Well, I'm back at it! With all of the Dark Souls III schtuff going around, I couldn't help but feel that I should go back and try to continue with the first Dark Souls.
If you recall my post over on Two Boys and their Blog from December 2014 (wow, I didn't realized it was that long ago), I will note that I since gave up on both my female knight (Brynhild) and the female sorcerer (Modgude). This was in part from watching a new (as of June2015) series from Extra Credits called "Side Quest" which is like a Let's Play channel, but with commentary as to design elements in the game. In their first episode, Dan and James go through the starting area of Dark Souls and watching them play and hearing James talk about how the world of Dark Souls was created and how the game plays by a logical and honest set of rules made me want to delve back into that agonizing world of death and undead. Through what they said, I feel that I now have a greater appreciation for world of Lordran that From Software created for this game.
When last I left the game (back in July of last year), I was grinding levels in the Undead Parish. Conklederp can attest to my frustration at going up against the Bell Gargoyle and failing miserably, which ultimately is what made me stop playing for the last eight months. The other night however, I dove back in and managed to kill the damnable gargoyle on my third (for that evening) attempt. Since then, I've been having a lot more fun as I've been exploring more (which helps when you're not grinding in the same area for hours on end) and I even managed a couple of loot runs into Darkroot Garden and Darkroot Basin where I was able to kill another one of those Black Knight fellows, as well as Havel the Rock (back in Undead Burg by way of Darkroot Basin).
The way I'm playing the game is still pretty much the same as before, although now I'm actually paying attention to the various weapon requirements and leveling my stats so that I can use more difficult weapons, such as the Zweihander and the Black Knight Sword. And actually, it's been since I've been using the Zweihander that I've been having a lot more fun as it can one-shot-kill most of the enemies in Undead Parish, granted they're not blocking with a shield. But even when they have their shield up, it still causes them to drop their guard and makes them stagger back a step or two.
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| Undead Soldier realizes it's made some bad unlife choices. (Swinging the Zweihander with one hand). |
What I realized that I love about this game is that the combat is tight. "Tight" in that the enemies have a number of attacks that they'll use depending on how you're approaching them and how their recent attack on you fared. The locations are also very gorgeous and a lot of them seem practical. It makes me wonder what Lordran was like in its past when there weren't undead and hollows clambering about everywhere (although I may still not be understanding the lore as much as I think) and I am realizing that in this game, there seems to be a quality over quantity relationship. And in truth, watching Dan play Dark Souls with James' commentary about the developers intentions has only cemented my appreciation for the work that From Software has done here.
So after what appears to be five different characters and a combined total of 45 hours, I feel that I can finally say that I am a fan of Dark Souls. Now to figure out how to deal with that bloody Capra Demon.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
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| Obligatory Butt Shot Because Why Not!? And Damn Those Thigh-High Black Boots Are Sexy!! |
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