Mods are all what we got. Archolos, Enderal. It won't get better.

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>>3919333
>Dark Souls and clones? Doesn't have a world
World is the only thing that makes fromslop worth playing.

>>3919333
>Dark Souls and clones? Doesn't have a world. Doesn't have a story.
Im assuming your illiterate?

>>3919342
Zanzibart... forgive me...

>>3919336
>random assortment of vaguely real world architecture scaled to impress
it's a forgettable stage that doesn't make any sense whatsoever if scrutinized
even skyrim world design is more believable than dark souls and we are not even talking about the lava lake on top of a poison swamp on top of a forest and all connected by a ladder shenanigans here

>>3919333
cause UR a fucking RETART

>>3919356
probably, given that I am still waiting for a good game

but is there seriously no game that fits the bill, not even in development?

There has to be something? Somebody somewhere just throwing together a decent combat system, writing and world to explore?

Which slavic shit hole are you posting from, spopovich?

>>3919336
It's somewhat surprising how many retards pretend this

ADHD ARPG fan can't have story in his button musher because he would have to sit and listen.
Witcher and Dark Souls is as close as it gets.

>>3919350
Nobody is denying DS2s world is retardedly constructed. Nobody honest anyway. That's one of its major criticisms by From fans.

Pretending the whole series is like the tower and iron keep is disingenuous and retarded. OP is either lying or hasn't actually played any souls game if he thinks they don't have a world or story.

>>3919737
sure, the stacking in dark souls 2 is just the worst example, but gigantic empty cathedrals with no economy, no reason for existence and no inhabitants aren't exactly a world either, but just a scene made to look cool
the same goes for the story which is always just a variation of "everything went to shit and the player can make it varying flavors of more or less shit in the end", but it doesn't even matter because only monsters live there in the first place

>>3919342
Item descriptions aren't a real story even if there are YouTubers making a career out of pretending they are.

>>3919350
The theme of Dark Souls 2 is dreams. Climbing up a windmill in a poison swamp and finding yourself in a lava castle makes sense by dream logic.

>>3919333
Because 3D games are now very, very expensive to make to get a decent return on investment. The Gothic 1 and 2 games qualify as "low-poly" by today's standards, and 3 is only just barely better. Compare them to Baldur's Gate 3 or Clair Obscur visually. Ignoring gameplay for a moment, BG3 and COE33 are both head and shoulders more visually impressive than the Gothic games.

You used to be able to employ a lean team of around 20-50 people, crank out a game in 2-3 years, and absolutely crush it in sales. Game of the year material, or at least be a decent success among genre fans. Now, gamers have tons more games they can go play. You aren't just competing against the new games of today, but the old games of yesterday. If someone makes a fun ARPG with PS2 tier graphics today, why wouldn't I just go back and play the greatest hits from that era on an emulator for free or buy them off GOG for a couple dollars? Why wouldn't I just spend my time playing the hottest new triple-A mocap and voice-acted modern game? Most people won't have any interest in a new ARPG unless it has hot new graphics, mocap, and voice acting. Maybe not people on this board, but the public at large is that way.

And because there's just not as much money in it these days, studios don't invest in projects like that any more.

>Kingdom Cum? Doesn't have combat and is borderline railroaded movie game.
This is exactly what I'm talking about. To sell enough copies, most of these games NEED to be like that.

speaking all of this - what are some good ARPGs for PC that are older, that I should look back to and to play? I'm looking for games with good writing and good story, I don't care about graphics and in fact prefer "less" graphics so that my imagination can fill in the blank more. I am going with BG3 now and while I do enjoy it, I think the story and writing and dialogue are all over the place.

>>3920114
>I am going with BG3 now and while I do enjoy it, I think the story and writing and dialogue are all over the place.
In the trash can, primarily

>>3919737
>Pretending the whole series is like the tower and iron keep is disingenuous and retarded. OP is either lying or hasn't actually played any souls game if he thinks they don't have a world or story.
Not OP, he seems like a faggot and a >>3919638
But Dark Souls doesn't actually have anything resembling a normal RPG world, people who think it does are pretty cringe.
Lordran is a videogame theme park. The whole thing is a metaphor for a videogame and nothing makes sense except through that lens. NPCs are either simulated players of the videogame (eg Solaire) or they are classic action game style NPCs that are just inserted arbitrarily into the videogame levels for videogame reasons.

>>3920101
>Most people won't have any interest in a new ARPG unless it has hot new graphics, mocap, and voice acting.
Bullshit, the most popular games on earth are Minecraft and Counter Strike. Cutting edge graphics are not that important.

>>3920129
It does seem like devs behave as if they believe what that anon wrote, though.
Also, that anon already noted the existence of old games like (Counterstrike and Minecraft) still competing with new games, to bolster his point.

>>3920101
As far as the largest target audiences and budget are concerned, I would agree. This is where all those movie games get spawned.
But there is also the fact, that nobody made a decent gameplay focused ARPG. After Gothic, maybe Witcher and then Kingdom Cum... there really weren't any decent attempts.

There was, for example, Elex, which in theory could have fit the bill. But the game was bad, not because of visuals, but because the developers made very poor decisions at every step: beginner level writing and completey wasted potential from the setting, clunky combat system with pointless gimmicks that actively made it worse, exploration completely destroyed by giving the player a jetpack at the start of the game that allows to fly over any obstacle at will and can also be abused in combat, stats not working etc.

But it can be done, even these days. In theory at least. A game with a somewhat believable world, plenty of NPCs, quests, settlements, melee, ranged, magic combat and lots of stuff to explore.
Not asking to reinvent the wheel, just dark souls / mount & blade combat in an actual world, without any pointless gimmicks.
That game would have 0 contemporary competition on the market as well.

>>3920241
What about that chink game with the monkey? I remember it getting some awards in 2024.

>>3920253
black myth wukong is a soulslike with focus on boss fights
not saying it's a bad game, but it's just not a complete rpg experience and mostly a linear action game

>>3919333
Of Ash and Steel seems like it's exactly what you're looking for.
Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon is a close second.
You'll whine about these games too since you care more about complaining than about enjoying games