Currently titled "Dark Souls". I remember reading an interview where the developers said that the chances for a sequel are slim to none. Well, I guess that must have quickly changed once bags of money were dropped off in their office

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb2cvS3cWEk

This was announced a long time ago (though now the title is official).  Just FYI it's Namco publishing this time and it's NOT an official sequel.  Same developer and same general idea, but the worlds are not connected.

I had heard that something was in the works, but this was news to me. I am glad it is a sequel even if not a direct sequel. Well, technically it can't be a sequel if it's not connected story-wise, but for all practical purposes it is a sequel.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/02/04/dark- … otally-is/

My favorite quote from the article:

"Finally, rest assured that Dark Souls will be at least as difficult as its predecessor, if not even more so."

Dark Souls is out!
Looks like the US Collector's Edition has sold out. Copies have already sold on ebay for $120 (dang)!  At any rate, I'm curious if anyone (aside from myself) ordered a copy? Should be a great game, but very time-consuming. I won't open my copy for a while, but will eventually play. As far as I can tell it's basically Demon's Souls once more. Not a bad thing at all.

Definitely not for me, but I hope you enjoy it.

the european limited edition will be mine soon (with soundtrack CD, no digital junk)

Lucky! Unfortunately here in the US we only get digital junk... but I ordered a real CD online. Yeah, costs more, but some arsehole decided that the NA release should be digital and... don't get me started!

Been playing me a bit of Dark Souls!
Damnably addictive, and apparently From Software decided Demon's Souls was a bit too easy, and made this sequel even harder Not for the easily frustrated. However, I have to say, this series (Demon's Soul and Dark Souls) are some of the most atmospheric games. I love the "dark" atmosphere, and real sense of exploration. I love the challenge, and when you accomplish something it feels like it was worth it. Lots of variety, plenty of ways to do things/kill monsters. I hope they continue with this series and release many more! I don't have any complaints about the series, except that in Dark Souls the storyline is not clear to me. While in Demon's Souls it was clear what you were and why you were there, here in Dark Souls it's not clear what you're trying to do, and yet you're having a great time doing it!

I've been playing this lately too. Game's tough! I just got my shit slapped hard by a damn skeleton!

Art direction is fantastic. I love the cold, desolate feel of the world. The lighting, soundtrack (by Sakuraba, apparently) and aesthetics come together to create a really cool sense of ambience. I totally love it.

I seriously am dying left and right here. This games' difficulty cannot possibly be understated.

The game is difficult, but I don't feel it's as hard as people make it out to be. Well, that is, I guess many people are used to playing games where you run around with guns shooting everything and blowing shit up... yeah, that don't work here! So I can see why people get frustrated with a game such as this that takes time and strategy. How far have you made it? I will say this, once you get to the first blacksmith, if you play your cards right, the game becomes substantially easier (there's a great place to quickly level up, and you can also upgrade your weapons). Nonetheless, you can still get your arse handed to you if you're not careful.

***HINTS***
Skeletons are tough. Don't even think of going down to the catacombs until you have a divine weapon. Also, I would strongly suggest upgrading your spear, which you should be using against other spear-wielding undeads. And make sure to get the Drake sword, which is one of the best weapons in the game and easily attainable early in the game.
***END HINTS***

Overall, I think this is a wonderful game, but not as polished as Demon's Souls in many ways. Sure, in some ways it's more polished (world is completely connected, bosses are more varied, you have more weapons, armor, spells which are great) but I feel like they should have given you a better story. In Demon's Souls you die, you're in soul form, makes sense. You beat a boss, you get your body back and full health, makes sense. In Dark Souls, you die, you're hollow... what the hell is that? You can get your humanity back... what the hell is that? Frankly, it doesn't really make much difference. So that part is disappointing, although I will say that this is still one of the best RPGs to come out of Japan in my opinion (and yeah, it's very Western, so traditional JRPG fans probably won't like it). And the music is great I didn't realize they even got a new coposer, since the music sounded so much like Demon's Souls, which is a good thing (boss fights sound way better now though

By the way, here is a link to the first part of a speed run. Apparently this guy beat the whole game in about 1.5 hours...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ymysN3qQ8

just read that some people claim this is a fake, or that the player had some sort of cheat enabled, since he should not have had some item that he did. I don't know...

This game seriously kicks ass. Mine, namely.

I'm in the undead burg right now. After getting my balls stomped by the Taurus Demon, I decided to explore the area in some vain hope of finding better equipment. I ended up finding some gold resin or something, seems cool. Adds lightning damage to my weapon. Also snagged a bow and some arrows from that creepy merchant. Will attempt to get the drake sword as soon as I can.

Soundtrack by Sakuraba, but I honestly wouldn't have known that if I didn't look it up. It's such a dramatic departure from what I'm used to hearing from him.

Avatar, what class did you choose?

Did you play Demon's Souls? If not, I definitely would recommend playing that first. Although I do think Dark Souls is a bit harder, at least in the beginning. Yeah, the Taurus Demon was a real pain. I remember getting close to beating it, and then dying it was getting frustrating, until I figured out how to easily beat him (if you want, see hint below). I choose the pyromancer as my starting class, since it's nice to be able to use fire at the start. Once you beat the Taurus Demon, you'll see that the world "gets" much larger! Although right now, until you make it to the first blacksmith, the game will be fairly challenging, but hopefully you're enjoying it (most of the time

HINT...how to beat Taurus Demon...HINT (Do not read if you want to figure it out yourself)
...so, the trick is, as soon as you enter the bridge, go right, there is a "hidden" (or hard to see) ladder that takes you up to the tower. Up there you can kill those annoying bowmen and of course use it drop on the TD and do major damage...
END HINTS

Alright, Undead Burg has been epic so far. I murdered the shit out of the Taurus Demon, acquired the Drake Blade and ran amok on the local undead population until I gained about 5000 or so soul.

Then a rat bit me to death under a filthy bridge.

Thanks for the hint, avatar. I did the downward stab and it took off a good 25% of the Taurus Demon's health, which really helped. After that, I used my little gold electric stone thing to add lightning damage to my blade and went to town on his ass, dodging left and right. I barely had any health left when I beat him, it was utterly harrowing. Love it!

After that, I went back to the Black Knight in the first part of the burg and fought it until I won. Again, that shit was not easy. I look forward to more hair-raising fights! Do you eventually get to sell shit from your inventory? I'm currently sitting on approximately a million shortswords that I'll never touch otherwise.

i breathed this game for 3 weeks or so, got platinum trophy. i'm glad you guys are enjoying it.

i'll be back for some PVP after the patching.

Yup, that's how it goes
Those rats are a pain at low levels, although a spear will kill them nice and quickly. I think you'll find there are plenty of hair-raising fights in the game. so no worries. Of course, I'm not done with it, but have loved it so far. Still not as polished as Demon's Souls, but as I said a wonderful game nevertheless. You do get to "sell" your inventory eventually, although you'll get so little for most items that they are not worth holding on to for the most part. Pretty soon you'll hit the Darkroot Garden which is my favorite part of the game, although a bit short compared to the undead burg. How are you progressing along?

Let's see here.

Got my shit stomped on by the Tower Knight in the Undead Parish. Took me about four or so tries to put him to rest, but my victory was short lived when I got completely obliterated by some asshole mage and his undead goons like a minute later.

Fighting my way through the Parish itself was incredibly tense. They got a bunch of these special hallows dressed in silver armor that riposte like a boss. Got me really good a few times before I learned to take them one at a time. Even then they're still tricky.

Speaking of which, them Black Knights are tough as shit. I did manage to kill the two I've encountered thus far. The first, I had to sneak attack, which took off half its' health, then finished it off by climbing up the side of the one house with the ladder and doing a drop attack on it's ass. The second, I had to man the hell up and just learn the timing behind his sword swings so I could counter him. I can't remember which one, but I got a Black Knight Sword out of the deal. I've been told I'm lucky to get it this early. A rare drop, apparently.

The Titanite Demon is hard as hell. When I first got slaughtered by it, I had no magic, so I farmed Hallows in the Undead Parish until I could afford the Heavy Soul Arrow. I hope I can beat him with it.

What about you? Where you at?

I just pounded the Titanite demon with arrows while avoiding his blasts. He went down after a few minutes without any problems
I actually had more problems with the black knights. Now, I can take them down fairly easily if need be, but that knight up on the rooftop nailed me numerous times! The only item I got from them was the black knight shield. It's great against fire, but weak against magic. Right now, I need to explore New Londo or Blighttown. I was in the Tomb of the Giants before I realized I could not proceed at this point. Ah well, I did manage to rescue someone down there! I take it you finished the undead church and rang the first bell?

Yeah, I did that earlier today. I summoned Solaire to help me take out the Bell Tower Gargoyle team. Got a bangin' axe from it. Afterwards, I proceeded towards the Lower Undead Burg where I was waylaid by hallowed assassins a few times. Surprisingly crafty foes who do not respond favorably to traditional melee attacks; I got my ass reposted pretty hard. I had to turtle each and every one of them. The boss of the area, the Capra Demon schooled me hard, but he eventually fell to the ultimate tag team of my Drake Sword + Magic Shield spell combo.

My stats just got high enough to utilize the Black Knight sword (which I just pimped at Andre's smithy), so I'll be switching to that when I need a slower swinging, higher damaging means of attack. As it stands, my Drake Sword is still performing great.

My triumph of the day? Beating the crap out of the Bridge Wyvern. Apparently, it's entirely optional, but it yielded me a cool 10k worth of souls.

EDIT: Bitches don't know about my +3 Knight Shield.

So I just rang the second bell underneath Blighttown. That was easily the most difficult area of the game, not only because of the high number of poison dart snipers capable of inflicting Toxin on your character, but also because of the slowdown; For how ugly the area is, it's absolutely breathtaking, so much so that the game slows right the hell down during areas where the engine has to render that much detail. Made combat dramatic and unfocused, the way I'd imagine it'd be if I had to beat the piss out of rats who walk like men and their fire-spewing dogs, both of whom seem to crawl out of the woodwork.

Next stop, Sen's Fortress.

You're now farther ahead than I. I will eventually get back to it, but I'm fairly busy with school-related research and when I get home I don't have the strength to sit down and concentrate on a game such as Dark Souls. Still, no worries, I can put a game down for months and pick-up where I left off. Good to hear you're enjoying it. I know this is a bit premature, but are you also hoping for a sequel, or am I the only one?

Shit, no. I'll be first in line day one for Dead Souls or Darker Souls or whatever it'll be called.

My friend described it best: Super Metroid combined with the first Diablo.

Hey, I kinda like that. I'd vote for Dead Souls as a good name for the sequel

after a critical memory failure destroyed most of my 360 saves, I figured it was time for another go at Dark Souls.

I'm amazed that the muscle memory I developed for complex actions like reposting and last-minute panick-induced dodge rolling remained intact. It had been several months since I played it last and I was afraid I had gotten rusty. So happy this wasn't the case.

What I'm not too happy about was my luck concerning item drops. On my first playthrough, the first Black Knight I felled in combat near the beginning of the game yielded unto me a Black Knight Sword, an almost unreasonably powerful sword that lasted me almost to the end of my first playthrough. I had been assured I was ridiculously lucky to get it so early.

So for this playthrough, I sat on my ass and farmed monsters all day to raise my humanity all the way up to 10, which grants the highest possible drop rate without the use of late-game accessories. This took me 4 1/2 hours. By the end of it, my character (a female wanderer for those curious) was
somewhere at lvl 25 with sufficient parameters to wield the sword in question once I got it. Alas, the knight did not drop it.

Disappointment, thy name is Dark Souls.

Haven't made it to Dark Souls yet so I've been playing Demon's Souls instead. The game is maddeningly addictive, despite the high difficulty level and some of the frustratingly long levels (without checkpoints, of course).