First Impressions: Dark Souls - Prepare to Die Edition (PC)

So there is this game that I have heard a lot of talk about for the past year or two and last year when I saw it on sale through one Steam sale or another, I thought I would pick it up.  The idea of playing in a fantasy world with massive bosses that would be pretty difficult seemed appealing.  There was also something about a dark atmosphere and/or setting that peaked my interest as well.  Dark Souls is this game.  Dark Souls II was also brought up in a recent episode of Extra Credits, which I think the real inspiration to give this game a go came from.

Sometime last week after Conklederp had finished playing Skyrim for the night, I thought I'd start up Dark Souls as my mouse was on the other side of the room and when I first booted up the game a few months back, I knew that it would be a game that I would have to play with a controller; just take a look at the keyboard configurations required:

and

and

I felt like I was looking at keyboard set up for a flight simulator (I'm looking at you DCS World).  Just the fact that there were separate keyboard commands for the camera movement was one of the key factors for me playing the game with the controller.  Because of Goldeneye 007, I knew that I could not personally move around a camera/field of vision with buttons, the controls had to either be a mouse or a joystick.  I am simply not that coordinated.

Once I got to this stage, it was time to create a character.  Jump to me now playing my fourth character (female knight for those who want to know), and I now feel like I did something wrong in the item picking stage.  I chose the "Tiny Being's Ring" as the description said that it would increase HP slowly over time, which I read to be that your HP regenerates.  As it turns out, "Tiny Being's Ring" only increases your existing HP by 5%.  Maybe I should have chosen an item that better suited towards being a knight?  The Internets are apparently telling me that the Master Key is the item to go with for almost every class (except the Thief, which it comes equipped with).  Blarg.

Presently I am about three and-a-half hours into the game and I could not really tell you the storyline.  There is an intro cinematic that went into the an origin story of some god-like figures and their war against the dragons (who are made of rock/stone) with the help of one scaleless dragon.  The game starts with your character waking up/coming to after being tossed in a dungeon cell.  And you are already dead.  Apparently being dead is something that remains constant during the game and I do not just mean that you die a lot, which also does happen quite frequently.  You do have the ability to make yourself whole or human (ie: not dead, I think), but the reason to do that is to be "taken over" by other people playing online, or so that you can team up with other people who are also playing online, I am not really sure on either point as nothing was mentioned in-game about this.

What this all boils down to, is that I do not get this game.  Yes, it is a beautifully created game with some wonderful vistas and the architecture of the structures is massive and imposing.  If it was not that I was dying/being killed every 20 minutes, I would probably be having more fun.  Additionally, dying would not be that big of an issue if all the souls collected from killing hollows (aka: enemies) were not "lost" after you are killed, but that seems to be a core aspect of the game.  Granted, those souls could be picked back up if you make it back to the spot where you died to retrieve them, but all the enemies have also respawned.  The enemies always respawn any time you rest/heal at a bonfire (which also acts as a checkpoint).  

Screen cap during my third character who was a male warrior; not the female knight I keep referring to.

At this point, I want to progress with the game, but I feel that I am just too weak to venture out far enough so that I am not killing the same 10 enemies over and over.  Grinding required?  Three hours with this one character, seven hours overall and again, I do not understand this game.  I find it very frustrating venturing out into this demonized world only far enough to kill a handful of enemies before having to trudge all the way back to the closest bonfire, save and then deal with the exact same enemies all over again.

I also apparently do not understand ranged combat in this game.  From what I have experienced, in order to fire your ranged weapon (knives, crossbow, long bow), you have to lock on to your target, but you are unable to lock onto enemies who the game considers to be too far away.  Which defeats the purpose of having a bow, at least in my opinion.  Enemies on the other hand will chuck firebombs (clay jars filled with oil that are set on fire) indefinitely at you because of course they do.

Hand-to-hand combat is also something that I have an issue with.  Each character has a standard and powerful attack.  Each class (at least between the warrior and the knight) has different animations for their attacks, but it is the same every time.  I found this out while doing a strong attack with the knight.  The knight's strong attack is a lunge forward while swinging the sword across the horizon from back to front.  Every time.  Whereas the warrior lunges with his sword in a lunging motion.  I found this very worrisome considering that a fair portion of the combat takes place around cliffs, precipices and rooftops.  And you can very easily fall off while being surrounded in a cloud of flame thrown from a pyromancer and being attacked by some measly grunt and all you are trying to do is kill said pyromancer and in the course of the game catching up with the last time you pressed the attack button, the young knight plummets off the rooftop to die some hundred feet below.

You can also fall/die in large pools of water where your bloodstain will not show up, because fucking Dark Souls.  Also it makes sense that a bloodstain would not be floating on a body of water.

If you could not tell, I am not sure if I will continue with this game.  I know there will be (are) people who will say that the game is not about story, that it is a hack-and-slash that is supposed to be difficult and that you have to play at least 10 hours before the game starts getting good.  Maybe I am just getting old when feel that I do not have 10 hours to spend on a game to figure out if I like it or not.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

To Save Us All From Satan's Power

P.S.  And in the point between writing this article and its posting, I have created two additional characters, a male pyromancer and a female sorcerer to get a feel for the magick based characters and see if I enjoy the game even more.  Týr knows why I keep giving this game a chance.  Maybe it does have it hooks in me and I just don't know it yet.

Emulator Hour: Real Ultima NES challenge!

After bouncing around between some 8-bit RPGs, I've settled on Ultima: Exodus (III).  This game has its hooks in me, and I find myself thinking about it when I'm not playing.  At any given time, when I've been gaming, I have these sort of nebulous game ideas floating around the borders of my consciousness.  These are usually influenced by what I've been playing lately, and there is definitely a distinctly Exodus flavor these days.  I probably spend more time daydreaming about this game than I do playing it. 

But I am determined to play it and to make substantial progress in this very difficult NES game.  After playing through a bunch of Final Fantasy, Ultima:Exodus is refreshing in its non-linearity, party customization and challenge.  And boy, is it challenging.  It really takes time to get some momentum in this game, and it makes Final Fantasy games appear to be positively coddling to the player.  For example: Inns.  There is one Inn in Exodus, and it serves only to save the game.  No free life points.  For that you have to shell out 200 gold to a doctor who will, in exchange, heal *one* of your party members.  This is a stiff contrast to Final Fantasy where Inns are in every town and cost pocket change to heal your entire party.  Oh, and did I mention nearly every treasure chest is booby trapped?  So even if the enemies are easy, you can be killed claiming your reward.   

Much of the early part of Exodus I have spent slogging around the overworld map, grinding, exploring and trying not to die. I routinely check each town to see if there's something I missed, some useful piece of the puzzle.  But as far as I can tell, my only mission at present is to rack up gold and xp and buy armor, so that I will be ready for the new slew of super-tough enemies when I level up. 

In this game the only way to level up is by cashing-in experience points with Lord British. 

At which point, I will need to find a new lead on gold, because killing enemies just doesn't do it.  I think what I need to do is hit the dungeons which are scattered around the map, and see if there isn't some loot in there.  Of course,  when I've paid these dungeons a visit, I haven't made it out alive.  I'm hoping that the boost to HP I will get when I raise my levels up will give me what I need to survive. 

I realize that I am accustomed to a JRPG pace, which is extremely steady.  Go out, grind a while, come back stay at the inn. Grind some more, buy weapons and armor, when your strong enough, move to the next area.  Repeat.  That is the basic JRPG progression, and as far as I can tell, it's been universal since the original Final Fantasy.  (I would say Dragon Warrior, but there was actually a bit less linearity to that game).  Ultima is much different.  The game guides you very little, and much of it is discovered through exploration.  And patience.  oh, so much patience.  

But I am resolute.  The very challenge of the game is what keeps me slowly moving forward.  I don't know how long I can last, but there are milestones that I'd like to achieve.  I'd like to get in and out of a dungeon and live.  I'm thrilled to say I just reached Ambrosia.  Next I need to collect some flowers and raise some of my stats.  Then start collecting marks, which means deeper dungeon success.  After that, I'm not sure what I need, but I'll most likely be consulting strategy guides along the way.  One step at a time, there's no getting ahead of yourself in this game.  If you get ahead of yourself, you will die.  Simple as that.  

Maybe I will play it until the end.  Maybe I won't.  But for the time being, this is the game that has occupied my attention.  I don't know what I'll be playing next, but I'm thinking about Planescape: Torment,  another Western RPG that gets lots of love. 

-D

Protips:  

• Cyclo DS Evolution is a great NES Emulator system for the Nintendo DS.  It's how I play all my old favorites.
• Use the 'Open' spell to avoid traps from treasure chests.  
• Also, press 'select' when the menu is open to see a different set of options, including ones that let you share food and gold.  
• And for God's sake, read the instructions!  

Emulator Hour: TMNT (nes)

Friggin' sweet, right?

Jaconian's previous post- about the elusive composers of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES game-- got me thinking about how bloody hard that game was.  Specifically this playthrough that he linked, for the purpose of showing off the thrilling dialogue, and more importantly: that there are no credits (you know, because 'fuck you' for beating this super-hard game?) Before watching that video, I had never before seen anyone beat this game.

First impressions: IWBTG:G

Hey, check it out, this is the oldest 'draft' post I have on the whole blog, and I'm actually revisiting it!  I guess the readers don't know this, but now you do!

If life was like I Wanna Be The Guy:Gaiden, You would wake up in the morning, scratch your head, and put your feet on the floor.  The floor is covered in spikes and you die.  You go to feed your cat, and he slices your head off.  You go to the bathroom to relieve yourself, and the walls cave in on you.  Breakfast would also be a disaster of stabbing and crushing. In this game, everything is trying to kill you.

Since downloading and playing, I Wanna Be the Guy: Gaiden has provoked different reactions from me. Initially, I thought it was pretty funny, then, with quickness, I began to hate it. It became clear that I do not have the patience to progress through this incredibly difficult game. Finally, after watching someone else beat the game without dying, I am left with a grudging respect for the game and its designers.

IWTBTG is a parody game.  As a parody game, IWTBTG:G is excellent; the best I've seen.  The game is made up mostly from a collage of sounds and images from other games, mostly 16-bit and NES games.  The implementation of the boss characters is fantastically clever, interesting; And awesome to watch-- on youtube videos (I didn't manage to reach a single boss.)  

Opening map for IWTBTG:G

IWTBTG is stupidly hard, emphasis on the stupid.  The game is designed, purposely, to piss people off.  It works.  So, to me the challenge of describing this game is to not get too hung up on the challenge, to try to critique the game as though it were a legitimate attempt at game-design.  I'd like to punch the game in the nose, but I realize that will never happen, and if I tried to scrap with IWTBTG, it would beat the tar out of me.  It's just too goddamn difficult.

I had heard of the notorious difficulty of IWTBTG, prior to playing, but I didn't realize how purposeful it was.  It's like a series of practical jokes. The designers like to mess with the player, and the first twelve things that killed me were sort of out-of-place and unexpected.  These things would never find their way into a properly edited mainstream game, and I think that's the point.As far as I can tell, gameplay is mostly memorization and quick, precise movements.

I Wanna Be The Guy is very  much like Super Meatboy or Bit.Trip.Runner: One-hit-kills platform games- but not as well designed.  One key thing those games have to keep gameplay moving, that IWBTG lacks, is to have the music play continuously even when the character dies.  This feature helps to reduce the jarring sensation that comes from character death, and the quick restart of the level.  I hope if there are further editions of IWBTG released, that the designers will implement endlessly cycling music.

I originally set out to write a slanderous review to make myself feel better after being utterly crushed by frustration. I changed my mind after I took a time-out to watch a you-tube video of someone beating it without dying.  Watching this video gave me a renewed respect for the designers.  It's much more fun to watch someone else play, to appreciate some of the ridiculous traps and  fantastically silly boss fights.  So, ultimately, I'd like to declare a truce with I Wanna Be The Guy.  I won't play the game, but I will appreciate the design safely from my role as a non-playing spectator. 

If you have an amazing tolerance for game-related pain and frustration, then I recommend giving IWTBTG:G a play-through, and then show your friends; it's a great game to watch.  If you can't manage that, there's no shame.  Just head over to youtube and watch someone else beat it.  I do recommend playing it for at least a half-hour first, or until frustrated.  It will give you a greater depth of appreciation for the playthrough video.  

-D


P.S. After writing this review, I discovered that IWTBTG:Gaiden is actually a sequel.  However, after checking out the original, I see that most of the outstanding features are the same, and so I use the two names interchangeably in this review.  I recommend playing Gaiden first, simply because it is more immediately entertaining.