Worth Getting into Dark Souls now, or better to wait for 2?

Hey fellow Bombers!

After watching Vinny load his last soul, which has been incredibly fun, I've got the itch to play me some Dark Souls. I've never played it. Only watched. Whether it's Vinny or my friends. I know these games are difficult but they look super satisfying. Very rewarding for your patience and learning how to play. So with Dark Souls 2 around the corner and the hopeful fixes to interface and inventory, is it better to wait or should I jump in with the first game? Would I be missing anything having not played the first, be it lore/story or whatever?

Thanks! :)

I doubt you'll miss anything by not playing the first, but the first is probably just as good as 2 will be so you may as well play it cheap.

Dark Souls 2 is looking great, but jumping into Dark Souls 1 now would probably be much easier. Not only can you get it cheap, but there are tons of resources out there now to help you through the game when you get stuck. When a new Souls game comes out you have to wait awhile for people to actually start figuring things out and putting out resources for other people. Granted, discovering that with everyone else can be part of the fun, but not always when it's your first experience with the series.

So yeah, pick up DkS now for cheap and see if you like it and then you can decide if you want 2 later.

Playing 1 first will help you get accustomed to the gameplay. It's probably cheap so you might as well try it out.

Play...the...game.

might aswell, Dark Souls 2 is coming out next year, so you got time.

@luciddreams117: Get into Dark Souls now.

Play Dark Souls. It's an amazing game worth playing even after the sequel comes out (just like Demon's Souls).

Go on and play Dark Souls. It's a great game, it's available for cheap and the community is still there, if you can believe it, so it's as worthwhile to play now as it was when it came out. I don't know anything about the sequel but you never know, it might suck. Then you will have missed out.

So I'm getting a unanimous yes. Excellent. I'll be sure to give it a go then. :)

Another question then. Do you guys have any recommendations as to what style/class I start with? Tips before playing kind of thing. Shield and sword good way to go? The obvious answer I'm sure is to just play it how I want but with a game of this nature, id rather not get 10 hours in to only learn I'm screwed due to my choices.

well i still play demons souls once in a while, i think its worth it

I was thinking the same thing too. Decided to take the plunge as well. Loving it btw.

I'm sure you can find it cheap just give it a try. 2 is still quite a ways off.

I would play it. I finished Dark Souls before buying and trying Demon's Souls, and I'm having a really hard time getting into it because of all of the rough edges that were smoothed in the sequel.

Dark Souls is good enough I wouldn't let the advancements in Dark Souls 2 mar your enjoyment.

Dark Souls is pretty great, man. I say go for it.

@luciddreams117: Hell yeah play it :D , about class welll it depends , but in reality only your first levels are restricted to a class , because you pretty much can go anyway you want , also you cant srcew yourself really so dont worry about trying stuff , but yeah a sword and shield its a good weapon , myself go with the halberds and scythes (I like the move set of those weapons).

It's a really good game, and if you're planning on getting DS2, it wouldn't hurt to expose yourself to it now, especially if you can get it cheap rather than spending 60 dollars on DS2 when it's released. I guess my feelings can be summarized by simply saying:

Thanks, Reggie!

@luciddreams117: Shield is a must for first timers to reduce raging. Most weapons are very useful, you can look at ones you might like. I recommend the Battle Axe or any large sword (claymore, zweihander), or a katana/scythe if you wanna go dex. Starting class barely matters. If you go strength melee than I think the one with the knights armour is a good one.

Also look into how the upgrade system works. It's pretty well need to complete the game without having your weapon feel like it couldn't even cut butter and is not explained at all in game.

Obviously, as you said, play how you want but that's my recommendation.

@luciddreams117 said:

Pyromancer is a pretty good starting class, as it's the most open for customization and the pyro magic is pretty handy early on. The shield it starts with is crap though, so you'll want to replace it with one with 100% physical resistance as soon as possible. (For example, the Heater Shield, which you can buy from a merchant early on.) The Solider isn't a bad one either, as it's a bit more well rounded and starts with a Heater Shield.

As for weapons, I suggest trying out as many different types of weapons as you can get your hands on and figure out which one suits your playstyle. You may even consider starting a character purely to test out weapons and then restarting once you figure which type like and spec that way. I personally prefer the faster weapons that scale off dexterity, like Katana's or Spears, but some people really the heavy weapons like the Zweihander. You can also spec toward spellcasting if that's your thing, although even spellcasters have to pick a decent weapon to survive.

A good shield is your best friend when starting out though. The Souls games made me appreciate shields more than any game I've ever played.

The choices are unlikely to screw you too much. The game's goddamn hard no matter how you cut it. I only played it with one character type (heavy on pyromancy), but you can color outside the lines with your class quite a bit.

You're gonna get killed. A lot. No matter what.

I'm still trying to Platinum Demon's Souls. I love that game so much!

It was on PS + or free for a while... i say play that if you can.

JUMP ON THE SOUL TRAIN!

Play it. It's a great game. It's all about mechanics and challenge so technically all you're missing is a very well crafted video game.

If you got the time and dedication, it is always the right time for dark souls!

To me that game is already a classic - the same league as mario galaxy and the like. Its one of the games of this generation.

Yes, play it. And then play Demon's Souls. And then cry.

Pick up Demon's Souls as well as Dark Souls. It's not Madden we're talking about. The content is different.

• Never put any points into Resistance.
• Give Firekeeper Souls to Firekeepers instead of consuming them for souls.
• Get a shield with 100 block percent.
• Heavy armor has a heavy drawback: Your roll/dodge speed sucks.
• Messing around in the graveyard can net you some useful early items but that's not where you should focus your early efforts.
• Use arrows to pull distant enemies one at a time to an area you know is (relatively) safe.
• Practice parrying and riposting. Practice rolling to avoid attacks.
• If a boss is giving you trouble, slap some pine resin on your weapon or summon a white phantom to help.
• Upgrading your weapons and armor will generally increase your survivability far more than levelling your stats.
• Avoid advancing dialog with the attack button. If you do accidentally piss off an NPC, you can purchase something near the first bell to remove their hostility.
• Souls and Humanity are transitory. Never forget that. You will die, you will lose a ton of resources. Don't count your failures in what you lose, but what knowledge you gain from that experience.
• No matter what anyone asks you, you're not a Cleric.

Definitely.

You'll be able to get it for relatively cheap. There's a wealth of resources out there to help you and some amazing videos from people EpicNameBro and VaatiVidya who do brilliant in explaining some of the story - which is very subtle and sometimes vague, but that's what makes it so great. The subtle inference of the story over long exposition is one of the reasons is compelling and and when you look back at it after a few playthroughs, you'll see how deep and cohesive the world was.

Gameplay is excellent, atmosphere is just phenomenal and the challenge is just part of why the game is so great. You'll miss one of the best games of the generation. It also has what games don't have a lot of anymore - mystery.

I can't recommend everyone play the game, but I can say it's one of the great games of this generation.

Hmmm. Okay wow. Lots to look at and some great pointers. Thanks a lot guys. Really appreciate it. Big help. I know I'm in for a lot of deaths. But it seems like when I finally do get it, it's the kind of game that'll be better for being so brutal.

Thanks again guys. Awesome. And sweet, look at that. 20 bucks on Xbox GOD. Fantastic! :)

@luciddreams117: Depending on how much help you will want while going through, the Dark Souls wiki can be an extremely helpful reference. They have a lot of info for beginners as well as recommended builds and area walkthroughs. I would say you should explore the world at least a little on your own, but it's probably worth checking out their beginner help page http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/New+Player+Help while getting your feet wet.

I always prefer to play the first game of the series even if they are not directly connected.

Just wanted to interject some things (I bolded my comments in the quote, and put it in parentheses).

honestly buy the first one for cheap. these games are not for everyone. i didnt like it and quit after like 10 hours in. Better to find out by buying a cheap copy then spending $60 on the new one.

Posted it in another thread earlier and I am posting it again here because it is relevant.

It's a great game. Why not? It's not like Dark Soul 2 will make this redundant.

The only thing you should be advised is perhaps about the PVP. With DS2 around the corner might not be worth playing the game with PVP in mind. The player base will mostly go the the newer game. The PVP is pretty broken anyway (does have a lot of potential though and can be fun).

By the time you are done with the first one, DS2 might just be around the corner for release. Also, it's cheap now. Buy.

I would say Dark Souls is easily in my top 10 of this generation list. It's a fucking amazing game. It's best going in cold. Which is hard to do cus you want to know the mechanics and YES you should know that stuff, but its hard to seperate that from the actual gameplay when asking for advice, some dipshit will tell you how to beat the boss and you're like "FUCK YOU", and they're all like "what? im trying to help!" and you're all like "I DONT WANT YOUR HELP" and then things are awkward between you and your friend for like a week.

Dark Souls is great though!

Anyone know what's going to happen if they don't patch out GFW as a DRM? I'm wondering because I know they're shutting it down. It'd really suck if the game could no longer activate and work. Bioshock 2 patched it out, so I wonder how other GFW games are going to work?

I'd say its worth checking it out plenty of time until March for you to get used to the overall feel of the DarkSouls universe.

Get it now, drop everything and play it to completion. Enjoy every second.

Oh awesome! Thanks @IBurningStar. I saved that picture right away. I'll also be sure to check out that wiki. But I'm sure I'll end up going at it by myself for through first bit and see how I fair.

As this gen draws to a close and with my Xbox One all pre ordered along with a lot of games, I'm looking forward to playing this. It's good to do a look back and find out what games stood out this gen and defined it. I'm excited.

Thanks to everyone for posting tips. Giant Bomb dudes are the best. I came to the right place. @Clonedzero, you bring up a great point. It seems like this game is well worth discovering on my own. I plan to go in cold and figure out the game, mostly, for myself and then take a look at some help. Also, The Load Our Last Souls feature has been helpful too.

I feel good about this. Thanks a lot guys. Much appreciated. :)

Some are going to steamworks. Both Batman games for instance will be going that AND getting rid of that stupid securom!

Dark Souls however one can only hope. Nothing's been said yet. Not sure what to expect. I don't care for the online. I've got a few hours on my online profile but I most played with my offline account so I'm not worried as it's unlikely to affect me. Other people are pretty worried about their progress though.

Have fun with the game duder. I just started playing and have put in 26 hours so far and I'm really excited to keep going and eventually get Dark Souls 2 when it's released.

Many people won't be satisfied unless FromSoftware recodes and integrates the multiplayer into another network, since they spend most of their time in the popular PvP areas instead of progressing in the story. People on forums I visit have said that they don't want to play this alone. And considering how time-consuming the process would be and how poorly made the port is, I'm not very hopeful FromSoftware will do anything. We'll probably have to use cracks.

I'm pretty sure you can copy Documents\NBGI\DarkSouls\User\DRAKS0005.sl2 to your offline profile. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to. After all, you can play your online profile without a connection.

You can't really screw yourself too badly as you can always grind to get more souls to gain more ability points. Just about every build is viable in PvE (regular single player game.). Discovering what style of play suits you is a big part of the game. The only advice I'd give a beginner - since it's so easy to spend souls willy-nilly leveling early game - is to only spend points in your VIT and END (more health and stamina respectively, always useful) until you know what kind of character you want to build. Once you have an idea of what flavor of combat you want to be doing for the next 80 hours, start putting points into the stats that make it more effective (DEX for bows/small swords/spears, STR for big swords/axes, INT for magic and magic weapons.) Also, it's almost always more effective spending your souls on upgrading your weapons than it is to buy more stats. It's quite possible to beat the game with upgraded starting equipment. Finally, if you're having a lot of trouble early game, look up how to get the Drake Sword. It's easy to get, and makes mincemeat out of early game enemies. Some (boring) people use throughout three quarters of the game.

Demon's Souls is also still entirely worth playing. I liked some parts of Demon's Souls better than Dark Souls, but I might just be saying that because I died on the godammotherfuckingskinnywalkwayswithswingingblades in Sen's Fortress AGAIN last night. Seriously! Fuck this part of the game.

A great game is still a great game so yes you should buy it

Its super cheap on pc or on sale alot and DSFix is great for helping you appreciate the game's art - there are also a handful of cool mods as well.

If you're going to get a console version then go PS3 - larger community there

I still haven't played Demon's Souls yet (which I got at launch), but I do intend to get to both games. At some point. Over the next half a decade, maybe?

I'll be getting Dark Souls 2 at launch no matter what. So, my answer is:

Get all the games and then wait years before you play them.

I prefer to start as a Cleric, only because you can get a great sword and shield in the Valley of Drakes right at the start (you only have to bump a couple stats up a point or two to use them). Just make a couple of death runs to the giant zombie dragon. Great starting gear obtained.

Yeah, I'd play Dark Souls now. I actually just started it a few weeks ago after having owned it for like a year and never having gotten around to it. Don't get me wrong, it's a blast to play, but the first few/several (. . . dozen?) hours can be really frustrating due to how obtuse the game can be.

There are a ton of things that are vitally important that the game doesn't go out of its way to explain (if it bothers to explain them at all), like what certain stats do, what the different upgrade paths for weapons do, etc. Playing the original Dark Souls now can help you get over that learning curve now so you are ready when 2 comes out. I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy 2 a lot more from the get go just because I've had the experience now.

(Although, knowing Dark Souls, I fully expect the devs to make Res the single most important stat, rolling will be useless, and all the bosses will respawn when you die. Because.)

Buying Dark Souls in the summer sale was the best gaming decision this year. It is my 2013's 2011 game of the year.

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO IT.