It is dated, and the last third of it does suck. In truth it would probably be a good candidate for a remake.
Even then, it is a wonderful game that you can only really enjoy fully if you haven't played any later soulslike first. To me, that first time experience is worth trying to push for.
Interesting, I do love a quirky standard 52-card deck card game. I'll save this for later.
It's a tale as old as time.
I like to try to recommend people who are interested in Souls games to start with Dark Souls 1. If that's your first soulslike the bosses will still feel epic and it will be a magical experience. If you start with Elden Ring or DS3 and go back to Dark Souls you will get completely underwhelmed.
Between Pyromancy, Zweihander and Poise DS1 is also by far the easiest of the games, even for newcomers.
Don't expect RDR2-but-cyberpunk (in terms of the open world) and don't expect a blank slate character RPG: you have some choices for characterization but V will always be V.
If you can get on board with that it's a great, immersive action game with a good story and some well written characters.
Ah thanks. That's what I thought.
Outer Wilds at 40% off again. Does it ever get lower? I know I should pay full price because it's supposed to be a masterpiece but I'm afraid I'll bounce off it. Also a bit hesitant to play it because I'm afraid it will just give me more existential dread and anxiety and I have too much of that already.
"Hasn't improved" is a very polite way of putting it, but wouldn't "gone to shit" be more accurate?
Really? I've only played Kingmaker but while uneven I thought they had some good ones. I really liked both Jubilost and Nok-Nok, I thought Harrim was a pretty interesting character and Jae'thal was enjoyable too.
I've been listening to a lot of Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog lately. "The Activist" really is a song for our times.
I'm glad you are enjoying it, but I wonder: how much of the enjoyment is inherent to the game and how much is just having a good time with your mates (and would be equally fun in any other co-op game)?
Someone had to be first to break the silence so why not with this? Nothing better than a guitar with a story, and few things more beautiful than a Jazzmaster full stop. Picture taken from a story here.
I was waiting for the original poster to repost it here, but if they aren't then I will since this photo definitely belongs here.
While still holding out hope of one day seeing his book (the excellently titled "etceteracide") released, a song lyric will do. RSH was great with words, and I always thought this read pretty well as a poem.
It's not really that you won't have the patience later. It's more like this: Dark Souls 1 is extremely basic in its boss design. If that's your first soulslike, it doesn't matter because you have no frame of reference and you'll have a great time. Come back to it later and you'll react with "...that's it?" to a lot of bosses, which is a shame. This is something I've seen a lot from people whose first soulslike was Elden Ring.
The world and level design in Dark Souls 1 is still on an absolute top tier level so skipping it altogether would be sad. Many consider the first half of DS1 to be the best level designs FromSoft has ever done.