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| nobinobita 997th Post
  
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|  "Daark Soulssssss" , posted Wed 19 Oct 12:34  
I know we're all too busy playing this game to discuss it, but I figured it still deserves it's own thread.
Here are some quick thoughts:
1) It's not really THAT hard. If you just use your head and think before you act, you can overcome any obstacle in the game.
2) LOVE the gameplay. Love how every weapon has different properties, which are further affected by your stats. This is one of the only games where stat checking is fun and substantial.
3) I LOVE LOVE LOVE the setting. It's really imaginative and engrossing. I could barely contain myself when I saw the prologue, with the undead rising out of the flames. The way it was portrayed, the way they looked so wretched, the way they cradled their flames so preciously ... the realization that every person in this setting is descended from the UNDEAD filled my heart with a rush of wonder and emotion that I barely ever feel from games (or movies, or TV or most media). I know that some people want a more traditional narrative, with lots of voice overs and expository dialog (I like that too when it's well done), but I LOVE the spare storytelling in Demons Souls. Instead of being told what to feel by the narrative, I get to observe it and project my own feelings and personality into the experience.
Ah man, really starting to rant here. Anyway, I LOVE this game and wish all the success in the world to its developers.
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| Pollyanna 3134th Post
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| "Re(2):Daark Soulssssss" , posted Wed 19 Oct 18:32
It rarely gets mentioned, but I love the soundtrack to this game! I honestly believe it's Sakuraba's best. I had played Tales of Xillia before this, which incidentally is probably his worst soundtrack.
The Chaos Covenant is so wonderfully sad if you have the Old Witches Ring. I love Quelana, too...she's kind of hilariously tsundere, but her little scenario is so great. They do so much with so little in terms of the story. Even before she revealed the truth about herself, when I realized why Quelana was sitting where she was sitting, it touched my heart.
I've heard Lautrec's story is interesting as well, but I missed out on it. If anyone knows, feel free to spoil me.
And oh my god, the crow that trades with you has the most adorable voice. I want to give her a hug.
quote:
It's not really THAT hard. If you just use your head and think before you act, you can overcome any obstacle in the game.
It's just perfectly challenging. Some parts are even too easy if you figure out a smart trick. But that's one of the things that makes the game so rewarding...getting destroyed in a seemingly impossible situation, then coming up with the most brilliant plan to overcome it.
I find that the game is quite good at determining where your "limit" is. Riiiight when I think I can't take any more, I always have a little breakthrough or see some light at the end of the tunnel. If you don't first feel that something is insurmountable, then you won't feel satisfied when you surmount it!
Knowing that anything can kill you and being engulfed in this fantastic horrific environment really makes it a fantastic horror game as well.
It's their other series (Armored Core) that gives me grief.
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Should I try to get a greatest hits version of Demon Souls first or does it not matter?
I enjoyed Demons Souls when I played it, but I felt like it was a bit too rough around the edges. There were a lot of things about it that hampered my enjoyment. Some people (somehow) prefer it to Dark Souls, but in my opinion, Dark Souls totally eclipses it. If you have to pick and choose what games you play, I'd skip Demons Souls and move straight to Dark Souls.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Iggy 9302th Post
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| "Re(3):Daark Soulssssss" , posted Wed 19 Oct 22:53
quote:
Demon vs Dark Souls
The problem in starting directly with Dark Souls is that you're going to be hit hard very brutally at the beginning. The game is geared towards people who know the basic gameplay plan of the first one at least, even if several mechanics are quite different.
Also, no level design is as clever as the first level of Demon Souls. It's clear, beautiful, makes you remember the fundamentals of the game without you even noticing you're being taught something...
Both game share most of their good points and their weak points as well (who else uses Havok in 2011?), and they are both equally unbalanced (weapons you'll find : useless-useless-useless-somewhat good if you waste your most precious elements on it - useless -useless - kill everything in 1 hit). Dark Souls polishes a lot of rough spots of Demons, but it also has an annoying new problem : even though the camera is one of the weak points of the engine, Dark has many more narrow passages than Demons, and those make the most basic controls infuriating.
If you have the time and the resources, I'd advise to play Demons until the first boss, visit a little all the levels that open up from there, loose all hope after seeing the (literally) rotten level, and jump to Dark Souls to enjoy it while many people play it.
On the other hand, since the online is useful but not absolutely necessary, you can still enjoy Demons almost offline... It all depends on you, both games are fantastic anyway.
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| Pollyanna 3135th Post
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| "Re(5):Daark Soulssssss" , posted Thu 20 Oct 09:14
quote:
1. Does the game allow for greater variation in character builds? In Demon you could build your character to fight in all sorts of different ways but outside of a few builds most of the customization would lead to nothing but heartache. Does Dark give you more freedom in that area or can you still royally screw yourself at the start of the game?
(I'm speaking from the experience of me and my friends, who are all playing with different builds)
It's a little better, partially because pyromancy is handy and (generally) doesn't scale with INT (meaning, you don't have to level up INT to use it). I think most people go with a DEX build with pyromancy on the side. DEX will also make archery nice, which is a good way to totally sneak around a bunch of problems. Going for a straight strength build will be rough, but that can be accented with pyromancy as well and you can really tear things up once you can start upgrading your weapons. I don't know anyone playing with a high Faith build, but there are tons of useful faith spells as well as numerous covenants/NPCs that accent that.
I'm going with a strict INT build and I love it. I can't use half the weapons in the game, and I die almost instantly in tons of situations, but boy can I do damage! I hit 1400 yesterday, which is pretty nuts. I had it rough in the beginning because I started as a thief (so I could get the master key for "free"), but I'm having a blast now. Sorcery/Pyromancy is especially fun because it gives you a bunch of different tools to "solve" difficult situations with. There are some spells that seem pretty useless until just the right problem appears.
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Dark Souls polishes a lot of rough spots of Demons, but it also has an annoying new problem : even though the camera is one of the weak points of the engine, Dark has many more narrow passages than Demons, and those make the most basic controls infuriating.
I haven't had this experience at all, for whatever reason. The camera in Demons Souls had me screaming in frustration in so many situations, but I don't think I've had anything worse than a few instances of saying "camera!!" through clenched teeth in Dark Souls. For the record, that happens in almost every game I play, though. I have had some HUGE frustrations with the targeting system, however. The inability to cycle targets is completely ridiculous. I haven't had the problem of targeting leading me off cliffs and such like in Demons Souls, but failing to target the correct enemy 3 times in a row is nuts.
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Is there anything like that wretched poison swamp this time out? I get the idea that they wanted an area you had to fully explore or check outside resources to get through. But with no map, in-game compass or landmarks that swamp, for me, tipped over from challenging to pointlessly tedious.
Mileage is going to vary on this one. The swamp in Demons Souls is my least favorite area in anything ever. The way you had to walk across tiny pathways in such a way that both of your legs were technically off the path and you were magically floating in the air, (until you got half a centimeter off and plummeted to your death) was totally infuriating.
Dark Souls has a terrible swamp that has you moving downward, with these annoying mosquitoes constantly harassing you...then when you make it to the bottom, you have to trudge through poisonous sludge. However, there's very little tightrope walking and there are generously placed save points all about. The fact that you have a free replenishable healing source also makes a lot of sections more tolerable. Oh, and you can take a fairly easy shortcut to the bottom if you have a certain key. It's just a rough area because it falls fairly early in the game, and if you don't explore other options before going there, you'll be fairly weak.
But as I said, mileage varies. I found that area a lot of fun (I probably only died 2 or 3 times), whereas rotten town in Demon Souls made me want to quit the game. Other people say the swamp in Dark Souls is the worst punishment any video game has ever dealt on someone.
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| Pollyanna 3136th Post
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| "Re(8):Daark Soulssssss" , posted Fri 21 Oct 09:37
Random notes:
-This game is full of cute girls. They should make a Dark Souls dating game. The selection of men is just as delightful, but not quite as attractive.
-Is it just me or is Gwynevere like...totally high?
-It's a shame the covenants are kind of tacked on, since they were one of the coolest concepts in the game. There are 5 (?) that give you miracles, none that give you sorcery and a lot that seem like they were only half-completed.
-I love how you can get the armor of so many of the NPCs (and some enemies) in the game. It's nice to say "That guy looks cool! I wanna look like him!" and be able to make it happen.
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The swamp is nothing, the tomb of giants is where the true Dark Souls starts!
Just finished this area last night. That room with the ember and all the giant skeletons was NUTS. The place as a whole didn't really give me that much trouble, though, because the area was so short and they had a conveniently-located fire to rest at. I actually had more trouble in the catacombs, because I didn't have a good divine weapon. Thank god the giant skeletons don't come back to life!
As a side note, all the skeletons bowing to Nito in the room before him were super cool. So many neat visuals in the game!
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The actual swamp in Dark Souls is fairly short compared to Demons. There is an item that will make navigating it quite faster and easier in another place, but it's improbable to stumble on it before venturing there. Possible though.
The enemies in that area (excluding the giants) are thankfully easy to deal with and the fire is conveniently located, so I just gave up on trying to avoid the poison and trudged through. I imagine the ring would've been a godsend if I used a short-range weapon, but with a spear or magic, the area was comparably easy. I died more times rolling off the wheels that take you to the bottom than in the sludge itself (which I don't think ever killed me, minus an accident with the giants).
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Pro tip for target cycling: double-tap the stick!
Tapping R3/L3 is just now becoming natural to me. I tried double tapping last night, and I found it to be unusually difficult. Oh well, even hopping in KOF was hard at first. I'll get it soon enough.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Oroch 1120th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member+
| "Re(9):Daark Soulssssss" , posted Fri 28 Oct 17:21
quote:
Random notes:
-This game is full of cute girls. They should make a Dark Souls dating game. The selection of men is just as delightful, but not quite as attractive.
-Is it just me or is Gwynevere like...totally high?
-It's a shame the covenants are kind of tacked on, since they were one of the coolest concepts in the game. There are 5 (?) that give you miracles, none that give you sorcery and a lot that seem like they were only half-completed.
-I love how you can get the armor of so many of the NPCs (and some enemies) in the game. It's nice to say "That guy looks cool! I wanna look like him!" and be able to make it happen.
The swamp is nothing, the tomb of giants is where the true Dark Souls starts!
Just finished this area last night. That room with the ember and all the giant skeletons was NUTS. The place as a whole didn't really give me that much trouble, though, because the area was so short and they had a conveniently-located fire to rest at. I actually had more trouble in the catacombs, because I didn't have a good divine weapon. Thank god the giant skeletons don't come back to life!
As a side note, all the skeletons bowing to Nito in the room before him were super cool. So many neat visuals in the game!
The actual swamp in Dark Souls is fairly short compared to Demons. There is an item that will make navigating it quite faster and easier in another place, but it's improbable to stumble on it before venturing there. Possible though.
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flick the sticks back and forth its far faster
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"Re(3):Daark Soulssssss" , posted Mon 7 Nov 20:15
"Re(7):Daark Soulssssss" , posted Wed 16 Nov 20:47
Best site EVER:
