Dark Souls - successor to Demon's Souls

Hello 360 port. Thank you for being.

You played this on the PS3, right, Justin?

 

http://www.chud.com/34654/mcp-namco-bandai-illuminates-dark-souls/

Demon's Souls was one of the best games I've played in years.  I don't normally buy games on release day, but I'll be going out of my way to do so for this one.  

So. Fucking. Psyched.

So Demon's Souls has the reputation of being punishingly difficult.  Is it really all that hard? Or is it more that you have to actually think about what you are doing rather than plunging headfirst into everything?

It doesn't require any special skills that you likely don't already have - It just punishes you severely when you fail, which makes taking down the game's big enemies much more rewarding. You'll die about 20 times during the opening level, and then once you figure out how blocking and rolling works, you'll croak a cumulative 20 times during the rest of the entire game.

I've probably died 100 times in Demon's Souls, yet kept coming back from more.  The sense of triumph you feel that Trevor alluded to is spot on, the enemies and bosses are very hard, but fair and never deal out cheap kills.  The only one I've yet to beat is the False King.  I managed to kill the dragon outside his castle, but that old bastard kills me every time.  

 

Looks like the same engine for Dark Souls, which is exciting.  The intuitive combat was part of what made Demon's Souls such a great experience.

From Software needs to roll their own physics engine for Dark Souls instead of using Havok like they did with Demon's Souls. I can't tell you how miserable I felt everytime I needed to hop down somewhere from a high ledge to a slightly lower one. Also, NBGI needs to exercise a little publisher control and license E.S. Postumous For Every Single Music Track In The Game.

Just found out this is coming to the 360.  Based souly on the raves I heard about Demon Souls, am very much looking forward to this.   The developers apparently want to make this even more challenging than it's predecessor.   

I'm playing through Demon's Souls at the moment. I have mixed feelings about it some elements are great, like the combat with stamina and somewhat realistic weapon swings.

However, other elements are annoying, like enemies that can be cheesily killed with range attacks (eg. Red Dragon) or that particular areas are so much more beneficial for grinding (Shrine of Storms).

I think they are on to something good here with the learning curve and difficulty, but the game does need more polish in places.

Maybe 'polish' isn't the right word. I just think there are a fe elements that frustrate me and could easily be improved.

I beat three bosses today by standing in a safe spot and hitting fire arrow over and over till they died (red dragon, armor spider, the one from the tutorial that shows up midway in Shrine of storms). In a game where 90% of the fights are earned with through challenging combat, those were really cheap victories.

Another thing that bothers me is the mechanics around ledges and falling. I suppose it's generally fair, but the physics feel wrong. It's less like a person jumping and more like driving a car over an edge.

Finallly, I got to the point where I wasn't making much progress, so I looked up a wiki. It turns out that the game becomes much easier if you get items in a certain order. Eg. The Blessed Mace+1 in the Valley of Defilement makes short work of the skeletons in Shrine of Storms, significantly improving the ability to grind. It would have been nice to discover this organically, but it could have taken hours/days to know I needed that item and find where to get it.

The game sort of fluctuates between too hard when you don't know what you are doing, and then too easy when you do.

So a couple stores in Japan broke the street date, and FROM Software came up with an interesting way of "punishing" the early buyers. They are invading their games with high level Black Phantoms and killing them off.

I don't think my body is not ready for this game.

FYI: If you preorder now, you get bumped up to the collector's edition for free. If you're getting this anyway (as I am), you may as well get the upgrade. I'm a sucker for art books.

Got mine on order as well.

This looks like it might be even more brutal than Demon's Souls, I just read an article which said that now there are some pretty tough common enemies which don't drop any souls when you defeat them. Another blow is that whenever you reach a save point now, if you choose to save, all the enemies will respawn.

So this is no longer accurate?

 

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/11/dark-souls-collectors-edition-offered-as-pre-order-bonus/

 

If so, boo.
 

 

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/119/1197278p2.html

Can't wait.

So I attempt to download my OST/game guide, but the servers appear to be getting hammered, so the downloads fail. The promo code only lasts an hour, so barring a fucking phone call to Namco, I'm out my content. Poorly played, Namco.

       Quote:

What the fuck is wrong with companies anymore? If you want to save a tree, great, I get it. If you want me to pay ten bucks more for a physical book, awesome. Demon's Souls had a collector's edition with a similar problem. I pre-ordered that bitch and then Gamestop was like, "Oh by the way none of the stores on the island got that it we just have the regular one. lolz!" It was a game that a guide, or even a nudge in the right direction would have been really, really nice. I'm fucking looking at you flying squid guys with your one hit kill brain suck and ridiculous magic zapper move with that fucking bell.

 

Anyway, this is exactly what customers want to do. Move from their chair over to their computer to check the guide they had to download..or have to print that shit out and go buy a binder to put in. Forced nerd shit.

 

I shake my fist at you Dark Souls!!!! I'll be picking this up on my way home though. Those jackoffs at Gamestop better have my Collector's Edition...

 

I don't really expect them to. :(

 

Have you started playing yet Trevor? Is it awwwwwwesome? With lots of w's? After the shit I've gone through with Rage on pc I'm ready to just veg out and get killed by lots of scary stuff on my PS3.

I have family here from Europe, so I probably won't be able to devote any time to it for the next 2 weeks. Fy for Satan!

 

Big smashy monster falls from the sky. I make the same face the King of Rohan made when he saw the oncoming Mumakil. I roll around and run aimlessly until I see a doorway. Oh hey, stairs - big fucking rolling ball squishes me. Good times. Picks up nicely from where I didn't come close to finishing Demons Souls. So what class/combo are you folk starting with?

Me and "Souls" game collector's editions are just not to be. I went to pick up my CE at Gamestop and, of course, they didn't get any in. Same old sob story as before, Hawaii didn't get any/limited amount. Gay. Anywho, Dark Souls, yeah!!!!

 

I was playing some Battlefield 3 with Electric and dropped out a little early to get an hour into this. I ended up spending two. It doesn't feel as brutal as Demon's Souls for some reason. I mean you still get hammered but it didn't seem to lure you in like Demon's Souls would.

 

Those skeletons in the graveyard anyone? Holy shit, fuck those guys. They're way more tenacious then they used to be. So I cleared all of them out and I see this soul out the corner of my eye so I go to pillage it and Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!! a giant skeleton with a sword as long as my guy is tall starts chasing me.

 

For my first playthrough I went Knight, what about you guys? It seems like a few of the starting items can get you good stuff early.

I'm also pulling the Knight.

 

Two hours in, and I get wasted immediately by a pair of terrifying hook-handed dock ghosts below the main campfire. This marks my fastest trip to gamefaqs since, well, Demon's Souls.

I too was owned by ghosts. I made the mistake of swinging at the first one and when it dropped half my hp with one hit I started running like a bitch. I made it upstairs then across this narrow bridge and...an entire room full of the motherfuckers. I couldn't get those souls back either but if Demon's Souls taught me anything it's to play cautious when you're close to leveling up and don't risk exploration. So it was only like 200.

 

I'm loving it though. I had pretty early flashbacks of desperately needing things like I did in the last one and not having near enough souls to buy or do shit. I'm still curious what that giant knight in the Undead Burg is guarding, I might try to shuck and jive him like I did the buckler/rapier asshole that's over that big armored boar. Knight shield! FTW!

 

Right now I'm still in my beginning armor, everything I find is garbage in comparison but I'm swinging a Winged Spear +1/Battle axe, and Knight's Shield/Short bow. I found a talisman but I don't have any miracles yet so it's useless. The spear still kicks ass, I used it a ton in Demon's Souls. I really don't feel like it's anything new at all and for some reason I'm completely fine with that. Does anyone else find this "series" to be one of the first where you can run but you spend most of the game walking? It's terrifying. Around every corner is certain death.

 

Anyone run into anything especially nasty yet? Besides the Taurus Demon? For the first real boss he was a pushover. Then again that's kind of a bright spot given how so many of the regular enemies can grind you into dust.

 

EDIT: Pro tip. Shoot the dragons tail. lol

Edited by TheGhost - 10/5/11 at 9:19pm

I just wish From Software kept the naming scheme and called this Dark's Souls...my starting class is the thief. He's surprisingly combat ready as long as I don't do stupid things, but sometimes stupid things end up happening anyway.

Question:

 

The game sounds pretty intriguing, and I understand it's pretty difficult.  My question is when your character levels up, does it become less difficult or do the enemies scale with you?  That may sound like a silly question, but if I spend hours and hours leveling my guy and getting him new powers and better equipment I want him to become just a little OP.  In other words, if I level my guy up to where I feel he is pretty strong I wouldnt want him to get one-shot killed by the skeleton foot soldier I was fighting at level one.

Levelling is important, but both Demon Souls and Dark Souls put a lot more focus on your equiqment and how you fight than anything else. You have to master the combat in this game, which means getting your timing down perfect or you will get flattened.

This kind of sounds like an Elder Scrolls game with the difficulty turned up to 11.  One of the great things about elder scrolls is that you could explore the world and discover a cave or a crypt thats off the beaten path and get your head handed to you by a monster that you have no business fighting...but given enough time and dedication to level up you can go back handle that same monster with your new super duper atomic fire/lightning ball hybrid spell. 

 

With Dark Souls (in various reviews that I have read) it almost sounds like every fight is a dance and to be successful you have to get the choreography just right...or you will have to start each dance over again.  Very little room for error and no "I WIN" spells.  I appreciate a little difficulty in my games but that sounds a little tedious to me.  But then again, I really havent read a bad review of it, in fact its been universal praise.

It's because the combat itself is great and has a real visceral feel to it. You really move with a sense of weight and power in the game, and almost every single weapon feels different and merits a unique strategy. Sword and shield, pole-arms, rapier, all of them require different tactics and movement, and when you learn to master them there's a real satisfying nastiness you inflict on the enemies.

 

It's tough starting out, but once your good you can go a long time without dying at all, so long as you play it careful.

Started up as a Pyromancer because it sounded cool and the class starts you out at level one. The lower the level you start at, the cheaper it is to level up which gives you more room with early on customization.
I headed up into the castle area once I got out the the Asylum and made it to the first bonfire up there. So far I've only had my ass handed to me by two different cliffs as I swung after an enemy and stepped too far.

Right now I'm just not feeling the magic I did with Demon's Souls, but maybe I need to play a bit futher.

As a side note, I did get my Collectors Edition from Amazon, just not on the release day. My complaint with the CE is that the website you download the stuff off of sucks and only seems to achieve a download speed of 40kbs max. Normally I could live with that and start the download, go to work, and then it'll be done when I get back, but everything stopped halfway through and then was cancelled. It's done it twice so far. Fuck this.

So far the only CE content I've be able to get is the map that goes with the strategy guide.

Have any of you dealt with the Hydra yet? I'm so fucking stuck on that shit bag. I know I can just come back later but I can't even figure out how to do poop to it. I didn't notice anything  in the environment, etc.

 

Anyway, how great is this? I'm not really sure why so many of the videos and stuff I've seen online have people freaking the fuck out. It was the same with Demon's Souls but this seems way more forgiving.

 

Find any amazing armor or weapons? Discuss damn it!

I'm still stuck on the gargoyles.

I feel like I need a short Bow or something longer ranged than my fireball attack.

Gargoyle!!! -> I went melee and soul arrow for these assholes.  Lots of rolling to the first gargoyles left, my right, and working the tail until it falls off then just keeping on him. If you've got soul arrow it doesn't do huge damage but it's enough to keep the pressure on. The second one is more of a pain though with the fire breath. I tried to sandwich the first one between myself and the second one at all times. If you knock one the second is pretty much a pushover. Grind souls for 14 int. then get your attunement to 12 and you can use Soul Arrow and Great Soul Arrow. That's 50 shots total, more than enough to wax them both. Oh and remember that if you've got a relatively good shield it can absorb almost all of their melee damage. So keep that bitch up. End! Oh and if you're in human form you can get that chubby guy by the dragon to help you with the gargoyles. If you talk to him he'll show up there in soul form to help out. Keep him from dying you get one of those sun medals too. His names Soltaire? Solaire? Something like that.

I managed to take them down right before I saw your post, but thanks for the advice. If you want to know my strategy: Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Now I'm trying to see If I can find a good magic shield to help be take on the butterfly. Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
And yeah, the bug that bit me when I played Demon's Souls has bit me again, it just took a while longer than I expected. Also While Demon's Souls was a pretty big game, the Dark Souls world seems absolutely massive. Even after doing some desultory internet searches I have yet to find a site that lists the names of all the areas you can go.
Edited by Tim K - 10/8/11 at 10:08am

This game is... absorbing.  It's got atmosphere up the wazoo.  Atmosphere for days. Never played Demon's Souls, though it was one of the games that sorely tempted me to buy a PS3, and so I got myself pretty psyched to play Dark Souls when I learned it was coming out for the 360.  There's nothing quite like it except, presumably, Demon's Souls.

 

Bob Loblaw, it's possible the game is too difficult for your taste, but in regards to the exploration/discovery, to me this game scratches that itch even more effectively than Oblivion did.  I'm sure it is fractionally as large as Oblivion or Skyrim, but it is dense and interesting.  It's even a stretch to call it open world as it's more like a series of intricately connected areas, but the effect is like exploring pure, distilled dark fantasy, with no "wasted acres" to traverse.  It feels huge, even if it isn't.

 

And the fear of stumbling into the wrong place is very, very present.  Man, do you do a lot of regrettable stumbling in this game.  Pretty much every place is the "wrong place", really.

 

I need to do other things this weekend than playing this game, I've tried to explain it to my PS3, but it won't listen.

I heard it calling to me as I sat down to do some writing.

As someone that played entirely too much Demon's Souls I have to say I was really feeling like the bosses were pushovers until I ran into Queelag. From what I've heard from some friends that were playing they didn't have trouble with her but man for some reason she would not stop doing the roar and jump. When I finally beat her I watched a video on youtube and I swear she was glitched for me. There wasn't one time in the fight I didn't get more than a hit on her. She would do the sword attacks, roar, then jump. Or do the sword once then jump as soon as I hit her.

 

It makes me wonder if there's some sort of scaling trickery that goes on, and if so I love this game even more for it.

 

I feel the same way Sleepless. I'm supposed to work on a big back piece today and I keep staring at my PS3 while I finish the stencil. Damn you Dark Souls!!!!!

 

On side note, this game really encourages cutting things tails off. Tail chopping abounds.

 

EDIT: Ah yeah, and just a gripe. Working on ranks in the Forest Hunter covenant is a pain in the ass. Every world you invade is some level 92 asshole that's grinding souls and can two hit you with their gigantic spear covered in lightning.

Speaking of glitches. Warning: Geeky Shit! (Click to show)
Edited by Tim K - 10/9/11 at 8:46pm

My dragon is still alive. I tried to fight him toe to toe and it went surprisingly well and then he jumped back, flew up and toasted me, it seemed to do more damage than his regular flame that takes two hits to drop me. I finished the Ceaseless Discharge and the Taurus Demons that spawn in the lake, but man all those Capra are owning my ass. I can take the one but they're really hard to lure into solo fights. What Covenants have you guys joined? I'm kind of curious what they all give as far as items. I was going Forest Hunter but it seemed fucking impossible after all the level 91+ guys that it kept putting me up against. I'm only high 40s. Shit needs balancing. I did manage to take the first four guys they threw me up against without much fuss. I'm not sure if the game takes that into account because after that it was all people grossly over level..but yeah for that I got this ring that's pretty awesome for PvP. The Ring of Fog makes you nearly invis and other players can't lock onto you. Super cheesy considering most magic needs a lock on but it's sweet.

 

The Chaos witches have only given me one spell so far, it's basically just an uber fireball. I heard there's a covenant for all the characters in the opening video so I might try to join the undead one. That guy looks amazing. Love the character design.

 

Oh and if you're gonna farm Sleepless just farm the forest like everyone else. It's way faster. You might want to do it offline though because the Forest Hunter covenant members can invade you and it usually drops 2-3 plus all the mobs that are already there. I wouldn't over do, it's not like this game is ever "easy" but going crazy will probably take some of the edge off. I like knowing just about any asshole can kill me if I'm slipping.

 

Sen's Fortress has been pretty interesting. I was hoping to finish it today but I ended up tattooing for like five hours. Horrible sitting..blah blah blah.

 

Edit: Anyone find any good weapons yet? I'm still swinging my Winged Spear +6 and Grass Crest Shield +...8 I think? Maybe it's six too, fuck I can't remember. On a side note too, does anyone know if you can upgrade the armor you get by the Ceaseless Discharge? I tried at my fire but it doesn't come up in the list, then I tried at one blacksmith and it wasn't in his list either. Maybe you just plain can't. 

I haven't gotten that deep into the forest yet. The Hydra is still in the way. I've been focusing my efforts on it, but it seems that inevitably one of it's heads curves around my shield and hits me square in the back killing me instantly.

Sleepless, when you head into Darkroot just go straight, don't take the first right, keep going. You'll fight one of those tree guys, then another where the left side of the path is a drop off, keep going it'll curve to the right, then there's a nice open area where you'll fight one tree straight up and another ambushes out of the ground on the right. After you kill them keep going straight again. You'll come to a big glowing door and to the left of it there's a fake wall with a bonfire behind it. To open the door you need a crest that's like 20k from the big, burly blacksmith guy. Farm the souls for that then open it. It's Astoria's woods..I think. The Forest Covenant leader is there and a boss. You can also get there without having to use the crest by taking the Hydra out and climbing a ladder then wandering around until you get there. Just farm the 20k and buy the plate though man. 

 

I had some trouble with the Hydra too until I figured it out. -> Basically you need to run up on it right to the edge of where the ground drops off into the deep water that instant kills you. Don't worry about locking on, just face him with your shield up and as his heads try to bite you nine times out of ten he'll just miss. There's actually a safe spot if you keep going more to it's right, your left. It took maybe four tries to finding the sweet spot. After that its a matter of running up to  the heads without locking on and just hacking. Each head only takes 2-3 hits though. You can do it!

 

Am I the only one that goes around hitting every single wall that looks like it might be a fake one? I'm sure if someone was watching me play I look like a jackass clanging my weapons on everything.