It's been quite a while since I played Demon's Souls, and, let's not beat about the bush here, Dark Souls is almost identical to its 'spiritual predecessor', so it took a while to get back into that mentality. The whole "I need to move slowly and cautiously and keep an eye on my surroundings at all times because there are traps and if I- OH MY GOD DRAGON!" mindset took a little while to sink in at first. These games really do require their own specific approach, the same as any other game really, it's just that with Dark Souls, the approach you have to take is to be as attentive, careful, and patient as humanly possible.
So, yeah, it's a 'Souls' game through and through. The combat is slow and methodical, the lock-on system is shocking, death is inescapable, and you really do need to concentrate. A friend keeps on describing the game as 'oppressive', and I'd be inclined to agree, but just because that word isn't exactly glowing with positivity doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a criticism. I suppose it could certainly be taken as one, there are a lot of people out there who would say this game is just too much, too brutal and unforgiving, oppressive in the way that it saps their enjoyment and forces them into concentrating much more than they would want to while playing a video game. I, on the other hand, love that side of it. Yes it's brutal, yes it's unforgiving, yes it will give you that feeling of wanting to tear out your hair and go play Viva Piñata instead but, when you're really into it, there's nothing quite like it.
So, for me, the fact that the game is oppressive merely means it is incredibly engaging, it sucks you in, in a way few games can, it forces you to really get into it and immerse yourself as fully as possible if you want to succeed. It's as though the game itself is saying "Hey man you're gonna really play me ok? Don't go looking out the window, don't go making yourself a cup of coffee, don't think you can play this with one eye on your computer screen! Pause button? You don't get one! If you want to succeed at any part of this game, you are gonna have to pay attention!" Personally I really like that about this game. It's a kind of crude 'forced immersion' technique when you really look at it, but it works, and that's kind of all that matters.
So how am I doing so far? Well, Kaiden, my pyromancer, made it through the first tutorial area without so much as a scratch! And then proceeded to be impaled, slashed, and burned alive no less than fourteen times in the first area. Keeping a 'death count' for the purposes of this blog is a little depressing, but at least I'm a long way from triple digits for now. Currently I'm grinding the first area, which I've pretty much memorised at this point, levelling up, buying some better equipment and tools from the local merchant, and getting ready to try and storm through the next few areas, this is pretty much how I went about the first game. It probably won't go as smoothly as I'm hoping but I feel like I'm much more in the 'Demon's Souls' mindset than I was when I first started playing, which should help my progress. The idea of finishing this game by Sunday night seems impossible at the moment but I'll keep at it.
Kaiden is looking pretty snazzy at the moment with some new armour I found, and wielding a battle axe along with his fiery magic, I'll try not to lead him into too much peril. On a side note, when creating a character, you are given the option to select a 'Gift', an item to start the game with, now this can be one of any number of things, there's a full health potion, an explosive firebomb, a key that will unlock any door, and a couple of somewhat more mysterious objects. I chose something called the Old Witch's Ring, an item with no apparent use, but I am desperately hoping it pays off into something awesome later on in the game, I could easily search for it online and see what it does, but one of the rules is no strategy guides so I'm avoiding all that sort of info. I'll let you know when I finally figure out what this ring does, and when it inevitably turns out to be disappointing compared to my expectations.
I don't particularly want to go too far into spoiler territory with this but there are just some things I won't be able to leave out over the rest of these posts so do be warned. So far I think Dark Souls is excellent, it takes an awful lot of cues from the previous game, right down to the fact that the first area involves running across a bridge beset by a ferocious dragon, but there's definitely a lot of new content here, it seems like everything I was hoping for. Can't wait to play some more.
Death count so far: 14
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