Take a Walk Through the Hellish World of Dark Souls

[Delock]

looks great. I loved Demon soul's but i do hope they add difficulty options to this game.

No! For the love of god! I really hope they don't that would ruin it! luckily they already mentioned it will be just as hard as DS.

Yes, god forbid other players that aren't both masochistic, psychotic, and obsessive compulsive stand a chance. The best games are the ones nobody's seen the second half of afterall.

You don't need to be any of those to be good at Demon's Souls. All you need to do is not run in like all other RPGs, and take your time.

Demon's Souls really isn't hard, what makes it hard is that so many are already used to other RPGs.

The part where you mention being killed a lot belies your argument. I get the feeling that players will spend more time on the game over screen than actually playing no matter how good you are at these kinds of games.

Not at all, you're only being killed a lot if you are playing the game wrong. Once I learned what not to do and how to get through the game, I made it through the majority of the worlds and bosses on the first try, without dying.

The game only kills you because you're doing something wrong. It reinforces good behavior and punishes mistakes, so that you don't make those mistakes a second time. After all, if something kills you, making you go to half health, then you won't need that health anyway, since you shouldn't be dying to it again.

That's assuming everything goes exactly the same way it did the first time. Or does it, and the game's just trial and error?

Yup, the game is full of trial and error.

So it's just an interactive movie disquised as a game then.

Wait... What..?

If the way to win is to do everything in a predetermined manner (example, if you don't swing the golden war axe at the skeleton around this corners leg three seconds after seeing him you die) why couldn't it just be a choose your own adventure book or something like that?

No.

Allow me to break down all of this for you. To start with, the game is trial and error more in order to encourage the community of it (through bloodstains that alert you to another player's death, messages other players leave, teaming up to overcome the obstacle, or just to have players swap strategies and such). It's a return to how games were before a single strategy guide solved things.

Second, the game never requires you to do stuff like that. In fact, it pretty much allows you to play how you want. If you want to focus on a particular class of weapon (all of which play differently), you're free to do so. You're able to upgrade weapons in different manners as well to accommodate how you want to play (such as how I gave my broadsword the ability to set things on fire). Now enemies in certain areas are more vulnerable to certain skills, but not impossible to beat without them, making them more of a reward to players who decided to specialize that way (for example, the second area, the mines, contains enemies weak to piercing and magic attacks, neither of which I specialized in at that point, but through being careful about how I progressed, I was able to level up on the path I'd already decided on enough to beat them). Now, you will need to learn how to fight each enemy, or they will kill you, but this is no different than learning the visual cues in other games. Now, certain enemies do happen to require you to be quick about it, but other than their spawn points, not many of them will react the same way twice, due to most enemies having a small, yet varied move set that they can use to mix up combat with.

And lastly, it's difficult, but extremely manageable. The biggest mistake is attempting to beat the new level on your first go, as you should be leveling up in order to beat it. Basically, it's not so much that the game traps you to do what it wants, but that it has a certain difficulty that makes certain that you never forget the whole narrative theme of the story: You are an ordinary person (in fact, combat is done so that your character goes completely through all the necessary movements it would take to actually perform their attack, but it's balanced by enemies having to do this as well) who is borrowing the power of demons (which is why attacks always harm you, as you're still human) who will never truly match this threat with pure strength (meaning you need to smartly face enemies, such as drawing one away from a group, or learning when an enemy is vulnerable, etc.).

 

[Casual Shinji]

I hope From Software can maintain the same quality from the first game. They should tweak the controls a bit though. Also, make the classes more distinct from eachother this time around; in the first game the classes didn't seem too different from one another except in name.

Other than that, I can't wait to once again sink my teeth into this rotting, plague-infested, demonic wonderland.

And it's a spiritual sequel so does it take place in a completely different world or what? I hope the Black Maiden returns : >)

 

[Korten12]

I hope From Software can maintain the same quality from the first game. They should tweak the controls a bit though. Also, make the classes more distinct from eachother this time around; in the first game the classes didn't seem too different from one another except in name.

Other than that, I can't wait to once again sink my teeth into this rotting, plague-infested, demonic wonderland.

And it's a spiritual sequel so does it take place in a completely different world or what? I hope the Black Maiden returns : >)

Well you don't have to worry about classes, since their is no classes this time around.

Also its a different world, so no black maiden.

Check out the group: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Dark-Souls

I posted all of the info posted on dtoid there.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well you don't have to worry about classes, since their is no classes this time around.

Also its a different world, so no black maiden.

Check out the group: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Dark-Souls

I posted all of the info posted on dtoid there.

I read through the info and it sounds pretty sweet, but there's one thing that's puzzles me though:

How is the challenge going to incorporated in Dark Souls if the game will feature a seamless open world? In Demon's Souls a big part of the challenge was that everytime you got killed you were transported to the beginning of the level and all the enemies respawned.

If Dark Souls will get rid of levels all together then I wonder how they're going to compensate for that.

And if they got rid of the classes aswell, does that mean you won't be able to shape your own character as you play? Or are you simply going to start off as a blank canvas who will form his own custom class thoughout the gameplay?

 

[Korten12]

Well you don't have to worry about classes, since their is no classes this time around.

Also its a different world, so no black maiden.

Check out the group: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Dark-Souls

I posted all of the info posted on dtoid there.

I read through the info and it sounds pretty sweet, but there's one thing that's puzzles me though:

How is the challenge going to incorporated in Dark Souls if the game will feature a seamless open world? In Demon's Souls a big part of the challenge was that everytime you got killed you were transported to the beginning of the level and all the enemies respawned.

If Dark Souls will get rid of levels all together then I wonder how they're going to compensate for that.

And if they got rid of the classes aswell, does that mean you won't be able to shape your own character as you play? Or are you simply going to start off as a blank canvas who will form his own custom class thoughout the gameplay?

Probably you will just raise stats like in Demon's Souls, since at later levels you technically can become all classes in DS.

As for the challenge, I wonder that to. Maybe you restart back at certian areas? Not checkpoints but a respawn point outside of an area?

 

[Unspeakable]

looks great. I loved Demon soul's but i do hope they add difficulty options to this game.

Yeah. Demon's Souls wouldn't have been such a yawnfest if it would have had a Medium and Hard setting I could have used.

 

[Latinidiot]

I never got past the tower knight, and I'd borrowed it, so I gave it back before I could finish it. It's just so bloody annoying that if I die at the hands of a boss, I have to do the whole level again.

And the letters were too small to read comfortably, so after a while I just got a headache from the strain.

 

[Julianking93]

Well, I'm officially pumped for this game.

It looks... pretty similar to Demon's Souls, but honestly, that's okay. Demon's Souls was awesome and it's just good that we'll be getting more of that.

 

[PixelJunk]

Have you the strength to accept this mission?

 

[kael013]

Funny thing is, if you haven't played Demon's Souls, you could probably look at those screenshots and wonder what's supposed to be so scary about them. Me? I'm terrified.

Exactly. I'd heard about Demon's Souls but never played it so to me this game looks like nothing but exploring dungeons at a leisurely pace while being attacked by mobs and some boss monsters. Someone care to fill me in a little?

 

[BlueSinbad]

I think I just sex weed a little...

 

[Shirokurou]

Difficulty settings? Why not...
Though I'm pretty sure that DS's EASY mode will still be outright hellish to casual gamers.

 

[Korten12]

Funny thing is, if you haven't played Demon's Souls, you could probably look at those screenshots and wonder what's supposed to be so scary about them. Me? I'm terrified.

Exactly. I'd heard about Demon's Souls but never played it so to me this game looks like nothing but exploring dungeons at a leisurely pace while being attacked by mobs and some boss monsters. Someone care to fill me in a little?

Demon's Souls was one of the hardest games to come out in recent history, not the hardest but one of them.

It had a unique online system where you could see other players playing and you would see them as white ghosts and then vanished. You could also see blood stains which if you pressed X on them, you could see them as a red ghost and see the 10 seconds of their last life. You can also leave messages for players.

Though it also had Co-op which players could if they were in Soul form (happens if you die, but you go back into body form if you get empherial eye stone or beat a boss) drop a blue symbol thing were a player that is in Body form could go up to it and summon them into the game.

Then there was PVP were if you are in soul form, you could invade other players world, in attempt to get their body back, and a bit of souls (souls is the games currency and way to level up) but you don't actually take their souls. If you lose however, you lose a level. The player who is alive, if they're killed they don't lose anything except for their body. You can only invade people who are ten levels above and below you, so you can go into a really low levels game and kill them.

Now Souls, you need to level up. Every time you spend them on a stat point, you amount you need for all stat points go up. Each time you raise a stat point, you get 1 soul level. You get souls from killing enemies, finding souls on dead bodies, and from bosses (also the bosses soul if you choose so to consume it but if you also need them for spells.)If you die though, your souls drop on the ground, you can go retrive them but if you die trying to get them, they vanish forever.

Another interesting about bosses, is that one of the bosses, is in fact, a player. If online, a player who wants to be summoned into another players world, will sometimes be summoned to be a boss. This fight was probably one of the best in the game and was really intense.

Now as for dying, every time you die in your body form, you lose soul tendency in that level. Soul tendency changes what happens, as a certian gate may only be open with white tendency (this is when you don't die), or the game will have enimies that normally don't appear (black tendency). Now no matter what tendency you have, if you die in your body form, the game gets harder. Enimies will hit more, and I believe have slightly more health.

In Soul Form, you have less then half of your normal health. Unless you get a ring that gives you 2/3 of your health. If you die in soul form, the game doesn't get harder. Though the game will kill you. A lot. Even the best of players will die. Though if after the first playthrough it is very likely that if that player is good, that on New Game +, they should be able to beat it without dying. All it is a matter of patience and taking your time and not rushing into things, unless you really know what you're doing.

When you start, you pick a class for your character, but this is only how you start out. Thier is 712 Soul levels as that is when you get 99 of every stat. That is when you are technically all of the classes. Classes in the start, varried, from mages to warriors, and to even a bit of an archer class. Though the class isn't final. Though it can determine if the start of the game is easy or hard.

Throughout the game, you will gain spells, and miracles (two types of magic), and with them, some are only acquired if you do certain things that you may or may not get during that playthrough. Some spells require a bosses soul, but so does that other spell, or that equipment.

Now to add the hardness, whether online or not, the game autosaves, every second and so all of your actions are pernament. There is no saving and reloading that save. In levels their is no checkpoints, if you die, you go back to the start of the level and have to do it over again. (though usually levels are split into three parts, which at the start of each part is a checkpoint and a boss at the end of each point.)

Demon's Souls is a hit or miss for some. I for one, think it is one of the best games last decade. Dark Souls, is mostly all of this (though somethings are gone and added) and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

 

[kael013]

Funny thing is, if you haven't played Demon's Souls, you could probably look at those screenshots and wonder what's supposed to be so scary about them. Me? I'm terrified.

Exactly. I'd heard about Demon's Souls but never played it so to me this game looks like nothing but exploring dungeons at a leisurely pace while being attacked by mobs and some boss monsters. Someone care to fill me in a little?

Demon's Souls was one of the hardest games to come out in recent history, not the hardest but one of them.

*snipped the explanation cause it was waaaay too informative (and long)*

And suddenly I find myself looking it up on Amazon.

 

[Bullzeye421]

Oh Yeah!! That's what I'm talking about!! It's about damn time!!

I love Demon's Souls, I still play it damn near everyday. When I finish this I'm going to load up my newly created level 17 str. build and go clean out level 2 so I can get the dragon bone smasher and create a meat clever.

The no pause is the best part too. I actually have a reason for not listening to my wife. I hope that doesn't change. And to all you people crying about the difficulty .. suck it up nancy, it's supposed to be hard. It's supposed to kick your ass over and over and over. That's what separates the men from the boys and if you're dying all the time then you're doing something wrong.

I can't wait for this game. I just hope they don't shut the DS servers down until after Dark Souls is released. I'll miss sliding my +5 Blessed Claymore right between a noob's cheeks and twisting it until I hear that specific pitch of scream that personally justifies the 5000+ hrs I've spent perfecting my gameplay.

God I need a life.

 

[Grey_Focks]

Looks like....more Demon's Souls. I shall pass, as I really just could not stand the original. Also, I must say I do not look forward to my friends gushing about the damn thing, and inevitably mocking me for not playing it. Because endless trial and error is SO damned challenging, and not, you know, just repetitive.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

looks great. I loved Demon soul's but i do hope they add difficulty options to this game.

This. Or make it less bullshit insta-gib trial and error "difficulty".

 

[Ghengis John]

Wow, looks a lot like the same game only prettier. This is nice news. And also, anyone familiar with the work of Kentaro Miura? They really do seem to be taking visual cues from him.

More on that when I have some time.

 

[Korne]

Funny thing is, if you haven't played Demon's Souls, you could probably look at those screenshots and wonder what's supposed to be so scary about them. Me? I'm terrified.

This is the best comment I have seen in a while, because it is so true. I didn't have a hard time with the Demon's Souls (besides that stupid fire breathing spider). As soon as I got what I was doing, I understood how to grind a bit (use while phantoms), and really, the combat is just an exercise in 'Look before you leap' by using the bloodstains on the floor.

 

[Korne]

What rewarding game isn't trial and error? Ok, I can name a few (Uncharted), but games like Demons Souls, Mega Man, Super Meat Boy... they are all trial and error, but they are all about getting better at the game. Luck is a very small part of the situation, which is why people like it so much.