It's commonly pointed out as an improvement that Dark Souls melee is less finicky and less willing to fuck you over for taking a single hit - but am I the only one who liked that aspect of Demon's Souls' combat? It's more about fidgety footwork than anything; the first good hit decides things then and there. If you're fighting Giant Depraved Ones or something, then once someone gets staggered it's over, and this works similarly in PVP with many builds. Would anyone else like to see 2 Dark 2 Souls go for a middle ground there? Keep the ability to do something useful over 25% encumberment, but reinstate the emphasis on evasion and baiting out premature strikes to some extent.
I love this. As someone who has played Dark Souls but not Demon's Souls, I pretty much just consider Dark Souls combat perfect and would like it not to be messed with, please.
I routinely run <50% and don't agree at all with the <25% brigade. It's a tool, use it how you feel fit.
Oh, yeah, Dark Souls is absolutely doable above 25%. Really, you can work anywhere up to 100%; the poise mechanics make heavier armor worthwhile. You take a hit, shrug it off, and then break through the lightly armored guy's crappy poise. This is not the case in Demon's; you stagger in much the same way in both heavy and light armor. End result is that you're pretty much always best served using Ancient King's set, or one of the other high-end light armor sets. Heavy armor offers better defense at the slight expense of making it so that you'll never actually get to move.
I only played one NG in Demon's, but I don't really remember much of the combat. Sometimes I feel like I should re-buy it, but I feel like I will end up being annoyed.
I liked both combat systems fine. Another big difference between the two games is that in Dark Souls, you can pretty much get by with maxing one weapon and using it for the entire game. You have so many things to spend souls on, that it's actually a good idea to do so most of the time. In Demons Souls, almost every level has a different ideal weapon. Piercing for World 2, blunt for World 4, fire for World 5, etc. On the one hand, it forces you to experiment with different weapons more. On the other hand, it forces you to use weapons you might not have any interest in using. Well, not quite forces, but makes the game so much easier if you use the recommended weapon. I liked the design at the time, but after Dark Souls, I think I liked being able to use almost any weapon you want all the time more.
This is the closest thing to a Demon's Souls thread I could find, so in case anyone is interested that hasn't played it, the game is up on PSN for $20. If it's an either/or, probably go with Dark Souls, but if you want to play both or you finish Dark Souls and still want more, I highly recommend it. Some of the levels are fantastic. And you can see the inspiration for some of your favorite Dark Souls bosses.
