Another dark souls 1 vs 2 debate

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RandoJarfat

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#1 RandoJarfat
Member since 2014 • 63 Posts

Yes i did install dsfix now but even before they looked better, but with dsfix they looked even better again! In fact i think its the best looking game ive played in living memory. blows skyrim away out the water (i know thats also dated but i played that not too long ago). something about the style of it, it seems to have a very unique art style where polygons dont look like polygons, everyhting has a sort of sheen about it like an 80s movie, i just love that! alot is to do with the film grain i guess like in masss effect 2.

I just started playing ds1 after everyone was saying its the best and after only a few minutes I really got what they were on about. that badboy is thick with atmosphere. I imagine that ds2 will have some of it but it hadnt so far in the couple hours i palyed. Mejula does have that meloncholic feel that the ds1 start area has tho so im hopeful that it will still give me some whistful memories in its own right once i get into it.

The main thing I notice is the graphics actually look considerably WORSE on ds2 than 1...how is this possible?

The ds1 graphics looks awesome somehow but i dont know quite what it is. Its something about the good use of that grainy effect for distant objects but also even clsoe object all look amazing no blockiness at all.

On the otehr hand when i was in the giant forest or whatever its called at the start of the game the rockfaces and plain flat grass in ds2 just look terribly blocky and bland. You dont see anythting like that in ds1 everything has a beautiful kind of art style. Anyone know what it is, how could they have gone backwards??

Hopefully mods will come out to sort these things out or i will get further into the game and it wont be such an issue. but i also remember now for instance i was walking up a tree in ds2 and noticed how terribly polygon looking it was. like really sharp angles. No style at all really.

I was wondering which game to play first and im hooked on number one now. But i was initially thinking id play number 2 since ppl say its not as good so then it would only get better with 1. Seems like im gonna be disappointed playing 2 but i think 1 will keep me going for ages :P and i may have rage quitted before even finishing that. :P

Also please dont put any spoiler in your replies :P since Im still early on in both of them.

Combat is certianly better in the second which is somehting i can surely say. the contact effects when you make blows are better. I am sure i will still enjoy the second as well. and if the first didnt exist i think ds2 would sitll be a great game. but i am spoilt now to be able to play them both :). think ill fire up two for a little now actually since ive been playing 1 all day.

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pyro1245

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#2 pyro1245
Member since 2003 • 9378 Posts

I have a hard time deciding which is better. I like them both a lot.... I wish I could smush them together and end up with a game world more like the first and mechanics more like the second. Also NG+ is ds2 is awesome because they add more and different enemies not seen in the first playthrough. Also I like the MP aspect of the second a little better.

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horgen

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#3 horgen  Moderator
Member since 2006 • 127472 Posts

Lore-wise it is smarter to play DS1 before DS2.

DS2 is easier than DS1. Some of the bosses in DS1 are fun, but very cruel and punishing. Easier to remember than boss fights in DS2... Granted it is also because some of the DS2 bosses are very much alike bosses in DS1 and Demon's Souls.

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RandoJarfat

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#4 RandoJarfat
Member since 2014 • 63 Posts

It seems like Im gona be playing both simultaneously :P.

So long as I can rememebr the fact that the controls are mapped differnelty on both games on my gamepad 0_o havent been able to map them both the same due to the idiosynchracies of each, it was hard enough to get them up and running smooth in the first place :P

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KHAndAnime

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#5 KHAndAnime
Member since 2009 • 17565 Posts

@horgen said:

Lore-wise it is smarter to play DS1 before DS2.

DS2 is easier than DS1. Some of the bosses in DS1 are fun, but very cruel and punishing. Easier to remember than boss fights in DS2... Granted it is also because some of the DS2 bosses are very much alike bosses in DS1 and Demon's Souls.

It's a shame because when I played DS2 at launch, there were many difficult bosses, possibly some more difficult than the ones in DS1, but a myriad of patches nerfed all the tough spots in the game so it's smooth sailing from start to finish.

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with_teeth26

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#6 with_teeth26
Member since 2007 • 11511 Posts

Dark Souls 1 is a lot better imo. It has some really annoying bits like the Capra Demon and anything involving platforming (the final part of the Bed of Chaos fight was so stupid) because my god jumping with any precision in that game is impossible. But the world has a real sense of place and everything is interconnected in such a cool way. It also has some really badass boss fights which DS2 mostly lacked.

DS2 just felt like it aped the design of the first game but it didn't have the soul. (see what I did there?) Many of the levels felt lazily designed and didn't fit together well which is why they had to put in fast travel from the start.

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RandoJarfat

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#7 RandoJarfat
Member since 2014 • 63 Posts

Can some1 expalin how humanity works in the first one? As i see it it doesnt seem to do anyhtign except for being an aesthetic thing?

in that sense the second one is harder in that it nerfs your hp permanently. So what is the point of it in the first one? Havent noticed any difference when it says 00 on top left or 01/02.

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humanistpotato

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#8 humanistpotato
Member since 2013 • 555 Posts

@randojarfat said:

Can some1 expalin how humanity works in the first one? As i see it it doesnt seem to do anyhtign except for being an aesthetic thing?

in that sense the second one is harder in that it nerfs your hp permanently. So what is the point of it in the first one? Havent noticed any difference when it says 00 on top left or 01/02.

humanity gives you luck, i dont know its confirmed but from my experience it gives better drops, and human form alows you to kindle fires, i dont remember if it requires a soul too

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RandoJarfat

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#9  Edited By RandoJarfat
Member since 2014 • 63 Posts

hmm pretty worthless metric then compared to how it is integral in the second one. that is an improvemnet i think, well it makes it harder but better lorewise that it actually does something :)

@humanistpotato said:

humanity gives you luck, i dont know its confirmed but from my experience it gives better drops, and human form alows you to kindle fires, i dont remember if it requires a soul too

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bonafidetk

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#10  Edited By bonafidetk
Member since 2004 • 3911 Posts

@horgen said:

Lore-wise it is smarter to play DS1 before DS2.

DS2 is easier than DS1. Some of the bosses in DS1 are fun, but very cruel and punishing. Easier to remember than boss fights in DS2... Granted it is also because some of the DS2 bosses are very much alike bosses in DS1 and Demon's Souls.

Doesn't DS2 pretty much disregard the lore from DS1? I read that its barely a sequel in anything but name (and of course similar mechanics). I read they only named in DS2 to cash in on DS1 popularity.

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RandoJarfat

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#11  Edited By RandoJarfat
Member since 2014 • 63 Posts

I was just thinking how for me its going to probably be a similar case to HL1/2. Where sure half life two looked fancy and all and some things were tighter but it never had the same grandeur of the first one. Still a good game but so short. :(

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bonafidetk

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#12 bonafidetk
Member since 2004 • 3911 Posts

@randojarfat said:

I was just thinking how for me its going to probably be a similar case to HL1/2. Where sure half life two looked fancy and all and some things were tighter but it never had the same grandeur of the first one. Still a good game but so short. :(

HL2 is old hat now but it was pretty groundbreaking in 2004.

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SaintSatan

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#13  Edited By SaintSatan
Member since 2003 • 1986 Posts

Are there really people that think DS2 is better than DS1? Disgusting. The bosses alone make DS1 a bajllion times better.

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#14 cyloninside
Member since 2014 • 815 Posts

@horgen said:

Lore-wise it is smarter to play DS1 before DS2.

DS2 is easier than DS1. Some of the bosses in DS1 are fun, but very cruel and punishing. Easier to remember than boss fights in DS2... Granted it is also because some of the DS2 bosses are very much alike bosses in DS1 and Demon's Souls.

lore... wise? there is no concrete evidence, and certainly nothing overt, that DS1 and DS2 have ANYTHING to do with each other lore wise... its all just speculation on the part of fans.

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#15 rabakill
Member since 2004 • 884 Posts

I'd say objectively DS1 was way better because it had a better design of the gameworld and geography, better multiplayer functionality (the phantom hits in DS2 were unbearable and gamebreaking), better overall framerate in DS1 and better bosses. DS2 is like a die hard sequel, tried to copy the original and despite being flashier with more window dressing it just isn't as good because the genuinely interesting characters and setting of the original were a poor imitation in the sequels.

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#16  Edited By uninspiredcup
Member since 2013 • 58460 Posts

@randojarfat said:

I was just thinking how for me its going to probably be a similar case to HL1/2. Where sure half life two looked fancy and all and some things were tighter but it never had the same grandeur of the first one. Still a good game but so short. :(

Not sure I agree friend. While I also prefer halflife (fav FPS ever) Halflife 2 does a fairly brillaint illusion of making linked linear levels seem much larger than it actually was.

I like from the get go as well, almost all the way through the game, the citadel can be seen. When you actually get inside it the effect of being inside the belly of the beast is all the greater.

Games like Arkham City kinda copied it (The villain tower) but regardless of being an actual bonafide open world hub game it still lacks the grandeur of Halflife 2.

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RandoJarfat

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#17  Edited By RandoJarfat
Member since 2014 • 63 Posts

Ok this is really insane!!!!

How on earth would you EVER know about a bonfire behind a hidden wall!!!!

There is not holding your hand and there is i dunno that is crazy in my opinion. The bonfire is a central part of the game and I was wondering why I couldnt find one in the darkroot forest since it seemed 'about time'. Id died several times running furiously through monsters in the dim hope I would reach a bonfire...but oh no....they go and hide it behind a wall.

I would NEVER figure that out without chekcing online for the solution.

Sure if it was some secret item not integral to the progression of the game but not so.

That is just too extreme!

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horgen

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#18 horgen  Moderator
Member since 2006 • 127472 Posts

@cyloninside: I think they confirmed that it is the same universe and happens later in time.

Demon's Souls is in another universe.

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horgen

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#19  Edited By horgen  Moderator
Member since 2006 • 127472 Posts

@bonafidetk said:

@horgen said:

Lore-wise it is smarter to play DS1 before DS2.

DS2 is easier than DS1. Some of the bosses in DS1 are fun, but very cruel and punishing. Easier to remember than boss fights in DS2... Granted it is also because some of the DS2 bosses are very much alike bosses in DS1 and Demon's Souls.

Doesn't DS2 pretty much disregard the lore from DS1? I read that its barely a sequel in anything but name (and of course similar mechanics). I read they only named in DS2 to cash in on DS1 popularity.

I don't know. They aren't that much tied together. except for a few rings, same universe and a boss.

PS: Double post because using iPad here is not easy.

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KHAndAnime

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#20  Edited By KHAndAnime
Member since 2009 • 17565 Posts

@randojarfat said:

Ok this is really insane!!!!

How on earth would you EVER know about a bonfire behind a hidden wall!!!!

There is not holding your hand and there is i dunno that is crazy in my opinion. The bonfire is a central part of the game and I was wondering why I couldnt find one in the darkroot forest since it seemed 'about time'. Id died several times running furiously through monsters in the dim hope I would reach a bonfire...but oh no....they go and hide it behind a wall.

I would NEVER figure that out without chekcing online for the solution.

Sure if it was some secret item not integral to the progression of the game but not so.

That is just too extreme!

Hidden walls are a staple of Metroidvania type games, which I consider the Souls series to spiritually be a part of.