Dark Souls(Demon's Souls successor)

[Sno]

RE4 would probably be a pretty informative game to play through, given that its influence can be felt in virtually every third person shooter of the last decade. I'm not 100% certain, but i believe it was the first time anybody had done that kind of over-the-shoulder camera perspective, or at least the first time somebody did it and it caught on. I mean, RE4's been cited as a direct influence for games like Dead Space and Gears of War. The latter, especially, went on to influence a whole host of other games itself. (Including, arguably, the somewhat misguided RE5 and RE6.)

RE4 is amazing though, it never settles on doing one thing for too long, the game spans a huge breadth of content. It's constantly throwing you into new situations, but they always feel so finely tuned and purposeful. It's a game that could have collapsed under its ambitions, but it never does. The boss fights in particular are all totally distinct, but all really great. It's easy to understand why RE5 and RE6 don't work as well, they're still chasing RE4, which is a game that probably shouldn't have worked with how many distinct things it was trying to do.

I'm very curious to see how Evil Within turns out, it's Shinji Mikami's return to survival horror after having left Capcom post-RE4. He's been involved with a lot of great games over the years though. Vanquish, one of his other post-Capcom games, is particularly worth checking out.

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... What's this thread about?

[Griddlelol]

That's one of the reasons I want to play it. It's a seminal game for many things. The perspective and the button prompts are what's obvious. 

 

I watched the Evil Within trailer; it would put me off completely if trailers ever had anything to do with the final game. The marketing department must be awful, or have no idea how to push a survival horror. There's not much decent gameplay footage about unfortunately.

 

This thread is about the spirit (heh) of Dark Souls and all games that are kinda like it in the slightest. Right?

[Gormongous]

Well, on topic, I just had some dude invade me while I was in the basement of Sen's Fortress killing titanite demons. I panicked briefly, then smiled to myself because I had the Slumbering Dragoncrest ring on. He couldn't find me because he couldn't hear me and, after about five minutes, I heard a crash and a groan and a thump and I got 10,000 souls out of nowhere. The fortress did its work. Why would you ever invade someone there?

[Bjorn]

Well, on topic, I just had some dude invade me while I was in the basement of Sen's Fortress killing titanite demons. I panicked briefly, then smiled to myself because I had the Slumbering Dragoncrest ring on. He couldn't find me because he couldn't hear me and, after about five minutes, I heard a crash and a groan and a thump and I got 10,000 souls out of nowhere. The fortress did its work. Why would you ever invade someone there?

 

Because it's an evil place to invade.  If you catch someone on a bridge, and you have a Greatbow, many lulz will be had...by the invader.  It's certainly a challenging place to invade, but the chances for a host to panic and put themselves in a terrible position is fairly high.  It's also much, much, much harder for the host to run away from you, forcing them to fight if you catch them in a room. 

[Gormongous]

Because it's an evil place to invade.  If you catch someone on a bridge, and you have a Greatbow, many lulz will be had...by the invader.  It's certainly a challenging place to invade, but the chances for a host to panic and put themselves in a terrible position is fairly high.  It's also much, much, much harder for the host to run away from you, forcing them to fight if you catch them in a room. 

 

That makes sense. I'm still surprised at the dramatic drop in the skill of invaders from NG to NG+ while I remain at virtually the same SL. I've been invaded four times since starting NG+ and I've won all of them. One was the guy in Sen's Fortress who couldn't handle the swinging blades; one was a Dex build with the Uchigatana who inexplicably tried to tank it out with me, a Str build with the Zweihander and Greatshield of Artorias; and two were mages who completely fell apart when they saw I could block most of their damage and take off half their health in exchange. I guess it makes sense that less experienced players would rush ahead to NG+ rather than playing NG to 100%, but it's still weird to have been beaten down over and over in NG and then be a death-dealing god in NG+. I'm not even that good! I fall for a backstab almost every time and my stamina management still isn't great.

[Griddlelol]

Argh, the pvp talk is making me want to pick up DS2 so I can experience it! I must bide my time and wait for the steam sale.

It's like that old psychology experiment where you give a kid a piece of candy and say if they can wait, they'll get 2. I feel like I'm going to end up like all those poor children, regretting spending £40 on one game when I could get more than that If I only wait.

[Bjorn]

I'm the poster child of poor self control when it comes to Souls games.  I bought 2 copies of DS2, got PS3 version on release day and pre-ordered the PC version so I could pre-load it. 

[Griddlelol]

I've done well so far...I just hope the steam sale comes sooner rather than later.

I'm going to have a serious think if project beast has no PC release. I'll need a TV and a ps4. That's not going to be cheap.

[Sno]

That makes sense. I'm still surprised at the dramatic drop in the skill of invaders from NG to NG+ while I remain at virtually the same SL. I've been invaded four times since starting NG+ and I've won all of them. One was the guy in Sen's Fortress who couldn't handle the swinging blades; one was a Dex build with the Uchigatana who inexplicably tried to tank it out with me, a Str build with the Zweihander and Greatshield of Artorias; and two were mages who completely fell apart when they saw I could block most of their damage and take off half their health in exchange. I guess it makes sense that less experienced players would rush ahead to NG+ rather than playing NG to 100%, but it's still weird to have been beaten down over and over in NG and then be a death-dealing god in NG+. I'm not even that good! I fall for a backstab almost every time and my stamina management still isn't great.

The same thing is happening to me in DS2, PVP reached its height towards the end of NG, but i think i'm back to mostly fighting scrubs in NG+.

I think a lot of it is that the more experienced pvp community for the souls games sort of implicitly agrees to congregate around certain points in NG playthroughs. The deeper into NG+ playthroughs you go, the harder it is to be matchmade.

[Bjorn]

I've done well so far...I just hope the steam sale comes sooner rather than later.

I'm going to have a serious think if project beast has no PC release. I'll need a TV and a ps4. That's not going to be cheap.

 

My kid uses her 360 and PS4 on her monitor in the dorms, I just set up the audio to route through her PC and play through her PC speakers/headphones.  So if you have a monitor and a PC, you don't *need* a TV. 

 

On topic:  I actually never got super deep in my NG+ playthrough on DS1.  I had the same problem (only worse) that I have on DS2, I'd rather make a different character and start over than continue NG+ cycles.  Whenever I wanted higher level dueling, the platform right outside of the Undead Burg tower bonfire was already really popular with RS signs, Dragon signs and invasions on NG+.  I remember having a lot of fun there and a huge range of skill and build quality. 

 

I thought that DS2 would break me of continuing to start over with new characters since I could respec and try different stuff.  But the ability to actually name your character and have other people see that name lets me have way to much goofy fun making role playing builds and trying to stick to a limited play style that fits the name as much as possible. 

[Winnipeg Fats]

Oh god new page:

 

My kid uses her 360 and PS4 on her monitor in the dorms, I just set up the audio to route through her PC and play through her PC speakers/headphones.  So if you have a monitor and a PC, you don't *need* a TV. 

 

On topic:  I actually never got super deep in my NG+ playthrough on DS1.  I had the same problem (only worse) that I have on DS2, I'd rather make a different character and start over than continue NG+ cycles.  Whenever I wanted higher level dueling, the platform right outside of the Undead Burg tower bonfire was already really popular with RS signs, Dragon signs and invasions on NG+.  I remember having a lot of fun there and a huge range of skill and build quality. 

 

I thought that DS2 would break me of continuing to start over with new characters since I could respec and try different stuff.  But the ability to actually name your character and have other people see that name lets me have way to much goofy fun making role playing builds and trying to stick to a limited play style that fits the name as much as possible. 

 

The same thing happens to me re: NG+ runs.  I just play a new class.  I'm wondering if maybe the respec stuff in DS2 will let me have my cake and eat it too.

[Griddlelol]

My kid uses her 360 and PS4 on her monitor in the dorms, I just set up the audio to route through her PC and play through her PC speakers/headphones.  So if you have a monitor and a PC, you don't *need* a TV.  

Huh, I didn't think of that. I have a laptop at the moment, but I've been planning to upgrade to a desktop when I move out of my current place. Been dreading it, not only the price, but also I'm convinced windows is pretty much dead and steam will become the default OS for high end Pc gamers.

[osmosisch]

The same thing happens to me re: NG+ runs.  I just play a new class.  I'm wondering if maybe the respec stuff in DS2 will let me have my cake and eat it too.

I know for me at least the scarcity of upgrade materials made it so that I wasn't very interested in switching radically and have to upgrade yet another thing.

Plus there's fun to be had in climbing the power curve rather than arriving at its top instantly.

[Gormongous]

Around 1:00 tonight I was ready to come here and post about how NG+ was bullshit. I was in Anor Londo and had three red phantoms (the same three guys, all with obnoxious "fire and forget" tactics that I wasn't equipped to counter) camping the fog gate to Smough and Ornstein. The trek from the bonfire to that boss fight is already annoying enough without a guaranteed invasion sometime between killing the first Royal Sentinel and summoning Solaire. But then I finally got in without any health or flasks lost and had an amazing fight. I think I might think now that Ornstein's second-stage form is a bit easier than Smough's to fight as a strength-based melee fighter? At least I went nearly the whole fight without taking any damage, which felt very different from my NG experience.

 

And then I cleared the Asylum again and most of Darkroot Garden, because I have an unhealthy relationship with Dark Souls.

[Bjorn]

And then I cleared the Asylum again and most of Darkroot Garden, because I have an unhealthy relationship with Dark Souls.

 

This is healthy and normal.  Do not let anyone question your love of Dark Souls. 

[Winnipeg Fats]

It's funny, I found the opposite regarding Ornstein and Smough.  I have an infinitely easier time as melee taking out second-phase Smough.  Lightning Ornstein always eats my lunch.

[eot]

He can't hit you with his spear if you stay right in front of him, you just have to keep dodging towards him when he hops back and watch out for the buttslam.

[Winnipeg Fats]

I'm pretty sure after I finish DS2 I'm going to roll right back in to either Dark Souls or Demon's Souls.  I have a Souls problem.  Are we the gaming undead? Requiring more souls to maintain our sanity?

[Gormongous]

He can't hit you with his spear if you stay right in front of him, you just have to keep dodging towards him when he hops back and watch out for the buttslam.

 

Yeah, this is what I found out. Smough takes big chunks off your stamina and his butt-slam has a wider radius, so if you have the ability to stay between second-stage Ornstein's legs the entire time, it's a dramatically easier fight. I was surprised, because in NG I saw Ornstein's one-hit kill and said, "Nope."

[Stuart]

Finished this game! Overall impression is that I loved it, but I wish the game gave you a better sense of direction. Spent too much of my time not knowing how to progress the main path after being burned out on exploring side stuff. Those moments felt like dead air, and it ended up nearly boring me if I didn't have a couple of forum peeps and friends giving me tips on where to go next. Other than that, great game.

 

Also, Artorias is best fight.

 

I know the boss is bullshit, but its theme ain't.

[Griddlelol]

I tried to play again last night but I don't seem to have the drive that most others do to start a NG I'm a different spec. Maybe it's just too soon ): but I feel like I'm just repeating myself.

[Gormongous]

I tried to play again last night but I don't seem to have the drive that most others do to start a NG I'm a different spec. Maybe it's just too soon ): but I feel like I'm just repeating myself.

 

Honestly, for me NG+ is about doing everything over but with better equipment and complete knowledge. It's not the same kind of joy and fun as the first time around, but it's pretty good, especially going into boss fights knowing all their moves. I didn't take a single point of damage against Sif, although I had to eat my pride fighting the Four Kings, who are crazy hard on NG+.

[Griddlelol]

I'd really like to get into the pvp or go put my summon stone around bosses, but I don't think I'm going to be able to do that ever with ds1. Can't afford 2 yet though ):

My plan was to try a completely different build, go pick up some really str dependent weapons and maybe some faith skills and see if I like it. I got to FLS and I was like: meh, I'll do it later. And switched over to SR4. To be fair my girlfriend was bugging me at the time, and it's hard to et into DS when someone is speaking to you constantly.

[Gormongous]

I'd really like to get into the pvp or go put my summon stone around bosses, but I don't think I'm going to be able to do that ever with ds1. Can't afford 2 yet though ):

My plan was to try a completely different build, go pick up some really str dependent weapons and maybe some faith skills and see if I like it. I got to FLS and I was like: meh, I'll do it later. And switched over to SR4. To be fair my girlfriend was bugging me at the time, and it's hard to et into DS when someone is speaking to you constantly.

 

I'm actually saving my plans for an alternate build until Dark Souls 2, but I'm having trouble letting go of how much fun being a big stomping STR dude is. I'd planned to go DEX/INT and wield a magic rapier or something, but I just had so much fun tanking Sif in NG+, it'll be hard to let that go. Who needs to roll when blocking the hit takes the same amount of stamina and has a faster recovery? Not me (actually, I really need to learn how to roll better, bad)!

[Griddlelol]

Yeah, my build was very much...me. I wasn't much of a tank, but I could do anything I wanted if I shifted equipment around a little. Tank, fast rolls, double-handed DPS machine. I'd quite like to specialise my build a little and try a Str build using big fuck-off axes and swords. 

I just have so many games in my back log that I need to (and really want to!) finish that spending another 40+ hours in Dark Souls seems like a bad idea...but I keep turning the game on anyway, wanting to play.