WeView: Dark Souls

In a result that will no doubt please The Lone Steven, Dark Souls stormed to the top of yesterday’s poll and remained firmly at the top until the poll closed. This mean’s I’m left with the somewhat tricky task of introducing Dark Souls, a game I know little about aside from two facts: it’s long and you die a lot.

Unfortunately for me I found out that at least half of my knowledge of Dark Souls is wrong. Whilst looking for a few crumbs of information that would help me make sense of the point of Dark Souls, I stumbled across this news story from last year which proclaims that Dark Souls is beatable in under 90 minutes. The game may have a lot of content, but it would seem it doesn’t have to be all that long if you’re dedicated to the cause of playing it as fast as possible. To be fair to the game, that probably doesn’t apply to most people.

It does seem that the other half of my information about the game was correct though, you really do die a lot. Rather than a formal review of the game, Peter kept a brief diary of his experiences in the world of Dark Souls. In the first part of said diary he died three times and hadn’t even managed to kill the game’s first real enemy, the Asylum Demon.

In his second diary entry he revealed that it had taken him seven attempts to get past the Asylum Demon, and in doing so he learned a key piece of information – Dark Souls doesn’t like you. Whilst the almost death rate for the game might have made this obvious, the game’s disdain for the player goes much deeper than that. As Peter puts it, “Dark Souls keeps its secrets.”

The game simply isn’t going to explain core mechanics to you, leaving them for you to discover and work out. For example, it wasn’t clear to Peter that he could recover his accumulated power, the souls he had collected, after he’d died. Instead he was left to discover the ghostly entity that your death leaves for himself, something that seemingly took him quite a few attempts.

Peter’s second diary entry is his last one, and he admitted that he didn’t feel like he’d “…even scratched the surface yet.” There’s depth in Dark Souls, and the way it refuses to spoon feed you instructions or tips layers mystery on top of that depth.

However, if you’ve been playing the game for a while hopefully you’ll have explored some of that depth and can relay your thoughts on the game to us. If you feel like sharing how you feel about the game, or even what it’s done to you, then all you need to do is drop a comment below. Once you’ve managed to push past the emotional scarring and write your comment, remember to add a rating on the Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It, Avoid It scale. Finally, you’ve got until Sunday afternoon to get your comment in if you feel like being part of Monday’s verdict article.

29 Comments

  1. Buy it.
    I did.
    I died.
    A lot.
    I put it away and tried to forget it.
    I remembered it and though “it can’t have been that hard”
    It was.

  2. Dark souls really isn’t that hard. Once you learn combat mechanics e.g roll,backstab and enemys attack patterns the game becomes a breeze to play. Most of the people complaining that it’s hard are probably playing it like the standard hack and slash game. Keep your shield, side step enemies and most importantly TAKE YOUR TIME, don’t rush in combat. Following these steps will make the game alot easier.

    I’m currently on ng+ at Anor londo and have only died 4/5times(twice by invaders)

    • BUY IT, BUY IT,BUY IT…. the game can be brought for £15 on shopto.net. Soooooo BUY IT…BUY IT…BUY IT…

  3. I think part of it gets nice whenever you upgrade stats properly and use equipment that suits the player, 40 Str and 18 Dex did well until I got to Anor Londo. The Golum Stone shield and Black Knight Sword helped a lot for me. However it takes you to like grind souls to get stronger, if you don’t mind killing four humans then going back to the bonfire all the time then cool. The game is tough but simply a rewarding experience which is what most games lack in these dark times.

    • …oh and Buy it. (then ragequit)

      • Then go back to it the next day, ragequit then repeat the cycle untill you make some progress only to get killed and lose a lot of souls thus causing you to ragequit etc.. ;)

  4. Short version: You die a lot, you will have plenty of rages and die even more, you will ragequit and you will love Dark Souls. BUY IT

    Dark Souls, we all know what it is. That game that is said to be one of the hardest games of this generation. Only it’s not hard if you figure out the way to kill it or to get past the traps. For example, i had trouble with Taurus Demon who is the first proper boss untill i discovered it’s main weakness is a plunging attack. But even the boss is a bit of a challenge for new players.

    Dark Souls doesn’t tell it’s story the traditional way. In fact, it lets you to find out the story by yourself and to interpret the lore. All i know so far is that i’m the chosen Undead and i have to link the fire. Oh and i’m an arsehole due to what i have done so far. Usually, it means that the writers can’t be bother or just don’t care but here, it actually works for some reason. Every item has a description that may have some hidden lore tucked away in it. The weapons feel like they have some actual weight instead of being floaty. For example all ultra greatswords can only be swung very slowly and in 1-2 hits at a time whereas a dagger, i assume you can get in probably 20-30 hits before your stamina is depleted. The gameplay is excellent but there is a small input delay which can cause you to die. Speaking of dying, you will die a lot but unlike other games where death results in a game over or a reload, you will just start back at the last bonfire you rested at which also respawns the enemies in the area. Luckily, mini bosses don’t respawned.

    The online system is very unique and if you have played Demon Souls then you know what i’m about to say. You can summon other players who will come to your world as phantoms. But you can’t choose who as you will be lucky to get one depending on the area and chances are you will rarely be human. You need to be human to summon other players or invade other players. If you are human, you will always run the risk of being invaded, either by other players or NPC black phantoms. And you can leave messages on the ground for other players to read but not everyone intends to help you with the messages.

    This comment is getting a bit too long so i will try to round this up.The soundtrack is excellent and does reflect every boss. Dark Souls is addictive and challenges you. If you hate hard games, don’t bother buying Dark Souls as you won’t enjoy it.
    Overall it is a BUY IT! You can get it for £20 in someplaces. Oh and there is an offical TSA Dark Souls thread in Gaming Banter. What? Don’t judge me for shameless advertising me thread! STOP JUDGING ME! *stabs you in the face with a greatsword* :P

  5. Buy it, Buy it, Buy it. Although my opinion is slightly biased since I was a massive fan of Demon’s Souls. I bought the special editions of both Demon’s and Dark souls. The sense of achievement after beating a boss, even getting to the next bonfire is second to none. The game’s mechanics were deep and allowed for variation, reminded me of Final Fantasy 5s job system, you’re given a template and it’s yours to choose what’s appropriate for what situation. Words can’t really do the game justice. People usually just describe it by calling it “hard” (and rightly so), but it needs playing to get a feel for what your in for. Some slight changes in the mechanics put me off it to begin with, the parry, riposte and unfortunately, the dodgy summoning system. It was the online system that originally drew me towards Demon’s souls. A shining example of multiplayer done differently but well. Grim world, interesting and often amusing NPCs, deep mechanics and that sense of achievement make it a game like no other (bar Demon’s souls obviously).
    Jeez I’ve gone on for quite a bit… just buy it. You can thank me later.

    • oh, and a bonus, that ragdoll effect that dead enemies have. I could kick them about for hours.

  6. Hate the namby pamby hand holding every 2 min checkpointed crap that is seemingly the norm nowadays? Me too. This game will remedy that, big time.

    Amazing, daunting, rewarding, unforgiving and yet never unfair – this game will have your emotions range from utter despair to sheer jubilation. Not everyone’s cup of tea, the sheer difficulty will put a lot of people off. For those that persevere, they are in for a gaming treat.

    Demon Souls is my fave game this gen.
    Dark Souls is just as good, though I haven’t played it in ages.
    I got to the giant moth type thingy and stopped playing shortly after.

    (A rather emphatic) BUY IT.

  7. I,d say rent it first just to see if you have the patience to play it cos it’s unforgiving I’ve tried twice with it and got raped both times.demons souls was easy ish once you worked out world and player tendency ( pure white = easy pure black = smashed pad) dark souls doesn’t have any of that so be wary. I’d love to say buy it and enjoy it but that wouldn’t be the case. if you have a high stress level and rage quit games cos you die a lot then avoid at all costs trust me

  8. Prepare to buy

  9. Dark souls is simply a brilliant game, the game is hard, but its hard in a fair way. It only punishes you if you mess up in some way, approaching an area with the the wrong gear or mindset on how you will attack the enemies. Everything in the game is beatable if you stop and think about how you will tackle it. There is no cheap way to play the game, all the different weapons and ability’s are balanced with strengths and weaknesses, and there are so many different ways to play the game successfully, with each of the starting classes tailoring to a specific play style

    The Multiplayer is also unlike anything else, being able to summon a random player, unable to communicate in any way with them, continuing your journey together in silence for mutual benefit. The feeling of comfort it gives you having another pair of eyes about to look for dangers can not be found in any other game. The invasion mechanic is also brilliant, making you find strategy’s to use the environment to foil the other players attempt at killing you.

    The Atmosphere it creates is also nearly perfect, with the fear of death causing you to slowly approach every area, taking in every little detail or the world for a potential hazard, and the tension of each fight knowing that any enemy could end your attempt at a stage. This of coarse makes the feeling of success all the sweeter
    when you finally overcome a boss or particular hard section of the game.
    and the difficulty adds to the feeling of relief you get when you finally find a bonfire, to rest at, usually the only source of light in an area, reminding you that your not the only person struggling as you see the ghosts of other players sitting around it.

    The game is also rich in its lore which it never just tells you about, you need to dig and each of the 2 dozen or so characters gives off little hints of info for you to piece together about the world you are in. There are secrets hidden everywhere

    Buy it.

  10. If you like your RPG’s like your old skool platform games buy it as like old skool platform games you will spend the majority of your time either rage quitting or fist pumping after progressing 0.00001% further.

    The game is awesome with a capital woo.

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