What in the world is Dark Souls...

[tthor]

I get the feeling this is something I should know, and I'm probably am going to get a lot of shit for this, but i have no idea what the Dark Souls game is, what its about, what its like, anything. I only first heard someone mention it like 2 months ago, and have been hearing people bring it up increasingly lately, and even comparing it against Elder Scrolls... I have never heard of this game before, i can't remember ever seeing any commercials for it, and now with everyone talking about it i feel like an idiot..
So do me a favor, what is this game, what is it about, whats the gameplay, should i be interested?

 

[Furioso]

Its the sequel to Demon's Souls, a pretty fun game that everyone remembered for its difficulty

 

[OverweightWhale]

It's the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls. I hope you know what Demon's Souls is.

 

[tthor]

It's the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls. I hope you know what Demon's Souls is.

the name sounds vaguely familiar.. :X

 

[kouriichi]

Its the "Spiritual Successor" to Demon's Souls.

They decided instead of just making it like Demon's Souls, they were going to Make it an open world game, add more loot, and lots of dragons. And not because Skyrim was doing all of that.

Nope. Definitely not.
Basically, its an Action Hack/Slash game, with RPG elements. The big selling point right now is that its combat is better then Skyrim's. But considering Skyrim is an RPG game with Action Elements, i wonder why....

Oh well. All you need to know is its going to be a decent game that rips many of its ideas off of a game it knows it cant beat.

Its "Darksiders" to "Legend of Zelda". Take the best ideas and try to 1up them.
And dont get me wrong. I really liked Demon's Souls. But its pretty blatant to see what they were trying to do with Dark Souls.

 

[tthor]

Its the "Spiritual Successor" to Demon's Souls.

They decided instead of just making it like Demon's Souls, they were going to Make it an open world game, add more loot, and lots of dragons. And not because Skyrim was doing all of that.

Nope. Definitely not.
Basically, its an Action Hack/Slash game, with RPG elements. The big selling point right now is that its combat is better then Skyrim's. But considering Skyrim is an RPG game with Action Elements, i wonder why....

Oh well. All you need to know is its going to be a decent game that rips many of its ideas off of a game it knows it cant beat.

Its "Darksiders" to "Legend of Zelda". Take the best ideas and try to 1up them.
And dont get me wrong. I really liked Demon's Souls. But its pretty blatant to see what they were trying to do with Dark Souls.

ok, seems like a pretty good description for me. I think i will stick with Skyrim this fall, i love the rpg element, even if oblivion's combat wasn't that fantastic

 

[kouriichi]

Its the "Spiritual Successor" to Demon's Souls.

They decided instead of just making it like Demon's Souls, they were going to Make it an open world game, add more loot, and lots of dragons. And not because Skyrim was doing all of that.

Nope. Definitely not.
Basically, its an Action Hack/Slash game, with RPG elements. The big selling point right now is that its combat is better then Skyrim's. But considering Skyrim is an RPG game with Action Elements, i wonder why....

Oh well. All you need to know is its going to be a decent game that rips many of its ideas off of a game it knows it cant beat.

Its "Darksiders" to "Legend of Zelda". Take the best ideas and try to 1up them.
And dont get me wrong. I really liked Demon's Souls. But its pretty blatant to see what they were trying to do with Dark Souls.

ok, seems like a pretty good description for me. I think i will stick with Skyrim this fall, i love the rpg element, even if oblivion's combat wasn't that fantastic

Yeah, it basically comes down to which is more important to you. Mindless combat with absurd difficulty, or a thick story with amazing characters, plot devices and loot drops.

 

[The Almighty Grigard]

Demon's Souls was a great dark themed Hack n Slashy...thing with the best damn visceral, brutal and punishing combat I've seen in a long time. And it was AWESOME.

Dark souls is that, polished and made into open world (apparently).
Warning: Demon's/Dark Souls is not for the faint of heart or the chronic n00b. It will rip you a new poop hole and steal your lunch money. But you will love every second of it if you like a challenge.

 

[Stalk3rchief]

I just got my hands on Demon Souls briefly this weekend. =D
It was easily one of the shittiest games I've ever had the displeasure on looking at. Yeah sure, the controls are slightly complex, but it wasn't at all hard and it was just boring... so yeah, I don't get it.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Its the "Spiritual Successor" to Demon's Souls.

They decided instead of just making it like Demon's Souls, they were going to Make it an open world game, add more loot, and lots of dragons. And not because Skyrim was doing all of that.

Nope. Definitely not.
Basically, its an Action Hack/Slash game, with RPG elements. The big selling point right now is that its combat is better then Skyrim's. But considering Skyrim is an RPG game with Action Elements, i wonder why....

Oh well. All you need to know is its going to be a decent game that rips many of its ideas off of a game it knows it cant beat.

Its "Darksiders" to "Legend of Zelda". Take the best ideas and try to 1up them.
And dont get me wrong. I really liked Demon's Souls. But its pretty blatant to see what they were trying to do with Dark Souls.

funny, i remember hearing about Dark Souls WAY before Skyrm, if anything the 'prototype - infamous' comparison would be more apt

2 games similar games that came out about the same time, that are similar really only at a glance.

do i think they're ripping of skyrm, no, i don't, they are ADVERTISING the 'skyrm' bits to try an draw those people over, that's all.

OT: the 'spirtual successor" to Demon's Souls, a brutally difficult action RPG that many players loved, for numerous reason (i personally found its 'no bullshit' difficulty refreshing), and this is more of that, only in an open world setting instead of the hub used before

 

[Corven]

I'm not really understanding the Dark Souls is apeing Skyrim thing going on in this thread. What, because it has a few dragons in it it's automatically ripping skyrim off? Demon's Souls had dragons in it as well, so I think it is just a theme of the series based around medieval fantasy than trying to piggyback on another games selling point.

Instead of me trying to explain the game to you here's and hour and a half preview of the beginning of the game watch it and see for yourself whether or not the game is to your tastes.

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-dark-souls/17-4966/

 

[SergeantAnt]

Yeah like everyone said it's the sequal to demon's souls.

the first one is really hard, with respawning monsters, losing all your souls(money and exp), and being very weak early. it's kind of like a throw back to old arcade games where you go into levels, and have to memorize the ins and outs of all the levels.

Yet once you start getting strong and level up alot it gets pretty easy, plus you just get use to it.


Why don't you just look up the ign review of it on youtube!?

 

[Aeonknight]

I just got my hands on Demon Souls briefly this weekend. =D
It was easily one of the shittiest games I've ever had the displeasure on looking at. Yeah sure, the controls are slightly complex, but it wasn't at all hard and it was just boring... so yeah, I don't get it.

That's cool. You don't have to get it, or understand why others like it. People have different tastes than you. Imagine that.

 

[Piecewise]

Combat better then Elder scrolls? Demon's soul's combat was about the most simplistic thing in the world. I beat the entire game with pretty much the same combo of Block to stun, 2-3 hits, repeat. Aside from a few enemies who ignore guards, because from software couldn't think if any better way to make challenging enemies, it was pretty much just a long slog of boring combat. And thats really the only word I can use to sum up the gameplay of demon's souls: Boring. It wasn't even that hard. Sure, you can't just run in like an idiot, but if you use any amount of common sense it's easy, it's just not stimulating.

Plus, making me replay a 40 minute grind through boring enemies because I slid off a platform because of bad collision detection isn't compelling gameplay or legitimate challenge, it's just a waste of my time.

 

[Piecewise]

Demon's Souls was a great dark themed Hack n Slashy...thing with the best damn visceral, brutal and punishing combat I've seen in a long time. And it was AWESOME.

Dark souls is that, polished and made into open world (apparently).
Warning: Demon's/Dark Souls is not for the faint of heart or the chronic n00b. It will rip you a new poop hole and steal your lunch money. But you will love every second of it if you like a challenge.

You must be kinda bad at it then. It's actually kind of insultingly easy most of the time.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Its the sequel to Demon's Souls, a pretty fun game that everyone remembered for its difficulty

It's actually a spiritual successor, rather than a sequel. Save for using the same art style and taking from what made Demon's Souls great, Dark Souls hasn't got a thing to do with Demon's Souls, by way of a story. They don't even take place in the same universe.

Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls, and is an Action RPG that is geared toward kicking your ass, and kicking it HARD. It's extremely challenging, and it's a very hard game, but it's always fair. You learn from your mistakes, and conquering the challenges placed before you instills a great sense of achievement. The game features different kinds of themes, such as the medieval fantasy king and knight theme, flame and chaos theme, and more. Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are made for players who desire a difficult, challenging game, and neither game will hold your hand through anything. The most help you'll get is from the tutorial, and that's pretty much just on how to fight and control the character. They point you toward your first area and throw you to the wolves, because what you do from there is entirely up to you.

Contrary to popular belief, Demon's Souls DOES has a story to it, but you have to search the game for its story, rather than being told. Dark Souls shows to have a bit more of a story than Demon's Souls does, but I suspect they'll work a lot of it in the same way they did Demon's Souls.

Its the "Spiritual Successor" to Demon's Souls.

They decided instead of just making it like Demon's Souls, they were going to Make it an open world game, add more loot, and lots of dragons. And not because Skyrim was doing all of that.

Nope. Definitely not.
Basically, its an Action Hack/Slash game, with RPG elements. The big selling point right now is that its combat is better then Skyrim's. But considering Skyrim is an RPG game with Action Elements, i wonder why....

Oh well. All you need to know is its going to be a decent game that rips many of its ideas off of a game it knows it cant beat.

Its "Darksiders" to "Legend of Zelda". Take the best ideas and try to 1up them.
And dont get me wrong. I really liked Demon's Souls. But its pretty blatant to see what they were trying to do with Dark Souls.

Apparently not blatant enough. I didn't see Demon's Souls trying to rip anything off. Nor have I seen Dark Souls trying to rip anything off, nevermind Skyrim. The big selling point is actually that it's a difficult game geared to beat you in the ass with a paddle until you bleed. Not everyone is going to like Dark Souls, but not everyone is going to believe Skyrim is better than Dark Souls, because I think Dark Souls is a billion times better than Skyrim. Instead of trying to force feed us baseless accusations about them ripping off Skyrim because it has an open world and some dragons, you could just say you like Skyrim better. That's like saying they ripped off Hunted: The Demon's Forge, because it has skeletons, or that they ripped off White Knight Chronicles because you can cast a fireball at your enemies. Frankly, you sound like a raving butthurt fanboy trying to make it sound like Skyrim is universally better than Dark Souls.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Demon's Souls 2.0 essentially, difficulty is set at ass rape, combat is slow and complex, and the story is weak.

Some say it's a contender for Skyrim but they are very different animals.

 

[MrTwo]

Combat better then Elder scrolls? Demon's soul's combat was about the most simplistic thing in the world. I beat the entire game with pretty much the same combo of Block to stun, 2-3 hits, repeat. Aside from a few enemies who ignore guards, because from software couldn't think if any better way to make challenging enemies, it was pretty much just a long slog of boring combat. And thats really the only word I can use to sum up the gameplay of demon's souls: Boring. It wasn't even that hard. Sure, you can't just run in like an idiot, but if you use any amount of common sense it's easy, it's just not stimulating.

Plus, making me replay a 40 minute grind through boring enemies because I slid off a platform because of bad collision detection isn't compelling gameplay or legitimate challenge, it's just a waste of my time.

I can hardly believe that, honestly.
You couldn't block, couple of hits, repeat, because then you ran out of stamina. To make stamina regen faster you had to lower your shield. Therein lies the problem. And "bad collision detection"? Really? You died so it must be the games fault...
And are you telling me elder scrolls gameplay isn't any different to blocking and hitting? Thats what you do in every RPG game if you're a swordsman, for gods sake. You're entitled to an opinion, but I don't think the points you made were very valid.
OT: Everything has already been said, really, but in Demon's Souls the point was if you got cocky or stopped being careful at any given moment, there was something waiting to kill you. That was how it was immersive and fun. Of course, if through the whole game you never let you're guard down, then I agree, it would've been pretty boring. Every death teaches you something, but if you already know the lessons its pretty pointless.

 

[The Almighty Grigard]

Demon's Souls was a great dark themed Hack n Slashy...thing with the best damn visceral, brutal and punishing combat I've seen in a long time. And it was AWESOME.

Dark souls is that, polished and made into open world (apparently).
Warning: Demon's/Dark Souls is not for the faint of heart or the chronic n00b. It will rip you a new poop hole and steal your lunch money. But you will love every second of it if you like a challenge.

You must be kinda bad at it then. It's actually kind of insultingly easy most of the time.

Oh I'm sorry, I thought I was on the Escapist, not GameFAQs aka TrollFAQs. Wait, I am on the Escapist. Why don't you go away, troll.
I myself did not find Demons Souls hard except a few places with really evil nearly unavoidable deaths if you don't know about them in advance. (Red Phantom in the poison swamp 5-2 comes to mind) Many of my friends who has tried it though found it incredibly hard. It all depends on how much you rush through and how quick you are with the dodge and block.