Dark Souls - Demon's Souls Spiritual Successor

KiloOhm · 2011-11-22T04:30:20.000Z

Oh that’s good timing if the patch notes rumors I read are true about things giving ~double souls. I could use more soulsssssss as I’m farming to upgrade my pyromancy (freaking expensive once you get it up there).

Wallapuctus · 2011-11-22T06:59:23.000Z

I’m reading various forums, and I’m sure it’s all hearsay at this point, but the relaxed match making rules have supposedly made it easier to co-op with your friends now.

CLWheeljack · 2011-11-22T07:07:22.000Z

I had decided I was going to put DkS away until they released the patch, so I could work on some other games (Yakuza 4!). So much for that plan.

Warpstorm · 2011-11-22T07:09:50.000Z

Ding New Game Plus

Hanacker · 2011-11-22T13:45:39.000Z

It is interesting how viscerally the game demonstrates the power of being in the right mental state. I was trying to kill a black knight in the asylum last week and tried about ten times. Seemed impossible since one little mistake could be the end of my character. Came back today and beat him on the first try, only taking one minor hit. In a game that isn’t that hard, but severely punishes you for minor mistakes, you really need to be calm and relaxed when you’re doing anything difficult.

merryprankster · 2011-11-22T17:50:36.000Z

Hanacker:

It is interesting how viscerally the game demonstrates the power of being in the right mental state. I was trying to kill a black knight in the asylum last week and tried about ten times. Seemed impossible since one little mistake could be the end of my character. Came back today and beat him on the first try, only taking one minor hit. In a game that isn’t that hard, but severely punishes you for minor mistakes, you really need to be calm and relaxed when you’re doing anything difficult.

Dark Souls=Golf.

liminal · 2011-11-22T18:38:25.000Z

Is there a platform consensus for Dark Souls yet? Digital Foundry says the 360 and PS3 versions are technically equal, so I’m basing my decision on the controller and the quality of the community. I think R1 and L1 on the PS3 controller are better suited to Demon’s Souls gameplay than any of the shoulder buttons on 360, and I have read that the PS3 community is healthier because of Demon’s Souls fan base. Does that match everyone’s experiences, or is the 360 community doing unexpectedly well?

quatoria · 2011-11-22T18:45:42.000Z

The 360 community has seemed perfectly healthy, to me. And on the 360, you have the advantage of not needing to use the awful dualshock, and being able to enter into private chats with your summon partners to enable one to one voice chat.

roguefrog · 2011-11-22T19:29:59.000Z

The controls are carried over wholesale from Demon’s Souls, which is a PS3 Exclusive. Dark Souls is also a PS3 Exclusive in Japan self published by From Software.

Lizard_King · 2011-11-22T21:20:49.000Z

Luke M:

Is there a platform consensus for Dark Souls yet? Digital Foundry says the 360 and PS3 versions are technically equal, so I’m basing my decision on the controller and the quality of the community. I think R1 and L1 on the PS3 controller are better suited to Demon’s Souls gameplay than any of the shoulder buttons on 360, and I have read that the PS3 community is healthier because of Demon’s Souls fan base. Does that match everyone’s experiences, or is the 360 community doing unexpectedly well?

There’s not much of a decision to be made. Both versions are fine, and in any case it is most likely R2/L2 (heavy attack/parry) that are different on account of the 360 having full triggers. More than likely people commenting on the relative quality of the two communities are bullshitting on behalf of their pet platform, since I can’t imagine that many people put in the time to both versions to really compare them.

I chose the 360 because that meant I could rent a second copy and coop with my wife, and because I liked the option of voice chat for people I know (although I still play plenty of silent DS and there seems to be no problem with that on XBL). As of the latest patch coop and invasions seem to be ticking along nicely, and I’m sure that’s true for the PS3 version as well.

Probably might as well flip a coin.

liminal · 2011-11-22T22:35:28.000Z

Thanks, Qt3.

Dark Souls only came out on PS3 in Japan. Can I play with Japanese players if I buy the PS3 version?

Inverarity · 2011-11-22T22:55:46.000Z

Hanacker:

In a game that isn’t that hard, but severely punishes you for minor mistakes, you really need to be calm and relaxed when you’re doing anything difficult.

Isn’t that all the qualification it needs to be considered hard?

(I agree with your point about mental state, fwiw).

KiloOhm · 2011-11-23T05:39:35.000Z

quatoria:

The 360 community has seemed perfectly healthy, to me. And on the 360, you have the advantage of not needing to use the awful dualshock, and being able to enter into private chats with your summon partners to enable one to one voice chat.

That works? I thought when the game detected you were using chat it threw you back to the start menu. Is there a trick to get this to work?

TheTrunkDr · 2011-11-23T06:15:53.000Z

Luke M:

Thanks, Qt3.

Dark Souls only came out on PS3 in Japan. Can I play with Japanese players if I buy the PS3 version?

I don’t think so, I think it connects to a North American server.

Wallapuctus · 2011-11-23T06:57:12.000Z

306 player here. Last night I was duelin’ up a storm. I’m loving the new patch.

The 360 community is alive and well. I imagine any Demon Souls effect the PS3 enjoys is offset by the bigger install base of 360s in the US, so the communities are probably about the same.

Stridergg · 2011-11-23T06:57:25.000Z

TheTrunkDr:

I don’t think so, I think it connects to a North American server.

It seems as of the latest patch the US PS3 players do in fact play with Japanease players. Which probably means PS3 online community is larger, not sure if it affects the gameplay in any way since the 360 community seems to be large enough. Not sure about long term though.

Hanacker · 2011-11-23T11:30:33.000Z

Inverarity:

Isn’t that all the qualification it needs to be considered hard?

(I agree with your point about mental state, fwiw).

There are different kinds of hard. It seems like most of the hard parts of this game are doing tasks that I can do successfully about 90-95% of the time, but you have to do it 15 times and the penalty for failure is death or near-death. I was doing the Hydra fight today and it’s really easy once you figure it out, but I’ve still managed to walk off the edge and drown three or four times. But it doesn’t feel “hard.”

quatoria · 2011-11-23T13:46:11.000Z

KiloOhm:

That works? I thought when the game detected you were using chat it threw you back to the start menu. Is there a trick to get this to work?

That only happens if you join or start a party. XBL has an older chat mechanism, a remnant from the original Xbox, that lets you just start a one to one private chat with someone. That works just fine in Dark Souls. No tricks needed.

Flying_Arrow · 2011-11-23T14:08:22.000Z

Man I’m looking forward to getting back into this. It’ll be a nightly struggle to decide to play DS or Skyrim and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Uncle_Larry · 2011-11-23T20:39:28.000Z

I swear certain bosses and areas are designed by the world’s meanest drunk. The Capra Demon, for example, nearly sent my controller into the front yard.

A special fuck you to the dev who lobbied so hard to get Valley of Defilement 2.0 in this game and ultimately won: fuck you.