Dark Souls

[Eusis]

Please don't use VGChartz, they are completely unreliable and I'm seriously considering deleting links related to them if they keep being treated with any credibility.

[CDFN]

I've seen roughly the same numbers from other sources when the game was released.

[Jonathan Ingram]

As far as I`m aware, for North America there are only two reliable sources that we can get sales data from - it`s either NPD or the publisher themselves(should they choose to release such information). Everything else is bogus.

For Dark Souls, all we know so far is that it`s sold about 350,000 copies in Japan and shipped 1,5 million worldwide.

[daschrier]

Not that Gamefaqs is any indicator of populatiry, it is nice to see Dark Souls in the top 3-4 message boards, especially with MW3, Skyrim, and Battlefield 3 released, or on the horizon.

[Eusis]

As far as I`m aware, for North America there are only two reliable sources that we can get sales data from - it`s either NPD or the publisher themselves(should they choose to release such information). Everything else is bogus.

For Dark Souls, all we know so far is that it`s sold about 350,000 copies in Japan and shipped 1,5 million worldwide.

This. If others posted those numbers there's a good chance they're VGChartz in origin anyway. I'd only go for NPD/Publisher backed results here.

[CDFN]

New Miyazaki interview:

http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1211926p1.html

[Jonathan Ingram]

I remember how prior to the game`s release Miyazaki said that Dark Souls wouldn`t ship until he played it from start to finish. I wonder if he thinks that shipping a game whose frame rate fluctuates between 15-30fps and sometimes drops to as low as 5fps is acceptable. Not to mention all the game-breaking glitches of which Dark Souls has every in existence:

Infinite EXP(Dragon Head glitch) - check
Infinite spells(done through swapping) - check
Item duping(Dragon Head glitch, Snuggly glitch) - check
Invincibility(Great Magic Shield glitch) - check

Now I really love Dark Souls and the 200 something hours I`ve already sunk into it is a testament to this, but damn, don`t rush your games like that. The talk about the team behind Dark Souls being obsessive perfectionists always strikes me as incredibly odd given how the game feels unfinished and rushed on more than one occasion.

Now back to PvP-ing at Kiln :)

[Cyril]

A rushed game sometimes can't be helped when it comes to publisher demands. More than a few "could have been great" games have been ruined that way.

Also, remember, Demon's Souls was rather glitchy upon its release as well.  Soul duping was even easier in the early version of Demon's than in Dark.The west simply got the patched version upon release because it had already been out for a year in Japan/Asia.  It also doesn't help that From Software isn't exactly large and doesn't have the resources for a huge, extended beta.

[CDFN]

It's an ambitious game and they obviously bit off more than they could chew, I'm sure he would've loved to have a few more months to work on it. I still have a long way to go untill I finish it but my overall impression is very positive despite all those flaws. Making a worthy sequel to Demon's Souls is not an easy task, specially because the surprise factor is obviously gone, but they did a great job, like so many games this gen they just needed more time for polish.

[Fadedsun]

I remember how prior to the game`s release Miyazaki said that Dark Souls wouldn`t ship until he played it from start to finish. I wonder if he thinks that shipping a game whose frame rate fluctuates between 15-30fps and sometimes drops to as low as 5fps is acceptable. Not to mention all the game-breaking glitches of which Dark Souls has every in existence:

Infinite EXP(Dragon Head glitch) - check
Infinite spells(done through swapping) - check
Item duping(Dragon Head glitch, Snuggly glitch) - check
Invincibility(Great Magic Shield glitch) - check

Now I really love Dark Souls and the 200 something hours I`ve already sunk into it is a testament to this, but damn, don`t rush your games like that. The talk about the team behind Dark Souls being obsessive perfectionists always strikes me as incredibly odd given how the game feels unfinished and rushed on more than one occasion.

Now back to PvP-ing at Kiln :)

Besides the frame-rate stuff, aren't all those glitches fixed in the patch? Which we don't have yet!! I've stopped playing because I'm just waiting for this damn patch.

[Eusis]

Plus the dragon head one is really out of the way to activate. I've seen it described as being the kind of crazy playground rumor we'd have heard for older games given the bizarre method, except it's for real. FPS was likely just considered a non-issue, I'm more concerned how he could see some of those end game areas as fine.

[Fei]

Be careful when upgrading the bloodshield.  Every time you upgrade it, it cranks your ailments up as if you had just equipped it.  I almost cursed myself without realizing it.  I went to +5 with small titanite shards, and saw that my meters were way up there.

[Jonathan Ingram]

A rushed game sometimes can't be helped when it comes to publisher demands. More than a few "could have been great" games have been ruined that way.

From Software self-published Dark Souls in Japan. They only partnered with Scamco for the global release. So, it couldn`t have been publisher demands.

Also, remember, Demon's Souls was rather glitchy upon its release as well.  Soul duping was even easier in the early version of Demon's than in Dark.

I bought the Asian version of Demon`s Souls shortly after it had come out and I don`t recall it having anywhere near as many glitches. What was the soul duping glitch again? I wasn`t frequenting the DS board on Gamefaqs too much at the time of release, so perhaps I just missed it.

Plus the dragon head one is really out of the way to activate. I've seen it described as being the kind of crazy playground rumor we'd have heard for older games given the bizarre method, except it's for real.

But how could they miss something as obvious as the magic shield glitch? All you have to do to activate it is cast the spell and BAM - you`re completely invincible.


In other news, 1.05 was released in Japan a few days ago. It improves co-op and PvP by making summon signs easier to appear and decreasing the number of connection failures. Meanwhile, Scamco is silent and we`re still on 1.03.

[Fadedsun]

This wouldn't have happened if Atlus was running the show again. I was really surprised that Namco/Bandai was publishing this.

[Eusis]

Yeah, if we don't see 1.05 in a timely manner then I'm REALLY hoping From goes to Atlus or something for their next Demon's Souls-type game. It's entirely possible though that 1.04's issues were spotted quickly and so Namco Bandai decided to wait and see first.