Yeah Makkon... get past the difficulty, and the first hour, and accept it's going to piss you off for a bit... then it starts to suck your fucking life away with how addictively good it is.
Gotta try it again.
also, when you can coop bosses... do it. It's way more fun experience and less grind.
I am a massive fan of the Souls games, and it took alot for me not to write a small novel as a response to this thread. The best way I can relate my experience with Dark Souls (and primarily why I think its a great game) is to compare it to Mega Man. Simple yet brilliantly elegant design which relies extremely on your skill. Nothing more, nothing less.
And in a market where "true" games arent the norm, it is a breath of fresh air to see a developer take such a risk.
Dark Souls is so fucking good. I borrowed it from a friend and it took 50 hours to beat my first playthrough. Bought it a few days ago and it's amazing how much faster it goes once you learn how to play it.
I am super excited for DS2. I'll be watching the video tomorrow!
The thing I loved about Souls games at first was the challenge they provided, no more storming through a game in 4-5 hours and never picking it up again. I also was faulty of getting frustrated and putting the game down for weeks on end because of an annoying boss that busted my ass each time but when I then picked the game up and beat the boss it was incredibly rewarding.
After I got "good" at the games and stopped dying all the time I fell in love with the RIDICULOUS amount of story that they've managed to squeeze into Dark Souls. I'd say that the story is something most people probably won't even be aware of while playing the game since it's mostly in item descriptions and interpreting the world (and the opening cinematic). So for those who don't have the time to puzzle out the story you can watch EpicNameBro's Dark Souls Lore Series for nice format where the story is laid out to you although I have to point out that there's still a huge bunch of story he hasn't covered in his videos. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Balq4yCcAJg&list=PL4825DBA198EBE9B9"]EpicNameBro's Dark Souls Lore Series[/ame]
I can't remember why I originally bought Dark Souls, especially for $60 and I hadn't heard anything about the game or player Demon Souls. Probably about 2 hours into the game (after the Taurus Demon) I was really enjoying the game. And farther after that, it became my favorite game ever. What really did it for me was the ambiance and level design.
It's hard to realize at first, but the entire world is connected and you might go through a door later in the game only to find yourself back where you started..I can't explain it, but there's a brilliant flow to the game.
The mood of the game is so rich. I can't recall now, but I don't even remember if the game had a music soundtrack--not because it wasn't memorable, but because the environment sound was so engrossing and well done. Desolate beaches in Ash lake, thick forests, empty, hollow sounding ruins. I think it's the perfect game to show visual art and sound combine to provide an awesome experience.
My only complaint was the lack of a successful multiplayer system on xbox...my bro and I live 900 miles apart, and we could never summon each other, but it sounds like they want to make that more accessible in the 2nd one. Will watch vid...DS1 is a 10/10.
Gotta love the ost. Adds so much mood to the boss fights. Everything is dreadful, and then you face a huge boss, and the music kicks in... and its just epic. Can't wait to see how this new game is shaping up.
I can't remember why I originally bought Dark Souls, especially for $60 and I hadn't heard anything about the game or player Demon Souls. Probably about 2 hours into the game (after the Taurus Demon) I was really enjoying the game. And farther after that, it became my favorite game ever. What really did it for me was the ambiance and level design.
It's hard to realize at first, but the entire world is connected and you might go through a door later in the game only to find yourself back where you started..I can't explain it, but there's a brilliant flow to the game.
The mood of the game is so rich. I can't recall now, but I don't even remember if the game had a music soundtrack--not because it wasn't memorable, but because the environment sound was so engrossing and well done. Desolate beaches in Ash lake, thick forests, empty, hollow sounding ruins. I think it's the perfect game to show visual art and sound combine to provide an awesome experience.
THIS! SOOOO MUCH THIS!
The world is drab and empty, but for some reason, not lonely, it feels like a thick blubber of whale depression on you a la Silent Hill or Shadow of the Col.
Not sure how they did it, but they did, and it worked wonders.
BTW, if you play it on PC like me, and don't have access to a controller, I suggest taking a look at this:
It doesn't look as good as Edge was suggesting, but it's miles ahead of DaS in the graphic department. In fact, I would rather have current-gen graphics and stable framerate.
But holy shit. That fucking chariot. It's like Wheel Skeleton 2.0.
Here i hope that they do a PC release that has good PC options. Like FOV... that would be uber helpful to have more of a view of the battlefield. 10 more mins until they show the new gameplay. woots!
Still feels like a Dark Souls game! very dreadful... nothing much changed really... detail on the armor... some softer lighting maybe. But thats how it looks on PC with some tweaks.
Not much information given, it LOOKS like Dark Souls? I did like the torch lighting bit, I could see you lighting it, dying, then coming back to not having the option to light again maybe? I hope more enemies do things like breaking through walls and such outside of scripted events. Thats one thing that I liked about Dark Souls, the relentless need for the enemies to come after you.
I still remain hesitant....but a tad more excited.
Wow, it looks 10000000000x better. I remember being in the Undead Asylum and thinking that it was ugly, so gritty and over noisy, and too much black crunching. DS2 looks fantastic, still very dark and gothic, but not graphically so; more via art direction.
Also, the motions in combat look waaaaaaay more fluid. That's a small addition that adds a lot. Better animations, looks like your actually hit stuff. Particularly thinking of when he was wielding the axe in 1 hand, then hit the dog. That all looked so fluid and correct.
My thought is this gameplay vid was recorded on PC. I just hope they properly optimize DS2 so it doesn't have frame issues like DS1 did, especially if Blight Town.
Has more of a Demon's Souls vibe. In terms of atmosphere and what appears to be the healing items mechanic from Demon's (which I hated). Looking good though, always welcome a new adventure.
Now all that concerns me is online play. Invasions and co-oping. Footage on youtube for those that care, probably will be removed. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA1s9v2Ab8w"]Dark Souls 2 Gameplay Reveal - 12 Minute Demo (IGN) - YouTube[/ame]
No I played on 360. I like my 3rd person adventure games on console.
You should check it out on PC, with an xbox 360 controller. Same experience with higher res, actual 1080p and not stretched. Also i think the frame rate can be unlocked.
I enjoyed it. Better looking than on 360. I can put up some screen grabs of my play through.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! Cloth physics on armor! Proper dual wielding with combos! Massively improved lighting and physics! Enemies you can't backstab! Changes to the environment! Semi-Cheap Deaths! Improved Particle Effects! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES.
According to the FAQ the estus flasks will return so I'm not sure what the health stones are, maybe a place holder? or an alternative to it maybe, in either case I want this game NOW.
Some really blurry environment textures in places, and really old looking tech. But still looks a lot better in terms of animation and pacing. Should be fun.
Maybe the Health Stones are indeed an alternative? Didn't they cycle through Es. Flask at one point in the video, while showing off the deaths or did I mis-see something else?
It would be nice to have a healing item that you can use and immediately duck out and break the healing if an enemy is charging. Can't say how many times I would be behind a large stool or fence, and using my Flash, only to have the mobs somehow magically path-find their way towards me from being stuck on a wall.
Ace they say in the QA that estus is back in the game. The healing stones could be a more rare instant-use like the divine things from Dark Souls.
I really liked what I saw. There's some dodgy looking geometry in some parts of the new trailer, but the engine is way, way improved. Better lighting, much better and more post-processing, better animations (and the put-weapons-away animation was nice), better procedural animations like the head-turning when running, the cloth and fur and generally better looking artwork.
But I don't really need any of that, if they just gave the same engine as the old one and gave the same level of quality content then I'd still eat that all up.
Some really blurry environment textures in places, and really old looking tech. But still looks a lot better in terms of animation and pacing. Should be fun.
How many people can you coop with?
In Dark Souls 1 you can coop with 2 other people. a maximum of 4 people including you can exist in one player world at a time. 2 of these can be coop partners but one space is always left for a potential invader, as such you can also be invaded by 3 people. Invaders are players seeking out to kill you, and having two buds with you lowers the odds of you dying so thats nice
Great news about the design contest, I hope they do this for the western community as well. I would throw my head into the race for sure.
I'm so excited for this game! Although I still haven't beaten the last two bosses of the game but have already put hundreds of hours into the first one.
Also on the sidenote: Is there anyone else here who thinks that the music for the first trailer is damn awesome?
I tried to find the composer and I found out: The guy is Mikolai Stroinski. You can check out his website here: http://mikolaistroinski.com/en/home.html
His work is awesome! I hope capcom will have this guy do the soundtrack of the whole game. On the first trailer the music captured these emotions of loneliness, dispair and the slight bit of hope that there is a way to overcome your fate.
Anyway: When checked out the webite for the first time I was able to download the mp3 from the trailer via the media-tab in the site-information window. I guess quite a few people did that. Now it isn't available anymore.
Ah man I remember reading about the shield design contest for Dark Souls 1 and wondered how I missed it. But it looks like we can't enter that Japanese one? Or can we? Does it literally say only Japanese are allowed to submit?
Awesome stuff, started on one but think I'll sit it out since many of the submitted ones are pretty close to what I wanted to make but much better :P Maybe someone can sneak in a polycount shield :P
Hey guys, you think it'd be a good idea to post our shield submissions? I'm curious to see what Polycount can come up with, also it could help us participants rack up some votes from fellow forum members.
Or better yet, do you think the contest itself deserves its own thread? (unless it's been made already and I missed it because I'm a clod). Anyway, what say you?
I've been following it since day one. Don't bother entering, the PR running that compo are useless. They allow voting day 1 so anyone who submitted earlier already have 1000's of votes whereas anything added now gets lost on page 50.
Second the rules are contradictory. Each templates has a region name and the rules say stick to your region but some guy running the page is like "Don't worry, make whatever you want."
And finally they refuse any design that adds damage to the edges. Some they don't explain why they were refused.
Anwho I'm trying to break the system by basically saying "I'll vote for yours if you vote for mine" and it seems to be working. 19 votes so far :P Here's my submission for those that care, I originally wanted to make a heart shield with veins but went for the eye when I noticed my red color scheme reminded me of the red invasion orbs which I love so much.
I was gonna do more shields but you'll have no chance now. It's also worth noting the leading designs, some are stolen, ones a CG art by someone else, another from Dr Who and the leading one is winning just because it has ENB tribute on the front :P He's a youtuber who's very popular, I myself have watched many of his Dark Souls lore videos so I don't blame the popularity.
Anyway as I said don't bother unless you really have a good design in mind! I'll vote for you none the less, we gotta help the polycount crew.
Isaiah, if you're using Chrome it doesn't work, use Firefox or IE.
Replies
Gotta try it again.
also, when you can coop bosses... do it. It's way more fun experience and less grind.
And in a market where "true" games arent the norm, it is a breath of fresh air to see a developer take such a risk.
I am super excited for DS2. I'll be watching the video tomorrow!
After I got "good" at the games and stopped dying all the time I fell in love with the RIDICULOUS amount of story that they've managed to squeeze into Dark Souls. I'd say that the story is something most people probably won't even be aware of while playing the game since it's mostly in item descriptions and interpreting the world (and the opening cinematic). So for those who don't have the time to puzzle out the story you can watch EpicNameBro's Dark Souls Lore Series for nice format where the story is laid out to you although I have to point out that there's still a huge bunch of story he hasn't covered in his videos. [ame="
BRING IT ON
It's hard to realize at first, but the entire world is connected and you might go through a door later in the game only to find yourself back where you started..I can't explain it, but there's a brilliant flow to the game.
The mood of the game is so rich. I can't recall now, but I don't even remember if the game had a music soundtrack--not because it wasn't memorable, but because the environment sound was so engrossing and well done. Desolate beaches in Ash lake, thick forests, empty, hollow sounding ruins. I think it's the perfect game to show visual art and sound combine to provide an awesome experience.
My only complaint was the lack of a successful multiplayer system on xbox...my bro and I live 900 miles apart, and we could never summon each other, but it sounds like they want to make that more accessible in the 2nd one. Will watch vid...DS1 is a 10/10.
looks like it still current gen graphics. a little disappointed, but no matter this will still be day one purchase for me.
[ame="
The world is drab and empty, but for some reason, not lonely, it feels like a thick blubber of whale depression on you a la Silent Hill or Shadow of the Col.
Not sure how they did it, but they did, and it worked wonders.
BTW, if you play it on PC like me, and don't have access to a controller, I suggest taking a look at this:
http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Dark_Souls:_Prepare_to_Die_Edition
Saved me a bunch of headache.
Here are some screenshots.
It doesn't look as good as Edge was suggesting, but it's miles ahead of DaS in the graphic department. In fact, I would rather have current-gen graphics and stable framerate.
But holy shit. That fucking chariot. It's like Wheel Skeleton 2.0.
Huh, no humanity? Nighht and day icons? What the hell is going on :poly142:
LoL at the axe on the head... that was great.
I still remain hesitant....but a tad more excited.
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2013/04/10/everything-you-want-to-know-about-dark-souls-2
I'm really pumped about it now
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/10/dark-souls-2-gameplay-reveal-coming
Wow, it looks 10000000000x better. I remember being in the Undead Asylum and thinking that it was ugly, so gritty and over noisy, and too much black crunching. DS2 looks fantastic, still very dark and gothic, but not graphically so; more via art direction.
Also, the motions in combat look waaaaaaay more fluid. That's a small addition that adds a lot. Better animations, looks like your actually hit stuff. Particularly thinking of when he was wielding the axe in 1 hand, then hit the dog. That all looked so fluid and correct.
My thought is this gameplay vid was recorded on PC. I just hope they properly optimize DS2 so it doesn't have frame issues like DS1 did, especially if Blight Town.
Overall I am super excited!!!
I hope that means there is some way to counter backstabs in PVP. If they do that, it's GOTYAY for me.
http://www.destructoid.com/some-lovely-dark-souls-ii-screenshots-have-emerged-251252.phtml
Now all that concerns me is online play. Invasions and co-oping. Footage on youtube for those that care, probably will be removed. [ame="
You should check it out on PC, with an xbox 360 controller. Same experience with higher res, actual 1080p and not stretched. Also i think the frame rate can be unlocked.
I enjoyed it. Better looking than on 360. I can put up some screen grabs of my play through.
[ame="
According to the FAQ the estus flasks will return so I'm not sure what the health stones are, maybe a place holder? or an alternative to it maybe, in either case I want this game NOW.
How many people can you coop with?
It would be nice to have a healing item that you can use and immediately duck out and break the healing if an enemy is charging. Can't say how many times I would be behind a large stool or fence, and using my Flash, only to have the mobs somehow magically path-find their way towards me from being stuck on a wall.
I really liked what I saw. There's some dodgy looking geometry in some parts of the new trailer, but the engine is way, way improved. Better lighting, much better and more post-processing, better animations (and the put-weapons-away animation was nice), better procedural animations like the head-turning when running, the cloth and fur and generally better looking artwork.
But I don't really need any of that, if they just gave the same engine as the old one and gave the same level of quality content then I'd still eat that all up.
Is it known whether this will be on consoles first or if it will be consoles and PC simultaneously ?
[ame="
In Dark Souls 1 you can coop with 2 other people. a maximum of 4 people including you can exist in one player world at a time. 2 of these can be coop partners but one space is always left for a potential invader, as such you can also be invaded by 3 people. Invaders are players seeking out to kill you, and having two buds with you lowers the odds of you dying so thats nice
You keep thinking that
DARK SOULS 2 SHIELD DESIGN CONTEST
They had one for the first game and I think the Effigy Shield and maybe the Blood Shield are the results of that comp.
Here's the page for the new competition (Japanese): http://www.darksouls.jp/shield-design/
They may have a western comp as well, I don't know if this is separate or not because I speak no Japanese
I'm so excited for this game! Although I still haven't beaten the last two bosses of the game but have already put hundreds of hours into the first one.
Also on the sidenote: Is there anyone else here who thinks that the music for the first trailer is damn awesome?
I tried to find the composer and I found out: The guy is Mikolai Stroinski. You can check out his website here:
http://mikolaistroinski.com/en/home.html
His work is awesome! I hope capcom will have this guy do the soundtrack of the whole game. On the first trailer the music captured these emotions of loneliness, dispair and the slight bit of hope that there is a way to overcome your fate.
Anyway: When checked out the webite for the first time I was able to download the mp3 from the trailer via the media-tab in the site-information window. I guess quite a few people did that. Now it isn't available anymore.
They announced an English version of the "Design a Shield" compo on Facebook. You need Facebook to enter, here's a link:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=468966519843064&set=a.123871221019264.23050.119869331419453&type=1
Or better yet, do you think the contest itself deserves its own thread? (unless it's been made already and I missed it because I'm a clod). Anyway, what say you?
Second the rules are contradictory. Each templates has a region name and the rules say stick to your region but some guy running the page is like "Don't worry, make whatever you want."
And finally they refuse any design that adds damage to the edges. Some they don't explain why they were refused.
Anwho I'm trying to break the system by basically saying "I'll vote for yours if you vote for mine" and it seems to be working. 19 votes so far :P Here's my submission for those that care, I originally wanted to make a heart shield with veins but went for the eye when I noticed my red color scheme reminded me of the red invasion orbs which I love so much.
https://apps.facebook.com/darksoulsii/?gallery&action=view&id=1351
I was gonna do more shields but you'll have no chance now. It's also worth noting the leading designs, some are stolen, ones a CG art by someone else, another from Dr Who and the leading one is winning just because it has ENB tribute on the front :P He's a youtuber who's very popular, I myself have watched many of his Dark Souls lore videos so I don't blame the popularity.
Anyway as I said don't bother unless you really have a good design in mind! I'll vote for you none the less, we gotta help the polycount crew.
Isaiah, if you're using Chrome it doesn't work, use Firefox or IE.