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General discussion (archive)Dark Souls - Opinions(243 posts)(243 posts)
(243 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted November 04, 2012
I like the idea of Dark Souls (and Demon's Souls) but I suck at it.

That being said, maybe I'll give it another go sometime, granted I have it on PS3. Not sure how much better the PC version is compared to console version, not even really sure my PC can run it.
Posted November 04, 2012
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Sargon: *snip*
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WBGhiro: No, no. I may have expressed myself wrong. I don't have a problem with how the story is told. It's just that in order to fully discover everything this game has to offer, you have to do really obscure stuff, that's never really explained or hinted at.

As an example on your first playthrough you will fail every single NPC storyarc (You'll probably just assume everyone in this game will die), except maybe those that result in the death of the NPC anyways. Because unless you already know what will happen, there's no way you could've known how to prevent it. And even if you do know what'll happen there's still one or two really tricky ones.
Well it is different from most games but I like this approach. Since this game is supposed to be quite difficult, shouldn't most people play things over and over again, so they get the chance to do things differently? Or if you do mean that most people will not be able to get most of the storyline because they will make decisions or errors that you will need to know about from playing it earlier? If so I can agree with your criticism. It still sounds interesting to me but if you really need to play the game again to get most of the story (unless you use the internet) it is game design that is not without problems. I'm not sure how big the replay value on this game is and since it so difficult and thus a huge time investment I can understand it if people don't want to play it again and instead uses FAQ's to maximize their enjoyment.

Still when I play it I will only use the game for understanding the story. I reckon having to work hard for the story will make it more rewarding to get it.

The online mode sounds intriguing, for those that have played it so far, have the messages left by other players added to the ambiance, or detracted from it?
Post edited November 04, 2012 by Sargon
Posted November 04, 2012
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lettmon: What if I'm a gamer who can only afford to spend 2 hours a day for games - will I be able to enjoy Dark Souls?... Let's play vids it is then -_-
You ... Might. But playing that game just seemed like a massive vaste of time to me. What every death basically meant to me was:
a) I knew another move of my enemy. Yay... I guess.
b) I just 20 minutes, because now I have to fight trough the same enemies to the spot where I died. Again. And no, there are no checkpoints before bossfights, every single time you have to fight your way trough to them, you have to beat the very same enemies yet AGAIN, and if you make a single mistake during that horrendous process, you're going to be punished for it.
Posted November 04, 2012
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Sargon: Still when I play it I will only use the game for understanding the story. I reckon having to work hard for the story will make it more rewarding to get it.

The online mode sounds intriguing, for those that have played it so far, have the messages left by other players added to the ambiance, or detracted from it?
Talking about it makes me realize that I'm maybe a bit to harsh with the game, even if you miss most of the stuff it is still quite an experience.

It's just that today's gamers are so used to finishing a game, assuming they've seen everything in it and then shelving it, when there's so much to be discovered yet.

I guess this is one of the types of games where obsessing over it and playing it compulsively really rewards you.

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Sargon: The online mode sounds intriguing, for those that have played it so far, have the messages left by other players added to the ambiance, or detracted from it?
As for the messages they're useful for finding hidden stuff, that's for sure. Explaining the online mode is kind of hard to do, since the whole game is basically constantly online, and player interaction only happens if certain criteria are met. Plus your online experience will change depending on which faction you side with, if you side with one at all.
Post edited November 04, 2012 by WBGhiro
Posted November 04, 2012
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lettmon: What if I'm a gamer who can only afford to spend 2 hours a day for games - will I be able to enjoy Dark Souls?... Let's play vids it is then -_-
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Fenixp: You ... Might. But playing that game just seemed like a massive vaste of time to me. What every death basically meant to me was:
a) I knew another move of my enemy. Yay... I guess.
b) I just 20 minutes, because now I have to fight trough the same enemies to the spot where I died. Again. And no, there are no checkpoints before bossfights, every single time you have to fight your way trough to them, you have to beat the very same enemies yet AGAIN, and if you make a single mistake during that horrendous process, you're going to be punished for it.
If you think about it I would have to give credit to the creators. They have actually made it look like it's actually challenging and have received a tons of credits and a rather large fanbase.

Yes, I'm totally dissing on the whole trial & error without saving on a frustrating level because anyone who disagrees either is a masochist or has a natural talent for success. :P
Posted November 04, 2012
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Nirth: Yes, I'm totally dissing on the whole trial & error without saving on a frustrating level because anyone who disagrees either is a masochist or has a natural talent for success. :P
Indeed. Half of the difficulty in Dark Souls just seemed to be very artificial. But people seem to love it, so what the hell.
Posted November 04, 2012
The online mode really adds to it. And you can avoid online pvp by not being in human form, just in hollow form. You can become human to summon people to help you, if you so feel inclined to. You can bypass a lot of "cheap" deaths online by checking the others' blood stains, SEEING HOW THEIR ghosts died.

That and being very, very careful.
Posted November 04, 2012
I love it to pieces, my game of the year. The game has strong and weighty combat, an awesome dark world inspired by Berserk, a bunch of lore that isn't spoon-fed through forced exposition, good boss design, and an amazing soundtrack.

In short, QUIT WASTING TIME AND BUY IT NAO.
Posted November 04, 2012
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Fenixp: ... I died. Again. And no, there are no checkpoints before bossfights, every single time you have to fight your way trough to them, you have to beat the very same enemies yet AGAIN, and if you make a single mistake during that horrendous process, you're going to be punished for it.
This sounds like most of my childhood on the 8 and 16 bit consoles, as well as my Sierra game die-every-two-steps computer gaming origins. Maybe I'm just used to it, but I actually enjoy this sometimes.

I can certainly see why this isn't for everybody though.
Attachments:
diesel.jpeg (11 Kb)
Post edited November 04, 2012 by dae6
Posted November 04, 2012
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Fenixp: You ... Might. But playing that game just seemed like a massive vaste of time to me. What every death basically meant to me was:
a) I knew another move of my enemy. Yay... I guess.
b) I just 20 minutes, because now I have to fight trough the same enemies to the spot where I died. Again. And no, there are no checkpoints before bossfights, every single time you have to fight your way trough to them, you have to beat the very same enemies yet AGAIN, and if you make a single mistake during that horrendous process, you're going to be punished for it.
Yes, I knew that from reading about this game before and watching a few 'let's pay' videos, so my question was rhetorical. I know for sure I'd get very frustrated playing this game - constant dieing and repeating same sections over and over is not my idea of fun, but for some reason I'd still want to try playing this game. I guess it's the hype machine.
Posted November 04, 2012
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Sargon: The graphics of the game look quite nice from the screenshots I've seen. The environments look good. The characters look a little more realistic than in many other current Western and Japanese fantasy games, but unfortunately they too are hideously deformed like most characters and weapons in fantasy games these days. I get it, it is a fantasy game, but that doesn't mean that everyone must look stupid and unrealistic. How about trying to make a world that tries to be internally consistent and realistic with your art design? Instead it seems like guiding principles is to make the heroes and villains seem more powerful by giving them smaller heads and bigger weapons and monsters more horrible by going against nature as much as possible.

You don't see this crap in older games so much so I think it must be a recent influence from Blizzard, anime and the other successful games that follows the same formula.

I'm not against using unrealistic design in general, I like the surreal, seeing the world warped through the mind of a person, art imitation like Apotheon and Incredipede but I really dislike the generic World of Warcraft rip-off you often see in Western fantasy games. Since the character design in this game is only 50% despicable, +++ to the developers.
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Gazoinks: You don't see it in older games because the graphics were old enough that people were ugly for other reasons. Yeah, Dark Souls does have pretty ugly faces, but what is with people saying that stylized graphics a Warcraft rip-off? How does Dark Souls look like Warcraft at all? Honestly, I think it's just a case of bad facegen (see also: every gamebryo game). And Dark Souls does a pretty good job of providing a gamut of weapons. Yeah, there're some goofy giant swords, but there are also plenty of normal-looking weapons you can be equally effective with.

And, although Dark Souls tilted more towards traditional than Demon's Souls, the enemy design is still really nothing like Warcraft.
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Gazoinks: How does Dark Souls look like Warcraft at all?
That wasn't what I said, you should read what I wrote more closely. Dark Souls doesn't look like Warcraft and thank the Demiurge for that! but there is still a lot of deformed characters and weapons there. I think the influence (directly or indirectly) either comes from Warcraft or anime.

And again, the game does look quite good, and I'm sure it is a lot better when played than when looked at as screenshots. But the graphical design is still under the influence of the disease.

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Gazoinks: You don't see it in older games because the graphics were old enough that people were ugly for other reasons
I disagree. Look at these screenshots. Beautiful yes, unrealistic yes but not deformed:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/heroes-of-might-and-magic-ii-the-succession-wars/screenshots


Some other fantasy games with good graphics:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/darklands/screenshots
http://www.mobygames.com/game/diablo/screenshots
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/realms_of_arkania_1_2
http://www.mobygames.com/game/lands-of-lore-the-throne-of-chaos/screenshots
The handmade portraits for units in Age of Wonders 1

Morrowind and Oblivion are a couple of more modern fantasy games that have used great art design.

On the other hand these games are a good example of the World of Warcraft disease that befouls so many modern games:
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/fantasy_wars
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/heroes_of_might_and_magic_5_bundle
Posted November 04, 2012
Wow, played for an hour.

I usually never use the term "bad console port", but this is just ridiculous. I never had anything so shoddy on my HD in a very long time. Also, while I like GFWL in general it recently has made a habit of taking my system settings for the language. And the German translation isn't helping.

Also, unresponsive controls (gamepad) stupid artificial difficulty.

I like the atmosphere and story, the "find it yourself" approach. But that's about it.

I'm giving it another try with DSfix.

Conculusion: So far waste of twenty bucks. Well, at least I got 30 GS ...
Posted November 04, 2012
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Nirth: trial & error
This is what I tell all my friends that have began playing Demon's/Dark Souls. Yes, you'll suffer, you'll die cheap deaths... at first. The trick here is caution. Watch where you step, don't rush, pay attention, take your time. Seriously, with those simple advices, you can go through any unknown area without dying much, or at all.

Well, the boss fights are an exception to that. Those can be true progress killers.
Posted November 04, 2012
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SimonG: Also, while I like GFWL in general it recently has made a habit of taking my system settings for the language. And the German translation isn't helping.
I had the same problem in italian, there'sa rather easy fix for it, but I don't recall how exactly at the moment.
Posted November 04, 2012
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Fenixp: You ... Might. But playing that game just seemed like a massive vaste of time to me. What every death basically meant to me was:
a) I knew another move of my enemy. Yay... I guess.
b) I just 20 minutes, because now I have to fight trough the same enemies to the spot where I died. Again. And no, there are no checkpoints before bossfights, every single time you have to fight your way trough to them, you have to beat the very same enemies yet AGAIN, and if you make a single mistake during that horrendous process, you're going to be punished for it.
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lettmon: Yes, I knew that from reading about this game before and watching a few 'let's pay' videos, so my question was rhetorical. I know for sure I'd get very frustrated playing this game - constant dieing and repeating same sections over and over is not my idea of fun, but for some reason I'd still want to try playing this game. I guess it's the hype machine.
I say you probably would be better off using your gaming time on some other games, since it isn't like there aren't a lot of other games to play out there. But I agree that the game has a lot of allure to it. It sounds great to play a game where you know you have to walk on your toes because it really is out to get you. Kind of like when I was a young teen and played Resident Evil 1 on the PlayStation but for different reasons.
Post edited November 04, 2012 by Sargon
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Dark Souls - Opinions(243 posts)(243 posts)
(243 posts)