If you have an email ending in @hotmail.com, @live.com or @outlook.com (or any other Microsoft-related domain), please consider changing it to another email provider; Microsoft decided to instantly block the server's IP, so emails can't be sent to these addresses.
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE

Dark Souls has absolutely gorgeous visual design.

edited 2011-09-09 23:51:41 in IJAM
One foot in front of the other, every day.

That's part three of the setting prologue, but what took my attention was the sword of 0:45. At first, it simply looks gracefully-designed, but I had another look and there's some even more ingenious elements to it. Look at the hilt. Firstly the ends of the crossguard are sloped like axe blades. That's a great combat design choice, because the crossguard can be used improvisationally as a weapon. Even better, though, is the pommel. You'll notice that it's flanged, like a mace. It just so happens that the pommel's secondary role for longswords was to inflict blunt trauma attacks. They've taken this another step by designing the pommel as per the spec of another weapon. Now that is showing your work. Showing it to the extent of most people missing it and not realising the significance.
«1

Comments

  • If you must eat a phoenix, boil it, do not roast it. This only encourages their mischievous habits.
    Now that is showing your work. Showing it to the extent of most people missing it and not realising the significance.

    Or dumb luck in trying to make it look cool.
  • One foot in front of the other, every day.
    Doubtful, considering that Demon's Souls had brilliant design when it came to conventional weapons.
  • If you must eat a phoenix, boil it, do not roast it. This only encourages their mischievous habits.
    Bah.

    BAH.
  • One foot in front of the other, every day.
    The armour design is worth gushing over as well. Especially the dark steel armour. Beautiful.
  • If you must eat a phoenix, boil it, do not roast it. This only encourages their mischievous habits.
    BAH.
  • Dark Souls is the sequel to Demon's Souls, isn't it?

    Or am I totally wrong?
  • One foot in front of the other, every day.
    You are correct.
  • I should really get that game sometime.
  • One foot in front of the other, every day.
    You should, but only if you can stomach one hell of a steep learning curve.

    The biggest challenge is dealing with the game's economy. While the combat encounters are often challenging, they're not as hard as some would have you believe. The environmental obstacles are tougher and take more thought and skill to pass, but are still doable. It's just that when you die, you lose all the game's currency unless you go back to your point of death. That currency is used for everything, including leveling up. So one of the most important aspects of learning Demon's Souls is having a sort of financial strategy.

    I tended to divide things up by priority, which was

    - Repair gear
    - Level up
    - Resupply high-priority items
    - Upgrade gear
    - Resupply low-priority items

    And then I was broke.
  • You should, but only if you can stomach one hell of a steep learning curve.
    Difficulty gives me a boner. I'd enjoy it.
  • One foot in front of the other, every day.
    One thing I also love about the game is that grinding often feels very objective-based, if you so choose to do it. I remember prepping for battles by, moreso than leveling up, collecting the materials needed to empower a weapon or earning a Faith ability. There's a bit of natural narrative in turning your longsword into a Blessed Longsword +5.
  • Ooh, I do like the sounds of that!
  • I would play Dark Souls but Demon's Souls already had bullshit (that's what it was, you can't deny it) difficulty so NOPE
  • One foot in front of the other, every day.
    Not this shit again.

    Seriously, once I worked out the economy of the game and did a little grinding, most of it became very reasonable. Work out how to defeat the silver skeletons quickly and grind that realm. You'll get a shitload of exp, and the bosses are really easy. You can get a composite longbow there, too, which will allow you to take on the fat cyclops. The Adjudicator boss is ridiculously easy up close, and then the next boss has a crippling weakness you can take advantage of, especially at range, to dominate the battle. Then the last boss fight of that realm gives you an out with which to take care of the boss quite well, too.

    After that realm, you'll be rolling in cashbux and can easily do just about everything else, except for the bog. The bog sucks. That, and the very final parts of the Boletarian castle.

    Plus, strategise! Almost every boss is just as vulnerable to status ailments as you. All the large ones telegraph their moves quite blatantly. Many of them have a specific weakness; I suggest using fire-based attacks against the bosses of the fifth realm, which includes the aforementioned bog. Or really, against anything in there. One of the great things about Demon's Souls is that it forced me to consider my fights carefully, especially as a melee-centric knight that made a mockery of mooks but was vulnerable against bosses.

    I knew it was going to be awesome after the tension of the first boss fight. Drawing out the amorphous mooks, leading the boss around and just working things out. At times, I actually felt like a hero from mythology or legend as I had to think, prepare and strategise to overcome my strongest adversaries. The challenge was brilliant. So immediate.
  • edited 2011-09-10 13:30:01
    [tɕagɛn]
    Then why does everyone act like it's the hardest game ever invented
  • edited 2011-09-10 13:34:51
    OOOooooOoOoOOoo, I'm a ghoOooOooOOOost!
    That isn't the same as "bullshit difficulty." For that, play I Wanna be the Guy.
  • They're somethin' else.
    lol objectively wrong
  • The way people talked about DS, you would be expected to find it harder than IWBTG.
  • OOOooooOoOoOOoo, I'm a ghoOooOooOOOost!
    Nah. From what I saw of it, the difficulty was of the "you can win, but you're going to have to be careful and thoughtful" variety rather than the "perfect reflexes all the time or die" variety.
  • One foot in front of the other, every day.
    Demon's Souls' difficulty is built around observation, strategy and planning. You never go charging into battle unless you know exactly what you're up against. The sprint function, for instance, is mostly for running away if you get in too deep. The only other uses of it I can think of are if you want the specific sprint attack, or if you need to take certain ground before an adversary.
  • Only somewhat here
    Back on topic, because this derail has been done to death in other places and is really, really dumb by now: From Software is great at stuff like visual design and atmosphere. The weapons of Demon's Souls were all very detailed and well done, and the atmosphere in the levels was just fantastic, especially in places like the Tower of Latria or the Valley of Defilement. I don't expect any less from Dark Souls.
  • One foot in front of the other, every day.
    Speaking of atmosphere

    THOSE BELLS.
  • Only somewhat here
    Latria was my favorite area because of its atmosphere.
  • Then why does everyone act like it's the hardest game ever invented

    If "everyone" acted like that, this wouldn't have been the first time I ever heard that. And the difficulty is at least reasonable.
  • Said derail actually made me interested in Dark Souls, so....
  • edited 2011-09-10 23:25:20
    One foot in front of the other, every day.
    ^^^ The first boss in that realm sticks in my memory. Probably the least challenging boss, but pretty scary. Especially when I killed it, but it wasn't dead.
  • Demon's Souls definitely has some good aesthetics going for it. Hopefully Dark Souls more so. The only problem with Demon's Souls aesthetics is that some of the armor pieces look goddamn ridiculous (read: mound of dirty sheets, gimp suit, and custard tornado).

    And I'm kind of hoping that Dark Souls will have bosses like Demon's Souls, where if you know their tricks, you can pretty much kill them without any danger to yourself. There's just something amusing about wading through hell and back to stumble on a boss who dies standing in one place because it can't see you even when you're attacking it.


  • Only somewhat here
    We already know there's a dual boss like Maneater, a minotaur that you face on a narrow bridge, a giant teeth-vagina monster thing, and a wolf with a fucking sword in its mouth.

    And there's supposedly more bosses in Dark Souls than in Demon's Souls.
  • "and a wolf with a fucking sword in its mouth."

    Holy shit I am so buying this game
  • They're somethin' else.
    ^spoilers, and I will buy the fuck out of this game
Sign In or Register to comment.