Sorry to anyone reading about the slow level of posting over the last few weeks. Towards the end of the year I took a vacation, which means that I wasn't writing much but more importantly it means that I got to play a lot of different things that I can write more about into the future.
Which brings me to Dark Souls. Once I started my vacation on the 20th, I put some consistent time into Dark Souls until a few days before the New Year. As my vacation ended, Dark Souls got my exclusive gaming attention.
I actually got to a point where I was close to quitting the game. There are going to be spoilers in the rest of this post, so be warned if you care about that kind of thing. In Dark Souls, some people consider reading spoilers or guides to be not in the spirit of the game, which I tend to agree with for the most part. I did use the Internet to look up non-spoiler related issues. For example, I wanted to know if a weapon looked like when it was fully upgraded before I wasted crafting resources. I suppose some people might consider that "cheating", however, I put so much time into the game that I felt like it was just a smart way to not waste time grinding for souls/resources that are needed for crafting.
Anyway, I almost quit once I reached Blighttown. Once I got to a particular bonfire, which again are used to "save" the game and checkpoint your progress, I died repeatedly trying to make my way down some narrow pathways and ladders to the swamp. My character just wasn't strong enough. I was getting overwhelmed by enemies that were not difficult on their own even if they needed 4 or 5 hits to kill, but when 3 or 4 of them confront you on a narrow pathway there just wasn't enough space for me to operate and manage the enemies coming at me as opposed to either knocking them out with less hits or managing one at a time.
But as my title says, I beat the game. In fact, Blighttown is fairly early in the game. For anybody who is looking to play Dark Souls you have to realize a few things. The first is that sometimes you need to know when you are outmatched. If you aren't hurting enemies enough, or feel overwhelmed, or just frustrated you first need to stop playing the game for a while. Just take an hour to back away. Also, if you can manage to draw enemies out one at a time that's a huge help.
What I did in this particular situation, and a few other parts where I felt underpowered, was just back off and explore a different area. I tried to find more gear, maybe gain a level or two, and most importantly upgrade my armor and weapons to be more potent. So when I went back to Blighttown, I managed to kill the same enemies in 2 hits and had a bit more flexibility dealing with the problem of getting down to the swamps so I could fight the boss, Quelaag.
This was extremely important to deal with. By finishing that area, I managed to ring the bell "down below" and unlocked Sen's Fortress (a tricky area with guillotines) and Anor Londo, which may be the most important area in the game. Anor Londo has a couple very hard parts. One part features archers that attempt to knock you off of a very narrow ledge. I managed to get through that after dying about 5 times, which believe it or not is pretty good considering the difficulty of that particular sequence. Also, the bosses, Ornstein and Smough, were both difficult but certainly fun. Probably the best boss music in the game (there is a lot of good music). You have to fight them both at once, which makes it tricky, but like most bosses patience is key. Only attack or heal with Estus Flasks when you know you have the time to operate without being attacked in the open.
The reason Anor Londo is so important is that by winning a very large breasted princess named Gwynevere (I hope I spelled that right) gives you the Lordvessel, which essentially opens up the last major act of the game. It also allows you to warp between certain bonfires. Warping is extremely helpful both to farm souls/items and also proceeding in the game. Once I finished Anor Londo I was able to warp back to Firelink Shrine (the beginning of the main game) and...discovered the fire was out and the fire keeper was killed. Back in Anor Londo I had to use a stone to invade a world inhabited by her murderer, who I killed, allowing me to restore the Firelink bonfire.
From there, I actually did some backtracking. I went to Darkroot Forest/Basin and killed the wolf Sif (pretty cool looking boss), and the Hydra. I also went to the Catacombs and eventually managed to kill Pinwheel, which allowed me to kindle my bonfire more for extra Estus Flasks...another extremely useful tool.
The game then moves on to the final four souls you have to collect in order to face Lord Gwyn. You have to kill four bosses (plus a couple extra on the way) in the form of Gravelord Nito in the Tomb of the Giants (a completely dark area below the catacombs where you have to navigate with very limited visibility), The Bed of Chaos in Lost Izalith, Seath The Scaleless in the Crystal Cave (after navigating through the Duke's Archives where you have a forced death against Seath the first time you fight him), and finally the Four Kings in the Abyss (after navigating through New Londo Ruins). For me, none of these bosses were too tricky by the time I got to them. I think I benefited from not knowing where to go, because as a result I found more gear, leveled up more than I probably needed to be, and had a bit more room to operate.
There's also the DLC in Darkroot that I took on. This appears to be completely optional, but has three more bosses including Knight Artorias, which is one of the most interesting characters I found in the game.
The game ends in the Kiln Of The First Flame, where you take on Lord Gwyn after going through a few Black Knights. It took me a few tries, but I eventually beat Gwyn once I memorized his patterns. As a mostly melee character, I found him to be tricky. He is very quick and his attacks impact your stability in a major way, but if you are patient you can get through it.
While it may not appears to have it on the surface, Dark Souls has some significant story choices that lead to some major ambiguity as to what is good and evil. As I played the game, I thought I was taking the good path. Kingseeker Frampt told me at Firelink that I was the successor to Lord Gwyn. Sounds good, right? And some of these bosses look pretty evil, right? And that lady in Anor Londo with the big boobs can't be evil. Well...I'm not really sure. You have a choice in the end to sacrifice yourself for the fire and allow the age of the Gods to continue, or you can let the fire go out, let the world go dark, and let the age of Men begin. So what's right? Giving Gods who are dying a temporary lifeline? Or ushering in a new era for Men, but leaves the world in darkness? I don't really know. Perhaps these questions will be answered or at least these details may be elaborated in Dark Souls 2.
Now that I'm finished, I have to say that Dark Souls is one of the most personally rewarding experiences I have had in games. While the PC port is, frankly, broken, once I modded it I found it to be one of the richest explorations in any RPG. The fighting is tight and really forces you to learn the mechanics. The bosses are interesting and unique. The setting and presentation are top notch (aside from glitches...the actual art and lore I find fascinating). And of course it kept me busy so it's a great value.
But it's not for everybody. If you don't like to have to focus, or learn too much, or if the idea of repeating sections after dying is unappealing, you just won't like the game. I don't think that's a knock on the game. It does what it sets out to do.
Now I'll be moving on. I do have Demon Souls on Playstation Plus that I can play on my PS3, but I doubt I will play it. It's a much older game and with Dark Souls 2 coming out soon I can't see myself investing much mental energy in that. It's probably wiser to take a break from this kind of thing until the new game comes out.
That's all I have for now. For my next entry, I plan on discussing The Stanley Parable and how it compares to another interactive story, Gone Home. Thanks for reading.
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