Summary of "Dark Souls Except It's Halo"
Dark Souls Except It’s Halo
Storyline / Project Background
The creator set out to build a custom Dark Souls mod featuring maps inspired by Halo, starting with importing the iconic Blood Gulch map. Initial attempts were rough, facing technical challenges with model imports and shaders. After learning C# and improving tools, the modder successfully imported detailed maps and added enemies, bosses, and functional game elements like bonfires.
The project evolved into a full rework of the Dark Souls PvP arena “Battle of Stoicism,” aiming to improve map design, gameplay flow, and balance. It culminated in “Arena Plus,” a large-scale multiplayer arena with new game modes inspired by Halo, including team deathmatch and capture the flag (with lizards as flags).
Gameplay Highlights & Features
Maps
- Imported four new maps from Halo into Dark Souls, significantly improving the bland original Battle of Stoicism maps.
Power-ups
Introduced various power-ups to incentivize map movement and create dynamic gameplay:
- Rage: Increased damage dealt but also damage taken.
- Invisibility: Harder to see and lock-on.
- Mega Agility: Lighter equip load, no fall damage, ninja flips.
- Super Speed: 10x faster movement, placed in hard-to-reach spots.
- Special Ammo: Unique arrows/bolts usable only in the arena.
PvP Improvements
- Backstabs are no longer instant; they require specific attacks and are victim-side, making them harder and more skill-based.
- Guard breaks can now be reposted, improving their usefulness.
- Added ability to aim crossbows like bows.
- Time blocking introduced to discourage shield camping.
- Damage penalties applied for casting in heavy armor.
- Buffed weapon blocking and kicking.
- Heavy weapons gained limited hyper armor on heavy attacks.
- Removed dexterity-based casting speed bonuses; replaced with rings and catalyst-specific speeds.
- Removed covenant restrictions on many spells.
- Multiplayer restrictions removed on nearly all areas, allowing co-op and invasions anywhere.
- Adjusted fog gates for more open multiplayer flow.
Weapons
- Tweaked nearly every weapon with subtle frame data and attack rating improvements.
- Major reworks include:
- Fist weapons: faster, stronger, and allow fainting attacks.
- Whips: faster and bypass shields.
- Pickaxe: powerful, short-range strength weapon with vaporizing counter hits.
- Crescent Axe, Golem Axe, Butcher’s Knife, and Wooden Hammer received unique movesets and buffs.
- Ranged weapons improved with faster draw/reload, faster projectile speed, and higher damage.
Magic
- Removed redundant spells and reworked sorceries to be unique and viable.
- New spells introduced:
- Soulrey: Fast, piercing beam.
- Heavy Soul Ray: Barrage attack.
- Deflection: Projectile reflect bubble.
- Conversion: Health to stamina buff.
- Catalyst weapon arts added.
- Capstone sorceries like Crystal Storm and Soul Roots (high risk/high reward buff).
- Dark magic balanced with physical scaling and reasonable damage.
Miracles
- Buffed and adjusted many miracles.
- Added custom miracles such as Gravelord Sword Strike and Sacred Oath (AOE buff).
- Talismans gained new weapon arts.
Pyromancy
- Added Immolation spell (lava vomit) with scaling damage.
- Buffed existing pyromancies for better usability.
- Chaos Storm now uses more slots but is devastating.
Rings & Armor
- Nerfed the “big three” rings (Ring of Favor, Havel’s, and Dog Ring) to reduce mandatory use.
- Balanced other rings with buffs or tweaks (e.g., Blue Tear Stone activates earlier, Chloranthy increases stamina max and regen).
- Armor weight and poise rebalanced using a custom tool (“param remix”):
- Poise values compressed to a median range.
- Heavy armor is much heavier but with better defense.
- Light armor is lighter but with lower poise.
- Fat rolling is now a viable playstyle.
Miscellaneous
- Restored some cut content.
- Buffed pure shield and increased Pinwheel’s health.
- Removed multiplayer restrictions on areas and boss fights.
- Adjusted fog gates for more open multiplayer access.
Arena Plus & Multiplayer Overhaul
Using Metal Crow’s player limit extension, the mod created an 18-player arena featuring:
- Team Deathmatch: First to 30 kills.
- Capture the Lizard: Capture the flag variant with lizards as flags.
The creator developed complex matchmaking, scripting, and arena management systems from scratch. Despite complexity and bugs, the mod runs smoothly and offers a fresh multiplayer experience.
Key Tips & Strategies
- Backstabs require timing and specific weapon use (daggers or kicks); rely more on parrying and skill.
- Use power-ups strategically to control map flow and gain advantages.
- Experiment with reworked weapons and spells to find new viable builds.
- Heavy armor and fat rolling are now more competitive options due to poise and backstab changes.
- Use new magic spells and catalyst weapon arts to surprise opponents.
- Multiplayer is unrestricted, so be ready for co-op and invasions anywhere.
Final Notes
- The mod is for Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition only (not the remaster).
- Runs on a separate game version to avoid bans or conflicts with vanilla players.
- Download link available in the video description.
- Additional detailed videos and livestreams available on the creator’s second channel.
Credits / Contributors
- Drop Off: Help with custom maps and initial guidance.
- Meow Meridius: Developed many essential modding tools.
- Catalash: Creator of DSMap Studio.
- Metal Crow: Provided DS Overhaul add-on and player limit extension.
- TKGP: Souls format API.
- HotPocketRemix: ScriptD compiler.
- George: Provided advice.
- Beta Testers: Dwiz, Nosa, Day (extensive multiplayer testing).
This video showcases an ambitious and highly technical mod that merges Dark Souls with Halo-inspired maps and gameplay elements, overhauling PvP balance, magic, weapons, and multiplayer functionality to create a fresh, chaotic, and fun experience.
Category
Gaming
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