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[Deified Data]

The Souls series is renowned for its difficulty but few and far between are the games that are so easily broken by certain spells/equipment. Far from calling the game fair I'd say it's almost overly gracious at times. Still one of my top three games of the gen, though.

 

[RedSwirl]

Yeah, having a Black Knight Halberd drop relatively early on probably made the game considerably easier for me.

 

[Astral/H3X]

I hear this a lot but don't really get what that means. What is jank? The combat is super fast and fluid.

The animations just look wonky, mainly. Like the sense of weight is off, when you're running it looks like you're just floating, etc.

the camera control and walking control/animations are also quite a bit jankier than they were in dark souls and even demon souls

and the level design is nowhere near as polished either in terms of combat encounter design or aesthetics (though it has some high points in both areas)

but I don't mind their changes to stats and spells and items and equipment

I mean coming from Dark Souls 1 I don't think we really should have expected even better design across the board. It's still a lot better than 90% of other games I play, and keeps me coming back to it.
Camera control is weird? Huh, never felt that way to me. Ah well. IMO control felt perfect, outside of the tiny lag in sword swings on PC to account for double clicking allowance.

 

[orborborb]

Camera control is weird? Huh, never felt that way to me. Ah well. IMO control felt perfect, outside of the tiny lag in sword swings on PC to account for double clicking allowance.

I feel the camera wonkiness in Dark Souls II when I am turning the camera at the same time I am also turning my character I think. It's constantly getting out of hand and rotating too quickly and then when I try to correct it, the speed at which the camera moves back is never what I expect.

By far my biggest complaint about Dark Souls II is how you never quite know whether you are queuing up an action to be performed later or whether the game will "forget" your input.

 

[badnewsbeers]

How is it I've beat dark souls thrice and dark souls 2 twice and demons souls twice and after reading this I wanted to beat them again?? I never replay games.

It's like crack.

 

[Wensih]

Each game in the Souls series was longer then the last for me.

Demon's Souls took 24 hours first time through.
Dark Souls took 35 hours first time through.
Dark Souls II took 39 hours first time through.

I used the BKGS in my playthrough as well. It is such a great sword for just whacking shit.

 

[Astral/H3X]

I never got that sense from it... I played a hexer with cloth armor, so perhaps heavier characters seem more "off", I dunno. The change I noticed was that movement seems a bit more locked to hard directions than DS1, which made it feel more rigid and "heavy" to me.

The main thing about combat that threw me off in DS2 compared to 1 is how enemies lock onto you. There are way more enemies that will 180 and slap you in a split second, which took me off guard a bit more than I would have liked. I thought DS1 enemies were easier to read a predict.

I was actually talking about Demon's Souls with that bit. :x
But I do know a lot of people dislike the extra weight on the character in DS2, I know I still keep trying to push my weight down remembering my DS1 Ninja flipping build haha.

 

[sixteen-bit]

congrats OP

 

[DEO3]

My wife and I played through Dark Souls last month in an effort to clear out my backlog before the Steam Summer Sale. Our first playthrough was about 60 hours - not including the DLC. We're now most of the way through our NG+ using a guide to see everything we had missed, and a Zeihander with no shield.

 

[Deckard Cain]

Do yourself a favor & don't play Demon's Souls. Skip it & play Dark Souls 2.

 

[disappeared]

Congrats.

Black Knight Sword is so best.

 

[shadowfall]

You should get the Artorias DLC. Fighting Manus and Kalameet on NG+ is where the challenge is. Truly excellent game.

 

[Man]

I should finish it really. I lost my way at some point with work and all (finished the crystal dragon, yet to finish the undead lord). Not sure were to go to progress so I should read a guide.

Edit: Having read a guide... I'm relatively close to finishing the game. I've carved myself to all the major 'lord souls' bosses. I just need to finish them to fill the lordvessel and then onto the final area.

 

[synchronicity]

My absolute favorite game of all-time. (gaming since pong, fwiw) Pinnacle of the medium for me personally.

 

[Marcel]

How does this contribute to the conversation in any way?

Does your backseat moderation count as a contribution somehow? Judging from your posting history, you're one of the people I was talking about and it's not surprising that you just had to respond. I simply find it unfortunate that the OP will likely have to deal with reading fans' unrealistic and sometimes impossible expectations when he gets into Dark Souls II, since DS gets near universal praise (you know, aside from having one of the worst bosses of the generation, the Bed of Chaos).

Reminds me of when Zelda fans comment on how they would 'fix' Zelda or whatever. A whole lot of white noise made by people with fandom tunnel-vision.

 

[sonikokaruto]

millenials pffft



finish battletoads on a real nes.


Now THAT is thread worthy

 

[Astral/H3X]

millenials pffft



finish battletoads on a real nes.


Now THAT is thread worthy

I beat level 4. :x
That honestly should be thread worthy.

 

[Marcel]

millenials pffft



finish battletoads on a real nes.


Now THAT is thread worthy

If the Kacho can do it, any of us can. Believe in yourselves!

 

[twilitesparklemotion]

Really? I also scored the Black Knight Sword in Undead Burg. Guess I'm going to grind my strength!

 

[Sushi Nao]

Congratulations, man. It's a hell of an accomplishment. I felt like I'd been through a hell of a trial

 

[badnewsbeers]

You should get the Artorias DLC. Fighting Manus and Kalameet on NG+ is where the challenge is. Truly excellent game.

Manus NG+ is the hardest boss in the game hands down. So fast and so little margin for error.

 

[Phantasmal Repose]

First off, congrats on beating it OP. Second, I highly suggest you go and play through Demon's Souls. Despite what some people say, its a great game. It might take a bit of time to get used to it since you played Dark Souls first.

 

[Gorillaz]

Don't forget to join in on the PVP fun!

The Dark Souls community is pretty easy on new guys jump in the water OP

 

[AgentLampshade]

I've just arrived in Anor Londo, and boy I gotta say; I have reversed my opinion 100%. I never liked the game initially, though I always loved the art direction and respected the open-worldness of it. When the game first launched, I bought it, was brutally murdered several times and gave up on it.

I got the week off work, so I decided to return to it, to clean up this one game in my backlog, this ONE game that has been mocking me for years. And I am loving it. Started off a little slow, to find my feet and grab semi-decent equipment (wish I had your luck OP) but I'm trudging along well enough now.

Man, it's going to be so cathartic finishing this game.

 

[Banana Aeon]

I've just arrived in Anor Londo, and boy I gotta say; I have reversed my opinion 100%. I never liked the game initially, though I always loved the art direction and respected the open-worldness of it. When the game first launched, I bought it, was brutally murdered several times and gave up on it.

I got the week off work, so I decided to return to it, to clean up this one game in my backlog, this ONE game that has been mocking me for years. And I am loving it. Started off a little slow, to find my feet and grab semi-decent equipment (wish I had your luck OP) but I'm trudging along well enough now.

Man, it's going to be so cathartic finishing this game.

What are you running? Maybe I can be of some assistance.

 

[Gorillaz]

Anor Londo is basically where the game clicked for me as well. The forest was the beginning were I started to get it, but Londo was where it all worked well for me.

I definitely think tho if it doesn't click at Anor Londo or if you aren't feeling it by then, then it might be the time to put it down

 

[elohel]

The Souls series is renowned for its difficulty but few and far between are the games that are so easily broken by certain spells/equipment. Far from calling the game fair I'd say it's almost overly gracious at times. Still one of my top three games of the gen, though.

I feel like that's a component of the souls games in general some of the fun cheese abilities

 

[Konosuke]

Dark Souls is awesome. I'm 2 trophies away from Platinum, need two boss souls and already killed them so I need to go to NG+++ lol. It took me like 60h~ to finish it for the first time.

 

[Manu]

And yet again I'm surprised by reading what things people have trouble with. I think that took me about two tries.

And a boss considered easy by many, the Gaping Dragon, was my bane.

I love that about these games.

I can relate. Everyone talked about how Iron Golem was a cakewalk, I think I spent over two hours until I beat him.

 

[Banana Aeon]

I can relate. Everyone talked about how Iron Golem was a cakewalk, I think I spent over two hours until I beat him.

My experiences with both Capra and O&S. They were super easy.

Really, the only bosses I suck at are Manus and Kalamet.

 

[spliced]

I just started playing this again after playing the other 2 Souls games and all I can say is the jump is absolutely glorious. Jumping is fun again!

 

[DoubleTake]

Does your backseat moderation count as a contribution somehow? Judging from your posting history, you're one of the people I was talking about and it's not surprising that you just had to respond. I simply find it unfortunate that the OP will likely have to deal with reading fans' unrealistic and sometimes impossible expectations when he gets into Dark Souls II, since DS gets near universal praise (you know, aside from having one of the worst bosses of the generation, the Bed of Chaos).

Reminds me of when Zelda fans comment on how they would 'fix' Zelda or whatever. A whole lot of white noise made by people with fandom tunnel-vision.

Oh please forgive me for calling you out on your drive by irrelevant post. And looking through my history to see that I dont feel DKS2 lives up to the other two games and somehow using that to try and validate your pointless post? Funny.

Anyway OP enjoy NG+ and then go play Demon's and Dark 2 lol.

 

[The Strokes]

Each game in the Souls series was longer then the last for me.

Demon's Souls took 24 hours first time through.
Dark Souls took 35 hours first time through.
Dark Souls II took 39 hours first time through.

I used the BKGS in my playthrough as well. It is such a great sword for just whacking shit.

Did you use a guide or something? I'm just curious since I've seen the average playthrough takes up to 40 hours at least in Demon's and DS1.

Right now i'm going through Dark Souls 1 and I'm kind of stuck. There are two áreas that are blocked for because of the 'great lord poder' and I've yet to figure out how can I go by that.

Terrific game. But I would place it below Demon's Souls from what I've played so far.

 

[Sothpaw]

Omg the archers in Anor Londo. Chill the fuck out From I get it the game is hard.

This game is significantly more difficult than Demon's overall.

Edit: ok just did it, ran through everything...fuck that part.

 

[gogosox82]

For everyone saying to do the DLC, what's the difficulty of it tuned for? I've just beat O&S in my first playthrough, should I buy and do it now or wait until I'm closer to the end to have better levels/gear?

Harder than the base game for sure. Like I said, it has the best boss fights but also the hardest imo (but that makes it more rewarding!).

 

[Solid SOAP]

You should get the Artorias DLC. Fighting Manus and Kalameet on NG+ is where the challenge is. Truly excellent game.

I definitely am going to try this out. How much is it? Can't be more than like, $10, right?

 

[Htown]

I definitely am going to try this out. How much is it? Can't be more than like, $10, right?

If you're playing on PC, or you have the "Prepare to Die" edition on console, you already have it. Otherwise, it's $15 according to the xbox live marketplace website.

 

[Solid SOAP]

Considering I got the game for free I have no problem forking over $15 for the DLC.

I'm in the midst of a NG+, I just beat the second Hydra in the tree before the dragon covenant. When would be a good time to buy it? Does it fold over into my current game?

 

[Aim_Ed]

Anor Londo is basically where the game clicked for me as well. The forest was the beginning were I started to get it, but Londo was where it all worked well for me.

I definitely think tho if it doesn't click at Anor Londo or if you aren't feeling it by then, then it might be the time to put it down

I quit the game on two different characters because of O&S, the game clicked when I beat em for the first time on my 3rd character. This was during a 2 year span I think, Anor Londo is my last favourite area of the game by far.

 

[Sentenza]

Considering I got the game for free I have no problem forking over $15 for the DLC.

I'm in the midst of a NG+, I just beat the second Hydra in the tree before the dragon covenant. When would be a good time to buy it? Does it fold over into my current game?

You can access the DLC area at any moment between placing the Lordvessel and killing the final boss, if you know what to do.

 

[Carn82]

Great game, hope there is a PS4 rehash in the works

I would love that. I still havent finished DS2, and im afraid I never will when I get a PS4 :/

 

[sappyday]

No one mindlessly shitting on Dark Souls II yet? Good on you guys.

Better yet how about we shit on Dark Souls and talk about how Demon's Souls is the best of all them.

Spoiler

Fucking around though. Play Demon's Souls though OP.

 

[I-hate-u]

I just started the game, got until Havel the rock, who fell off a cliff with no way to retrieve the loot...........I am restarting it again >.<


I miss Demon's Souls and the nexus already. Boletaria > Undead Burg.

 

[Hypron]

Manus NG+ is the hardest boss in the game hands down. So fast and so little margin for error.

He's hard but I reckon Ornstein and Smough are still more annoying. If you are <25% equipment load and wear a shield with good stability Manus is very manageable, even on NG+ and above. Being <25% equipment load is very important because it allows you to move fast enough without having to run to avoid many attacks (especially the one with heaps of souls falling down from the sky). After that it's just a manner of staying at the right distance from Manus and not fucking up. Having a high damaging weapon really helps too. Trying to kill him with a dagger or a low powered rapier is just asking for trouble.

 

[ajb1888]

Congrats!!
I remember that feeling when I finally beat the game. An epic journey for sure! You grow up a lot as a player by the end of the game haha

A friend and I are playing through DS2 in our spare time this summer. Good times.

 

[BlvckFox]

Another Congrats Op!!!
You can't buy that feeling!
I've been looking for a copy lately. After platting Demon souls and Ds2. I'm excited to go back and get started on Dark souls.

 

[Ratrat]

I beat Demon's Souls last month and am currently half way or so through Dark Souls on PC. I absolutely love these games.

Back in 2002 or so I completely abandoned the vast majority of Japanese games (exceptions being fighters, RE, MGS and Gran Turismo). I just couldn't take the anime art style. But the Souls series has really brought Japan back to relevancy for me. Haven't felt this way about a Japanese game since the masterpiece Vagrant Story. I wonder if there are any other Japanese games I missed in the past 10 years that weren't destroyed by the little kid/underage girl art style.

Dragons Dogma is the obvious one.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Dragons Dogma is the obvious one.

Dragons Dogma doesn;t have much in common with Souls.

That being said it is a fantastic rpg.

OP play Demons Souls. Dark Souls 2 was disappointing.

 

[Ratrat]

Dragons Dogma doesn;t have much in common with Souls.

That being said it is a fantastic rpg.

OP play Demons Souls. Dark Souls 2 was disappointing.

The quoted post was about art styles, but I think Dark Souls and Dragons Dogma have things in common. They are seen as western style RPGs with satisfying real-time combat. which in itself is rare for the genre. I think they both have a nicer more understated take on fantasy art too.

 

[The Mango Sentinel]

Omg the archers in Anor Londo. Chill the fuck out From I get it the game is hard.

This game is significantly more difficult than Demon's overall.

Edit: ok just did it, ran through everything...fuck that part.

That part was a goddamn nightmare.

Easily the hardest and most frustrating part of the game for me. I was losing my fucking mind. Probably the only part of the game that I thought was legitimately stupid.


Anyway, congrats OP.