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Dark Souls

jflores

jflores

Diegoooooooool!
25 April 2002
Centreville, VA (USA)
Team
FCB
Alright, who's picking this tough bad boy up?

I'll be picking up my copy today for my PS3.

WARNING!!! This game will kick your A$$$$$$$$!

Are you ready for the challenge? Are you ready for the stress and high blood pressure? and are you ready for the satisfaction of finally completing one level without dying?

I know I am.

Bring it on you die-hard bastard of a game!!!!
 
Crap! My copy won't arrive until the 24th! Lucky you, you'll have died about 1.000 times when I die my first one.

It's my GOTY, as was Demon's Souls.
 
Scutch said:
Been reading the ongoing review on IGN. Quite funny really.
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Is that one written by a woman who's chief editor or something like that at IGN? It was great, very fun read, sharing his pain in advance. It was a kind of diary of the review process, with she dying every minute of the game and trying to take confort on other reviewers.
 
jflores said:
In what sense?
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In the sense that drekkard mentioned above.

It was an amusing diary write up.

As for the game, it looks great, much like Demon Soul's was and still is. But I think the sheer difficulty and frustration would be the end for me.
 
But it's one of the few games that has a feeling of reward. I can remember the very moment I finished the 2nd Maneaterin Demon's Souls. I celebrated it for minutes, even my girlfriend applauded. Not many games accomplish that nowadays.

By the way, the key word is FAIRNESS. The game is completely fair. When you learn something, you get better. The CPU won't "cheat" or play with stats in any way. So the fustration I had with Demon's Souls was a healthy one. I knew I had failed. It wasn't like in sports games, where suddenly CPU can do what they want and break the rules to create artificial difficulty.

Difficulty in Demon's souls was tied to your experience as a player. As long as you learned the world, it got easier and easier. The 2nd time I beat it I didi in 1/3 the time of my first attempt and practically had no moments of tragedy.
 
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I found Demon's Souls about as enjoyable as having a hole in my head. I am not hardcore enough for these games at all.
 
I already have it. I created my Brienne of Tarth (only for really geeks) and have had my first deaths. The first boss I found it extremely easy coming from Demon's Souls, and did it in my second attempt.

There were reports in reviews that the first boss was extremely fustrating. It wasn't my case. Or else, this wasn't really the first boss!

Liking it a lot. Tomorrow I'll have to split time between this and Nba2k. And I have no time! Arg! Why good games always come together? I'm tired of this. All the bloody summer without anything decent and now everything! It's not fair.
 
Very surprised no one comments about this game, personally my GOTY by far.

I've put in more than 75 hours and still doing my first playthrough. The world ends up being HUGE and the ammount of mini-bosses and bosses is simply put astonishing. I may have fought against more than 20 bosses and have my character at a level of 80. There is a striking number of items, powers, miracles, weapons and clothes to find and try, and you have to be constantly changing your strategy and trying new things.

It's going straight to my top 5 games ever for me. Surprised there's practically no buzz about it. Maybe because it isn't a dumb and simple hack and slash with pretty cinematics and actually requires the player to constantly think and plan ahead. Oh, yes, it's hard. Crushing hard. But when you understand how things work, there are ways to do things much easier. I've killed my last 3 bosses in only 4 attempts each.
 
I like to think of myself as somebody who likes a challenge in their games but also at the same time i actually like to have fun too. I play my fair share of Japanese games and i prefer the difficulty of them over Western games, which i find to be easier and as you suggest more banal. I don't particularly care much for games that go down the whole instant gratification route but at the same time i don't want a game to hold me in the air, tie my arms back and slap me in the face every time i play it.

I'm not saying it's a bad game. I thought Demon's Souls was good but at the same time i didn't like it at all (yeah i can distinguish between games that are good and games i actually like).

Plus i'm far too conservative a gamer. I absolutely hate dying in video games and make sure i try not to as much as possible, usually by perfecting the art of going through the game as slowly as possible. I even think ahead constantly but nothing can prepare you for thinking ahead like in these games. You have to die in order to know how to plan ahead, that's the inherent nature of them. Due to that i don't think there's much chance that me and this game are ever going to get along.
 
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drekkard said:
Very surprised no one comments about this game, personally my GOTY by far.

I've put in more than 75 hours and still doing my first playthrough. The world ends up being HUGE and the ammount of mini-bosses and bosses is simply put astonishing. I may have fought against more than 20 bosses and have my character at a level of 80. There is a striking number of items, powers, miracles, weapons and clothes to find and try, and you have to be constantly changing your strategy and trying new things.

It's going straight to my top 5 games ever for me. Surprised there's practically no buzz about it. Maybe because it isn't a dumb and simple hack and slash with pretty cinematics and actually requires the player to constantly think and plan ahead. Oh, yes, it's hard. Crushing hard. But when you understand how things work, there are ways to do things much easier. I've killed my last 3 bosses in only 4 attempts each.
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I'm a bit behind you, 67 hours and level 73 or so. I think it's bloody great.

However I do think they kind of screwed up the commenting by making you need an item - I've put down lots of messages and haven't had a single one rated by anyone. I'm one of the ones who thought it would be hilarious to write 'Amazing Chest Ahead' just before the door to the giant princess.

Though sometimes you suddenly get an extra Estus flask out of nowhere - is that down to messaging?
 
No, the extra Estus I think that it's due to someone else in your server cluster making bigger the bonfire that happens to be your current bonfire. Hope it makes sense because I play in Spanish and don't know the exact word the game uses to describe "making a bonfire bigger" (you know, giving you 10 flasks of Estus instead of 5).

About the messaging, I have no problem writing and rating messages. In fact I also wrote something about the giant princess, it's one of those places where you HAVE to write something. Though the princess would have been prettier without that amazing chest ahead...

I've seen comments everywhere, though the further I go the less I see, which makes sense as not all players have arrived to all the places yet.

I've only killed 2 bosses by requesting help. Only gargoyles at the beggining and the 2 big soldiers just before the chest princess. The rest of the bosses were just perfect in terms of difficulty.

I'm becoming addicted to the iron flesh primonacy aganst bosses... By the way, have you found the crow nest and gone back to the tutorial setting? These japanese are definitely weird...
 
I've finished the game now in NewGame+. The first playthrough went on for 100 hours. I finished the NewGame+ in roughly 30. My character is now level 120 and have a lot of items and powerful swords.

I will stop playing it now for some time, and next year I will play again with a completely different class. I have played as a knight and close combat with big swords. Next time I will start from scratch and do a Mage or a Thief, but I want to try miracles and dexterity-based weapons.

Still GOTY for me, considering the quality of the game and the hours I have enjoyed from start to finish.
 
if anytihgn like demon souls i wont buy, hated the no checkpoint system and having to repeat areas over an avoer
 
Enjoy it and take it easy! It's a looong journey and there are lots of moments where you will feel fustrated. Just learn how to do things, stay true to your character stats and if something seems to be too difficult, maybe there are easier paths to do.

Staying true to your stats is probably the best advice. There's no "better class" in the game, you can beat it with any, but don't try to be good at everything. If you end up building a character with all stats leveled, probably it will be quite a weak character. Focus on dexterity, stamiona and quickness, or in strength, vitality and stamina, or if you want a mage focus on the specific abbilities. This way, the game seems to be a bit easier.

You'll be yelling at the screen now and then, though, but the feeling of reward when you accomplish something is unique. A masterpiece!
 
I am still stuck at the 2 gargoyles, not very far in at all.

It does feel good when you finally get past bits you have been stuck on for ages.
 
Shooto said:
I am still stuck at the 2 gargoyles, not very far in at all.

It does feel good when you finally get past bits you have been stuck on for ages.
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Exact same part im stuck at, When you say not very far at all....how long has it took you to get there? Im at just over 10 hours although i did a healthy bit of grinding for an hour or two.
 
I don't think I am as much as 10 hours. I am level 20 or something like that.

It just doesn't feel like I have travelled very far.
 
you can recruit someone else to beat the gargoyles, the first time I beat them with a friend. Sometimes, with very tough bosses, the game is meant to be coop!
 
When I'm done with Arkham City and Mass Effect 3, I think I'll be getting Dark Souls. Skyrim bore me, for the same reasons Drekkard described in the Skyrim thread (simplicity of many quests).
 
Just spent another 2 hours trying to get by the Gargoyles and still failing, i think not playing the first game is having a major effect as i must be doing something wrong somewhere or missed something along the way.

Pretty much had it now which is a pity as the game was not bad.
 
Try doing the gargoyles coop! It took me 8 attempts of si gle player deaths to go coop. And only 2 coops to kill them!
 
drekkard said:
Try doing the gargoyles coop! It took me 8 attempts of si gle player deaths to go coop. And only 2 coops to kill them!
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How do you do that? I've read you can summon the guy you can talk to before the bridge but you need to be human? I did have 5 humanity stones but have used them all regenerating energy v Gargoyles. Although using the humanity stone doesnt seem to change me to human i still look like death?

Seems a bit crazy that the game is a single player but you need to do boss battles in co-op mode.
 
Not all bosses, only one or two. I beat the rest of bosses alone! BUT, I had all the knowledge of Demon's Souls.

Humanity is a VERY rare asset, so don't waste it! Humanity can make you alive again, and when being alive, consuming humanity adds bonus to your skills, but I don't advise you to do this. You need to be alive and reach the gargoyles. If you do, BEFORE entering the mist to fight them, you will usually fin different kind of signs in the floor. It's the people you can conjure. In very specific fights, you can recruit an NPC to fight with you, like this Knight you talk about. But that's rare.

And it's just better to cnonjure other people. I played it months ago so I don't know how crowded the servers are right now, but when I played, there were signs to conjure people before each difficult boss, so you can call 1 or 2 players to help you.

If you do, please take into account the following:

- The people you can conjure are in hollow state (aka dead). When you are dead you can be summoned, when you are alive you can summon. That's how it works.

- If the summoner (in this case, you) dies, they all die and summoned spirits are sent back to their worlds without reward. That's why you have to be cautious and don't expose yourself when you are the summoner. Usually, veteran players will protect you. It's better that you let them do the main work and try to attack the Gargoyles from behind, etc... Try NOT to be the Gargoyle target.

Gargoyles are weak in their tails. Take profit of the Gargoyles being attracted by the other players!

- The summoned players CAN'T use Estus frasks, so they CAN'T recover health during battle. BUT, if you use Estus or recover spells near them, you can fix them! Another reason why it's better to let them do the dirty work first while you watch over them.

- It's probable that one or all of the summoned spirits die before ending the boss. Then it's the time for you to take a bit more risks and try to finish the battle.

- If you defeat the Boss, all the summoned spirits earn humanity, get alive and receive other interesting rewards. You can also rate them.

- If you die, you have to use humanity to get alive again and summon people. That's why I advise you to don't waste humanity at all. Keep it to be able to do co-op on very specific bosses. Gargoyles are amongst the toughest bosses of the game for newbies. But there are tougher bosses ahead. Keep some humanity to be able to do some coops until you beat the boss.

- Don't forget to salute the summoned players. As there's no chat the only way to communicate is doing gestures. Press SELECT and select a kind gesture to salute the people who are ready to die for you!

Usually you won't find trolls in this game. Because of the very nature of the game and the multiplayer, people tend to be very helpful and kind.

It's a very twisted mechanic, but it makes the game very original and the multiplayer is quality.
 
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