froghawk on 22/12/2014 at 01:18
Could someone explain what makes Dark Souls so appealing? I've watched people play it, read about it, and listened to people talk about it and praise it endlessly, but all I've managed to glean from that is that it's REALLY HARD and it has more of an old school design that doesn't spoon feed everything to the player. Aside from that, what's the appeal? I'm tempted to try it based on all the praise, but a lengthy combat-oriented game with minimal story is the opposite of what I look for these days.
But yeah, Jazzpunk was awesome.
Starker on 22/12/2014 at 01:53
It's not that Dark Souls is REALLY HARD, it's that it's decently challenging while also being very fair. An intelligent player who gives a decent try to explore the world, try different strategies, and learn the mechanics of the game will not really have a lot of trouble outside of a few challenging spots.
It doesn't just throw wave after wave of enemies at you, it presents you with a challenge, gives you the tools to beat it, and leaves it up to you to figure out how. Here's an example of a complete newbie doing very well just by playing intelligently: (
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFPEDTXyQKoNbqs8NEkKbObhIGrVmRhxT)
Also, it has very good atmosphere and lore that more than make up for the minimal story. It doesn't have a lot of cutscenes, but there's an interesting backstory to the world and many of its inhabitants that you can piece together from various contextual clues, dialogues, and item descriptions.
nicked on 22/12/2014 at 07:02
Yeah, I'd say Dark Souls is an easy game to misunderstand if you've not played it.
For the difficulty, it helps to define challenge and difficulty separately. A difficult game might be one that you have to press on through frustration until you get lucky. Dark Souls is rarely about luck, and rarely frustrating. It is a game that is perfectly balanced, very fair, and literally challenges you to do better, and is addictive because of it. The joy comes from one's own noticeable improvement, but the game never handholds you. It's like that thing about how, if you help a butterfly out of it's cocoon, it'll be too weak to survive in the wild. Dark Souls is the same - it quietly watches you struggle, because it knows you can do it without help if you just keep trying.
As for the story, it's absolutely of the "Show don't tell" school. Every environment is dripping with atmosphere and history, and everywhere you go you'll feel like you are grasping at some untold deeper insight about the world, but nothing is overt, and it's like deciphering meaning from a vivid dream. The whole world is this unsettling, moribund land, slowly slipping into decay as if it's some visual metaphor for the mind of an Alzheimer's patient, with brief tantalising glimpses of clarity soon lost to the encroaching miasma.
Plus, they just patched Games for Windows Live out of it, so there are literally no downsides to buying it now. :)
N'Al on 22/12/2014 at 09:34
I rarely ever buy games on release, so I have this 'problem' every year - the only 2014 game, I think, I've played and completed this year is Wolfenstein: TNO. As such, that's my GOTY 2014.
The only other 2014 games I've dabbled in are Broken Sword 5, SR: Dragonfall, Wasteland 2, Risen 3 and Thief, but I haven't played anywhere near enough of any of them to be able to form a conclusive opinion.
Also, why hasn't kaufenpreis' account been banned yet?
faetal on 22/12/2014 at 10:10
Quote Posted by froghawk
Could someone explain what makes Dark Souls so appealing?
It strikes a particularly unique chord. The game makes you feel lonely, hopeless and like the place you inhabit is extremely hostile and that it's best just to give up. The atmosphere really sucks you in and forces you to get better at staying alive. On top of this, the number of weapons, each with their own move sets, suits of armour, weapon upgrade pathways and character levelling option means you get an almost rogue-like level of variability between different play-throughs, which means that for a game of its depth and length, it's also really re-playable.
Briareos H on 22/12/2014 at 13:47
Quote Posted by Starker
while also being very fair
Quote Posted by nicked
It is a game that is perfectly balanced, very fair
You get stuck on geometry and enemies all the time (and then you get killed), the camera has a life of its own (and then you get killed), enemy locking fails often (and then you get killed). Sure, the ruleset itself is easy to understand and the systems do treat player and enemies equally but I wouldn't go as far as praising the game fairness. IMO there's a big part of learning your way around the fact that DS isn't as polished as it could be through trial and error.
henke on 22/12/2014 at 14:16
Quote Posted by Pyrian
I have pretty much no clue what I was playing in, say, January. :confused: I suppose maybe I could trawl through the "NOW what are you playing" thread, but I don't always post to that.
I
always post in that. How else will future generations know that I played Rogue Warrior and didn't think it was as bad as everyone says?
Starker on 22/12/2014 at 15:23
Quote Posted by Briareos H
You get stuck on geometry and enemies all the time (and then you get killed), the camera has a life of its own (and then you get killed), enemy locking fails often (and then you get killed). Sure, the ruleset itself is easy to understand and the systems do treat player and enemies equally but I wouldn't go as far as praising the game fairness. IMO there's a big part of learning your way around the fact that DS isn't as polished as it could be through trial and error.
It's not nearly as bad as you make it out to be. I rarely got "stuck" on enemies and regarding the geometry it's usually quite obvious what you can get over and what you can't. Also, turn off auto wall recovery from the options. Also also, enemy lock-on doesn't "fail". It only works within a set distance and disengages when you get far enough from the enemy.
Jason Moyer on 23/12/2014 at 00:48
The thing that killed Dark Souls for me was rolling a Thief character and then quickly discovering that backstabbing is glitchy as fuck. And an RPG where I can't play a rogue of some kind is worthless.
henke on 23/12/2014 at 09:46
Guys this is the thread for posting your top games of the year, not for lamenting how much you suck at Dark Souls.
