Dark Souls Version 1.0

So I got talking to a friend about the original Dark Souls that a lot of people didn't play since patch 1.05 hit so fast after launch (only about a month later I believe). Sadly I only played the patched version very late, but I thought it fun to showcase just WHAT they changed compared to the original version that so very few have played.

If you can get your hands on an unpatched copy, I'd say try it. It is a really unique experience. I made a few things bold which were very important changes. In short Version 1.0 was brutal, giving you nearly 250% less Souls per enemy, lots of enemies not dropping Souls at all, only two purging stones available and couldn't be bought etc. It was a mess man.

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• fixed online summoning issues introduced by 1.04.
  
• relaxed the conditions towards invading other players.
  
• readjusted the parameters of the Elite Knight Armor set.
  
• enemy placement adjusted
  
  
  
  • the two soldiers guarding the tower overlooking the Taurus Demon fight are both situated to the right of the ladder
    
  • the initial location of Shiva of the Easts Bodyguard is inland from his previous cliff edge start point in the Darkroot Garden
    
  • a Minor Capra Demon is moved from the area of the second bonfire in Demon ruins, to a corpse drop before Demon firesage (he is visible from the bonfire)
    
  
  
  

Magic Changes

• Pyro Glove nerfed from 270 to 230
  
• You can see resonance signs now
  
• Vow of Silence range increased
  
• Sorcery spell damage as a whole was slightly buffed, but Homing Soul Mass and other pursuit style spells were nerfed
  
• Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds
  
• Strong Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds. Invincibility removed. Effect on Stamina drastically reduced
  
• Tranquil Walk of Peace and other Slow duration reduced to ~10 secs. Effect supposedly changed from 100% encumberance to 50%. Rolling possible if your equip burden is lowered. Slowness is similar to swamp effect
  
• Iron Flesh effectiveness nerfed
  
• Invisible Body duration remains unchanged
  

Status Changes

• Base Equipment Burden increased (~6-10 points)
  
• Humanity Item drop rate increased from 10 to 210
  
• Medium roll recovery faster
  
• Defensive bonuses gained via Humanity reduced. Other defensive bonuses remain unchanged
  
• Item discovery gained via Humanity improved. Capped at 20
  

Equipment General Changes

• Reported some weapon scaling gets improved at higher normal upgrades (+15 uchi dex scaling goes to A; same goes for scimitar)
  
• Some scaling reported as changing from A to S with higher upgrades
  

Upgrade Changes

• Normal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +14).
  
• Crystal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +4).
  
• Lightning +4 nerfed by 2% (+5 remains unchanged)
  
• Raw scaling buffed by 10% (all levels)
  
• Magic stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9)
  
• Enchanted stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4)
  
• Divine stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9)
  
• Occult stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4)
  
• Fire +9 nerfed by 2%. (+10 remains unchanged)
  
• Dragon stat scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +5)
  

Specific Gear Changes

• Grant scaling changed to Strength:B and Faith:A
  
• Gold-hemmed nerfed, still can't be upgraded
  
• Dusk skirt nerfed hard (streamlined to match the other pieces)
  
• Silver Knights, Sun, Hollow Soldier's Shield and other medium shield stability nerfed to ~70 at max upgrades to improve Great Shield viability
  
• Crystal Ring Shield scaling drastically nerfed. Does around ~200 +-50
  
• Dragon Greatsword buffed from 360 to 390
  
• Silver Knight's Sword lightning effect removed. Now enchantable
  
• Elite Knight gear nerfed, then buffed slightly in 1.05
  
• Hunter's starting armor nerfed
  

Combat Changes

• Lock-on acquisition range increased
  
• Lock-on changing/switching got easier (more responsive).
  
• Ring of Fog users can now be locked on.
  

PvE Changes

• Overall increase in souls gained (~2-2.5 times more)
  
• Damage reduced on some mobs
  
• HP lowered on some mobs
  
• Reduced acquisition range on normal enemies.
  
• Reduced poise on some enemies.
  
• Distance at which enemies are aggro has been reduced
  
• Bosses drop Humanity and Homeward Bones
  
• Ghosts, Skeletons, Mosquitos, and Slimes give souls now
  
• Twinkling Titanite drop rate improved
  
• Pyromancers in Catacombs drop Skull Lanterns
  
• Darkwraiths in New Londo drop Dark Hand
  

Online Changes

• You can see resonance signs (unsuccessful on PS3)
  
• Some invasion restrictions possibly changed? Darkwraith upperlimit confirmed as unchanged
  
• 1.05: Summon restrictions improved slightly again
  
• Amount of souls the Master of the game gains changed
  
• Cracked Eye Orbs no longer get consumed on failure. Confirmed
  
• You can hit Select to rate messages.
  
• 1.05: Fixed 1.04 bug where summon signs were invisible.
  

Covenant Changes

• Covenant Material drop rate improved (including dragon scale).
  
• Lowered requirements for Sunbro covenenant (requirements moved from 50 to 25. 3/4 assists should do the trick)
  

Merchant stock updates

• Male Undead Merchant: Also sells bottomless box
  
• Female Undead Merchant: Sells Arrows / bolts
  
• Andrei: Sells Arrows / bolts
  
• Domnhall of Xena: Sells Arrows / bolts, Master Key (5000)
  
• Giant Blacksmith: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts, Small Titanite Shards, Large Titanite Shards, Twinkling Titanite (8000 per, inf amount), Green Shards, Repair box, weapon smithbox
  
• Vamos: Arrows / bolts, Titanite Shards, Large Titanite Shards, repair box / weapon smithbox
  
• Ingward: Sells Transient Curses (there used to only be 3 in the whole game)
  
  

Fixes

• Fixed some freeze issues
  
• Lvl up screen displays souls needed properly now
  
• Dragon-head glitch, snuggly, and magic shield glitches fixed
  
• Fixed a bug where your inputs come out 1 second later
  
• Fixed a bug where the second solaire event wont progress
  
• Fixed a bug where feeding frampt a titanite stone then going over 99 resulted in having zero
  
• Fixed some specific map areas where you'd get stuck or be unable to progress
  
• Changed some english subtitles on the overseas port
  

It was a memorable patch. It nerfed a lot of things that were too powerful and fixed many glitches, but also nerfed enemies making the game easier. From Soft has always done that, they polish the game but make it also easier. I'm sure Bloodborne was much harder before the various patches. I can easily disconnect my consoles from the ethernet cable. I should be able to remove all the patches and see if my souls games were actually harder at launch.

I also know for sure that bosses in DkS2 were nerfed. Can you tell me something about Darks Souls 3 and BB? I remember sometimes bosses in BB had a glitch that made them loop the same move for the whole fight.

BB had a bug that made bosses loop only a move or two due to a memory leak issue if BB was running for hours on end, like say 5-7+ hours and the boss will only loop a move or two. That should have been caught in a QA soak test.

I actually encountered that bug without knowing it, in BB that is. A friend of mine was stuck on Rom for days, but I beat him first try taking zero damage - he didn't believe me. I recorded it and he was a bit surprised that there were no spiders and that Rom only spammed his explosion move. I thought he was a joke-boss haha.