heh, the alluring skull totally didn't work out that way for me. I read the description and was like, "attract enemies? but i have this boar to deal with"
I had a lot of fun on my first playthrough camping the boar out, the ignorance to strategies and lore made the game so special for the short time I had with it. Vaati making beautiful videos ended that pretty quick though and me being addicted to souls and not stopping playing it till I 100%'d it at after 2 years.
You have to admit. It was pretty brave of FromSoftware to make whole worlds that they knew many of their players wouldn't fine. That's some dedication to hardcore fans right there.
Lynchology101 how did you enter the painting considering it takes a considerable effort to get back to the asylum to get the doll and then a lot of missteps to get back to anor Londo and the painting.
If you're referring to the painted world, that was actually already developed as a testing stage and they decided to later make it an accessible secret.. But they're still dedicated as hell, you're still right x3
It's also pretty brave of them to assume their players are smart and can work things out on their own, as well as for them to not give out accomplishments like candy.
However, putting many secrets in your game is a good way to make ppl talk about it for a long time as things are discovered progressively. That's a good way to keep ppl interested in the series until the next episode comes out. So in Dark Souls it's purely intentional and made with creative intent, but I never got why many other AAA developers are not doing it too. Even if made solely for that purpose, it's very effective to keep a communuty active on the game. Also, it will give you a better image (as players will consider you to be a very invested and creative studio) amongst the players. I'm pretty sure that hiding like 10-15% (I mean, you're not even taking it out) of your content is really worth it.
Good video, except I must correct something (sorry): Oscar (the dying knight) does not give you a key to unlock the shortcut door at the bottom of the stairs to the main bonfire in the Asylum, this door is already not locked (from the non-bonfire side). I always trigger the boulder and jump off to the lower stairs and go open that door before I go talk to Oscar.
My sense of accomplishment on some bosses through Demon's/Dark Souls 1-3 was pretty much overshadowed by the fact that i was emotionally killed by a few bosses.
I have never been able to put into words why I love the first Dark Souls so much more than the second. Now when someone asks, I can literally just point them towards this video. This is a great series and I hope you continue it. Definitely looking forward to the next one.
***** There's one BIG reason for why DS2 was so poorly received from fans. Miyazaki. The man that directed Demon's, DS1 and Bloodborne. He was more of a supervisor for 2, but didn't have as big of a role, which is why it just kind of feels... disjointed. Now he's coming back for DS3, and I'm really excited. Edit: Actually, I may be wrong about Bloodborne. I don't know if he actually directed that or not.
+SwankyBox Well, all the fuss about how hard the game was. So I got to the graveyard with this in mind... Then it took me 6 hours to lure the skeletons back and forth, found out about the patterns. I died A LOT... I nearly made it. Then, after six hours, a friend of mine told me 'hey but that's not what you're supposed to do'. It absolutely destroyed me and I was done. My motivation was fucked.
PurpleReptilianShitlord Because most games are too easy, give you too many chances with no punishment for failure, and worst of all, grab you by the hand like an idiot to take you to your goal. Not long after I finished Dark Souls I tried playing God of War for the PSP and my God, that felt so moronically easy, I could barely have fun with it. The game felt like a chore because it had almost zero challenge, and I used to like God of War before Dark Souls ruined regular games for me. And that's just one example, there were others.
is it a bad thing? because in my case it did it for Skyrim, i started playing Dark Souls half way through Skyrim and never went back... but i don't regret it, i like Dark Souls much more
I only just got into the series a few days ago and boy am I enjoying the challenge really enjoying it, reminds me. Of how games were in the 80s with no patronising handholding
Really? This is nothing but surface-level observations and useless platitudes. "OMG, the game made me feel this feeling and it's so challenging!!111!"... That said, Joseph Anderson's videos are definitely worth checking out if you like long-form criticism.
I have always thought of Dark Souls as a revitalization of challenging RPG's. I was watching a Dunkey video once, and he said, "well if I can't lose then why isn't this just a movie?" and I honestly think Dark Souls embodies this quote very well. It shows that games can be beloved in the eyes of the players while still pushing them to their absolute limit. Games did not have to hold your hand all of the way and Dark Souls really showed that with its hands-off approach to storytelling. Also, I have been researching for my own videos why this game is so popular and good and the fact that it requires such intense committment makes the sense of reward so much higher. It almost feels like an adrenaline high!
Yet people complain and whine and call it unfair just because they can't beat o an s first try. And when they do, they whine and complain about how the game isn't hard and how it's difficulty is overrated and such. Arlo kind of did this in his Tropical Freeze video. He called the bosses unfair for not having checkpoints in between phases and also derailed the Bell Gargoyles for being a gang fight, saying it's unfair and such. Then, when a game is too easy on the bosses such as Crafted World, he then complains about how easy the bosses are and how they could be harder. This hypocrisy in the gaming community is just unbelievable. In a way, I actually like the Bed if Chaos because it gave me that adrenaline rush so most lord vessel bosses couldn't attribute. I could have been knocked into the pit at any moment yet I somehow managed to make it through.
***** .....You don't speak for me. I've been hit by the Boar many times but I've never died to that boar, the only boar I've died to is the second one in Anor Londo.
You can backstab that boar. There is plating missing on his behind. And the boars in Anor Londo, well, if you two hand your weapon, it won't bounce of their armor.
Brian Hanson I had a glitch where the Fang Boar tried to walk back to its original position but it just kept getting stuck on one of the pillars on the right so it just kept walking into a column, so I killed it super easily (basically it didn't move or react to anything it just got stuck and I killed it) Plus, I got a glitch where I exited the game on the Asylum Demon by using Alt+Tab then closing the game after escaping him, so I spawned outside the door, so I could just open the door walk out of the boss room and safely lob blackfire bombs at him from a distance, man the PC port of Dark Souls 1 really does suck
The pig gored me in the ass, tossed me into the air, and by the time my corpse landed on the ground it had run into the nearby fire and burned to death.
Thankyou for bringing up the "Teaching without Teaching" principle. I did a tabletop design at the Global Game Jam this year which introduced this, and I was trying to explain the design principle to videogame players - The first game that came to my mind was this one, both with its obscure unexplained statistics (What the heck does Agility do anyway? It doesn't make you faster, and the game doesn't state.) and what you referenced above. I taught a lot of design principles there that some game designers weren't even aware existed, even though they themselves had tackled Dark Souls before.
+Bane Williams Yeah I love that principle, more games should incorporate it. I expanded the thought and looked at Shovel Knight in an earlier Good Game Design episode :)
My absolute favorite moment in Dark Souls is once you beat O&S. After finally overcoming a challenge much harder than any other so far in the game, you are rewarded with the next room being filled with heavenly light and choral music. A beautiful figure with large breast gives you the best gift one could have asked for: fast travel. Such a reward made every death you just had worth it.
+Tony Taco Yo, that is exactly right. The first time I beat O&S, I didn't have any help, and it took like 20 tries, but I've never felt more triumphant. And you're right, the reward is SUPER gratifying
... I agree that the Graveyard n' Ghost paths usually direct most players, specifically new ones, to go down another path, but at the very start both paths give the player the option to deal with them better by presenting them with either a weapon (Morning Star) or an Item (Translucent Curse) that allows the player to progress into these areas better, considering the Morning Star (and all Clubs) are a skeletons greatest weakness... to the point most fall to pieces if not go flying backwards upon being hit by them, whilst the Translucent Curse that you get from the jar near the water bridge to the ghosts allows the player to both attack n' block the ghosts normally. As well, not only do the ghosts drop the same Translucent Curse item, but they also drop the Jagged Ghost Blade, which takes about... 2 or 3 hits, to kill a ghost, and every character, even unleveled, can use it. I feel like this makes it so that not only does it make it easier for players that are use to it get into these areas before even going to undead burg, but also new, clever players to go to these places. It doesn't even mention how the Graveyard also gave the Zweihander n' the Spear, which the Zweihander has the same 'function' as the Morning Star, along with the Spear allowing to deal with a large sum of enemies behind a shield easier (though the strength options are better in general, at least it gives the dexterity users a 'chance', even if its poorer). I feel like these additions that gives the player the option in not just choice, but useful/necessary assets to properly progress those areas, is good game design as well. I know that afterwards, I use to go to New Londo n' the Catacombs first, n' sometimes never went to the Undead Burg. The Game also rewards early players for doing this: New Londo opens an alternate path through the water gate, as well as allows a strong player to get some good items along with a firekeeper ring. If the player is good enough to face against the Darkwraiths (which should be easier with a Jagged Ghost Blade), the player also has a chance of getting some good rings like the Red Tearstone Ring, along with obtaining the Very Large Ember. The Catacombs also rewards the player even better for dealing with an even harder if the player kills Pinwheel by giving them the Rite of Kindling, which maybe the best thing about the ability to choose one of the three paths, instead of locking up two of them; I always did the Catacombs first JUST to get the Rite of Kindling at times, due to it making the Estus Flask more reliable in general... not to mention the player can get the Gravelord Sword, have the ability to upgrade their weapons early to Flame Weapons if they want to, n' going past Pinwheel rewards the player with the Large Divine Ember (which I don't think is optional for most new players to get without killing themselves) and the Silver Serpent Ring... amongst many other treasures the Catacombs has. I think one of the reasons why I love Dark Souls is because the two other options are avaliable, n' feels very free. Which Bloodborne has somewhat of an issue where there are a good amount of paths... but a lot of them lead to dead ends, unlike New Londo, whilst Dark Souls 3 has... not much, really, in comparison to the three games before (Not Demon's Souls, but its a bit more forgivable due to it being the first)
The "hammers are good vs skeletons" is never explained hinted at or mentioned by any character or item description for that matter, its just a trial and error thing most new players without a guide would not notice and even so the skeletons in the graveyard are extra beefy even compared to those inside the crypt. As for the transient curse, sure you can damage ghosts but the sheer number of them and their raw damage output will put you off that area even if you do manage to figure out how to damage them so early on.
zxb995511 I never said it was an actual easy route, nor for noobs. For players that understand slightly how the game works, they have the resources to go through the other paths if desired, as the game gives the player a morning star for skeletons, and transient curse for ghosts. I never said they were easy to kill, I said they gave you the resources to better defeat them if you so choose to. I don't expect newbies to do it.
The morning star is hidden in secret area, why would someone think to jump into the broken lift section? "Oh look, the lift is broken, lets jump down"...no new players will done that, because it's common sense, you wouldn't do that in real life. The ghost can hide behind wall and still attacking you while you can't attack them, they also can attack from anywhere you can't reach, so the two Transient Curse means nothing for newbies, there is also no bonfire down there, so it is not a place for newbies
As I said before, I don't expect Newbies to do this. I am sure most probably struggled, as much as I had, cause I didn't know about the skeletons thing, though I did fight the ghosts cause I was a pyromancer (which makes it easier until the fireballs are gone), which after I realized the limits of my power, my inexperience, n' the damage (or lack) the hand axe did, I decided to do something else (Undead Burg). I said that I do not expect Newbies to do this, but if anyone desires to, they have the resources n' options wide open for them at the very start.
Would you do the same in real life? It doesn't matter if you can see the ground, the lift above you could fall and crush your body to pieces, it's an old broken lift, it say "danger"...players jump down just because someone did it and post it on internet.
I have started to play Dark Souls about a year ago, I did not know much about it and got it for 5$ on steam at that time. I wasn't sure about it, but the more I played, the more I felt in love with it. The trial and error, becoming stronger, learning form my mistakes have burned the patterns, areas, ennemy placements into my mind. I think I was just in a state of pure joy for 5 minutes when I finally beat Ornstein and Smough for the first time. This feeling, is incredible, just like you said in the video. I fell in love with it so much, I replayed each Dark Souls at least 7 times each, trying new strategies, alternative routes, new equipement, new gameplay styles. Not only in the game, but as a player, you grow stronger. Where some people would just take it for granted to have instructions, it really does well to tell you it's not gonna be easy and that you have to look for yourself. Even in some other games you'll start to think a bit like you would like Dark Souls, try to find hidden things when they don't tell you to go look for them or analyse and plan. Just for all those reasons, this game, is absolutely amazing, my favorite series of all time I wish I discovered sooner.
I'm so glad i got this game for free on the Xbox, best experience i have ever had in a videogame, none of the games i have bought brought that to me, well... maybe the Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite, but i got Infinite for free too so... maybe free games are the best? XD EDIT: But since then i payed for Bloodborne and that game was the shit, so the free games myth is just a myth... good games are good.
I rolled Sorcerer for my first run through Dark Souls. Now I'm playing a character who ONLY uses Great- weapons like the Zweihander, Broadsword, Claymore, and the Demon's Great Hammer. It's a completely different experience for both of those weapon/build choices!
Finally a new design video. They really are the only reason i come here. While all the points mentioned are either things i have noted to myself, or seen other youtubers note in their videoes (mathewmatosis has a much more indepth video which i recomend to anyone with even passing interst in game design) I still enjoy the enthusiasm of the video, and urge you, @snomaN Gaming , to keep making more of the design analysis videoes.
+snomaN Gaming Yeah I'm bummed that Bloodbourne is only out on PS4, I wanna play it so bad! Especially with all the good things that have been said about it.
Personally, I'd say Dark Souls' main design philosophy goes by the "Makes You Cry A Bunch And You Hate The Game Because Of It Even Though Deep Down You Know You Love It On A Physical, Emotional, And Spiritual Level Or Something Like That" Principle.
About the isolation principle, one good example it that Taurus Demons and Capra Demons are both introduced as boss fights before becoming normal enemies in later zones, the same can be said for the Moonlight Butterfly
Hey, Snoman. This is, in my opinion, the best video you've ever made. The principles that you've created and how you fit them in this awesome game is just perfect. Found your channel months ago while searching for Banjo Kazooies and Speedruns and loved it. I just wanted that you gave your opinion about AAA games (witcher 3) more often, though.
11:43 Personally I hate when a game makes a boss a regular enemy later. It makes the boss even more irrelevant. The Capra Demon fight is actually bad design. Just three fast and agressive enemies in a small room attacking you instantly. The only good thing is the stairs at t he back of the arena. If you can get there. Basically if you kill the two dogs less than 10 seconds, you will win.
Yeah and the reason the taurus demon is copy and pasted there is because the development team were running out of time which is why that whole area is buggy as shit and looks horrible. Not because of some genius idea to bring back an old enemy
I agree. The Capra Demon, as my first playthrough, I actually never passed... after dying fifty times, unable to get the summons to help me n' just struggling in general against it (invaders attacking me when I was trying to get white phantoms doesn't help), so after failing so much I went to the forest n' reached blighttown through the Valley of the Drakes instead... I am 'better' against Capra n' I don't struggle with him anymore, but he is indeed a huge wall for inexperienced players, due to it being placed in a situation where new players usually find themselves overwhelmed, especially when they don't understand/are use to the game mechanics yet. Though, I do think Capra helps slightly in the open worldness, as it did give me motivation to go somewhere else... that's the only good thing I have to say about it. Kinda reminds me of the Wolf Dog n' the Toxic Rats in Dark Souls 2, though in Dark Souls 2 it feels like a huger coin flip of winning (kill Toxic Rats before Wolf Rat comes) or instant lost (Toxic Rats n' Wolf Gang you).
Loved this video, for me is really hard to think about a game better than Dark Souls game desing wise. The second one was good too (I spent more hours in it than in the first), but some of the best game desing choices were removed, I just liked so much all the shortcut stuff from the first game, it gave the sensation that the world was a whole and not just long corridors that lead to a boss, making you feeling more confortable and giving you the feeling of control over it... It was just plain awesome.
+snomaN Gaming Hello there, have you done a video on Dark Cloud 2? It would be nice if you could let the gaming community know more about this hidden gem.
snomaN Gaming It was 1st released on the PS2 and is currently available on the PS4 through the PSN. Sadly it doesn't seem to be available in Asia for some reason, and my PS2 kicked the bucket ages ago.
Hey man, awesome video! I've never been able to beat Dark Souls, nor have I gotten anywhere close, but it's still one of my favorite games ever, and you've just perfectly summed up why that is. Keep it up! (Also, on a side note, it made me really happy when I heard you use "Stay frosty" in one of our videos. Yes, I was the guy who suggested that. Er, "suggested" I guess.)
My favorite game of all time is DarkCloud 2 for the PS2. I would love a game design analysis on that game. I readily admit its many flaws but there is just something I find so magical and enchanting about it. It was the first game where I really fell in love with characters and legitimately cared about them. I bought a PS2 12 years ago just so I could get DC2 after playing it for a week at my cousin's house. I had 80 hours spent on my original save upon beating the game and have sunk hundreds more on subsequent playthroughs. I keep finding myself thinking about it, even though I haven't played it in quite a while for lack of time. I think about the characters and imagine what they're doing now after the events of the game. While playing I'm able to overlook all of its flaws and just immerse myself in the storybook atmosphere.
Nowadays Dark Souls still has this burden of a reputation of just being hard. But what really made me have a crush on it is its great sense of exploration. Actually, because the game is demanding, upon entering a new area, you sometimes don't know if it is just too hard for you because you're low level or because you don't know the place, the ennemies and their patterns yet. This plus the fact that you usually have many places you know you could progress, and that you're free to access anytime, plus the many shortcuts you can open, making you feel like you master the map itself... I remember talking with a friend who was also playing Dark Souls on the phone, and we would tell each other about our adventure, where we had been and up to what point, what items we had found that could help us for another area, our tactics to beat ennemies, and so on. It was a genuine feeling of discovery. Sweet memories 😃
+Adrimixmi OH absolutely! Playing through DS3 right now, I a really far into the game, but it turns out I had missed an entire area and boss fight that my friend had told me about. So much discovery and exploration!
just beat dark souls for the first time today, and good god ive never felt this good to complete a game. the feeling is absolutely amazing. knowing you overcame many great foes but kept your ground the whole way through, absolutely incredible.
I just started dark souls, and I can say one thing proudly so far : I really despise those god dam skeletons, takes for ever to get rid of them. Ringing that second bell is going to take years
Wait, you're NOT supposed to go to the graveyard at Firelink shrine when you start the game? Jeeze I started the game and since that's where the path lead me to I kept going there. Spent an entire day trying to get through those skeletons and every time I did there was just something more powerful along the way to try and kill me. I just figured "That's Dark Souls." and shrugged. Then when I tried for the undead burg and couldn't make any kind of progress whatsoever I got sick of the game. and also the elitist "git gud" bullshit I got every time I asked for help, advice or assistance killed the game for good.
Yo, if I'm being honest, I don't like a huge chunk of the community because they are like that. But yeah, the Firelink Shrine intro can be a bit confusing, plus that stretch of Undead Burg to the Taurus Demon can be one of the most grueling sections in the whole game. I say if you can make it to the bridge with the dragon, you can make a true opinion on if you want to keep playing or not.
gskaloyan just curious, which part of the burg gave you trouble? I got through it pretty smoothly and the only thing I can think of is either the black knight, which you don't have to fight, or if you got the master key in the beginning you might be going to a harder area early like lower undead burg with the dogs.
Misha The whole shebang gave me no end of annoyance. I got to the demon boss twice out of several go's through but I ad used the thunder item already so I never stood a chance.
Here's a couple of tricks you can try, if you decide to attempt again. You can plunge him. There's more room to fight on the towers roof. Also, kindling the bonfire gives more estus (rest at the bonfire --> reverse hollowing --> kindle).
There's definitely some useful hints as opposed to "git gud", even spoiler free! Such as: Fight one enemy at a time, try to draw them in by inching closer step by step or getting their attention with a ranged attack. Play defensively, pay more mind to not getting hit than to hitting your opponent. or Experiment with your strategy. Dark Souls is all about strategy, not mindless button mashing. For example try fighting a different enemy first, try different equipment or different areas. Dark Souls is an amazing game, this video accurately portrays how it's not just "One of the few games providing a challenge nowadays," but so so much more.
Another point to be made is how Dark Souls plants items in places that tell the player "you'll be able to get there later." Same with areas in general. Also, when you first start out in Firelink Shrine, there's an item at the well, and it's the first thing the player should notice outside of the bonfire and the Crestfallen Warrior. You pick up the item and you notice a path in front of you, showing you where you should be going first. I have countless hours in Dark Souls 1 and 2, and Bloodborne, and I know everything about them. From Software is my favorite company by far...
Hey snowmaN, great video. I love your series and want to see more of it. Still, while watching your, I notice that a big persentage of your principles are about video game toturials. In your videos you are exploring how a game flowes teaches us about itself and reward the player for being good at it. it is very intesting and I would like see more of it in the future. Good job.
First of all, nice video! I often see your videos in my recommended but this was the first one I've seen, mostly because Dark Souls is the best game I had the pleasure to play. I totally agree with your observations and way of expressing them and I find it really amazing to see that there are people talking about the game with the same passion as I do. Thanks for the nostalgy and congratz! =D
One of my favorite things about Dark Souls is how the theme of the game is intertwined with the game's mechanics. In the story, you're the forgotten undead who carries the darksign. You're basically doomed to go hollow. But only those undead who have given up go hollow. The gameplay mechanic that it forces you into (constant trial and error) fits into the storyline perfectly. You don't lose when you die over and over and over again, you only truly lose the game when you give up. Those who continue to try despite the odds stacked against them will go on to win. Also I really like your videos. Subbed.
Another lesson from the first boar. The back end has an exposed spot in the armor which can backstab to deal massive damage. Doesn't tell you how to do it but it feels great to discover it on your own.
People always say they felt sprry when siff started limping, but I was still terrified of him. I had come so far and I wouldn't let him trick me. And when I defeated him without breaking much of a sweat I was more relieved that nothing happened than sorry for him
First video of yours I've seen, love of Dark Souls led me here -- subscribed! I spend a lot of time thinking about game design and you were able to articulate very well why it's among the best games ever. I believe you when you say it took a while to find the words!
Nothing I mean nothing will ever compare to the dark souls franchise imo because of the story,lore, combat, literally everything is just so good it just makes me go back in time to when I was younger playing legend of zelda, exploring new places, fighting new enemies and so forth. Like zelda back then just took me to a different world and made me forget about mine and the same thing can be said for me about the dark souls franchise. It definitely will always hold a place in my heart making me look forward to get home and play the game and just escape reality, god there really is no other game that speaks to me as much as the souls games.
I was hoping you were going to mention The Great Hollow! I love when I find a channel discussing souls that actually knows what they are talking about ;P Great video!
Just started playing dark souls and now I am fired up. According to this video it incorperates everything I ever wanted from a game/miss in many other games. Especially the growing stronger principle, it's what bothers me about most RPGs, you get directly rewarded for your work aka grinding by getting exp, but I don't play games to work for an illusional unimportant number going up, but I want to improve myself as a player instead. What I also recognised during this video is that dark souls teaches you an optimal mindset. Your mindset is very important for everything in life, you have to be hungry for information(rewarded for exploring), never give up, learn form your mistakes, be confident in your own skills, set yourself small goals leading up to a huge goal so you feel accomplishment along the way and stay motivated etc. But it also punishes you for not having that kind of mindset. So people with a rather negative mindset, that don't want to grow and learn because they are too frustrated with themselves don't get to enjoy it that much unfortunately. EDIT: After browsing through the comment section my last point was proven to me. Most of the complaints are due to people having negative mindsets and blaming the game instead of actual design flaws. (Though some of it are justified complaints, even though they are also mostly not real design flaws but due to limitations or errors, that wouldn't be there if they remade it now and had endless recources) And no lemme play the game so I can join the people that are complaining xD
+Sabaca Yeah you're exactly right, a lot of people try Dark Souls and just quit because its too frustrating, but it's the state of mind. You have to know what you're getting into from the start, otherwise it wont be fun for you.
You make some excellent points in this video. I'm predominantly one of those "Bethesda" gamers (though would add I despise anthing after Fallout 3 and Oblivion), and I loved the the thorough firm kick up the ass I got from DS1. I've sunk countless hours into it and still love coming back to it even to this day. I think the traumatic haul up through Sen's Fortress is still my favourite part.
Dark Souls 1 was a game I just couldn't get into. The controls felt just lose enough to screw you over. I really like 2 and 3 though, because they feel like as the series goes on, the controls get tighter and better to use. I beat 2 proficiently, and I'm pretty damn good at 3, but even coming back to one, it just feels slightly to clunky to work for me. I'm still trying to get gud, but it can be one hell of a slog sometimes.
that was From's intention, when you fight an enemy in the games they want your attacks to feel like they carry weight and it incentivizes you to plan out your moves instead of mashing dodge/roll in the middle of an attack when you realize you're in a bad situation. I think that's part of the reason why the combat can feel so exciting, not just because there's a lot going on but because the things that are going on really matter
Your problem is probably your equip load bro. If you have medium equip load in Dark souls 1, your agility and stamina are already heavily downgraded. I would suggest that you always keep your equip load ratio under 30% off the total ( yes, it sucks that it doesn't show the percentage in game).
I may be wrong, but it worth trying. Dark souls 1 is totally awesome! Also, the endurance stat is bonkers good to level up, since it rises both your stamina and your equip load. Try getting the Havel's ring too. I'm almost ranting about my whole playstyle, so i'll stop now lol
I once went far down into the Tomb of Giants in order to get a certain item early in the game. And because i was afraid of dying as i was heavily underleveled, i decided to save at the bonfire right in front of Patches and had to travel all the way back through the Tomb and through the catacombs as well. It took me hours finding out the way and making sure to survive as one hit would mean certain death. It was a journey through a dark and hellish place and my favorite DS-experience.
I just kited the boar down the steps and shot him in the ass 50 times when he turns around I also kited the black knights around fountains and stuff, they never touched me even at low level
+Matt Goodwin I just repeatedly drew the boar to the fire right next to the safe-stairs several times. And then, I was killed by another player, permanently lost all the souls I had obtained up to that point, and quit.
Unlurking Sentinel Haha I quit soon after Not my type of game. I see why people love it though. I do love hard games though. I'm an iRacing addict right now
+Matt Goodwin I still sometimes try to play through it, even if I never get nearly as far or have nearly as much time. I need to learn patience while I'm still young.
I just started with a proper cleric and one shotted him with the first offensive miracle you can get, i love how you have to be 25 faith to get it and its under the drake, you could probably 2 or 3 shot the drake after that.
Dark Souls 1 still hasn't been topped. 2 and 3 are good games but they're not as memorable. Every part of DS1 is memorable, even the bad parts. I couldn't tell you anything from Dark Souls 2
This is just becaus you played DS1 first :). It was the other way arround for me. I played ds2 first then I played ds1. I love ds2 but hate ds1 mainly becaus ds1 individual lvs(not game) are very linear and narrow. I hate plaing ds with a shield and sword, I rather use fast weapons and dodge/parry alot but this is almost impossible oder very inefficient in the most parts in ds1. Oh yeah and the lack of bonfires in ds1 was realy annoing :/ and that you cant port to every bonfire. On the other hand I dislike how many bonfires there are in ds3
DS3 was instantly my less liked DS game when you had to warp to go to the first zone. I explored the Firelink Shrine for half an hour to discover that I had to warp using the Bonfire.
great vid! always fun to see more 'omnivorous' gaming channels shine a light on the souls games. I'm not sure if omnivorous is the word but you get the idea
I understand why everyone likes Dark Souls and I'm still trying to love it but... I don't see the appeal. The game is awesome because it's hard? Once again I get that the games difficulty is the fulfilling part yet, I still am not feeling what snomans feeling. And I wish I could.
The game is awesome because of everything about it. Addicting gameplay, addiciting difficulty, and amazing story. Also not everything is shoved right in your face, you have to figure everything out on your own
The best part of Dark Souls that blows my mind is the fact it doesn't have a map, yet feels coherent enough in level design that once you memorize locations and shortcuts, you know this world like the back of your hand. Had the same thing happen in Bloodborne when after enough playthroughs I could run straight from boss to boss and beat it in ~2 hours
The thing i love about Dark Souls one is, after you finish the Asylum, you expect reach a normal town, or a place where would be more happy than the place you were. Then you reach Firelink Shrine and the music sets the tone of the game perfectly.
“Some guy tells you to ring a Bell of Awakening and you go from there.” There are, actually, two Bells of Awakening. One’s up above in the Undead church. The other is far below in the ruins at the base of Blighttown.
also the interconnected world was quite present in ds3 BUT why did they have to put the fast travel between bonfire mechanic back in the game though :/
+Menno Barten how was the interconnected world there in DS3? Getting from the Shrine to Blighttown, the Depths, Undead Parish and both Undead Burgs as well as the area with Pinwheel are all from either direct access or shortcuts. Where in DS3 is there anything like that? Seems to me like one area just leads to the next until you hit a dead end.
Very nice video! You even linked some youtubers for the Dark Souls lore stuff! I love the Soulsborne games especially for their use of items and hints. You see an item and wonder how do you get there and suddenly you'll find a hidden path that leads you to another section of the game. The best example I have is one of the first "cheap" deaths most players will fall victim to. You meet Solaire (Praise the sun! \[T]/) and proceed to cross a bridge. After a few step you notice burn marks all over the bridge. If you didn't put the pieces together quickly enough Hellkite Drake will swoop down and incinerate you. This death is by no means cheap, but it teaches you to look out for hints. Some items are placed in certain areas so you can see these hints and not suffer a cheap death. Teaching without teaching. Ah, the game is so good! I am happy you did a video on Dark Souls without breaking it down to only one principle. Because Dark Souls has it all (except for good PC ports ;P )
+MelvaCross Yeah, I realized I couldn't narrow it down to just one principle, so why not do them all :P haha! Glad you enjoyed, I do love this game so much. But your right the PC port was pretty boosh at first (at least they got rid of Windows Live!)
I don't know which principle this falls under, but after watching my friend play through the Dark Souls games for years, and occasionally dabbling into them with his assistance, I'm playing through Dark Souls 3 all by myself. And I will tell you this, one of the greatest things about fighting the enemies and bosses is finding out what works, especially all by yourself. Yes, that sounds really simple, but when I was fighting Vordt of the Boreal Valley it was the first time I fought a boss without my friend's help. I was having a fairly tough time, but I figured I'd be able to dodge his attacks by rolling in the direction they came from. It worked, but I was still unable to beat him until I realized that underneath his body is one huge blind spot from his attacks, at least until he starts charging around, but then you just roll to the side a few times, then get behind him. Being able to realize tricks like those is immensely satisfying.
+SwerveStarEx Yes absolutely! I'm noticing DS3 has a lot more of these moments too, really unique ways of beating bosses that I hadn't seen before. It's a good time :) Feels great when you figure it out tho huh?
Gonna have to talk on a few things Not EVERY death is legitimately your fault. - The Fatal Flaws - Non-Rebindable Controls, perhaps I liked to use my kick attack but using a movement control stick and a button at the same time is NOT the way I want to do it. This is a fatal flaw of game design, the controls should always be 100% rebindable. You can argue that the difficulty of using a kick attack is part of the game, but it's not. Difficulty with a control scheme, where rebinding would solve the issue is artificial difficulty, or something that is a limitation of the game engine making the game more difficult, if you say that this type of difficulty is what they were going with. It's bad design. Especially since other people don't mind the button combo, they can do it no problem. However my hands, my sensibilities, my controller all get in the way of doing the specific attacks. Unmoderated PvP, I understand the invade system, and in theory it's a really great way for people to challenge you, to add a little extra challenge. But there are some serious flaws with it, people! Most obvious is the fact that the vanilla game has no cheat protection, anybody could make a hacked and OP character and play against you. This is such a rampant problem that you have to download a mod that allows you to kick out anybody with hacked stats. But there's more problems with it than just hackers, invades are not limited to areas that don't have minibosses. In fact an invader can fight and kill you while you are fighting one of the game's tougher enemies in their "isolated environment" when this happens not only are you dealing with a tough enemy for the first time, you're fighting off another player who isn't even getting hit by the enemy. This is all topped off with the fact that invaders don't have any severe handicap. Sure they can't estus, but they can still heal with other items, they can still do their full damage, and most of these players work hard to game the level system to get some late game/strong items that will give them the advantage on new players. And while most players shrug and say "git gud' however it's not exactly your fault a level 1 pyromancer can have an ascended +5 pyro glove and can one shot you with a combustion through your shield. On top of all of this, if you best an invader they don't lose anything (sure they gotta go grab their soul pile in their world but that's really nothing). As I've said the invade system is good, and I'd like it. If a few changes to matchmake you with players with similar gear as well as levels at least. On top of hacking protection. And gate off a few areas so you don't get invaded right before you walk into a mini-boss or huge mob of enemies. I think the "isolation" rule should be followed for invaders as well. The invade system is good, and not bad design, the way it was implemented is the problem. Bad Programming, well not saying anybody else could have done it better, but sometimes you just fall through the world. You can't just GIT GUD through this, there are many problems with the way the game was programmed (including the net code for PvP fighting and connecting to your friends to summon). This game is full of issues, just like any other, that can cause a death that was out of your control. Sure most of the time these deaths don't really set you back as the problem tends to happen not in a hard to reach place. But sometimes this can mean if you hadn't retrieved you lost the pile for no reason, or it might put it in a place that is impossible to reach. Not to mention that sometimes the game is designed where you are going to die here... But that's why you get the revival rings. Oh and.... The part about the Capra row, sure having that boss just be a "regular enemy" is part of your "powering up" principal, the fact is putting them there like that was really just lazy design. Especially when you realize the intended path you're supposed to walk there, and only have to fight one of them. How do we make this area difficult? Put a bunch of the early bosses down there, that should work. The gargoyles are a MUCH better example than Capra, simply because their placement specifically signifies that "you are going to a place where the first thing defending it is a gargoyle, you ready for the rest of it?" The wall of Capra demons you see is pretty much to make you turn around and run at the sight of it. But when you look at it, it really looks stupid, and it's really lazy since they could have given you a new thing to fight. But since they player train to do drop attacks on Asylum then Train you to stand on a perfect ledge for Taurus, then give you a hidden ledge on Capra, the real thing you see when you find these guys is not "I'm powered up" it's more of a "Oh I actually have to fight these guys now" And finally, Dark Souls is not hard... It's obscure and unforgiving. Unforgiving is the part that makes it rewarding, not the obscurity. It reminds me of how people look back at some adventure games and say "man that was terrible design making you have to hammer in a screw with a horseshoe." The game doesn't need to outright explain things, but I find it frustrating that there are just some things you will die 1000 times to before you realize what you have to do. Like sitting in a nest for 20 seconds in an area that would seem to most as being out of bounds. Not only would you not think of the way to get up there that quickly, I doubt many people would stay the entire length of time in the nest without being like "well this was weird" and walk away if they didn't know where that took them. Sure figuring out why you don't do anything to the ghosts in new londo is kind of an "aha" moment, but honestly the Ceaseless fight is just a waste of space. The covenants not having any description of what they do is laughably bad form, and the lack of information on things in your inventory helps nobody. The rings should show you the actual stats. How much carry weight does Havel's Ring give you? Put it on and do the math is not the right answer, not in this day and age. There is alot of things that should be a bit clearer to the player, when you have to look at a wiki to know what an item actually does that's being too obscure. TL-DR : Controls are not re-bindable and it's weird that you would point out lazy design as being good design. The demon ruins are very poorly designed.
1. Just because you aren't experienced with the controls yet doesn't make it bad. 2. It's your fault for being near an enemy when being invaded. Either back up, or kill it to resolve this problem. I agree about the hackers, but gravity can solve that problem. 3. the reason the demon ruins seems badly designed: it is. The game was rushed, and they had to half ass a few late game areas to make it on release. 4. why should they do any of that? Making everything spelled out for you, and spoon feeding you everything goes against the entire point. they made this game to be rewarding for people who explore, who think outside of the box. saying they should dumb it down because you cant figure it out is just silly. (I should probably say that I'm not attacking you or whatever, just voicing an opinion.)
Hate to say it but I see no major complaints. the programming isn't gamebreaking the invasions only work if your human and the controls aren't even that awful so why rebind. Your complaints are completely valid but watch this is how you dont play dark souls and come back please.
My complaints are valid, they are rather major complaints, the problems with this game are something that need to be resolved. The non-rebindable controls, the out of your control invasions are both bad by design. Notice how this video is not praising these points? It's because they are very valid points, and telling another player that they should work around these limitations rather than saying "Yeah, FromSoft should really fix these problems in the next installment, or patch" is not actually helping the issue, at all. "Why rebind" can be countered with "Why not rebind." so this is not a very helpful point of discussion. I clearly stated that I personally would like to rebind a very specific action as an example. Kicking, while you may say that I should just learn to deal with their binding, I say that it's unacceptable to not allow the rebinding of all actions in the game. This is a valid point, and many MANY other games get railed for it, so ultimately, why is dark souls exempt from this ridicule for it's terrible choice of "locked in" controls. Another point I would like to make is just how trash the dark souls community actually is, sadly it's hard to tell because you can't actually communicate in the toxic way people want to. But when you think of all the "Git Gud" and "This is not how you play dark souls" you get from the community forums and reddit... you will quickly realize that it's not really a community you want to be associated with. On a final note, you have said I should go watch something, sadly you did not link a video or even put a video title in your response. So it's kind of hard to watch it, simply saying that I should go find a random video along the lines of "how to not play dark souls" which is not going to produce very polite results, every single one of those videos has the possibility of being a toxic, elitist video. In fact, I'd put money not a single one of those videos are made by somebody that played the game that way and dislikes ti because they did. Please come back to me when you get rid of your elitism.
+Sherrif Some of the points you made are completely Valid. The issue of them not being addressed can sometimes be summed up to the games age. Since dark souls 1 released, 2 more games by them have came out, so Its would be hard for them to moderate such a freeform multiplayer. Plus, as an invader, its never fun to join a world and be destroyed by a group of 3-5 players. But It actually is connected to the lore of the story, as laurtrec does that exact thing when you invade him. That encounter teaches you a powerful lesson. You never know why someone is invading you. That invader you just killed may have been a player in a bad spot and trying really hard to get humanity so they can summon. Thats a good segway into story. The reason the story is done the way it is because the game is gameplay first. The games story is put in item descriptions and not in cutscenes so that those who don't want the story don't have to deal with the story
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Accomplishment Growing Stronger Silent Storytelling Hidden Reward Bioshock Isolation Growing Stronger Silent Storytelling Treasure Adventure Game Teaching Without Teaching Accomplishment Growing Stronger Silent Storytelling Hidden Reward Motivational Punishment (really just with boss fights) Super Mario 64 Teaching Without Teaching Accomplishment Hidden Reward Donkey Kong 64 Accomplishment Growing Stronger Motivational Punishment Beyond Good and Evil Isolation Accomplishment Growing Stronger Hidden Reward Tales of Symphonia Accomplishment Growing Strong Hidden Reward Mega Man X Teaching Without Teaching Accomplishment Growing Stronger Hidden Reward Motivational Punishment Alissa Dragoon Teaching Without Teaching Accomplishment Hidden Reward Motivational Punishment
Haha yeah this is probably the coolest part about game design, is that even though I focus on one element for most of the videos, games have multiple aspects of good design :)
The morality system in DS is pretty interesting. Just about every character stands in a moral gray area, so it isn't always clear if what you are doing is right or wrong. However, more often than not, I've found that killing the inhabitants of the world usually unlocks some form of a shortcut, but has a cost to it. For example, in order to fight Gwyndolin without killing Gwynevere is a bit of a hassle because you need to get the Darkmoon Seance Ring, which is far away and guarded by cheeky skeletons. But if you are willing to shatter the illusion of Gwynevere, it is super easy to fight him, but then Anor Londo isn't nearly as nice looking.
+razbuten Yeah exactly! It was really interesting when I started diving into that, because you're exactly right. They do "moral gray area" flawlessly, and makes you think about every character.
