Dark Souls Thread

Fail said:
I'm definitely gonna buy this Day 1 if the reviews are that it's as good as the first game.
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One of the big Japanese gaming mags reviewed Dark Souls. It got slightly higher scores than they gave Demons Souls. I believe it's almost the same team working on both games. I have every reason to think Dark Souls will eclipse Demons Souls in greatness. Although everyone should play both.

I'm looking forward to it more than Skyrim and I've been playing the ES series since Daggerfall.
 
Stereophile said:
One of the big Japanese gaming mags reviewed Dark Souls. It got slightly higher scores than they gave Demons Souls. I believe it's almost the same team working on both games. I have every reason to think Dark Souls will eclipse Demons Souls in greatness. Although everyone should play both.

I'm looking forward to it more than Skyrim and I've been playing the ES series since Daggerfall.
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Now THAT sounds promising . . . goddamn, I may just go against everything I stand for and preorder myself the deluxe edition from Amazon.com

I don't care if it arrives Day 1, but I sure as shit am gonna get a copy one way or another.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10xN-dOqDJI


Just watched this, this fuckin confirms it, gonna buy it, just watch those 2 guys explain a whole lotta shit from that video.

ROFL, just look at the 16:35 mark and watch what happens, ROFL.
 
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Fail said:
Definitely looking forward to the reviews/previews.

Demon's Souls was excellent.



Demon’s Souls is a game that will make you into a man. A scrawny fourteen-year-old, after two hours with this game, will be grooming his muttonchops and ready to ship off on the next boat to fight the Kaiser. If you are already a man, it will make you into some sort of bizarre double-man. What’s that you say? You’re a woman? You don’t want to be a man? Too bad. Too bad. That’s the Demon’s Souls way.

You’ve probably heard that Demon’s Souls is hard. Pshh. Lots of games are hard. Some are even harder than this one. The difficulty is not the point. What sets Demon’s Souls apart is the way that it doesn’t just kill you, but also stomps on your genitals when you’re down. And it will make you realize that that’s what you needed all along.

It’s a lot like life. Sometimes in life you win, and sometimes the giant armored skeleton stabs your face off because the flying mantis monster you didn’t even see shot you in the back with a spike at just the wrong time. And when that happens in life, do you respawn at the same spot and carry on like nothing happened? NO, asshole. You go back to the beginning of the level, leaving all your hard-earned souls out there on the pavement, and you fight your way back. And you learn a lesson from the whole thing, because you should have been wearing your Thief’s Ring, now shouldn’t you? That’s life.

The trend in hard games these days is to unlock “Easy” mode for you once you’ve died enough times. Do you think Demon’s Souls does that? Do you think Demon’s Souls is so much as aware of the concept of “Easy” mode? NO IT IS NOT. If Demon’s Souls even knew we were talking about “Easy” mode, it would come over here and kick the shit out of all of us. And we would deserve it.

I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.

Have I told you about the online elements? At any time when you’re in Body form, another player from anywhere else in the world can invade your game and murder you to regain his own body, or just to keep you on your toes. This happens when you’re in the middle of fighting armies of unthinkable monsters that are probably already three-quarters of the way towards killing you. And no, you cannot opt out of this feature! This is what you signed up for when you agreed to be a man.

When this happened to me — when a guy strolled into my game like it was Taco Bell and exploded my torso, costing me my body and all my progress in the level — was I mad? No, because I was too busy being in awe at how ****ing hardcore the experience was.

Now, don’t let this dissuade you. Demon’s Souls is a pitiless master, but let it never be said that it is not fair. The game rewards handsomely those who stand up to it, and the greater the challenge, the greater the glory.

What the hell are you waiting for?
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That made my morning, thank you :D

Can't wait to get my ass handed to me again. Demon's Souls was less of a game for me than it was a 20 hour punch in the balls. Good times.
 
B2BigAl said:
That made my morning, thank you :D

Can't wait to get my ass handed to me again. Demon's Souls was less of a game for me than it was a 20 hour punch in the balls. Good times.
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I'll see you in Dark Souls for sure then :D

I have a thread dedicated to it in General Gaming titled "Wanna know what a good game looks like?"

It's all about Dark Souls, feel free to post your thoughts in it, I included a ton of videos and links throughout the thread.

Also, some good news, Dark Souls will have ZERO DLC for it, the director of the game confirmed that in an interview, so the full game will be exactly what you buy at retail.
 
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Fail said:
Also, some good news, Dark Souls will have ZERO DLC for it, the director of the game confirmed that in an interview, so the full game will be exactly what you buy at retail.
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See, I don't find that as good news. I'm not one to buy DLC often if ever, but I would have gladly forked over $15 for a new world with new items and whatnot, and probably have done that multiple times.

DLC can be great if done right. Companies that do it right it essentially is a downloadable expansion pack, and that kind of thing I would have gladly paid for in Demon's Souls.
 
Fail said:
ROFL, just look at the 16:35 mark and watch what happens, ROFL.
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@ the 16:35 mark is exactly why I would never buy this game. You can be playing pristinely and something totally fucked up like that happens and your back to the very beginning with all of the damage you've incurred and inventory lost still counting against you.

This game is going to be total bullshit just like Demon's Souls and the difficulty is artificial. If it had normal checkpoints or quicksaves it would be the easiest game in the universe. The following this series has baffles me. ANd do you know why? Fuck you, that's why. :)
 
wrangler said:
@ the 16:35 mark is exactly why I would never buy this game. You can be playing pristinely and something totally fucked up like that happens and your back to the very beginning with all of the damage you've incurred and inventory lost still counting against you.

This game is going to be total bullshit just like Demon's Souls and the difficulty is artificial. If it had normal checkpoints or quicksaves it would be the easiest game in the universe. The following this series has baffles me. ANd do you know why? Fuck you, that's why. :)
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You're simply not hardcore enough for this game, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's plenty of games out there with quick saves and checkpoints/respawn points every 5 feet that would be more suitable to your level of gaming skills.
 
Fail said:
You're simply not hardcore enough for this game, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's plenty of games out there with quick saves and checkpoints/respawn points every 5 feet that would be more suitable to your level of gaming skills.
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Oh, and the part where you've managed to memorize the game enough where your going to make it to the next level and the dude with the invincible character comes in and kills you just before you do is fun fun fun!!!
 
*shrug* it's a challenge to play through, if it's so easy to you, go buy Demon's Souls it's only $18.49, go get Platinum on it.
 
I've got Demon's Souls and it is actually sitting by my PS3.

I'm hoping that once Dark Souls comes out that the assholes who occupy Demon's Souls will leave and I can try to complete the game unmolested.

Just razzing you a bit but really, I don't understand why this is so loved. Everybody talks about the difficulty but it really does seem artificial to me. What should be talked about is the high punishment for a lapse in concentration and not difficulty.
 
wrangler said:
What should be talked about is the high punishment for a lapse in concentration and not difficulty.
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That is why it's difficult . . .

Why should you NOT be punished for fucking up?

If you can't handle that, then really, Demon's Souls isn't the game for you, there's nothing artificial about it. You are rewarded by correctly handling a situation, and you're punished with death for failing.

I don't see the problem here, I'm 29 years old, and when I was a kid, I had to play some of the hardest games in existence, Contra, Ninja Gaiden, the original Zelda, and so on and on.

Those were HARD games, there was no such thing as a quick save, checkpoints, respawns, cover systems, or any of that other bullshit.

I beat Contra, but never got to play Ninja Gaiden extensively. This game basically takes me down memory lane, when games were actually hard, and there were consequences when you died, none of this pussy shit you see in every game these days.

Really though, this game doesn't sound like it's for you if you cannot handle that. Again, there's nothing wrong with that, you aren't alone in that. A whole generation of gamers have been raised on save points, reloading to previous save states, cover systems, easy mode, and difficulty that dumbs itself down when you mess up too much.

This game doesn't have an easy mode.

This game automatically saves every few seconds so you can't cheat your way through it.

This game rewards you when you do things right, and punishes you when you make a mistake.

I think that's only fair, but that's just me. I can honestly say I got more out of beating 1-1, than I have out of beating most full games recently.
 
Look, you little whippersnapper, I've been playing since 286/C64 days and have owned many consoles and played a little Contra myself. I'm allowed to have an opinion of the true difficulty/enjoyability of this game without your thinly veiled insults toward my gaming ability. I game just fine. I'm not alone with my opinion of this series and that includes some other people who game just fine themselves.

Punishment does not equal difficulty. Name any game you want. If you add the same punishment system from D. Souls does that now make it a difficult game? Or just a game that sucks?
 
I already answered your questions, you seem unable to grasp the truth, and that's something that's outside of my control.
 
I've not played Demon Souls so I can't comment directly on it's difficulty, but I've played plenty of difficult games over the years and I think I know where wrangler is coming from.

Some games are really challenging because of memorization or skill. In R-Type random stuff will just come out of nowhere and destroy you if you don't happen to be in the correct position at certain points in the level. This bothers me mainly for the fact that the levels are very long and if you die at certain points it's often better to just start the game over. Super Meat Boy can do the same thing a lot of the time, but the levels are short so even if I die I can just try again ten seconds later. On the other hand, the timing and precise control needed for Super Meat Boy take a lot of practice. The important thing here is that In both games you always know why you failed and how to avoid it next time.

There are other games that are arbitrarily difficult because of luck. I've recently been playing Final Fantasy IV on the DS and I'm coming to the conclusion that it falls in to this category. At my current point in the game I'm in a dungeon where I can randomly have to fight two of an extremely powerful random enemy. Each enemy has an ability that can almost kill my entire party. Each enemy has a chance of using that ability before I can do anything (cast a defensive spell or run). So if I happen to get into this fight (which is rare) and they both choose to use this ability (a little less rare) there's nothing I can do. All the other battles in this dungeon are easy; I can walk around killing everything else without consequence.

Arbitrarily difficult games aren't much fun for me. They don't test my reflexes, reasoning or memory. When I lose it's either not clear why I lost or it's clear that it was only due to luck. Since success or failure ultimately depends on luck there's no accomplishment.

Fail said:
I don't see the problem here, I'm 29 years old, and when I was a kid, I had to play some of the hardest games in existence, Contra, Ninja Gaiden, the original Zelda, and so on and on.

Those were HARD games, there was no such thing as a quick save, checkpoints, respawns, cover systems, or any of that other bullshit.
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I think you need to edit your post.

The Legend of Zelda is not hard. 90% of the challenge in the game comes from finding secret bomb and torch locations in the overworld in order to get heart containers. Once you know the locations a six year old can beat the game.

Zelda did have checkpoints, potions that completely restored health, a cover system, and save games. The only penalty for dying is returning to the start of the dungeon without full life. The other penalty for poor play is having your large shield stolen, but you can just buy a new one after you complete the dungeon.
 
Play Demon's Souls, rest assured, when you die, it is entirely your fault.

Read any review on it, never in them do they say that deaths are cheap, they are ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT.
 
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Ya I'm not entirely sure I understand the difficulty is "artifical" excuse. The difficulty is difficult because the game is damn hard. Random shit out of the blue doesn't kill you, but making mental mistakes or not knowing where to set up an ambush when someone invades your game is what kills you.

The only thing I never liked about the game was that you basically had to start with a caster arch type or else it was hard as hell getting past the first level. I literally probably spent a full week trying the various melee characters until I gave up and tried a hybrid.
 
Climber, I beat 1-1 as a Knight, the key here is to be really patient, don't try to rush into fights, and keep an eye on your stamina bar, don't just run on to the next enemy without making sure it's full, remember, if your stamina bar is depleted, your blocks and attacks become less effective.

Although I'm pretty sure you could probably do it just fine now if you're experienced at it, just make sure you grab that Cling Ring and Thief's Ring :)
 
I'd like to hear some good things about the game other than its difficulty. In the two threads going on the game at the moment which I've been following all I'm hearing is "its good because its hard". Now, good difficulty is a good thing, but its the only damn thing people are talking about in this game :p
 
How about you watch the videos, self-enlightment is only a click away.
 
Actually 3 since he put one in WLWC about the Demon's Souls post the guy wrote with the "Why? Fuck you that's why" line.
 
Tudz said:
I'd like to hear some good things about the game other than its difficulty. In the two threads going on the game at the moment which I've been following all I'm hearing is "its good because its hard". Now, good difficulty is a good thing, but its the only damn thing people are talking about in this game :p
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That's all it has. If you take away the punishment system and add quicksaves, or at least normal autosaves this becomes an average 3rd person action/dungeon crawler.
 
There's a lot more to it than just difficulty, although the challenge is part of what makes some of the other good parts work. For me it was the combat that drew me in. Demon Souls has probably my favorite 3rd person melee combat system. It's basically the polar opposite of flashy systems like those in Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta, but I feel it's more strategic. Since a failure to block or dodge or hit the enemy can often leave you open, and sometimes it may only take a couple hits for the enemy to kill you, there is more of an emphasis placed on timing and efficiency. I love that the combat is not about hitting a combo of buttons thirty times, but is more about sequences where you dodge a blow from an enemy within a seconds window that could have almost killed you and in turn roll into range to stab them in the back with a single attack that kills them instead. While the combat may not mirror real melee combat, I feel it mirrors the stakes of a real sword fight more than most games (for reference Bushido Blade was another game I love that I think did that very well)
 
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Q-BZ said:
Two threads for one game, Fail? Damn. ;)
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A great game like this deserves having me evangelize it.

wrangler said:
Actually 3 since he put one in WLWC about the Demon's Souls post the guy wrote with the "Why? Fuck you that's why" line.
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That would be incorrect, this is not my thread, I just happen to post in it.

wrangler said:
That's all it has. If you take away the punishment system and add quicksaves, or at least normal autosaves this becomes an average 3rd person action/dungeon crawler.
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Maybe if you beat it you would feel a sense of accomplishment, it appears it's left you frustrated. I think what it's done to you is examined your gaming skills and found them lacking. That's no slight on you, it simply means you need to try harder and come to an acceptance of the fact that when you die, it is in fact, your fault. A gamer who isn't willing to accept that isn't one that's going to beat this game.

Curious_George said:
There's a lot more to it than just difficulty, although the challenge is part of what makes some of the other good parts work. For me it was the combat that drew me in. Demon Souls has probably my favorite 3rd person melee combat system. It's basically the polar opposite of flashy systems like those in Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta, but I feel it's more strategic. Since a failure to block or dodge or hit the enemy can often leave you open, and sometimes it may only take a couple hits for the enemy to kill you, there is more of an emphasis placed on timing and efficiency. I love that the combat is not about hitting a combo of buttons thirty times, but is more about sequences where you dodge a blow from an enemy within a seconds window that could have almost killed you and in turn roll into range to stab them in the back with a single attack that kills them instead. While the combat may not mirror real melee combat, I feel it mirrors the stakes of a real sword fight more than most games (for reference Bushido Blade was another game I love that I think did that very well)
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Exactly, exactly!!! The combat system is one of the most compelling things about the game, it's very well done. Try taking a heavy axe for example, if you swing it, then it has a recovery time, a lag time, if you will, just like in real life.

It's very realistic in that sense.
 
Tudz said:
I'd like to hear some good things about the game other than its difficulty. In the two threads going on the game at the moment which I've been following all I'm hearing is "its good because its hard". Now, good difficulty is a good thing, but its the only damn thing people are talking about in this game :p
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Level design, atmosphere, combat, help/pvp system, boss battles, and the overall feeling of accomplishment when you beat someone who raids your game, when you beat a boss, and complete a level. While that does have some correlation to the difficulty level, it also is a testament to what I consider forsight and innovation on the part of the developers. Your actions have consequences, you have to think about fights before just rushing in, you have to remember the way you came in order to set effective ambushes on someone invading your game, and you can't just wade in hitting buttons to win a fight like pretty much every single other game made in the last decade.

It is without a doubt one of my favorite PS3 games, partly because I ordered it from China, and partly because it lived up to everything I heard about it. Only 2 other games I've kept for the PS3 and that was Uncharted 1 & 2, everything else is so cookie cutter and simple I can't ever see myself replaying them so off to Glyde they go when I'm done with them.
 
Climber said:
Level design, atmosphere, combat, help/pvp system, boss battles, and the overall feeling of accomplishment when you beat someone who raids your game, when you beat a boss, and complete a level. While that does have some correlation to the difficulty level, it also is a testament to what I consider forsight and innovation on the part of the developers. Your actions have consequences, you have to think about fights before just rushing in, you have to remember the way you came in order to set effective ambushes on someone invading your game, and you can't just wade in hitting buttons to win a fight like pretty much every single other game made in the last decade.
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Agreed. You nailed it.
 
I bought DS day one and I shall buy Dark Souls day one.

I thought about importing but the cheapest price I see is $100+. I'm happy there is a short wait until the NA launch this time around. Dark Souls is my heavy favorite for GOTY.
 
Stereophile said:
I bought DS day one and I shall buy Dark Souls day one.

I thought about importing but the cheapest price I see is $100+. I'm happy there is a short wait until the NA launch this time around. Dark Souls is my heavy favorite for GOTY.
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actually you can import asia version for about $70 including shipping

p.s n/m it's only japan that is getting it this week all other region is oct
 
Yeah, October 4th isn't a long wait, I have already preordered my copy, i like that they give us the Collector's Edition at no extra charge, throw in the release date shipping and you have a deal!
 
I love everything about Demons Souls, and this looks to be more of the same, but does anyone else wish for a difficulty setting? If I could tone it down just a little bit it would easily be a favorite.
 
Vertigo528 said:
I love everything about Demons Souls, and this looks to be more of the same, but does anyone else wish for a difficulty setting? If I could tone it down just a little bit it would easily be a favorite.
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easy difficulty? what's the point of that
 
PeeWeePee said:
easy difficulty? what's the point of that
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Plenty of other games offer an Easy Mode, but these games do not, they are exactly what the hardcore gamer really wants, a great challenge that doesn't let you wimp out :)
 
PeeWeePee said:
easy difficulty? what's the point of that
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Where did I say easy difficulty? The difficulty in Demons Souls is a breath of fresh air, but it's so punishing that I can't always justify spending the time just to get where I was to try another strategy.
 
Well, nobody expects you to beat the game in one sitting, or even a level in one sitting :p
 
Vertigo528 said:
The difficulty in Demons Souls is a breath of fresh air, but it's so punishing that I can't always justify spending the time just to get where I was to try another strategy.
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When you die, even close to the end of the level, it shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to get back to where you were. It's frustrating to replay the level again, but it doesn't take a lot of time. Well a few levels are pretty long but you know where everything is by your 10th time through right ? :D You should know exactly what to do up until the point where your souls lie. What's bad is when you keeping dying in the same place without getting further, or dying right before you recapture your pile of souls. :(

Someone is streaming Dark Souls. Reactions sound extremely positive. I haven't watched it myself. I don't need to be spoiled.
 
Stereophile said:
When you die, even close to the end of the level, it shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to get back to where you were. It's frustrating to replay the level again, but it doesn't take a lot of time. Well a few levels are pretty long but you know where everything is by your 10th time through right ? :D You should know exactly what to do up until the point where your souls lie. What's bad is when you keeping dying in the same place without getting further, or dying right before you recapture your pile of souls. :(

Someone is streaming Dark Souls. Reactions sound extremely positive. I haven't watched it myself. I don't need to be spoiled.
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I already preordered it man, it's the first time I've preordered a game in 2 years, I'm that confident I will like this.
 
Stereophile said:
When you die, even close to the end of the level, it shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to get back to where you were. It's frustrating to replay the level again, but it doesn't take a lot of time. Well a few levels are pretty long but you know where everything is by your 10th time through right ? :D You should know exactly what to do up until the point where your souls lie. What's bad is when you keeping dying in the same place without getting further, or dying right before you recapture your pile of souls. :(
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Maybe I don't deal well with the rage it induces at times and I'm probably not as good as most. You can die several times before you figure out what to do, and many more times trying to do it. I almost never feel cheated, though. And the feeling you get from finally winning is not like another recent game.
 
Vertigo528 said:
Maybe I don't deal well with the rage it induces at times and I'm probably not as good as most. You can die several times before you figure out what to do, and many more times trying to do it. I almost never feel cheated, though. And the feeling you get from finally winning is not like another recent game.
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The feeling you get from accomplishing it is like you actually ACHIEVED something and you didn't just get an "achievement" for making it to the first checkpoint, like is common in most games today.

Spend more time with it, it's definitely rewarding, Demon's Souls is dark, bleak, and difficult, but! Keep playing! There's always something rewarding about overcoming a harsh challenge.
 
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