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Which should I jump into first Skyrim or Dark Souls?

Jac_Solar said:
Are you talking about the first type of red eyed knights? The type you first run into in a tower, I think? If so, you just need to practice a bit of evading. Take your time with these kinds of mobs early on. If it's the one, unique one guarding a boss area, you aren't supposed to fight him until later.

As for the dragon, you need to time your sprint across the bridge area. Don't try to block or anything, you just need to sprint. He'll keep chasing you for a bit after as well, so it will most likely require a few tries.

And Derrick01, did you beat Dark Souls and still dislike it?
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I actually have problems towards the end of the bridge. There's archers dropping arrows from above my field of view, and blue eyed knight who drains my stamina in one hit, and a bunch of weaker dudes around him. I can see the appeal in learning and grinding, but after 10+ tries crossing that bridge my patience has been worn thin.
 
One of the reasons I love Dark Souls is there's so little padding. You start the game and you're immediately exploring dungeons & fighting enemies. Dragon's Dogma, in contrast, put me to sleep. It seemed like there was a good game in there somewhere but there was so much filler.
 
MerkinMax said:
I actually have problems towards the end of the bridge. There's archers dropping arrows from above my field of view, and blue eyed knight who drains my stamina in one hit, and a bunch of weaker dudes around him. I can see the appeal in learning and grinding, but after 10+ tries crossing that bridge my patience has been worn thin.
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You aren't playing conservative enough. See my post on the previous page. Think of each encounter as a piece of a larger strategy.
 
I like Skyrim as a game to fuck around in, like most open-world games. The dragons pretty much sucked and the combat was terrible as ever, but it's still pretty fun because of the world-building. At least I could carry a large hammer to smash things with. I stopped playing rather quickly, though.

Dark Souls is less fun but much more rewarding. It's, at the very least, a breath of fresh air. I've enjoyed it a ton.
 
Balzac said:
Skyrim if you like your games easy and with a heavy emphasis on content/completionism.

Dark Souls if you like difficult titles and a design philosophy that is essentially NES-era, with modern UI conveniences and a novel approach to online functionality.
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Pretty sure this nails it. I've yet to get Skyrim, but while the world and music and beautiful, the combat looks so janky and monotonous.

Dark Souls is easily one of the best games this gen. and something any interested person should give a shot.
 
If you're limited to playing on a shitbox/turdstation console then go ahead and choose Dark Souls. If you've got a capable PC then play them both in whatever order suits your fancy cause you can't really go wrong either way. *shrug*
 
jabuseika said:
http://i.minus.com/itIihairP4ejU.jpg[IMG]

Dark Souls is the harder game, but the feeling of accomplishment it gives you, is something you won't find in Skyrim.


I beat the final boss of Skyrim with my character using fists, and I felt like I accomplished nothing in the game. >.>[/QUOTE]

That image is good for a laugh if you're on a useless high horse, but it...accomplishes nothing worthwhile when actually trying to help someone choosing the best experience for them. Hyperboles can be so annoying around at this place at times..

They are two different games with two different goals within the same overarching goal of entertainment.

And there are many, many examples of experiences in Skyrim that you simply don't have in Dark Souls - And vice versa. So let that be the starting point for a good advice.

Oh, and BTW, even though swordplay is pretty "weightless" in Skyrim, there is at least a couple of combat elements more fun to play around with in Skyrim (in my humble opinion at least); bows and arrows, and some of the sorcery/shouts variety.
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genjiZERO said:
You aren't playing conservative enough. See my post on the previous page. Think of each encounter as a piece of a larger strategy.
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I feel like I am, I cleared the entire first tower, and beat the first boss without dying. I was actually quite pleased by my performance. First death came at the end of the bridge. i knew i could fight my way back to recover my souls. As I make my way across the bridge, extra cautiously, I stop to read a message. It reads, "it's safe here." I feel relived only to be incinerated and killed by the dragon. Bye bye souls. Then I tried to beat the red eyed knight, failure. So I kept switching between the knight and the bridge, and just can't seem to get it. When I was extremely close to beating the red eyed knight the first time, he healed himself. I cried.
 
bj00rn_ said:
That image is good for a laugh if you're on a useless high horse, but it...accomplishes nothing worthwhile when actually trying to help someone choosing the best experience for them. Hyperboles can be so annoying around at this place at times..

They are two different games with two different goals within the same overarchng goal of entertainment.

And there are many, many examples of experiences in Skyrim that you simply don't have in Dark Souls - And vice versa. So let that be the starting point for a good advice.
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True. True. In Skyrim you can complete fetch quests and steal bowls and shit until your heart is content.

MerkinMax said:
I feel like I am, I cleared the entire first tower, and beat the first boss without dying. I was actually quite pleased by my performance. First death came at the end of the bridge. i knew i could fight my way back to recover my souls. As I make my way across the bridge, extra cautiously, I stop to read a message. It reads, "it's safe here." I feel relived only to be incinerated and killed by the dragon. Bye bye souls. Then I tried to beat the red eyed knight, failure. So I kept switching between the knight and the bridge, and just can't seem to get it. When I was extremely close to beating the red eyed knight the first time, he healed himself. I cried.
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Only read if you want to cheat a bit:

You aren't meant to be able to beat him at this point in the game. Just come back later.
 
genjiZERO said:
True. True. In Skyrim you can complete fetch quests and steal bowls and shit until your heart is content.



Only read if you want to cheat a bit:

You aren't meant to be able to beat him at this point in the game. Just come back later.
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Unless you start as a royal. In which case you can just bomb him with soul ray and kill him before he can even get close
 
I played Dark Souls first then Skyrim (though I had played Demon's Souls, so I knew what was going on).

I suggest you follow the same pattern.

Dark Souls (IMO the better game in terms of what I look for in games), will drive you to the point of insanity and you will love it for that.

Once you are done, you can chill a bit with the best hiking simulater and one of the best soundtracks in gaming.
 
blainethemono said:
Unless you start as a royal. In which case you can just bomb him with soul ray and kill him before he can even get close
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True, but (story not gameplay spoiler)
There's no real point without the key to get into the mausoleum. That's why I think it's just better to leave for later.
 
jabuseika said:
Dark Souls is more accessible than Demon's Souls.

There will be some frustration involved, until you figure out the hook to the next boss, then it's just a matter of being good at executing a plan of attack.

Unlike Demon's Souls, where you had to have the perfect game plan and execution to get past some areas.
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Actually, I actually found it less, personally. I got the majority through Demon's at a very good clip just being really methodical, careful, doing basic research. I felt comfortable enough that I would call people on on overstating the difficulty (come on, the first level is not hard you wimps!) However, to me, while Dark Souls was paced a bit better on the whole it has a higher ratio of cheap shit. There are def spots in Dark where I felt like they were just trying to maintain the status quo.

Not that I really mind the occasional trail and error fuck up or pressing challenge, but I do think that Demon's was a little bit more organic, personally. It will be curious to see what exactly they plan to amend in 2. I really hope more than anything it's system and UI quirks. As much as I love the Souls series, it is undeniable a FAQ diver at times.

When the fuck did people start turning on Skyrim?

I've played an hour or so of Demon Souls, so I'm assuming the experience somewhat translates. I had a lot of fun with Skyrim. More so than Demon Souls. I really enjoy huge open worlds with a lot of detail, and Skyrim meets that requirement. There's so much to do and so much to see, so what's hanging the backstreet? You'll never know if you don't go. You'll never shine if you don't glow.

... Sorry, I lost my train of thought.

Skyrim is fun.
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Well, one is a far more niche Japanese, hardcore tilted action game this topic is throwing that against a more casual industry behemoth like Skyrim on this board where Bethesda has spent some of their good will due to the PS3 issues. It's gonna get hyperbolic and mean spirited, when it comes to hate camps, it's fairly predictable terrain.

Not that I'm really defending Skyrim, fuck, I'm in the Souls camp and *I* dislike Skyrim, but it's a completely different product for a different market and experience that hey, maybe I ain't part of it (although, I do like FO3 and NV, so maybe!?). There are a few good posts detailing differences and whatnot but man, I don't know if it's the start of the new generation and the children are all overstimulated or what, but the angst is really ripe lately. It ain't even ribbing or funny anymore, just dudes being way too serious and legitimately trying to pick weird little internet fights.
 
Do you want to make steady progress and see a whole bunch of content? If so go with Skyrim.

Do you want to really have to master a game on every level and possibly spend hour after hour making literally zero progress? If so go with Dark Souls.

Ignore the haters too if you have already enjoyed the first hour. They were born that way.
 
bj00rn_ said:
That image is good for a laugh if you're on a useless high horse, but it...accomplishes nothing worthwhile when actually trying to help someone choosing the best experience for them. Hyperboles can be so annoying around at this place at times..
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It simply states how I felt after playing around 100hrs in each of the two games. Some times knowing if there are good rewards in a game is helpful in choosing an experience.

bj00rn_ said:
They are two different games with two different goals within the same overarching goal of entertainment.
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I'm sure the OP is smart enough to have figured that out already. Both games are still RPGs, and are comparable in more departments than there exists differences.


bj00rn_ said:
And there are many, many examples of experiences in Skyrim that you simply don't have in Dark Souls - And vice versa. So let that be the starting point for a good advice.
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Some experiences are more rewarding than others. Personally had more fun exploring the few carefully crafted dungeons of Dark Souls than the Copy/Paste experience offered in Skyrim's hundreds of dungeons.
 
Skyrim is crazy buggy. I bought it at launch because I have always been an Elder Scrolls fan. Oblivion was once considered a really buggy game... but I loved it enough to overlook those flaws. Skyrim has multiple bugs that actually stop you from completing missions. I sold it after a few weeks of frustration.
 
eosos said:
Skyrim is way better. Don't listen to the neckbeards.
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itIihairP4ejU.jpg
 
You know what? I like Dark Souls, but if the choice is between risking the creation of yet another snotty, elitist Dark Souls fan that shits up every thread he posts in and you playing Skyrim, I want you to play the fuck out of Skyrim.
 
eosos said:
Skyrim is way better. Don't listen to the neckbeards.
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I would stress that Dark Souls is better, but that doesn't really make justice to the differences between these two games.
What's actually relevant is that regardless of how you compare them to each other, Dark Souls is a great game while Skyrim is simply a terrible game in pretty much everything beside production value.
 
jabuseika said:
It simply states how I felt after playing around 100hrs in each of the two games. Some times knowing if there are good rewards in a game is helpful in choosing an experience. .
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Don't forget that rewards comes in many shapes and forms. For me Skyrim's rewards were just different than than Dark Souls'. And that's why I enjoy/enjoyed both games.
 
MegaKungFuRadio said:
You know what? I like Dark Souls, but if the choice is between risking the creation of yet another snotty, elitist Dark Souls fan that shits up every thread he posts in and you playing Skyrim, I want you to play the fuck out of Skyrim.
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That's some hipster bullshit right here. Dark Souls is well worth the praise heaped upon it.
 
LOL. "First". As if you'll get them both played. I would try them both. They have something different to offer for everyone. But I think Dark Souls is far far superior as a video game.
 
If you like walking the same path, fighting the same enemies over and over and over until your brain goes numb... play Dark Souls.

I wouldn't play Skyrim either though.
 
toddhunter said:
There was that quest when you walk to a dungeon and fight your way through enemies. Then you face a slightly stronger version of the same enemy before getting a chest with not much in it.

Then you go back.

I think you are forgetting that quest.

You are also forgetting Skyrim's magic system. You have both fireballs and other balls which are slightly different colours. Then you upgrade them and ... ok yeah the spell looks exactly the same but it does slightly more damage, which is good, because the enemies you are facing are the same as before but now have slightly more health.
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I remember that quest! It was ok the first time, but it got kind of repetitive.
 
Derrick01 said:
I wish I knew. I have no idea why it's so propped up on here as some savior to gaming when it's only ok.
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Well when you do understand why please explain

it's traditional in spirit, it's precise, it's deep and it's world is wholly unique or inspired

it's also basically the first good iteration of a game type From had been pioneering for years

from a player or developer perspective it really is a triumph
 
Anyhow, as suggested earlier: Start with Dark Souls. Then if/when you get frustrated, play Skyrim. Then, after awhile, you can play Dark Souls again. When you get frustrated, play Skyrim. Etc.

But, you should really play Skyrim on the highest difficulty. This is, or was slightly unbalanced, since mobs would, occasionally, suddenly do incredible burst damage, so you should raise your self healing spells and associated skills as soon as possible. Dual wielding, or 1h and shield, with quick, easy access to the healing spell makes the difficulty work well.
 
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