Posts Tagged ‘Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin’

Now is a good time to return to Dark Souls 2

If you fancy going back through all Dark Souls before the series wraps up with the final DLC in March, now’s a great time to return to Dark Souls 2 [official site]. Today sees the start of Return to Drangleic, an unofficial community-run event to draw players back and revitalise multiplayer. Souls just isn’t the same without online invasions, summonings, ghosts, and messages bringing life to the world, so players are returning en masse to rekindle that spark. Fancy joining them? Read the rest of this entry »

Steam Charts: Killer Hits

Like a man dancing to Belle & Sebastian, last week’s best-selling Steam games saw some shaking at the top but not a lot of movement below. IS YOUR FAVOURITE GAME HERE AND WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT YOU AS A PERSON IF IT’S NOT?
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RPS Feature Lost in Lothric

Facing Our Demons: RPS Discuss Dark Souls, Difficulty And Death

Dark Souls III is a favourite here at RPS, but it hasn’t lit a fire in the hearts of the entire team. Recently, Alec jumped into the game, having observed the series from afar for some time, and shared his thoughts. He, Pip and Adam gathered to discuss the appeal of the series, and talked about its divergence from traditional RPG systems, the intimidation factor and the complicated nature of its much-debated difficulty.

Adam: Dark Souls III is probably going to be in my top three games of the year, despite the thousands of good games coming out this year. I’m continually surprised to see it selling quite as well as it does though, because so many people that I recommend the series to treat those recommendations as a form of sadism.

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RPS Feature Burning out, fading away

Endgame: Why Dark Souls III Is A Fitting Finale

Dark Souls III [official site] is a superb entry in From Software’s series, and in both design and lore it feels like a fitting finale. Is it time to move on?

One day, many years from now, when I have a family that I hang out with by way of a VR headset while in real life we all fester in our isolated cubicles, I envision my future kid coming up to me in our shared virtual space and asking “Daddy, what was Dark Souls like?” At this point, I’d look wistfully out the virtual window at the setting sun (an illusion concealing the fact that in the real world the sun had set for the last time many years ago), and I’d say:

“Dark Souls, my child, wasn’t like all the other games. It didn’t play nice. It didn’t hold your hand, or make you feel loved or important, but it was, in many ways, the purest game series of all. It ended in 2016.”

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RPS Feature It ain't easy

Dark Souls’ Uncompromising Design Leaves No Space For An Easy Mode

Dark Souls [official site] isn’t for everyone in the same way that a bowl of piping hot broth isn’t for everyone. Let it cool for a while, add some seasoning, and people might happily tuck in and enjoy, but if you expect them to eat it exactly as you would – whether that’s by chugging it down in a few swift gulps or taking tiny sips long after it’s gone cold – a fair few folks would rather have a nice sandwich instead. Nothing wrong with that. Nobody should have to drink soup through a straw.

Or should they? Given the cries of ‘git gud’ that greet many complaints about the difficulty – or inaccessibility – of Dark Souls, it’s tempting to see those who love the series as precisely the sort of people who would chase you away from the bowl if you brought a spoon to the soup kitchen. “NO SPOONS” they’d shriek “YOU WON’T APPRECIATE IT IF YOU DON’T GET IT ALL DOWN YOUR CHIN AND THE FRONT OF YOUR JUMPER BEFORE YOU MANAGE TO SWALLOW A MOUTHFUL”

I wholly agree with these kitchen monsters.

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RPS Feature Third time the charmed?

The RPG Scrollbars: Hollow Pursuits

Ever had one of those games that you just long to get into, but can’t? There haven’t been many I’ve wanted to get into more than the Dark Souls series. To sink into the world I see people talking about on my Twitter feed. To have that sense of discovery in ash and ember. For that crumbling world to feel like something more than just a succession of traps and gauntlets. I want to like Dark Souls. I really hope Dark Souls 3 is the clicking point. But… so far, (whispers) I’ve never managed to like Dark Souls.

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RPS Feature Roll with it

Why I Think Dark Souls II Is Better Than The Original

It’ll take a great deal of analysis to figure out how exactly Dark Souls III [official site] fits into the wider mythology of the series in terms of its tremendous, cryptic lore, and it might take even longer for critical opinion to decide where it ranks in the pantheon of Souls games. But we can all agree on one thing, right? Dark Souls is superior to its first sequel in almost every way.

Not Michael Johnson. Here, he argues that Dark Souls II changes and improves on the formula set by its predecessor and that it has the greatest expansions in all of gaming.

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RPS Feature In Defense Of Slow Travel

Journeys In Games: Let’s Talk About Fast Travel

I first noticed the feeling when I stopped at an inn. They had a roaring fire, plenty of food and wine, and there was a dog lying at my feet. Skyrim had never felt more welcoming. I was replaying the game with some mods installed. One mod took away all the dragonborn stuff and left me starting as a simple bandit schmuck. Another mod made the world of Skyrim cold and harsh to survive in, so I had to light fires to keep myself warm and make sure I didn’t fall into any water lest I catch my literal hypothermic death. But one of these mods had a side option, which was to turn fast travel off. On a whim, I did. It was only days later, in the warm glow of this inn that the feeling began to come over me. And I realised something. Something that all my gaming life I’d never even thought about.

I HATE fast travel. Let me tell you why.

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Praise The Sun! Dark Souls II Fixing Weapon Durability Bug

Once an obvious bug has been in a game long enough, one comes to accept it’ll always be there. You learn to play around the bug, knowing when it’ll strike and what you can do to avoid it. It’s one of those quirks that makes a game more personal, a little more human. “Oh sweet little Jimmy Buggletons,” I imagine you sigh when you find a weapon cracking in Dark Souls II [official site] thanks to the durability bug, “we meet again!” You insufferably twee git.

Well, dear reader, I’m afraid Jimmy is going away to a farm where he’ll be very happy playing with the other glitches. The durability bug’s finally being, ah, sent to a better place.

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Dark Souls II: Scholar Of The First Sin Twists Our Melons

Praise the sun, very good, and other quotes you might recognise from a video game you once played: Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin [official site] launched yesterday. It’s essentially the ‘game of the year edition’ of From Software’s die ’em up sequel, coming with all the DLC included as well as a few tweaks to the game and its graphics.

Publishers Namco Bandai are offering discounts for folks who own the original Dark Souls II, but in the cold light of day, the changes seem quite slight and perhaps not worth upgrading for. If you can figure out the upgrades. Come marvel at the longest on-topic RPS Treehouse discussion ever as we puzzled over it.

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Dark Souls II: Scholar Of The First Sin Prices And Upgrades

Dark Souls II [official site] being upgraded with fancier DirectX 11-y graphics, reworked enemy and item placement, a few new items, and whatnot sounded great. Then it became clear that the ‘Scholar of the First Sin’ edition won’t come as an update but as a separate version of the game, and one folks will need to pay for, which sounds less great. At least it’ll offer discounts to upgrade.

Upgrading from plain old Dark Souls II to the new version will cost you $20 (£13.50-ish, though we’ll see how generous regional pricing is) if you own already all the DLC or $30 (£20) if you don’t, publishers Bandai Namco announced yesterday as the launch rapidly nears.

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Meet The Scholar: Dark Souls II Update Heralding First Sin

Fire fire.

Bandai Namco have announced a free update to the divisive yet celebrated Dark Souls II in advance of The Scholar of the First Sin (the latter being a DLC-inclusive revamp and re-release).

Those still plugging away with Dark Souls II as it stands may or may not be enticed by the changes that From Software will bring to the game on February 5th. The focus appears to be promoting online play, as well as introducing us to the Scholar.

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A Little Extra Darkness: Dark Souls II Revamp Coming

Heeey there buddy.

Gawd bless the new generation of consoles and the revamped re-releases of recent games publishers are putting together to take advantage of them. This gives us the nice knock-on effect of our games getting better, prettier, and generally fancier. Dark Souls II is the latest getting the revamp-o-release treatment in Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, a bundle including the DLC.

More than that, it’ll also improve graphics, add new NPCs, improve matchmaking, boost performance, raise the playercount, and other fine things. Some of those features will come in a free update, but others I’m a little hazier on.

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