this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
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Soulslike - Discussion, News, Memes
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This is a community for discussion, news, and memes pertaining to the video game sub-genre "soulslike".
Given Lemmy's size, the definition of soulslike may be treated relatively loosely. While games like the numerous FromSoft titles, the recent Star Wars Jedi games, Lies of P, Nioh and similar games should be the focus, games that incorporate soulslike elements - like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous, for example - may also be discussed here.
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[BB] This enemy is so difficult!
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[DS1] Anyone struggling with the gargoyles?
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20 vials is a lot, if you're dying that much you should probably go somewhere else. Not all interactions with games are meant to be frictionless.
The problem I have with that is, would the game actually change at all if you just went back up to 20 vials every time you rested? For the player who's progressing at a constant rate and doesn't die too frequently, you pretty much already experience that. It's not like vials are exceptionally rare throughout the game, and FromSoft was good about adding them to difficult areas. The only people the vial system is really bad for are players who are already slightly struggling, and I think those players would enjoy the game a lot more if the vials just refreshed.
Friction is only good if it's making you interact with the game in an interesting way. The vials don't offer friction so much as a binary of "Who cares, I have plenty" and "I never have vials and have to farm 30 min for each 5 boss attempts." Both of those aren't really interesting gamestates.
I didn't find myself running out of them very often, and trust me, it's not because I'm super good at video games. I think what it provides is a prompt to stop and think. If you find yourself without any (and I'd really only say it matters at bosses) then you probably either need to rethink your strategy, maybe go level a bit first (there's almost always another branching path you can take, or even a chalice), or just buckle down and get serious. The game also gave you a core mechanic to restore health without using blood vials. I dunno that it's a perfect system but I didn't have any issue with it. Estus flasks that encourage you to back off to safety while you recover were much more suited to the style of play in the Souls games. If you could heal that fast with a reusable thing, I don't think you would engage as much with the health recovery system, which was really what the game wanted you to do.
I'll also mention that I did not find that it took long at all to farm them when I needed to. There were several early areas where you could restock quite quickly.
20 vials is very generous but that's not what the problem is. The problem is that they are a non-recharging consumable. Unlike estus flasks which fully recharge every time you go to the bonfire, blood vials can run out.
If it's your first time playing, you might run out. And if you run out, you have to go through a very un-fun and time consuming farming run just to restock
Like I said...not everything is meant to be frictionless. I'm sure a lot of people think losing all your ~~souls~~blood uh somethings? isn't fun, either.