The World of Dark Souls: A Terrible Place to Live

[Tom Goldman]

The World of Dark Souls: A Terrible Place to Live

Don't even consider trying to move to the world of Dark Souls.

Real estate values in the world of Demon's Souls [http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Souls-Playstation-3/dp/B004NRN5EO] don't make it seem like a very hospitable place to live.

Imagine if you were sitting on your back porch and a giant wolf peered at you, under a full moon, for no good reason. That alone would drive anyone to move to a better neighborhood.

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Alas, giant wolves (and rats [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107501-Take-a-Walk-Through-the-Hellish-World-of-Dark-Souls]) are actually the least of Dark Souls' problems. I don't want to be in the same room with a decaying, undead dragon, much less have to fight one. And is that... a huge Medusa made of lava? I'm not even going to talk about Venus Flytrap face.

You can't perform the simple act of climbing a ladder in Dark Souls without being pestered. Just to get by, you've got to wear steel from head to toe. I get a little uncomfortable having to wear a sports coat for more than 2 hours, so being armored 24/7 just isn't going to work for my lifestyle.

Dark Souls: Where giant, gross things will kill you, but hey, at least you can roast a hot dog [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107575-Campfires-Brighten-Dark-Souls-Cold-Morbid-World] from time to time. Not the best slogan.

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[Kaltazraza]

Awesome zombie dragon there

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

Hello, I'm a dragon and I decided I wasn't as good at killing as I could be so I ripped open my face and filled it full of teeth. Then I put some teeth on the teeth. Now I eat you.

This looks awesome. Going to have to get it.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

Looks awesome. Can't wait, loved the original.

Also I always get the impression, that everytime we are updated on Dark Souls, that the updater/ original poster hasn't played the original. The 'have to wear steel from head to toe' line seems abit off. You could play the original with or without armour it wasn't a necessity and I'm sure the new game will be the same. Could be wrong though.

 

[Lucane]

Looks awesome. Can't wait, loved the original.

Also I always get the impression, that everytime we are updated on Dark Souls, that the updater/ original poster hasn't played the original. The 'have to wear steel from head to toe' line seems abit off. You could play the original with or without armour it wasn't a necessity and I'm sure the new game will be the same. Could be wrong though.

I'm pretty sure he's just going off of the screen shots for that part becuase the only person shown not wearing alot of metal was the back profile shot of the woman in cloth robe without a weapon in hand.

Who knows they could of for some reason dropped cloth/light armor this isn't a traditional sequal after all. (Though I really hope they didn't drop lite armor and fabric gear.)

Also I really hope they don't over use the chased on the Ladder thing It could just become annoying instead of shocking.(At least the first few times if it's srcipted at certain points.Unless people will chase you up/down ladders naturally.)

 

[micky]

omg cant wait looks so cool! im going to go play demons souls now. this looks really epic

 

[Dectilon]

The only thing I really want from Dark Souls that Demons Souls didn't have is better music. In Demons Souls the enemies looked deadly, the environments reinforced this feeling, but the music said 'eh, you'll be fine'. Hopefully they can make the music sound feel like an extension of the demon's influence.

 

[ciancon]

Haha that wolf photo is a real ".....oh fuck" moment!

 

[Catalyst6]

Heh, very awesome. I'd love to play a game again where the enemies pose an actual *threat*.

Although some of those areas are looking a mite familiar. Oh well, it is a sequel after all.

 

[Therumancer]

Sounds cool, never got much time to play it despite drooling over it, but I really liked "Demon's Souls" in the time I put into it, the sequel seems like it will be awesome.

That said I admit the naming issues were kind of off putting. The rejection of the names "Dark Race" and "Dark Ring" because of the ways they could be misinterpeted makes be a bit concerned that they might be being a little too politically correct to produce a decent horror/dark fantasy game. I mean there are plenty of fantasy stories out there with something referred to as "the dark race" for example where I don't think anyone would have an issue, the simple fact that they are concerned and listened to someone who raised that issue worries me. "Dark Ring" is even worse given that it's another set of words that has been used, and while you might get some snickers from people trying to be obtuse, I very much doubt most of europe would be thinking anally about a fantasy game with that title.

That's just my thoughts... but the game itself does seem like it's turning out okay.

As far as a game where the enemies present a threat goes, I have mixed opinions on that. I have very bad reflexs despite playing some games based on them, so as a result I'm pretty bad at a lot of games I play, and it doesn't bother me. I'm not sure how challenging Demon's Souls and by extenion this game actually are though for a normal player who puts in some time. There are people who have been bating "Demon's Souls" with level 1 characters without dying after a bit of practice, frequently using the starting gear to boot. In my case I didn't think it was so much with any of the monsters or even bosses being terrible, as much as the simple fact that the death penelty is brutal and puts you back at the beginning of a level.

My biggest problem with the game was actually that I didn't really ever get much of a sense of progression as I played it. The reason why people were beating the game with level 1 characters was that stats don't play much of a role as much as pattern recognition. As a result it kind of took some of the joy out of leveling up, or obtaining new weapons.

 

[Saargston]

Man, this game just looks too nice.

 

[Teeth Kicker]

It may look 1000 times better than it's predecessor, but I guarantee you it will still have a horrid interface, terrible combat locking system, and NO MUSIC. And people can't tell me "Oh, well the lack of music in "Demon's Souls" was purposely done to emphasize the emptiness and sorrowful tone of the world."

BULLSHIT. With a game so combat and exploration based and supposedly presenting things on an epic scale, you would NOT lack a soundtrack. That just makes the game hideously boring. And oh wait. It was. The only game the could pull off a lack of a soundtrack (minus the boss fights) was Shadow of the Colossus. And it worked brilliantly.

 

[RollingThunder]

*snip* NO MUSIC *snip*

Oh Really?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNAgkKHM67I&playnext=1&list=PLF9E1B5C61792A2D6

 

[RollingThunder]

Heh, very awesome. I'd love to play a game again where the enemies pose an actual *threat*.

Although some of those areas are looking a mite familiar. Oh well, it is a sequel after all.

It's not a sequel really, Demon's Souls trademark is owned by SCE, this one is more like a spiritual sequel.

 

[RollingThunder]

Hello, I'm a dragon and I decided I wasn't as good at killing as I could be so I ripped open my face and filled it full of teeth. Then I put some teeth on the teeth. Now I eat you.

This looks awesome. Going to have to get it.

Yo dawg...

 

[Teeth Kicker]

*snip* NO MUSIC *snip*

Oh Really?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNAgkKHM67I&playnext=1&list=PLF9E1B5C61792A2D6

Yeah they had like one crappy song for the central hub and then a couple BG's for the boss battles. But as much time as you spent running around the poorly laid out levels with no real objectives, you'd think there would be some kind of musical interlude going on.

 

[darthricardo]

Damn, this looks too nice. The wolf actually looks like it'll be an amazing... if brutally difficult... boss fight. Can't wait!

 

[New Troll]

Hell's bells. Gonna' have to find the time to beat Demon's Souls before this comes out. Definitely looks like a place I'd like to hang-out for awhile.

 

[RollingThunder]

*snip* NO MUSIC *snip*

Oh Really?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNAgkKHM67I&playnext=1&list=PLF9E1B5C61792A2D6

Yeah they had like one crappy song for the central hub and then a couple BG's for the boss battles. But as much time as you spent running around the poorly laid out levels with no real objectives, you'd think there would be some kind of musical interlude going on.

That's what we call atmosphere, it's a bleak world and you're supposed to find your own objectives, if you want hand holding or linearity you can try other RPGs with bright lighting and lots of missions like Dragon Age.