Poink

Pretty much every game can be finished in a few hours if you're a pro and / or know exactly where to go and what to do that is required to finish. Look no further than the hundreds of videos of people finishing NES games in like 5 minutes. Plus, there's always tricks / exploits to use to cut the time down.

Difficulty has always been a way to prolong the length of a game. In the past two decades, story/dialog/cutscenes have replaced "challenge" in most cases. Skip all the dialog and cinemas in Metal Gear Solid, and you have yourself a two hour game without even trying to do a speedrun.

Here's a video of someone finishing Zelda: Ocarina of Time in one hour, sixteen minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuEazJNUnEo

In the Dark Souls run posted, he gets the Drake sword, which is REALLY powerful early on (and through most of the game) and is two-hand wielding it, so it's strong enough to probably carry the whole game. He knows the game inside and out. He gets enough Souls to level up by killing bosses, and collecting the items that grant souls. It would be impossible to blaze through it on the first play through, but it's possible with the proper skill and knowledge.

mewmartigan

for those that are overly frustrated:

http://www.ign.com/wikis/dark-souls/...manity_Exploit

MoviePage

Can't wait till they patch that crap! And other stuff like the Fog Ring. Those kinds of things are really messing with the MP experience.

xmiyux

I'm still lower level and near the beginning (just in the Burg). If I wanted to fiddle around with the multiplayer what would be the easiest way? Run around unhollowed so people invade me?

MoviePage

Run around unhollowed, yes. You probably won't get invaded much at a lower level though.

The easiest way would be to drop your summon sign near boss doors or bonfires in tough areas (you can do this anyway while hollowed), and look for the summon signs that others have dropped while you're human.

xmiyux

What level do people really start doing pvp?

I have dropped my summon sign a bunch but only gotten summoned in once. It was for the Taurus demon and I almost killed the thing all by myself. The player who summoned me though kept running at the thing to go hand to hand every time it turned around to face him. I kept trying to draw it to me thinking he would get it in the back but he always waited.

We did not successfully kill it.

mewmartigan

Man, i just keep dying over and over and over and over and over and over and over before I get to the damn bonfire in Sen's Fortress. I even looked up where it was and I still keep dying before getting there!
I'm at level 42 with a +2 Drake Sword and I still get killed by snakes and pendulums and lighting and my own sheer stupidity

MoviePage

It's definitely one of the most challenging areas of the game, especially your first time through. If you can find the Lightning Spear in there, it helps tremendously against the snake dudes.

I never would have noticed the bonfire if someone hadn't left a message pointing out where to jump over and find it. I would have happily performed sexual favors for the person who left that note the first time I made it that far.

Noonan

That bonfire is clutch. I was almost dead with that guy hurling fire bombs at me when I saw and read the message about to drop off.

I'm 55 hours in, level 74, and I still have a decent way to go. I'm trying to decide what to do next; either New Londo (which I've already spent some time in), the Catacombs, or Demon Ruins. I've finished the Archives and took out Seath, and I also finished up the Painted World last night.

mewmartigan

Do you have to hit every single place? For example, I read somewhere you NEED the rusted iron ring (which lets you walk through water unhindered) to defeat the Hydra. I was able to beat the Hydra without it.
THen you NEEDED the rusted iron ring somewhere in Sen's Fortress...but when I looked up where the bonfire was, that page didn't mention needing the ring at all because I think it skipped that whole area of the fortress. So do I need to go back to the asylum?

The game is totally open ended...I only spent about 5 minutes in blighttown since the entrance I came in was right above the giant spider. I just dropped down a few ladders and done!
After defeating the spider I went into the demon ruins and beat Ceaseless Discharge (strangely awesome name!) but I was afraid to go further so I backed out, haha.

Noonan

You don't have to go everywhere. Using the back way to Blighttown that you did, you can skip most of that level and all of the Depths. That shortcut only works if you picked the Master Key though. The only ring you have to get is the one Sif drops so you can get to the Abyss and fight the boss there.

mewmartigan

I actually went through the Depths and got the Key to Blighttown but I didn't use it. I don't have the master key (wish i did!) but was able to get into Blighttown through the Valley of the Drakes.

Noonan

Oh, so did you go to Valley of the Drakes by way of Darkroot Basin? The full shortcut is to get there through New Londo Ruins, which requires the Master Key or the key you find at the end of Blighttown. It's basically the quick way out after you beat the boss.

mewmartigan

Yeah, I went via the darkroot basin. Then while in Blighttown I found the key to link New Londo and the Valley. I figure I should open all the shortcuts I can since you never know when you'll have to track back.

MoviePage

It's pretty interesting all the different ways you can approach this game. And no, you don't have to go back to the Asylum, but it's wise to do so because you can obtain an extremely rare upgrade item there that you need to take certain weapons to their top level, and which is only regularly available once per playthrough (people have obtained it other ways, but it isn't easy at all).

Just...don't go back with lots of souls or humanity.

Noonan

Which item is that? I haven't killed the demon but I've gotten the doll and whatever item was behind the locked door (which could be what you're talking about, I can't remember what it was).

MoviePage

Oh yeah, and the doll is good to have too.

Noonan

This game is much bigger than Demon's. My last save on that game was already in a NG+ at 42 hours with a level 85 character. I just passed 55 hours in DS, my character is level 73, and I still have 3 full areas/bosses to go through. I'm not looking forward to venturing back to New Londo or the Catacombs.

Noonan

Finally finished this one up and just rang the 2nd bell on a NG+. Much easier the 2nd time through with the shortcuts you can take. I was able to skip the taurus demon and the whole Parish area by going straight down to kill Havel with the master key and ran through the Basin/Forest to get to the blacksmith the back way.

Kedrix

If anybody was waiting for a cheaper price, Fry's has this for $39.99. Just thought I would share for those who don't venture into the DVD bargains.


Tempted but I'm thinking it will hit $35 before the end of the year. I know its worth it, but my backlog is ridiculous.

mattysemo247

So I have Demon Souls for PS3 and Dark Souls for 360. Would it make a difference if I started Dark Souls first? Is one harder than the other?

MoviePage

It won't make a difference as the two are only connected storywise in an extremely tangentially way, and opinions vary pretty equally on which is more difficult.

I will say, though, that I finished Dark Souls before I had ever put much time into Demon's Souls, and attempting to go back to the earlier game afterwards was difficult because Dark Souls provided a much more polished experience IMO (not to mention that the graphics on Demon's Souls looked last-gen after just finishing Dark Souls).

MoviePage

The 1.05 patch that has a ton of fixes and tweaks is now live for North American players. Haven't played it yet myself, but from what I'm reading online, the game is a very different experience now (they even changed a lot of minor stuff like the wording of certain things - no more "YOU RECOVERED" or "YOU DEFEATED" messages, for example).

If nothing else, it sounds like PvP is finally playable for those of us who like fair fights.

Poink

I played around with the patch a bit last night. I was using my badass pyro-thief that is in the later stages of New Game++. Her Soul Level is in the 130 range.

The main differences I noticed (for my character) were better weapon scaling on some items; Priscilla's Dagger is S in Dex rather than A, so it does a little more damage. Although it's a fairly low power weapon which relies on it's insane "bleed" damage that literally takes half the life off of a target if you can keep a steady assault going. My main, Quelog's Furysword, is just a hair bit "weaker" in its scaling with Humanity. My attack power is 510 with it Vs. 523 pre-patch. Not really noticeable.

My Black Bow of Pharis seems stronger, despite no changes to stats. On my test subjects (the Dreglings up the stairs in Firelink) I'm doing about 250 a shot (body) with closer to 300 with a headshot, up from 210-240 before.

Pyromancy has been weakened a tad, but isn't a huge difference. It still owns 95% of the things in the game with a maxed out +5 (ascended) Flame.

Armor seems to have changed a bit. The Gold-Hemmed set is a lot less effective all-around. Still great for poison and flame resist though. Somehow the Thief / Black Leather stuff I had been upgrading towards +10 seems a bit weak, unfortunately.

Biggest disappointment is that the Hollow Soldier's shield has been neutered. Yes, the one that drops from those spear guys in the early levels. At +15, it was the BEST shield in the game for physical blocking. The stability was like 86, better than the 36-50 strength Havel's and Black Iron shields. It's now at 70 stability, which is still good for a small shield, but for the time, souls, and Titanite Slab I invested into it, it bums me out.

Being able to purchase Twinkling Tiamite is a huge plus. Upgrading "unique" weapons and armor is a much more viable option now. I just need one more pound of equip burden to rock a full Black Knight Armor and Shield, my blade, bow, and Flame and still be able to be under half weight.

Overall the game doesn't really seem any harder or easier per se. The overpowered stuff has been diminished a bit, and the average / "almost great" stuff has been brought up a notch.

wlj

How does this game compare to Ninja Gaiden's difficulty. NG seems to be a game that most consider very difficult. I don't think NG is that bad once you figure out what you are doing. Once you learn to hold block almost 100% of the time, you do pretty good. Is Dark Souls harder?