Current Events > Are the Dark Souls games actually...fun?

(+) Yeah! (+)

1 is amazing and definitely fun once you've gotten over the first few hurdles.
When I first got it a few years ago it was one of those. You know the rare thing where you just sit down and play the thing, you forget what your objective for each playthrough was because you're having so much fun just playing the thing. You start another playthrough thinking you'll try a Black Knight Greatsword playthrough but it doesn't drop so you salvage the playthrough by turning into Smough or Havel and end up just as satisfied and excited to play more.

First playthrough I was incredibly sceptical and being really hard on it because people either talked about difficulty or forced praise the sun humor. I was on the look out for the part the wheels came off and it turned out the game became unfair or changed its focus to actively putting you off instead of challenging you. There's a few bugs and Lost Izalith honestly isn't very good but those repeat playthroughs once everything's clicked are things of beauty.

Unfortunately a lot of my playthroughs now just get to Anor Londo, beat O&S and call it a day. Sometimes I beat the DLC because Kalameet's fight is worth it and only occasionally come back to finish the rest of the game. That's just this late stage though, god damn did I get my mileage out of Dark Souls 1. I definitely recommend playing that one.

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Ok fuck it I took the plunge and bought DS1. Given the popularity of this topic I might make a playthrough topic when I start.

Question - is there any continuity in the story between games? Like would hopping straight to DS3 be a bad move?

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They're actually quite crap. The only good one is Dark Souls 2. An elite Soulist like @Zodd3224 can confirm.

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pinky0926 posted...

Ok fuck it I took the plunge and bought DS1. Given the popularity of this topic I might make a playthrough topic when I start.

Question - is there any continuity in the story between games? Like would hopping straight to DS3 be a bad move?

Story is mostly irrelevant. It's all lore and names of places and people. The beauty of the Dark Souls story is that you in no way need any of it, but there's tons of subtle things everywhere if you care enough to look.

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Best game series of all time. You are in for a treat TC.

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pinky0926 posted...

Ok fuck it I took the plunge and bought DS1. Given the popularity of this topic I might make a playthrough topic when I start.

Question - is there any continuity in the story between games? Like would hopping straight to DS3 be a bad move?

They are connected but you absolutely can jump into any game since the story is more context than anything.

I played 3 before 1 and it was actually quite enjoyable to learn about lore and then get to play it after the fact.

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Also I hated Hollow Knight initially but grew to love/hate it, and became feverishly obsessed by it. I found it hard, sometimes very hard, but not altogether impossible. Aside from Path of Pain. Fuck that noise.

I've heard it compared so...

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Yes they are fun, there is a reason why theyre a cultural phenomenon.

Good hard is when frustration and fun are a venn diagram with one circle.

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i find them fun. getting through the levels aren't too tough, and if a boss is too hard, summon.

congrats you beat dark souls.

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pauIie posted...

i find them fun. getting through the levels aren't too tough, and if a boss is too hard, summon.

congrats you beat dark souls.

Summoning is not allowed for a first playthrough. Or a guide.

Best way to experience these games is blind and bumbling your way through the first time. Then you get the guide and find all the goodies after that.

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Summoning is totally allowed. Bosses get 50% tougher to compensate, and you can't know to avoid them if you go in blind.

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Guide posted...

Summoning is totally allowed. Bosses get 50% tougher to compensate, and you can't know to avoid them if you go in blind.

Bosses are a joke when someone else can help aggro them.

Tbh most of the bosses arent too challenging in DS1 anyways. Not compared to 3, BB, and Sekiro anyways.

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Zodd3224 posted...

Summoning is not allowed for a first playthrough. Or a guide.

Best way to experience these games is blind and bumbling your way through the first time. Then you get the guide and find all the goodies after that.

has from software disabled summoning on first playthroughs? no? then it's allowed.

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pauIie posted...

has from software disabled summoning on first playthroughs? no? then it's allowed.

They should have. It was a grave oversight.

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Far from it, imo. The controls and gameplay are so stiff and slow it throws me from the immersion. Coupled with having to beat the game with simple and annoying trial and error the game just seems tedious and boring.

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pauIie posted...

has from software disabled summoning on first playthroughs? no? then it's allowed.

If its allowed why are people still whining about easy mode? The game has an easy mode. It's right there.
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DeadBankerDream posted...

If its allowed why are people still whining about easy mode? The game has an easy mode. It's right there.

i agree. but they probably got invaded and said fuck summoning because for most of those games you have to human it up at a bonfire and go through the level. bloodborne's way is the best for people that want to summon and avoid invasions.

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If TC enjoyed the Hollow Knight experience I doubt he will want to cheapen his first Souls experience by having other people beat the game for him.

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I think hollow knight prepared me for the fact that the beginning of the game is gone to royally suck. I nearly ragequit HK after too many times losing hours of progress because I got a tiny bit cocky.

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I tried summoning once, i think it was on Nito.

Every time, i just got the same guy who then instantly quit on me, over and over.

Don't know why, but it soured me on the whole idea a bit.

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Zodd3224 posted...

If TC enjoyed the Hollow Knight experience I doubt he will want to cheapen his first Souls experience by having other people beat the game for him.

you right. i was more just addressing the difficulty thing for people that have that roadblock. you don't need to have it.

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Don't start with 1 either get 3 or bloodborne. The formula has been improved that much since 1. 1 is good but it's something I would recommend going to when your a vet especially with the difficulty spike after a certain area that tends to be a block for alot of people
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Muintir posted...

The formula has been improved that much since 1.

This is a lie.
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DeadBankerDream posted...

This is a lie.

Agreed

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I am replaying all the souls games right now and am half way through the series. Demon's Souls is exactly as fun as I remember it being and DS1 is even moreso. The first Dark Souls is such a breeze of a game when you've beaten it a few times and it's the only one that honest to god feels like you're on some kind of quest due to the way the world is set up.

Right now I'm on DS2 and its exactly how I remember it for the most part. Really small, not-thought-through levels with way too many enemies, super easy bosses, and bad physics and hitboxes. Lots of cool weapon and armor though. Can't wait to get to Bloodborne next.

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the best way to play dark souls is to summon zodd to beat all the bosses for you because your old man reflexes cant cut it anymore

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If you can handle Hollow Knight's difficulty, Dark Souls shouldn't be a problem for you.

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Every time, i just got the same guy who then instantly quit on me, over and over.

hey, real quick, did they go into a kneel with some gfx and then they vanished, or did they just poof disappear before they could do anything?

because if it's the latter, it was probably network bullshit or something to that extent.
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artifical difficulty the seires. game isnt hard. it just lacks basic features you would expect from a game that was developed after 1980.

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ModLogic posted...

artifical difficulty the seires. game isnt hard. it just lacks basic features you would expect from a game that was developed after 1980.

Why do I have to ask you to clarify? Seems like something you should have done from the get-go.
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DeadBankerDream posted...

Why do I have to ask you to clarify? Seems like something you should have done from the get-go.

CE always bites on low level trolls.

Feel free to try but I think youll be beating your head against a stump with him.

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Modlogic is tehdud who is indeed a troll


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You shouldn't feel that things are 'trial and error'. Especially with Dark Souls 1. Most traps in the environment have clues available beforehand. E.g. if you see blood on an elevator floor then chances are a trap is nearby. When fighting enemies for the first time, don't attack, just hang back defensively and bait some attacks to see how many swings the monsters make and which ones leave an opening to counter.

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i agree with peeps saying no summoning. most of the people that put their stamp down in front of boss doors will probably just wreck the boss on their own and that takes all the fun out of it. messages/bloodstains left by online players can give some moments away so consider turning those off as well.

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Pancake posted...

Every time, i just got the same guy who then instantly quit on me, over and over.

hey, real quick, did they go into a kneel with some gfx and then they vanished, or did they just poof disappear before they could do anything?

because if it's the latter, it was probably network bullshit or something to that extent.

it has been so long, i barely remember, but i'm leaning towards the animation

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DuneMan posted...

You shouldn't feel that things are 'trial and error'. Especially with Dark Souls 1. Most traps in the environment have clues available beforehand. E.g. if you see blood on an elevator floor then chances are a trap is nearby.

Oh screw that

That crap is supposed to be polish. No way in hell I'm paying any attention to that. Hell, I probably won't even notice.

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DevsBro posted...

Oh screw that

That crap is supposed to be polish. No way in hell I'm paying any attention to that. Hell, I probably won't even notice.

Bloodstains are extremely obvious and you can interact with them to show you a ghost of how the player died. There is no way you won't notice them.

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I haven't beaten the first one yet, but yes very much so. Except for curse. Curse sucks.

teepan95 posted...

No

There are hard games done right (think super meat boy) and there are hard games done wrongly

Imo, dark souls (1, I haven't played the others) is in the latter category

2 falls into that latter category as it relies solely on endlessly ganking you for most of its difficulty, but 1 definitely doesnt fall into that aside from one glaring fight that even the devs admitted was poorly designed
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I didn't particularly find them fun or satisfying. I think it's easy to look at clips of some of the cool boss fights and think "wow that looks amazing" and forget that it's wrapped around a giant slog of an unfun boring mess where you regularly die to stupid shit just to get to the boss in the first place.

I think "man this game would be so much better if it were just boss fights" and then I realize that basically what Monster Hunter is.

So what I really want is some kind of gothic dark fantasy Monster Hunter.

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GOAT game series. Play them all TC. Just remember 2 is the worst.

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I find parrying to be one of the most fun mechanics in the game. Gives me such a rush. Likely why I enjoy Bloodborne so much.

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Yes. Imo it's biggest flaw is that the weapon/armor mechanics are very unclear. (As well as the stat system tbh, but I looked long enough at the wiki/forums to know what I should do before starting).

For instance, I used an Claymore with no upgrades at least through Ornstein and Smough, and maybe even Seeth after that. Then after looking up how the upgrade system worked I upgraded almost immediately to a Claymore +10 and destroyed the rest of the game.

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Honestly from what I played, no.

Clunky controls and mechanics and tedious backtracking

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It's fun like how Ninja Gaiden black was

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Dark Souls is the epitome of fun BECAUSE it is challenging.