@r_hjort

Play the original first. If you like it, the second on is worth getting cheap. (Although it's not nearly as good as the first IMO)

@Jargon

Man I don't remember. Exactly what is it you;re trying to do? I know you can customise shortcuts for abilities...

@Shadowlink
I don't have a platform to play it on, so that won't be happening anytime soon I'm afraid.

@Shadowlink

It would be nice to be able to look at the map on the Gamepad without having to pause and go into a menu.

@r_hjort
PC?

@Jargon

Yeah I don't think you can do that. At least not that I can remember. A bit annoying.

@Jargon

I'm playing the game right at this very moment, and yes, you can view the map on the GamePad without pausing.

I think the default view on the GamePad is the inventory screen where you can equip weapons, armor, etc. Just tap on the icon of Death's face in the upper left of the GamePad screen and the screen switches over to the map view. Also, if you tap down on the D-pad, the command screen pops up for using some of Death's special moves (the ones that use up Wrath), which can be toggled off by pressing down on the D-pad again. (This pop-up menu confuses me though: why does it show the four face buttons in the center: A, B, X, Y? Can you assign shortcuts here or something?)

Hey, we're not Wii U friends?

@roykoopa64

Nice, thanks!

Yea, I'm confused by that D-pad thing too.

My Wii U ID is Hendrik. Send me a friend request!

So hopefully you at least knew the the D-Pad menu on the GamePad allowed you to touch the icons for Death's special moves so you can use them in battle.

However, this is not the ideal way to pull them off during a heated battle, and sure enough, there is a better way to use them, and it has to do with the face button icons on the D-Pad menu that I was finding so confusing!

After much online searching, I found this post at gamespot. I kept trying to drag the special move icons onto the the letters 'X' or 'A' or 'B,' etc., but you have to drag the icon onto the little black spaces near the letters, not on the letters themselves!

Mind you, the game's instruction manual does a terrible job of explaining any of this stuff; hence, a lot of players don't figure it out.

@roykoopa64

That's good to know. Luckily the combat isn't that hard (at least not on Normal), but it was quite awkward trying to get that menu up and then press the button in the middle of a fight. Tomorrow I'll see how this stuff works.

@Shadowlink
I technically have a PC, but it's not fit for gaming. Not fit for much of anything, to be honest. The most taxing stuff I use the thing for is Photoshop/Painter.

Once I got over the fact this game's frame rate gets kind of bad and the graphics aren't the best I've seen on Wii U, I'm finding the core gameplay very impressive, to say the least. The GamePad is really nice (once you figure out how to navigate everything) too!

Right now I'm making my way through the Foundry, where you get help from Karn. It's cool how he throws Death around to different places and also holds the massive doors on his shoulders so Death can pass. Just picked up the Deathgrip ability, letting me grab far away objects and such. Very nice! And this dungeon seems massive! I just found the first Heartstone Piece and still need two more...

I fought the Guardian. What an awesome battle fighting the giant across the open field. It took me a while to figure out what to do once the large, dangerous sphere started rolling around, but I got it. This was the first time in the game I started to get Game Overs! I was thinking this battle was going to last longer, but alas, he didn't quite have the number of phase transformations I had expected.

So now I'm in the Kingdom of the Dead. Hmm, I got stuck in the first dungeon, the Breach. There's one part early on where you need to put a bomb on a switch then shoot it from a distance to lower a bridge, but I can't seem to find a spot where I can shoot at it. I'll figure it out.

Also, I decided to try and face the Deposed King. Bad idea! Seems I am severely underpowered to do much damage to him, so I suppose I will come back when I am a bit stronger.

I have to say, I love the music in this game. it's a mix of atmosphere and catchy beats. It's not what I expected at all, considering the main character is Death.

And I love the voice acting...

@roykoopa64

The voice acting in this game is second to none. Everything in that department is perfect!

@roykoopa64

I'm just a bit ahead of you. Prepare yourself for a realllly long dungeon (City of the Dead) coming up.

@roykoopa64

I thought I'd try and tame the Deposed King at first meet, too. Haha. Very bad idea!! I'm stuck in the game now, but if I ever get unstuck (due to a battle sequence, not a puzzle), I hope to try my scythes at him again. After leveling up considerably, of course!

Just beat the game. Definitely didn't hit the highs of the original, but a solid experience all the way through (although the ending was pretty underwhelming)

How do you access the DLC stuff in the Wii U version anyway? Not gonna take it on right now, but I may in the future.

@Jargon

I think there's a menu option when you start the game or something. It's just another dungeon really. Nothing major.

Finished the main campaign after 26 hours!

I never played the first Darksiders, and I was very impressed with this game pretty much every minute.

There is one notable exception to my enjoyment though: it's the one dungeon that plays very differently from any of the others in the game. I'm talking about Earth! You're kind of forced to play the stage as a third person dual analog shooter, which feels completely out of place in the game. On top of that, you have swarms of enemies spawning constantly, giving you very little chance to take even a quick look around your environments. I was very happy when that was over.

And yeah, @Jargon, the ending was a bit underwhelming. I don't understand the significance of Death taking off his mask before plunging into the Well of Souls, though I guess it means he's making the greatest sacrifice just for his brother?

Oh, I love the battle cinematics that take place at certain points like during a boss fight. Man, the way Death took care of that last boss was very cool indeed, very acrobatic. I love seeing his 'reaper' transformation throughout the game.

Music was fantastic.

Loved the use of the GamePad.

The main attraction for me were the dungeons. I thought they were well designed, and just like in Zelda, it was always fun to get new abilities and then put them to use. I also got very much into the weapon and item customization.

One bad part about the game is it froze on me, maybe three times total. Looking through the Miivere posts, this is a widespread problem among many players. Fortunately this was never a problem that prevented me from finishing the game (plus the game auto-saves constantly), but I did have to pull the plug on my Wii U to shut it down, and that's never a good thing.

I also don't like you can't post screenshots on Miiverse. Very weird.

Oh, and the framerate isn't that great.

But the core game itself, like I said, is fantastic.

@NoName

I hope you are able to overcome that obstacle so you are able to proceed with this fine game. Let me know if there is something in particular you're having trouble with!

This game is on sale for $9.99 on the eShop. I suppose it's worth it at that price?

@anon_mastermind

I'd say so, yes.

I've been thinking of getting it as well since I've heard comparisons to Zelda, but those freeze issues sure do sound annoying...