Ben-DutkaTwo huge March games are now on store shelves and in many ways, they're polar opposites.
There's From Software's Dark Souls II , which is the epitome of a "hardcore" experience (even though that term is indeed subjective) and requires immense amounts of patience and skill.
Then there's Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall , which is fast-paced, next-gen shooter. I'm not saying it doesn't require skill, but it's hardly in the same difficulty or overall depth sphere as DSII.
Then again, Titanfall is the one everyone has been waiting for, correct? It's the title that would define "next-gen," according to all the hype. Well, do the review scores reflect that revolution? With a current average Metascore of 87 , it's hard to say. That's a very warm reception, though, no matter how you look at it. Compare that to DSII, which has a Metascore of 90 . It's interesting to note that the average User Review score for DSII is 8.8, and it's 6.1 for Titanfall .
Does this mean Dark Souls II is automatically the better game? Of course not. But did you expect From Software's production to outscore the massively hyped Titanfall ? I sure didn't.
Related Game(s): Dark Souls II , Titanfall
I can't say I expected it to top it but I knew based on what I knew about Titanfall that it just wasn't a 9+ game.
Have you played Titanfall yet, Ben? I don't think it makes much sense to render an opinion about skill in a just released competitive shooter with an entirely different play style than any game that came before it.
Having played both the original Dark Souls and Titanfall, I'd say Dark Souls II will almost certainly require more patience, and both will require skill to really get the most out of them. A lot of people found Mirror's Edge hard to play because first person parkour takes some patience and skill to master, which it does.
Doing that while 12 foot tall mechanical monsters try to blow you up is even harder. Managing to kill them before they kill you most certainly takes skill.
Titanfall is a game for the masses and while I'm getting it for PC I don't for a second expect much depth to the gameplay. You don't have to have played either game to make a logical conclusion about the both of them based on all the information that's out there.
It's not the most complex shooter ever, there are tactical shooters with more depth/options, but it is very different and mastering the mechanics is going to take more skill than most shooters. With CoD or Halo, knowing the maps is most of the battle, grinding out for better gear is the rest. There's a lot more to Titanfall than that.
I didn't "render an opinion," now did I? In fact, I specifically said, "I'm not saying it doesn't require skill."
But no, I don't need to play it to know that Dark Souls II is harder. Not that that makes any difference, as that isn't the point of the article in the first place.
But how do we define "hard"? By number of deaths? If so I am pretty sure Titanfall will win that count easily. 🙂
No, I assume "hard" is defined by how hard it is.
Seriously, DSII is gonna be way harder to play. There's nothing difficult about running, shooting, and respawning after death.
Human interaction is always harder than AI. Just sayin'
Especially in Demon/Dark Souls, Killa!
Those games are way cheaper than any human could ever be, both literally and figurative heartless they are.
They're still humans!
Killa is of course right. To play against humans are per definition much harder than against a game AI. Much less predictable, less forgiving, no scripts, much more advanced.
But again, it depends on how we measure "hard". Is it the amount of key combos one have to learn? Number of attempts to reach a goal? Amount of time spent before the game is mastered? Etc.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/13/2014 1:21:09 PM
Beam, none of those questions are relevant. Each person has a different natural skill set. It's still subjective if you try to measure it that way.
I wonder how much of those user reviews are trolling. I find it hard to believe that Titanfall would score so low since those that buy it know exactly what they're getting.
User reviews on Metacritic are always a joke, at least for the first few days, for exactly that reason.
That's just one reason why I don't put much stock in Metacritic reviews. Anybody is free to give whatever ratings they want without any recourse or having to give reasons why they scored a game the way they did. Titanfall is a much better game then the user scores are giving it. Props to Dark Souls 2 as well as it's a great game in it's own right, with what little I have played as I'm buying the PC version of that next month. But trying to compare scores for a RPG vs a FPS is kinda meaningless as you can't compare any real features or gameplay, since they don't really share any.
"User reviews on Metacritic are always a joke"
For the most part, they're usually a joke everywhere, all the time.
Except here, Ben! But that's because people have to actually put effort into it.
I totally think those user reviews are trolling. I mean all over each titanfall article on other websites its people just wanting to hate on it for because its not multiplatform.
User reviews are not even worth the bandwidth it occupies while getting to your screen.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/13/2014 2:25:27 AM
After check the beta of Titanfall imo it deserves a 75 at best, at least I'm happy it didn't get 90 like I fear, this it's a good sign next gen may not be ruled by MP shooters.
Well DS II has a huge cult following from the first game and I am glad it is scoring well, so it can garner more interest from people who rely on reviews. Personally the first DS tried my patience but still a solid game.
I hadn't really thought to compare the two, but now that I've thought about it, it doesn't surprise me. Not like I expected Titanfall to score poorly or anything, but I expected a lot out of DSII.
I also figured if Titanfall wasn't different enough it wouldn't score super high because a lot of reviewers expect you to rewrite a genre with every game.
Titanfall also has the pressure of being critiqued as a next (now) generation game while Dark Souls does not. I am, however, surprised at the rabid following of Dark Souls by our Xbox brethren.
maybe thats because DS2 has higher reviews?
eh, might have a smidgen to do with it……..
not to mention only people who are going to review DS2 are people who love the series, its notorious for what it is.
titanfalls totally different, not to mention shooters, well, there like beer everyone has to like them.
if you dont than theres something seriously wrong with you, well thats what they will say.
That 3 point difference isn't really that significant. Titanfall is a lot of fun. Playing it on PC. Most reviews of Titanfall are extremely high. DS2 is also a lot of fun, just a little more time consuming.
Last edited by DIsmael85 on 3/13/2014 7:16:28 AM
i kinda did cos there's a more widely expected acceptance of DSII vs TITANFALL which is and was hyped up alot but i don't think it has been as widely expected as u might think.
happy gaming =)
In my area, 4 out of 5 on the midnight release were there for Dark Souls 2. Made me happy… and not for Sony, but the Souls franchise.
More for PS3 or Xbox 360?
It looks like it's big on PS3, from what I saw.
kinda funny seeing all these titanfall people saying how its tougher than dark souls 2. Because aiming at mechs, with a rocket launcher, is sooo hard. If you miss a giant target, play something else. Dark souls 2 is the epitome of difficulty. No auto aim, or aim assist. No mini map or way points. You want a game that gives you a hard time? Play dark souls 2. If you wanna run around killing other people, with guns, which you die by, and then respawn to kill more people with guns, which then you die again to continue killing for hours at a time then have fun.
Dark Souls 2 deserves the high praise its getting and Titanfall is getting a little higher praise than its really worth. The moronic AI via the cloud is just awful. Nothing better than killing dumb ai in a shooting game to raise my kill to death ratio. That makes the man the k/d and not overcoming something that takes skill or patience. Titanfall is absolutely 100% call of duty with mechs, and its fanbase proves it. Not long till the 12 year olds move in, unless they're the ones defending it now.
Going to work, then playing a real game with something unique and intriguing, and no its not shooting people with guns and dying by guns. Its Dark Souls 2, a game where death is a major factor where its something to overcome and not to respawn after angry about your k/d.
Titanfall is now 86 on metacritic.
Hahaha.
How this score is a bad thing is beyond me. :/
86 isn't bad at all. It just isn't the second coming people were making it out to be.