Skip to main content

DARK SOULS : Light through Darkness with a price to pay : DEATH.

Completed : Dark Souls - Prepare To Die Edition (7th Platinum)

My second souls game after the original Demon's Souls..

The Tagline Prepare to Die although very fitting but one can actually never be prepared to Die in this game
given its harsh consequences thus living in constant fear and anxiety in a bid to survive and yet you will Die,

Yes,

 Again and Again until you lose count often affecting your sanity. (the platinum surely does)

A decision to embark on this undead journey with grim and false hopes of finding Light through the eternal Darkness is always worth a second thought.

The sheer uniqueness, dreadful setting and epic boss fights with equally matching arenas as well as soundtrack have made the souls games redefine the fantasy role playing genre qualifying as one of a kind.

Arguably, the better game with clearer concepts and more variety and depth in most aspects but wasn't always a step forward from Demon's Souls.

The true definition of lore with a story so vague and deep at the same time left completely open for the player.

Even with the less punishing and much more manageable new humanity and bonfire system with replenishing health consumables,the game still expands on its predecessors difficulty with a huge, confusing and even more mysterious open world.The true beauty of the game lies in its intense diverse world yet so well interconnected always feeling whole.Frustratingly rather than the combat its world (routes) turned out to be the real enemy - unbearable and even unfair at times easily getting lost or cheaply falling to your death at least without help or until figuring out the much needed smartly devised shortcuts.

Most part of the game can be described by this reference from Ser Bronn of the Blackwater :

I'd be a bloody fool if he didn't frighten me.He's freakish big and freakish strong, and quicker than you'd expect for a man of that size.Maybe I could take him, dance around until he's so tired from hacking at me he dropped his sword, get him off his feet somehow...but one misstep and I'm dead.

Messed up the first playthrough on several occasions which was inevitable given its nature including unable to save Solaire,the warrior of sunlight and by far the most memorable and heartfelt npc among a few others.
With too much left to do in ng+ near the very end was greeted by a selfless soul dropping a couple of unique weapons seemingly spared me from a 3rd playthrough.

With each passing hour you begin to question your spirit cursing to soon escape the world you are trapped in
but as the end draws closer you realise you are not ready for either.
Finally a hollow feeling takes over you but ends up giving the most immersive, absorbing and rewarding experience a game could give...

PRAISE THE SUN !





Comments

  1. Unknown24 May 2018 at 08:23

    so complicated game with an enigma of a story, still one of the well-summarised reviews.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wolfenstein : The New Order - Inhale.Count to Four. Exhale.Count to Four.

Wolfenstein : The New Order (Death incarnate)  Inhale. Count to four. Exhale. Count to four.  Yes, you will need this trick from Captain Blazkowicz and not only for the countless hordes of resilient nazis you will have to slaughter on your way to freedom but also inspiring moments which are a result of excellent writing. The New order tries to make great strides by combining classic shooting mechanics with fast paced action in an alternate Nazi acquired world war setting, but it doesn't succeed to make the jump over its age old issues. The perk system is well defined into categories encouraging to try different approaches and rewards you with further chained abilities accordingly. Stealth is surprisingly very effective and somewhat balances the typical over the top action. And above everything else, the alternate-history world war setting where we attempt to suppress nazis rule over the world in the long captivating journey capturing the emotions of war
Post a Comment
Read more

Sniper Elite 3 : Lets shoot some Balls !

Completed : Sniper Elite 3 Have always loved the slow motion x-ray kill cams/bullet time where we can shoot eyeballs, lungs, intestine and most importantly testicles to name a few from long away with precise controlled shots. Even if the base shooting mechanics remain unchanged, the last shot of the game feels almost as satisfying as the first in the short six hour campaign. The heart rate and breath hold are vital too as they need to be maintained for a steady aim. For the physics conscious ,higher difficulties also include wind and gravity effects. The major changes from V2 include a more open approach and also a stealth system where relocating after every kill is the way to go which gets tedious very quickly. The more open approach does seem a way forward but it only provided resistance to get creative kills/spots which can be very frustrating to find as opposed to the greedy and straightforward way of quickly penetrating your targets. However ,the main conc
Post a Comment
Read more

Shank : Co-op mode - Combination of Traditional & Modern Traits but not the very best of both worlds.

Completed : Shank (co-op mode) The first single screen Co-op game I had played in a long time. Made me remember how fun they are although doesn't do complete justice to the genre. Traditional beat em up side scroller with fluid modern combat and sharp comic style presentation. It not only fails to escape the problems of most beat em ups where the combat is bound to be repetitive after some time, but it also adds to these problems with lack of any progression and a few control issues of its own. Wish the whole main game was made for Co-op only instead of a short separate one. Individual special power ups and different abilities could have made coordination more appealing which was limited to only dividing the direction of attack and double team moves when needed. What made the grind worth it were well designed tough boss fights at the end of each mass-slaughtering level which required creativity, patience and finally lots of teamwork. Overall, Shank
Post a Comment
Read more