Dark Souls, Demon's Souls successor Options

[Crushinator]

So yeah, From Software has revealed "Project Dark" as Dark Souls, which is officially NOT Demon's Souls 2... But we all know it is.



As much as I fucking rage and hate Demon's Souls, I always said I'd gladly play a sequel. This looks damn good, if not just as brutal as its forbearer. Word is they actually have "normal" co-op now too, you can play with your friends, not just random dicks. The world is more open and focused on exploration, and its now multiplatform.

[AC9breaker]

I'm a little tupset that Namco Bandaii is publishing this and not Atlus or Nippon Ichi, for the simple fact that the latter two seem to care more about bringing stuff that the fans actually want. Case in point all the good shit I got when I bought Demon's Souls collectors edition, or the extra shit I get when I buy a Disgaea game. Either way I'm excited and what I think has more excited then the game itself is Crushinators updates and impressions on the game. Comedy Gold if Demons Soul's is any indicator.

Some cool stuff I think she be noted that the developers have stated, the sense of scale and exploration. How there will no longer be a centralized hub and everything will be a giant world now where you journey to your destinations. Think Shadow of the Colossus. You see it in the horizon, you can ride to it and interact with it.

"We want the player to die. One of [my] favorite things to do is to create situations where the player will sort of have no chance." -- Hidetaka Miyazaki The producer of the game.

[Crushinator]

I think I will set up a live stream of me playing this game when it first comes out, just to capture the rage for posterity.

[HC82]

I am excited. I liked the first game a lot and died a whole lot too. Once you knew or "figured out" a way to bypass a cheap guaranteed death situation, most challenging areas can be finished with ease and can be done even easier with the use of stealth.

[Crushinator]

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/10/dark-sou...ny-ways-to-die/

[Crushinator]

Tags: GameTrailers.com, Dark Souls - GC 11: Combat Trailer HD, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Gamescom trailer.

Looks HOT!

[Scan_Man]

I never got around to playing the first one, but I am thoroughly enjoying this. I love hard and challenging games. I cannot compare the difficulty to the first ( most have said this is way harder than the first though), but man this game is brutal. My type of game!

My only issues with the game is the blurry graphics and sometimes enemies AI is wonky to the point where you can exploit it to make fights easier than intended. Like there will be pathing issues or enemies will get stuck in walls or stairs.

[AC9breaker]

I never got around to playing the first one, but I am thoroughly enjoying this. I love hard and challenging games. I cannot compare the difficulty to the first ( most have said this is way harder than the first though), but man this game is brutal. My type of game!

My only issues with the game is the blurry graphics and sometimes enemies AI is wonky to the point where you can exploit it to make fights easier than intended. Like there will be pathing issues or enemies will get stuck in walls or stairs.

For the most part playing the first, you learn the logic the game uses so you better understand how to approach a situation and from what I've heard the logic seems to have carried over into this game. Also, when it comes to this game, using the games faults like such a glitch you stated becomes part of playing the game. It's more of a battle of you versus the game rather you playing a game about some dood who has to do things.

[Crushinator]

Yeah, any jankyness in the controls and with how the enemies behave is actually a part of the game they deliberately WANT you to exploit.

You have to remember that these games were designed by people who hate gamers.

[Scan_Man]

After about 20 hours of play, and lol, not even scratched the surface (according to reading the forums), I understand what you guys are saying here. I've gotten used to it and actually look for anything I can exploit. A new thing I noticed is the framerate dips below 30 even to sub 20; where it is like a slide show. My eyes have adjusted to the blurriness of the game, but the performance is really bad. I guess that is why the graphics are not better, hard to maintain a decent framerate and still have an open world with 256 mb of video ram. . . Does not hinder combat, but I am spoiled with high-end PC gaming. I like constant smooth framerate.

But man I was up playing all freaking night until noon time when I finally rang the first bell. OMG was it so satisfying when I finally did it because it took a lot of work and death to do. And I hear this part of the game is the easy stuff from what vet Demon's Souls. I got lucky bit later on though because someone invaded me and I managed to kill him, he dropped over 12k souls. I was able to level up by a lot and upgraded a ton of gear. I can now take on most anything encountered so far without much trouble unless I am at a part where the designers are just trolling lol.


This game is excellent though. I am actually enjoying this more than Deus Ex, at the top for GOTY for me. If this game keeps it up I can see it stealing Deus Ex's spot. I am already anticipating playing New Game+ in Dark Souls after I beat it. Whereas Deus Ex did not care so much for playing again.

[HC82]

Finished the game some time ago. It's definately designed with the fact that people will be online looking at FAQs and tips. So much to the point that if you aren't doing so yourself, you'll miss out on a lot of the game content. Invisible bridges, hidden secret worlds behind paintings and inside trees are just to name a few. Keep in mind if you're one to rage quit and punch your grandma in the face, have a strategy guide ready and youtube boss videos handy. If you're playing offline or solo, the game is very punishing. If you play online and invite people to help you, the games a lot more manageable. I didn't bother with the online aspect of the game when I first started, and I am now playing it through again with a fresh character online and the bosses are so much easier when you invite people to help.

I am liking this game to be a lot better then Demon Soul's. It took me about 60 hours to do almost everything in the game and beat it. If you're an action rpg fan, I would say this game is a must buy.

[Scan_Man]

I beat it too. I took my time though. My playtime was 73 hours. But, I never played Demon Souls, I only did online for two bosses at the beginning (Gargoyles and Capra Demon), explored every nook and cranny, and did all the optional bosses/areas. I did not use a guide except when I could not find the next bonfire. Also, I read forum post about people's opinions on bosses, like which ones were giving people a hard time. I knew about the Dragon Sword from a video before the game was released in US, so I got that (not much use because I was DEX build Thief). Lastly, I did no farming for souls.

I know I had a harder time than most at the start because I used the first firekeep soul instead of giving it to the NPC. So for most of the game I had gimped healing. Also, I killed the first blacksmith because when I accidentally hit R2 with my leg while I was talking to him, he went hostile. I ended up killing him because I did not know about the NPC that lets you pay to make NPCs friendly again because I had not killed the Gargoyles yet. So, I could not do much upgrading for most of the game.


The part I literally got stuck for 20 hours was Sen's Fortress. This place gave me a hard time. It's not really hard though. It just trolls you with beginner's traps if you are going through it blind. Then punishes you hard for rushing through because you think you've mastered a section of it from the sheer repetition. I was punching walls and screaming at this part. Does not help that the stretch to the next bonfire is quite longer than anything before. After several hours of trying I would take a break by working on Sif for 4 hours (the run back is the main source of frustration here because its quite long, not really any enemies just a stupid run back).

After Sen's Fortress I found the last quarter of the game was oddly easier than what came before, mostly after beating Ornstein and Smough. It's seems the last portions of the game just hands it to you. For instance, there seems to be bonfires every couple of rooms. The last few bosses are push overs, with one boss even saving your progress when you die. To be fair, I found the challenge of this to be just right for me though. I was actually having a lot more fun. I just find it odd because the game was quite grueling, along with trolling the hell out of you, until then. Intentionally, or did I finally learn the game?

Ornstein and Smough is my favorite boss fight. A lot of people claim this is the hardest fight in the game. I did not find it too tough, just more a battle of attrition. You have to know when to attack and when to dodge by taking your time.

Knowledge is key in this game. I started NG+ and I'm blazing through it because I know what to do.

Definitely my favorite game this year.

[Crushinator]

I haven't been able to put as much time into this game as I've liked, certainly not as much as you guys seem to, but over the last few days I finally feel like I've started making some real progress.

I started as a thief character, been focusing on a DEX build. I was stuck for what felt like FOREVER after having beaten the gargoyles and ringing the first bell because I just couldn't figure out what to do next.

I had a lot of trouble with the Capra Demon fight, but I finally beat him 2 days ago and was able to move on into the deeper parts of the sewers... I used a shortcut behind one of the butchers and was able to kill the giant rat from above... but having skipped a large part of the sewers I was totally lost trying to find my way out. Then FUCK ME I fell down one of the holes and panicked when I saw those frog monster things. Got cursed, died and lost half my HP permanently, so I had to spend time grinding up 6000 souls just to buy the item to un-curse myself.

After several hours of being lost in the sewer I finally figured it out and was able to get to the gaping dragon battle. I summoned another player and the NPC knight guy and beat it on my first try, feels good man! After this I was feeling bold so I went back to the forest and was able to take down the big butterfly. Then I proceed to fall down the middle of the tower and humiliate myself...

So I delve deeper into the sewers and proceed to Blight Town... FUCK THIS AREA. The stuff of nightmares... I hate the weird angled catwalks and asshole monsters running at you from all over the place. I saw a treasure that Naba had tipped me off might be a katana that's good for my character, so I make a running leap at it and... miss. But i fall somewhere else and land way below so maybe I got a shortcut? Who knows, but I'm lost as fuck. So I keep making my way down and find a bonfire, then continue down and end up in this poison-ass swamp surrounded by bugs. "I can't take this..."

So I reach out to Naba, my go-to guy for Dark Souls advice... he tells me to keep going in the swamp and I'll eventually find another bonfire. PRAISE THE SUN, I find it. I'm feeling more confident, so I go across the swamp and take on the big ass spider bitch. Beat her the first attempt too keeping her at range with my arrows.

Then I made my way into the lava area behind her and was able to vanquish the Ceaseless Discharge (which sounds like some STD) after 2 tries. Then I went exploring in the open lavabed and got raped repeatedly by the (now apparently common enemy status) capra demon just hanging out down there.


Maybe this story isn't so interesting now that I've put it down in writing, but I fucking love this game. I haven't really felt this true sense of adventure since... well since Demon's Souls. It's even better in Dark Souls since it's one contiguous world. I love finding shortcuts and seeing how areas are connected relative to each other, and the sense of tension when going through a new area for the first time. Way scarier than any "horror" game ever tried to be.

Skyrim has to be pretty fucking grand to eke out GOTY for me over this title.

[AC9breaker]

So I just started playing, rolled as a knights dood. Figure this time I'm just gonna be physical instead of the pussy thief I usually play and plinking doods with arrows and spells. Got out of the asylum without much trouble, when down stairs to some cave looking ruins area with narrow bridges.

Read a message about ghost and decided fuck that, ghosts are scary and went back up to explore the other place. Inside Old Berg now and just took a nap at the first bonfire with the merchant.

[Scan_Man]

You said you have no internet right? Because they nerfed the 1st playthrough. So I would totally recommend to people that pick the game up now or in the future to disable internet on their systems. You know to at least try the game with it's unaltered difficulty.