jump). The Depths and Blighttown are lame tho, both boring and annoying. However you can skip them so it's not as bad.
@@Walamonga1313 As someone who has definitely played Dark Souls 1 for over a thousand hours, you start to forget about parts of the game that you don't go to anymore because you know to skip them or some way around them. In my first playthrough I made the brutal mistake of entering Blighttown normally. A truly gruelling trek all the way down, you finally find a bonfire, and beat Quelaag. One problem. How do you get out? Sure now I know I can take the lift up and end up in the woods, but when I first played I just did the whole area in reverse. Again, gruelling.
There's also places that feel almost vestigial. Great Hollow, Ash Lake, Valley of Drakes, Lost Izalith, Demon Ruins. Then stuff that isn't really vestigial, but optional and therefore likely missed like the 2nd version of the Asylum, Painted World, Gwyndolin, the entire shortcut through the chaos servant covenant (absolute godsend tbh, I use it all the time).
While a lot of the game is really good, people seem to forget the bad parts either out of not playing them in a while or not looking at it from a new players perspective. Sure, I know I can skip Lost Izalith and Blighttown, and I know how to cheese Ceaseless Discharge, and to pick up the Havel and Favor rings really early, but a lot of new people don't, so while to me they're not so bad, new players get swept by them.
I distinctly remember in my first playthrough having to run all the way through Sen's for each shot at the boss, because the bonfire is hidden and the lift (which doesn't even look like a lift but instead window dressing) needs a key only found by making a perilous jump with the scuffed jump mechanics over a gap that looks like it was made to stop the player going the wrong way, NOT hide an important item. Sure, it was rewarding to beat Iron Golem in the end, but it wasn't "Fuck yeah, that was difficult, good job I had (some aspect of my build)" as it should be, it was "Thank fuck that's over with. I'm never going there again. Those wonky axe hitboxes can burn in hell."
Code:Vein, while not exactly amazing, at least doesn't hide its save points so much, and the map is a huge help. While it does negate some of the fun of exploring, if I'm going to smash my head into a brick wall over and over again, I'd rather not have to run through 5 panes of glass to even reach the wall for each attempt, you know? That said Code:Vein isn't exactly good but I had fun.
"a serviceable and middling experience, but mostly a joyless one"
That sums it up perfectly. Using the more agile characters and their parry ability definitely improved my experience, but yeah, not enough for me to want to actually finish the game.
I totally understand why people enjoy it and why you'd want to play it if you just really want this type of game and want something close to souls after finishing all of the games, but yeah
@@IronPineapple Yeah, I never finished it because of how clunky it felt! I agree with pretty much everything you said in the vid lol
I completely disagree with the agility part; Having fuck-you levels of Poise is so much fun. Heavy armor in this game actually works, Dark Souls 3 should take a lesson.
This dude just described my life 😆
I liked it, not loved it but it was fine. Had some fun and overall, a good time. Not a great game though. Still, pretty alright. And personally, I liked the heavy feeling. Everything felt so _weighty_ . Like using heavy weapons should feel. Momentum and impact. It was easier than other souls like but it has its place as a lighter snack that tried to repeat an idea very closely and while not succeeding, just went for it.
I wouldn’t have recommended it but personally, I bought it on some sale and didn’t regret it.
9:24 OMFG THEY SPELLED WORSHIPPER WRONG 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
I’m working on learning Unity myself at the moment, been feeling a little like I have no idea what I’m doing. Seeing that kick animation gave me a little hope tho
This was my:
"I want Dark Souls!"
"We have Dark Souls at home"
"Dark Souls at home- Lords of the Fallen"
It was my first souls like. I played it way before any FromSoftware game. It was fun for being my first soulslike but really doesn't compare to a Soulsborne game.
That's like when I first played through Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles by myself on the Gamecube.. then getting a PS2 and playing FFX and crying emotionally through the whole game..
Just a world of difference there. ^_^
I honestly just liked the trailers and was young & naive. But still - I had fun.
مواليد 21 يناير 1988) هو مليونير برازيلي برتغالي مدير ومدون فيديو وممثل وممثل كوميدي وكاتب. إنه أحد مستخدمي TH-cam المعروفين في البرازيل مع أكثر من 42 مليون مشترك [2] مما يجعل قناته في المرتبة 43 الأكثر اشتراكًا على موقع الويب. بدأ حياته المهنية على TH-cam بالحديث عن المشاهير والأفلام والأنشطة اليومية بطريقة انتقادية أو كوميدية ، كونه أول قناة على TH-cam تصل إلى 17 مليون مشترك في البرازيل. [3] وهو أيضًا شقيق TH-camr Luccas Neto. تركز مقاطع الفيديو الخاصة به حاليًا على الترفيه العام.
Rogue like*
The best ending is a joke in this game when I got the special rune you get nearing the end of the game it was trash compared to the rest of the ones I had so I threw it on some armor and I got the best ending on accident because the main bad guy wanted me to use it on a weapon but you get the best ending if you put it on armor I was absolutely baffled.
You forgot to mention the fact that the priests name is Antanas, the first time I saw him I thought oh I wonder if he's going to be the main antagonist.
Thank you. I remember being curious about this game when it came out but never bothered to get it. Now I see I didn't miss much. Great overview of the game and very valid criticism
Didn’t these devs also make The Surge 1 and 2? I really liked The Surge 2 and they both had some original mechanics, I think they’ve learned a lot from this first game
still haven't played through either, but I've heard more positive things from people who played both
@@IronPineappleI think the surge 2 is on PlayStation plus, would def recommend it there’s a lot of looping paths and other classic souls design but the presentation is unique enough
@@IronPineapple Surge 2 is much better than Surge, but Surge did introduce some really neat ideas.
This studio working on the game now has made the Sniper Ghost Warrior series and a bunch of shovelware, so I'm kinda concerned about LotF2...
@@IronPineapple do u think you would be open to reviewing the surge games? Would love to hear your take on em.
@@IronPineapple ohoooo please try em out. Theyre phenomenal
“Either make the choice matter or don’t give me a choice at all”
Cough cough Pokémon cough cough
"Do you like Pokémon?"
>No
"Quit joking!"
>No
"Quit joking!"
>No
"Quit joking!"
>No
"Quit joking!"
Reminds me of Pokémon Colosseum. They give you an option to rejoin the bad guys the main character betrayed, but if you say "yes" the other guy assumes you're not being serious and will repeat the question until you say "no." Following it up with dialogue stating they knew you wouldn't rejoin was like a kick to the face.
Yup, meaningless choices before you even play the game: hmm, diamond or pearl?
I think false choices are just fine, as long as they aren't too obvious. The Witcher games are full of false choices, but it is often hard to tell how impactful a decision will actually be. Those games like to bite you in the ass with a few seemingly insignificant decisions you made, while some seemingly important decisions turn out to be completely inconsequential.
This way, in a sense, every decision you make has a decent chance of being meaningful. They also do this thing where they'll make you feel like you made the wrong choice, regardless what you chose.
Without loads of false choices, there's no way they could afford to flesh out those games as much as they did.
Honestly same goes for the Persona series, minus like one choice in the entire game
I love how perfectly the Banjo Boots Theme fights into the boss fights 😆
Man the information and the way you lay it out is great bro 👌🏼 you definitely highlighted a lot of souls games I am now planning on playing, thank you
"I think this game has more camera shake than any other game I've ever seen."
Allow me to introduce you to Outrider's Demo, in which there is literally camera shake in the cutscenes.
Right? What a weird decision. It really grinds my gears...
Ahem, broforce with 500% screeb shake
Never actually been given a headache by a game. But outriders changed that for me.
Allow me to introduce you to Tomb Raider 2013, the console versions where you can't turn off the camera bobbing. Literally the only game to date that has made me feel physically uncomfortable when playing.
Ever seen a gameplay of the last avengers game ?
"Quelaag but significantly less hot... Because there's no fire attacks"
10/10 for no boob reference
agreed
gay
gayer
Agreed
@@2bussy i was summoned?
for lords of the fallen 2 they could really lean into the action power-fantasy genre with big slams, aoe attacks, etc. I like the clunky joe madureira-style art and visuals. the graphics were pretty neat IMHO and I think visually it looks pretty damn good.
I love how thorough and professional you are iron
Something I like about your reviews is how reasonable you are about giving benefit of the doubt and trying to think about what the design they had in mind was rather than just being blastingly angry at the whole thing or jumping in with the starting narrative of it being terrible before you even introduce it. You don't need to keep stopping yourself to say "does that make sense" in your scripts though, we understand you well most of the time
The best design part was that if you met some specific criteria on a boss fight, you would get a better reward.
So you can do the bosses the easy way for the regular reward or the hard way for that unique item reward.
Thats on some darksouks bosses too, like when you kill ornstain last to get his armor and when you rip seath's tail off to get that sword
@@glauconvieira7930 You can get smoughs armour if you fight him last though…
Lord of the fallen feels a lot like an american cartoon trying hard to fight back anime onslaught in Saturday time slot
Something I don't think you mentioned is how the camera just feels different somehow. I can't fully comprehend how it's different but I think that's a major difference in the "feel".
I just can’t stand it when games have fake decisions that seem like they should impact the game but they don’t. Just comes off as a cheap trick
To be fair, most your decisions in this one do have an impact, but you won't notice it if you're not paying attention.
@@ghizghuth2088 also to be fair I haven’t played this game! Lol I just was saying in general I simply can’t stand that. Senor iron pineapple has pretty good taste so I let him torture himself playing these games so I can save some time. Do you recommend it? Would you say this is worth the money to go ahead and buy?
@@connorburrus6069 Certainly not no xD As he just said in his video, well it's pretty bland and boring. It's nice if you're terrible at Dark Souls but want to play one and feel like you're very good at it, or if you like being the generic knight with the generice shield and sword and kill demon knights, but otherwise no.
I happen to fit into these two categories so I had fun playing it, but I don't recommend it.
Most of all, Iron Pineapple only used the warrior's fatigue spell, but each class only has 4 spells, there are 3 classes, and the Thief has 3 garbage spells out of 4, one of them being invisibility only if the enemy hasn't spotted you. Or is not scripted.
So you're better of not buying it ^^
@@ghizghuth2088 dude thanks for taking the time to give me a run down! You have fully satisfied my curiosity. Thankfully too because you saved me some munny! Haha I can fulfill my urges to knight around and kill within Lordran. I will have to keep my hopeful gaze set to the wide horizon of youtube expectantly, that I may find a game in which I may bask in its incandescence
Looks at elder scrolls
i want a ashen video. Thats it, you can move on with your day now.
maybe someday!
@@IronPineapple the game's combat might not be perfect but the art style and characters you meet is a beautiful sight to be had. It really needs a spotlight.
@@IronPineapple does you even have poise bruh! Poise it through.
Ashens needs much more love, please, it runs so well on the switch and 10/10 recommend playing it with a friend
@@IronPineapple hold up, if you could do a small video on the DarkSouls Nightfall mod that was recently showcased, that would be interesting.
i just subbed to you because you put a timer telling me when the pre ad ad was gonna end
u DIDNT PUT ANY ATTRIBUTE POINTS ON AGAILITY
2nd u play with heavy waeopon
3rd heavy armor
Tip:
Make rogue build put on hit-gountlet or op daggers
Play mid weight armor
Attribute health up to 30
And agility 30
Tgere u go ure op now
Dont forget about stealth op class abilities...
Hey Iron Pineapple; Is the tower knight guy you were talking about, that does a one frame turn around block to backstabs, vulnerable to the kick? It was the first thing I thought of when I saw that backstabs don't work.
"The classic dynamic duo, Ornstein and Ornstein"
Agni and Rudra in DMC 3: Am I a joke to you
Speaking of Agni and Rudra, did anyone ever notice their boss arena and location is really similar to the two Dragonriders in DS2? I think even the colour scheme is similar. Is there anything behind that, like both based on a similar myth?
I think the symmetry and room layout provides an inner satisfaction by default.
Dude, what are you smoking? Agni and Rudra's boss room is nothing like the Twin Dragon Rider boss room. First off: The demons have actual trash and bones littered everywhere as opposed to gold. Secondly it's more narrow which adds to the tension because the two are fast fucks. And lastly, because I'm too lazy to make more points, they're located in a fucking tower of hell that acts as a gateway between the human and demon worlds
@@misery1500 well dragon riders are also in a tower, high up in Drangleic Castle. Dimension wise they seem very similar, maybe slightly narrower but not enough to point it out. The fact the arenas have piles of something make it similar. One being gold and one being bones is irrelevant. It's a similar shaped room, in a Similar high up area, with similar piles placed in the arena.
Except Teme-ni-gru is an actual tower as opposed to being a tower that's connected to a tower. And I obviously noticed how narrow Agni and Rudra's boss room was and I'm practically an autistic slice of bread! And piles of stuff can make a difference especially when it pertains to lore. And besides, the DR room is more square than it is rectangular. I'm not sure about the exact positioning of A&D in regards to the towers heights, so I'll give you that
The aesthetic of this game is medieval tribal tattoos and every character has diabetes
Pfft- this gets a gold star
About time you mentioned Ashen. One of the games that got me through the tough times between DSR and elden ring as an Xbox player
the sponsored bit at the end was brilliant and wholesome
Is this elden ring?!
yes
yes
SHATTERED
It's someone or something.
Dont tell me you dont see it
I found myself enjoying Lords because the “beat the boss a secret way to get super cool weapon” that later came up in the Surge. But there is this weird aesthetic to Lords that made me feel that this should have been a souls-like Warhammer game. By the end of the game I felt like a chaos lord it was jarring.
A souls game that turns into a musou in the late game sounds neat, your character grew so strong it now fights entire hordes of enemies. Hell the unlimited stamina spell would fit right in if that was the case.
Better use shelter, its the real god mode.
I honestly feel like this would have been much better as a Warhammer Fantasy game with the demons just being the forces of Chaos.
@@joshuakim5240 I think an aspiring champion of [insert god here] chugging their way through the wastes on their quest for ascension could've served as a neat hook.
Which god you choose could also serve as a stand-in class system.
The scenery looks great. Seems like the world is where most of the time during development went.. the rest is... well, the metal fruit said it.
After the sponsor part at the end (and I´ve watched it)I am surprised at what you can use the crestfallen warrior for
What's so weird is I absolutely loved lords of the fallen on release but initially couldn't get into dark souls. It made me go replay dark souls and then I fell in love with the series.
It's not weird at all, something in LotF obviously gelled with you in a way it didn't in Dark Souls, and when you got used to the gameplay and wanted more, were able to appreciate the nuances and flow of Soulsian combat.
It took getting into Monster Hunter for Soulsborne style combat to click with me.
To me Lords of the Fallen felt like what Two Worlds did compared to Oblivion, everything just feels like it tries to be similar but everything feels worse. As you said hopefully the sequel is good because I really do think they could do it right.
Oof! I love both of those games. Two Worlds felt more like Gothic to me more than Oblivion though. (I'm also talking about Two Worlds 2 though)
i will say this, its a far superior game to 2worlds, no question about it.
I get it
@@marcosdheleno is it? heard 2 worlds were good.
@@rjc523 TW2 was ok, TW1 was pretty trash
Would love to hear your opinion on the surge. I only played the second one but it was my first souls like i played (not counting Star Wars Fallen Order) and i really enjoyed it
13:13 Roll Credits.
Lords of the Fallen was a free PS plus game a long time ago, it introduced me to the souls like genre and was responsible for getting me into bloodborne, ds3, then backwards progressing all the way to demons souls. I can see why people who started on the souls games did not enjoy lord's of the fallen, but for me it holds a special place for expanding my horizons.
I remember that's how I got it for free. And it quickly became my game on "bad games night" where one of my siblings (or I) play a bad game and the others watch. We essentially do this for the lolz. I remember how "Not Dark Souls" this game was.
Me too lol it was free on xbox gold and got me into soul's games
Same man, this was my 1st soulslike too. I really liked it. But then I played Sekiro... And then DS Trilogy. And finally Elden Ring.
Eh, I actually had good fun with the game when I stopped comparing it to other games.
Especially on a second playthrough with a decent pole sword. I ripped through everything and great fun doing it.
The only problem I had with the game initially was bad direction in the story and game world. It was easy to get lost and not know where the fuck you were suppose to go.
But the problems (at least the ones presented in this video) aren't solved by not comparing to other games...
This is a game that I apparently bought on Steam ages ago, played like 30 minutes of, and then never touched again, and I can't remember a thing from what little I played. I have no memory of playing it. Hell, I don't even remember buying it. That bit with the knight turning around in a single frame when you went for a backstab is one of the weirdest animations I've seen. It's very jarring knowing that the knight really shouldn't be turning around so quickly like that.
I get what you mean about it looking like a Warhammer game combined with Kingdoms of Amalur. I love KoA so much; 540 hours in the original on Steam and I'm slowly playing through Re-Reckoning on my PS5, but I've been distracted by DS3 and Bloodborne for a while now. I also see how it's not for everyone and I do agree with the issues it has, but I still love it.
You crush the shield guys with running jump attack (similar as you crush anything in Surge 1 with running slide attack). I made a mistake of playing my first playtrough with a a dagger based class. It was hard mode, especially on bosses.
I genuinely laughed out loud when I saw the enemy do a 360 slidespin around you at 18:05.
I quit playing at the 3rd boss. The only other memory from the game that I have are the shield knight guys at 14:33, in how utterly bullshit they were.
See I scrolled during the end of the video, wanted to see the 360 spin, and it went back 1 second when I clicked lol
I too gave up at the 3rd boss and never looked back.
I remember breaking this game when i played it. I went past a very difficult fight in the prison are towards the start of the game, and ended up going backwards through a shortcut straight into a boss fight. I forget the bosses name, but he had a one shot attack that you had to dodge by cowering in these little shrines around the arena. I didnt know that until I looked it up though, because the hint to do so was in the rest of the level, which i skipped by accident.
Worshipper?
@@hydroshock1853 maybe. I barely played it, realized it was trash pretty fast. Like after discovering that i had sequence broke the game by accident, i lost all interest in it
@@EmpireofJoe This game had potential. I actually like Harkyn, and the game throws some nice ideas like the shield charge, prayer moves, a Neverwinter aesthetic with Dark Souls gameplay, and swift attack-cancelling.
But it's ruined by feeling like you're playing in slow-motion even with the lightest gear, boring enemies with so many spikes on their armor and shields that they would make Hela and Steppenwolf jealous, and boring bosses. Like seriously, they look cool, but they are far too tanky and repetitive. The Worshipper doesn't even look hard, but I found him hard because of your speed.
Actually…that’s pretty souls like 😂😂😂
I just love the banjo kazooie music in the background
great analysis, well presented!
I think it's incredibly ironic that Dark Souls, a Japanese game, absolutely nails European fantasy while Lords of the Fallen, a western developed game, falls completely flat with uninspired Warcraft-like designs of huge macho guys in huge impractical armor. I've never vibed with that visual style at all, its like the designers are screaming "look how cool our game is" with their over the top designs instead of you know... actually making the game cool. Dark Souls for the most part is much more subdued game in terms of weapon/armor/character design but leaves a way bigger impression. The chosen undead is a nobody, literally just some forgotten worthless guy with no history or character of their own, yet the game is cool as shit with its unique settings, bosses, mechanics, and story. What I'm trying to say is that Dark Souls is a great example of show, don't tell. Lords of the Fallen is all in on tell and it just fails completely, visually and gameplay-wise.
LOL what are you talking about ? Lords of the Fallen goes artistically into a Warhammer direction which they nailed perfectly here. "Designs of huge macho guys". The main character looked nearly exactly like the new Kratos design before the latest God of War game. A design everybody loved.
@@TheKingofbrooklin no you cant say Kratos from the new gig of war looks the same because they are both bald dudes with beards. They look completely different and have different clothing, also kratos' white and red color palette is instantly recognizable whereas this 'generic warrior character' is instantly forgettable.
@@-kdot-2332 I agree but somehow this became a point in the review and people gladly took it over in the comments.
Different tastes! You hit the nail on the head, but completely in reverse for me personally. I can't stand to play DS because it's so damned ugly, but LotF had me hooked immediately. Some people enjoy big guy in dumb armor, too! (Much more so than undead jerky that walks like they pooped their diaper, imo)
I also grew up playing a TON of garbage games, because my parents thought 5 bargin bin games were a better gift than a single $60 game, so I have a high tolerance for trash gameplay. THEM GRAPHICS THO
Lords of the Fallen took inspiration from Gears of War and Warhammer and to be fair, they nailed it.
Every lore is different. ;) At least in those games you feel like a badass. In Souls-borne games you feel like a glass cannon all the time. Everything is scary or bigger than you.
While the game definitely had its problems, I remember actually liking the combat. It made me feel like a big clunky smashy guy that could take a few hits, and that was pretty satisfying. I think a more polished sequel could actually have some promise.
The armor system is great.
The animations and tracking? Not so much.
yes, I totally agree with you.
And to me personally the DS world is all about gothic and elegance whereas the LOTF world is monumental and bulky with all those structures made out of stone blocks and I liked it really much as well as the slowness of the animations - they just had that feeling you wont find in a DS game.
Damn I just got this recommended and got very confused about the fact this video was made 2 years before the game actually came out but then I remembered there was already a lords of the fallen before the recently released one 😅
I think it's interesting how in most industries, if a company wants to receive the level of expert consulting that this video provides, they have to pay thousands of dollars for it, and they regularly pour money into that. In the video game industry, they get it all for free and regularly ignore it. Will be interesting to see if they actually bothered to learn from you