Souls Thread: Dark Souls, Demon Souls, Bloodborne

[Spud]

I'm also breaking down mechanics and there's no getting around the fact that armor values are poorly implemented in the laziest way possible.

The flat number system was far superior than absorption system that use now.

 

[Xarpho's Return]

I really want to play Dark Souls 1 but it seems the Steam version is the "Remastered" version and $40...which is pretty steep for a remastered version of a game from six years ago for a game that came out in 2012 in PC.

Is my only choice just to pirate the original?

 

[X Prime]

To this day Dark Souls 2 still has the most interesting variety of equipment options, it's kind of silly.

Only thing it's really missing I'd say is Silver Knight stuff. Loyce set doesn't quite have the same feel.

 

[DapperShark]

I really want to play Dark Souls 1 but it seems the Steam version is the "Remastered" version and $40...which is pretty steep for a remastered version of a game from six years ago for a game that came out in 2012 in PC.

Is my only choice just to pirate the original?

It's usually 50% off when it's on sale, if you still prefer to pirate I'd still go for the remastered version however, some people say it ruined the lighting (I think it looks fine though YMMV) but it has some nice QoL changes and to be honest the original DS1 PTDE is a really half-assed port that never got fixed (locked at 30 fps, infamously runs like shit on certain areas plus some other things I don't recall atm).

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

some people say it ruined the lighting (I think it looks fine though YMMV)

Based on the side-by-side comparisons I've seen, the differences are pretty minor and more than made up for by the fact that it runs at 60 FPS.

 

[Mega Black]

Is my only choice just to pirate the original?

I think it goes on sale pretty frequently. Or you just pirate the remaster.

 

[Asian tech support]

To this day Dark Souls 2 still has the most interesting variety of equipment options, it's kind of silly.

Only thing it's really missing I'd say is Silver Knight stuff. Loyce set doesn't quite have the same feel.

DS1 was painfully bland and restrictive with its equipment. DS2 at launch was fun just for the sheer variety of wacky shit you could put together and dunk on the blood arena with. Off the top of my head, at launch we had:

• Certain boss weapons could be buffed, resulting in insanely high damage combos like CMW MLGS
• Old Sun Ring, Ring of Thorns, and Gower's Ring in their unnerfed states
• Scaling being nearly non existent and spiced down spells being almost as effective as their un spiced counterparts. Special mention to Wrath of the Gods, Resonant Weapon, Great Resonant Soul, and Forbidden Sun.
• The Dark Fog/Bat Staff combo insta poisoned due to the staff having a poison bonus

The problem going forwards was that the balance team was a bunch of schizotards and took some pointers from playtesters/big streamers at the time like the Soulbrandt crowd and Team Majula. After that, everything was some type of flavor of the month jank. We all remember the havelmonsters and the helixodons and the ice rapiers.

 

[Scarthew]

I really want to play Dark Souls 1 but it seems the Steam version is the "Remastered" version and $40...which is pretty steep for a remastered version of a game from six years ago for a game that came out in 2012 in PC.

Is my only choice just to pirate the original?

emulate or pirate the original. The remastered version destroyed the original's art style. DkS1 had a heavy use of DoF, while it was likely for limitation reasons it gave lordran a dreamlike haze that really set the mood for the game. Remastered removed this and also made particle effects absurd. When you cast a spell or drink estus in remastered a mini nuke of particle effects starts doing a rave, theyre way too bright. Even Elden Ring with its obsession of color (likely inspired by magic) doesnt have effects this obnoxious.

 

[Anti Lolicon Bomb]

emulate or pirate the original. The remastered version destroyed the original's art style. DkS1 had a heavy use of DoF, while it was likely for limitation reasons it gave lordran a dreamlike haze that really set the mood for the game. Remastered removed this and also made particle effects absurd. When you cast a spell or drink estus in remastered a mini nuke of particle effects starts doing a rave, theyre way too bright. Even Elden Ring with its obsession of color (likely inspired by magic) doesnt have effects this obnoxious.

I bought this on ps5 today and noticed the hair seems to be fucked in the remaster, it has huge blotches missing, im guessing because its upscaled beyond its intended design and the lazy fucks just didnt bother to fix it.

 

[Scavenger]

I played DS1 for the first time as my first souls born
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT , finished it and loved solaire

 

[Scarthew]

I played DS1 for the first time as my first souls born
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT , finished it and loved solaire

its a good one to start on, its definitely the best.

 

[BrunoMattei]

What was wrong with the Demons Souls remake?

 

[Spud]

What was wrong with the Demons Souls remake?

It's another Bluepoint port.

 

[Asian tech support]

What was wrong with the Demons Souls remake?

 

[Meat Target]

DS3 comes across as phoned in, the 3rd game to a tired setting only made because they were contractually obligated to make it, its filled with fan service for the previous games, all the armors/weapons return, theres level call backs despite the games taking place thousands of years apart. Its just lazy and empty (cant call it soulless)

DS3 is everything I want from a series finale. Yeah, it's a little tubby on the DS1 callbacks, but I like it. It gives you some closure as to what happened.

And as cliché as it sounds regarding Souls gripes, the tired setting seems like a feature, not a flaw. It's because the world is weary. The universe has been worn to its limits by the cycle.

Where DS1 is oppressive and grimdark, and DS2 is wistful and melancholy, DS3's atmosphere is outright apocalyptic. When I first spawned at the High Wall of Lothric, my immediate thought was "this is it. This is the end of the world".

Spoiler: Artsy-fartsy blue curtain sperging

I especially loved the Dreg Heap and the Ringed City. I'm gonna get real artsy-fartsy here and compare it to that music album Everywhere at the End of Time.

In the case of the Dreg Heap, quite literally; like the memories of a dementia patient, every land and kingdom that ever was is now being mashed together into a messy, chaotic singularity, with only bits and pieces left recognizable.

And then you travel to the Ringed City. What was supposed to be an afterthought for Gwyn to keep pygmy rejects away is now the only place where life remains. And even then, you see what will become of it when you fight Slave Knight Gael.

Once you have the Blood of the Dark Soul, you bring it to the Painter and she makes a new world as the current one dies.

Call me a spergy, blubbering fag all you want; I found it a bittersweet and tragically beautiful send-off to the trilogy, and wanted to applaud once I was finished.

 

[ShiftyBoi]

The universe has been worn to its limits by the cycle.

Honestly I hate the idea of the cycle because it tramples on the story of DS1, and by the third game it's grown completely tiresome.

Weighty ideas like the abyss and the primordial serpents and the grey lands don't mean shit when they're just going to come back and go away again for no reason. Why should Kaathe or Frampt care at all about their respective endings when just about fucking anyone can relight the first flame? And by that same token we learn what being a lord of cinder means from DS3 but never what being a dark lord means. On top of that DS3 introduces the profaned flame that never goes out and never elaborates.

I would have preferred if the sequels just told different stories, DS2 almost did that but decided to shoehorn lore from DS1 in anyway, and then DS3 ignored DS2 but still kept the worst aspect of that game's story, and also shoehorned DS1's lore in even worse.

 

[Meat Target]

Honestly I hate the idea of the cycle because it tramples on the story of DS1, and by the third game it's grown completely tiresome.

DS1 is the first time, DS3 is the final time.

Why should Kaathe or Frampt care at all about their respective endings when just about fucking anyone can relight the first flame?

As I understand it (so don't quote me on this), the different Ages are not absolutes. Dark is dominant during its age, but there are still embers of the First Flame somewhere. Conversely, during the Age of Fire, Darkness is always lurking. Frampt and Kaathe care because it's an ongoing power struggle.

The Grey Lands are the true End of Time, the heat death of the universe.

From a more meta standpoint: Miyazaki made an interesting setting, and people wanted more of it. The gripes about DS2 and DS3 are the typical contradictory gripes: "different, therefore RUINED!" and "It's all the SAME!"

On top of that DS3 introduces the profaned flame that never goes out and never elaborates.

It's not that complicated. The Profaned Flame never goes out, but it's a counterfeit flame that cannot restore life to the world. It's infused with Dark, and evidently its creators didn't fuck up like the Witch of Izalith and create a new Chaos flame.

 

[X Prime]

I would have preferred if the sequels just told different stories, DS2 almost did that but decided to shoehorn lore from DS1 in anyway, and then DS3 ignored DS2 but still kept the worst aspect of that game's story, and also shoehorned DS1's lore in even worse.

DS2's whole deal is just Buddhism, though. The only way it could have been more blatant would have been to throw around the word reincarnation everywhere. See Agadyne's set:

Life itself is suffering; or karma, as some have called it.

The embrace of death awaits all things. But does death mean an end to suffering?

DS1 worked because everything was vague. Japanese developers have a bad habit of just making everything look like some kind of Buddhist or Gnostic allegory the more time you give them to think about their bullshit.

 

[Meat Target]

Japanese developers have a bad habit of just making everything about Buddhism or Gnosticism the more time you give them to develop.

It's called "writing what you know." It's why 99% of Western fantasy is a rehash of Tolkien tropes, which are in turn derived from Christianity and Germanic folklore.

 

[X Prime]

It's called "writing what you know." It's why 99% of Western fantasy is a rehash of Tolkien tropes, which are in turn derived from Christianity and Germanic folklore.

Excuse you sir, nowadays it's explicitly or implicitly in opposition to those tropes! Which is also cringe.

I would also object to the notion that Japanese people know Gnosticism, which is actually a bunch of disparate heresies.