DUDE! THANK YOU! For years ive been searching for the name of Maximo. I rented it from block buster for a weekend and all Icould remember is being 6 years old; scared shitless of the first area, dying so much the dude was stripped to his underwear. You've ended my decade long search and have earned my sub. Thank you.
Maybe I should finally finish Drakan after two decades... :P Severance: Blade of Darkness is an awesome souls-like from 2001, even if it wasn't for consoles originally. It was my first entry to the genre and only playing Demon's Souls new evoked the same feeling it had. Regardless I have some thoughts about what constitutes to "Souls" game, which none of Souls-likes can ever perhaps hope to emulate, but that's another topic entirely...
Finally!!!!!! Someone who loves Drakan as much as I do, only difference is I played it when it first released. I loved this game so much that I named my only daughter after the main character, Rynn! She wasn't born till 5 years after I played the game but thats how much of an impact the game made on me. Great video, gave a thumbs up and subbed.
for years this game was the best there was in the genre. i picked this game clean discovering its secrets. Rynns character is so well done thanks to her voice actor basically making this Lara Croft with Dragons.
My dad had Drakan: The Ancients' Gate on our PS2 and I struggled SO HARD as a kid growing up trying to finish it. Anytime I've ever mentioned it to anyone over the years, no one's ever heard of it and they all look at me like I have 2 heads when I try and explain it. I'm so glad you mentioned it so I can finally show people like "HEY LOOK IT'S REAL HERE PLEASE SEE" because it was just so COOL.
I saw the title and immediately knew Drakan was going to be here. I played this as a kid, then years later replayed it again and it held up so incredibly well. It's also the only fantasy rpg type game i know that does not respawn enemies. On one hand that's unfortunate because i love stuff like rare weapon drops and grinding, but also it means every optional area is alluring, you can get just a little more exp and money, which are essentially limited resources. It also is very non-linear, so replays can also be exciting since much like dark souls, you can access some optional mid/end game areas early if you know where to look and don't die. Also yiu can save wherever you want, the save system is functionally a slow save state, it's an insane game in so many ways
FromSoftware has successfully gaslit an entire generation of gamers into thinking action games that have weapon-based combat and are hard are "Souls-like" games🤦♂
What do you mean? So you're telling me that Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts, Shadow of the Colossus, Tomb Raider, and Legend of Zelda aren't Soulslikes?! 😂
Isn't this a completely fair interpretation though? Rogue was boiled down to "perma-death and procedural generation" for the purpose of the phrase rogue-like (or rogue-like before you get angry at me) So why wouldn't you boil down the souls franchise into its base characteristics and turn it into a similar genre title?
Maximo's similar to Dark souls in the fact that it's actually part of a different game series entirely, a game that probably had a hand in inspiring the Soulsborne series in general. Ghosts n Goblins
@@Po-kemon I mean when you break it down none of these games are since they came before dark souls was even a thing. I’m just saying the level design, atmosphere, boss fights, the enemy layout, and sense of relief you’d feel after getting past a tough area to see a checkpoint. Really gave me a lot of the same feels I had when playing souls games.
@@zaystro2915 your right about the atmosphere and everything. The game is awesome and one of my favorites. Have you played the remastered version of it?
Bro I rented that game a few times as a kid and was so frustrated with it 😂 I was hardstuck on the first level or two. Have the ps2 such an adult, dark vibe haha
I literally got goosebumps and blurted out "no fucking way" from your number one pick. I absolutely love Drakan: The Ancient's Gate and I have been playing it since I was a child; when it first released. I think I was like 6 or 7 playing that game. Nobody knows about the game, even in retro gaming communities, nobody ever talks about it. THANK YOU for bringing it into the spotlight. To be honest, you brought a TON of great games to the spotlight: Onimusha, Tenchu, etc. These are great games that folks just either don't know about or don't talk about. Awesome video, dude. Thank you! I'm watching this on my TV, and I had to get on my phone to comment this.
You beautiful man; you've suggested the glorious Maximo. You've gained my like. Maximo 2 is also a blast! However, putting that game at #2 instead of #1 is pretty ballsy, dude. Now I have very, VERY high expectations for Drakan.
Core memory unlocked! That game blood will tell I was just a kid. I remember playing that game and I've been searching for it for years. Crazy how long it's been.
@@hesiolite That's not too surprising - Fromsofts mantra seems to be 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. I think this is the first time they did it from a third person perspective though that would be recognizable as 'soulslike' today.
My brothers and I rented a game from blockbuster as a kid. When we opened the case, drakan was in it, not the game we wanted. Disappointed we tried it out because we had it so why not and it became one of our favorite games. So muchso we bought it as soon as we had to bring the rental back. Still up there with one of my favorite games to this day
ahh maximo, that game was brutal to me as a 7 year old. Loved it then and then i played it on the emulator earlier this month and it was just as brutal as i remember.
oooh,you didn't see Champios of Norrath..what a story,gameplay,all those fancy weapons,every spell has its own gorgeous animation only...you can't roll out of trouble,but when you see the bosses you'll see from where From soft gots it inspiration for giants
Amazing! I played Drakan pc game at a friend's place, and it stayed with me for decades. I've never remembered how it was called, but I've found it now! And a ps2 sequel? Thank you!
so funny story about that actually, i’ve never seen Game of Thrones, but when that episode aired, everyone was super upset about it, right? Well as someone who had no context and hadn’t seen the show, I saw THAT video with that song, and was like “dude this is fucking awesome, i can’t imagine a context where this is not objectively kick ass.” Game of Thrones fans feel differently lol
I rented that Drakan game once as a child and was in awe, couldn't stop playing it for the entire week. after returning it I could never find it again, to see it here just unlocked a core memory :D
Cool list man. I missed most of these because when the ps2 was popular. i was 14 and obsessed with tony hawk i got into souls games a few years back so i appreciate this list dude. Oh and eff the haters in your comments they probably just need a happy meal😂 great video
Warriors of Might and Magic on PS1 comes to mind as a "souls like" but then again PS1 has a lot of games that would be considered soulslike. Mostly because of how stiff the controls are making them much more methodical and difficult. Armored core for example was much much more methodical back then.
Great video. I had fun watching and really enjoyed it. I like souls like games but they are generally too hard for me. I recently picked up a fhdb hard drive for my PS2 and have been playing many different games. I've also been watching a lot of RUclips videos about PS2 games. I didn't click on this video, it was selected for me buy auto play and I liked it more than any I have watched in awhile. Well done sir 👍
I remember playing Draken repeatedly on the demo disk back in the day. Totally forgot the name. Maximo rules! I was so awful at it when my dad first bought it, but it’s time to revisit it.
Yoooo. I was a professional game reviewer the entire PS2 gen and I never played Drakan! I do love Tenchu, Suffering, and Blood Will Tell, though. And of course Souls.
When I saw PS2 in the title I knew you'd mention Drakan, I was too scared of it when I was a kid and didn't get too far though. Somehow I got through Silent Hill 3 though XD
concerning your honorable mentions, the OG version of Baroque on Saturn and PS1 would be even more interesting to fans of Fromoft's dark fantasy games than then PS2/Wii remake (which is neat but a bit tonally off)
Among the thousands of games I own, I barely finished a few dozens at best. Drakan is one of them and God, what a game ! It kept me entertained for weeks, maybe months (as a gamer I'm slow as hell). In my sleep I was even dreaming about it sometimes. All you said about it is true. By no means this is a perfect game, but it has a great charm and personality. Thanks for bringing this hidden gem back to my memories.
Glad I bought Drakan a while back. It gets super difficult if you save at the wrong point or manage your resources poorly (or like me, tend not to have multiple saves) but what little I've played has been fun.
10:30 I could have sworn I was speaking to someone on another video about how the mimic did not originate from Maximo. A lot of famous monster archetypes were designed much older than we think.
Holy shit, I barely remember playing some bad ass demo of a woman flying a dragon off an old JamPack disc when i was a kid. I always thought it was a fever dream and never knew the games name until this video. Thank you, im definitely gonna revisit as an adult and give it an honest playthrough. It looks so much better than what little I remember
Hell yea. You mentioned Baroque! A friend of mine gifted it to me because he wasnt too into it but he was a die hard atlas game fan. I love baroque soo much. Anyone who hasnt heard of it, look into it. The levels are procedurally generated and the story is amazingly brooding. Classic atlas atmosphere world ending apocalyptic story.
Maaaannnn I had a Drakan demo disk as a kid and loved the hell out of it but it got super scratched up and I couldn't play it anymore. Totally forgot about that!
Vagrant Story. If Dark Souls had a JRPG, turn-based version, it would be Vagrant Story. And it just so happens that Vagrant is one of my absolute favorite games, that i gravitated towards and instantly loved the Dark Souls series. Vagrant Story has the interconnected dungeon layout that DS1 has been known for. It has slow methodical combat compared to other JRPGs or even action games of its time. Massive bosses. Boss intros. A heavy emphasis on resource management in its Risk system, somewhat akin to how we have to manage Stamina in Dark Souls. Massive weapons and weapon variety. Class agnostic character builds. Dark theme and aesthetic. The dungeon crawl exploration emphasis. And a fast travel system that you dont get til much later in the game.
Drakan the ancients gate is one of my favorite games of all time. I’ve been waiting for a game review channel to mention it. Ahead of its time honestly
I feel like Monster Hunter, although very different in spirit, might be a pretty interesting contestant for a RPG-SoulsLike. It is about hunting big hard bosses with a lot of health where you need to memorize the attack patterns so that you can defensively roll (carful with stamina tho) and then punish them, you also have limited healing, and healing is pretty risky since it leaves you vulnerable for a while. Of course, outside of boss fights it is not at all similar, sure, but there is something about fights that gives me s dimilsr vibe
Honestly yeah, & the new one even has a few things i wish FS did, the main one being that you can hold a catalyst button &you get a quickselect for you spells rather than having to scroll through them each time
"YOU'LL BE INCREDIBLY GOOD AT *SPORTS!!* YOU'LL BE *POWER-LIFTING!!* *POWER-RUNNING!!* *POWER-SLEEPING!!* *POWER-EATING!!* *POWER-SPAWNING!...* *_BABIES!!!_* 400 BABIES!!!.." (👉ﾟヮﾟ)👉POWERTHIRST!!!👈(ﾟヮﾟ👈)
my dude. evergrace is LITERALLY souls before souls. and its made by fromsoft. it has the same mark/crest thing, the same post calamity ruined kingdom thing, its literally just a practice run for demon's souls.
While I definitely think all of these games deserve the spotlight more, in some ways I don't think Monster Hunter should be just an honorable mention considering its a direct precursor, with Fromsoft using it as a gold standard of a good combat system that they wanted to replicate the merits of.
I wish I knew "Blood Will Tell" existed back when I was still playing the ps2. Younger me would've replayed the hell out of it a hundred times. Okay, and Drakan. How the hell did I never hear about these titles- wow. Draken reminds me of a later title, Divinity Ego Draconis
I was very happy to see castlevania curse of darkness here. After playing elden ring I couldn't help but remember the PS2 game mechanics and the level of difficulty it had
Not sure how Soulsy it is as it’s been a while, but the Legend of Kay was one of my favorite PS2 games as a kid. Had really fun lock on type combat. The main character can be pretty annoying, but I think the simple story is pretty fun.
I feel like the "Retrieval" mechanic is such an important aspect of a Souls/Souls-like game, and none of these seem to have, aside from Maximo? Still, great selection of games.
DUDE! THANK YOU! For years ive been searching for the name of Maximo. I rented it from block buster for a weekend and all Icould remember is being 6 years old; scared shitless of the first area, dying so much the dude was stripped to his underwear. You've ended my decade long search and have earned my sub. Thank you.
The 2 maximo games were awesome haha
01:49 #5 - Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade
03:47 #4 - Shadow Tower: Abyss
06:25 #3 - Blood Will Tell
08:49 #2 - Maximo: Ghost To Glory
11:47 ## - Honorable Mentions
12:33 #1 - Drakan: The Ancient's Gate
JUSTICEEE
Maybe I should finally finish Drakan after two decades... :P
Severance: Blade of Darkness is an awesome souls-like from 2001, even if it wasn't for consoles originally. It was my first entry to the genre and only playing Demon's Souls new evoked the same feeling it had. Regardless I have some thoughts about what constitutes to "Souls" game, which none of Souls-likes can ever perhaps hope to emulate, but that's another topic entirely...
Finally!!!!!! Someone who loves Drakan as much as I do, only difference is I played it when it first released. I loved this game so much that I named my only daughter after the main character, Rynn! She wasn't born till 5 years after I played the game but thats how much of an impact the game made on me. Great video, gave a thumbs up and subbed.
for years this game was the best there was in the genre. i picked this game clean discovering its secrets. Rynns character is so well done thanks to her voice actor basically making this Lara Croft with Dragons.
My dad had Drakan: The Ancients' Gate on our PS2 and I struggled SO HARD as a kid growing up trying to finish it. Anytime I've ever mentioned it to anyone over the years, no one's ever heard of it and they all look at me like I have 2 heads when I try and explain it. I'm so glad you mentioned it so I can finally show people like "HEY LOOK IT'S REAL HERE PLEASE SEE" because it was just so COOL.
I saw the title and immediately knew Drakan was going to be here. I played this as a kid, then years later replayed it again and it held up so incredibly well. It's also the only fantasy rpg type game i know that does not respawn enemies. On one hand that's unfortunate because i love stuff like rare weapon drops and grinding, but also it means every optional area is alluring, you can get just a little more exp and money, which are essentially limited resources. It also is very non-linear, so replays can also be exciting since much like dark souls, you can access some optional mid/end game areas early if you know where to look and don't die. Also yiu can save wherever you want, the save system is functionally a slow save state, it's an insane game in so many ways
A quick side not, game with basically no respawning enemies, except some wildlife with scripted respawn triggers, would also be Gothic 1&2
FromSoftware has successfully gaslit an entire generation of gamers into thinking action games that have weapon-based combat and are hard are "Souls-like" games🤦♂
What do you mean? So you're telling me that Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts, Shadow of the Colossus, Tomb Raider, and Legend of Zelda aren't Soulslikes?! 😂
Mario kart 64 is my favorite soulslike personally
Tard
Yes. It always should have been called hardcore ARPG
Isn't this a completely fair interpretation though? Rogue was boiled down to "perma-death and procedural generation" for the purpose of the phrase rogue-like (or rogue-like before you get angry at me)
So why wouldn't you boil down the souls franchise into its base characteristics and turn it into a similar genre title?
Maximo's similar to Dark souls in the fact that it's actually part of a different game series entirely, a game that probably had a hand in inspiring the Soulsborne series in general. Ghosts n Goblins
That's true, the GnG series was definitely one of the inspirations. As it was Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.
Iirc the developers said it takes place in the same universe.
They just need to bring back Maximo.
A PS2 game that really feels like a “Souls-like” and was very challenging to beat was Star Wars Bounty Hunter. It’s basically Jango Souls lol.
How is Star wars bounty hunter a souls like? Is it because it can be challenging? So any game that has the slightest bit of challenge is a souls like?
@@Po-kemon I mean when you break it down none of these games are since they came before dark souls was even a thing.
I’m just saying the level design, atmosphere, boss fights, the enemy layout, and sense of relief you’d feel after getting past a tough area to see a checkpoint. Really gave me a lot of the same feels I had when playing souls games.
@@zaystro2915 your right about the atmosphere and everything. The game is awesome and one of my favorites. Have you played the remastered version of it?
... not even kinda?
Bro I rented that game a few times as a kid and was so frustrated with it 😂 I was hardstuck on the first level or two. Have the ps2 such an adult, dark vibe haha
I literally got goosebumps and blurted out "no fucking way" from your number one pick. I absolutely love Drakan: The Ancient's Gate and I have been playing it since I was a child; when it first released. I think I was like 6 or 7 playing that game. Nobody knows about the game, even in retro gaming communities, nobody ever talks about it. THANK YOU for bringing it into the spotlight. To be honest, you brought a TON of great games to the spotlight: Onimusha, Tenchu, etc. These are great games that folks just either don't know about or don't talk about.
Awesome video, dude. Thank you! I'm watching this on my TV, and I had to get on my phone to comment this.
Your editing and style are very old school youtube and im loving it!
Drakan does look cool. I ordered it, and I may try to review it myself whenever I can get a recording set up for PS2 titles.
The screenshot at the start just provided me with 2-3 games to play that I'll really like thank you
You beautiful man; you've suggested the glorious Maximo. You've gained my like. Maximo 2 is also a blast!
However, putting that game at #2 instead of #1 is pretty ballsy, dude. Now I have very, VERY high expectations for Drakan.
Core memory unlocked!
That game blood will tell I was just a kid. I remember playing that game and I've been searching for it for years. Crazy how long it's been.
You get a sub for that Powerthirst clip alone *chefs kiss*
Drakan my beloved. Was one of the first PS2 games I owned and I spent the rest of the generation chasing that high.
400 BABIES! I hadn't thought of Powerthirst in years lol
Same lol
bro i could not believe i was seeing a powerthirst reference
Drakengard fans (me) are livid that it wasn't included in this video
More like Darken gay lol
It's more akin to Dynasty Warriors iirc
Me I like drakengard
Definitely the second worst game ever person should play.
Drag on Dragoon is most definitely a hack and slash Warriors like.
Completely unlocked my memories of playing Drakan, so thanks for that
Nice! My Like for the Powerthirst reference :D
This was a great and unique video. Keep it up man, you’re enjoyable to listen to. Subbed.
How is Evergrace just an honourable mention? It's literally FromSofts first attempt at the genre.
>king's field
@@hesiolite That was first person though, and didn't have the same kind of level design or story beats.
@@Christian-rn1ur honnestly having played them kf2 and 4 come close level design wise as well as story wise
@@hesiolite That's not too surprising - Fromsofts mantra seems to be 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. I think this is the first time they did it from a third person perspective though that would be recognizable as 'soulslike' today.
And the prequel, Forever Kingdom, is pretty fun, too. The Evergrace franchise also marks the beginning of fashion souls.
Blood will tell's bosses look insane thanks for the recommendation, bro.
I'm not listening to a dude who attacks the Fair Lady and the Emerald Herald
powerthirst and WKUK reference in one vid, amazing stuff
My brothers and I rented a game from blockbuster as a kid. When we opened the case, drakan was in it, not the game we wanted. Disappointed we tried it out because we had it so why not and it became one of our favorite games. So muchso we bought it as soon as we had to bring the rental back. Still up there with one of my favorite games to this day
the 400 babies reference just unlocked a memory I didn't know I had.
GUN!
ahh maximo, that game was brutal to me as a 7 year old. Loved it then and then i played it on the emulator earlier this month and it was just as brutal as i remember.
never heard of drakan either and it looks awesome for the time . might actually get a copy myself .
glad tenchu is getting recognition, one of my childhood games, love it
Maximo aged like fine wine ngl
oooh,you didn't see Champios of Norrath..what a story,gameplay,all those fancy weapons,every spell has its own gorgeous animation only...you can't roll out of trouble,but when you see the bosses you'll see from where From soft gots it inspiration for giants
Amazing! I played Drakan pc game at a friend's place, and it stayed with me for decades.
I've never remembered how it was called, but I've found it now! And a ps2 sequel? Thank you!
Great video been looking fo some souls like games to emulate and ur video was the pot of gold
You supplied my exact search. Subscribed. Great job me lad
"The Bells" scene with For Whom the Bell Tolls was NOT a reference I was expecting in this video!
so funny story about that actually, i’ve never seen Game of Thrones, but when that episode aired, everyone was super upset about it, right? Well as someone who had no context and hadn’t seen the show, I saw THAT video with that song, and was like “dude this is fucking awesome, i can’t imagine a context where this is not objectively kick ass.”
Game of Thrones fans feel differently lol
@@Mortuary_Gaming ohhhh boy do we.
but even as bullshit that ending was, the mix of the scene with Metallica was absolutely kickass.
2:50 where is this clip from? I have to know the context
Me too dude, I really gotta know
No fr please I need to know
Meanwhile it's a personal video the RUclipsr had on their camera roll
Power thirst and then TWKYK references. 10/10
Thank you for this list! Great video!
Glad i found your channel bro. Subbed!
the fact ever grace was mentioned but only a 3 second clip of eternal ring was shown is heartbreaking
My inner child is in tears finding out that Drakan was out there somewhere and I just never heard of it
I rented that Drakan game once as a child and was in awe, couldn't stop playing it for the entire week. after returning it I could never find it again, to see it here just unlocked a core memory :D
Cool list man. I missed most of these because when the ps2 was popular. i was 14 and obsessed with tony hawk i got into souls games a few years back so i appreciate this list dude. Oh and eff the haters in your comments they probably just need a happy meal😂 great video
Warriors of Might and Magic on PS1 comes to mind as a "souls like" but then again PS1 has a lot of games that would be considered soulslike. Mostly because of how stiff the controls are making them much more methodical and difficult.
Armored core for example was much much more methodical back then.
Great video. I had fun watching and really enjoyed it. I like souls like games but they are generally too hard for me. I recently picked up a fhdb hard drive for my PS2 and have been playing many different games. I've also been watching a lot of RUclips videos about PS2 games. I didn't click on this video, it was selected for me buy auto play and I liked it more than any I have watched in awhile. Well done sir 👍
i appreciate the honesty 😂 thanks for the kind words 🤘
That first game looked badass tbh.
Hilarious editing btw. Literally made me laugh out loud.
I’ll subscribe
I just want another online game I can invade in. Souls multiplayer is BY FAR the most under appreciated and unique feature of the games.
i agree with that so fucking hard
@@Mortuary_Gaming The only other game besides LotF I can think of that has a similar system is Sniper Elite 5
Even From Software dropped it lol, I miss weird random invasions. Though cheaters/hackers were a bit aggravating in the later games that still had it.
I remember playing Draken repeatedly on the demo disk back in the day. Totally forgot the name.
Maximo rules! I was so awful at it when my dad first bought it, but it’s time to revisit it.
I think it might of been called jampack or something similar because I played that demo so much too lol
Happy to see some love for Blood Will Tell.
Yeah, my ps2 is reviving from the confines of the drawer, again
Yooo I LOVED Maximo as a kid, appreciate the representation ❤️❤️❤️ what a great find, I'm subbing!
Yoooo. I was a professional game reviewer the entire PS2 gen and I never played Drakan! I do love Tenchu, Suffering, and Blood Will Tell, though. And of course Souls.
Chaos Legion is a good nomination. It’s a DMC style game but the stages are pretty unforgiving if you bring the wrong gear.
Primal also seems to be a game resembling Soulslike, with elements of Dark Souls and Soul Reaver.
When I saw PS2 in the title I knew you'd mention Drakan, I was too scared of it when I was a kid and didn't get too far though. Somehow I got through Silent Hill 3 though XD
With channels like this, bumpers truly enhanced the content of the shows and in some cases were more memorable than the shows themselves
concerning your honorable mentions, the OG version of Baroque on Saturn and PS1 would be even more interesting to fans of Fromoft's dark fantasy games than then PS2/Wii remake (which is neat but a bit tonally off)
Among the thousands of games I own, I barely finished a few dozens at best. Drakan is one of them and God, what a game ! It kept me entertained for weeks, maybe months (as a gamer I'm slow as hell). In my sleep I was even dreaming about it sometimes. All you said about it is true. By no means this is a perfect game, but it has a great charm and personality. Thanks for bringing this hidden gem back to my memories.
Glad I bought Drakan a while back. It gets super difficult if you save at the wrong point or manage your resources poorly (or like me, tend not to have multiple saves) but what little I've played has been fun.
Amazing video, the last game seems really good.
Prolly gonna cop the last 2 games, great video.
00:55 😂 bruh only OGs will remember that
That guy is immortalized. ... Into a meme. Lol
10:30 I could have sworn I was speaking to someone on another video about how the mimic did not originate from Maximo. A lot of famous monster archetypes were designed much older than we think.
this videos a sleeper hit, needs more views
That's really sweet of you to say! I'm still a really new channel so I'm blessed ya'll are here at all :)
Holy shit, I barely remember playing some bad ass demo of a woman flying a dragon off an old JamPack disc when i was a kid. I always thought it was a fever dream and never knew the games name until this video. Thank you, im definitely gonna revisit as an adult and give it an honest playthrough. It looks so much better than what little I remember
Great video! I sold Drakan on eBay not even realizing it was good 🤦♂️
I wasn't expecting Gerard and Mikey in a random video on RUclips. NICE
Hell yea. You mentioned Baroque! A friend of mine gifted it to me because he wasnt too into it but he was a die hard atlas game fan. I love baroque soo much. Anyone who hasnt heard of it, look into it. The levels are procedurally generated and the story is amazingly brooding. Classic atlas atmosphere world ending apocalyptic story.
Maaaannnn I had a Drakan demo disk as a kid and loved the hell out of it but it got super scratched up and I couldn't play it anymore. Totally forgot about that!
Lords of the Fallen 2016 was my first souls like, and I really really loved it
Vagrant Story. If Dark Souls had a JRPG, turn-based version, it would be Vagrant Story. And it just so happens that Vagrant is one of my absolute favorite games, that i gravitated towards and instantly loved the Dark Souls series.
Vagrant Story has the interconnected dungeon layout that DS1 has been known for. It has slow methodical combat compared to other JRPGs or even action games of its time. Massive bosses. Boss intros. A heavy emphasis on resource management in its Risk system, somewhat akin to how we have to manage Stamina in Dark Souls. Massive weapons and weapon variety. Class agnostic character builds. Dark theme and aesthetic. The dungeon crawl exploration emphasis. And a fast travel system that you dont get til much later in the game.
You even liked your own comment cause you knew no one would agree with you lmao
Nope
If you haven't already you need to play Lunacid
Drakan was one of my favorite games as a kid. Truly FAR ahead of its time. Thanks for mentioning it!
this video is right up my alley! thanks for the recommendations! :)
Good vid, subbed.
I actually bought drakan half a year ago at a thrift store bc the cover art was cool. now im excited to play it.
Drakan the ancients gate is one of my favorite games of all time. I’ve been waiting for a game review channel to mention it. Ahead of its time honestly
I feel like Monster Hunter, although very different in spirit, might be a pretty interesting contestant for a RPG-SoulsLike. It is about hunting big hard bosses with a lot of health where you need to memorize the attack patterns so that you can defensively roll (carful with stamina tho) and then punish them, you also have limited healing, and healing is pretty risky since it leaves you vulnerable for a while. Of course, outside of boss fights it is not at all similar, sure, but there is something about fights that gives me s dimilsr vibe
MY GUY IS GONNA BE PLAYING EVERY HORROR GAME ON PS2? COUNT ME IN
Another souls like game for ps2 you might like is Rune Viking Warlord.
Holy shit Drakan with todays technology and combat systems would be unreal
Bruh I actually loved lords of the fallen. It was janky but it was fun, especially now. The devs put a bunch of work into it through updates.
Honestly yeah, & the new one even has a few things i wish FS did, the main one being that you can hold a catalyst button &you get a quickselect for you spells rather than having to scroll through them each time
"YOU'LL BE INCREDIBLY GOOD AT *SPORTS!!* YOU'LL BE *POWER-LIFTING!!* *POWER-RUNNING!!* *POWER-SLEEPING!!* *POWER-EATING!!* *POWER-SPAWNING!...* *_BABIES!!!_*
400 BABIES!!!.."
(👉ﾟヮﾟ)👉POWERTHIRST!!!👈(ﾟヮﾟ👈)
"MOTHER NATURE WILL BE LIKE 'SLOOOW DOOOWN' AND BE LIKE 'FUCK YOU!!' AND KICK HER IN THE FACE WITH YOUR !!!!ENERGY LEGS!!!!"
Was that a Powerthirst reference? Holy crap
my dude. evergrace is LITERALLY souls before souls. and its made by fromsoft. it has the same mark/crest thing, the same post calamity ruined kingdom thing, its literally just a practice run for demon's souls.
Shadow Tower Abyss was an amazing game and it was worth playing all the way through
While I definitely think all of these games deserve the spotlight more, in some ways I don't think Monster Hunter should be just an honorable mention considering its a direct precursor, with Fromsoft using it as a gold standard of a good combat system that they wanted to replicate the merits of.
I wish I knew "Blood Will Tell" existed back when I was still playing the ps2. Younger me would've replayed the hell out of it a hundred times.
Okay, and Drakan. How the hell did I never hear about these titles- wow. Draken reminds me of a later title, Divinity Ego Draconis
thank god emulation exists, because I had never heard of blood will tell so I looked at the price online
yea no, 400+ is insane
oh absolutely. if these companies aren’t going to preserve their art, we’re gonna do it for them 🤘
The clip of the bot playing the cup head tutorial was soo golden.
People really do go out of their way to do everything they can to not read.
I played Drakan the Ancients Gates to death growing up and I never met another person who had heard of it
Dang, was not expecting a wkuk clip, rip Trevor
I was very happy to see castlevania curse of darkness here. After playing elden ring I couldn't help but remember the PS2 game mechanics and the level of difficulty it had
Man, Shadow of Rome is such a hidden gem it's criminal, but I guess the difficulty wraps it up why it isn't more popular😅
Not sure how Soulsy it is as it’s been a while, but the Legend of Kay was one of my favorite PS2 games as a kid. Had really fun lock on type combat. The main character can be pretty annoying, but I think the simple story is pretty fun.
I grew up with Drakan, both the games were amazing
It still puzzles me infinitely why so few people know about Drakan
I feel like the "Retrieval" mechanic is such an important aspect of a Souls/Souls-like game, and none of these seem to have, aside from Maximo?
Still, great selection of games.
I was not expecting "400 hundred babies!" Great callback to early RUclips.