So, since Dark Souls seems to be coming up in threads a lot lately, I decided to finally make a thread for discussing the series. Feel free to talk about anything pertaining to the Dark Souls franchise. Though, please keep spoiler tags in mind when discussing lore.

I'll start with my personal story regarding the series. The Dark Souls franchise was a series that I was convinced for the longest time wasn't for me. The reputation the series had built for itself online convinced me that it was a game for masochists, and that only the truly dedicated need apply. When people talked at length about how Dark Souls was "really really hard", I assumed they meant "cheap". That, and the constant chanting of "git gud" made me sure that I would not enjoy the games.

Then, a couple things happened. The first was that <<store.steampowered.com/app/257850/|Hyper Light Drifter>> was released. I had been awaiting the game ever since first seeing footage of it, and was disappointed when I immediately saw comparisons being drawn to Dark Souls. Even the "git gud" crowd seemed to be in full effect. I sulked, thinking this game was also a ball-bustingly difficult game for masochists. But then I began second-guessing that assessment after seeing Jim Sterling's <<www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzmPzyES_Us|first impressions>> video of it. Soon after, a friend who bought the game convinced me that it was something I could handle. So, I bit the bullet and tried it. Despite some frustration at times, I beat the game, and thoroughly enjoyed it too! (I recommend this game, by the way) It was tough, sure, but masochistic? No. It just required persistence and thought.

I started wondering if I had been wrong about Dark Souls all along. Hyper Light Drifter was being called a 16-bit Dark Souls, and it wasn't THAT hard... Maybe people were over-hyping the difficulty of Dark Souls too? And that's when another <<www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXUzbcNM6K0|Jim Sterling vid>> caught my attention. A very informative vid about Dark Souls' reputation for being "hard". Everything he said made sense to me, and reminded me of my experience playing Hyper Light Drifter. That's when I decided to download Dark Souls 1 and try it out. I don't at all regret it, and it may even be my favorite RPG of recent years.

But, that's the abridged (but still long) story of how I came to love Dark Souls after being afraid of it for several years. PRAISE THE SUN! \[T]/

Currently about 75% (I think) though 3. This might be my favorite of the series. Couple of anti-climatic boss aside fights it's been amazing. Looking forward to digging though the lore once I beat it ^^

Haven't played Dark Souls, as I am a scrub and a pussy, but I adore the atmosphere that oozes from it, and the memes are great. I try it someday, but not this one. Hey, whatever happened to Demon Souls, anyway?

The Souls series is an entertaining series, though it does have its share of problems. The biggest one is the group of fans of the series who have to show off how big their Souls dicks are. Thankfully, even if they're very vocal, they seem to be a minority. I have other issues with some gameplay mechanics for the series, specifically DaS1, but I've already gone into detail about them in other threads, so there's no need for me to list them here.

Here's how I got started: my very first exposure to the series was actually seeing the cases for Demons' Souls and Dark Souls for PS3 at a friend's house. Didn't think anything of it at the time (that was around the end of 2011/early part of 2012), but around the latter half of 2012 I started hearing more about Dark Souls and how hard it was. Hadn't really heard about it much online, but then I didn't frequent video game discussion boards and news websites consistently until 2014. I was more focused on getting Mass Effect 3 and MGR: Revengeance in that period of time. It wasn't until I started hearing about it on a few Two Best Friends Play LPs towards the middle of 2013 that I got more info from it from fans who played the series. Watching more videos about it, namely the "This is How You Don't Play Dark Souls" video that calls out DarkSydePhil on his BS, as well as PlagueofGripes's LP/"Lorethrough" of the game made me finally come around to buying it for my 360.

It was hard, but enjoyable, if not frustrating at times as I had to change things up while I constantly deleted and started new characters until I got a class that fit how I wanted to play. Until I got to those fucking archers in Anor Londo. I forgot how many times I tried getting past that part only to die, and how many times I tried different approaches and strategies, as well as watching videos on how to do so. But eventually, the game stopped being fun as I was effectively brickwalled off from progressing by this one part that was poorly set up. I quit it, turned in the game for store credit, and never regretted the decision. Especially after I watched the rest of PlagueofGripes's LP at a later date and saw that there was going to be more utter bullshit ahead.

2014 came, and Dark Souls 2 was about to come out later into the year. While my experience with Anor Londo soured things for me a bit, I wouldn't let it stop me from enjoying a newer entry that had likely taken care of the biggest issues that I had with DaS1. I got a digital copy for PS3, and played through it for about five or six hours on a couple of different characters. Then it stopped working one day.

Here's why: I got my PS3 used from GameStop at a pretty big discount, due to trading in my 360, taking advantage of a special trade-in offer for consoles, and using a coupon, all around November 2013. Didn't bother with a store warranty, because those are just cheap attempts at cash grabs. I had that PS3 for about six months with no issues arising; then around May/June of 2014, it started having issues with a few games I had, and wouldn't download or install other games. I couldn't get a full refund because I had it longer than GameStop's return policy allowed, and I couldn't get it checked out and repaired by GameStop because I didn't buy the warranty. Plus, I didn't have the money to send it to Sony to get it repaired. So I was essentially screwed out of playing Dark Souls 2, inFamous 1&2, and a couple other games. Dragon Age: Inquisition didn't work either, though I'm still uncertain if it was due to the PS3 itself or just because I got it during the period of time where there were so many connection issues due to DRM.

Never got around to playing Demon's Souls, and since I don't have a PS4, I can't play Bloodborne. :P

As for Dark Souls 3? Feels pretty solid, though I still have some issues with the fact that some tough boss fights feel like they're tough because the boss AI will decide "Nah, you're not going to win now" on a whim, regardless of how prepared and skilled you are. Like with other Souls games, there's times where I feel the game just cheats with enemy encounters and a few boss fights. And then there's other times where I've seen boss fights online where the player is having a lot of difficulty, and when I fight that boss, I only have one or two deaths. Aldrich was a good example. I saw the fight online, saw the hail of arrows, saw the crystal homing magic, saw the massive soul arrow, saw the fire spear, and I thought "Whoa, that looks harsh." Then I fight him, and on the third attempt, he only hits me a couple of times. Though he did cast that Arrow Hail right as I killed him, and I got his soul and drops as the attack killed me. That was pretty damn funny, and I wish I had been streaming when I fought him. XD

Started playing the first one a year back, but gave up on it when I got to the bonfire underneath the dragon bridge. Then, I didn't get the praise or the hype. I came back to it a month ago and now I do. I installed dsfix because my god that port was awful, and it has been one of the most satisfying yet frustrating gaming experiences I've had in a long time. Planning on finishing and then getting 2 and 3, but I've yet to splurge on any consoles as I prefer PC, so Bloodborne may be a no-go.

I was afraid to get into dark souls, having watched a friend tear actual hair out of his head from frustration while playing demon souls.
But then one day my friend was streaming it and was talking about the lore and atmosphere, and i got intrigued. Later, he found the Prepare to Die edition on Steam for $6. You don't get a deal better than that, and he even gifted it to me so he'd have a friend to play with.
I got hooked, especially after realizing that it wasn't all that hard, just a bit annoying. It's artificial difficulty, as some of my game design teachers called it. That is, bosses telegraph their actions, but you're a glass cannon. And enemies often have more health than you do.
So with some practice, I got super hooked, so that now i'm on my 6th (i think?) character, going through the game again and again in different ways, and realizing how free and OP sorcerers are because holy balls the damage!!!
I haven't played 2 because I hear it suffers the same issue Final Fantasy 13 did; being that it's a good game, just not fit to be called a game of the same name as its predecessor(s).
When I have any spare money at all, I'm getting both Overwatch, and DkS 3. I'm super excited to give it a try.
On to my stories though!
When I was first playing through, the friend who gifted DkS: P2D to me (let's call him Dale, because that's his name) said "hey, there's a co-op mode. want to run together?" i say "HELL YES!" because I love coop games with him. Little did I know, he would come in, 2-shot the first Taurus demon before I could read its damn name. So we didn't coop for awhile, while I got gud on my own.
Later on, after I'd gone through the game, now we're doing silly as hell challenge runs together, which make for some great "i love you man, but I want to bust your teeth out" moments. Thus far, I love our Idiot Sorcerer/Vampyromancer combo the best.
I also just this week, had a moment with said Vampyromancer while playing solo. See, I joined the Forest Hunters covenant to get the fog ring from invasions. So I get summoned to invade, big surprise. I arrive in time to see the previous invader gutted and die. Lovely.PNG. Mind you, I'm running the Wulf's Connectivity Mod, so I can see everyone I'm on the same node with. The guy I got summoned to invade was over level 400. Thanks Alvina, you snarky cat, you. The guy lets me have 6 backstabs while he fiddles with armors, trying to pick a set he likes wearing, before he finally uses one Estus. Then i get a few fireballs in before another invader comes. only, they're a true invader, who could help either of us. I'm freaking out whether I'll survive another 30 seconds, the invaded guy just gestures a ton, and my friend is watching and laughing like a true best friend does. Then the invaded guy starts chasing me. He ignores the other guy to get me, and gets backstabbed by the other invader who was just over lvl 200. The invaded guy dies, we invaders bow to each other cordially, and we are sent home with 210k souls, which I use to go from lvl 36 -> 54 in one sit at the bonfire.
Oh, and now I'm getting my girlfriend into it, who is having a wonderful time learning the timing of perfect dodging. By wonderful, I mean she has to take a break even 30 minutes lest she throw the controller. But she likes it because she's been asking questions non stop. She doesn't do that unless she likes something a lot.
I've only been playing a year, BTW.

DSfix is amazing. And yeah, I remember that damned bridge. That dragon is the one thing my main character hasn't killed yet. just never went back for a rematch. I should get on that...

So that's why I felt a chomp-like pain...

It's just a basic requirement. It does have some neat kinds of settings like downsampling and enhanced AA as well as UI Modifications (which sadly do not work together with downsampling), but the real necessity is the 60 FPS possibility as well as being able to play the game in a resolution higher than 720p. I can't believe a game company is doing PC games in this time and age that are locked at 720p@30. It's ridiculous. 1080p@60 as well as decent mouse/keyboard controls are a minimum requirement in my opinion and Dark Souls gains so much from being at 60 fps.

That being said, after playing Dark Souls 3, I have to admit that it is hard going back to Dark Souls 1. The game is a lot smoother in Dark Souls 3, the controls are better and the combat system is more active. Dark Souls 3 is also a lot easier in my opinion, so it is a better entry point to the franchise.

Okay, someone is going to have to explain to me why 60 fps is such a big deal. Other than issues with frame rate drops in 30 fps having (what I assume are) a more pronounced effect on gameplay than they would with drops in 60 fps, I don't see why it's a requirement. I can understand people wanting 1080 because hardware can support it and it makes things look nice, but I've seen little difference between 720 and 1080 in resolution when I play a game.

Keep in mind, what I'm looking for in a game is this, in order of what I value: gameplay, experience from the game, story, difficulty, visuals. A game looking like dogshit or constantly dropping in frame rate will kill my enjoyment of the game, but a game having 720 or 1080 is inconsequential if it looks decent enough and fits the gameplay, story, and aesthetic that the developers were going for. A game having 30 or 60 fps is inconsequential to me as long as the frame rate is consistent (which is why so many people hated Blighttown). In other words, pretty or optimized visuals are nice to me, but they're not essential. Hell, they're not even a primary concern for me. I just want to play the damn game and know that it'll run consistently, regardless of what fps setting it's at.

So, can someone actually explain why 60 fps/1080 is so essential to gaming without treating me like an ass or a child? I earnestly want to know, instead of someone scoffing at me. Had too many people either just act like an elitist and brush me off, or admit that they don't know beyond the fact that it visually looks better.

Have to agree on the control/UI setup, though. Poorly placed or structured controls can break a game. It's happened as far back as the 2600 era.

I agree that DSfix is a necessity. I also agree as a gamer and a game designer/developer, that 720p/30fps is just ridiculous. If there were stability issues, that's one thing. Lazy porting, that's another.
I just have much love for the texture override setting. Getting rid of the "brighter than the sun lava" past Quelaag's Domain was really nice.

I've played every game except the original Demons's Souls, and have no intention of picking it up. That said, with the exception of DS1, which I respect for what it is and had fun with while it lasted, just don't like as a game anymore, I love the entire series to death. Dark Souls 2 is what made me actually fall in love with the series, Bloodborne felt like, to me at least, what the original Dark Souls wanted to be. A methodical punishing game with easy to understand but complex controls. And I love Dark Souls 3 even more. I've beaten it once, and am in the process of trying to 100% it.

1080p makes your targets and environment clearer and easier to recognize, while a higher framerate increases player response time and fluidity of a game, making it easier to react to things rather than what seems like time itself skipping a beat and missing something, if that makes any sense.

Also 144fps and 4k all the way, 60fps 1080p is for skrubs

We should all get online sometime and do invasions together, maybe some bosses, if we can gather any humanity.