AgentOtaku
Member
/dead
So now that the dust has settled a bit - Dark Souls 1 or 2, which is better?
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I think Dark Souls 1 was by far the superior game, and I say that having spent lots of time with both.
The big divide for me is the atmosphere. The souls series previously has had areas that are creepy/scary. Places that I dreaded going even after multiple play through.
There was nothing scary or unnerving for me in Dark Souls 2.
I also didn't find any of the bosses as memorable as previous games. A couple from DS2 came close, but most were more forgettable from either a design or tactics standpoint.
I did prefer 2's movement and weapon mechanics overall. I felt more comfortable with many more weapon types in the second game. But that alone was not enough to outshine the first 2 souls games.
The big divide for me is the atmosphere. The souls series previously has had areas that are creepy/scary. Places that I dreaded going even after multiple play through.
There was nothing scary or unnerving for me in Dark Souls 2.
I also didn't find any of the bosses as memorable as previous games. A couple from DS2 came close, but most were more forgettable from either a design or tactics standpoint.
I did prefer 2's movement and weapon mechanics overall. I felt more comfortable with many more weapon types in the second game. But that alone was not enough to outshine the first 2 souls games.
Riposte
Member
Actually, I didn't mean to include Black Gulch in my praise. It was a weird small area with something like three bonfires, although I did like the secret areas below. The Gutter was cool though.
The Gutter was actually pretty good, I'll admit that. But I just felt like there were very few areas in Dark Souls 2 of that or better quality, especially compared to DeS and DS1. I feel like the polished a lot of things in DS2 but didn't recognize/couldn't emulate everything that made the first 2 games so brilliant.
Like other people have said, the hitboxes were bad. I think it was a bad design choice to tie something like that to a stat (i.e. agility). Why tie it to a stat rather than give the player the full dynamic of the combat from the get go and have them learn how to fight throughout the game. Especially for new players, I feel like it would teach them that they are doing something wrong even though they aren't.
I know poise was overpowered in DS1, and I'm glad they nerfed that, but I was a lot more annoyed with the whole agility thing.
Basically agree with this. I think the reason a lot of people prefer DeS atmosphere is a lot of the ambient sounds and "music", whereas Dark Souls 1 was just mostly silent.
But for me it will always be:
Dark Souls 1 > Demon's Souls > Dark Souls 2
Bucket Mouse
Member
2 is a very good game and engrossed me for many hours, but 1 is one of the greatest games of the generation.
Thats utterly ridiculous if true. I shall play offline and see if its still there.
Holy shit, this happened to me so much in Souls 2. I thought I was just being crazy.
revolverjgw
Member
DS2 was easily more enjoyable for me. DS1 was broken, I went the pyro route and it busted the game. And the home stretch was pretty weak. Lost Izalith and Bed of Chaos being the nadir of the entire series, some of those later areas dragged the whole game down. And just in general there were too wonky design moments, like those knight snipers. DS2 very rarely felt like I had to cheese it.
Furthermore, you can see at Earthen Peak's tower that there literally is no area it connects upward with...yet Iron Keep you're taken there by an elevator that frankly shouldn't exist. The game is full of this patchwork continuity between areas. Whoever helped make Lordran coherent sure as shit didn't work on Drangleic.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
Some more terrible hitbox issues:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVTXeuHrjvE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF7crDxHFe0&t=10m57s
TyrantGuardian
Member
Dark Souls 2 had a lot less utter garbage, so I'll go with that one. It's hard to compare really because I already knew almost everything about the series' mechanics when I went into the second game, so 1 felt more fresh, but I think 2 was better designed aside from world consistency.
You are if this happened "so much"; that dumb dog side attack animation is special case.
Quite a few enemies including range attack abilities animations are pretty messed up like the gif above. To a point it was irritating enough to change how I played the game. I pretty much accepted at points I was going to get "robbed" which never happened in DeS/DS1. I always felt I made a mistake in the prior two games (and I did). That along with somewhat uninspired bosses in DS2 are the reason I rate it the lowest of the three.
Orochinagis
Member
.
I remember that, frustrating how the most of his body can hit you even if you attack it from its back
There are no hitscan ranged attacks in Dark Souls 2 (which is literally what a ranged attack would need to be to function like that gif), so no.
DaciaJC
Gold Member
Did you use DSfix on PC?
Damn that's one of the worst areas in the series.Earthen peak is garbage.
Better than Sen's Fortress ? Opinions I guess.
Veggy
Member
PC DaS1 with DSFix was master race though
Imru al-Qays
Banned
No, but you shouldn't start with 2 because it's by far the worst of the three.
demosthenes
Member
I'm actually planning on playing Dark Souls 1 again once all the Dark Souls 2 DLC hits. I want to play it all at once. I can't remember Dark Souls 1 enough to really comment 
Orthogonal
Member
DS1 has better level design, aesthetics, lore and most importantly the best overall boss designs. Even early bosses that become standard mobs later like Taurus and Capra have a much better impact and presentation than a boss like the Sentinals or Flexile Sentry.
DS2 has better online. Frankly this was a huge feature for me so I give it a lot of weight and is the primary reason I have put a lot more hours into it than DS1.
Overall, DS1 is just better, but they are both great.
DS2 has better online. Frankly this was a huge feature for me so I give it a lot of weight and is the primary reason I have put a lot more hours into it than DS1.
Overall, DS1 is just better, but they are both great.
FlyingSaucer
Banned
Dark Souls 1.
Demon is clearly the blueprint of what is to come: rough, with lots of god ideas to further develop.
Dark Souls 2 is formaly splendid, but the spark of inspiration isnt there. Compare the number of truly memorable bosses between DkS 1 and 2, for exemple.
Demon is clearly the blueprint of what is to come: rough, with lots of god ideas to further develop.
Dark Souls 2 is formaly splendid, but the spark of inspiration isnt there. Compare the number of truly memorable bosses between DkS 1 and 2, for exemple.
Veggy
Member
Best order to play them in (imo) is Dark 1 (prepare to die edition), Demon's, Dark 2
By the time you get to Dark Souls 2 all the DLC should be out for it, making it a complete game
If you are a PC gamer make sure to download DSFix for Dark Souls 1, it improves (and fixes) the game in many ways
Nope, I played the series in reverse order. I didn't fall in love with the Souls series until 2. As I said earlier in this thread I feel like 2 DaS2 is the most welcoming to new comers.
Iron Keep is pretty good, but Earthen Peak was very disappointing to me. I really wanted to like it, and it's obviously supposed to be the Sen's Fortress of the game (even going so far as to include a badass NPC summon who can solo the boss for you), but without the traps or the atmosphere it completely fails to compare. Point by point, it's a step down in every way. It's a simpler layout with fewer branching pathways, very few actual traps, and less treasure to find, and fewer NPCs to interact with. It also has too many bonfires and no real shortcuts, and that whole "burn the metal windmill blade" thing is just baffling on so many levels.
It seems obvious that the progression through Earthen Peak to Iron Keep is meant to evoke traversing Sen's Fortress to reach Anor Londo: you climb through a dungeon-like environment to arrive in some grand new area. But the Dark Souls 2 version makes very little sense, even compared to having a gargoyle literally pick you up and drop you off. In the new version, you work your way through a well-lit area filled with neon green gas and sludge, take an elevator up through thin air, and arrive at a volcanic caldera. It's just so dumb that I have to imagine Fromsoft ran out of time to make an actual transition between the two areas. Perhaps that's where the volcanic area shown in one of the early DS2 trailers should have been. Since that didn't make it into the game, it might actually be better if you just touched a teleporter or eagle nest to zap you between locations. That's the general feel of DS2's world design anyway, with its abundance of dead end paths only navigable via bonfire warping.
Mytha was one of the better bosses in DS2, though. Nonsensical windmill blade aside.
There are some things that make it a bit more accessible, but the gap in overall quality (obviously this is opinion but eh) makes it much harder for me to recommend the game. I've mentioned my girlfriend a few times already in this thread, as I always found her opinions on the series very interesting seeing as how she never played video games often before I got her a copy of Dark Souls.
A few hours into Dark Souls II I remember her saying, almost word for word; "I kind of wish I didn't play Dark Souls first, so this wouldn't really feel like a step dow- hm. Actually, I guess not. I might not have become a fan of it if I played this one first."
AgentOtaku
Member
Some more terrible hitbox issues:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVTXeuHrjvE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF7crDxHFe0&t=10m57s
Blows my fucking mind that something like this get's through QA >=(
I played 3-4 hours of DSII (borrowed it from a coworker) after having just finished DeS, and wasn't impressed. Still working on DS1 now, but wondering if I should even bother with DSII....
DrDrizzay101
Member
Lol yep. Basically this. Thanks for the gif evidence.
Deified Data
Banned
I was having issues with those Gutter dogs last night. They really do have a habit of hitting you through your shield while you're facing their flank and not even in the path of their bite, it's bizarre. The Gutter is a great area, though.