Dark Souls

Kiith · 08-06-2012 12:01pm

How does wanting a good port mean we have an inflated sense of entitlement?

noodler · 08-06-2012 12:10pm

Kiith wrote: »

How does wanting a good port mean we have an inflated sense of entitlement?

If it runs as it did on the consoles then it will be a good port.

Kiith · 08-06-2012 12:18pm

Not sure i'd agree with that to be honest. I get what you mean, but they've had over a year to see things they might have done wrong, and have better hardware to work with now. I'm not talking massive changes, but it can't be that hard to include some improvements*, can it?

* i've no knowledge of game dev, so maybe it can

2smiggy · 08-06-2012 12:35pm

Kiith wrote: »

Not sure i'd agree with that to be honest. I get what you mean, but they've had over a year to see things they might have done wrong, and have better hardware to work with now. I'm not talking massive changes, but it can't be that hard to include some improvements*, can it?

* i've no knowledge of game dev, so maybe it can

From Software have said they have little experience developing games for the PC so I think that is why it's a straight port. As for having over a year I'd imagine only when the PC community seen how good a game it was and they started asking for a PC version in great numbers did they start to think of even bringing it to the PC. The PC version is getting the extra content free, and months before the console players ! not bad IMO.

All in all I think the PC community is getting alot ! there was no need for them to develop it for the PC. I doubt they will make a huge amount of money off it considering the amount of piracy on the PC. They could just have concentrated on getting a few DLC packages for the console players. Anyone one on the consoles who played the game and enjoyed it would no doubt buy it.

humanji · 08-06-2012 12:53pm

noodler wrote: »

If it runs as it did on the consoles then it will be a good port.

The problem being that they've no experience with PC games and are rushing out the port. Hopefully these fears will be unfounded, but there's plenty of companies with PC experience and lots of time and money who have fecked up the porting of games to PC.

Time will tell, I guess.

ChubbyHubby · 08-06-2012 12:57pm

2smiggy wrote: »

All in all I think the PC community is getting alot ! there was no need for them to develop it for the PC. I doubt they will make a huge amount of money off it considering the amount of piracy on the PC. They could just have concentrated on getting a few DLC packages for the console players. Anyone one on the consoles who played the game and enjoyed it would no doubt buy it.

I think the best From Software can hope for is to recoup the investment from the port and see it as a viable platform for future games. People will pirate it if they can and From Software can't depend on enough fans to buy it a second time for the PC for them to make a huge investment on a port.

Also, PC gamers will overlook this if there's no mouse and keyboard support and they will rant about it and then more entitlement bs we will all hear about. I just don't see many copied being sold on the PC despite how good it is.

The best fans can hope for, if they want to buy it a second time, is that the better hardware on a PC will make the game run smoother in certain areas without any deliberate investment in PC optimisation.

johnny_ultimate · 08-06-2012 1:02pm

humanji wrote: »

The problem being that they've no experience with PC games and are rushing out the port. Hopefully these fears will be unfounded, but there's plenty of companies with PC experience and lots of time and money who have fecked up the porting of games to PC.

Time will tell, I guess.

It's fully understandable why they're rushing it out though. As this thread has made abundantly clear, many are unwilling to pay full retail price if there's a perceived gap between console and PC release. So not only are From and Namco eager to ride the hype wave that has of yet not fully receded, but they're also hoping that their PC market will have the enthusiasm to support the game on release, rather than wait for a Steam sale (although I fully agree people who are eager to double dip are fully entitled to wait for discounts).

In my eyes, it's a lose lose situation for Namco in many ways. They can take their time and rebuild a highly optimised version for PC, and then have no-one pay the price it deserves because consoles got it first. Or they can release it ASAP in its already stable, extremely playable condition and have no-one pay full price (which is still going to be ten-twenty euro cheaper than any of us fans paid at console launch, and felt it was worth every cent and then some) because it supposedly isn't optimised.

As I'm sure everyone would agree, an ideal world would see uber high-quality PC ports. This is not an ideal world. Not by a longshot. The PC market is such a ludicrously fickle entity, full of demanding gamers, absurd levels of piracy and unrealistic expectations, that I often wonder why many developers / publishers even bother.

Kiith · 08-06-2012 2:05pm

Alan Wake recently showed that pc gamers are perfectly willing to pay for well made ports, even after a long wait from the console release. They made an excellent port, with some huge improvements to the original game. Even with piracy, it recouped the dev costs in 48 hours.

Now i know Alan Wake was originally a pc game, and was probably a lot easier to port over. And Dark Souls a totally different situation, but i'm sure that if they put some effort into it, they'd be able to fix these issues. Coming out and saying it's not going to be ported well, and then hoping people will buy it anyway is not exactly the best way to sell your game.

As i said earlier, i'm delighted that its coming to the pc as it's a fantastic game, which everyone should play. I had just hoped that they would fix some of the issues that were in the original release.

gizmo · 08-06-2012 2:15pm

Kiith wrote: »

Alan Wake recently showed that pc gamers are perfectly willing to pay for well made ports, even after a long wait from the console release. They made an excellent port, with some huge improvements to the original game. Even with piracy, it recouped the dev costs in 48 hours.

Alan Wake was, as I suggested earlier, sold at a decent discount over full price retail games though. It's currently sitting at £26.99 on Steam for the edition which includes the bonus content.

Kiith wrote: »

Now i know Alan Wake was originally a pc game, and was probably a lot easier to port over. And Dark Souls a totally different situation, but i'm sure that if they put some effort into it, they'd be able to fix these issues. Coming out and saying it's not going to be ported well, and then hoping people will buy it anyway is not exactly the best way to sell your game.

They haven't said it's not going to be ported well, they said it wouldn't be optimized for the PC, there's a pretty significant difference there.

I should say I am disappointed at the news but as others have said, even in its current state it's still an utterly fantastic game so shouldn't be avoided just because it doesn't play to the PCs strengths.

penev10 · 08-06-2012 2:30pm

Kiith wrote: »

Coming out and saying it's not going to be ported well,

Wouldn't that suggest that it's worse than the console versions? I thought it was going to be a straight port no?

I can see where both sides are coming from on this. Obviously, Namco and From Software made a judgement call on the cost/benefit analysis and decided what they decided.

noodler · 08-06-2012 2:44pm

Its a great looking game - even on the consoles.

I wish there had been an option to install it onto the Hard Drive it must be said.

gizmo · 08-06-2012 2:45pm

noodler wrote: »

Its a great looking game - even on the consoles.

I wish there had been an option to install it onto the Hard Drive it must be said.

I'd imagine that's a feature that will exist in the PC version.

noodler · 08-06-2012 3:04pm

gizmo wrote: »

I'd imagine that's a feature that will exist in the PC version.

Uh huh, never had a disc based PC game myself that didn't have massive installs.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 08-06-2012 3:32pm

gizmo wrote: »

I'd imagine that's a feature that will exist in the PC version.

maybe, but i can see it being gimped out of the pc release in order to be more "streamlined"

Taltos · 08-06-2012 4:51pm

So there I was - made it down to fight the last boss (AGAIN) - keep dying here and I got invaded.
Forgot that I had signed in.
Got destroyed in just a few short seconds - thought I would be smart by waiting by the bridge to block them - but in my Havel armour i was a lumbering giant - with a big sign "Come hit me..."

Off exploring now - hope to re-find the pyromancer to get

Iron Flesh

from him - soon.. soon.

Right now in the painted world having fun

2smiggy · 12-06-2012 9:53am

playing a bit drunk at the weekend, the firelink firekeeper got killed by Lautec , but for some reason i used her firekeeper soul. now i find myself without the fire link shire bonfire. any way to fix this ? it is only a bit of a pain as i now have the lord vessal again

penev10 · 12-06-2012 10:32am

2smiggy wrote: »

playing a bit drunk at the weekend, the firelink firekeeper got killed by Lautec , but for some reason i used her firekeeper soul. now i find myself without the fire link shire bonfire. any way to fix this ? it is only a bit of a pain as i now have the lord vessal again

Oh dear. I suppose you could try getting a different Firekeepers soul and returning to the cell below the firelink shrine? I reckon you're goosed though!:(

Taltos · 12-06-2012 11:26am

Yup - sorry don't know a way around that one.
Think you are just going to warp to a close shrine and hike it over each time.

2smiggy · 12-06-2012 11:35am

I was tempted to murder the firekeeper in anor londo , but decided against it. I was after doing enough damage.

next i will head to the abyss and the 4 kings, after that i will do to dukes archive and get the firekeeper soul there and see if i can use that one.

Big Knox · 12-06-2012 3:11pm

2smiggy wrote: »

I was tempted to murder the firekeeper in anor londo , but decided against it. I was after doing enough damage.

next i will head to the abyss and the 4 kings, after that i will do to dukes archive and get the firekeeper soul there and see if i can use that one.

Her soul is unique, the normal ones don't do unfortunately as I learned on my first play through!!

Leo? · 16-06-2012 7:32pm

There's an online event taking place from the 16th onward lvl 70 knight duels in the lower berg it's been pretty fun so far the details are in the attachment.

noodler · 16-06-2012 7:52pm

Leo? wrote: »

There's an online event taking place from the 16th onward lvl 70 knight duels in the lower berg it's been pretty fun so far the details are in the attachment.

How does it work?

Just show up?

Free for all?

Might drop in later to see.

Leo? · 16-06-2012 8:02pm

noodler wrote: »

How does it work?

Just show up?

Free for all?

Might drop in later to see.

There's red summon signs all over the place, you can either summon someone or put your own and be summoned.

noodler · 16-06-2012 11:22pm

Spent an hour or so on Dead Burg.

My main character is too well levelled at 145 though.

I was getting killed by the same person over and over again so I went for a different tactic.

I would strip down to my nakedness, take away all weapons and put on the 'Mask of the Mother' and when summoned I just keep running away from the host. Run until he stops chasing then I throw him a wave and keep running.

I did this for about an hour - broke my own ****e laughing anyway. One dude even put his sword away for a while and kept trying to use 'force' on me to knock me over (but not hurting me).

I then ran into the one of the Dead Burg Houses and kept closing the door on him.

Another guy I invaded wasn't so cool and kept trying to swipe at me so I hid until more invaded and backstabbed him when he was pre-occupied.

Oh god...I got my fun I spose!

Issac · 17-06-2012 8:45pm

Got the yellow light of death on my PS3 so I can't join in the fun! Damn it!!! Wanna play!

tuxy · 18-06-2012 6:05am

I just read the news about the pc port not looking good.

I think what from software don't realise is that the pc owners that wanted the title and petitioned for it probably own a console. The reason for wanting a pc port was higher res graphics with better frame rate and network support. A poor port of the game is not much use to these people.

Taltos · 18-06-2012 11:29am

Am on the verge of putting this game away. Tired of ploughing upto Gwyn and being trounced repeatedly.

Unfortunately I did not focus on endurance at all during the game - have a good mix of strength but mainly Intelligence - just too slow to cook the guy. Will give a few more shots - but tired of farming to force up my endurence. Level now at 101; End at 20; Intelligence at 43; Stength / Dexterity high 20s.

At this stage have tried tanking him; going in with the gold armour and latest was a combination of stone and the gold - though my rolls were terrible. Last night I got the highest damage taken from him with one hit of the crystalline homing spells using

Big Hat's staff

. Just couldn't get another fire off and couldn't even roll away to avoid his swipes.

As before my speed is terrible and the one time I ventured online I got invaded just as I went to go through the door...

Burning Eclipse · 18-06-2012 11:56am

Taltos wrote: »

Am on the verge of putting this game away. Tired of ploughing upto Gwyn and being trounced repeatedly.

Unfortunately I did not focus on endurance at all during the game - have a good mix of strength but mainly Intelligence - just too slow to cook the guy. Will give a few more shots - but tired of farming to force up my endurence. Level now at 101; End at 20; Intelligence at 43; Stength / Dexterity high 20s.

At this stage have tried tanking him; going in with the gold armour and latest was a combination of stone and the gold - though my rolls were terrible. Last night I got the highest damage taken from him with one hit of the crystalline homing spells using
Big Hat's staff
. Just couldn't get another fire off and couldn't even roll away to avoid his swipes.

As before my speed is terrible and the one time I ventured online I got invaded just as I went to go through the door...

Would you not consider hanging about and summoning someone to help you finish the job if you're that close... Surely better than packing in the game altogether?

penev10 · 18-06-2012 1:07pm

Taltos wrote: »

Am on the verge of putting this game away. Tired of ploughing upto Gwyn and being trounced repeatedly.

Unfortunately I did not focus on endurance at all during the game - have a good mix of strength but mainly Intelligence - just too slow to cook the guy. Will give a few more shots - but tired of farming to force up my endurence. Level now at 101; End at 20; Intelligence at 43; Stength / Dexterity high 20s.

At this stage have tried tanking him; going in with the gold armour and latest was a combination of stone and the gold - though my rolls were terrible. Last night I got the highest damage taken from him with one hit of the crystalline homing spells using
Big Hat's staff
. Just couldn't get another fire off and couldn't even roll away to avoid his swipes.

As before my speed is terrible and the one time I ventured online I got invaded just as I went to go through the door...

At INT 43 your Crystal Homers should be nice and powerful and he should only take a handful of them. Maybe equip the Crown of Dusk and the Bellowing Dragoncrest ring to boost your Magic damage. Iron Flesh or MAgic Shield if you cant get the rolling to work for you.

Taltos · 18-06-2012 1:10pm

Summoning someone is not really an option with internet speed...
Iron flesh - unfortunately too late to get that now...;)
But will give the others a shot. Might try with different armour to at least let me roll out of the way in time.

penev10 · 18-06-2012 1:15pm

Taltos wrote: »

Might try with different armour to at least let me roll out of the way in time.

You could probably do it with no armour as once you have a good rolling speed the Homers feel like cheating!

johnny_ultimate · 18-06-2012 1:16pm

Strong magic shield saw me through Gwyn, matched with the destructive force of crystal catalyst and (hehehe) Crystal Homing Soulmass.

But I believe they've nerfed magic shield if you've downloaded the patch...

Taltos · 18-06-2012 1:31pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Strong magic shield saw me through Gwyn, matched with the destructive force of crystal catalyst and (hehehe) Crystal Homing Soulmass.

But I believe they've nerfed magic shield if you've downloaded the patch...

Cheers - will find out later.
While I keep saying "that's it" - somehow I keep being dragged back - even if I just spend ages farming outside the library.

johnny_ultimate · 18-06-2012 1:37pm

Aye, it's addicting. Gwyn is one of only two or three parts of the game I found a bit cheap - alongside that fecking gate-closing bastard near the start, and the Capra Demon with the dogs. Mostly because of that marathon you have to run before you even get to him. It's doable, but tricky with certain builds. Just abuse the system as much as you can

Taltos · 18-06-2012 1:42pm

Actually - a question - I have

all the boss souls

from up to this point - will they carry over or am I as well to just consume them now to boost my stats?
Unfortunately I let the pinwheel demons into the alley with the smith and only have the one near the garden and the one locked up left.

2smiggy · 18-06-2012 2:30pm

i believe you have to go to the anor londo blacksmith (the giant one) to make boss weapons. they will carry over till the next game anyway. you should farm a good few of the black knights before fight gwen for their drops.
get the black knight great axe off them ( one of the drops) , try to upgrade it as much as possible.

as for fighting gwen , even with a bad internet connection you should be able to summon someone,

if not , have you equipment load below half , you should be plenty quick enough to get off shots of your magic by been that light. perhaps use the green crest shield for faster stamina regeneration if you are low on endurance.

he is not that bad a fight, myself and another person i summoned passed him last time with just our right hand weapon drawn, no armor etc ! i had to use alot of flasks though and we were probably a bit lucky !

YouSavedMyLife · 18-06-2012 2:54pm

I was in the same situation when i came to Gwyn. Didnt level my endurance past the base of the Knight class and went with stamina and strength plus Tarkus' armour to help with mitigation cause of the low endurance i had, and i couldnt beat him in a fair fight (mid speed dodge). Got a shield and tried to parry him and it worked. Then i equiped the biggest DEF armour and the best parry shield and rings to increase parry damage. He became to easy. I kinda wish that he cant be parried as it would make the last boss actually the hardest in the game IMO.

Just be sure to dodge from his grab move since that cant be parried :rolleyes:

Taltos · 19-06-2012 11:04pm

Thanks everyone for your advice.
beat him earlier tonight only took 3 soul masses, no parrying as I can never do it.

appreciate all the help and tips.

Stereomaniac · 19-06-2012 11:11pm

Congratulations man. That actually made for gripping reading as I was scrolling down through the thread, wondering whether or not you would in the end pass him. Well done anyway!

PandyAndy · 05-07-2012 11:02pm

Decided to start this up again as I never bothered finishing it the first time. My god, I forgot how much I liked Blighttown and that relief when getting to that first bonfire on the bridge.

ride-the-spiral · 06-07-2012 3:58pm

Just finished this the other day for the first time. Unfortunately because of the whole ulster bank thing I wasn't able to get xbox live so had to play the whole game offline. I'll wait till I can get live and then start NG+.

I didn't really find Gwyn that bad. He's annoyingly fast though so even using an estus flask was risky business, but he's manageable. I definitely wouldn't call it the cheapest part of the game.

Especially when you consider these guys.

Fenix · 11-07-2012 11:21am

I thought they were Silver Knights in that god awful part!?

Just finished Dark Souls for the first time, I've honestly never felt such a sense of accomplishment from a game in my life.

WANT MOAR!

2smiggy · 11-07-2012 12:02pm

i found my self dying less and less on them knight archers. really just have to get to the top and turn right as quickly as possible, as soon as he pulls out his sword its easy enough.

Start NG+ !! even better 2nd time around in my opinion. head straight for sif , then the abyss , and join the dark wraights !! have some fun invading

noodler · 11-07-2012 1:30pm

2smiggy wrote: »

i found my self dying less and less on them knight archers. really just have to get to the top and turn right as quickly as possible, as soon as he pulls out his sword its easy enough.

Start NG+ !! even better 2nd time around in my opinion. head straight for sif , then the abyss , and join the dark wraights !! have some fun invading

Couldn't agree more about the archers.

First playthrough I was going mad, on second and third - I had a straight run without any bother.

noodler · 11-07-2012 1:34pm

I hope next DS game has just a little more focus on story.

I love the way the game doesn't hold your hand and you read as much (or as little) into the other NPCs and their backstories as you want - but I would love just a teeny bit more motivation for the journey.

2smiggy · 11-07-2012 1:49pm

look up epicnamebro on youtube. he has loads of videos on his interpretation of the story and lore, also his take on what to expect with the new extra content coming.

he also has fairly comprehensive guides on the game in general. He put some serious time and effort into it.

PickledLime · 15-07-2012 12:48am

noodler wrote: »

I hope next DS game has just a little more focus on story.

I love the way the game doesn't hold your hand and you read as much (or as little) into the other NPCs and their backstories as you want - but I would love just a teeny bit more motivation for the journey.

Nah, the journey itself is the motivation.

I'm really enjoying the brevity of the story as 99 times out of 100 it's either totally naff or the characterisation and action is well wide of the mark. In fact it's usually both.

tuxy · 15-07-2012 6:02pm

Just had a pop window from steam telling me I can pre order for €40. I really want to but am a bit worried about the quality of the port.

noodler · 15-07-2012 7:01pm

tuxy wrote: »

Just had a pop window from steam telling me I can pre order for €40. I really want to but am a bit worried about the quality of the port.

Whats the worry?

They have already said they won't be adding to the performance in the Console version...but the console version looks great and plays great bar one section so.....

tuxy · 15-07-2012 7:37pm

noodler wrote: »

Whats the worry?

They have already said they won't be adding to the performance in the Console version...but the console version looks great and plays great bar one section so.....

So the performance will be exactly on par with the console once you have the minimum requirements to play? A 690 gtx will run the same as a 8800 GT for example?

Also what do you think of them confirming it will use games for windows live?
I have had trouble using that service in the past.

Dark Souls

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