It's not just running around and swinging your sword?

I don't know the whole story here, but in a way it seems understandable. Online multiplayer interaction is a rather important aspect of the Souls games. And in order for multiplayer gaming to remain enjoyable for everyone, you need to ensure that no one has an unfair advantage over others. Of course, simple graphical enhancements etc. shouldn't be a problem, but it can be difficult to draw a clear line between legitimate modifications, and potential cheats/exploits, which could ruin the experience for other players.

In other games the solution could be to keep single player and online multiplayer separated, but in the Souls series both are connected. Not sure if there's a good solution to allow people to mod the game to their liking, without compromising the multiplayer experience.

Perhaps a simple list of "officially allowed mods" could be a start. Things like popular graphical enhancements, HUD mods etc.

Did anyone really ask for Dark Souls 3?

Also, still need to get through the PC port of the first game (which is isn't as bad as people make it out to be, but still mediocre). Dark Souls with 60 FPS (thank you DSFix) feels so much better.

Nope. It is all about learning your gear's animations, and exploiting weaknesses. It is not flashy, but it is very involved.
http://lparchive.org/Dark-Souls/


Run around, swing randomly, you will get destroyed. It is all about spatial awareness.

It arguably has the best medieval "sword&shield" combat system of any Action game/ Action-RPG to date. Just the right mix of quick reactions and tactical depth, with all kinds of subtleties you won't find in other games.

I heard the game is horrible with a keyboard and mouse though. Is this true?

As far as I'm concerned, the solution is "Keep online stuff out of my single player game". I don't care about online. The messages were kinda funny, sometimes, but that's it. I don't care about invasions or whatnot, specially when I lose mods because of that.

Not all games are for everybody, and dark souls was not for me. What annoys me is that I actually liked the core gameplay, but I abandoned the game due to all the "fluff" around it. It's a pity.
In dark souls 2, after about an hour fighting the controls, I finally found a configuration where I could play it reasonably well. Still not perfect, but it was not horrible.

Not compared to TES

The game was designed to utilize all of the functions of a dual analog pad with 4 face buttons, a d pad, 4 shoulder buttons and two optional ones. Dark Souls 2 even uses the stick click buttons.


It is only going to be awkward when translated to only one analog input, two mouse buttons, and keyboard.

I've actually played them all ( Demon's, Dark 1 & 2 ) on their "platform of origin", PS3, so I have no idea! But I strongly believe that just about any third-person action game works better with twin stick controls, rather than mouse + keyboard. The mouse is great for quick and precise aiming, but digital keyboard keys are terrible for precise movement control. It's probably playable on M&KB, but given that they all originated from consoles, and with From Software being primarily a console developer, it's not surprising that the games work better with a pad.

Also this, the Souls games are all about positioning and spatial/environmental awareness.

With the Souls games the whole concept is a blend of single player and multiplayer interactions. But it sounds like the solution to your problem would be a DRM free version, because then you'd be able to play it offline and mod it to your heart's desire. I've actually had to play the games offline myself, since I didn't have web access on my PS3, but I still really enjoyed them, and consider the series among the best games I've played.

One nice thing about From Software and their Souls games is, rather than trying to force players online, like many other developers, they actually went the extra mile, and tried to provide an equal experience to offline players. They included many offline versions of features which would otherwise be exclusive to the online mode. Can't summon human players to help in boss fights? There's various NPC phantoms. No invasions from human players? They included NPC surprise invasions, as well. They also usually include ways for offline players to obtain items which would normally be exclusive to online fights.

Well, yeah. I'd like to have my own little offline experience, thank you very much. But as you say, the concept is a blend with multiplayer, therefore I don't care about the game's concept. What bothered me the most, and eventually made me ragequit the game, was that I felt a certain... arrogance on the dev's side. As if they were saying, "there is only one way to play to play our game, that is our game, if you want to play any other way then you're doing it wrong and we won't let you".

For instance, the respawning enemies. I found them a bit annoying at first, but then I grew used to it. I thought of it the same way as I did when I played Soul Reaver: enemies will always be there, to be fought or avoided, and I will be unlocking new paths to advance from the teleporters. I liked the idea. Until enemies stopped respawning. That was odd, but I wasn't too concerned until a certain room. In that room, there were 4 enemies. The first time I ran into them, I just got horribly murdered, but that's fine. I tried again, and I killed one enemy, then died to the second. I kept trying because I felt like I could pull it off, but I'm not too good so I died a lot. Eventually, I was dying to the 4th and last enemy, and I was all psyched up... but then the first enemy stopped respawning, there were no longer 4 enemies on the room. So I "beat" the room, not because of my skill but because the game stopped spawning enemies in it. I felt the game was patronizing me, saying "don't worry kid, you tried, now do something else". I wanted to beat that room!

At that point I quit the game and tried to find a mod for unlimitted respawns, because enemies not respawning was breaking my immersion and cheapening my game experience. I learned 2 things: First, that I would get banned if I did so, and second, that the limited respawns was something that happened on the second game because "otherwise some players farm easy enemies, power level and then easily beat the game". So what if some people power level? Farming is boring for me, but some people enjoy it, why must you go out of your way to forbid it as if playing the game that way was having fun wrong?

This, coupled with lack of story driven motivation, made me abandon the game. Probably the next one will follow the same design philosophy and I won't play it either. A pity.

Well, like I said, it's perfectly enjoyable, even in offline/single player. Multiplayer theoretically adds additional facets, but if you don't care much for online elements to begin with, then you're not really missing out by simply playing it offline.

As for the respawning, I think they changed that mechanic for DS2 to decrease frustration if someone has to play the same section many times, and also to keep people from farming the same spots over and over. You can still farm, but you have to move on to other areas after a while, which seems like an improvement to me. I mean, if fighting the same group of enemies repeatedly is the best strategy to level up, that doesn't seem like good game design.

( That reminds me, the game had those "bonfire ascetics" which allow you to "reset" an area, meaning you could not only farm the regular monsters in that area again, but even the bosses. One of the best new features in DS2. )

I know that many of the design changes for DS2 are polarizing among fans of the series, but I actually approve of most of them. At the very least, I can understand why they made certain choices, even if the results didn't satisfy everyone.

Anyhow, I hope we'll eventually see some of From Software's releases here at GOG.

That's what option menus are for. Put a checkbox for it, like X COM's ironman. Problem solved.

I'd say if grinding is the best strategy to level up, it means grinding is doing exactly what it means. Still boring as hell IMO, therefore I wouldn't do it regardless of how efficient it is for upping level. But if people actually want to fight the same enemies over and over, because it's more efficient or whatever, I say let them. Their loss.

And yes, it's perfectly enjoyable offline. Except there is no offline, unless you purposedly take your internet connection out.

As I said before, I liked the core of Dark Souls: combat and exploration were fun. But there were way too many other design decisions that annoyed me, and they were all forced down my throat, so I stopped playing and I don't have much interest on the sequel. Not all games are for everyone, and Dark Souls is not for me. A pity, but that's reality.