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 Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 8:03 pm
Haven't really seen this series covered much in this guild, and since it's seriously short on activity I figured I'd make a thread.
Never really made one of these 'survey style' discussion threads, but I figured it was the best format for the guild when you're only discussing two games, so...
1. The Games
-----a. Which game did you prefer? Why?
-----b. Which game was harder for you? Why?
-----c. Which game had the better story? Why?
2. The Bosses (per game)
-----a. Hardest?
-----b. Easiest?
-----c. Most fun?
-----d. Least fun?
-----e. Best design?
-----f. Worst design?
3. The World (per game)
-----a. Favorite overall world?
-----b. Most difficult area?
-----c. Least difficult area?
-----d. Most enjoyable area?
-----e. Least enjoyable area?
4. The Characters (per game)
-----a. Most likable personality?
-----b. Least likable personality?
-----c. Best overall design?
-----d. Worst overall design?
-----e. Hardest to kill? (if you killed them)
-----f. Easiest to kill? (if you killed them)
5. The Combat
-----a. Preferred class?
-----b. Favorite weapon?
-----c. Favorite spell?
-----d. Favorite miracle?
-----e. Favorite enemy?
-----f. Most hated enemy?
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Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 9:35 pm
Figured I'd post mine separate from the OP to make it simpler and easier to copy the questions:
1. The Games
-----a. Which game did you prefer? Why?
+I haven't finished Demon's Souls yet, but so far I greatly prefer Dark Souls. Where Demon's does start very strong, and definitely has its share of great things, I feel Dark Souls does nearly everything better with the exception of the changes to multiplayer, which I admittedly don't use anyhow. But many of the bosses feel very basic, cheap, and boring in Demon's Souls, where I find the Dark bosses significantly more clever and enjoyable, as well as more fair.
-----b. Which game was harder for you? Why?
+So far, I've found neither game particularly difficult... but neither one really seems harder than the other. The difference is, Demon's Souls often feels like it relies on cheaper tactics for difficulty, such as bosses having extremely long life-bars that take so long to take down the bosses eventually just get lucky and cheap kill you. Dark Souls feels a bit more legitimate, though it has a few issues towards the middle of the game, I'll admit. Both games seem to have roughly equal ratios of incredibly easy to moderately challenging fights, though.
-----c. Which game had the better story? Why?
+Demon's Souls seems to have a bit more direct attention to its plot, but Dark was more focused on a subtle story that you only find out through conversations with NPC's and events themselves. While I admit I think both stories are equal in different ways, and while I prefer the immersion that Dark's story forces you to experience through direct, voluntary interaction... it often leads you to missing vital details to no fault of your own, while Demon's seems pretty direct with its plot and easier to enjoy.
2. The Bosses (per game)
-----a. Hardest?
+DeS: Old King Allant - Only because I met him before even entering World 3, so I was considerably under-leveled and ill-prepared.
+DaS: Demon Firesage - This was one of the few fights I actually had trouble with, but I think it's because it's one of the few truly cheap encounters in the game. It uses very irritating tactics that don't give the player a fair chance to fight it, and often kills you without you being able to do anything. It's based more on luck than legitimate strategy.
-----b. Easiest?
+DeS: Fool's Idol - By far the easiest thing in either game (so far), this thing is just Pinwheel but... weaker and easy to hide from, not to mention more vulnerable. I had terrible magic defense at the time and still barely took damage from a direct hit, and killed her in four combos.
+DaS: Seath the Scaleless - I looked forward to this battle the entire game, and while it was fun and very interesting, this fight has a critical flaw with its difficulty; high resistance to his attacks means you can't lose, low resistance to his attacks means you probably can't win. When I tried the first time I had low resistance and was entirely unable to even get to him before instantly dying. Once I raised my resistance... he couldn't hurt me.
-----c. Most fun?
+DeS: Penetrator - This was an immensely enjoyable and fair battle. By far the most impressive fight I've experienced in the game.
+DaS: Four Kings - This was an outstanding fight, though disappointingly easy. It had an epic feel and just felt great to face overall. Honorable mention goes to Artorias.
-----d. Least fun?
+DeS: Flamelurker - This wasn't hard, it was just tedious, annoying, and glitchy. You can either take forever to slowly chip away his hit points while easily avoiding his attacks (boring method), you can trap him through a glitch that forces his AI to get confused (cheap method), or you can use magic against him and decimate him with no effort (pathetic method). None of these are actually fun, and while the fight had potential... it just ends up being terrible.
+DaS: Bed of Chaos - I heard this fight was so bad that the developers themselves apologized for it. This could be a rumor, but it's believable if you actually fight the thing. It's just a very poorly programmed puzzle that works off of killing you instantly if you -almost make a mistake, while it never remains consistent or obeys any actual rules. If you get lucky and the fight behaves, it's so easy it's not worth calling a boss. Otherwise it's unwinnable.
-----e. Best design?
+DeS: Phalanx - Strange, I know, but the boss' design teaches you a lot about how bosses in the game work and maintains being fun, while still being a really cool (and disturbing) visual design overall. Honorable mention goes to Penetrator, but he's a little too generic visually and a little too basic functionally to really be anything revolutionary.
+DaS: Capra Demon - This creature completely takes you by surprise when you enter his boss door, immediately leaping at you with no mercy with the intent of one-hitting you if able. The addition of a small boss room makes him even more intimidating and menacing, as he has a very large reach and very deadly attacks that you can't entirely block, but at the same time teaches you how to turn a boss' advantage into your own, since being tightly enclosed with him often works in your favor. Bonus points for being incredibly impressive visually, both incredibly cool and very menacing.
-----f. Worst design?
+DeS: Old King Allant - While this fight COULD be very fun for the right character and player, the actual design is pretty bad. He fights like a glitch, takes advantage of Flamelurker's (so much life and defense it will take forever), and worst of all he has the ability to steal your Soul Levels. This doesn't make him any harder usually, it just forces you to grind to get that level back... which is just obnoxious. He has a good look, though.
+DaS: Gaping Dragon - This fight was a hard one to place because the boss itself is incredible visually... very intimidating, very original, and all around epic... the problem is that it works off the same principle Flamelurker in DeS does, having ridiculous hit points and defenses, but is even easier to avoid, easier to hit, and all around takes one of the best visual designs and ruins it by making it incredibly (INCREDIBLY) dull. Bed of Chaos didn't make it here because, theoretically, it works. From a design stand-point, it's very interesting... it just wasn't well implemented.
3. The World (per game)
-----a. Favorite overall world?
+I honestly prefer Lordran, as it feels more interconnected and real. You never know where you're going to end up and what you're going to find, so you have to take risks through exploration. But many times you can venture into areas far too high end for your level and manage to come out with something really good, even if you have to die in the process.
-----b. Most difficult area?
+DeS: I haven't come across a particularly difficult area yet, honestly. Every single area has been... very easy to make my way through, even though most of them are a lot of fun.
+DaS: Duke's Archives - This place was difficult, but mostly because it was extremely cheap. It feels like Contra, where you're constantly being shot at from every direction, only there are many times you can't shoot back because enemies hide from you and you cannot access them.
-----c. Least difficult area?
+DeS: Stonefang Tunnel - This place is full of incredibly slow, predictable enemies that can often take many hits but can pretty much never hit you. Even the 'big foe' here (Fat Officials) are stupidly easy to avoid and kill. The 'hardest' enemy here is a Bearbug, but it's very easy to avoid... it just takes forever to kill.
+DaS: Lost Izalith - There's nothing really difficult about this place. The enemies are easy to kill and easy to avoid, and the lava is basically harmless. It has its moments, like the dragon legs being able to cheaply hit -through- walls, but those enemies can all be entirely avoided if you're careful.
-----d. Most enjoyable area?
+DeS: I haven't played enough of the game to have a strong opinion on this, but thus far I've really enjoyed Tower of Latria. I always liked 'prison' worlds, and I loved the idea of Illithids being included in the game.
+DaS: Ariamis - This place has its share of cheapness, but overall it's a beautiful area with an incredibly depressing and powerful atmosphere, and it introduced one of my favorite NPC's as well as one of my favorite common enemies.
-----e. Least enjoyable area?
+DeS: Stonefang Tunnel (2-2) - This place was horrible. It was nothing but blind falls, cheap explosions, and enemies you can effortlessly kill as long as you're willing to waste a lot of time hitting them over and over.
+DaS: Blighttown - This area actually hurts the game's replay value for me. It's an ugly, hard to navigate maze of cheap falls, cheap enemies, and lag. The entire upper area consists of difficult to find ladders, awkward platforms, and Toxic blow darts that are almost impossible to see... and considering you have NO reason to carry the expensive items that cure Toxic, you'll likely die as no fault of your own since you can't even block poisonous effects. The lower area is an incredibly laggy swamp that slows down your character to a snail's pace without a very well hidden ring from a very well hidden area across the entire map, and on top of that you constantly get poisoned. Did I mention how dark this entire place is? You can never -see- anything.
4. The Characters (per game)
-----a. Most likable personality?
+DeS: Ostrava - He's just a desperate guy trying to help his people and reach his father. The unfortunate events that befall him make it easy to forgive his admitted helplessness, especially since he's really only doing it because he feels he has to. He's very easy to sympathize with, and you feel horrible for him by the end of everything. Honorable mention goes to Stockpile Thomas, who has a similar role and a very caring personality, but loses out to Ostrava because where Ostrava rose to the occasion, Thomas essentially abandoned his family.
+DaS: Siegmeyer of Catarina - Similar to Ostrava, Siegmeyer is on a noble, desperate quest to help somebody he deeply cares for. The difference is, where Ostrava was just a tragic case that you constantly felt bad for... Siegmeyer is extremely amusing and encourages you to talk to him just to hear what he's going to say or do. It helps that his armor, while cool, is admittedly very amusing as well. Honorable mention goes to Andre of Astora, who is very likable... but he's ultimately not very involved, and you don't see enough of him to really judge much.
-----b. Least likable personality?
+DeS: Blacksmith Ed & Boldwin - They're just incredibly closed off pricks for the sake of being pricks. They constantly talk down to you like you're a burden, despite how good your business with them is, and they never really care when you do something significant.
+DaS: Patches - He appears in Demon's Souls, true... but he seems to play a smaller role overall. In Dark, he's just an outright a** who, on more than one occasion, completely screws you over and never really makes up for it. And anybody who leads people to their deaths just to rob their corpses is immediately unlikable anyhow.
-----c. Best overall design?
+DeS: Yurt, the Silent Chief - This guy is a menacing, silent, disturbing monster that causes suffering to an already suffering world... but he's also completely badass and has a lot of style. Being very silent makes him unpredictable and unsettling, and that shotel helps represent him as a medieval manifestation of Death himself.
+DaS: Sir Artorias - Once a noble knight willing to sacrifice himself for a greater good, that very selflessness led to his corruption and has turned him into a menacing villain upon the world. Extra points for having the best look of anybody in the game, as well as being able to effortlessly wield a great sword despite having a dead arm. Even further points go towards his unusual, unpredictable, and extremely unconventional fighting style.
-----d. Worst overall design?
+DeS: Nobody really stands out as a particular bad design to me, just several that don't stand out.
+DaS: Pretty much the same, only fewer who don't stand out to me.
-----e. Hardest to kill? (if you killed them)
+DeS: I've yet to kill any significant NPC's that didn't end up turning evil, and I've only fought one of those... who was very easy to kill.
+DaS: After killing nearly every NPC in the game that I actually -can- kill... I'd give it to Big Hat Logan. Granted, he 'sort of' becomes evil and I didn't fight him until he attacked me first. He was a bit of a challenge though, given how easy the rest of the NPC's were.
-----f. Easiest to kill? (if you killed them)
+DeS: As I said, haven't killed anybody that didn't go evil.
+DaS: Pretty much anybody I killed other than Logan, but Ingward stands out since he didn't really even try to defend himself.
5. The Combat
-----a. Preferred class?
+DeS: Sort of my own combination, I ended up focusing primarily on Spear/Shield with a secondary of Bow use.
+DaS: Again, a bit of my own creation. I started with casting and ended up a melee focus with casting as a secondary.
-----b. Favorite weapon?
+DeS: Winged Spear +10 - I've used this excessively, and it gives the best feel and power of any spear I've used.
+DaS: Enchanted Scythe - Being a scythe lover, and a user of both melee and magic, this came naturally. I loved being able to get around shields and combine my two primary stats effectively, while using a weapon I love.
-----c. Favorite spell?
+DeS: Haven't used any spells except the starting ones when I tried a Magician. Found the class so overpowered I didn't bother.
+DaS: Chameleon - While I love my soul arrows, soul spears, and crystalized spells... nothing beats transforming into a pot and following people unnoticed.
-----d. Favorite miracle?
+I don't use miracles, essentially, at all. Still plan to eventually.
-----e. Favorite enemy?
+DeS: Red Eye Knight - An iconic enemy, very intimidating, and a lot of fun to kill. Extremely easy to beat in combat once you get use to them and have a shield that can actually stand up to their hits.
+DaS: Darkwraith - Essentially a more aggressive, less defensive Black Knight, these are just creepier and a bit more fun to face. Though not as iconic as the Black and Silver Knights, they ultimately stand out as more interesting. Honorable mention goes to Minor Capra Demons, who only don't get the spot because I'm not sure how much I count them since they also appear as a boss... and because you often have to fight more than one at a time.
-----f. Most hated enemy?
+DeS: Bearbugs - They require no skill whatsoever, are almost impossible to die to, and take -forever- to kill.
+DaS: Channeler - While they can be a lot of fun one-on-one in a reasonably open area, these are far too often found sniping you in places you cannot attack them back in (they hide) and there are at least two occasions where they cannot be hit but -can- hit you. This is furthered in irritation when they attack you while you're trying to turn a crank, making their attacks literally impossible to dodge.
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