[Megathread] Dark Souls

[Remilia]

Stop the console bashing.
It's a Dark Souls thread, not a PC > Console thread.

[Wilian]

Console market makes more money. Be thankful you get these games ported to pc.

No, if the developer is not ready to put in the effort to give out a platform specific quality product then they shouldn't do it at all. And if they do their product is worth of a shit-stain for me, only to be forgotten as "one of those games".

[Moralio]

Bought it on saturday because of -33% discount. Difficult but rewarding RPG experience and at the same time - single worst PC port I've ever seen. Low texture res, max 30 FPS with a tendency to drop (!!!) on a machine that is way more powerfull than X360 and unmodified UI with seizure-inducing camerawork that makes playing with keyboard + mouse a challenge itself. Perhaps I will have to invest in a gamepad also, because challenge is one thing but fighting the controls in an already hard game is a slap to the face. Worst of all is a targeting system when fighting more than one enemy. It tends to switch back and forth at extreme speed getting me proptly killed and loosing hard earned progress.

I wish more ports to be like Borderlands 2 damnit.

[Voidgazer]

Strangely enough I couldn't find the official megathread for this game (because there's none yet).

Maybe I (or someone more knowledgeable) should make one? Or should I just bump one of the older threads with the most responses? I'd like to hear something from mods on this topic.

Meanwhile, I'll still post this.

The game is on sale on Steam (as of the time of creation of this post) with 33% off. And I think the game is worthy of its price even for the full price.

Anyway, I bought it a couple of days ago (just before it actually went on sale) and am making steady progress through the game.

I must say this game is really fun. First of all, I do not intend to cause any flame wars or anything, but this game is an excellent example of PC quality game... coming from consoles. Yeah, this is kinda weird, but this is just what it is. The PC market has recently been flooded with console ports and multiplatform games which didn't really offer quality gameplay. Those games are full of limitations, handholding and other issues that plague modern titles

Dark Souls, on the other hand, may be a poor console-to-PC port technically-wise, but it really shines when it comes to the essential element of a video game - actual gameplay. It really is challenging and can sometimes seem even brutal towards the player, but it isn't because of artificial difficulty like some people like to claim (well, maybe a little). Actually the game is played on fair terms - it rewards smart, quick witted and well, simply good players, and punishes careless, ignorant and spoiled players.

Dark souls encourages exploration, trial and error gameplay and values decision of the player. The game also offers a lot of freedom in terms of exploration: you're rarely limited by story events in your progression through the levels; the secret areas aren't barred by some new ability you must acquire and the back track, they're just hidden well, but all that required from is observation, savvy and patience; your movement is rarely hindered by invisible walls and even though sometimes glitchy it is really fluid and doesn't give that feeling of moving through a series of hallways (even when you pass through an actual hallway in the game), like many games do these days.

I haven't finished the games, and am really new to it myself, but I can already tell it has a lot of replay value. Dark Souls is a pretty deep game, that allows lots different builds, and has quite a few underlying gameplay mechanics, mostly considering multiplayer (which is a whole separate topic), that I'm not even familiar with. Yet...

Speaking of multiplayer. Dark Souls is a unique game in many ways, and multiplayer is probably the most interesting one. While essentially Dark Souls is a single player game, it allows different players to interact with each other. Starting from simple messages, scribbled on the floor, to summoning other players into your world, being summoner yourself for jolly cooperation, or sometimes being invaded by a hostile player who's after your souls. As I already mentioned, there is much more to it, like different covenants, cursed worlds, invasions and so on, but I don't really know much about it.

On a personal note, I am really enjoying the levels themselves. Even though the visuals aren't that stunning, I really like the concepts behind the locations in the game. It does look breathtaking when you consider the story behind each new place you visit.

Lastly I want to add that Dark Souls is also unique game because of the very fact of its release on PC. It was meant to be console exclusive, but From Software listened to the fans pleas, and ported the game to PC. It was a risky venture for a company that didn't have experience of making games for that platform and hope it paid off in the end. I really want to see Dark Souls to create a fortunate precedent in the video games industry, so we could see more PC releases of good games. Especially future From Software titles. As I mentioned several times in this thread, the PC port of this game couldn't even be considered a proper port, it's basically the same game consoles have, only running on PC. But one of the powers of this platform - is its community. And with this power, the game has already been improved literally minutes after its release.

I encourage you buy this game for many reasons, first and foremost of which is obviously the fact that Dark Souls is just a good game. But also I encourage you to buy to show there's still demand for challenging and unique titles and that PC is a huge market (it's a fact some people somehow don't realize, especially the eastern developers).
Pirating the game would not be just shameless (like it always is), but also foolish and simply pointless, since the multiplayer is an essential part of the unique gaming experience which is Dark Souls.

Praise the Sun!

[Moralio]

So I snapped and bought a standard X360 controller and hell, it is a whole diffrent game now! Camera calmed down, targets don't suddenly shift (altrough I'd want it to be diffrent button than R3) so I can now finally, properly play this. Sadly, nothing can be done about sudden frame drops even when loading relatively small areas.

I've only played a little while and didint have time to check but can I switch x and y axis somewhere?

[Deleted]

So I snapped and bought a standard X360 controller and hell, it is a whole diffrent game now! Camera calmed down, targets don't suddenly shift (altrough I'd want it to be diffrent button than R3) so I can now finally, properly play this. Sadly, nothing can be done about sudden frame drops even when loading relatively small areas.

I've only played a little while and didint have time to check but can I switch x and y axis somewhere?

Don't know about the axis switching, but try DSFix for the 30fps etc.
I suddenly stopped dropping fps randomly when I turned on a few extra things that should have dropped my fps... (other than big aoe attacks, go down to 40ish now )

[Cakka]

Where is dees fix for the controls?

It's the same download. Read the readme.

[Remilia]

So I snapped and bought a standard X360 controller and hell, it is a whole diffrent game now! Camera calmed down, targets don't suddenly shift (altrough I'd want it to be diffrent button than R3) so I can now finally, properly play this. Sadly, nothing can be done about sudden frame drops even when loading relatively small areas.

I've only played a little while and didint have time to check but can I switch x and y axis somewhere?

Yes you can, just go to options. >.>
Unless there's some biiiig difference in PC than PS3.

[Moralio]

Yes you can, just go to options. >.>
Unless there's some biiiig difference in PC than PS3.

Found it. Thanks.

[Duncanîdaho]

My bro just got me this game for my birthday a few days ago for the PS3 because he knows I love challenging games and he had read it's good. After reading this thread I can't wait to go fire it up. I had not ever heard of the game before this.

[Voidgazer]

My bro just got me this game for my birthday a few days ago for the PS3 because he knows I love challenging games and he had read it's good. After reading this thread I can't wait to go fire it up. I had not ever heard of the game before this.

I heard there were some graphical problems with the PS3 version after the latest patch. More precisely some trouble with particle effects not being correctly (if at all) displayed.

[Remilia]

I heard there were some graphical problems with the PS3 version after the latest patch. More precisely some trouble with particle effects not being correctly (if at all) displayed.

Yes there was, at least I experienced it. It was kinda funny seeing my bonfire go haywire though.

Not sure about now, haven't touched it in uhh... a week, >.> Demon's Souls.

[Deleted]

I bought Dark Souls for Ps3 about 3 months ago, And I have played it over 150 hours, and it still isn't boring. I like just how the game punishes you from your own mistakes, and there isn't any unfair situations, although there is moments when you get really, really frustrated, but when you finally manage to get forward, it is soooo satisfying. Also the DLC was worth the money, hell I would have bought it even if it had cost more. And I haven't seen yet any of those graphical problems Voidgazer mentioned. I know there is some problems, since I have seen videos about it happening, maybe I'm just lucky.
Remember fellows, if the game seems hard and frustrating, then summon someone and engage in Jolly cooperation. Praise the Sun
P.s Whaterver you do, Don't crack and go hollow

[Remilia]

P.s Whaterver you do, Don't crack and go hollow

Sorry, I played too much. I've gone hollow.

[Deleted]

Sorry, I played too much. I've gone hollow.

You can never play too much of Dark souls. *Gives a humanity*

[Xykotic]

Stop the console bashing.
It's a Dark Souls thread, not a PC > Console thread.

Bashing consoles pointlessly is not helping anyone, but there is no doubt that consoles are infact holding PC's back.

At the very least graphically.

[Moralio]

Downed Gwyn a while ago. Really, tough-as-nails experience that sadly frustrates the more I play it. Tried to start again but stopped when I arrived at Andor Londo. I know that there are a ton of things I never saw or did but I kinda lost motivation now. Overall I enjoyed Dark Souls, not a whole lot, but it was good.

[Sj]

Bashing consoles pointlessly is not helping anyone, but there is no doubt that consoles are infact holding PC's back.

At the very least graphically.

Regardless, Remilia and other mods have had to issue warnings in this thread and others about the PC vs. consoles arguments. Infractions will be given from here on out.

[Deleted]

I've reached a point where I still want to play but I don't know what to do. I have a permanent itch to make new builds but I think I already got them covered pretty much. I've completed the game with a strength/huge weapon build, dex/pyro build, pure mage build, faith knight build, vit gouge elemental build, and battlemage (heavy armor, homing crystal soulmass, enchanted sword, couple of utility spells).

I'm not into PvP unless I fight invaders, I'm more of a jolly cooperation kind of person. I was thinking about leveling a few characters to like 11, 30, 45, 60 etc and leaving them at those levels to coop in different areas but I've been finding a lot less people lately to coop with at low levels in the old areas. Perhaps it's because the only people playing now are the veterans who don't need any help now they've completed the game a few times already. My level 55 gets more summons for Artorias than Ornstein and Smough these days. Also perhaps it's because there seem to be a lot of morons invading low level areas with dark bead, and so they choose to play hollow.

Like Demon's Souls before it, I find the gameworld of Dark Souls so incredibly immersive. It feels way more authentic to me than Elder Scrolls, for example. The sparse voice acting is perfect, and the environments are incredibly well designed. The little puzzle pieces of lore that you have to discover and piece together make for a great story. It's so addicting.

[Deleted]

Boatking, have you considered making a SL1 run? I am currently going to Lost Izalith on my SL1, and it has been a really fun experience so far. I were soo happy when I downed Ornstein and Smough on my first attempt. That boss usually is a pain in the ass, but somehow I managed to beat em.