Dark Souls: Pretty, Hard

Earnest Cavalli

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Jun 19, 2008
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Dark Souls: Pretty, Hard

[video=3893]

Can a videogame trailer hate? I'm almost entirely convinced that this latest trailer for From Software's Dark Souls wants me dead.

Let's rewind to a point right about two years ago. Atlus decided to publish an uncharacteristically Western-style PlayStation 3 RPG created by From Software entitled Demon's Souls [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/6527-Review-Demons-Souls]. The game was a hit, drawing rave reviews from critics around the world, and attracting a dedicated fanbase.

A dedicated fanbase that never got past the first world [http://nerdpuddle.com/demons-souls-on-the-joys-of-suffering/].

For you see, Demon's Souls was hard. Very hard. Actually "hard" doesn't even begin to describe how unmerciless this game was in tearing out a player's entrails, sneering like some kind of murderous Billy Idol, then throwing the still warm corpse from the top of a tower to a hungry crowd of dogs assembled below.

There are games that beat you, and then there are games that actively hate your sense of self-worth. Demon's Souls was the latter.

Back here in the present, a trailer has slipped from Cologne, Germany's Gamescom 2011. Demon's Souls has a successor. Though not a true sequel, Dark Souls is every bit its mother's child, if the moving pictures embedded above are anything to go by.

This time around, the game is being published by Namco Bandai, and will appear on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 4. Despite the expanded audience, the game appears to be every bit as bloodthirsty as its predecessor. The environs are gorgeous, granted, and the beasts inhabiting them are every bit as fantastic and dark as those seen in Demon's Souls, thus I'm forced to assume that they too subsist entirely on a diet of crushed dreams and tears.

As much as I've painted this series of games as a harbinger of all the pain in the world, I should also note that they are capable of eliciting the greatest feelings of accomplishment in almost any game you'll ever play.

Actually, forget I said that. Forget the gorgeous trailer too. None of you are capable of beating this thing, so you should probably just forget about it. Stay home, play Candyland and forget that Dark Souls is only a month and a half away.

You'll be saving yourself from a world of suffering.

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Drizzitdude

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Nov 12, 2009
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Want. I love the first Demon's Souls.

Once when I was invading. I Curse weaponed my Dragon bone crusher and guessed there would be someone waiting behind a door up head (peope always gather up to ambush black phantoms) I ran through the door swinging, killed 2 blue phantoms and the host in one hit. It was AMAZING.
 
Dec 14, 2009
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I can feel it calling me...

I know unimaginable torture awaits, but I can't help but want it...

[sub]The game looks pretty good too, I guess...[/sub]
 

neonsword13-ops

~ Struck by a Smooth Criminal ~
Mar 28, 2011
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I already give up.

I'm too scared to play, now... but it looks much more dymaic and epic than the last one.
 

Mxrz

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Jul 12, 2010
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The checkpoint system has me worried the difficulty has been toned down. Bandai having some questionable involvement doesn't help. DS is my absolute favorite game this gen, but I'm wary. I'll probably skip professional reviews of it for fear of spoilers, and the way you guys tend to overstate difficulty.
 

Soxafloppin

Coxa no longer floppin'
Jun 22, 2009
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I'm still to afraid to get the first game, When I get frustrated with a game I just put it down and never play it again, even if the game is brilliant.

This will be Batman: AA Combat challenges all over again.
 

Delock

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Mar 4, 2009
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Actually, I only found the first level to be as hard as people were making out the game to be, but that's because I realized three important things.
1. Demon's Souls had a backbone of a JRPG. You were supposed to figure out where the points of no return were and where the enemies "leveled up" and grind up to those points. Try to play a level through without grinding is what killed most people. (this is why the first level is hard. You're not allowed to level before beating it).
2. You and everything else moved as realistically as possible (excluding magic before anyone says anything). Most action games speed up swordplay, while DS forced you to build up the swing if you weren't overly strong. This meant that you had to understand when you would be able to strike and when you'd probably be better off guarding or moving.
3. Ranged combat is necessary. This is somewhat related to the point above about the realism in the game, as it meant that ranged weapons and magic actually did a lot for you.

Of course, if you make a stupid mistake, the game will pounce on you with no remorse. Two big ones to look out for:
1. Don't decide that you'll be the one to choose the order of the worlds. Just learn some damn magic rather than skipping to the world you're sure your knight can handle.
2. Don't decide after reading the wiki that you're sure you can take that Black Phantom boss at the beginning of world 4 and die in body form to change the world to black. I did end up cleaning up that mess eventually by killing him and returning to neutral, but I'm still sorry if you were instakilled because of him.

Actually, I guess it was kinda hard...
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Bring the pain.

I never beat the very last level of DS, and my skills have dulled too much to go back now. But my 40+ hours were highly enjoyable. And painful.
 

ReservoirAngel

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Nov 6, 2010
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Oh well doesn't this look nice and prettAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! IT'S FROM HELL!!!! BURN IT, BURN IT TO DEATH!!!

[sub]Get it away...[/sub]
 

Panzervaughn

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Jul 19, 2009
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I have been a roiling beacon of rage every day since i learnt Demon Souls was PS3 Exclusive, as my wallet had already been forced into 360-exclusivity.

Now i can look forward to being broken, getting up, and shoving my own broken pieces into some dragonface. >=)
 

Not-here-anymore

In brightest day...
Nov 18, 2009
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I hear PS3 users saying interesting things about Demons' Souls. May give this a look.

Penny Arcade's Hindsight belt would be much better suited to this than to Dragon Age.
 

GundamSentinel

The leading man, who else?
Aug 23, 2009
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Demon's Souls still is my favorite PS3 game, but I think this will make for a worthy contender. Bring it on!
 

Worr Monger

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Jan 21, 2008
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The constantly touted difficulty of this game is actually what's keeping me away.... I like a challenge.. but some games can be annoyingly-hard. I especially hate annoyingly-hard games accompanied by a checkpoint save-system.

Otherwise it looks cool.... Guess I may never know.
 

MasterOfWorlds

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Oct 1, 2010
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I loved DS and this game looks to be just what the doctor ordered for my daily dose of masochism medicine.
 

Fiz_The_Toaster

books, Books, BOOKS
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Jan 19, 2011
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cursedseishi said:
Xiado said:
Giant toothed vagina dragon!? Holy shit!
I think I shall name it Vagina Dracenta.

Or Fluffy... I don't know yet!
I vote for Fluffy, doesn't sound as dangerous when you hear you're gonna encounter....the Mighty Fluffy.

'Aw that doesn't sound so tough, sounds really adorAAAAAHHHHHH JESUS WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING GAAHRGHGHGGR!!!!!'

OT: Well, I haven't had my gaming spirit broken in a long time and I think it's due for another round of merciless abuse.

BRING IT GAME!