Or are they different enough to allow simultaneous playthroughs?

I just ordered a copy of Dark Souls for $30 so I'm going to wait on Skyrim.

Gameplay wise they look really different. Now it's just a matter of liking to play two RPGs at the same time. I'm not a fan of doing that.

Not if you have a lot of free time.

Only if you have bills to pay and/or grades to keep up.

@Louis0nFire:

I have been playing Dark Souls for about 35 hours and I have decided to put it on hold for Skyrim. They are very different playing games, but I really want to be able to go deep into Skyrim and I think playing Dark Souls at the same time would disrupt that.

i'm designing a Skyrim mod that makes it like Dark Souls,  when you die you lose all your gold and respawn at the last inn you visited.....   it's all on paper at the moment though.... 

You'll just end up getting totally absorbed into one of them and completely neglect the other for a long time.

@Marz said:

i'm designing a Skyrim mod that makes it like Dark Souls, when you die you lose all your gold and respawn at the last inn you visited..... it's all on paper at the moment though....

Ha! That's a good idea, but if you really wanted to go extreme you would make it auto-save only. No restarting from a previous save. That's what truly makes Dark Souls hardcore.

@McGhee_the_Insomniac said:

@Louis0nFire:

I have been playing Dark Souls for about 35 hours and I have decided to put it on hold for Skyrim. They are very different playing games, but I really want to be able to go deep into Skyrim and I think playing Dark Souls at the same time would disrupt that.

I'm doing the same. I'm about 3/4 finished with my first playthrough of Dark Souls and I'm going to put finishing it up (S ranking it) on hold until I've gotten pretty deep into Skyrim, at that point I'll probably play them both at the same time.

Color me stupid! Also picking up Saints Row and still playing Rage.

It's stupid if you're out of high school and don't have that kinda free time anymore. Those are two of the most time consuming games that'll come around this year.

if youve got a hell of alot of free time then go for it! Am i the only one who finished darksosuls, then gone on to play a much easier game (arkham city) and found it ...dull? im already bored of endlessly flying around the city, killing infinite goons in a couple of punches

@XII_Sniper said:

It's stupid if you're out of high school and don't have that kinda free time anymore. Those are two of the most time consuming games that'll come around this year.

Why would it be stupid to get 2 games if your outta highschool? Just because they have alot to do in them doesn't mean you have to only play them and ignore real world stuff -.-

It is dumb to get both at the same time. You should have had Dark Souls a month ago.

I wouldn't do it man. Both games deserve your full attention. Plus I never really liked trying to play more than one RPG at a time.

@Louis0nFire: All I heard about Dark Souls is bad. Nothing, NOTHING compares to an Elder Scrolls game. Go buy Skyrim and lose yourself in it sir.

@Marz said:

i'm designing a Skyrim mod that makes it like Dark Souls, when you die you lose all your gold and respawn at the last inn you visited..... it's all on paper at the moment though....

Sounds like a cool idea. But I gotta be honest, no way in hell I'll be using your mod. I'm not near that level of masochism. But still, its so awesome that people can mod like that.

It's dumb. Not because either will be bad games. I think they will probably both be great. There is no way of getting around the fact though that both require huge amounts of time to play. Give each of them their own due and you'll enjoy them both more.

@McShank said:

@XII_Sniper said:

It's stupid if you're out of high school and don't have that kinda free time anymore. Those are two of the most time consuming games that'll come around this year.

Why would it be stupid to get 2 games if your outta highschool? Just because they have alot to do in them doesn't mean you have to only play them and ignore real world stuff -.-

Because they're both multi-hundred hour games. So buying both at the same time is a dumb idea because no one with real responsibilities could possibly dedicate themselves to both at the same time. The smart thing to do is buy one, play it for a while, then when you get bored buy the other. At that point one of them would have probably dropped the price as well, so you're saving money. Both games are super involving and addictive. Like a previous post here mentioned, one would just play one and ignore the other anyway.

@Louis0nFire said:

Or are they different enough to allow simultaneous playthroughs?

Whatever you do, don't play them at the same time. Both will consume your life and on top of that both demand completely differen skillsets so you'll be in a constant conflict there. And either game will prevent you from really getting deep into the other game.

Get one of those games next year or so.

@Sorrowsan said:

if youve got a hell of alot of free time then go for it! Am i the only one who finished darksosuls, then gone on to play a much easier game (arkham city) and found it ...dull? im already bored of endlessly flying around the city, killing infinite goons in a couple of punches

You're not alone. I tried to play Arkham City and Rage next to Dark Souls but I can't. After a few minutes or one Rage mission I quit and find myself playing more Dark Souls. I'm about 140 hours in and I still want to play it a lot more. I'll probably take a break from DS once I S-Ranked it, play some other games and then come back at some point to start a new character.

@TomShreds said:

@Louis0nFire: All I heard about Dark Souls is bad. Nothing, NOTHING compares to an Elder Scrolls game. Go buy Skyrim and lose yourself in it sir.

What a load of shit.

@Jeffsekai said:

@TomShreds said:

@Louis0nFire: All I heard about Dark Souls is bad. Nothing, NOTHING compares to an Elder Scrolls game. Go buy Skyrim and lose yourself in it sir.

What a load of shit.

I loled at the blatant display of such ignorance, tbh. ;)

I have DS and will get Skyrim on Friday. I have little time so this is a conundrum to me. I kinda think Skyrim will win out and DS will be put on hold.

Buy these two and also Skyward Sword and also Saints Row The Third.

"The money is in the milk box, just leave the pizza on the front porch, thanks."

<Knocks over tower of empty Mountain Dew cans trying to reach another Mountain Dew.>

You'll be fine if you don't compare the combat of the two. For me, I am almost certain that Skyrim's combat will disappoint me compared to Dark Souls. However, anything outside of a Fighting-game or Devil May Cry-style game seems lesser than Dark Souls melee combat to me.

You should definitely get them both. Totally different games, but unless Skyrim is somehow god-awful, which it most likely isn't, then you won't regret either purchase.

They're very different, but man, Skyrim would probably feel like nap time after Dark Souls.

I haven't played Skyrim yet, but I have put over 150 hours into Dark Souls. When I played Oblivion, I put over 150 hours into that. So I would say, if you are single, not gainfully employed and not in school...then yes...buy yourself both.

@CptBedlam &@Jeffsekai:

That is what I heard, I did not told that it was a FACT. I read much reviews that said that it was very linear.

TES is a series of game that has been the best for YEARS. Just based on this it kicks a JRPG's asses miles away.

That is my opinion, like it or not.

This is a fairly reasonnable review of why some game thrown out from somewhere can't rivalize with a TES game:

http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-general-discussions/off-topic/269641-dark-souls-sucks.html

I spent the last month playing Dark Souls exclusive. It took me about 70hours to beat it. Now i'm playing New Game+ until I get my hands on Skyrim. Totally different experiences, so use Skyrim as a break from dark souls^^.

I'm finished Dark Souls and ready for Skyrim. If I had both on the go at the same time I'd be crazy and sleep deprived.

I can't imagine trying to play both games at the same time.

I'm going to have to settle for not S-ranking Dark Souls, even though I'm just one real achievement short, I can't get connected for invasions, and the odd time I do find a world I get stuffed by PvP-built characters standing there waiting for a challenger. I just want to jump some honest folk minding their own business for quick and easy progress, but nope, not happening. So I give up for now. Would have been a sweet S-rank, but seeing how Skyrim unlocks late tomorrow night (probably) I don't have time.

@TomShreds: I've been playing dark souls for a little over 40 hours now, booted up Skyrim yesterday and played that for 3 hours. I gotta say, I can't decide what game I'll play this evening. They're both very very very different games. For the moment I like dark souls better just because the combat is that much more satisfying. (But I'm only 3 hours into Skyrim so it hasn't really had time to hook me in).

@Aleryn said:

You'll be fine if you don't compare the combat of the two. For me, I am almost certain that Skyrim's combat will disappoint me compared to Dark Souls. However, anything outside of a Fighting-game or Devil May Cry-style game seems lesser than Dark Souls melee combat to me.

I've played shit-loads of Dark Souls and the combat isn't that special. Its more like the combat is simple but the stakes are very high, so small errors or lapses in attention can quickly lead to death, but the actual mechanics of blocking/dodging, waiting for an opening or going around for a back-stab are all pretty basic on a mechanical level and not at all innovative.

Don't take me for a hater, I love Dark Souls, but apart from the lower tolerance for errors, there isn't much real difference from Oblivion's combat. I mean, don't wear heavy armour, don't cast shield spells, take off your pimp rings and amulet, and fighting a tough enemy (a 'boss' on the levelled lists, like a Minotaur Lord or a Marauder Chief) in toe to toe combat in Oblivion is really similar to Dark Souls in terms of mechanics and danger - the major difference is that Oblivion was just super easy to break with enchantments and spells.

@TomShreds said:

@CptBedlam &@Jeffsekai:

That is what I heard, I did not told that it was a FACT. I read much reviews that said that it was very linear.

TES is a series of game that has been the best for YEARS. Just based on this it kicks a JRPG's asses miles away.

That is my opinion, like it or not.

This is a fairly reasonnable review of why some game thrown out from somewhere can't rivalize with a TES game:

http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-general-discussions/off-topic/269641-dark-souls-sucks.html

So you didn't hear the many people who love this game? All the those rave reviews? ... too bad.

I think it's pure ignorance on your part. You just sound like a TES-fanboy (which is stupid in itself because these games vary in quality ... Oblivion was a joke because of the enemies leveling with the player).

As people told you: these games are different. Dark Souls not having a huge open world doesn't make it a bad game, just as Skyrim missing a lot of elements that make DS great doesn't make it a bad game either.

edit: Wow, that rant that you call a "reasonable review" (yep, "Dark Souls sucks" is a fitting title for a reasonable review) is dumber than I expected. That guy couldn't figure out how to play Dark Souls, got angry and posted his rant. That's all.

@TomShreds: Heh, looking at your mini bio made me lol

"I hate winter and I'm totally open-minded."

I would play Dark Souls til they patch Skyrim. bethesda games are notoriously buggy as in they crash a lot and cause(at least me) to get angry enough that it makes me like the game less. I vowed after Oblivion to not buy one of their games til it was patched and so that the modding community(which is one of the best if not the best) would have ample time to make improvements to the game.

I generally can't play one game at a time anyway. If you've got a bunch of free time, go for it.

@Marz said:

i'm designing a Skyrim mod that makes it like Dark Souls, when you die you lose all your gold and respawn at the last inn you visited..... it's all on paper at the moment though....

Awesome. Please post a link on the forum if/when you actually complete this mod.

@Ravenlight said:

@Marz said:

i'm designing a Skyrim mod that makes it like Dark Souls, when you die you lose all your gold and respawn at the last inn you visited..... it's all on paper at the moment though....

Awesome. Please post a link on the forum if/when you actually complete this mod.

Yeah, I would totally play that too.

If you have enough time to play both, go for it. Dark Souls is more about the combat and Skyrim is more about the open world and role-playing.

@Grimnick: As for Skyrim, it's not all about the combat that interests me but it's about everything that surrounds it. I should check dark souls out for myself.

@CptBedlam: I don't mean to argue about that because I sincerly never played Dark Souls. I'll try it someday I swear but for now, my preferences are in TES. I did not think that Oblivion was a joke since I spent hundreds of hours into it. But I never really played Morrowind enough so maybe in comparison it was bad.

I'm so excited about Skyrim that I tend to be a bit rude about it, sorry about that :-)

@TomShreds: Let's agree that they are totally different games. You can't really compare them and it's totally alright if you don't like one of those games. That doesn't mean they're bad.

It seems a bit silly to grab both at the same time in my opinion. Both titles will take hours upon hours to complete. Plus, being shield & swords titles makes them similar but still significantly different because of the gameplay mechanics - but I imagine that difference is why they might be a bit too much to tackle simultaneously (I suppose that depends on how easily you can shift your mindset and techniques). I'm dying to play both, but I think I'll wait until I've thoroughly satisfied my thirst for Skyrim before picking up Dark Souls.

On the other hand, if you're seriously into this genre, maybe your breaks away from Skyrim would be better spent playing Dark Souls.