Dark Souls review

Dark souls Review

Release date: October 4, 2011

Genre: Action-role play

Number of players: Single player/ co-op multiplayer online

Rating: M17+

Developers: Software

Publishers: Namco Bandi Games

Director: Hidetaka Miyazaki

Artist: Makoto Sato

If you have never heard of “Demon souls” as a hardcore gamer then where the hell have you been? Dark souls is not only a sequel (or spiritual successor) of Demon souls and is a heavy trial and error based RPG adventure game, In short the purpose for you is to die as the player as it is inevitable. The reason is to not only teach you to strategize or at least strategize to the point where you memorize the enemy’s movements and more importantly give you a greater sense of reward when you finally destroy the Dragon on the bridge or some of the more horrifying and grim bosses that are created. You start off in the fictional kingdom of Lordron as a character of your own creation and any class of your choosing (Knight, Mage, pyromancer, etc etc); who has been chosen to take on a pilgrimage out of the un-dead Asylum to figure out the fate of the un-dead. The emphasis is placed on death as a teaching tools for players to learn their way through the hostile environments you’ll encounter again and again, all the while gaining souls which is the currency in this world used from everything such as purchasing items to leveling up your character, being dropped by normal enemies and bosses alike.

Darksouls isn’t what you would call your typical story similar to a Dragon’s Dogma or Final Fantasy where the story is front and center. Rather you gain the lore through the items you obtain and the NPCs you encounter, never had the opportunity to play demon souls but I’ve wiki’ed my way around to read the story and watched endless hours of gameplay. Bonfires are a neat way to save points, though it’s not new it’s a nice way to really blend the save point in the environment which I’ve laughed a friend for running right by it then dying shortly after before realizing what it actually was. When you first run into bonfires it’s limited until you find further items that make your bonfire the perfect spot to always rest up; items that add repair spots for weapons, a endless item box and your main level up location. Bonfires are critical for players who would like to defeat this titan of a game with fewer casualties instead of those players (you know who you are) who try to He-man their way through and fail cause really your going to die, a lot, no matter how hardcore of a gamer you are. Bonfires are part of the sense of accomplishments because bonfires are only reachable normally at the beginning and end (tied to defeating bosses of that area) of a section.

Darksouls is definitely a long and satisfying game, If anyone tells you they beat this game in less then a week either they have already played through before or they are pure liars. I’ve had the displeasure of being in a friendly house party tournament with a few pros (granted they were more into fighting games rather than RPGs) who even on their best week couldn’t He-man through in less than a week. Darksouls reminds me a lot of chess in which you need to strategize your way to victory (or again become familiar with the enemy’s movements). The replay value of Dark souls I’d say is all about how you enjoy these more difficult kinds of games that take more than mindless button pressing to beat the game, it really isn’t for everyone as some people don’t really love a game where the lessons to learn is through the death of your avatar. Those looking for lore will find more than one reason to replay the game while those just thirsting for a challenge will come back for other reasons, either way D.S. has tons of classes with character customization choices and NPCs you can always build a relationship with if you accidentally or purposefully killed said NPC in your first play through.

My only complaint is the multiplayer; yes I understand that they wanted the experience to be about self-achievements and to figure things out yourself which in turn is why they made connecting to other players such a headache. I personally enjoy co-op as much as I enjoy playing solo, so when I have to literally wait not only on different but difficult servers and a 45 minute wait then that kills the online experience for me. It’s clear that the takes a backseat to the game-play and mechanics, the experience of trial and error is more important in Dark souls than the actual story, I mean just ask the casual gamer what is the story in full summary and I bet you 9 out 10 times will view someone scratching their had and quickly looking for wiki in their phone. I do find myself frustrated like any Dark Souls fan and I must admit that no matter how frustrated I get I still love this game.

*Highly recommended for hardcore RPG gamers