Game Review – Dark Souls

…Here’s “Dark Souls”. Seriously, what the hell do I say about this game that hasn’t been talked about a thousand times in the past? As a critic, I feel like I’m bashing my head against the wall on this one. I’ve mentioned this game before when I wrote an article specifying that I was playing this with my little sister, but I guess I can give a little more background on the game. “Dark Souls” was developed and published by “From Software” in 2011. It’s considered an action role-playing game with horror elements. I, Gamers Mentality, have completed this game and must take the plot, style and game-play to determine whether this game lives up to it’s hype or falls short. Fair warning, this review contains spoilers that do affect the ending of the game. If you wish to keep this spoiler free, please play the game before reading the review. So, without further distraction, let’s begin: Plot: The game opens up with a cinematic cut-scene that fills you in on the details. If you were like me, these details flew over your head and you forgot them five minutes after seeing them. For those of you who did pay attention, the world is shown in primeval times where Everlasting Dragons held all the power. However, out of nowhere, the First Flame was ignited which lead to the four beings you’ll come to know well: Gravelord Nito, Witch of Izalith, Gwyn and the Furtive Pygmy. These four, including Seath the Scaleless, defeated the dragons in a great war to begin a sort of Golden Age. However, all good things must end as it’s discovered that the First Flame is dying. The Witch tries to save it by creating an indefinite flame but ended up being deformed into a creature known as “The Bed of Chaos”. Gwyn and his knights went to the flame and sacrficed themselves in order to kindle the flame, which works but only temporary. As the world is becoming a vast wasteland of death and decay, it is told that a Chosen Undead is destined to leave the “Undead Asylum” and ring the Bell of Awakening. This is where your story begins. Did you get all that? Good, neither did I when I first played this game.

What the hell did he just say?

Don’t get me wrong, the story is fascinating and only improves. Every little detail, every character you meet, every monster you fight help build a chaotic, epic, beautiful tragedy. Yes, you read that right: tragedy. For anyone that has finished this game, you know exactly why I use that word. Unfortunately, despite your best attempts, your best moves and your best skills, you are LITERALLY incapable to save the world around you. In the end, your character is forced to find and capture the four souls of the Lords in order to open the kiln to the First Flame. Once you’ve done it, you are able to confront Lord Gwyn and defeat him which leads to one of two options. You may rekindle the flame yourself and buy humanity more time before their inevitable doom or you can choose to walk away from the flame knowing full well that doing so means dooming any hope for a better tomorrow and becoming the new “Dark Lord”. So you’re thinking “What the hell is the point then?” Well, I’ve read that there’s a sort of third ending to this game. There’s no cut-scenes for it nor any achievements but it works like this. In the game, you meet a character named Solaire of Astora. It’s believed that Solaire is Lord Gwyn’s firstborn who gave up his status as a deity. In the game, you meet Solaire various times in different locations. If you follow the correct sequence of events and kill the right enemy, Solaire can join you in the final battle against Gwyn. If this happens, it’s believed that Solaire lights the kiln in his own reality which causes an “indefinite age of fire” meaning there is a happy ending. Unfortunately, while it’s nice to believe, I have no confirmation of this theory being true but it’s still nice to think about. I would like to think my actions had SOME good come out of it. So yeah…happy ending right?

So overall, how is this story? Well, if you were able to follow that long paragraph, the story may just be the best part of this game. Yes, I do mean that. The story is minimal in presentation and, under normal circumstances, I usually hate that. However, the mythology to this game is expansive and wonderful to discover. It’s tragic, but it’s a tragedy worth watching. If you would have asked me to play this game strictly for the story during my first hour of game-play, I would have thought you were crazy. However, now that I have made it through the game and seen what the lore has to offer, I only have one thing to say: Praise the Sun! Style: So, funny enough, I have very little to say about this. Think of the words “Dark Souls” with your eyes closed and tell me what you see. Dark castles filled with undead? Check. Giant demons trying to kill you? Check. Spirits that would do anything to end your life in abysmal looking areas? Check. Honestly, the game looks like it should look and looks good doing it. The graphics are great to look at and soundtrack is just fine. I will admit, the soundtrack takes a giant leap in the final boss fight. In most battles, the music fits the scene and it’s usually music you want to hear fighting giant demons. However, during the fight with Gwyn, the music takes on the form of a sad melody from a piano. Without knowing the story, you would think the creators lost their mind picking a tune like that, but think about it: Lord Gwyn is a man who did everything he could to save what he loved and failed. He became a Hollow. The man you are fighting is nothing more than just the shadow of a once great king and you have to take, what’s left, of his life. Hell, I admit the whole “Kiln” area is a sort of depression you can’t shake. In all areas of the game, you’re fighting enemy after enemy trying to get the next bonfire or boss. However, the final area feels empty, sad and futile. You feel as if the world is given up. it’s like watching a boxer in motion. At the beginning of the fight, they dodge and move with grace and speed, but then you go more rounds in and you can see the slower movement and the clumsy mistakes. You can see the boxer becoming tired and the fire losing it’s spark. Well, that’s exactly how this area feels. It’s….just that depressing. Game-play: Yeah, this is the part you have been waiting for. Who cares about style, or story? The reason why people bought this god forsaken game was because they were guaranteed a challenge. Every time I make a comment about games being “too easy” I get the response “Play Dark Souls”. So then, let me just say it…Dark Souls is a challenge but it’s a challenge of patience and not skill. Oh go ahead, argue me. Tell me that this game requires key hand/eye coordination and dedicated focus. Tell me you can’t just “plow your way” through it. Well, let me just say this: During the Smough and Ornstein fight (arguably the hardest boss fight in the game) I upgraded my full giant armor and BKS to +5 while making sure to keep my endurance high enough to dodge in heavy armor. The result? I never had to upgrade my equipment again. I never had to enchant anything or go out of my way for certain rings (with the exception of story related items). I was able to take my BKS and slice down everything that came after me and with only a +1 upgrade to my Estus Flask. “But you probably died a thousand times, Gamers” you say with a smug face. You’re right. I did die. I died a lot of times. I died so much, my sister bought me a shirt with the words “You Died” on it as a X-Mas gift. However, Dark Souls is just a huge “trial and error” run. You remember those old arcade games where you would have to put more quarters into the machine to retry the QTE (think Dragon’s Lair). Well, that is Dark Souls (just without the QTE). Seriously, there was no boss I handled any different than another boss. I went in, blocked, sliced, moved, repeat. I never switched up my weapons or utilized weaknesses or anything because I didn’t have to. I did fine on my own terms. NOW I ADMIT, I have heard that the BKS is actually a rare drop on a first play-through and a damn good weapon to get (again, on your first play-through) so it is possible I just got really lucky in weaponry. I’ve also heard that playing on NG+ makes you have to choose your moves carefully compared to the first run. However, that’s like saying that Guitar Hero can be really hard if you play it on Expert. Well, yeah of course it’s harder if you play it on a harder difficulty! That doesn’t make the original game difficult. I would like to mention that, at this time, I haven’t really talked about the actual workings of the game-play and if you were expecting me to do so, let me apologize. Here’s a semi-sweet paragraph to try to wrap it up. Dark Souls is a third person action game. Characters will equip weaponry they can buy or find from enemies. Currency comes in the forms of souls which drop with every enemy killed. Souls must also be used in order to upgrade a character’s stats such as endurance, vitality, dexterity, etc. Players have a health bar and a stamina bar. The stamina bar is used when a player runs, dodges, attacks or blocks. Basically, stamina dictates everything you do and if you run out of it, you’re open to being killed. Players may rest at locations called bonfires where they can do all their upgrades for weaponry, stats or replenish their Estus Flasks (which heals you). It’s important to note that using a bonfire will bring back all enemies who are not bosses or minor bosses so be aware of using them. That’s pretty much the simplest wrap up of the game’s basic mechanics. I could go into the different play styles and tactics it would take a lot of time.

Don’t mind me, just waiting for Hell to thaw

Final Thoughts: Don’t let my thoughts on the game-play fool you, I loved “Dark Souls” and I really didn’t think I would. In fact, part of me didn’t want to. The game has had so much hype that I just wanted to dislike it from day 1. However, if I bought the game for it’s “challenge” factor, I stayed for it’s story and style. Okay, fine, it’s not the hardest game I’ve ever played. It won’t go down as the “Grandmaster of all Challenges” but it doesn’t have to. It has a very expansive mythology that easily makes me more interested than any of the “hardest game ever”  banter critics talk about. I love seeing what the game has to offer in locations, enemies, ideas, and other aspects. I loved this game. My sister loved this game. When we beat it, we felt both happiness in our adventure and sadness it was over. I look forward to future games from “From Software” including “Dark Souls II” and the newest release “Bloodborne”.

Really want to play this….

Agree with my ranting? Think I’ve lost my mind like the Hollow? Well equip yourself with your keyboard and feel free to use stamina to attack my viewpoints with your own opinions. Until then, I’m Gamers Mentality and this game is over.