Dark Souls

Aazealh

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It's a bit disappointing that, despite reasonable categorical and IP hurdles, it doesn't somehow include DeS or Bloodborne, the real bookends to this series, though.

I had the same thought, but honestly for that price it's already a steal.
 

Walter

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you were driving, proselytizing, and literally buying people tickets to ride!

:ganishka: I did forget that I bought that game for a few people here. With me and the games after Dark Souls, it's an age-old problem: "What is this? This station doesn't play the music I like -- it's just not the same anymore!" "Pfff, this band was way better before they got big." Compounding that utter hubris, I got my hopes all up for Dark Souls 2 and then felt utterly abused by how half-ass it was. Before I knew it, my love for the series had gone hollow. :badbone:

In all seriousness, there's a bigger problem with me and games in general. I dip my toe in a bunch of different games, but Dark Souls truly was the last game I fell head over heels in love with, and it's as old as my son at this point. So to bring it back around, this book is a way of me reliving how much I loved that shit, without having to play it again.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I had the same thought, but honestly for that price it's already a steal.

Damn, I just assumed it would be exorbitant, but that's less than some of the individual artbooks I was talking about.

In all seriousness, there's a bigger problem with me and games in general. I dip my toe in a bunch of different games, but Dark Souls truly was the last game I fell head over heels in love with, and it's as old as my son at this point. So to bring it back around, this book is a way of me reliving how much I loved that shit, without having to play it again.

Well, that's a much more efficient and sensible way to recapture that feeling than wasting hours mastering Sekiro's exacting combat system! When I was working on the big, mid-game boss that's sort of a test of your progress in that regard I felt it was almost like practicing a song except when you're done it's just over and you've gained no useful skills or talents to showcase. Probably because that's what I was doing in lieu of the former. :ganishka:

I guess twitch has changed that, but you'd probably still be better off using that time learning how to play Eruption or something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV6SmY04WdE

Yeah, but I bet she can't beat Ornstein after Smough! :carcus:
 
So this is coming out in a few weeks, and despite having pretty much fallen face-first off the Souls bandwagon in recent years, I'm actually a little excited about it. Already preordered and made room on my shelf :guts:

Good looking construction and highly affordable for what it's worth. You can usually expect Japanese developers to eventually issue Ultimania type companion books, which will serve as the most comprehensive source of information for their game, but I'm surprised to see a Germany-based publisher like Future Press actually go for something like that. They had released some separate guidebooks before, but nothing quite as all-encompassing yet, from the looks of it. If only the Berserk Official Guidebook had got a similar treatment.

But after the Darkest Souls, DS2... now you won't even play DS3
Compounding that utter hubris, I got my hopes all up for Dark Souls 2 and then felt utterly abused by how half-ass it was. Before I knew it, my love for the series had gone hollow. :badbone:

Should I be concerned if I'm one of the 3 people around here who actually liked Dark Souls 2?
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Should I be concerned if I'm one of the 3 people around here who actually liked Dark Souls 2?

I liked the hole. I thought that was pretty great, to have that hole that goes down and down and down, deeper and deeper into the earth. Of course the "going down into the depths" concept was already present in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, but I liked that take on it. That's pretty much all I can say about the game, I've kind of forgotten the rest of it.
 
Should I be concerned if I'm one of the 3 people around here who actually liked Dark Souls 2?

I really enjoyed Dark Souls 2. Many factors to that no doubt. Of the 3 main games I've sunken more hours into this one.

Something about the atmosphere and lore really cemented my want to keep playing and researching little tidbits. The fact of the flame and lord souls being a cycle, that regardless of your decision it will come again, moved me along. Souls 1 had a clear path, a clear villain. 2 was vague as hell. I completely understand why many had issues with its presentation.

The queen being the culprit and using her expert level hypergamy was a nice touch. Nashandra literally does nothing but wait for you to open the door to claim it for herself, while you do all the legwork. (Sounds like my ex-wife)

Recently played through all 3 games co op with my lady and it still holds a special place to me.

Demons Souls was my first experience with souls. That is my favorite of the franchise.
 
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I liked the hole.

:carcus: (Gotta say, I had more faith in my level of maturity...)

Something about the atmosphere and lore really cemented my want to keep playing and researching little tidbits. The fact of the flame and lord souls being a cycle, that regardless of your decision it will come again, moved me along. Souls 1 had a clear path, a clear villain. 2 was vague as hell. I completely understand why many had issues with its presentation.

I won't get into all the things I liked about it, because to each their own, but the atmosphere of the game is one aspect I feel is gravely underappreciated by people (I guess this is where the divide between those who like to get straight to the destination and those who like to stop and smell the flowers along the way becomes most apparent). I thought it was really great too; risking to sound a bit pretentious, the way I would describe it is as: having a wistful air and pellucid fabric of reality. The themes of futility and hopelessness felt right at home and it all made for an enthralling experience that I really liked.

The lore wasn't that exceptional in the end, in part because it kind of compromised itself by trying to make connections to Dark Souls 1 that weren't sufficiently relevant. As a matter of fact, most of the issues people have with Dark Souls 2 are by association and in comparison to the first game.

The queen being the culprit and using her expert level hypergamy was a nice touch.

Yeah, the story pieces that were overtly detached from pre-existing Dark Souls 1 lore in general were nice. The DLC in particular has some of my favourite bosses and story in the series.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Count me among DS2's defenders. It was my first proper Souls experience (I think I technically had DS1 first but didn't really get it playable at the time), it's the one I've put the most hours into by a long shot, and it's the one I most often return to and feel like I have unfinished business. It's also just a lot of shit to do and very versatile/customizable when it comes to builds and combat, with unique features not seen before or since. It's the Dark Souls game only hardcore Souls geeks could love.
 
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