Dark Souls. A game most gamers beat back in 2011. A game some gamers never were able to finish. Well, three years later, I'm finally starting the spiritual successor to one of the hardest games I've played in years, Demon's Souls. I've spent about five hours so far, and I haven't gotten far in at all.
I actually just beat a very tough enemy, which is why I'm taking a break to write this blog. If you never played Dark Souls, it feels very much like Demon's Souls, and if you never played Demon's Souls, imagine going to the bank with your money in a bag, someone comes along and kills you, but your bag of money stays there in the spot you died. You're resurrected and given ONE shot to traverse an area full of killers to claim your money, but you die on the way there, you lose it all. This is Dark Souls, and it's un-fucking-forgiving.
The enemy I just beat is an enemy I've spent three nights working on, and it's quite silly that I'm even fighting him. He's far, far stronger than I am, so strong in fact that he can kill me in one swift blow. He's a knight, with a menacing set of bulky armor and a massive shield that could plow through five foot snow drifts. And a really nasty looking curved club. He attacks far quicker than that club should allow, and I've died to him over and over and over again. Yet, I just keep coming back. To die again, and again and again. Why am I doing this to myself? Because of the challenge.
The challenge is addictive. Sometimes you're presented with something that seems impossible, but after trying again, you get a moment's glint of hope that there's a way. I was extremely off put by Demon's Souls when I first started, but once I got a feel for the game, I was hooked. Even after I'd amassed 30-40 thousand souls and lose them all, I'd do it all over again. After finally vanquishing that stupid knight in Dark Souls, I'm once again eager to venture forth and see what other horrendous challenges the game has for me.
Did I mention that you can be invaded by other people in the game? Yep. Let me explain a bit. Your character has two forms. Living, and dead, which is called Hallowed. When you're living, you're stronger. You have more HP, resistance, etc. You'll pretty much always want to stay human if you can, because it makes fighting easier. However, in this phase, you're also prone to be invaded by other players, and sometimes they're geared to the teeth which means you'll be missing yours soon enough. For the most part, I just stay in Hallowed, because I have enough trouble not getting myself killed to have someone else try to kill me.
It does feel nice to finally get to this game after three years have passed, but it's also intimidating at the same time. The way the game forces you to take it slow, study and react to enemy attacks; I need to bring out my old-school gaming skills that have been hibernating. I wonder how many controllers I'm going to go through, though...
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