Dark Souls: Initial Thoughts
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I believe there might be more than one form of vagrant. I wouldn't describe the one I saw as an upside down jellyfish. They glow like black phantoms though.newguy77 said:
Ok, I'll go back and buy some arrows for the crossbow I found of one of the Skeletons, the Stats of the Sword are looking better than my Halberd (except the non scaling part)newguy77 said:
As i thought, I can easily block the attacks of the Gargoyle and get a hit with my weapon but have to stay back and replenish my Stamina afterwards. Dodging feels akward because I'm probably to heavy (29 of ~46 weight), my charakter is falling down and slowly moving up, so leveling Endurance is another goal.theemporer said:
to dodge quickly, your weight needs to be half of the total.Sram said:
I haven't looked too far back into the thread but I am surprised to not see anyone talking about the separate multiplayer servers. So far that is my only real complaint against Dark Souls.
Wow, I'm fighting Sif at SL 41 and having some trouble. Except I'm having fun at the same time....
This game rocks!
This game rocks!
Dark Souls is easily among my least favorite games I've payed full price for.
I never played Demon's Souls so my expectations were completely off. My basic problem with it is that fighting minions is more tedious than challenging; Block and kite attacking when they recoil and follow up once or twice. The boss fights seem more like you have to discover the trick to passing rather than fighting them. That I only know from hearsay, but even everything I seen in this thread confirms bosses are only hard if you haven't figured out how to fight them. Overall the gameplay isn't thrilling and demanding; it's tedious and punishing.
I really wanted to like this game, mainly because I paid Sixty Four Dollars and Seventy Nine Cents for it, but it presents a challenge that isn't particularly engaging. I literally facepalmed when I saw a Giant Boar with armor literally everywhere except its tail, and the moment I learned the trick to toss a skull into a fire and watch it burn to death was the moment I stopped caring and put an ad on Craigslist.
To give credit where credit is due, the atmosphere is awesome, the whole confusing dynamic of it is confusing in an interesting way, the death mechanics are great and add a lot of weight to typically trivial decisions. It does a lot of things right, but the difficulty is done in a way that makes me want to turn the game off instead of trying again.
I never played Demon's Souls so my expectations were completely off. My basic problem with it is that fighting minions is more tedious than challenging; Block and kite attacking when they recoil and follow up once or twice. The boss fights seem more like you have to discover the trick to passing rather than fighting them. That I only know from hearsay, but even everything I seen in this thread confirms bosses are only hard if you haven't figured out how to fight them. Overall the gameplay isn't thrilling and demanding; it's tedious and punishing.
I really wanted to like this game, mainly because I paid Sixty Four Dollars and Seventy Nine Cents for it, but it presents a challenge that isn't particularly engaging. I literally facepalmed when I saw a Giant Boar with armor literally everywhere except its tail, and the moment I learned the trick to toss a skull into a fire and watch it burn to death was the moment I stopped caring and put an ad on Craigslist.
To give credit where credit is due, the atmosphere is awesome, the whole confusing dynamic of it is confusing in an interesting way, the death mechanics are great and add a lot of weight to typically trivial decisions. It does a lot of things right, but the difficulty is done in a way that makes me want to turn the game off instead of trying again.
Dark Souls doesn't have a story? That makes me sad. I was going to rent it later on in the week but if it does not have a story than I see no reason in renting it. I don't care how hard a game is. As long as the story and the characters are well written than I will do my best to get through it.ghost whistler said:
But that's part of many RPGs and intended. The whole point of roleplaying is to allow you to do as much as possible so you can immerse yourself into the character.ghost whistler said:
Fallout for example does just that.
You even get some good drops if you actually kill the npcs in Dark/Demon souls. You just have to decide if it's worth it.
Dark Souls isn't about being a 'snob', or an 'elitist'. The only people who are labelling the game in this way are the ones who aren't enjoying the experience; not every game is supposed to be enjoyed by every person.
Dark Souls is about the gameplay from yester-year's games brought kicking and screaming into the modern age for better and for worse.
Duke Nukem Forever tried and failed to bring the old school FPS mentality into the modern age. Dark Souls has successfully translated the gameplay of the original Metroid, Castlevania and Ghost and Ghouls games into the current generation, like Demon Soul's before it.
It's hard. Frustratingly so. Some of why is sheer difficulty; monsters with lots of health. Lots of long fights strewn together between check points. Some of it is mechanical; using a checkpoint respawns the monsters, as does dying. And some of it is simply for the sake of making it harder to finish the game; one hit kill monsters, traps, item prices, unforgiving of mistakes, etc.
Dark Souls, like Demon Souls, is a masterpiece. There isn't some "easy mode" to activate, there isn't some "trick" to making the game require less time, effort and broken controllers. Not everyone is going to get to the end. Not everyone is going to enjoy the journey. But, it's for those reasons that the rest of us enjoy the game.
I prefer games that require me to actually learn the game's ins and outs. Halo, Call of Duty, Fable, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Darksiders, The Sims, Crysis; they all have their fans and are all, generally, pretty great games. They're also pretty damn easy to finish, and have so many mechanics designed to make sure I get to the end of the game that actually getting to the end has little to no meaning.
Dark Souls is gameplay from an age where finishing even ONE of the games you owned was an achievement. When the end screen was earnt with blood, sweat and tears - it wasn't handed to you. It's not for everyone. Me? It's a GOTY contender. If it's not for you, _trade it in and shut up_.
Dark Souls is about the gameplay from yester-year's games brought kicking and screaming into the modern age for better and for worse.
Duke Nukem Forever tried and failed to bring the old school FPS mentality into the modern age. Dark Souls has successfully translated the gameplay of the original Metroid, Castlevania and Ghost and Ghouls games into the current generation, like Demon Soul's before it.
It's hard. Frustratingly so. Some of why is sheer difficulty; monsters with lots of health. Lots of long fights strewn together between check points. Some of it is mechanical; using a checkpoint respawns the monsters, as does dying. And some of it is simply for the sake of making it harder to finish the game; one hit kill monsters, traps, item prices, unforgiving of mistakes, etc.
Dark Souls, like Demon Souls, is a masterpiece. There isn't some "easy mode" to activate, there isn't some "trick" to making the game require less time, effort and broken controllers. Not everyone is going to get to the end. Not everyone is going to enjoy the journey. But, it's for those reasons that the rest of us enjoy the game.
I prefer games that require me to actually learn the game's ins and outs. Halo, Call of Duty, Fable, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Darksiders, The Sims, Crysis; they all have their fans and are all, generally, pretty great games. They're also pretty damn easy to finish, and have so many mechanics designed to make sure I get to the end of the game that actually getting to the end has little to no meaning.
Dark Souls is gameplay from an age where finishing even ONE of the games you owned was an achievement. When the end screen was earnt with blood, sweat and tears - it wasn't handed to you. It's not for everyone. Me? It's a GOTY contender. If it's not for you, _trade it in and shut up_.
Dark Souls has a story in the same way that Metroid Prime and Shadow of the Colossus have stories. It has cutscenes here and there, you meet characters who talk to you, and you have a rough idea of what you're trying to accomplish, but it's not all spelled out to you. It's a mysterious world, but you piece it together as you go along. Of course I personally I didn't like Metroid Prime's execution of this approach since it's story came in the form of text logs that you had to search for in each area. It was like having to search all over your house for all the different pages of your favorite Douglas Adams book or something. Dark Souls handles this approach very well IMO, as did Demon's Souls. The dialogue is quite captivating, and dare I say it, I think the game has one of the coolest introductory cutscenes in gaming history. However, if you're taste is for RPG storytelling in the vein of Bioware's lengthy dialogue sequences or Squenix's long cutscenes, the game isn't for you.gof22 said:
yeah i was thinking about this the other day. I really enjoy the story(or lack of it) because it really adds to the bleakness and mystery. Its not beating you over the head with it but there are hints that give you an idea of whats going on and things get much more clear once you progress to a certain point. I also love reading all the origins to each new piece of armor or weapon you pick up. They help flesh out the world and tell a little of the history.Condiments said:
The game is okay. The difficulty doesn't seem to have been raised, but instead tuned down. I don't really find the game to be that hard, it's just a simple trial and error system, and about learning wtf the bosses do. Beyond that, there's nothing hard about it.
My main problem is that the framerate takes some drops at the worst of times, mainly if a boss/mob performs any sort of Area of Effect attack, or when a lot of stuff gets broken on screen at the same time. However, it's only a minor complaint.
No actually, my main complaint is outside the game. It's the fact that walkthroughs, guides and help are springing up all over the internet. This game is just not meant to be walkthroughed, if you miss something, you should try to manage without. Again, the game is not hard - You just need to take a careful approach, instead of spamming your attacks and hoping to kill everything.
Also annoys me there's no severe penalty for dying. Sure, your drop your souls and humanity, but then you go back and pick it up. If you die on the way, you're just stupid, as you already made it there once. Was more fun in Demon's Souls, where you got reduced to 50% hp and only got brought back to life after killing a boss, or using a special item.
I also found the bosses to be generally easier, or is it just me? I remember clearly first time I fought the use golem-knight in Demon's Souls, as a knight... But no boss in Dark Souls comes close to that feeling. The dual gargoyles was a freakin' walk-over in Dark Souls, due to being alive I could just summon that Sun-knight fella NPC, and he'd pretty much tank every single hit while killing them by himself.
My main problem is that the framerate takes some drops at the worst of times, mainly if a boss/mob performs any sort of Area of Effect attack, or when a lot of stuff gets broken on screen at the same time. However, it's only a minor complaint.
No actually, my main complaint is outside the game. It's the fact that walkthroughs, guides and help are springing up all over the internet. This game is just not meant to be walkthroughed, if you miss something, you should try to manage without. Again, the game is not hard - You just need to take a careful approach, instead of spamming your attacks and hoping to kill everything.
Also annoys me there's no severe penalty for dying. Sure, your drop your souls and humanity, but then you go back and pick it up. If you die on the way, you're just stupid, as you already made it there once. Was more fun in Demon's Souls, where you got reduced to 50% hp and only got brought back to life after killing a boss, or using a special item.
I also found the bosses to be generally easier, or is it just me? I remember clearly first time I fought the use golem-knight in Demon's Souls, as a knight... But no boss in Dark Souls comes close to that feeling. The dual gargoyles was a freakin' walk-over in Dark Souls, due to being alive I could just summon that Sun-knight fella NPC, and he'd pretty much tank every single hit while killing them by himself.
