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so lets begin...
dark souls-
-the controls and combat mechanics in this game are flawless. Setting weapons and actions to a particualr hand is brilliant. This allows for interesting combinations with weapons and streategy. I personally am a fan of two-handing large weapons and smasking people which causes them to fall to the ground leaving them wide open for the finisher. Another tact is playing with lighter weapons and timing your defelections or ripostes inorder to get the insta kill on enemies.
-the play world is soomewhat linear but the way its presented is refreshing. There are areas that are immediatley available for exploration but the fact that the enemies that inhabit them are grossly overpowered will restrict you being able to go there right off the bat. This is important since the game gives you no guidance whatsoever and you have to figure out where you can at least scrape by. Another interesting aspect to this is that even when you are able to progress to these new areas you will still be overpowered, and this plays into the overlying factor of worry and stress that the game imparts onto the player
-character builds. Almost every western rpg is catered towards the american audeience that want to be able to do everything with out sacrifice in any catagory. Dark souls is great in that it makes every decision and skill point critical. The player has to choose early on what type of build they want and have to spend points accordingly. This becomes a huge factor later on when each level up will cost inordinate amounts of souls (xp). Every skill improvement must be thought out. A person who just dumps points into strength will be worthless since they will have no ability to dodge and roll and will also swing their weapons slowly since strength only affects swing power not speed. This leads to an overall slow character with no agility or health and stamina that will quickly be disposed of by a more well rounded player
-alive or soul status. A gignatic factor in the game are wether or not you are a soul or if your character has human status. This is a great idea. Humans have many more benefits over the soul form but run the risk of being raided by other players online. This is a terrifying little bit of gameplay especially if you are raided by anyone from the dragon covenant or by any good natured covenant since you are given no warning that an invading player is in your world. Raiding players will usually stalk you and spring up when you are preoccupied with an enemy , kill you and take your precious souls and humanity. That is a disheartening moment bu also exhilerating. The other plus in a raid is that the two players will square of and use strategy to defeat each other. You dont just get the drop on them, shoot them and move along. You have to dance around each other adn see who has the better handle on their character.
-death. You die a lot in this game. In fact you could play for hours on end, die, try to get back to your blood spot (all of your souls and humanity from your previous life) and die oon the way and lose all the headway you made over hte last few hours. That sounds aweful, but its addicting. I think its addicting because you are told right up front that thats how the games going to play out.(the games website is preparetodie.com so its obvious they plan to kill you lots) The other reason this awful premise is acceptible, is becacuse the game is unreasonably fair. Typically the enemies are always inferior to the player, but in DS they are on par and have every advantage you have. The only way you can defeat them is by having sound mechanics and exploiting their weaknesses, which you learn over time.
I really think that dark souls is the way all video games should be, both challenging and rewarding. After watching the mega man X review on youtube, video games have been put into perspective. They are drivel any more, especially in america. They pander to an audience that wants to be held by the hand and guided the whole way through without having to make one intelligent choice or having to place any for thought into the game itself. Its reasons like this that we continually are given call of duty and battlefield to choose from, boring, easy, unimaginative combot simulators that provide no thaught or strategy. I really hope that more companies take a que from the rabid fan base this game has and start putting more interesting games...but somehow im positive they will miss out.
dark souls-
-the controls and combat mechanics in this game are flawless. Setting weapons and actions to a particualr hand is brilliant. This allows for interesting combinations with weapons and streategy. I personally am a fan of two-handing large weapons and smasking people which causes them to fall to the ground leaving them wide open for the finisher. Another tact is playing with lighter weapons and timing your defelections or ripostes inorder to get the insta kill on enemies.
-the play world is soomewhat linear but the way its presented is refreshing. There are areas that are immediatley available for exploration but the fact that the enemies that inhabit them are grossly overpowered will restrict you being able to go there right off the bat. This is important since the game gives you no guidance whatsoever and you have to figure out where you can at least scrape by. Another interesting aspect to this is that even when you are able to progress to these new areas you will still be overpowered, and this plays into the overlying factor of worry and stress that the game imparts onto the player
-character builds. Almost every western rpg is catered towards the american audeience that want to be able to do everything with out sacrifice in any catagory. Dark souls is great in that it makes every decision and skill point critical. The player has to choose early on what type of build they want and have to spend points accordingly. This becomes a huge factor later on when each level up will cost inordinate amounts of souls (xp). Every skill improvement must be thought out. A person who just dumps points into strength will be worthless since they will have no ability to dodge and roll and will also swing their weapons slowly since strength only affects swing power not speed. This leads to an overall slow character with no agility or health and stamina that will quickly be disposed of by a more well rounded player
-alive or soul status. A gignatic factor in the game are wether or not you are a soul or if your character has human status. This is a great idea. Humans have many more benefits over the soul form but run the risk of being raided by other players online. This is a terrifying little bit of gameplay especially if you are raided by anyone from the dragon covenant or by any good natured covenant since you are given no warning that an invading player is in your world. Raiding players will usually stalk you and spring up when you are preoccupied with an enemy , kill you and take your precious souls and humanity. That is a disheartening moment bu also exhilerating. The other plus in a raid is that the two players will square of and use strategy to defeat each other. You dont just get the drop on them, shoot them and move along. You have to dance around each other adn see who has the better handle on their character.
-death. You die a lot in this game. In fact you could play for hours on end, die, try to get back to your blood spot (all of your souls and humanity from your previous life) and die oon the way and lose all the headway you made over hte last few hours. That sounds aweful, but its addicting. I think its addicting because you are told right up front that thats how the games going to play out.(the games website is preparetodie.com so its obvious they plan to kill you lots) The other reason this awful premise is acceptible, is becacuse the game is unreasonably fair. Typically the enemies are always inferior to the player, but in DS they are on par and have every advantage you have. The only way you can defeat them is by having sound mechanics and exploiting their weaknesses, which you learn over time.
I really think that dark souls is the way all video games should be, both challenging and rewarding. After watching the mega man X review on youtube, video games have been put into perspective. They are drivel any more, especially in america. They pander to an audience that wants to be held by the hand and guided the whole way through without having to make one intelligent choice or having to place any for thought into the game itself. Its reasons like this that we continually are given call of duty and battlefield to choose from, boring, easy, unimaginative combot simulators that provide no thaught or strategy. I really hope that more companies take a que from the rabid fan base this game has and start putting more interesting games...but somehow im positive they will miss out.
