A message bar appears saying I’ve been invaded by a Black Phantom. My fingers rush to get the correct player-versus-player gear equipped. I need to be agile but still provide some rigidity or I will surely buckle under the weight of any heavy weapon if hit. I cast a spell that surrounds me with five homing orbs that will detect and strike my enemy once in range. Then it happens. My heart is beating. Fast. Cold adrenaline pumps through my chest. Where could this Phantom be? They could come at me from any direction… Suddenly I see a red blur making its way towards me. I lift my shield and we clash, trading heavy blows and dodging with lightning fast reflexes. I’ve become a Dark Souls adrenaline junky, and once you’ve drank deep of its glory, no other game comes close. Allow me to go over all the ways in which Dark Souls has managed to concrete its position deep within my Playstation 3 since its release.
Story – And the furtive pygmy, so easily forgotten
From Software provides the minimal framework for a story and lets the player fill in the blanks with subtle clues throughout their journey. In this case, the story surrounds a world formally controlled by dragons. Soon gods and humans appeared and their power increased to the point where they could challenge the dragons. War between the two began and once the mighty beasts were more or less gone, their fire left the world as well, bringing darkness. The darkness led to undead, many of whom were deposited in an asylum far from the survivors to spend an eternity going mad. Your character just so happens to be one of the few who escaped the asylum. Legend tells of just such a chosen undead who may be able to return fire to the world, casting the darkness out once and for all.
Everything aside from the above synopsis the player will have to absorb from the lore scattered throughout Dark Souls. This includes a few NPCs who, given your involvement, will pop up from time to time and drop some clues. Other hints can also be found in the humble item descriptions for the game’s numerous weaponry and armor. These are the main ways the player will learn of the various factions that populate the world of the game. There are no dense walls of text to sift through and bog you down, you must simply learn through osmosis. After experiencing this method of storytelling I can say I am hooked; it keeps my momentum going, doesn’t affect immersion, and it leaves enough mystery so that I want to know more.
The ruins of New Londo, one city whose story will slowly be revealed to the player
Gameplay – Chaos+5
The game begins at character creation. The player may choose their character’s gender, appearance, and starting class as well as a gift: a new feature unique to Dark Souls (a gift is an item to give you a slight leg-up out the door). Pre-set appearances can be selected or the player may dive in further to adjust everything via an array of sliders. While faces look better than in Demon’s Souls, don’t expect to make America’s next top undead model — the system is just not that robust. Likewise, don’t expect your jobclass to weight heavily on the game, you’ll have tons of customization at your disposal.
There are a massive number of weapons and spells in the world waiting to be discovered, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Some have long reach but are slow and heavy, others are lightning fast but require intimate closeness to your enemy. What you can wield depends on your stats, but it’s best to try as many as you can — with so many armaments you’re sure to find one that agrees with your playstyle. Speaking for myself, I experimented with loads of weaponry and was pleased to find many with unique move-sets allowing for richer strategies and deeper customization.
Slain enemies reward the player with souls, which are the game’s currency used to buy items, spells and level up. An update to this system involves an item called “humanity” which is either added to the players inherent humanity count or kept as a consumable item. Humanity can be earned via drops or, rarely, by killing enemies. Having a high humanity score increases your drop rate meaning walking around with humanity bears great rewards. However, if the player dies, in addition to dropping any amassed souls they also drop their humanity. That means if you die again before you can reach your luminescent soul blob, you not only lose your souls but your (inherent) humanity. It’s a terrible feeling, but this system really helps when seeking rare drops, a large bone of contention for many who Platinumed Demon’s Souls back in the day. Souls and humanity become increasingly easy to find as you advance in the game, meaning the sting of losing them becomes less severe over time.
Bask in the warmth of a bonfire
The world is more or less open, with certain sections being unlocked as you play further into the story. Scattered throughout the world are bonfires which are pivotal to your progression. By resting at a bonfire, you are setting a checkpoint you will return to if and when you die. This is also where you can level up and increases your various statistics. Resting at a bonfire will reward you with a small bit of the bonfire’s essence in a flask which is the main method of healing. You must budget your healing, or estus, flasks between bonfires, adding another layer of strategy. You may also burn your humanity at bonfires allowing you to revive to a human form (rather than the wrinkled, discolored undead appearance) or kindle the fire, causing it to yield more estus flasks. Exploring in human form also allows you to be invaded by other players (and NPCs) or summon others to help you on your quest. In other words, humanity is the lifeblood of the game’s multiplayer — more on this later.
As with Demon’s Souls, the difficulty comes mostly in keeping a cool head under pressure. Enemies will overpower or outnumber you. Bosses will deal crippling damage. You will be challenged. If you panic you will most likely be quickly defeated, but with each subsequent attempt you will come closer to achieving the lucidity necessarily to defeat enemies you never thought you could. And this is an amazing feeling.
Multiplayer – A Dark Phantom Has Invaded Your World
This is one of the game’s most impressive aspects. Generally the inclusion of online functionality in most story-driven games feels like botched surgery. Not in Dark Souls. The creators cleverly use the world’s various factions as vehicles for different modes of multiplayer role play. With each faction having a different role in the world, players can decide if they would rather assist in co-operation either by summoning players to help them defeat a boss, or requesting to be summoned by those who have yet to defeat a specific boss. Alternatively they may invade or hunt down those who’ve wronged their faction. There is quite a lot of depth, and unlike the predictability of the game’s engine, multiplayer experiences are always unique, extending the game’s already healthy shelf life. This is the ultimate culmination of solid story and a multiplayer experience in one RPG package.
Presentation – A land of grey crags, archtrees, and everlasting dragons
Dark Souls has the most consistent and hauntingly beautiful yet frightening atmosphere of any game I have played in recent memory. Nothing in the game’s massive world seems out of place, everything feels intentional, and it all contributes towards the overall package delivered to the player. That package is a clear message that this is an uninviting world with a deep and twisted history. If you want to survive you must carve a place for yourself. Thankfully it never lays the medieval lingo on too thick, always maintaining a serious yet mysterious tone. The music equally reflects this gravity, especially when it’s time to fight a boss and a Gregorian chorus rises up in thunderous unison to set the mood.
Conclusions
Dark Souls built heavily upon the already impressive package that was Demon’s Souls. The result, however, is capable of standing alone, boasting a deeper level of challenge and combat, immersive and expansive open world, and always intriguing lore. All this is accompanied by what I consider to be easily the most engaging multiplayer experiences I’ve had on my Playstation 3. The rumors of Dark Souls’ difficulty are true, but they pale in comparison to the rewards awaiting patient gamers within.
Xenoblade Chronicles Rumored For American Release: You’re Welcome
Recently a Neogaf user posted this image of upcoming Game Stop releases in their internal database, possibly confirming that Xenoblade Chronicles is set to be released in North America. Obviously this means we do not have official confirmation, but we do once again have something that dried up long ago: hope.
Perhaps it’s time I come clean about something I’ve kept you all in the dark about for far too long. I’ve actually been fighting for this game for the past several months. I’ve been out of the streets with pepper spray, a latex mask, and my steel will of justice washing away the filth scabbed onto my city. No, but for real, I have been making a number of passive aggressive tweets directed at Nintendo of America’s twitter account. And as a steady stream eventually wears down a mounting, Nintendo lay quivering at my feet finally giving into my demands. Don’t believe me? Here’s the proof:
I am not asking for your thanks. I just want you all to remember that the small and few can overpower those who appear to wield all the power. The key lies in unwavering faith that you are doing the right thing. I unflinchingly came face to face with a software behemoth and in the end, the behemoth backed down. You have the same power, don’t ever forget that. Now excuse me while I go mace Sony and Capcom into bringing over Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. *swoosh*
UPDATE: Nintendo of America posted some images of Xenoblade characters on their Facebook page. This rumor is looking pretty promising!