Dark Souls is one of the most depressing games I ever played

@JangoWuzHere: The story of Ace Combat 6 is universally joked by all Ace Combat fans. It's horrible.

Other than that, Ace Combat 6 followed the formula of 4, 5, and Zero and expanded on the large scale. There were proper boss battles, some unique missions here and there, but most were your grinding missions were you had to just kill X things. That was the vast majority of the PS2 Ace Combat games too. I had no problem with that.

One of the best missions in Ace Combat 6 is when you were behind enemy lines and got jumped by about 35 aircraft. It was intense.

Ace Combat 6's biggest problem was it ran at 30 fps and relied on a new movement mechanic where you could turn the plane much faster by holding a button on the controller at the cost of speed. I think it was called High-G mode or something. I never had a problem with the missiles being too slow though. Also the game allowed you to choose your objectives, but there were plenty of combined arms missions and anti-aircraft objectives to accomplish if you wanted. You could go a near 100% bombing route to you.

Ace Combat 6 had an amazing feeling of progression in the battles. Ace Combat 4, 5, and Zero had a few missions scattered throughout where a battle progressed, but Ace Combat 6 made that a focus. Pushing various objectives would slightly change the next set of mission objectives you had and the scenario for the rest of the army. There was some slight branching that really gave the player the ability to have a visual impact on the battlefield. I really liked that.

I think you should try to replay it on a slightly higher difficult and not just grab an A-10 and do the bombing missions. There is a lot of good there. Just mute the dialog if possible.

More foreboding

It's only depressing because you need to:

Depressed? "Try jumping off." **bah-dum tssh**

It's not depressing to me anymore, it's atmospheric. Your top 5 depressing games are also great games imo. Maybe Fallout 3 was depressing/gloomy to me.

I'm confused.

You can't get into Dark Souls because it's depressing? You mean you haven't finished it?

And how is Stalker depressing?

You're obviously not familiar with how deep the Souls lore can go. No Ace Combat discussion is going on. They're still, very much so, talking about Dark Souls.

classic. Even the pro's fall for these.

lol, it’s a bleak post-apocalyptic world filled with bloodsuckers … what else do you need

@_Matt_:

Eh, he gets that dark side from his mother. :P

Depressing isn't how I would describe it, but sure.

His mother also has good taste.

I guess that is also a compliment to you haha.

Depressing? You sure you don't mean atmospheric?

Hopeless, yeah. Another one would be Doom. Especially the ending of the first one.

Well, TBH, I needed to pour holy water an that Vamp a long time ago... hehe. :P

Thanks mah friend, good stuff. :)

@Wasdie: Or the FA-18 games (Hornet and Korea). Landing on an aircraft carrier was like getting an achievement in real life, let alone doing it with nothing but your instruments at night.

I wish this was me.

You need to get into the deeper theme of the game then. The repetition, to know that it'll all again wither away, the fact that all that's old dies for something new to be born, and all that jazz is what you should get into. Dark Souls, surely, is depressing; but it's not depressing in the way that it makes you go nihilist or tells you depressing stuff. It just shows you 'life' in its purest form. There are so many life lessons to be accrued from this game that I feel sorry for those who could never get into the depth of it and played only for the challenge.

For an instance, Crestfallen Warrior is the true embodiment of a man who simply lacks that one strand of a gene necessary for something he desires to be. If you'd been in the sports team of your High School, you would've had seen more depressed peeps than happy ones. Most of those benchwarmers just lack only one thing - whatever that maybe. They're talented, spirited, yet they cannot make it. The same is the case of the symbolic Crestfallen Warrior. His only flaw is that he's not the 'Chosen One' by the fate. Fate decides our helplessness. The philosophies are endless.

TBH I don’t like Dark Souls minimalist storytelling, it’s kewl and maybe poetic to leave the details for the player to discover but this ain’t my thing … after Undead Burg, I couldn’t go farther, I have a different taste when it comes to RPG genre, I prefer a game with more diversity in atmosphere and the theme, more interaction with NPC’s – like a tavern full of people - not a desolated black and white world. Something like pillars of eternity

I still remember how Solaire losing his grasp on the Sun was one of the greatest bits of despair found in the story within DkS1. That right there, taking one of the NPC's who was so amazed and full of life by his admiration of the Sun, found himself so deep within the pits of helplessness because he had lost his source of life. Loved it.

It's not 'minimalist'. A rich story is there; all it takes is for one to wonder and connect the dots. I suggest watching SunlightMaggot's videos for the movie-version of Dark Souls story. That will help you easily get into the story. He makes 'movies' out of characters in Dark Souls and has even made a whole movie series of Dark Souls 2 explaining the events through in-game shots and videos. That guy is seriously good at his job - but he stopped making videos because of being underrated.

Actually Dark Souls is known for being minimalistic …just Google it, some of DS fans believe this even made the game far more effective and superior because it shows things in a simple and uncomplicated way

How can you say that when you have a sunbro to go to!!!

You kiss your mother with that whore mouth of yours?

That's atmosphere for you, something 90% of games don't even have

Well, yeah, I concede. I misread your post. I thought you were talking about the story being minimalist when you were talking about storytelling. Just check out SunlightMaggot's videos. That's some good stuff.

I found Demon's Souls (and as you mentioned STALKER) far more desolate and for hence depressing games - Dark Souls feels more adventurous due to its more populated world and vibrant aesthetic. In Demon's Souls too having "good" characters like Ostrava and Astraea kill themselves and characters like Yurt and Mephistopheles trying to kill the characters added to that feeling for - made everything feel a bit hopeless and futile.

Dark Souls has a very... lonely feel to it. I don't think "depressing" is quite right. You really cherish when you come across another NPC to talk to... even if everyone has a really sinister laugh.

@freedomfreak: throwing poo at enemies?

And why is this the first I've heard of this crazy shit???

@freedomfreak: that's some funny shit.

Silent Hill 3 gave me an extremely morbid feeling later into the game.

There is so much blood and rust mixed with that weird music.

It was also the first game I pre-ordered and the first rated M game that I purchased myself.

Still have the soundtrack that came with the game if you pre-ordered it.

@the_master_race said:

I’ve tried many times to get into these games but it didn’t work, Dark souls has really a depressing theme, it’s not sad or frightening, … it’s depressing, makes you feel lonely, it’s taking a walk into the dead city of Minas Morgul where there is no sunshine,and this could be one of the main reasons why some of gamers didn’t find these series amusing. ..So what about you guys? how’d you find Dark souls …..?

PS: Here’s my top 5 depressing games

1-DarkSouls

2-Silent Hill 2

3-Siren

4-S.T.A.L.K.E.R

5-Limbo

for me shadow of the colossus is the limit of i can stand in terms of depressing, darksouls is not only depressing, but also too dificult to keep me going on such a depressing and ugly game

Dark Souls is one of the greatest games i have ever played, like top 5

I ended up killing all the NPCs except 2 blacksmiths on my first playthrough. I accidentally made the guy at Firelink Shrine go aggressive so I killed him. Then I just continued with the others, most didn't seem too trust worthy anyways.

Made for a lonely playthrough.

Dark Souls is not depressing but it is very humbling. You go play it thinking you know a thing or two about games and then you get the lesson of your life.

Silent Hill Shattered Memories was pretty depressing.

Demon's Souls was much more depressing in my opinion. The Tower of Latria is about as depressing as a video game can get.