Dark Souls

I bought this game on a whim for £20 ($30???) as a skyrim substitute (I couldnt afford it) not really expecting much but it turns out that its actually amazing. It's the hardest game I've ever played and I'm a complete walkthrough slave but I'm having great fun I've just rung the second bell so haven't completed it yet. Anyone played it and want to comment?

I've played the first game (Demon's Souls), which I thought was exquisite. I'd say both of those games are the real hardcore gamer's games. They are unrelentingly difficult, and there is little to no hand holding to be found throughout the course of the game. But damn, is it ever rewarding when you actually do kick an area's ass in that game. It's definitely not the kind of game you just run into guns a blazin' (or rather, swords a blazin' in this case), because you'll get slaughtered around every turn. You have to be slow and calculating to get through each area.

I'd say this is the closest thing you'll find to Nintendo Hard in modern gaming. But the thing that's really awesome about it is, it's not cheap, and there's very rarely any situations where there's an enemy or level you can't tackle without taking a little time and learning how to tackle each situation.

This is why I love Dark Souls:

http://gifninja.com/animatedgifs/320940/dark-souls.gif

EDIT: This is also quite nifty:

http://i.imgur.com/qhez6.jpg

But does it have voice acting better suited with swiss cheese on rye bread?

The major difference between Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Dark Souls is that of all the Castlevania games, that one's absolutely got to be the easiest. Most of the other Metroidvania they released afterwards even managed to ramp up the difficulty.

One of those rare games that takes everything that made the first one awesome and expanded on it without messing up much (PvP can be crappy when people carry their whole arsenal around). I'm easily over 200 hours into the game across three characters, one in second playthrough. Two of those characters are games with my friends co-op which is also great fun. Both these games are some of the most fun I've had in a while, game of the year easily...and close that damn guide! It's more fun when you don't know what's coming!

sotn's easiness has always frustrated me. it's such a great game, and there is so much to explore, but if you can beat the game with the holy sword you get after an hour, why spend so much time getting all those other rare drops in the inverted castle?

and iirc the psp sotn didn't really change much.

I fucking hate video games and I enjoyed this game, the difficulty is off putting for a while but keep trying until you succeed (150+ attempts on some bosses). Any negative feedback you get on this title is probably from some butthurt kids who want the game to wipe their arses for them. Old School Difficulty and level design make this game come to life, personally I preferred the Demon's Soul's layout but this is also great.

Violator said:

Any negative feedback you get on this title is probably from some butthurt kids who want the game to wipe their arses for them.

Some of my coworkers have friends who are casual gamers, play shit like God of War or Gears of War, they hear 'hard game' and are like, 'Oh I can beat that'..every one of their stories ends the same way..they try attacking the NPC sitting at Firelink Shrine and he completely wastes them over and over, then they quit. Haha.

When I die in games I get pissed off, which makes shit more interesting :)

As much as I'm sick to fucking death of the idea that games have to be HARD because HARDCORE PROS need to show those CASUAL FAGS exactly what REAL GAMING is all about (hit: it involves never touching a vagina) I am actually very interested in picking this one up. Dark Souls sounds rad as hell.

Also, their are plenty of ways to make Symphony of the Night Challenging. Yes, their are bullshit sword, shield and helmet combinations that literally make you an invisible health sucking uber-vap, but I don't want to meet the sweaty humanoid cave beast that didn't exploit that shit to murder the massive yellow triceratops asshole in the basement of the upside down castle. Fuck him, Bullshit bosses get bullshit gameplay exploits. Third rule of video game club (after 'don't get mad at video games' and 'seriously, don't get mad at video games, girls are watching you')

Dark Souls isn't Nintendo Hard, it's unfair and taunts the hell out of you, but it isn't Nintendo Hard. Nintendo Hard is a special kind of hard that can only explain the dents in my wall from thrown controllers.

No game makes me rage like Lost Levels.

It isn't Nintendo hard and isn't completely impossible infact the difficulty is just right, the difficulty adds to the games dark atmosphere. We have become too accustomed to games that basically play themselves so when one comes out that offers actual difficulty we shit bricks, was refreshing to play a game like Dark Souls and hope we see more games in this era that are on the same caliber as Dark Souls/Demon Souls.

If you think Nintendo Hard is 'difficulty just right' then you don't know shit about game design.

Can't tell if trolling or if lack the ability to read correctly. So let's assume the latter and rephrase

Violator said:

Dark Souls isn't Nintendo hard; and isn't completely impossible. In fact, the difficulty is just right.

Captain Red said:

As much as I'm sick to fucking death of the idea that games have to be HARD because HARDCORE PROS need to show those CASUAL FAGS exactly what REAL GAMING is all about...

Not sure where you're going with this, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice that gaming these days is more about showing off your fancy graphics and telling some contrived story instead of challenging the player. Dark Souls is a great throwback to times of old where attention and meticulous play have high payoff.

Another thing I really like about this game is the settings, they are rich and diverse and are all nicely interconnected in a believable way. The enemies complement the settings for the most part as well.

Yeah, the level design is awesome..Yes, levels in a game! I know it's totally nuts but it works.

Use3D said:

Yeah, the level design is awesome..Yes, levels in a game! I know it's totally nuts but it works.

Remember when games had points, levels, and worlds?

Ironically, the usage of such an old-school concept as bosses is the only weak point I can think of in Dark Souls. They're as pattern based as every other enemy, but you only ever face one of them at a time instead of groups of them. Getting on the wrong side of the Forest Hunter Covenant in Darkroot Forest and having five intelligent NPCs attack you is far more intense an experience than just about all of the bosses (including Gwyn). The only boss that does get hairy is the Four Kings, which requires speed to not get overwhelmed by four separate enemies.

It's made even more obvious on a NG+ playthrough though. The Asylum Demon basically owns everyone that first encounters him - first boss in the game, found about two minutes in while you're armed with a sword hilt (yep, just the hilt). On my NG+ run, I one hit the thing with a lighting uchigatana.

GooberMan said:

Can't tell if trolling or if lack the ability to read correctly.

Or it wasn't directed at you, or even most of the people in this thread... not entirely.

I think what I'm saying is: Why are you guys so angry at modern games when they have just given you exactly what you asked for?

Use3D said:

Not sure where you're going with this, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice that gaming these days is more about showing off your fancy graphics and telling some contrived story instead of challenging the player. Dark Souls is a great throwback to times of old where attention and meticulous play have high payoff.

This is mostly true at mainstream AAA levels though... actually, no it isn't. You guys should keep looking at modern games because some damn interesting things have just happened.

Skyrim, a game that many be the best example yet of balancing accessibly with depth and making it successful, outsold both Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 in it's first week. A critical and financial masterpiece.

Players Saw the dull brown sandy deserts and they where told "kill your friends and we'll give you bigger guns" and they saw a strange snowy place that was a lot like Norway with Norwegian Mythology to go along with all the standard Elder Scrolls stuff. They chose with their wallets.

But hey, Skyrim isn't for everyone. You guys are after something a bit more like to the stuff you had when you where growing up.

Trust me, I understand completely.
I post here after all.

but let's look at your statement:

[...]it doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice that gaming these days is more about showing off your fancy graphics and telling some contrived story instead of challenging the player. Dark Souls is a great throwback to times of old where attention and meticulous play have high payoff.

Are you sure it's a throwback to old ideas and not a refinement of modern ones?

You remember monster hunter? Started out on the PlayStation Portable, got a Wii port that wasn't loved.

The idea was great, but it just wasn't accessible to people the way oblivion was. What would give this game context? People don't seem to like the eastern stuff as much as they did in the 80's for some reason. What do those Americans like that isn't terrible? They really seem still dig that zombie stuff. Though it's getting a little stale. How about demons and the undead? Had success their before. Could that be updated without sucking? People seem excited for RPGs now.

Hmmm...

We got demons souls. It was glorious. So glorious they made it even better and let the 360 goblins have a go. It seems to make you guys happy.

Now why are you pointing at this game that has been lovingly crafted just for you and saying:

Old gamers keep saying:
This is one of the few games that aren't worthless. I should know, I had a Nintendo

We didn't get dark souls dispute modern games, we got it because of them.

Can't believe there hasn't been a thread on this yet.

Anyone else but me loving the fuck out of this game? Currently stuck on 4 Kings...without an internet connection. As a Sorcerer. Next few playthroughs are going to be painful.

I've mentioned it a few times. Must be a total bitch without internets. I've put over 200 hours into it and am on my fifth character, the pvp is annoying/compelling so that's always interesting. I'm sure like the first there's all sorts of various exploits people are using but that doesn't ruin my fun.

So far my mage and dark priest have been the most fun to play. Also skyping with friends and pvp-ing is awesome. We coordinate attacks and leave those poor phantoms very angry I'm sure. But it goes both ways, as some badass always comes in and thrashes everyone. The best is waiting just around a ledge and punting them over the side.

Also if you're stuck on that fight have you summoned the npc Witch Beatrice to help out? She can sponge up quite a bit of damage.