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Happy birthday Dark Souls!

skit_data

Member


10 Years ago Dark Souls was released!

How did you come in to contact with this beast of a game? How was your first experience playing it? Your first ”sitting”?

I got it from a friend that gave it to me as some sort of a cruel joke; ”Happy birthday, now die” he said while smiling.

I played the game and made it through Undead Asylum to Firelink Shrine thinking ”this aint too bad” and then I was stuck killing resurrecting skeletons for several hours before finding the small path leading to Undead Burg.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Happy birthday. I tried it once and hated it, tried it again and hated it less, but it still didn't stick.

Third time I told myself I was going to at least kill a boss other than the tutorial one. Soon as I downed twin gargoyles everything "clicked" and I was hooked, proceeded to play and beat every other Soulsborne game in a row over a year and then Sekiro. Thanks From.
 

kurisu_1974

is on perm warning for being a low level troll
I remember importing Demon's Souls from the US on PS3 since there wasn't a EU release planned at that point. Game was deemed "too niche" I guess. So that's why I also picked up the first Dark Souls and I haven't missed a FROM game since, alltho Sekiro I never got very far in, maybe I should pick that one back up some day.
 
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Saber

Gold Member
Happy birthday Souls, your style of game was such a deal that influenced alot of games to the point of being even considered a genre.

May you continue to induce rage in the heart of people and manbaby crying threads asking for an easy mode for more years!
 

tommib

Member
Demon’s Souls saved my love for videogames 12 years ago. Games were getting so easy, dumb and hand-holdy that I was questioning the entire industry.

I then imported a US copy from a Canadian store because of a low-res trailer on YouTube and nightmare stories about the difficulty. Playing that game blind will forever be my most cherished experience as a gamer.
 
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skit_data

Member
I remember importing Demon's Souls from the US on PS3 since there wasn't a EU release planned at that point. Game was deemed "too niche" I guess. So that's why I also picked up the first Dark Souls and I haven't missed a FROM game since, alltho Sekiro I never got very far in, maybe I should pick that one back up sompe day.
I don’t think I would’ve known of Demon’s Souls without Dark Souls tbh. I got hooked on Dark Souls by a pure coincidence (my friend giving me the game as a joke) which made me buy Bloodborne and from there on I’ve made sure to play all of them. I actually played Demon’s Souls for the first time last year before the remake was announced.

I needed something From Soft so bad that I dug up my barely working old PS3 and disassembled it, cleaned it, delidded it, reapplied thermal paste, and made sure it ran cool before buying a digital copy of Demon’s Souls from PSN.

Just when I finished the game on NG+2 and I got the Pure Bladestone, the remake was announced. Still good to have experienced the original before the remake. It holds up really well, still.
 
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DelireMan7

Member
2 friends of mine were playing it and couldn't stop sharing their progress on the game each time we met. So once at my friend's place, he ask me to try it.

I create a new character (Bandit) and started the game. I stop before the Asylum boss. It was too "dark" for me (I didn't like dark and "dirty" atmosphere at that time).
But then again, each time I saw my friends they couldn't stop about it "I upgrade my Claymore to +10", "I defeated Queelag...".
So another time, I was again to this friends' place and gave it another try since they were speaking of it so passionately . I don't remember exactly till when I played (till Firelink I think) but I liked it a bit more so I decided to buy it.

I started again at my place a new character (bandit full strength) and I got hooked. And it was my turn to share my progress with them.
Then several dozen of playthroughs and more than thousand hours later, Dark Souls is my favorite game of all time. It had a massive impact on my taste (gaming, music, art...).
 
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kurisu_1974

is on perm warning for being a low level troll
I don’t think I would’ve known of Demon’s Souls without Dark Souls tbh.

I honestly don't know what made me import that game in 2009, I wasn't a From Software games fan at all (didn't really like King's Field) but I guess it was the online hype.

I only recently fleshed my From collection out and got Armored Core: For Answer and Enchanted Arms for PS3 (still have to play them). Also always been fascinated with the Echo Night series of games. But I'm getting off-topic fast here :)
 
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Dark Souls Gamer GIF by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
 
I expect to be met by GIT GUD spam and perhaps calls about I didn't get the game, but I accept it. I played the first game (Dark Souls, not Demon's) plenty of hours after hearing about its legendary difficulty. The first boss was challenging but felt fair, so I went on. There was this initial area after the cutscene with the bonfire, the ruins ahead, the cemetery on the left, a path below and so on. I tried all paths I've found, and all seemed one-shot impossible enemies, except for the cemetery. This path was hard, skeletons would only take a couple hits to kill me while I needed to hit them many times, but I slowly managed to learn the ins and outs and, exploiting their AI and such to try and optimize my route. It was a cool challenge. I also liked going back and forward to use this to level up a bit.

Eventually, I started to get over this part, only to be met by a cave with lethal bats. I eventually parkoured my way out of that one, only to be met by what turned out to be an optional mage enemy of sorts that one shot kills me. Been on this path for hours but it goes nowhere apparently. Spoke to someone about this, told me that path is optional, and I should have gone for the hill on the right. I'm dumb, I didn't notice that path. Went over there, continued the game for a while, beat some enemies and bosses. Wasn't a huge fan of all these branching paths leading to locations that take a while to get through but then are no good, because they were not the optimal route. Shortcuts were interesting.

Eventually, I lost interest a bit. I was loving the worldbuilding, but the rolling around until I wait to attack was getting a bit repetitive. I was already getting tired of looter shooters with giant healthbars, so timing 10 mins of identical sword hits on an enemy was just not very exciting to me anymore. I also constantly kept the feeling that I'm missing something, that I'm not doing something, that I could have it easier by reading a guide. And indeed, I had folks tell me later "oh you could have cheesed this boss by shooting arrows at his tail" or "oh but you can go invulnerable in this exact spot" and such. That was a bit disappointing to hear, but that's on me I guess.

I probably stopped after 15something hours. I was getting a bit bored of the formula. Have not tried another Souls game since by From Software, tried some clones. Out of those, the only one I liked enough to finish was The Surge, but by the end I felt like I had enough of that too, so I never bothered with DLC2 (I had the first one around) or the sequel. It's a fascinating genre and style this game invented, but I can't say it's for me. It's not even about the challenge, it's about how tedious it can be to perform things with a slow combat system and stamina running out every second. Like, I "get it", and I've made decent progress in the game. But I don't see this as a formula that I want to revisit every other year.

Maybe I'll try again one day, who knows.
 
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bitbydeath

Member
I skipped over it.
I played Demons’ at release and it was brutal. I couldn’t get anywhere, there was no levelling up and I managed to piss off a soldier in the dead zone who enjoyed hunting me down to no end, even though I already was dead.

So I didn’t touch another Souls game until Bloodborne arrived. The victorian setting convinced me to try, so I get it and it was a lot easier. Fast-foward to today and Sir Noobsalot (my character) has completed DS1 which was like babies first Souls game compared to Demons’ and am currently working my way through the 2nd.
 

Nickolaidas

Banned
Finally beat it yesterday. PS4 Remastered Edition. Third Souls game I managed to beat (first was Demon's, then Dark Souls II Sin edition). I must have started and halfway abandoned a playthrough of DS I about five times. This time I played till the end.

And started a NG+ right after the credits rolled. Hellkite Dragon now kills me so easy it's not even funny.

Once I get my STR to 50, it's time to raise my vitality.
 
I heard quite a bit about Demon's Souls, but I didn't own a PS3, so I mostly ignored it. I bought Dark Souls on sale for xbox 360 maybe six months after release. Friends insisted it was best to go in blind the first playthrough, so I beat my head against the cemetery for a bit before dropping it for a couple more months. When I went back to it, I discovered Undead Burg and it clicked. Now, I've got countless hours in every version of every title for both console and PC. I bought a PS3 for Demon's Souls and a PS5 for the remake. I picked up the Japanese version of Dark Souls 3 when it came out a couple weeks before the western version.

It's changed everything about the way I look at games. I think I would be willing to give up 90% of other games that I like just to have a couple more of these. The gulf in enjoyment that I get from these games vs. most others is that big.
 

Inuteu

Member
remmember playing on the PS3 and telling my friend "its better than demon souls in every way"

he introduced me to demon souls when it was a relatively unknown game in the west
 
A guy on an internet forum recommended Demon's Souls to me in 2010 it must have been, and it absolutely changed my relationship to gaming. I was extremely hyped when I saw that first grainy Dark Souls trailer - I had figured the game was unlikely to get a sequel.
 

skneogaf

Member
I bought it digital on xbox 360, I absolutely love the idea of being a Knight with a big sword killing people, thing and monsters so it appealed so much to me.

I must admit though that I really struggled with which direction to go for a very, very long time which made me lose interest on many occasion.

My stupidity way of playing games didn't help as I persisted with trying to get through the Depths and or New Londo Ruins constantly dying I kept believing that I just had to git gud, but after quite a few years of of playing a whole range of games at the same time, I saw dark souls 3 and bloodborne and I knew I had to concentrate only on from software games and I started dark souls 1 again but this time, I chose the path that I could get the furthest on and I managed to get to and defeat Tauras Demon.

I was then hooked and nowadays I don't go more than a few weeks without playing a few hours on either Demon souls, Dark souls 1,2,3, bloodborne or sekiro.

Praise the sun
 

Raven117

Gold Member
I never thought that way back when Demon's Souls came out back in 2009 that it would spawn a very substantial shift in the industry.

When you talk about "most influential games of all time", you absolutely have to include Demon's/Dark Souls.

Dark is truly a masterpiece (yes, I know it falls apart a bit at the end). That melencholic tone of the world is absolutely beautiful in its decay. Few games have ever come close to being so tonally consistent.
 
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SpearFist

Member
Best game ever made. Best series ever.

Its hard to express in words how much i loves this series and how much enjoyed this. Zenith of videogames 10/10
 

sublimit

Banned
I was one of the few who had imported the Asian version of Demon's Souls (thanks to the raving impressions of other importers in the OT here) and i was blown away by that game.

So naturally i was hyped up as hell when Dark Souls was about to release. I remember the Dark Souls OT here had become OT2 in almost just one day even before the game was even released. I don't think that had ever happened before with any other game.

I bought the collector's edition and the official guide and for one month it was all i could think of even when i wasn't playing it. It was insane.
 

rofif

Banned
2011 was amazing. Dark Souls, Syrim, Saints Row3, Gears and Uncharted 3, Dead Space 2, Crysis2... lol even duke nukem forever.
Crazy year of which we've never seen again. My wallet still hurts.

That said... Dark Souls changed my approach to games and taste. I remember, after finishing it, I could not get into other games for a long time
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
One of the most influential games of the 7th gen, and undoubtedly the most important non-cinematic game of the decade that isn’t strictly multiplayer.

Terrific game design, good performance on consoles, amazing world and enemies, and almost endless replayability make it the best Souls game for me. I’m pretty sure it’s in my top 3 most played games of that gen, I must have spent at least 120 hours on it with around 10 runs. The funny thing is I’ve only beaten Gwyn twice - I started the game anew so many times, but hated Duke’s Archives so I usually wrapped up Tomb of Giants + Lost Izalith and dropped the run. It was just so satisfying to do everything up to O&S again and again, thanks to the game’s fantastic design. The series never returned to those highs for me. My first DS run was a rare epiphany.
 

sublimit

Banned
One of the most influential games of the 7th gen, and undoubtedly the most important non-cinematic game of the decade that isn’t strictly multiplayer.

Terrific game design, good performance on consoles, amazing world and enemies, and almost endless replayability make it the best Souls game for me. I’m pretty sure it’s in my top 3 most played games of that gen, I must have spent at least 120 hours on it with around 10 runs. The funny thing is I’ve only beaten Gwyn twice - I started the game anew so many times, but hated Duke’s Archives so I usually wrapped up Tomb of Giants + Lost Izalith and dropped the run. It was just so satisfying to do everything up to O&S again and again, thanks to the game’s fantastic design. The series never returned to those highs for me. My first DS run was a rare epiphany.
You hated Duke's Archives or Crystal Cave? The later i can understand but the former was superbly designed IMO.
 

Bakkus

Member
I first played it a month ago. I liked it, but it's also heavily flawed in many areas. Sen's Fortress, Lost Izalith, Crystal Caves and Duke's Archives are poorly designed areas. I also don't like the long backtracking back to a boss after dying to it. The Bed of Chaos is also perhaps the worst boss fight in mainstream gaming history. The curse mechanic is also realy crappy designed. Not a GOAT imo, but still recommend playing it.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Dude i remember you back then when you were doing streaming marathons without even sleeping or eating. Duckroll was worried about your mental health. :p
i fucking miss duckroll
 

Bakkus

Member
The Channelers are the best enemies, their dance is awesome and should be the new ”flossing”

WHz5Kkx.gif
They might be a healthy challenge in other areas of the game, but in one with almost nothing, but very narrow corridors where you are already getting bombarded by archers and countless skeleton swordfighters, having also enemies with homing projecttiles who teleport when you run towards them again in narrow corrdiors are just too much.
 
With the demise of CDPR,, Houser leaving Rockstar and Kojima no longer making Metal Gear; From is really the last dev left standing for me. I will be scheduling time off for Elden Ring.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


In this episode of Gaming Mysteries, Dave goes over some of Dark Souls best known secrets. Who is Gwyn's Firstborn Son, What does the Pendant Do, What is the Skull at Ash Lake, and Who is the Narrator? Dive into some of Dark Souls Mysteries and find out which are solved and which remain unsolved!

Thanks to its unique world and deep lore, Dark Souls fans have dove into every aspect of the game. We've found cut content showcasing the Witch of Izalith's original boss fight, questioned if Manus is the Furtive Pygmy, and even had some of our questions answered in Dark Souls 3. But, there are still many burning Dark Souls questions and mysteries.

At this point, some of these mysteries are solved, but there still remain many that we don't know the answers to, and many still theorize about. How is Velka related to the overall plot of the game? Where did Gwynevere flee to? And, many questions this video tackles, such as who is Gwyn's Firstborn son, and is this related to Solaire or Andre of Astora? Does the pendant actually do anything, or is it more of Hidetaka Miyazaki's trickery? Soulsborne is full of these mysteries, and today we focus on Dark Souls 1.
 
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