Dark Souls review

I hate cheap deaths, unbalanced difficulty and overall bad design made just to frustrate you after each death. I never liked Devil May Cry because it made you lose 40 minutes of your life over and over again until you finnaly memorized each and every boss move, and certeinly will hate this game.

While I can't speak for Dark Souls (yet) allow me to state that Demon's Souls did NOT have cheap deaths, unbalanced difficulty, nor bad design. In fact on all three counts it was quite the opposite, offering staggeringly fair gameplay, very balanced difficulty and awesome design. And it sounds like Dark Souls follows that formula to the letter. But that is not to say Demon's Souls (and apparently Dark Souls) wasn't PUNISHING. How does that work considering what I just said? Allow me to explain: For starters, Grimm is right. Today's gamers have had their hands held for so long that many of us old timers LOVED Demon's Souls (and Devil May Cry) because of it's ability to break us down harshly if we engaged in any of the following: Impatience. Lack of caution. Hubris. Headstrongness. ...and the sooner players figured that out, the better off they were. I beat Demon's Souls only because I quickly gave it the respect it deserved. I learned, and by "learned" I don't just mean "figured out the enemy's attack patterns" (although there was plenty of that). Rather, I realized early on that unlike most games, this one demands and rewards discipline, and an incredible amount of it at that. It was a painful schooling and certainly teetered on frustrating at times, but the elation in even just that (let alone the eventual victories) was a tremendous breath of fresh air for this gamer that has actually grown weary of waltzing through games near-effortlessly with a handful of deaths at most by completion. Demon's Souls straight up said "uh uh - today you are back to school. Today you must unlearn all that you have learned. Today you leave your ego at the door and proceed around the next corner smartly". Certainly not for everyone, to be sure. But it does give you the tools you need to survive, so it's never cheap. I never once died and cried BS. I simply wasn't seizing my full potential in those moments, and I knew it. So back I would go, that much wiser. Maybe not wise enough to completely tear down whichever foe just killed me, but enough to last a bit longer the next time around. As for all these notions about "unbalanced difficulty" (or cries over a lack of difficulty selection), I have to laugh. So along comes a game that separates the boys from men and clearly the boys start crying while the men embrace the gift that has been given. It's not for everyone, and I give credit to those that admit it, albeit for the right reasons. I lent my Demon's Souls to a friend who got into it but ended up putting it down due to "being sick of dying all the time". "But was it ever cheap?", I asked. "No", he replied. "I just don't have the patience for it". Right answer, right there. Grimm is also right about trophies and achievements be damned. This one's for plain old fashioned bragging rights, even if just to one's self. Beating Demon's Souls was like earning a badge of honor, and I'm excited to earn the next tier with Dark Souls.

@TheVoid Reading your post is exactly why I find this game and its predecessor to be so obnoxious. It just seems like an excuse for people to crawl up their own butts and show how much "gamer cred" they have. I play games to have fun, not make myself look awesome for a bunch of complete strangers over the internet. If that makes me a "boy", then so be it. You speak of being an "old timer" like you're in some exclusive club. I'm a child of the hardcore NES era and I'm all grown up and have adult responsibilities to take up my time now. I don't have time for stuff like this anymore, nor do I feel a masochistic desire to invited more frustration into my life. That doesn't make me a bad person.

No, you just suck ass at real games.

Are there any notable differences between the 360 and PS3 versions?

Here's the great thing about Dark Souls, and what makes the Souls series unique: The other day while playing I walked through a doorway, looked down the street, and saw in the distance what appeared to be a giant boar with metal skin. I stopped and said, "Oh, crap, no way I'm going down there," and I explored other areas. No other modern game will do that to you. In any other game, if I saw that I'd march in there without any fear. Intimidation is a paradoxically amazing experience in videogames. Later on, I got up the courage and went after that boar. It killed me super fast. But the second time I came back and killed it, and felt AWESOME.

Well you may have a point about Witcher 2's highest difficulty (at least in terms of being more brutal than Demon's/Dark Soul's), but the whole "dead for good" seems more gimmicky than what Demon's/Dark Souls offers, which is "brutal but not cheap". You can (and will) persevere in Demon's/Dark Souls, whereas Witcher 2's "dead for good" is more "yeah, right". Demon's/Dark Souls is literally "If At First You Don't Succeed, Try and Try Again: The Game", and was built from the ground-up around that premise. Although I don't get the sense that Witcher 2's highest difficulty was meant to be anything more than a novelty, whereas the standard difficulty is what I felt CD Project intended their core audience to focus on with flexibility offered in either direction. Meanwhile the Souls series prides itself on there being no difficulty options whatsoever (other than the 2nd and further playthrough's "even harder" mechanics), so you are either in it to win it or off in some corner licking your wounds. There is no "dialing it down". Now don't get me wrong - Witcher 2 is a great game, no doubt, but I never felt combat was it's strongest feature. The story and "decision impacts" I think were what ultimately carried that game, With Demon's/Dark Souls, combat is EVERYTHING, which is why a big part of the series isn't just the difficulty but the razor-sharp controls. Movement, swings, parries, etc. - everything worked as expected when expected, reinforcing the whole "you can't blame the game when you find yourself dead" mantra. Witcher 2's combat, by comparison, never felt nearly as comfortable. And sorry to say but I don't think Demon's/Dark Souls is slated for the PC. Which is too bad because it's my lead platform, and there's no doubt it would look even better on PC than it does on the consoles. But isn't that always the case?

Well thats just a shame. I really wanted to play it on my comp. Still have to finish the Witcher 2 tho, the first fight with Letho took me like an entire week to finish

Exactly this. Undead Burg. Tall knight in plate armor and huge helmet with his back towards me. Beyond him a shining loot. I stare at his back for MINUTES before deciding i can do this. I coated the weapon with lightning and go for it. He kills me after a long struggle. I go back and nail him and get the item. Having great time. I believe 9 is the right score.

Glaring bugs in Dark Souls? I might understand waiting after xmas to buy Skyrim...TES games tend to be buggy as all hell on release...

Holy sheit this game is focking fantastic!

Your comment can apply to any group, any game, any idea, any sort of people. Generalizations only go so far, friend. Your comment is true though. I can say "I don't hate CoD, I just hate the fanbase" and it would be just as true as your comment. I agree that "TheGodEmperor" is a douche. With a name like that how can you not be. I don't like this game cause of it's difficulty, I like it because it is an original thought in a world of reboots and sequels. I don't remember the last good action-adventure game I played that wasn't Zelda.

The story isn't right in front. You sorta have to look for the story through characters and by piecing together stuff. At least that's what I thought from the first game . . .

You don't necessarily have to be methodical and crap. I played like an idiot through my like 100 hours of Demon's Souls. Too many people in the comments saying ITS GOOD CAUSE ITS HARD ITS GOOD CAUSE ITS SPICY YEAH? You don't have to save. When you quit the game it leaves off where you quit. Dark Souls has way more "checkpoints" than Demon's Souls did(apparently). You don't have to fight everything. You can just run past them if you're careful, sometimes. Fun is a funny word. Describe fun for yourself. Most games are addiction based. Points. Scores. Levels. A+,SSS! They praise you and you love that praise. Dark Souls a journey of death, and it's story is the story of the undead. The man who cannot die, and should he fail, he will lose himself. If Frodo's journey had savepoints, would we have sympathized so much with him? If you have the time I suggest you read the interview with the creator of Dwarf Fortress. I don't play it but he's a very interesting person.

Does no one remember Diablo 2's Hardcore mode?

Vanguard can be killed.

I do. SOO HARD!