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

[Ham Blitz]

From the sounds of the update, I am slightly disappointed in the updates since it seemed to fix only things I never really thought were problems. I will try the game again sometime soon, though now I am also slightly sad I can't let my friend play the game the way I played it originally. Also, why the greatswords? They already seemed slow enough.

 

[Windcaler]

You think the Chaos Blade is the best katana? I don't know if they patched it or not, but last time I checked it was considered one of the worst weapons in the game.

Well compared to my +15 uchigatana and Iato, yes I think its arguably the best katana. For two reasons. First the move set allows for quick move in and attack style attacks so you can easily use it as a hit and run weapon. Plus the "wind up" of that strong attack is faster then most people think it is. The second reason is because the chaos blade scales with humanity. I believe all katana's have a B rating with Dex so keeping that in mind the Chaos blade is the only katana that can scale beyond base damage and the same scaling stat.

Now the 20 hp per swing cost is something to keep in mind but if you're farming mobs it can easily be countered with the evil eye ring. In PVP matches I also find it negligible because most of my hard hits come from ripostes which dont trigger the hit point loss. This aspect can also be countered over time by either casting regeneration on yourself or using sanctus

 

[viranimus]

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.

I get the tingling sensation than it isnt done to encourage dodging, but specifically to give those who HAVE to dodge the ability to survive true tanks to "balance" not the game, but the multi player aspect.

 

[thesilentman]

None of that matters because I have the PC version! See ya.

...

Shit, it does matter because my Windows partition has gone to hell.[footnote]No intention of trying to play this in Ubuntu; that's a recipe for outright suicide.[/footnote]

snip

Wait the PC version was harder right out the gate? Great, now just gotta beg the computer gods to help me fix my Windows partition; me loves a good challenge!

 

[Alcamonic]

I am slightly confused, are these changes something I should expect on PC as well?

Eating away much more stamina on my blocks sounds a little harsh.

Indeed, the PC experience was like this out of the box and is still this today. If you decide to get the PC version (I read a post that said it looked worse) do yourself a major favor and head here immediately afterwards: http://darksouls.nexusmods.com/mods/top/

Get the newest version of DSFix to increase internal resolution from 720p, remove mouse cursor from screen, increase draw distance (those trees heading into Sen's Fortress? They'll look like trees), add SMAA/FXAA, Ambient Oclussion, have periodic save file backups, and replace custom textures. On the texture replacement bit, I used it to replace the Xbox 360 button icons with PS3 ones, and the letters/numbers with crisper higher quality ones compared to the 720p ones from the console. That pesky mouse problem can be taken care of too.

I really cannot stress enough how much Durante's little wrapper is a godsend, and it's growing and adding new features every day. 60 FPS is possible too, but you need a BEAST computer and it borks some animations. Jumping has a shorter distance, rolls don't travel as far, and sliding down ladders causes you to clip through the ground into the abyss. It's not at all necessary to enjoy the game, though.

Thanks a lot of the info!

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

You guys really need to cool off about the Eagle Shield. I mean, let's break down the numbers real quick. The Eagle Shield, the lightest greatshield with the lowest stat requirements--and wooden at that (no other wooden shield offered 100% reduction)--now has 95% physical damage reduction. So, if you're in a fight against an enemy that hits you for 200 damage without blocking, you'll only take 10 damage while blocking. Is that really such a terrible thing? You lose more HP swinging around the Chaos Blade, which is the best katana in the game at 40 DEX.

I also haven't noticed much difference as far as blocking goes. I'd say you maybe lose 10% more stamina per block--not nearly enough to ruin a tank build or those who prefer blocking to rolling. And as far as the spear/rapier turtle builds, while you do lose a very noticeable amount of stamina when you attack from behind the shield, it's nothing the Cloranthy Ring or a Green Blossom can't help you recover from.

You've just gotta adapt to these changes is all. They're really not that bad.

EDIT: And, since I don't think the link or anyone else mentioned it, the 1.06 Patch also fixes the major glitches--BB glitch (both character transfer and duping glitches) and Dragon-Head glitch.

The annoying thing now though is that if you only want to PvP, you have to run through the game X amount of times to get the gear you need for every build you want to make/try.

 

[Tallim]

None of that matters because I have the PC version! See ya.

...

Shit, it does matter because my Windows partition has gone to hell.[footnote]No intention of trying to play this in Ubuntu; that's a recipe for outright suicide.[/footnote]

snip

Wait the PC version was harder right out the gate? Great, now just gotta beg the computer gods to help me fix my Windows partition; me loves a good challenge!

Yes and no to the harder thing. It *was* harder marginally than the then current patches on console but it was also a lot easier than vanilla Dark Souls. They changed a ton of stuff over the first couple of patches since release that made it a good chunk easier.

Most notably in one of the earlier patches they increased Humanity drop rate from 10 to 210, increased the range you could lock on at and actually let you lock on to people who used Ring Of Fog.

They also doubled the amount of souls that enemies drop over the vanilla version.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Aye,

I only had little time over the weekend to dedicate to gaming, but it all went into Dark Souls. I think it's quite awesome that you actively have to walk through the world looking for changes/new stuff, and the way to access the Artorias DLC is pretty... neat. Then again, it sure gave me the creeps just running through all the familiar places, let alone how the DLC 'portion' starts. Let me just tell you it felt like going back to sparring full-contact after a couple of years of living the good life of cake and candy. YOU WILL DIE is more true than ever, but it's still the game we love.

I'm glad they at least attempted to fix the PVP/Dark Grain Ring issue, but I haven't felt like checking out PVP yet. The bottomless box glitch/exploit is gone now, so no more smurfing fun experimental characters. Oh well, I can live with that.

What pissed me off a bit is that they fixed some language bits. They're grammatically more correct now, but it feels off. The original, sometimes plain Engrish wordings were so much more flavourful. Oh well, I guess it evens out the awesome new vistas and dialogue/monologue content.

This game is still da shit. Want more. Plenty of new games entertained us for hours upon hours, but there's just no experience like the D* Souls experience. I really hope they manage to keep it going and they don't mess it up - ever.

If the folks financing and actually making the Silent Hill movies liked the experience and the fact they doubled their investment in revenues, I hope they take note and have capable minds set on the Demons/Dark Souls experience. This is one psycho horror ride that could quite easily be an epic little something.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

The annoying thing now though is that if you only want to PvP, you have to run through the game X amount of times to get the gear you need for every build you want to make/try.

Aye, but if you're really dedicated and enjoy the ride, you could always go for a new install and play offline, I'd wager. I only started the BB glitching to try to find a way to even out the odds with the PVP trolls, before I felt like rolling out different characters to broaden my experience somewhat in a more... efficient manner.

BB glitching was fun, but I clearly see why it had to go and I know the game experience is still high above that of many other random AAA titles.

 

[Denamic]

I'm with everyone else, and it perplexed me at first...I have NO CLUE why a "great"shield that weighs 6 pounds can't take 100% of the damage.

Because it has fantastic stability.
Stability makes you lose less stamina while making you harder to stagger while blocking.
Basically, the shield still lets you tank bosses while taking very little damage.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I'm with everyone else, and it perplexed me at first...I have NO CLUE why a "great"shield that weighs 6 pounds can't take 100% of the damage.

Because it has fantastic stability.
Stability makes you lose less stamina while making you harder to stagger while blocking.
Basically, the shield still lets you tank bosses while taking very little damage.

Yeah, I've since corrected my stance. For all the benefits the shield has, there was little penalty aside from weight, and a 5% drop in dam reduction is relatively minor considering. This and many other changes were things I imagined from noticed when there was/would have been a lot of bullshit cheap tactics testing the arena/battleground and other PvP. With Artorias (expansion), a PvP arena, and improved matchmaking, this might be a hardcore pseudo-MMO. Hell, I already play it like it's my MMO of choice.

 

[Tomas Ericson]

Is it not possible to download the DLC without the patch? I don't play online. I CAN'T play online, but I enjoy Dark Souls immensely anyway. Are we offliners not a target group at all? Every change in every patch seems to be geared towards more fair PVP fights. It's as though the players who play a game for its single player contents are of no importance at all. I thought single player was the "basis" for a game, but apparently not for this one.

No way in hell are these changes (nerfs) acceptable for an offline player like me. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to be curious enough about the DLC to allow all of these nerfs to infect my game.

How hard could it be to implement a feature that prevents you from starting a game (connected) without the patch, but allows you to download a DLC without a patch and play it offline. With reservations for this already being a possibility, but I doubt it ...

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

Is it not possible to download the DLC without the patch? I don't play online. I CAN'T play online, but I enjoy Dark Souls immensely anyway. Are we offliners not a target group at all? Every change in every patch seems to be geared towards more fair PVP fights. It's as though the players who play a game for its single player contents are of no importance at all. I thought single player was the "basis" for a game, but apparently not for this one.

No way in hell are these changes (nerfs) acceptable for an offline player like me. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to be curious enough about the DLC to allow all of these nerfs to infect my game.

How hard could it be to implement a feature that prevents you from starting a game (connected) without the patch, but allows you to download a DLC without a patch and play it offline. With reservations for this already being a possibility, but I doubt it ...

The DLC IS the patch. All of the new areas and gear are contained in the patch, and the thing you pay for is just a 10KB file to unlock Oolacile.