It's been two months since my last blog so I thought it might be time to post something. I was originally going to post a development blog about my RPG but i still don't have enough to really SHOW yet. However in a few months I may have a bit of a teaser trailer for it soon. (assuming I can create something as simple as that with my very limited experience in video editing)
So instead I decided to post about my experiences in the past few RPG's i've played. A month ago I finally conquered Lost Odyssey after an epic 55 hour journey. I love every bit of that jRPG masterpiece but there isn't much to say about it. It's your classic turn-based RPG and though the story, characters, world and gameplay are all great there isn't anything unique about one players experience from another's.So let's talk about Dark Souls. The famously difficult action adventure RPG that really does impress. Even as harsh a critic as I am I really did enjoy this game and I also think what it brings was massively overdue. A brutally challenging game with some depth to the combat, surprises in the level design and a hold-no-punches approach. This game does the complete opposite of most modern mainstream games. It doesn't force you to play through a long mandatory tutorial teaching you how to press a button on the controller. Instead it throws you straight into the depths of hell and let's you figure it out yourself. Those who learn will survive and those who fail to adapt will die. However i do have to mention another favorite aspect of mine about the game, it does NOT utilize any retro difficulty methods at all. What I mean by that is the game is rarely ever unfair. It doesn't force you to play through huge sections without saves or to defeat 5 bosses in a row without a break. Nor does it have a limited lives system or force you to memorize every detail of a level or enemy. The game very fairly auto-saves constantly without you knowing and when you rest at a bonfire it recharges you health, magic and flask (your heals). I loved how it handled this and it allowed for individual challenges to be difficult alone without having to resort to cheap methods of difficulty like 1 hit kills or anything like that.It is a bit of an exaggeration when people say the game is sooooo haaaaard. Honestly i didn't have too big a problem with the game. It was challenging but rarely had me cursing at the screen or wanting to give up. I die, learned something about the enemy and come back the next time and try something different. In some ways you could almost say it shares a bit of a puzzle element to it. The only thing that annoys me in the game is losing your souls when you die (the currency of the game which also acts as usable experience points). Of course you can retrieve them if you go back to there but the world of Dark Souls is a dangerous place and sometimes even traveling back the short distance of a bonfire to the point at which you died can cause your demise. If you are to die again the previous souls you lost will be gone forever and only the current souls you dropped will be retrievable. This system is a bit annoying but i think it is a bit needed to add that tension into the game. You won't lose every thing when you die but you will lose your Souls which is really something you don't want to lose and so every new corner you turn is a stressful choice as anything could jump out and kill you and send you back.The RPG mechanics are OK but they aren't anything special. Like most action RPG's the game favors warriors the most. The big swords do massive damage and can take down the biggest enemies quite easily, as long as you time your attacks perfectly. Trying to use a rogue-like character and you will find yourself having to be a lot more skilled just to survive from the smaller enemies. When being a mage you are also heavily limited due to the time it takes to cast a spell and the limited number of spells you can cast. (this game uses an odd magic system where each individual spell has it's own counter, there is no MP in this game)The heavy armor is also the only useful armor which again favors warriors. Light armor is great for getting a little bit of extra speed but some of bigger enemies have such powerful attacks that even a single hit could almost instantly kill you with light armor. Although it isn't impossible to defeat the more difficult enemies using a light-weight character, it's just a bit more difficult than it should be. Because of the limited magic and weak light-weight weapons, you would have a hard time playing your first playthrough as a light-weight character. The difference is massively large when switching between a greatsword and a dagger. A dagger might barely even hurt a large enemy and could take 10+ hits to kill while a greatsword would only take 1~2 well timed strikes. So yes, you can pick a dagger but it isn't very smart. (and i fully upgraded most types of weapons and still ended up preferring the greatsword)The weapons and armor however are well designed and each one is unique and somewhat balanced. The game doesn't really rely on having to always find a stronger weapon, instead you may find a new weapon that has a different move set and deals a different type of damage but isn't necessary stronger than your current weapon. The only way to get stronger weapons is to use the smithing system to improve them with items dropped by enemies. It also has a creative enchanting system allowing you to add fire, lightning and magic damage to weapons, as well as some other effects. (however these come at a cost since they usually lower other parameters of the weapon)The game has you constantly switching between weapons and tactics to take down new foes and this is what makes the game feel fun all the way through. it never gets boring or repetitive. Even the grinding is actually pretty fun, since it doesn't take long to get what you need once you know how to or where to get it. It's a decent size world with 80+ hours of gameplay on a single playthrough. Now the game isn't perfect, there are quite a few flaws, mostly in design. Some levels are a bit sloppy and cheap in that falling off cliffs and ledges can kill you all too often. As well as a few lazy bosses who just spam the same move over and over, or some of the really large bosses which you don't even really have to fight but instead have to attack a certain object in the room to kill them. However most of the bosses were pretty decent challenges but could have been better. The multiplayer system isn't really worth mentioning. It experiments with non-direct multiplayer with the exception of invading players which are quite annoying and practically force you to stay in your Hallow form most of the game. (although luckily there isn't much downfall to this unlike in Demon's Souls)Some things that really did irritate me though were:- Capra Demons (i despise these things, most weren't too hard but some, especially in Sen's Fortress were a huge pain in the ass)- Blighttown (terrible level design + sloppy Havok physics = a frustrating level)- Invading players are a huge pain early in the game as there is absolutely nothing you can do to avoid getting killed, possibly at a very inconvenient time and location.- Odd distribution of souls in enemies. Some easier enemies drop more souls than some of the more numerous and difficult enemies do.- Areas such as New Londo Ruins that have too many enemies in a small area are really difficult due to getting your attacks interrupted when getting surrounded by too many enemies. It's not a combat system that allows you to survive against a large amount of enemies at once. It's best with one-on-one combat.- Ranged combat rarely works since magic/crossbow doesn't target very far and the longbow is difficult to use.- There are a few large enemies and mini-bosses that can EASILY be killed at a distance with a bow without even confronting them which is incredibly boring.Well that's all i got for now. Feel free to comment about the game and post some of your most challenging parts. Also if you haven't played the game and you like action adventure games, definitely* give Dark Souls a try. It's a refreshing experience in a market full of lazy linear action games. You can get the game on Steam, Xbox 360 or PS3. (despite what people say, the PC version is just fine. I'll admit that it could have included a few more common PC options but having a lack of control over the max FPS and internal 3d effects doesn't in any way change the experience of the game. Also the game can get a bit buggy and laggy when using the "fix" mod which allows you to change these things. Honestly it's better without it. When not using it, it is probably one of the most stable PC games i've ever played. It never crashed once, or had any errors messages at all. )* = denotes a terrible habit of mine.
I never heard of a Sony wireless adapter for PC, so I have no idea. If there is one, it's probably third-party.
MotioninJoy works best, but you have to be online for it to work.
(Fucking always online DRM)FUCK Blighttown.
I never understood the magic system in this game. I mean, I sort of understood it, but it was so clunky and weird that I never even bothered to stick with it. Some people swear by it, though, and say that it is the best way to play.I used light armor all the way through. I just hated how slow my dude moved when I was fully decked out in heavy armor. And I got a Black Knight Greatsword very early on from the first Black Knight I killed. Used that son of a bitch all the way to the end. Nothing is more satisfying than killing some asshole who invades your world and they end up dropping like 20,000 souls. I wish they implemented the multi-player system better. But I guess kudos for trying something unconventional?Over all, though, this game is some of the most fun I've had on my 360. I wish more developers would put as much effort into their offerings.Dark Souls. Dark Souls. Dark Souls.
I love this game. Got to level 137, beat the game twice, wasn't far off doing it again. Starting as a thief, ending up being an medium armoured faith user (wore Orstein set, cant remember rings, had 2 swords, one standard for enchanting with Sunlight blade, another for when I had no charges left or for people with a magic barrier).PVP was awesome. Apparently a sequel isn't too far off.Yes I can't wait for Dark Souls 2 :D
Might be one of the first games I could consider getting on Day 1. The last game I got on day 1 was Twilight Princess for Gamecube. (holy shit that's a long time ago lol)One thing though: I'd like if they it easier to play with friends. It was virtually impossible to play with any of mine – compared to Demon Souls, where we could summon each other with ease. That's to do with DS having one centralized server though.
In any case, although I do appreciate the lone wolf feeling even if you're online, sometimes I just really wanted to pvp or coop with my pals.As you said, going lightweight, backstabbing dick-ass thief mode is way more difficult than it should be. I made the mistake of choosing wanderer on my first go and when I realized I was picking only heavy armour and weapons I restarted.
I'm currently going as a heavy armour (golem set with havel's ring + ring of favour and protection) pyromancer with lightning spear and I don't know where I should go next:-Anor Londo: Big-ass knights that make me cower in fear-New Londo Ruins: Last time I played I had the dark knight greatsword and hitting them posed little issue (sweep strikes fuck yeah) but with this 'ere spear it's nearly impossible. They've got to be right in front of you and at the same height, otherwise I'll find myself completely surrounded and they'll have slit my throat twenty times by the time you finish reading this sentence.-Demon ruins: I can't manage to consistently dodge the attacks, my timing isn't quite there yet.-Back to undead asylum: fuck you Stray Demon, fuck you.-Darkroot whathaveyou: just the thought of having to fight Sif… ughSo, here I sit, in quite a pickle.Weighing my options, so to speak!Hah hah hah hah!@ Unaligned:
Lol yeah as you get closer to the end of the game your options start to seem very difficult. Have you been to the catacombs yet? that place quite a lot of fun lol xDYou mine as well finish Anor Londo first since you are going to need an item you get there to proceed to many other areas. The big knights aren't that bad, just grab yourself a Greatshield (i used the Eagle Shield most of the game) upgrade it and than hold it up most of the battle. After the big knight swings, you immediately attack. If you got a powerful weapon like a Greatsword you should kill it in 1~3 hits. Also you can run from MOST of them as they don't really bother you unless you get really close.Ah yes I knew I was forgetting something, the catacombs, that part is so annoying with the respawning skeletons (yeah divine weapon & kill the undead mage to stop respawns) and the nigh pitch-black darkness.
I'll follow your strategy to deal with those knights, but I'll need to fetch me a greatshield somewhere first.I think you are severely underestimating the usefulness of magic.
Sorcery is great for long ranged combat and turns many difficult fights into a piece of cake.Pyromancy is great because it doesn't rely on any stats. I'm currently playing trough the game as a level 1 pyromancer, and it's not much more difficult than any other character.