Dark souls is utter crap as a game.

[Corporal Yakob]

Thats one of the reasons I lost interest in the game (aside from the laughably insane difficulty)-what I managed to gather in the form of a story was "You are dead but can still die: go out there and try not to die." Could anyone help explain it to me? In all fairness I didn't get very far but I feel that its a weakness of a game if you expects you to wander and explore the enviroments for little story clues but punishes you with extremely unforgiving enemies and traps for doing so.

 

[RJ 17]

I saw the game as having the same difficulty curve as QWOP. It's only hard because of how difficult the controls are to master. Since it really seems like you're the only one who's weapon bounces off the geometry and environment, the enemies have free reign at you when you're recovering from the many times you'll be recovering from your weapon bouncing off the walls of a cramped hallway.

This was pretty much my take on my short stint with the game. I don't mind maddeningly difficult opponents that are super-powered compared to you. The challenge there-in becomes coming up with ways to compensate for your lack of power compared to the enemies.

But to me the entire difficulty lied in the controls themselves. I think the comparison Jitters made to QWOP is really fitting. QWOP is a game specifically designed around being difficult due to crazy controls. To me that's not making a difficult game, that's rigging a game to be difficult. Think of the "land a quarter in the dish" carny game as seen in Joe Dirt. It's not too tough to get the quarter in the dish...but getting it to stay there when the dish is being sprayed with Pam to keep it nice and slick. Understanding your classes' strength and abilities and coming up with tactics to use in Dark Souls isn't that difficult...but when the controls themselves make it difficult to execute said tactics then it's a little bit just straight-up unfair, just like it's unfair to spray the dishes with Pam.

 

[Fightgarr]

Maybe it just isn't your thing. I loved Dark Souls in spite of its difficulty. You comparison to Skyrim rings a little dull in my mind. Dark Souls is the better art directed game, featuring a more cohesive, yet varied set of environments, characters and creatures. Skyrim is all about exposition. You know what Skyrim's story is because no one in the game will shut the fuck up. Dark Souls is based around embedded narrative. It's not trying to have a complex story for you to get caught up in, it's more trying to tell you, through architecture and ambience, what's happened already. Dark Souls, much like games like Shadow of the Colossus and ICO, hints at a rich history and a set of catastrophic events, that you're only going to really get by taking in the scenery. Dark Souls is a little over the top, and it's mechanics may not be your thing, but you are attempting to state "Dark Souls is a shitty RPG because look at Skyrim." The games are not attempting to do the same thing. Dark Souls is, at heart, an action game. An action game with deeper mechanics, maybe, but an action game nonetheless.

 

[SpaceBat]

snip

Demon's Souls had the perfect difficulty as it wasn't easy enough to breeze through it, but it wasn't exactly difficult either. Has the difficulty in Dark Souls really been increased by THAT much?

 

[Dansen]

Thats one of the reasons I lost interest in the game (aside from the laughably insane difficulty)-what I managed to gather in the form of a story was "You are dead but can still die: go out there and try not to die." Could anyone help explain it to me? In all fairness I didn't get very far but I feel that its a weakness of a game if you expects you to wander and explore the enviroments for little story clues but punishes you with extremely unforgiving enemies and traps for doing so.

There are backstories to everyone and everything in the world. You just have to read about the items. THEY TELL YOU EVERYTHING.

MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING

You and all humans are descendants of the furtive pygmy, the fourth lord. This is why all the humans are so small in comparison to everything and that there is a race of giants. The other three lords are from this race, explaining their size. The first three lords claimed the most powerful souls to give them power, their strength comes from the fire. The pygmy or the fourth lord claimed the dark soul so that in time his descendants would come to rule the world. This is why the dark sign exists.

As time went on the power of the flames started to die out as darkness and humans began to take over. In order to stop this the Witch Queen of Izalith tried to artificially create the first flame(the fire in the intro, where the souls originated), using her pyromancy. However the power was to much and resulted in her downfall. The Queen and her daughters(except for one) were all consumed by the flame she had created and they were turned into horrible demons. The fire continued to exist and began to spawn even more demons. One of the primeval lords had fallen. The gods who had slain the dragons were fading.

The story diverges here because there are two interpretations depending on how you go through the story and the game, both are entirely valid, but I'm going to explain one

Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight became frightened by the humans as a result, for the coming darkness marked the end of his reign. In order to stop the darkness, Lord Gwyn created the quest of the undead. The goal was to send the humans on a impossible quest so that they would fail and not realize their true destiny. Believing in the lord the undead humans began to undertake this quest only to die or go hollow. The age of Dark was averted for a time, but it wouldn't last. The fire was still dying, so in order to preserve the light, Gwyn sacrificed his soul in order to link the flames and strengthened the first flame. In the final boss fight Gwyn has become a hollow and you must defeat him. At the end you can choose to either link the flames to continue the age of light, or extinguish them so that you can usher in the age of dark as the dark lord.

There is hell of a lot of back story to everything, settings, characters, events, you name it. All you have to do is look for the clues.

 

[Windcaler]

*snip*

Before I say anything I would first like to say if you want to have an honest discussion about dark souls then you should cut down on the hyperbole. It makes you look uninformed and like you dont intend to take any counter opinions seriously.

Now I love dark souls, I really do because its a game thats trying to do something different. Its not trying to be anything but itself and that, to me, is probably the best thing about the game. It has an identity and its saying that its ok to be different.

The first thing I often say about Dark souls is I dont think its a difficult game. I think its an unforgiving game. If you make mistakes you'll pay for it some way. Dont notice that ball at the end of the extremely dark stairway? Well then you're going to get run over by it and die. Dont check the cubbys? Well then youre going to miss an enemy hiding there who will walk up behind you, backstab you, and probably kill you in one hit (and if you arent dead your close to it meaning using an estus flask). The game is built around the idea that its tough but fair, if you take your time while moving through areas you should do fine. If you rush through an uncleared area you're probably going to die.

Now the various bosses do take some practice to learn and sometimes it can seem like a cheap shot but after you've learned their patterns you tend to think of a death as "ok how did I screw up?". With the bosses you want to use everything in your arsenal. For example my first character was a knight who was deep into two handed weapons like the claymore, zwienhander, and black knight greatsword but I found fighting the two poison dragons in the game exceptionally difficult. Until I pulled out my bow, then the fights were probably the easiest in the game. Weapons arent the only thing though, sometimes you want to change armors, for example when fighting the Abyss demon when I returned to the asylum I found him easier by equiping a lighter set of armor so his slow attacks were easier to dodge and I had less problems getting behind him for free hits. Basicly what Im saying is you can make the bosses difficult for yourself or you can make them easy all by changing tactics.

The third thing Ill touch on is the story. There is one, you dont learn it quickly and I think Dark souls could definiately benefit from a class on pacing but its still there. Although to be fair, I still had several unanswered questions by the end though they were minor ones in the grand scheme of things

I really have to question whether your trolling or not, just because of all the hyperbole and responses filled with more hyperbole but on the off chance that you arent trolling Im going to suggest that Maybe the game isnt for you? If you dont like the game then thats fine, I totally understand that its not for everyone and I would never suggest you play a game you dont like. However our opinions on the game are just as valid

 

[Warachia]

Well this was disappointing, we were playing the same game in regards to the combat right? Because Dark souls has plenty of other things in it that make it a terrible game, like the PvP forest the game never warns you about, the tomb of the giants, the twin boss, not warning you that only holy weapons permanently kill some undead sometimes, etc.

Although I can't help but feel this isn't your type of game, and I hate using that argument because it is usually a cop out.

 

[lacktheknack]

Yeah, well, that's like, your opinion, man...

I've been told that Mirror's Edge, my all-time favorite, is a crap game. They attempted to justify it by complaining about how much they died and couldn't figure stuff out. Guess how much a grammatical trainwreck contradictory rant with blatant fallacies adjusted my opinion of it. (Hint: Not at all.)

 

[demoman_chaos]

-clippidy clop-

You are the chosen undead and must rekindle a fire to ward off eternal darkness. You do so by gather lords souls to unlock the area where Lord Gwynn so you can kill him and light the fire. Kingseeker Frampt (who appears in Firelink Shrine after you ring the 2 Bells of Awakening) explains it pretty clearly. Crestfallen (the bloke in chainmail by the main fire) explains what you are supposed to be doing until Frampt shows up, just don't skip his dialouge.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

So tell me how to turn this game from "suicide trial" Into"Brilliant game"

Dark Souls requires a few things from you in order to be enjoyed properly.
1. Mindset.
Understand that you're a worthless sack of shit and you don't deserve a fucking thing. You are literally a fucking sack of rancid shit who is considered to be worth less than a diseased, maggot infested corpse. You are scum; the dags on a dog's asshole.
In the world of Dark Souls, we are all less than nothing. We are all sacks of shit.
Dark Souls has no mercy. It doesn't want to make you happy. It doesn't want you to succeed. It wants to hurt you; it wants to break you; it wants you to quit.
The more people who quit Dark Souls, the more meaning success in Dark Souls has. This is a game so very few will finish. But those few who feel a sense of accomplishment for doing so that basically no game on the market offers.
Go into Dark Souls understanding that you're going to fail. Every time you come across a boss, you're going to die. A lot. Every inch of the game world that you progress, you do so on the back of a hundred failures. If you can't handle this, give up now. It will eat you up, and spit you out.

2. Skill.
Dark Souls requires skill, more so than basically any game made in the last few years. This isn't about twitch kills - it's about patience. DO NOT RUSH IN. You must study your enemies. You take your time. You must learn every attack for every single opponent. Every enemy - every. single. one. - will fuck you up, rape your corpse, eat you and shit you out if you don't slow things down and study them.
If you refuse to literally dedicate yourself to understanding every single enemy in the game, give up now - Dark Souls will not roll over for you. You have to focus 110% when playing. A single fuck up will end you.

Once you know an opponent's attacks and patterns, you can begin to fight back. Understand that this is a game of back and forth; block a few attacks until your opponent is stunned, than attack. Learn the openings in their moves. If you're opponent is a massive soldier with a giant sword, dodge their attacks as blocked will stun you.
Take time; respawn enemies deliberately by using a bon fire and practice an area until you've mastered the opponents. Don't be afraid to die.

3. Rest.
Playing Dark Souls is a draining experience because of the dedication it can demand, especially against some of the bosses. Don't be afraid of looking things up on the Wiki; there is a difference between not trying and just looking it all up, and reaching the end of your rope and needing a little help. Don't be afraid of playing online for the tips and hints; we're all in this together, working together against Dark Souls.
However, nothing helps like a solid rest. You can't play Dark Souls for 12 straight hours. This isn't Skyrim; Dark Souls challenges you, and never gives you a moment's rest. Fuck, even pausing doesn't actually STOP the game.
I play about two hours every other day. I prepare myself mentally. I can't come home from work and jump into Dark Souls to relax; if you relax, you're dead.

If none of this sounds enjoyable, don't force it. Those of us who love Dark Souls aren't better than you - despite what some people will tell you - we're just a different breed of gamer. We love to be challenged. A lot of gamers pretend to enjoy the challenge; Dark Souls murders those pretenders and rapes their undead bodies while they weep.

Oh and a BRILLIANT GAME is a total package, which means you have to give me some points for wandering where the fuck the story want in something that's dubbed an RPG...

Not all RPGS are Final Fantasy exposition-heavy games where you spend as much time watching the story as playing the gane. If you think an RPG is dialogue trees and World of Warcraft-grind heavy combat, quit now.
Dark Souls is an RPG - it's just an old one. It's an RPG in that it requires exploration, understanding and personal drive - it's an Old School RPG, like the early Ultima games, and Dungeon Master. The story is in the world - you have to work to put it all together, though.
If you think a "story" is what defines an RPG, you're not understanding what an RPG actually is, and you've been raised on mainsteam console titles. Dark Souls is none of these things.

A Brilliant Game is one which achieves what it sets out to do. Dark Souls set out to be a true challenge in a world where failure has literally been removed from every title on the market. Dark Souls set out to give you an honest to god feeling of accomplishment that modern games lack, and remove this bullshit "you are entitled to see the end of the game because you bought it" mentality.

When you finish Call of Duty, do you feel like you did something worth anything? No. You throw it onto the pile and play the next retarded game. Call of Duty is a fucking piece of shit because everyone who buys it CAN finish it.

When you finally finish Dark Souls, you fucking go bananas: YOU FUCKING BEAT DARK SOULS. It's an accomplishment to do so. It makes you earn your success.

If doesn't sound fun, if this isn't what you want: sell it now. Do not try. Give up. You will not succeed. It will break you. It will make you want to die.
Dark Souls isn't for everyone. And because it's not everyone, it's absolutely fucking brilliant.

I have to look down and applause at this post. I'm an acolyte of this game, about to enter Sen's Fortress after CONQUERING BLIGHTTOWN, and I gotta say...I've yet to play a game where I've felt more empowered than Dark Souls. I've played games like Gears of War and other action dudebro-looking-character games that people like to call "power fantasies," and none of them make me feel half as brave or strong as Dark Souls. The Undead I'm playing as, in a way, is someone I look up to as a character. He/She, like Link in LoZ, is just relentless courage and perseverance personified. He just stares the horrors of Lordran in the eye and does. not. stop. fighting. Utterly admirable and terrifying. I'm pretty convinced that I might be the scariest thing in all of Lordran.

Lordran just draws me in and the challenge is so awesome. The combat system has weight and precision very much unlike any action game I've played. Every single time I've died, I've known precisely why, and was able to correct. I used to scoff at the whole abstract "reward" and "achievement" crap that the reviews spewed, but it's all so true for me. The achievement is the victory, far more than any loot. I was terrified of touching this game but I've come to adore it in my 20 hours with it so far.

 

[anthony87]

Sorry OP but you sucking at/not liking a game does not make that game crap.

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

Dark Souls is only hard when you first start out. The difficulty curve goes in reverse pretty much, it's all about learning. Save for the odd cheap death (Fuck the Bed of Chaos), the game is actually fun, and every death is down to your own impatience/stupidity. Every time I've died I've either been pissed off at myself for taking the risk, or laughed at myself for not paying attention. The story is told through the world as many others have said, the lore is actually stupidly deep. Even the creator has said in interviews that it was never intended to looked in to as much as it has been, but it's all there.

 

[viranimus]

I still dont get if this is about Demon or Dark or the franchise as a whole because it sounds like elements are merged

Heres my take.

Story: Yes, the story is light. It is not nonexistent. Much like TES or fallout a major part of the story is in the environment. However thats not all of it. Many elements of the story come from either the loading screens to act as foreshadowing, or item texts to describe the lore. Also, you cannot discount the intro scenes to the game because they basically set the stage to answer many of the questions asked like Why is everyone in this castle trying to kill me.

Mechanics: The Souls games are basically the single best examples of action RPGs we have at our disposal from a mechanical standpoint. The "skills" you get are more firmly rooted in reality with things like Safe fall, Dodge, block, parry, riposte, pattern recognition, timing, using the environment to your advantage, instead of hotkey 1= shockwave, Hotkey 2 = Immolation, Hotkey 3 = Wild 360 degree swing of death all of which allow you to forcibly overpower your opponent and nullify any degree of challenge or technique. The approach is more akin to mount and blades approach to realism than say, World of Warcrafts cartoonish anime approach where the only "challenge" comes from throwing more enemies at you and forcing you to micromanage health to simply outlast your opponent. In the souls games a single enemy can be just as threatening as a group if your not actually paying attention to what your doing.

RPG game: The game is heavily rooted in RPG development and statistical micromanagement. It represents about the best over all structure for RPG development. Where your skills are focused more in reality, so too is your char development. If your a warrior, you build Strength, Stamina, Endurance. If your a mage, you build Intelligence and Dexterity, If your a thief you build Dexterity and luck, If your a cleric you build faith and intelligence. If you build a hybrid you build what is appropriate for the 2-4 of the 4 base archtypes in what ever balance you find appropriate for your desired skillset. Each improvement in these base skills makes you better at your reality skills such as Pyromancy(dark only), Melee attacks, Ranged attacks, Magic, faith. It is perfection in its simplicity that allows people to truly design and build their char to fit exactly how they want to play, not a group of 3 pre configured specialiZations.

In short, its not for everyone, but it absolutely is worth every bit of hype and then some it generates because while not a perfect game (yes I would like more story too) its practically the idealization of what an RPG should be now instead of the "mash X hotkey to win" direction RPGs have been headed.

 

[crono738]

The same thing basically happened to me as well. I started out as a Knight, planning on going full melee, but that dream pretty much ended with my encounter with the Tower Knight. By the time I beat the game, I was insanely good with a bow and sword (SL 100+). Not so good with magic though... I mainly used soul-arrow, flame toss, and soul ray, all those mainly for the bosses. Never went melee against any of the buggers. XD

You can get some really powerful spells and miracles with Boss Souls. Some that killed the later bosses in one hit.

Ah fire storm...such a broken spell. Hell, starting as the Royalty class let you one-shot pretty much everything in the first world or two.

 

[daveman247]

snip

So you dont like the game, thats fine, put the game down and be happy
Its not a game for everyone. It seems you look for something different in an RPG than what is in this game (story). But thats not here. And thats fine, it still has leveling,choosing equipment, exploring and loot. So it is an RPG, this is how it was back in the day. A dungeon crawl, no rhyme or reason, just kill or be killed and find shit to get better.


And judging from what you have written for your tactics, i'm not surprised you didnt get very far, "your doing it wrong". Rolling helps, so does having a shield and working out how to counter attack.