Dark Souls Official Announcement trailer (Demon's Souls 2)

I enjoy demon souls because it reminds me of how games used to be... challenging.

Bring on Dark Souls, preordered already!
 
Demon's Souls has a poor system of challenge in my opinion though since it encourages grinding a section over and over in order to eventually get enough stones to craft/upgrade your weapon and enough souls to level yourself.

For me, difficulty was not the thing that put me off my Demon's Souls playthrough and made me give up, it was the fact the game practically forced me to grind areas over and over in order to get items to improve my weapon to be able to handle certain enemies.

I might give Demon's Souls another try in the future but I doubt I will like it more, I haven't been a fan of grinding in years.

I am not saying Demon's Souls is a bad game or such, just that I do not like RPGs with an over-emphasis on grinding an area over and over which in my opinion Demon's Souls has.

Perhaps part of the reason I have that impression was that I only played it during the time PSN had been hacked and was down so I could not make use of any of the online features, nor did I consult any guides for tips and pointers.
 
Did you try skipping from area to area? I found that there were certain times where I couldn't just go through level 1 and beat it to the last boss. I had to kind of jump around different areas and then I could come back later when I was stronger. I haven't really had to grind souls.
 
I had to grind a lot too but the game becomes more and more accessible making other levels easier. One thing you must keep in mind at all times is; don't let your guard down, and adapt! You need to treat every enemy like a mini boss fight, because you can really lose it it you don't pay attention
 
Apologies in advance for linking Kotaku. :v

http://kotaku.com/5844514/hows-dark-souls-looking-on-xbox-360

Basically they say the Xbox version looks essentially identical to the PS3, possibly a slightly less consistent frame rate. They say the controls work fine, but there's been a bit of speculation about how well they'll translate to the 360's controller since it'll be the same as PS3 button-for-button. Bumpers will control light attack and blocking, triggers will control heavy attack and parry, which seems a little backwards to some. Can't really say myself since I'm not terribly familiar with how it controls, but I'm sure it won't take long to get used to either way.
 
Gargantou said:
Demon's Souls has a poor system of challenge in my opinion though since it encourages grinding a section over and over in order to eventually get enough stones to craft/upgrade your weapon and enough souls to level yourself.

For me, difficulty was not the thing that put me off my Demon's Souls playthrough and made me give up, it was the fact the game practically forced me to grind areas over and over in order to get items to improve my weapon to be able to handle certain enemies.

I might give Demon's Souls another try in the future but I doubt I will like it more, I haven't been a fan of grinding in years.

I am not saying Demon's Souls is a bad game or such, just that I do not like RPGs with an over-emphasis on grinding an area over and over which in my opinion Demon's Souls has.

Perhaps part of the reason I have that impression was that I only played it during the time PSN had been hacked and was down so I could not make use of any of the online features, nor did I consult any guides for tips and pointers.
Click to expand...

Demon's Souls is entirely beatable without grinding.
 
Acepilotf14 said:
Demon's Souls is entirely beatable without grinding.
Click to expand...

Even if grinding is shooting down manta rays for 15 minutes to advance 40 levels :l
But yes, the game is entirely beatable if you have patience and a cautious attitude. I think it's better that way, it intensifies the experience.
 
Naph said:
Even if grinding is shooting down manta rays for 15 minutes to advance 40 levels :l
But yes, the game is entirely beatable if you have patience and a cautious attitude. I think it's better that way, it intensifies the experience.
Click to expand...

Should've grinded the reaper at the beginning of that level. He gives way more souls.
 
Acepilotf14 said:
Should've grinded the reaper at the beginning of that level. He gives way more souls.
Click to expand...
Yup, that's arguably the best spot in the game, though I did do the Storm King area a lot too. Come to think of it, there were a lot of great spots, but then again, I love grinding. :) Words cannot express how much I want Dark Souls in my PS3 right now. I'll be playing Demon's Souls this weekend just to get my chops back lol. I hate going back to games and totally forgetting how to handle the control scheme.
 
So the game comes out tomorrow. Are you bitches ready to rage while playing this game for 100th time?

My body is ready.
 
I loved Demons' Souls and will undoubtedly love this game too.

And I found this to be the case with Demon's Souls and will probably be the same in Dark Souls: Yes, it is hard. Once, maybe twice. On your third run-through, you will know almost all the strategies and will know all the exploits to kill every boss, and the fear goes away because the enemy patrols dont change etc.

However it looks like they've taken note of that and have added more variety in each area, and the world being seamless with no loading screens I suspect will keep you on your toes. Seeing as you wont be running to a plaque on the wall in the Nexus going ''Right, in this area loading are x creatures requiring x gear and x boss requiring x gear and for me to stand in x position. Well, not as much anyway.
 
Getting ready to go to a midnight launch to pick this up. Was thinking of calling in sick tomorrow to play this but might not as we are quite busy at the moment. I may just change my mind once I start playing though if it is as good as I assume it will be and the reviewers already know it is. :)
 
Sooo without spoiling anything, how is it? Anyone play this yet?
 
Just got my mitts on it, only put in a few hours and haven't gotten very far. I'm already loving it, though. Minor start-of-game spoilers:

Picked the knight and took the pendant as my gift after reading somewhere that it has some possible significance later in the game. The knight's starting armour is great and looks nice too, but it limits you to the slow roll which makes you less maneuverable. Up to Undead Burg (first area after the "tutorial" bit, if you can call it that :p), found the first bonfire there and been going between it and the merchant until I'm confident enough to press on. Only death so far was to the first boss, thought I'd try and take him on with my broken hilt of a sword. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. :D

Anyway, back to it!

Edit: Oh yeah, and it looks fantastic. This isn't something that really comes across in images or videos too well, but the environments are lavishly detailed, the animations are nice and weighty, and certain things have a subtle sheen to them that gives them a resplendent quality (nothing like Unreal engine's weird plastic glow). Lighting is used to wonderful effect too, I really recommend going with the suggested brightness settings, certain areas have a great contrast between light and dark which creates a nice gloomy atmosphere. The only blemishes are some muddy textures if you view them up close and a bit of framerate hitching here and there, but it's not the kind of thing you really notice when you're just running around... or inching forward with your shield up, in my case. :p
 
It's pretty much Demon's Souls. Which is a good thing.

And yeah, I've had some framerate issues.
 
Yeah noticed some much more pronounced frame drops in that one level down the elevator. Still playable though.

So hey new players: once you get past the initial area, go to the graveyard immediately. Really, just wade right in there. What's the worst that could happen? :)
 
One thing people are complaining about this game:

It's pretty much empty. You don't see lot of souls and invading/summoning is pretty much non-existent.

This is why Demon's Souls dedicated server is superior to dark souls.
 
Which platform? I'm on Xbox and phantoms are everywhere, can't go more than 10 feet without seeing a note or a bloodstain and ghosts show up pretty frequently. Haven't been invaded/summoned yet, but I still haven't regained human form so I can't comment on that. Seems like the items to do those things are a little further into the game, anyway.
 
Yeah. I see plenty of people. I saw lots of marks when I was going to do the gargoyles in human form, but I wanted to do it alone.

Better than Demon's Souls right now at least, or a few weeks ago, when it was near on shutting down because there was NO ONE in the lower levels and it was all ****ers pvping with dragon bone smashers and naked.
 
Like it somewhat but I "accidentally" killed the ****ing merchant! Of course he doesnt come back with the other undead

Actually I think he wasnt undead, I got humanity from him
 
Having fun with this.

**** blighttown.
 
I've been playing for maybe 15 hours now and am LOVING it. Started as a Wanderer.

Killed that first black knight you meet in the Burg by running away and climbing a nearby ladder to get on the roof and launch a few downward attacks to kill him. Man, that felt good since he is WAY overpowering that early-on. Rescued a pyromancer from the Depths and he taught me some nice fire moves. Ventured into the catacombs past the cemetery but found that the skeletons keep coming back to life so I ran out of there really quick. Just learned from a merchant deep in the sewers that divine weapons will kill them for good. Bought a sweet horned helmet off him too. Found what some video said was the best spot to get 2000 souls in about a minute. They were right. Low risk too. When you get to the door in the forest with the glowing lock, save up 20,000 souls for the crest that opens it which the blacksmith by the lightning titanite demon will sell you. Once you open that door go halfway down the steps and snipe with bow and arrow into the forest at a guy standing just about in the middle of your field of view. He will run after you with easy attacks (though fast and powerful soul arrows if you are not careful) and you can either slay him quick and easy (block, hit, block, hit hit hit, etc) or get him to roll himself off the cliff. Good times. Run back out and hit the wall to the left of the forest door there for a bonfire so you can keep going back in and killing him, then rest and kill him again and again. Big time saver early on here.

I've summoned 1 NPC who was the sun guy you meet after the Taurus Demon for the fight with the gargoyles and 1 live person to help distract the dragon with the teeth for a body so I could
hack off his tail for an axe that does 360 dmg! Of course, you need 50 STR to wield it properly. Right now I am lvl 35 I think and my strength is 25. Long way to go.

I am still pretty confused as to weapon upgrades and it seems like materials are REALLY hard to come by, but maybe it is too early to be worried.

Some review said it was like a metroidvania and that is absolutely SPOT-ON. Besides Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid, this is the perfection of the form.

Acepilotf14 said:
Having fun with this.

**** blighttown.
Click to expand...
Dude, I know. I just got there myself and think I have to go stock up on anti-poison potions and such. Reminds me of that blasted level 5 from Demon's Souls--all pestilential and dark and poisonous. ****ing gross.
 
Well, I managed to finish it. I'm not really sure if world 5 in Demon's was worse. I think the fact that you can still roll in the swamp made this far easier.

I
returned to the asylum, fighting the stray demon now, then I'm going to do new londo ruins.
 
Haha, am I the only one here who didn't play Demon's? Sounds like I'm taking my time much more than you guys. Seriously most of the time I'm just cautiously walking through new areas with my shield up because fuuuuuuuuck.

About 15 hours in I think, just made my way down to Depths and got my first curse, hooray! Those pitfalls can suck a dick. On the bright side, I figured out that

you can easily one-shot the bug-eyed toads with firebombs, so I'll be stocking up on those bigtime.
How did people fare with the Capra Demon? I'm hearing a lot of complaining about how unfair he is because of

the cramped space and the dogs
, but I managed to beat him second try. Think it helps that I'm still wearing my heavy knight armour and using a chunky shield so I can actually go toe-to-toe with him. Also my +4 winged spear for distance. Man that thing destroys, I have trouble switching back to any other weapon type now since I actually have to, you know, get close to things. :p

Edit: Hah, just had my first invader in the Depths. Had just cleared out some bug-eyed toads from a section of tunnel when he wades up in some gnarly spiked armor and takes a swing at me with a massive sword. About shat myself at first, but I managed to whittle him down by guarding intelligently and just jabbing at him with my spear whenever he closed in. Didn't even have to heal! Killing him gave me a sweet ~6000 souls and a humanity, which I put to immediate use before anyone else had a chance to take it back. :p

Found a wonderful combo now, got a Crest Shield (I think) which grants a buff that speeds stamina recovery, which is important as a spear/shield user for when I have to drop my guard momentarily to recover. The only thing I didn't like about it was it blocks 95% physical, which means I'd have to waste a heal miracle every so often. Not a problem any longer, however, as I just found the Ring of the Evil Eye, which absorbs a bit of HP from fallen enemies. Swish!
 
And just like that, after some low-grade raging and time away from the ps3, I came back with a renewed patience and finished off blighttown and the boss handily. That is the brilliance of *.Souls. 20 hours in and having a blast.
 
Bad^Hat said:
Found a wonderful combo now, got a Crest Shield (I think) which grants a buff that speeds stamina recovery, which is important as a spear/shield user for when I have to drop my guard momentarily to recover. The only thing I didn't like about it was it blocks 95% physical, which means I'd have to waste a heal miracle every so often. Not a problem any longer, however, as I just found the Ring of the Evil Eye, which absorbs a bit of HP from fallen enemies. Swish!
Click to expand...

That's the Grass Crest Shield. I can't notice the stam regen because compared to Demon's the regen is already so fast in Dark I have no idea what to do with it all.

So I flip between the Crest Shield (mag resistance) and the Dark Knight Shield (all other resistances) based on need. They're both fantastic. I started using the Iaito(one of the katanas) and thought I would regret it but it's really paying for itself. It has a low durability but it makes up for it with its sweet attack animations.

 
Man why can you enter a space in your character's name on PS3 but not Xbox. Wanted to give my asshole a last name.

Just ran into a wall of sorts where every direction I go is pretty challenging or has a horrible daunting boss (as much as that can be considered a "wall" in this game). I chooooooose... Darkroot Garden! Gotta get that holy weapon upgrade so I can brave the Catacombs. Won't that be fun. D:
 
Bad^Hat said:
Man why can you enter a space in your character's name on PS3 but not Xbox. Wanted to give my asshole a last name.

Just ran into a wall of sorts where every direction I go is pretty challenging or has a horrible daunting boss (as much as that can be considered a "wall" in this game). I chooooooose... Darkroot Garden! Gotta get that holy weapon upgrade so I can brave the Catacombs. Won't that be fun. D:
Click to expand...
I still need the divine weapon upgrade too as the catacombs is where I want to go next--I have been down there a couple of times and it is proper spooky, but with the skeletons coming back to life all the time it is a huge PITA. I just killed the moonlight butterfly and it was a gorgeous battle with the music and setting and everything. I still haven't ventured too far into blighttown which is where I really need to go to ring that damn second bell. Those 3 trolls really put it to me as I come in from the depths. I found that huge wolf with the sword in darkroot something too but he killed me extra quick. Killing some of the non-grotesque monsters in this game gives me the same sort of feeling I got with Shadow of the Colossus where I just feel bad. Killing that Maiden in Demon's Souls was similar too. What a seriously great game.
 
VictimOfScience said:
I still need the divine weapon upgrade too as the catacombs is where I want to go next--I have been down there a couple of times and it is proper spooky, but with the skeletons coming back to life all the time it is a huge PITA. I just killed the moonlight butterfly and it was a gorgeous battle with the music and setting and everything. I still haven't ventured too far into blighttown which is where I really need to go to ring that damn second bell. Those 3 trolls really put it to me as I come in from the depths. I found that huge wolf with the sword in darkroot something too but he killed me extra quick. Killing some of the non-grotesque monsters in this game gives me the same sort of feeling I got with Shadow of the Colossus where I just feel bad. Killing that Maiden in Demon's Souls was similar too. What a seriously great game.
Click to expand...

Wow I'm so glad I painstakingly spoilered all those things for you, thanks! :v

(Haha just kidding I already knew about these things from the trailers. :()
 
Bad^Hat said:
Wow I'm so glad I painstakingly spoilered all those things for you, thanks! :v

(Haha just kidding I already knew about these things from the trailers. :()
Click to expand...

Dark Souls dies at the end.
 
So in case anyone still hadn't figured this out on their own: DO NOT **** WITH THIS GAME. EVER. The moment you gain just a little bit of confidence in your ability to breeze through an area for the fiftieth time is the moment the game donkey punches you into an aids tree. Just made it to Blighttown and raked in all those huge souls around the start, figured I should back out and put them towards some upgrades before I ventured deeper. I get to the Parish smith and, whoops, about 1000 souls short, better go do some farming. Long story short I got cocky with one of those fencer knight jerks, forgetting I'm still wearing my unprotective Shadow set and a little low on health, meaning he could easily finish me with a lucky parry. The best part? My last bonfire was still in Blighttown, since I figured I could just homeward bone my way back once I was done. I have never been more tense in this game as I was trying to make my way out of that ****ing place.

A cool 20k nearly (but not quite) down the drain because I thought I could afford to take it easy for a second. Lessons learned:

1) Don't **** with Dark Souls.

2) I am a dumbass.
 
Ever since I started fighting Darkwraith, everything else is just so easy.

I feel silly thinking some of that stuff was hard so long ago.
 
Acepilotf14 said:
Ever since I started fighting Darkwraith, everything else is just so easy.

I feel silly thinking some of that stuff was hard so long ago.
Click to expand...
Is darkwraith the one you can't lock onto and is almost invisible but still does shit-tons of damage right inside the locked forest door? I have been farming that other guy with the soul arrows for a couple of days now. I think I'm at level 52 now. Great spot.

And just so Bad^Hat's divine one-named asshole doesn't get mad at me I will put my exploits from today in spoiler tags. :p
Finally killed the black knight up on his tower by the red dragon and got his ****ing sword. Have you guys seen this thing?? It's MASSIVE and does HUGE damage and throws enemies right up in the air. The parry is so sweet too, but I won't spoil it here. :) The I shot the red dragon which made him almost fly off but then disappear apparently because of a glitch. Either way, once I climbed down I made a sweet sweet profit of 10,000 souls. I mentioned before about killing the moonlight butterfly. Well I got a watchtower basement key which opens a door in the first tower before the taurus demon and leads to a long downward spiral to Havel. A monstrous tank of a bastard with a club maybe 3 times the size of himself...and him in HUGE armor with a HUGE shield. I stripped down to roll around him and backstab as best I could with the drake sword and killed him in 3 stabs. Got Havel's Ring which adds 50% to your equippable load which rules so now my wanderer is wearing the Armor of the Glorious and the wicked horned helmet bought from the merchant in the depths outside of blightown. Looks awesome, esp. when paired with the black knight great sword (requires 32 STR). Also upgraded my broadsword to +5 then made it divine but it is still pretty weak in the catacombs which are huge and scary by the way. Easy to get lost. Wandered around some more and the door by Havel actually leads into the darkroot basin over by where the ice golems are and the hydra shoots that blasted water. Down the cliff I found a bonfire and the entrance to the valley of drakes. Holy shit. Killing a drake is going to be a HUGE win for me whenever I can actually manage to do so. Need to work harder on my lightning resistance. Still have to do blight town. I am putting it off because it looks like it sucks so hard...and the swamp below I hear is full of poison. Ugh. I have 32 STR and I need 50 to wield the dragon king great axe which does 360 DMG!!! Might be worth it to me to just grind my way up to that because that has to be AMAZING to see in action. This game rules so hard.

And Hat, I totally feel your pain--I think we can all identify with a story like that. Really makes you focus though, doesn't it? NEVER lose that edge because the second you do it's lights out.
 
Took a peek at your spoiler (thanks :v), I'm at about the same point as you, probably minus a lot of Blighttown progress (it's already been said a thousand times, but **** that place). Got the key for the thing you mentioned, tried the big guy in there but was trying to block him in my chunky armor (elite knight set ftw). He ****ing one-shotted me through a block and I was using the most stable shield I had. Guess I'll try being a bit more dexterous next time. :p

On the bright side, I recovered those souls from my last post and put them towards that forest door key. Going to go see what's lying in wait for me there now...
 
VictimOfScience said:
Is darkwraith the one you can't lock onto and is almost invisible but still does shit-tons of damage right inside the locked forest door? I have been farming that other guy with the soul arrows for a couple of days now. I think I'm at level 52 now. Great spot.

And just so Bad^Hat's divine one-named asshole doesn't get mad at me I will put my exploits from today in spoiler tags. :p
Finally killed the black knight up on his tower by the red dragon and got his ****ing sword. Have you guys seen this thing?? It's MASSIVE and does HUGE damage and throws enemies right up in the air. The parry is so sweet too, but I won't spoil it here. :) The I shot the red dragon which made him almost fly off but then disappear apparently because of a glitch. Either way, once I climbed down I made a sweet sweet profit of 10,000 souls. I mentioned before about killing the moonlight butterfly. Well I got a watchtower basement key which opens a door in the first tower before the taurus demon and leads to a long downward spiral to Havel. A monstrous tank of a bastard with a club maybe 3 times the size of himself...and him in HUGE armor with a HUGE shield. I stripped down to roll around him and backstab as best I could with the drake sword and killed him in 3 stabs. Got Havel's Ring which adds 50% to your equippable load which rules so now my wanderer is wearing the Armor of the Glorious and the wicked horned helmet bought from the merchant in the depths outside of blightown. Looks awesome, esp. when paired with the black knight great sword (requires 32 STR). Also upgraded my broadsword to +5 then made it divine but it is still pretty weak in the catacombs which are huge and scary by the way. Easy to get lost. Wandered around some more and the door by Havel actually leads into the darkroot basin over by where the ice golems are and the hydra shoots that blasted water. Down the cliff I found a bonfire and the entrance to the valley of drakes. Holy shit. Killing a drake is going to be a HUGE win for me whenever I can actually manage to do so. Need to work harder on my lightning resistance. Still have to do blight town. I am putting it off because it looks like it sucks so hard...and the swamp below I hear is full of poison. Ugh. I have 32 STR and I need 50 to wield the dragon king great axe which does 360 DMG!!! Might be worth it to me to just grind my way up to that because that has to be AMAZING to see in action. This game rules so hard.

And Hat, I totally feel your pain--I think we can all identify with a story like that. Really makes you focus though, doesn't it? NEVER lose that edge because the second you do it's lights out.
Click to expand...

Nah, those are the forest douchebags. Darkwraiths are in New Londo Ruins, after the ghosts. They're comparable to the red eyed knights in this game, though they're only in this one area.
Yeah, the black knights aren't the worst. Heheheh.

I'm using a +10 Iaito right now. I feel like samurai jack.

And in Elite Knight + havel's ring, lets me roll at full speed. Wonderful.
 
Ugh, I'm actually pretty bitter about that last death. Had just cleared out the entire swamp area in Blight Town, went up the water wheel lift and got to a platform where I couldn't see any obvious way forward (apparently there's a ladder I'm missing but the thing must be ****ing invisible because I scoured the place for a good fifteen minutes). I tried walking out on one of the wooden outcrops to investigate, but I guess this particular one wasn't meant to be walked on (even though I'd gone out on others just fine) and it dropped me off to my death. Whatever, the bonfire is right down below, shouldn't be a problem right? Unless the water wheel decides to drop me through a non-existent gap for no particular reason WHOOPS IT DID bye bye souls + humanity. Two geometry flubs in a row, what rotten luck. Also **** Blight Town.
 
At least it wasn't like that ****ing elevator before the spider boss in Demon's Souls where you HAD to take it, but sometimes you'd just fall right through it.
 
Just been fighting Havel (god, that guy can 1-shot you with that damn club) after figuring out how to kill him.

Finished off the Hydra, just opened the seal in the forest and will grind that area a bit and get some stats. Then aim for some decent gear. Still running around in my wanderer gear.

I want the golden seemed kit but I think that means going to the Ceaseless boss which is in Demon's Ruins if im right. Dont know how to get there yet.

Also need to figure out how to kill bloody ghosts, starting to piss me off in Londo Ruins.

Its quite irritating not knowing where gear is, and you cant look up locations all that well as it hasnt really been out long enough yet. I remember in Demon's Souls getting a specific helmet from the assassin guy in gold who was stuck in that cage in the swamp, running around in that with the best light armour in the game and that blind guy's sword. Want that experience now.
 
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