LogFAQs > #934709992

kevwaffles posted...

I'm not saying the elevator ruins the game. I'm saying it's just the single sentence example people break out instead of going on 20 minute diatribes. And admittedly I was lumping world design and level design together confusedly, but that's sort of what people do, which is sort of my point.

my point is that people who can't tell the difference between level design and world design, and complain about what is essentially a loading screen as the entire basis for their argument, are making a VERY shallow argument.

kevwaffles posted...

And DeS has significantly better level design than DS2.

my kneejerk reaction is to say that this is definitely true. I mean, I love Demon's Souls. it's probably the first game I ever played as an adult that made me appreciate video games again. all that being said... Dark Souls 2 has some really amazing levels as well. the main thing holding it back is that the sheer volume of levels tends to drag the mean down to a more average level. people's opinion on these 'average' levels ultimately determines whether they love or hate dark souls 2.

think of it this way...

if I think the average dark souls 2 level is actually pretty good, and then it has some AMAZING level design in specific areas on top of that, dark souls 2 is a pretty damn great game.

if you think the average dark souls 2 level is pretty bad, then even the few amazing levels are not going to be enough to offset this feeling.

CoolCly posted...

Re DS2: I don't think the guys in charge of Dark Souls 2 quite understood what was so satisfying about Dark Souls difficulty.

honestly I don't think Miyazaki himself understands what made Demon's Souls such a great game. this is why we got Dark Souls and why it changed so many things -- for the worse. the fuck would I ever want to spend 30 minutes walking back to an area instead of warping there instantly from an Archstone? like I legitimately still, after all these years, cannot figure out what they were thinking by removing the warp feature.

I'll once again state that I do strongly agree that dark souls 2 is not a good sequel to dark souls 1, but I don't think the difficulty is the main reason.

learning to fight multiple opponents is a really awesome skill, and I'm glad I learned how to do it. it makes me feel (and probably objectively demonstrates) that I am a much more skilled player.

I don't give a rabid shit about whether or not the top of assface garden loops directly to the bottom of bullshit cavern, especially if you're not going to make me go on a lord of the rings esque hike across the countryside to get there.

but for people who masturbate to WORLD DESIGN, dark souls 1 is a great game and dark souls 2 does not even attempt to meet that standard.

kevwaffles posted...

Okay, no.

yes

kevwaffles posted...

a lot of the bosses in vanilla DS2 that don't fall into that template are either even worse or an awkward inferior take on a variety of DS1 bosses.

this is a hot take considering how crude the AI is for a lot of dark souls 1 bosses, but okay. if you truly believe that I sort of wonder when is the last time you actually played dark souls 1 or 2. because I don't think watching a giant fatass demon fly into the air and butt stomp repeatedly while I hit him 25 times to kill him is very fun. but if that's your idea of great boss design, fair enough.


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all the rest weren't so unfortunate
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