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Is anyone else planning to pick this one up?

Apparently the developers have raised the difficulty with the intention of making the game rewarding to play. I'm pleased to see the online remains very similar to its predecssor, which I thought had a pretty novel approach to online play. I was going to list a few of the new features but it's probably more convenient just to say they're here. I'm particularly interested in the new concepts of having factions to choose, a Humanity stat and creating "Vagrants" (hostile NPCs that spawn from items you drop and then randomly enter the games of other online players; supposedly the longer the item is left on the ground the stronger the spawned enemy becomes).

I myself am looking forward to it; a Hard RPG is just what the doctor ordered.

When I had spare time last night I played some Demon's Souls.

It reminded me exactly why I am 100% getting this game.

Though to be fair for people like me, using a shield is no longer an option, dodging with the roll spam is almostalways better (or a simple back step, forward step lunge move with the rapier weapons). I'm glad they've apparently made armour have an actual use now, and made the roll have a delay.

Edit: Also, so going as a Pyromancer!

That's another aspect of the game that appeals to me, the customisation available within your class. I started the last game as a Knight, believing heavy armour and hitting hard with high-damage weapons were the way to go, and ended up favouring light armour, fast weapons, dodging in combat and using abilities such as Heal, Regenerate etc rather than items.

Ahh Demon's Souls. Last year it was my most hated game. This year it was my favourite.

You see last year I tried the game as a Barbarian, thinking I could swing my axe into everyone's face. People said the game was hard, but damn I wasn't expecting that. As a barbarian I literally died after 1-2 hits. I gave up on the game when the first skeleton killed my 30 times in a row.

A year later someone tells me the Barbarian is the worst class to start with. I tried it again as a knight and loved the game. It was a challenge but nowhere near as difficult as it was as a barbarian. Sadly I didn't get to finish it. A few other games came out that I wanted to play. Now I hear the online part is being shutdown so the servers can be used for Dark Souls.

Well you win some and you lose some. I am hoping Dark Souls lives up to its predecessor.

Fezman wrote:That's another aspect of the game that appeals to me, the customisation available within your class. I started the last game as a Knight, believing heavy armour and hitting hard with high-damage weapons were the way to go, and ended up favouring light armour, fast weapons, dodging in combat and using abilities such as Heal, Regenerate etc rather than items.

Yeah they nerfed spells to the ground, so you can't have spells carry you through the game anymore. They are forcing players to get in on the Melee combat action.

Ill probably wait for this game, since I've decided to get RAGE on launch.

I was going to get this from amazon, so I got the limited edition, but was worried that it would be too difficult for me to enjoy it, so I got Demon's Souls and Deus Ex instead.

Within 6 hours of me ordering it, Demon's souls had gone from £15 to £10, so I cancelled my order and re-ordered it.

The rumor about Demon's Souls online being removed to make way for Dark Souls is false by the way, Atlus have confirmed that the Demon's Souls servers will be open through 2011, into 2012

Lord Scythican wrote:
You see last year I tried the game as a Barbarian, thinking I could swing my axe into everyone's face. People said the game was hard, but damn I wasn't expecting that. As a barbarian I literally died after 1-2 hits. I gave up on the game when the first skeleton killed my 30 times in a row.

That's another thing I like, when I started a new character the other day, even with all my experience (far, far too many hours logged ), if I don't pay attention on even a Boletarian soldier he'll have a good chance of killing me.

Unless I'm a royal then it's easymode.

But it's the whole "I'm good at this game, confidence to the max" that leads you to making silly mistakes, and the game delights in punching you in the face for it. I managed to kill the Red Knight on my new Royals first playthrough, was on a high from it, and the Blue Knight killed me as I made a silly little mistake of trying to kill him artistically with a rapier, instead of pounding him down with Soul Arrows.

Lord Scythican: Sounds familiar, when I first encountered a skeleton and it started rolling around like a ninja (not to mention being able to inflict damage with rolls) it was surprising, to say the least. The gold ones have messed me up many times due to overconfidence on my part as well.

someone gimme the quickie on this game
it seems like an RPG mixed with ninja gaiden

I desire more ninja gaiden

It's an RPG first and foremost, though I think the combat does play like an action game. I wouldn't say it feels like Ninja Gaiden as the combat is slower-paced and you don't use combos, etc, though one thing it does have in common with Ninja Gaiden is the famously high difficulty level. The combat is a huge part of it and you have to think carefully about what equipment to use, dodging, parrying and so on. A lot of the difficulty comes from the fact that even low-level enemies can hurt you badly if you're not careful. You have to know your own capabilities and recognise when to fight and when it's better to come back later.

The game feels a lot like an older dungeon crawler-type RPG - the story is kept to a minimum, it's all about just trying to make your way through each stage and kill the boss. Explore the world, kill baddies, find treasure, craft items, level up.

The online play is a bit unusual. If you want to play co-op, you can be summoned into another player's game, or if you want to play PVP you can invade another player's game as a phantom version of your character. If your character dies, you'll be going around in undead form (which penalises you), and if playing co-op you go back to normal if you kill a boss with someone else; if playing PVP you return to normal by killing the other player.

The story "Kept to a minimum" is just that there's no exposition. They don't hand the story to you on a platter like most games, they make you look for it. I'll admit I missed the whole "Knowing why everything is happening" thing, but it also made for a lot of "Oh wow, I never realised that" moments when I did piece something together. Especially as even then you're never certain.

They pull a Total Recall.

The worst part about the Golden Skeletons is where you fight them. On a tiny cliff path, surrounded by flying things that shoot you.

Whilst I liked the online aspect, the co-op was quite eh. It's not really a co-op game in the normal sense of "You both join up, do a level, you've both done the level." When it was me and two others we had to do each area three times. Though to be fair it meant more souls and more Black Phantoms to kill.

I will be picking this one up for sure. Although I still don't like how the only difference between classes is the starting points/gear. Unless they changed this? At any rate if it is anything like Demon's Souls it should be one hell of an RPG. Although it releasing one week before Skyrim is going to create a serious dilemma for me.

Unless I can beat Dark Souls in less than a week....

Fair point about the story, a better way of putting it would probably be that the story is there, but you have to make some effort to find it. I talked to NPCs plenty and managed to piece together most of the plot, but I could also believe that people played through it and never gave the story much of a thought.

I would certainly say that knowing something of the story is advisable if you don't want the end boss to be an anticlimax.

Fezman wrote:

Spoiler:

I think that seeeing how the man who caused all the destruction had been mutated and warped by the power he tried to control made for a fitting ending, or maybe I was just relieved that I didn't have to go through another fight like the one with the False King.

Lord Scythican wrote:Ahh Demon's Souls. Last year it was my most hated game. This year it was my favourite.

Yes, this. I hated the game so much when I first got it. I struggled to get past the first bridge in 1-1, died at least 20+ times. Once I would get past, I'd die in the tower and lose all of my souls.

I finally figured out the advantage of not simply running forward and killing everything, ditched my armor and finally made it through. The problem with Demon Souls, IMO, is that after you figure out the game, it's not a particularly difficult climb from one level to the next. The main threats were enemies sneaking up/dropping down on you and falling off of cliffs (skeletons in world 4 being the notable exception).

Also, after you've played through the game 2-3 times it got extremely frustrating. I think I still need some stone (pure darkmoonstone maybe?) that only occurs in a rare drop. Once I clear out those crystal geckos, I have to run through the whole story again just to get them to repop. Ug.

However, if Dark Souls has as good of a single player as Demon's Souls, I'll definitely be buying it. But I probably wouldn't buy the game solely for the multiplayer parts.

Wish me luck.

In this game for Masochists, I am playing as a Deprived first playthrough.

Go BIG, OR GO HOME!

I had to stop playing once I got to the first major boss. This seems much harder than Demon's Souls to me.

Man i am loving Dark Souls to bits, i am fairly far i think..... last thing that killed me was a 9 headed hydra in a lake that spat out giant magic souls arrows, thing was damn frightening! (its at the bottom of the map in a place called forsaken cove or something like that)

My only complaint though (even though it makes sense in a way) is how the undead don't give you any souls when you kill them lol Spent a good 3 hours in a catacomb getting no ware well the undead were having there way with my poor bandit

Rocking the bandit start out though helped a fair bit, decent armour, a hard hitting battleaxe, and still being able to roll fairly well was nice to boot.

My dark souls was shipped late last week - now it still has to get from UK to germany. I can't wait to hold it in my hands - I played through Demons Souls 3 or 4 times and absolutely loved it

Tazz Azrael wrote:Man i am loving Dark Souls to bits, i am fairly far i think..... last thing that killed me was a 9 headed hydra in a lake that spat out giant magic souls arrows, thing was damn frightening! (its at the bottom of the map in a place called forsaken cove or something like that)

My only complaint though (even though it makes sense in a way) is how the undead don't give you any souls when you kill them lol Spent a good 3 hours in a catacomb getting no ware well the undead were having there way with my poor bandit

Rocking the bandit start out though helped a fair bit, decent armour, a hard hitting battleaxe, and still being able to roll fairly well was nice to boot.

Ah yes, I haven't worked up the courage to tackle the Hydra, as you have to fight him in the lake, which slows you down considerably when in it.

Just a pro-tip for you guys, Pyromancy doesn't require anything stat-wise, so your fighters can have spells, too!

Blight Town makes me cry tears of pure rage (You can probably guess area 5 from Demon's Souls was my least favourite ).

I hate everything and everyone now.

Also I only sunk 2 points into int before realising about pyromancy.

I was so happy yesterday when I killed the Capra demon my first try. Only 10% of my life remaining, no more Estus flasks left, so i hurried back to the Firelink shrine...

My fingers were still all twitchy with the adrenaline of the fight against the demon when i came to the miracle vendor and behold, i accidently hit the R1 button and aggro the guy + three guards + the visiting woman they refer to as 'mylady'... All i can say is noooooooooooooooo...

i quickly ran back to the fire, thinking when they kill me here i can respawn and everything will be allright... I was wrong, i ended up getting pissed and killing everyone including the girl and in the process I accidently hit the guy sitting by the bonfire and killing him too...

I may have destroyed my game... /cry

Anyone know off another place of obtaining miracles? Also, i haven't found a way to learn pyromancy and/or sorcery... My starting class is a knight and i'm soul level 28. Should i restart the game??

On sorcery and pyromancy:



Also, you may very well be boned.

I think I'm going for another crack at Blight Town. Time for misery!

Oh hell, how I -hate- those bloody ogres.

I just got it yesterday and I'm completely lost. How do I write messages? Where do I buy and sell stuff? What is kindling? Is there world and character tendancy like in Demon's Souls?

Otherwise is pretty good. Is it me or have the graphics changed slightly?

You can't sell stuff until later in the game.



You can only write/rate messages when you buy a special soapstone item from a merchant. As per the norm, merchants are often hidden.

Kindling lets you get more Estus flask uses from a bonfire, for example, an unkindled one gives me 5, whilst a kindled one gives me 10.

MrDwhitey wrote:You can't sell stuff until later in the game.

Spoiler:

After ringing both bells of awakening, a monster appears in firelink shrine and he will buy items off you for souls. He eats them. Apparently he likes Dung Pies a lot.

You can only write/rate messages when you buy a special soapstone item from a merchant. As per the norm, merchants are often hidden.

Kindling lets you get more Estus flask uses from a bonfire, for example, an unkindled one gives me 5, whilst a kindled one gives me 10.

Thank you kind sir. Also, for co-op mode, are there proper stones or just shards?

Have you spoken to the Knight Solaire? He gives you the white soapstone which you use to place your summon sign.

Slarg232 wrote:

Tazz Azrael wrote:Man i am loving Dark Souls to bits, i am fairly far i think..... last thing that killed me was a 9 headed hydra in a lake that spat out giant magic souls arrows, thing was damn frightening! (its at the bottom of the map in a place called forsaken cove or something like that)

My only complaint though (even though it makes sense in a way) is how the undead don't give you any souls when you kill them lol Spent a good 3 hours in a catacomb getting no ware well the undead were having there way with my poor bandit

Rocking the bandit start out though helped a fair bit, decent armour, a hard hitting battleaxe, and still being able to roll fairly well was nice to boot.

Ah yes, I haven't worked up the courage to tackle the Hydra, as you have to fight him in the lake, which slows you down considerably when in it.

Just a pro-tip for you guys, Pyromancy doesn't require anything stat-wise, so your fighters can have spells, too!

Just got the Hydra down last night, gives you 6k in souls, a ring and a dragon scale for weapon smithing. Next biggest fear are the giant gerbil bears in the darkroot garden.

Out of curiosity anyone rocking the dark knight gear? I need to know how many of the buggers there are since a few of them have..... been backstabed off cliffs that were much higher up and less explorable then i originally though

There are...giant gerbil bears?

Christ.