eroticfishcake

Thanks. That was an interesting read coming from someone who has spent well over 500 (fumbling) hours on DaS with a fair amount of experience in DeS. But yes, despite being one of my favourite games of all time DaS certainly isn't particularly approachable for a lot of people which is a shame since it's one incredibly deep experience. While it does rely on exploring things yourself it does a poor job at explaining some basic mechanics like weapon scaling or humanity. From what I've heard they're trying to make the sequel more accessible but just as challenging with the same emphasis on exploring.

On a side note DaS is a great game because it takes full advantage of all the facets of being a game like a unique multiplayer system and heavy storytelling through environments and story telling among many other things. Structurally DaS also strongly resembles Castlevania Symphony of The Night (another of my personal favourites) so that's worth checking out too. I could say a lot more about DaS but I could easily write a book on this if I were to go off the chain.

I will however, plug this podcast though which talks about DaS in a book club style. Worth a listen if you spend most of your non-DaS time thinking about it, which I do a lot since it came out.

@patrickklepek I should point out that Robin Yang is actually Robert Yang. Unless I'm missing something.

Looks more like Thief Deadly Shadows then it does Thief 2. Not necessarily a bad thing but there's a certain...way that D2 plays that DS didn't Same thing I thought with Deus Ex and Human Revolution. Had it's heart in the right place but not so sure if it really nailed it.

It's just a very mediocre game to begin with but given the expectations of it (those being that it's part of the revered Alien franchise, it's developed by Gearbox who made the popular Borderlands franchise and that it was stuck in development for a good few years) you'd think they'll churn out a better product. But of course they haven't, so when you weigh it against those expectations, it's incredibly bad. It definitely doesn't that they're charging it at full price and that these are the same guys who helped develop Duke Nukem Forever that was in a very similar position to this.

@grimluck343: I don't know when the next race event is on but I'm playing a fair bit of it recently. I'd be more then happy to play with other GB folks. (Also I'm in Europe, GMT time if that helps.)

Aye, it's a fascinating game for sure and one of my all time favourites (as noted top editor for the wiki page hohoho.) But yeah as a long time fan I whole heartedly agree with all of your points. It's an old game so it's no surprise that some of the voice acting is sub-par and the controls are awkward by today's standard and good God the game is ugly as sin (though considering that you're standing in the dark for the most part it's not terribly noticeable.) Having said that, the level design is one of the best as it's very organic and expansive as you mentioned. Unlike most games where choices are very obvious, they feel like it's your idea since they're quite subtle but not too subtle so it does a great job of making you feel like a sly thief, a feeling that no other stealth game has give me yet. The game also has some of the best sound design I've come across not only because it sounds great but also because they integrate it incredibly well in the environment. Also the way the game handles difficulty is really nice, as the levels stay the same but the stakes are higher and/or there's a twist to one of the objectives. I'm surprised most games don't follow their way of thinking.

The first Thief game is pretty good too though it does lean on the more supernatural side of things which personally I don't find as entertaining but some things still work great in that. One level in particular called "The Sword" (on the Gold Edition of Thief) is probably one of the most earliest examples of great level design in a 3D space that I've seen and still one of my favourites. IF you've the time it's worth a look too. Anyway, it's good to know that people can still enjoy this game in this day and age. It's a definite classic stealth game and I doubt any other will ever come close to it, ever.

According to the developer page they're Belgium, hence the name. They're also the same chaps that made The Path apparently. Whatever the case that was kind of interesting so maybe this will be, who knows? Don't see the point in getting annoyed by it though.

@Rhaknar: It's been a long while since I've played DeS so take my information with a grain of salt but I'll try to answer your questions.

-World Tendacy, what is it, should I worry about it?

Each world has a World Tendency to it. By default it sits at neutral but depending on online events and internal actions (such as dying in human form or defeating a boss) the world tendency can shift from Black to White. Black means harder, tougher enemies but also more souls and vice versa with White. More importantly, Pure Black/White tendency means that certain areas and characters are available to interact with.

-I assume it plays identically to Dark, minus the kick function?

Pretty much, however it should be noted that there is no Poise stat in Des. Which means wearing heavy armour can still interrupt your attack animations hence why it's a little easier just to wear lighter armour and dodge around the place.

-Is there a class that like the Pyromancer, has spells but doesnt need to pump points into int (basically I want to focus on endurance, vitality and either STR or DEX depending on what I feel like)

Not that I remember. Having said that, magic is very powerful in DeS plus it's replenish-able unlike Das where the only way to refill your spells is by visiting a bonfire, resetting all the enemies.

-speaking of classes, can I use all my Dark Souls knowledge about the stats in this game? (cap for diminishing returns at 50, what endurance does, notice weapon scaling and lvl that stat, etc)

They're very similar but it's worth taking a look at the stats page on the DeS wiki to clarify certain differences.It should be noted that there's no Attunement stat, rather, intelligence increases magic power AND attunement slots (called magic memory in DeS.)

-I know its not open world, instead uses a hub and you select "levels", but can you still go to the "wrong" place, and if so, please tell me where to go, because I really cant be arsed going to a high lvl zone by mistake :)

Each world has about 3-4 stages in them. Generally speaking you visit Stage 1-2 of each world and come back later if it's too tough (plus it's generally recommended.)

-I know there are no flasks and instead you have herbs (that you can buy up to 99?), but are there bonfires?

The worlds are a bit more linear so there are bonfires along the path they only appear after you kill a boss (which is the becomes the starting point for the next stage.) The only purpose of them is to allow transport to and from the Nexus but you can't rest at them.

-how dark is it (no pun intended)? One of the few things that bothered me about Dark Souls was how dark most places were, and even tho I understand why, it still annoyed me I couldnt see 2 feet ahead of me (and I'm not even talking about the catacombs lol)

It's about the same but I don't recall having many problems with lighting.

-not a question, but the idea of being at half-life while undead scares me, nasty flashbacks to being cursed in Dark.

Living at half health isn't so bad since you also become quieter in Soul Form.

-and finally, is it dramatically different than Dark Souls? At times, from what I heard, Dark almost sounded like a remake (same bridge with a dragon that flies by for example)

Similar enough. In fact, DaS takes a lot of cues from DeS so a few things would seem familiar. Having said that the tone and feel are rather different. It's a hard question to answer but the one word I use to describe it would be "Operatic" oddly enough.

In any case, hope that helped. Good luck!

The occasional fag but I'm more of a cigar smoker. I smoke a pipe too but it's a bit of a bitch to light at times.

Bert and Ernie.

Ahem.