Alright so, I love this game. It's hard to express without nerding over all the specifics so I'm going to try and sound slightly convincing while condensing the points.
Before I go any further, I'm going to say that you will absolutely need a controller (either an xbox wired controller or a ps3 controller with an xbox mod) Mouse and keyboard is horrible, I've tried it. It's only an option when you want to make things horribly difficult and painful for yourself. Moving on.
I've clocked 145 hours so far on it, and still going strong. Is the main storyline THAT long? No. It's just that fun to go throughout the whole game on a different playstyle. The bare main quest alone takes up about 15 hours, which is a rough estimate. There are 26 bosses to fight throughout the game and don't think right away that they're dumbed down monsters with high HP, or waves of the same old mobs. These bosses are well made, the majority with their own theme played by an orchestra. Regrading the graphics, they really did a good job on setting the scene of everything, without giant transitions from the upper world to the demon ruins. Regarding graphics, there's a popular fix online that changes the internal resolution to up the framerate. Disabling anti-aliasing is also obligatory for a big fps boost.
Another question that is bound to be asked is: Just how difficult is the game? Well, in honesty, it's not extremely hard if you take the correct precautions on your first run. Taking the heavier classes and knowing the basic stat system can ensure no grinding for souls. Speaking of souls, souls are basically in-game currency that you spend for levels, items from merchants and other stuff. You get them from pretty much everything you kill, and a whole bunch from bosses. A huge misconception about the game is that there is a hold handing when it comes to getting pointed in the right direction throughout the game. This is less so, where dialogue and rare pointers are the only real things that get you through. On the topic of NPC's, they are really, REALLY precious as killing them will permanently lose you their services, and they're all extremely helpful. Bear in mind this ain't your skyrim, so there isn't any pausing to take potions or any of that wussy shit. It's all real time, in fact, you can't even PAUSE the game. Yeah. It does have an autosave function though, so that's nice.
Now, onto the vast amount of equipment in the game. There are 129 weapons in the game, if I count correctly, and they're split up into different categories, so they're not all simple swords. There are unique movesets and effects to different weapons and the better weapons are found through exploration. You really are rewarded for doing well in this game. A similar amount of shields, rings, spells, miracles and armour exist too. There are also buff items as well as other creative consumables.
The GFWL integration isn't at all great in DS, but you can get by with random summons and invaders. Summoning is basically bringing another player into your world to help fight the monsters in the area and ultimately, the boss. Invading is the direct opposite, where people invade your world with the sole intention of killing you and taking your humanity. Humanity is invaluable, and can be found through rare drops on monsters. "Reverse hollowing" at a bonfire allows you to summon through soapstones. You get that when you talk to Solaire, early on in the game. This guy:
The leader of the sunlight covenant, which helps other players through the game. The leader of the invaders? Well that's Kaathe. The primordial serpent leader of the darkwraiths.
There are other covenants that have just as important quirks too.
TL;DR buy this gem if you like a good challenge, with a deep and well thought out world.
Before I go any further, I'm going to say that you will absolutely need a controller (either an xbox wired controller or a ps3 controller with an xbox mod) Mouse and keyboard is horrible, I've tried it. It's only an option when you want to make things horribly difficult and painful for yourself. Moving on.
I've clocked 145 hours so far on it, and still going strong. Is the main storyline THAT long? No. It's just that fun to go throughout the whole game on a different playstyle. The bare main quest alone takes up about 15 hours, which is a rough estimate. There are 26 bosses to fight throughout the game and don't think right away that they're dumbed down monsters with high HP, or waves of the same old mobs. These bosses are well made, the majority with their own theme played by an orchestra. Regrading the graphics, they really did a good job on setting the scene of everything, without giant transitions from the upper world to the demon ruins. Regarding graphics, there's a popular fix online that changes the internal resolution to up the framerate. Disabling anti-aliasing is also obligatory for a big fps boost.
Another question that is bound to be asked is: Just how difficult is the game? Well, in honesty, it's not extremely hard if you take the correct precautions on your first run. Taking the heavier classes and knowing the basic stat system can ensure no grinding for souls. Speaking of souls, souls are basically in-game currency that you spend for levels, items from merchants and other stuff. You get them from pretty much everything you kill, and a whole bunch from bosses. A huge misconception about the game is that there is a hold handing when it comes to getting pointed in the right direction throughout the game. This is less so, where dialogue and rare pointers are the only real things that get you through. On the topic of NPC's, they are really, REALLY precious as killing them will permanently lose you their services, and they're all extremely helpful. Bear in mind this ain't your skyrim, so there isn't any pausing to take potions or any of that wussy shit. It's all real time, in fact, you can't even PAUSE the game. Yeah. It does have an autosave function though, so that's nice.
Now, onto the vast amount of equipment in the game. There are 129 weapons in the game, if I count correctly, and they're split up into different categories, so they're not all simple swords. There are unique movesets and effects to different weapons and the better weapons are found through exploration. You really are rewarded for doing well in this game. A similar amount of shields, rings, spells, miracles and armour exist too. There are also buff items as well as other creative consumables.
The GFWL integration isn't at all great in DS, but you can get by with random summons and invaders. Summoning is basically bringing another player into your world to help fight the monsters in the area and ultimately, the boss. Invading is the direct opposite, where people invade your world with the sole intention of killing you and taking your humanity. Humanity is invaluable, and can be found through rare drops on monsters. "Reverse hollowing" at a bonfire allows you to summon through soapstones. You get that when you talk to Solaire, early on in the game. This guy:
The leader of the sunlight covenant, which helps other players through the game. The leader of the invaders? Well that's Kaathe. The primordial serpent leader of the darkwraiths.
There are other covenants that have just as important quirks too.
TL;DR buy this gem if you like a good challenge, with a deep and well thought out world.
![Acid[NubCake]](/data/avatars/m/12/12025.jpg?1361374248){kind=avatar}
