Games You Should Play, Day #3: Dark Souls

After blogger is done being dumb and not posting things when I want it to (like, say all of last night?), I think its time to resume Games You Should Play Week with a little old game called Dark Souls!  What is Dark Souls you ask?  It sounds scary.  And it sounds kind of like if I play it, my soul will be ripped from my interplanar being and shoved into the game until I can manage to conquer all of its levels.

Not quite that bad.

Close though.

Let me start this off by saying that Dark Souls is extremely difficult.  This isn't your grandmother's RPG; this is the hardcore mode of RPG games.  The game is actually so hard that the developers were forced to market the game to only the hardcore crowd by giving it the slogan "Prepare to Die".  Yep.  If that doesn't scream hardcore I'M GOING TO EFFING MURDER YOUR WHOLE FAMILY BEFORE YOU BEAT THIS GAME, then I don't know what does.

I'm kidding, Dark Souls' difficulty was quite a bit more overhyped than I care to recall.  Now, that's not to say that it doesn't have its moments: having to face off against a hydra that is at least 5 stories taller than you are is mildly intimidating after you've died to it 20 times.  I won't deny that its a very difficult game to start with, as you aren't given options in order to complete the first few sections.  Essentially, you're given the options of farm experience until you can cheat your way out of the first few areas, or just keep dying until you've figured out this next section.  Which brings me to my first favorite (and least favorite) thing about Dark Souls: dying!

Hip! Hip!

...Hooray?

Dying is an integral part of Dark Souls, as its one of the most major mechanics this game has over any other: when you die, you start back at the last bonfire (checkpoint) you've lit, and the bonfires are quite sparse to start with.  The good news is that no matter where you end up after death, you can always go back to where you died next time, and pick up your "soul", which is all the experience you didn't spend before you died.  So you can stack experience in these near death experiences.  Oh, and one more thing.  You actually get to keep whatever you find even if you die 2 seconds later.

Now, the annoying part is the beginning of the game, where you don't get a lot of options in order to progress.  Essentially, you're pigeonholed into moving through several different obstacles in a very specific way in order to progress in the early stages of Dark Souls; and if you accidentally slip up and make one or two mistakes?

"Awww, I missed catching the firebomb in mid-air to bounce it off of the skeletons head to unlock the door!"

TOO BAD, DICKFACE.  START OVER.

Now, when I say that dying is my favorite and least favorite thing about Dark Souls, I should probably explain.  Dying a whole bunch in a video game is usually one of the easiest ways to start hating a game; and, sure enough, when games like Dark Souls decide to start you off with leather armor to protect against a FUCKING DRAGON, then it's a pretty solid bet that any gamer will hate this game right off the bat.  I mean, who wants to die again and again and again in a video game?  Isn't the whole point of video games progressing through the game at a determined pace in order to experience the game with mild frustration, while still managing to capture the audiences attention?

Well, normally.  But this is Dark Souls.  And we don't follow the rules in Dark Souls.  Y'see, the great thing about this game is that it is only a commitment if you make it one.  Anyone could pick this game up and immediately put it down; but every determined gamer out there saw that challenge posted up on this game like a huge red flag saying "I'm the one that'll get away".  And they took the challenge.  Why?  I'll give you a hint, it's not because they're insane.

I'm pretty sure that's reason number two, though.

It's because the game is specifically designed to support dying.  It's one of the weirdest mechanics I've ever seen in a game, but it actually works.  Every time I died, after the first few, I simply said, "Well, I guess that trick doesn't work.  But I did see something new, so perhaps..." and proceeded to try new things to beat certain parts.  Not only do you get progressively better as the game goes on, but one starts to actually develop strategies to overcome certain parts, so much so that muscle memory actually cuts in more often than not when playing through areas that you've already faced down.  It got to the point where, when I was backtracking through one of the first areas after I had slaughtered most of the bosses, I realized that I *could* take shortcuts back to town.  However, I didn't, instead acting on complete instinct to get my ass back to safety.

It's an odd way to play the game, but it makes you really appreciate it a lot more.  Honestly, sometimes in games, I feel like I breeze through some areas like the water levels and the ice levels without actually taking in the scenery.  And that was one thing that was constantly around Dark Souls, amazing scenery.  One of the best things about this game is if you're really, really mad at it and don't want to play anymore, you can simply look out over that bridge that you're on and see the mountains and hillsides and the town below.  And suddenly, you're ready to face on the next challenge.  I freaking love the people who made this game, because the pacing might seem like the worst thing in the world to start with, but as long as you just stick with it, the game becomes just that much better.

If you havin' soul problems I feel bad for you son, I've got 99 problems but death ain't one.

YOU DIED

Now, aside from pacing, what makes this game really stand out, and, more importantly, why should I play Dark Souls?  Well, aside from the aforementioned reason, Dark Souls is already a fantastic RPG.  It's a real-time dark fantasy RPG with stab-and-block mechanics, which doesn't shy away from trying some truly awesome things.  Like, say, having a seamless world, without a single screen's worth of loading times.   Or perhaps the massive boss battles will pique your interest?  Or maybe its the fact that every single piece of armor is shown on your character?

It's really the little things that make Dark Souls pop to me.  I could go on and on about how the soundtrack is beautiful and about that one boss battle (it's funny, because anyone who's played Dark Souls knows exactly which one I'm talking about), but really there's no need to.  It's the small things about this game that just made it for me.  Honestly, it was love at first sight.  And, considering the first sight was a massive belly-demon with a huge hammer and flame-breath, I was pretty much in it for the long haul.

The last thing I want to talk about is the fact that this game has atmosphere, something that a lot of games just don't have these days.  I've played a lot of games that either A) have a paper-thin world with not a lot of lore or backstory behind it, or B) rely on the world already around us to tell the story.  That's all well and good, nothing against games like that, but Dark Souls just feels like a distant realm somewhere out there that might as well have existed.  The fact that undead are walking the earth in this world and there isn't a single trace of mindless zombies should be enough to break away from the stereotypes of dark fantasy, but Dark Souls goes that extra mile by having its broken-hearted NPC's tell stories of how they became undead, and what each area of the game symbolizes, or what each area used to be, or contain, or just whatever.

"Did I ever tell you about the time that you died?"

It's like stepping onto a college campus for the first time after your parents are gone.  You know that in a matter of a few short days, you're going to be in the library trying to do homework while your friends go out and party.  But, for the moment, you can just explore, take in the scenery, go up to the top of D-Hall, find a few friends to sit and chat with...

OH SHIT PVP MATCH GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.

HAHAHAHAHA FUCK YOU, SACKMACK98.

Just kidding.  PVP is one of most important parts about Dark Souls, however, as it essentially describes the end game content/replayability.  Every so often, some guy is going to randomly spawn in your world, and is going to seek you out, and attempt to kill you.  It's your job to figure out a way to kill him before he manages to kill you.  That thrill is unlike any other PVP I've experienced beforehand, as it's like a massive game of medieval manhunt where there are only two players left and both of them are armed with Dragonbone Bows.

It's a lot of fun because you also have to deal with the enemies you're already facing, giving your opponent a hefty advantage over you (unless its a one-on-one, rules are rules duel).  It's a cool feeling to have that interaction with other players, as you can either be helped or hindered by these people.  One of the last experiments that I truly love the developers for trying is this sense of "people can help you or they can gut you".  It doesn't shoe-horn anyone into exclusively playing against people or with them, you are just constantly in a state of alarm when playing Dark Souls for fear that in five minutes, some dude is gonna come in with a Zweihander and ruin your shit.

And that brings me to my favorite feeling about this game: the constant adrenaline.  Pair off the fact that this game makes you die a lot with the fear that you're going to get killed at any given time (seriously, even while backtracking, in a shop, wherever), and it's safe to say that this game puts people on alarm for the 4 straight hours they'll be playing.  It's a crazy feeling, and one that I haven't felt since I played Super Meat Boy, except this time its different.  Dark Souls made me a humble observer, as it turned me into that safe-mode gamer who actually shies away from doing crazy things in it because, hey, this game respects me as a gamer, and I'm going to respect it back.

RESPECT.

*cries*

All-in-all, Dark Souls is a fantastic RPG, and considering the only DLC to come out for this game is coming out VEEEEEEERY soon, now's a good enough time to pick the game up!

~Cascadakatana

PS- I feel so bad for doing this, but I just can't bring myself to finish Mass Effect 3.  Would I be glad that I did?  Or disappointed?  I love the characters, but do I love them enough to finish this game?  Dilemmas...