What is this game?

[killkhan]

Could somebody give me a run down about what exactly this game is?

Thanks.

[marsson]

It's basically an RPG for people who like hard games. The game itself is single player first, and multiplayer second. You start off with almost no equipment, and you don't really know what to do. But the more you play it the more you get the hang of it.

The action in the game is heavily based on either blocking your enemies attacks, or avoiding them by rolling away. If you try to go all berserk and swing away at the enemies, you will die pretty fast.

The games checkpoint system is based on so called "Bonfires" which are placed around the world, and by activating these you'll spawn by the last one you activated if you die.

About the coop...

I'll just post my summary of the game here (I wrote this in another thread earlier)

The co-op in this game is implemented like this; you can play as both living and as dead in this game. If you're alive it means that you can get help from other players by picking up their soulsigns (shining icons on the ground). When you pick up one of those the player who put it there gets summoned into your game. You can summon up to two players at a time.
You can put out your own soulsign when you are alive, and when you are dead.

(THE most important thing though when it comes to co-op is that you and your possible friend that you want to play with must be within a certain range of eachothers characters level. If I remember correctly this restriction is around 10-20% This is also true when it comes to invading someone, or being invaded by someone else)

When the player you summoned help you with killing the local boss, he automatically returns to his world with the prize of being alive again (If he's dead), and he also gain humanity. Humanity is the games items for turning yourself alive if you are dead. You do this at a bonfire (which is the games checkpoints, you can also repair and store items etc at these)

There are some variations to this though, since there's different covenants you can join in the game. Depending on which covenant you belong to you might play with other players.

The covenants in the game comes with different benefits. Some are co-op focused, which means that you can level up that single covenant by playing with other players and helping them. Other covenants are based on PvP, Griefing etc. They're all different.

Almost all covenants work like this though; if you meet the criteria that the covenant is based on (for example killing another player by invading) you gain an item, you then return to the covenant leader and offer that item to him/her, when you offer enough items the covenant level increase, and then you might recieve an item in return.

If you are dead though you can't play with anyone except yourself

The co-op work the other way around too, if you are alive you can "invade" other players that are alive and kill them, if you kill them you get all the xp that they had on them at that time plus some humanity if I remember correctly.

Sorry if it's a little confusing, I've played the game for so long on ps3 that all of this is plain as day to me. If you want to know anything else, please ask away

[Baresark]

Some other vital information.

This is a third person game with skill based gameplay. You know how to play your character, you do well. If you don't, you die a lot more. You can equip different armors with different stats, swords, shields, spears, whips, clubs, great swords, hammers, axes, bows and cross bows. All of the equipment is stat based, to both use and get bonuses on. There is also magics such as pyromancy.

[killkhan]

Thanks for the info.

Is it open world, or linear?

[marsson]

It's mostly linear, but the world is gigantic and you can unlock shortcuts between the different areas. After the tutorial stage you can pretty much go anywhere you want in the beginning, though some areas are harder then the others!

[killkhan]

It's mostly linear, but the world is gigantic and you can unlock shortcuts between the different areas. After the tutorial stage you can pretty much go anywhere you want in the beginning, though some areas are harder then the others!

Is it just boss fights?

[marsson]

How do you mean? There are lots of boss fights in the game, but there's lots of ground to cover in between, and some areas doesn't have boss fights at all, kinda...

[Kailieann]

I'd assume he's asking whether or not there are fights that don't involve bosses.

If that's the case, then the answer is yes. There are several non-boss enemies.

[Teh_Barbarian]

Some of the minor enemies could be bosses in their own right.

[MattxAus]

If you are dead though you can't play with anyone except yourself

no, if you are dead, you can drop your soul stone and be invited to someone elses world, in order to help them out killing a boss, and thus regain your human form, thus granting you the ability to summon other "undead" players in order to help you beat a certain area or boss. - you can play with other people, just not as freely.


Is it open world, or linear?
the world is open, in a sense after the tutorial. you can go almost anywhere you want, and do whatever you want, but it is not open to the extent of GTA/Elder Scrolls, which is aaaaalmost what the developers gave the impression of, at least to me, when they were releasing notes prior to the release of the game.

while there are some open areas, the majority of the game is spent crawling through caves and swamps and tunnels - it can almost get quite claustrophobic if you're immersed enough.

anyway, think of the world as a spiderweb of tunnels and pathways, all interconnected. there is only 2 or 3 places that spring to mind where there is a "cutscene" that splits a part of the world off - other than that, you can quite freely run from one end of the world, straight to the core of it, no loading screens or cutscenes or moving screens, quite nice, but you probably wont notice it in the long run, considering how cramped some of the areas can be as well as the contributing factor of the low light levels.

Is it just boss fights?

no there are few bosses. the majority of the game is GETTING the the boss fights. more often than not, it will be the enemies on the path to the boss that will be your greatest problem. the first time, youll often get through fine with no issues, as youre being cautious, then youll get killed by the boss. next time youll run through because nothing will surprise you - yet you will be impaled by a lunge, or a dog bite stunlocking you while all the other enemies catch up and tear you apart, and so it goes on. then youll try to kill everything, but youll be getting frustrated, and end up using all your stamina, forgetting to block at the right time, get impaled etcetc.

keep your cool - take breaks every so often - keep in mind where youre going, as well as your surroundings to succeed.

oh, and maybe if the game itself is too much to handle, after you log in, perhaps you should disconnect your internet connection, in order to prevent yourself from being invaded (human form)

[Geryboy]

Could somebody give me a run down about what exactly this game is?

Thanks.

it is a game. do you want to know what a game is too?

[killkhan]

Thanks for the info.

Geryboy, you're neither funny or clever.

[Teh_Barbarian]

it is a game. do you want to know what a game is too?

There just had to be at least one.

[marsson]

@MattxAus

Yeah I wrote that too, though the part you quoted does make it sound like I meant that you can't play with anyone when you're dead. What I meant though is that you can't be invaded, and that you can't get help from someone else.

[Jaheebus]

it is a game. do you want to know what a game is too?

He stated that it was a game in his post. Wannabe-smart-♥♥♥.

[IndigoAK]

Two things I haven't seen mentioned:

Magic in this game can be very slow. Magic users in the beginning are extremely vulnerable. If you do manage to survive long enough to get better magic though, you can destroy pretty much anything.

The second thing is that weight actually affects your effectiveness in combat. Wearing heavy armor actually slows you down and reduces your ability to evade as quickly, and in some cases can make it really hard to survive since sometimes you just have to run away.

Finally, there is no traditional jump in this game, though there is both a running leap/roll type thing and a standing hop, both of which you'll need to reach some of the better gear in hidden areas. Outside of those two moves though, you can't really jump at will. Oh, and you can purposely fall onto things. Enemies will take damage if you literally fall down on their heads from high enough.

[wormed]

You really don't need jump.What will you get with a traditional jump button?There aren't any ledges you can get to either way.

[IndigoAK]

You really don't need jump.What will you get with a traditional jump button?There aren't any ledges you can get to either way.

There are actually quite a few ledges and areas you can get to by using the small hop. And I never said you needed a traditional jump. Just that the game didn't have one. Nothing about what I said included an implication of disappointment.

[Heids24]

...an exercise in patience.

[MattxAus]

Two things I haven't seen mentioned:

Magic in this game can be very slow. Magic users in the beginning are extremely vulnerable. If you do manage to survive long enough to get better magic though, you can destroy pretty much anything.

Not true. On my first playthrough I went thief, went and talked to the imprisoned blacksmith, bought soul arrow. got the catalyst. freed the apprentice after some toil. got another soul arrow. proceeded to cheaply dispatch foes at a distance. just dont forget to use a shield, low weight armor, and to roll a lot. youll be fine.


The second thing is that weight actually affects your effectiveness in combat. Wearing heavy armor actually slows you down and reduces your ability to evade as quickly, and in some cases can make it really hard to survive since sometimes you just have to run away.

Equipped Weight / Equip Burden
00% to 25% Quick Roll (rolls straight up, able to sprint away almost instantly)
25% to 50% Medium Roll (takes a split second to get up back up)
50% to 75% Slow Roll (nearly terrible)
75% to 100% Fat Roll (terrible - on the ground for a second or so)
>100% NO ROLL (2 second stunlock)

the above taken from the wikidot site, just slightly altered so it makes more sense

there is also a ring, that alters your rolls. dont listen to anyone who says rolls are based on Dex - that is an in-game running joke.

[Geryboy]

He stated that it was a game in his post. Wannabe-smart-♥♥♥.

1st of all he'll get bad sum ups of people who think they are pros in this game. 2nd he would be better off on the wikki site to get a better and closer 1st impression of the game. But forums are so humorless and full of wannabe superpros that the filth will get the upper hand anyway.

[killkhan]

1st of all he'll get bad sum ups of people who think they are pros in this game. 2nd he would be better off on the wikki site to get a better and closer 1st impression of the game. But forums are so humorless and full of wannabe superpros that the filth will get the upper hand anyway.

First of all, you're wrong. I've got more info from this thread than I did from any other sort of 'wiki' research. It's been very helpful and given me a very good understanding of the game (apart from your input).

Secondly, this thread was fine until you started trolling like one of those 'filth' types you speak about.

Thirdly, why are you even posting here? You've given absolutely no helpful insight into this game, or posted anything of use, unless you just wanted to descend the thread into a wind up, troll fest.

And finally, as I said earlier, you're neither funny or clever, so please take your attempted humour/trolling else where. Also, your attempted back tracking is cringe worthy.

Nothing else to say to you.

But thanks to everybody else as you've given me a lot of insight into the game and I'm almost certainly going to buy it now.

[MattxAus]

full of wannabe superpros

you dont need to be kickass at pvp in order to have played the game and to recommend it.

secondly, you dont need to be good at all in order to teach someone how the game works - look at olympic trainers. they probably cant break world records, but they can certainly train people who can.

lastly, you should be motivating others to play games like this, so that other studios think "hey, that game is popular, lets try something like that and throw in our own twist" in order to stave off the copy-pasta stagnation that is gaming today - who the hell wants to play CoD with the same damn AK46, on the same damn maps, where only the rankings and number on the change through the iterations? (discounting the zombie whoard that already does. no, that wasnt a typo, they really do sell themselves to the publisher. and yes, it was spelled ever so slightly wrong, but that is because it is a pun.)

[Geryboy]

you dont need to be kickass at pvp in order to have played the game and to recommend it.

secondly, you dont need to be good at all in order to teach someone how the game works -

well that's the problem if you aren't good maybe you will get how the game works totally wrong and end up giving somebody the wrong impression. Also I'm not interested to contribute in the crusade of fan made viral marketing as the madness can be seen in so many threads nowadays. Your 1st thing to do if you're interested in the game is watch trailers and offical sites, get some info to back up your interest and have some substance for a propper discussion, or you get this....

[ZeroRawr]

well that's the problem if you aren't good maybe you will get how the game works totally wrong and end up giving somebody the wrong impression. Also I'm not interested to contribute in the crusade of fan made viral marketing as the madness can be seen in so many threads nowadays. Your 1st thing to do if you're interested in the game is watch trailers and offical sites, get some info to back up your interest and have some substance for a propper discussion, or you get this....

Geryboy. Lemme level with ya. Just accept the fact that no one agrees with you nor likes you and you should probably go away. Now, I'm indifferent with you but just face it. You've rustled some jimmies and they're never gonna leave you alone. :(

[MattxAus]

no, i understand where Gery is coming from, but the point of the matter is, regardless of trailers and wiki spaces and everything that demon and dark souls had, they were both sleeper hits because there wasnt much public exposure of it at all.
true, people who havent played the game unto death wont know its full extent, but the game can still stand on its own legs, even without -any- of the pvp. the game is first and foremost a single player game. most people, if not all who have played it, have finished it. most people who come to the souls, come because they heard it is a challenge, not because the pvp is ruthless, thats just an added incentive to some.

and as far as fan made viral marketing goes, the souls series is one of the few that i will actually bother with, it needs it, it deserves it, unlike the CoDs, the GTAs and the Final Fantasies (the latest, anyhow) of the world.

[Jaheebus]

I'll just chuck this in. The game is pretty easy now they fixed the summoning (xbox) just summon 1 or 2 people into your game before a boss and you'll face roll the area.

Not to put you off this, the game still offers a challenge.

I still think Demon's Souls was harder/tougher/rage-y

[TheDuck1234]

I still think Demon's Souls was harder/tougher/rage-y

I somewhat agree as long as you dont go a mage in Demon's souls, when it's just a cake walk after you stack up on any items that gives mana back. my little brother that somewhat sucks at playing games, he just destroyed and beat the game with "hide and shoot lazer" strategy and if that dont work when "run/roll and shoot lazer".

[xNonox]

I somewhat agree as long as you dont go a mage in Demon's souls, when it's just a cake walk after you stack up on any items that gives mana back. my little brother that somewhat sucks at playing games, he just destroyed and beat the game with "hide and shoot lazer" strategy and if that dont work when "run/roll and shoot lazer".

I always thought Demon's Souls was easier even without a mage. The boss fights might have been somewhat harder, but once you got the hang of it they were easy. Also, the enemies respawn less because you aren't frequently resting at bonfires, so if you have to backtrack through a level, you have less of a chance of dying.