Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss now released for consoles! (No Spoilers Here)

[DrunkOnEstus]

Playing Dark Souls on PC is a bit different than on PS3/360. There are a set of changes to balance and several glitches fixed. I was curious if this was just the "Prepare to Die" experience, or if vanilla Dark Souls would be retroactively patched. This link confirms that the PC version and console versions will be the same when PtD is released as DLC through Artorias and as a standalone game.

http://www.siliconera.com/2012/10/22/dark-souls-version-1-06-update-coming-on-october-24/

Some changes link doesn't mention:

Eagle Greatshield has 95% physical damage reduction instead of 100%

All greatswords have a slower attack

Blocking an attack uses much more stamina

Attacking with a spear behind a shield uses more stamina than not blocking/other attacks

The Dark Wood Grain Ring only allows flipping if your equip load is 25% or less

Critical hits, including ripostes and backstabs do less damage

Rolling in any direction is faster

6 New warp bonfires to allow for easier teleportation (this makes life much easier)

To clarify, when Artorias/Prepare to Die is released for consoles, your Dark Souls experience will be like this automatically (unless you block the patch). It's totally worth a restart, I've rolled two new characters on the PC version (which is already like this) and PvE is harder and PvP is more fair. Feel free to discuss or get excited.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

The Artorias DLC should now be available on PS360 all over the world. Downloading the DLC and the 1.06 patch will give you the "Prepare to Die" experience that PC users have been playing. The full list of changes is here:

http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/PTDE+content+and+changes

PvE is much harder, so I do recommend preparing to die, and maybe re-rolling a character to get in the rhythm of stamina being even more of a rare commodity.

The PvP battleground is incredible, the matchmaking system for it really should have been in at launch but I digress. I plan on getting this for my PS3 due to having characters and covenant deepening that I really don't want to emulate on PC. Have fun everyone!

 

[Wayneguard]

Cool deal. I thought I had finished with this game but the new changes might make me roll a new toon. Cool avatar btw.

 

[Easton Dark]

So your stamina is used more and your attacks do less damage.

Great. Will they make your status effects follow you after death as well?

 

[Jfswift]

Thank you for posting this! Although the list of nerfs seems a bit excessive the faster rolling is definately a big plus so I'll be okay with it. That's great news about the dlc coming to console finally. I was just about to start up a new game too. XD

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

So your stamina is used more and your attacks do less damage.

Great. Will they make your status effects follow you after death as well?

No heh heh, that would be merciless even by their standards. What I've learned through a play through and a half on PC is that the PtD experience really pushes you in the direction of learning to roll, backstep, and get away from attacks in the first place as opposed to having your shield take the whole brunt of it. Blocking even the rats in the depths will knock your stamina right away quickly, leaving you with little to attack with.

I can't emphasize enough about it being a new experience, it's harder and you have to have your wits about you and stay focused more than ever before. Experienced players know this is a good thing. I didn't love PvP before but it's actually really fun now, as well. The battleground sets up 1v1, 2v2 or 4 player free-for-all and things are more balanced for it. You don't lose humanity/souls for participating (and dying) either so most people who want e-peen enhancement or to test their build use it there, as opposed to invading everyone all over the place.

EDIT: And that's just speaking about the changes to vanilla in the patch (except the battleground which is Artorias). The Artorias DLC on its own gets an un-biased (if that's possible) total recommendation at 15 bucks. 10 hours of new environments, great bosses, and new weapons/armor/sweet stuff. The battleground can offer a potential tons of hours of gameplay in addition to that.

EDIT 2: Oh! Sorry for all the editing and making this post longer but I remembered a really sweet thing about the new DLC. You get rudimentary voice chat in the form of stones that can say (in a low almost giant's voice) "Hello", "Thank You", "Help Me" and "I'm Sorry". You throw em' like a prism stone and they speak when they pop.

 

[Easton Dark]

Eh

But I don't do the multiplayer. No PvP and no Co op. If there was a way to do it with friends, maybe.

And being on the ps3 Dark Souls, when I connect it back to the network I'll be forced to change the play-style I was enjoying because it'll be so ineffective now. I utilize the shield/spear and backstabs, so I'm doubly boned by this.

 

[Burst6]

I'm playing through it right now, and i have to say.


in terms of difficulty, Ornstein and Smough are about 10/10

Artorias is at about 523,000 x 10^200/10

Eh

But I don't do the multiplayer. No PvP and no Co op. If there was a way to do it with friends, maybe.

And being on the ps3 Dark Souls, when I connect it back to the network I'll be forced to change the play-style I was enjoying because it'll be so ineffective now. I utilize the shield/spear and backstabs, so I'm doubly boned by this.

Backstabs and shielding were annoying anyway, with lagstabs and unbreakable turtles.

I like the balance in this patch. It supports builds that want to go dex without focusing on critical hits. Because poise tanks can't flip around like ninjas anymore, and with the new dark spells that break poise, my curved sword dex build can finally shine.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Eh

But I don't do the multiplayer. No PvP and no Co op. If there was a way to do it with friends, maybe.

And being on the ps3 Dark Souls, when I connect it back to the network I'll be forced to change the play-style I was enjoying because it'll be so ineffective now. I utilize the shield/spear and backstabs, so I'm doubly boned by this.

I understand what you're saying. My main on PS3 is all the way +5 lightning spear/greatshield combo, so I know what it's like to be in that rhythm. When I noticed all this on the PC, I put extra points into endurance than usual to have extra stamina to compensate. The nerfs aren't MAJOR, I mean it's noticeable but I don't imagine you'd get slaughtered by everything when you boot it up, it's just something to take note of.

 

[Easton Dark]

Eh

I use the lightning spear and the eagle great shield! It specifically nerfed (though not significantly at all) the shield I use! Augh, this update. I'm never connecting to the network again. I must keep this game un-updated!

 

[Get Jiggy]

The Dark Wood Grain Ring only allows flipping if your equip load is 25% or less

As long as I don't get lag-backstabbed by Mc-burger-flipping wankers anymore nothin else matters, I'm happy.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Eh

I use the lightning spear and the eagle great shield! It specifically nerfed (though not significantly at all) the shield I use! Augh, this update. I'm never connecting to the network again. I must keep this game un-updated!

You can connect to the network without patching Dark Souls. You'll just never be able to access to Artorias of the Abyss DLC. The game will tell you there's a new patch available, but that's it. You don't actually have to update.

I love the dlc, I hate the nerfs. Assclowns made it so that you have to use the Black Knight Greataxe with two hands to do any kind of decent damage. It even made my Silver Knight farm take much longer to do because my 1H attack no longer makes them flinch. Screw them. I guess I have to find a new weapon now. Preferably one that doesn't suck unless you use both hands.

 

[Windcaler]

Ive been playing the PC version since it came out but since the patch dropped on the XBOX I went and downloaded it on that to see how they fared. It felt like pretty much the same game besides the longer load times, FPS drops, and less graphical fidelity. Ill be going back to the PC version (and not getting the DLC for my XBOX copy since I have it on PC anyway)

That said, since the changes were implemented Ive been pretty happy with it overall but it did take some getting used to. The changes help ingrain the ideas that its better to avoid hits then just block them which is a key importance for many of the bosses like Priscilla, the demon centipede, and Smough and Ornstien.

There are a few changes that Im not to sure about that. The eagle shield nerf being cheif amoung them. For a tower shield I really do think it should have 100% physical block on it.

That said, I really am happy about the nerf to the Dark wood grain ring. It was just OP having guys in full havels, stone armor, and giants armor flipping around like a ninja. I made a Darkwraith character that uses it while wearing Thorn armor on chest and arms but with the wanderer hood and gold hemmed legs. I also wield the Chaos blade and the dragon crest shield. Problem is, I also have to compromise and wear havels ring to keep my flipping ability but you never had to compromise before. Despite what a lot of people say Medium and even fat rollers can compete in PVP but the issue is it usually takes more practice to do so.

The problem that I think will happen with the Dark wood grain ring is I think a lot of people are just going to start running around with no clothes on, just relying on roll/backstab moves to win fights. IMO thats a pretty lame way to fight but thats what the no talent/no practice PVPers will likely be relying on now

Finally with the new changes Im going to start a new character whos going to go Dragon bone fist/dark hand for PVP. I havnt worked out all the stats for SL 120 but hopefully Ill be able to compromise enough to have the same ninja flip in full thorn armor (since it buffs unarmed weapon damage)

 

[theswordsmn]

God, I've already lost so many years off my life from playing this game. I'm surprised I didn't die of an aneurysm from the stress...That being said, WHOOO!! NEW REASON TO START PLAYING AGAIN!! Sounds like they've changed quite a bit.

I always wonder how different the game would play if they tweaked various things. Like, when a shield is on your back, you can't be backstabbed. It just seems like a common sense kind of thi-I'm sorry, I can't get over the fact that I HAVE AN EXCUSE TO PLAY AGAIN!!

 

[Souplex]

I need to get my copy of Dark Souls back now.
I am displeased by the nerfing of spear/shield knights.
Very displeased.
Why would they do such a thing? It encourages dodging, which is for little wimps.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Picked it up on Tuesday, beat it in about an hour and a half. I had seen a stream of a guy doing it at a ridiculously low level and he got his ass handed to him repeatedly so I was excited to play it.

I'd recommend going at a lower level if you want a challenge, I am 100 and I killed the first boss after 3 attempts only because I wanted his tail, the second boss after 2 tries though he was one hit from death on my first try, and the other 2 bosses on my first try with the tail cut as well.

Seriously they are trivial bosses, I was super worried hearing that stamina would get used more when blocking but it was never an issue.

I was using the new light armor set almost totally unrefined and my +5 Silver Knight Shield. My weapons were a Great Scythe and BSS +15 and the new gold curved sword +5 and no magic whatsoever. My rings were my defaults of Cloranthy and Covetous Serpent.

For $15 I don't feel like I got much of anything out of it aside from 4 decent weapons 4 armor sets that pretty much suck aside from looks, 4 new spells that are pretty good if not much different than the standards, and 4 bosses that are pretty fun. Compared to $10 for Borderlands 2 DLC that I'm probably 8 hours into and not done with its odd how different companies decide price points.

I mean the Pirate DLC isn't that good, and I actually hate every new NPC so far, but at the end of it I get a new head for Gaige that I actually like so I might not use the default for once.

So BL2 DLC is a ton of sub par outsourced crap with only the barest redeeming qualities, and its cheaper than the short but sweet DS DLC.

One thing that always struck me as weird is that you are given ZERO information ingame or otherwise on how to access Ooacile in Dark Souls. If you didn't use a guide you might never find what you just paid $15 extra for lol.

 

[krazykidd]

Okay , so how much does it cost and how many hours of content do i get ? How many new areas . I don't care for the new items , i just want to know how much playable content i get and for what price .

Now dark souls is my favorite game this generation , i poored about 150 hours into it , but i don't think i will buy the dlc on priciple that i am against dlc on a whole . If i buy this i'll be a hypocrite. But still i'm curious .

 

[thethird0611]

All greatswords have a slower attack

I like equiping a Bastard Sword. It's a smaller greatsword, but it has a far superior power attack (IMO - downward vertical smash FTW) then those lunges (which leave you wide open) that other greatsword do.

How slow are the swords? Have they been nerfed evenly, or have the larger ones been nerfed accordingly (Zweihander I'm looking at you).

Also - how much less damage for crits? I've been a strafe/backstab machine since Demon's Souls, so this will hurt. Was this due to the PVP that I don't do? (Even in Demon's Souls I preferred helping others in co-op rather than invading).

Finally, while I do side-step a lot, I also block. I don't roll.
It's easy to roll the wrong way leaving you open at best and falling to your death at worst.
I doubt this nerf will change that. But I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Yeah, it was because of PvP. You had quite a percentage of people who would just go for backstabs. It was seriously annoying. Most of the time it was mother mask, dark wood grain ring, and some armor type (totally forget, been a while). They would just flip around over and over until they got a backstab, then repeat.

 

[Sande45]

Turtling, especially with a spear, always was so easy and simple that it was boring as hell and basically eliminated a huge part of the game for those looking for a fun and challenging play style. Pretty much everything else about the update looks great as well. What I don't get though are the Eagle shield nerf (who uses a shield that weighs 6 and doesn't even block 100% physical?) and faster rolling (it's not like rolling was that far behind turtling in easiness before).

Have they done anything about the lag (or matchmaking)? The moment I decided I'm not going to touch that shit(PvP) with a ten foot pole was when I got lagstabbed while being behind them just about to backstab them myself.