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[Salt and Sanctuary] Yep, it's a 2D Dark Souls game. Out for now PS4!

TrevorTrevor Registered User regular
edited March 2016 in Games and Technology
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Have you ever played a Dark Souls game and thought, "There's just too many dimensions!"? Then boy howdy, there's a game for you.

It's out for the PS4 right now, and comes out eventually for Vita and PC eventually.


It's from Ska Studios, the people that brought you Charlie Murder and the Dishwasher. That means it's got their own style and plenty of the ol' ultraviolence.

Here's a trailer for it!

Anyone else playing it now, or is everyone just going to wait for the PC release?

Trevor on

Posts

  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    The human characters in this look dumb as hell but the rest is pretty nice. So far combat is a bit mashy, but the first boss fight made me sit down and learn some lessons.

  • chuck steakchuck steak Registered User regular
    Mashy? Your stamina bar doesn't allow mashy. The first little bit is easy enough that it doesn't matter I guess, but managing your stamina is a big part of the combat.

    I love how they pretty much lifted a lot of stuff straight from Souls, but I wish they diverged with a few things. I want to be able to pause my damn games, and I don't want to have to make early game decisions based on no information. That just leads to having to look stuff up on the internet and restarting the game multiple times.

    Tried the knight and the mage so far. Going to give the thief a shot, and then have the hard decision of which I'm going to stick with for the long haul.

  • ChanceChance Registered User regular
    I'm enjoying Knight so far. Taking down the first boss definitely strummed all the Souls chords in my heart. Great stuff.

    'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
  • TrevorTrevor Registered User regular
    It's true that the humans look a little goofy. I don't mind Ska's style, but I wish they took a second to count how many fingers a human has. It's totally more than eight.

    So far I've only really messed with one character. I started with a knight and kind of specced it out with great big swords and heavy armor. It just happens to match what the leaders in my shrines wear, so it's probably a viable build.

    The religions are a little confusing, so my first character's decided to go with the Iron Ones. I can figure out magic and praying later.

  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    Mashy as in the ideal strategy is to attack first and unload your stamina bar on an enemy or group of enemies, as you attack quickly and stunlock. For enemies who aren't stunned by attacks, it seems best to be much more conservative and hit and run.

    I had a hard time with the first boss because he doesn't seem to have a tell for when he will swing once or when he'll swing multiple times, turning between swings. I'm not sure where the i frames in rolls are yet, either.

    First boss:
    when he gets to his lightning + jumping attack followup phase, I found it almost necessary to use a shield instead of rolling.

  • Alice LeywindAlice Leywind she/her Registered User regular
    I got to a forest area and it was the worst thing I had ever played in a souls-like game, hands down. I'm gonna get back to it later, maybe start off a new character with a bit more focus, but HOO BOY that area is not fun.

    M A G I K A Z A M
  • TrevorTrevor Registered User regular
    First boss:
    when he gets to his lightning + jumping attack followup phase, I found it almost necessary to use a shield instead of rolling.

    That's interesting. I was using a shield and got beat up pretty good the first three or four times I fought him. I eventually had to do the opposite and stop blocking and figure out when to roll.

  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    I bought it and played about an hour. First boss was pretty simple. It's ok at best but I certainly won't be playing it again.

  • TrevorTrevor Registered User regular
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    I bought it and played about an hour. First boss was pretty simple. It's ok at best but I certainly won't be playing it again.

    I can certainly see it not being for everyone. The majority of my friends that I tell about it just give me blank stares.

    I, on the other hand, am enjoying it immensely. It's also turning out more Metroidvania-esque than I thought. It's scratching itches I didn't know I had.

  • FawstFawst The road to awe.Registered User regular
    Wait, so this is a Metroidvania slash Souls game? Seriously? I knew nothing about it aside from the title prior to watching the trailer just now on the Playstation store. I was all set to buy Last of Us Remastered for the same price, but considering I still have MGSV to play, I should probably stay away from a bigger game. This seems like it'd hit all my buttons.

  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    Trevor wrote: »
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    I bought it and played about an hour. First boss was pretty simple. It's ok at best but I certainly won't be playing it again.

    I can certainly see it not being for everyone. The majority of my friends that I tell about it just give me blank stares.

    I, on the other hand, am enjoying it immensely. It's also turning out more Metroidvania-esque than I thought. It's scratching itches I didn't know I had.

    It absolutely should be for me. I LOVE Metroidvania games and the Souls games are right up there with some of the best made games ever.

    Burt something about this just doesn't work for me.

  • chuck steakchuck steak Registered User regular
    Fawst wrote: »
    Wait, so this is a Metroidvania slash Souls game? Seriously? I knew nothing about it aside from the title prior to watching the trailer just now on the Playstation store. I was all set to buy Last of Us Remastered for the same price, but considering I still have MGSV to play, I should probably stay away from a bigger game. This seems like it'd hit all my buttons.

    It is Dark Souls 2D in almost every way. Respawn and restock health potions at campfires (candles), lose your souls (salt) upon death and have to go retrieve them, weapon scaling is the same, finding shortcuts, punishing boss battles, very little information about how things work at the start.

  • TrevorTrevor Registered User regular
    Fawst wrote: »
    Wait, so this is a Metroidvania slash Souls game? Seriously? I knew nothing about it aside from the title prior to watching the trailer just now on the Playstation store. I was all set to buy Last of Us Remastered for the same price, but considering I still have MGSV to play, I should probably stay away from a bigger game. This seems like it'd hit all my buttons.

    It is Dark Souls 2D in almost every way. Respawn and restock health potions at campfires (candles), lose your souls (salt) upon death and have to go retrieve them, weapon scaling is the same, finding shortcuts, punishing boss battles, very little information about how things work at the start.

    One important way that it differs is that the jumping is actually workable. That leads for more vertical levels that feel very Symphony of the Night to me. I prefer groping around blindly for things in that kind of environment more than some of the more maze-like Dark Souls way.

  • chuck steakchuck steak Registered User regular
    Trevor wrote: »
    Fawst wrote: »
    Wait, so this is a Metroidvania slash Souls game? Seriously? I knew nothing about it aside from the title prior to watching the trailer just now on the Playstation store. I was all set to buy Last of Us Remastered for the same price, but considering I still have MGSV to play, I should probably stay away from a bigger game. This seems like it'd hit all my buttons.

    It is Dark Souls 2D in almost every way. Respawn and restock health potions at campfires (candles), lose your souls (salt) upon death and have to go retrieve them, weapon scaling is the same, finding shortcuts, punishing boss battles, very little information about how things work at the start.

    One important way that it differs is that the jumping is actually workable. That leads for more vertical levels that feel very Symphony of the Night to me. I prefer groping around blindly for things in that kind of environment more than some of the more maze-like Dark Souls way.

    Yes, that is quite different. And you can jump and attack and stuff. The combat feels more like a beat-em-up, but with the stamina bar from Souls.

  • BluecyanBluecyan Buzz.. Buzz Buzz? BUZZ! Buzz buzz BuzzRegistered User regular
    Tried this out last night, beat the first boss then promptly was destroyed by either of the second ones. Feels a lot like a souls game in that shields seems a little to powerful, though shooting an enemy that is about to attack with a crossbow can stun them for a good bit of time. The whip was doing well but now does 2-4 damage to armored enemies and its a lesson in frustration trying to tackle any of the knight enemies.

  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User, Moderator, Administrator admin
    Bluecyan wrote: »
    Tried this out last night, beat the first boss then promptly was destroyed by either of the second ones. Feels a lot like a souls game in that shields seems a little to powerful, though shooting an enemy that is about to attack with a crossbow can stun them for a good bit of time. The whip was doing well but now does 2-4 damage to armored enemies and its a lesson in frustration trying to tackle any of the knight enemies.
    One of the first big revelations for me was figuring out how to use traps to kill some of the bigger enemies with massive health.

    8i1dt37buh2m.png
  • NosfNosf Registered User regular
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Trevor wrote: »
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    I bought it and played about an hour. First boss was pretty simple. It's ok at best but I certainly won't be playing it again.

    I can certainly see it not being for everyone. The majority of my friends that I tell about it just give me blank stares.

    I, on the other hand, am enjoying it immensely. It's also turning out more Metroidvania-esque than I thought. It's scratching itches I didn't know I had.

    It absolutely should be for me. I LOVE Metroidvania games and the Souls games are right up there with some of the best made games ever.

    Burt something about this just doesn't work for me.

    Yeah, same here. Two great tastes that don't appeal to me at all when slapped together.

  • vegeta_666vegeta_666 CanadaRegistered User regular
    I'm in the boat of absolutely loving this, it is scratching the right itches and feels tough but mostly fair (I hate those poison jelly things in the woods though). Great atmosphere, music and I like the level up system and itemization so far. My only complaint is it seems hard to raise your equip load quickly. I got a set of Level 2 Heavy Armour but I can't wear it at all because my equip load is too low and getting it to a better spot seems tough.

    Sob24Nm.png
    Steam: abunchofdaftpunk | PSN: noautomobilesgo | Lastfm: sjchszeppelin | Backloggery: colincummings | 3DS FC: 1392-6019-0219 |
  • TrevorTrevor Registered User regular
    vegeta_666 wrote: »
    I'm in the boat of absolutely loving this, it is scratching the right itches and feels tough but mostly fair (I hate those poison jelly things in the woods though). Great atmosphere, music and I like the level up system and itemization so far. My only complaint is it seems hard to raise your equip load quickly. I got a set of Level 2 Heavy Armour but I can't wear it at all because my equip load is too low and getting it to a better spot seems tough.

    I'm a little surprised that you're having trouble equipping it if you already have the Class 2 Heavy Armor trait that's necessary to equip it unlocked, but if you've got that then you should be in a good position to pump up that side of the tree pretty quick and get more endurance.

  • Mr FuzzbuttMr Fuzzbutt Registered User regular
    Is there a map?

    I always have trouble navigating sprawling 2D platformers without a map.

    broken image link
  • TrevorTrevor Registered User regular
    Is there a map?

    I always have trouble navigating sprawling 2D platformers without a map.

    No map that I'm aware of. I'm sure the comparison is getting old, but I'm not having as much trouble finding my way around as I do in Dark Souls. I think it helps that there are multiple shortcuts that unlock into each area. If you're not sure how to get to a place you can be pretty sure you'll stumble into it sooner or later.

  • HugglesHuggles Registered User regular
    Hey, this is really good.

    Anyone have an idea about what the number of candles before each boss correlates to? Order? Difficulty?

  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    edited March 2016
    Huggles wrote: »
    Hey, this is really good.

    Anyone have an idea about what the number of candles before each boss correlates to? Order? Difficulty?
    It's the win ratio against said boss.

    Fencingsax on
  • HugglesHuggles Registered User regular
    Fencingsax wrote: »
    Huggles wrote: »
    Hey, this is really good.

    Anyone have an idea about what the number of candles before each boss correlates to? Order? Difficulty?
    It's the win ratio against said boss.

    Huh, neat.

  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    Nosf wrote: »
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Trevor wrote: »
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    I bought it and played about an hour. First boss was pretty simple. It's ok at best but I certainly won't be playing it again.

    I can certainly see it not being for everyone. The majority of my friends that I tell about it just give me blank stares.

    I, on the other hand, am enjoying it immensely. It's also turning out more Metroidvania-esque than I thought. It's scratching itches I didn't know I had.

    It absolutely should be for me. I LOVE Metroidvania games and the Souls games are right up there with some of the best made games ever.

    Burt something about this just doesn't work for me.

    Yeah, same here. Two great tastes that don't appeal to me at all when slapped together.

    I take it all back, game is amazing. Would have liked nicer character sprites but wevs.

  • TrevorTrevor Registered User regular
    I'm enjoying the flexibility to be completely stupid in my build. I have a guy in the heaviest armor that uses a greatsword in one hand a pistol in the other.

  • Erin The RedErin The Red The Name's Erin! Woman, Podcaster, Dungeon Master, IT nerd, Parent, Trans. AMA Baton Rouge, LARegistered User regular
    I've got a scythe and shield and beginner heavy armor and have been reaping all who stand against me. Just got a fire damage charm to slap on there. I'm in a stormy area around... 6-7 bosses in? And really liking it so far.

  • ZundeZunde Registered User regular
    Working my way through this game i'm having fun and all but it really does feel like i picked up a Bootleg dark souls game.

    Like grabbing "Super manio brothers" or something you know?

  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    edited May 2016
    I wondered if the topic would've popped back up now that it's out on PC, doesn't seem like it exactly took off on PS4 though.

    I did pick it up though and started playing last night, as a Knight, had a bit of trouble with the first real boss before I finally got it down 6th try or so. Explored for a bit after that but didn't get too much farther.

    Tonight, I started it back up and ended up starting over with a Paladin this time, but I decided to see if I could remap the controls to more of a Dark Souls style (and also noticed that you can change the button prompts from Xbox to PS4 style, which works great for my PS3 controller). I put use item back on Square, Light and Strong attacks on R1/R2, put Roll back on Circle, block on L1, and swap weapon sets on Triangle since it's usually used for two-handing anyway. I wanted to put the general Use back on X, but jumping is so important in the game, so I ended up putting the general Use on basically the only remaining unused button, L2.

    Overall, the remapped controls feel much better since I've been playing so much Dark Souls 3 lately. Pickup/Use being on L2 took some getting used to, but it isn't too bad now.

    Dranyth on
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