Dark Souls -- Will I Like It?

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:52 am

I never played the first, but this thread has intrigued me, so I put my quarter down on it yesterday as well.

Of course, I ended up stuck at work until 11:00 and didn't get to play.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:39 pm

Just curious does anyone know if the 360 and the PS3 version are the same? If I somehow manage to rob a bank or something I have to decide which to get. 360 is preferred since i can hook it up to my computer.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:44 pm

Eurogamer 360 vs PS3 head-to-head.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:46 pm

Cool I'll check that out when I get home. It's blocked at work. What they want me to do things? WTF!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:15 pm

I went with the 360 version when I picked up my copy at lunch just now. I've hardly used my 360 in the last few months and I figure this may get me to play it a bit more. Plus, I have more friends on my 360 list...although I rarely play MP these days.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:40 pm

hepcat wrote:I went with the 360 version when I picked up my copy at lunch just now. I've hardly used my 360 in the last few months and I figure this may get me to play it a bit more. Plus, I have more friends on my 360 list...although I rarely play MP these days.

If it's like the first game then the friends list won't really matter. It was random who's games you would get thrown into if you tried to help someone or invade a game. Maybe that changed this game... Damn it I think I'm going to need to go sell blood or something to get this darn thing!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:45 pm

I'm having a boardgame night tonight and then there's a Social Distortion concert tomorrow evening, so the soonest I'll be playing this copy is Friday night now.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:59 pm

hepcat wrote:I'm having a boardgame night tonight and then there's a Social Distortion concert tomorrow evening, so the soonest I'll be playing this copy is Friday night now.

Look at the bright side: Now you can feel like a European.

Covenant72 · Post by **Covenant72** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 3:01 pm

Friend's lists are meaningless. You are never aware of who you are playing with (all random based on location/level), and there is no communication outside of the integrated gesture system (voice chat is disabled). I believe this is to promote the feeling that you are alone but able to summon some help when needed, rather than "you and your buddies agaisnt the world".

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 3:04 pm

TiLT wrote:
hepcat wrote:I'm having a boardgame night tonight and then there's a Social Distortion concert tomorrow evening, so the soonest I'll be playing this copy is Friday night now.
Look at the bright side: Now you can feel like a European.

Huh? I didn't say I wasn't bathing until Friday night.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 3:13 pm

Covenant72 wrote:Friend's lists are meaningless. You are never aware of who you are playing with (all random based on location/level), and there is no communication outside of the integrated gesture system (voice chat is disabled). I believe this is to promote the feeling that you are alone but able to summon some help when needed, rather than "you and your buddies agaisnt the world".

Yup that's how it worked in the first game. You could rate the people that came and helped you which was cool.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 11:33 am

Day 2 with Dark Souls: I died. A lot, and often from stupidity. But then I beat a tough dude! And another tough dude! And then I died. Undead Burg spoilers:

Spoiler:

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 12:08 pm

AWS, based on your spoiler, you pretty much have had the full DS experience. Some fights can be cheesed, it's just up to you whether you want to or not which I always appreciated.

Complacency deaths are what keeps you on your toes

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 2:46 pm

Given the chance, I will cheese as few men have cheesed before me...

Covenant72 · Post by **Covenant72** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 3:18 pm

I prefer to call it smart strtegy. If I ever meet a skeleton in real life, I'll be kicking his ass form cover, not approaching with a "hiyo good chap, shall we have a duel?"

ChrisGrenard · Post by **ChrisGrenard** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 1:11 am

I finally made some serious progress in the game!

Some stats and info:

I'm at level 19, playing a middle-weight warrior. I play mainly with sword and shield with a bow to pick off long range enemies, and perhaps a spear for tight corridors.

The biggest questionable area came when I saw the dragon guarding the first bridge. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that you do have to run out onto the bridge and get to a halfway point before ducking down a side passage.

After that, I have explored a great deal of some underground passages and unlocked a LOT of shortcuts. The world is really starting to show how well designed it really is, with all the clever passages and alternative routes.

Combat is perfect, as I figured it would be. And overall gameplay is a refined Demon's Souls. All in all, it's exactly what I wanted out of the sequel.

I have a story for later about being chased throughout a huge area by a dark knight who was gonna kick my ass 5 ways to Sunday if I stopped moving, but I'll save it for when I think I can tell the story better.

Reemul · Post by **Reemul** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 3:52 am

I may pick this up today as well, however already got Rage today as well as Forza 4 and the new wheel pre ordered for next Friday. Not much for ages and then all at once. Madness as usual

Covenant72 · Post by **Covenant72** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 8:34 am

Finally got a nice long session in and made some decent progress! Spoilers for location/boss strategies

Spoiler:

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:20 pm

Since I have zero willpower and this is my fav. game ever I picked it up last night for the 360.

Initial Impressions:
The manual and the case are pretty crappy which bums me out. The case and the manual for the first game was really well done. I'm hitting major framerate problems in certain areas like the dragon bridge.

I have the game installed to the HD so I'm going to try playing it uninstalled to see if that helps. Wouldn't be the first time the installed version runs crappy.
Game does seem to be harder then the first one, but it could just be that I'm used to playing with my super character from the last game.

Aside from that it's just like the first game. Combat is pretty much identical which is a good thing. I quickly realized I prefer the PS3 controller for this game, but it's a little late for that now. I don't like the bumper buttons on the 360.

Played for about 4 hours and didn't really get much done except kill one demon. Pretty sure I'm going to start over as another character as I'm not digging the warrior so far.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 4:43 pm

Octavious wrote:Pretty sure I'm going to start over as another character as I'm not digging the warrior so far.

What don't you like about it? I'm playing a warrior myself, and can't see any issues with it so far (just finished the asylum part).

ChrisGrenard · Post by **ChrisGrenard** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:40 pm

I am playing a warrior as well. I like it, pretty good without any big weaknesses. Until I really begin to get the game down I don't want to try a more specialized class.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 8:03 pm

TiLT wrote:
Octavious wrote:Pretty sure I'm going to start over as another character as I'm not digging the warrior so far.
What don't you like about it? I'm playing a warrior myself, and can't see any issues with it so far (just finished the asylum part).

I played a Wanderer in the first game and I just like the scimitar a lot for some reason. I guess it really has nothing to do with the warrior and just what he starts out with. There's honestly not much of a difference between them in terms of skills. Just restarted and the sword cuts through the unarmored people like a hot knife through butter.

FYI I deleted the installed version and the framerates seem better. I could just be making that up in my head, but it certainly seems smoother to me. Not the first game I've had that happen with. Could be something with my particular 360. It's almost a launch 360 minus the dvd drive I replaced myself.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 9:22 am

Glad I restared because playing the Wanderer is much more my style. It can be a lot harder sine you have to be much more careful about getting hit, but I love rolling around and evading attacks. This game seems more harsh on equipment burden then the first game. I'm rocking the starting outfit + a knights shield which stops 100 percent damage. Working out well so far but I need to beef my sword up. Slashing doesn't work all that well on armored folks. My most hated enemy so far? The damn rats that can poison you. God thats annoying...

e1123 · Post by **e1123** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:57 pm

Early crystal lizard

Spoiler:

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 2:37 pm

I hated the lizards in Demon's Souls and was very disappointed that they returned in this game. At least I've been told that they don't hold otherwise unobtainable resources this time. If you miss lizards you're supposed to be able to grind the stuff they drop by getting lesser quality resources and upgrading them.

I wouldn't have even noticed the lizard you mention if someone hadn't placed a message warning me about it. As a result I was able to chase down the damn thing and swing at it, hoping that I'd randomly connect (which I eventually did). They're still hopeless to hit if you're not holding weapons that swing in the exactly correct way. As if your character is so inept he can't aim. Instead he just wildly swings in front of him as if fighting a regular enemy. Argh, design decisions like these just piss me off. At least Dark Souls does a lot more things right than Demon's Souls.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 3:07 pm

Undead Asylum Demon -- Check
Bull Demon -- Check
Black Knight -- Check
Red Dragon's Tail -- Check
Twin Gargoyles -- Check

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 10:26 pm

I'm liking this a lot more than I was on Saturday . . . the all the same color background palette made it hard for me to see the ramp up the side in the first zone past the tutorial section, and I was busting my head against the pairs of skeletons (that offer no XP!) for about four hours. It's much more enjoyable when you have fights that you can actually win.

ChrisGrenard · Post by **ChrisGrenard** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 10:29 pm

I have some really, really bad news regarding Dark Souls. Specifically in regards to online play. This gets a little technical, but nothing too heavy.

Basically, in effect, online play is SEVERELY broken right now. If you bought the game looking for the old fun of random coop and invasions, you are SOL. I have at least 20 hours into the game right now, and I'd say less than 45 minutes has been in cooperative play.

I did some scouring on this, and found some info about it.

Long story short: The game has a *lot* of really tiny servers running. You are randomly assigned to one when you start the game, and good f'in luck to you if you get the abandoned server with nobody in your level range. I have tested the cooperative play by going to particularly busy sections that *should* have dozens of people running through at any given time and I've had to wait for up to 40 minutes to get a coop run going! I have literally made dinner and done laundry and cleaned dishes in the time it takes to find one damn match sometimes.

As a person who bought the game in large part because I adored the multiplayer aspects of the previous game, this is painful to have to go through. Summon times should hardly ever exceed 2 minutes, and invasions should actually be something scary, not something that I've only seen once in dozens of hours of play.

I have actually sent an e-mail to Namco Bandai about the situation, as it's taking what should be my GOTY and killing a large part of the fun of the world. I would encourage anyone else who loves the game the way I do to e-mail them as well, hopefully they get the hint and fix something. Their e-mail address is support@namcobandaigames.com.

Here's to hoping that the online play gets fixed in a hurry before the game gets abandoned by most of it's fan base.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 10:54 pm

I played online exactly once and didn't like it and it was still one of my favorite games of all time. I get why you are upset, but for many it's probably not game breaking. The only aspect of MP I liked were the little notes people left you, but then again I play MMOs mostly solo these days as well.

Peacedog · Post by **Peacedog** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 12:43 am

Depraved - totally not a difficult start.

Capra Demon is fun.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:24 am

Chris, don't forget that unlike in the previous games all players must be human in Dark Souls to play co-op. Since it's hard for anyone to see much benefit in being human, and since the resources you need to do so are extremely limited, I can easily see co-op being limited regardless of servers.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:46 am

Taurus Demon went down last night.

Spoiler:

ChrisGrenard · Post by **ChrisGrenard** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:57 am

TiLT wrote:Chris, don't forget that unlike in the previous games all players must be human in Dark Souls to play co-op. Since it's hard for anyone to see much benefit in being human, and since the resources you need to do so are extremely limited, I can easily see co-op being limited regardless of servers.

Eh? No, only the host needs to be human. All undead are the ones who allow themselves to be summoned via white soapstone. This is no different than the previous game.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:07 pm

In the previous game you could invade when not in human form. (Forget the name) One of the rewards for killing the other guy was to be brought back to life. It appears that in this one you have to be human to invade which is what I think he was referring to.

They did a great job of supporting the first game so I have hopes that they can clean this up a bit if needed. Can't be worse then Fifa 12 for the PC where I can't get a single Ultimate Team match going no matter how hard I try.

Inverarity · Post by **Inverarity** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:40 am

Okay, I bought it. Between this thread and the one on Qt3, I couldn't resist. I don't remember a game ever getting so much unabashed praise.

On to the game itself. I have essentially no idea what the hell is going on, and I'm okay with that! I don't even know why my humanity number suddenly went from 00 to 01, or how to walk along high places without falling (I've done that three times now), but I like the pacing of the game. It's slow and methodical, and that's kind of how I play games anyway, so maybe this will be a good fit. Though I have to "unlearn" button mashing as a general gameplay technique. That could take awhile. Oh, and I see why everyone is raving about the level design. It's pretty neat how everything is twisted on top of itself (a very vertical game).

And I have some basic questions, if you wouldn't mind helping me out.

1. I want to kindle to get more flasks, so do I just need to have my humanity level at 02 to do so? I seem to remember reading that I need 2 levels to kindle. Speaking of flasks...
2. At the first bonfire after the the tutorial, I spoke to the NPC and my flasks went up from 5 to 10. But now, a little bit later, at a new bonfire, my flasks are back to 5. Why?
3. I decided to go with a Bandit and I've since raised my Dexterity by 2 and my vitality by 1. Does this sound reasonable as new player (having never played demon souls)? I haven't read of many people picking the bandit which is why I ask.
4. I picked the Pendant as my gift, not the Master Key. I know everyone is suggesting the Master Key, but I decided to be different. Anyone else pick something different? I hope it wasn't a mistake....

Inverarity · Post by **Inverarity** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 3:30 am

Okay, I figured out my first question - gotta be human, then kindle with at least 1 humanity.

As for the rest of the night, I learned that not having a ranged attack is a problem, losing to a demon on a bridge takes about three seconds, and Black Knights are not easy. I wonder if I'll enjoy the game when it really starts ramping up the difficulty.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 5:26 am

Inverarity wrote: 2. At the first bonfire after the the tutorial, I spoke to the NPC and my flasks went up from 5 to 10. But now, a little bit later, at a new bonfire, my flasks are back to 5. Why?
3. I decided to go with a Bandit and I've since raised my Dexterity by 2 and my vitality by 1. Does this sound reasonable as new player (having never played demon souls)? I haven't read of many people picking the bandit which is why I ask.
4. I picked the Pendant as my gift, not the Master Key. I know everyone is suggesting the Master Key, but I decided to be different. Anyone else pick something different? I hope it wasn't a mistake....

2. The bonfire in the Firelink Shrine is automatically kindled for you. A kindled fire provides 10 flasks, while an unkindled one provides 5. Those 10 flasks last until you use them, so even if you rest at an unkindled bonfire while you have 10 flasks, they won't go back to 5.
3. Anything works, and you can shape your character as you want to. I'd recommend not getting caught up in trying to increase your hit points however. Dark Souls puts far more emphasis on not being hit in the first place than being able to withstand a lot of punishment.
4. I picked the Master Key, but it doesn't really matter all that much. All the doors Master Key unlocks should be possible to open in other ways.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 7:45 am

Blight Town, ugh. I've lost so many souls here. On the bright side, I found some kick-ass armor.

Inverarity · Post by **Inverarity** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:32 am

TiLT wrote:The bonfire in the Firelink Shrine is automatically kindled for you. A kindled fire provides 10 flasks, while an unkindled one provides 5. Those 10 flasks last until you use them, so even if you rest at an unkindled bonfire while you have 10 flasks, they won't go back to 5

Thanks. That makes sense. So I now have two bonfires kindled and I'll get a 10 from either. Additional bonfires, before they're kindled, will give me whatever I have on me, up to 10, with a minimum of 5.

I actually woke up early this morning and decided to play for a bit, with hopes of defeating the first boss. I don't think I've ever done that before (played a game before work). Anyway, got him on the 2nd try, which was an awesome feeling. Until I got torched by a Drake moments later.

The game videos I've watched online don't do the game's graphics justice. It's a beautiful, vertical world. I see why you guys were so excited by this game, and I thank you for the recommendation. I get it, it's amazing, and totally unlike other RPGs. I can't wait to play again tonight.

ChrisGrenard · Post by **ChrisGrenard** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:41 am

As upset as I am about the multiplayer, I must admit that the level design beats out Demon's Souls by quite a bit. The interconnected nature of the world is fascinating. There's been several times where I'll take a new elevator and suddenly go, "Holy crap, I was above *that place*?!?"

If anybody wants, I've got a handle on Pyromancer now and can offer build advice if you want it.