Dark Souls is awesome! (Yes, I know I'm late to the party)

stroopwafel

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Jul 16, 2013
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Demon's Souls and Bloodborne are on lonely heights as for how good they are. I found Dark Souls a bit overrated(a clumsier, less impeccably designed Demon's Souls) and Dark Souls 2 a bit underrated(fantastic game in it's own right but maybe could do away with the 'Souls' title). Bloodborne...man that game is better than sex. Well maybe not that but it certainly lasts longer. :p
 

Leon Royce

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Hate to say it OP, but Dark Souls is the best in the series. DSII is garbage in comparison. Unmemorable, linear and bland horizontal environments. And a bland color palette too.

Also, too many Final Fantasy style weapons (Oversized, glowing popsicle swords)
 

Treeberry

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I love Dark Souls so much! And Demon's Souls as well. Some of the music is strangely comforting.

As you travel around you can piece bits together of what has happened to and in these strange, beautiful places and the people that remain. I love it - these games allow you, for the most part, to use your own initiative and minimal use of cutscenes means that control is not taken away from the player for too long and somehow feel more authentic.

For me though, it was the point when I realised that keeping my souls really didn't matter that I truly started to appreciate the game. Losing them and trying to collect a large amount would only make me angry or stressed. It wouldn't a question of 'if' I died and lost all of my souls, but 'when' because even silly accidents happen (the amount of times I accidentally rolled off a cliff or experienced some weird fluke...) so I realised I should just use them when I could. I suddenly started getting a lot better at the game after that realisation as well.

I think these games are strangely relaxing as well if you don't take defeat personally. If you make your goal 'explore a bit of this area', 'find the next bonfire', 'practice my techniques' and gradually work your way through the game(s) it can be a great experience for some.

I love these games. They are actual games as opposed to movies masquerading as games, I can't stand stop-start-stop-start games anymore. Despite my love for the games I haven't actually finished any of them though due to a slight console-related mishap.

Ornstein and Smough are still utterly dreadful though.
 

Redryhno

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remnant_phoenix said:
Redryhno said:
How do you have trouble against the Taurus demon? I can get the Asylum and pretty much any other of the starting bosses, but he's so simple to fight...
1) I'm playing as a Knight and I didn't realize that I had the over-50%-weight-slow-dodge-roll until AFTER the fight.

2) It took me a few deaths (with that slow dodge) before I figured out the jump-off-the-roof-attack strategy.
Yeah...that might just explain it...never liked heavy armor runs personally beyond a giant tower shield and a bunch of rags. Just didn't feel like the right way to play it to me. Good luck on the rest of YOUR run though, hope you enjoy it!

Also one other bit of advice, don't be afraid to munch down on boss souls, you'll be able to use them for special things later on, but they have pretty specific builds in mind and unless you REALLY liked the way the boss played, you probably won't be all that interested in it. Or humanity for healing(so long as you have at least 1 humanity in you already, you'll heal to full), they'll drop all the time the further into the game you get and they may save a couple deaths to Dew-Downing animations and treks back.

Loonyyy said:
Asita said:
I can't say that I've ever actually played the game myself. I always kinda turned my nose up at the Demons Souls franchise as "I Wanna Be the Guy in 3D" (which is to say difficulty purely for difficulty's sake). I recently came across something that has made me reassess that view.
Yeah, it's really strange. The game is hyped up for it's difficulty by a portion of it's fanbase, and it is difficult, don't get me wrong, but it's about this mood, this atmosphere of nihilism and depression.

My best moment with it was just this one streak, this one run between two fires, that took me the better part of an hour to get right, avoiding damage, picking off enemies. Really had that sense of perfection going when I finally finished it.

I would really recommend playing it to anyone who hasn't, it is difficult, but there are ways around that, and the difficulty serves a purpose.

I would say that I'm a little less enthralled by the story though. It's very hard to follow what happens, and the low-key storytelling does lose something. If you take breaks, or don't keep careful track of the characters, it's really easy to lose track of it.

I really like the combat, it just feels right, getting the timing right, and mastering avoiding damage is great, and when you encounter a new enemy, learning a new way around it is very rewarding.
The story's honestly pretty much the opening cutscene. Gwyn's always been a bag of dicks to SOMEONE, and the gods refuse to let their time be done, which results in pretty much every shit thing that happens. Essentially we're stuck in the Sierra Madre again...
 

Danbo Jambo

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Dark Souls ultimately bored me rigid. It's got loads going for it, but the repetative nature of dieing then having to get to where you were before, doing the same thing over & over & over - often just walking with no enemy in sight - was just so dull. A lot of quality, but only a 7/10 experience for me which I'd had enough of by Sten's Fortress.

I'd be interested to hear from some of you how Bloodborne compares in that respect?
 

solemnwar

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Man, all these people shitting on Dark Souls 2. I vastly prefer it to the first, although it is kind of annoying that you can't get in on pyromancy until after a certain boss fight. Waaaay less annoying backtracking and it's nice that hitting these enough makes them stop coming back because that seriously gets really, really, REALLY fucking old after a while.

Still working on beating the first one. Currently getting my ass pounded by Ravelord Nito.
Also Pinwheel is 100% the hardest boss fight in the game, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. :p

Best DS Story for me would have to be the time I trolled the everloving FUCK out of an invader in Dark Souls II
The scene is the Iron Keep. I'm at the beginning area, having jumped off the bridge to grab some shinies on a teeny rock in the middle of lava. Like y'do. Get item, go to use homeward bone and... it's greyed out and I can't use it.

"Oh fuck," I say to myself, "I'm getting invaded."

Sure enough, invasion. But he doesn't seem to notice me on my little rock in the middle of nowhere. I watch him run off further into the keep. Some time passes, he runs back. Runs back into the keep. He doesn't seem to notice me for about five minutes. He finally figures out where I am, and starts shooting me with arrows.

So, being the massive fucking asshole that I am I just ran around in circles on the tiny rock. An arrow would occasionally hit me, but not often enough for the bleeding/poison/etc effect to take hold. I think I made him empty his entire cache of arrows.

Eventually he runs out of arrows or he realises that it isn't a viable strategy, and jumps onto the rocks to come get me. Except once he reaches the last rock before my rock, he either realises he's totally fucked or he fucks up a jump, because he then falls into the lava and dies.

Quite possibly one of my favourite moments of the game. The only other one of interest is my friend helping me through the Gutter and straight-up walking off the fucking edge to his death. Just "oops" and the phantom death message. Since we were on Skype, he was treated to a solid 5 minutes of me laughing my ass off.
 

Redryhno

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Danbo Jambo said:
Dark Souls ultimately bored me rigid. It's got loads going for it, but the repetative nature of dieing then having to get to where you were before, doing the same thing over & over & over - often just walking with no enemy in sight - was just so dull. A lot of quality, but only a 7/10 experience for me which I'd had enough of by Sten's Fortress.

I'd be interested to hear from some of you how Bloodborne compares in that respect?
About the same, but with DS2's general idea of bonfies. Some bosses are easy to get back to, some are bullshit runs through mooks again. Biggest problem though is that they got too in love with the theme of the Hunter's Dream(the hub) that they made it where you HAVE to go back there to get anywhere, there's no warp bonfire to bonfire. It's bonfire to hub to bonfire. With still somewhat long load screens even after the patch.

Also the combat system leaves alot to be desired in my opinion. Just alot of stuff is missing for a Souls game I suppose, everyone's speedy mc dodgey, not really any variety and weapons are...pathetic because they liked guns too much. Alot of emphasis on parrying too.

Personally, I'd say if you like Gothic horror themes(and repetitive Gothic scenery) and some Souls combat, pick it up if you've already got a PS4, otherwise you might want ot give it a pass.
 

remnant_phoenix

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Redryhno said:
remnant_phoenix said:
Redryhno said:
How do you have trouble against the Taurus demon? I can get the Asylum and pretty much any other of the starting bosses, but he's so simple to fight...
1) I'm playing as a Knight and I didn't realize that I had the over-50%-weight-slow-dodge-roll until AFTER the fight.

2) It took me a few deaths (with that slow dodge) before I figured out the jump-off-the-roof-attack strategy.
Yeah...that might just explain it...never liked heavy armor runs personally beyond a giant tower shield and a bunch of rags. Just didn't feel like the right way to play it to me. Good luck on the rest of YOUR run though, hope you enjoy it!
As soon as I figured it out, I switched out my Knight Armor chestpiece for chainmail, so that I could be JUST under the 50% mark while having the highest armor rating I can. The increased movement speed and dodge roll felt so FREEING. I will never go above 50% again.
 

briankoontz

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Dark Souls and Bloodborne are the strongest Souls-related games, Demon Souls next - Dark Souls 2 was a disappointment. Game quality is incredibly ethereal, but that was my feeling while playing (Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2) and watching (Demon Souls and Bloodborne) these games - Dark Souls is a special game that's one of the very best of all time in my estimation.
 

Valkrex

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Jan 6, 2013
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Welcome to the party, hope you have a good time!

As for the rest of the Souls style games, I only have extensive experience with Dark Souls II. DS2 is a FANTASTIC game, and a worthy entry in the series. Improves on combat, UI, weapon variety, PVP, co-op, and several quality of life improvements are also added in. However it falls short in World Design, Level Design, NPC's, and lore. The lore and story is still really good, but not on the same level as DS1, despite building on and expanding several aspects of the lore and story of DS1. Still a lot of good moments to be had here, but overall not quite as good.

The world is also a lot more linear and "gamey" than in Dark Souls 1. Its still a cool world in Dark Souls 2 with a lot to delve into, it just lacks the connectivity and some of the depth that was prominent in the first game.

As for the overall story, as I said before its not as good as DS1, but still has some great moments and one element that I ADORED when it hit me. Spoilers and all that if you want to avoid it until you play the game.

One aspect of the NPC's and characters in Dark Souls 2 is that they're slowly forgetting why they came to Dragnleic in the first place and slowly forgetting about their past and who they were. One such character is Lucatiel who is a fantastic character in this game. The player starts off going to Drangleic to find a cure for the undead curse, and is set on a quest to find four great souls which may help them retain their humanity. As the game progresses though it slowly shifts into the player being the next one to link the flame and take the throne. However it does this very slowly as the game goes on, to the point where I forgot why I had come to Drangleic originally.

One character you see is travelling the land to make a map of it. However as you talk to him you see that he can't remember the real reason he came here. One other character is looking for her father despite being literally 20 feet away from him once she comes back to Majula. She forgot who her father was.

This reinforces the idea that Drangleic is the Land of Forgetting, an idea that is strongly tied to the undead curse, as with repeated deaths an undead will forget everything about themselves and eventually go hollow. And the player themselves finds themselves in the exact same situation. You came to cure the curse, but you forget as your journey progresses and your quest changes into one where you will link the flame and become the next king, or leave it to die in shadow. Half way through the game I was looking at items and thinking about how my character was to do this. Then it hit me... that wasn't my actual quest. Why had I come here anyway? I really had to ask myself a few times before I remembered. Then it hit me what this game did. It presents you with other undead slowly forgetting themselves and their quest, and then the game hits you with the exact same fate as you play the game as a player. This blew my mind, and I may be reading too much into it, but his felt amazing when I realized what had happened.
 

blackdwarf

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I have not finished Demon's souls but I really enjoyed it. Somebody once said that DES is more of a horror game than the fantasy action/RPG that Dark Souls is and I think that is good way to describe it. gameplay wise it similar besides the fact I thought it was a harder game.

I was extremely disappointed with DSII. There are some QoL changes that were a plus, like the gear system, but in almost every way the game took a step back in my eyes. level design is generic and clearly fake, like it is obvious that you are just teleporting between different areas. Enemy design was lack luster including the bosses. DSII clearly had some fan service in it which held the game back IMO and it just felt so uninspired at times. This is not saying that DSII is a bad game, which it isn't. It just doesn't reach the quality of the original DS at all.
 

Asclepion

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Leon Royce said:
Also, too many Final Fantasy style weapons (Oversized, glowing popsicle swords)
So if you are playing a Final Fantasy style character to begin with, you can wield a ridiculously huge sword while you hand the AI it's ass with magic? Awesome!

OT: If you're on PC, I would recommend the Dark Souls II Durazno fix. The default controller setting handles more unresponsively than the one from the first game.
 

Kingjackl

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Danbo Jambo said:
Dark Souls ultimately bored me rigid. It's got loads going for it, but the repetative nature of dieing then having to get to where you were before, doing the same thing over & over & over - often just walking with no enemy in sight - was just so dull. A lot of quality, but only a 7/10 experience for me which I'd had enough of by Sten's Fortress.

I'd be interested to hear from some of you how Bloodborne compares in that respect?
Regarding your main issue, Bloodborne's definitely less repetitive; it has fewer bonfires/lanterns, but makes heavy use of shortcuts that open up through each level, which so you can usually get back to where you were going fairly quicker. Also, fewer bullshit areas in general; the closest counterpart to Sten's Fortress would probably be the Forbidden Woods, which is less about traps, and more about sprawling, hard-to-navigate paths. Also, a similar overabundance of snakes.

One good thing about Bloodborne's combat is it's faster paced and more reactionary, meaning you don't get stuck in a routine when fighting the same enemies. Instead of baiting out attacks and blocking, you're mainly dodging and occasionally parrying while getting in quick swipes when you have a moment to breathe, and you can heal on the fly.
 

stringtheory

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joest01 said:
Dark2 is a step up from the previous games in gameplay. The story is plenty convoluted and at times a little more heavy handed. But the excellent gamplay, variety and sheer size of the world make up for it. You can sink months into this and still find new aspects.
Maybe I don't have the proper controller patch for DS2 or my play style didn't carry over well (sword &board), but from the little I played of DS2 the controls felt laggy, like there was a tangible delay between hitting the button and the attack happening, and if you got stun-locked even once by a basic minion you were dead. The combat in DS1 just felt more...fluid and responsive.
 

Redryhno

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Kingjackl said:
Danbo Jambo said:
Dark Souls ultimately bored me rigid. It's got loads going for it, but the repetative nature of dieing then having to get to where you were before, doing the same thing over & over & over - often just walking with no enemy in sight - was just so dull. A lot of quality, but only a 7/10 experience for me which I'd had enough of by Sten's Fortress.

I'd be interested to hear from some of you how Bloodborne compares in that respect?
Regarding your main issue, Bloodborne's definitely less repetitive; it has fewer bonfires/lanterns, but makes heavy use of shortcuts that open up through each level, which so you can usually get back to where you were going fairly quicker. Also, fewer bullshit areas in general; the closest counterpart to Sten's Fortress would probably be the Forbidden Woods, which is less about traps, and more about sprawling, hard-to-navigate paths. Also, a similar overabundance of snakes.

One good thing about Bloodborne's combat is it's faster paced and more reactionary, meaning you don't get stuck in a routine when fighting the same enemies. Instead of baiting out attacks and blocking, you're mainly dodging and occasionally parrying while getting in quick swipes when you have a moment to breathe, and you can heal on the fly.
Uhhh...I'm pretty sure Bloodborne has alot more bonfires....as in..like five tombstones with a dozen entries each of bonfires...

Other than that you're not wrong, but the thing is that once you got good enough at Dark Souls, you were playing like that anyways. But you still had the option to play Sweaty McFatrolls. Bloodborne just doesn't have the replayability that DS1&2 had for me since you're pretty much always going to play through the game the same way.

remnant_phoenix said:
Redryhno said:
remnant_phoenix said:
Redryhno said:
How do you have trouble against the Taurus demon? I can get the Asylum and pretty much any other of the starting bosses, but he's so simple to fight...
1) I'm playing as a Knight and I didn't realize that I had the over-50%-weight-slow-dodge-roll until AFTER the fight.

2) It took me a few deaths (with that slow dodge) before I figured out the jump-off-the-roof-attack strategy.
Yeah...that might just explain it...never liked heavy armor runs personally beyond a giant tower shield and a bunch of rags. Just didn't feel like the right way to play it to me. Good luck on the rest of YOUR run though, hope you enjoy it!
As soon as I figured it out, I switched out my Knight Armor chestpiece for chainmail, so that I could be JUST under the 50% mark while having the highest armor rating I can. The increased movement speed and dodge roll felt so FREEING. I will never go above 50% again.
Hey, don't be afraid of fatrolling. Most of the time when you're doing that, it means you have the stats for some of the better armor in the game around the time you should get the first Great Soul. I suppose I'm just saying to not be afraid of experimentation, that's half the fun going through it the first time.
 

Redryhno

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riffleboard said:
So the game was only fun for you after you'd been given an overpowered weapon.

Maybe you should think about that for a few minutes.
Eh...longswords and fist are sorta just average to mediocre in the game. Fist requires a certain degree of understanding of the game and longsword doesn't scale anywhere near as well as alot of others due to the moveset not really have reliable stagger. +10 Zweihander? Gravelord Sword? Ornstein's Spear? Yeah, I'm right there with you.
 

Loonyyy

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riffleboard said:
So the game was only fun for you after you'd been given an overpowered weapon.

Maybe you should think about that for a few minutes.
They could do that, or you could think about why you have a problem with someone else working out their own way through Dark Souls.

And the longsword? I mean, not even the Halberd?

Maybe we should take a second before getting more hardcore than thou.
 

Redryhno

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Loonyyy said:
riffleboard said:
So the game was only fun for you after you'd been given an overpowered weapon.

Maybe you should think about that for a few minutes.
They could do that, or you could think about why you have a problem with someone else working out their own way through Dark Souls.

And the longsword? I mean, not even the Halberd?

Maybe we should take a second before getting more hardcore than thou.
And mayhaps we try not to immediately act the exact same way we're deriding? You know, for positivity's and this new Souls fan's sake if nothing else?

And give me a break, the BKH is decent, but it's not a newbie-friendly weapon in the slightest.
 

Lightspeaker

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I actually had fun with Dark Souls for a while but eventually I found myself creeping along in the heaviest armour I could get, hiding behind the biggest, toughest shield I could find and either poking things with a spear or slashing with a sword at groups of weaker enemies.

The game felt very, very oppressive and incredibly slow burning in part down to the fact that I was playing incredibly cautiously (as people recommend you do). I didn't mind the easy death mechanics but I grew bored that the absolute best way to progress seemed to be to go at an absolute snail's pace. I kinda got bored of the few locations I'd seen and burned out on the gameplay without even getting particularly far into it. Sitting down and going "okay, am I prepared to play this through to the end" came up with the answer "no". I didn't dislike it, I just quickly grew bored.

On the flip side I'm still having a blast with Bloodborne. I love the more aggressive style that forces you to attack and dodge and be clever, you can't just block everything and it outright rewards you for being aggressive in your assault through stealing health back from damage taken.