Ramblings about Dark Souls and other wonderful uses of time and money

Because talking about this game always leads to level-headed rational debate. Oh, and feel free to recommend some PS3 exclusives if you want.

Whoops. Accidentally bought a PS3 for $150 and a handful of games to go along with it. Don’t know how that happened. Finally, I can play exclusive installments of series I already enjoyed on other consoles, with hot recent games like Demon’s Souls, Valkyria Chronicles, Metal Gear Solid 4, and… Final Fantasy XIII? (Okay, I actually got the 360 version of that last one.) Anyways, I figure those games, a handful of other notable exclusives, maybe some HD compilations of PS2 games I never bothered to buy for my PS2 and some weirdo niche JRPGs are likely in my future (but maybe not my immediate future), given that there aren’t a ton of “big” games this year that have really grabbed my attention, a fact compounded by the part where I don’t plan on getting a Xbox One or PS4 (for the record, leaning towards PS4) for a bit. What I do have to look forward to are the myriad kickstarter games I backed like two years ago that are actually coming out, but you’ve heard my talk about that before. What you haven’t heard is my attempt to talk about Dark Souls II. Which is what I will do herein.

In which I talk about one game pretty much exclusively in the context of the game it is a sequel to, thus making this blog of questionable use for someone who hasn't played any souls games.

As always, Japan gets the superior box art

Dark Souls II is probably not as good as the first Dark Souls, the same way The Wind Waker is probably not as good as Ocarina of Time*. For all of its improvements, smart changes and success at establishing its own identity, Dark Souls II has the misfortune of being the sequel to one of the greatest games of this console generation (Demon’s Souls? I guess I’ll find out where that fits in soon enough), so that comparison was always bound to be a bit of an uphill one. On its own merits, it’s a great game, well worth playing if one liked those other Souls games. But after my 40 hour playthrough concluded, I couldn’t help but think that some of the “magic” from its predecessor was missing for as much as I enjoyed my time with it. Obviously some of that is just the part where it’s a sequel and thus my second time with “one of these games”, but to continue the Wind Waker comparison, I also think there are distinct design problems with the second game that overshadow some of its superior aspects.

Before I stumbled upon the Bell Keepers I was part of the rat covenant. Different look, same great flavor (far more difficult to murder someone). PVP in general was something I actually enjoyed rather than shunned.

But I shouldn’t really dwell on the negative, otherwise this might sound like I somehow disliked this game. On the contrary, I think a lot of the changes made to Dark Souls II are good ones. While I played a similar kind of character to the one I played in Dark Souls (big swords and pyromancy, though no Lightning Zweihander this time), I mostly ditched the shield and the idea of poise-tanking for the last half of my playthrough in favor of dual-wielding two (2) greatswords and dodging around (though I was also probably motivated by the part where blocking was seemingly nerfed to bits in this game with one’s much smaller stamina bar) to surprisingly deadly effect, with pyromancy and that 3-shot burst crossbow as secondaries, both of those pulling their weight as well (spellcasting seems improved in general and crossbows are actually useful) That worked out pretty well, and I am seriously considering doing another run with a hexer character because hexes seem brokenly powerful and I wouldn’t mind playing a spellcaster for once. I also engaged a lot more with PVP as a member of the Bell Keeper covenant, where I learned that you can totally critical riposte someone if you break their guard while they have their shield up and toxic mist is ridiculously effective in cramped environments. In this multiplayer aspect, Dark Souls II has succeeded far more for me than its predecessor ever could have. By the time I got that first game, the only multiplayer interactions that mattered were summoning dudes for help when fighting a small handful of bosses and inevitably getting invaded by some PVP dirtbag who would inevitably lag teleport behind me and get the insta-kill backstab, thus ensuring that I never wanted to stay human for very long. Being that I got this game fresh, I never had problems summoning help (or finding an unfortunate rube entering the bell towers). I might’ve actually used summoned help as a crutch, in some cases clearly recognizing that I didn’t need much help at all. If I had advice for someone who hadn’t yet played this game, it would be to maybe exercise some self-restraint when summoning help? I’ll give you that some bosses seem designed to make life miserable for certain character builds without summoned help, but there are also bosses that will crumble against other character builds. Please, use human effigies responsibly.

Apparently this lady has some sort of achievement associated with summoning her for a bunch of bosses? Totally missed that one.

Actually to get into one of my gripes, a lot of bosses in Dark Souls II weren’t much fun (especially in comparison to that first game), and thinking about it for a bit I think I realized why: There are too many bosses, and too many of those bosses are pretty same-y in their design. I feel like a good chunk of the bosses I fought were big dudes with big weapons and wide, sweeping attacks that one could dodge with the proper timing. I’m not really sure why that is. Maybe they looked at the Artorias battle from DS1 and figured “People liked that fight, so we should clearly have a bunch of fights that are sort of like that!” When I think about the bosses in Dark Souls 1, they’re all iconic, unique fights, whereas I feel like The Pursuer, Dragonrider(s), Mirror Knight, Smelter Demon, Flexile Sentry, and Ruin Sentinels (to get into a mere handful) are, to some extent, variations on the same boss battle. There are still good ones, mind you (that Giant Spider is pretty terrifying), but I still found it a marked step down from Dark Souls the first.

And that theme really bleeds into some of my other criticisms of Dark Souls 2 (which I will once again remind you is a game I enjoyed playing). It’s a more consistent game in terms of difficulty, in terms of quality and in terms of design, but it’s less cohesive than the first game, if that makes any sense. Each area is sort of isolated from any other given area (whereas they were all interconnected in Dark Souls 1) and because of this consistency it’s a bit harder for any given area to stand out. That sometimes works out, as with the area that seems like a cross between Blighttown and Tomb of the Giants not being nearly as shitty as that sounds, but in some way that actually seems like a downside, as if there has to be a grueling terrible place to make the rest of the experience that much sweeter. Maybe this sounds like Stockholm syndrome at some point. Maybe I’m asking too much by demanding an experience as unique as the original Dark Souls. Maybe none of what I’m writing actually makes any sense? If I sound harsh or nitpicky with this game, it’s because I might want it to be something it can’t be. Not sure. In summary, I should probably go to bed, before I lose my train of thought entirely. Sure I could go to sleep and try to collect my thoughts tomorrow, but... eh. I've already re-written some of these paragraphs like a half-dozen times at this point.

*: Let’s be real: even if you’re one of those weirdos who likes Majora’s Mask, that is very much a non-traditional Zelda game that goes for the weird. Wind Waker makes more sense for the analogy I was trying to make.