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[Finale Fireworker]

eh...character creation is like bottom of the barrel for me. is it really a must have feature for people?

It is for me personally. Maybe not a must-have, but definitely a most-desired.

That usage doesn't seem to fit here, or any Soulslike or actual Souls game. You got to respect every enemy, and treat them all like a serious threat or you will suffer. People really consider the regular enemies in Soulsborne games as "trash mobs"?

I'm glad we're on the same page. I was expecting to be the only one making a fuss about this. The constant use of the term, almost exclusively, makes it especially egregious.

 

[Corpekata]

That usage doesn't seem to fit here, or any Soulslike or actual Souls game. You got to respect every enemy, and treat them all like a serious threat or you will suffer. People really consider the regular enemies in Souls/Borne games as "trash mobs"?

Well, it's not about ease, it's about the point and rewards really. There are some notorious trash mobs even in games like WoW. It's about the fact that fighting them is rewarded only by getting to fight something else, barring some lucky RNG drops.

At this point it's basically applied to most anything that's not a boss or elite type enemy.

 

[Human Trashcan]

Why are they called "trash? Is that Souls lingo or something? They're just enemies to fight. While the bosses are the best spectacle, I always found combat against regular enemies in Souls game the much more enjoyable aspect

it's a term from MMOs, it doesn't really apply to Souls games, but I guess using it in the first place kinda shows where someone's coming from. If you view enemy encounters as just trash mobs between bosses or not.

 

[Theorry]

I really like the fast movement in this game. Its like a complete 180 compared to Lords of Fallen.

https://clips.twitch.tv/VictoriousVastPoultryTheTarFu

The jumping is nice also.

https://clips.twitch.tv/EncouragingInspiringZucchiniNerfBlueBlaster

 

[Lanrutcon]

That usage doesn't seem to fit here, or any Soulslike or actual Souls game. You got to respect every enemy, and treat them all like a serious threat or you will suffer. People really consider the regular enemies in Souls/Borne games as "trash mobs"?

No, it's fine.

They're called trash mobs because they're filler between high profile enemies. Things with names and backstories and unique mechanics. I don't care how dangerous Skeletal Knight #42 is, the fact that there's at least 42 of them qualifies them as trash mobs. The third boss might be a complete joke...but there's only 1 of him, so he's a boss not a trash mob. It's just a term used for classification in the food chain, as it were, and has nothing to do with the actual quality/danger of the entities in question. Shit, in Diablo normal enemies can tear you to bits in an instant on the higher difficulties...but they're still fodder in the grand scheme of things, and thus trash mobs.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Per the video it seems like an immense improvement that can hold its own against the Souls games in many aspects.

lol, not even close IMO.

Also, the setting isn't very interesting, it's like Transformers but without all the personalities. Running around a construction site and fighting an excavator aren't exactly fun.

Yep yep. It's like they took the most boring kind of "sci-fi" setting and used that.

One of the awesome parts of Souls games is the setting, the atmosphere, and sense of adventure and danger.

eh...character creation is like bottom of the barrel for me. is it really a must have feature for people?

Of course. Wouldn't have so many replays of Souls games if I couldn't experiment with the character creator and get all creative in terms of looks and builds.

That usage doesn't seem to fit here, or any Soulslike or actual Souls game. You got to respect every enemy, and treat them all like a serious threat or you will suffer. People really consider the regular enemies in Souls/Borne games as "trash mobs"?

He just means it as "non-boss enemy", no need to read too much into it.

 

[Plywood]

That usage doesn't seem to fit here, or any Soulslike or actual Souls game. You got to respect every enemy, and treat them all like a serious threat or you will suffer. People really consider the regular enemies in Souls/Borne games as "trash mobs"?

Yeah kind of eyerolled when I heard it in the video.

 

[thumb]

I actually like the reduced focus on bosses. Exploration has always been my favorite aspect of souls games. This is definitely on my radar.

Same here. And in general, I'm tired of ball-busting bosses. I want more exploration, tension, and discovery.

 

[sublimit]

Aesthetics are very uninspired especially the main character,armor and enemies.Combat also looks too slow to me.

But i will give it a try when its price drops.

 

[Theorry]

Counterattack deals alot of damage i see.

https://clips.twitch.tv/BombasticBigHummingbirdPJSalt

Aesthetics are very uninspired especially the main character,armor and enemies.Combat also looks too slow to me.

But i will give it a try when its price drops.

Its pretty fast. Check the clips i posted above. And that is with a very heavy weapon.

 

[epeternally]

Are there dodge iframes this time? The Surge looks pretty cool, but using the same dodge system as Lords of the Fallen would be a deal breaker for me.

 

[Lanrutcon]

Are there dodge iframes this time? The Surge looks pretty cool, but using the same dodge system as Lords of the Fallen would be a deal breaker for me.

According to some folks on youtube who got to play it: no iframes.

 

[Kyuur]

Setting & level design: the world is very interconnected and well-realized. Small, claustrophobic areas that are intensely interconnected and complex. Instead of having many bonfires, areas have few bonfires that everything connects back to with an abundance of shortcuts. Video shows some later areas that weren't shown in the earlier previews and they look cool.

This made have single-handedly sold me on this game. Won't be picking up at launch due to backlog but definitely will consider in the future.

 

[disappeared]

Really bummed about no character creation. That's like one of the biggest things for me about Souls games, as it reinforces the narrative that it's your character versus the world, and not a defined one with a pre-conceived backstory.

 

[Van Bur3n]

Wish they could have gone for a better art direction. Doesn't look like the most interesting sci-fi world. No doubt, good gameplay has always been essential to Souls, but I've always found the art direction to play a big part in what makes it stand out the most from many other games. It alone is my favorite thing about the likes of Bloodborne. Also, yeah, a character creator would have been nice. Believe it or not, I actually liked coming up with all of the different kinds of characters I could create in Souls (and just any fine RPG in general) and doing some good old role playing.

Besides that, I think it has potential to be fun. I'll have to wait for reviews though since its from those Lords of the Fallen dudes.

 

[sappyday]

If it's the same devs from LotF then it seems that those developers really want to make their own really good game that can stand up with Souls. Hopefully they learn a lot from what made LotF fail.

 

[Theorry]

Really like the jump dodge and then counter.

 

[Moon_frogger]

Because there is a tons of footage and impressions for months to form a opinion about it and get hyped. I understand also that people are saying wait and see first. Both are possible imo.

Yeah you're right. Honestly my impression when watching that video was 'I wonder if they are paying him for positive coverage' but I didn't see any disclosure warnings on the page or in the video so he must actually like it haha

 

[cr0w]

Listening to it now at work. I have a very unusual nitpick.

Is it just me, or is this narrator heavily misusing/overusing the term "trash mobs"? I'm finding it extremely off-putting... At first I thought enemies must be literally made of refuse and space junk, but then I switched to the video tab and saw he just referred to every overworld enemy as "trash".

I know it's an odd thing to find so grating, especially since it's a small point in a long and educated analysis, but I'm finding it really irritating and reductive.

My own understanding of a "trash mob" is an enemy specifically placed to impede or distract the player from a larger more imminent threat. Common enemies spawned by bosses during battles, for example, would be trash mobs. Or enemies that die in one hit and pose more of a distraction than a challenge - these would be "trash mobs."

But this person's continuous use of the mere word "trash" seems inappropriate. He describing how overworld enemies are dangerous and complex characters that constitute the game's entire difficulty curve but referring to them constantly as trash. His language seems to directly contradict what he is trying to express. It also goes against the fact that Souls-style maps are populated with very powerful and surprising monsters that players must be cunning to defeat.

It reminds me of a thread we had once over whether or not a term like "savescumming" is derogatory because of the obvious negative connotation that implies the player's behavior is scummy. Constantly and unrelentingly referring to every enemy in the game as trash, not even trash mob - just trash - seems to be activating some overly defensive part in my brain that is making me angry for basically no reason at all. It's making him seem elitist and condescending even though, factually and objectively, the material is not.

Strange the impact language can have.

You may be overthinking it a bit, mate.

 

[Sanctuary]

I wonder if the focus on trash compared to bosses is their legitimate design strategy, or if it's because they really just couldn't come up with enough interesting bosses, or they didn't have enough of a budget for them. I don't mind really as long as the trash variety is actually good, and that we don't see the same 3-4 enemies throughout each area without much in the way of diversity between areas either. Even without hearing about how the focus was more on trash, I was getting a Diablo 2&3 impression regarding how you acquire gear anyway. I guess Monster Hunter is similar in that way too, but it just seemed more Diablo to me for some reason.

You may be overthinking it a bit, mate.

Uh, for sure. Hasn't it pretty much been common to label every non boss enemy encounter "trash mobs" since EverQuest? It might have even existed as far back as FF1 and DQ1 on the NES, but that was before information was as widely disseminated and shared.

 

[Theorry]

Yeah you're right. Honestly my impression when watching that video was 'I wonder if they are paying him for positive coverage' but I didn't see any disclosure warnings on the page or in the video so he must actually like it haha

There are alot of people streaming btw now. If you want to see more gameplay.
Its 7th game on Twitch now.

https://www.twitch.tv/directory

 

[Finale Fireworker]

You may be overthinking it a bit, mate.

I pretty much say this in my post, yes.

 

[sublimit]

Wish they could have gone for a better art direction. Doesn't look like the most interesting sci-fi world. No doubt, good gameplay has always been essential to Souls, but I've always found the art direction to play a big part in what makes it stand out the most from many other games. It alone is my favorite thing about the likes of Bloodborne. Also, yeah, a character creator would have been nice. Believe it or not, I actually liked coming up with all of the different kinds of characters I could create in Souls (and just any fine RPG in general) and doing some good old role playing.

This so much.As much as i loved the unique and satisfying gameplay of Demon's Souls (back when i first played a Souls game) it was its art and atmosphere that made me want to get better at the game and progress through all its challenges.I wanted to see what mysterious new area i will see next,what incredibly cool armor i could find and what strange and horryfying enemy/boss i would encounter next.They really sparked my curiosity (along with the very subtle use of lore and story) and along with the addicting gameplay i just couldn't stop playing the game no matter how many times i died.

I didn't got the same feeling with LOTF aesthetics (and gameplay) and i don't get the same feeling with the Surge's aesthetics now either (from what i have seen from videos)

 

[More_Badass]

Uh, for sure. Hasn't it pretty much been common to label every non boss enemy encounter "trash mobs" since EverQuest? It might have even existed as far back as FF1 and DQ1 on the NES, but that was before information was as widely disseminated and shared.

Never heard the phrase in my life. Which is why I assumed it was odd to such a negative sounding term for regular enemies

 

[Sanctuary]

Never heard the phrase in my life. Which is why I assumed it was odd to such a negative sounding term for regular enemies

Are you extremely selective and restricted to very specific media regarding gaming information? Is it an issue with formal vs informal? As surprised by the term as you might be, I think I might be as surprised that the meaning is still being discovered by those who frequent sites like this, since it's a very common term.

http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Trash_mob

Existed prior to WoW, but became much more common from 2004 onward.

A trash mob (or simply trash) is any monster that is not a boss.

 

[More_Badass]

Are you extremely selective and restricted to very specific media regarding gaming information? Is it an issue with formal vs informal? As surprised by the term as you might be, I think I might be as surprised that the meaning is still being discovered by those who frequent sites like this, since it's a very common term.

To be fair, I've never played an MMO or followed them

As for games media, I'll pretty much read everything and anything; a small personal blog is as good as an IGN or Eurogamer if it's well written. I browse Twitter, Tumblr, TIGSource, various forums, Youtube, sites big and small, to get info on games

Edit: is it more common among PC game audiences? I would have been 12 in 2004, playing on PS2 at the time, and didnt seriously get into PC gaming till 2013

 

[trejo]

All I'm seeing in the video in OP is a bunch of samey-looking warehouse corridors and characters that look like they've duct taped refrigerators to their bodies and thrown on some christmas lights for good measure.

Can't say I'm a fan of the art direction for this game.

 

[V-Faction]

The Trash Mob AKA The Garbage Mafia

Joey Two-Legs
Crusty Pete
Mark""Pizza Box" Lazaro
The Big Stinky Cheese
Leftover Larry

And all the greats.

 

[cr0w]

To be fair, I've never played an MMO or followed them

As for games media, I'll pretty much read everything and anything; a small personal blog is as good as an IGN or Eurogamer if it's well written. I browse Twitter, Tumblr, TIGSource, various forums, Youtube, sites big and small, to get info on games

Edit: is it more common among PC game audiences? I would have been 12 in 2004, playing on PS2 at the time, and didnt seriously get into PC gaming till 2013

Yes, it's a very common term amongst PC gamers. I've been hearing it used increasingly since the early days of WoW. It started as a reference to a specific type of non-boss enemy and eventually started to encompass any nameless, faceless enemies you encounter between boss fights.

 

[GwyndolinCinder]

I wonder if the focus on trash compared to bosses is their legitimate design strategy, or if it's because they really just couldn't come up with enough interesting bosses, or they didn't have enough of a budget for them. I don't mind really as long as the trash variety is actually good, and that we don't see the same 3-4 enemies throughout each area without much in the way of diversity between areas either. Even without hearing about how the focus was more on trash, I was getting a Diablo 2&3 impression regarding how you acquire gear anyway. I guess Monster Hunter is similar in that way too, but it just seemed more Diablo to me for some reason.

Depends on how you like guys in suits with weapon X. Theres a few non humanoid enemies too. And later in the game you fight

Spoiler

Corrupted

version of enemies.

Atleast its not padded like nioh, so its not the double whammy small variety+long as fuck.

 

[Wagram]

There was a comment in the other thread that I found uncompelling and that they found the overall experience fun, but unmemorable. Souls is anything, but unmemorable.

Bosses kind of make or break these type of games so the focus on trash instead of bosses is kind of disheartening as well.

 

[hawk2025]

I thought we just called non-bosses, well, "enemies"!

 

[More_Badass]

There was a comment in the other thread that I found uncompelling and that they found the overall experience fun, but unmemorable. Souls is anything, but unmemorable.

Bosses kind of make or break these type of games so the focus on trash instead of bosses is kind of disheartening as well.

I'd say it's personal preference. Like I love the boss design in Souls and Bloodborne and defeating them feels great, but they're not the reason I keep coming back to those games' combat. Getting better and better and more effective against the regular enemies is what makes the combat in those games so rewarding.

Since every enemy is such a threat, when you can cleave through with your honed skills and superior weapons, it feels so so powerful and thrilling. Your fight with a boss is one and done once you defeat it, but you get to see and feel your progression when fighting against enemies. What was once a tense scary area with enemies that so easily surrounded and destroyed you can now be brutally annihilated by you

 

[DemWalls]

There was a comment in the other thread that I found uncompelling and that they found the overall experience fun, but unmemorable. Souls is anything, but unmemorable.

Well, many people, here and elsewhere, also find DS II 'unmemorable'... or memorable for not very positive reasons, to put it mildly.

I'll always take anything anyone says about games such as this with a grain of salt.

 

[Peroroncino]

eh...character creation is like bottom of the barrel for me. is it really a must have feature for people?

Same. Most of the time created characters [especially so in souls] look like something straight out of monster factory.

 

[Sanctuary]

Edit: is it more common among PC game audiences? I would have been 12 in 2004, playing on PS2 at the time, and didnt seriously get into PC gaming till 2013

PC has a lot to do with it. Until '98, I always just called the random fights up to a boss "random enemies".

 

[Freshmaker]

The "less focus on bosses, more focus on trash, but the easiest way is to just run past them" sounds rather self-defeating. Bosses are interesting because they provide intermittent points of climax throughout the game, if it's just trash killing for the most part that sounds rather monotonous.

Oh and it's made by the Lords of the Fallen devs? I'll put it on bargain bin status until proven otherwise.

I'll wait to see if there's a massive list of bugs.

 

[SargerusBR]

Apparently, the game only has

Spoiler

5 bosses

so I'm worried about the longevity.

Steam Sale it is then.

 

[WickedLaharl]

Why have I never heard of the surge?

Because deck13's last game Lords of the fallen was mediocre as hell.

 

[MilkBeard]

This video definitely improved my opinion of The Surge, but I'm still not feeling it.

I love Souls style combat, but that's not the only thing I like about the Souls games. FromSoftware is also excellent creating atmosphere, as well as really strange, interesting lore and characters. And their unique design goes from characters to the landscapes, and everything comes together to make a really intriguing, unique package.

This stuff I am not getting from watching videos about The Surge. It definitely seems like they got the combat right, and the graphics look good, but the design looks pretty . . . well, bland. I'm kind of annoyed by the main character design, and the robot designs aren't that intriguing either. Some of the landscapes look nice, but most of it looks like uninteresting factories.

I would love to be surprised to find that there is some really interesting lore and depth to the game beyond having an interesting variation on Souls-style combat, but the overall design isn't really doing anything for me so far.

 

[Human Trashcan]

This video definitely improved my opinion of The Surge, but I'm still not feeling it.

I love Souls style combat, but that's not the only thing I like about the Souls games. FromSoftware is also excellent creating atmosphere, as well as really strange, interesting lore and characters. And their unique design goes from characters to the landscapes, and everything comes together to make a really intriguing, unique package.

This stuff I am not getting from watching videos about The Surge. It definitely seems like they got the combat right, and the graphics look good, but the design looks pretty . . . well, bland. I'm kind of annoyed by the main character design, and the robot designs aren't that intriguing either. Some of the landscapes look nice, but most of it looks like uninteresting factories.

I would love to be surprised to find that there is some really interesting lore and depth to the game beyond having an interesting variation on Souls-style combat, but the overall design isn't really doing anything for me so far.

Yeah, I feel the same way. It just looks aggressively bland, like... you could do so much with a sci-fi setting for this kind of game, and they chose boring factories and shipping containers and really, REALLY ugly exo-suits. Imagine, for example, Dead Space, but with Souls-like gameplay. There's potential there. But goddamn this game looks generic.

 

[taybul]

"[dark souls] is essentially a game about going from boss to boss"

*shuts off video*

 

[nynt9]

To be fair, I've never played an MMO or followed them

As for games media, I'll pretty much read everything and anything; a small personal blog is as good as an IGN or Eurogamer if it's well written. I browse Twitter, Tumblr, TIGSource, various forums, Youtube, sites big and small, to get info on games

Edit: is it more common among PC game audiences? I would have been 12 in 2004, playing on PS2 at the time, and didnt seriously get into PC gaming till 2013

Yes it's a PC gamer thing primarily since MMO communities are on PC for the most part.

Steam Sale it is then.

The video specifies that the boss battles aren't the point of the game and that's a factor that distinguishes it from the souls games. Number of bosses isn't necessarily an indicator of longevity.

Yeah, I feel the same way. It just looks aggressively bland, like... you could do so much with a sci-fi setting for this kind of game, and they chose boring factories and shipping containers and really, REALLY ugly exo-suits. Imagine, for example, Dead Space, but with Souls-like gameplay. There's potential there. But goddamn this game looks generic.

What other game takes place in an industrial facility with characters wearing exosuits?

 

[More_Badass]

Yeah, I feel the same way. It just looks aggressively bland, like... you could do so much with a sci-fi setting for this kind of game, and they chose boring factories and shipping containers and really, REALLY ugly exo-suits. Imagine, for example, Dead Space, but with Souls-like gameplay. There's potential there. But goddamn this game looks generic.

I imagine devs would love do to an otherworldly cosmic horror Giger Souls, but I imagine the budget and time you'd need to do that right would be what a From or Team Ninja or other larger dev would have. As the first attempt at both a sci-fi take on the subgenre and Deck13's attempt to find their own niche outside of the usual fantasy theme, I'll take it. If it does well, maybe more devs will try sci-fi versions.

Doesn't hurt that I quite enioy Elysium, so the exo-suits and grounded dystopian aesthetic is right up my alley

 

[Curufinwe]

That usage doesn't seem to fit here, or any Soulslike or actual Souls game. You got to respect every enemy, and treat them all like a serious threat or you will suffer. People really consider the regular enemies in Souls/Borne games as "trash mobs"?

Some of them are.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Nothing about this seems promising at all. "Sci fi Dark Souls" sounds like a wet dream conceptually, with all the potential for horrifying alien creatures... and then they made the game in boring man made environments where you fight robots and drones. What the fuck?

Also I'm confused about the video's statement that Dark Souls games are filled with easy enemies and that this game's originality comes from making enemies able to kill you in 2-3 hits. Are we playing the same games? In every Dark Souls, almost any enemy can kill you in a few hits unless you're overlevelled, and good luck if you run into a mob ambush. The only thing that does seem different is that enemies seem to have much more life, which... hooray, bullet sponges?

I dunno, I might play it and find it amazing, but so far the combat seems to lack a lot of the weight of Dark Souls games and everything is abysmally uninspired design-wise.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

What other game takes place in an industrial facility with characters wearing exosuits?

Probably not many because it's such a drab and boring setting?

 

[Hollycat]

This game doesn't look like its for me. Disappointed

 

[Theorry]

Longevity seems pretty good so far. Watching some streams and people are 8 hours in and only had 1 boss and still are getting tutorial stuff. Seems there is alot of intresing stuff to do with gear and some backtracking getting specific gear sets for bonusses etc.

 

[More_Badass]

Nothing about this seems promising at all. "Sci fi Dark Souls" sounds like a wet dream conceptually, with all the potential for horrifying alien creatures... and then they made the game in boring man made environments where you fight robots and drones. What the fuck?

Sci-fi is a lot broader than alien monsters and whatnot. I mean, I'd love a Cosmic Horror GigerSouls too, but this kind of sci-fi take is just as welcome IMO.