Dark Souls: Prepare to Die (PS3/360/PC)

[Doombear]

Close, the boss he is on right now (just tuned in) is looking like one of the last... if not the last. If you are familiar with Marshall's badassery, you will realize what it means that he is now on his 8th attempt at this boss. Ouch.

EDIT: 12th try. This boss is easily the most brutal I have seen yet, it is making me scared of ever getting there.

EDIT2: Finally beat him after about 20 tries maybe?

Spoiler: show

No badass sword drop. Missed the actual cutscene for the ending, but it was apparently about 1.5 minutes long lol. Then credits, then right back tot he beginning with all your shit.

[Lebzile]

So NG+ after how many days for vxds210? Also, according to chat he hasn't really -beat- the game since he only got one of the endings?

[Heavencloud]

Am I the only one who is purposefully not watching the streams of this game? I'd rather not know what all the bosses and such look like already, or be able to build strats from watching others play... Not that it's a bad thing, but if you really want this game to be hard, go in cold.

[Tekki]

Not watching. http://m.ign.com/articles/1196353
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[Kwijiboe]

Going in hot!

[Tonko]

Going in dry.

[Tekki]

Tonko, think we should get sono to create a MMOish sub forum. Hell, surely we can create more topics and interest then rift...
Sent from my HTC Arrive using Board Express

[Doombear]

Going in half-assed? I am not really glued to these streams.

I am not watching them for tips, and not really trying to pay attention to strategies. Actually I would even say the only strategy you really need for this game is patience, and good timing. I suppose if any of these people I was watching were cheesing bosses it would be different, but so far it is just your standard Monster Hunter, dodge dodge dodge attack! style of boss fight. I have maybe seen 4-5 boss fights in all the streams I have watched, purposely muting and looking away when players hit fog doors. I like that I have no idea what any of the weapons are all about either due to Japanese language, and I couldn't really tell you which weapons most of these people are maining either for the same reason. As for stats, I already plan on going a similar route as Demon's Souls with my first character. VIT/STR/END/DEX build pretty much. (lol build talk) Though I would like to try a faith character as well.

I do need to go practice parry/riposte though.

[SilentGrief]

Just a quick question since I got my game quite early.

Is there anything that will happen if I go online before the release date? I read on that Black Phantom thing, but also read that was only for players who play before the 22nd.

I just want to make sure I'm not endangering my account or anything like that.

[Katlan]

Tonko, think we should get sono to create a MMOish sub forum. Hell, surely we can create more topics and interest then rift...
Sent from my HTC Arrive using Board Express

I asked for this a while ago. Instead of multiple mmo sub forums that get little attention. Make a general mmo/sandbox section

[Cichy]

Not watching. http://m.ign.com/articles/1196353
Sent from my HTC Arrive using Board Express

I read that today too. Never seen so many butthurt Skyrim fanboys with pitchforks and torches.

[Doombear]

Just a quick question since I got my game quite early.

Is there anything that will happen if I go online before the release date? I read on that Black Phantom thing, but also read that was only for players who play before the 22nd.

I just want to make sure I'm not endangering my account or anything like that.

Hey hey SilentGrief, are you The Praiseworthy over at GAF? Saw they got the game early as well (and are in Kuwait). As far as repercussions for playing now, I haven't heard of anything drastic. That was the Japanese release though, and I assume you have the PAL version? Honestly I don't even know that you CAN play it online. If you are that concerned I would just play offline until the 4th (or until concrete evidence comes in).

[SilentGrief]

Hey hey SilentGrief, are you The Praiseworthy over at GAF? Saw they got the game early as well (and are in Kuwait). As far as repercussions for playing now, I haven't heard of anything drastic. That was the Japanese release though, and I assume you have the PAL version? Honestly I don't even know that you CAN play it online. If you are that concerned I would just play offline until the 4th (or until concrete evidence comes in).

Heya, thanks for replying, nah I'm not The Praiseworthy over there.
I did indeed get the PAL version, I was going to just play it offline, but I was still a little scared about getting the game data on my account before the release date and then syncing it to PSN, just thought it might trigger something that could end up doing some harm.
I'll use a different account at first I guess, then switch over to my main one.

[warbandit]

Heya, thanks for replying, nah I'm not The Praiseworthy over there.
I did indeed get the PAL version, I was going to just play it offline, but I was still a little scared about getting the game data on my account before the release date and then syncing it to PSN, just thought it might trigger something that could end up doing some harm.
I'll use a different account at first I guess, then switch over to my main one.

The game will freeze if you play online unless they fixed that already, thats what happens in JP version @ moment

[AlexRuzhyo]

Am I the only one who is purposefully not watching the streams of this game? I'd rather not know what all the bosses and such look like already, or be able to build strats from watching others play... Not that it's a bad thing, but if you really want this game to be hard, go in cold.

I'm resisting the urge to watch the streams. My only fear for the game, having not played Demon's Souls, is fucking up my character's stats or something that would be irreversible. Probably should at least find out the basics of leveling up and how I should distribute stats on a Knight or Warrior class.

[Hyan]

I hear there's also some stuttering issues.

It really seems to be harder than DS, which is awesome, but on the other hand, I don't think it's going to be as successful critically as DS was. Which sucks, because IMO it was either going to be harder or easier... and when the difficulty is pretty big part of the appeal in the first place, they can't really make it easier.

I guess it depends on whether the game feels "fair" like DS did, or not. From the early reports it sounds like there's some imbalance in the length between bonfires. Also seems like the game becomes "easier" slower than DS did, if you know what I mean.

Either way, if they can get rid of the stuttering and online issues I'm going to love it. But I can't help but feel a hater/anti-fanbase community will emerge because of the difficulty this time. Dunno what they could have done to avoid it though.

However, I always felt like co-oping through the game is like an Easy Mode of sorts, so I'm still pretty optimistic that it'll lessen the criticism, as long as people aren't too stubborn to use it (like me in DS>_>).

[warbandit]

I hear there's also some stuttering issues.

It really seems to be harder than DS, which is awesome, but on the other hand, I don't think it's going to be as successful critically as DS was. Which sucks, because IMO it was either going to be harder or easier... and when the difficulty is pretty big part of the appeal in the first place, they can't really make it easier.

I guess it depends on whether the game feels "fair" like DS did, or not. From the early reports it sounds like there's some imbalance in the length between bonfires. Also seems like the game becomes "easier" slower than DS did, if you know what I mean.

Either way, if they can get rid of the stuttering and online issues I'm going to love it. But I can't help but feel a hater/anti-fanbase community will emerge because of the difficulty this time. Dunno what they could have done to avoid it though.

However, I always felt like co-oping through the game is like an Easy Mode of sorts, so I'm still pretty optimistic that it'll lessen the criticism, as long as people aren't too stubborn to use it (like me in DS>_>).

I been watching ppl play for 4 days and is about just a bit more then Demon Souls on difficulty and theres some awesome bosses and "leaps of faiths".(60h+ game for the average joe, way more if you want to check every little thing, think theres areas that only open on NG+)

I don´t know what you mean by some stuttering issues, only thing i seen is no online @ moment game doesn´t even let you, because game freezes if you do, they fixing it up don´t worry.

About bonfire imbalance in the length between bonfires maybe if they opened the doors and all paths they could get there fast, from everyone i seen if they died they take like 1 min getting back to boss

[Hyan]

Well yeah, I'm simply speaking based on what people playing the game are saying, so it may or may not be true.

Not to mention the online isn't working, so co-op is out of the question. Either way, I think the main difference comes down to the open world aspect of it, instead of using a hub. In good and bad.

[Doombear]

About bonfire imbalance in the length between bonfires maybe if they opened the doors and all paths they could get there fast, from everyone i seen if they died they take like 1 min getting back to boss

I can also back that up (from watching streams this last week). I will say that it can be tricky sometimes if you have not FOUND the Bonfire closest to a boss, and have to back track from a much more distant one (your fault, not the games). Otherwise there are a lot of shortcuts to be opened up, that make traversing the game quite easy. Again, it is pretty much the players fault for being impatient if they find themselves more than 2-3 minutes from the boss they are on. Slow and steady...

I have also seen one player pretty far into the game who had not saved at a bonfire recently and was forced to run a very long way. By this time he had learned most of the shortcuts and so even running through literally 4 different areas took him no time at all.

The stuttering is something I haven't seen either, or if it was there I wrote it off to the fact that I am watching a stream. I have not heard any of the streamers mention it though, nor seen anyone in chat ask about it.

I think this game is going to be much more impossible to cheese your way through. There are exceptions of course, one boss can be ridiculously cheesed in a matter of seconds into the fight, though I hope From can do something about it. If not, it is what it is. Bosses in general though aren't going to sit back and let you pick them off through a fog door or glitch them on terrain. They are going to OHKO your ass and it is going to be excellent... until about the 30th time.

[Cichy]

Only thing I wish Dark Souls had would be a Nexus like structure where you can collect NPCs and stuff again. I enjoyed that alot in Demons Souls and Maiden in Black was the best.