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I kind of hope this game sucks just so I can watch this thread awkwardly descend from these heights

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yeah, probably not

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The problem with the "discussion" of the "difficulty" in Demon's/Dark is it isn't even a discussion at all. For Demon's Souls, it was The Word From Japan, and for Dark it's the marketing push. These people are just repeating what they've been told. You can easily see that this is the case because there is no review of either of these games in existence that discusses the difficulty beyond "it is hard. when you die you lose your souls and the enemies respawn." Hell, most of them don't even go that far. And there is no other discussion of the game at all. Usually there's something like "the atmosphere is oppressive," or, if you're lucky, some brief description of the aesthetic, and then a link between the aesthetic and the difficulty. But that's it. Every review of Demon's Souls is the same thing, and I'm almost certain that you'll be able to take any review of Dark Souls and just run replace every instance of "Dark" with "Demon" and lose nothing from the review outside of the intro paragraph and The Part What Talks About Bonfires.

It's just.

I mean, you know no one that gets paid to talk about video games can actually talk about video games. But the Demon's Souls stuff really lays it out for you.

(also Demon's Souls isn't even particularly hard. "hard" is code for "death has some moderate consequences and there is no health regen (even though there is health regen (if you want it))")

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that kind of thing happens all the time.

well, not in video games, I guess.

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UGGGHHHHH MY COPY JUST SHIPPED

guys I'm actually excited.

my goal is to see how viable Giant Man in Giant Heavy Armor is in this game. pretty bad in Demon's, but it works for a while and its totally cool and I know they want you in the thick of shit more in this game so here's hoping.

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I really shouldn't even have bought this, much less pre-ordered it. This is kind of an important month for me.

Dark Souls is going to ruin my life

From Software invaded my hopes and dreams with a black phantom

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Wow, this collector's edition blows. My "art book" is all jacked up, too. If this had cost a dime more than the standard game I'd be pissed.

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man, 1-1 hooked me straight up

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Poison sure does last a long time!

I'm a big fat knight. So far I basically just want to roll, but WHATEVER

I haven't used humanity yet. Should I? I don't get it.

The main thing I miss about no Nexus, and from Demon's in general: the maiden. When you leveled up in Demon's you're talking to this weird looking chick chanting catchy things with a cool voice; in Dark you just hit accept and nothing happens :( Also the Nexus was really pretty.

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For anyone still wondering, eurogamer finds more or less no discernible differences between the two versions of the game.

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wait where is this repair kit thing

I read that if shit breaks it is dead for good and now I kind of feel like I'm on a kind of counter wherein if I don't figure out how to repair before all my stuff breaks then it's just game over man

fought taurus demon guy, killed him on my first attempt. people be talking some pussy shit about running away and climbing the ladder and shooting him with arrows or some shit and I'm like I have a shield wtf

and then of course immediately got one shot by the dragon. lols were had.

I want to kill these black knights but they are hard :(

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Xbox version is no different from PS3 version.

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the nexus also confers a mild sense of ownership on the part of the player. NPCs move in, there are a couple of events that take place in the nexus, the story is doled out there a little more, and a few of the NPCs are pretty fawning. the maiden moves around. you usually come back after having actually accomplished something, and the nexus can reflect that.

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progress is slow going

right now my choice is between some giant thing with magic and a pitchfork surrounded by a hundred hollow, or a giant boss that shoots lightning and swings a huge glaive whom I hit for 18 points of damage.

I like that "shortcut" gate in the undead parish that doesn't actually stay open if you die or use a bonfire.

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but I always kill all the skeletons and that gate has never stayed open :(

oh well, doesn't really matter any more. it has outlived its usefulness anyway

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man, I need a weapon. the only area with things I can even hurt is the ghost area. and, yeah, I'm not super excited about giant place full of enemies you can only occasionally fight, and that drop no souls. my corpse is in a room with about six ghosts right now. oh yeah, it's also the place where the fps drops to something like single digits. fun. my other options are Forest With Giant Knights That Slow Me and Whom I Hurt For 10 Damage, and Other Part of the Forest With Ice Golems That I Hit For 15 Damage. oh, and that place in the parish with the giant pitchfork knight.

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so the interwebs are telling me I'm missing some entire "lower" section of the undead burg or some shit. I guess I need to find that so I can attack things that I can actually kill

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to be fair I only used a shield in Demon's at the beginning(ish). then it was meat cleaver time.

but in this game I am sticking with big tanky guy whether it works or not god fucking damn it

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to be honest the meat cleaver was kind of overpowered and I hope there's nothing like it in Dark

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Status update!

Capra: down

Giant sewer rat: killed me in one hit?

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I didn't use arrows in Demon's, damn it. ain't about to start now.

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alright, haven't played this game in like three weeks! time to go back and immediately suck at everything!

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I lied when I said two pages ago that I was about to play this again.

SOME DAY, DARK SOULS

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what the hell this patch apparently made the game easier or some shit?

I haven't played it yet I don't want it easier :(

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well I don't mean the equipment changes and upgrade balancing and this-or-that, I mean stuff like "all enemies now drop 2.5x the amount of souls they previously did," or "enemies now have less health." that shit blows.

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OK GUYS

now that I am playing this for real finally and I get to be the noob in a sea of experts again (which I didn't want but WHATEVER) I need to figure out what kind of character I want to play as

see the actual worst part about these games is there's no real way to just kind of stroll around and find out what kind of character you want to play as because those soul levels are precious and the games are hard etc. and you don't know what kind of gear is out there or how effective it is unless you plan a whole run through the wiki before you do anything and I really don't want to do that because just no

so so far I'm just mainly putting points into endurance and vitality because if I know my souls games those stats never go out of style. but a character I never played in demon's that I kind of want to try is some kind of faith knight build. so, is that viable in this game? are there a few weapons that are reasonably easy and obvious to find and identify that lend themselves to this style? are miracles worth anything? what miracles are worth anything?

armor upgrades scare me. also looking at a list there is a LOT more armor in this game.

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