I’ve tried many times to get into these games but it didn’t work, Dark souls has really a depressing theme, it’s not sad or frightening, … it’s depressing, makes you feel lonely, it’s taking a walk into the dead city of Minas Morgul where there is no sunshine,and this could be one of the main reasons why some of gamers didn’t find these series amusing. ..So what about you guys? how’d you find Dark souls …..?
As unsettling as Dark Souls can become, I wouldn't say it's depressing. To be quite honest I'd say it's more darkly comic than anything due to the very peculiar characters and messages left behind by players.
Bloodborne is the more depressing game because it manages to strip away those aspects for the most part while simultaneously making its world feel more organic.
"Depression" (or uneasiness or whatever you wanna call it) is important for creating tension and drama through gameplay (when used properly). Video games are at their best when their environments make you feel uncomfortable.
This is something that movies can not provide. Sadly, not many games take advantage of the medium's strengths and instead copy film industry (in a wrong way).
"Depression" (or uneasiness or whatever you wanna call it) is important for creating tension and drama through gameplay (when used properly). Video games are at their best when their environments make you feel uncomfortable.
This is something that movies can not provide. Sadly, not many games take advantage of the medium's strengths and instead copy film industry (in a wrong way).
it doesn't make me uncomfortable actually , it kinda bores me , ..... those cursed people , ruins of old cities and stuff like that
Bloodborne when walking down the streets of Yarnham. Hear the cries and agony of the people who hide in their homes waiting for the hunt to be over. The depressing stories of the NPC's as well. It has this dark atmosphere that reminds me of Berserk so much that I made my character play like Guts lol. Pure strength/skill drive.
These games feature almost no music except for rare instances and bosses. but the sound of your footsteps and swords colliding and equipment movement Alone has the power to soak you in its world which is an amazing accomplishment only few developers do well. Miyazaki himself was inspired by ICO and has displayed his admiration for Fumito Ueda FYI.
That's interesting, I've never felt depressed while playing them.
I have felt joy and anger though. Plenty of both of those things.
My first experiences with Dark Souls were in a college apartment though, we would spend hours passing the controller around, laughing at eachother when we died. So that could be why it was never depressing.
Yeah, way back when, I did purchase a copy for like 5 bucks and felt the same, just don't dig those games but on the other hand, my son loves'em so what do I know. :P
Reminds me of something similar a friend recently told me, that Fallout 4 was depressing. I greatly enjoyed Dark Souls and finished it from A to Z without any outside help. However, this is not a game for everyone.....my friend bought it on my recommendation and hated it because of the high difficulty.
@Wasdie: You must be talking about arcady direction of the game.
And the fact the game basically played itself since every single dogfight came down to a QTE and bombing runs were these nice, mapped out routes with QTEs you followed and preformed.
The game was an absolute joke.
I tried playing without the dogfight mode, but the game literally does not let you shoot down certain enemies without a QTE.
Oh yeah, you can't crash into the ground and die. You just bounce off of it. I wish I was kidding. It's a flying game where you can't crash. They completely removed that obstacle from the game.
I get what you're saying. I like that desolate feel in the games though, just illustrates how wonderfully atmospheric they are. I got that same vibe off Shadow of the Colossus, btw.
Yeah, that's part of the appeal of these games to me. They're dark, moody, endless nightmares. They're unrelenting in their tone and they constantly push further to drive that point home. Depressing, unsettling, hopeless, down right creepy, but it's all in such a brand that only these games can offer. I think it's the perfect compliment to the gameplay loop that these games offer too. You're never a winner. You never feel like you've saved the day, or done anything helpful for the world you're in. Death is a constant. Your only sense of victory comes from slaying a boss, or a creature that's relatively strong for the area you're in, but then the game takes that wind right out of your sails when you see how weak you really are against the next set of challenges.
Bloodborne only magnifies these aspects of the games.
All that said, it just makes it that much more appreciated when the games do sprinkle in twisted comic relief in the form of NPCs, items and descriptions, funny looking creatures, or silly gameplay mishaps.
I'm always reminded of a certain quote from Fear and Loathing when I play these games.
@Wasdie: You must be talking about arcady direction of the game.
And the fact the game basically played itself since every single dogfight came down to a QTE and bombing runs were these nice, mapped out routes with QTEs you followed and preformed.
The game was an absolute joke.
I tried playing without the dogfight mode, but the game literally does not let you shoot down certain enemies without a QTE.
Oh yeah, you can't crash into the ground and die. You just bounce off of it. I wish I was kidding. It's a flying game where you can't crash. They completely removed that obstacle from the game.
I know how you feel. But in today's age, that is to be expected. A lot of classics are brought back only to be streamlined to death. Making games more accessible is fine but removing features is another matter.
That is what the setting of Dark Souls is supposed to be like. It fits the game, as well as the story. Depressing lonely etc. The theme fits perfectly.
I guess that's what From Software is going for when they make these games, but I never felt that sort of tone. I have a hard time getting immersed or engrossed in the world of these games. I don't know, the entire experience just feels video gamey every step of the way. That's especially apparent when you factor in the various funny messages left by players online. I don't get the impression that I'm exploring a decaying world, they just feel like levels in a video game.
From Software made Kings Field 4, and that game is a thousand times more engrossing when it comes to story and atmosphere compared to any of the souls games.
@Wasdie said:
You obviously were not a fan of the classic Ace Combat series and then played Assault Horizons. Talk about depressing.
As someone who has played every Ace Combat post AC3, Assualt Horizon was fine.
I know how you feel. But in today's age, that is to be expected. A lot of classics are brought back only to be streamlined to death. Making games more accessible is fine but removing features is another matter.
Some streamlining has happened to games, but I think you've historically blown that out of proportion on this forum. It's very rare a game goes the full Assault Horizon route. The game literally was a flying QTE and on-rails sections. You didn't have to put any effort forth to win. It was basically a mobile game on a console. I have no idea how they went from a very basic flight game which was extremely easy to play to what they did with Assault Horizon. Probably suits telling devs what they believe sells games.
@JangoWuzHere: You're insane. Assault Horizon was a horrible game. Ace Combat 6 was better in every way.
Ace Combat Assault Horizon gutted the already arcadey gameplay of the series in favor of some QTE nightmare. It stripped out the unique setting and the very memorable boss encounters and replaced them with a real-world setting and on-rails missions. There was not only any challenge to the game, but there was nothing memorable about the entire thing. There was no reason to ever replay it and the gameplay was downright unfun.
They kept the pesudo real-world setting and classic Ace Combat gameplay with Infinity on the PS3 and are now back to Strangereal with proper Ace Combat gameplay and boss battles with Ace Combat 7.
@JangoWuzHere: You're insane. Assault Horizon was a horrible game. Ace Combat 6 was better in every way.
Ace Combat Assault Horizon gutted the already arcadey gameplay of the series in favor of some QTE nightmare. It stripped out the unique setting and the very memorable boss encounters and replaced them with a real-world setting and on-rails missions. There was not only any challenge to the game, but there was nothing memorable about the entire thing. There was no reason to ever replay it and the gameplay was downright unfun.
They kept the pesudo real-world setting and classic Ace Combat gameplay with Infinity on the PS3 and are now back to Strangereal with proper Ace Combat gameplay and boss battles with Ace Combat 7.
Horizon was a failed experiment.
"Go dance with the angels"
I rest my case.
In all seriousness, I had to force myself to finish AC6. I remember like one level that was good in AC6, everything else was repetitive and generic crap. Most missions are lame multi operations where players choose to tackle air, ground, or sea targets. It's seriously the same thing over and over again. Very few actual unique and interesting objectives are in that game. No point in having a unique setting if they don't do anything cool or interesting with it. AC4 and AC5 made great stories with their fictional world, AC6 is the most melodramatic and poorly written shit I've seen from Project Aces. Assualt Horizon doesn't have anything great with its story or characters, but at least I wasn't physically cringing every time a character spoke. Also the missiles are slow as **** in AC6, so dog fighting is a complete and total pain. As a result, I simply played as an AC-10 warthog and dropped fuel air bombs for like 80% of the missions.
Outside of the lame helicopter missions, Assualt Horizon is great. It's definitely no where near AC4 or AC5, but I would put it way above AC 6, it's probably on the same level as AC Zero.
You mean Demons Souls? Considering the fact that Dark Souls' story and setting is a rehash of Demons souls elements, Demons souls gets the crown for a dark atmosphere in that respect.
I agree with @freedomfreak. By the time I played Dark 1, I was loling at a lot of the stuff. The depths did have one genuinely spooky moment.
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