@wickknickers: Nonsense. People are not kept at a 50% win rate; I don't have a 50% win rate. Anyone who actually pays gold for APCR and HEAT rounds is a dumbass, when you can get those for silver. Aim has been improved over the last year, and "gold" rounds don't improve that anyway. You don't know what you're talking about.
@RAD_RADIO @Palantas @radikel Because you like a game, it does not follow that every single element of it is executed well. If Dark Souls has great voice acting, then what's a game with bad voice acting? Does one even exist? The crestfallen warrior's voicework is so lousy, I'm pretty sure I could do a better job. A whole mess of Dark Souls NPCs needed someone yelling "Again, but with feeling this time" while their voice actors sat in the studio. There's this thing called inflection that you encounter when talking to people, in say Mass Effect, that could have helped at least half the NPCs in Dark Souls.
Besides the tepid voice acting, the dialogue is often nonsensical or obtuse. A guy said to me once "I can share some spells with you if you'd like...unless you find magic unsavory that is." The game prompts "How do you respond?" with the options "Yes or No." Okay...am I answering to "Can I share some spells?" or "Do you find magic unsavory?". Which question am I answering? That's important to know, since they have opposite meanings. The two previous times this has come up, I picked "Yes" to get what the NPC had to offer. "Yes" is a positive response, so I just assumed that was the right choice. But no, of course not. In this case, I was actually saying "Yes, I find magic unsavory." WTF?
Later on, I meet that fat cat, Alvina, who says to me, "Is it not so that thou art new? Thou fared well to find me. But cometh thee not for the grave of Sir Artorias? My advice true, forget this! The legend of Artorias art none but a fabrication. ...Traversing the dark? 'Tis but a fairy tale. Have thine own respect, go not yonder knocking for nothing, I say!" Then I get that ridiculous "What is your response? Yes. No." What the hell am I answering yes or no to? This is not cleverly written dialogue. This is dialogue written by someone who is trying to sound smart. In other words, about any of some tens of thousands of people on roleplaying servers in MMOs could have written this.
Good dialogue in a game, A.) Drives the plot, providing motivation to the player, B.) Gives information about the game world, C.) Creates NPCs with depth who emotionally involve the player, and D.) Is witty, insightful, or otherwise enlightening to the mind. Dark Souls dialogue rarely does any of this.
Dark Souls is not that hard of a game, as long as you're careful and patient. The gameplay is satisfying and challenging, and the game's strongest element. Leave that as it is.
However, From Software needs to fix all the ambiguous stuff in the sequel. The basic game mechanics should be explained in the manual and a tutorial. What I'm supposed to be doing in the game should be better explained by NPCs, i.e, "Go this way only if seeking a tough fight." Letting new players wander into high level enemies isn't fun or challenging; it's just a beginner's trap that you didn't have a fair chance of figuring out. On that note, write better dialogue for your NPCs. And a quest log wouldn't hurt either. If I come back to the game after several days, I should not have to consult the Wiki to know what I'm supposed to be doing and why.
@radikel Dark Souls has lousy voice acting and some terrible dialogue. This is an area that absolutely needs improvement in the sequel. What are you talking about?
@furrynic @Palantas I hope they make it a week. Everyone I know pretty well has constant Internet, but a friend mentioned, what about going on vacation?
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