The one I saw recently was this:
The lightning seems so flat…while the initial reveal video looked great.
Blah blah blah graphics, are people saying if the game is any good?
I see what you mean about the lighting (and I think you or someone else mentioned a while ago that it lacked depth of field). It kind of takes away some of the mystery and the atmosphere of the places. I’m not intrigued to explore the areas I saw in those gameplay snippets. I don’t know, maybe that’s just from watching videos.
And yeah, where’s all the feedback from these leaked copies? I don’t want to watch 16 hours of Twitch streaming. Just a quick post with impressions.
People are not saying anything because it is embargoed until launch.
So it’s OK to stream but not offer opinions? Weird.
Impressions after 2 hours… do you like dark souls? This is definitely more dark souls.
How’s the atmosphere? The videos almost remind me of playing Risen or something.
Are you playing it on the PC? No? Then why is it in this thread?
I know it’s exciting, but let’s not turn into animals.
No, I asked for generic impressions in this thread so everyone can use the other thread to talk about the swords of destiny they found in pots five feet from the start.
Some of us decided to resist the urge of playing it on console first, and we need a few morsels to get us past these first few days at least.
So far so good. There are a couple of amazing vistas you get right out the gate that are breathtaking. The game looks much better in person than it did on the little of the streams I watched. The level design and art style makes up for a lot of the technical deficiencies, but there are a few bits that straight up look like someone trying to make an outdoor level in Half Life 1.
I’ve spent most of my time exploring, haven’t even gotten to a boss yet.
there are a few bits that straight up look like someone trying to make an outdoor level in Half Life 1
Hah, that’s exactly the game I always think of when I recall late 90s static lighting design.
Hah, so much for them saying in the initial interviews that they wanted to make the game more approachable for new players. Three hours in and I was wondering why I still didn’t have an estus flask or the ability to level up. Turns out I missed something very early on.
Anyhow, if anyone has any non-spoiler related questions about mechanics, ask away. A lot has changed.
Mostly just curious to hear what sucks now, what is still great, and what has improved if anything. How combat feels, how invasions affect exploration, etc. I’m not curious about minor mechanical changes.
I assume you haven’t been invaded much if at all yet, so ongoing impressions would be nice there.
Later on I’d like to know if boss runs are still annoying, and whether any of the bosses reach the high bar set in the DLC. Vague impressions only there.
The main thing I want to know is if you can checkpoint before a boss now. I couldn’t deal with the boss runs in Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls. Absolutely loved everything else about the game, but gave up on both of them because of the ridiculous bullshit of fighting tooth and nail to get to a boss and then dying immediately when trying to figure out how to defeat it. Then having to fight all the way back just to die again.
Someone will be along shortly to tell you that you don’t need to fight to get to the bosses. You can just run past enemies. But that somehow made it worse for me. It’s only 30-45 seconds each run, but that’s pure uninterrupted time to fume at the game.
Err, sorry. Not trying to dig up this battle again. Certain gaming personalities will see things differently. I want to know how to set my expectations.
For the first boss fight, it is a 30 second walk from the bonfire with 1 enemy in the way.
I really don’t have any complaints so far. My favorite new thing is having the ability to travel between bonfires right from the start.
You don’t need to fight to get to the bosses. You can just run past enemies.
My only comment about the combat so far is they’ve changed the way shields work. If you want a shield that worked the way it did in Dark Souls (100% of physical damage blocked, enemies rebound off opening them for a counter attack) you need to go with great shields. Also, if the attack you are blocking drains the last of your stamina it puts you in a guard break state which opens you up for a critical strike that will most likely just kill you.
So, turtling up behind a shield and chipping away at enemies is no longer a viable option without a heavy stat investment.
So if dodging is more difficult and requires agility, and shields aren’t as good and also require agility, how does combat normally flow in the early areas? Do you have to back off and sidestep around until you see an opening?
The early game really feels like it is pushing you towards avoiding damage, only 1 class even starts with a shield. Rolling doesn’t feel any different. Its not like you can’t roll unless you’ve invested in adaptability. Endurance is no longer the master stat it used to be, if you want to wear heavy equipment and still have enough stamina to be able to do stuff you have to split your points between endurance, which gives you stamina, and vitality, which increases equip load.
Early combat is pretty much the same as Dark Souls if you weren’t using a shield. A lot of baiting attacks, or attacking before they can attack, or using the invincibility frames from rolling to get up in their face.
When I did use a normal shield, it still blocked most of the damage I would have taken, but it didn’t trigger their recoil animation.