5 лет назад
Dark souls (1vs2) a question that existed since the birth of the first flame that humanity (pic is down there) never managed to answer. No one defies that Bloodborne sits on the Iron Throne and holds the one Ring of power at the same time in the short term (the best'est). But I am about to showcase my short playthrough in those two amazing titles.
Both of these two games are amazing but one is better in my opinion and I will tell you why this is MY thought by 3 categories
ds 1: Anor Londo (key place)
ds2: The grand cathedral (DLC of the ivory king)
** STORY **
Maybe it what gives the souls series its unique atmosphere.
Dark Souls 1: starts the game with a random person with no goals at all or any specific destination to realize then that you worth more than you think. as soon as you progress through the game you will meet a dozen of new NPCs some of them I really loved interacting with (my favourite buddy is Solaire). some of the NPCs could really affect the game later stages like killing some bad guys or letting some of them live to change the storyline however it doesn't change the ending . and overall the story felt really moving and well made a little basic story but well made. in addition to that, the NPCs felt like everyone has its own character. Plus ds1 had more using of rhythms In poetic words which made it much more emotional.
Dark Souls 2: the story is basic like ds1 and there are even more NPCs to speak with, but they all felt not so different from each other and there is no use of killing them except for extra loot that you can acquire by buying it from them, in fact, most of them are merchants later in the game. Is there any side quests in Dark Souls 2? unfortunately there are no side quests in ds2 what makes the game a little straight forward in the main story progression, however, the reference of some characters from the first ds1 is obvious therefore it made the story richer. The biggest advantage of ds2 is a lot longer journey to the final boss than in ds1.
** GAMEPLAY *
The two are very similar in gameplay just differ in a couple of things.
Dark Souls 1: its gameplay was more simple and "so very much" slower than the second release of the series travelling through the world is serious pain until you get the lordvessel item that gives you the fast travel ability. shields are overpowered in this game (especially the Havel's Shield) it is almost impossible to break through even with a boss 10 times your own size of mass painful hitting power (At Least We Proved That "Size don't Matter" after all). while the game left the aggressive fight style unawarded you have to play it safe. the levelling system is unbelievably slow comparing to ds2 and less rewarding in most of the time, I had to get 50000 souls to lvl up once in later parts of the game only to get 1+ or 2+ magic power (50000 souls is a hell of price in this game). The attack power depends on upgrading weapons more than the player attributes except for magic that cannot be upgraded. overall it is way easier in fighting bosses and enemies.
first image: stats upgrading interface
second image: a player using the havel set and "the unfair Havel's shield" poor phantom
Dark Souls 2: Like going from the oven to the furnace while the game surprises you with faster gameplay (you can fast travel from the first moment you start playing "no hidden fees attached") early weapon upgrading abilities and better starting equipment (and elegant style shoes) they hit you "harder than your cheater wife/husband" with an insane amount of damage that kills you in 5 or 4 shots in normal circumstances. despite this big disadvantage in the game, it offers a forgiving and easier upgrading system by halving the souls required in each lvl as you progress in the game in addition that levelling your attributes grants you higher firepower than the first instalment. in the worst case of wrong choices of your character attributes could be undone (or you just want to change your playstyle) by using a soul vessel it relocates the lvl up points. This release featured new elemental damage variety e.g.(dark, cast speed, petrify, and the fact that fire now scales with int plus faith together) more balanced shield usage as it can be easily pierced. power stance (i knew that feature after beating the last boss) this new mechanic allows you to wield and use two weapons that are compatible with each other at the same time resulting in a new moveset and high damage attacks (probably one of the very important features in this release of the series. Bonfire ascetic is a new item that can be used to advance a chosen region to NG+ instead of the whole world as in ds1 making it a crucial farming item since the spawn of enemies respawn became limited (12 respawn only for each enemy).
first image stats upgrading in Dark Souls 2
second image a knight powerstancing curved and katana
** GRAPHICS **
Dark Souls 1 has no chance in graphics so it is the remastered edition that we are going for this round.
Dark Souls 1 (remastered): lightning, shadows, reflections, anti-aliasing, depth of field and animations are all improved in this Souls remaster edition however the texture quality is not like in the second release. Because of the better effects, it uses higher requirements system and a little slower for old PCs even if the stages were narrow and small it took system requirements higher than the ds2 game.
ds1: Gaping Dragon boss
ds2: Majula
Dark Souls 2: The higher texture resolution is the biggest graphical is what makes the game looks good since the downgrading of the game is the weak lightning and shadow in addition to less detailed effects. all these points made the game graphically decent and quite well handy in processing bigger areas and wider paths to pass through. in the end, I hated the weak animations in this game.
ps: there is a couple of mods you can download for ds2 to improve graphics (to tell you the truth haven't tried any of them myself).
PERSONALLY: my preference is dark souls 1 the remastered edition I am a person that loves focused storyline more than gameplay (And Hiding Behind A Shield was more fun) and the ds2 difficulty farmed me 20000 death in 1 playthrough (insane number indeed I blame my keyboard (not really it is my low skill level falling in every ditch in the game)guess staying in the corner is my job).
have a lovely day and an easy playthrough in your games. :D hope you do better than me (ofc you will).