It's one of the best puzzle games I've ever played! Up there with outer wilds (have you played? I think you'd have thoughts!) and Chants of Sennar. But the combat is definitely a big part of the challenge
People who downplay the Souls elements (ie: a huge part of the gameplay) do the game a disservice because people go in not expecting how genuinely hard the combat gets.
I have mixed feelings about combat. Some encounters are a bit hard, but it feels like there are so few situations where you can actually utilise the depth of combat mechanics. Last boss + arena + maybe bandit leader/librarian and that's about it... That's my biggest issue with Tunic.
I once joked that Dark Souls is a Zelda game; aside from the gear variety and how they open up new areas and gameplay, it very much follows the formula on exploration and character growth. And even then DS adds traversal elements in other ways. Hell, finishing Anor Londo is a Master Sword moment.
I would think that's because the developers thought about it more of as a puzzle game. Tunic is kinda torn between two genres and people enjoying one of them don't necessarily have to enjoy the other one so much. That's why accessibility is on point and why Dark Souls is a different story...
honestly imo its somewhere in the middle of those two. The difficulty curve is sharper than a typical zelda but no where near the difficulty curve of a typical souls (which tends to prevent me from getting very far).
But i can understand if that step in the direction of soulslike is a step too far.
I read that in the past (like, the 80s - that past), games were extremely short, and were compensating for that with extreme difficulty.
The first Castlevania game is 40 minutes long - if you're able to finish it.
Yep! And the reason why is wild. Lots of these games were on arcade machines and they wanted you to use more quarters! At first when games had nowmal difficulty, people would beat it and get bored. But if they're super difficult people will spend a lot of time into getting better so they can beat it
I mean, dark souls is a Zelda like. It’s got a big hitey stick, a shield, dungeons, lock on, lots of friendly npcs and cutesy enemies… I’ll quite while I’m ahead
I turned on the "can't die" option from like the first boss. I do not regret it at all because the "real" game of Tunic is very much worth experiencing -- it just doesn't start until halfway through.
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Or rather, Dark Souls doesn't exist in a world where we didn't get Link's Awakening.
So you're right but also I understand why people say "Zelda-like" first
But i can understand if that step in the direction of soulslike is a step too far.
Why do so many indie games go ultra-difficult with a concept that would be more fun as a casual/adventure game?
The first Castlevania game is 40 minutes long - if you're able to finish it.
But then, I've died more playing Zelda than playing Dark Souls. But I might be hiding the sample sizes to fabricate a surprising-sounding factoid.
(I played the first level and lost interest immediately after - the grass was too green)