Dark Souls 1

[Mike]

So I bought this on sale for $5 like a year ago and never got around to it. Never played demons souls either. Finally started it the other day. So far it's a mix of what I expected and surprises.


Brutally hard like I expected. A lot of that is hecause the controls, camera, level design, and responsiveness are just bad. Like reaaly bad for such an action oriented game. I'm always thinking of ninja gaiden while playing it in terms of difficulty, but that had polished controls at least. Also the game is so cryptic you hafe to play with a wiki or guide basically. Already wasted an apparently important and rare item because the game just lete you use it as a consumable with no warning.



That being said it IS fun, and the atmosphere and tension you feel while playing it is amazing. There's something about the fact that even the scrub enemies can quickly murder you in brutal fashion if you screw up. Had a rough start, must have died a hundred times in undead burg before I started to get used to the controos and timing. Almost everything attacks with a weird stutter step delay just to fuck up y8ur parries lol.


Finally cleared undead burg and made my way through lower burg, the capra demon ( fuck that guy for reals), and to the sewers. Playing as a thief but really have no idea what I'm doing or what differentiates the classes. Thinking I should have went knight or cleric as rolling through every fight doesn't work well for me. I have to resort to blocking through a lot of the funky pattern enemies, so I'm thinking tank might have been an easier choice. Any tips on where to invest stats or where I can find a good weapon would be cool, or overall thoughts on the game. There seems to be a lot of lore but they don't make a huge effort to explain wtf is going on.

The atmosphere reminds me of Berserk quite a bit.

 

[Polish Machine]

The controls are bad? Do you know how to lock onto an enemy? I have trouble playing any action games ever since I played Demon's Souls. These games have perfect combat.

 

[Phalanx]

Yeah, never thought the controls were bad on any of the Souls games. The camera could be a bit wonky at times, causing the occasional untimely death, but I always found the controls to be fairly responsive.

 

[KidBaize]

Stick with it and I think the game will really grow on you. The combat mechanics are what everyone loves and give the game so much replay value. There is just a steep learning curve in the beginning. I originally played Demon Souls but gave up on it because the controls weren't intuitive and difficulty was too much for me at the time. I eventually tried it again and have been pretty much a Souls junkie ever since.

Starting classes don't really matter that much. You aren't restricted to any single style so you can make whatever build you want by leveling the appropriate stats. Vitality and Endurance are staples so aim for something like 30-50 VIT and 20-40 END. What other stats you level will depend on the requirements of the weapons and spells you want to use. Thief starts with 15 DEX so a dexterity weapon like the iaito or scimitar would work. The longsword and halberd are also available early game and they are very strong. If you like big and slow weapons, try the claymore or zweihander. Most weapons are viable but the bandit knife is going to be difficult because it has shit range.

 

[Mike]

The controls are bad? Do you know how to lock onto an enemy? I have trouble playing any action games ever since I played Demon's Souls. These games have perfect combat.

Compared to ninja gaiden or DMC, yeah the controls are terribad.

You move slow and attack animations are clunky. The camera sucks pretty bad. They have too many context sensitive inputs ( if I kick instead of slashing ONE more time). Wonky hit boxes on bosses, and your sword can get stuck in walls yet there weapons rarely do. And everything has a fifteen foot long sword ffs.

Anyways I cleared the sewers and beat the gaping dragon, then died like a dumbass and lost 34k souls.


Soooooo now wandering around looking for a good spot to grind. Thinking maybe the forest with the huge knights so I can farm poison cure too.

Gotta stop dying before I can level, I should probably have like 10 more levels than I do by now lol.

 

[Mike]

Stick with it and I think the game will really grow on you. The combat mechanics are what everyone loves and give the game so much replay value. There is just a steep learning curve in the beginning. I originally played Demon Souls but gave up on it because the controls weren't intuitive and difficulty was too much for me at the time. I eventually tried it again and have been pretty much a Souls junkie ever since.

Starting classes don't really matter that much. You aren't restricted to any single style so you can make whatever build you want by leveling the appropriate stats. Vitality and Endurance are staples so aim for something like 30-50 VIT and 20-40 END. What other stats you level will depend on the requirements of the weapons and spells you want to use. Thief starts with 15 DEX so a dexterity weapon like the iaito or scimitar would work. The longsword and halberd are also available early game and they are very strong. If you like big and slow weapons, try the claymore or zweihander. Most weapons are viable but the bandit knife is going to be difficult because it has shit range.

Thanks I mainly use the drake sword but had to switch to that magical pole weapon thing you get early on for the last boss.

I want to use something fast like a knife, but the bandit knife has the attack power of a gentle breeze.

Don't have many weapons or items yet tbh. Have the pole and the drake sword and a really shitty bow I use for ranged bosses. Wish I could find a rapier or dagger with decent damage.

 

[EndlessCritic]

the best weapon in dark souls is the black knight halberd.

if you get it early on the game will be a breeze.

 

[Torrid]

the best weapon in dark souls is the black knight halberd.

if you get it early on the game will be a breeze.

...ahem.

Chaos Zwei + hp dump makes the game cake. You can literally flatten Gwyn; it's hilarious.

To the OP, the controls aren't bad, you are. git gud.

 

[Blayt7hh]

The controls aren't bad you just haven't gotten the hang of them yet. They are really precise games. Sometimes the enemies venture into cheap territory, but for the most part the devs in those games stuck a perfect balance between hard and fair.

Demon's and Dark Souls 1 were my favorites. Souls 2 felt kind of phoned in and the horrendous load times in Bloodborne killed it for me before I got too far in it. I keep meaning to get around to 3, but there are other games out right now that I am a lot more into atm.

 

[Mike]

...ahem.

Chaos Zwei + hp dump makes the game cake. You can literally flatten Gwyn; it's hilarious.

To the OP, the controls aren't bad, you are. git gud.

For a skyrim knockoff they would be serviceable. For a heavily action oriented game yes, they are pretty bad. Like years behind the best games of the genre. Not even really debatable.

 

[Mike]

The controls aren't bad you just haven't gotten the hang of them yet. They are really precise games. Sometimes the enemies venture into cheap territory, but for the most part the devs in those games stuck a perfect balance between hard and fair.

Demon's and Dark Souls 1 were my favorites. Souls 2 felt kind of phoned in and the horrendous load times in Bloodborne killed it for me before I got too far in it. I keep meaning to get around to 3, but there are other games out right now that I am a lot more into atm.

The timing in the game is just incredibly weird. Even several areas in I'm still trying to get used to it. Almost everything you fight alternates between fast strikes and jerky, stutter step timed strikes. It's like fighting a billion slightly different keith jardines, but they all have pride wand level power.

Although I finally found a decent spot to grind exp at least. Well when the enemies there don't kick my ass lol. I'm elowly getting it though. Honestly regular enemies are worse than the bosses so far.

 

[Jew Jif Shoes]

To the OP, the controls aren't bad, you are. git gud.

This.

I love the controls.

 

[Blayt7hh]

The timing in the game is just incredibly weird. Even several areas in I'm still trying to get used to it. Almost everything you fight alternates between fast strikes and jerky, stutter step timed strikes. It's like fighting a billion slightly different keith jardines, but they all have pride wand level power.

Although I finally found a decent spot to grind exp at least. Well when the enemies there don't kick my ass lol. I'm elowly getting it though. Honestly regular enemies are worse than the bosses so far.

You're not wrong. It's unique. Once you get used to it though it is excellent.

 

[Torrid]

Fucking lol at Skyrim knockoff. My god the saltiness is real.

 

[Matt4786]

Don't give up skeleton!

 

[Matt4786]

You're probably gonna get more out of upgrading your weapon than leveling up fyi. Sounds like you ate the fire keeper soul?

 

[Mike]

You're probably gonna get more out of upgrading your weapon than leveling up fyi. Sounds like you ate the fire keeper soul?

Yeah the description said it makes your estus flasks heal for more so I thought that sounds great and just used it.


This game is super cryptic sort of reminds me of an early mmo. Every time you kill a boss you get Right Testicle Of The Goat Lord or something and your like hm...... wtf does this do? Off to google.


Well now I know not to ever use anything I haven't seen before without looking it up first lol. Got to Sif the wolf last night, man this game has the best atmosphere and art style ever.



Oh shit enormous wolf awesome. Did it........ dit it just pick up a fifty foot long sword?! Fuck. Of course it did. So currently trying to figure out how to kill it, but the generic D&D group in the forest is a good source of exp, now that I figured out a decent way to kill them all

 

[Mike]

So I was looking online and people were saying the drake sword was a noob trap and not to upgrade it. But all I have is the drake sword and a titanite pole.


Is it really a waste to upgrade the sword, and if so is there a decent one handed weapon accessible early in the game. To someone that isn't very good lol.

 

[Matt4786]

So I was looking online and people were saying the drake sword was a noob trap and not to upgrade it. But all I have is the drake sword and a titanite pole.


Is it really a waste to upgrade the sword, and if so is there a decent one handed weapon accessible early in the game. To someone that isn't very good lol.

Yeah the drake sword scales pretty damn poorly as you upgrade it. In that same area where you got it, there's a claymore if you can manage not to get roasted. It's a damn good weapon both one handed and two handed. The halberd in undead parish also ain't half bad. There's also a zweihander that's pretty easy to get in the graveyard and also hits like a truck.

 

[Mike]

Yeah the drake sword scales pretty damn poorly as you upgrade it. In that same area where you got it, there's a claymore if you can manage not to get roasted. It's a damn good weapon both one handed and two handed. The halberd in undead parish also ain't half bad. There's also a zweihander that's pretty easy to get in the graveyard and also hits like a truck.

Ok I do have the claymore and zwiehander, and the halberd tooo I think. I just assumed they weren't good because the drake had higher base damage. They don't really explain much about how the weapons work.


I don't even have any magic yet, but man it's expensive. Not sure if I should pick a weapon and start saving souls to upgrade it, or save for magic. My bow sux, although I did find the pharis bow last night which is supposed to scale with dex. Maybe I'll level that.


Lol I have no idea what I'm doing. Just been leveling dex and vitality. Want to get out of one shot death range for things so I can learn the timing easier.