Dark Souls: Initial Thoughts

[bakan]

These are not faults, these are consequences. The game is supposed to be brutal. It's supposed to be unforgiving of mistakes. It was what they talked about the whole time. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it bad design.

So people are fond of saying. But that doesn't absolve or excuse bad game design or short changing the player. The goal is to make a game people enjoy and if people give up then there'll be fewer people to play online with and less wil from the publisher to do a third game. Cutting off your nose to spite your face isn't a sensible option.

You see, there is a whole bunch of people who do enjoy this kind of unforgiving gameplay and it is the whole selling point, just like it was for Demon's Souls - though I gotta say that I liked the online part of Demon's Souls more and splitting up everyone in covenants with guilty fees etc doesn't seem to be so good.

 

[Dr.Panties]

Would you care for a tear-flavoured thickshake to wash down your fail burger (with weak sauce) and bitterness fries combo?

 

[lapan]

The game actually feels a lot easier than demon souls to me. There are much more checkpoints and free potions. Potion grinding was so annoying to me i nthe first game that i never finished it.

The Taurus also was pretty easy, just as close as possible to him with shield up. Some hits will miss you outright and the others should be easily blockable with a decent shield. Then punish him for his attacks.

 

[ZeroMachine]

These are not faults, these are consequences. The game is supposed to be brutal. It's supposed to be unforgiving of mistakes. It was what they talked about the whole time. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it bad design.

So people are fond of saying. But that doesn't absolve or excuse bad game design or short changing the player. The goal is to make a game people enjoy and if people give up then there'll be fewer people to play online with and less wil from the publisher to do a third game. Cutting off your nose to spite your face isn't a sensible option.

Demon's Souls was brutally difficult.

When From Software set out to make another game, they had the goal in mind to make the game even harder.

They constantly advertised that it would be harder.

They specifically stated that you will die. It's in the tagline.

They succeeded. It's brutally difficult. But, every thing, from poison to curses to parasites to small enemies to mini bosses to main bosses, every damn thing, has a counter. The game just doesn't hold your hand. You need to learn it yourself.

Are you telling me that, in order for a game to be considered "designed well", it needs to hold your hand? 'Cause it doesn't. That's a thing of preferential challenge. I prefer not having my hand held for every damn action in the game like so many games do nowadays. It seems to be that you do, and when a game doesn't hold your hand, you scream "bad design" in it's face.

Everything in the game can be combated by the player in one way or another. That is good game design.

Oh, and third game? No, no, no... trust me, these guys are all set: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Software

You, and many other people, are just not up to the challenge. You just don't like games that don't guide you every step of the way. There isn't anything wrong with that- not every game is for everyone.

But don't go around spouting "bad design" whenever a game is too difficult for you.

EDIT: Oh, also:

I had a number of false starts - mostly because I didn't play a lot of Demon Souls and I chose a slow moving Knight right off the bat. I messed around with character builds and I'm using a Pyromancer now - I know people say that it's a broken character class, but I like being able to have as many levels available to me as possible so I can customize. I picked up the Drake Sword and I'm about to backtrack to pick up some other things - I am friggin' loving the thing.

Wait till you get cursed. Good times.

Been cursed, got rid of it easily. It just takes some patience.

 

[AJax_21]

Finally finished the depths and on my way to blightown, also got a sick ass crimson robe armor. I'm loving everything so far except for one thing...

Why wasn't inventory stash available on the start of the game? Why should you buy a box that let's manage your items from a vendor inside a bloody plague sewer? It's not matter that it's difficult, it's just that it's counter-intuitive and obtuse to have my inventory with so much clutter in the way of my important weapons/items. This is my biggest complaint against the game.

On a more positive note, pyromancy is awesome! >

 

[Zyxzy]

The beginning of Demon's Souls was harder than Dark's. Or maybe I've just learned from my mistakes.

 

[demoman_chaos]

None of the "uber strong guys" are mandatory, unless you count bosses. The metal bull, the black knights, the dragon, etc. can and should all be skipped. Basically, if you're getting completely stomped by any enemy, find a different route. It's kind of like the red eye knight in 1-1 in Demon's Souls. I would say that Dark Souls is actually more fair than Demon's Souls, because there are fewer one-hit-kill booby traps that are activated by a contraption that looks exactly like the scenery.

I strongly disagree. Demon's Souls at least made it obvious which areas were for the low levels, unlike Dark Souls which is in the same genre as Metroid and Castlevania 2 (a Where-The-Fuck-Do-I-Go RPG). The Red Eye in 1-1 (not the SMB 1-1, I don't think he was in that 1-1.... or was he?) was well out of the way.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

I strongly disagree. Demon's Souls at least made it obvious which areas were for the low levels, unlike Dark Souls which is in the same genre as Metroid and Castlevania 2 (a Where-The-Fuck-Do-I-Go RPG). The Red Eye in 1-1 (not the SMB 1-1, I don't think he was in that 1-1.... or was he?) was well out of the way.

I actually saw that as a bonus, especially when I found I had tackled a place I shouldn't have gone to before waaaaay later.
I simply went where I wanted.

 

[Weaver]

I like the game but I'm really starting to feel the grind, I pretty much require 15,000 souls for the poison resist ring and there's just no easy way to get them besides sinking 3 hours into collecting souls.

In demon's souls you could get 15,000 souls very quickly at certain spots.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

Is it me or is the targeting system in this game screwed up? In the first game I could just flick back and forth between enemies but for some reason it's really finicky in this game and will only switch if I don't know the planets align properly or if it's Easter Sunday and I'm wearing mauve.