Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition(360,PS3,PC)v3 - Dark Magic is perfectly balanced - Games

Given we're on the subject, here are 2 videos which I feel explain my position very well on the subject of challenge and depth vs tutorialisation. [url]http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/easy-games[/url] [url]http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/tutorials-101[/url]

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;39202300]It's not the game's fault that other games treat players like they're fucking five. Players shouldn't expect to be babied. They shouldn't play a game infamous for it's difficulty, with the fucking taghline "Prepare to die", and expect to have their hands held. I played Dead Space earlier today, decided to have a playthrough of both games before Dead Space 3 came out. The game told me 5 fucking times to cut off their limbs, and you should bear in mind that 4 of those times happened after I had already done that multiple times. Games these days treat players like fucking idiots. Dark Souls respects a players fucking intelligence and then players bitch that the game isn't holding their hand. It's not a problem with Dark Souls it's a problem with the entire industry.[/QUOTE] Wow, X-Neon seriously touched someone's nerve. I think the "WOW YOU FUCKING IDIOT HAHAH CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHERE TO GO WHAT A DUMB SHIT LEARN TO PLAY" community is much worse than people who aren't that well experienced with games or are used to new games waypointing everything (yeah I don't think that people who don't know where to go are automatically idiots and are a problem with the entire industry). People are praising Dark Souls for being super-difficult and hardcore in terms of gameplay, not the fact that "in order to know where to go you had to remember what character x said a long time ago, too bad you already forgot or weren't listening, because he doesn't repeat his lines!" Even Morrowind, a game that many people think is one of the best RPGs ever, had a journal. It was a bit clunky, but it was there and you knew what to do and where to go even if you forgot.

[QUOTE=X-Neon;39202478]You act as if I'm asking for waypoints on the screen at all times. In reality, these problems could be fixed really simply. For example, somewhere in the tutorial put a message on the floor saying "Read key descriptions to help navigate Lordran". Then when you reach Firelink and talk to the crestfallen warrior, rearrange his dialogue slightly so he says "one's up above in the undead church, which can be reached by the waterway up the stairs". The game is no worse, and then there's no confusion. Anyway, must you be so negative? The industry isn't shit and the players not idiots becuase they're not as "great" as you are.[/QUOTE] [b]I'm not fucking saying players are idiots I'm saying games are treating them like idiots.[/b] How is that hard to fucking understand. How many times have you been told "Press the right trigger to shoot" or "Press the B button to crouch"? Every fucking game these days treats you like a moron. I'm not saying Dark Souls is perfect but it tells you everything you need to know. The first thing the Crestfallen Warrior says is to head [i]up[/i] to the undead church, that the lift is broken and that the route you need to take is [i]through the ruins of the old waterway[/i]. From there there is literally only one route you can take at the beginning of the game. [QUOTE=Jericho_Rus;39202585]Wow, X-Neon seriously touched someone's nerve. I think the "WOW YOU FUCKING IDIOT HAHAH CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHERE TO GO WHAT A DUMB SHIT LEARN TO PLAY" community is much worse than people who aren't that well experienced with games or are used to new games waypointing everything (yeah I don't think that people who don't know where to go are automatically idiots and are a problem with the entire industry). People are praising Dark Souls for being super-difficult and hardcore in terms of gameplay, not the fact that "in order to know where to go you had to remember what character x said a long time ago, too bad you already forgot or weren't listening, because he doesn't repeat his lines!" Even Morrowind, a game that many people think is one of the best RPGs ever, had a journal. It was a bit clunky, but it was there and you knew what to do and where to go even if you forgot.[/QUOTE] I never fucking said players are idiots. Where the fuck are you getting this from. I'm saying people are so used to having EVERYTHING shoved in their face that they've become incapable of thinking outside the box. Ask NPCs for help? I should have a quest marker! I've NEVER said players are idiots, I've said games treat them like idiots. Christ, would you stop fucking putting words in my mouth. Dark Souls is a very linear game at the start, all you can do is head toward the bell, you don't need your objectives told to you. Sure a journal would be handy, but it's not needed. Other than the undead church where can a new player go? Catacombs? You can't kill the skeletons yet. New Londo? You probably don't know how to damage ghosts. The only way forward is a straight line through the undead burg. I'm honestly quite shocked that so many people get stuck fighting in the graveyard. I went there on my first playthrough, got killed twice and thought "I must not have to go this way yet". People are too used to being held by the hand, it's made them too timid to talk to NPCs and explore. It's sadly funny really, people are used to saving the world and killing hundreds of people but asking for directions and looking around is too hard.

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;39202778] I never fucking said players are idiots. Where the fuck are you getting this from. I'm saying people are so used to having EVERYTHING shoved in their face that they've become incapable of thinking outside the box. Ask NPCs for help? I should have a quest marker! I've NEVER said players are idiots, I've said games treat them like idiots. Christ, would you stop fucking putting words in my mouth. Dark Souls is a very linear game at the start, all you can do is head toward the bell, you don't need your objectives told to you. Sure a journal would be handy, but it's not needed. Other than the undead church where can a new player go? Catacombs? You can't kill the skeletons yet. New Londo? You probably don't know how to damage ghosts. The only way forward is a straight line through the undead burg. I'm honestly quite shocked that so many people get stuck fighting in the graveyard. I went there on my first playthrough, got killed twice and thought "I must not have to go this way yet". People are too used to being held by the hand, it's made them too timid to talk to NPCs and explore. It's sadly funny really, people are used to saving the world and killing hundreds of people but asking for directions and looking around is too hard.[/QUOTE] And I haven't said that it was you who calls these people idiots so you can drop the whole thing about how everyone accuses you of something you didn't say. In a game that has "PREPARE TO DIE" in its title, most people would sort of expect to die a lot, you know? How are they supposed to understand where they have to go if they will most likely die anyway? People technically could explore everywhere but they don't want to risk because they don't want to lose their humanity/souls in case they wander off and go the different way and they don't want to lose their time too, trying to get to somewhere you're not meant to be yet. So yeah, people ask where they have to go because of those reasons and it's "sadly funny" that some people rage so bad just because someone's asking for directions. Do you yell at a person when he asks for directions in real life? I doubt it. So why would you do the same here?

What? I meant in game. People are too timid to walk up to a NPC and select "Talk" which would give them all the information they need. I'm not fucking shouting at people ofr asking for directions, I'm wondering why they're so god damned afraid to talk to a NPC. People rush in, die a few times and bitch that the game didn't tell them anything. They never asked, all they have to do is talk to the first person they see, but no one ever does. Hell, I didn't. EVERYONE, myself included, is too used to being led by the hand. I have had to actively turn off all the shit that leads you around in modern games because it makes you a lazy player.

When I watch my dad play videogames he needs everything to be fucking waypointed all the time even the waypoints.

[QUOTE=RearAdmiral;39203039]When I watch my dad play videogames he needs everything to be fucking waypointed all the time even the waypoints.[/QUOTE] Don't you just love it when you're watching somebody play Skyrim with a waypoint on the compass, a waypoint on the map if they care to open it, and a waypoint above every visible objective, and they turn to you and say "where do I go?"

I have a SunBro around level 50 to pvp with, but is SL100 good for pvp as well? I have a second character in the Justice League I want to pvp with.

Fuck. I just found a vagrant in the undead church. I was a white phantom.

what seems to be the best level and area combo for being summoned I feel like helping people out for once

[QUOTE=Saza;39203505]what seems to be the best level and area combo for being summoned I feel like helping people out for once[/QUOTE] Level 45-55 in Anal Rodeo at Solaire's bonfire.

To there I go.

I've seen plenty of summon signs there at level 60-65 too. Very few beyond that though.

recently I had to get DSFix for reasons, though I rather wouldn't [img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/31421373/screenshots/get%20some%20glasses.png[/img] ugh

[QUOTE=Kinglah Crab;39200865]i'm sorry but if you run up and stab someone who's waving/bowing/praising the sun before a 1v1 with you then you're a massive prick[/QUOTE] The problem with invasions is the boss in an area needs to be alive and you need to be human, and when I'm playing that means I'm trying to get to the boss to summon people for a little help, so dying and wasting humanity isn't something I want to do. And considering half the people that've invaded me are using gear I've never seen and usually utterly destroy me the moment they get a hit in, killing them while they're using a gesture is the easiest way to not have to run back to where I died, back to the bonfire and then try getting to the boss again.

Wow, instantly summoned. First guy I help we strike down O&S, was pretty fun.

in short [img]http://i.imgur.com/z0bUH.gif[/img]

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;39202300]It's not the game's fault that other games treat players like they're fucking five. Players shouldn't expect to be babied. They shouldn't play a game infamous for it's difficulty, with the fucking taghline "Prepare to die", and expect to have their hands held. I played Dead Space earlier today, decided to have a playthrough of both games before Dead Space 3 came out. The game told me 5 fucking times to cut off their limbs, and you should bear in mind that 4 of those times happened after I had already done that multiple times. Games these days treat players like fucking idiots. Dark Souls respects a players fucking intelligence and then players bitch that the game isn't holding their hand. It's not a problem with Dark Souls it's a problem with the entire industry.[/QUOTE] Lmao calm down none of this has to deal with the fact that the game never really explains key gameplay mechanics to the player or never explains its inventory/menu system you are honestly clueless to good design (both in the game world and in the graphic design ± art world) if you think the fact that a game that never explains anything is magically good design because it reinforces the difficulty and doesn't cater to "kids". in all design, a work that doesn't communicate its meaning and it design effectively to the audencie is flawed. you cannot honestly say it was the developers intention to have the plplayer never knowing what the hell weapon scaling iis, never knowing that things have descriptions, never knowing that a single npc must be tlaked to several times to get relevant info, etc. because they didn't, and its an actual flaw with the game that th developers haverecognized as a legitimite downside to the series that is being fixed in the sequel. to assume dark souls is some kind of game without any flaws just because it reinforces the difficulty is niave. the reason wwhy dark souls is good is because its difficulty doesn't rely on any artifiicial difficulty or challenge to do what it does. not knowing key game features and mechanics making the game harder for you is artifiical difficulty. none of these things detract from the fact that you are still encouraged to explore and find mysterious things right from the bebeginning.

I never said it was perfect or that it told you all the systems. I said it tells you where to go, which it does. The game does a piss poor job at telling you the different benefits to covenants, which stats are important, what objects are important, how important Humanity is or even what it does. Hell I still have no idead what the difference is between Divine, Occult and Enchanted except that Occult is stronger than Divine and removes the ability to kill skeletons.

my entire experience in this game in one gif [IMG]http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/vg/image/1338/22/1338223191464.gif[/IMG]

HA HA FUCK YOU GWYN, I WIN! DICK! So guys should I carry on in NG+ or start a new character, kind of want to do a sorcery kind of thing considering I haven't touched it at all - any tips?

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;39203999]I never said it was perfect or that it told you all the systems. I said it tells you where to go, which it does. The game does a piss poor job at telling you the different benefits to covenants, which stats are important, what objects are important, how important Humanity is or even what it does. Hell I still have no idead what the difference is between Divine, Occult and Enchanted except that Occult is stronger than Divine and removes the ability to kill skeletons.[/QUOTE] Honestly I think the fact that the game doesn't explain stuff like covenants at all is more or less a happy accident then intended. Especially since if you were following the game before release you would have clued in on this stuff. I think discovering WTF an ember is or WTF this sunbro thing is in this big mysterious world is a nice benefit of not explaining all the mechanics, because the own players intution and discovery turns elements like this into almost a puzzle/game in of itself, discovering new things and figuring out what to do with them However stuff like humanity and weapon scaling never being explained fully is pretty bad, because they are important stuff in involved with the actual game mechanics themselves that the players will never know about (I had to look up a guide on humanity to know that having more of it contributes to higher item discovery, resistance to status effects... had to look up WTF those letters meant in a weapon screen, etc.). Also you'll never figure out that you can actually do a dodge attack (jump back then attacking causes your character to do a move where they run up to their original spot and land an attack by the time they reach back there) unless you accidently do it, etc. You'll never know that you can actually read item discriptions of stuff like keys unless you accidently do it by poking around in the inventory, which is especially bad because otherwise you'll never find the lower undead burg after the first bell without it. Also abandoning covenants being something bad - but the game never tells you that it is, WHY its bad exactly, and suddenly you'll find yourself with sin (a mechanic the game never explains, or even lets you know you have, at all), being invaded by high level darkmoon players, and having to pay a large fee to get rid of it. I like the idea of there being mysterious elements a player has to explore and poke around to figure out in the world, such as discovering new enemy types, discovering what certain items do, discovering new covenants and what they cause, discovering neat weapon abilities or hidden walls that lead to entirely different areas, discovering secret routes to get to a place, etc. I don't like that key gameplay mechanics however are never explained or at least presented in a way that lets the player figure it out on their own without needing a guide or triggering the mechanics by accident.

[QUOTE=Eva-1337;39197440]Finally got around to uploading some pictures of my sister and I at Shadocon in Florida. [IMG]http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/Zeavan/SolaireandCelty_zps46ed6906.png[/IMG] Sister (on the right) is Celty from the Durarara anime. I'm Solaire (left). Yes, that's a bucket I painted silver. Yes, Solaire has iron bracers. They broke off on Day 1. This is Day 2.[/QUOTE] Tell us more about your sister

The woman in the painted picture, the boss I think, do you have to kill her?

[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;39204980]The woman in the painted picture, the boss I think, do you have to kill her?[/QUOTE] No, you can just walk past her. She even asks you to leave.

Kill her anyway though

[QUOTE=Lukeo;39205276]Kill her anyway though[/QUOTE] Why would you do that?

i killed her because her voice was annoying.

Peaceful land with kind inhabitants? Has she ever looked on the other side of the fog gate?

[QUOTE=Excalibuurr;39204481]You can disable the blur...[/QUOTE] Srsly, change DoF to 0.