Dark souls coming to pc

So these games have no story at all, the entire gameplay is killing things to get powerful enough to kill bigger things. It's just walking from bonfire to bonfire, fighting bosses and endlessly respawning enemies? And people have the balls to compare this with a PC RPG? You console people are fucking insane. That's all I have to say about that.
 
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I haven't played Dark Souls much (and I won't until the PC version comes out) but according to my Demon Souls experience, this series is not for everyone.

Combat in Soul series is realistic, brutal and unforgiving. You have to time your attacks, blocks and one wrong move can prove fatal. If we resemble our average third person action RPG to Need For Speed, then Soul games are the Gran Tourismo of RPGs. It's not arcade, it's a blade simulation. Because of this every foe is challenging and defeating them gives the player satisfaction.

Also there's no hand holding like mentioned above. Just out of the corner an ugly beast can wait to cleave you into two with one strike. And you (generally) can't realize it in your first walkthrough.

Character development is there. But also there's player development. After dying several times, you begin to memorize general layout of the dungeon, strength and weaknesses of the foes.So beating a dungeon can give you (at least to me) a satisfaction most of todays games can't give. Also knowing that you can die easily and lost your progress keeps you on your toes all the time. You can die a lot and sometimes I wanted to throw the controller out of the window out of frustration and anger. But something always pushed me to try one more time.

There's a story and very deep one at that. But, it's not being told by long cutscenes or such. It's there and game leave it to you to delve deeper into it. So people that have used to narrative style of for ex latest Bioware games, can easily think that there's none.

Also Demon Souls has a degree of freedom. There're multiple worlds to explore and you can explore them as you see fit. I have read through several preview/review/interview that Dark Souls gives player much more freedom than the first game. So, if you can't beat a boss or something, you can always go to another direction to take your chances there.

I recommend this game to the player who:

- likes realistic sword fights and have fond memories of Blades of Darkness, or loves the melee fights with humanoids in Risen 1.
- thinks that nowadays games are too easy and difficulty levels are dumbed down for newbies.
- who can withstand dying a lot and can live without a quicksave key (also lots of patience required).
- can live without a cutscene every five minutes.

Also I want to mention I generally hate respawn, but in Demon Souls because of the clever design of the dungeons this issue didn't bother me much.
 
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Dark Souls IMO isn't much of an RPG. It is certainly an extremely inventive action game with some character and item building elements.

Nothing I've played has ever come close to the quality of the sword and shield type fighting. But ultimately, the game was not for me. It's oddly compelling and extremely frustrating. But also unlike anything I've ever played (never tried demon's souls though)

It's an action game more than anything. Check out some speed runs on Youtube. The really fast players simply dodge and avoid most enemies, though that takes an insane level of skill as well.
 
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So these games have no story at all, the entire gameplay is killing things to get powerful enough to kill bigger things. It's just walking from bonfire to bonfire, fighting bosses and endlessly respawning enemies? And people have the balls to compare this with a PC RPG? You console people are fucking insane. That's all I have to say about that.

Have you ever played it? From what you're saying, of course not, since you're basing your opinion just from word of mouth. Judge it after you play it, or don't even bother typing nonsense here.
 
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So these games have no story at all, the entire gameplay is killing things to get powerful enough to kill bigger things. It's just walking from bonfire to bonfire, fighting bosses and endlessly respawning enemies? And people have the balls to compare this with a PC RPG? You console people are fucking insane. That's all I have to say about that.

The thing is if i want great and involved melee combat i would play a well made action adventure like Severance any day over half-assed ARPG like say Oblivion or Skyrim. And judging by the videos Dark Souls is a lot like Severance. That is a no mean feat, considering no game has ever even come close to its greatness in depicting melee combat.
 
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Okay, so you believe Skyrim sucks and that makes this great because....?

Seriously. This seems like the most mundane action game ever made if it's literally that bland. Console RPG fans are obviously just starved for genre-themed attention. :(
 
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No. Skyrim was just an example of a not particularily well done melee combat for an action game.

These are some bullet points, that make or break melee combat in an action game for me:
* Precise, responsive controls are a must.
* No unfair buttonmashing like for example in original Gothic 3. You were a buttonmashing god against mere humanoids (yet a lowly bitch to the first boar or wolf).
* Easy to get into, hard to master. It's probably difficult to explain, but you'll know, once you beat a Snapper or a Black Troll in Gothic II while being level 1.
* Must be hard but fair, and have good balance.
* Chained combos.
* Different types of attacks.
* Physics & environment should be important in some way. Dark Messiah was on the right path, but abused it with repetitiveness. Still, it's 10 times better than Oblivion.

The games, that i mean more or less:
Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast
Rune
Mount & Blade
Die By The Sword
Dark Messiah
Gothic
Gothic II
Divinity 2
Thief & Thief 2
Severance: Blade of Darkness (Top dog by far)

All i was saying, is that combat Dark Souls seems very close to these. Like in the examples above it's governed mostly by player skill, but for this particular purpose it's a must.
 
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These are some bullet points, that make or break melee combat in an action game for me:
* Precise, responsive controls are a must.
* No unfair buttonmashing like for example in original Gothic 3. You were a buttonmashing god against mere humanoids (yet a lowly bitch to the first boar or wolf).
* Easy to get into, hard to master. It's probably difficult to explain, but you'll know, once you beat a Snapper or a Black Troll in Gothic II while being level 1.
* Must be hard but fair, and have good balance.
* Chained combos.
* Different types of attacks.
* Physics & environment should be important in some way. Dark Messiah was on the right path, but abused it with repetitiveness. Still, it's 10 times better than Oblivion.

Totally agree. I grew up with street fighter with combo buttons, light and heavy punches and kicks, and enjoyed Mount and Blade and Severence because you have control in combat and defeating an enemy with more than just pressing a single button with combos and what not was extremely satisfying. It is probably difficult to understand this by RPG players used to isometric, turn-based combat.

I hope that Dark Souls will receive the treatment appropriate for a PC with keyboard and mouse.
 
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* No unfair buttonmashing like for example in original Gothic 3. You were a buttonmashing god against mere humanoids (yet a lowly bitch to the first boar or wolf).

That's because melee hits in G3 only occur at one height level (chest level), so humans and orcs can be killed by button mashing easily. With boars, wolves and 'low height' creaters it was a pain killing them. Even with humans and orcs, if you are standing at a higher ground than them, then you will hardly hit them while they make mash potatos out of you because you are hitting thin air!

Mount and blade system was excellent where you can control the attack height naturally with your mouse so you can hit their heads, chest and legs depending on your mouse location.
 
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played Demon Souls for a day or two. It's not that it's difficult (I appreciate a difficult battle), but it's stupidly unforgiving in that if you die you lose 30 minutes of your time (and I remember dying once when I finished a bunch of mobs, killed the last one, and the animation sequence pushed me off the stairs down to my death 4 floors below)
 
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I just picket up Dark Souls for PS3 a few weeks ago and, wow, all I have to say is it is great. They put this out on PC and it will be insta buy for me.

I haven't had this much fun since Severance: Blade of Darkness. I enjoy a well done melee game like this.
 
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So why would I play this game instead of Severance? Better graphics?

Better graphics, stability and compatibility. The last time I played through the "snow" level in Severance it was a serious chore. Talk about BLIND.

Still, I doubt the combat in Dark Souls will be better. The toggle lock on and complex moves in Severance won't translate to a gamepad so I expect a PC port won't change that.
 
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I'd buy it if they get the mouse/keyboard controls right.
 
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Dark Souls' combat is certainly more 'simplistic' though that's not really the right word. The combination chains in Severance certainly require good timing and there were a lot more of them. Dark Souls has some really good stuff here though. The lock on is less than perfect but usually works well. Parry and reposte is very cool, also the ability to kick is a welcome addition to the formula.

There is some very neat stuff here. Breaking blocks by sheer brute force is very cool so even if you don't break the opponent's shield, if you have a heavy enough weapon and hit hard enough to overcome their 'stability' rating while they are blocking it will blow their shield out of the way and stun/knockback.

I also enjoy the encumbrance system where your equipment weight determines how far and fast you can move/dodge/roll and recover.

Anyway, I've not enjoyed any melee oriented combat game this much since Severance and I sure as heck wouldn't want to be forced to choose between the two. Like Severance, I see myself playing this game many, many years from now. Games on PS3 are fun (Darksiders, God of War, etc…) but Dark Souls requires and order of magnitude more skill to play and is right up my ally. Extremely punishing but very satisfying when you accomplish something.

I don't see it translating well to the keyboard and mouse though. If it does come out on PC, I'll probably play it with a controller also.

And, ToddMcF2002, IIRC that snow level problem was caused by the OpenGL raster and could be rectified by using the Direct3D raster. Have you tried that?

And for anybody still playing Severance that doesn't know about Arokh's Lair, do yourself a HUGE favor and visit them:
http://www.arokhslair.net/forum/default.asp?CAT_ID=4
 
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...this series is not for everyone.

...

Also I want to mention I generally hate respawn, but in Demon Souls because of the clever design of the dungeons this issue didn't bother me much.

You pinpointed the reason why I won't buy that game.
 
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