Dark Souls II PC preview: better second time round
49 replies, posted
I'm not complaining about it being hard. It's a stupid mechanic, and I standby that. It shouldn't make the game harder because I'm finding the game difficult, that makes no sense.
[QUOTE=junker154;43780505]I disagree with you though, at first Dark Souls gives you a hard time but once you get some basic knowledge it gets a lot easier. You can breeze through a lot of areas once you know how to get around. Bosses can be hard but the 4 Kings are some endgame bosses and are supposed to be somewhat hard.
The game is difficult but calling it a masochistic experience is a huge exageration. There are many other games that can be far more difficult and unforgiving. Once you accept that souls are somewhat expendable, the game feels a lot easier.
One thing that is just a bit frustrating is to know how all the underlying mechanics work, the game doesn't tell you anything.[/QUOTE]
yes but the first couple of hours are brutal as hell while everything is brand new and you're trying to figure it all out, that is a very jarring experience for new players and one that many have probably never experienced before. the game is definitely hard in the first couple of hours of your first run.
[QUOTE=Laferio;43780322]I cannot for the life of me understand how anybody complains about Dark souls's difficulty.
[B][I]It's not even HARD.[/I][/B][/QUOTE]
because people are used to piss easy games and as soon as it turns up the notch even a little people label and complain about it's difficulty.
I love it when these so called "gamers" constantly watch gamegrumps or some shitty LP of retro games and then start to try and get into older games and they can't even get past the first level of a single one and just quit and go back to watching videos of it instead.
Fucke
I don't really consider consequences for death to be something that makes the game harder as much as it makes the game last a lot longer.
it's all about that replay ability.
I'm going to play the shit out of dark souls 2.
[sp]as you become more hollow you become less prone to invaders
the idea is that the more human you are and the more coop you use as a crutch for your lack of ability the more often you'll have to deal with enemy invaders
by the same card invaders are at a massive disadvantage and put themselves at a much greater risk than you do, and through invading can get their own health cut down to a nasty 10% because now sinning and indictment do something[/sp]
Seriously there are so many ways of dealing with this "bullshit mechanic" it's ridiculous. If you really, really, really, really don't want to deal with invaders but want all of the other online components you can take steps to stop it, but you'll be putting yourself at risk in different areas. [sp]There are anti ganking systems and protector covenants and gimped healing rates for invaders and all sorts of shit for you,[/sp] so stop whining. For fuck's sake.
[QUOTE=BrickInHead;43780419]this is such a dumb, elitist statement. the dark souls games are not hard for those who have played them. tell me that you breezed through the game the first couple of hours. unless you played demon souls, i'm willing to bet you didn't. i bet you died a lot. that initial difficulty and learning curve - and don't even pretend that dark souls doesn't have a massive learning curve for the unitiated - really, really easily turns off a lot of people.[/QUOTE]
Doesn't make it any less true. I was shit at this game, so much so that I quit in frustration for nearly a year but guess what? I learn't how to play the damn game and got better and as if by fucking magic the game became less difficult! AMAZING!
If people aren't going to put forth the effort to learn the game and would rather cry about how it's unfair difficulty or it's shit game design instead of just accepting they're just shit at the game then quite frankly they can take a long walk off a short pier. I hope the devs never listen to these people because they just sound like whiners that don't wanna put forth any effort.
These games are truly only as hard as your skill level makes them.
I don't care how "elitist" this may sound.
dark souls is difficult the first time around, but once you learn a few things about the mechanics it becomes pretty easy to exploit to make PvE be extremely simple. Not saying that it isn't hard. it can be brutally difficult on your first few times.
i guess that since increasing in skill makes the game easier because [i]you're[/i] better shows that it doesn't have too much artificial difficulty, just that the real difficulty is really fucking hard
[QUOTE=Laferio;43780322]I cannot for the life of me understand how anybody complains about Dark souls's difficulty.
[B][I]It's not even HARD.[/I][/B][/QUOTE]
It's not hard, but it is fucking tedious. That's worse than being hard.
How is it tedious?
Mainly, bonfire placement. Dying means you have to repeat large chunks of the same area over and over again, and that's not challenging, it's tedious.
Plus I feel like the game as a whole feels directionless. Literally for the first part of the game your only directions are "there are two bells, ones up high, ones down low. Fuck off, I'm not telling you any more, cya nerde." Which is barely enough to go on in a game with a metroidvania style structure like Dark Souls.
Every time I've tried to play through Dark Souls, I've gone straight to the Darkroot Garden after ringing the first bell, because that was forward and it seemed like the natural way to go. Only recently did I find out that's not the way to go. So I've been pissing about bashing my head against harder enemies (figuring, hey that's Dark Souls) in a place I have literally no business being in yet. Like I'm not asking the game to force feed me directions, but at least a very simple map would help, I mean fucking Super Metroid does fine still feeling open even with a map.
darkroot is not the wrong way to go by any means though
look at the keys in your inventory, their description always says where they're used and the key found in the undead parish points you toward lower undead burg which is the route to the next bell
and if you talk more to the crestfallen warrior, he tells you in more detail where the bells are. after you ring the first one he even describes blighttown
Well if me getting lost is truly on my own stupid shoulders, I'll take that part back.
I still feel like the game is too heavily based on trial and error to be truly challenging and enjoyable, though. You can say "well don't die, then you won't have to do everything again", but the game does blindside you at times, not completely unfairly, but it does definitely throw the player in the deep end.
[QUOTE=The Stills;43782155]Mainly, bonfire placement. Dying means you have to repeat large chunks of the same area over and over again, and that's not challenging, it's tedious.
Plus I feel like the game as a whole feels directionless. Literally for the first part of the game your only directions are "there are two bells, ones up high, ones down low. Fuck off, I'm not telling you any more, cya nerde." Which is barely enough to go on in a game with a metroidvania style structure like Dark Souls.
Every time I've tried to play through Dark Souls, I've gone straight to the Darkroot Garden after ringing the first bell, because that was forward and it seemed like the natural way to go. Only recently did I find out that's not the way to go. So I've been pissing about bashing my head against harder enemies (figuring, hey that's Dark Souls) in a place I have literally no business being in yet. Like I'm not asking the game to force feed me directions, but at least a very simple map would help, I mean fucking Super Metroid does fine still feeling open even with a map.[/QUOTE]
What are you talking about. That's the perfect amount of information to go on in a game like this. It's all about discovery. Discovering new tactics so you don't die all the time from the enemies before the bosses, discovering new locations that might have hidden treasures, discovering the best way to accomplish your goals.
You can go through darkroot garden right away if you want, and pick up items and get some souls on the way. If the game didn't want you to go there right away, it wouldn't let you, simple as that. Far too many games hold your hand and lead you to where you need to go, instead of letting you figure it out for yourself. And to me, THAT is what being an adventurer is all about.
[QUOTE=The Stills;43782081]It's not hard, but it is fucking tedious. That's worse than being hard.[/QUOTE]
I'd put it more like, high risk high reward.
One mistake and depending on your build, yer dead.
[QUOTE=The Stills;43782222]Well if me getting lost is truly on my own stupid shoulders, I'll take that part back.
I still feel like the game is too heavily based on trial and error to be truly challenging and enjoyable, though. You can say "well don't die, then you won't have to do everything again", but the game does blindside you at times, not completely unfairly, but it does definitely throw the player in the deep end.[/QUOTE]
All the enemies respawn in the same place, if you die once you already know where every enemy up to that point is located. With the ability to warp between bonfires from the beginning of Dark Souls 2, a choice I disagree with, there is no excuse any more. The game isn't as easy as some in this thread have spewed but it it is far from impossible nor is it strictly trial and error. Hell it's only trial and error at the hardest points, the hardest bosses, unlesss for some reason you repeat the same mistakes.
Bonfire placement in the latter half of the game was really my only complaint about an otherwise great RPG.
In my case, the tedium came less from fighting hard enemies (that was why I kept playing) but more the fact that when I died on a new baddie or a boss I had to hold sprint and run back for several minutes to get back in the action.
[QUOTE=Raidyr;43783055]Bonfire placement in the latter half of the game was really my only complaint about an otherwise great RPG.
In my case, the tedium came less from fighting hard enemies (that was why I kept playing) but more the fact that when I died on a new baddie or a boss I had to hold sprint and run back for several minutes to get back in the action.[/QUOTE]
I dunno I can't really think of any that make you run for ages. I mean, most areas have a nice bonfire distribution with multiple bonfires to cut down on travel time add that in with the ability to warp in the latter half of the game and travel time is relatively minimal. The only one that I can think of as being a bit crap with bonfire placement in New Londo because it doesn't have any at all meaning you have to run from Firelink Shrine each time you die.
Got any examples? I think I may need my memory jogged.
[QUOTE=chunkymonkey;43783800]I dunno I can't really think of any that make you run for ages. I mean, most areas have a nice bonfire distribution with multiple bonfires to cut down on travel time add that in with the ability to warp in the latter half of the game and travel time is relatively minimal. The only one that I can think of as being a bit crap with bonfire placement in New Londo because it doesn't have any at all meaning you have to run from Firelink Shrine each time you die.
Got any examples? I think I may need my memory jogged.[/QUOTE]
4 kings took quite a while.
Wait you said that one, i cant read
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