I played Elden Ring and it quickly became my favorite video game. I still watch lore videos on youtube and it’s been more than a year since I played the game. I played Sekiro later and adored it for both the gameplay and lore. I want to get into darksouls, and I’m pretty lore-oriented. Do I need to start from DS1 or can I jump into DS3? Would love any thoughts. Thanks!
1 and 3 are very lore-related, 2 has more like an "easter egg* feeling in respect to 1. I would play the three in order (in fact, that’s what I did), but if you want to skip, skip 2 (or play it after 3). It’s kind of the same situation as Silent Hill, where 1 and 3 are heavily related but 2 can be played apart.
And don’t let them convince you that 2 is bad. It’s not as mechanically good as the other two, but it’s awesome in other ways (good lore, the best hub, power stancing, the best cat, the best fashion, etc.). Even as the worst Soulsborne is better than 80% of the games out there.