Lies of P - a Pinocchio-Inspired Souls-Like Game

[mediocrepoet]

I'll have to demo this thing on GP. I'm pretty particular about Souls likes, I basically hate almost all the non-From ones unless something else hooks me.

Surge 2 is probably the best of the bunch imo.
I also managed to finish Steelrising though it was wearing thin by the end, mostly because I liked the French Revolution Steampunk and occultism mashup.

 

[BLOBERT]

ILL TAKE NIOH AND MORTAL SHELL AS TOP TEIR SOULS LIKE WITH SURGE 2 A LITTLE BEHINDS

I hardly consider Nioh a soullike, so yeah, it doesn't go in the list for me. Mortal Shell is alright, but there's more going on in Lies of P in terms of progression and character development which edges it out in that regard. Surge 2 is better about the branching paths and pure combat mechanics, but damn, pretty much everything else is worse.

ITEMIZATION IS ALSO WORSE SO FAR NOT MANY GOOD EQUIPMENT CHOICES JUST TAKE THE BESTEST WAEPON

More options later on in the game, both in terms of weapons and "defense gear." Weapon customization mechanic also adds another layer on top of it all. Only wish that there were physically represented actual armor sets instead of the outfits.

BRO ONLY POINT I CAN ARGUE IS THAT THE OPEN WORLD OF MORTAL SHELL MAKES FOR MORE INTERESTING EXPLORATION

I RESPECT YOUR OPINION AND WAIT TILL I FINISH THE GAME

MY ONLY THING IS THAT A FEW HOURS IN AND I HAVE ONLY FOUND THREE WEAPONS AND NONE OF THEM WORK FOR MY BUILD

IVE MADE MY STARTING WEAPONS PLUS TWO OR THREE AND GIVEN MY STATS THERE IS NO WEAPONS I WOULD CONSIDER VIABLE

 

[Jinn]

MY ONLY THING IS THAT A FEW HOURS IN AND I HAVE ONLY FOUND THREE WEAPONS AND NONE OF THEM WORK FOR MY BUILD

I think this is going to be the biggest thing to turn people off. I know it gets better the further into the game you get, but it'll be a bit of a road to get there. I was lucky enough to feel comfortable with the greatsword from the beginning, but I do agree there could be a bit more weapon variety to choose from in the early game.

mediocrepoet, if you could stomach the tripe that was Steel Rising, I don't know how you could possibly dislike this game.

 

[BLOBERT]

MY ONLY THING IS THAT A FEW HOURS IN AND I HAVE ONLY FOUND THREE WEAPONS AND NONE OF THEM WORK FOR MY BUILD

I think this is going to be the biggest thing to turn people off. I know it gets better the further into the game you get, but it'll be a bit of a road to get there. I was lucky enough to feel comfortable with the greatsword from the beginning, but I do agree there could be a bit more weapon variety to choose from in the early game.

BRO MUCH LOVE I TOOK THE GREATSWORD AND HAVE SEEN NOTHING WORTH REPLACING IT

 

[Jinn]

BRO MUCH LOVE I TOOK THE GREATSWORD AND HAVE SEEN NOTHING WORTH REPLACING IT

Sounds like you're about 3 or so hours in, right? You'll find some stuff before too long.

 

[mediocrepoet]

mediocrepoet, if you could stomach the tripe that was Steel Rising, I don't know how you could possibly dislike this game.

Possibly. Like I say, I'm weirdly particular and think most of them suck. I just liked the setting and motif of Steelrising.

 

[BLOBERT]

I'll have to demo this thing on GP. I'm pretty particular about Souls likes, I basically hate almost all the non-From ones unless something else hooks me.

Surge 2 is probably the best of the bunch imo.
I also managed to finish Steelrising though it was wearing thin by the end, mostly because I liked the French Revolution Steampunk and occultism mashup.

BRO I LOVE SURGE 2 ON OF THE FEW NON FROM SOULSLIKE IVE PLAYED MORE THAN ONCE

THE PARRYING AND TARGETED ATTACKS MADE COMBAT FUN NOT JUST FOR COMBAT SAKE BUT ALSO THE LIMB YOU TARGETED AFFECTED YOUR LOOT

 

[BLOBERT]

BRO MUCH LOVE I TOOK THE GREATSWORD AND HAVE SEEN NOTHING WORTH REPLACING IT

Sounds like you're about 3 or so hours in, right? You'll find some stuff before too long.

BRO YOU CALLED IT

ILL RESERVE FINAL JUDGEMENT

ILL SAY THIS BRO THE GAME IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME TO GIVE IT A CHANCE

 

[AlwaysBrotoMen]

Lies Of Hulk Hogan

 

[Jinn]

The game mixes the kind of methodical combat you might find in earlier Souls game with the defensive-aggressiveness you'd find in Sekiro. Perfect-guards are incredibly important in this, because every enemy has an invisible stagger bar that is dropped by your attacks and perfect-guards, and most enemies can have their weapons broken with perfect-guards. This is incredibly cool, because you have the option of whittling down the health of some of the mini-bosses you encounter throughout the map, but you also have the (better) option of getting in their face, perfectly blocking their attacks, and then breaking their weapons, making them much more easy to deal with in the long run.

I think it's the perfect example of wearing your inspirations on your sleeve, but warping them into something unique in and of itself.

 

[Jinn]

Also, a lot of mini-bosses might seem like normal large enemies, but they're often not. Thus, once your vanquish them, they are gone from your path forever. AKA - a lot of the "HP sponge" enemies are actually mini-bosses that you'll only have to face once.

 

[filpan]

Is there a pirate version of this game? The game sounds great.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Nioh is more like a twitchy beat em up than a Souls like. People sold it as the latter because of a very surface level similarity, but the game is much more combat focused and much more grindy too.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS

SOULS LIKE IS KINDA NEBULOUS IDEA

MOSTLY IT SEEMS LIKE AN ARPG WHERE YOU ARE EXPECTED TO DIE OFTEN AND YOU CAN RECOVER YOUR SOULS OR KARMA OR ERGO OR SUPERLASTLIF3 POWER

ALSO ALL SOULS GAMES ENCOURAGE GRINDING AND RISJ VERSUS REWARD WHEN DECIDING WHETETER TO EXPLORE MORE OR CASH IN YOUR SOULS

 

[Jinn]

I go back and forth on considering the Nioh games and Wo Long as soulslike. Ultimately, I do think you're correct in assessing them as such, but I tend to still file them away in a mental category that's slightly different. If I were to fully consider them as such, Nioh 1 and 2 would definitely be at the top of the list. But putting them aside, Lies of P is definitely the best non-Fromsoft soulslike I've played to date.

It actually took me quite a long time to accept "soulslike" as a genre, but it simply is at this point.

 

[cvv]

Sekiro....Perfect-guards are incredibly important in this

Yes, except from what I've seen so far, parry windows are a 1000 times tighter than in Sekiro. This game is like Sekiro with Dark Souls parry windows.

 

[cvv]

Ultimately, I do think you're correct in assessing them as such

It all depends on how broad/narrow your personal definition is. Look at the debates about the definition of an RPG amirite.

I for one tend to have broader genre definitions, Niohs are soulslikes in my book. They do A LOT of stuff their own way but they do keep within the confines of the genre.

Btw it might sound strange but I have yet to play a non-FS soulslike I didn't like - the OG Lords of the Fallen, both Surges, Ashen, Darksiders 3, both Niohs, Mortal Shell, Jedi 1 and 2. Played them all, had fun every time.

Haven't played yet - Hellpoint, Lies of P, Code Vein, Wo Long, Remnant 1/2 (altho even I'm not sure if Remnant is a soulslike, however broadly defined).

 

[Jinn]

Yes, except from what I've seen so far, parry windows are a 1000 times tighter than in Sekiro. This game is like Sekiro with Dark Souls parry windows.

Yep, they are tight, but I think this caters to the slower pace of the combat.

This game is pretty damn challenging, in a good way.

 

[notpl]

Calling Nioh a "soulslike" is silly and unfair to it. It's a logical evolution of the arcadey stage-based action games Team Ninja has been making for longer than the Souls franchise has existed by an order of magnitude.

 

[cvv]

Calling Nioh a "soulslike" is silly and unfair to it. It's a logical evolution of the arcadey stage-based action games Team Ninja has been making for longer than the Souls franchise has existed by an order of magnitude.

Yes, they've logically evolved into soulslikes.

 

[notpl]

Calling Nioh a "soulslike" is silly and unfair to it. It's a logical evolution of the arcadey stage-based action games Team Ninja has been making for longer than the Souls franchise has existed by an order of magnitude.

Yes, they've logically evolved into soulslikes.

Stage-based arcade beat-em-ups like Devil May Cry and Nioh are not soulslikes. Even allowing "soulslike" as a genre term for action-adventure games, which is silly, the former are obviously a different thing.

 

[cvv]

Calling Nioh a "soulslike" is silly and unfair to it. It's a logical evolution of the arcadey stage-based action games Team Ninja has been making for longer than the Souls franchise has existed by an order of magnitude.

Yes, they've logically evolved into soulslikes.

Stage-based arcade beat-em-ups like Devil May Cry and Nioh are not soulslikes. Even allowing "soulslike" as a genre term for action-adventure games, which is silly, the former are obviously a different thing.

Nioh is a Devil May Cry-like beat-em-up. Right.

Talk about being silly.

 

[notpl]

Calling Nioh a "soulslike" is silly and unfair to it. It's a logical evolution of the arcadey stage-based action games Team Ninja has been making for longer than the Souls franchise has existed by an order of magnitude.

Yes, they've logically evolved into soulslikes.

Stage-based arcade beat-em-ups like Devil May Cry and Nioh are not soulslikes. Even allowing "soulslike" as a genre term for action-adventure games, which is silly, the former are obviously a different thing.

Nioh is a Devil May Cry-like beat-em-up. Right.

Talk about being silly.

Are you suggesting instead it's an open-world narrative dungeon crawling thing a la dark souls? You do elaborate fighting game inputs to chain together unlockable special moves and graduate up through difficulty settings in infinitely replayable stages to show off high scores to your friends. Adding bonfires to this mix doesn't suddenly make it an adventure game. Nioh does not have "exploration" at all, on any level, and that word is probably the #1 strongest association anyone would have with the souls franchise.

 

[Raghar]

So basically they changed few character models from Dark Souls, and added Denuvo.

And they even have Denuvo on MS pass. Like they are crazy.

 

[Rean]

Calling Nioh a "soulslike" is silly and unfair to it. It's a logical evolution of the arcadey stage-based action games Team Ninja has been making for longer than the Souls franchise has existed by an order of magnitude.

Agreed.