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Is Dark Souls 1 worth playing after beating DS2 and DS3?

E

ElephantShell

Banned
Similar question: what about Demon's Souls?

I've played and loved Dark Souls III and Bloodborne and wanted to check out the rest of the series. Already owned Demon's Souls and Dark Souls II SotFS on PS4, so I grabbed a used copy of Dark Souls off Amazon now I'm all set.

But is Demon's Souls an essential starting point or should I just start with the first Dark Souls?
 
F

Fake Charlemagne

Member
I'm not sure any sane person would tell you no. Best story and level design of all of them in my opinion. Also it'll give more context to certain things and may make you see the third game in a slightly different light.


Regarding Demon's Souls, it's my favorite Souls game of any them, so my incredibly biased opinion says yes try that. Though I imagine you'll find some of the combat to be less refined and offering less options. But in terms of world, story, and especially tone, I love it.
 
G

Gbraga

Member
ElephantShell said:
Similar question: what about Demon's Souls?

I've played and loved Dark Souls III and Bloodborne and wanted to check out the rest of the series. Already owned Demon's Souls and Dark Souls II SotFS on PS4, so I grabbed a used copy of Dark Souls off Amazon now I'm all set.

But is Demon's Souls an essential starting point or should I just start with the first Dark Souls?
Click to expand...

Since you already own Demon's, you should definitely play it at some point, but I don't think you must start with it. Just play whatever you feel like. They're good in any order.
 
O

Oreiller

Member
ElephantShell said:
Similar question: what about Demon's Souls?

I've played and loved Dark Souls III and Bloodborne and wanted to check out the rest of the series. Already owned Demon's Souls and Dark Souls II SotFS on PS4, so I grabbed a used copy of Dark Souls off Amazon now I'm all set.

But is Demon's Souls an essential starting point or should I just start with the first Dark Souls?
Click to expand...

Demon's Souls is pretty fantastic so you should play it eventually. It's the first game in the series so it's not as refined as the others but most of what make the Souls games good is there.
I think DS1 and Bloodborne are better than Demon, but I like it more than DS2 and 3.
 
P

Professor Renegade

Banned
Absolutely. You may find a bit of a learning curve with rolling and the equip load of DS1, but there's very few portions of the game that are difficult for the sake of "fuck you."
 
usp84

usp84

Member
If anyone asks if any souls game is worth playing the answer is always yes, especially if we are talking about Dark Souls 1
 
Yoshichan

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
The worst out of the three. I wouldn't say you're missing out on much, but if you're a huge fan of the two other games then why shouldn't you try it?
 
Stevey

Stevey

Member
Yoshichan said:
The worst out of the three. I wouldn't say you're missing out on much, but if you're a huge fan of the two other games then why shouldn't you try it?
Click to expand...

wow v:

I'd say definitely play it, it's my favorite.
True, a lot of stuff was refined in the sequels, but the level design and atmosphere is yet to be beaten.
 
S

SatelliteOfLove

Member
Kyuur said:
Definitely. Dark Souls is the best game in the series imo.

Some of the big differences:
- The world structure is different and more Metroidvania-ish compared to 2's separated paths and 3 being basically linear with one or two splits.
- There is no fast travel for a good portion of the game
- Encounter design is closer to original 2 than either SotFS or 3
- There are no alt. healing items, only Estus and magic, and the Estus implementation differs
- Magic is of the 2 variety (uses instead of magic bar)
- Equip load actually matters
Click to expand...

Oh hell no. There's no choreographed-flow-first-and-foremost in 1's combat design that haunted 2.
 
Soodanim

Soodanim

Member
Grim Patron said:
Is it worth eating a t bone steak after eating a shitty burnt piece of meat and fried chicken?
Click to expand...
This is glorious.

Just in case it isn't clear yet OP, yes. It's also my favourte like many others here, although I warmed up to 3 a lot in the end.

I don't know what it will be like losing the quality of life changes that are in by the time 3 rolled into our lives. Get ready for no hold up/down to go to slot 1, no menu quick items, the size of all UI elements being far larger than necessary, and a few more things. But also get ready for that not to matter.
 
A

Adam_Vania

Banned
they are all worth playing. Demon's Souls is definitely worth playing the most imo (being the oldest u will see it basically is DS3 from the start).
 
S

Soul of the Beast

Member
I don't know, is it worth it to play Resident Evil 4 after playing Resident Evil 5 & 6 ?.....You tell me.

Don't ever underestimate a game or hesitate to give it a try just because it's older. You'll be surprised that a lot of the old games are actually better than the new ones. Don't ignore BioShock 1 just because there's a BioShock 2. New doesn't always mean better.

Dark Souls 1 is a true masterpiece, the level design, the lore, the characters (NPCs), the art direction and atmosphere are still the best of the three.
I would say Dark Souls 1 is visually a more appealing game than 2 & 3, doesn't matter which platform you are playing on.

Dark Souls has a unique color and contrast that's nowhere to be seen in its sequels, the atmosphere is simply unmatched.

kL9RWIa.png


2fZfQqR.png


There's just something eerie and beautiful about the visuals of the Dark Souls, it's very immersive and memorable.
Dark Souls 2 & 3 simply can't compete with such strong art direction.
Dark Souls is a more detailed and better made piece of work, there's more effort and time put into it.
 
J

Jimnymebob

Member
For the first half it's an absolutely fantastic, all time great of a game. Then it just stumbles clumsily for the second half, before ending on a cool final boss.

It's absolutely worth playing through though.
 
E

Erevador

Member
It has the best interconnected world in any game ever made. The way the areas are connected is genius. The bosses are iconic. The sense of mood is untouchable.

So yes. Do it.
 
M

mxgt

Banned
Soul of the Beast said:
I don't know, is it worth it to play Resident Evil 4 after playing Resident Evil 5 & 6 ?.....You tell me.

Don't ever underestimate a game or hesitate to give it a try just because it's older. You'll be surprised that a lot of the old games are actually better than the new ones. Don't ignore BioShock 1 just because there's a BioShock 2. New doesn't always mean better.

Dark Souls 1 is a true masterpiece, the level design, the lore, the characters (NPCs), the art direction and atmosphere are still the best of the three.
I would say Dark Souls 1 is visually a more appealing game than 2 & 3, doesn't matter which platform you are playing on.

Dark Souls has a unique color and contrast that's nowhere to be seen in its sequels, the atmosphere is simply unmatched.


There's just something eerie and beautiful about the visuals of the Dark Souls, it's very immersive and memorable.
Dark Souls 2 & 3 simply can't compete with such strong art direction.
Dark Souls is a more detailed and better made piece of work, there's more effort and time put into it.
Click to expand...

Agreed - DS1 is easily the most visually appealing imo.

I don't even like how DS3 looks mostly, it reminds me far too much of Bloodborne rather than Souls.
 
H

horkrux

Member
The answer is a solid YES. It's a different game, and it's also better in a lot of ways.

Questions like these are either arrogant or straight-up ignorant. It's a classic and you shoul know that, OP. Never dismiss a game because of its age.
 
N

Noobcraft

Member
This is where I'm at with Souls:

DS1 (only got past asylum demon before giving up)

Got Bloodborne at launch and beat it

Got DS3 at launch and beat it (still working on DLC)

Got DS2 and couldn't get into it

Replaying DS1 as a pyromancer for easy mode as of yesterday. Hopefully this time the game clicks.
 
J

JohnIIVII

Member
I didn't get into the Souls series until Bloodborne, and then went on to play DS3. Loved them both. Recently I decided to give the first game a try and I was extremely turned off by many of its mechanics. As a newcomer to the series, I guess I took a lot of things for granted in the newer games that really hurt my enjoyment of the first game coming into it so late.

For example, for the first roughly half of the game there is no quick travel option. You have to physically travel wherever you want to go, and with many of the merchants being spread out all over the place I quickly grew tired of running my ass back and forth all over the place which just overall felt like a big waste of time. A lot of the game overall felt very antiquated to me and tarnished my experience with it.

That being said, I still think it is worth your time to play it. It does have some very memorable bosses and NPCs and is overall still a great game. I just wanted to throw out a word of caution to keep your expectations tempered as I feel my experience with it was let down by the hype of it being "the best game in the series" to many people, and for me, it did not meet those expectations. You're experience with it may be different though as you have played DS2 which I am not at all familiar with.
 
KLoWn

KLoWn

Member
Absolutely. But don't listen to the hype around here too much, it's awesome, but going into it with an open mind will make it a much better experience.

MrS said:
Absolutely. It's the best of the 3. Best bosses, best world.
Click to expand...
I disagree.

DS3 has the best bosses by far imo.
 
V

Van Bur3n

Member
JohnIIVII said:
I didn't get into the Souls series until Bloodborne, and then went on to play DS3. Loved them both. Recently I decided to give the first game a try and I was extremely turned off by many of its mechanics. As a newcomer to the series, I guess I took a lot of things for granted in the newer games that really hurt my enjoyment of the first game coming into it so late.

For example, for the first roughly half of the game there is no quick travel option. You have to physically travel wherever you want to go, and with many of the merchants being spread out all over the place I quickly grew tired of running my ass back and forth all over the place which just overall felt like a big waste of time. A lot of the game overall felt very antiquated to me and tarnished my overall experience.

That being said, I still think it is worth your time to play it. It does have some very memorable bosses and NPCs and is overall still a great game. I just wanted to throw out a word of caution to keep your expectations tempered as I feel my experience with it was let down by the hype of it being "the best game in the series" to many people, and for me, it did not meet those expectations. You're experience with it may be different though as you have played DS2 which I am not at all familiar with.
Click to expand...

The ability to fast travel right off the bat is a common criticism of the rest of the Souls games outside DS1. To the point many see it as the reason why the level design of those games is so lackluster compared to DS1, which relied on a more interconnected world for the player to traverse. It's one of the best things about DS1 that makes it stand out among them all.
 
G

galv

Unconfirmed Member
ElephantShell said:
Similar question: what about Demon's Souls?

I've played and loved Dark Souls III and Bloodborne and wanted to check out the rest of the series. Already owned Demon's Souls and Dark Souls II SotFS on PS4, so I grabbed a used copy of Dark Souls off Amazon now I'm all set.

But is Demon's Souls an essential starting point or should I just start with the first Dark Souls?
Click to expand...

The biggest problem with Demon's Souls as opposed to Dark Souls/2/3/Bloodborne is that there's no good way to play the game outside of owning a PS3, and even then, the game has not aged well visually (why did it have to come out in the era of sepia/brown games), especially when compared to Dark Souls 1 on PC. However, if that doesn't hold you back, the game still plays brilliantly, if a little aged. If you're used to Dark Souls 1, it plays very similarly.

Either way, I'd say that Demon's Souls or Dark Souls is a good starting point for the Souls games. I think the best order would be Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne and if you're still wanting more, Dark Souls 2. I would say that you could play Bloodborne at anytime, but the way Dark Souls flows into Dark Souls 3 (lore-wise, especially in regards to DS3's DLC) is just an awesome experience.

KLoWn said:
DS3 has the best bosses by far imo.
Click to expand...

Completely agree.
Abyss Watchers, Dancer, Soul of Cinder, Pontiff, Champion Gundyr, Dragonslayer Armor, Twin Princes, Aldritch, Nameless King, Sister Freide, Midir, Gael, Demon Princes
are all god tier bosses.
 
J

JohnIIVII

Member
Van Bur3n said:
The ability to fast travel right off the bat is a common criticism of the rest of the Souls games outside DS1. To the point many see it as the reason why the level design of those games is so lackluster compared to DS1, which relied on a more interconnected world for the player to traverse. It's one of the best things about DS1 that makes it stand out among them all.
Click to expand...

Yeah I can definitely understand that point of view and again maybe I would have felt differently about it if I had played Dark Souls or Demon Souls first, but for me coming from the other games it just ended up frustrating me more than anything. They did do a good job overall setting up good shortcuts and making the world all fit together cleverly, but to me it just felt like it took way too long to get around and accomplish simple things at times. Just my opinion though, and it may not effect OPs enjoyment of the game. For me it did though.
 
X

xealo

Member
It has the best level design of all 3 dark souls games, and even if the gameplay has aged more than 3, its still a pretty fantastic ARPG in both how it controls and the content in. Absolutely worth a try.
 
B

Bronion

Member
Yes.
It's not as flashy. Not as streamlined. An entire zone is basically unfinished. The bosses might not be the most challenging or exciting compared to the other games.

But it's still my favorite FromSoft game.

I think the first half of the game is as close to perfect as a video game can get.

Has the best DLC by a long shot, too.
 
A

Anura

Member
Kind of... As someone who has beaten DS3 before DS1, DS1 after DS3 is meh. One of the biggest complaints of DS3 was that all the tricks were getting stale and people had seen it all before. If you're playing in reverse order than the reverse of that is obviously true. Of course, this time with the added caveat that you're going back to slower and slightly jankier combat.
 
RiccochetJ

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
ElephantShell said:
Similar question: what about Demon's Souls?

I've played and loved Dark Souls III and Bloodborne and wanted to check out the rest of the series. Already owned Demon's Souls and Dark Souls II SotFS on PS4, so I grabbed a used copy of Dark Souls off Amazon now I'm all set.

But is Demon's Souls an essential starting point or should I just start with the first Dark Souls?
Click to expand...

Go and finish Dark Souls trilogy first. Then go and play Demon's Souls and see where it all came from. Manipulating the world tendencies is something the other Souls series abandoned. And then understand that if you're online, it's tied to everyone else playing the game. So essentially you wouldn't see parts of the game because of other people.

Also, fuck the scraping spear and everyone that used it for a particular boss fight.
 
K

KHlover

Banned
Worth it for the first two thirds of the game and the DLC. Last third is pretty weak with only one or two good areas.
 
T

test_account

XP-39C²
Going from DS3 to DS1 can be challenging considering that the controls feels differently. I recently did this myself, going back to DS1 to finish the platinum trophy. At first, the game felt a lot harder. Controls felt more slow and it felt like the enemies had homing attacks when i tried to circle them. Its about adaption though, to learn and adapt to the controls. After i did that, i didnt have any more problems playing DS1 than i had with the other Souls games.
 
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