next »

[gimymblert]

opinions?

[s0]

first opinion: another souls series video that neglects demon's souls.

(btw i think demon's souls is tied with bloodborne for best level design in the series)

will watch video now and post more later.

[s0]

ok yeah, not a lot to say because i agree with most everything. except: nightmare of mensis is one of my favorite levels in the game. it's really well paced, has some terrifying challenges (that were evidently too much for super bunnyhop ehehehehehehe) and has a great narrative on top of that. probably the best "final" level in any souls game (tho lothric castle in dks3 isn't bad either).


there are a few interesting things in how he plays the games. for instance i never pushed on past the taurus demon after i killed it. i mean i do that NOW, but on my first 2 playthroughs it just seemed like backtracking to the bonfire was the obvious thing to do. also this is the first time ive heard about the lost bastille door leading into nothingness being a shortcut. i always thought it was just a trap lol.

[DJFloppyFish]

i dunno, i never found the challenges in mensis to be particularly satisfying. frenzy was kinda broken in an unfun way, and i still never got how to confidently handle that spider room, it always became an unmanageable clusterfuck. might be different when i return to bborne (which i have a strong urge to do now for some reason).

I prefer a more typical combat gauntlet, like boletarian palace 1-4 or lothric castle. i seriously love that they brought back the three different class hostile NPCs before the penultimate boss for dks3.

[Glyph]

Frenzy was annoying, as is anything that makes you wait for it to deplete in an action game. That just doesn't need to exist, and it sticks out like a sore thumb in a fast-paced game like BB. Most of the Mensis enemies were also hard to fight for bad reasons.

One note on the video: Poison in DS1 and DS3 is actually handled well because there's no sense in waiting for them to wear off, and generally not much use in healing it since you will just get re-poisoned immediately in the swamp areas. It works well because it does a very small amount of damage, so it just serves as a device to keep you moving forward.

[s0]

If you bring 10 sedatives to mensis, you'll never have to wait for the frenzy to wear off. Interestingly, you can actually use the giant brain's frenzy against the enemies in the first part of the level.

The winter lantern area (as well as the winter lanterns in general) is actually one of my favorite parts of the game. It's one of bloodborne's only real "horror" moments, because holy shit there are these creepy lovecraftian monsters and you go insane just from looking at them. Dks3 tried to replicate this with the Irithyll jailers but it doesn't work nearly as well (imo). It's also one of those "souls moments" where it seems impossible at first but can be mastered with some clever play.

[tortoiseandcrow]

Been stuck on the final boss for a while now, intermittently going back and giving it another couple of goes before wandering off to do something else. My very lightweight stabby build (I poured everything into dexterity and endurance, and almost nothing into health) means that the sheer length of the fight is rather punishing, and I don't get very much opportunity to learn the second stage before promptly dying again. Unlike other bosses, I don't feel like I've made much progress after dying. At this point I kind of just want to finish the game, so I may cave and use some summons.

[s0]

either that or grind a bit and level vitality.

[Raptor85]

The winter lantern area (as well as the winter lanterns in general) is actually one of my favorite parts of the game. It's one of bloodborne's only real "horror" moments, because holy shit there are these creepy lovecraftian monsters and you go insane just from looking at them. Dks3 tried to replicate this with the Irithyll jailers but it doesn't work nearly as well (imo). It's also one of those "souls moments" where it seems impossible at first but can be mastered with some clever play.

imho the jailers were a pretty obvious callback to the mindflayers from demon's souls more than the stuff in BB. hell that whole area even LOOKS a lot like tower of latria's jail section

[s0]

yes but i meant the whole "take damage from looking at them" part. the latria cthulhus didn't have that.

[DJFloppyFish]

mindflayers > jailers

I love the art design of both, but mindflayers achieve a "oh shit i dont want him to see me" effect just as well as the jailers without some silly red light/green light health shortening mechanic.

[s0]

jailers are fucking hippies anyway, branding you with peace signs and shit.

but really, i think what the jailers are missing is a creepy sound effect that announces them before you see them. the mindflayers had their bells and the winter lanterns had their unsettling singing. it's a classic horror trick but both games execute it well.

[FrankieSmileShow]

Latria's sound design was really important to its feel yeah. Not just the bells from the octopus-headed guards, but the screams from that prisoner guy, the singing from the jailed lady, it all came together in a really spooky area that almost had a background music to it, without really having any. The second half of the area also had something great with the giant demon heart's heartbeat sounding like tribal drums. The whole area had amazing atmosphere from all this.

[Capntastic]

Capntastic Dark Souls Update:  Through sheer ornery persistence I beat the heck out of the big knight in Undead Burg and maybe one day I will have enough strength to use his sword.  Now I will continue onwards since I think I got everything in the area.

[s0]

Capntastic Dark Souls Update:  Through sheer ornery persistence I beat the heck out of the big knight in Undead Burg and maybe one day I will have enough strength to use his sword.  Now I will continue onwards since I think I got everything in the area.

which big knight? havel or the black knight? since you said sword i'm assuming you mean the black knight.

[Capntastic]

Yeah, I got the black knight sword which seems fun since I wanna be a cool spooky knight one day

ALSO:  I have made my way through Undead Parish and killed a skeleton pope, and also found a blacksmith with a spooky golem in his basement.

[battlerager]

I just reached the Profaned Capital.

Rarely in my life have I sweat this profusely and felt so relieved.
My vocabulary lacks the words needed to describe how disgusted, tilted and pressured I felt until I reached it.


Whew.

[DJFloppyFish]

Latria's sound design was really important to its feel yeah. Not just the bells from the octopus-headed guards, but the screams from that prisoner guy, the singing from the jailed lady, it all came together in a really spooky area that almost had a background music to it, without really having any. The second half of the area also had something great with the giant demon heart's heartbeat sounding like tribal drums. The whole area had amazing atmosphere from all this.

The outdoor ambiance did a lot for me too, constantly hearing crickets really distinguished it from being a generic prison/dungeon area. I dunno why, but it always gave me the impression that this jail was a building recently built/re-purposed for locking away the former royal family, and that's just so cool. Only level that comes close in terms of sheer uniqueness and spooky vibes is Bloodborne's research hall. What an amazing level.

uuuggh, the old hunters was sooo good.

[quantumpotato]

Made it to fight club. So much fun. Took a minute for me to realize that ALL summons were dark spirits no matter what.. cool hat-tip from the devs.

[DJFloppyFish]

EDIT 2:



pretty interesting, looks like they fought the urge to include more things from 2. im glad there isn't a backstab proof set, but that set with the plank actually looked pretty rad. that serpent man set looked nice too wonder why they removed it.

edit: i have no idea if the video i posted is even showing lul