Poll: Dark Souls yay or nay?

[Madaxeman101]

So I was discussing this topic with a friend of mine the other day. We have both played dark souls on xbox 360 while i loved it and think it deserves alot more attention he hated it (for perfectly valid reasons its by no means perfect),I managed to finish the game, no small feat since its horrfically difficult and he only managed to get to the first boss. I was just curious about the escapists view on Dark Souls. Have you played it? What did you think of it? I can honestly say that its one of my favourite games of this year and I would defintiely recommend picking it up if you have the funds.


Edit: Please try to keep this thread spoiler free for anyone who hasnt yet been able to play the game.

 

[Ando85]

I'm waiting to play it when I get it for Christmas. I absolutely adored Demon's Souls however. I'm very excited to play it even if it will result in many a thrown controller. A friend of mine got it day one and was put off by the difficulty and got sidetracked. He also loved Demon's Souls. I'm hoping I will have the patience to get through it as it looked like an amazing game.

 

[Tallim]

Yeah it's probably my top game of the year by far as Demon's Souls was before it. Bit easier than Demon's IMO but not by too much.

 

[TheLoveableMuffin]

Great fun. Great sense of achievement for every big enemy defeated. I love it. I do reckon the graphics weren't as good as they could have been however, but I tend to ignore the visuals in a fun engaging game though.

 

[Madaxeman101]

Demons is harder?!?! Thats madness lol

 

[Madaxeman101]

Great fun. Great sense of achievement for every big enemy defeated. I love it. I do reckon the graphics weren't as good as they could have been however, but I tend to ignore the visuals in a fun engaging game though.

The sense of acheivement really did it for me and the ability to weild any combination of weapons (dual shields if you want to). And i really liked the graphics and the enemy design was brilliant i thought.

 

[Tallim]

Demons is harder?!?! Thats madness lol

Yeah the only thing that mitigates it somewhat is you can stockpile healing items in Demon's which means if you farm a lot you can get through a number of bosses with a war of attrition.

Blighttown has nothing on The Valley Of Defilement.

Demon's Souls is also a lot darker, grittier, and generally depressing than Dark Souls.

But this is just my opinion.
Maybe it's just because I did play Demon's Souls to death that I thought Dark Souls was easier.

 

[DustyDrB]

Demons is harder?!?! Thats madness lol

I haven't played Dark Souls, just Demon's Souls. But it does have a few "grunt" (that's just what I call the more common enemies in a level) type enemies who can kill you in a second if you're not careful. But if you are careful, then they're a minor nuisance.

Of course some parts of Demon's Souls are just just maddening. Area 5-2 is a swamp. If you're in the bog, your movement is severely slowed (and no dodging either) and the water poisons you (not constantly, but every 30-40 seconds you will be poisoned again assuming you didn't cure it). There are small islands where you're safe...well, except for a Meat Cleaver-wielding phantom and some heavy-hitting giants that occupy many of those spots. This area made me rage. Hard.

Other than that, I've actually heard that Demon's Souls is more fair in its difficulty than Dark Souls. I honestly only had difficulty in three spots: the 5-2 swamp, and two bosses (Flamelurker and Old King Allant). Not that the rest of it was easy, but my cautiousness was rewarded.

 

[Madaxeman101]

Demons is harder?!?! Thats madness lol

I haven't played Dark Souls, just Demon's Souls. But it does have a few "grunt" (that's just what I call the more common enemies in a level) type enemies who can kill you in a second if you're not careful. But if you are careful, then they're a minor nuisance.

Of course some parts of Demon's Souls are just just maddening. Area 5-2 is a swamp. If you're in the bog, your movement is severely slowed (and no dodging either) and the water poisons you (not constantly, but every 30-40 seconds you will be poisoned again assuming you didn't cure it). There are small islands where you're safe...well, except for a Meat Cleaver-wielding phantom and some heavy-hitting giants that occupy many of those spots. This area made me rage. Hard.

Other than that, I've actually heard that Demon's Souls is more fair in its difficulty than Dark Souls. I honestly only had difficulty in three spots: the 5-2 swamp, and two bosses (Flamelurker and Old King Allant). Not that the rest of it was easy, but my cautiousness was rewarded.

There are a few parts in dark souls where you can be instakilled and then you drop all the souls you had so you cant level up to make things easier so i would agree its a bit unfair at times

 

[synulia]

I put over 180 hours in Dark Souls. I got to level 150 or so. That shit was insane. I beat it twice. Once on new game + and then I just said, "Fuck this I've had enough!" It was phenomenal while it lasted don't get me wrong. It felt like pulling teeth when I stopped playing it. I had just done and seen everything it had to offer and I slapped the controller down in disgust with myself for putting myself through an amazing,painful,frustrating, and highly entertaining affair. Conflicted? Perhaps!

Would you do it all again if you had the chance?

 

[krazykidd]

I put over 180 hours in Dark Souls. I got to level 150 or so. That shit was insane. I beat it twice. Once on new game + and then I just said, "Fuck this I've had enough!" It was phenomenal while it lasted don't get me wrong. It felt like pulling teeth when I stopped playing it. I had just done and seen everything it had to offer and I slapped the controller down in disgust with myself for putting myself through an amazing,painful,frustrating, and highly entertaining affair. Conflicted? Perhaps!

I completly agree , dark souls was a great experience . The one thing i want to add is for the people saying demons souls was harder . Maybe it was harder because it was the first time playing something like that . Since they played demons's souls they kinda knew what to expect thus making it a tad bit easier .

 

[Madaxeman101]

I put over 180 hours in Dark Souls. I got to level 150 or so. That shit was insane. I beat it twice. Once on new game + and then I just said, "Fuck this I've had enough!" It was phenomenal while it lasted don't get me wrong. It felt like pulling teeth when I stopped playing it. I had just done and seen everything it had to offer and I slapped the controller down in disgust with myself for putting myself through an amazing,painful,frustrating, and highly entertaining affair. Conflicted? Perhaps!

Thats a totally understandable reaction to be honest

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I put over 180 hours in Dark Souls. I got to level 150 or so. That shit was insane. I beat it twice. Once on new game + and then I just said, "Fuck this I've had enough!" It was phenomenal while it lasted don't get me wrong. It felt like pulling teeth when I stopped playing it. I had just done and seen everything it had to offer and I slapped the controller down in disgust with myself for putting myself through an amazing,painful,frustrating, and highly entertaining affair. Conflicted? Perhaps!

I completly agree , dark souls was a great experience . The one thing i want to add is for the people saying demons souls was harder . Maybe it was harder because it was the first time playing something like that . Since they played demons's souls they kinda knew what to expect thus making it a tad bit easier .

No, going back and playing Demon's Souls after Dark Souls, I still find it harder.
OP: Dark Souls is amazing. Definitely in my top 3 of the year.

 

[Tallim]

I put over 180 hours in Dark Souls. I got to level 150 or so. That shit was insane. I beat it twice. Once on new game + and then I just said, "Fuck this I've had enough!" It was phenomenal while it lasted don't get me wrong. It felt like pulling teeth when I stopped playing it. I had just done and seen everything it had to offer and I slapped the controller down in disgust with myself for putting myself through an amazing,painful,frustrating, and highly entertaining affair. Conflicted? Perhaps!

I completly agree , dark souls was a great experience . The one thing i want to add is for the people saying demons souls was harder . Maybe it was harder because it was the first time playing something like that . Since they played demons's souls they kinda knew what to expect thus making it a tad bit easier .

Partially this I admit. But Demon's also had World Tendency to deal with and the whole thing about having only half your HP when in Soul form.......

 

[Dansen]

I love it, its easy to see that the developers put a lot of time into every aspect of the game. The variety of strategies available is incredible. Whats even better is that even though it is a great game it has room to improve. Sadly, my time with this game is coming to an end, I have seen everything and I am just finishing one last character before I move on. I can't wait for the next soul game to come out.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Demons is harder?!?! Thats madness lol

Demons is harder?!?! Thats madness lol

Yeah the only thing that mitigates it somewhat is you can stockpile healing items in Demon's which means if you farm a lot you can get through a number of bosses with a war of attrition.

Blighttown has nothing on The Valley Of Defilement.

Demon's Souls is also a lot darker, grittier, and generally depressing than Dark Souls.

But this is just my opinion.
Maybe it's just because I did play Demon's Souls to death that I thought Dark Souls was easier.

Many a player that has played Demon's Souls before they played Dark Souls will tell you that Demon's was much more difficult, mostly, if not purely, because they played Demon's Souls first, and they conquered the learning curve that came with it, because by way of gameplay, DmS and DkS are very near identical. Though, admittedly, I found neither of them to be very difficult games. :/ All it takes is a little bit of patience, caution, and a bit of skill.

I personally loved Dark Souls to death, and I've poured well over 200 hours into it, on multiple characters, and I still play it to this day. I got it on day one, having it pre-ordered and getting the Collectors Edition. x3 Both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls will have a permanent place in my heart as absolutely amazing games. And I agree with Tallim on many of his points. Demon's Souls is definitely much darker and depressing than Dark Souls is. Though somehow, I feel more comfortable facing multiple foes at once in Dark Souls, than I do in Demon's Souls. Why, I have no idea, but fighting multiple foes in Demon's Souls felt generally more difficult than in Dark Souls, but that might be because I got used to do it nearly all the time in DkS. I would personally recommend this game to everyone(except those whom have a temper that can rise easily, break things when angry, and actually care about not destroying their things). Even then, all you need to do is pump some Strength, Endurance, and Vitality, and bam, Lolmode. I call it Lolmode because with the strongest, heaviest sets of armor coupled with a stupidly powerful Greatshield, will allow you to tank all but the largest and meanest of foes with ease.

 

[Madaxeman101]

People only talk about how difficult these games are, but they have more merits than that. (They're actually not that hard, modern games have just made ppl soft). For example, it has a very nice style that allows non-linear progression, and it has some really cool secrets that make exploring the locations worthwhile. Most games today don't put in secrets - and especially not hard to find ones - because all content must be seen by most players to justify the time it takes to create.

I loved the detail that was put into dark souls for those that where willing to look for it but it kind of saddens me that not everyone who plays the game will see areas like the great hollow and the ash lake (the view literally made my jaw drop) and even i missed one or two of the bosses, dark sun Gwyndolin i think it was called. And the covenants were a really good idea too but the games 'heres a sword now get out!' opening and general approach made them incredibly difficult to find and work out what they were all about. Now i think that about it the amount of content packed into dark souls is ridiculous i dont think i noticed that when i played it.