Dark Souls - Prepare to D- *YOU DIED*

So, with the release of Dark Souls 2 right around the corner, I thought I'd write out my thoughts on the original Dark Souls.  Touted as the spiritual successor to PS3 exclusive and cult hit Demon's Souls, it was released for PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011, and later (somewhat questionably) ported to PC in 2012. Following its release it quickly amassed a very large fanbase well eclipsing that of it's spiritual predecessor, and would continue on to become one of the most highly revered games of the seventh generation.  I myself am a self proclaimed Dark Souls fanatic, and my obsession with the series can be described generously as "hardcore," and ungenerously as "unhealthy."

Using the Japanese box art, because I am a hipster

But what is it that makes Dark Souls so enticing?  What is it that gives myself and a legion of other players the urge to dive back into the dark, uncompromising land of Lordran?  I've been thinking about it, and here's what I've come up with...

Difficult, but Fair

Yep, that's a boss...  Ironically one of the easier ones...

Much has been said about the difficulty of Dark Souls - beating the game and the degree to which one beats the game (trophies, completion, self imposed challenge, etc.) are held in high esteem as proof of "Gamer Cred" (and perhaps, in the latter cases, of a lot of spare time).

However, a distinction must be made.  While Dark Souls is frequently difficult, it is very rarely unfair.  Why, then, are there so many people who deride the game as "cheap," often accompanied with swearing and broken controllers?  In my personal opinion, this has to do with the type of difficulty present in Dark Souls.

In the video games of our day and age, a lot of focus is put upon skill of execution; meaning button sequences, timing, aiming, etc..  In Dark Souls, while execution certainly helps, the game tends to reward those who play the game intelligently - No matter how good you are, charging into an enemy group with no plan and the thought that your skill will get you out alive is generally a one way ticket to the last bonfire you visited.  Things like kiting, hit and run tactics, evasion, patience and general caution are all important, especially early on.  As enemies always have the same placement and general mannerisms, the game is clearly trying to teach the player how to deal with enemies and enemy groups, and urges you to take advantage of the myriad of tools at your disposal.  I personally believe that victory in Dark Souls is determined 60% by planning and preparation, 30% by execution, and 10% will of God.

Granted, there are some instances where it seems the game deliberately tries to trick you, but even these are generally constructive.  A good example is near the very beginning of the game, and I'll impart my personal experience with this section.  After leaving the Undead Asylum which functioned as the tutorial, I found myself at a bonfire in small clearing near a dilapidated church.  My attention was immediately drawn to the only human in the vicinity, the Crestfallen Warrior, who gave me a general idea of my objective (ring the two bells) but gave me very little information in terms of the direction I should travel.  My gamer sensibilities rationalized that the way forward must be through the large building behind him, so I made my way through to the graveyard whereupon I was promptly murdered by skeletons.  Of course, at first I took this as an example of "One of Vile's Henchmen, you must be on the Right Track!" (meaning the presence of enemies is generally a sign of the right direction).  I started to learn where the skeletons would spawn, how to separate them, how to fight them individually, and prayed to God they didn't dodge my attacks.  Eventually after many, many failed attempts, I made it to the Catacombs, and the extremely dark atmosphere and the fact the Crestfallen Warrior didn't say nothin bout no Catacombs started ringing alarm bells in my head, and I thought "maybe I'm not going the right way after all."

So I started searching for alternate routes, and found a staircase leading down along with a cool pressure sensitive elevator.  I arrived in New Londo, and when I tried to progress I was promptly murdered by ghosts I couldn't hit.  "Okay, now I'm definitely going the wrong way..."  So I looked around for more paths, and then I finally found the inconspicuous staircase leading to the Undead Burg, the real first section of the game.

So what does this tell us?  Well, first I like to tell stories, but more importantly, the game stresses exploration, a large portion of the world is immediately open to you, and the solutions to problems may not be immediately apparent.  Plus, I absolutely curbstomed the Undead Soldiers with the battle tactics I learned from fighting skeletons.

A Mysterious World

Lordran is not a happy place.  It is, however, an interesting place, and at times it can even be a beautiful place.  Part of the joy of Dark Souls is discovering the new and varied environments, marveling at their beauty, and growing suspicious of the horrors lurking therein.

In terms of design, the world is completely interconnected, and can arguably be considered the natural evolution of the "Metroidvania" format.  As mentioned above, most areas are open to you at the outset, and, with the right items and a fair amount of know how, you can get very powerful equipment very early.

I mentioned the varied environments above, and I just want to take the time to stress how incredibly imaginative and awe inspiring some of these locales are.  Anor Londo is pictured above, and that's probably the first "Wow, this is pretty" moment for most players, but you also can't help but marvel at areas like the Moonlit Forest and the Demon Ruins.  Even in the case of less loved areas like Blighttown, it's impossible to deny that the concept is definitely cool, and it certainly conveys a feeling of grief and suffering.  There are even areas that are completely optional, some of which would be really hard to find if you're not looking for them *cough* Ash Lake *cough*, adding a sense of mystery and intrigue to the world as a whole.

Special mention must go to the characters here.  There really aren't that many non-aggressive characters in the game, but the ones that are present are endearing, memorable, and really make the world feel "alive" (or undead, as the case may be).  Some characters, such as Solaire of Astoria and Siegmeyer of Catarina have extremely large followings despite having relatively minor roles in the actual story;  the latter of these two is actually very easily missable!  Of course, the (many) things trying to kill you in the game are impressive as well.  Who wasn't shocked when they first ran into the cat-alligator-porcupine things in the woods, or the menacing Gaping Dragon pictured near the beginning of this article?
 

The aforementioned Solaire of Astoria who has an...  Err...  Somewhat offputting obsession with the Sun.

Of course, the thing that is really interesting to examine in this game is the lore, and how it is, or perhaps more appropriately isn't, given the player.  The game spoon-feeds very little story and lore by default, even by WRPG standards.  In fact, it is really quite easy to get through the entire game having little to no idea exactly why and who you're murdering.  That's not to say there is no story; on the contrary, there is an amazing amount of depth and detail to both the story and the lore, but details given directly to the player are quite sparse, so if the player wants to get a bigger picture of the world and quest, they have to seek it out from less conventional sources.  Item descriptions, spell descriptions, optional dialogue - these types of things are the main sources of lore in the Dark Souls universe.  Even after gathering all the pieces from different sources, there are still some missing;  much of the game's lore is intentionally vague.  Many of my fellow Video Game Scholars have dedicated a large amount of time to creating theories about the lore of Dark Souls, one of the most notable being Epicnamebro.

Freedom and Flexibility

When I ponder about the character creation system in Dark Souls (as I am wont to ponder such things more than any sane person), I generally wonder why they bothered adding a class select.  Sure, stats are slightly different, there's different starting equipment and I suppose it helps with immersion, but in the grand scheme of things your starting class (with the exception of the thief, due to master key, and even then the master key can be selected as a starting gift) really makes no noticeable difference to how your character will end up.  Every skill is available to every character with the correct prerequisites, and any weapon can be wielded by any character regardless of starting class assuming they have the stats required to do so.

This, of course, leads to people making interesting and varied character builds.  Want a bulky warrior who smashes things with a hammer, but throws lightning bolts on the side?  Sure.  Want to play as a squishy mage who wields a scythe because you just replayed Chrono Trigger?  Go ahead.  Perhaps you'd prefer to be a mostly naked barbarian who only attacks by spinning around a spiky wagon wheel?  First, seek help, then play that character.

This is gonna be AWESOME

This freedom also extends to exploration and general movement.  I mentioned earlier that most of the areas in the game are open to you from the very beginning, and this is true, but there's another element.  There are almost no invisible walls present in the game at all.  With good enough spacing and dexterity, you can get almost anywhere in the environment.  This leads to a sense of "I wonder what would happen if I did this..."  Of course, this often leads to hilarious death, but sometimes it leads to more interesting results such as sequence breaking, which is part of what makes Dark Souls a very popular speed running game.

Let's look at perhaps the most famous sequence break in the game - the Duke Skip.  Early in the are known as the Duke's Archives, you are required to take an open air elevator that leads to an unwinnable battle, after which you find yourself in a prison.  However, the elevator passes by a balcony on it's way up and down.  With a well timed roll, you can jump on top of the rails of the elevator, and with another well timed roll, you can actually roll onto the balcony, skipping the unwinnable fight and the whole prison sequence.  This, of course, would be impossible in a typical action RPG due to invisible walls.

A Clear Feeling of Progression

In terms of Gameplay and progression, I would actually liken the game to a roguelike of all things.  The farther you get without dying, the higher the tension gets as one false move can lead to your death and loss of precious resources.  Where Dark Souls is a bit more forgiving than a traditional roguelike, and what I believe is really the best design decision in the Souls series, is the fact that you can recover your resources if you make it back to where you died from the last bonfire (checkpoint) you activated.  Not only does this add an extra layer of tension and cause the player to err towards caution (if you die again those resources are gone for good), but it also stimulates the "must beat high score" part of gamer brains.  The desire to get farther and beat your previous position is constant, and the fact that you must proceed with caution and intelligence makes the experience feel all the more rewarding once you reach that next bonfire and can finally spend your spoils you worked so hard for.

As you get farther in the game, you will notice a very clear feeling that you are getting better at it, and I've found that many people reach a point where the game really starts to "click" for them.  Traps don't fool you as often, enemies don't seem quite as daunting, the environment doesn't seem quite as oppressive, and after Sen's Fortress you better believe you are striking every treasure chest before attempting to open it.  Part of this will be that you are getting more savvy to the games tricks, and part of it will be your character's increased stats and better armor.  Very few things are more satisfying than revisiting an area (or even replaying an area with new knowledge) and thinking "I thought this was hard?"

Of course, the game constantly finds new things to throw at you to prevent any feelings of complacency.  Anor Londo is a good example of this.  You reach there about halfway through the game, right about the time you're starting to feel comfortable, and immediately throw in things designed to disrupt your balance.  The first boss reappears as a normal encounter, you're forced to walk across thin beams while dodging knives, and you are presented with a very...  Trying scenario involving two archers (those who've played it know the one).  If that wasn't enough, this section concludes with one of the hardest (not to mention most epic) boss fights in the game!  But the sense of accomplishment once Ornstein and Smough finally go down is palpable, and for that moment you will feel like the King of the World.

Seriously, these guys are dicks

Interesting Online Integration

Try saying that three times fast...  In Dark Souls you are automatically connected to the games online servers as long as your system has a connection, but while being connected is compulsory, direct interaction with other players is not.  By default, you're connected with other players in a very passive way - every once and a while you'll see a ghostly shadow of another player, you might receive a bonus from another player kindling a bonfire near you, or you might hear someone ringing a bell nearby in their world.  This passive interaction is also present in bloodstains that mark where another player died.  By interacting with the blood stain, you can see the other player's last moments which often serve as vital clues to the dangers lying ahead.  This system is interesting because it produces a feeling of camaraderie and isolation at the same time.  You see others going though the same struggles, but often have no way of helping them directly, or at least not immediately.

In general, there are three major ways to directly interact with people online in Dark Souls:  aiding, invading and trolling.

Once you receive the white soapstone from Solaire of Astoria early in the game, you gain the ability to travel to other worlds as a benevolent phantom.  If you so choose, there is also a covenant you can join in game that specializes in this (Sunbros 4lyfe!).  There are very specific spots people can summon you, most often near bonfires or right before bosses, the connection between players is somewhat random and phantoms are immediately dismissed after boss battles, so coordinating a cooperative run with a friend can be an exercise in frustration, but, in my opinion aiding people through difficult passages and bosses is an immensely rewarding in both a material and emotional way.

PRAISE THE SUN!

 Of course, invading is much more highlighted in the game, and remains a popular pastime even today.  There are several ways to invade another player, but the most basic involves using a red eye orb of some kind.  This places you at a random point in another player's world, and the object is to fight to the death.  There are several covenants dedicated to invading, and some of them have really cool concepts like Blade of the Darkmoon that strives to punish players who act less than gentlemanly/womanly, or  the Forest Hunters that will summon you to defend the forest from invaders. 

A large PVP community for the game has sprung up, and tend to seek matches in very specific areas of the game to avoid getting matched with lower level players.  While a PVP arena exists in the DLC, it seems like it's rarely used; players prefer to find matches "in the wild."  Due to the fact evasion and positioning is very important in the battle system of Dark Souls, PVP matches tend to look a little...  Well...  Silly.  Expect people to be rolling all over the place, desperately retreating and repositioning in hopes for a backstab or favorable positioning.

Dark Souls PVP.gif

 The last type of interaction, trolling, is done mainly through the messaging system.  Yes, messages can sometimes be helpful, but that's definitely the exception, not the rule.  In Demon's Souls, you actually received benefits if somebody liked your message, but no such system exists in Dark Souls, so people are free to make troll messages as much as they like.  Interestingly, this sometimes comes full circle and makes them helpful again if the player starts assuming the messages are trying to troll them.

And with that, my long winded post has come to an end.  I will always fondly remember my journeys in Lordran, but highly anticipate the adventures to come in the new land of Dark Souls 2 and all the horror, hardships, and degrees of withdrawal from society so intense that people will assume me dead that will come of them.  This is Justin, signing off and wishing all of you fortune in your future video game endeavors.

Soul of the mind, key to life's ether,

Soul of the lost, withdrawn from thy vessel,

Let strength be granted so the world might be mended,

So the world might be mended.