Dark Souls Preview on IGN

So IGN posted a sort of "review in progress" for Dark Souls today, and I have to say that my chances of picking up the game on launch day just dropped significantly. Demon's Souls was hard, I give it that, and I honestly enjoyed the challenge. There was something so grimly satisfying about sinking the last 2 hours into getting through a level, and that feeling of absolute victory when you won.

But based on this report, Dark Souls takes things too far. Here is the preview: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/119/1195837p1.html

Dark Souls seems to take things to a level BEYOND old school gaming. The IGN editor confesses that after 3 straight hours of just fighting and refighting the boss (and subsequently going through the level over and over)! That's insane! But even that I could live with, because perhaps he was just missing something that other gamers will quickly get. Maybe I'll figure it out faster. But the next part left me in tears, as I nearly called to cancel my preorder. One editor on his email list had spent 60 hours to get through 25% of the game. And then he said that this will be a game that takes players MONTHS to conquer. That. Sounds. Stupid. as. Hell.

Who the hell wants to spent a month or two slogging through the same game, dying time after time? NO ONE! New games come out, life goes on, I get distracted by other things that I want to do. I can tell you now that after 2 weeks of dying and retrying, it will get to the point where I just don't care anymore! And who honestly could?

I love the ambition behind Dark Souls. The amount of detail and thought that must have gone into the game is great, but they need to have realistic expectations from gamers. If it takes me more 2 weeks to beat the game, putting 4-5 hours in a day (5 hours a day for 14 straight days is 70 hours) or even get MOST of the way through it, that is just too damn much time. If it was just straight content, like I always had new things to do, that would be one thing, but constantly making redo the same thing over and over? That is just not going to happen.

Doesn't effect my plans on buying it at all. Every game a reviewer says is hard or complains about never actually ends up being hard. Demon Souls is a joke in terms of difficulty so being harder then that isn't saying much.

Dude... Reviewers aren't usually the best gamers... I remember I read in a review that the mindflayers on Demon's Souls were incredibly difficult but if you take 5 minutes to figure out how their attacks work they are easy... Also I don't understand how a game being long is great with Skyrim but when Dark Souls could take 60 hours its not good. Laser_Hunter

well.... isn't that what the fans are dying for? judging from my experience with Demon's Souls i know i won't be getting it, but you'll never know how far masochistic gamers are willing to go.

I was going to hold off anyway, but this confirms that I'll be holding off for some major price drops. Sure, there'll be people who get it, and when they beat it they'll brag and say it was so easy. That's what they do with Demon's Souls, and after beating it I can honestly say it is rather difficult (I ended up beating the last 2 bosses by summoning people to help me).

RPGs are known for being long games and the difficulty is part of the Demon's Souls appeal. It's only natural for it to pass on to it's sequel.

So... the reviewer stinks at the game... big deal. I bet he must have played Contra with a game genie.

At first I heard Demon's Souls was hard and all that stuff and once i got it, for me, the game was below average in diff... even in NG+

Dude, I like looooong games.H_M_1

[QUOTE="Laser_Hunter"]Dude... Reviewers aren't usually the best gamers... I remember I read in a review that the mindflayers on Demon's Souls were incredibly difficult but if you take 5 minutes to figure out how their attacks work they are easy... Also I don't understand how a game being long is great with Skyrim but when Dark Souls could take 60 hours its not good. Essian

[QUOTE="H_M_1"]Dude, I like looooong games.Essian

Dude... Reviewers aren't usually the best gamers... I remember I read in a review that the mindflayers on Demon's Souls were incredibly difficult but if you take 5 minutes to figure out how their attacks work they are easy... Also I don't understand how a game being long is great with Skyrim but when Dark Souls could take 60 hours its not good. Laser_Hunter

Dark souls is long b/c you are repeating segments of levels...that's not fun.

As for the actual topic, making the game too hard can actually break the game. Hopefully they didn't go overboard

Game looks awesome. I should of pre ordered earlier it though

I think fans of the series would be more upset if the game turned out to be easier than the first.

Demon's Souls wasn't incredibly hard I beat it in about 3 weeks (playing on the weekends), and finished it at 23 hours or so.

The only boss that really sucked was the Maneater, and once I learned the fire pillar spell (forgot it's name), I killed him in 3 hits.

Demon's Souls wasn't as hard as the reviewers said it was

Dude... Reviewers aren't usually the best gamers... I remember I read in a review that the mindflayers on Demon's Souls were incredibly difficult but if you take 5 minutes to figure out how their attacks work they are easy... Also I don't understand how a game being long is great with Skyrim but when Dark Souls could take 60 hours its not good. Laser_Hunter

[QUOTE="Laser_Hunter"]Dude... Reviewers aren't usually the best gamers... I remember I read in a review that the mindflayers on Demon's Souls were incredibly difficult but if you take 5 minutes to figure out how their attacks work they are easy... Also I don't understand how a game being long is great with Skyrim but when Dark Souls could take 60 hours its not good. Essian

Demon's Souls wasn't as hard as the reviewers said it was

Zathic

I got my hands on what I believe was the demo shown at an expo, and the game really does feel a lot like the original, which is good I guess. I'm still 50/50 on whether I'll get this though. It's good to know the game will be bigger, but even on the demo I played, I went up against a couple of bosses, and they were very similar to bosses in Demon's Souls. One reminded me of the boss of world 4-1 (can't remember the name), and the other reminded me of boss 3-2 (maneaters).

The gameplay leading up to those bosses wasn't all that hard. You might get screwed by something jumping out from some random hidden place or going somewhere you aren't meant to go yet, but the rest was pretty straight forward. The AI is still pretty predictable, and the usual case of when you back away far enough and they give up chasing you occured too (free stab in the back!). Magic still made things wayyy easier, although this time there's no MP bar, instead you seem to get a quantitative amount, which I presume means you can buy spells using souls (like arrows for archers in the original game). Which is kinda meh since it meant I had to switch to melee to conserve spells.

So yea, still 50/50 on this.

That ign reviewers just souns all whiney about the game. Demon' Souls was supposedly brutally difficult but I think that was wrong. It just had trial and error and made you learn from your mistakes. It wasn't cheap and the difficulty came from having to learn boss patterns to defeat them. From that ign preview thing it souns like dark souls functions the same way.

That ign reviewers just souns all whiney about the game. Demon' Souls was supposedly brutally difficult but I think that was wrong. It just had trial and error and made you learn from your mistakes. It wasn't cheap and the difficulty came from having to learn boss patterns to defeat them. From that ign preview thing it souns like dark souls functions the same way.

lazyhoboguy

[QUOTE="lazyhoboguy"]

That ign reviewers just souns all whiney about the game. Demon' Souls was supposedly brutally difficult but I think that was wrong. It just had trial and error and made you learn from your mistakes. It wasn't cheap and the difficulty came from having to learn boss patterns to defeat them. From that ign preview thing it souns like dark souls functions the same way.

Essian

So if the difficulty was vastly overrated, why did you make this topic? (No offense intended here, I just think you're overreacting to a couple reviewers who obviously suck at the game).

The difficulty was exaggerated in Demon's Souls, and it will be exaggerated again in Dark Souls.

[QUOTE="Essian"][QUOTE="lazyhoboguy"]

That ign reviewers just souns all whiney about the game. Demon' Souls was supposedly brutally difficult but I think that was wrong. It just had trial and error and made you learn from your mistakes. It wasn't cheap and the difficulty came from having to learn boss patterns to defeat them. From that ign preview thing it souns like dark souls functions the same way.

Vari3ty

So if the difficulty was vastly overrated, why did you make this topic? (No offense intended here, I just think you're overreacting to a couple reviewers who obviously suck at the game).

The difficulty was exaggerated in Demon's Souls, and it will be exaggerated again in Dark Souls.

Dude, I like looooong games.H_M_1

Demon's Souls wasn't hard, it was rewarding. Some videogamers sure haven't played Contra, Blaster Master, or even Super Mario Bros 3 (NES) without the ability to save at all. If you planned carefully, Demon's Souls was very playable, although I admit that it helped when the Firelurker got stuck in the scenery and I could magic shot him to death :). the game was hard to get the platinum trophy though, which, I have!! Respect ! respect!

Demon's Souls wasn't hard, it was rewarding. Some videogamers sure haven't played Contra, Blaster Master, or even Super Mario Bros 3 (NES) without the ability to save at all. If you planned carefully, Demon's Souls was very playable, although I admit that it helped when the Firelurker got stuck in the scenery and I could magic shot him to death :). the game was hard to get the platinum trophy though, which, I have!! Respect ! respect!

zekere

BAH! Trophies are meaningless to me, but you get my respect for liking and beating this great game haha.

[QUOTE="Zathic"]

Demon's Souls wasn't as hard as the reviewers said it was

wizdom

OP liked Demon's Souls, so he didn't think it was too hard

[QUOTE="wizdom"][QUOTE="Zathic"]

Demon's Souls wasn't as hard as the reviewers said it was

Zathic

OP liked Demon's Souls, so he didn't think it was too hard

[QUOTE="Zathic"]

[QUOTE="wizdom"] That's your opinion, but most gamers and reviewers thought it was a hard game.Essian

OP liked Demon's Souls, so he didn't think it was too hard

I just wondered how many people used a guide to finish this in 30 hours. Yes, I can play Contra without a guide, I hate guides, youtube etc, unless I have to and try to avoid as much as possible. The game is not that difficult if you find strategies. I like finding those in a game and not using the internet or a guide. There could be too many variables in Dark Souls and thus it's not a fair comparison to a game like Contra.