Revisiting The Darkness a month ago reminded me what a bummer Syndicate's single-player was. Starbreeze the the first-perspective so right with that game. Haven't played 2 yet but at least Digital Extremes attempted to do right by the legacy of the original.

That note to is, incidentally, how I (should) begin all my blogs.

Just finished the Darkness 2 over the weekend & had a blast though I thought for the Vendetta mode the Scotsman or the Voodoo master worked better. All the characters seem good but just harder depending on who you're playing with early on. Cheers to someone else on the site that's a fan of the dark roast coffee. Great post & have fun with whatever you do on the other side of the pond.

The Darkness series is definitely one of my favorite in gaming. It's one of the few first person shooters with an actual story in it, and while the first one is dated, the story itself still holds up really well. 2 is just as good, I think, even if....well, you'll see for yourself.

You're asking an awful lot regarding the rules of this community. At it's basic level, this is just a large internet forum, keyword is "internet." Everyone's the main character in their movie of life, and annoying side characters (aka everyone else) shouldn't speak out of line.

It's a shame that you trade in games, but that's coming from someone who will never play Evergrace again, but still has it around for "just in case." Ah, well, I see why you would do it (I mean *insert demeaning and insulting comment here about how dumb you are for trading in games*).

I'm not sure of the types of games you're into (I assume story plays a big part), but Theatrhythm is the only 3DS game that's caught my eye. It's about as weird as you can get, plus it's not Pokemon. That's always a plus.

Lovely read.

@TaliciaDragonsong:

Yeah, from what I played I really liked it. I'll definitely continue. Thanks.

I was actually playing it on Hard before as I enjoy a challenge and I was going through a bit of a 'achievement junkie' phase back then too. I'm gonna keep going on Hard but hey, if I come to you saying it's too difficult, feel free to rub this in my face. :P

I've long felt that the smarter/more talented/more empathetic you are, the more likely it is that you will chronically doubt yourself. The reason being is that you have to be reasonably smart to envision/conceive how stuff can go wrong. This seems to be magnified for people who live in their mind, daydreamers, writers, artists etc. Seems pretty natural to me this happens to you, since you have writing talent.

Some of the happiest people I've ever met are not thinkers. Some of them have been really proficient at one thing or another, but generally they aren't people that think ahead. Live in the moment types. They do stuff purely because they want to do it, and don't even consider what could happen or could be. I could never live that way. They are happy but somehow it also feels like they are missing out.

That's the tradeoff I guess for intelligence/talent. I have no answer for this chronic doubt @TaliciaDragonsong about your own ability (not that you were asking), other than it probably says good things about you.

In your case fwiw I sincerely doubt your last blog is going to be your magnum opus, provided you keep writing often. And if you are like the other writers I've known, keep living life and having interesting experiences. Seems to me your skill hasn't maxxed out yet, based off the little samplings I've read.

as far as I'm concerned, keep blogging as you're doing. You've got enough talent and have enough forum cred that your inner gaming thoughts are actually interesting. I don't think mine would be!

Well, you've sold me on the Darkness 2. I played through the original just before the release of the sequel but never got around to actually purchasing it... Don't stress yourself out thinking about your future blogs and worrying that your creativity is running out. Creativity, like time, constantly flows and unfolds in ways that you can't predict but you can learn to harness, shape, and bend to your will.  I have wrestled with this fact for most of my life as a visual artist in my younger years and now as a musician. You never know when the next lightning strike will ignite that fire inside you, because the beauty of true creativity is that it will constantly replenish itself and reinvent itself in ways that will surprise you... I would agree that your personal touch is your "special sauce", or at least its what brings me to the yard... Great blog, but i believe the best is yet to come.

The voice over direction in the Darkness 2 really helped the story telling. I would love a HD remake of the first one using the Darkness 2 engine, but that just reminds me there will probably not be a third one...

I had not played the Darkness and went to look up a particular scene you mention. Still brought tears to my eyes. I think the characters of Jackie and Jenny are probably the best or the most real of any video game series so far.

While I doubt a Darkness 3 will ever happen, I'd love to see one. Those games feel like they come half an inch short of their potential, and if they can bridge that gap, it'd be an all-time classic.

The big spoilery moment involving Jenny in the first game is one of my absolute favorite scenes in gaming, incidentally. From that moment until the credit roll, I was out for honest-to-Mike-Patton vengeance.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

@ShaggE: Again I ask, why not? 2 came out of nowhere so perhaps 3 will to.

One can certainly hope. I often forget that we live in a world where Duke Nukem Forever is on store shelves, ROTT is getting officially remade, and craziest of all, Snoop Dogg is now Snoop Lion. Truly, anything can happen.

Glad to see Darkness 2 getting some appreciation. I've really enjoyed the franchise and hope it's sold well enough to merit a third game.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

@ShaggE: You mean a world where yearly installments sell like mad and get hailed as innovaters? Not to mention there's about 7 game of the year games in store.....Yuck!

*shudder*

I rather enjoyed both the darkness games. I definitely liked the style and flow to Darkness 2, I pretty much played it through in a couple of sittings.

Though this has reminded me that I never actually tried the multiplayer. I wasn't too sure if the multiplayer content/narrative would really live up to or fit well with the single player stuff. After having finished Darkness 2 single player I put it aside thinking I might return for the multiplayer a bit later but time and other things distracted me and I completely forgot. Not sure if people would even be playing it now, or if it is viable solo.

The Jenny stuff was certainly brilliant in both games, some quite quiet, subtle moments with it like the first game with just watching the tv if I remember right. It does a really good job of investing you in their relationship.

As for arguments, a different opinion can be interesting and enlightening leading to an interesting discussion. The main issue largely seems to come down to delivery where "interesting ideas, though personally I think x because y" in a respectful manner could lead to interesting discussion, sometimes people opt instead for "I disagree, x is right, you stupid idiot". Then it devolves from there :/

Sometimes they can make a good point but bringing it down to a confrontational standoff damages the discussion and can close people off to the idea out of principle. I still recall as a kid being on a forum and mentioning in regards to Aeris that Squaresoft had apparently intended some means of resurrection but scrapped it/left it out from what I had read. To which someone rather aggressively pointed out that her death was meaningful, and any sort of means to "fix" that would undermine the meaning of that moment. Albeit they didn't quite phrase it that way, and I didn't feel like replying to how they had approached it in a hostile, insulting manner for me having even brought that up, I felt that what they were saying did have merit and began to look at it that way.

Differing opinions are good, I think it is just important to stay open minded or at least not let the discussion get personal/venomous.

As for writing I know the feeling, I get really self conscious over writing, wondering if it is good enough, if it is worded correctly, etc. When I do write something e.g a short story people seem to be really positive of it, though I tend to always look at it and find things to nit pick with it and revise several times. Same with drawing >.<

I spend quite some time double checking forum posts even before putting them up hehe.

@Slag hit it quite perfectly in regards to creative doubt and being prone to thinking and empathy; tends to lead to being quite critical of your own work, spending time daydreaming, pondering, picking apart every last detail of a piece and feeling convinced that it isn't quite good enough. It is frustrating to work through, and dosn't seem to ever fade, but I think it is a good thing. Nobody is infallible. A chronic awareness of that fact about yourself tends to keep the mind open to ideas, and the fact that others have good points too :)

Anyway, lest I start to ramble on down some tangent, in closing; Darkness 1+2 are great and it would be nice to see a third game show up someday. I'd be happy to see it continue in the same vein/artistic style as 2 as I rather liked it. As for the doubt, it'll probably stay, but it is a useful trait at times. Keep writing regardless as usually people enjoy the piece a lot more than you dare to think they might. That is what I have found in the past with the few things I have written at least. Though has been years since I brought myself to write something >.< doh hehe.

I really enjoyed reading this. Your writing fits the "New Games Journalism" model in a lot of ways, one that acknowledges how much games have become a part of life.

Man, The Darkness 2 is such a great goddamned game. I think everyone who hasn't played it will be shocked by how many "end of year" lists it'll be showing up on.

EDIT: Also, I didn't get to play enough of the multiplayer either. If any duders/duderettes are interested, my gamertag is LittleSocrates1, feel free to contact me.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

I don't like ponies though, smug beasts.

Followed for accurate characterization of farm animals. Also, your blog was a fun read.

I think that adding a little bit of you in your writing is something you shouldn't be afraid to do. I've always been taught to find my "writer's voice" so that anytime something of mine is written, ideally the reader would be able to tell I wrote it without knowing beforehand. This style may just be your own voice that sets you apart from other bloggers. And as long as you're genuine, I would expect your blogs to be as well received as your last and as this one seems to be.

I've never played the Darkness and that plot twist has been spoiled for me, so I almost feel like it isn't worth it without that unexpected impact. The Darkness 2 looked cool, though. Too many games to play.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

My special milkshake that brings all the boys to the yard?

Fixed, unless you weren't referencing that one Kelis song from a while ago.

@Dad_Is_A_Zombie said:

Glad to see Darkness 2 getting some appreciation. I've really enjoyed the franchise and hope it's sold well enough to merit a third game.

I believe it flopped badly. Didn't have much of a marketing campaign and I remember a lot of people complaining about it being short.

@Slag said:

I've long felt that the smarter/more talented/more empathetic you are, the more likely it is that you will chronically doubt yourself. The reason being is that you have to be reasonably smart to envision/conceive how stuff can go wrong. This seems to be magnified for people who live in their mind, daydreamers, writers, artists etc. Seems pretty natural to me this happens to you, since you have writing talent.

Some of the happiest people I've ever met are not thinkers. Some of them have been really proficient at one thing or another, but generally they aren't people that think ahead. Live in the moment types. They do stuff purely because they want to do it, and don't even consider what could happen or could be. I could never live that way. They are happy but somehow it also feels like they are missing out.

That's the tradeoff I guess for intelligence/talent. I have no answer for this chronic doubt

In my perspective, that isn't the whole picture. The cool thing about doubt and self doubt is that while you are in doubt you are safe. You aren't risking anything, not advancing with your talents, not putting them to the test along with your dreams. You run in circles in your mind, through the mazes you envision, always safe. It's a tool, it is a protection, a way of escaping from the unpredictable reality. A creative way of doing it.

And the way to deal with it, is through your sensations. When you feel you are right on just move forward. Doubting will just slow you down and confort you. If that's what you want it's fine, if not, fight it.

That's the way I see it.

About Darkness 2, I loved the beginning, and the middle of the game, but with the spike in difficulty in the latter parts of the game, I can't avoid feeling frustrated with some enemies, and disappointed with the repetitive nature of combat. This blog makes me more motivated about finishing, but still I'm not convinced. ahah

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

@Slag: Thank you, some wise words!
That's the silly thing about it though, I 'know' I got a talent for this but still the fear keeps sneaking up on me.
I really feel unplugged from the Matrix but I'm very conflicted if it wasn't better to be, as you put it, unaware and such.

hey no problem.

Grass is always greener on the other side as the saying goes. Where the "blissfully unaware" (for lack of a better term) seem to really suffer for their lifestyle is when things do go wrong. My friends who are like that usually are largely incapable of handling severe adversity well.

Besides it seems like you are getting some pretty universal praise here for your efforts, so it can't be all that bad ya?

I know it's easier said than done. I certainly don't have your writing talent but I too chronically have similar feelings, so I can relate a bit to what it might feel like. Perhaps that's why what your wrote spoke to me.

anyway you keep writing like this, I'll keep reading and I know others will too.

@TaliciaDragonsong: Believe it or not, I don't think the New Games Journalism people are very interested in journalism either. It's more about personal anecdotes and creative analyses can be used to look at the way we play games. Just a catchy name that caught on, I guess.

I wasn't a big fan of The Witcher 2, but I can acknowledge that it's a great game for its audience. More people should definitely play both, though, as I think both those audiences are pretty darn wide. And yes, they're far better than certain other games getting the spotlight.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

@NegativeCero: Thanks! You should pick Darkness 2 up on a steam sale and play it just for the immense power rush it provides! ;)
I was referencing that song but I decided not to use milkshake because...now the song is stuck in my head again.

@mosdl: That's sad! :(

@Jeust: Hard enemies? You were playing something wrong then!
The gun channel skill was pretty overpowered, you could easily grab a guy and make a Darkness shield with the fourth execution option and if you dual wielded you'd mow everything down.
Not to mention you can just click the middle mouse and your right tentacle starts whipping and slicing.
Game kind of wants you to go full power all the time, got to eat some hearts and execute people for the health/cooldown/ammo/shield but never did I feel like it was unfair!

@Slag: Again thank you! Its these kind of words that keep me going!
And yeah, I keep getting so much praise, I think I need to drop the doubt and started having a ego.
As in, walk around with sunglasses all day since I'm cool, yo.

@Little_Socrates: True that, but I was talking about I have no interest to go do a study in journalism and stuff. Which is too bad as I might have really had fun doing the job. Witcher 1 is curious, its fun and a great game sure but its also pretty rickety. The camera angles (always go for the behind the shoulder cam), the menu's, the alchemy, the lackluster fighting. I don't mind these, I know how to look past gameplay issues, but a lot of people won't give this the time of day. Which is fine somewhere, I rather not play something I don't feel good about either, but its a downright shame they are so harsh to the game while its one of the best and most intense games ever. We as a gamer community really have to watch out for the yearly installments is what I say. I enjoy Assassin's Creed or CoD too, but not as much as I did other titles that pop up. To each their own, but we gotta keep that original mill running!

There are some enemies that arm themselves with light, which makes the darkness powers useless to them. And they are bullet sponges too.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

@Jeust: Aye but that's the challenge. The guys in white coats carry huge lights, which you can shoot out and there's some lights in the area which you can disable either by shooting or blowing up their power (follow the cables!) generators. They also use flash grenades but just retreat back into a dark corner or whatever. Lets face it, if you had full reign the entire game you would be invincible.

Yeah, that's true. ahah

Nice blog!

I also have Borderlands 2 on preorder. Loved the first one and I would like to try and get back and finish some of the DLC I never got through but with Dust: An Elysian Tail, Sleeping Dogs and then Darksiders 2 next week my plate is pretty full so I don't know if I'll get around to it before it lands.

The only thing about Borderlands for me personally is I find it hard to play that game solo after my initial exposure to it was playing it in co-op. It's still fun on its own but I always feel like there's something missing when I'm not playing it with friends. While it does seem like Borderlands 2 will be better and lot more crazier than the first, I'm just wondering if it'll fall into that same trap for me. I have a few friends to go through it with anyhow so hopefully it's not a problem.

Where do you fall? Do you prefer playing Borderlands solo or co-op?

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

@Slag: Again thank you! Its these kind of words that keep me going!
And yeah, I keep getting so much praise, I think I need to drop the doubt and started having a ego.
As in, walk around with sunglasses all day since I'm cool, yo.

Well good! That's exactly why I make sure to say so when I see someone put out a good piece.

and looks like your avatar already has sunglasses on so I guess you're already on the way to having an ego eh?. ;)

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

I was referencing that song but I decided not to use milkshake because...now the song is stuck in my head again.

Serves you right. It was stuck in my head as soon as I read that line. I was just about to go to bed too, but now rather than just laying in bed with that chorus on repeat I'm spending some time listening to other songs to maybe make it go away. So far I've been unsuccessful. Soon I might have to consider Plan B.

@TaliciaDragonsong: Ha! Would he be singing me a song? Or beating me about the head? Or both? I honestly would have considered anything, as I woke up early with Milkshake still stuck in my head.

The Darkness II is so good, finished getting all the achievements a couple of days ago.....I usually don't care at all about the storylines of most games, but I was enjoying the stoyline of the Darkness II and I hope they make a 3rd one to continue the story.

@TaliciaDragonsong: Ha!

Also maybe just a bit too much information.

I skipped out on the darkness 2 when I found out it was short. But sense the darkness 2 is cheaper now I'll check it out.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

I think I need to drop the doubt and started having a ego.
As in, walk around with sunglasses all day since I'm cool, yo.   

Right on. the Darkness 2 is amazing.