Question on Dark Souls

[Stg-Flame]

I played Demon's Souls for years and still go back and play it every now and then, but for some reason, I just couldn't get into Dark Souls on the PS3. I was gifted the base DS game on Steam and I watched this year's AGDQ run on Dark Souls 3 and it looked like it brought back a lot of the feeling from Demon's Souls. I've also read a lot of comments regarding the series and most people regard DS2 as being the weakest of the entire series and generally rate Dark Souls 3 on-par with Demon's Souls (though most people rate Dark Souls 1 as the best).

So, would it be a safe bet that I could play through Dark Souls, skip DS 2, and move straight to DS 3? I'd like to actually finish Dark Souls and it does have that same feel that if you don't know what you're doing, it's going to be a long road ahead, but I actually enjoy that in a game, so I'm hoping I just played it at the wrong time and will get sucked into the game like I did with Demon's Souls. I should also note that the first time I played Demon's Souls, I shelved it after getting slaughtered time and time again until I could put fourth the effort to learn the enemy movements and how to counter properly.

 

[SharpHawk]

I would rank them as follows:
1. Demon's Souls
2. Dark Souls
3. Dark Souls 3
4. Dark Souls 2

While Demon's Souls was the first in the series and deserves to be praised for being innovative, that's not the only reason it's so good. The atmosphere in that game has not been matched by any of its successors, and the way the gameplay and difficulty synergize with this atmosphere provide an experience very reminiscent of survival horror. So while there are four Souls games, the original remains a unique experience, and my favorite.

Dark Souls loses most of the horror elements in favor of a religious/divine fantasy theme, and adds a (mostly) continuous world to explore. The more you play the game you more you appreciate just how connected everything is and how many locations can be seen from a distance. It's also highly replayable due to the many routes you can take through the game, kind of like a Metroidvania.

Dark Souls 2 just generally feels low-quality, amateurish. Additionally the world branches out from one central location with barely any connections between them. The DLC is quite good though, and I do recommend playing through all three of them. It's a shame the base game wasn't made with the same care.

Dark Souls 3 is, gameplay-wise, probably the worst of the series. A few types of weapons (rapiers as an obvious example) trivialize the vast majority of the game, while most other weapons struggle to be of any use at all. The world is the least branching (most linear) in the series, but you do get to see locations from VERY far away so you are still immersed in the world (doesn't help replayability though). So why do I rank it higher than DS2? For one thing, the game is artistically very well realized. It's a real joy to explore DS3's locations. This is helped by the fact that, while the journey from location to location is highly linear, the locations themselves are some of the most non-linear in the series. Additionally, the game has some really, really good bosses.

TL;DR: play them in order, buying them on sale of course.

 

[arosusi]

There's nothing lost if you skip DS2. It's not up to the standard of the other games. The world design has flaws, and there are some design solutions related to game mechanics that make it play differently from the other games. It is sluggish, has a stat for invincibility frames, and there are hitbox issues that are worse than other games in the series.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Thanks for the input. If I see DS2 on sale, I might pick it up just to have a complete collection. I just started a new game on Demon's Souls last night and I already miss my Blessed Halberd...

 

[Gryz]

I tried to get into the DS-series twice, by playing DS2. I just couldn't get into it. Too many reasons why. Didn't like the controls. I don't enjoy difficulty just for difficulty's sake. I also didn't like the way the game looked.

This spring I tried DS1 again. Took me a while to set up the game properly. With dsfix and dsmfix. Those are a must. And then I installed a huge amount of high-res textures. And a few more modifications to make the game look better. I play all my games with with trackball and joystick. (Trackball is just a mouse. For mouse-look, dodge and block. And the joystick for movement and buttons on the joystick for abilities like weapon-switching). Took me a while to set that up. Then it took me quite a few more hours until I got used to the combat. I guess it took me 3 sessions of a few hours to get to the first real boss (Taurus Demon, not the Asylum Demon).

But then I really got into the game. And I enjoyed it very much. The only thing I don't like is the difficulty. And the harsh punishment for dieing sometimes. There is a simple solution for that (if you play on a PC). The game doesn't allow you to save and load a previous save-file. However, you can quit the game to the main menu, alt-tab, then go to the folder with the save-game. Copy the save-game. If you ever want to go back to that point-in-time, just quit the game, alt-tab again, and copy the saved save-game back. (It's in mydocuments/nbgi/darksouls or something). Some might find this cheating, I don't. (Note, I didn't play online. I dislike PvP and I hate invasions).

After I finished DS1 I went and played DS3. Also a fun game. I skipped DS2.

Maybe one of these days, if I don't have anything better to do, I might give DS2 another shot.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

While Demon's Souls was the first in the series and deserves to be praised for being innovative, that's not the only reason it's so good. The atmosphere in that game has not been matched by any of its successors, and the way the gameplay and difficulty synergize with this atmosphere provide an experience very reminiscent of survival horror. So while there are four Souls games, the original remains a unique experience, and my favorite.

Have you played Bloodborne? I'm wondering how Demon's Souls compares to it and whether buying a used PS3 is worth it for that one game. Because I like Bloodborne much better than Dark Souls 3 for that gothic setting and the aggressive gameplay it requires via the short regen window you get for attacking after getting hit. Honestly, Bloodborne is probably my favorite game since Skyrim, so I'm really leaning towards getting a PS3 just for Demon's Souls.

 

[EXCellR8]

Demon's isn't nearly as refined or "themed" out as Blood, but it's still a really lauded game on PS3. I did own if for awhile but I wasted so many hours trying to be okay at it that I eventually pawned it off.

I saw a copy of it in Game Stop a few weeks ago for like $15 so if you can find a cheap PS3 it's worth a look.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Demon's isn't nearly as refined or "themed" out as Blood, but it's still a really lauded game on PS3. I did own if for awhile but I wasted so many hours trying to be okay at it that I eventually pawned it off.

I saw a copy of it in Game Stop a few weeks ago for like $15 so if you can find a cheap PS3 it's worth a look.

Crap, GameStop is selling fat PS3 80 GB (so no PS2 support, no card reader) used for $40 but when I called to see if the one store in my city that had it would hold it for me for 30 minutes until I could get there they told me someone else had already reserved it.

 

[EXCellR8]

I'd try local Letgo ads they come up constantly. People usually take what they can get on there so it's typically easier to find a good deal.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I'd try local Letgo ads they come up constantly. People usually take what they can get on there so it's typically easier to find a good deal.

Oh man, lots of people think their crappy PS3 is worth $150 on there. I guess not as bad as craigslist where I see people selling their PS3 for $200-$450 lol. God my PS4 was $230 brand new from newegg with no sales tax plus I got a $10 Playstation Store credit and a $60 copy of Uncharted 4 with it, making the hardware effectively $160 since I was going to buy Uncharted 4 the day I got the system if it hadn't been included.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I got lucky with a Craigslist ad for a PS3. A mom was selling her kid's PS3 as punishment for something they did. She just wanted $20 for it and all the games. I tried to give her more, but she refused and said the money is going toward yardwork supplies. Never found another decent deal on that site since.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I'd try local Letgo ads they come up constantly. People usually take what they can get on there so it's typically easier to find a good deal.

It's funny, that same Gamestop got in a 160 GB PS3 today I guess, so I just picked it up for $40 and got Demon's Souls and Metal Gear Solid 4. I'll probably also get the Shadow of the Colossus HD Remaster and the Okami HD Remaster, I have been wanting to play those games that the PS2 wasn't really able to handle.

 

[EXCellR8]

MGS4 and shadows are great titles. I still need to play the last guardian at some point...