Since this topic has already been resurrected from the grave, and since my Dark Souls experience has a startling amount to do with the grave, I think I'll contribute.
My first playthrough of Dark Souls was absolutely ridiculous. Started the game, blah blah blah, got to ringing the first bell and everything was great. The pacing of the game quickly changed, however.
Due in part to the game's lack of a map and the complete and total obfuscation under which it makes you play it, I got lost. I vaguely remembered some duder at the beginning telling me there's a bell up high and a bell down low. I either didn't find the key to Blighttown or couldn't find the door, I can't remember, but I was lost. I sat and thought, and it hit me. Go to the graveyard!
Every strategy guide or walkthrough I've seen puts this place as 2nd to last in terms of difficulty and when you want to tackle it. I entered it 2nd to first. Getting through the graveyard is pretty hard when you're underleveled and underequipped, but it is doable. I would die twice for every skeleton I killed, but I persevered and grinded my way through into the catacombs area. I spent a while trying to kill that pinwheel thing (I was really, really underleveled) but I managed to finish it off eventually. This is where the game (and I) became slightly insane.
The area right before you get to fight that Gravelord guy is absolutely pitch black. Anyone who has played the game knows this. Anyone who has played the game also knows that you find a skull lantern way back in the area right below the graveyard, by killing one of those wizard guys if I remember correctly. Makes it easier to see, you kill a few monsters, make your way to the boss, fight yourself a big ol' writhing mass of hate and dead puppies and you get your prize. However, because I was a chump and spent more time running that fighting, if at all possible, I never killed that guy and never got that lantern. See where the insanity begins?
With crap armor, no stats, and no idea how bad an idea this was, I kept descending...without light. No light whatsoever. And when I said that this area is absolutely pitch black, I meant it. Like Wesley Snipes on the dark side of the moon black. The only time I knew when I was off the beaten path is when I fell off the beaten path to my death. Often. There were gigantic skeletons with swords bigger than you are down there. If I engaged one, I died in two, sometimes three hits. There were gigantic skeleton archers down there, and the arrows that they fire knock you off of your precarious perch with ease. I died, and died, and died, and that's before I got to the first campfire.
Somehow, through a combination of luck and desperation, I made it to the dim embers of a lone fire, with nary a soul to level up with to my name. This brief respite must have induced an episode of insanity, because I thought, "well heck, I've made it this far, might as well keep going!" This was a bad idea. The giant boneymens were strong but beatable. The huge skeleton monsters that patiently lurked in the dark on all fours, ready to pounce on you and murder your stupid ass for thinking you could take them on? Ha! It was almost comical.
I spent hours down there. I'd creep forward, shield raised, aware but unprepared for when those behemoths would dash forward and snap me like an undead twig. Eventually, I killed one. Half-mad with glee, I sprinted forward and immediately ran off a cliff. Cursing my stupidity, I respawned and ran ahead to grab my souls, somehow completely forgetting one of the basic mechanics of the game (enemies respawn when you do) and dying immediately when the monster crushed me.
I learned a lot, down there in the darkness. I killed and died, killed and died. I started leveling up, doubling, if not tripling the level that I started out with. My reflexes were honed to a razor's edge. My dodging, blocking, and parrying became second to none. Trial and error led me further down the paths, down into the abyss. Unseen creatures fell at my feet, instinct guiding my blind sword into their hearts. I grew stronger and stronger, returning to the campfire to level up and become just a little bit better with every kill. I made my way to the bottom, ready for anything. My skill had been perfected. I was ready to conquer Dark Souls.
I struggle to come up with a metaphor for that single, precise moment of disappointment and absolute loss of hope that I experienced when I came upon the locked door (for which I had no key) right before the boss fight. Nothing I have ever experienced in a video game has been quite like it. Perhaps it is comparable to losing a sick loved one when you were absolutely positive their condition was improving, or being in Game 7 of a World Series and losing the game on a bases loaded shallow fly ball, or being inches away from making love to someone for the first time and when they pull their pants down their genitalia has been replaced with a writhing mass of tentacles, skulls, and anguish.
I snapped, pulled up Gamefaqs and realized how horrendously far off the beaten path I was. So much time had gone into what felt like so little. The rest of the game proceeded as standard, at least compared to most people, I presume. I died and died and died, before beating the game for the first time. For kicks and giggles, I started up a second playthrough. My first death was about 8 hours in, after I took a wrong turn on an elevated path and fell to my death. I didn't get killed by a single creature, big or small, before the final boss got me. Once.
I beat the game twice and have never looked back. But I'll never forget the dark.
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