Sully907

Dark Souls(Demon's Souls successor)

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I've been playing through DeS in order (with a brief detour to grab the Crescent Falchion because I needed a magic weapon). So I've done the first two levels of the first three areas. Currently working on the 3-2 boss to finish that area. That boss seems like it's going to take a while to beat. It took forever for me to beat the 2-2 boss too (but I had died as human a bunch of times to it, so it probably pushed the World Tendency black, which makes it harder(?)).

 

Coming in, I thought that this game would just be Dark Souls, but different. I'm surprised by how much worse it actually is. The quality of the level design is night and day. They fixed so much stuff in Dark Souls. It's still a fantastic game, though.

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Coming in, I thought that this game would just be Dark Souls, but different. I'm surprised by how much worse it actually is. The quality of the level design is night and day. They fixed so much stuff in Dark Souls. It's still a fantastic game, though.

 

They refined a lot of the rough edges going to Dark Souls (which is a funny thing to say about that game).  A casual glance, and they look like they could be the same game.  But the details and systems are quite different, and give it a different feel.

 

I had forgot how comforting I found regular bonfires.  The rarity of the teleporter points in DeS is a lot more unnerving.  I had forgot how brutal half health is.  The hit detection feels a lot different.  Short weapons feel shorter.  Weapons seem to collide with the environment a bit more. 

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Weapons seem to collide with the environment a bit more. 

 

Definitely noticed this as I'm using a claymore. A lot of the environments are literally claustrophobic, whereas in DS they used a lot of different stuff to evoke the feeling of claustrophobia. The distinction is important because it meant that I've died a couple times in the tunnels of 2-2 because my camera gets stuck in, or bounces off the roof.  Whereas Tomb of the Giants was terrifying because, even with a lantern, you can see at most about 5 feet around you, but this doesn't affect your physical ability to play the game.

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GUH, might be close to putting down DeS for a while. The poorly designed parts are really getting on my nerves, while the super tough boss fights are insurmountable for the moment as I can't summon anyone. Currently stuck on the Maneaters, and I'm not really looking forward to any of the X-3 bosses either. I really don't like boss fights. I put up with them in DS because they were interesting, and grew to like them in the later half because they had interesting lore (and I was probably way over leveled for them). Meanwhile, in DeS they don't really have any background and just feel perfunctory. I'll probably come back after I finish DSII.

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Yeah, by and large the bosses in DkS felt like they required a comparable skill as the environment you had to traverse to get to them.  But I remember thinking the bosses in DeS felt like massive difficulty spikes, particularly if you were trying to fight them in melee.

 

I've only played a bit since my last post, mostly faffed about in 4-1 to get a couple of items that I knew I wanted before going to 2-1.  I haven't fought a boss besides Phalanx in 1-1 yet. 

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what items were they? (i need help XD)

 

I guess it was 3 items. A compound long bow, a regenerating health ring and a magic sword that regenerates mana. The skeletons on 4-1 are right nasty, but are killable even for a beginning character.

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I made it most of the way through 3-2 tonight, but I just can't afford to fight those guys down in the swamp that break your armor in two shots. The repair cost of my armor is about 450 per piece, which is a bit extravigant for me right now. I think I'm going to go back to 2-1 since that's where the GB playthrough is and I don't want to be spoiled.

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It's hard for me to read criticism of DeS' game design when what I liked so much about it were all the "rules" it broke to be the game it is. What I love is the implicit atmosphere of the game, which is even more withdrawn than DaS. It's even in the music of the Nexus:

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That Demon Souls music has some serious Fluxus vibes going on, using complete silence expressively in an awkward, foreboding, stop-and-go rhythm.

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2-1 beaten. Man, that enchanted sword that the GB guys have made this a ton easier for them. Not that the level was super hard for me, but the boss itself was crazy. I ended up just buying 80 crossbow bolts and cheesing it that way since I didn't have any offensive spells to use.

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2-1 beaten. Man, that enchanted sword that the GB guys have made this a ton easier for them. Not that the level was super hard for me, but the boss itself was crazy. I ended up just buying 80 crossbow bolts and cheesing it that way since I didn't have any offensive spells to use.

 

I'm looking forward to walking into boss fights blind again in DkS2.  Going back through DeS, the bosses have been the least interesting part for me, since I mostly remember their pattern, their weak spots, etc.  It's fun to not know what to expect!

 

I was able to get most of the equipment that I'm going to want for rest of the run last night.  It's going to make certain chunks pretty easy, but I've already been through this once white-knuckled, no reason to drag that out again. 

 

I'm remembering just how much I hate the World Tendencies.  I think there was a neat idea there, but the implementation of it is just too unwieldy.  I went offline last night, as there was something I wanted that could only be acquired in Pure White, which is too hard to guarantee achieving online.  The bit I played online, I'm surprised at the number of people that seem to still be playing.  I wonder if it's just people going back to it before DkS2 comes out?  Though I've seen a lot of incredibly stupid deaths by ghosts, so it doesn't seem like it's all experienced players.

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Sorry

 

Ha!

 

Edited to add: To be fair, we all die in dumb ways occasionally.  But the number and variety of blood stains in 1-1 my first time through was pretty impressive. 

 

My two dumbest deaths so far were back to back at the start of 2-2 because of a Crystal Lizard.  I saw the lizard that's visible from the archstone right after beating the boss, and figured I'd snag it real quick before warping back to the Nexus.  Went sprinting off after it, forgetting just how many blooding miners there are down that hallway.  Revived, though, okay, I still want that thing, I'll just be a bit more careful this time.  Successfully killed the lizard, was feeling pretty good, and then got a friendly reminder about the other nasty surprise waiting in that room. 

 

Stupid explosive mine carts.

 

Greed will get you killed.

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Ha!  Running into the two phantoms was awesome.  Nice job not getting stunlocked and crushed there. 

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Ha!

 

Edited to add: To be fair, we all die in dumb ways occasionally.  But the number and variety of blood stains in 1-1 my first time through was pretty impressive. 

 

My two dumbest deaths so far were back to back at the start of 2-2 because of a Crystal Lizard.  I saw the lizard that's visible from the archstone right after beating the boss, and figured I'd snag it real quick before warping back to the Nexus.  Went sprinting off after it, forgetting just how many blooding miners there are down that hallway.  Revived, though, okay, I still want that thing, I'll just be a bit more careful this time.  Successfully killed the lizard, was feeling pretty good, and then got a friendly reminder about the other nasty surprise waiting in that room. 

 

Stupid explosive mine carts.

 

Greed will get you killed.

 

If it makes you feel any better, even after reading your story I fell for this as well.

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So, I noticed there isn't a DkS2 thread yet, which makes sense, not much info about that game yet. I decided that I am, in fact, going to buy it twice, so I preordered it for ps3, and I'll likely (as long as it is good, ofc) buy it again once it comes to PC. I did that with DkS1, after all. I'd really like to be part of a community working on discovering it as we play it for the first time though. I think the idle forums would be one of the best places for that, if there are enough of us that want to do that. I thought about joining the discussion on SA, but threads in Games move way too fast and are usually bad anyway.

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Man, I can't believe I created this thread randomly back in 2011, I need to come back and spend more time on these boards again. So much good discussion. Does someone want to make an official Dark Souls 2 thread?

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I'd vote you're already here, seeing as there's discussion here about both DS and DeS. Why not also Stirb Langsam: Dark Souls Deux?

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Seems likely that people are going to keep using this thread anyways once it comes out. Or we can make a new one, either way is fine by me.

 

I had forgot just how maddening the second level of the Tower of Latria is.  The incessant beating seriously gets under my skin and unnerves me through the entire level. 

 

I'm so much better at melee combat this time around in DeS.  I was terrible at it the first time around.  Used a bow or magic to kill everything.  Got through the Maneater fighter in 2-2 with just melee, which would have been unthinkable on my first game.

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I've now beaten up to 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, and 4-1

 

I, unfortunately, didn't look up what the boss souls did before grabbing the regeneration miracle. Regen isn't that good, and the boss weapon that's made with that soul is pretty much the only one on the list I'm interested in.

 

: (

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Yeah, that's one thing that should be looked up even if you're trying to avoid spoilers.  There's just no easy way to know what all a soul can do without looking it up.  I'd also say be careful with any ore Chunks.  You can buy *most* of the shards and large shards, but there is a fixed limit to the number of Chunks and Pure stones that you will get in one playthrough. 

 

I finished it up this weekend.  We had some terrible weather (brutal cold and more snow), so I just ended up gaming a fair amount.  Finally gave up on gathering materials and doing some of the side quests, just chewed through the last few levels in a hurry to get it done. 

 

Only 8 days until Dark Souls 2 is out!  Still no confirmed PC release date, though the current rumor is pointing to late April based on some leaked Namco promotional materials for Asia. 

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I told myself I wouldn't care if I wasted a boss soul since I figured there were a bunch of different boss soul weapons I'd like (I think there were 3 or 4 in Dark Souls) but there's pretty much only one that scales well with strength, and it also scales with faith as well, which makes it pretty much perfect for my character. I'm still really bummed out about the whole thing. I haven't really found a weapon in the game so far that I like, and to miss one that's perfect and that I already had all the components for really sucks.

 

As for Dark Souls 2, I'm still going to wait for the PC version and play Titanfall instead in the meantime. I expect it will take me about that long to beat Demon's Souls anyway, and I might even go back for a NG+ run to try out the cleaver I missed on the first time through.

 

Edit: It looks like my weapon options for this playthrough are pretty much narrowed down to the Dragon Bone Smasher, The Large Sword of Moonlight, or a Great Sword/Great Axe. If I want to change up styles back toward my old Dark Souls character, I could go for the Blueblood Sword I guess, or the Large Sword of Searching if I'm feeling wierd.

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