Gamasutra: From Software's Dark Souls has gotten a lot of attention for featuring an extremely high level of difficulty, however it would be unfair to dismiss it as just another masochistic game. In this article, I examine nine areas that Dark Souls excels in and discuss how we can apply those lessons towards improving game design.
The PlayStation 3 is Sony’s most interesting home console ever, but what’s most interesting of all is trying to nail down the very best games on a console with hundreds of incredible games. Let’s give it a shot.
Sly Thieves in Time
Stay the Party
Portal 2
Dj Hero
Demon’s Souls
God of war Ascension
I've noticed a recent nostalgia for the PS3 and I don't get it for me it's been my least favourite generation to date and I've been gaming since the NES I just feel like the ambition of the developers outweighed the capabilities of the consoles so I remember lots of games running in the lower end of 20fps range and I remember for the first time ever actually disliking the duelshock 3 and it's curved triggers
Sure there were some standouts and great games but that's the only gen I switched entirely to PC gaming
Former SIE president Yoshida explained that Sony wanted to work on the sequel to Demon’s Souls with FromSoftware, but the developer turned it down and instead decided to work with Bandai Namco on what would become Dark Souls.
Not sure what Sony was thinking. Wrong people testing the game. It was my favourite game from the PS3 days. Had to import it from Canada because it wasn't available in Europe at the time. Then I bought it again when a local version was available. It was fun to play online and get two separate platinum.
Hey sometimes you just can’t see the potential.
It’s like the Chicago Bears moving up in the draft to take Trubisky over Pat Mahomes.
I bought the Japanese version of Demons Souls before US release. Me and my friend heard about it from an online friend in Japan. It took a while for it to become popular in the US. It was a new IP with nothing like it at the time and it wasn’t easy to play obviously. Eventually word of mouth spread about it and sales picked up after launch. I don’t think anyone could have seen how big it would be at the time. It was considered very niche and hardcore games were minimal.
I do wonder if we'll ever see Demon's Souls 2. Sony clearly wanted it. FromSoftware's subsequent releases penetrated the mainstream in ways the developer likely never imagined. Any stigma or negative perception around the original game's release has long passed. Bluepoint's remake sold very well on PS5. I think the time has come to visit the IP that started it all.
Today marks the 30th birthday of King's Field, a PlayStation title with an incredible legacy – and one which some Western players might be unaware of.
I still have my original release PS1 long box King's Field right here on my shelf. Great game., Looks better on a CRT than you can really appreciate in emulators or screenshots too, or Im just nostalgic. Note: actually it would be kings field 2 in japan but released here as kings field, so I guess its the second game. Great none the less.
It was great. I always wondered what happened to the series/developer. Wasn’t til a few years ago I found out they moved on to the souls games. It’s nice to see them get the appreciation they deserve.
The brilliance of the level design is that(after about 1000 deaths) you think you've reached a dead end area, only to discover that there is a staircase behind a wall leading underground to a whole new unexplored area...
...only to discover assassins who jump on you and cut your thoat in one swipe. Or the goat demon who slices you in half with one hit...
I want to learn how am I supposed to level up if I always die and never get my souls back? This game is sadistic. I was doing great, then I encountered a knight which killed me, and I couldn't get my souls back because he killed me again. That's my story in Dark Souls, I want to cry! I can't level up because of that, and I fee stuck among much powerful enemies turning me into omelet.
The worst part is that I used the few souls I had to level up something I didn't want! :(
The only thing I wish would change about Dark Souls is making PvP or co-op easier. I hate the fact you gotta go farm humanity from rats and the like if you want help from other people who are waiting around to help you.
I'm in the Darkroot Forest and I'm working on beating the Hydra. Kinda hard when there's nobody there to pick up your soul sign...
Do more people play Dark Souls on Xbox or PS3 because I'm playing it on my friend's 360 and I don't see too many people on. I see a few people on at noon and I'll get into a party or two but not really.
But nevertheless, The worlds are very beautiful in the game. So much more to explore.
I agree with nearly everything in the article except for the conclusion. Dark Souls is a perfect game to me. I've no gripes with the game what so ever. I just went through the painting in Anor Landos and the scenery in this game just keeps changing everywhere you go.
I guess you need to play Demon Souls to really appreciate what From software did with this game. I never thought Dark Souls would be better than Demon Souls but it is. As for losing souls. It never pisses me off. Simply because I know Dark Souls is designed around completing the game over and over in new game plus. Yeah first playthrough you'll be around lvl 60 but on second Playthrough you get more souls per enemy defeated and it keeps everything fresh.