Dark Souls

By on September 5, 2012 1:25 am

Real Time Controls

  • Running/walking
  • Sprinting
  • Attack/Power Attack/Backstab
  • Block
  • Parry
  • Change weapons/items/spells
  • Evasive moves such as Roll/Back step/Run and Jump
  • Toggle between holding weapon with both hands and one hand
  • Use item
  • Rotate Camera

Every mechanic in the game allows for real time control, but some actions are restricted based on the character’s state.

Running/Walking: Controlled by the left analog stick. The amount of tilt determines the speed at which the character moves. The player can change direction while moving, but if the player tries to turn around and go in the opposite direction, the character must first stop before he starts to move in the new direction.

Sprinting: Controlled the same as running and walking, but the player must also hold down the circle button.

Attacking: The player attacks by either pressing R1 for a normal attack, or R2 for a power attack. After pressing the button, the attack animation plays for a certain amount of time depending on the weapon. The player can move the camera and slightly reposition/turn the character. At the end of the animation, the character can either stop attacking, or, if the button is pushed again, execute a follow up attack. A player can backstab an enemy if he is directly behind the enemy and pushes R1.

Blocking: A player can block by holding L1 with either a weapon or shield equipped in the left hand. The amount of damage blocked and the amount of stamina drained depends on the shield or weapon. The player can still move normally while blocking.

Parry: A player can, with a very specific timing, parry an enemies attack by pressing L1. Parrying negates damage, but if the player presses R1 immediately after parrying, the player can counter attack for a large amount of damage.

Change Weapons/Items: The player’s current weapons are displayed in four boxes in the bottom left corner which correspond to a direction on the d-pad. Pressing a direction on the d-pad cycles through the corresponding equipped items/weapons/spells.

Evasive Moves: The player can back step by standing still and pressing circle, roll by moving the control stick and pressing circle, or run and jump by sprinting (while moving the control stick) and letting go of the circle button and pressing it again. The player cannot perform any actions other than moving the camera while executing these actions.

Toggle between 1H and 2H: The player can toggle between holding the weapon in two hands or one hand by pressing triangle. This takes a small amount of time. The animations for attacks with both are slightly different.

Use item: The player can use an equipped item by pressing square. The player cannot do anything other than move the camera while the animation plays.

Rotate Camera: The player can rotate the camera pretty much at any time by moving the right analog stick.

Simulated Space

The character in Dark Souls interacts well with the surrounding environment. The character cannot move through walls, enemies, NPCs, or other players. The player can however, pick up items (represented as a shining white orb in the game world), attack and be attacked by enemies, break clutter items such as crates and barrels, climb and slide down ladders, and various other tasks such as opening doors and cutting chains.

Polish

Dark Souls contains many polish effects

  • Upon hitting an enemy with a weapon, some blood is sprayed out around where the weapon hit.
  • Upon attacking after parrying or backstabbing an enemy, a large amount of blood is sprayed out as a particle effect from the impact point.
  • Arrows shot at an enemy stay in the enemy at the impact zone for a while.
  • In certain areas where there is snow or tar on the ground, the character leaves behind footprints.
  • There are several different categories of weapons, and each has its own unique animation for normal attacks, power attacks, backstabbing, and attacking after parrying, and the time the animation takes depends on the weapon. Weapons that are used to cast magic show different animations based on which spell is being cast. Each weapon type also has its own sounds for attacking.
  • Each weapon and armor in the game has a unique model.
  • There are three “armor classes” in the game. The character’s speed and roll type depends on his armor class. For example, if the character is playing as the heaviest class, his roll only moves him a very small distance from where he was, and the controller vibrates heavily when the character hits the ground.
  • While walking through the swamp, the player splashes water as his feet enter and exit the water.
  • If the player hits a wall or the floor with his weapon, some spark particle effects appear where the weapon collided. An audio effect is also played when this happens.
  • If attacked in the middle of an animation, the player’s animation is interrupted and plays a different animation based on what happened.

Conclusion

Dark Souls contains all of the major aspects of game feel. It has real time control, simulated space, and polish. While many of the animations, especially the longer ones, restrict most control for a period of time, the delay between actions helps to make the game flow better and feel more realistic.

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