poiumty said:
NeutralDrow said:
I was under the impression that you didn't enjoy your time spent with the game on account of its obtuse mechanics and simplistic plot, and the "just get it over with" comment was because you skipped the 4 optional DLC bosses (including the new areas and unique NPCs) in your haste to finish it. If after all that you still think it was worth playing, then I got the wrong impression.
The time I didn't enjoy with the game was because of annoying mechanics and obtuse plot. I probably would have found more of the mechanics obtuse if you hadn't already explained most of them to me before I started (like weapon scaling and upgrades), but it was things like how I couldn't move more than an inch off the ground (and was therefore trapped by tree roots), faced ranged enemies with heatseeking ammunition, and didn't have a map that were much worse. The only obtuse mechanic that affected my enjoyment was when I had to search online for how to aim a crossbow[footnote]I still maintain that being able to aim a bow but not a crossbow makes the exact opposite of sense. And the binocular trick didn't really help, since they don't have a reticule.[/footnote]. And of course the whole "lose your souls/humanity on your second death" bit. If the creators really intended for that to reinforce some sense of vulnerability in you as a puny undead in a world of terrifying monsters (as people keep telling me), that plan halted the moment I sliced apart a minotaur ten times my size on my first try (under crossbow fire), and reversed the instant I shot off a wyvern's tail and beat him to death with it.
That's when I realized I wasn't J. Random Schmuck, like the game wanted me to be. I was f'ing
Kratos. That's also why I'm going to play Dark Souls again, to try out new playstyles. I especially want to see how far I get with <url=http://oi46.tinypic.com/5zjtl5.jpg>Dirk Dickpunch and his fists of steel.
Also to get the DLC. The story as a whole was the perfect combination of things to completely shut the door in my face: an overarching theme that ran counter to my own experience, a playable character with no character at all and little chance to flesh them out on my own, almost no exposition, a death mechanic specifically designed to break my immersion, a dearth of side characters I found interesting and fun, and a lot of lore fleshing out a world I couldn't feel connected to. The kicker is that what I've heard of Artorias of the Abyss makes it sound like some of my complaints disappear (the side characters, exposition, and lore parts).
But no, I didn't skip the DLC because I was rushing through the game. I don't believe I was rushing through the game; other than one accidental sequence break (killing Sif before getting the Lordvessel), I more than followed the path I was supposed to. I
missed the DLC because I expected I would simply run into it, that it was integrated in the PC version, and when that didn't happen I simply forgot about it. It didn't occur to me that I would have to seek it out, and even if it had, I never would have guessed I'd have to return to an area I'd already been to a number of times without seeing anything after getting an obscure item from a random[footnote]Random to me, the person who didn't realize the crystal golem in the archives was a new addition.[/footnote] monster. Even the wiki doesn't tell you what to do, as I've since found out. We can probably chalk up my not doing the DLC to my hitting the game's end stretch and focusing on that for three hours instead of coming back to the Escapist and seeing your message.
But no, that's one of my goals. I don't think I can say I
like Dark Souls (and I'm not sure just how much time I spent in enjoyment versus in frustration), but I already got my $40 worth, and I'm not done yet. I just didn't get nearly as much out of it as its fans (who
really don't help my opinion, irrational as I know that sounds), and I have no intention of doing New Game+.