You know when you go through an absolute gaming drought? So you pay one or two visits to your nearest game selling establishment throughout the week. Wondering if you'll find a hidden gem amongst the rubble of awfulness that gets produced today. When's that new innovative Call of Brilliance out anyway?
That's what happened when I found Dark Souls. At this point I had no idea of it's critical acclaim (I don't spend that much time on the internet for those reasons) and gave it a spin in my Xbox, continuing my quest of praying to the Aztec god Tlaloc for a glorious downpour that would quench that drought. I traded it in the next day....no sorry I sold it on Ebay. Have to be austere in this economic climate.
The thing was, I was too used to be a death-defying juggernaut in everything I play for this. Where was my initial feeling of 'I'm the underdog now, but I’ll work my way through this weary world and become ruler of the realms and all things, and when this happens all will bow, oh and peasant I enjoy plums... and truffles'. It plainly was not in plain sight, as much as anyone could question on what sort of game you start off already dead, You're in an asylum, with no memory of what vile crime you committed to be there after school closing hours on that fateful day (but that was just cause to you wasn't it?) there are also no truffles in sight.
My brother purchased this anomaly a few months later and persuasively told me to reconsider. I got my hands on a Prepare to Die Edition and gave it it's dues, one thing that instantly caught my attention was the music on the character selection/creation screen. It reminded me of old PC and 3DO (Those who can remember that) games I used to play like Escape from Monster Manor, because of it's old and haunting dark setting effect that falls upon one's ears.
Well, I say play these nostalgic personal treasures, I was very young and gleaming with innocence, sat on the sofa next to my brother who was venturing in this god forsaken 32-bit. Refusing to touch the control pad for fear of real death if that paper-ghost got closer to the screen. I received a similar notion from Dark Souls, watching my battered knight run as fast as he could in trifling armour from 12-foot bull men with mallets, military trained-skeletons and another player throwing electric decapitations at me.
For me Dark Souls touches on a more traditionalist way of RPG game design, you'll trawl through some hellish expanses, see some things that change who you are, and pick up some gruesomely awe-inspiring gear. You don't have to spend all your time comparing what is the best (Unless that's your sort of thing) and just subconsciously enjoy the violating waiting for you around every corner (Freud was right all along.) with a small cough massive serving of whiskey.
Bonfires are for fairies and treasonous usurpers of the throne.
TheGamer writes, "Some weapons resist the test of time."
The Nerd Stash: “Whether you’re here to gloat about your victories or to see what the fuss is about, we present to you the hardest bosses in the Souls series.”
The well-known magazine EDGE just turned 30 years old, and to celebrate, this month’s issue contains a ranking of the top 100 greatest games released over the past 30 years.
How predicable
There are dozens of games on that list which are way better than BotW and sometimes I feel like these “Top X list” makers know that deep down.
It is a solid list, many of them I agree with, but I'd very much replace something like Morrowind with Baldur's Gate 3, and put Divinity Original Sin II up there as well.
This is a personal opinion, but in my mind Grand Theft Auto III and V do not need to be there either, nor Outer Wilds, The Witness, Doom, Fortnite, Tomb Raider, The Sims, Fallout 3, Street Fighter IV or Minecraft.
I'd replace them and select the top games out of the likes of Xcom 2 (new), Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Fallout 2, Grim Fandango, The Secret of Monkey Island II, Myst, Nier Automata, Xenogears, Final Fantasy Tactics, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story, Suikoden I-III, Shadow Hearts I-III, Final Fantasy XII, Dragon Quest V, VIII and XI, and Mother 3.
"Redundant Unique Weaponry"
Say that to my face in Anor Londo and not in Undead Burg and see what happens.
Joking aside (not really), great review.
What does "redundant unique weaponry" refer to? I would say that the normal weapons have redundancies more than the unique weapons.
A 1.0 for fun? I take it that's a joke right? Or perhaps the type of fun is lost due to the crap that are called games of this gen?
0 for online? Really? It has the most unique online experience of the entire gen?
I mean, yeah it's your opinion and you clearly admitted that it wasn't really your kind of game the first time, which shows more honesty than all professional reviewers combined, but as you can plainly see I disagree with those 3 assessments. It's probably because I'm a huge fan and started with the much more difficult Demon's Souls on the PS3. Great review though. You should submit it to sites like IGN and show them how real reviews are done.
demons and dark souls are two of my top 10 games of all time!!!
if you can, grab the pc prepare to die edition, 8 new areas/bosses, WAY better graphics, no framerate problems, but still all of the great awesomeness of the original and tons of new content, amazon has it for $15 all the time if you watch for deals
Why is a swift ending bad? IT ALLOWS US TO DO IT ALL. OVER. AGAIN.