Weighing in on Dark Souls (Not for fanboys)

[Daystar Clarion]

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.

Or they could belong to that very special group of people who just aren't good at a game, but pass off their own shortcomings as a fault of the game.

 

[zombieshark6666]

I think the game looks nice, and the only control problems I've had is some camera issues and a long delay when I tap a button sometimes. I've died because of both.

I'm underground right now, in the swamp with spider demons, and the frame rate issues there, the camera problems and sliding off ledges randomly piss me the fuck off. My experience was stellar until then. I'm certain the game will pick it up right after that chapter though (I really fucking hope so).

 

[Captain__Cookies]

I think the game looks nice, and the only control problems I've had is some camera issues and a long delay when I tap a button sometimes. I've died because of both.

I'm underground right now, in the swamp with spider demons, and the frame rate issues there, the camera problems and sliding off ledges randomly piss me the fuck off. My experience was stellar until then. I'm certain the game will pick it up right after that chapter though (I really fucking hope so).

Trust me, the area you're in, which I assume is Blighttown is the exception to the rule, for some reason the framerate there is much worse than the rest of the game, but it picks right back up after Blighttown, and it's worth sticking with it.
With regards to the sliding and camera issues, I think its just an unfortunate by-product of Dark Souls' attempt to have lots of varied environments, and like with the rest of the game, you have to adapt and get used to it to survive.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

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.

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?

I bet you're a total Sunbro

Epic stuff right there. And you're right, Dark Souls isn't about saving the princess or being the hero of mankind. It's a journey to prevent you from losing your zombie marbles.

 

[daveman247]

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.

"Waaay, it can't get me!"
*Player runs round in circles*
*Minataur jumps up*
"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"!

OP: From your complaints, all i can say really is:
Your doing it wrong.
There are some very clear rules to the combat, which you must learn to have any success.

There are very few problems i have with it:
- the occasional input lag.
- having to stand IN A VERY PRECISE SPOT to set off the back stab animation.
- No quick way to change lock -on targets.
Apart from this the combat is much fun


EDIT: Also dark souls is probably the only game i am HAPPY there are exploits in, such as being to knock several bosses off cliffs to kill them, not sure how i would beat them if not for finding that out.

In fact, cliffs are pretty much your friend in this game, unless your the one being knocked off of course.

 

[Jimbo Slice]

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!

You're in prison slowly losing your mind, AKA going 'Hollow'... see all those feeble little zombies wielding broken weapons? Those are Hollow. They get the shit beat out of them regularly, then they rise only to be ripped apart again. Kinda sucks.
Then this Undead Knight comes along and helps free you... He also says some bullshit about bells or something but i didn't listen... Just kidding. Prove you're the baddest-ass Undead of all by ringing the Bells of Awakening. *Awakening* who or what ever's going to help you end the suffering... or quit and go Hollow, I could use another soul or two.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

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.

I was about to call bull-sh*t until I saw "caused by bad combat controls."

How do you NOT die in Dark Souls? Haha.

 

[ZeroMachine]

This makes me think you want to just button mash. ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK! Well, no. Your character behaves like a normal person and needs to, you know, swing, then recover from it and get ready to swing again... nobody can swing a long sword 5 times per second. DS is trying to convey that sense of realism with the combat. The swing itself also has a delay before the attack hits because like a person, your character needs to "load" the attack - that is, lift the sword up and then initiate a the swing momentum. There's also the stamina bar which depletes on swings, so you can only make maybe 3 at the start of the game before you character needs a chance to recover. This is also a fairly realistic representation.

As far as aiming goes, push the direction stick towards the enemy... not that hard. If the character locked on to the enemy all the time, it would become significantly harder to maneuver quickly.

Basically, it's different from your typical fast-swinging super hero RPGs, but it's a far more realistic representation of how a person actually fights. It emphasizes caution over aggression.

This.

In my experience, the people who have issue with the controls are the same people who seem to think they're playing Diablo 2. They just mash attack and then scream, "WHY AM I DYING?!" when that shit doesn't work.

I laughed my ass off watching my brother try to play Dark Souls. He ran at everything and just started swinging. He never locked on, bitched constantly that the controls were horrible, moaned about how it was sooooo stupid that he actually had to hold a button to block instead of the game doing it for him, so on and so forth. I took the controller from him and started ripping through shit left and right and he just sat there and glared at me.

And for the record, OP, I don't think the only draw for Dark Souls is the challenge. The graphics are gorgeous in HD, without all the "brown and bloom" bullcrap that plague most games these days. The levels are well-designed and immensely atmospheric. The story, once you start getting into it, is quite good. Though the NPCs are a little scare, I actually found myself caring more about their fates than I did for 90% of the crew in Mass Effect 2; there isn't a force in heaven or earth that can stop me from fighting the final boss with the grossly incandescent sunbro Solaire at my side, I'll tell you that right now.

Thusly so, dear OP, I instead submit that you are not playing a game built by idiots -nay, sir, you are instead an idiot playing a game not meant for the lowly likes of you. Be that I were a less uncouth person perhaps I might suggest that you return to your "Call of Duty" or your "Modern Warfare" and leave the fine gaming delights such as the elegance of Dark Souls to players with far more refined and sophisticated tastes.

*puts her top hat and monocle on*

Now, if you would kindly excuse me, I must at once go and stab Seath the Scaleless repeatedly in his buttocks with a large knife and make a Moonlight Greatsword from his severed tail.

Good day, sirs.

Oh, so much this. Except for the graphics/story part. I see plenty of brown and bloom in Dark Souls. Still think the game is beautiful, though. I've just yet to care for the characters.

Yeah, OP, I hate to be one of the people saying this, but you just suck at the game.

 

[Nyaoku]

Graphic wise
They don't put much effort into the character because you're always covered in the armor that is very detailed. The environment is pretty well done in my opinion also.

Controls
As long as you don't keep trying to rush and realize that after swinging a 2 ton axe you are left open for a bit before you recover (like irl) you can do pretty well. Weapons like halbergs (spelling may be off) have a 2 handed attack pattern to avoid recoiling off walls so try using your weapon a different way if you're having trouble with them. Movement wise, I can do circles around guys if I'm willing to give up some of the heavier armors. Try planning out your battles and suit up appropriately. My only real problem with them is that when I'm trying to quickly move forward for an attack, I end up accidentally doing the kick-push thing.

Balancing
Most of what I've seen are people with rather the heavy one-hitters or katana-like weapons to stun lock you. That's the easy way to get ready for pvp and still be good with the pve but there are other solutions that seem to work well. I got a ring of fog that lets me be near invisible in some areas along with a spell that lets me mimic items (think it's called chameleon) so as long as you know where to hide you can ambush them with just about whatever you want. Spells are alittle slow imo but if you lure them into a walkway instead of fighting out in the open, you can do pretty well. The force spamming can be blocked with a greatshield and you can always use the mobs to your advantage when you get outnumbered during an invasion. The only problem I had with it was that the phantoms always glow ... It's hard to sneak up on someone when I'm lit up like a lightbulb.

Overall I think it was a good experience, though some of the bosses seemed a little repetitive. I'd recommend it but as a rental first to see if it suits the buyer. Alot of people dislike real time rpg and on face value, it does look like a hack 'n slash. My main problem with the game all else aside is that the mobs don't seem to move much when they don't see your character. A mod where they wander around the map, allowing a more tactical approach would be enjoyed. As a final bit of advise for the pvp focused people, try accounting for lag delay when fighting. You'd be surprised how little people forget that you can parry and not with just a shield. Also, try weapons that make a sweeping motion rather than just a vertical slash. Score wise, I'd say a 8/10. It does have some replay value but after awile, you get to memorize where all the spawn locations are so most the replay value is the pvp. They need a lobby system instead of the sign on the ground method. It'd also allow for friends to hook up to help each other through the areas.

My equips for those who care ... (you can stop reading now)
Armor: Black robe set from the chest near Ceaseless Discharge.
Weapons: Black Night Axe, Parsis bow, ivory talisman, black night shield
Rings: ring of fog, dark wood grain ring
Trying to start leveling dex to work on a dagger build.

 

[Windcaler]

I was recently reading another post extolling the virtues of a RPGs combat system. Apparently the game in question had ?better combat than Skyrim?. While that was mostly true, one of the comparisons that someone pulled out in the comment section was ?is it better than Dark Souls??. I recently played Dark Souls and now feel the need to share that experience.

ME: Well the beginning cinematic is pretty cool. Okay except for the name ?Nito?, but not everything can translate well.
ME: Holy crap, are the graphics really that bad?
DS: It?s just character creation, get over it.
ME: Okay. Okay. But seriously, this isn?t even Duke Nukem quality character models.
DS: That?s a low blow. People don?t play this game for the graphics, they play for the challenge!
ME: Fair enough. I mean I loved Alpha Protocol but the graphics were pretty lacking. All right let?s play!
ME: So I lock onto a target. Easy. I face the target. Cool. I?m in range. I attack? the nearest wall. Hm. Excuse me Mr Zombie can you stop stabbing my ass while I figure out why I can?t attack you.
DS: Oh you fell for the ?target lock should do something? trick! (snicker)
ME: Oh very funny. Okay well let?s bash the crap out of this thing without the lock.
DS: Okay, seriously it does kind of help with archery and spells.
ME: Yeah, whatever. So I do a power attack while falling to deal more damage? to myself and die instantly.
DS: (giggles with glee)
ME: Okay, whatever. I fight the big demon thing without insta-killing myself instead.
DS: We never said to follow the hints (snicker).
Several hours later?
ME: You know, i?ve come to a realization.
DS: (losing no smugness whatsoever) Oh really?
ME: If your controls weren?t executed by idiots this game would be really easy.
DS: (starting to look nervous) Um? what?
ME: While the layout makes sense, if my character did what the buttons are supposed to do when I pressed them, this would be no more difficult than Skyrim or Fable. I mean if in Skyrim your character only attacked on every 4th to 6th button click (to keep the player guessing), and blocking meant turning your back to your enemy. Well a skeever would be pretty damn challenging.
DS: No, you don?t get it, it?s not bad it?s challenging!
ME: Yes, but it?s the same kind of challenge as QWOP. You?re not fighting things in the game, you?re fighting the game itself. Which means you?re fighting bad game execution.
DS: Well if you feel that way, why don?t you play a game that wasn?t built by idiots?
ME: Actually that?s a really good idea.
DS: Wait! I didn?t really me?
Click.

To summarize, I can?t get behind anyone saying Dark Souls has ?good? or even ?adequate? combat. The games entire charm is that the combat is bad enough to make the game difficult.

Wow the hyperbole is as thick as molasses...I think what you experienced is the difference in combat systems where they have weight and meaty combat vs those that dont. In dark souls it takes a ton of effort to swing large weapon and you can feel the impact with your senses whether it be the sound of a zwienhander smashing into the ground at the end of a swing or the visually slow swing itself. You dont find this in games like skyrim though, in skyrim the swing speed and feel of each weapon is roughly the same. A greatsword has no weight to it. For that matter armor has no weight to it outside of encumberance mechanics. In dark souls when you wear heavy armor and walk, run, or roll you feel it. The screen shakes, the speed is reduced, its just a more realistic style of game for me. I understand weighty combat isnt for everyone but its not by itself a bad thing

Problem 2: Locks ons. They work, its that simple. When you lock onto and opponent you can circle around them just like in any other game. Sometimes its better not to lock on but usually its best to keep it on. Ive never run into a problem with the lock on in two play throughs so I doubt you have.

Problem 3: The controls. For me, controls have always been clean and responsive as long as Im not trying to do multiple things at once. If youre taking a swing with your claymore you cant, in the middle of a swing, suddenly roll away. Youre commited to that animation. Individuals might not like that, and thats fine but thats how the game was designed to be. Dark souls isnt wow, where you can run around during animations, no in dark souls you have to finish your animations. This is why hestitation can be so detrimental in this game, if you dont take the opening an enemy gives you it could cost you half your health

Problem 4: Graphics. The only thing I agree with in this depertment is that I dont think consoles have the processing power needed to run dark souls. Due to that reason it really only belongs on PC but to be fair it wouldnt sell as well, although why there isnt a PC release I will never understand. That said, I dont recall a single place where graphics were just bad and Im betting you cant point them out to me so I can go back and look myself. In fact Ill go so far as to say there is some amazing scenery in the game if you just take the time to stop and look at it

Im not going to come out and say some nonsense like Dark souls is the hardest and best game of the century. Its not either of those but I will come out and say your critique is at best hyperbolic nonsense and at worst just trying to bait fanboys. Suffice it to say I dont think you know what your talking about

 

[Dylan Greer]

The controls are completely solid, think how hard it is to wield a sword bigger than you in a suit of armor, if you want faster an smother controls, don't wear armor and dual wield daggers, that's how i played, generally had no problems other than the jarring game play of blight town.

And just wondering who else found the great hollow and ash lake, cause that s**t was hidden well, the only reason i found it was because i accidently threw a firebomb at the fake wall, then my curiosity took over because you dont expect to find a fake wall behind a fake wall that is behind a chest.

Also in my opinion ash lake was the best part of the game, it was so serene, and the hydra was so much fin to fight.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

The controls are completely solid, think how hard it is to wield a sword bigger than you in a suit of armor, if you want faster an smother controls, don't wear armor and dual wield daggers, that's how i played, generally had no problems other than the jarring game play of blight town.

And just wondering who else found the great hollow and ash lake, cause that s**t was hidden well, the only reason i found it was because i accidently threw a firebomb at the fake wall, then my curiosity took over because you dont expect to find a fake wall behind a fake wall that is behind a chest.

Also in my opinion ash lake was the best part of the game, it was so serene, and the hydra was so much fin to fight.

Oh man, Ash Lake was so eerie, it was like limbo or something. Something really calm about that place.

 

[Samechiel]

In dark souls it takes a ton of effort to swing large weapon and you can feel the impact with your senses whether it be the sound of a zwienhander smashing into the ground at the end of a swing or the visually slow swing itself.

Holy hell, that zweihander. I made a fire zwei a while back for the achievement and never really paid much attention to it, but the other day when I was farming souls in the forest I broke that sucker out and fell in love with it. Now I understand why everyone in pvp carries a lightning zwei. Swinging that sucker around makes you feel goddamn powerful. You hear and feel the teeth-rattling, bone-jarring WHAM! when it impacts, and for a second you think you could split the whole world in half. It's just so satisfying.

Oh man, Ash Lake was so eerie, it was like limbo or something. Something really calm about that place.

I really wished the place was bigger. I wanted to go out and explore all those giant trees in the distance, or go down deeper in the water. Seemed like it would be a perfect place for some kind of underwater temple full of kraken and sharkmen or something. Oh, god. Can you imgine that? Wading through half-flooded corridors, hidden monstrosities wriggling in the water around you, huge shadows passing underneath.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

snip

Well the game already hates our guts, so they might as well have fueled more rage by banging in a water temple.

 

[Windcaler]

Oh man, Ash Lake was so eerie, it was like limbo or something. Something really calm about that place.

I really wished the place was bigger. I wanted to go out and explore all those giant trees in the distance, or go down deeper in the water. Seemed like it would be a perfect place for some kind of underwater temple full of kraken and sharkmen or something. Oh, god. Can you imgine that? Wading through half-flooded corridors, hidden monstrosities wriggling in the water around you, huge shadows passing underneath.

That would make for some satisfying DLC or even material for the next game. I was kind of disappointed dark souls didnt have underwater fights or something similar to it. I hope they do something like that next game where you can get items that allow you to breathe and move underwater

 

[Ordinaryundone]

The controls are completely solid, think how hard it is to wield a sword bigger than you in a suit of armor, if you want faster an smother controls, don't wear armor and dual wield daggers, that's how i played, generally had no problems other than the jarring game play of blight town.

And just wondering who else found the great hollow and ash lake, cause that s**t was hidden well, the only reason i found it was because i accidently threw a firebomb at the fake wall, then my curiosity took over because you dont expect to find a fake wall behind a fake wall that is behind a chest.

Also in my opinion ash lake was the best part of the game, it was so serene, and the hydra was so much fin to fight.

Ash Lake was cool, but getting there through the great hollow was a pain. Also, the giant clams you can fight there are annoying as hell.

 

[chadachada123]

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 like this kind of opening, though. Combined with the atmosphere, it makes for a pretty damn "welp, might as well do this thing, otherwise I'll go crazy like everyone else."