Games NOT Beaten 2017

[marurun]

Who doesn't like to play 3DO while driving?

[PartridgeSenpai]

That's why it took me 3 or 4 tries over as many years to finally get through Demon and Dark, and even then it was just because I finally used a guide.

Kudos to you for sticking with it, regardless of using a guide.

I should specify perhaps that when I say I "used a guide," I mean I used the wiki a lot. For things like what boss souls can transform which weapons, what elements certain bosses are weak to, how to glitch out certain bosses (although I never got that to actually work ). I used it for Demon far more than Dark.

If I had to pick a favorite out of the two I've beaten it'd be Demon because it really shows it's the first try at something like this. There are so many weird eccentricities that aren't in later games that are just really cool to stumble upon. Like how a certain boss fight might be laid out, or how enemies may be placed. I won't mention any here to keep it a surprise, which is one of the best parts (even if it does kick your ass). It does have a LOT of bottomless pits though compared to Dark, especially during boss battles, so that's one not quite so nice thing

There weren't many players playing it when I beat Demon a few years back, but I was fairly surprised there were still ANY people playing it and doing the online. I only used it for like one boss (the second to last boss in the fire world), since that was the only one I could actually find help for, but it worked well enough.

[Xeogred]

Plus, they're structured in a way that encourages helping other players - leaving notes, or straight up co-op. Not to the degree that MMOs can be, but, it is an inherent part of the design.

Since I'm playing offline single player... I'm in for a good time.

It might be a bit too hard to really explain the online integration to you before you dive in and see it. Regardless, I think that Demon's is probably a dead zone by this point, it almost was when I first played it several years ago. So online/offline probably makes no difference, other than the weird world tendency effect (just play the game ignoring this, since it's so easy too unless you want the platinum).

I for one can't stand co-oping my way through bosses, so like you said earlier I guess I'm a bit of an elitist snob with these to an extent, it angers me when others (mostly just thinking of friends I know in person here) talk about how they joined up with people for bosses. It just seems so lame. They are totally doable solo.

But the community aspect is pretty amazing and has made the later entries, 2, Bloodborne, and 3 very fun for me to go through as they were brand new and the entire world was exploring and discovering these games together. The real kicker here though, is that often players are just fucking with other players. A message of "Treasure ahead" might be planted before a suspicious cliff that might look legit... but it's really just a pit to your death. Then there's hilarious jokes, mostly sexual innuendos around NPC's or something. Demon's even has an item that's "Sticky White Stuff". None of this stuff pulls me out of the experience, jokes aside, they even integrate the online elements into the lore very well.

You are not forced to participate either. You generally have to be in a "body" form (every game kind of has a different term for it). Which is usually granted after beating a boss or by rare items. In your main/body form you usually have a lot more HP, but there's often rings or equipment to counter the adverse effect of being dead/etc. The real fun here though is being invaded or invading other players throughout your game for some surprise PvP. In my experience jumping into Demon's and Dark Souls 1 a bit late though, and those being less balanced, it was mainly complete assholes messing around with newbies... being invaded in Demon's or Dark for me, I may as well have put the controller down because it wouldn't make a difference. People were insanely overpowered with crazy stats and would destroy me. I remember getting invaded a lot on my way to the last boss in Demon's (after battling through its long level) and I was fuming, but those memories kind of just make me laugh and made it better in retrospect.

PvP was absolutely amazing in Dark Souls 2 for me, it has the most "guilds" which further expand on the online stuff. I played Bloodborne all offline since I didn't bother with PSN, its online was not that great though since there were some new gimmicks that made summoning/invading more complex.

There actually is supposed to be a main boss in Demon's that was generally a summoned player in its place. Otherwise it's just a stock fight. But you could tell they were trying out a lot of weird ideas with it.

I'm just rambling here. I'm not sure if the MMO comparison really fits for me, that would turn me off if I heard it. It's almost like a larger scale PSO or something. I generally don't like playing stuff online or care for that sort of thing seeping into my games, but the way these games do it is fairly interesting and cool.

[isiolia]

Magnificent Chest Ahead


You can't completely ignore the "multiplayer" parts of Souls games as there are developer messages that will be there regardless (IE, where most of the tutorial info is), and a fair number of NPC encounters that utilize the same systems. While many will eschew NPC help for bosses (which might take other encounters to even have available), it can end up tying into a story for that character. Or, similarly, others may only appear as NPC invaders. I want to say that DeS relies more on world tendency for that than human or not, but staying undead in DS1 and 3 (mostly, NPCs still invade when undead in the second DLC) will result in missing a number of NPC encounters. DS2 just has them all invade regardless, and they're mostly pretty generic

I usually set or force offline as well, just saying, the mechanics are in play either way.

I don't mean to compare the Souls multiplayer to an MMO outside of the general notion that players can/should help one another - or potentially act in accord with their covenant (usually defending an area). More generally, it's an interesting, fairly unique system that actually fits the themes of the games well.

Summoning in other players as a boss or to assist a boss is done in DS2 and the DLC for 3 as well.

[Exhuminator]

It might be a bit too hard to really explain the online integration to you before you dive in and see it.

I appreciate you going into such depth about the online stuff in these games, but I won't be "diving in" to see it. I am a staunch offline single player gamer. It is very, very rare for me to play a game online with other actual people. Maybe I'll get into online multiplayer gaming some day, but it doesn't appeal to me now.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Souls games are okay. The difficulty is overstated. They're fun, but most 8 and 16-bit ARPGs are better. Also, there's no bump system, sadly.

[Exhuminator]

Also, there's no bump system, sadly.

Possibly a deal breaker. I haven't seen any waifus in screenshots either.

[Xeogred]

Like I said, you'll just have to see how its utilized here since it's so different (ie there's also no voice chat at all, thankfully. Just gestures)... if you accidentally end up playing one of the later games in online mode I guess haha.

Here's how nutty they got with the online integration in Demon's, just remember Exhum... don't fret it and you can completely ignore all of this, but it's probably amusing to glance at. A bit of a failed concept with a dead online player base now. But I got the platinum offline so you can manipulate this in different ways. Chances are when you started up the game you might have asked about this anyways.

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/world-tendency

Also, there's no bump system, sadly.

Possibly a deal breaker. I haven't seen any waifus in screenshots either.

[BoneSnapDeez]

u call that a waifu now this is a waifu

[Xeogred]

If you like traps.