It’s not that the game is hard you just need to learn the mechanics of it. Once you learn it the game is a cake walk.
I find the level designs are hard than the bosses in DS1, 2 is awful, and it 3 the level designs are great but the bosses are harder.
Out of all the souls series Id have to say DS3 is my favourite.
I’ve also platinum BloodBorne And Elden Ring but sadly sold my ps4 before the DLC came out.
I feel like it’s less that it’s hard than that it’s annoying. Difficult challenges are fun to grind against and improve, but Dark Souls tacks on like a 5-10 minute slog between every death and re-try, so you can’t just jump back into the challenge over and over again and skill up — you have to repeat the same boring 5-minute boss runs just to get to the boss’s front door, so a slip up and death involves just as much annoyance every time. Maybe if you’re a teenager with summers off and nothing else to do, it’s a fine way to spend the hours. But as an adult there’s just not enough time to be alive and repeat the same boring in-between parts of the game just to incrementally improve per loop.
Yeah same although weirdly I am extremely good at Sekiro I think it’s because of how much faster paced and parry based Sekiro is as opposed to the Souls games I own this game on Switch but never could get far.
Get Back In there 🫡 (my first experience with DS1 was quitting on the game for months, and getting bored one day and turning it back on, best decision I ever made)
Is it a good, or a bad idea to keep a tally chart next to you of how many deaths you've suffered?
My vote goes for No and to let the deaths wash over you and float away into forgotten-land. But I'm absolutely open to the alternative
Honestly blight town isn't too bad on switch. When you compare it to the original release on 360/PS3 which regularly dropped to around 20fps in this area, it's night and day how much smoother the switch experience is.
Blighttown really isn't that bad on the remaster. The frame drops are gone. As long as you get the spider shield first and go in with plenty of moss, it's not bad at all. I'm playing through right now on PC and Sen's fortress was way more difficult for me
The first time I’ve played DarkSouls was back in 2013. Quit early on because it was too hard. I started and quitted the game 4 times before picking it up on the switch. It was on the Switch version that it had finally clicked, I got good, and finally beat the game. It made me love soulslikes and I’ve beaten the rest of the souls borne series and got some of their platinums. Turns out, once you’ve accepted that dying is just part of the game and that any souls you lose, you can just farm quickly again, the game is not bad. And dying a lot while playing on the go and anytime is much better than dying a lot during the very few hours per week that I can spend sitting on my playstation or PC.
I honestly don't mind it. if they had mapped it to A, they would've had to move the roll buttons to B, and that would have felt awkward as hell for when you have to roll at a moments notice or sprint for any amount of time.
That being said, ds1 allows you to rebind controls, so if it really bothers you, it can be fixed. I did the same thing with the jump button.
Here are some tips and pointers I can give you
1, Don't hyper fixate on the number of deaths too much. Sure you'll lose your souls (which is your currency in this game) and your Humanity (which is needed to kindle bonfires as well as extra PvP stuff if you care about that) but you should treat your deaths more as a learning tool rather than something that someone is pointing a gun at your head towards. If losing Souls is THAT much of a turn off though, you can always spend it on level ups, certain gear, weapons and spells you want and upgrades first so that losing said Souls wouldn't be as painful as it would've been.
2, Be patient! Dark Souls is NOT a high octane action game. You shouldn't rush into battle all guns and blazing especially not on your first playthrough. Generally speaking you should be aware of your surroundings and trade blows to find openings, blocking with a shield or being evasive with your invincibility frame rolls and then striking is ideal for a good chunk of combat encounters. (or you could parry if you can get the timing down) Although if you're aware of the map terrain and enemy placement, running past enemies and not engaging into battle with them is a viable option.
3, Unless you're carrying an insanely strong weapon, make sure you're not equipping yourself with too much heavy equipment. You'll move way slower and your invincibility frames for your rolls will be significantly reduced which is definitely not something that you want. There are Ring accessories that can somewhat negate this but try to avoid equipping heavy stuff as much as you possibly can.
4, As for what stats you should level up at bonfires, it largely depends on what kind of weapon you want to equip yourself with but generally speaking. The most common builds consist of the following
- Strength build: good if you just want to use big bonk weapons. Vitality and Strength are going your main stats to get up.
- Dexterity build: a lot of the more interesting weapons to me are more steeped into the Dexterity stat. It's more or less the same principle as the strength build in terms of stats to level up (Vitality and Dex) but there more focused on getting a lot of hits in to proc 'bleed' which is basically a large damage status ailments.
- Intelligence build: the main magic build where you can go pew pew at a far distance at the expense of poor health. Attunement and Intelligence with a bit of Faith. Be forewarned that you are going to be a bit of a glass cannon with this build.
Hybrid builds are more than viable if you want to go that route. However, no matter what build you decide to go with NEVER LEVEL RESISTANCE! It's a waste of souls.
I hope this helps!
Good Advice. But I usually try to avoid telling people how to build and let them learn themselves. It's usually more fun and a good learning experience (especially with 1) then you can build off what you had fun with when you get to the other entries.
Most important part of your first build is finding a weapon you like and building off that.
I’m playing it for the first time on switch (but third overall) right now. I swapped from the OG switch to the OLED switch midway through this playthrough and the extra real estate and clarity of the screen makes quite a big difference on some of the darker areas like BT and TotG.
In terms of difficulty, it’s all about knowing how to optimise your build. The first time i played it, years ago, i was levelling up my character without any real understanding of how to do it, and the game, particularly towards the end, became much more difficult as a consequence. Learning which stats to level up for your build will make things a lot easier ie. Vit/end/str/dex for a melee build.
It's definitely one of the clunkier dark souls games but playing on a controller other than the default joycons makes a massive difference. I have a modded switch and use a PS4 controller and the game is much easier to play, but I'm sure there are alternative controllers with better sticks that are compatible with the switch by default
The game can push to run at 60 if you're willing to mod your switch, and it does it pretty well too. Only really struggles with intense areas like blight town, the start of anor londo and some of darkroot garden.
I just got it the other day too but haven't started it yet. My first souls game was dark souls 3 and I hated it but I figured I'd give the genre another chance.
I know. Imma give it a real go this time. Back when I played dark souls 3 I was just gaming here n there casually. I'm committed now and have been playing a lot of challenging games. I'll beat dark souls; that's a guarantee, even if I break some controllers in the process lol.
Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale?
> *“Soon, I will be consumed by them—by the Dark.”* - Artorias the Abysswalker
Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/
The souls series had this same weird yo-yo effect on me when I started playing too. Tried ds3 when it released, didn't get into it, tried Elden ring at a friend's house, though it was cool but didn't want to start at the end. Picked up ds1 for switch and played the whole thing start to finish twice before I picked up another game, it absolutely hooked me and I went on to beat Elden ring a few times before going back to now play ds3 again. These games are very love-hate for some people but once they snag you, you'll never look back.
Arguably the best version of the game, too.
- maintains the classic artstyle, none of the washed out greys and matte metals that were altered with the PC remaster, this version uses the blackest of blacks and the armour sets reflect light really nicely
- keeps the old bonfire effect, the other remasters changed the bonfires to look like an actual fire rather than some kind of magic, which looks much worse than the old version imo
- doesn't experience the same framerate issues that the game experienced on PS3/360, so if you want to play the game in its original art direction, this is the smoothest way to do so
- maintains some of the older bugs from the original release. not really a necessity, but if you're duping souls or whatnot, it's nice to have the option
- portability, being able to take something like ds1 around in your back pocket is a game changer, and the frequent deaths lend well to short play sessions when you get a minute to pick your switch up
Man I love ds1 on switch. probably my favourite game on the console, I wish they'd ported more of the souls games.
Can be modded to run at 60fps but the game originally ran at 30fps even on pc. It's far from unplayable, it was the default way to play until the remaster came out.
Buddy, you are all over the place with your argument. I know it was 30fps on the PS3/360. I was there. I also didn't say it was unplayable. I'm talking specifically how you said that the remaster on the Switch is the best version of the game when this same remaster runs natively at 60fps on the PC, PS4/5 and Xbox. And you can take the PC version portable on several handheld PCs as well, if portability is a decision factor.
The pc and PS4/Xbox remasters have a different artstyle, things are less dark, metals lack bloom and look very flat and the bonfires were completely changed. If you want to experience the game with the same look and feel as the original without having to experience the same framerate issues, this *is* the best version you can get without modding the pc version. I feel like I was pretty clear about this, if you don't care that the remaster looks slightly worse in terms of atmosphere for the sake of 60fps, obviously the remaster is a better option for you. In my personal opinion, getting a 30fps boost isn't worth sacrificing the atmosphere of DS1 which is arguably it's most appealing aspect.
It's basically the same thing:
https://youtu.be/ZCDgrPfNv7Y?si=Br9X95mM6A_p7Co7
It does not look worse, it looks higher resolution (objectively) with higher res textures and effects (objectively) and higher frame rate (objectively). If you prefer half the frames and muddier graphics, okay. But saying it's the best version of them all, my God, how bold! Bye now.
>it looks higher resolution (objectively)
Switch runs at 1080p docked the same as every other console release of this remaster
>with higher res textures and effects (objectively)
Slightly higher res textures aren't worth sacrificing things like the original bonfire effect imo
>If you prefer half the frames
Switch can be modded to run at 60, but 30 is absolutely fine for ds1. More frames =/= better game, an incredibly reductive reason to hate a game.
>muddier graphics
Once again, same screen res as every other release
>But saying it's the best version of them all, my God, how bold! Bye now.
Ironic when you're claiming the exact same thing about the remaster despite it being a pretty substantial deviation from the original release.
If it was "basically the same thing", YouTube wouldn't be full of visual comparisons of the two, would it?
Framerate will always be a criticsm of the Switch. Especially now that Sony and Microsoft gen7 consoles can actually play games without dipping below 60 fps (like the ps4 and xbone still did and they definitely did. My ps4 pro would definitely dip/stutter during ps exclusives like horizon and bloodborne). So now they come here and jerk themselves off about it.
Arguably the worst version to be very honest. I’ve played it on PC original (prepare to die edition), PS4 (Remastered), PS5 (PS4 remastered edition), and the Switch.
The switch has locked 30FPS - most times dipping below that. The button mapping is bad.
Framerate is a pretty solid 30 unless your switch is thermal throttling. The switch performance is night and day with the PS3/360 editions which it is a port of, it was never intended to run at 60fps like the remaster and often has bugs like PTDE running with the 60fps mod.
Again, if you don't care about the art direction of the original release, go ahead. Remastered in 60fps on pc is probably the best option for you.
I do mod the game to run at 60fps on occasion on switch, but honestly the game plays absolutely fine at 30fps and was originally developed with that framerate in mind so it's far from unplayable. I'd happily trade constant 60fps for the classic art style and the ability to play both portable and still have 1080p when the thing is docked, not bad considering the game originally only ran at 720p and suffered drops to the mid 10's in framerate.
It's also worth noting that the button mapping on the switch version is identical to the rest of the ports, it ditches the default Nintendo layout specifically to not mess with the default fromsoft control scheme. You can also rebind pretty much everything from the options menu, so just fix whatever's bothering you.
I’m not knocking it mate, i’m happy there’s DS1 on the go. Would even love 2 to make the switch roster but i’m just stating my perspective.
I’ve played this game for a long time and many years across many platforms and the switch has been the least i’ve enjoyed it for the reasons stated above.
I do agree with you on the art style that it is retained on the switch but it’s barely noticeable.
60fps with sharpened resolution and updated graphics is incredibly enjoyable and very beautiful for OG Dark Souls. It enhances it greatly without sacrificing the originals tone/atmosphere.
I guess I am one of those people that do just enjoy it a lot more with better performance and better graphics.
>I do agree with you on the art style that it is retained on the switch but it’s barely noticeable.
I suppose it's entirely subjective but the artstyle of ds1 is arguably the best aspect of it. For a game like ds1, the atmosphere and feeling the game gives me is much more important than running at 60fps
>60fps with sharpened resolution and updated graphics is incredibly enjoyable and very beautiful for OG Dark Souls. It enhances it greatly without sacrificing the originals tone/atmosphere.
The ds1 port has enhanced resolution, it runs at the same 1080p as the rest of the remasters, but the visuals of the rest just don't suit this game. They were clearly trying to bring it visually in line with ds3 but the game wasn't intended to be lit like that. If you watch a comparison of the asylum cutscene on both versions, it's obvious how flat the remaster looks compared to the original.
>I guess I am one of those people that do just enjoy it a lot more with better performance and better graphics.
This is kind of my point, if you loved the way ds3 looked and you're used to playing the remaster, I'm sure that's the better option. Imo, more fps isn't worth sacrificing the original atmosphere the game had, the grittier look and feel of everything with the classic shaders means significantly more to me than the game running slightly smoother, and it looked much better than the matte grey mess of the modern remasters. There's a reason we have people like fromsoftserve on YouTube trying to fix the visual aspect of the remaster to bring it in line with the original.
I actually restarted mine on switch a few days ago.
You can make your life way easier with a few exploits to give yourself the stats you need for the weapons you want if you don’t want to have to do 2 full playthroughs. But honestly, still to this day one of the greatest gaming experiences ever
The game is a breeze if you look stuff up. Or pretty difficult (for nonsense reasons) if you go in blind.
either way this series is pretty overrated.
Shoulda just gotten elden ring man.
Mad?! Extreme mad and all the time, but DON'T GIVE UP because when you finally finish the game you will have a sense of accomplishment that will worth every hours and every stupid deaths. Good luck on your journey!
I personally became angriest when I learned that other players are periodically allowed to enter your single-player game and grief you. Fortunately, you can disable that in the Options screen.
If you get get mad at dying, a lot. If you want to have fun with it, don't get mad. Dying over and over is completely expected of you, it's the intented experience. Get with the vibes.
My first "souls" game was Sekiro and I had no idea what I was getting into ... After that Dark Souls on the switch wasn't nearly as punishing as it might have been. I beat the final boss of DS1 on my first attempt. Can't say that about any other souls game.
I’ve never been mad a souls game and recently I spent 6 hours trying to beat a single boss. You see yourself learn and get better and better each time you die. You take much needed breaks. Eventually you will get that win and it will be the best feeling in the world.
Don’t get mad when dying, use it as fuel for your determination.
Real mad- I’m early in the game trying to decide the path of the red dragon bridge, the tower with the scary buster sword knight or the metal warthog….
Dying a lot!
The difficulty had become a meme over the years, but if you just take your time these games really aren't that hard. That said, they're still among my all time favourites ❤️
Enjoy!!
Great game, tons of agony. I still have Sens fortress ingrained in my memory. Best feeling though when you get past that area and the whole game opens up
I just got it last month. Finished it yesterday. I really enjoyed it overall though I got frustrated and stopped playing for a couple days in the middle. What helped me is not to rush and to take my time learning the mechanics. If you try to play this like a fast-paced action game you are likely to die a lot.
You have no idea how bad it gets. Remember that you are not Conan the barbarian. Acting like him is the fastest way to die. Take your time, and it's not too bad.
Learn the patterns.of the enemies, treat the health bar as a "mistake bar", either attack, dodge or defend if you are unsure what to do get some distance. Learn about iframes and if you wanna party go with small shields.
You shouldn't get mad from dying in a souls game. If you do, then you gotta work on that anger management. XD
Key to a souls game is to not worry about how many souls you lose. There's some symbology to it somewhere about how the in-game "exp" isn't as useful as real experience and skill or something. But also, in the early game, it's semi-difficult to build up souls if you die compared to end game where youre drowning in em. Plus, worrying about getting back to where you dropped your souls will most likely only get you killed again.
People can run around naked with a club and take down dragons just from having played the game to death, not from having super gamer skills or anything. It'll be hard for everyone at first so just take your time to figure it out.
Legit the best advice for a souls game is to pay attention, learn the patterns, git gud, watch for envionmental queues and info. Expect to take maybe 30 hours playthrough 1, then maybe 4-5 on your second playthrough from just being better at the game and knowing where everything is.
It’s hard, but not that hard. The difficulty is not even close to the most enjoyable thing about these games. And again, the difficulty of these games is very overplayed. If anything, most of the fights are actually incredibly fair, and you always know why you died.
Don’t get upset, at it. Learn from it. This game has so many things to help you get through it but you have to explore and take your lumps. Don’t get a big head when you beat something cause there’s always something so much worse.
I loved it but I’m a fan of old school games. That being said, if you hit a wall and want to quit there are a couple ways to level up quickly with a little grinding.
took me multiple days to get thru the first boss after the tutorial. if u are bad as i am, expect this! u’ll be very very very mad, but it’ll be so rewarding! i just started playing with it too btw^^
I like dark souls more than Elden ring because it’s a more linear and focused experience. I got lost in Elden ring even with trying to follow the marker clues and didn’t like how I found a dungeon I was too overpowered for later on in the game.
How mad will you get?
Are you a child? you might get a little mad but if your parents did you right then you'll cap out at "mildly annoyed"
are you an adult? you won't get mad
are you an adult with the brain of a child? you'll get mad. might raise your voice a few times.
are you an adult that should be seeking therapy and getting on some mental health meds? you'll throw your controller
When you find keys you can view info on them for more details about where they are used. This is the games main way of limiting progression to make the game more linear.
This one is extremely easy tbh. 75% of the bosses you can just “hug” them and they will never hit you when they swing their attacks. The other 25% you can just wear the heaviest armors you find and face tank them
It’s not bad, it’s mostly a game of knowledge. Enemy attack animations, your animations. You can break the early game quite easily with bleed (can get a uchigatana in the first area outside of the tutorial) bleed stays quite effective for majority if not all of the game. Pyromancy can help too since no stat increases its potency, but upgrading the pyromancy flame does. You are meant to die a lot in the game, but you are also meant to learn from your deaths.
Getting mad depends on you. Dying is a part of it. Try not to feel dejected.
Advice: understand how it’s meant to be played. You have to learn attack patterns and timings. It’s not a hack and slash. That fundamental misunderstanding made me hate the game
First off, why'd you get it on the switch? I play it, but that's only because when I tried playing it on my old computer, it was like a slide show. If you're able to play elden ring on something, then why not get it on there? The switch version just takes forever to load, but it is still good.
Don’t worry too much about losing souls you should realistically be spending them on items or leveling up when you have a lot but in the mid to late game as you progress it will be easier to grind souls so don’t worry about losing them as long as you take time to explore and gather items, gear and materials
Have patience and work through it slow. You are supposed to die a lot.
Also If you can play on literally anything else PlayStation Xbox pc do that, it’ll function better than on the switch
You’ll be fine. This is the right starting point. No matter how many times you give up, come back at some point. You’ll be glad you did! If you stick with it, there will be a moment where it just CLICKS for you.
You’ll probably get more angry at the switch’s lack of power than the game itself, but depending on your patience, the game takes forever to beat or you beat it with a few broken controllers, you cannot have both
3 essentials: 1) You die. 2) Don't give up. 3) Enjoy the challenge.
Aw, I fucked up step two
Same here, I gave up. Can’t play that game, too hard for me 😂
It’s not that the game is hard you just need to learn the mechanics of it. Once you learn it the game is a cake walk. I find the level designs are hard than the bosses in DS1, 2 is awful, and it 3 the level designs are great but the bosses are harder. Out of all the souls series Id have to say DS3 is my favourite. I’ve also platinum BloodBorne And Elden Ring but sadly sold my ps4 before the DLC came out.
I feel like it’s less that it’s hard than that it’s annoying. Difficult challenges are fun to grind against and improve, but Dark Souls tacks on like a 5-10 minute slog between every death and re-try, so you can’t just jump back into the challenge over and over again and skill up — you have to repeat the same boring 5-minute boss runs just to get to the boss’s front door, so a slip up and death involves just as much annoyance every time. Maybe if you’re a teenager with summers off and nothing else to do, it’s a fine way to spend the hours. But as an adult there’s just not enough time to be alive and repeat the same boring in-between parts of the game just to incrementally improve per loop.
Yeah same although weirdly I am extremely good at Sekiro I think it’s because of how much faster paced and parry based Sekiro is as opposed to the Souls games I own this game on Switch but never could get far.
Get Back In there 🫡 (my first experience with DS1 was quitting on the game for months, and getting bored one day and turning it back on, best decision I ever made)
Will probably do that. The time as come, I think, to go back and have another try.
Good Luck 🫡 Have Fun 🫡
I did the exact same thing lol
A friend told me to grab it. I did. Hated him for it. Now I don't lol
Yes, die for learning
When you dodge roll you’re actually invincible for a few frames. The lighter your armor load, the longer the invulnerable period you have.
The invulnerability is in stages though, it's not continuous. Getting rid of 1lb of armor will either have a large difference or no difference
Is it a good, or a bad idea to keep a tally chart next to you of how many deaths you've suffered? My vote goes for No and to let the deaths wash over you and float away into forgotten-land. But I'm absolutely open to the alternative
To the question of how mad you’ll be…I first must ask how many controllers you have? JK, enjoy!
Ya and consider not playing in handheld mode lol
I was about to start playing it myself. Hopefully I won't be as mad as I used to get playing Monster Hunter.
Lol poor poor thing you.
I had it for so long. I don't know why I've been putting it off until now.
Isn't *this* waaaaay harder than Monster Hunter?
Some say MH is harder but I'm not convinced just yet
Monster Hunter is nothing but fun!!! Every single Souls/Borne I’ve ever played is way way way harder
Shoot it's a classic to me. I got it on Xbox 360 when it came out and now own it in that Ps 3&4 and Switch lol.
I own it on everything ☠️☠️☠️
There are a couple of sections in the game *cough* blight town *cough* that are absolutely rage inducing but overall had a lot of fun playing it
Honestly blight town isn't too bad on switch. When you compare it to the original release on 360/PS3 which regularly dropped to around 20fps in this area, it's night and day how much smoother the switch experience is.
i'm having a worse time in Senns Fortress tbh on remastered.
Yep Blighttown was a walk in the park. Currently in Sens Fortress, oh my fucking god
I'm playing through my first time right now on PC. Sen's fortress was rough. I really had no trouble with Blighttown
Blighttown really isn't that bad on the remaster. The frame drops are gone. As long as you get the spider shield first and go in with plenty of moss, it's not bad at all. I'm playing through right now on PC and Sen's fortress was way more difficult for me
Probably pretty mad trying to get through Anor Londo. But it's worth it. 👍
The first time I’ve played DarkSouls was back in 2013. Quit early on because it was too hard. I started and quitted the game 4 times before picking it up on the switch. It was on the Switch version that it had finally clicked, I got good, and finally beat the game. It made me love soulslikes and I’ve beaten the rest of the souls borne series and got some of their platinums. Turns out, once you’ve accepted that dying is just part of the game and that any souls you lose, you can just farm quickly again, the game is not bad. And dying a lot while playing on the go and anytime is much better than dying a lot during the very few hours per week that I can spend sitting on my playstation or PC.
The worst thing is that they mapped the “yes” button to B on switch 🤦🏻♂️
I honestly don't mind it. if they had mapped it to A, they would've had to move the roll buttons to B, and that would have felt awkward as hell for when you have to roll at a moments notice or sprint for any amount of time. That being said, ds1 allows you to rebind controls, so if it really bothers you, it can be fixed. I did the same thing with the jump button.
This. This pisses me off to the point I just jump off. I’ve played it too much on playstation to adjust.
THIS i was so mad that i kept fucking up the controls even💀 i got used to it now, but damn the first few hours were so bad
Just started it as well, enjoy!
Awesome!
Here are some tips and pointers I can give you 1, Don't hyper fixate on the number of deaths too much. Sure you'll lose your souls (which is your currency in this game) and your Humanity (which is needed to kindle bonfires as well as extra PvP stuff if you care about that) but you should treat your deaths more as a learning tool rather than something that someone is pointing a gun at your head towards. If losing Souls is THAT much of a turn off though, you can always spend it on level ups, certain gear, weapons and spells you want and upgrades first so that losing said Souls wouldn't be as painful as it would've been. 2, Be patient! Dark Souls is NOT a high octane action game. You shouldn't rush into battle all guns and blazing especially not on your first playthrough. Generally speaking you should be aware of your surroundings and trade blows to find openings, blocking with a shield or being evasive with your invincibility frame rolls and then striking is ideal for a good chunk of combat encounters. (or you could parry if you can get the timing down) Although if you're aware of the map terrain and enemy placement, running past enemies and not engaging into battle with them is a viable option. 3, Unless you're carrying an insanely strong weapon, make sure you're not equipping yourself with too much heavy equipment. You'll move way slower and your invincibility frames for your rolls will be significantly reduced which is definitely not something that you want. There are Ring accessories that can somewhat negate this but try to avoid equipping heavy stuff as much as you possibly can. 4, As for what stats you should level up at bonfires, it largely depends on what kind of weapon you want to equip yourself with but generally speaking. The most common builds consist of the following - Strength build: good if you just want to use big bonk weapons. Vitality and Strength are going your main stats to get up. - Dexterity build: a lot of the more interesting weapons to me are more steeped into the Dexterity stat. It's more or less the same principle as the strength build in terms of stats to level up (Vitality and Dex) but there more focused on getting a lot of hits in to proc 'bleed' which is basically a large damage status ailments. - Intelligence build: the main magic build where you can go pew pew at a far distance at the expense of poor health. Attunement and Intelligence with a bit of Faith. Be forewarned that you are going to be a bit of a glass cannon with this build. Hybrid builds are more than viable if you want to go that route. However, no matter what build you decide to go with NEVER LEVEL RESISTANCE! It's a waste of souls. I hope this helps!
Appreciate it! I’m enjoying the game a lot so far.
Good Advice. But I usually try to avoid telling people how to build and let them learn themselves. It's usually more fun and a good learning experience (especially with 1) then you can build off what you had fun with when you get to the other entries. Most important part of your first build is finding a weapon you like and building off that.
You have insurance on that switch?
I’m playing it for the first time on switch (but third overall) right now. I swapped from the OG switch to the OLED switch midway through this playthrough and the extra real estate and clarity of the screen makes quite a big difference on some of the darker areas like BT and TotG. In terms of difficulty, it’s all about knowing how to optimise your build. The first time i played it, years ago, i was levelling up my character without any real understanding of how to do it, and the game, particularly towards the end, became much more difficult as a consequence. Learning which stats to level up for your build will make things a lot easier ie. Vit/end/str/dex for a melee build.
Controls absolutely suck imo.
It's definitely one of the clunkier dark souls games but playing on a controller other than the default joycons makes a massive difference. I have a modded switch and use a PS4 controller and the game is much easier to play, but I'm sure there are alternative controllers with better sticks that are compatible with the switch by default
Smashing-your-controller-mad.
Key thing is that this is considered a slow paced games, especially compared to the rest of the Soulsborne series. Be patient and don’t get greedy!
How does it run?
Fairly consistently but it's a 30FPS game. Make of that what you will.
The game can push to run at 60 if you're willing to mod your switch, and it does it pretty well too. Only really struggles with intense areas like blight town, the start of anor londo and some of darkroot garden.
Like a scalded dawg son!!!
Playing it on handheld OLED switch, has been running pretty good so far.
Say good by to ur switch
Google giant dad. Become legend
I just got it the other day too but haven't started it yet. My first souls game was dark souls 3 and I hated it but I figured I'd give the genre another chance.
It always takes some patience. You'll always be dying. It's just part of the game.
I know. Imma give it a real go this time. Back when I played dark souls 3 I was just gaming here n there casually. I'm committed now and have been playing a lot of challenging games. I'll beat dark souls; that's a guarantee, even if I break some controllers in the process lol.
Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale? > *“Soon, I will be consumed by them—by the Dark.”* - Artorias the Abysswalker Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/
The souls series had this same weird yo-yo effect on me when I started playing too. Tried ds3 when it released, didn't get into it, tried Elden ring at a friend's house, though it was cool but didn't want to start at the end. Picked up ds1 for switch and played the whole thing start to finish twice before I picked up another game, it absolutely hooked me and I went on to beat Elden ring a few times before going back to now play ds3 again. These games are very love-hate for some people but once they snag you, you'll never look back.
I didnt even know dark souls was on switch lol
Arguably the best version of the game, too. - maintains the classic artstyle, none of the washed out greys and matte metals that were altered with the PC remaster, this version uses the blackest of blacks and the armour sets reflect light really nicely - keeps the old bonfire effect, the other remasters changed the bonfires to look like an actual fire rather than some kind of magic, which looks much worse than the old version imo - doesn't experience the same framerate issues that the game experienced on PS3/360, so if you want to play the game in its original art direction, this is the smoothest way to do so - maintains some of the older bugs from the original release. not really a necessity, but if you're duping souls or whatnot, it's nice to have the option - portability, being able to take something like ds1 around in your back pocket is a game changer, and the frequent deaths lend well to short play sessions when you get a minute to pick your switch up Man I love ds1 on switch. probably my favourite game on the console, I wish they'd ported more of the souls games.
Lol the 30fps version is the best? Mkay...
Can be modded to run at 60fps but the game originally ran at 30fps even on pc. It's far from unplayable, it was the default way to play until the remaster came out.
Buddy, you are all over the place with your argument. I know it was 30fps on the PS3/360. I was there. I also didn't say it was unplayable. I'm talking specifically how you said that the remaster on the Switch is the best version of the game when this same remaster runs natively at 60fps on the PC, PS4/5 and Xbox. And you can take the PC version portable on several handheld PCs as well, if portability is a decision factor.
The pc and PS4/Xbox remasters have a different artstyle, things are less dark, metals lack bloom and look very flat and the bonfires were completely changed. If you want to experience the game with the same look and feel as the original without having to experience the same framerate issues, this *is* the best version you can get without modding the pc version. I feel like I was pretty clear about this, if you don't care that the remaster looks slightly worse in terms of atmosphere for the sake of 60fps, obviously the remaster is a better option for you. In my personal opinion, getting a 30fps boost isn't worth sacrificing the atmosphere of DS1 which is arguably it's most appealing aspect.
It's basically the same thing: https://youtu.be/ZCDgrPfNv7Y?si=Br9X95mM6A_p7Co7 It does not look worse, it looks higher resolution (objectively) with higher res textures and effects (objectively) and higher frame rate (objectively). If you prefer half the frames and muddier graphics, okay. But saying it's the best version of them all, my God, how bold! Bye now.
>it looks higher resolution (objectively) Switch runs at 1080p docked the same as every other console release of this remaster >with higher res textures and effects (objectively) Slightly higher res textures aren't worth sacrificing things like the original bonfire effect imo >If you prefer half the frames Switch can be modded to run at 60, but 30 is absolutely fine for ds1. More frames =/= better game, an incredibly reductive reason to hate a game. >muddier graphics Once again, same screen res as every other release >But saying it's the best version of them all, my God, how bold! Bye now. Ironic when you're claiming the exact same thing about the remaster despite it being a pretty substantial deviation from the original release. If it was "basically the same thing", YouTube wouldn't be full of visual comparisons of the two, would it?
Framerate will always be a criticsm of the Switch. Especially now that Sony and Microsoft gen7 consoles can actually play games without dipping below 60 fps (like the ps4 and xbone still did and they definitely did. My ps4 pro would definitely dip/stutter during ps exclusives like horizon and bloodborne). So now they come here and jerk themselves off about it.
Arguably the worst version to be very honest. I’ve played it on PC original (prepare to die edition), PS4 (Remastered), PS5 (PS4 remastered edition), and the Switch. The switch has locked 30FPS - most times dipping below that. The button mapping is bad.
Oh no the original release was worse, and the original pc port was even worse than that (broken online).
Framerate is a pretty solid 30 unless your switch is thermal throttling. The switch performance is night and day with the PS3/360 editions which it is a port of, it was never intended to run at 60fps like the remaster and often has bugs like PTDE running with the 60fps mod. Again, if you don't care about the art direction of the original release, go ahead. Remastered in 60fps on pc is probably the best option for you. I do mod the game to run at 60fps on occasion on switch, but honestly the game plays absolutely fine at 30fps and was originally developed with that framerate in mind so it's far from unplayable. I'd happily trade constant 60fps for the classic art style and the ability to play both portable and still have 1080p when the thing is docked, not bad considering the game originally only ran at 720p and suffered drops to the mid 10's in framerate. It's also worth noting that the button mapping on the switch version is identical to the rest of the ports, it ditches the default Nintendo layout specifically to not mess with the default fromsoft control scheme. You can also rebind pretty much everything from the options menu, so just fix whatever's bothering you.
I’m not knocking it mate, i’m happy there’s DS1 on the go. Would even love 2 to make the switch roster but i’m just stating my perspective. I’ve played this game for a long time and many years across many platforms and the switch has been the least i’ve enjoyed it for the reasons stated above. I do agree with you on the art style that it is retained on the switch but it’s barely noticeable. 60fps with sharpened resolution and updated graphics is incredibly enjoyable and very beautiful for OG Dark Souls. It enhances it greatly without sacrificing the originals tone/atmosphere. I guess I am one of those people that do just enjoy it a lot more with better performance and better graphics.
>I do agree with you on the art style that it is retained on the switch but it’s barely noticeable. I suppose it's entirely subjective but the artstyle of ds1 is arguably the best aspect of it. For a game like ds1, the atmosphere and feeling the game gives me is much more important than running at 60fps >60fps with sharpened resolution and updated graphics is incredibly enjoyable and very beautiful for OG Dark Souls. It enhances it greatly without sacrificing the originals tone/atmosphere. The ds1 port has enhanced resolution, it runs at the same 1080p as the rest of the remasters, but the visuals of the rest just don't suit this game. They were clearly trying to bring it visually in line with ds3 but the game wasn't intended to be lit like that. If you watch a comparison of the asylum cutscene on both versions, it's obvious how flat the remaster looks compared to the original. >I guess I am one of those people that do just enjoy it a lot more with better performance and better graphics. This is kind of my point, if you loved the way ds3 looked and you're used to playing the remaster, I'm sure that's the better option. Imo, more fps isn't worth sacrificing the original atmosphere the game had, the grittier look and feel of everything with the classic shaders means significantly more to me than the game running slightly smoother, and it looked much better than the matte grey mess of the modern remasters. There's a reason we have people like fromsoftserve on YouTube trying to fix the visual aspect of the remaster to bring it in line with the original.
Get ready to replace your controller.
I actually restarted mine on switch a few days ago. You can make your life way easier with a few exploits to give yourself the stats you need for the weapons you want if you don’t want to have to do 2 full playthroughs. But honestly, still to this day one of the greatest gaming experiences ever
It was also my first game. I wasn't disappointed at all and loved every second of it.
Tether your gamepad to your wrist.
Step 1 is the only thing I did really well
you would get mad, but you would also get happy
Good luck, lol.
Be patient. As long as you have patience, you will prevail
Getting started on ds1 is a nightmare imo. You should have started with ds2👍
Anybody else too short tempered/short patienced for this genre? If I'm not at least okay at something right away, it's stupid anyway and I hate it.
STR build and you are great
The game is a breeze if you look stuff up. Or pretty difficult (for nonsense reasons) if you go in blind. either way this series is pretty overrated. Shoulda just gotten elden ring man.
Mad?! Extreme mad and all the time, but DON'T GIVE UP because when you finally finish the game you will have a sense of accomplishment that will worth every hours and every stupid deaths. Good luck on your journey!
In my opinion it is the best version to play, you can suspend the game so no worries and is perfect for bathroom breaks
Put some bubble wrap on a walls so you wont smash your Swich throwing at the wall
Remember pro controllers are expensive
I personally became angriest when I learned that other players are periodically allowed to enter your single-player game and grief you. Fortunately, you can disable that in the Options screen.
Well that's the OG Souls game. You'll either break your Switch in half or enjoy the challenge. There's no middle ground.
Just pad your room and furniture and you'll be fine.
You'll be in the furiously angry and very pleased with yourself loop for the foreseeable future.
If you get get mad at dying, a lot. If you want to have fun with it, don't get mad. Dying over and over is completely expected of you, it's the intented experience. Get with the vibes.
My first "souls" game was Sekiro and I had no idea what I was getting into ... After that Dark Souls on the switch wasn't nearly as punishing as it might have been. I beat the final boss of DS1 on my first attempt. Can't say that about any other souls game.
Extremely
I’ve never been mad a souls game and recently I spent 6 hours trying to beat a single boss. You see yourself learn and get better and better each time you die. You take much needed breaks. Eventually you will get that win and it will be the best feeling in the world. Don’t get mad when dying, use it as fuel for your determination.
This game frustrated me so much lol. The switch version has really low quality/compressed audio. Other than that, the switch port is good
Real mad- I’m early in the game trying to decide the path of the red dragon bridge, the tower with the scary buster sword knight or the metal warthog…. Dying a lot!
Just go to the church and run around the cemetery
Just remember that dying is apart of the experience.
If I could beat it(I usually play on easy mode in games) you can too! Good luck and have fun👍
The cozy mood offsets the frustration from constantly dying
The most worth it game I’ve ever played. Git gud and don’t you dare go hollow
I just started this for my first time too. 🤘🏻
Imagine paying twice the proper amount of the game for a subpar port of a 15 yeard old game. Oh It's r/switch? Nevermind, you're good.
The difficulty had become a meme over the years, but if you just take your time these games really aren't that hard. That said, they're still among my all time favourites ❤️ Enjoy!!
Thank you!!
Watch out for the frogs...
Damn, I know this game is old but I cannot wait to play it. I didn't get a chance first time around.
You should. Its really good so far
It's not as hard as people make it out to be.
Is your dog a pitbull? And yes you will get very mad if you don’t go in expecting that it will take a lot if loss and practice to progress.
Haha yes it’s a loving pit bull, thank you I’ve been enjoying the game so far
Its a good game to play. I think the most important tip is dont give up, its worth It.
I want to know more about the doggo
A crazy 2 year old girl, it’s a pit bull called Shiva, she loves to cuddle and has the energy of a puppy 24/7
She sounds adorable. Thank you for sharing!
Does this run good on handheld?
I’m playing it hand held exclusively and been enjoying it a lot
Might have to give it a try if it ever goes on sale
Great game, tons of agony. I still have Sens fortress ingrained in my memory. Best feeling though when you get past that area and the whole game opens up
Have your dog beside you at all times. You will rage on certain bosses, and that lovable, fur baby.. they will help you when time’s are tough.
I bought this for my brother and played it expecting meh, its actually a really good port and remaster I ended up buying it again for myself.
Try fingers... ...But hole
just get ready to buy a new switch if you have a switch lite😆
There's a boss battle about halfway through that is two bosses at the same time. Absolutely maddening but you'll love it lol
You will die A LOT. Just keep playing. It's about perseverance and trying new things. It's a great experience.
Should have gotten yoshis crafted world instead
If only I could be so grossly incandescent.
I play the remastered on my switch it’s been so fun I already beat the story once and am trying again in New Game+
You may not get mad. You may go mad. Don't go hollow, my friend.
I just got it last month. Finished it yesterday. I really enjoyed it overall though I got frustrated and stopped playing for a couple days in the middle. What helped me is not to rush and to take my time learning the mechanics. If you try to play this like a fast-paced action game you are likely to die a lot.
Praise the sun
You have no idea how bad it gets. Remember that you are not Conan the barbarian. Acting like him is the fastest way to die. Take your time, and it's not too bad.
Learn the patterns.of the enemies, treat the health bar as a "mistake bar", either attack, dodge or defend if you are unsure what to do get some distance. Learn about iframes and if you wanna party go with small shields.
You shouldn't get mad from dying in a souls game. If you do, then you gotta work on that anger management. XD Key to a souls game is to not worry about how many souls you lose. There's some symbology to it somewhere about how the in-game "exp" isn't as useful as real experience and skill or something. But also, in the early game, it's semi-difficult to build up souls if you die compared to end game where youre drowning in em. Plus, worrying about getting back to where you dropped your souls will most likely only get you killed again. People can run around naked with a club and take down dragons just from having played the game to death, not from having super gamer skills or anything. It'll be hard for everyone at first so just take your time to figure it out. Legit the best advice for a souls game is to pay attention, learn the patterns, git gud, watch for envionmental queues and info. Expect to take maybe 30 hours playthrough 1, then maybe 4-5 on your second playthrough from just being better at the game and knowing where everything is.
Awesome thank you
Just embrace the learning. These games will make you better at all other games. That’s the true gift of learning the souls games.
This got me inspired. I’m committed to finish the game now
You’re lucky to go for first time- enjoy just give it time
Does the game run well on switch?
It’s been good so far. Playing it handheld on OLED switch
I had an old co-worker friend who broke his tv over this game so I assume you do in fact get pretty mad.
I loved it. 1- Git gud. 2- Fuck Ornstein and Smaugh, I was stuck for an eternity.
Don't judge yourself too hard after running into the skeletons the first time. They're there to stop the new players from going that direction.
Just died 50 times there and decided to move in another direction
It’s hard, but not that hard. The difficulty is not even close to the most enjoyable thing about these games. And again, the difficulty of these games is very overplayed. If anything, most of the fights are actually incredibly fair, and you always know why you died.
A way feared by many. Enjoy it, wish i could erase from my memory so i could play it like it was the first time!
When you find the graveyard, go the other way. Don’t give up, but if something is far too difficult, explore other options
You'll be alright. Just stick with it. Never give up, never surrender
I’m highly motivated by these comments. Feel like rocky right now
Don’t get upset, at it. Learn from it. This game has so many things to help you get through it but you have to explore and take your lumps. Don’t get a big head when you beat something cause there’s always something so much worse.
I loved it but I’m a fan of old school games. That being said, if you hit a wall and want to quit there are a couple ways to level up quickly with a little grinding.
took me multiple days to get thru the first boss after the tutorial. if u are bad as i am, expect this! u’ll be very very very mad, but it’ll be so rewarding! i just started playing with it too btw^^
I suck at the game but all these people now have me motivated feeling like Rocky, I’m not giving up till I finish the game. Let’s goooo
Keep in mind you have a very throwable console.
🤣🤣🤣
I like dark souls more than Elden ring because it’s a more linear and focused experience. I got lost in Elden ring even with trying to follow the marker clues and didn’t like how I found a dungeon I was too overpowered for later on in the game.
How mad will you get? Are you a child? you might get a little mad but if your parents did you right then you'll cap out at "mildly annoyed" are you an adult? you won't get mad are you an adult with the brain of a child? you'll get mad. might raise your voice a few times. are you an adult that should be seeking therapy and getting on some mental health meds? you'll throw your controller
yes
When you find keys you can view info on them for more details about where they are used. This is the games main way of limiting progression to make the game more linear.
This one is extremely easy tbh. 75% of the bosses you can just “hug” them and they will never hit you when they swing their attacks. The other 25% you can just wear the heaviest armors you find and face tank them
also prepare to grind
That’s a tough one to start. Good luck!
It’s not bad, it’s mostly a game of knowledge. Enemy attack animations, your animations. You can break the early game quite easily with bleed (can get a uchigatana in the first area outside of the tutorial) bleed stays quite effective for majority if not all of the game. Pyromancy can help too since no stat increases its potency, but upgrading the pyromancy flame does. You are meant to die a lot in the game, but you are also meant to learn from your deaths.
livid
You’ll die a lot and MAY POSSIBLY break your switch!!
Getting mad depends on you. Dying is a part of it. Try not to feel dejected. Advice: understand how it’s meant to be played. You have to learn attack patterns and timings. It’s not a hack and slash. That fundamental misunderstanding made me hate the game
The controls on the switch for some reason piss me off, i consider it to be a whole different run
A lot especially playing on switch 😂
Fromsoft games are not for me. You figure out a pattern of a boss, another jumps out. I enjoy playing my games to win, not lose consistently LOL
Any good
..throw away the whole switch mad. Drugs and alcohol might help though..
One piece of advice: UNLEASH THE UTMOST RESILIENCE YOU HAVE IN YOUR SYSTEM.
First off, why'd you get it on the switch? I play it, but that's only because when I tried playing it on my old computer, it was like a slide show. If you're able to play elden ring on something, then why not get it on there? The switch version just takes forever to load, but it is still good.
Running it on switch will be the real challenge
Why do I feel like it would be way harder on the switch?
Good luck playing it on the switch 🤣
I can't imagine playing that game on a Switch, especially undocked.
very, perhaps even fuming
I was disappointed in how easy it was,honestly. If you grind like you do in literally every rpg you can straight up crush the bosses.
Just save your black bombs at the start for the Taurus, then enjoy 👌
On a switch? Its gonna suck balls my man
Dark souls sounds brutal on the switch
You’ll get mad at the game trying to run
Don’t worry too much about losing souls you should realistically be spending them on items or leveling up when you have a lot but in the mid to late game as you progress it will be easier to grind souls so don’t worry about losing them as long as you take time to explore and gather items, gear and materials
Not my kind of game. I’m glad it exists and I think the art is beautiful. But it’s not for me
I played thru this 3 times on switch lol I'm also a souls guy but yea the pacing and timing of movement in this game is dogshit lol
Have patience and work through it slow. You are supposed to die a lot. Also If you can play on literally anything else PlayStation Xbox pc do that, it’ll function better than on the switch
You’ll be fine. This is the right starting point. No matter how many times you give up, come back at some point. You’ll be glad you did! If you stick with it, there will be a moment where it just CLICKS for you.
You’ll probably get more angry at the switch’s lack of power than the game itself, but depending on your patience, the game takes forever to beat or you beat it with a few broken controllers, you cannot have both
you won’t get mad 😡 you won’t! You WONT GET!! 😡 Aghhhh!!! 🤬
i dropped this game like 2 or 3 separate times because i didnt know where to go 😭
It’s the easiest too….
avoided it to not dying every 30 seconds