Dark Souls: the Sunless City play and updated review | Review copy provided

Mike plays through the most recent core set for Dark Souls, and gives his thoughts on all the changes in the newest ruleset.
The weird audio MOSTLY stops about 10 minutes in. Sorry about that!
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Patreon - / onestop
Podcast - / onestopcoopshop
Discord - / discord
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0:00 - Introduction
0:45 - Overview and Set-Up
6:30 - Encounter 1
18:33 - Encounter 2
28:33 - Encounter 3
36:13 - Back to the bonfire
40:43 - Repeating encounters
49:26 - Encounter 4
53:09 - Bonfire again and final thoughts
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"Music from Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsound.com)"

[@OneStopCoopShop]

COMPONENTS - As mentioned, I do not like the change from cubes to cardboard tokens in tight cardboard slots at all. Other than that, the tiles and minis and cards are all fine. *The weird audio MOSTLY stops about 10 minutes in. Sorry about that!* 0:00 - Introduction 0:45 - Overview and Set-Up 6:30 - Encounter 1 18:33 - Encounter 2 28:33 - Encounter 3 36:13 - Back to the bonfire 40:43 - Repeating encounters 49:26 - Encounter 4 53:09 - Bonfire again and final thoughts

[@Silverlion_90]

I like this core set and the campaign makes it a bit less grindy and the new rules seem to help the players. But those character boards are so bad... why they removed the cubes 🙄. I guess if I buy this I would have to order custom cubes at least for the health and stamina. The stats are fine since we don't change them all the time. I was trying to see if I could buy the original board game and then apply the new rules but I guess I would need to print and play all the new encounter cards, etc...

[@bedsidetabletop]

May I suggest something Mike? I feel the transitions are a little too visually busy, hard cuts would make it easier to tell what's going on especially during the faster parts where you're switching between dice rolling and the board. It also cuts off some of the action because of how long the cross fades are, sometimes we only get to see the tail end of it and it's obscured partially by the next clip in your timeline. You put in good work making these videos, just would like to add my two cents!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Huh… I’ll watch the footage when I’m editing my next video and see how I feel about the difference. Thanks for the suggestion in either case!

[@LEGO.1]

Not a huge point here, but cardinal directions are N-E-S-W. NE-SE-SW-NW are the inter-cardinal, or ordinal, directions.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Thanks for that!

[@LEGO.1]

@@OneStopCoopShop Thanks for the video. It was a great review, and a fun playthrough to watch. I've got it saved off for later viewing (and I'll probably use it to entice new players into the fold when we try to boost player count in our play group).

[@mysticmouse7983]

Dark Souls was our lockdown game. Good times. Still love some DS gaming. I do prefer the revised editions. Does seem easier tho. Agree with your conclusions.

[@notorious.scoundrel]

I actually liked the original release, they could've just erratad a lot of these rules instead of giving us cheap character boards that look this bad. Not a fan of the cards either, since there is a card game, but im mostly disappointed that they took away the health and stamina cubes

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Yeah, it's a pretty odd components choice...

[@mathog11]

What is the dice tower used in the video?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

It's the Chip Theory one you can get from their online store.

[@tiredguy2753]

I am wondering wil you be giving the elden ring board game a try?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

If they send it to me, sure. I didn’t pledge it myself

[@tiredguy2753]

@@OneStopCoopShop it is an interesting take or almost “evolution” on the dark souls board game , no dice is a pretty big one . If you do play it I would love to hear your thoughts on Elden ring board game vs dark souls .

[@jcapo5]

Had the original. The thing i wanted fixed was the stamina/health system. I just don't like it or agree with it. I like most of the other parts of the game and the boss battles are fun. They should have either made dark souls a Boss battles or like cmons bloodborne

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Yeah, the core mechanics didn't change, so this still wouldn't work for you.

[@jcapo5]

@@OneStopCoopShop well the good news is that some of the mechanics that I loved got evolved and used in bardsung and monster hunter. And I love those

[@ErrorEmpirE]

@jcapo5 Interesting, the health/stamina is one of my favorite parts - and best actual adaptation of the video game to the table. I like how it’s evolved here though, where you can be full but still alive - and recovering more stamina at the start. Opens it up to give you more freedom, but still keeps that tension balanced with exertion and damage. What particularly grinds you about the system? Out of curiosity.

[@loktar00]

Appreciate the playthrough! Was curious about this, looks like I'm going to be sticking with Bloodborne for my solo souls-like.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I think I still prefer bloodborne, though I do need to houserule some things in that game to enjoy it (mainly the pacing of respawns at the end)

[@ErrorEmpirE]

@@OneStopCoopShophow so? I ask bc I did come up with a way to manipulate the hint track, while still keeping risk/reward pressure… curious about your sticking points.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

It’s been a while since I played. I think I cut the last respawn node effect or whatever it’s called. So you have 3 or 4 rounds to kill the final boss instead of having to do it in 1-2 before he fully heals anyway

[@RobOngrui]

Dark Souls is not about grinding and I'm still not sure how the designers missed that fact.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

While I mostly agree with you, I’ve certainly found areas where I could farm souls in every game ;)

[@astronomicafilms]

Dark Souls annoys me. I want so badly for it to be a good game, because I love the whole Dying Earth/Book of the New Sun/Berserk vibe, but sheesh, it lets me down every time.

[@kevinfitzgerald9319]

I came across Dark Souls when I was very new to the hobby and it was a huge investment for me at the time. It was so bad that I almost got out of the hobby forever. They didn’t even try on that first design.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I still think the boss combat was pretty great for the time, even in its first iteration. But yeah, the rest of the game was quite rough!

[@westyoungfolks]

40-21?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

That’s scheduled for tomorrow! 😅

[@DrMcFly28]

19

[@OneStopCoopShop]

42

[@davidko9289]

The repetition and repetitiveness doesn't seem fun solo, and even worse with more.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Despite the balance changes, I still prefer it at 1-2.

[@corrado8955]

Oh the irony 😂

[@matthelion]

Seems terrible

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Better than it was! But still not a top game for me personally