Dark Souls

[H-Man]

What to do? Buy a used PS3 Dark Souls and then the DLC to use my existing char (start of NG+), or buy it all off Steam for ?20.99 (Start fresh with gfx enhancer mod)?

Dark Souls looks much improved on the PC with DSfix. I think you'll appreciate the new content more - and the old content for that matter - with the Steam version

[briareos_kerensky]

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Insta-death 'invisible' paths in crystal-ice caves now?!

Starting to wonder at the hidden reserves of masochism that are driving me to finish this...

Unless you want to

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grab the Blue Titanite Slab

or

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kill all the Moonlight Butterflies

, it's pretty easy to go around those.

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The Gold Crystal Golems on the narrow ridges

are much more dangerous.

[hudson]

Went with Prepare to Die Edition on PS3 in the end. Started again. Man, I love this game. Going to go for a Intelligence/Endurance build.

One of the beauties of this game is that starting again is not even remotely boring having played the Undead Burg etc over and over. The areas and combat are just so addictive.

I'm having to go out today to do some family stuff, but I know that I will be thinking of my next 'thing to do' in Dark Souls while I am out

[Golgo]

Finished this in early hours of the morning, so I think I can offer my concluding, over-lengthy digest...for what it's worth.

Such a wonderful game, with - for me - the finest and most imaginative fantasy-type gameworld and character-roster ever created. Loved how you could lose yourself down some path for hours on end, getting further and further away from the places you know, only to discover a shortcut or viewpoint and for the overall game geography to snap back into resolution. The way it's been put together so coherently is just genius. I wonder if it actually 'works' in real, spatial terms? Doesn't matter anyway, as it sure feels like it. So many memorable areas, with

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Sens Fortress, Blighttown, Darkroot Garden and The Depths

being stand-out favourites for me.

Also wonderful were the combat and customization. They felt perfectly real and sensible, in that you can clearly see the effects in the way your character behaves and looks. I ended up with a STR build, after wasting half the game going for a jack-of-all-trades build that was getting me nowhere, and I ended up tanking most of the

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post-Lord Vessel

scenarios with the

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Darkroot Garden Stone Set for armour, a maxed-out Black Knight's Greatsword and Shield, and maxed-out Heavy Crossbow. The occasional spell (e.g., fall control and hidden body) for the sneakies, plus some magic projectile spells and pyromancies.

Not a great deal of finesse in my approach, but there you go.

The excellence of the game makes some things all the more frustrating, though. The enemy AI was poor, carried over completely unchanged from Demon's Souls, and I may be wrong but I got the feeling that the more complex gameworld in Dark Souls seems to expose the stupidities of the AI even more than in the previous game. Often they'd be happy to lemming over a parapet to their deaths to try get at you (

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classic e.g.: the Dung Barbarians on walkways up top in Blightown

), or hack away/shoot at a piece of level furniture like a tree while you stand safely behind (

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e.g.: the Sorcerer in Darkroot Garden

). Funny how the level architecture will sometimes work to protect you, but at other times the enemy's attacks will pass right though walls and doors, etc. (

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e.g.: Silver Knights in the apartments of Anor Londo

).

Also frustrating was the lack of explanation of basic game systems and even items. I'm not saying everything should be spelled out, but there is a level of obscurity here that prevents all but the most dedicated from fully understanding them. I picked up a

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'dried finger' in the Painted World

. The item had no explanation. I 'used' it several times with no apparent effect and forgot about it. Short of checking the wiki there's no way I could have worked out what it did. And that's a shame, as had I known I might have enjoyed using it properly. A greater crime, though, is not items but the Covenants. The way these interact and clash together is marvellously clever, but short of the occasional invasion and assist there's not much way to get a sense of all the amazing online stuff going on just out of view, beneath the surface. How much more would I have enjoyed and engaged with the game had I known how the Covenants functioned?! (Rhetorical answer: a lot more). Again, it's not about spelling out every detail for the player, but giving them just enough of a hint/feedback to know that

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feeding humanity to a spider witch, offering sunlight medallions to an altar, or indicting phantoms

, to give just three obvious examples, isn't a complete waste of their time. I don't understand why From Software have gone to such lengths to hide all these incredible, innovative systems. Anyway, when the internet is full of people confusing key game systems with glitches ("what are these annoying white circles appearing randomly?" etc.), you know there's a failure to communicate here.

Bleats aside, I think it's a magnificent game overall. It's also sometimes quite a funny game, which people don't tend to notice, in that very 'Japanese'/Sega's 'Yakuza' kind of way:

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the slapstick antics of the Mushroom People, for example, and Princess Gwynevere-Chan of the Humongous Boings

, who with her half-closed eyes seems to me only to need do a 'V' sign to be revealed as a 'kawaii' manga pop idol.

I'll stop there. Next Gen arrives when From Software says it does.

[crocky-chocky]

Heh. A lot of that covenant stuff is news to me, and sounds awesome.

I'm enjoying my second playthrough immensely. Got to the top of

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Sens Fortress

yesterday, which was just as satisfying to achieve even with solid knowledge of its layout and traps...outstanding level, that. Had to chuckle when the

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giant

right at the top

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carried on lobbing bombs during my fight with the Iron Golem, I killed him before I entered the fight first time around!

I'm up to

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Ornstein and Smough,

now...I nearly beat them first time but chose instead to kill the larger of the pair first, and the other one

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gigantified

and straight up whooped my arse.

I'll have to read up on some of the covenant stuff before I next play it.

[Brad]

I need to do fatty first next time too as I want skinny's armour.

I'm considering buying the PC version but am worried about the online aspect. Is it totally hacked and broken and ruined?

[Golgo]

This covenant

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http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/...+the+Dark+Moon

looks a right grin and it's sign-up point is very near where you are, Crocky. On NG+ you should already have the item you need to use to get in.

[briareos_kerensky]

I'm up to

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Ornstein and Smough,

now...I nearly beat them first time but chose instead to kill the larger of the pair first, and the other one

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gigantified

and straight up whooped my arse.

Before the DLC and relative patch, I've always found

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Ornstein easier than Smough in the second phase. As a melee character I had to close quickly and his spear is only scary at long ranges. Get between his legs and hack away. The spear you can get from his soul is a good weapon and a merchant will sell his armour as well.

[crocky-chocky]

Cheers B_K. Hmm, I'm thinking he might prove tricky with my long range focused sorcerer...but I'm up for the challenge having breezed through the bosses so far.

I'll have a little browse at that wiki too, Golgo. That particular covenant doesn't play to my characters strengths but the prospect of fighting

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in a 'sunlight-less Anor Londo'

does sound fantastically nerve-wracking!

[Golgo]

To bring the Convenants really alive, I reckon the game needs areas where you can meet with other Covenant members. A place where the Forest Hippy Covenant can sit cross-legged and talk about how many fluffy bunnies they've saved from poachers (or whatever it is they do). A place where Gravelord Servants can reminisce on successful world-infestations over a glass of blood. A place where the Brothers of Sunlight can man-bond together without fear of persecution. A bit like the factions in Skyrim, really, only less ****.

[ETC]

I thought I would try this again seeing as I'm the one person that apparently hates it. Played it for an hour or two tonight and I still think its utter ****. I just don't get it or understand it I have tried reading a bit about what to do etc but its just so bloody dull and hard I really can't be arsed I'm just not that much of a masochist. I'm not trying to flame or anything but why is this so good? So far even after reading up it just an ugly dark grindfest, I'm stumped

[hudson]

but why is this so good? So far even after reading up it just an ugly dark grindfest, I'm stumped

For me the exploration element, the combat, and the map design made it for me. It's obviously having a Marmite affect on some people. This game is a 10 of 10 for me, but for you it is "utter ****e". Fair enough, you gave it another chance.

[ETC]

For me the exploration element, the combat, and the map design made it for me. It's obviously having a Marmite affect on some people. This game is a 10 of 10 for me, but for you it is "utter ****e". Fair enough, you gave it another chance.

Its the third time I have bought it. I want to like it but I just don't, shame. I love the idea, I just don't enjoy the game.

[hudson]

What specifically do you not like? The tone of the setting? The look? The gameplay? Difficulty? Or the most talked about... lack of handholding? Which to be honest, I can understand, but this is the exploration element and it gets fans talking, making wikis, and debating the best char builds etc.

[ETC]

What specifically do you not like? The tone of the setting? The look? The gameplay? Difficulty? Or the most talked about... lack of handholding? Which to be honest, I can understand, but this is the exploration element and it gets fans talking, making wikis, and debating the best char builds etc.

Where to start with it to be honest. I have played my fair share of RPGs and its probably just the way you are chucked in and that's it, I have no clue what to do, where to go all I have seen is a lot of stairs and bonfires. I have read some of the wikis and followed the suggestion of starting with a ranged character with the master key and I still just shuffle about with nowhere to go and Nowt to do but die. Just seems like a hell of a lot of effort for not much enjoyment so far for me I had the exact same problem with Demons' which I imported when it came out (twice, one Asia one US) and got rid within a week. Reading the positives on here makes it sound amazing but it just completely turns me off when I'm playing it so I just switch it off and either put it back on the box or trade it in to try again 6 months down the road