The ignorance is strong with this one.

Are you seriously saying that Dark Souls is not balanced? LOL it is a billion times more balanced than Skyrim my friend. See, there's a reason why PvP would never work with Skyrim: because any player can become god, use cheap exploits and abuse alchemy potions. It would be a complete mess because Bethesda has not designed good and balanced systems. They designed it so you could become and do whatever you want. Which means any player can break the game if they want.

Skyrim has better graphics, story and sounds. But Dark Souls shines in its gameplay, combat system and level design.

Ugh, i watched a couple of Dark Souls videos and i really don't see what the big whoop is. I mean, the game itself is faked with difficulty. You die so you can learn? That's not player knowledge, that's your knowledge. Just because you know that a monster is going to pop up and do this and that, does not make you a good gamer or a skilled one at all.

You can compare the game easily to any fighting game you can think off. Play against the AI learn their moves and you can pretty much beat them without looking. Play against a player, and it's a completely different experience. Also, that fight was REALLY lame, I'm not saying that Skyrim or the elder scrolls have fights that are any better, but for a game that prizes itself as being an action fighty type of game it really fails. I was expecting running, jumping etc.etc. all i saw was push 2 buttons repeatedly to hit monster and then die in one hit. Mind you I also watched the video of Dark souls when it was compared to Skyrim and it's combat system on one of the review websites. They praised it for the clever use of shields. Really? REALLY? All i saw in that video was hold shield up and enemy skeleton glaive thing glitching through your character.

I think people here don't understand what intuitive combat is. It is reacting to an unpredictable opponent in a way born through skill, not knowledge. If a boss fight is a boss fight where you know that this monster will do move X now and then move Y next it's not a skilled fight. A skilled fight is going from 100% to 0% not knowing what the flying [censored] the monster is going to do next, keeping you on your toes for the rest of the game. In Dark Souls it seems like you play it once and then it's in the bin with the game. At least Skyrim tries to change it up a bit every time. And even if it doesn't, you get skilled scripters that can change combat for the better.

the two games are quite different, te only similarity is that tey are bot rpg's....today thats a WIDE gap.

skyrim has beautiful open world, and lots of story/dialogue, its all piss easy most of the time (master difficulty is just a potion chug/OP spec/gear place...not actualy more challenging)

dark souls has a very intriguing "open" (not really open, but a 3d mazelike structure that unlocks shortcuts doubling back on itself in a very clever way) world. its combat is quite simply...some of the best in the 3rd person action scene. everything from hit detection to swing speed and animation is all meticulously crafted bot for balance and for variety. the world is also immersive...but for different reasons then skyrims immersive. skyrim is immersive like a simulator, dark souls is immersive like something that svcks you in and tries to smother you wit a pillow. The story is very lacking compared to skyrim in terms of information given...tho i think the story is also more unique (even bizarre)

I think bot have very different artistic styles as well.

skyrim is def more relying on its immersive factor wit slopy core mechanics, while dark souls is much more gamey and relies on its pinpoint game mechanics.

if skyrim had combat anything like dark souls on the level of accuracy and skill over random thing like defense numbers and hp/potion spam...skyrim would be game of the year in a heartbeat i feel.

You need to have played Dark Souls to make claims like that. It's hard to see how good the combat system really is through those crappy youtube videos. You don't get to "feel" the combat from watching it. There are more to shields than just holding them up for example.. Every weapon-type in the game has a unique weight/feel/playstyle to it. Also there is more to being good at it than just knowing what a boss is going to do. Both player skill and knowledge are needed to beat some of the harder boss fights.

vs the flailing that is skyrim? oh sorry...swords flail slightly faster then maces!

Havent tried that game but Skyrim in Expert mode is pretty fun.

:D

No, if Skyrim had combat like dark souls, it'd be a failure. Replicating broken games because people think this is what older games mean by games being more difficult in the past has failed to understand the point. The old Sonic and Mario games were harder then they are now, but not because they were unrelenting and unforgiving, rather they were challenging.

Dark souls is just an overrated hack and slash adventure game that people call and RPG because it has RPG elements in it.Skyrim is more in-line with what an RPG actually is, "Role-Playing" and Role-Playing doesn't mean, progressive leveling system like most people think it does, it means taking and playing a role which ironically needs some level of decent storytelling* to play the role into. One of my biggest criticisms of skyrim is the storyline has gone backwards, it's become too short and casual which isn't in the spirit of being an RPG, for a game like Dark Souls were storyline is almost non-existent... it just doesn't count as being a true RPG, despite always being labeled under the genre.

"A role-playing game (RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines." - Wikipedia

*The story line does not need to be a strong/static storyline, in fact it's better if the storyline adepts to each decision a character makes and as such is a soft storyline but still a strong storytelling experience.

+1

As i said, Skyrim is nothing better than Dark Souls, nor any other game. I just ask people to not be pretentious and think how "difficult" Dark Souls is compared to Skyrim. Try playing something like I want to be the Guy. You can call that game "difficult" but it's not, once you know a level you know it, therein you learned the game but you are no longer challenged. There is not a single difficult game out there because you can LEARN it. A true difficult game would be one where the AI is completely unpredictable in both attacks, skills, spells and abilities.

I assume that Dark Souls is in fact a pretty good game, but i dislike a comparison that is based on something that really does not exist. I can say that Cat Mario is more difficult than Skyrim but that does not make it any better. Skyrim and Dark Souls are in two different worlds, one is an open-world non-linear RPG, and the Second is a combat focused linear Action "RPG".



This too, while a game is not physically difficult, there is a line that can be achieved by a game being challenging and being unforgivable. That is the "difficulty" of the games, but sadly many people see the unforgivable ones as more difficult.

I am not sure about them but I am interested. I am a fan of the genre.

This, I've heard nothing but awesome recommendations.

What does this prove. Wearing no armor can make you die easily?

I think the game types are too different for comparison. I also feel Dark Souls' combat is much more fluid and responsive with less rushing and button mashing. Not to say that I dont enjoy Skyrim but I think youre mistaken when it comes to DS' difficulty. Its not as hard as its made out to be, its just that you absolutely cant hack and slash your way to victory. With careful preparation and timing all the challenges can be overcome relatively easily.

its obvious your a biased "purist" so im not even going to attempt to argue wit you as you will just shut out all reason. suffice to say if your idea of a good combat system is flailing your arms wildly wit little to no impact wit your attacks...tats your problem.

i dont think you have played dark souls or demons, and if you did...you svcked at it. the games were only hard in that what lay in the unknown. once you knew what to expect it became purely execution, unlike a game like skyrim where you can just potion thru a difficult encounter and mow down the rest with ease...

dark souls is also more realitic in that respect. the damage that is, is more realistic as well asthe damage mitigation.

dark souls combat is simple and strategic...it punishes impatience readily...skyrim punishes your potions...



a forsaken in a completly fictional world...check



so your big gripe is that there isnt enoug talking...sorry but its actually part of the design choice to keep the story as stark as possible, your not supposed to be handed books about the entire history of the world or find a random guy that knows way more then he should about everything. but if youd play it youd find many bit and pieces woven into the game you can stumble across, as well as more questions. making it a bit more engaging then trying to remember if ive read x book before or not.



in this respect dark souls is more rpg then skyrim...skyrim you can just load up a previous save if you do something dumb...not in dark souls...it autosaves every few seconds giving you a chance to feel repurcusions as they actually are...oh..and you can kill EVERYONE you come across...and doing so has varied repercusions that you only get to find out by playing the game more.

I wouldnt call Dark Souls linear. You have the freedom to choose your own path. Though admittedly its smaller than Skyrim.

closed for review.

Being full of flames and not about Skyrim I'm closing this.