Be Excellent To Each Other

I hated Oblivion. Lord knows why, it could have been the close up of the plastic faces, the tedious storytelling of times of y(/b)ore, and ye olde English, or maybe it was dressing your start up character as a lizard or something.

Now I'm not big on fantasy despite growing up reading Fighting Fantasy books, playing Hero's Quest and watching enough kids TV about goblins and shit that you'd have thought I'd love playing role playing games in my space time. But I don't. I no longer have the time to play games that don't grip me from the outset (especially with my compulsive need to finish my current game before I start any other games). I've moaned about it on here but I want atmosphere; something to grab my balls while punching me in the face, not stats, dainty music and fetch quests dished out by some kind of race of ant head people.

Demon's Souls changed my whole view on RPG's. It tells you very little about what you are supposed to be doing. It doesn't hold your hand - it kicks you in the arse out the door and tells you to go on and get on with it. There was never a point when it asked me to pull three switches. It has no music. It's lonely. The only noises are the crackling of fires in empty court yards, the harsh winds sweaping across rocky outcrops before the clash of weapons and the screams you make when you die. The vista's are great - you'll see miles of walls reaching across the landscape and you know that you'll be traversing that. It looked gorgeous on PS3 and is utterly and absolutely thick with atmosphere. There's a load of noise made about how hard it is. Ok, it's pretty brutal but I never thought it was unfair. I finished it of course - cause I'm awesomz.

It's better than that other game.

So I'm excited about Friday cause the second one is out and this time 360 owners will get a go on it. It'll be fantastic. It'll be more of the same of course but mo' polished. And this is th first time I'll be getting a game on PS3 over 360. And (and) I might even get the Sucker Version with the art book, CD of music I'll never listen to, but it'll probably have the walk-through booklet that was indispensible when I was playing Demon's Souls.

Here's a video of it doing what it does.

I've pre-ordered this. Because of all the special-special-joy-joy comments by people about the first one, and partially as an attempt to not just give up on my xbox completely for iPad games.

It looks very special indeed.

Not that I will have any time to play it for... well... ever.

I really want this. I'm absolutely itching to buy it. But I know for a fact that waiting a month will see its price slashed, so I'm gonna hold out. Should be £17.99 in a few weeks. Just like Deus Ex. *grumbles*

Oh, and Ian, I'd hold off on the collector's edition - it has a rather sorry looking little art book and a code to download the soundtrack, not a CD. There's no guide in it, either. Just those two things and the regular boxed version.

You sure? This advert in GamesTM has Behind the Scenes videos and Original Soundtrack and a picture of two CD's. It also says Digital Guide Book and a picture of a book! I'd be mighty pissed off if I just got some shitty code.

I'm going by an unboxing video of the US version. I'd be surprised if we got a better deal, but obviously confirm that for yourself - I'm probably wrong-o!

This is attracting a load of positive high scores from what I've seen. More so than Demon's Souls so it seems the rest of the world is ready for something interesting and for the hardcore. I can't wait.

As with Demon's Souls, I will wait until it hits a golden price point.

Really tempted to trade some games in tomorrow for this... HMMMMM. Is it going cheap anywhere?

Well GAME are selling it for £39 for the vanilla edition and £40 for the limited edition. With my trade-ins and stuff I got it for £6.49 so I'm happy.

The limited edition has;

Art Book (lovely)
2 CD's for the music and videos (who cares)
And a code for digital strategy guide (Hnnngh!). It does say it on the box though...
The PS3 LD box looks lovely too.

Now this is how you sell physical media. A quid more expensive and you get all this to look at before I even put the disc in. Its made me even more excited to get home and get started. Plus, the quicker you start the more chance you can slap some messages on the concrete before anyone else does. There's nowt like the feeling of loading a game up and being told a load of people thought your message was helpful. Small things.

I did exactly the same, got the Limited as well! But I got it for £4 after GAME points deductions. Installing now...

Really enjoying this. No pause button might be a step too far though...

On 360? I thought pausing when you press the guide button was mandatory, and MS wouldn't pass a game without it?

I believe Final Fight on the XBLA doesn't pause when you press the guide button.. but it could have been patched since.

There are loads of games that don't pause when you press the guide button.

Huh.

So hard it doesn't have a pause button.

Giant armoured hog thing is kicking my arse. Well, not him necessarily but his spear-toting buddies that I'm trying to get rid of before I take care of him. The spear guys are total cunts!

Also, one-shotted by a dragon. Nice.

You must be well ahead of me. I've just reached the first proper boss on the ramparts and got my ass kicked and 1800 souls lost. I wanted those to level up for the, um, boss. Gah. I can't see me getting those back now. I've already died a shocking amount of times an' all but least I've got the chalk to write some messages now.

Not much further mate! Probably about 5 minutes if we weren't dying all of the time...

I'm thinking of re-rolling with a Warrior any way. The thief is a tad puny!

I chose the thief at first cause the stats were high for both magic spells and faith spells, but elected to reload for the wanderer for a bit more strength (but not much more). You'll find the magic has all the good assault spells but you'll need to ramp up your faith for all the healing spells. Finding the right balance at the start as you think you need decent melee weapons (which you of course) but later on you'll rely more on magic to keep you out the close up scraps. If you start with the warrior character it'll take forever to get enough stats to work your magic.

Well it was in Demon's Souls anyway. The more you level up the more souls you need to be able to get to the next level.

Hmmm, so maybe I should stick with the thief. Thing is, I don't even have the basic healing spell which is apparently one of the gifts you get at the beginning. Might re-roll as a thief and stat up properly. I don't really have a clue where to put my level-ups at the moment.

edit: Apparently you don't get it as a gift at the beginning. Still need to re-roll though. Thief requires one more faith point to use the Heal spell, so I'll do that this time and buy the heal spell from that holy guy outside the church bit at the start. Or something.

Started again, thief but this time I saved for the heal spell, found a kickass sword and got the shortbow which is much better than the crossbow. I've even managed to stockpile four humanity. Gonna kill that boss you were up to next, then I'm gonna shoot the massive dragon's tail off to get an amazing sword.

Dependent on how you kill bosses, you can collect different loot. For example smashing something in the face might get you his helmet, but back stabbing him to death might get you nothing at all. It's awesome!

Stop selling this to me, you cunts.

God damn it, just lost 4,000 souls and 3 humanities. It's really hard to be annoyed with the game because it was my impatience that got me killed. Fucking game. It's bastard hard but rarely cheap.

Annnd I just got thrown off a ledge to my doom by a giant rat. Time for a break!

Side note: it's very very pretty this game. Has a Team Ico feel to it. Love the lighting and the scenery is breathtaking. Even better that you can visit everything you see off in the distance. Frame rate does occasionally drop, mind, but not too often for it to be a problem.

Oh, and if anyone is interested, the Giant Bomb Quick Look video is about an hour or so of the opening section. Well worth a look if you want to see what the game is all about. It sold it to me, any way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekqkHjfw9Z0

Just loading it up now. I think I'll buy the key off the merchanyt for a look around before I tackle the boss.

I played Demons Souls on the PS3 when I happened to get an import in at the stall. I didn't think it look particularly nice and found the difficulty frustrating. It felt a bit like playing Rick Dangerous. Admittedly it's a bit more fair than that but still just too difficult for my liking. Seems like a way of extending the game by making you walk the same path hundreds of times.

And it was a rubbish fantasy game.

I wouldn't make the Rick Dangerous comparisons necessarily. If you're patient enough, you generally won't die. But being human, you die a lot. It's basically about managing your patience and being wary of that fact that even the lowest level enemies can kill you if you drop your guard and get complacent.

As for Demons Souls, I only borrowed it off a mate for a few nights and can't really remember what it was like graphically, but I seem to recall it looked pretty good? I dunno, regardless, Dark Souls looks very pretty!

I agree with WTB here. It's hardly Rick Dangerous - that comparison is lazy and unhelpful. I hate RPG's and fantasy games generally but Demon's, and what I've played of Dark Souls, is immersive like (again what WTB said above) a Team Ico game. It's a brilliant fantasy game because it isn't a typical RPG. There are stats, there are classes, there's levelling up and all that other tat but it presents it in a way like no other I've played. There's very little bullshit talking and no side quests - just you and a mission to do something or other. Dark Souls is about ringing some bells or something not some geo-political war of lizard people fighting for the zorg nation or whatever. It doesn't preach or condescend it just gives you a few tools and basic levelling up system and pits you against the world. It's great stuff.

Anyway, that key did sod all but open one door. Here's a tip though I discovered on my own (but left a message for others): On the first bridge to the undead keep, at the bottom you might see a soul under the bridge with no way of getting to it. As you get to the top you can fall off to the left of the bridge and there you can make your way across to the soul which has a ring which enables you to keep everything you've got when you die. For one time only of course, so equip it wisely. That's the bridge right at the start after the raven drops you off, peeps.

What? They're talking gibberish and making it sound as fun as being pelted with eggs...

Yes, but the eggs are fair.

Boss done using the cheaty drop onto his head and slash away move repeated times. I didn't seem to get any souls or any good stuff off him either for the trouble which was annoying. Then I managed to kill the hog (hours later) using the bonfire before spotting some tit with his back to me and figuring I could sneak up and finish quickly. Turned out he was much bigger than he initially looked. Cue a chase through the castle Benny Hill style with him eventually catching up to me and giving me a good kicking. Fuck.

I have this. I am shit at this.

I'm at a section where I have the choice between taking on a black knight in a narrow corridor, or go up some stairs and fight a giant bull boss on some castle walls. Both have incredibly strong forward attacks, and I can't seem to manoeuvre around them at all.

But I will persevere, as otherwise it's surprisingly good fun.

Now, is there no way to sell things, or see how gear in a shop compares to the stuff you're wearing?

Y'know, I don't think you can sell items for souls. You could only trade minerals and stone in Demon's if I remember rightly. You can compare stats for what you're holding (you probably know this, sorry) but it doesn't let you compare at the merchant which is a bit shit as you have to remember what you overal figure is for each piece of kit you've got on.

I didn't manage that knight in the corridor yet. There's some item behind him but he's too powerful for me at the minute. Seven fire bombs didn't kill him.Go for the boss. Remember there's a ladder behind you as soon as you step on the ramparts! Spam him and he'll go down.

I've finally reached the second merchant - that was bloody rock solid. I was fighting off those large knights with red eyes with a slither of energy and no health in the flask. The sense of accomplishment and fear of death is unrivalled.

Boooo, that's poor. Still, a minor complaint.

I'll forget about the black knight, then. Just as I did with the graveyard of fucking bollocks-hard skellingtons at the start.

The knight is insanely powerful. The big boss is actually a piece of piss. I'd recommend watching the Giant Bomb video I posted on the previous page to everyone - it really helps give you a good understanding of what the game is about and how to play it. The big boss on the castle walls can be killed in any of about five or six ways. You can even make him fall off the wall to his doom! Personally I used an item I found earlier - pine resin or something - it coats your weapon with electricity which knocks some serious HP off the boss. I didn't even have to bother with jumping off the ladder to kill him - just rolled around and dodged his attacks, slicing at him.

As for selling items - apparently there's a merchant later in the game who'll buy stuff off you for souls, so don't drop anything. Although, apparently dropping items will send a "crab" creature to another person's game (chosen randomly) that is made out of the items you dropped. The more items you drop, and the better they are, the more badass the crab will be and more likely it is to ruin some poor fucker's day.

Any way, back to inheritance tax tedium. Hopefully I'll get amongst it again before bed.

I downloaded the mini strategy guide that came with the Ltd Edition game, so have had a quick read of that re. the boss guy.

I did kill a sparkly woodlouse-looking creature that dropped a shield before. Reckon that was a ‘crab’ thing?

Hmm, maybe! I haven't seen one yet!

That crab thing sounds aces. Do you get any feedback whether your crab killed whoevers game it invaded?

I'm saving my Pine Resin (and anything else valuable) cause I know they'll be a time when I'll need to throw "everything" at "something'.

Tip for Spear Guys: Stove their heads in with the mace - it can often break through the shield or allow you to keep bashing. Pissing bloody Spear guys - they never throw the first punch. Cants.

I fucking hate spear guys! They're a perfect example of how impatience will get you killed. And in my case, constantly does. They're a piece of piss to take down once you're getting the hits in, but getting frustrated and trying to hit them when they've got their guard up will result in taking a few too many spear jabs to the face.

re: the crabs - I dunno! I hope so. I only read it in passing over on NeoGAF. I should probably look into it a bit more myself, but most of those guys seem to know what they're on about.

edit: Have asked on NeoGAF. The Dark Souls Wikis are pretty thin on the ground at the minute. Can't wait for the people who are currently playing it to death to start updating them. There's so much in this game to see and do. You can miss out whole chunks of stuff, kill things that you didn't even think you could kill and find loot by killing things in certain ways. But right now, we're all kind of fumbling around in the dark.

That was brilliant! Just had some guy leave a message that he wants to join my game to help kill the bell tower gargoyle bosses! He stabbed away while I beat one in the ass to get the gargoyle axe. Then the other cheaply killed us both with the smallest piece of energy left. Gah!

FYI if you find the red lance with the axe head the cloaked knights become a piece of piss all of a sudden.

Man, this game is aceskillz.

Oooh, I killed a silvery crab thing - thats awesome!

The more you talk about this game, the more terrible it sounds!

Damn it! I want one!

Here we go - from the Wiki:



Such a fucking cool game. I love how the developers tell you basically fuck all and everything is left up to the community to work out.

How is the combat?

I got interested when people mentioned atmospheric and ico about this title. Seems like you just have to go about killing things to collect souls. Is that the gist? Is it open ended orpaths to follow? Any choices? Or do you have to eventually kill all these things you are mentioning?

What is the save system like? If you die is it restart the whole game?

Hhhhnnnnnnggg

This is the next game for me. I have to see it for myself now.

I thought demons souls was good, but I found it too oppressively bleak to get too far. (And the controller burger my hands)

So this is probably a get cheap later, although I may head back in to demons souls.