This update was originally going to go up April 12. Coincidentally, that was also the date Dark Souls III was released. I forgot all about this blog, and played about 40 hours of Dark Souls III in the span of about a week, which is saying something, because I still have university to attend. Oh well! It's been a great couple of weeks.

Dark Souls III

I've written about Dark Souls on this blog in the past. To re-iterate somewhat; I like the Souls-games from a distance, I enjoy the look and feel of it but I've never actually completed one. I felt like I was making some good progress the last time I attempted to get through Dark Souls I, but I encountered a nasty bug that made the game crash within a few seconds of launching. So much for that, I guess.

I tried Dark Souls II, but it didn't really grab me, so I never played more than a couple of hours of it. With all that in mind, I wasn't particularly interested in getting Dark Souls III day one. But I don't know what happened... Having recently cleared my backlog (hurray!), I was wondering about my next purchase, and Dark Souls III seemed like the right choice for some reason. I thought, I have some experience with the franchise and the story itself doesn't seem to be all that important. So sure, why not. What ended up happening was that I was basically glued to my TV for the following days, until the final boss went down. Even after that, I went back and mopped up the optional bosses and areas, and I've been thinking of starting a new character to play through it all again. Dark Souls III grabbed me in a way that no Souls-game previously has.

I don't know what about the game compelled me to complete it in such a short amount of time - the game is pretty much more Dark Souls, except maybe a bit faster because Bloodborne happened? I think the core of it lies at the boss fights. I think almost all of the boss fights in this game are spectacular - there were definitely a few tough ones, but they felt doable. And the bonfires before the bosses were never that far, so the prospect of trying just one more time was never that daunting, it just sort of happened.

I've never been good at (or interested in) comparing all the stats on weapons, so my approach was that I found a weapon with a basic move-set that I enjoyed, and just kept upgrading that weapon through to the end of the game. I'm happy that was possible, and that I didn't feel like I was wasting my upgrade materials on a weapon that was ultimately not gonna be viable, and I think that's another thing that made this game click for me - I never felt like how I was spec'ing my character was wrong, it was just my character. I was never inclined to look up builds on a wiki to find the optimal stat allocation and weapons.

I get that this formula may be a little tired for people who have played through the series extensively, but for someone like me who has played Dark Souls I just enough to know that I enjoy it on a basic level, this game was all it needed to be, for me. It's quite telling that even after 40 or so hours and a complete playthrough, I kind of just want to go do it again but with a different build and find some more NPCs and see if I can get a different ending. This game is great!

Stardew Valley

The other game I played in the span of these weeks was Stardew Valley, which I expected to be completely and utterly captivated by, based on all the conversation around it. It just never happened, so after about 7 or so hours, I think it's time for me to put it down. I know that I haven't even completed a season or done anything meaningful progress-wise, but the pace of the game is way too slow for me to justify spending so much time with it. It's a shame really, but not all games are for everybody. I'm just glad to have played it and kind of gotten a feel for the genre, seeing as I've never played Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing.