Dark Souls: Initial Thoughts

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I know how to take out the Tartarus Demon, but I'm having trouble getting around him when he blocks me off from the tower, does anybody have any suggestions?

You can roll between his legs. If you have a faster character, roll between his legs, dash to the other side and lure him, roll under his legs and dash back to the other side and up the ladder. Do a plunging attack. Rinse and repeat.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

As for me; i'm currently in the undead burg. I made it, with about 1 point of health, to the Taurus demon. It killed me. I have no idea how you fight it and i'm not going to get the chance to learn without first going all the way back to the bonfire (which i'd done about 6 times already) in the burg. That's not a learning process that helps the player learn to fight the boss and tha'ts why placement of checkpoints is critical.

There is a ladder placed right besides the entrance, so that you can kill the crossbowmen on the top.
And a little tip, when you are rolling you are indestructible.

Do you think he knows that's he's supposed to jump off the tower and stab the Tauros Demon in the face?


Probably not

I fucking love this game. One of my main complaints with Demon's Souls was that nothing felt connected, I've always hated having a main hub that you access levels from.

Dark Souls did away with that, and now the world just feels... right.

Wait ! your suppose to jump of the tower and stab him in the face ? I didn't know that... i just rolled between his legs everytime he attacked ...

Oh and wait till your face the

Spoiler

bell gargoyle! Roof top , no sides , final destination... fun times T_T

That one was quite easy actually, I think I may have overleveled for that one.

Drake Sword+summonable NPC=cakewalk. The NPC draws aggro and the Drake Sword does a ton of damage. That combo takes out the challenge in that fight.

 

[Gralian]

The only frustration for me thus far is having no way to sell junk or store items yet. Granted you couldn't sell stuff in Demon's Souls, but you could at least dump unndeeded items on Stockpile Thomas at the Nexus.

Also, no longer being able to stockpile grass to munch on is a bit disconcerting. As is limiting the number of times you can cast spells and miracles. Once you found the MP regen ring in Demon's Souls, you were on easy street. I guess it's for balance, but damn... doesn't give much reason to go anything but heavy melee with light magic for a desperate heal or weak soul arrow to pick off that pesky ranged mob.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

My biggest prob with the game is the weapon atks. They changed a lot of them that worked well to weird screwed up animations. The Halberd which used to atk with the axe part in downward motions now just gets jabbed forward with your char stumbling as they do it. The Morning star just get one big thrust downward, again with your char stumbling. A lot of those weapons didn't need the atk patterns screwed up when they worked fine for what they where most needed for.

Also while not as big of a deal I don't like that my char looks like a old corpse when it's hallowed. I spent like an hr in OCD fulled char customizing, only to find I'm gonna be spending most of my time as a mummy. Either way I like that the enemies are smarter and will follow you up ladders and stairs and actually use better strats then "run in with my cock out flail".

Only speaking on behalf of Demons Souls here, yet to get Dark Souls... but I felt as though the Halberd and it's variants made most of the game far too easy, first run through as the Holy Warrior (guy in awesome starting armour and halberd) was cake walk (relatively speaking) and the weapon stayed with me right up to the end. 2nd character I made relied on swords and maces, the game was a ton more difficult for it.

Perhaps they switch up it's role for balancing? I dunno, I like Halberds myself.

I like the idea of zombified character appearance between states... as long as it's not like oblivions vampirism that reverts your characters face back to pre-made one.

 

[Itsthefuzz]

Ok so, still playing it and I can say this: It's STILL REALLY HARD, but I'll love it forever.

 

[godofallu]

I just rang the first bell and i'd give the game maybe a 7/10.

The games main gameplay is good, but it is marred by constant flaws that shouldn't even be a problem. No explaining what anything is or what it means? I accidentally hit a shopkeeper so I can no longer use him forever! Did I mention that the multiplayer doesn't work. One of the devs on the forums specifically quoted me and told me to not bother trying to play with my specific friend because we were on different servers. Stupid. This is the same friend in the same country that I always do co-op with. We bought the damn game together.

Also why can't you use party chat while playing? That's like one of Xbox lives greatest features.

Gameplay is alright but with broken multiplayer, no party chat, and a ton of grinding I can't put it at anything above average. At least the Witcher 2 looked beautiful.

 

[microwavefriendly]

This is just bizarre.

People say 'this is a manly man's game' and that it's 'realistic' - no invisible walls to protect you from falling of ledges, for example. But when you die you come back to life (as we all do, of course) and can start again. Unlike Oblivion or Dragon Age (those games people say are for pussies, now that DS exists).

Surely if death is so common in a game, as it apperas to be in DS - you will die a lot they say - then it must have no meaning. The player doesn't fear death, as he might in DA or Oblivion (which is the sort of trepidation the developers of DS want the player to feel), he just fears the tedious repetition of task to progress. That's something else entirely.

wow....obviously you don't know anything about the game...maybe you should play it or actively research the game before you go criticizing.
you fear death in dark souls more than any other game...saving doesn't exist in dark souls as it does in dragon age or the elder scrolls.
the game autosaves every thing you do and when you die, you're stuck with the consequence. that means no reload if you screwed up, just like real life. then you have to go back and get the experience you lost from where you died, kind of like getting your gear back in diablo 2.

 

[Gralian]

As for me; i'm currently in the undead burg. I made it, with about 1 point of health, to the Taurus demon. It killed me. I have no idea how you fight it and i'm not going to get the chance to learn without first going all the way back to the bonfire (which i'd done about 6 times already) in the burg. That's not a learning process that helps the player learn to fight the boss and tha'ts why placement of checkpoints is critical.

Spoiler: The easy way to kill the Taurus Demon is...

Look behind you after entering the white fog to find a ladder on your right that lets you climb up and deal with the crossbowmen. Lure the Taurus demon over to that area, climb the ladder, fall and press RB to do a plunging attack on it that'll take away an almighty chunk of its health.

If you're not comfortable with plunge attacks another really easy way to beat him is to just stand back and throw Black Firebombs which you should have looted from a chest earlier. With him being so slow and unable to avoid the bombardment it's like shooting fish in a barrel... with explosives. And a really large fish.

This is just bizarre.

People say 'this is a manly man's game' and that it's 'realistic' - no invisible walls to protect you from falling of ledges, for example. But when you die you come back to life (as we all do, of course) and can start again. Unlike Oblivion or Dragon Age (those games people say are for pussies, now that DS exists).

Surely if death is so common in a game, as it apperas to be in DS - you will die a lot they say - then it must have no meaning. The player doesn't fear death, as he might in DA or Oblivion (which is the sort of trepidation the developers of DS want the player to feel), he just fears the tedious repetition of task to progress. That's something else entirely.

Considering you lose ALL your souls and ALL your humanity when you die, i'd say that's a pretty big incentive to fear death. Not to mention that the further you progress without dying, the greater the relatisation that should you die, you'll have to make your way all the way back to that exact spot to get your stuff back - something that may be impossible if getting to that point was a tough endeavour to start with or a fluke. So progression is kind of a double-edged sword and provides yet another reason to fear the reaper.

Not to mention if you want the best chance of getting exceptional loot, you need to stay human and have a high humanity count. Both of which you will lose if you die.

 

[ThePuzzldPirate]

The difficulty isn't the issue, although presenting the player with some fantasy monstrosity that fills the entire moveable area without any clue as to what you can do to avoid him or falling to your death is pretty stupid. The big mistake the game makes is that assuming the player is in the exact position of the character. I have situational awareness as a human being so that if i'm stood on the edge of a cliff i KNOW it. If i'm playing a game that isn't there, even if i can see that i'm on a ledge or something. That's why games have things like invisible walls. i've already been knocked off some stairs by a trap - and survived only to find i can't get back so i had to suicide and lose all my souls. Pretty stupid.

But for me the biggest issue is the simple placement of bonfires. Sure the enemies are rought, and that's fine. But forcing the player to go all the way back to the last bonfire, which was miles away, every time, is just retarded. There's no getting away from this. At least placing a bonfire right before every boss fight would have been the minimum i'd expect. In fact i'd go so far as to say that if you are going to make a challenging game then you as developers have got to up your game: you have a responsibility to give the player all the tools to interpret that difficulty: the camera has to be spot on, the lock on system spot on, the framerate spot on. Everything has to be there. I'm not saying it isn't, but there are times - especially with the great big bosses that come up short just because it's so difficult. It's no good putting the player into a position where he's getting sniped by things out of camera range, or by firebombs that are being thrown by people inside a room you can't get inside to see without first being firebombed. That's poor design.

I'm not going to say it's a bad game, and even if i did it would be pointless. But I'm certainly not going to say this is designed as well as it should have been - not could have been, but should have been. Especially for all the praise it's gotten. These reviews are writing cheques this game isn't cashing.

As for me; i'm currently in the undead burg. I made it, with about 1 point of health, to the Taurus demon. It killed me. I have no idea how you fight it and i'm not going to get the chance to learn without first going all the way back to the bonfire (which i'd done about 6 times already) in the burg. That's not a learning process that helps the player learn to fight the boss and tha'ts why placement of checkpoints is critical.

I never had any problems in bonfire spacing at all so it is something on your end, I can make it to the church in one sitting.

 

[Korten12]

The only frustration for me thus far is having no way to sell junk or store items yet. Granted you couldn't sell stuff in Demon's Souls, but you could at least dump unndeeded items on Stockpile Thomas at the Nexus.

Eventually there is an NPC who will exchange items for Souls, granted he doesn't give too much for most items.

Also you get a storage eventually.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I'm completely stuck on the undead burg battlements. The camera is awful. The framerate really isn't acceptable and, despite what the fanboys think, the game does rely on cheap gimmicks and frustration. Difficulty isn't the issue. Having a bunch of people you can't target or attack able to throw firebombs at you on narrrow battlements while having to pull mobs you can't see from outsidfe a narrow door into a tower chamber one at a time is just piss poor game design. The icing on the cake is then having to repeat this (and more) when you make it to one of the bosses later one as there is no checkpoint. You have no idea how to fight the mobs because there are no clues (apart from one message 'ring' ??? before a tall knight type guy that i had to face in a narrow corridor near the exit to the taurus demon.
On top of that the game doesn't even play by its' own rules. Sometimes a mob can magically speed up and attack you like a swordsman on pcp, other times they block your attacks constantly and yet when you block a slow lunging spear move you still don't have the advantage. Parrying is far too difficult and because of the cost of failure you aren't incentivised to learn because the only way to learn is in the heat of battle.
These are not aspects of clever game design, they are symptoms of bad game design. It's the sort of frustration born of the difficulty of having to deal with a system that is not internally consistent and deliberately unhelpful. People that champion this are the sort of people that don't want innovatioon or originality in game design; they are the sort of people that lambast 'weaker' gamers because they themselves got teased for playing video games. It's a sort of survival of the shittiest.
There may well be a great reward for surviving all this, and I've no doubt you will feela sense of achievement having beaten the boss you have no idea how to fight and can only learn through extreme frustration (oh, he attacks like that, you say as you die and respawn, along with everything else, ten miles away). I think it's very sad the gaming media tacitly endorses these kinds of poor decision making in favour of a more accessible and smoother game. That they can't differentitate between those qualities and actual difficulty says a lot.

I mean this in the nicest possible way.

Maybe you're just not very good at this kind of game.

Everything you're complaining about, is what everybody else in this thread loves about the game. The camera is fine, maybe you're the problem.

Maybe it's not for you, nothing wrong with that, but treating what everybody else likes about the game as faults?

Come on dude.

 

[Popadoo]

I disagree with everyone saying that the difficulty is just cheap tricks.
Every single time I've died it has been because I wasn't doing something right. Maybe I was a little impatient and tried to take on a few too many enemies, or I didn't time an attack right. The game isn't easy if you concentrate, but it's a lot less difficult.
Also, I've had no problems with the camera/lock on system, and I've had no frame-rate drops whatsoever. It might be a little bit more laggy on the X-Box, but on my PS3 version I'm having no such things.
Anyway, any game that makes me literally shake violently with anxiousness is truly a game worth playing!