some blurby thoughts:
- level design in this game is different from a fromsoft game in that there is no big interconnected world, but rather much more reasonably-sized areas centered around a single "mission" in which there is a lot of inter-connectivity.
- this inter-connectivity is quite cool, as it's both inter-connective for the purpose of giving you multiple ways to reach the end of the mission and also to give you multiple different methods of tackling each smaller area in the mission. there are so many little totally optional side areas, like little caves (that you can see ANOTHER little cave area from but can't access just yet) or rooftops you can traverse, with a miniboss or loot in them, and they wrap back around into the more central area that you're trying to progress past.
- there will be no big reveal moment, like that first time you ride the elevator down to firelink shrine, but in contrast there's this like.... you'll come upon a shrine (bonfire) and immediately if you look around you'll see a shortcut, sometimes two or three very close to it, and it's like "oh i'm gonna be here a while! cool!"
- so many systems, like not just combat but skill trees, loot drops from enemies, being able to forge your own weapons and break down the loot you get into components. it's a lot. there is a feature where you can make one of your weapons/armor pieces keep its stats but have the appearance of another weapon/armor piece and that is super cool.
So far this is the most fun I've ever had with a souls-y game that isn't by Fromsoft. the combat has so much going on in it but it also has this push & pull feeling to it, I was struggling a lot at the start because it feels like you're supposed to play really fast, but the game punishes you for that. You have to get a feel for when to play like a hack & slash and when to play it patient and wait for an opening, often switching back multiple times in the course of a fight. it's so fun. And even with the generally faster pace, it's really nice that weapons feel like they have weight... that comes from both the animations and also the stamina/posture system, I think. Great game, really enjoying it so far.
