Dark Souls

I have also pre-ordered this. The idea of Demon's Souls but in a somewhat open world is just too fantastic. Like others here though, I'm less keen on the possibility of being invaded by three people at once (I've only ever managed to fight off one Black Phantom by myself, I suck at Pv P), though I think we're missing a detail. Will the B Ps in Dark Souls be cooperating to take you down, or will only the one who gets the kill get the loot? I like the idea of other Black Phantoms having to take each other on, and if that is how it's going to be I think I'd rather be invaded by two phantoms than one.

Maybe it won't be much of a problem anyway. I came to Demon's Souls late (only a few months ago), and sometimes co-op partners are hard to find and I haven't been invaded that often anyway, but I can't imagine there being any shortage of either in the early days of Dark Souls.

@Librarian: Quite good. I'd heard it was difficult, but it seems like it would be more accurate to call it "challenging." It's a game that wants you to actually get good at it, where many modern games let you get by through pure repetition of the room that killed you.

I read in one article that in Dark Souls progress isn't mentioned by how powerful you become; it's how far you get. Although I do wonder how they'll set up the open-world thing.

One thing I hope has changed is damage bonuses, or at least they way they're dolled out. In Demon's Souls, Faith and Magic probably give the best reasonable rewards for most upgradable weapon types once you get the required items. So a Faith-build warrior character dishes out more damage than a Strength-build one when it comes to smaller and medium weapons, but also heals over time.

Anyone got an idea of their build? I'm thinking of the Wanderer because he looks cool but the Demon's Souls wikidot page says that they're not for new players. Should I get a tank class?

I'm going knight. Duh.

Tank is always good, because survivability is a premium trait. I'll probably be going a Faith build towards that end; that way, I can dish out lots of Faith damage with Blessed weapons as they heal my wounds.

I've also decided to "roleplay" it a bit, since death punishments aren't as hardcore in this game. To that end, I've decided that as a knight, I shall scorn ranged weapons. On the bright side, this means I can save a lot of strength and dexterity expenditure, which can now be sunk into Faith, Vitality and Endurance.

edited 21st Sep '11 12:18:38 PM by MadassAlex

I think I'll be going for a similar build to what I've used in Demon's Souls. I didn't really think about it much, but I mainly focused on melee attacks and general survivability. I think I'll be keeping a ranged secondary weapon though, I dunno if I could do without my Sticky Compound Longbow in Demon's Souls, at least not in some parts. Perhaps I won't worry about magic so much though, since the only spell I regularly use is Warding.

I was such a squishy magic user in Demons Souls I have no idea how I got anywhere. It was fun, though, so I might try that again.

Is there any fragile speedster/glass cannon class in Demon's Souls that may make it to Dark Souls? A class like the Assassin from Diablo 2. I like the ability to avoid damage much more thrilling than soaking it like a sponge.

In these games, "tank" means being able to survive two hits and die on the third rather than just dying outright.

Fine, a class that can't survive being hit but is able to dash in and out of battle.

Living long enough to get tentacle-fucked by those octopus wardens twice is not something I want to experience...

If they have something like the Noble class that may suit you. Light armor, magic, good starting position to build whatever you like.

edited 21st Sep '11 2:22:41 PM by Bur

You'll probably want a Magic or Faith build on a nimble character. To use this, you'll want a Magic or Blessed close combat weapon, the damage of which scales with those stats. High Magic and/or Faith will also open up a lot of extra abilities for you. Magic tends to be offensive, while Faith powers tend to be defensive.

Alternatively, you could get just enough Magic to stealth yourself up and focus on ranged weapons.

This game has me kind of intrigued, but the rumors of it's difficulty... I may throw out my voice from shouting. Hair Trigger Tempered, I am. But nonetheless, I'm intrigued.

^It's not an unfair game. If you die, you'll know exactly why, it'll be your own fault, and you'll think "okay, I'm not going to do that again."

And for that matter, you won't die especially often if you're careful. Death is unforgiving, but it doesn't happen unless you seriously screw up (be that in terms of pressing the wrong button, using poor strategy, being reckless or fighting enemies you aren't prepared for).

At least, that's what Demons Souls is like.

edited 21st Sep '11 8:16:33 PM by INUH

Yeah I can deal with that. I still might loudly say "oh god dammit."

Nonetheless I might check it out.

Do they definitely still have the same kind of weapons in this game? By which I mean Quality and Crushing and Blessed and so on? If so, I'd like to see the different varieties look different from each other, rather than every type of longsword, for example, looking the same.

I expect so.

Although I think making that many different skins would be too taxing, especially considering there's more gear variety this time around.

I don't see why it couldn't be done. Vagrant Story had at least a hundred distinctly different-looking weapons, and that was ten years ago. Then again, that game didn't have different looks for the armour, and I'm guessing Dark Souls has more variety there too.

Also this

edited 22nd Sep '11 5:22:34 AM by artfulscruff

That's evil...

Good way to punish them, though XD

That... these are now my favorite developers ever. I can just see someone high up leaning back in his office chair and letting out an evil laugh, "Release the Black Phantoms!" ...and then doing a little chair spin.

I can imagine what those people that got the game early will be thinking:

"Awesome, first world! Now to-wait, Black Phantom?! Wait, what?! NO! GOD DANGIT!"

I wonder if these are actually player Phantoms, presumably played by people on the development team, or just bots. With those stats, they're dangerous either way, but I'm curious.

Apparently Japanese players are encountering bugs...hopefully they'll get it fixed before the US release.

What's wrong with insect enemies? Those are always cool.

Anyway, more to the point, I hope this boss fight is fixed for the US release. Or at least in a patch.

edited 23rd Sep '11 1:18:14 PM by INUH