How would you improve Dark Souls?

[phantasmalWordsmith]

I'd make it so that you can't trick Blue Drakes into flying off the edges in Drake Valley.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

The only thing I'd improve is the Bed of Chaos. That fight is basically pot luck no matter how good you are. Even with a shield with great stability it'll just knock you into the ground.

Because the boss fight doesn't reset every time you die it sort of makes the fight a little trivial. The only thing that got me in that was I couldn't figure out how to get inside it. After a dozen attempts at leaping towards the root in the centre hole, and failing to land, I started circling around the thing, dying multiple times until I eventually threw my hands up and went to the wiki. Turns out, I was right at first, its just so fickle about the jump I started thinking I wasn't meant to go that way... a combination of obscurity and fickle jump timing made me 2nd guess my initially correct assumption.

So yeah, it could have been refined. The collapsing ground and the wide area attacks are fine, the actually structure of the boss fight is just weak though.

OP: The only thing I would ask for is less latency. PvP is a mixed bag at best, enemies back stabbing me while they are still towards my front gets tiresome quickly.

Also, maybe its just me, but all the Phantoms I faced in my first run were kitted out with gear I could only get well into the late game. Is there any kind of filter system in place to stop high level players with fat loot from invading players with starter sets? PvP just feels inaccessible at the start, almost off putting... I had a much better experience in Demons Souls. Its not awful, it just took FAR longer for me to get into and it was just frustrating every time I was invaded, because it was always so ludicrously balanced in the phantoms favour. There also seems to be fuck all blue phantoms at the early stages, making it ever harder to defend against early black phantom invasions.

It felt broken until I joined a covenant basically. Might just have been bad luck on my part.

 

[josemlopes]

Option to turn off invasion. I hate them. I am not in the mood to PVP. I just want to play the single player aspect of the game, without risking a damn invasion. I know I can just stay hallow or play offline, but if I do, I end up missing out on summons that I need for a boss battle.

Just dont become human unless if you are going against a boss, its rather easy to avoid invasions.

OT: Dont make the running backwards animation the same speed as running forward, some gamers abuse that and make PVP tedious.

More weapons, areas, enemies and more attacks for each weapon (basicly more stuff).

 

[fuzz]

The only thing I'd improve is the Bed of Chaos. That fight is basically pot luck no matter how good you are. Even with a shield with great stability it'll just knock you into the ground.

Because the boss fight doesn't reset every time you die it sort of makes the fight a little trivial. The only thing that got me in that was I couldn't figure out how to get inside it. After a dozen attempts at leaping towards the root in the centre hole, and failing to land, I started circling around the thing, dying multiple times until I eventually threw my hands up and went to the wiki. Turns out, I was right at first, its just so fickle about the jump I started thinking I wasn't meant to go that way... a combination of obscurity and fickle jump timing made me 2nd guess my initially correct assumption.

So yeah, it could have been refined. The collapsing ground and the wide area attacks are fine, the actually structure of the boss fight is just weak though.

OP: The only thing I would ask for is less latency. PvP is a mixed bag at best, enemies back stabbing me while they are still towards my front gets tiresome quickly.

Also, maybe its just me, but all the Phantoms I faced in my first run were kitted out with gear I could only get well into the late game. Is there any kind of filter system in place to stop high level players with fat loot from invading players with starter sets? PvP just feels inaccessible at the start, almost off putting... I had a much better experience in Demons Souls. Its not awful, it just took FAR longer for me to get into and it was just frustrating every time I was invaded, because it was always so ludicrously balanced in the phantoms favour. There also seems to be fuck all blue phantoms at the early stages, making it ever harder to defend against early black phantom invasions.

It felt broken until I joined a covenant basically. Might just have been bad luck on my part.

Yea the jump down the middle of the bed of chaos is really finicky and usually kills me a few times.

When it comes to PvP the phantoms using high level gear at low levels are almost all doing so using the bottomless box glitch to copy items between saves.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I want to play it :/ That is the only change I would make

 

[unoleian]

n the lore and it's all pretty interesting but I'd like some more of that in the game itself.

Edit: I didn't phrase that well. Obviously the lore is all in the game but I'd like to see it in the foreground as opposed to in the flavor text for an item I may not even find. Hiding little snippets of information about certain things for players to stumble upon is a cool little reward; Having to sift through the flavor text on a hundred different items to get any sort of cohesive idea of what's going on in the world just seems silly.

I would posit that piecing it together is sort of a metagame right in line with the self-discovery aspect that drives the rest of the game. Makes puzzling out the few mysteries I solved unassisted feel really good to figure out. Taking in the rest of the lore through other sources later on was utterly mind-blowing and made me appreciate the game even more. I think I appreciate its approach to this much more than, say, Amalur, that spilled out pages of narrative at every turn and...it was BORING to listen to. For minutes on end. Blah, blah, blah...same of TES. Reading books and gathering lore from the world itself is always more rewarding than having Generic Jarl C rattle on in a monotone for the next 15 minutes.

Love that air of mystery, even if I had to turn to the great lexicon of knowledge that is YouTube to expel much of the fog.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

The only thing I'd improve is the Bed of Chaos. That fight is basically pot luck no matter how good you are. Even with a shield with great stability it'll just knock you into the ground.

Because the boss fight doesn't reset every time you die it sort of makes the fight a little trivial. The only thing that got me in that was I couldn't figure out how to get inside it. After a dozen attempts at leaping towards the root in the centre hole, and failing to land, I started circling around the thing, dying multiple times until I eventually threw my hands up and went to the wiki. Turns out, I was right at first, its just so fickle about the jump I started thinking I wasn't meant to go that way... a combination of obscurity and fickle jump timing made me 2nd guess my initially correct assumption.

So yeah, it could have been refined. The collapsing ground and the wide area attacks are fine, the actually structure of the boss fight is just weak though.

OP: The only thing I would ask for is less latency. PvP is a mixed bag at best, enemies back stabbing me while they are still towards my front gets tiresome quickly.

Also, maybe its just me, but all the Phantoms I faced in my first run were kitted out with gear I could only get well into the late game. Is there any kind of filter system in place to stop high level players with fat loot from invading players with starter sets? PvP just feels inaccessible at the start, almost off putting... I had a much better experience in Demons Souls. Its not awful, it just took FAR longer for me to get into and it was just frustrating every time I was invaded, because it was always so ludicrously balanced in the phantoms favour. There also seems to be fuck all blue phantoms at the early stages, making it ever harder to defend against early black phantom invasions.

It felt broken until I joined a covenant basically. Might just have been bad luck on my part.

Yea the jump down the middle of the bed of chaos is really finicky and usually kills me a few times.

When it comes to PvP the phantoms using high level gear at low levels are almost all doing so using the bottomless box glitch to copy items between saves.

Okay then... fix that shit and my issue with PvP is halved. Or would have been... fucking hate exploiters.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Other than "offline pause", I disagree with all of those suggestions. Part of the unique Souls charm is From's staunch refusal to adopt so many of modern gaming's unnecessary conveniences. No save/load means all of your actions have consequences. No map means you have to really learn the layout of the game world (or make your own map!). Invasions mean you can't just hide behind blue phantoms all game long without assuming some risks.

I will say that the matchmaking system for invasions is completely backwards. There's no reason to match based on soul level when the vast majority of a character's power derives from his/her gear and spells. I feel like it wouldn't be too hard to toss together a system that matches based the total value (in souls) of equipped weaponry and spells. Assign balanced values to anything that isn't "bought". Then lock gear when you invade.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

snip

The way I look at it, you are your character, it just adds to the oppressive atmosphere of the game that everything is so wtf. It's horrible because you are totally lost and alone and you don't know what the hell is going on. The unknown is always more frightening.

For me it seemed way more satisfying piecing together what I could from crazy mutterings and items I found rather than get a massive exposition to the face.

Maybe that's just me though.

I would change the fact that the enemies always seem to hit first when you attack at the same moment. I guess it might be lag but its so constant it makes me think it's part of the design.

I have had things kill me when I've gone for the last hit on them and they have struck at the same time and got the hit over me.

 

[Rylot]

... [a] walkthrough kills the experience , but that's just me . What did you learn online that wasn't explained and would have been in a tutorial?

Not a walkthrough, a guide. Something that explains the massive wall of stats they throw at you with no explanation. Something that also explains what most of the mechanics are.
-Equipment load and at what percentages it affects movement speed.
-That certain weapons are scaled on certain stats and what each of those is.
-What bleed and curse do, and how to cure curse.
-What intelligence and attunement are and how they work.
-How invading and multiplayer works.
-How to leave messages.
-What the different weapon types do.
-What sorcery, pyromancy, miracles are and how they differ.
-What humanity is and how that whole system works with the multiplayer.

It's definitely a game that takes a hands on approach and lets the player decide how they want to play the game, it just would have been nice to have the asylum level explain a few more things.

 

[Rylot]

snip

And I get that. It's just frustrating to be in this world that is incredibly interesting and wonderfully terrible but then not have a clue who anyone is and why they're doing anything because I haven't collected the right loot. I'm not saying go for massive walls of exposition but I'd like a bit more.

 

[burningdragoon]

-Equipment load and at what percentages it affects movement speed.
-That certain weapons are scaled on certain stats and what each of those is.
-What intelligence and attunement are and how they work.
-What the different weapon types do.

These are all answered by hitting the select button or just by looking at the stats.


-What sorcery, pyromancy, miracles are and how they differ.
-How to leave messages.
-How invading and multiplayer works.


These are answered from the proper items plus some dialogue.


-What bleed and curse do, and how to cure curse.


Pretty obvious what they do after the first time you are cut/cursed. How to cure curse is told when you are cursed and you talk to the hint dispensing guy in Firelink. That's exactly what the guy is there for: to give you hints about where to go.


-What humanity is and how that whole system works with the multiplayer.


Item descriptions and choosing bonfire options. How it works with multiplayer would be nice info I guess.

Seriously, all that info is in the game already.

 

[TrevHead]

I would posit that piecing it together is sort of a metagame right in line with the self-discovery aspect that drives the rest of the game. Makes puzzling out the few mysteries I solved unassisted feel really good to figure out. Taking in the rest of the lore through other sources later on was utterly mind-blowing and made me appreciate the game even more. I think I appreciate its approach to this much more than, say, Amalur, that spilled out pages of narrative at every turn

I agree with you there, I'm over 15 hours into Amular and I couldn't go into any detail about it's lore, especially the placenames and NPCs, most are just icons on the map to me.

I do like conversations with NPCs even if most of the extra dialog options is ZZZZZZZ.


OT: Someone mentioned the Vally of the Drakes, I think that whole area lets the game down, same goes for Ash Lake, both are too small and linear.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Assuming the game doesn't have one, a difficulty option. Saying your going to please an audience that likes hard games is good, forsaking the rest of gamers in general to please that audience is bad.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

After putting around 200 hours into the game, the only things I can think of are:

1. A real tutorial. The Undead Asylum is fine and all, but it suffers from being both too easy and not actually teaching you anything. Newbies will get through it with only a little difficulty (probably at the Demon), and then be completely unprepared for what the game is actually like when they get to the Burg. Clearer instruction, accompanied by a difficulty more in line with the Undead Burg would be good, as well as the option to skip it entirely for returning players (while still obtaining the requisite items of course. Estus flask, starting equipment, etc.)

2. Better netcode. It's kind of a pointless opinion, as every game needs better netcode, but Dark Souls' in particular could be absolutely terrible in a game where every little hiccup could mean death, and death could be a very large setback. It also made PvP a real crapshoot at times, which is no fun for anyone.

3. Less obtuseness in upgrading. In particular, making it more feasible to farm the highest level crafting components (chunks/slabs). Slabs were especially bad, as there were only two that you were "guaranteed" to get, and one was the end of an extremely long and tricky sidequest chain that next to no one could figure out without a guide. Also, being able to call a Blacksmith to you, either through souls or a consumable item would be extremely helpful.

4. I assume the next Souls game will be an open world like Dark Souls, so I would like more ways to move quickly around the map. The shortcuts help, but it is somewhat tedious to run back and forth across the map multiple times before you get the ability to fast travel. If they keep merchants and Blacksmiths stationary and spread out as they currently are, then it would be good to have a way to access them quickly without having to hoof it for 20 minutes.

 

[shrekfan246]

Sorry, maps completely go against the spirit of the game. Maps betray too much, and take away from the observation of environment. The most fantastic thing about that game is how much of a comprehensive picture one develops through the play of a section. Maps take away the tension of "how much farther?!" and, "will I die if I jump here, or...?" not to mention the compulsive memorization of every little detail that takes one over while playing.

Sorry, maps, especially with annotation, would ruin the game.

I wouldn't want individual maps so much as an over-world map. It's very tedious and confusing to remember that Blighttown is connected to the Depths and Valley of Drakes, the Depths are connected to the Undead Burg which is connected to the Parish, which is connected to the chapel that leads to Sen's Fortress, the chapel is connected to Darkroot Garden, which is connected to Darkroot Basin, which has a tunnel leading to the Valley of Drakes. The Valley is also connected to New Londo Ruins, which connects back to Firelink Shrine, which is connected to the Burg.

I suppose the fact that I just proved I have most of that memorized proves that the system works, though...

Also, fuck Blighttown. Ten hours in and my only alternative is finishing off Darkroot Garden.

 

[Rylot]

snip

Not saying it isn't there, but it's daunting when you're just starting out to try and sort through it all and aren't sure where to look. It just seems pretty easy to miss important things by not talking to the right person, finding the right item and putting it together the way the developer intended. But I guess that is part of it.

 

[Skin]

The combat is actually pretty boring when you think about it. There are so many moves you are capable of doing, but you don't need anything other than block and light attack to complete the game. I am not saying to force the player to perform said moves to proceed, but at least make them viable.

Items are ridiculous. Doesn't matter one bit what level your character is, all you need is items to win the game. Kind of stupid, some balance would be appreciated.

Boring bosses. Most of the bosses in this game were not fun to fight again. Infact, my best fight in the game was that against Oscar of Astora, when he became hallow back in the Asylum. It put all the skills I had learnt up to that point to test and I actually felt like I would lose without it being some cheesy stun-lock.

There are actually so many damn flaws with this game. That said, I felt the game was flawless the first time around.