Is From Software Straight Up Killing Early Dark Souls Players?

Walmart had this early on the shelf and I tried to buy it JUST in the hopes of this kind of thing happening to early Western players too - alas, the cash register denied any early sale.

I know I have never played Demon Souls or now Dark Souls yet, but this story just makes me even more excited to play Dark Souls. I know I'm only gonna rent it at first, but ultimately I am probably gonna keep it. I am still hoping that this crazy difficulty stuff will just make me enjoy the game rather than make me hate it. I guess we will just have to see.

Patrick, if you play Dark Souls I can guarantee miraculous facial hair growth. Get that luxurious mustache you've always wanted!

Vinny, buy a goddamn racing wheel.

Thats fucking awsome!

It's because of crazy shit like this and the awesomeness that was Chromehounds that I fucking love From Software.

People shouldn't be afraid to play this game, or Demon's Souls, because they're not difficult for the sake of being annoying (i.e. Ninja Gaiden, Contra, etc.). While its an old school style game, it rewards the player for strategically approaching every fight, which you have to do or you will get killed over and over again.

The lack of save points may be a turn off, but it is incredibly satisfying to kill that boss you've spent hours trying to kill. Demon's Souls is one of the best games this gen.

People shouldn't be afraid to play this game, or Demon's Souls, because they're not difficult for the sake of being annoying (i.e. Ninja Gaiden, Contra, etc.). While its an old school style game, it rewards the player for strategically approaching every fight, which you have to do or you will get killed over and over again.

The lack of save points may be a turn off, but it is incredibly satisfying to kill that boss you've spent hours trying to kill. Demon's Souls is one of the best games this gen.

I found demon's souls a lot of fun with friends patrick. Two or three heads are definitely better than one in this case. I'm not all star pro ninja gaiden on super ninja difficulty or fighting game pro either, I'm pretty average(which translates to terrible in anything online).

If Vinny really enjoyed the first game and wanted to play more, an extended look at this one with a few other GB guys watching along would be awesome.

God I can't wait for this game. Just going through Demon's Souls NG+ again while the servers are still up and I forgot how much I love every moment of Demon's Souls.

I don't think just describing DS as hard is fair... it is challenging, and there is a steep learning curve, but its really about preparation and patience. And nothing this generation gets you heart racing more than duelling a boss demon or getting your game invaded by a Black Phantom!

@shadystx said:

I played a ton of demon souls and I never understood why the gaming media constantly go on about how difficult the game is, I personally did not think it was that hard, If you played smartly you could easily go hours without dying and never once did I lose my souls as I was always able to get back to my blood stain.

I kept thinking the version that came out in the U.K was dumbed down but my friend had imported it before release and after playing the U.S version I found no difference, The game was unforgiving in terms of modern titles but since I am 29 and remember playing single levels in games for days upon days trying to get past one point maybe why I did not think it was as tough as everybody made out, In fact a lot of people I have spoken to that have actually played allot of the game say the same thing, It's mainly people who never got past the first couple of hour or have not played it at all that say its too hard.

I think a lot of people found this game tricky because it's mechanics are so vague. It's not really obvious what upgrading an item with clearstone does for instance and therefore how to use it . The Large Sword of Moonlight doesn't tell you that it's unblockable. There are many details that just aren't explained. I, for one, love reading a good wiki. The anticipation of getting an awesome weapon and then actually managing to overcome the obstacles to get it far outweigh stumbling upon something not knowing what it does and then ditching it only to find out later on it was awesome. Some people (e.g. Vinny) hate reading a FAQ though. If you don't want to read a FAQ you might find yourself a little lost in Demon's Souls. If you like reading a FAQ then enjoy. I don't think anyone considers dying in this game an actual factor in the difficulty, it's simply a game mechanic. If you are treating death as a failure then you have missed the point of this game. It's a mechanism to build tension. All your currency is on the line and you are betting it all whenever you go against the next challenge.

Hahaha I can totally see From Software doing this.. that is awesome

Man that is devious.

@jmrwacko said:

@Zaccheus said:

@cypherix said:

Dark Souls Endurance Run!! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Oh god this.

With Brad playing, lol

YES!!!!

@Zaccheus said:

@cypherix said:

Dark Souls Endurance Run!! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Oh god this.

With Brad playing, lol

@cypherix: that would be amazing!

Between these sort of shenanigans and the Armored Core series, I love From Software.

@Dunchad: It is indeed, I generally only get pissed off at an article when it becomes so rife with spelling errors that it becomes hard to read. I've never had that problem with Giant Bomb. Be gratefull.. ;p

As for the article itself I think it's awesome, I love it when developers decide to have fun with an awkward situation instead of intiating some kind of ban-hammer. Looking foward to Dark Souls, I hope it's just as fun/frustrating/rewarding as Demon's Souls.

I just pre-ordered this game because of this story! That's awesome Patrick keep up the great work :D

This feels like a episode of south park with the sword of a thousand truths. I love how crazy this shit is :)

Isn't it "wreaking havoc"? "Wrecking havoc" implies causing damage to 'havoc'.

I'm not a native english speaker, so I probably miss most of the mistakes in these articles and yet, I still seem to notice enough of them for it to bother me. Don't they proofread the articles before posting?

Demon's Souls is a great game. The challenge is its apeal and as long as your very cautious it is never too hard. Its when you think you can get fancy, thats when you get killed. I played as a royal and they come with the really useful soul arrow. I'm not sure if I could have taken on some of those bosses with a more melee focused guy.

That game has a crazy world. I find it best to ignore world tendency or at least prevent it from going black. Also trying to get all the items will get in the way of fun, just try to make something that is good and just use that. You may need to look at a starting guide to know things like killing your self in the nexus and being in soul form to prevent a world tendency from going black is actually a good idea. Getting though things is just a matter of knowing the trick to beat it.

@Swoxx said:

It is awesome, but might this not hurt review scores?

Pretty sure From Software can tell who are reviewers and who people that got the game early.

Patrick, Demons Souls is sooo worth playing, you can't understand what people love about this game until you play it for yourself. Can't wait for Dark Souls.

This would be a great anti-pirate measure if the developers could identify which players play with cracked versions of a game.

It is awesome, but might this not hurt review scores?

Patrick, I don't know about dark souls, I hear it's harder.

But demon's souls is not as hard as people act. It's just a game about patiently observing your surroundings/enemies and reacting appropriatly. You should try it.

just saying, at least I wouldn't trust that Esuteru blog that much

yes, they have some interesting news occasionally

but most of the time they're just posting ridiculous stuffs like "OMG skyrim only have 1 DVD!! it's gonna be a bad game!!11"

@Rexicon said:

Seriously though, who are these people saying that Demon's Souls was incredibly hard and such? Most of the people in here and elsewhere say the game has well balanced combat (unless you do a Mirden Hammer faith build) that requires planning and a certain investment of time. I think that the people going "GOD ITS NOT THAT HARD YOU OVERCOMPENSATING NERDS" are shitting this up even more.

You have to admit though, its pretty fucked up when the 2nd maneater pops up. Holy christ, I think thats one of the only times I've thrown my controller in rage.

I knew something was fishy when I walked in and there were two health bars.

Richard Garriot would approve of this.

@cypherix said:

Dark Souls Endurance Run!! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Oh god this.

I thought that this would be about From Software actually killing people in real life who got early copies. That so something From Software would do... Oh my god, guys we have to stop them before this gets out of hand.

Seriously though, who are these people saying that Demon's Souls was incredibly hard and such? Most of the people in here and elsewhere say the game has well balanced combat (unless you do a Mirden Hammer faith build) that requires planning and a certain investment of time. I think that the people going "GOD ITS NOT THAT HARD YOU OVERCOMPENSATING NERDS" are shitting this up even more.

You have to admit though, its pretty fucked up when the 2nd maneater pops up. Holy christ, I think thats one of the only times I've thrown my controller in rage.

I can't wait. Demon's Souls was awesome.

It's honestly not as crazy as it sound. If you're into rpg's at all (not jrpgs) you'll get the concepts,, and if you've played a 3rd person game, you'll get the controls. It's not at all complicated, it's just hard. But it's also extremely fair. You know the rules, the game never breaks them, so if you die, you know it was your fault and why. Thus, it's rarely frustrating. And at the beginning, dying doesn't actually have a penalty, so you can muck about a bit and get your bearings (essentially dying just resets your exp progress, and at the beginning you don't have any, so you aren't really losing anything, just going back to a beginning state; staying in place, basically).

I think a fair number of the people who haven't tried DS because of the intimidation factor would be surprised.

Dark Souls Endurance Run!! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Anybody hesitating to play these games because they're too hard is seriously ripping themselves out of the most amazing gaming experience, at least that I've had... for about as long as I can remember.

MAN UP BITCHES!

Brilliant and hilarious

I played a ton of demon souls and I never understood why the gaming media constantly go on about how difficult the game is, I personally did not think it was that hard, If you played smartly you could easily go hours without dying and never once did I lose my souls as I was always able to get back to my blood stain.

I kept thinking the version that came out in the U.K was dumbed down but my friend had imported it before release and after playing the U.S version I found no difference, The game was unforgiving in terms of modern titles but since I am 29 and remember playing single levels in games for days upon days trying to get past one point maybe why I did not think it was as tough as everybody made out, In fact a lot of people I have spoken to that have actually played allot of the game say the same thing, It's mainly people who never got past the first couple of hour or have not played it at all that say its too hard.

Maybe that is because people are live streaming it right now when it isn't even supposed to be released yet. Just saying.

soon I will use most of my gaming time on this game.

Awesome.

All developers should do this for every game that has ever been stolen/pirated or sold early. That would be cool. Just remove the game-breaking enemies at the 11th hour before sending the gold disc to production. Anyone stealing source code get's screwed.

I think I'll actually try this one. Skipped out on Demon's Souls, but I'll probably try this one.

MR. PATRICK KLEPEK. Please play this game. You won't regret it.

(Well if it's at least as good as Demons's's Soul's you won't)

Jesus Christ, people seriously have to stop with the "DEMON'S SOULS IS THE HARDEST GAME EVER!!!1" bullshit. It took me maybe 25-30 hours to finish it and I rarely felt frustrated at the difficulty.

The only times I ever died several times in a row was due to my own hastiness, trying to reach my body so I could keep the souls accrued up to that point (even though they were most likely worth 2-3 stat points at best).

As a fan of Demon's Souls, this is perfect.

@punpun said:

@Joseph4th said:

Shouldn't they be punishing the retails who broke the street date? Are customers supposed to know a game they find on the shelf wasn't supposed to be sold yet? If I didn't know this was some form of punishment for playing too early, wouldn't I just think this game really really sucks... like E.T. on the Atari 2600 where you just fell into a pit level of sucking?

This sounded cool when I first heard about it, but now that I've thought it through. Stupid idea.

Even if these black phantoms really are developers running around killing people, I doubt their actions are meant to be seen as punishment for buying their game early. Sounds more like them having some harmless fun before Dark Souls is officially released.

Harmless?? Hours of peoples life, down the drains. Think of all the souls lost!!!

If from software was a woman I would marry her.

@Joseph4th said:

Shouldn't they be punishing the retails who broke the street date? Are customers supposed to know a game they find on the shelf wasn't supposed to be sold yet? If I didn't know this was some form of punishment for playing too early, wouldn't I just think this game really really sucks... like E.T. on the Atari 2600 where you just fell into a pit level of sucking?

This sounded cool when I first heard about it, but now that I've thought it through. Stupid idea.

Even if these black phantoms really are developers running around killing people, I doubt their actions are meant to be seen as punishment for buying their game early. Sounds more like them having some harmless fun before Dark Souls is officially released.

Atleast the developers are getting to meet their users, and murder them.

Also when i read the headline i thought (for a second, that) the from strudios guys were straight up cutting fools, now that would be pretty messed up.

Shouldn't they be punishing the retails who broke the street date? Are customers supposed to know a game they find on the shelf wasn't supposed to be sold yet? If I didn't know this was some form of punishment for playing too early, wouldn't I just think this game really really sucks... like E.T. on the Atari 2600 where you just fell into a pit level of sucking?

This sounded cool when I first heard about it, but now that I've thought it through. Stupid idea.