Controversial opinion, but I’d probably pick Dark Souls 1. It’s the one I’m most disinterested to play. DS2 is the outsider and has earned its accolades via that alone, plus it’s the most experimental DS game, which is cool. DS3 has fun world building and good combat, or rather my preferred speed, so it beats DS1 in that regard too. DS1 wasn’t particularly fun to play for me in comparison.
The others are one-ofs and have all brought something truly unique to their catalogue, culminating in ER which is arguably, next to DS1 maybe, the most influential Soulslike in existence.
What’s your take?
Playing Dark Souls 1. First run since playing through all of the soulsbourne games. I’ve been sailing through so far (bandit’s knife +15, target shield for parries and hornet ring) but am getting absolutely wrecked by Artorias. I missed him on my first run and my weapon barely hurts him so it seems I have a grind ahead of me.
If I had to delete one forever that I’ve actually played (so not demon souls or armored core) it would have to be DS2. I’m not a hater, genuinely love some elements of it, but the others are incredible and it’s the one I least want to go back to