2013 - Day 1: Part 14

And a great ending it was!

Kessler and his terrible advice. Glad you finished your marathon with Dark Souls; looking forward to more punishment and confusion on the next one.

Has Kessler played Dark Souls before? He seems to have less an idea of what's going on than Brad.

Oh Kessler! I love you so!

Something about the way that Vinny and Brad play this game makes me go crazy. Vinny with his supertanking skills and Brad with the way he doesn't hold the shield up, drinks in the totally inappropriate places, turns his back on the enemies and doesn't use lock-on very much... but man am I glad they are playing this game, here is to 24 more hours of this!

I'm so glad the donation goal was broken, and we are actually gonna get another 24 hours of this.

Shield up! Shield up! Shield up!

I'm so glad Ian and @rorie give hints to Vinny. The total lack of direction here meant that he spent most of his time backtracking, not understanding the systems of the game, etc. Like, it's fun watching any of the guys play Dark Souls just because it's the guys and it's Dark Souls, and yes, I get that the magic of Dark Souls is the mystery and uncertainty of it all (I've beaten it at least four times), but man did it feel like Brad was making zero progress the whole time. Doesn't seem fun for Brad and it wasn't that fun to watch him flounder for three hours (outside of a few choices moments like backing away from one tree and into three more).

So yeah, thank you Ian and Rorie for finding a good balance of not holding Vinny's hand but also not leaving him totally clueless and running in circles, either.

It's been interesting to find the balance between instruction manual and strategy guide, for sure. In the end we're just a few friends sitting in front of a TV playing a video game, though! That's probably what we should've made this out to be from the get-go rather than try and establish any kind of set rules for our interactions, honestly.

@rorie: Yeah, don't even worry about rules. Just use your best judgment at the time and don't worry too much about whatever chat's yelling at you about. There's plenty of other people watching and not chatting who are very appreciative.

Whenever I sit with a friend playing Dark Souls, the balance I personally try to hit is that I don't tell them about stuff unless a) they probably won't figure it out on their own and might miss it or just flounder for a long time, b) I can alleviate some obvious source of frustration that's obviously hindering their enjoyment of the game, or c) they ask. It's a weird game because the mechanics, gameplay, level design, etc. are the spoilers, not the story.

(Weird automatic bolding not added for emphasis, haha.)

The poor quality of Sessler's screaming voice over is making this kinda hard to watch...

SHIELD

I get what your saying but Brad simply didn't want me to tell him anything. I know a lot of people in chat were dying for me to tell him about the bonfire behind the hidden wall but I wasn't about to tell him stuff he didn't want to hear and potentially ruin his experience. In the end though he did let us give him directions to the Capra Demon :D

Damn, Brad played Dark Souls for 3 hours and made absolutely zero progress. He didn't even spend his souls to level up!

And the Drake Sword is a bad habit forming bullshit of a weapon.

@matt: Yeah I mean if somebody doesn't want you to tell you anything, obviously don't tell them stuff, though I think you can still probably ask them occasionally if they want help if they're having real trouble in a section. I don't think you guys did a terrible job or anything--like you said, Brad asked that you not tell him stuff--it just made me think of all the people complaining during Load Our Last Souls because Ian and Rorie tell Vinny too much or whatever. I'd much rather have them tell him a little too much and have the progress come a little faster than it should than not tell him anything and have him wander aimlessly, backtracking and dying, backtracking and dying, zero progress being made.

@whatisdelicious: That's the authentic Dark Souls experience :D

Kessler I don't think said one right thing about the game the entire time, made me ask if he played it.

Also, the gargoyles are neither that far, nor all that hard, Bradley.

I really like how most people see armor as a progression in these streams. armor upgrades are the way to go. Find your armor early and upgrade. The weapons are the same. Drake sword can be out damaged as soon as you get to the smith by like every weapon in the game.

I thought Kessler was hilarious. Matt and Kessler have been the best commentary I've heard this entire stream so far. Still have 24 more hours to go though...

@eriktoinfinity: Thanks duder!

Great stuff. Watch all 25 hours and he is a trooper. Cant wait till next year.

That was pretty good Dark Souls playing. Especially if you consider how tired Brad must have been.

the chatter from the other people ruined this for me

Oh poor Brad, just watched the video and how cool is to see Brad then and to know how Brad feels about the Souls series. :)

There is no way in a fiery hell that Kessler beat Dark Souls. So much unfamiliarity or just flat out incorrect information going on. Unless he was doing some next level trolling of the chat or something. I know Brad got deeper into Dark Souls II, but I don't think he beat it (?), limped his way through Demon Souls, and of course he platinumed Bloodborne. I wonder if he's ever gone back to get any further in Dark Souls.