Oh look, another Dark Souls is lame thread.

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Name me a single game, at all, where dying costs you more than time. One game. You can't, because it doesn't, at all. At least Dark Souls goes further than most games in punishing death. What does death cost you in NGB?

You know what, I'm going to do this systematically because I don't know how to address things fluently:

1. The Drake Sword. Really. You're complaining about getting overpowered by groups when you have 200 attack power and a shockwave R2. And groups of...tree demons...I assume, at that. Darke Sword is going to get old real fast, but at the moment I would not expect to be having trouble with it.
2. As you've now realised, running is explained.
3. In Dark Souls you are not a ninja. You are barely a human. I would expect combat to be a bit more dangerous for the player and require more strategy. It is, at times, a matter of positioning, but take away your shield and it speeds up pretty quickly, not that it was an issue in the first place. Also, boss fights.
4. Fighting groups can get you killed, because fighting groups is a stupid thing to do. I don't know exactly what NGB does, but from your description, it seems like it condones rushing into a group and expecting to survive. But once again, you are not a ninja in Dark Souls.
5. Speak for yourself when you say you can't fight groups and that renders fast combat impossible. Have you tried being mobile? Have you tried two-handing when you strike? Have you tried riposting? All of these are alternatives to circling behind an enemy until you reach the backstab window.
6. How many weapons with unique movesets are there in NGB? 11 from what I count from the FAQ you linked, whether or not that is a comprehensive list. At any rate it's safe to say Dark Souls has more, being practically every weapon. So please put away the variety card.
7. Wait a second, you couldn't figure it out on your own, so you used a wiki instead of persisting, and that's the developer's fault for not giving you the information on a silver platter? Part of Dark Souls is figuring things out. It's not trial and error, it's using your intelligence. Most of the traps in Dark Souls are detectable. You can look into other areas and see enemies. The elevator in Sen's Fortress has blood on it and you can watch the chain's movements to figure out what it will do. The first time, a Mimic will probably eat you, but the chests are subtly different from regular chests. The Duke's Archives have many places where a small area is attached to the main corridor and if you don't check you'll get sideswiped. And if you're sloppy I don't see why all your souls and humanity isn't a reasonable thing to lose. Another semi-mechanic of Dark Souls' is that you play very cautiously when you have a lot of souls, but when you lose them and can't get them back it's liberating and lets you change your approach.
8. Knowing something and knowing to DO something are related. For instance, I can know the enemy configuration of the next area. But I need reflexes, and instinctual knowledge of their attacks to risposte them and to dodge attacks, especially against bosses. That's the same knowledge you use in Ninja Gaiden.
9. The developer did not put in "grind-points", and if you're exploiting the Drake on the bridge, you should be ashamed of yourself.
10. There are developer soapstone messages that will be revealed if you use the Guidance miracle. Otherwise, yeah, there aren't any warnings. You complain that it isn't a 'hardcore' game and also that it doesn't pander to you enough. Most illusory walls are either obvious against their surroundings or you can see what's behind them visibly, and that's about the one thing I think you'd need orange soapstone messages for. Even the Crystal Caves have their own indicators (you'll see when you get to it).

Look...tl;dr, you're barely any way into the game, you're using the wiki for every second thing, you can't be bothered figuring things out for yourself, you think you should be able to hop around the battlefield with enough 'skill' (hint: get the DWGR) and you don't think you need any skill to execute ripostes or dodge attacks, only knowledge. Try beating Ornstein and Smough in a plodding fashion then tell me more about how fast combat doesn't work and positioning is all you need.

Maybe you just don't like Dark Souls. Play another game, don't complain that it isn't hardcore enough for you.

 

[Burst6]

I started farming around the first bonfire in Undead Burg (frustrating time, due to my inexperience and unwillingness to let that black knight live). Then I used the trick with the bridge wyvern (which got boring pretty quick). Then I farmed the Baldur knights in the parish (risky, especially with my playstyle, and I had to restart my grind every so often due to a missed parry, getting double-teamed, or getting swarmed by upstairs zombies). Then I farmed the Forest Covenant people (extremely risky, even after I put those souls to use). Then the stone giant and royal sentinel on top of Sen's Fortress. Eventually, I wound up farming the two royal sentinels and the silver knight near the Smaug & Finklestein bonfire, and then the darkwraiths in lower New Londo, but those were for titanite chunks and slabs, not souls.

That was around the point where I was pretty confident in my build and didn't really need to farm for souls. In fact, that was about the point where I realized that when I was carrying few to no souls, the game suddenly became fun again, so I started deliberately using any excess to bump up my supply of arrows, firebombs, and prism stones. The instant I didn't need to worry about the immersion-breaking threat of my progress being reversed, it was suddenly possible to enjoy myself.

...sort of. That's also when the Duke's Archives, Izalith, and the Catacombs opened up, so the game became frustrating and immersion-breaking for other reasons.

Forest Covenant is risky? I go through those guys without any problem. That's by far the best way to get souls in the game. Even at the start i barely ever died to them.

Was that before or after you already knew where all the trouble spots were? I would never have finished the game if I only had five flasks. As it was, it took me 124 hours.

It was before. Maybe it's because i was already used to the gameplay from demons souls. Usually monsters never did much damage as long as i kept a decent shield and went in carefully. Most of my deaths in the game didn't come from estus flask shortage, they usually came from being killed really quickly by a strong enemy or falling off something. I almost never kindled my bonfires (mostly out of laziness) and i finished the game the first time rather quickly. It took me about 15 hours.

Um...yes, they kinda do. That's the very definition of a protagonist. It's even more important in the case of interactive fiction.

Granted, most of the problem in that came from my own hangups. When I play a character with no personality, I have to substitute my own, and the only in-game reason I had for doing the bell thing was "shits and giggles" (hell, the only out-of-game reason I had was "because that's how the game progresses"). The game certainly made me feel like J. Random Schmuck and my character an amnesiac version of the same, but then why would the unesteemed Mr. Schmuck and his amnesiac better half give two shits, as opposed to simply making friends with the Crestfallen Warrior and living it up at Firelink? And even when you get to the halfway point and get a tangible goal, the world is basically dead, and none of the lore you can piece together matters even if you go with the dickpunch ending and reset everything. That combination of nihilistic reflection of when the world was awesome functional and the realization that none of it had anything to do with me anyway beyond "this is why there's a giant wolf/lava monster/drider/tree currently in my way" just bred apathy.

character snip

I admit, I forgot about Rhea (I did save her in the Catacombs, but after doing that and shoving my rapier down Patches' throat, I figured that was the end of it), but the thing with Logan is a story arc? I rescued him from prison twice, but he didn't even have the personality of the pyromancer I saved from cannibalization, and I interacted with him in about the same way (rescue, then shop). Hell, if I hadn't mistaken him for a podium and killed him on accident, I'd have never run into him a final time. Solaire wasn't especially interesting beyond giving me an item (apparently, you can summon him in boss fights, but I only used one summon the entire game; Mildred was silent, but do most summons talk when you summon them?), and I almost shanked him on my own just because it seemed he would try to kill me soon (<color=aliceblue>I waited a little too long and had to kill him anyway, but I guess his descent into madness was happy, so that's good).

And if that's the way Sigmeier's story ends, I'm glad I didn't run into him again after Izalith. I actually liked him, and he always felt like he was talking to my character rather than talking at her (a trait only shared by Andre, who sadly never moves).

This is pretty much depended on taste. Well, i guess this whole thing is dependent on taste, but this especially. I personally like it when the character isn't anything special and the world is hopeless.

As for your question of why mr shmuck would give two shits, the story says that over time you go insane and turn into one of those insane hollow that wander around the undead burg. I'm guessing he/she cares because it's either slowly go insane and turn into a mindless zombie, or do something that's at least exciting and has basically no consequence since you're immortal. Considering the classes you start with, i think it's safe to say your character is a trained warrior of some kind.

Also, dickpunch ending? Which one is that. They're both pretty dickpunchy.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Forest Covenant is risky? I go through those guys without any problem. That's by far the best way to get souls in the game. Even at the start i barely ever died to them.

I played in wanderer armor the whole game (it was the heaviest armor I could use with my stats without losing fast roll), my gameplay was focused on speed and riposting, I dual-wielded a rapier/parrying dagger[footnote]At that point. My style by the end of the game was mostly shooting things with Pharis' bow or frying them with Quelag's Furysword. I had surprisingly little trouble with the bosses in the game, barring Sif and the Stray and Capra Demons.[/footnote], most of my stat increases went to Dex and End at the start, and I was playing with mediocre graphics and 15 fps at the best of times. Since I also got to the area pretty early (grinding against baldur knights until I got the Astorias Crest), I couldn't take many hits and I still had to work against my computer to make the playstyle work. I loved the playstyle and made it work for me, but it was pretty late in the game before I mastered it. As it was, I had to be especially careful not to get hit at all (even the sorcerer could pack a punch, to say nothing of the rogue's poison or the bandit's axe), and not to fight more than one at a time.

Not to mention I required quite a bit of room to maneuver, and fell off that cliff near the bandit an embarrassing number of times. >_>

Also, I just realized I accidentally overinflated the amount of time it took me, since I ran a couple of new characters through the beginning areas to test out heavy weaponry and pyromancy. Probably took me 90 hours on my main character.

This is pretty much depended on taste. Well, i guess this whole thing is dependent on taste, but this especially. I personally like it when the character isn't anything special and the world is hopeless.

As for your question of why mr shmuck would give two shits, the story says that over time you go insane and turn into one of those insane hollow that wander around the undead burg. I'm guessing he/she cares because it's either slowly go insane and turn into a mindless zombie, or do something that's at least exciting and has basically no consequence since you're immortal. Considering the classes you start with, i think it's safe to say your character is a trained warrior of some kind.

That's what I've pretty much written it up to, a difference in tastes, plus me having certain expectations and hangups about immersion. The way I get immersed in stories seems to be completely opposite, at times (Bastion is actually my favorite game example; I hated the way its story was told, but that's what everyone else seems to like).

I'm not sure about that explanation, or at least summing it up as anything but "boredom" as a reason. For some reason, I was the only truly immortal undead, but even with that immortality, there was the implication that dying was supposed to bring you even closer to insanity (like Andre admonishing me not to get myself killed, "no one wants to see you go hollow"). The most I can get past that is maybe sticking my tongue out at the Crestfallen Warrior and ringing the bells just to spite him...even though I would later find out that he's totally right about almost everything.

Also, dickpunch ending? Which one is that. They're both pretty dickpunchy.

From my perspective, one is dickpunchy, while the one I got was unexpectedly awesome.

Spoiler

If I had actually gotten the "Link the Fire" ending, I'd probably have screamed. In-game and in real life.

"Hooray, I get to perpetuate the system whose endpoint I've just seen where everything goes to shit! And all I need to do to make that happen is suffer 1000 years of incessant burning agony! All thanks to those wonderfully altruistic gods and serpents who manipulated me into doing so! What a lucky zombie I am! <color=red>DEARSWEETHOLLOWJESUSTHEPAIN!"

On the other hand, after a certain point, I just wanted to destroy the world for being so obtuse (and figured I'd be doing everyone a favor anyway), so I read the wiki to learn how to join the Darkwraiths and followed Kaathe's advice, figuring that even if I was betrayed, I'd have killed the sun itself.

Imagine my surprise when, after a fun final boss fight that I won on the first try (finally, a boss <url=http://i46.tinypic.com/bbm9c.jpg>vulnerable to ripostes!), it turns out the "evil" serpent was telling the truth the whole time, and not only was I not betrayed, but I <url=http://i50.tinypic.com/1zdn911.jpg>became the Dark Lord of all. And <url=http://i45.tinypic.com/2vd616g.jpg>I even managed to be human for it.

After a story that consistently failed to engage me, I got an ending where I succeeded beyond anything I'd dreamed, and for a brief moment even got into the mind of my character, and had one thought:

"Yeah. I like this..."

 

[PrimitiveJudge]

Only 9 hours? your barely out of diapers at that point. Don't you think it's premature to make a full game opinion. I am 35 hours in and just rung the second bell. (fuck Blighttown).

 

[Exius Xavarus]

He actually somewhat reminds me of a more mobile version of Demon's Souls' "Adjuticator".
But Orstein and Smough remain as the only bosses I cannot beat without help from Solaire.

I dunno, I think the Vanguard would be a more comparable enemy. Just like the Stray Demon, it'll swing its weapon and turn at the same time, as well as flying into the air in attempt to butt-slam you. It's been a while so I might be misremembering, but the Adjudicator has a hard time hitting anything that isn't standing right in front of it. And you don't have to knock the Stray Demon on its back to actually hurt it.

It's possible.
I'll admit that I usually just pelt Vanguard between his shouder blades with arrows, so I've yet to bother fighting him up close.

Wait, I did whittle him down to almost nothing once in the tutorial, but then lost concentration for one split second. But that was only once and I really don't recall the specifics too much.

My comment was about the simple strategy I use to defeat both and how they are similar.

Spoiler

"10 o'clock goto 7 o'clock" becomes "12 o'clock goto 4 o'clock" (to evade his attack).

But your mileage may vary.

On another note: Hooray! Artorias of the Abyss for $7.50 on PSN. Just picked it up today. ^.^

Huh. I don't get messages when you quote me anymore. Odd. Ah well back on track; Can you damage Adjudicator by shooting arrows at the bird on its head? I've never really gotten into ranged combat styles with Demon's or Dark Souls, so I never really knew if that worked. And lucky. I bought Artorias of the Abyss at full price when it came out. :{

 

[Valkrex]

These threads are starting to get annoying.

Anytime ANYTHING gets popular, a shit ton of these threads pop up all over the place just to bash it not living up to unreasonable expectation set by the popularity.

If you don't like the game, that's fine. I don't care. But do you really need to go online and complain? And even then to complain after this dead horse has been beaten to dust to begin with?

 

[S1leNt RIP]

snip...

... Fuck off.

Imagine a DmC response here.

Here, use this!

Spoiler

OP: It's fine that you don't like it, but not liking it because it isn't the game you like is kinda stupid. But even so, I feel that. I LOVE Dark Souls, then I went to try and play The Witcher 2, but because the gameplay was more clunky than DS I just couldn't struggle through it, not when I could be playing Dark Souls. It felt like Dark Souls but with worse combat, and by that time the story (which is why I was playing it) hadn't pulled me in. I'm not gonna say witcher was a "shit game" because I didn't like it...I realize it just wasn't for me/it was my fault for not liking it.
Own it man! It's a great game, but it doesn't float your boat. It's that easy!

 

[default]

Oh dear, you are a terribly rude poppit aren't you? No icecream for you.

It's an experiment in archaic design, much like the first Zelda game, where you learn the patterns of the enemies and what is effective to progress. And there is ALWAYS room to make mistakes even with perfect knowledge, and if you lose the pattern or the flow of the adversaries they will chop off a third of your healthbar in a single swing as punishment.

That's not fair; you didn't tell me ice cream was on the line.

I love 1986 Zelda. Absolutely adore it. I played it for the first time since my childhood last month and couldn't believe how well designed it was. I can't get past dungeon 6 though. The like-likes keep eating my shield and then the ghost things eat my face.

Well I've got that wierd foamy stuff on the lid left if you want that?

Oh man, that game is fantastic. It still holds up to this day in it's design alone and it has so many open ways of completing it, and you can see how much it influenced future game design. And yeah, I still can't beat it to this day... It really is one of those games where most players will never see the ending.

 

[lapan]

Spoiler

If I had actually gotten the "Link the Fire" ending, I'd probably have screamed. In-game and in real life.

"Hooray, I get to perpetuate the system whose endpoint I've just seen where everything goes to shit! And all I need to do to make that happen is suffer 1000 years of incessant burning agony! All thanks to those wonderfully altruistic gods and serpents who manipulated me into doing so! What a lucky zombie I am! <color=red>DEARSWEETHOLLOWJESUSTHEPAIN!"

On the other hand, after a certain point, I just wanted to destroy the world for being so obtuse (and figured I'd be doing everyone a favor anyway), so I read the wiki to learn how to join the Darkwraiths and followed Kaathe's advice, figuring that even if I was betrayed, I'd have killed the sun itself.

Imagine my surprise when, after a fun final boss fight that I won on the first try (finally, a boss <url=http://i46.tinypic.com/bbm9c.jpg>vulnerable to ripostes!), it turns out the "evil" serpent was telling the truth the whole time, and not only was I not betrayed, but I <url=http://i50.tinypic.com/1zdn911.jpg>became the Dark Lord of all. And <url=http://i45.tinypic.com/2vd616g.jpg>I even managed to be human for it.

After a story that consistently failed to engage me, I got an ending where I succeeded beyond anything I'd dreamed, and for a brief moment even got into the mind of my character, and had one thought:

"Yeah. I like this..."

Spoiler

Judging from what you hear about Kaathe in New Londo and the DLC his goal is spreading the Abyss over Lordram. He tricked both the people of New Londo and Oolacile to do so. Choosing the Dark Lord ending is likely to plunge the world in the Abyss sooner or later. Since that is the home of the serpents, they are the only ones that win

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Only 9 hours? your barely out of diapers at that point. Don't you think it's premature to make a full game opinion. I am 35 hours in and just rung the second bell. (fuck Blighttown).

Learn to love the leeches.

Know where they're hanging out. All of them. Time and time again.

For... if you intend to upgrade yo shit, you'll be massacring a thousand leeches.

Welcome to the grind.

Make it fun. Do things differently. Switch weapons for the lulz. Get resisant, gear up to the task. Use rings. Dual wield everything. Be quick and nimble, ninja the terrain or be a tank. Wear heavy armor, become a knight of onion or wear a dress, for a change? Why not do everything naked? Enjoy.

 

[deviltry]

While I will disagree with you on the overall quality of the game, I will agree with you on the fact that Dark Souls really doesn't explain important parts of its systems. While the combat stuff is well-explained in the tutorial, none of the pictures-as-stats are explained and there is no specific indication of why some weapons are unusable/ineffectively equipped.

STR number in red doesn't explain that you need more STR? I'm sorry, are you from the past?

 

[Trollhoffer]

> OP rolls in at level 25 with the Drake Sword
> claims Dark Souls has no depth
> ohboy.jpg

I'll be the first to admit that Dark Souls doesn't teach its character build systems well (if at all), but there's plenty of depth to be found if you consider your options and know the character build mechanics. The fact that you're using the Drake Sword and think it's overpowered tells me, at the very least, that you don't understand damage scaling or the relationship between a character build and weapon loadouts.

If you like the 200 damage from the Drake Sword, then you'll love the 610 damage from the Zweihander +15 with 40 strength and 40 dexterity. You can shortcut those stats, too; with 27 strength, two-handing a weapon makes you "count as" having 40 strength, and the zweihander is better used in two hands anyway. You might have noticed that each weapon's stats has a range of "parameter bonuses" -- basically a quick bit of information about how it scales with various stats as represented by a letter. It goes from E-A, lowest to highest, and then S (which I presume stands for "sexy"), which is impeccable stat scaling.

Curved swords, thrusting swords, polearms, daggers and bows will tend to scale well off dexterity, for instance. Axes, maces, hammers, and all manner of really huge weapons will obviously scale much better off strength. In the middle, balanced weapons like longswords and claymores will scale equally well with either stat. Magical weapons will scale well with intelligence and divine weapons with faith. This means that while you're never forced to use or upgrade particular weapons, your character is going to fight more efficiently with a weapon that suits their stats. This also has some interesting side effects by proxy; dexterity characters will tend to move quicker than strength characters, for instance, but not because their dexterity stat makes them faster. Instead, dexterity weapons are usually lighter than strength weapons, meaning that dexterity characters have an easier time staying under equipment weight thresholds and therefore move more quickly.

The Dark Souls character build system is remarkably deep, once you dig down into it. Then there's poise and "special builds", which can be one hell of a lot of fun, based around getting the most out of less common or more unusual elements of the game. I personally like the Lifehunt Dex build, for instance. It works based off the Lifehunt Scythe, which takes 50% of an enemy's HP if you exceed their bleed threshold with your strikes. Unfortunately, every time you hit, it also builds up your own bleed threshold. The solution? Stack other equipment that improves your bleeding resistance, allowing you to waltz through tough enemies like the Grim Reaper. Have a decent backup weapon for mobs and you're good to go.

Oh my god I just spent 30 minutes going over every single post of this thread several times. I have shit to do but just kept thinking..."SOMEONE IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET!" Made myself giggle.

Anyway, OP likes a certain type of game, like Ninja Gaiden, or Dota2, and he doesn't like Dark Souls...so fucking what? He/she obviously isn't suited for Dark Souls complaining about what could be considered a feature forcing creative thinking and an alternative approach. I love Dark Souls, in all it's obtuse glory. Is it perfect? no, because what is. I think we should just respect the OP decision to bash on a game for not being "hardcore" enough for him and let him get back to Dota.

A mature post on the internet. Huzzah.

No-one's bashed someone for liking or not liking anything in this thread -- except perhaps Andrew, who took a swing at someone with a Dark Souls avatar. Why people are so incensed is Andrew's claim that Dark Souls lacks depth as a matter of objective criticism. After, as noted above, starting this thread very early in the game while using one of its most worthless weapons in the long term.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Spoiler

If I had actually gotten the "Link the Fire" ending, I'd probably have screamed. In-game and in real life.

"Hooray, I get to perpetuate the system whose endpoint I've just seen where everything goes to shit! And all I need to do to make that happen is suffer 1000 years of incessant burning agony! All thanks to those wonderfully altruistic gods and serpents who manipulated me into doing so! What a lucky zombie I am! <color=red>DEARSWEETHOLLOWJESUSTHEPAIN!"

On the other hand, after a certain point, I just wanted to destroy the world for being so obtuse (and figured I'd be doing everyone a favor anyway), so I read the wiki to learn how to join the Darkwraiths and followed Kaathe's advice, figuring that even if I was betrayed, I'd have killed the sun itself.

Imagine my surprise when, after a fun final boss fight that I won on the first try (finally, a boss <url=http://i46.tinypic.com/bbm9c.jpg>vulnerable to ripostes!), it turns out the "evil" serpent was telling the truth the whole time, and not only was I not betrayed, but I <url=http://i50.tinypic.com/1zdn911.jpg>became the Dark Lord of all. And <url=http://i45.tinypic.com/2vd616g.jpg>I even managed to be human for it.

After a story that consistently failed to engage me, I got an ending where I succeeded beyond anything I'd dreamed, and for a brief moment even got into the mind of my character, and had one thought:

"Yeah. I like this..."

Spoiler

Judging from what you hear about Kaathe in New Londo and the DLC his goal is spreading the Abyss over Lordram. He tricked both the people of New Londo and Oolacile to do so. Choosing the Dark Lord ending is likely to plunge the world in the Abyss sooner or later. Since that is the home of the serpents, they are the only ones that win

Works for me. I get my glorious Age of Humanity, and everything gets destroyed when I'm done? Best of both worlds.

 

[V8 Ninja]

While I will disagree with you on the overall quality of the game, I will agree with you on the fact that Dark Souls really doesn't explain important parts of its systems. While the combat stuff is well-explained in the tutorial, none of the pictures-as-stats are explained and there is no specific indication of why some weapons are unusable/ineffectively equipped.

STR number in red doesn't explain that you need more STR? I'm sorry, are you from the past?

Without seeing this image [http://i.imgur.com/bwkjl.jpg], I would have no idea what the arm, hand, pen, star, raindrop, hollow circle, and dark ring symbols actually meant. And by default, that screen is not visible to the player. That's not good UI design.

 

[iwinatlife]

While I will disagree with you on the overall quality of the game, I will agree with you on the fact that Dark Souls really doesn't explain important parts of its systems. While the combat stuff is well-explained in the tutorial, none of the pictures-as-stats are explained and there is no specific indication of why some weapons are unusable/ineffectively equipped.

STR number in red doesn't explain that you need more STR? I'm sorry, are you from the past?

Without seeing this image [http://i.imgur.com/bwkjl.jpg], I would have no idea what the arm, hand, pen, star, raindrop, hollow circle, and dark ring symbols actually meant. And by default, that screen is not visible to the player. That's not good UI design.

Not sure about the other versions but there is a help button in the menu on xbox you hit back and scroll around to get details

 

[Tallim]

While I will disagree with you on the overall quality of the game, I will agree with you on the fact that Dark Souls really doesn't explain important parts of its systems. While the combat stuff is well-explained in the tutorial, none of the pictures-as-stats are explained and there is no specific indication of why some weapons are unusable/ineffectively equipped.

STR number in red doesn't explain that you need more STR? I'm sorry, are you from the past?

Without seeing this image [http://i.imgur.com/bwkjl.jpg], I would have no idea what the arm, hand, pen, star, raindrop, hollow circle, and dark ring symbols actually meant. And by default, that screen is not visible to the player. That's not good UI design.

Not sure about the other versions but there is a help button in the menu on xbox you hit back and scroll around to get details

Yeah there is and I'm astounded people miss it but that's because they don't bother to read the controls 'key' at the bottom of the status page for some reason.

 

[V8 Ninja]

STR number in red doesn't explain that you need more STR? I'm sorry, are you from the past?

Without seeing this image [http://i.imgur.com/bwkjl.jpg], I would have no idea what the arm, hand, pen, star, raindrop, hollow circle, and dark ring symbols actually meant. And by default, that screen is not visible to the player. That's not good UI design.

Not sure about the other versions but there is a help button in the menu on xbox you hit back and scroll around to get details

While things may be explained in some instructions of sorts, the actual game never mentions the stats nor does it explain why they are important. It doesn't even inform the player that more information about such things can be found in X or Y, which is extremely annoying and unhelpful.

(Also, BTW, I'm playing the game on the PS3.)

 

[lapan]

While I will disagree with you on the overall quality of the game, I will agree with you on the fact that Dark Souls really doesn't explain important parts of its systems. While the combat stuff is well-explained in the tutorial, none of the pictures-as-stats are explained and there is no specific indication of why some weapons are unusable/ineffectively equipped.

STR number in red doesn't explain that you need more STR? I'm sorry, are you from the past?

Without seeing this image [http://i.imgur.com/bwkjl.jpg], I would have no idea what the arm, hand, pen, star, raindrop, hollow circle, and dark ring symbols actually meant. And by default, that screen is not visible to the player. That's not good UI design.

Not sure about the other versions but there is a help button in the menu on xbox you hit back and scroll around to get details

The help button is in all the versions. Also it displays the exact bonus dmg as a + or - number next to the default dmg.

 

[PrimitiveJudge]

Only 9 hours? your barely out of diapers at that point. Don't you think it's premature to make a full game opinion. I am 35 hours in and just rung the second bell. (fuck Blighttown).

Learn to love the leeches.

Know where they're hanging out. All of them. Time and time again.

For... if you intend to upgrade yo shit, you'll be massacring a thousand leeches.

Welcome to the grind.

Make it fun. Do things differently. Switch weapons for the lulz. Get resisant, gear up to the task. Use rings. Dual wield everything. Be quick and nimble, ninja the terrain or be a tank. Wear heavy armor, become a knight of onion or wear a dress, for a change? Why not do everything naked? Enjoy.

I actually forgot to add at the end, that I am loving it. I have no souls, do not remember where I died at, so I am stuck at the bottom of blight town with no range and no poison cure. this is going to be the most epic escape ever. =)

OT: My point is OP ring at least the second bell, or spend some time in New Lando, but don't hate after 9 hours. Plus you cannot compare this game to Ninja Gaiden. NG isn't a RPG never has.

 

[BooTsPs3]

So you're complaining about non-existing problems? The tutorial explains everything you need to know. It could be better, but if you use your brain it will work better than most tutorials that just drag the fuck on and on.

You complain the combat isn't fast. It's not a hack'n'slasher. It doesn't need fast combat, nor did it ever imply it had it. Are you seriously comparing it to ninja gaiden? That's like comparing ratchet and clank to medal of honour.

The fact that you're using a wiki and the drake sword begs the question, why bother? Why play a game renowned for difficulty if you're just gonna cheese it?

You call the game trial and error, yet it has about 3 cheap deaths in the entire game. You're just doing it wrong.

You complain that there are consequences for death. That is because the game is fair. It has almost no cheap deaths. If you die it's because YOU fucked up. It adds pressure to the combat. In your average game you get to a boss and think "Ok i get to fight this now". In DS you get immersed in the game and scared by the fact that there are consequences to losing this fight. There's a lot less intensity to fights if you can just try again right away. No pressure. Besides. If you die, you get the chance to recover your souls and humanity. Meaning you can double your souls by the time you get them, making the game become that tiny bit easier if you have trouble with it.

YOU may not like dark souls. But your complaints are not legit problems with the game. They just happen to be things you don't like about it. Slow combat etc.

Having played a ton of demons and dark souls, i can tell you. You don't need the wiki. I refused to use any wikis or guides until i had beaten the games, and the experience was better for it. Where's the satisfaction in beating a boss if you just google where to get the best gear and then look up the strategy?

The only real thing that comes across in the OP is that ninja gaiden is faster paced and you think it makes it more skill based, yet you are using wikis to help you in dark souls, rendering your point pretty much invalid.