Check out Kevin VanOrd's Thoughts on Dark Souls

It's a review in process. He's been playing for about a week. Here's the link.

This might be the most terrifying game you'll ever play. -- Kevin VanOrd

Probably my most anticipated console game coming out soon, right ahead of Batman: Arkham City.

Some amazing footage in there.

Everything I hear about this gets me more and more excited for next week.

Do I wanna play this game and get pissed or watch Brad play it and laugh? Hmm...

I'm still skeptical. The Japanese LOVED the first game but they've done nothing but bitch about this title in the series.

I am going to let my mate buy it first and sit through a few sessions of watching over his shoulder before deciding upon purchasing it.

I'm still skeptical. The Japanese LOVED the first game but they've done nothing but bitch about this title in the series.

God damn it, DARK SOULS! You've become my most anticipated game of this year. And may I say this, in general terms, I am REALLY glad that Skyrim didn't take the title. Been too much talk about that game, too many people crossing their arms shouting "XBOX" in strangely high-pitched voices. This year, has so far, been one of very strange AAA titles like the highly complicated Witcher 2, or the very intelligent L.A Noire, or the all-round slow-paced, flexible Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It's good to see gaming take a different approach, and to see these games successful as opposed to your sequals and trilogies. Which reminds me! Battlefield 3, Resistance 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Gears of War 3, Serious Sam 3 (Well, actually, that one's alright, so is Battlefield. Que "ACTION SNIPER" Theme-song) Don't the rest of you just grow tired of this tom-foolery?

Dark Souls, however, is simply.. Different. It's a strange game set in a strange world that forces the player into strange situations that they don't know how to handle, forcing them to adapt and learn and develop strategies of their own. It's so great to see a game like this succeed. And let's be honest, it's going to kick names and take ass!

Just for reference, I've been playing naught but LoL and Starcraft 2 for the last few months save for the dip into the unknown waters of great single-player releases. Does this make me biased?

@Do_The_Manta_Ray said:

God damn it, DARK SOULS! You've become my most anticipated game of this year. And may I say this, in general terms, I am REALLY glad that Skyrim didn't take the title. Been too much talk about that game, too many people crossing their arms shouting "XBOX" in strangely high-pitched voices. This year, has so far, been one of very strange AAA titles like the highly complicated Witcher 2, or the very intelligent L.A Noire, or the all-round slow-paced, flexible Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It's good to see gaming take a different approach, and to see these games successful as opposed to your sequals and trilogies. Which reminds me! Battlefield 3, Resistance 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Gears of War 3, Serious Sam 3 (Well, actually, that one's alright, so is Battlefield. Que "ACTION SNIPER" Theme-song)

Dark Souls, however, is simply.. Different. It's a strange game set in a strange world that forces the player into strange situations that they don't know how to handle. It's so great to see a game like this succeed. And let's be honest, it's going to kick names and take ass!

What makes this game so strange to you? Just wondering.

@JerichoBlyth said:

I'm still skeptical. The Japanese LOVED the first game but they've done nothing but bitch about this title in the series.

Wow, really? I haven't heard anything about that. Could you elaborate?

@JerichoBlyth said:

I'm still skeptical. The Japanese LOVED the first game but they've done nothing but bitch about this title in the series.

Wow, really? I haven't heard anything about that. Could you elaborate?

@JerichoBlyth said:

I'm still skeptical. The Japanese LOVED the first game but they've done nothing but bitch about this title in the series.

I am going to let my mate buy it first and sit through a few sessions of watching over his shoulder before deciding upon purchasing it.

Why are they complaining? All I've heard is that there were some serious bugs that they've been trying to patch out, but from US reviewers that have been talking about it, sales numbers and the Japanese press I've heard nothing but good things.

Wow, ummm, thank you for the videos.

I guess I had somehow convinced myself that Dark Souls would be more action orientated or something, I am not entirely sure.

After watching these videos and others I actually cancelled my pre-order. Not because I was scared of the game and its difficulty, but because ... well it just didn't look fun :/ Dogding an enemies attacks for 8 minutes or more until you hit it with 50 fireballs isn't what I call fun.

It's kind of like when you play a duel joystick shooter and each enemy takes a minute of constant fire to kill it, like after 5 seconds your like "damn just die already, stop being a bullet sponge, I've proven I'm faster and better than you now you are just wasting my time....."

I've never cancelled a pre-order, but yeah, the gameplay on the video did not look to my liking and I had to do it. Good luck to all those who are still on board, and I look forward to your youtube videos ;)

@G0rd0nFr33m4n said:

Wow, ummm, thank you for the videos.

I guess I had somehow convinced myself that Dark Souls would be more action orientated or something, I am not entirely sure.

After watching these videos and others I actually cancelled my pre-order. Not because I was scared of the game and its difficulty, but because ... well it just didn't look fun :/ Dogding an enemies attacks for 8 minutes or more until you hit it with 50 fireballs isn't what I call fun.

It's kind of like when you play a duel joystick shooter and each enemy takes a minute of constant fire to kill it, like after 5 seconds your like "damn just die already, stop being a bullet sponge, I've proven I'm faster and better than you now you are just wasting my time....."

I've never cancelled a pre-order, but yeah, the gameplay on the video did not look to my liking and I had to do it. Good luck to all those who are still on board, and I look forward to your youtube videos ;)

If you really are skeptical about it, pick up Demon's Souls for around $15 and "test the waters", so to speak. Alot of the videos you see about this game usually are not playing with very good builds. With a powerful, focused build, you'll be killing your enemies as fast as they can kill you (if you're not careful).

But if you were coming in expecting something like Devil May Cry, it's nothing like that. I would say it's distant cousin would be Monster Hunter, in that it is more of a "thinking man's" game. Strategy game with a wrapping of action.

Look on Youtube for some of the Demon's Souls "tournaments" to see some high-level PvP action as well.

Do I wanna play this game and get pissed or watch Brad play it and laugh? Hmm...

@G0rd0nFr33m4n said:

Wow, ummm, thank you for the videos.

I guess I had somehow convinced myself that Dark Souls would be more action orientated or something, I am not entirely sure.

After watching these videos and others I actually cancelled my pre-order. Not because I was scared of the game and its difficulty, but because ... well it just didn't look fun :/ Dogding an enemies attacks for 8 minutes or more until you hit it with 50 fireballs isn't what I call fun.

It's kind of like when you play a duel joystick shooter and each enemy takes a minute of constant fire to kill it, like after 5 seconds your like "damn just die already, stop being a bullet sponge, I've proven I'm faster and better than you now you are just wasting my time....."

I've never cancelled a pre-order, but yeah, the gameplay on the video did not look to my liking and I had to do it. Good luck to all those who are still on board, and I look forward to your youtube videos ;)

You're welcome. Sorry to see this game lose a customer. In case you haven't seen this video, check it out.

One of the problems with Demon's Souls and Dark Souls ( I presume) is that they don't sell themselves well on a superficial level.

@RuneseekerMireille said:

@G0rd0nFr33m4n said:

Wow, ummm, thank you for the videos.

I guess I had somehow convinced myself that Dark Souls would be more action orientated or something, I am not entirely sure.

After watching these videos and others I actually cancelled my pre-order. Not because I was scared of the game and its difficulty, but because ... well it just didn't look fun :/ Dogding an enemies attacks for 8 minutes or more until you hit it with 50 fireballs isn't what I call fun.

It's kind of like when you play a duel joystick shooter and each enemy takes a minute of constant fire to kill it, like after 5 seconds your like "damn just die already, stop being a bullet sponge, I've proven I'm faster and better than you now you are just wasting my time....."

I've never cancelled a pre-order, but yeah, the gameplay on the video did not look to my liking and I had to do it. Good luck to all those who are still on board, and I look forward to your youtube videos ;)

If you really are skeptical about it, pick up Demon's Souls for around $15 and "test the waters", so to speak. Alot of the videos you see about this game usually are not playing with very good builds. With a powerful, focused build, you'll be killing your enemies as fast as they can kill you (if you're not careful).

But if you were coming in expecting something like Devil May Cry, it's nothing like that. I would say it's distant cousin would be Monster Hunter, in that it is more of a "thinking man's" game. Strategy game with a wrapping of action.

Look on Youtube for some of the Demon's Souls "tournaments" to see some high-level PvP action as well.

LOL I didn't expect it to be Dvil May Cry haha, no but.... I don't know, usually when I preorder a game I know what the game is going to be and I'm ready to play it and all that. But when I saw these vids I was like.... "Oh ! Shit ! I totally wanna watch someone play that so I don't have to and can skip through those really long fights".

Like I said before, peace and love to all those who pick this up. Seriously. I am not not getting this game for any "troll" reason like "WAAA this game sucks because WAAAA" it just the game doesn't look fun to me.

Maybe my opinion shall change later on, and when it does I'll pick it up several months from now for a song, and give it a good go when there are a good bunch of guides to help me through it :)

Is mana no longer in the game?

I only saw a health and stamina bar

@Crixaliz said:

Is mana no longer in the game?

I only saw a health and stamina bar

From what I've heard, each spell only has a limited number of uses before you have to recharge it at a campfire.

Then again, I could be wrong. I've been purposely avoiding most coverage on Dark Souls so I won't spoil the experience.

@Crixaliz said:

Is mana no longer in the game?

I only saw a health and stamina bar

My understanding is that spells have charges now to prevent (especially in new game +) spell spamming and give spells more value.

@G0rd0nFr33m4n: Coolio bro , sad that you wont try it soon :( but to let you know , not all people keep dodging for 8 minutes to shoot fireballs I never have used that type of magic on my playthroughs on Demon Souls , heck I´ve only used healing and a long winded spell that it would be suicidal to use it on a boss battle. Really this game has many ways to be played , I would say rent Demon Souls and try it , if you like it you may like Dark Souls...

Seeing that boss battle with the giant wolf made me shit bricks. Why can't it be tuesday already?

@Super_Sonic_Awesome said:

Do I wanna play this game and get pissed or watch Brad play it and laugh? Hmm...

both, i just want the aha feeling as i did with demon souls, you know at the beginning its insane but after a few hours its the most easy game you have ever played as long as you consentrate. i honestly hope that they fixed the bosses this time around, since everyone of them could be killed without breaking a sweat, pretty much all of them could be killed with bow at long range without them attacking you

Guess who might be reviewing it.

Edit: I'd like to add that Kessler has mentioned that he is a fan of Demon's Souls and would have argued for its inclusion in the game of the year podcast stuff.

http://www.1up.com/news/japan-review-check-dark-souls

Well I read this earlier in the week...and coupled with the Japanese amazon customer reviews who are STILL bashing it...I can see it being a toned down version of Demon Souls. I mean I know they're working on patches but there's only so much they can fix in the space of a 2-3 week window between releases (depending on where you live) and I for one believe it'll still be broken come release. Not to say that it might not get better. I just said I was skeptical y'know, you bunch of insecure arseholes.

I might eventually trade things in for it but I'm not handing over cold hard cash for this one.

@nrh79 said:

Guess who might be reviewing it.

Edit: I'd like to add that Kessler has mentioned that he is a fan of Demon's Souls and would have argued for its inclusion in the game of the year podcast stuff.

This is great news. Love Kessler's reviews.

edit: Quicklook coming up as well ... yay!

Hey, I know this isn't related to the original topic, but I decided that since I'd never played a game like Dark Souls that I would go back on my previous statement and get the game. I think it turned out pretty cool :) I just rang the first bell and I think I'm doing ok for someone who has never played demon souls :)