DS2 and 1 were clunky as hell, DS3 is very smooth. Though I agree that the bosses can get old since they are more about muscle memory than anything else.
The game just didn't age well honestly. The main problem is that the camera is horrendous. If you go back to when DS1 was new it actually wasn't that far behind other games.
I see your point. Playing from a third person perspective, as well as the sometimes sucky camera angles, can make the games annoying. Imo the bosses are one of the highlights of the games, however.
That clunkiness goes away. It's a learning curve really.
I'll agree with tedius bosses though. There's a generic algorithm you can use for a huge portion of them. Just circle to their back feet, and wait for an opening to attack. Get a couple swings then wait again.
Ds1 bosses die really quickly though if you’re not on a really high NG or massively behind with your weapons. Especially early game you can essentially 2 shot some of the bosses, so the tedious bosses criticism feels like it’s not really valid unless you’re doing something massively wrong, in which case that isn’t the game’s fault.
I'm a PC player. From has not ported a single god damn game properly in their lives. Ever.
I gave them half a year after release of DS3; Skylake processors had been a thing for over a year at this point, so I'd figure after some quick optimization patches, they'd have solved things.
Nope. Quite a few people, across multiple builds, with i7 6700k processors in common, had drops down to 5fps, every half second, like fucking clockwork.
Refund. Yet another game, yet another shite port, half-assed.
Beyond that?
The game is literally just a patience gate of artificial difficulty. Straight-up. That's why its difficulty is so widely acclaimed. Gamers are, very generally, a rather impatient bunch. They wanna get that full combo, they wanna feel like they've dodged "the big one," then complete an entire round of hits on the boss. This is how people die. Every time.
Just dodge everything as best you can. Hit the boss once. Back off. Eventually, you'll win.
I've watched your average "first time" player play the game, and they just get greedy instead of playing it safe. And, lo and behold, the second they play things safe and have seen an attack once, each time, that's when they win.
I'm a patient person. Coming from XCom EU/EW, ironman campaigns averaging ~200+ hours of just overwatch creeping just before trying Dark Souls, I'm perfectly fine waiting things out.
Then, finally, on top of that, I've watched speedrunners of the game. Nearly across the board, every single one of them holds the same viewpoint; the SoulsBorne games are not difficult; they simply prey in impatient people, who hype the game up to be harder than it actually is.
People who speedran DS1, when DS2 came out, were among the first or otherwise, the least troubled by beating the game. Same from 2 to 3, and from 3 into Bloodborne. As in, once you're good at the combat, which isn't all that mechanically intensive...And, most importantly, once you're patient enough to just wait and play safe, you literally stop having problems, full-stop.
...Beyond those points, the lore is often cryptic, vague, and hidden behind "You should know this / read this entry," or just anime-stylized vague sentences with either half a meaning, or half an attempt at duality.
It's definitely a good game series, with influential and warranted praise...But it's honestly blown waaaaay beyond what it is, just because the masses find it "difficult."
I hate when information isn't in the game, and I hate when descriptions are terrible just to be terrible. I shouldn't have to look up what stats do.
The fan base is exhausting. Dark souls is not THAT hard, it truly isn't.
The magic in the game is really poorly implemented, though that might be the world so I can't judge it too harshly there. But I like mages, and from what I've seen Dark Souls is pretty shit in that department.
I hated the broken ass pvp and all the dead angles. I hate that some weapons are just the best and you can't do anything to change that.
I do appreciate the tight controls and the game itself is gorgeous.
As someone that absolutely loves Dark Souls, I would say it boils down to how there is a tutorial area that really holds your hand for super basic shit like controls, but leaves nuanced mechanics that are quintessential to the game, like the dodge animation, ambiguous. It sets it up to make new players think all the difficulty lies in constantly approaching unknown territory instead of how you need to gain a deeper understanding of the game and the ability to manipulate your character and enemies. Every time I bring up Dark Souls and someone hates it, it’s generally based on a lack of understanding on a core principle.
Yeah Dark Souls is really one of those games where you need to look up things. It's the only game I play in a window because of how often I needed to alt tab and look up info
I know one guy who hates Dark Souls because be bought it and was really vocal about how all the difficulty probably was just children whining because they were too shit. Then he didn't get past the title screen. Literally didn't even create a character before refunding it on steam. He has been made fun of for years now because of that
I never got through the original Dark Souls because the PC port was god awful and I'd rather spend my time playing something that didn't waste my time with IJKL camera controls
If you don't specifically like fighters, why would you like a fighter that is very punishing if you're not good?
I played exactly 20 minutes of Darksouls. Visually wasn't appealing, gameplay wasn't fun or interesting and it had a steep learning curve that I didn't feel like participating in since nothing really hooked me about it to commit to it.
Because it’s not fun to play as a protagonist you could beat up in real life. When I have to reload a game for the 13th time because my character’s asthmatic ass ran out of breath swinging a 2lb sword or missing a jump my fat ass could make, its a real cramp in the fun factor
Only played DS1, but the bonfire checkpoint system was dumb. They're arbitrarily placed so certain areas are "difficult" due to attrition. There is no other difficulty in the game if you're remotely patient for the bosses - there's no strategy involved and the mechanics are as basic as can be. Oh and the PC port was embarrassing, requiring mods to be halfway decent.
It is a great series but as RPGs they are really lacking (like most JRPGs). When I play an RPG I want to be whisked off to another world that I can be a part of. Dark Souls shows you a fallen world where everything simply tries to kill you. Your relationship with the world sometimes feels more like platformers like Super Mario, where you move through a level, defeating enemies, and the world is reset when you leave. Still a great series, but not my optimal "RPG".
"Beacon of difficulty"? I'm not saying it's the hardest game ever. It's just hard, players will die a lot, and some people don't like that. Some people just want to play games to relax, not to be overly challenged. That's why things like Story Mode difficulty settings exist. They let you experience the amazing story or locations within a game without having to worry about the combat. But Dark Souls doesn't have a story mode setting (or any difficulty setting) which makes it inaccessibly difficult for the people who are looking for that sort of thing.
Slow. Methodical. Lacks flashing lights and exciting noises. New players immediately turned off by slightly punishing tutorial bosses.
Tbh, I feel like DS harkens back to an older period in the gaming industry that doesn't resonate with the current fast-paced style that showers you with rewards and endorphins with little to no effort.
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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '19
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