what are people's impressions (particularly those who never played the game before on console)...does the game compare favorably to Dark Souls?...I'm still planning on getting this, just been busy with other stuff
As a first time player of DD, I am enjoying it. I have never played the Dark Souls games (don't intend to either), but the combat in DD has a lot of depth and variation. 9 different classes, with each one having their own ways of dealing with enemies. The abilities combine really well with each other (like casting one ability can set off another ability which in turn can set off yet another ability, etc.).
Not all classes can dodge, and not all classes can block. So there is variation even in the basic aspects of how you play the game. A shield user can use perfect blocks by timing the block exactly as the attack hits, while other classes have moves that have i-frames in certain abilities to get them out of trouble. There is double jump, instant reset, tornado and meteor spells, levitation, ice magic spells that can be used as stepping stones, character weight and height influencing stamina and carry weights, etc.
And I haven't even mentioned the Pawn system yet, which is another layer of depth in the game. Pawns are basically AI (upto 3 in a party) that can also be various classes. They learn and improve as you fight more monsters. You can also train them up to do particular things more often. For example, if you want a class to climb on enemies more often to strike at their weak points, then you need to train them as such. The game offers a lot of customization like that.
The storytelling and quests are fairly poor though. But I don't expect these things to be good in Japanese games in general. Just enjoy the combat and the world.
