Hating Dark Souls?

[Ruwrak]

Lightning Uchigatana
Great Combustion


Erm.. Anything else?
Mno.. Not really. The occasional block and dodge

(Overexaggurated, but it's the thing that works the best for me personally anyway)

 

[Casual Shinji]

Dark Souls has issues, but the ones you've stated are not part of them.

The main one (for me anyway) being that locking on for a ranged attack like a Soul Arrow means you can still fire it in the complete opposite direction if your character hasn't been totally centered on the target.

Plus, sometimes you can completely miss an enemy with a ranged attack if they happen to duck or slightly turn their head to the side. Not counting fite ball attacks.

To be honest, I'm loving it. However, while I don't think I've encountered any 'random' deaths, I've encountered a few bullshit ones. Like how all grab attacks pretty much have an insta-kill effect. That's bullshit.

Just make sure to attack every damn chest the moment you enter Sen's Fortress.

 

[hazabaza1]

To be honest, I'm loving it. However, while I don't think I've encountered any 'random' deaths, I've encountered a few bullshit ones. Like how all grab attacks pretty much have an insta-kill effect. That's bullshit.

Just make sure to attack every damn chest the moment you enter Sen's Fortress.

Just finished the first part of Anor Londo, and I have been. I just stab every god damn chest I see now.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Dark Souls is a fun game, and I've really been enjoying it, and it is, as most people have pointing out, incredibly hard. But there are a few ACTUAL issues that are more than just difficulty that I find kind of important:
1. Cliffs inherently aren't the problem, it's the camera angles. Sometimes I'll be encountering a skeleton spearman and I'll back into a corridor, and suddenly the camera zooms in on my face so I can't see anything else and I'll get killed because I have no idea what's going on. Ditto with ledges, I'll dodge, then the camera will warp to some weird angle and an enemy will attack me and I'll go flying off a ledge I didn't see due to the camera not always working as well as it could.
2. The game doesn't tell you nearly enough stuff at times. An example is with melee. As some have stated, the Drake Sword is very powerful, but from all the ways I've read on how to get it, some of the ways of getting it are kind of obscure and aren't possible without a strategy guide to know what you're doing. Another example I had was with my weapon. It broke early on, but I didn't know it was broken or how to repair it because the game never made that clear, so I had to look that up.
3. NO PAUSE BUTTON. I can meet the game halfway... if they don't want me to be able to switch gear completely midbattle fine I understand. But what if I suddenly realize I need to use the bathroom, or my roommate comes home with pizza and I want some before he devours and tears the rest apart with his ungraceful pizza grabbing hands, I WANT to be able to stop without getting torn to pieces... just a simple little pause screen... anything!

1. I haven't encountered that personally, but can see how it would be annoying.

2. Don't be so sure. FF6 had a cursed shield that inflicted every negative status effect in the game on the character wearing it. Why wear it? Because after having been worn through 255 battles it turns into the Paladin Shield (the best shield in the game). How did I discover this in 1995 with no internet? I was curious as to why the thing was in the game. So I wore it and equipped a ribbon to cancel out most of the bad stuff. "Because it was there" is often a strong enough incentive for players to follow courses of action that don't make sense at first glance. As for repairing... well the very first merchant in the easiest part of the game sells repair powder. From there, logic dictates that weapons must take damage if you can repair them.

3. I... kind of agree with this point. Fortunately death doesn't have much bite in most circumstances.

 

[Ghostkai]

Overall, when you finally kill that giant Vagina Monster or the Scaleless Dragon or those Belfry Gargoyles single-handedly; it is one of the greatest feelings I have felt in a long while whilst playing a game.

And that, fellow Escapists, is the appeal of this great game. Well said.

Actually, the Gaping Dragon was the easiest boss in the game. It had two moves that it used 90% of the time. It telegraphed these moves as well. Now Orstein and Smough made me cry tears of joy when they fell.

Oh, I agree, he's a terribad boss. But, my point was what Capitano Segnaposto was expressing. The feeling of accomplishment.

 

[Akihiko]

Hold on guys copypasteing my opinion from a different thread

Wall o' text alert

Spoiler

"After playing for a while, i really don't care about anything in this game. I mean what's my motivation? I'm currently trying to fight my way past a mob of skeletons and some indestructable rhino before being met with about 5 elite spear guys in this Undead Parish

And for what? Apparently there's some bell i need to ring or something? Why should i care enough to push past the difficulty level?

And any desire to see the sights has been effectively smothered because any new places will have to be trudged through again and again because of the frankly asinine checkpointing system

Compare this to another difficult game like say Persona 3 or 4, you cared enough about the characters and the overall story to push past the difficulty level, it makes you want to see how the game plays out.

I just don't feel arsed enough to continue with Dark Souls really... Fuck it maybe in a few months i'll start a new game and check if there're any good build guides on teh interwebs."

As for the OP, most of the complaints raised are just due to lack of awareness... I mean ledges? Really?

Yeah. I can't comment on Dark Souls, but that was one out of my two problems with Demon's Souls, which I completed last year. You don't care for the characters, and the story isn't amazing. Which sucked out a lot of my motivation.

My other problem was having to redo sections when you die. Yahtzee actually summed the problem up pretty well in his Extra Punctuation. I don't have a lot of spare time, and I don't want it wasted on redoing an area I'd already done. Again, this actually could have been solved by having interesting characters and story. I remember losing 20 floors worth of progress on Persona 3 once, and while I was annoyed at the time, I still pushed on because I wanted to see what happened.

It's a shame for me honestly. Because I really LOVE the combat system in Demon's Souls. Especially on some of the bosses. I had a lot of fun battling King Allant in 1-4. I would have had a lot more fun if I didn't have to run through 1-4 again to get back to him, though.

 

[Drkstrm]

[

(P.S, and if you were to mention the Fog Ring, I would be supporting you 110%. Fuck that thing straight to hell. What were you thinking, From?)

Um... what is the Fog Ring? I might have missed that one...

Oh, you know, just a ring that makes you nearly invisible and incapable of being locked onto.

Nothing game breaking, or anything.

Fog Ring pretty much guarantees I'm going to be avoid doing PvP until that shit is patched out or something.

Just so everyone knows. There is a patch coming, and Ring of Fog is getting a slap.

 

[krazykidd]

I'm not the OP but I beat the "lava spider" with only spells, didn't melee her once. In fact, I found it more difficult when I did try to melee her the first time.

I meant with pyromancy...I met a guy that was around lvl 70 that barely did damage to it with pyromancy. I was targeting pyromancy specifically because the OP seems to think it is over-powered.

Pyromancy needs to be upgraded , you nees to go to the guy thats sells pyromancy spells and have him modefy your glove from 1-15 . It cost from 500 to 25 000 souls .

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Overall, when you finally kill that giant Vagina Monster or the Scaleless Dragon or those Belfry Gargoyles single-handedly; it is one of the greatest feelings I have felt in a long while whilst playing a game.

And that, fellow Escapists, is the appeal of this great game. Well said.

Actually, the Gaping Dragon was the easiest boss in the game. It had two moves that it used 90% of the time. It telegraphed these moves as well. Now Orstein and Smough made me cry tears of joy when they fell.

Well, I had trouble with it, okay? I was still in shock at how big it was, I MEAN IT WAS A GIANT FUCKING VAGINA WITH TEETH~! I was scared Also the fact that by the time I reached the bastard I had a lot of low health after failing to defeat the damned Hydras and 0 Estus Pots.

However I did manage to defeat the Belfry Gargoyles on my first try , I quit though since I wanted that DAMN AXE. Managed to get it once I killed myself before taking that last swing at the damned Firebreather.

Hydras? Is there an alternative way to get to it that isn't through The Depths? And don't worry, we all have bosses that give us trouble. The Bed of Chaos took me more tries than I care to admit. >.>

 

[davisjones1287]

Hold on guys copypasteing my opinion from a different thread

Wall o' text alert

Spoiler

"After playing for a while, i really don't care about anything in this game. I mean what's my motivation? I'm currently trying to fight my way past a mob of skeletons and some indestructable rhino before being met with about 5 elite spear guys in this Undead Parish

And for what? Apparently there's some bell i need to ring or something? Why should i care enough to push past the difficulty level?

And any desire to see the sights has been effectively smothered because any new places will have to be trudged through again and again because of the frankly asinine checkpointing system

Compare this to another difficult game like say Persona 3 or 4, you cared enough about the characters and the overall story to push past the difficulty level, it makes you want to see how the game plays out.

I just don't feel arsed enough to continue with Dark Souls really... Fuck it maybe in a few months i'll start a new game and check if there're any good build guides on teh interwebs."

As for the OP, most of the complaints raised are just due to lack of awareness... I mean ledges? Really?

Yeah. I can't comment on Dark Souls, but that was one out of my two problems with Demon's Souls, which I completed last year. You don't care for the characters, and the story isn't amazing. Which sucked out a lot of my motivation.

My other problem was having to redo sections when you die. Yahtzee actually summed the problem up pretty well in his Extra Punctuation. I don't have a lot of spare time, and I don't want it wasted on redoing an area I'd already done. Again, this actually could have been solved by having interesting characters and story. I remember losing 20 floors worth of progress on Persona 3 once, and while I was annoyed at the time, I still pushed on because I wanted to see what happened.

It's a shame for me honestly. Because I really LOVE the combat system in Demon's Souls. Especially on some of the bosses. I had a lot of fun battling King Allant in 1-4. I would have had a lot more fun if I didn't have to run through 1-4 again to get back to him, though.

Everything you mentioned was a positive for me.
I like stories that aren't slapped in my face.

 

[wolfcrux]

<3 Dark Souls.

There is ONE bad thing in it, and to be fair it's really only a minor to mediocre annoyance for me. The laggyness of certain areas until it fully loads. That's about it. Probably the best buy I've made in video games since well... Demons Souls.

 

[Darkbladex96]

Snipped for brevity.

Dark Souls does indeed have an open world, as far as the definition of an open world goes. It's definitely a lot more linear than we were lead to believe, however, given the skill, you can do whatever you want. You can take any character you want anywhere in the game, and you can fight just about every boss, give or take a couple of them. Those angry skeletons in the catacombs, or even outside the catacombs? Given the endurance for a long, hard, and arduous battle, you can take them down, if you have the skill for it. I do have a gripe about a couple of your points, though.

1. In my own experience, being a purely melee character isn't nearly as difficult as you're naming it to be. I can easily wipe out swaths of enemies no problem. I can deal large amounts of damage to bosses even with weaker weapons. I can take a Black Knight Greataxe into tiny corridors and skill come out unscathed. You have to adapt to the situation and react accordingly. Anyone can cast magic and wipe out hordes of monsters in 1 hit. That's what magic is. It has always been, and always will be, absurdly powerful. Almost all of the time, however, magic will be much, much slower than a melee combatant. That's the trade-off for that kind of power, is speed. As for armor being useless, try swinging around a large weapon with no poise. If you're going to toss around a massive weapon, you need to prepare for the fact that you're going to get hit every once in a while. The higher your poise, the less likely you are to flinch at an enemy's attack.

2. I don't understand how you're having such a difficult time with weapon bouncing. I can take a Black Knight Greataxe, or a Greatsword of Artorias, and I can fight even tight quarters, because more than half the time my weapon simply slides right through the wall as if it wasn't even there. I have a harder time swinging around smaller weapons, those are the ones that like to tell you the walls are actually there.

3. Ledges are not a problem. Stay away from them unless absolutely necessary. If you're having such a hard time not getting knocked off a ledge, then perhaps you should try taking the fight away from the ledge. If you're going to block an attack that will send you backward, don't block it with a ledge behind you. That's a surefire way to get yourself killed.

4. There are no undefeatable foes in the game. Everything can be killed. Every monster, every trainer, every blacksmith, every monster, every boss. There's nothing in the game that can't be killed right away. If you're going to take on a more powerful foe while you're still a low level, prepare for a difficult fight. As I said before, given the endurance to handle a long and arduous fight, you can overcome anything in the game with a certain level of skill.

You claim to like a challenge, but clearly, Dark Souls has shown that either:
A) You do not like a good challenge, or
B) Dark Souls has more challenge than you can handle

You need patience, perseverance, and a certain level of skill in order to overcome the challenges presented to you.

I don't care if you want to hear it, because whether you like it or not, it's true:

You just aren't good enough to take down the monster that is Dark Souls.

As for my own personal gripes with the game itself, my biggest issues with the game are as follows:

Enemies are not susceptible to the same rules of combat that you are, such as not being restricted to walls, terrain that would slow you down, do not slow the enemies down, and enemies that shoot a bow have heat-seeking arrows. And my biggest gripe is actually a bug that I would really love for them to fix: Input lag. I am playing offline. There is no reason that I am hitting a button, doing absolutely nothing, and then attempting to perform the action I tried to do, ~5 seconds after I hit the button.

The truth is bolded, i dont mind a game being hard, but it has to play FAIR.

Weapon collision, cool. when the enemies dont follow this, cheap.
And the input lag......god!

 

[Section Crow]

to be honest, i can't see your stand point.

I have never thought the game was screwing me over, i never thought the game was too hard anything that happened i thought was a fault of my own, not the bosses not the mobs my own choice that caused my death.

Oh and if the game get's boring take a break, it WILL get boring because of the game length and combat

 

[Aeonknight]

[

(P.S, and if you were to mention the Fog Ring, I would be supporting you 110%. Fuck that thing straight to hell. What were you thinking, From?)

Um... what is the Fog Ring? I might have missed that one...

Oh, you know, just a ring that makes you nearly invisible and incapable of being locked onto.

Nothing game breaking, or anything.

Fog Ring pretty much guarantees I'm going to be avoid doing PvP until that shit is patched out or something.

Tranquil Walk of Peace, Sweeping weapon like a Zweihander or even Queelag's Fire Sword.
lolFog Ring

 

[HyenaThePirate]

Now before you all flip a lid thinking this is a rage thread, your only half right.

Dark Souls is a decent game. But i dont think it requires half the praise it gets. Dont say "oh, its because you suck at it" or "its because you dont like a hard game", let me tell you, ive played Monster Hunter from start to finish since the first one. G-Rank and all.

Dark Souls isnt a game about difficulty. Its a game about beating your face against a brick wall until you find something that works. I WANT to like the game, but i cant, because of the dozens of poor design flaws in the game. ((Due note, this are only things i think are horrible flaws, these views may, and probably will vary person to person.))

Wall of text, read at your own risk.

Spoiler

1: No reason to be melee. Ive played 3 different classes, and so far, ive noticed a trend. I pick Knight, and the game is.... Difficult. Your weapon feels like it does nothing to anything but basic undead, theres no real point to armor when your shield blocks 100% physical damage and you can dodge everything else, and nearly every enemy has a combo that can almost insta-gib you. But then i play Pyromancer. The game is absurdly easy now. Why? Because nothing gets within 20 feet of me. And if it does, its already at less then half health. Every challenge i ran into as a knight, i instantly blew through as a Pyromancer. Armored battle boar? No problem! I have fireballs for days!

2: Constant weapon bouncing. Nearly all of the melee weapons have a habit of bouncing even if half a pixel grazes anything solid. I do like a game where hit boxes are well made, but theres a limit to it. I find myself bouncing off of every surface within 10 feet, while im being beat on by something immune to wrath of walls. ((Or poisoned by rats i cannot hit))

3: Ledges. Everywhere. Nearly all of the deaths i befell were because of ledges. Anything stronger then a rough breeze and your character either recoils like an electric car hit him, or sends him flying. I take no damage from either of these, yet im dying. Why? Because every ledge and its grandmother want me to die. This was a massive pain in the Taurus demon fight where every swing he took either sent me flying, or was impossible to dodge because i chose a class other then Pyromancer.

4: Random Death. Beings you cant kill, and you accidentally drew agro because you bent a piece of their beloved grass. They come rushing at you, and well, you die. Running is a decent option except they chase you far beyond what i would call an area boundary, and will 2 hit kill you unless you block every attack they throw at you.

Dont get me wrong. I love a challenge. Every game i own, ive beaten on the hardest difficulty. And i consider myself more then a hardcore gamer. But whenever i hear about Dark Souls i hear, "You never feel cheated, you always learn something from your deaths", when really, all ive learned is, Hallways suck, ledges suck, 1 pixel of fire igniting your entire body sucks, Giant knights with weapons larger then you suck, and being melee sucks. Almost every death i encounter, i feel cheated on, either because of ledges, wall bounces, or random boss level baddies stabbing me in the back when i didnt even know they were there.

I like the game, and i really want to love it. But i feel its getting far more praise then it really deserves. It went from challenging to "how can we be an arse hat and ruin 2 hours of gameplay?"

And im sorry if it comes off as me raging. But honestly, if i were raging i wouldnt even be posting. Id be at the shooting range, putting several holes in my new favorite target. I feel that Dark Souls was going in the right direction, and ended up getting stuck on, "LEZ MAEK EET HURDER".

Long story short, the game never really gets better, dying never gets easier, and F*CK LEDGES.
So what does everyone else think about Dark souls and its random moments of jerk-mode? Anything ni particular grind nails against your chalk board?

You should write reviews full time. I'd pay good money to read your opinions on the games I would buy. Entertaining, humorous, and boldly pointing out what other people would simply dismiss as "Player fault."

You sir, have a future in entertainment literature.

 

[ChaoticKraus]

Also, where the fuck do i find weapons in this game? The only good ones i found are the drake sword and the black knight greatsword. But the drake sword feels cheap and i dont have the strength for the greatsword. Ideally i would want to find a curved sword because i really love the moveset. (No i won't kill the merchant for a katana).

I believe The Catacombs have both Falchions and Scimitars and if you're after a good curved greatsword then you'll want to go to blighttown and find 'Server' on a corpse in the swamps at the bottom.

I started out with a scimitar since i'm a wanderer, are the falchion better? Oh and does a curved greatsword require high Dex or Strength? I put most of my points in Dex. I was thinking of finding a "magical/unique/powerful/whatever" weapon since i'm only in the Undead Parish and the standard scimitar damage feels a bit underwhelming against all these fucking zombie knights.

 

[Jack Rascal]

But i dont think it requires half the praise it gets. Dont say "oh, its because you suck at it" or "its because you dont like a hard game", let me tell you, ive played Monster Hunter from start to finish since the first one. G-Rank and all.

What game deserves praise? It's all relative isn't it?

What most people complain about Dark Souls are not "cheap moves" or actual flaws. What people fail to realize is that this game is brutal in its battles and to some extent, reality.

People cry foul when their thief character gets slow when wearing full plate armour. I can go and wear full mediaeval plate armour, but I am sure as hell not going to walk around in it. I could probably hardly raise my arms when falling on my face.

Saying there's "no reason to melee" or "there's no real point to armour when your shield blocks 100%" is just silly. Everyone creates a character they can master the game with, or if you don't care to learn the game you create a character that dies a lot. If you're no good with melee weapons then maybe you're better off with magic. If you don't care to learn character development, then maybe you're better off playing another game. Maybe you didn't notice but each time your shield is hit you take a hit on your stamina? When your stamina runs out, you're not blocking anymore but taking hits, hard...

You complain that weapons bounce off walls. Well, guess what? That would happen in real life if you were to swing your weapon in a corridor. If you're hitting walls when not in corridor then you're really not cut out for melee. Stick with the magic. But you do have four weapon slots at your disposal, use them efficiently. You can equip a long sword for your fancy swings and change in half a second to a spear for sticking at your enemies in tight spaces. I would call that problem solved and not whine that the game has a design flaw. It does not; you just have to understand how the game works and what it gives you to work with.

Ledges, believe it or not, but ledges exist in real life too. Having a game with God's invisible hand gently guiding you away from the ledges would not suit this game. Part of what makes Dark Souls what it is, is that you have to be aware of your surroundings as much as the enemy you're fighting. If you couldn't fall off ledges, why have them in the first place? Might as well set the game in a massive flat field and make sure there are no two, or God forbids, three-storey buildings in sight.

I fail to understand these "cheap and random deaths". What are they? I remember the first time I saw the Dark Knight in the Undead Burg. After killing enemies that have been wearing loincloths and maybe a shield or two, my alarm bells were ringing when looking at him. This big guy, standing calmly with his back turned to me in full armour. I don't know about most people, but I knew this guy can kill me in few hits. I also noticed that he is not about to move unless I go and piss him off. So what did I do? Threw a firebomb at his back and died laughing at my suicidal attempt. I knew he was tough but I wanted to see firsthand what he was capable off. So, after reviving at my cosy campfire, with respect I left him standing at his chosen spot and moved on.

But TL;DR, I have to repeat what other people have said so many times before. If you keep running at the enemy and repeatedly dying, could it possibly be that your tactic doesn't work? Is there any chance that you have a character that does not compliment your play style? You found magic to make the game easier for you, good for you! Maybe that was your secret for the game.

Hallways don't suck, learn to adapt. Ledges don't suck either, don't fight near them or if you do at least try to throw your enemy off it, not yourself. I have not been ignited by one pixel of fire and I doubt you have either. Don't fight enemies that are clearly out of your league if you're not willing to spend time and effort on them. You do not have to fight every creature you come across. Being melee doesn't suck, you might suck at fighting melee, but that doesn't mean everyone sucks at it. Don't rush, have a look at what is around you. You should be able to see most of the enemies around you.

 

[Ickorus]

Also, where the fuck do i find weapons in this game? The only good ones i found are the drake sword and the black knight greatsword. But the drake sword feels cheap and i dont have the strength for the greatsword. Ideally i would want to find a curved sword because i really love the moveset. (No i won't kill the merchant for a katana).

I believe The Catacombs have both Falchions and Scimitars and if you're after a good curved greatsword then you'll want to go to blighttown and find 'Server' on a corpse in the swamps at the bottom.

I started out with a scimitar since i'm a wanderer, are the falchion better? Oh and does a curved greatsword require high Dex or Strength? I put most of my points in Dex. I was thinking of finding a "magical/unique/powerful/whatever" weapon since i'm only in the Undead Parish and the standard scimitar damage feels a bit underwhelming against all these fucking zombie knights.

It requires high strength and some dex, i'll spoiler the exact numbers in case you want to find out for yourself though, i'll also put in the unique effect that sets it apart from others.

Spoiler

21 Strength, 13 Dexterity - It heals you for a small amount on each hit.

 

[Biosophilogical]

A nicely put argument. I've not played the game and even I am annoyed with the excuse that if you don't like it you must just suck. So, the difference between being good at it and being bad at it comes down to whether or not you're enjoying your constant death?

I BREEZED through the entire beginning portion of the game. I've downed the Tauras, Boar, Gargoyles, and I'm about to fight the Moonlight Butterfly with 1 death on a THIEF.

What's so bad about the thief class? I got it a few days ago, and I'm in Blighttown (and I've killed the Moonlight Butterfly). Is it actually harder than other classes? Is it something I won't notice until I start a new charactar and go "Ooooh, that's what s/he was talking about!"?

OT: I have it. I love it. I die a lot. I have never died in this game when it wasn't my fault. That seems to be how it works; play well and you'll be fine, make a mistake and you might not be able to fix it before you die.

 

[VanityGirl]

No reason to be melee? How far are you into the game? Really, how far? I'd love to see you take on the Giant Lava Spider without swinging a stick or 2.

quote]
You mean the huge spider that has the ***** riding it? Or maybe she's part of the spider, I don't know.

That thing is so stupidly easy if you summon someone. Alone, she's a biiiiiiiitch.