What is up with all these new people!?

Though I have not been playing Dark Souls as long as many people here, I have been playing it for a year now, and have always been a huge fan of brutal RPGs. I feel entirely comfortable in PvE, and, though I am not the best at PvP, I know enough that I am no scrub. It seems as though, lately, the people playing DkS have never played a hard core RPG. Why the sudden influx? Is it because people saw how cool Dark Souls 2 was, and hopped aboard the bandwagon? Because, if thats the case, these people are going to get their s**t rocked in DkS2. I do not mean to rant, but honestly I just do not understand the sudden draw, particularly from the demographic that has never played anything besides Madden and COD (Note:I have nothing against these games). I was talking to a acquaintance of mine yesterday who I have always known to HATE RPGs and he said he thought Dark Souls seemed like a good place to start. Anyone care to offer some insight?

Possibly because of Dark Souls 2 advertising many players from other genres of games will want to try out the first and Demon's Souls.

ResIsBestStat wrote:It's all OnlyAfro's fault because he made Giant Dad

How dare you insult the great and powerful, slightly annoying, GiantDad!

Regardless, I stand by what I said. With the way they're treating the sequel by promoting it as a big game it's obviously going to draw a lot of interest by gamers from other crowds to Dark Souls 2 and because of this they flock to the first Dark Souls.

I hate to admit it but the original AAA title advertisement that stood out for me was Skyrim. Although I have never picked up the game as I have played a previous Elder Scrolls and found it a little restrictive, but, my point is the marketing drew a big crowd and that seems to be happening with DkS2 now. The only problem is that these newbies are all megamuling!

Lot of folks want to clear the previous game if they plan to buy the sequel and Dark Souls II gets some huge media massage, so there are LOT of guys playing DkS only because they heard about DkS II. 

Another group are people looking for fame. Dark Souls is notoriously difficult RPG and there are people who want to brag that they finished this brutal gem of a game. Mostly for the sole purpose of bragging. These guys just want to rush through the game and don't shy away to use cheats and hacks. Even better, they bring these exploits to PvP as well. Perhaps to get revenge for the guy that killed them, or to troll. Who knows, who cares.

On the other hand, both of these reasons can bring people that simply didn't know about the game and fell in love with it, like we did. A very cruel and twisted form of love, but it is there. They just want to learn to PvP, because they simply like it, but they arrived a tad bit late. They have the worst experience now, because they have to fight us. Time hardened casuls, that even finished Demon's Souls and can do stuff that would leave them with nightmares for weeks. It's hard to learn when everyone is obliterating you with things that you don't know (DLC spells perhaps), don't understand (backstab mechanics) and in some cases, even don't make any sense (lag is almighty).

+1 for that Sentiel.


I can attest that I know multiple people that have begun playing Dark Souls, people that I thought would never play a game even like it. One of them a person that pretty much only plays CoD, Army of Two, and Assassins Creed. With all the media attention and the ever growing popularity of it, it seems that more and more people are wanting to say that they have bested the game. My two best friends are playing it(one of them in which is half way through NG+, and managed not to die once to the Four Kings, Nito, Ceaseless Discharge[without getting it to jump off the cliff], Firesage, and Centipede demon), three other people I hardly know at my school is playing it, my girlfriend is playing it, five of my friends that I met from Call of Duty games are playing it, my cousin is playing it........It is quite a jump from when I first played it 8 months ago, when I could hardly find anyone that even knew about the game.

Yesterday, from out of the blue, I got a friend request from a guy....

...after thinking about what I wanted to write I really think I shouldn't. It was a really embarrassing and awkward ordeal.

My lady also played Dark Souls and Demon's Souls. At first she didn't like the game, because it "felt and looked strange". I had the same feeling towards Demon's Souls when I first saw it. I was like "What is this? It looks so ugly and I can't pause it? My items don't return on my death?". To be honest, I actually threw Demon's Souls away, thinking the game is terrible. Some time later, I gave it another chance, just for the sake of the challenge.


It was the end of the week. I had a beard. Red eyes from lack of ZZZzzzz. Enough coffee and Red Bull in me that it's a wonder I didn't get a 25-hit combo heart attack. And I was struggling to kill those @%&$ing Maneaters.

My lady was reluctant to try Dark Souls, but eventually did play the game when I was in work. She played the game behind my back, so that I won't laugh at her for failing. Too bad for her that I know everything that happens on my PS3.

After four days, I cought her, shouting on the TV. She was getting frustrated over a host that kept dying to Gaping Dragon. Nevertheless, she loves the game and later went to play DeS and Platinum'ed both. She syas DeS was harder and overall darker, more brutal and merciless and I agree.

She isn't interested in PvP though, because she watches me play it and doesn't like the lag and latency. She thinks that the game is unfinished in these aspects and will play it competetively only after From makes the PvP fights look like actual fights and not warping to someone's backstab from front and five meters away. If something, she hangs around Anor Londo helping people with O&S, or in DLC co-oping Arty and Kalameet. Not Manus, cos, to quote "Township is full of nutcases".

I really think we all need to stop jumping to conclusions. Does it really matter why all of these new people are playing Dark Souls? I think that a higher player count will help evolve the community and allow it to become larger and more active. As long as the people who are playing it are having fun, then it is not our place to tell them that what they are doing is wrong. We were all scrubs once (I still am), so whilst yes, they will be getting obliterated in PVP, they will be learning and improving the same way that everyone here did.

Price drops help too.  I still run into new players in coop all the time, particularly before Anor Londo.  It's great, I was worried it would taper off months ago but it hasn't at all (PS3, at least).

Soris Ice Goldwing wrote:befowler it is like that on the xbox side with co-op. I find myself showing people where items and basically everywhere in an area these days than before. How much does this game go for now anyway in U.S.D?

10 to 20$ at most places. I believe 20$ if you download it off the Xbox marketplace.

I seen souls signs all over in the depths at 47 today, and was invaded twice....at first I thought wtf...then I thought,
 ...sweet!

@ OP Who cares?

I don't know man, I played Demon's souls and it was a hell of a lot more difficult than this game was.  Not much of a problem, and a lot of new people who join this forum aren't new to the game, just the forum itself.

My theory is that the kiddies and casuals that play nothing but CoD and Skyrim want to feel special by playing a game that is reportedly difficult.They think it makes them awesome or something.A side part to the theory is that the idiots that love IGN (As you can see,I hate the site,read comments to see why) saw the Dark Souls 2 gameplay and figured they must have it.

I mean, I have met some really great people who are new to the game, but I suppose what bugs me is getting summoned, only to be asked, "CAN U GIV ME ALL TEH SOULS OF EACH BOSS 99 EACH AND SUM CHANNERS TRIDENTS AND ALSO TEH OLAGILE HEADS?". I have been summoned (red and white) in Township, Anor Londo, and The Kiln many times in the past few days and this is what I have encountered 50% of the time. I guess I just have bad luck encountering people lol. I do not mind dropping a few souls, but the people I have encountered are just ridiculous. Oh well, I guess this is what the black separation crystal is for.

KrazykevS10 wrote:My theory is that the kiddies and casuals that play nothing but CoD and Skyrim want to feel special by playing a game that is reportedly difficult.They think it makes them awesome or something.A side part to the theory is that the idiots that love IGN (As you can see,I hate the site,read comments to see why) saw the Dark Souls 2 gameplay and figured they must have it.

+1 for the IGN hate

Asking me for free stuff is the greatest insult I have ever known in Lordran.I've traded a few times when asked nicely but some guys are unbelievable like that.Have you ever been asked for modded gear? Ugh,they go around asking everyone for stuff like that,it's so pathetic.

KrazykevS10 wrote:Asking me for free stuff is the greatest insult I have ever known in Lordran.I've traded a few times when asked nicely but some guys are unbelievable like that.Have you ever been asked for modded gear? Ugh,they go around asking everyone for stuff like that,it's so pathetic.

Actually, just yesterday I was asked for the Elite Cleric set and the Wizard Smith set. When I responded that those were cheat engine items, the person went on a rant about how I was a "Puss" for not cheating.

Oh no,I'm talking about the crystal weapons and ?ProtectorName? gear.These people want modded gear yet they are too stupid to get it themselves.Not saying they should.Fighting that gear is a nightmare,they do 1000 damage per hit and take 300 from a backstab maybe. Let the cheaters cheat,they are all just in denial about how often they get wrecked by normal players anyway.