How was From Software perceived before Soulsborne?

[boi]

With the success of the Soulsborne games, From Software looks like they have cemented themselves in the games industry. I started playing From Software games with Dark Souls Remastered (so very recently) but after completing the game, I immediately bought Dark Souls III, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 2 and I have yet to play Demon's Souls. And gosh, what rollercoaster ride it has been. It reignited a passion for games in me I did not had before.

It also made me think about the developer. What was From Software before the Soulsborne games? Were they as respected for the Armored Core games as they were for Dark Souls/Bloodborne (only by a smaller audience)? Was the level of quality always that high? Was Demon's Souls an "accident" that now defines the company? Its fucking crazy because before I played Dark Souls I thought of FromSoft as B-rank developer, making niche games with varying quality. Now they are my favorite developer.

 

[En-ou]

I only remembered they did some Lost something game.

 

[Strafer]

Had no who they were honestly.

 

[wrowa]

Most people didn't know they were a thing. Others considered them as somewhat of a cult studio that developed interesting but most of the time rather flawed games.

 

[TheStebe]

From Software was always well respected before the souls games in my view!

Armoured Core is simply an amazing franchise and Metal Wolf Chaos was just insane.

Personally i still love the Otogi games that were on the original Xbox. Had such a great combat system

 

[Azoor]

Xbox players knew them for this little gem.

 

[Deleted member 17952]

They did a lot of niche action games and RPGs but they were best known for the Armored Core series.

 

[Ehoavash]

Never even heard of them

 

[Oliver James]

They were pretty niche. I already loved Echo Night and Otogi from them, also, King's Field and Armored Core have their cult following.

 

[Jimnymebob]

They were always a very niche Japanese developer that didn't really have any great games, but they had series with loyal fans.

 

[WyLD iNk]

I thought they'd cemented themselves right around the PS1 era with King's Field and Shadow Tower, both of which were popular from where I stood. I thought they got even more popular with Armored Core, and that Demon's Souls was just another high quality game they made.

I still don't think they've topped both Otogi games, personally, but I'm cool with the idea that they're getting some deserved wider notoriety.

 

[Lynd]

Lost Kingdoms on the Cube!

 

[FormatCompatible]

I really liked the King's Field series.

Also Otogi 1+2 and Armored Core are fantastic.

 

[StuBurns]

I thought Armoured Core was lame, Otogi was kind of okay-ish, never played King's Field.

I actually think Echo Night Beyond is their older title with the most palpable design by modern standards. The controls are jank as all hell, but I think if handled correctly, that game has a lot that would resonate with people today.

 

[Nya]

.

 

[Modest_Modsoul]

Tenchu games?

I somewhat know them from that.

 

[Lukemia SL]

They didn't exist to me. They still aren't on my must buy anything they make list either.

 

[Clov]

I at least knew them from this fun little gem they put out!

 

[Carn]

I knew they made Armoured Core and Kings Field, but that was pretty much it.

 

[mindsale]

They weren't on my radar at all until I bought Demon's Souls.

 

[Bjones]

In the West they were that armoured core dev.

In the east they were the armored core / kings field dev.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

As an Xbox gamer who liked a lot of the Xbox's import library I knew a lot of their titles and liked what they made. Other than Armored core, I didn't consider there games to be the best in their respective genres but they still had an enjoyable library. From has always been a pretty uneven developer for me(back then). That being said I haven't beat any of their stuff post Demon Souls

 

[Skronk]

Their games would always show up on Demo discs but I would never played them for more than a few mins. Usually because they'd be too hard

 

[ThereAreFourNaan]

A niche developer. Not 100% unknown but absolutely not a developer you would expect most people to have heard of, even if they had played a Tenchu or something.

 

[John Bender]

Mediocre studio with some nice gems every now and then.

 

[Deleted member 25108]

From Software were a GOAT tier developer before Souls were even a thing. They were basically a more successful Platinum games.

Armoured core, Otogi, Metal wolf chaos, Chromehounds, Kings field... All dope shit.

In many ways the success of Soulsborne has been a detriment because people honestly don't seem to realise what kind of range they have as a studio. They don't need to ever make another Souls game and they will sit produce amazing games.

 

[StuBurns]

Tenchu games?

I somewhat know them from that.

Click to shrink...

They were originally by Acquire. From bought the IP later, and only produced some of the later things, like the PSP ports.

 

[Bamboo]

I at least knew them from this fun little gem they put out!

Click to shrink...

To this day the only From Software game i played. Dark Souls is in my backlog though.

 

[Hiryu]

They were well none with my me and my friends for Armored Core and Kings Field especially. I was heavy into the import scene then so that's probably why.

 

[NediarPT88]

Had no idea who they were until Miyazaki was unleashed.

Spoiler

 

[Duxxy3]

They made the armored core games and I didn't really follow them.

 

[Firebricks]

They were known for the Armored Core and King's Field series, so they were already established as core gamer favorites.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

Dark Souls is the first thing I played from them, only heard of their other stuff. Had no opinion on them, DS placed them on the radar.

 

[Deleted member 3058]

My first time noticing them was Eternal Ring.

Loved that game. Started following them somewhat and then fell in love with the Armored Cores.

 

[GOOCHY]

The original Tenchu wasn't developed by From Software but wouldn't it be cool if they made a new one? :)

I only knew them from Armored Core prior to the Dark Souls games.

 

[Sargerus]

I remember they received flak because Ninja Blade was a poor man's Ninja Gaiden.

 

[HyGogg]

They were a prolific dev with a following, but nowhere near the AAA powerhouse they are now.

You could make an argument they were like Platinum Games tier; they made a ton of games and a lot of them were good and some of them were bad, but when you saw the name it was reason to take a second look.

 

[Deleted member 17952]

Demon's Souls was a spiritual successor to the King's Field series, which was... not the best. Some might argue they were waiting for the hardware to catch up to their later vision of Demon's, but even that was considered a niche title that only built by word of mouth and eventual localisations.

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Hidetaka Miyazaki deserves every single credit for making Demon's Souls into what it is. King's Field may have been the initial template, but calling it a spiritual predecessor does Miyazaki so much disservice.



FROM Software can easily be separated into two parts: pre-Miyazaki and post-Miyazaki.

 

[MonsterJail]

Don't think I heard of them before Demons, not sure if I ever saw a King's Field game. Would've thought of them as a Mech studio between Armored core and Chromehounds

With the last 10 years of From games and the reputation they got, I wonder how a new Mech game by them would go down? Would people be more willing to dive into the complicated systems they had (from what I remember, they had a pretty steep difficulty curve)

 

[boi]

From Software were a GOAT tier developer before Souls were even a thing. They were basically a more successful Platinum games.

Armoured core, Otogi, Metal wolf chaos, Chromehounds, Kings field... All dope shit.

In many ways the success of Soulsborne has been a detriment because people honestly don't seem to realise what kind of range they have as a studio. They don't need to ever make another Souls game and they will sit produce amazing games.

Click to shrink...

Interesting. Do you think they will now never leave that type of game?

 

[djplaeskool]

Armored Core games, so awesome comes to mind.

 

[jay]

I thought they made interesting if not very good games. Kings Field is maybe the only game I actually returned. I can see some charm in it now and souls roots but as a teen it was such a grim, joyless experience.

 

[Strings]

I'd played a couple of their games without knowing it / attributing them all to the same company.

Something like Lost Kingdoms was cool, while Enchanted Arms was trash-tier.

 

[GwyndolinCinder]

I'd never heard of them (had played their games though). I first saw dark souls on Xbox live, the game was still relatively unheard of as this was soon after release.

I literally saw a single image of darkroot forest and was instantly like "wait that's it, the game I've always wanted.". I watched Keza's IGN review and it was clear my first impression was right, this was a game about a wonderful/horrible world. I played the game all night, only stopping after finding the hydra, to call my brother round "This is the best game I've ever played, it's horrible and I'm basically there". He brought the game immediately after seeing it.
This is how modern day fromsoft become what it is, word of mouth, the only marketing you need when nobody else is making the games you can only dream up in your head.

 

[boi]

I'd never heard of them (had played their games though). I first saw dark souls on Xbox live, the game was still relatively unheard of as this was soon after release.

I literally saw a single image of darkroot forest and was instantly like "wait that's it, the game I've always wanted.". I watched Keza's IGN review and it was clear my first impression was right, this was a game about a wonderful/horrible world. I played the game all night, only stopping after finding the hydra, to call my brother round "This is the best game I've ever played, it's horrible and I'm basically there". He brought the game immediately after seeing it.
This is how modern day fromsoft become what it is, word of mouth, the only marketing you need when nobody else is making the games you can only dream up in your head.

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Lol thats funny because I hated Dark Souls the first 10 hours. I kept playing because the game fucking ignored me. It did not pay me any attention. It had no respect for me as a player. Then after ten, lonesome, frustrating hours in which between I asked for a refund (but did not get any) I saw the value of the game. So its crazy for me to see how someone instantly can observe that game and see the quality in it.

 

[makingmusic476]

Lol thats funny because I hated Dark Souls the first 10 hours. I kept playing because the game fucking ignored me. It did not pay me any attention. It had no respect for me as a player. Then after ten, lonesome, frustrating hours in which between I asked for a refund (but did not get any) I saw the value of the game. So its crazy for me to see how someone instantly can observe that game and see the quality in it.

Click to shrink...

I imported Demon's Souls from HK when it seemed like it wasn't going to be localized.

Some people can just tell. ;)

 

[Poimandres]

They always made interesting games. Armoured Core was very impressive on PS1 when it released. I grabbed a copy of Otogi 2 and ot was super intriguing. Chrome Hounds got a lot of attention, multiplayer specifically. Their games were always very interesting! It's a total miracle they broke through to the mainstream when many contemporaries were unceremoniously shut down last gen.

 

[EarthPainting]

Its fucking crazy because before I played Dark Souls I thought of FromSoft as B-rank developer, making niche games with varying quality. Now they are my favorite developer.

Click to shrink...

I actually think that still kind of applies to From. The B-tier development scene is simply a lot more interesting than most people would think. What you miss in polish, is often compensated for with bolder ideas. It's harder to do new things when there's a lot of money riding on its performance.

 

[Achtung]

Were they not Chromehounds? If so that's where I knew them from... loved that game.

 

[Adamska]

A great developer, at least in my eyes. Armored Core has been quite a consistent series since the PS1, and pretty much the only mecha game where customization and action receive equal focus.

Too bad we've yet to receive an entry for this gen.