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My first experience beating a Dark Souls game.
3 years ago
General
So before I begin, my first real exposure to a Souls game was with Demon's Souls back on the PS3. I tried playing that game AGES ago and never beat it. I do remember beating both bosses of the first area and the first boss of the second area and that was all the progress I could make. Looking back I do wonder if the game had a level up system like Dark Souls that I was unaware of, was I fat rolling and I was unaware, and were they mechanics that I was unaware of. But in any case I was turned off of the Souls styled gameplay and never wished to play any of the subsequent games that came out.
Recently, since Dark Souls Remastered was ported to the Switch, I decided I wanted to challenge one of these games one more time just to see if I INDEED do not like the gameplay.
So my first two days playing Dark Souls I only managed to reach the Bell Gargoyles. I was unable to beat them as I didn't have good equipment and I didn't have the skill I suppose. So the beginning of the game slump was wearing me down to the point where I was almost ready to give up on the game and count it as a loss. But I decided instead to post a journal here on FA asking for a decent walkthrough of the game.
kohsakor was kind enough to mention a YouTube user by the name of FightingCowboy and watching the start of that walkthrough REALLY helped me progress.
What I gained from the walkthrough was the Claymore and Drake Sword, and those weapons helped me immensely. Now despite this file having 6 hours to reach and now defeat the Bell Gargoyles, I had started as a Wanderer I made the decision to start a new file as a Warrior as it sounded like the easier option according to FightingCowboy. Unfortunately that second playthrough I accidentally attacked Petrus of Thorolund and having him hostel around Firelink was not fun. No matter I heard about the guy that removes "sin" so I decided to continue this playthrough. I beat the Bell Gargoyles, rang the bell, went over to the Oswald of Cairm and accidentally attacked him. At this point I viewed this file as ruined so I then opted to start A THIRD FILE!!!
Luckily with both of these new playthroughs the experience was quicker and easier each time as I was becoming more familiar with the clunkiness. From this point forward I would typically only be using the walkthrough when I needed to know where to go, which was often yes. I wasn't particularly fond of the exploration in this game so anytime I needed guidance I would consult the walkthrough. (It is worth noting I was playing in Offline Mode since I do not have Nintendo Online.) Generally I made it through many areas on my own, however some good weapons I only discovered thanks to the walkthrough. One such sword was the Gravelord Curved Greatsword, which I would have NEVER found on my own. Same for a few other pieces of gear I typically wore, such as the "Ring of Favor and Protection" which is gained from killing that one NPC that appears in Firelink at one point. I would have NEVER done that on my own. The reason I mention these things is because I DID have an easier time with the game thanks to the walkthrough, so make of that as you will.
In my 40+ hour playthrough I did come to enjoy the game much more than I thought. As I said the start of the game was a miserable slump to me but once past that things started going much more smoothly. In fact I never really hit a major roadblock, in terms of difficulty, for the entire playthrough. Yes on my own the Bell Gargoyles were a roadblock, but after that nothing every really felt THAT hard. Yes Ornstein and Smough were pretty tough. My first session of fighting them I had Fire Claymore +5, Haval's Ring, the Ring of Favor and Protection, and much of the black iron armor set equipped. The first two hours were spent focusing on Smough since the Fire Claymore was going 150 damage to him where as it was going 90-100 to Ornstein. However I wasn't having much luck beating Orstein. I ended this play session and later that night I decided to switch focusing on Ornstein so I could fight Smough in the second phase. Within a few attempts I did reach phase two only to die. So I keep trying and got to phase two with a couple of Estus left. I use up my final one and go into focus mode against the electric hammer fatty, and once I dealt the final blow the satisfaction was amazing.
I had heard of those two even with not having really watched anyone play the full game. And I always figured a two on one battle was challenging. But reading some comments on some YouTube videos this boss is the skill check, they are THE roadblock in the game and knowing that it felt even better that I was able to defeat them. So from my perspective, if that's one of the hardest bosses this game has to offer, I have little to no fear of what was to come. And for the rest of the game no boss really challenged me like those two did. Granted of course I soon got the Gravelord Curved Greatsword which is a beast of a sword as you upgrade it, but it's still a slow weapon leaving me open to being punished by enemies and bosses.
One thing nice about the Remastered version was that the Artorias DLC was included with it. So obviously I wanted to tackle that area as well. I will say, that ENTIRE area was easily the BEST area in the entire game. All four bosses felt tough but fair, the few NPC's in the area were great, Hawkeye Gaugh being my favorite character in the game, the exploration was really good as some areas in the game were pretty miserable, so all in all this was the BEST Dark Souls had to offer to me. The Artorias fight REALLY stole the show, my first attempt at him and I was already like "Oh man I am going to LOVE fighting this guy" and I was 100% correct. He was such an amazing fight. Granted the Manus fight was no slouch either, it too was a pretty enjoyable fight despite it being just another big ole monster fight.
So in total I did enjoy my experience with a game I assumed I wouldn't like. That said the issues I had before going in to the game are still issues after beating it.
I still am not particularly fond of the exploration. I can get into it in a Metroidvania, or even a game where you aren't just running around at a slow speed. But with the pace of Dark Souls, and the vagueness of certain things, for my tastes I didn't enjoy the exploration and discovery.
The camera is just plain awful, like, man I think that one cost me a few deaths. =P
The collision detection of the environments were a nuisance. Like this small root sticking up out of the ground, yeah you can't walk over that. Oh this angled crystal in the Crystal Caves, yeah you can walk on it, but you may slip because the physics can be awful. And yes, I DID slip a few times. =U
Some of the areas are just kind of unfun. Blight Town with its bridge construction and easy bottomless pit deaths, the Catacombs with the respawning skeletons, the one area with the ghost that you need to use an item just to kill them, the Tomb of the Giants with its darkness gimmick and annoying enemies, the Crystal Caves... Not a fan of some of these areas. =U
And lastly the combat. Yes I did come to understand it after something like 5-10 hours of gamplay, but for personal preference I would much rather have a faster paced combat system. Yes it worked for the game, and obviously I did manage to beat every boss in the game, but I will take the combat systems of other games.
So in closing, did I enjoy Dark Souls? Yes, much more than I thought I would.
Is it one of the best games I have ever played? No not really, but I can understand why people like it.
Was it the Dark Souls of Dark Souls games? Now this, I feel as though the difficulty of this/these game(s) are blown out of proportion. Yes it has some hard moments, but I never felt like this game was TRULY hard. I have played some games that felt much harder than this. As said Ornstein and Smough were the hardest boss(es) but I have played some games on their hardest difficulty and had a much more difficult time. God of War 1, 2 and 3, Devil May Cry 1 and 3, Ninja Gaiden Sigma. These games had some sections that just destroyed me, so going into Dark Souls I was expecting the worst. But for this game having a combat system I did not favor I was still able to push through without too much difficulty. I didn't even ever summon anyone to help me during bosses, I went in pure solo. =P
But anyway, if Dark Souls 3 ever happens to come to the Switch I may give it a try, if Sekiro comes to the Switch I REALLY wanna play that. But in the mean time I can say I made my way through a Dark Souls game, and that is neat I guess.
Recently, since Dark Souls Remastered was ported to the Switch, I decided I wanted to challenge one of these games one more time just to see if I INDEED do not like the gameplay.
So my first two days playing Dark Souls I only managed to reach the Bell Gargoyles. I was unable to beat them as I didn't have good equipment and I didn't have the skill I suppose. So the beginning of the game slump was wearing me down to the point where I was almost ready to give up on the game and count it as a loss. But I decided instead to post a journal here on FA asking for a decent walkthrough of the game.
kohsakor was kind enough to mention a YouTube user by the name of FightingCowboy and watching the start of that walkthrough REALLY helped me progress.What I gained from the walkthrough was the Claymore and Drake Sword, and those weapons helped me immensely. Now despite this file having 6 hours to reach and now defeat the Bell Gargoyles, I had started as a Wanderer I made the decision to start a new file as a Warrior as it sounded like the easier option according to FightingCowboy. Unfortunately that second playthrough I accidentally attacked Petrus of Thorolund and having him hostel around Firelink was not fun. No matter I heard about the guy that removes "sin" so I decided to continue this playthrough. I beat the Bell Gargoyles, rang the bell, went over to the Oswald of Cairm and accidentally attacked him. At this point I viewed this file as ruined so I then opted to start A THIRD FILE!!!
Luckily with both of these new playthroughs the experience was quicker and easier each time as I was becoming more familiar with the clunkiness. From this point forward I would typically only be using the walkthrough when I needed to know where to go, which was often yes. I wasn't particularly fond of the exploration in this game so anytime I needed guidance I would consult the walkthrough. (It is worth noting I was playing in Offline Mode since I do not have Nintendo Online.) Generally I made it through many areas on my own, however some good weapons I only discovered thanks to the walkthrough. One such sword was the Gravelord Curved Greatsword, which I would have NEVER found on my own. Same for a few other pieces of gear I typically wore, such as the "Ring of Favor and Protection" which is gained from killing that one NPC that appears in Firelink at one point. I would have NEVER done that on my own. The reason I mention these things is because I DID have an easier time with the game thanks to the walkthrough, so make of that as you will.
In my 40+ hour playthrough I did come to enjoy the game much more than I thought. As I said the start of the game was a miserable slump to me but once past that things started going much more smoothly. In fact I never really hit a major roadblock, in terms of difficulty, for the entire playthrough. Yes on my own the Bell Gargoyles were a roadblock, but after that nothing every really felt THAT hard. Yes Ornstein and Smough were pretty tough. My first session of fighting them I had Fire Claymore +5, Haval's Ring, the Ring of Favor and Protection, and much of the black iron armor set equipped. The first two hours were spent focusing on Smough since the Fire Claymore was going 150 damage to him where as it was going 90-100 to Ornstein. However I wasn't having much luck beating Orstein. I ended this play session and later that night I decided to switch focusing on Ornstein so I could fight Smough in the second phase. Within a few attempts I did reach phase two only to die. So I keep trying and got to phase two with a couple of Estus left. I use up my final one and go into focus mode against the electric hammer fatty, and once I dealt the final blow the satisfaction was amazing.
I had heard of those two even with not having really watched anyone play the full game. And I always figured a two on one battle was challenging. But reading some comments on some YouTube videos this boss is the skill check, they are THE roadblock in the game and knowing that it felt even better that I was able to defeat them. So from my perspective, if that's one of the hardest bosses this game has to offer, I have little to no fear of what was to come. And for the rest of the game no boss really challenged me like those two did. Granted of course I soon got the Gravelord Curved Greatsword which is a beast of a sword as you upgrade it, but it's still a slow weapon leaving me open to being punished by enemies and bosses.
One thing nice about the Remastered version was that the Artorias DLC was included with it. So obviously I wanted to tackle that area as well. I will say, that ENTIRE area was easily the BEST area in the entire game. All four bosses felt tough but fair, the few NPC's in the area were great, Hawkeye Gaugh being my favorite character in the game, the exploration was really good as some areas in the game were pretty miserable, so all in all this was the BEST Dark Souls had to offer to me. The Artorias fight REALLY stole the show, my first attempt at him and I was already like "Oh man I am going to LOVE fighting this guy" and I was 100% correct. He was such an amazing fight. Granted the Manus fight was no slouch either, it too was a pretty enjoyable fight despite it being just another big ole monster fight.
So in total I did enjoy my experience with a game I assumed I wouldn't like. That said the issues I had before going in to the game are still issues after beating it.
I still am not particularly fond of the exploration. I can get into it in a Metroidvania, or even a game where you aren't just running around at a slow speed. But with the pace of Dark Souls, and the vagueness of certain things, for my tastes I didn't enjoy the exploration and discovery.
The camera is just plain awful, like, man I think that one cost me a few deaths. =P
The collision detection of the environments were a nuisance. Like this small root sticking up out of the ground, yeah you can't walk over that. Oh this angled crystal in the Crystal Caves, yeah you can walk on it, but you may slip because the physics can be awful. And yes, I DID slip a few times. =U
Some of the areas are just kind of unfun. Blight Town with its bridge construction and easy bottomless pit deaths, the Catacombs with the respawning skeletons, the one area with the ghost that you need to use an item just to kill them, the Tomb of the Giants with its darkness gimmick and annoying enemies, the Crystal Caves... Not a fan of some of these areas. =U
And lastly the combat. Yes I did come to understand it after something like 5-10 hours of gamplay, but for personal preference I would much rather have a faster paced combat system. Yes it worked for the game, and obviously I did manage to beat every boss in the game, but I will take the combat systems of other games.
So in closing, did I enjoy Dark Souls? Yes, much more than I thought I would.
Is it one of the best games I have ever played? No not really, but I can understand why people like it.
Was it the Dark Souls of Dark Souls games? Now this, I feel as though the difficulty of this/these game(s) are blown out of proportion. Yes it has some hard moments, but I never felt like this game was TRULY hard. I have played some games that felt much harder than this. As said Ornstein and Smough were the hardest boss(es) but I have played some games on their hardest difficulty and had a much more difficult time. God of War 1, 2 and 3, Devil May Cry 1 and 3, Ninja Gaiden Sigma. These games had some sections that just destroyed me, so going into Dark Souls I was expecting the worst. But for this game having a combat system I did not favor I was still able to push through without too much difficulty. I didn't even ever summon anyone to help me during bosses, I went in pure solo. =P
But anyway, if Dark Souls 3 ever happens to come to the Switch I may give it a try, if Sekiro comes to the Switch I REALLY wanna play that. But in the mean time I can say I made my way through a Dark Souls game, and that is neat I guess.
It might apply to something like platformers, but I don't think it's true for most games. Like FPS games, even if you know the encounter compositions, how enemies move behind cover or whether they throw grenades or whatever can really throw off your plans. RPGs often have random encounters you can't account for. Dark Souls is just more predictable.
Plus good equipment helps.
It's really a game about being patient more than anything.