Yeah, you don't know what you're talking about.
Oh really? Let me link to the videos then. You're not going to be able to pull a volly or Skyway with this my boy...let me see...
I draw attention to the skeleton fights at around 5 minutes. Note the 'block/jump back then move forward and slash' combat and tell me how this is different from every other ARPG.
I also draw your attention to the area of combat at 5.10 or so. remember this well....
A few hours in, combat has to be different, right?:
At 1 minute: Player stands there blocking for a long time before the skeleton even arrives, then the beast still goes with default attack that does nothing. Player sees that skeleton goes into a very long stunned mode and one shot kills it. AWESUM!!!!
Remember that location? Well 6 hours later the player reaches the same area with the same one shot skeletons(3.50)..No recycling here, all 100% awesum!..
:
Also, I LOL every time I read some defender on the Codex praising it for its gritty unique setting: no giant dragons and magic or ancient prophecies or crawling around in dungeons and ruins here....no sireee!!
too much skyderp in this post, but i'll bite.
1st video: those are starting, introductory enemies (nit-picking: undead, not skeletons. skellies are quite different). did you expect them to be awesome, fear-inducing beasts that would slaughter even the most skilled players in seconds? i really don't understand this "complaint". you literally sound like skyway
2nd video: dude, 1st video is part 3, second is part 5 and... "a few hours in"? really?! this guy can't suck so much that it takes him "a few hours" to travel something like 100m (if not less), can he? (btw, that's only referencing the timestamps you provided, so the 5min in the 1st video, and 1min in the 2nd). and of course he'll be fighting the same enemies, it's basically the same fucking location, for satan's sake! are you seriously this inane, are you seriously stooping to skyway-level retardation to bash a game because... i really don't know why you're doing this. edginess? KKK? butthurt?
3rd video: he doesn't "reach" the same area, he opened up a shortcut from the "central hub" (if you can even call Firelink that. well, it could be called the starting hub-like location) to what will be for most people the 4th boss battle in the game (counting the tutorial demon), he died and so had to backtrack
and i have vary rarely seen the setting praised for "uniqueness" (since it's very obviously medieval dark fantasy), but more for the execution and the well realized, minimal, "lonely" atmosphere (which is, imho, pretty unique, but it doesn't make the setting unique in the way that you're trying to pass it)
Just take a bloody look. From the earliest to the last videos from this guy all you do is fight skeletons in the same fucking way, in the same cut pasta locations. It doesn't take dedicated practice to hold down the block button, wait until enemy takes his shot then hold the basic attack button. The guy doesn't even use any combos.
and why would he use any combos on starting enemies that die very easily if you're not dumb?
I still don't understand the crazed fanboyism of this when a game like Risen or the more closely related TW2 shits on this in almost every way(and they both have their issues some quite serious as in TW2).
in ARPG/Actiongame-terms other than combat, yeah they both shit over DkS (Risen with quests and C&C, TW2 with the writing and storyfaggotry), but in terms of combat mechanics and encounter design both of those fall way short (especially TW2 with some downright retarded mechanics like blocking/parrying). TW2 was a pretty good visual novel, but a fucking terrible game
have the same boring arse cutpasta locations(some exactly copied)
neither does DkS
dungeon then ruin, then dungeon then ruin
you're right. TW2's corridor than corridor than corridor is much better location-design
have you fighting one hit kill skeletons through most of the game
neither does DkS
have NPC's that sit in one spot farting out 'forsooths'
woaaaaaah. the first genuine, valid criticism. damn it took you a long fucking time
have a boring arse plot(yes, it's worse than Risen's).
debatable. but DkS is definitely superior in the lore department. it's kind like Morrowind in that, i.e. if you go your "normal" way you'll have a generic, boring story but if you go read all the available lore (unfortunately, unlike Morrowind it doesn't have readable books) and piece some things together by yourself the whole story gains a whole other dimension (and consequently the "bad" and "good" endings aren't really "bad" or "good" anymore)
Oh, they have worse boss fights. Boss fights in DS are good. As for the rest?
actually, most boss fights in DkS are easier and less interesting than most encounters
Oh there's the UBER DIFFICULTY right? Yeah I saw the difficulty against the trash mobs: jump back or block, wait for creature to get stunned or go into a fixed miss animation for a few seconds(The ice creature knight thing is priceless in how it swings then sits with its weapon stuck in the ground for 5 seconds while you casually go behind it to whack it), then hit. The only difficulty is being ambushed from falling asleep since everything looks the same.
the difficulty is definitely overstated and overhyped, but in a day and age where most games with a budget in the 6 figures are more "cinematic experiences" where the player is barely more involved than watching an actual movie and pressing play/pause, it would be difficult (and very dumb from the publisher's marketing department) not to used it to build up hype and market it. if anything, it should make the average codexers happy that a game that isn't an on-rails, emotionally engaged, romance simulator/cinematic experience was so commercially and critically successful (although outside Japan it didn't sell a tenth of "awesome games" like skyrim, DA2 etc) because at least it shows some "incline" (however small it may be)
But, but CHECKPOINTS MANG!!! I hear you cry ,they make it all so HARCOAR!!!! They certainly make it more annoying. Sure it might seem hard to have to replay the lead up to a boss fight a dozen times until you work out what spam attack works best but that's not real difficulty.
i really don't understand what you're trying to say here. who said that "checkpoints are hardcore"? that doesn't even begin to make sense. and what
is real difficulty if not (paraphrasing what you said) "observing enemy patterns and choosing the best attack/defence options accordingly & being punished if you don't"? HP bloat? endless hordes of thrashmobs? enemies that are vulnerable to only 1 type of attack? yeah, that sure sounds like fun...
Hey it's a good game regardless on the console compared to the crap that is usually served up there so I can understand the fanboyism of the consoletards here but compared to any real PC RPG and even most ARPG's like Gothic it's pretty limited.
last time i checked, nobody compared it to Arcanum or Fallout. and as i previously said, Risen/Gothics have it beat hands down when it comes to ARPG stuff that isn't directly related to combat/encounter design (and i'd even throw in here world exploration)
tl;dr: Jasede said it best:
Yeah, you don't know what you're talking about.