This game suffers from "Don't play literally any other game in the franchise before this or you will be severely disappointed" syndrome. I started with DS3, really good game. But, it seems as though that soured my opinion of this indirectly because dear god the mechanics in this game feel like literally being paralyzed from the neck down. I'm sure that if I wasn't exposed to the objectively better game first, then I would like this.
great game, difficulty is just right, good visuals everything fits together, sound is great, gameplay is fair every bad thing that happens is a consequence of your own actions, motivation in this game doesn't come from wanting to reach a goal or finishing the game, but magically each time I die I feel more motivated to keep playing, a dangerously addicting trait of this franchise.
It's not one of my favorites among FromSoftware games, but it's still quite enjoyable. The first time I played it, I followed a guide on how to beat the game with a specific build, which made my initial experience not so good, and I almost gave up on it. Months later, my friend convinced me to give it another try, and this time I managed to beat the game without any external help. I explored and built my character on my own, and this completely changed my perspective on the game. Most of the areas are fun and intuitive to explore, except for Anor Londo, FUCK ANOR LONDO.
It would be an understatement if I left this as "One of the greatest of all time." Not particularly my go to entry in the series but god damn is it a masterpiece from beginning to end. I haven't touched Demon's Souls, but for nailing it in the coffin with sparking an entire gameplay genre is one of the things I love the most about Dark Souls. Some of the bosses absolutely kick my ass, but damn does it feel rewarding.
I love the story, the music and the world of the whole Dark Souls series. This is the game that started it all but I can’t just ignore amount of pain I had when I had to go thru Lost Izalith and the skeleton area. The controls were clunky and the enemies were annoying. I love the game but it is not perfect.
It inspired a whole genre (I know Demon's Souls came first, but Dark Souls is really what sent the genre to the mainstream). Even among the now hundreds of "souls-like" games there are today, Dark Souls stands among them as game that feels incredibly unique. The biggest criticism I could give Dark Souls is that it can sometimes feel a bit too cryptic and leave the player with no idea what they're supposed to be doing, especially if it's their first Souls game. But the story, world, characters, enemy designs, combat, and especially the level design is all masterfully done.