Weighing in on Dark Souls (Not for fanboys)

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Popadoo

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May 17, 2010
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I've read a lot of threads and comments about hitting walls or poor combat in general in Dark Souls and I don't understand any of them. I freakin' LOVED the controls, and only hit a wall when I didn't position myself properly.
 

hazabaza1

Want Skyrim. Want. Do want.
Nov 26, 2008
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MiracleOfSound said:
Huh. Of all the brain melting rage I've felt towards DS and its various mechanics, none of it has been towards the controls. I think they do the job just fine to be honest.
Release the next episode, by the way. I want to laugh at the hilarious nooby rage :p

OT: Yeah, never had an issue with the controls. Nearly everyone I've spoken to about the game seems to hate it initially but once they learn to be a bit patient and get the timing down people love it.
 

Samechiel

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RedEyesBlackGamer said:
Do people really use the lock on a lot? I'm halfway through NG+ and I have never used the lock on. I found it way too restrictive and it caused me to make mistakes.
Go with whatever works for you, Broseph.

Personally, I've never had any problems caused by locking on -then again, I'm also pretty good at recognizing when it is and isn't beneficial to lock on and adjusting my strategies accordingly. And really, locking on just makes it so much easier to get behind things and stab them in the ass.
 

burningdragoon

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Jul 27, 2009
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"not for fanboys" is code for "I want to ***** real hard" I take it?

Besides the occasional input lag, Dark Souls has some very tight controls as long as you know how to use the weapon in your hand because they all behave differently... and that when your stamina is at 0 you can't attack or block.

And if you do it right, aka actually land on the boss when you do a plunging attack, you don't take any damage at all.

And the graphics? They may not be on the bleeding edge, but they hardly suck.
 
Dec 14, 2009
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Your character isn't Son of Sparda tier, they can't just do a 100 hit combo in 5 seconds, they need to put power behind their swing.

Different weapons have different recovery levels. Using a rapier? You'll be doing pretty crappy damage, but nearly all your attacks will be safe.

Using a claymore? You better make sure that when you swing that thing, you're gonna hit what you're aiming for, if not, prepare to get a face full of sword while your too busy trying to pry your weapon out of the wall.
 

Wolfram23

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Greyah said:
The plunging attack doesn't hurt you when you land on the boss. In fact, I'm fairly sure you're supposed to beat the minotaur boss that way as well.
It's the fastest way, but sometimes if you take too long, he jumps on top of the tower and throws you off the edge lol. That was a shock!

I think I did 3 plunge attacks and then finished him with a few cuts on his ass after several tries.
 

kyogen

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krazykidd said:
BUHWAHHH?! A woman wearing a top hat? Now i have seen everything .
Just Google "Marlene Dietrich top hat" and check the images results. It's not a new aesthetic, though it's still a decidedly bold one.

OT: The controls in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are significantly easier to manage than anything From did in Eternal Ring and the King's Field series (good games but very awkward). I could complain about hit detection, I suppose, but then I would have to acknowledge all the times that the backstab feature has worked for me when it really shouldn't have. Sorry OP, but the Souls games get a pass from me. No real problems.
 

The Wykydtron

"Emotions are very important!"
Sep 23, 2010
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I don't think i have the patience to write out yet again why the opening narrative in DS is so lacking...

Short version: No urgency or indeed motivation to do anything. Apparently i need to ring two bells that do... Actually that's a good point what do they they do and why should i care? Looks like i'm gonna have to die another 100000 times if I want to find out!

Seriously, fuck Dark Souls...

Combat's alright though, 's got weight and shit. Another thing apart from the shit opening is the "now try it again while you're all angry and careless" nature of the game. It fucks me off like no man's business. It's like a bloody vicious circle.

Get EXP, lose EXP due to new enemies that fuck me up, get raged, continue, rage makes me lose more EXP due to, well rage. Rage has now increased to massive proportions. Etc etc etc.

EDIT: Oh yeah and it's ugly, the on purpose sort of ugly mind. It's got the whole "evil uncaring world fucks you up" vibe going on. Personally I don't like it but y'know subjective opinions and all that. Graphics do not equal aesthetics remember kids?
 

Hosker

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Aug 13, 2010
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Besides the occasional roll when I didn't want it, I thought the controls were fine. *shrug*
 

Captain__Cookies

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Jun 7, 2010
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MiracleOfSound said:
Huh. Of all the brain melting rage I've felt towards DS and its various mechanics, none of it has been towards the controls. I think they do the job just fine to be honest.
On the topic of controls, have you learnt how to kick yet?

OT: I can honestly say the controls in Dark Souls are the tightest RPG fighting controls I've seen, the attacks are timed realistically, you can't randomnly attack through enemy weapons without it stopping you and the stamina system keeps everything nicely balanced so you have to think about the way you fight (e.g you cant just turtle behind a shield with a spear infinitely).
 

Westaway

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I find it really fun, the only control complaint I have is double tapping someing. Like I want to roll, panic, press roll twice really fast, and no matter what, I'm going to roll twice. Same with melee. But not a big deal.. Love it to death, and haven't even tried pvp, which sounds awesome
 

TheScientificIssole

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The graphics are only bad in character creation. The game the first (or second counting demon souls) Castlevania game. And I love it, but not a fanboy. Because you cannot call defensive fans of something you don't like "fanboy" on impulse. I think its better than Skyrim if you are in the mood to struggle.
EDIT: You know what, fuck it. YOU are the issue. Games are for fun. I played this game and saw it as a game with risk and reward. You have to use timing and strategy to fight in the game. Sometimes you need to drop the heavy armor that slows your movement and attacks, and attempt new strategies.
 

Biosophilogical

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Jul 8, 2009
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Fat_Hippo said:
1. The character pretty much always does what you tell him to. Yes, you have to wait between actions, but if you are bothered by the fact that you can't do a double backwards somersault after bashing an enemy in the face 3 times within a single second, then this is obviously not the game for you. That is not meant in a patronizing or insulting manner, but it doesn't make it the game's fault either, however much this may frustrate you.
2. Bad graphics? What are you talking about? I have no idea what the resolution of the textures are, or what your particular issue is, but the art direction is goddamn stellar and just spot on. I think it's a very good looking game, I again fail to see what your problem in this area is.
3. If blocking made you turn your back to the enemy, you either encountered a rare glitch, or you just did something wrong. Again, not the game's fault.

Now, I'm not saying the game is perfect, not by any means. It can be a real *****, but I just wouldn't say any of the faults you listed are accurate. No, there's nothing wrong with not liking Dark Souls, but saying that it was made by idiots is just wrong. I rather get the impression that a great deal of thought was put into just about every mechanic. It IS a niche title though, and the developers were never trying to make a game that would suit everyone's tastes. That doesn't mean the execution was bad though.
I agree with you, the OP is incredibly .. I really don't know. All the problems s/he seems to have, I never encountered (and I played that game a lot! And I mean a lot!). There is either a problem in communication (the OP tries to say something, but it comes across as something else), a problem with their gaming experience (faulty console, bad disc, laggy controller, I don't know ... solar flares?), or they are trolling us. I honestly can't think of another possibility.
 

gigastar

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Sep 13, 2010
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I never saw the controls as a problem. Though thats probably because ive probably suffered worse systems including the infamous "claw" grip required to play Monster Hunter on the PSP effectively. I can part my index and middle finger on my left hand up to 80 degrees thanks to that though.

Packie_J said:
ColeusRattus said:
I can't agree with you there. Dark Souls' (and demon's souls' for that matter) controls are stellar, and I have yet to die a single death that was caused by bad combat controls.
There are quite a few bugs with the controls especially while trying to attack while blocking, although to the game's credit it's a very, very rare occurrence after the patch.
As in when you attack youre forced to drop your guard?

Ok, being serious, whats the actual glitch and why did i not get it even in the original release version? For reference i ended up going through most of the game with a spear and greatshield.
 

Samechiel

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j-e-f-f-e-r-s said:
The Moonlight Sword: best weapon in Otogi, and by the sounds of it, best weapon in Dark Souls too.
I really haven't used it much -or any greatsword, for that matter- so I can't vouch for it's ultimate badassery, but it deals a metric buttload of magic damage and I'm told that it scales wonderfully with INT, making it a perfect weapon for sorcery builds.

The Wykydtron said:
I don't think i have the patience to write out yet again why the opening narrative in DS is so lacking...

Short version: No urgency or indeed motivation to do anything. Apparently i need to ring two bells that do... Actually that's a good point what do they they do and why should i care? Looks like i'm gonna have to die another 100000 times if I want to find out!
I can see where you're coming from; they don't really give you much motivation. On the other hand... well, they don't really need to. They kind of left it that way so you'd make up your own motivations. Roleplaying game, and all that. Plus, you know... you're Undead. What the hell else are you going to do but chase after fables and rumors in the City of the Gods? If you leave Lordran, the outside world will worse case burn you at the stake, best case throw you right back into the Asylum. If you decide to do nothing and just sit around the bonfire, that's fine... but eventually you'll Hollow anyway and go crazy. You were dropped into a fishbowl filled with monsters that want to chop you in half and suck out your Humanity, and you are there forever, man. End of the line.

It's Nut Up or Shut Up time, Bromigo, and you gotta ask yourself one thing: are you a bad enough dude to climb to the top of that mountain of dessicated corpses and proclaim yourself High King of the Zombies? Or are you gonna lay down and just wait for the end of the world?
 

Captain__Cookies

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Jun 7, 2010
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Deshara said:
Actually, you can attack randomly through enemy weapons without being stopped. you just have to make yourself able to do so intentionally
Yeah, a bit of bad wording on my part there, I meant more without punishment, like you can in Skyrim, if you attack while being stabbed by an enemy, it's either going to interrupt you, or do serious damage, either of which isn't good news, so it's best not to make a habit of it, and fight smart instead.
 

DesertMummy

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Jan 6, 2011
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What platform are you playing on? Because I am starting to believe that you are lying just to get a rise out of people. On the 360 with a hard drive installation, I had zero of these issues. I locked on to an enemy, and when I swung, I hit, even if the enemy dodged, I still hit him, and when I blocked, I suffered next to no damage. Plus, the graphics are stunning, IMO, idk what the hell you are talking about. For me, Dark Souls is a hard game in which if you die, it is generally your own Goddamn fault.