Review of Dark Souls: PtDE (PC)

[SigilFey]

If you don't like to read, skip to the "Plain English Summary" at the bottom. I don't need to be verbose, I just like to be. :cool:

And, I'm finished. Just got through my first play-through. I rank games the same way I rank all Art: "Tone Yes" or "Tone No". I don't really believe in getting into percentages or "[X] out of 5 Stars" etc. Why? Because there are just too many opinions in the world, and they're all valid. I find keeping it simple to be the best way of expressing whether the "piece" (be it a game, a film, or an oil-and-pastel portait of Susan B. Anthony) accomplishes the goal it set out to achieve. "Tone Yes" doesn't necessarily mean perfection was attained, and "Tone No" doesn't mean it's total rubbish. It's just the overall flavor that is left in your mouth after experiencing the piece. That being said, on to the review:

Early Game:

Fantastic start! I loved the options in the character creation system. Lots of it was pretty archaic, which isn't necessarily a bad thing! However, so many of the game mechanics were such a far cry from the standard RPG systems out there--like how magic works, exactly what each statistic does and how much it effects your character, and the way leveling works for stats vs. leveling for equipment--that I felt as if there was no opportunity to create a vision for a character and attempt to play knowing what your strengths and weaknesses would be. Some more relevant info with specific descriptions at this basic stage would have gone a long way. The storyline and intro sequence were excellent, however. Not too much hand-holding, but a good introduction to the basics of the game.

Main Gameplay:

Started as a Deprived, and managed to build a standard a sword-and-board character based on Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance. I used the Astora Straight Sword, maxed out with Twinkling Titanite to +5, the Partizan maxed out to standard +10, and a maxed Grass Crest Shield to be able to keep up my stick-and-move tactics. I used this gear pretty much for the whole game. Armor was Elite Knight Plate, the Black Boots and Black Gloves, and no helmet, as I was just over the magic 25% weight-limit, and I really wanted to be able to move. I also put a few points into Faith and Attunement to be able to use the divine spells that are offered to you early on.

Here's where I encountered my first major hang-up. It took a lot of souls after I made the decision to get into divine magic, and I was utterly disappointed that the initial selection of spells...was it. I spent around 70,000 souls to buy up all of these abilities, and the only ones that were even moderately useful were the Healing spells and, most definitely, Homeward. I would have imagined a game focused on "The Undead", with NPCs met early-on embarking on some sort of holy mission, that I would eventually encounter powerful divine spells that bolstered my defenses against demonic enemies, as well as massive one-off abilities to lay down the holy wrath of a deity on those forever lost to the path of righteousness.

What I got, instead, was an assortment of relatively mundane or pointless utilitarian spells with one, utterly useless offensive spell that goes "Pow...!" and knocks enemies down for a few points of damage (and by the time the animation for casting the spell is done, they're all pretty much back on their feet anyway.) That was it. For the whole game. All those souls that could have been put into advancing my traits for a constructive purpose, wasted on things I would hardly ever use.

Except for Homeward. Which is arguably the most useful dang spell in the whole frickin' game.

When I finally learned that other schools of magic were, more or less, not available at the same time as my divine abilities, I felt as if the game had sucker-punched me and was laughing like a brain-dead adolescent thinking that he had just played some sort of really clever prank...when, in fact, he had just leapt around a corner and flung a water-balloon in my face for no apparent reason. It wasn't clever: it was just random and annoying. Now, there was no way to salvage the situation other than dealing with the mess and carrying on, annoyed and confused as to why that just happened and what it had to do with anything.

This "water-balloon" analogy occurred many other times over the course of the game. Upgrading a weapon with a specific, supposedly awesome ember (according to the in-game dialogue) only to discover that it improved one aspect of the weapon while unexpectedly nerfing other aspects that made it virtually useless for my character. Spending hard-won shards to improve equipment by three or four levels and get...absolutely no meaningful effect whatsoever in-game. Re-attempting boss battles after maxing out gear and improving multiple stats by 10 points or more...only to be one-shotted by a boss in exactly the same way and causing virtually no extra damage. Engaging in struggles requiring perfect timing and coordination in cramped areas which seemed purposefully designed to block all conceivable camera angles. These things usually could not be overcome, and would require players to engage in the same frustrations, confusion, and disappointments repeatedly for little or no gain. The game seemed intent on spitting at players for trying to be smart or punishing them for following obvious, logical leads. It never felt like a learning process. It never felt like I was getting the gist of the game's strange world. It just felt cheap. From beginning to end.

The developers would have been better suited coming up with intelligent challenges or in-depth mechanics of checks-and-balances that made some sort of sense, rather than trying to penalize players at every turn for the sole sake of being cruel, then designing another boss based on the overall mentality of "bet-you-can't-beat-this-one!"

The multiplayer mechanic is interesting, but not functionally enjoyable at its core. Being unexpectedly and unavoidably invaded by other players is fine if I'm in the mood for PvP, but most of the time I found it to be another frustrating annoyance to deal with as I was trying to advance my game. Disconnecting the internet made for a more focused play-through, but so much of the game revolves around items and features involving PvP or coop, that I felt I was sacrificing about half of the functionality of the game simply because I didn't want to deal with constant invasions. Furthermore, the mechanics of the PvP are spotty at best. The game claims to allow invasions only by other players at around the same Soul Level and progress as yourself, but so many players have found ways to exploit the game and acquire some of the most powerful gear out there that there is no actual balance. And, at least on my internet connection, lag created some major issues in a game that requires split-second timing and perfect positioning. An option to disable PvP and focus solely on coop should have been included.

On the positive side, combat is superb. Since the only real game mechanic is combat or combat related, it's hard to find fault with the engine here. Every character is going to need a melee speciality, but the game is built around the concept of brutal, hand-to-hand fighting. Early on, I was completely entranced every time I found a new weapon and discovered its unique animations, attack patterns, speed, reach, and weaknesses. The depth of the fighting system is amazing, and this is the one part of the game that feels consistently fun and rewarding. Despite the let-downs, frustration, and head-shaking ridiculousness of other aspects, the game has a built in stress-release valve in the form of creatively and skillfully rampaging through levels and unleashing your rage on enemies in the most violent, bloody, and satisfying ways possible. Truly, if an RPG is going to claim to have action-oriented combat, this is the true standard. Since so much of the game is based on replaying the same levels over and over again, it's necessary for the combat system to be this well-designed. Even when it got repetitive and boring, I still grinned every time I executed a parry and rammed my blade clean through an enemy's gut.

The graphics and animations are gorgeous. It may not be the shiniest game by today's standards, but it does the job with a flourish. The world itself is undeniably epic. Possibly the only gripe would be the immersion-breaking "glow" effects that surround a character with certain items equipped or spells active. It's not a show-stopper, but the visuals are so gaudy, it seems like some care could have been taken to come up with something better than that. Level designs and variety are phenominal. I've rarely seen something that can be described as "a big stone city" create so many memorable and dangerous-feeling environments with such distinctive atmospheres. Visuals a really a treat. It's a shame that visuals alone can't carry a game.

Conclusion:

A reluctant "Tone No". Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition sets out to create a viciously difficult experience in a dark and gritty fantasy world. It introduces themes that are very mature and haunting at their core, and creates an interactive game world where torment and death waits, literally, around every corner. Unfortunately, it presents this to the player in a way that feels more like a rip-off carnival game than a fully imagined and functional experience. The furious melee combat works so well it's almost easy to dismiss the flaws with almost every other facet of the game. To be as objective as possible, though, the challenge is primarily derived from ridiculously over-powered enemies, situations requiring an insane amount of grinding to overcome, and misleading, broken mechanics that rob the player of advancement based on either poorly implemented features, technical problems, or rage-inducing "traps" that cannot be overcome unless the player already knows where they are and has arbitrarily figured out what obtuse combination of techniques or gear is needed to get by. Now that I'm done with the play-through, I'm left feeling like I've just ended a pointless argument that I managed to win by being stubborn. No real sense of satisfaction to be had because the experience itself was trifling, not intelligent. I have no immediate desire to jump into an NG+ because I'm, frankly, sick of seeing all the same beautiful locations and fighting the same enemies again, and again...and again...

Plain English Summary:

Pros--Frickin' AWESOME combat. The game world is 100% wicked. Totally psycho storyline that leaves you feeling like you WANT to drive something metal into everything's decaying and/or corrupted flesh.

Cons--Certain bosses, game mechanics, and areas of level-design that feel like they were built by a friggin' intern that probably hated his job and flunked out of university anyway. So it was kept in the game. Seriously, devs, get a clue. Some cheap-as-hell challenges to overcome; not rewarding at all. Waaay too much grinding. Like, even the original Final Fantasy didn't have this much grinding. And for what? So that you can be one-shotted by the same boss at Soul Levels 1, 25, and 59.

[IcLuTcHZombies]

I love Dark souls. Picked it up on day two of the last sale and have been playing it non stop. I never even knew of this game when I played Skyrim and know I think Skyrim sucks in comparison.

[LaotianComotion]

I kinda like how Dark Souls doesn't allow you to be over powered (or at least not too over powered). Even at MAX level you can still be challenged by some Bosses on NG+++++ and so on. As for the actual grinding, it's actually pretty standard compared to most of the other RPG's out there. I do wish some of the Upgrade materials had higher drop rates though. Other than that it's not too bad.

Edited January 30, 2015 by LaotianComotion