5 truths about Dark Souls

Dark Souls has been out a couple of weeks and the Gamer Sheep website has had time to think about what the game really is. A new post says the game is obviously hard, has great boss battles, dodgy controls, and does stuff other games would be ripped for. But gamers still love it. Why?

[DaThreats]

Ya cant handle the truth

[gamersheep]

The truth will set you free?

[Sanii]

It's hard.

[dp277407]

Oh, and there doesn’t appear to be a way to know how many more souls you need to rank up. Get the guide it tells you all the way 700 some levels

[Canary]

700 levels? Doesn't it cap out at 150?

I'm at 80-something myself, and can scarcely imagine ever going higher.

[dp277407]

Here I got this right outta the book. Level 792 takes 11,938,030 souls for just this one level.

[Hellsvacancy]

I wanna know why i cant invade or summon, not been able to yet, i thought the other day when playin *Yeah my character (Baron Von Doom) is badass enough to kick some mofos teeth in* but im not able to, it dont work, my cracked orb thing is always blackened, no matter what form im in

[Tanir]

are u in a covenant? i never did it yet either but i think you can only invade if ur human and if ur in a covenant

[akiraburn]

The game currently has problems with their summoning system. I was looking all the info up online that I could find last night. From the info I found, it seems that that only a couple summon signs will potentially (not guaranteed) show up in anyone's world at any time, which also means that there is no way to know where they may show up. The whole conversion to a peer-to-peer system really screwed things up royally for gaming online on this. I've had my soulsign out for upwards of an hour in generally busy areas and no one has summoned me. Just the same, I've gone my entire game so far (about 30+ hours in) without seeing anyone's soul sign to summon.

And for anyone that may ask, yes I've made sure I'm Human when looking for someone to summon, and I've made sure I was Hollow when leaving my soulsign. According to some statements I've read online, this is how Namco/From Soft wanted the game to be, so it will most likely not be getting fixed in the next patch. However hopefully the control glitch for the issue with 'characters not performing actions until you try and perform a separate action' thing will be getting fixed with the next patch.

[arizona-techgeek]

This game is ridiculous hard. How is this fun?

[Sheikah]

It's unique in its' sadistic nature.

The "fun" is in the ten minutes of progress, bathed i 50 minutes of frustration; that is what makes the game. I'm inclined to frown upon the game's lack of story or even a 'genuine' narrative.. One might point fingers at the difficulty (myself included, min you. I had the infamous 30 minutes of "I'm returning this piece of shit game first thing in the morning" inner monologue... (outer monologue being "F******** YOU, RANDOM SKELETON ARCHER)) but the difficulty a core element of the gameplay.

Unlike most modern titles, this one won't hold your hand and guide you past checkpoints or even explicate matters to you. It's a game you want to beat, explore and exploit, not because you think that it's a fantastic game, but because you (as a gamer) sure as shit will not be beaten by a game. Elements such as online communities, the summoning and messaging is there to "guide" you - to me, that's a clear indication from the devs side that they want us to cooperate to beat their game.

The game is downright sadistic and it will punish you for your hubris whenever you think you've got it nailed... And that's why progress feels all the more gratifying! You didn't just beat "level two" - you finally managed to outplay the ridiculously frustrating Capra Demon (e.g.). It is also where the suspense is at. If you rush down a corridor because it seems clear, odds are you will be crushed/stabbed/eaten/drowned/ burnt to death.. Instead, you walk slowly cowering behind your shield with a "resting" heart-rate of 120bpm.

It is not a title for a casual relaxing gameplay experience with a fantastic story (Enslaved). It is not a great adventure with tales and deep lore (akin to Morrowwind), nor is it an action-game with tense action and over-the-top visuals. It's a game that will kick your ass without encouraging you to push on - it's undoubtedly one of the most challenging gameplay experiences in recnt history, and the mere act of beating it is where the "fun" is at.

[Canary]

It's not hard, it just has a steep learning curve.

[Optical_Matrix]

Played 16 hours and only just going to fight the Gargoyles. Most of those 16 hours has been me grinding, dying, and mastering tactics against various enemies. Has it been annoying? No. The challenge of Dark Souls is what makes it so fun. The gamer in me, who has gamed since the early 90's, where a lot of games were difficult back then, welcomes Dark Souls which comes out amongst the backdrop of a market that lacks games which offer a true challenge.

The game is so satisfying. It could end up being one if not the, GoTY for me.

[MasterCornholio]

People with stress or anger disorders are advised to not play this title. Otherwise you will end up like the angry German kid.

XperiaRay

[Sheikah]

A collegue of mine bought this game to relax, he said. I grinned smugly, and sure enough - the next day he told me "I pulled an 'angry-german-kid' last night".

He's well ahead of my progress tho -_- guy's a beast at this game it seems.

[Shadowaste]

demons souls and dark souls are the spiritual succesors to the king's field series on ps1 and ps2, these games we almost exactly like the 'souls series' and were also quite hard, though they were in first person.

The game is not really hard unfairly, you just need to learn how to play it. Once you figure out how to earn the right gear and levels for the places you want to go, you can do it. As long as you don't run in like a call of duty moron and try to kill everything in sight you'll be fine, ohhh....and there is a block and dodge ability too!.....lol

It is sad that this generation in particular has went almost 90% casual, games like demons/dark souls were almost the norm back in the day. Gamers today expect to see the end of every game they buy, simply spending enough time (today that means 4-10 hours) with it and then see the credits roll and get some stupid digital medal/trophy for spending time with the game. 9/10 of these games that give out achievements and trophies are like giving you an award for putting your shoes on the correct foot. Not something to run around and brag about...."look at my gamer score dude"

[Blaine]

I'm over 50 hours in now, and I've also had a few issues with the controls here and there. There's the *very* delayed actions, where I'll hit O to roll, get hit a few times by enemies, then my guy will decide to roll when I don't want him to anymore. Same goes for attacking, healing and, even more annoying because the timing is crucial for this one, backstabbing. But worse than the delayed actions, are just random actions I didn't even prompt. Those are rare, and I was never able to replicate them, but sometimes when I'm blocking, my character will attack, or I'm trying to attack and he'll roll, etc. One that happens very often, though, is rolling in a different direction than where I was aiming the stick. These quirks don't often lead to death, but they do lead to frustration.

Other than that, best game I've ever played.

About the "no story thing" everyone keeps saying: are you all retarded? Just because there's no voice narrating your every more, doesn't mean there's no story. FFS you go through hell and back in this game, kill hordes of demons and undead, and people have the nerve to say there's no story? ACTIONS make up a story too. A journey is a story, doesn't have to have a narrator to qualify.

[bigtrucknd]

I also have noticed that there is something off with the controls. I played Demons Souls right up to release and it feels different. Playing Demons Souls felt more tight and accurate and Dark Souls feels a little sloppy at times. Why can't developers ever leave well enough alone?

[Bloodraid]

This article irritates me for a load of reasons...

First, it's "From Software", not "For Software".

Second, the tone of the article comes off as too whiny. Throughout the entire article he consistently goes back to how hard the game is, and keeps comparing it to other games for no reason. He seems to complain about things like there not being Health Regeneration and the fact that you lose your souls when you die. In fact, the only thing I agree with on the first -truth- is that it's bullshit that you can't see how many souls are required to level up (a feature that was available in Demon's Souls).

Third, the controls are definitely not 'laggy'. One example he points out is that he was being attacked by an enemy and was unable to bring his shield up quick enough to block the next three hits. He seems unaware that being hit temporarily stuns your character, which will interrupt attacks and prevent you for raising your shield to block.

Fourth, he claims there is basically no story, and that all you're going to be doing is killing enemies and ringing bells. This shows that he didn't get far into the game at all. Yes, like Demon's Souls, the story is quite absent, but there is far more to the main quest than ringing bells.

Fifth, he talks about how other games would be hated if they followed a similar formula and difficulty. He uses Gears of War 3 as an example, which is a completely different game. Seems like he could only think of four things to write about and came up with a crappy fifth 'truth'.

[MeatAbstract]

I'm loving Dark Souls but there is a few issues with the controls. A few times I've been in a fight, shield up, stepped back and then went to attack only for my character to lower his shield and stand there while I'm hitting R1. Can about a secondm but that second is crucial.

[Blaine]

Happens to me often. I'll be circling around an enemy until I'm facing his back and have my split-second window to backstab him, then for no reason my character decides not to attack. I hit R1 again but the window's gone.

[Blaine]

Update: read in a forum, the issue is that you can't backstab when you have your shield up, or immediately after lowering it. Try lowering your shield a split second earlier than you do now before backstabbing someone, and you shouldn't have any problems anymore. Of course now the issue becomes that your enemy's attack might magically swing around and hit you all the way behind his back while your shield is down, which also happens all too often.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

If the guy actually explored a bit he may find that there is a bigger picture then just taking down enemies. Unlike most RPG's, this game doesn't have cut scenes triggered to explain itself but by looking around you will find plenty of characters that can be saved from death's clutches which in return they explain not only what is happening in your area but their history and the lore of the lands they come from which I do fine interesting.

It's a unique way to portray the story but it may take some tweaking in later games to appeal to everyone I suppose.

Also judging by the complaints of difficulty, I'm guessing the author never played an old school game in his life.