Dark Souls is bigger than Skyrim

OXM UK: "Why From Software and Namco are giving Bethesda a run for its money."

[dirigiblebill]

I wonder if that takes into account all the time you spend mashing your face against the vertical difficulty curve?

[Jam_sponge]

There are tough bits in Skyrim too...

[BioDemon-]

Besides that, Demon's Souls difficulty is highly overrated. It's not hard at all once you know what you're doing and that only takes a couple hours to learn.

[GrieverSoul]

@BioDemon
Thats true. Demon souls is not that hard. The only thing you have to do is manage your stamina in order to succesfully block, atack and dodge. Then the strategies mix up a little bit when diferent enemies mandate diferent approaches.

Dark Souls will be similar from the gameplay I´ve seen so far. Manage your stamina! Know when to dodge. Be methodical, think before you act.

But a nod to those who think its "Teh Hardz Gamez Eva" - Stop treating Rpg like FPS where you only reload and shoot.

[TopDudeMan]

But you can change the difficulty in elder scrolls with a nice little slider.

Demon's souls had one difficulty setting: die.

[Trophywhore]

Most people will probably rage quit before they see the whole thing.

[DaTruth]

The difficulty isn't overrated! In every other game in the world, there's nothing to lose from dying! In Demon's Souls, anytime, even the best player can lose 200,000 souls and want to smash their controller against their forehead!

You never make so many stupid mistakes as when you have hundreds of thousands of souls sitting on a ledge somewhere!

Edit: But these new games are nothing! I got my @$$ handed to me playing Wonderboy in Monster Land the other day - and I had unlimited continues in a coin-op game! I beat the crap out of this game when I was ten with limited continues!

[jessupj]

I have all 3 Demon's Souls plats, but you a fool if you think that game is easy. You're not fooling anyone calling it an easy game.

Sure, by the the 3rd plat I prob died less then then a dozen times for the whole game (not counting falling off a cliff of course) but that took a lot of hard work and dedication.

[Bigpappy]

I don't see it matching Skyrim in content, exploration, NPC interaction, and detailed environments. This is what ES games are known for and I don't think DS was intended to compete directly with Skyrim. DS may be a long game because of the battle system.

Disclosure: I have not played a DS game, so my opinion is purely speculative.

[EVILDEAD360]

I'm a From Software fan from back in the King Field days. In fact, KF was ahead of it's time in the whole first person RPG world.

Demons souls IS difficult, especially when you first start and have no clue what you are doing. It's easy now for people to make claims that it's not as difficult once the world was able to read from others what to do. But, just like any tough game, once you have that 'aha' momentthe DS difficuly becomes manageable.

But to make some claim that Dark Souls is 'bigger' than Skyrim is not even close to reasonable truth.

Either way to have both of these games release essentially a month of each other is an RPG dream.

Life is good..

Evil

[Elyxir-pSx]

May thine strength help the world be mended for those who underestimate Dark Souls.

[wsoutlaw87]

Demons souls can be an easy game once you learn how to play it. Anyone who doesn't just give up on the game before they really learn how to play usually beats it. They offer plenty of health for you to live and once you die doing something it shouldn't be hard to just not do it again. Most shields and swords are strong enough where you can just block until and enemies done attacking then stab them. If you cant beat a part in demons souls you can just go to a different world, beat that, and go back when your soul level is way up.
@DaTruth why would anyone be walking around with that many souls. Buy something. You dont lose what you buy.

[SilentNegotiator]

"There are tough bits in Skyrim too... "

They did everything to make Skyrim more mainstream but put in airstrikes. The difficulty of Skyrim will guaranteed not compare even remotely to the unofficial sequel to Demon's Souls.

[DaTruth]

-Because you already beat the False king and aren't allowed to level up anymore.

-You have nothing left to buy because you have everything currently available plus you beat the False King and can't level up anymore!

-You killed all the merchants trying to get black soul tendency and now there's no one to buy from!

-You've leveled up so high that it costs more than 200,000 souls to increase a level now!

I once lost 700,000 souls in the giant pit in Stonefang because I was trying to clean up all the levels after having defeated Allant! I was gonna level up in the next "New game", because once you beat Allant, you can't level up anymore! It was also my last chance to pharm the storm rays before "New Game".

@Trophy whore below: Straight up! I got creamed on my second character "New game+" because I turned the Soul and world tendencies to pure black with the 200% difficulty increase! All the guys are really hard and you have 50% energy and resilience! For a real challenge, I suggest you try it!

[C0MPUT3R]

"There are tough bits in Skyrim too..."

uhh you played the game?

[gumchewinasskikr]

I didn't die that much in Demon's Souls. Matter of fact I died more from cheap freaking deaths in Dead Space 2 when freaking necromorphs seemingly appear out of now where behind you.

[zeddy]

if skyrim is anything like oblivion or fallout the game will start out hard and get easier the more you play. i think skyrim will be be more enjoyable game to play but doesnt mean you cant play both.

[afterMoth]

ES: IV is so boring in the gameplay department. I don't car how many thundercat nps's and lizard people whent he core gameplay is sh!t. Skyrim better be heavily improved.

[thecompletionist]

He's getting blasted on here...

http://forums.bethsoft.com/...

[Laika]

ha well ya. the poll is on a elder scrolls forum. obviously its gonna be one sided.

[thecompletionist]

Read the thread, poll doesn't matter. Most of them want to buy Dark Souls, but due to their explanation he's clearly being inaccurate to garner hits.

Are you disagreeing with the fact that he is getting blasted on there?

[morganfell]

No, but if you look there are quite a few people blasting Dark Souls or the writer who also admit they never played Demon's Souls.

[Gray-Fox-Type0]

dark souls = 60 hours not counting deaths & replays

skyrim = 300+ hours

this is a joke article.

[Gray-Fox-Type0]

Skyrim will probably kill this game and shred it to pieces.

Both are good games in their respective ways.

[HellzAssassin]

Which is understandable to a point, but I don't know if you've played Demon's Souls; but PvP was fun as hell! I've spent 300+ hours on Demon's Souls just leveling up multiple characters with different styles. It's an incredibly lasting game, and DS is probably one of my most favourite games this generation. Dark Souls will probably surpass that.

Unfortunately, I'm not really a fan of ES, so I'm not going to say anything negative about it; but I will agree that both games are great in their respective ways. Hell, I may even give Skyrim a chance later (:

[SageHonor]

@ BioDemon

Agreed,

In Demon Souls you have to be patient and pay attention. Watch the telegraphed attacks and learn timing with certain moves like the perry. And you have to manage your equipment and upgrades. The game is challenging. But in no ways hard like most people make it out to me.

[Trophywhore]

Yeah that is very true. The game starts out hard and even gets a 200% boost in difficulty on the second playthrough or something like that. But at the 3rd playthrough and onward, the difficulty goes up at a slower rate than you are leveling up so the game gets super easy after that. I hope they fix that level scaling issue in Dark Souls.

[Anderson8]

i am sick of hearing "its overrated" or "its easy once you know what your doing"...

it doesn't make you sound cool or like your the ultimate hardcore gamer.. everything is easy when you know what your doing.. i knew how to play it 20hours in but i still died like 10 times at the first mind flayer and red eye knight i came across.. it doesn't matter how patient you are or how slowly you take it on the first playthrough you dont know where anything is so its impossible for it to be "easy"

anything after that first playthrough is irrelevant as you know most of the tricks/death traps and attack patterns.. i've got the plat and put like 250 hours into the game.. i can breeze through it with little trouble but that's because i played the hell out of it not because the difficulty was overrated, you have to learn how to survive in the game and DS has the steepest learning curve ive played in a long time.

..but maybe i'm wrong maybe you, @biodemon and every1 else beat the maneaters, yellow monk, redeye knights, executioner miralder etc first time and didnt die once all without using a walkthrough.

..fin.

[SageHonor]

I dont care that you're sick of hearing it. You are overeacting. Who said anything about being hardcore or cool? What's hard for some people, will be easier to others and even harder for others. I was just telling him that with my personal experience It was not as hard as people made it seem.

I did not even take 100 hours into Demon souls.. So you're overeacting and looking too deep into my comment. Don't flatter yourself.

[Legion]

Both RPGs but two really separate feels to them. Skyrm is more a true RPG while Dark Souls appears more like a fighter with RPG elements added in.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Terribly wrong way to put it.

[jriquelme_paraguay]

Description FAIL

[Eamon]

When he meant fighter I think he meant action game type not the arcade Street Fighter Dead or Alive type.

[Crystallis]

That is incorrect sir. Watch a demon souls video then check your statement again.

[Legion]

Ok I will take your challenge (as if I hadn't seen numerous videos already?). Here is the very first video in google search: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Notice that he talks about how the game lacks in Narrative "There isn't much narrative to speak of, just some basic but intriguing backstory regarding the giant beast called the Old One and the demons infesting the kingdom. But you'll barely notice how thin the story strands are..." and remarks directly on the combat and fighting of the game and little to nothing about any RPG aspects of the game.

"There always seems to be a terrific surprise lurking around the bend, in the way of awesome new enemies" this basically is the soul of the game. the fighting and combat.

Not saying it isn't going to be a great game... but it isn't in my eyes a true RPG as much as it is a fighting/combat game with RPG elements.

Now YOU watch the video and tell me different.

[zero_cool]

Actually dark souls is a true rpg that lives up to dungeons & dragons name which is the rpg that started it all!

[Legion]

Correct Eamon.

The main goal in the Souls series heavily leans on the fighting/combat in the game, with RPG elements added in.

It doesn't feel as RPGish as the leveling in other RPG games. It feels closer to a Gods of War when you are hacking and slashing your way to the end of the game.

The story is not as much the detail in Souls series as is the fighting/combat.

[humbleopinion]

I spent the best part of five hours yesterday trying to remove a curse placed on me by a giant weird frog-thing...It's a brutally unfair chain of events, but even something as obviously cruel as this ends up having more narrative oomph than a metric ton of bread-and-butter RPG quests.

Sounds like that's Dark Souls take on the "removing vampirism" quest from Oblivion? Nice!
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Ob...
Grand soul gems, garlic, nightshade leaves, bloodroot, Blood of an Argonian, and the dust of that vampire... That quest was almost as long as the main quest! Took me ages to collect that stuff.

Gonna get both games. No doubt about it.

[frostypants]

Sounds pretty different to me.

[zu4G]

yes it is..
Dark Souls is Bigger.. Badder.. Better!!

[whydoyouask]

I love it when people don't give reasons WHY they have their dumb opinions.

[mmPeter]

Yes, I wish that more people gave their opinions, along with a statement explaining why they feel that way, instead of getting into arguments, stating only their opinions. Everyone has their point of view. That is great! However, just because someone else doesn't agree with what you like, does not mean that they have the "worse opinion".

[Legion]

Wait... WHY do you love it when people don't give reasons WHY they have their dumb opinions?

[nix]

can't wait to die. again and again and again.

[mmPeter]

and again, and again, and again, and again. And then finally kill the boss, and jump with joy!

[Snowii]

the only thing similar between the 2 is that theire rpg's

so why do a comparison?

[leahcim]

WTF REALLY ?

[whydoyouask]

How can they really say that when no one but Bethesda has been able to play more than an hour of Skyrim?

[Fishy Fingers]

He doesnt actually claim it to be fact, he's talking more about content and variety within the game, Elder Scrolls do a lot of repeat type missions/characters etc

Plus: "The leader of the pack has clocked about 60 hours within the game - and judging by the information given to him by his US counterpart, he's only about a quarter of the way through the damn thing."

So they're estimating a 240hr game, where as I think the only rough estimates for Skyrim are "few hundred hours" so either way, your getting a BIG ass game which ever you pick.

[Eamon]

I've played Skyrim today at Eurogamer Expo.

It was the demo shown online. It's hardly a representation of the entire game. So yeah, this author doesn't know what he's talking about.

[MischievousIQ]

NOT! -___-

[EditorAtGNG]

I smell a PS3 fanboy behind this. Oh wait.

Oblivion can go toe to toe with Dark Souls... We are talking a huge world with thousands different locations, quests-lines, enemies, items, dungeons... Skyrim is going to be even bigger, not to mention better.

[Baliw]

Yeah, PS3 fanboy writing for: http://www.oxm.co.uk

Whatever.

[callahan09]

Why in God's name would you associate this as "PS3 fanboy"? What has saying anything favorable about Dark Souls versus Skyrim got to do with PS3 fanboyism? Both games are on 360!

[Lord_Sloth]

Why would a PS3 fanboy promote a Multi-platform title? You do realize that conflicts with that the term implies, right?

[Optical_Matrix]

A PS3 fanboy, writing for Official Xbox Magazine? U mad, bro?

[codename13]

Bigger doesn't mean better. :P

[devilhunterx]

hopefully they fixed the terrible gameplay from Oblivion.

[Legion]

What terrible gameplay are you referring to?

[PandaJenkins]

I'm incredibly hyped for both, but I doubt dark souls will will commit as much of my time as skyrim is. TES games are just endless in a sense.

[jessupj]

While I haven't played either game, so I can't give an educated opinion, I will hypothosise that while Skryim might be bigger in terms of the actual map size and content, Dark Souls will probably take a lot longer to finish as you have to be slower and a lot more careful when trecking through the dark universe.

[frostypants]

If their predecessors are any indication, this is a good assumption.

[dirigiblebill]

I think Dark Souls looks like it'll take more skill. The combat seems more intricate and demanding. Skyrim, though, will have more of a sense of wonder to it.

[Silly gameAr]

I can't wait for Dark Souls. I look forward to buying another controller after I smash my current one against a wall after I've died for the mllionth time.

[jessupj]

There was a cheap little trick I used very rarely for Demon's Souls. I would just immediate quit to the XMB as soon as I died. After I reloaded the game I would appear very close to where I would have died with all my souls.

I felt a little dirty inside everytime I did that, so I only did that a very small handful of times.

I'm not going to do that with Dark Souls, I will play it how it's meant to be played, and when i conqueror it, it will be that much sweeter.

[smithdown]

@jessupj
I did the same thing when playing the US version. It is a pretty cheap trick, but god I needed it that first time through. When I bought the UK version I resolved not to do it, but I still did it accidentally a few times - muscle memory would have my fingers taking me back to the XMB out of sheer rage before I knew what I was doing!!
Agreed, Dark Souls needs to be played like it is intended. No rage-quitting!

[TheBand1t]

Aside from them being action RPGs, there is really nothing comparable between the two honestly

enjoy both

[Jappy-k7]

got me even more excited for this game now, can't wait!!

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Nothing says great game unless somebody has it taking a dump on another huh?

[Tanir]

EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cannot wait, CANNOT!

ima beat it twice in a row before i play any other game haha.

Demons souls is hard, but my 2nd play through i died only 5 times, did most of the white tendancy events, got most of the weapons and armors and beat itt in 21 hours at lvl 121, thats crazy compared to my 1st play through, died hundreds of times, beat it in 110 hours, at lvl 54 with no events and almost no weapons hahaha

what alot of people dont know is that the more they die, the more dark tendancy you get, the less life you get, the harder enemies start to sspawn, and the game just punishes you for sucking hahaha

[violentheart]

I find it hard to believe you were level 54 the first play through and beat the game. If true that's impressive.

[Lord_Sloth]

I wasn't too much higher when I beat it. It's not hard to believe at all.

[Tanir]

yeeeaaaaah i died alooooot lol. u know u can get de-leveled pretty easy in the game, i woulda been lvl 160 but lost so many levels due to monsters that steal ur lvl

[Pyscho_Mantis]

gunna go gamefest and check this out. Personally Im getting this day one and then if I have money getting skyrim for christmas.

[Nac]

You crazy OXM, I like you, but you crazy.

[Bladesfist]

Skyrim over 300 hrs + mod tools. Look at nehrim mod for oblivion that adds another 100 hours

[darren_poolies]

Say what!????

[TwistedMetal]

fuck mods they make games garbage and cheap. I dont even want to finish a game when theres a bunch of mods. people just turn it on to see how the new mod works and dont even beat the game. with that said demon souls was hard unless you power lvled grind like a chump. you shouldnt be over lvl 120 in game plus,plus,plus,plus..

Thats another thing demon souls got harder after every time you beat it.

also lol saying all you have to do is dodge and be careful and control you stamina and such lol. In 99% of games you just dodge. In demon souls the bosses have some really hard attack patterns untill you figure it out and even then they can still kill you. skyrim combat will be weak and simple and no one will probably die in that game more then once or twice lol.

[AfricanWoolf]

Its not that I don't believe this, its just not true.

[BeardedPriest]

What the fuck? Why the hell would you even play that corny ass cheap game when The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is coming out soon. The game isn't hard its cheap! Bethesda doesn't utilize falling to your death, one hit kills,items you are forced to farm days for... they don't need to. What is wrong with you people. Skyrim will have unprecedented exploration, way better graphics, excellent voice acting and a great soundtrack. Skyrim will soothe, calm, excite and fill you with wonder, while Dark Souls will frustrate you and keep you addicted doing the same stuff over and over again.

[Laika]

i like how when you were naming the things skyrim will be better in you didnt mention gameplay. haha. which i think dark souls will have way better. if skyrim is anything like oblivion, then i think the gameplay will be weak. oblivion bored me to tears and the gameplay was incredibly boring after playing demons souls.

[Ch1d0r1]

In agree with Laika,

Gameplay is the part i hate the most of Oblivion (hope its fixed). And thats why we loved Dark Souls... simple gameplay at the same time very deep for example Hyper Mode if you know what i mean...

from the article,"Forget about running around the hills collecting flowers to make potions - it's time to start preparing for a road trip straight to hell."

Now thats what im talking about!

[ljh217]

Whilst your doing 1001 different fetch quests, I'll be enjoying a challenging game with lots and lots of action. The only good thing skyrim will have over DS is the exploration component, which I could still play oblivion, fallout 3 & fallout new vegas to enjoy (as I've not fully explored those three worlds yet).

[MasterD919]

I have nothing against Dark Souls...but clearly Oblivion was a massive success and Skyrim looks to be quite impressive. I think it will take the GOTY award.

You also have to put both of those worlds into perspective. Its not just the actual map itself but the buildings, caves, etc. that have to be added into the equation too.

Regardless- there should be plenty for Dark Souls and Skyrim gamers to sink their teeth into. Don't break out the measure tape just yet.

[Saleem101]

Welcome to demon souls one of best rpg I ever played, the game was so Dam hard I spent 100 plus hours to beat game...

[clrlite]

One of my favorite games of all time. It was not easy the first play though or incredibly tough but it was definitely intimidating and challenging. I wish there were more games like Demon's Souls and I thought games were supposed to be challenging.

[SSKILLZ]

If dark souls ever had a difficulty setting it would be

Die

Die hard

Die harder

[HellzAssassin]

Die Hardest (:

[Saleem101]

It seems demon souls has caught on to xbox360 crowd you guys are in for nice treat.. Ps3 gamers been singing this tune since demon souls came out of no where, I wish Sony would've bought that studio from software is very talented studio...

[Ch1d0r1]

Yeah i hope our fellow 360 brothers enjoy Demons/Dark Souls like we enjoyed it on PS3, No hate there all love.

Finally a game that will bring us together and destroys us together.

Now only if the 3rd game includes cross platform so we can invade those fools.

[Ch1d0r1]

Skyrim ill wait till the GOTY version i want my DLC all to be on disk.

[WittyAdrian]

And I should care about this... WHY?

PC gamers ftw :D Yeaahh!! ;)

[HellzAssassin]

-____-

[wissam]

I will be playing both. and you keep fighting here :)

[-Gespenst-]

These games seem so friggin hardcore. I'm afraid to play them...

[MeatAbstract]

I hate that people compare these two games. They're very different and sadly this title has is just dragging in as many people as possibly for an all round debate on 'which will be better'.

Look on other stories about Dark Souls, most will have a maxiumum of 30 comments, the average is between 10 and 20. The fact this story has Skyrim in the title in such a way is just begging for people join in.

Skyrim will be big. Massive even. Dark Souls is big but not a 'free open world'. Dark Souls has multiple paths you can take but I don't think it has the 'go anywhere and do anything' side to it. You won't be popping into taverns in Dark Souls, talking to people. The few NPC's you'll see in Dark Souls, if its anything like Demon's Souls, will just be odd, offering you services in exchange for your hard earned souls.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Dark Souls will be mine in a few weeks and I can't wait. Skyrim on the other hand? I'll probably just wait for the GOTY edition.

[J86blum]

Demons Souls was awesome, on that note however if Dark Souls does DLC that lets you pimp your char out and max stats I will buy it.

I put my work in on the first title. this time around I just want to enjoy it and all that other jazz.

[Xenomorph]

Only the gaming elite will conquer this game. Skyrim might be nice, but dark souls takes all your gaming skill. Harder IS better.

[Chuk5]

No, I well designed game is better. Gaming skill, you're not a pro athlete calm down.

[Kos-Mos]

So you think it`s better with a million bugs, cheating high level enemies by climbing a stone? Is that what you call well designed?

[StrikerZ3ro112]

Which game will be bigger?

If we are talking in terms of literal size? Most Likely Skyrim.

If we are talking about how many hours it will take? it really depends on the gamer, i can see either of these games having extremely varied completion times. Dark Souls because i mean honestly i think its gonna be longggg and difficult as hell. And Skyrim because its huge and there will probably be an incredible amount of content.

Which game will be more fun? Well for me that would be Dark Souls, Demon's Souls was easily my favorite PS3 game.

[zero_cool]

Dark Souls > TES Skyrim

[Hozi]

Is this guy serious>? "Forget Skyrim" You do realize some people are not into the Demon Souls, Dark Souls type of gameplay right. Not because it's very hard, just simply because it doesn't offer the same Depth TES series has been offering for years now. It's a totally different type of gameplay. Storywise, I am not attracted to Dark Souls as Much as I am to TES. Customizability in TES is so much deeper....DS is probably the best RPG so far this Year but it all boils down to a matter of Opinion and for those who says TES aint hard....trying playing it without cheats, with he difficulty on high.

[SH0CKW4VE]

Just no........

[Chuk5]

When Dark Souls can offer something even close to the radiant system, I'll consider more than the fact that swomeone says it's just "bigger". Not more intelligent, or more rounded, just bigger, which is debatable.

[SITH]

I am laughing hysterically while typing this! It ain't no Skyrim!

[Kos-Mos]

No, it`s better because it`s got art. You know what art is?

[SITH]

Yeah, I know what art is. I have a bachelors of arts degree. You know what a bachelor degree is turbo?

Every game is a representation of someone's expression. WTF does that have to do with my original comment. "It's got art" what are you high, or retarded. Put me on your ignore list please. Apparently you have a desire to make comments too me that have nothing to do with my original comments.

[Ch1d0r1]

Your right! It has less load screens, hope they changed that in Skyrim.

[susanto1228]

Dark Souls is bigger than Skyrim???? who cares, but is it better? I never played Demon Souls but there is one thing that Dark Souls doesn't have that Skyrim does has...a HUGE modding community which makes Fallout, Oblivion, New Vegas that much better....I will try out Dark Souls, always gives games a chance, but bigger means squat

[Kos-Mos]

As in exploration, play time, value etc. I don`t know, but as a game I know it is.

[t1mberwolf]

Tanir isn't short for Tarna, is it? Just curious...

[N4OGs]

Dark souls has online coop and multiplayer versus and a faction system I think. people can join into your dark souls game and kill you and such. That also was in demon souls as well. The bosses move pretty fast in demon souls/darksouls when they attack compared to how fast you can move. In darksouls there are these two gargoyle things you have to fight on the bridge and it is pretty hard because they also have some strong attacks as well and can ram you off.

I never die more then once or twice in a bethesda game unless I wanted to try something stupid like go into a place and kill the leader making 100 people come after me lol.

[BeardedPriest]

People saw me play Demons souls and thought it was a ps2 game... Bethesda is putting so much work into this game... I finished Demon's souls after 2 or three days... Do you know how long its gonna take me to finish skyrim... even though i play twelve hours a day. You guys make it sound like oblivion was a walk in the park... All you guys whining about challenging never did the quest "A brush with Death" Those painted trolls don't one hit kill either... like 1 percent of the elder scrolls is Alchemy or "collecting flowers" The rest is fighting off Deadroths or towering elemetal Atronachs... Have fun with your linear two bit levels... I'm gonna join up with the companions or the college of winterhold...