Hey everyone, sorry for such a long delay on dark souls. But well, now that I am more than 100 hours in the game and I understand the world, the lore and the mechanics much better, it has been fun, really. Infact, I feel that for me to pick up another game which is not so hard and interesting is actually very difficult, it gave me a new perspective about gaming in general and myself as a person. I am still to clear Tomb of the Giants and Lost Izalith but I am waiting for my Microsoft points to arrive, so that I can go and clear Artorias of the Abyss before beating the game..
So, what do I think?
Well to be honest, I do not think now that Dark Souls is as difficult as people are crying out (some of them). It is difficult because there are many things you do not know about the world... In this case not knowing is the scary part. Once you figure out what is the deal with some particular boss or you change your equipment based on the understanding you have developed while dying and equip yourself with the right weapons, learn the kicking, parrying, back-stab and other stats like equip load, etc. you can clear the areas. So it all comes down to learning... This is also the first game, in which I realized dying is NOT FAILURE. Dying is education, accepting that you did something wrong, you got impatient, you got greedy (for getting more shots at the boss when you should have rolled back) and then building up the courage to go in for the battle one more time to claim the honor of defeating that boss. So, dying is the core mechanic. Really Smough and Orenstein, I struggled with them over two weeks. It was so chaotic, but when I killed them, I felt so good. I understood so many things in between and when I killed them I screamed that yes I did that...:D. When I moved to Lost Izalith and killed centipede demon and demon firesage in a row, I realised that now I understand the game, I know how this thing works.. and it was the proudest moment during the whole game, trust me when you kill two bosses in a row you will feel the same :). Also, in no other game I felt two handing a weapon, and upgrading a weapon matters so much, really when you see the increased hit points after you upgraded your weapons, it is a satisfying feeling. The thought that after you kill the boss or beat the area, there is a story or an amazing lore you will have access to and you will be DENIED that privilege if you cannot clear this now kept me pushing. CURIOSITY is a good motivator.
Balancing the Life
This part of my post, many might disagree and I am ok with that, but playing dark souls had effect on my time schedule too. For example, I played other rpgs before like Fallout 3, or even the action games but you know when you start playing, you loose track of time and may be sometime playing for 7-8 hours in a row may be the whole weekend and feel like shit the next day, may be guilty too that you didnt do other stuff or studied as much as you should have. It happened with me too.. But then I looked back on this, I realized that this is happening because I kept telling myself "ok ! I will play for half an hour and then get back to work." and this statement was completely wrong, because Dark Souls is not a game which you play for half an hour, because nothing will happen in a rush, you will die and get frustrated and it is just a waste of time. Instead, I told myself "OK! from 8 to 10 in the night I am going to play, or I will stop playing after I reach this bonfire or kill the boss in this area." Accepting this routine, for playing had a huge impact on my game play, I realized, I do not have to feel guilty I do not need to rush and when I put down my controller after reaching my objective for the day, I was very happy and proud and more focused later on. Also, after 2 hours you get tired and start dying so that is bad too...
Skyrim Vs Dark Souls
Well this I am just putting because , I saw so many people comparing Skyrim and Dark Souls, and I do not see why? Just because there are dragons in both games ? I do not get it, why they have to compare? Initially I was motivated to play Skyrim too and so far I have not and I do not think I am going to play it now, because DS has raised the standards too high. Tell you what, the dragons in DS, will chew and spit out the ones in skyrim like cute kittens. As far as I know, apparantly you can win the dragons just by shouting and stuff like that (correct me if I am wrong.) But in DS you actually fight the dragon YAY ! Well really guys the two games are different. Skyrim is more for casual players, don't bring down DS to compare with it. I will be disrespectful to the souls series. There is a youtube video where people are comparing. I am sorry to say this guy who is favoring Skyrim got on my nerves and I stopped watching.
Thoughts on Dark Souls 2
As like many others, I am also worried and really excited for the new DS game. And sad because the man himself Hidetaka Miyazaki is no more the director. There are many speculations on how the souls series will be in the hands of a new director, what is the plot going to be etc, specially by EpicNameBro and HunterStarcraft, specially after the EDGE article being published. So yes, you can check that out. They tell things in a much better manner and there has been plenty of discussions so I wont re-iterate them here again.
But, I share the concerns, when the publishers try to make a game "more available" to the everyone, about the things they do, make it easier, story driven, mystery of the world is lost and so many bad things happen just for the sake of money :( .
Also, I will like to mention EPICNameBro and HunterStarcraft, who have uploaded amazing walkthrough videos with very interesting commentary, which helped me a lot during difficult times :)
So, ya as soon as I get my microsoft points, I will beat Artorias of the Abyss and then go to the Kiln of the First Flame. I am not sure how I feel about the NG+, or starting a new character may be a sorcerer, we will see. Also I killed Andre of Astorias by mistake, felt pretty bad about it. :( well what can I do I am only human. mistakes happen... :)
So, what do I think?
Well to be honest, I do not think now that Dark Souls is as difficult as people are crying out (some of them). It is difficult because there are many things you do not know about the world... In this case not knowing is the scary part. Once you figure out what is the deal with some particular boss or you change your equipment based on the understanding you have developed while dying and equip yourself with the right weapons, learn the kicking, parrying, back-stab and other stats like equip load, etc. you can clear the areas. So it all comes down to learning... This is also the first game, in which I realized dying is NOT FAILURE. Dying is education, accepting that you did something wrong, you got impatient, you got greedy (for getting more shots at the boss when you should have rolled back) and then building up the courage to go in for the battle one more time to claim the honor of defeating that boss. So, dying is the core mechanic. Really Smough and Orenstein, I struggled with them over two weeks. It was so chaotic, but when I killed them, I felt so good. I understood so many things in between and when I killed them I screamed that yes I did that...:D. When I moved to Lost Izalith and killed centipede demon and demon firesage in a row, I realised that now I understand the game, I know how this thing works.. and it was the proudest moment during the whole game, trust me when you kill two bosses in a row you will feel the same :). Also, in no other game I felt two handing a weapon, and upgrading a weapon matters so much, really when you see the increased hit points after you upgraded your weapons, it is a satisfying feeling. The thought that after you kill the boss or beat the area, there is a story or an amazing lore you will have access to and you will be DENIED that privilege if you cannot clear this now kept me pushing. CURIOSITY is a good motivator.
Balancing the Life
This part of my post, many might disagree and I am ok with that, but playing dark souls had effect on my time schedule too. For example, I played other rpgs before like Fallout 3, or even the action games but you know when you start playing, you loose track of time and may be sometime playing for 7-8 hours in a row may be the whole weekend and feel like shit the next day, may be guilty too that you didnt do other stuff or studied as much as you should have. It happened with me too.. But then I looked back on this, I realized that this is happening because I kept telling myself "ok ! I will play for half an hour and then get back to work." and this statement was completely wrong, because Dark Souls is not a game which you play for half an hour, because nothing will happen in a rush, you will die and get frustrated and it is just a waste of time. Instead, I told myself "OK! from 8 to 10 in the night I am going to play, or I will stop playing after I reach this bonfire or kill the boss in this area." Accepting this routine, for playing had a huge impact on my game play, I realized, I do not have to feel guilty I do not need to rush and when I put down my controller after reaching my objective for the day, I was very happy and proud and more focused later on. Also, after 2 hours you get tired and start dying so that is bad too...
Skyrim Vs Dark Souls
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| Source: http://wheresmysammich.com |
Thoughts on Dark Souls 2
As like many others, I am also worried and really excited for the new DS game. And sad because the man himself Hidetaka Miyazaki is no more the director. There are many speculations on how the souls series will be in the hands of a new director, what is the plot going to be etc, specially by EpicNameBro and HunterStarcraft, specially after the EDGE article being published. So yes, you can check that out. They tell things in a much better manner and there has been plenty of discussions so I wont re-iterate them here again.
Also, I will like to mention EPICNameBro and HunterStarcraft, who have uploaded amazing walkthrough videos with very interesting commentary, which helped me a lot during difficult times :)
So, ya as soon as I get my microsoft points, I will beat Artorias of the Abyss and then go to the Kiln of the First Flame. I am not sure how I feel about the NG+, or starting a new character may be a sorcerer, we will see. Also I killed Andre of Astorias by mistake, felt pretty bad about it. :( well what can I do I am only human. mistakes happen... :)
