Dark Souls PTDE was the initial version of Dark Souls that was released on PC and came with the Artorias of the Abyss DLC packaged with it. Despite all the technical issues that the PC port had, Dark Souls PTDE edition has a passionate group of players that had fun with the game regardless. A lively modding community and regularly organized events for the game kept it alive many years after the game’s release. However, that support was not reciprocated by FromSoftware or Bandai Namco. It has been further emphasized with the recent news that Dark Souls PTDE has been getting the short end of the stick.
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The Release of Dark Souls Remastered Destroyed Dark Souls PTDE
Years after Dark Souls PTDE was released, Dark Souls Remastered was released for multiple platforms. It was being marketed as the definitive way to play the game, with multiple quality-of-life improvements and graphical enhancements. As the years went by, it would become more and more apparent that FromSoftware and Bandai Namco did not want players to play the PTDE version of the game. From the start of Dark Souls Remastered’s release, Dark Souls PTDE became unavailable to purchase. Having games de-listed from platforms has no benefit for the player and makes them turn towards the other options available.
There was little reason for Dark Souls PTDE players to get an upgrade as well. For the people that owned Dark Souls PTDE, they were offered a discount for a limited time rather than a free upgrade. The price tag of Dark Souls Remastered, while not full price, was still too much for some people to warrant an upgrade. Players could not convert their characters over to the remastered version of the game due to the different versions being incompatible. With this in mind, people who played Dark Souls PTDE had no reason to ditch their characters and pay for a slightly better version of a game that they were already playing for years.
Dark Souls PTDE Being Taken Offline Kills Community Support
The Dark Souls series is deeply linked with its online functionality. While they are primarily single player games, the online connectivity creates a sense that the player is not alone. Along the player’s journey throughout Lordran, messages by other players are left on the ground. The messages in Dark Souls can range from helpful hints to trolling comments to little jokes about the environment. It gives some personality to an otherwise bleak and dark world. Without online connectivity, the only messages that appear in the world are the ones put there by the developers, acting as basic tutorials and other scarce instances.
Many more game mechanics, like covenants and invasions, are linked to online play. These aren’t just a tacked-on feature, but they have lore implications in the story and world of Dark Souls. Solaire’s grand speech about jolly cooperation in the game now has little meaning outside of summoning AI-controlled characters. No longer will the player hear the bell tolls of other players as they progress through the game either. Online functionality being removed from the game will make replaying Dark Souls PTDE feel more barren, like the player truly is alone. Much like the inhabitants of Lodran, the world of Dark Souls PTDE is going hollow.
The removal of online functionality was bound to happen eventually for Dark Souls PTDE. It makes sense why FromSoftware and Bandai Namco would want players to play Dark Souls Remastered instead, with it being the newer version of the game. However, there will always be a player base that prefers one version of the game over another. It is great news that the Dark Souls games are being brought back online after months of being offline, but it is unfortunate to see Dark Souls PTDE getting the short end of the stick once again.
Dark Souls Remastered is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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