Not for SL1/RL1, afaik. However, iirc, DS2 does give you a set of rings for doing no bonfires and no estus. (One ring makes your right hand weapon invisible, the other makes the left hand weapon invisible.)

Let’s be honest, the US was no shining beacon of democracy even before Trump. The system was rotten and everyone knew it. However, those with the power to change it have no incentive to do so. It was basically held up because the poeple in charge had some common decency. At that point it’s just a matter of time before someone came along that didn’t have this basic decency.

I think the people of the UK should take a long, hard look at how the situation has evolved in the US and decide if they want to change their system to avoid having only two parties dominate the political climate. Ironically, being a monarchy means they are probably more resistant to going down the same route, but I suspect the parties are going to get more radical as time goes on and the royals aren’t terribly popular these days.

(Opinion to be taken with a pinch of salt. I am no expert in these things and don’t live in either country; We’ve got our own radicalization and issues with our own democracy.)

Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 2, Elden Ring. Even if you don’t count Demon’s Souls and Elden Ring because you meet a boss before you can level there is still DS2, which has no tutorial boss, and requires you to move through an area before fighting the first boss (which will be either Last Giant, Pursuer, Dragonrider, Old Dragon Slayer, Najka, or the Rotten if I remember correctly).

Honestly, I’d probably say that Ryze is the main character of LoL. Dude is out here traveling across the land, searching far and wide. Trying to catch them all collect all the world runes before they cause another disaster. His cinematic (Power) gave real main character vibes.

(And I think Ryze would have a pretty good shot at surviving Yharnam.)

In my opinion Bloodborne 2 and Demon Souls 2 are disqualified for being PS exclusives, and therefore I have no interest in them.

Sekiro I just didn’t like all that much, so I don’t really care for a Sekiro 2. I think From did well in making it; it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

For all my gripes with Dark Souls 3 it did tie up the series nicely with a nice bow, so I don’t really want any more Dark Souls games (If anything Dark Souls it would be a proper remaster of Dark Souls 2, but that is never happenening/that already happened and is called Elden Ring.)

So by default I guess the answer is Elden Ring. There are a bunch of story threads that I would like to know more about in Elden Ring (mainly The Gloam Eyed Queen and Melina (who is probably the prison/host for her) and what happens after the madness ending) and I like the game. But I think I’m pretty happy with where the game ended, and a sequel would need to choose which ending is canon (or be a prequel, I guess. The Shattering could be a fun time to explore) or it would need to be so distant from the game that we won’t hear anything about the questions raised in Elden Ring anyway (Dark Souls / Nightreign style).

If I could pick freely I think I would prefer that From takes the lessons they learned from Elden Ring and makes something new.

Bonfire Ascetics for sure. Missed them is every other game and I have no idea why they haven’t made a return.

Beyond the obvious I’d also like to add the ability to powerstance different types of weapons (like rapier+dagger). The wakisashi in ER tries to be that, but it falls short since it loses the ability to powerstance with daggers.

Lutheran practice, mainly. (Wikipedia link) Honestly never occurred to me that there are places where this isn’t normal (though the candles aren’t usually in wreaths here, just in regular candle sticks with four candles).

I assumed op meant exclusive access in the sense of “this is mine, and nobody else is allowed to use it”.

Dunno about people in the US, but this chat says the information is from England. I’m guessing delivery is included in one of the other categories (probably outcome of delivery).

That’s fair and understandable, and very fitting for Dark Souls 2 at the very least where they basically say “Yeah, you are immortal because you are playing a game, so the only thing that can “kill” you is giving up.”

But at the same time there is clearly someone on the writing team with strong opinions on the search for immortality.

I mean, the Fromsoft’s Soulsbornes are set in decaying ruins because the themes and story kinda demand it. One of the central themes of the game is that immortality is bad and the pursuit of immortality is evil (which is what I thought this article was going to be about from the headline). The games are set in societies that have attempted to become “eternal empires” and as a result are now decaying slowly, not allowing something new to take its place. The player then comes on and usher in the “new age” (or you can choose to attempt to carry on without changing anything). Dark Souls 3 is probably most clear about this, where in the DLC you meet yourself in the shape of Friede. She does the exact same thing you are doing, but on a smaller scale and has chosen to not burn the painting and imprison the painted that would make it anew. What she puts doing is obviously wrong, and it gives you a not-so-subtle hint that kindling the first flame is also the wrong thing to do.

Funnily enough, I think the wording of the patent (as far as I’ve seen it) causes Darkest Dungeon to be in violation of it. You play as a character (the inheritor of the estate), then you summon another character (the party) who go wandering around until they meet an enemy, whereupon the game transitions to a battle screen that the player controls. I think we can all agree that DD is nothing like Pokémon, though, and should never be impacted by Pokémons attempt at monopolizing their genre.

Miquella and Marika are both schemers, and they both care deeply (or so it seems) about their PR. They want to appear as benevolent gods while making sure that the blame for bad stuff falls on someone else. (Marika makes sure Messmer is blamed for the genocide she ordered, Melina is blamed for burning the Erdtree, and I’d argue she also is responsible for the Night of the Black Knives that Ranni is blamed for. Miquella males sure Mohg is blamed for his failure to counteract the scarlet rot, and Melania is blamed for anything that happened during the Shattering.)

Their other halves (Radagon and st. Trina) both seem much nicer and more genuine, but they are locked away and suppressed as far as the more powerful halves are able.

In a meager defense of the cult of the Formless Mother, the finger maidens are literally working for the Greater Will (although they are low ranking), they can’t stick around if you change faith and it seems they are bound to their Tarnished spiritually.

It’s still a murder cult though, so I don’t claim that they are good at all.

Miquella is in many ways exactly like his mother. Unfortunately, his mother is by and large a pretty terrible person.

Guild Wars 2:

Citadel of Flame dungeon
Volcanic fractal
Molten Furnace fractal
Molten Boss fractal
Probably some others I don’t remember.
(Fractals are shorter dungeons.)

Most of these read like ads. Most of the rest read like information found in an advertising profile (the kind of info that ad companies purchase). Only a couple read like actual things people care about.

Honestly, I have no idea myself. I first saw it at GDQ yesterday (or so).

Arctic Eggs kind of cooking going on here.

Meanwhile, parrying with Greatswords in DS2. The best of both worlds.