I shall now say unkind things about Dark Souls.

[blutack]

If you are having trouble with the capra-demon instead of complaining about the cannon fodder why don't you ask for help?
lots of us will offer advice.
With that in mind, which weapon are you using?
heavier weapons tend to be harder to use relying on stun-locks and timing, making weak enemies tiresome to deal with.
While you might think specializing your character is a good idea mixing in sorcery can really help ie I am doing a level 10 run of the game and low level magic attacks allowed me to easily defeat most enemies so long as it was one on one.
even if you use a lighter shield don't try to parry on bosses.
There is a gimmick in this fight is you choose to use it where you can use repeated plunging attacks to absolutely destroy it (I wont go into details here its obvious once pointed out).
if you are desperate you can use the drake sword.
honestly half the fun of this game for me is planning how to beat the bosses in new ways with new weapons.
don't let the boss win, don't keep trying the same plan over and over unless you feel that it was your own fault that it didn't work.
it might sound patronizing but changing tactics does work and even if you cant get that to work you can still brute force over-level and steam-roll right over its face.
if you still feel overwhelmed post your general build and load out and I am sure people much better at the game than me will give you specific instructions on how to beat that fight.
I have to concede on the graphics point though. looking forward to the pc release.

 

[Aprilgold]

I agree. I've shown I can do this stuff already, don't make me do it again. I'll lose focus and slip up eventually as I try to find a way to get past faster. Just let me get back to the boss fight.

Thats the point, actually. The game wants perfection time and time again, therefore you have to achieve it. I played Super Meat Boy which was four times harder then Dark Souls or Demon Souls will ever be.

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Honestly, Souls is not that difficult if you just remember what you did the last time. All it is finding the right rhythm to kill the enemy and you essentially beat the game.

 

[daveman247]

Thats the point, actually. The game wants perfection time and time again, therefore you have to achieve it. I played Super Meat Boy which was four times harder then Dark Souls or Demon Souls will ever be.

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Honestly, Souls is not that difficult if you just remember what you did the last time. All it is finding the right rhythm to kill the enemy and you essentially beat the game.

Super meatboy was VERY TOUGH :O

But couldnt you say the same for that game? Just find the right rhythm to beat it?


Super meatboy only JUST avoided being tedious because the levels were about 10 seconds long.

 

[daveman247]

No, you're in Lordran. It's just a place that got fucked up by the bed of choas. There are fully fonctioning kingdoms outside of it.

So i am told. I think the hell idea is better. Or maybe purgatory. Endless death, crazy people, eatting souls. Makes sense

 

[Aprilgold]

Thats the point, actually. The game wants perfection time and time again, therefore you have to achieve it. I played Super Meat Boy which was four times harder then Dark Souls or Demon Souls will ever be.

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Honestly, Souls is not that difficult if you just remember what you did the last time. All it is finding the right rhythm to kill the enemy and you essentially beat the game.

Super meatboy was VERY TOUGH :O

But couldnt you say the same for that game? Just find the right rhythm to beat it?


Super meatboy only JUST avoided being tedious because the levels were about 10 seconds long.

In Meatboy if you missed a jump by a pixel you could very easily be killed. In Dark Souls, you have such a big freaking hole for error that you literally can not fail unless you literally sit there doing nothing.

 

[daveman247]

In Meatboy if you missed a jump by a pixel you could very easily be killed. In Dark Souls, you have such a big freaking hole for error that you literally can not fail unless you literally sit there doing nothing.

Im not saying its not difficult to find the "rhythm". I'm just saying, like dark souls you can just remember what you did last time to beat it as well The challenge is just finding the correct stratergy.

Theres not THAT MUCH room for error. A couple of good hits can kill you.

Not really that comparable actually.

 

[Tib088]

You raise some good points. But I still love the game. I do agree tho it the enimies between boss fights are boring. But it all adds up to make death something that you rly don't want. In most games you die, go back to check point and don't lose much. In dark souls, death carrys real punishment in multiple ways.

 

[kouriichi]

You know, i was in the same place as you at one point. Only a decent chunk earlier.

You know what it tends to be? Finding the class that fits you best. I tried the pyromancer, the thief, and the Wanderer, and i hated them all, and my time playing them. But then i started playing the Knight, and things just felt far better. I didnt like being super mobile, and constantly parrying/dodging to survive. Sure, i still DID dodge and parry, but as a knight, it wasnt as important thanks to my armor and shield choices. I was able to take the hits and retaliate for it.

And while i agree, the graphics arnt good in any regard, they arnt bad. Sorry if not every game is Crysis level :/ But honestly, if one of your main gripes is "Its not pretty to look at", then your looking at it to hard. Sure, some of the textures werent great, but thats only because you choose to stand there, glaring at them for more then a few seconds. Sure, its not the best looking game, but its not like graphics determine how good the game itself is.

Now, let me state the obvious here, Dying is BAD. Terrible. Avoid at all costs. 9/10 of my deaths were to ledges, or my own stupidity. "Oh hey, That Guy at the bottom of the tower looks awesome i wonder if hes friendl-OH GOD NO HES NOT A NICE PERSON!". And thats how i met Havel the Rock, and needed to purchase a new pair of pants at the same time. But that was my own stupidity for thinking that ANYTHING with a weapon larger then me could be friendly. Dying is avoidable. Most times i could have died, i got out and healed by playing smart, and not panicking. Sure, you will get a few cheap deaths were and there (Taurus demon knocked me off the ledge half a dozen times -_-) but honestly, getting back to where you were isnt hard. There are always shortcuts, and you DONT have to fight everything you come across. Most of the time when i have to get through an area, i ignore any enemy that wont block my path, only stopping if one of them lands a lucky hit, because i was derping off.

Its not tedious, because you dont HAVE to fight anything. 9/10 enemies are completely avoidable. Just take your chest piece off and cheese it. Undead Burg? After i cleared it of l00t, never fought there again. Lower Undead Burg? Same story. The Capra demon is a hard fight, but only because he has those dogs. Run up the stairs, and take them out 1v1 before you even think about going after Big Cap. Also, firebombs. They work great on him and the dogs. Toss one, dodge/block, get some distance, rinse, repeat. Hes only hard if you try to parry every attack he does, and fail them all. (I dodge far more then i parry, even as a knight in the heaviest armor i can get my hands on)

Its a fair game. A harsh one, with very little forgiveness, and lots of ledges. But its an easy mountain to climb so long as you take your time, find good footholds, and keep your gear as up to date as you can. Also, dont attack Havel unless your 100% sure he wont land a hit on you. Havel is not very nice, and doesnt take kindly to people in his tower. He will hit you, you will be in pain, and chances are, you will become a puddle. A very meaty puddle.

 

[Project_Xii]

Huh. Loooot of people that don't know how to play Dark Souls in this thread. But I suppose it's nice for them to have somewhere to band together.

I was never bored for single second in Dark Souls. Loved every minute. But then, i didn't suck and die at every enemy. So it basically comes down to:
Are you good at the game? Yes? You will like it.
Are you bad at the game? Yes? You will not like it.
Pretty simple in the end.

 

[Dansen]

You are only at the Capra Demon?
I'd say that you can only truly and completely judge the game when you have beaten Anor Londo, its only by then do you get access to all of the game's features.

The enemies get a lot more interesting than those warriors and pathetic excuse for knights you've been fighting so far.

Also read the flavor text and talk to NPCs all the time, they give a lot of information.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I was gonna let everything you just said pass,... untill you started talking about how much the visuals sucked.

Different strokes, I guess, but I fucking loved the visual design of this game. Everything about it felt weird, twisted, and creepy, which only amplified the sensation of a mad world that simply wants to kill you. It had enough of a knights/castle type fantasy design to feel grounded in reality, but altered to such a degree that it feels totally unique, and above all, fucked up.

The real problem I had with Dark Souls was that ultimately you don't get a sense of gratification from defeating tough monsters and Bosses anymore. You defeat one tough Boss, there'll be a tougher one after him. You defeat that guy, and an even stronger monster takes his place. And after you defeat him... You get my point. You never reach a point were you feel like you've properly achieved anything, because the rabbit hole keeps going deeper and deeper, constantly revealing tougher challenges. This is the main appeal of the game, but in every game you should atleast get a sense that you're gaining some ground.

And the fact that the game lacks a direct narrative and characters means there's no real emotional engagement or drive beyond "Fuck, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die".

The game simply wore me out, and I stopped short of defeating The Bed of Chaos. Which is a lot more threatening than its name might suggest.

Wait, The Bed Of Chaos is more threatening than it sounds?! Oh fuck me i'm out. You win Sniper Whores! You can keep your sodding Gigabows That Fire Swords! I'm off to play some moar Skullgirls, AKA the only fighting game ever that doesn't make me rage uncontrollably. Or at all really. Quite the feat Devs, quite the feat.

55 hit Valentine combo ftw /singsongvoice

See ya later fuckers!

 

[The Wykydtron]

You are only at the Capra Demon?
I'd say that you can only truly and completely judge the game when you have beaten Anor Londo, its only by then do you get access to all of the game's features.

The enemies get a lot more interesting than those warriors and pathetic excuse for knights you've been fighting so far.

Also read the flavor text and talk to NPCs all the time, they give a lot of information.

Beat Anor Londo? One does not simply "beat" Anor Londo, my good sir.

One must first take an epic pilgrimage past the Obnoxiously Long Lift, across the Bridge of Wastefulness then to the top of the Giant Fuck Off Stairway, get instakilled by those Infernal Sniper Whores fifty times in a row then, as common social etiquette suggests, you snap the disk in two and offer it as a sacrifice to which ever gods you may or may not believe in.

Also, what flavour text? Cuz I am not looking up the Wiki to find out the basic gist of the storyline. And what information are you talking about? They gibber absolute nonsense half the time! Any meaningful comments (if there are any) are swiftly ignored/forgotten since I want to fucking live for more than two seconds and pondering the mysteries of Dark Souls' story and/or characters during gameplay is the fastest way to getting yourself killed for the fifth billionth time.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Running to the fog gate and then making it fall off the cliff is not a glitch, that's intentional. Unless you meant something else, then I'm curious to hear about it. On almost all my characters I've had quite a lot of trouble with it. Only on my witch it was really easy, because I could kill it in three hits by the time I got that far.

I've always wondered just how people do that. I can never get him to walk off the cliff. He never goes anywhere NEAR it, for me. Instead, he'll stand in the area where the Taurus Demons are at(relative to his position) and shoot fire at me, shouting "Come at me, bro!" until I go kill him.

Honestly, I think Dark Souls has a beautiful aesthetic. Sure it's not the greatest when you look at places from far away, but I always thought places like Undead Parish, Sen's Fortress, Anor Londo and Ash Lake to be amazingly beautiful areas to look at. Especially Ash Lake.

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

Dude, what do you want? Infinite retries on boss battles? Yeah, you have to fight a couple guys to get back to the boss. Honestly, the trip to the Capra demon should only take you a minute or two, which is way better than a lot of video games that would make you replay half the level to get another shot at the boss. I mean, look at Zelda, you die to a boss and you start at the beginning of the dungeon! If you find yourself playing the same sequence over and over again, maybe you should consider trying a different area until you've leveled up/gotten better at the game. Dark Souls often lets you access enemies that you aren't ready to kill, it's on you to determine that. There is almost always another path that you could explore if you find yourself stuck.

And COME ON, the game is beautiful. This is a game where there is a built in system for telling other players to admire the "gorgeous view" over the internet!

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

Use Iron Flesh whenever you get to a Capra demon. Essentially easy mode.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Use Iron Flesh whenever you get to a Capra demon. Essentially easy mode.

That, or simply roll past him and the dogs, run up the stairs and stand atop the doorway at the top. Capra will RARELY be able to get up there, and by rarely, I mean once every few characters. Normally, he'll just hop at you with his overhead swing, which can be blocked. ORRR he'll sit underneath you, fruitlessly swinging his swords making it easy for you to kill the dogs and fight him one on one.

...Well, my way's a bit more difficult than the Iron Flesh route, but I like it better due to Iron Flesh being, at least for me, kind of boring. :x

 

[Zhukov]

If you are having trouble with the capra-demon instead of complaining about the cannon fodder why don't you ask for help?

Because I'm not having trouble with the boss fights. I killed the capra demon before making this thread.

My complaint is having to trudge my way through ten minutes of boring repeated combat before I can fight the damn boss. It's bad design, no matter how you look at it.

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

If you are having trouble with the capra-demon instead of complaining about the cannon fodder why don't you ask for help?

Because I'm not having trouble with the boss fights. I killed the capra demon before making this thread.

My complaint is having to trudge my way through ten minutes of boring repeated combat before I can fight the damn boss. It's bad design, no matter how you look at it.

Dude, do you have that much trouble with the skeletons and thieves? By the time you get to Mr. Capra, those guys should take like one or two hits, or you can run by most of them. And seriously, quit bitching, it's all of two hundred meters away from the bonfire. What the fuck games have you been playing that don't set you back AT ALL for failing a boss fight? That there sounds like some bad design to me...

 

[Zhukov]

If you are having trouble with the capra-demon instead of complaining about the cannon fodder why don't you ask for help?

Because I'm not having trouble with the boss fights. I killed the capra demon before making this thread.

My complaint is having to trudge my way through ten minutes of boring repeated combat before I can fight the damn boss. It's bad design, no matter how you look at it.

Dude, do you have that much trouble with the skeletons and thieves? By the time you get to Mr. Capra, those guys should take like one or two hits, or you can run by most of them. And seriously, quit bitching, it's all of two hundred meters away from the bonfire. What the fuck games have you been playing that don't set you back AT ALL for failing a boss fight? That there sounds like some bad design to me...

That's exactly the problem. The game is making me repeat the easy fights over and over again so I can get to the fun fights. I'm not "having trouble" with skeletons and thieves, they're just boring me silly and wasting my time. I explained this in the OP.

Even if I was to just run past the filler enemies, why make me do that? It's still a waste of my time for no good reason.

Well designed games set you back to the last point you reached to avoid needless repetition whithout defanging the challenge. Very well designed games have a fucking quicksave button. Sadly, Dark Souls is neither.

Also, "quit bitching" is not a valid response to criticism. If it was, I would just tell you to quit bitching about my bitching.

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

snip

Sounds like this game was just not meant for you if you're getting bored and frustrated by literally just running down two hallways to reach a boss fight. Maybe you should go play Uncharted or something, with quicksaves every 5 seconds and recharging health.