Dark Souls

[Tuffty]

Hooray! Glad to hear you're enjoying it! It definately does feel tense when you're playing it and I think a good part of that is down to the fact that enemies can kill you so quick if you're not careful. That's without adding the environmental traps or ambushes that you could be walking into. I can definately see how someone could bill it as survival horror.

Most of the NPC's in the game are generally eccentric if not insane. It may be pointed out to you already but do not attack them! Not only are some of them hard to kill at your level, but if they die, then they are gone for good, taking any items to sell with them.

[Bluecast]

OL you are not far off. From Wiki

The next two King's Field titles followed in quick succession: King's Field II on July 21, 1995 and King's Field III on June 21, 1996. King's Field IV was released several years later for the PlayStation 2 on October 4, 2001.[3] A so-called "spiritual successor" to the series, named Demon's Souls, was released February 5, 2009 in Japan for the PlayStation 3, followed by Dark Souls for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in September 22, 2011.

[OL]

Most of the NPC's in the game are generally eccentric if not insane. It may be pointed out to you already but do not attack them! Not only are some of them hard to kill at your level, but if they die, then they are gone for good, taking any items to sell with them.

Before deleting my initial savegame, I attacked that first guy near the bonfire just to see what would happen. Died a couple times, but eventually lured him near the cliff and forced him off. I lol'd.
But yeah, it does seem like everyone is a bit off. Besides the odd quality of their speech that feels like they aren't actually talking to you, as I mentioned before, just about everyone also laughs before they're done talking. Kind of unnerving in some cases.

But yeah, I just killed the two gargoyles on the bell tower, and now I have no clue where I'm going. Just been wandering off into parts unknown for a few hours now. Leveled up pretty well, and I've got some good equipment (thank god you keep everything in your inventory even when you die), but the game doesn't seem to tell you at all where you should be heading. Strangely, I kind of like it like that. Didn't think I would, but blind exploration is actually satisfying in this.
Got my ass handed to me by a hoard of about seven ghosts though.

[Tuffty]

You're past the gargoyles already? Nice! You're making some progress alright! If you're in New Londo Ruins and attacking ghosts then it's the wrong place to be. You can't even so much as touch ghosts with a weapon unless you have a usable item known as a transient curse.

I too was lost after the gargoyles but if you want to know where the best place to go next is:

Head back to the bridge with the dragon on it, back as far as where you find the knight Solaire who loves some jolly co-operation. You'll find a door around there that was once previously locked but you have since found a key for it as you made your way to the gargoyles. That is the logical progression to go next, which leads you to the sewers and eventually Blighttown, where the second bell is.

[OL]

Okay, so that's where that goes. Just started getting there last night. I actually just killed the demon with dual clubs (the one with two dogs around whe you fight him) and opened the door into the lower depths. He was hard as hell when I first went to him several hours ago, but I spent so much time improving the weapon I've been using (a black knight's sword) that last night I killed the bastard in three hits.
I guess wandering into the "wrong" areas was kind of a good thing. Already picked up a ghost-killing blade while in the Londo Ruins; I bought the seal which opens the door in the Darkroot Garden and traveled so far in there that I already met (but didn't beat, despite putting up a good fight) the wolf with the giant sword in its mouth, and picked up the Eastern Armor while around there.
And best of all: I killed the dragon on the bridge.
Without resorting to arrows.
Now that was satisfying.
I'm officially addicted. Should be picking up the Demon's Souls LE today if all goes well.

One more thing I found freaky as hell for some reason: when I was up past that door in the Darkroot Garden, I found a cliff where I could look down and see the Hydra in the lake below. Now, the Hydra is a creepy enough sight to begin with. But after I got done staring, I turned and moved around the cliff to a totally different area near a small bridge, and when I turned to look at the Hydra again, despite me being at least a mile up and away from him... he had turned and was facing my direction.
Probably just some kind of a graphical technique to help keep such a large creature so far away rendered in full, but it worked really well to creep me out, once again adding to my feelings on this basically being survival horror. I loved that.

It's funny, with this game more than any other I've played, I get this urge to post about almost every little thing I've done, as I do it.
It's probably just an effect of how satisfying everything feels when you accomplish something in the game.

Out of curiosity, have you finished the game Tuffty?

[Tuffty]

The Capra demon (the one with dual clubs and two dogs) is among the hardest in the game considering what soul level you would be at when facing him and even just the setup of fighting it and those dogs in such a cramped area, so congratulations to you! Sounds like you've been through a lot already! How many hours have you put in already? Don't worry though, there's still a lot to go through I can assure you. You may find with the setup you have that the lower depths and Blighttown might be a little easier for you. I say easier, but Blighttown is a goddamn nightmare to navigate through on your first try so good luck with that. Also, the framerate in Blighttown is notoriously bad, so don't be alarmed if you experience some slowdown, everyone goes through it. You say you were in Darkroot Garden, did you fight the boss there? The....

Moonlight Butterfly

I feel the same way about having to share each little detail. I think it's down to the fact that because the world feels so oppressive, so bleak and filled with this sense that everything is out to kill you, that it feels like an accomplishment for any bit of progress you do. I'm sure you have had that feeling that discovering a shortcut or reaching a bonfire is as satisfying as defeating a boss.

I have put in 77 hours into it and after the progression I made last night, I am literally a single white wall away from fighting the final boss, and I may just do it (or at least try) tonight. But the thing is I don't want it to end!. I hear the DLC is brilliant but the thing is that you can only access the new areas it gives you after reaching a certain point towards the mid or late game stage and if I beat the game now then it will take a while to get back to. And it might be harder still when playing it in New Game +, which significantly increases the damage that enemies can deal, making a notoriously difficult DLC even harder. But then a part of me is saying that that is exactly what I want. Could be a good excuse to play the game over again!

[OL]

I'm only around 15 hours in, maybe less. Was doing kind of a lot of grinding so that I could use the black knight's sword, so I'm something like level 35.
Haven't fought the boss in Darkroot yet. I got down to a certain area (just past where the giant suits of armor and pink manta ray things start showing up) and felt like I hit a wall, so I trekked back out of there. Might have missed something. Either way, apparently I'm not supposed to be there yet anyway.
I'm just amazed that for a game with so little (thus far at least) story content stringing everything along, I'm still so gripped by it. I chalk it up very much to From Software's knack for atmosphere. They're graphics are, as far as I know, usually nothing all that advanced, but they still manage to make things look absolutely phenomenal because of the art design and detail effects. Been that way in pretty much every game I've ever played by them, from Echo Night to Otogi to Armored Core, and now the Souls series.

What is the DLC exactly? An extra area or scenario or something?

[Tuffty]

Like you said things look great becuase of the art design and detail, but what impresses me is the scope of the game. Some of the backgrounds give you this huge sense of scale that I've only ever seen in the likes of Ico/Shadow of the Colossus. It's awe inspiring at times.

There is enough 'story' there in the game to make you continue but it definately isn't direct as you have expected from other games. However, that's not to say there isn't any. In fact, other players have also managed to gleam together information on the world through NPC dialogue and item descriptions to piece together the lore of the world and it's inhabitants that actually shows that Dark Souls has this surprisingly incredibly rich, detailed and very interesting setting indeed. I would advise not to read up too much about it or look up Youtube videos as it can spoil elements of the game that would be better if you experienced them through gameplay. I haven't delved too much into it myself, but certainly will do when I beat it, and from what I've read thus far, it's been enough to make me very interested to learn more. While I usually don't like game that hide away important story elements behind hidden text, I find Dark Souls so much damn fun to play that it does enough to keep me playing on.

As far as I know it's a new area, new weapons, new enemies and new bosses. So pretty much all you could want out of DLC for this game.

[OL]

I'll probably look into the story as you're saying, but I'm trying to generally avoid the online Souls fanbase as much as possible.
I know they're probably nothing to go on, but based on youtube comments on different Dark Souls videos, Dark Souls fans seem to be snobby as hell.

Either way, yeah, the sense of scale is pretty incredible. It took me awhile before I started realizing that places in the distance were ones I'd been to before. The backgrounds all looked too nice, I thought they were just sort of "static" backgrounds to make everything look bigger. But then I got to that cliff where I could see the Hydra far down below, and it just blew me away.
Kind of funny that the game is mostly all corridors, but it's still got that Elder Scrolls-style sense of "see it in the distance? You can go there."
It's not quite to that extent, but it's really cool nonetheless.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

I know they're probably nothing to go on, but based on youtube comments on different Dark Souls videos, Dark Souls fans seem to be snobby as hell.

You know how jaded and difficult I am, they're worse.

[OL]

That's what it felt like. Just about every video I clicked on, people would be commenting "why did you do this/go this way/use this item? You should have..." and basically try to make it out like the uploader was playing it wrong, that they were stupid because they didn't use the most scientifically-proven techniques in doing one thing or another.
I mean, lots of games have those kinds of fans here and there, but the Souls series seems to have them in surplus.

[Henry Spencer]

Just wanted to chime in and say I am fifty hours into this game myself, currently up to Anor Londo and

Smough and Ornstein

is the hardest boss encounter I've come across in both games yet (and I am playing Demon's Souls & Dark Souls for the first time alongside one another). Incredibly challenging

(especially when you beat one of them and the other inhabits the abilities of the other AND your Estus Flasks aren't useable).

@OL: The Hydra is surprisingly easy once you have leveled up your Defenses enough, all you have to do is

go through Darkroot Basin and run up to the Hydra, block, wait for it to hit you with all of the heads, then dash to one of the heads, strike it, rinse and repeat until all of the heads are gone and the beast is dead.

Well done on beating the Capra Demon though, that bastard is tough! (I was actually lucky enough to beat him on the first try, I kept using the stairs trick, didn't look it up online or anything, I just let him fall down after me and hit him once or twice then legged it to the top of the stairs and repeated that process over and over). And yup, the fanbase can be really pretentious, but I've luckily come across some nice other players when I've played it online who have helped me along the way (especially in the sewers, damn that area is tough).

Definitely going to play through From Software's back catalogue when I am through the Souls games. They seem to be the masters of atmosphere. I suppose people have heard that Dark Souls II is going to make the game "more accessible", the original creator of the Souls series (Miyazaki) isn't directing it and is instead directing a new game of some sort (new King's Field? New IP?) I'm not too worried, I trust From Software enough.

I love how the game is littered with Berserk references throughout too.

[Tuffty]

I've actually found the community to be more welcoming than any other. I guess it's all down to the fact that it's a hard game so it's worth sticking together to help each other get through it. To me, the worst people in the DS community are the PVP players who don't even abide by the notion of an honor duel (bowing before a fight) and start wailing free hits on me as I am bowing to them. Or trying to fish me out for a cheap backstab. Fuck those guys.

Just wanted to chime in and say I am fifty hours into this game myself, currently up to Anor Londo and

Smough and Ornstein

is the hardest boss encounter I've come across in both games yet (and I am playing Demon's Souls & Dark Souls for the first time alongside one another). Incredibly challenging

(especially when you beat one of them and the other inhabits the abilities of the other AND your Estus Flasks aren't useable).

O&S is without a doubt the hardest boss battle in that game. I stuck with it and beat them solo but there's absolutely no shame in summoning someone for help. I think there's a sign for Solaire up on the stairs on the giant hall. But for a few tips, use the pillars to your advantage, it comes in handy when Smough is charging you with his hammer as it blocks him from reaching you. Most of all be patient, it's one of those fights where being too hasty can really cost you. When you find an opening, just land a few shots, even just one, then back off. Good luck!

[Deta]

I actually have demon's souls but I havent played it yet and just bought Castlevania so Im not sure which one start first.

[Henry Spencer]

The games are nothing at all alike, so it just depends what mood you're in, I guess. Not played Castlevania myself yet, but Segata is always talking it up (one of his fave games this gen, right?) and he's a hard one to please.
Depends what mood you are in, I guess.

O&S is without a doubt the hardest boss battle in that game. I stuck with it and beat them solo but there's absolutely no shame in summoning someone for help. I think there's a sign for Solaire up on the stairs on the giant hall. But for a few tips, use the pillars to your advantage, it comes in handy when Smough is charging you with his hammer as it blocks him from reaching you. Most of all be patient, it's one of those fights where being too hasty can really cost you. When you find an opening, just land a few shots, even just one, then back off. Good luck!

I've actually not tried PvP yet, but have heard plenty about all the backstabbing that goes on, lol.

About the O&S fight: can you actually block any of Smough's attacks, at all? Like, I can't even get near him, his attacks are so frequent and I am using the pillars to my advantage, but it just seems like whenever I go to him to attack, he instantly knocks my ass sideways. This is one annoying double team. I am going to keep trying to get somebody to help me out here, since I don't have any other choice, I feel. The battle is just crazy hard.