Dark Souls Review

• Music and Sounds
• Visuals
• Co-op/Multiplayer
• Replayability
• Overall Gameplay

Greetings, fair travelers, to the land of Lordran! Please hang your hats, coats and souls in the closet over yonder, you won’t be needing them where you are going. Now follow me as we help rid the horrible wretchedness that has overtaken this realm.

FROM Software’s latest game, Dark Souls, has grown to become a huge phenomenon. An action RPG where you get to create and customize your character to set off into the land of Lordran in order to restore the land to its once former glory or….leave it to rot–Now, for those of you who have a very low patience and are easily prone to destroying a game after you have died more than 500 times, this might not be the game for you. To play this game you must be prepared to die. Again. And again. In the most horrifyingly and most humiliating way possible. Did I mention you die many, many times in this game? Just wanted to let you know. If there is one thing I have learned by playing Dark Souls is that the game hates you. I’m not talking about “Hey buddy, I hate ya! – Yea, I hate you too.” I mean, “Die. Die! DIE!” The devs at FROM Software have assured that this game is much, much more difficult than its spiritual predecessor, “Demon Souls.” One of the game’s concepts is of “Trial and Error” which most gamers who have played “Demon Souls” have experienced a couple times. If you did it wrong the first time, try about 500x more and see if you don’t find another way to do it right.

The game starts out with your customization of your character. The customization is very detailed in which there are many options.

Available options:
-Male/Female
-Skin & Hair Colour
-Maturity (Old, Young, In between?? Choose what you want.)
-Body Appearance (Big Head? Super-Skinny Body? SML/M/L/XL Body?)
-Specific Details (Nose length, Jaw Size, Thickness)
-Gift (i.e. Rings, Firebombs, Story Item, Master Key, etc. – Depending on item, ability may vary)
-Class (See (++) Subcategory)
++Warrior
++Knight
++Wanderer
++Pyromancer (Specializing in Fire Spells)
++Sorcerer (Specializing in Magic Spells)
++Thief (Automatically equipped with “Master Keys”)
++Bandit
++Cleric (Specializing in Miracle Spells)
++Deprived (Only equipped with a wooden club and wooden plank shield)

Each of the 9 classes come equipped with differences that the player will acquire at the beginning of the game. Each come customized to match the players class (i.e. The sorcerer comes equipped with a high Intelligence stat which is critical stat if one wishes to become a powerful sorcerer. And with being a sorcerer, the player shall start out with a basic Sorceror’s spell (Soul Arrow) and his primary weapon will be his Sorcerer’s Catalyst (Staff).)

Note: The class of “Deprived” is a class known most used by expert players and/or players who have experienced Demon Souls or have passed Dark Souls once. Although, the player starts out with all stats at 11, their beginning loadout is very limited, starting out with no armour whatsoever and only equipped with a broken sword and a plank shield, this makes it difficult for even the most experienced player to go through the beginning.

Throughout the game, there are three options that you will have pertaining to life. One; You can remain a hollow (A dark, and empty husk of a corpse [in which the player starts out as.]) Two; Use up a humanity and revive into a human [Humanities are small black sprites which like Humans, have no exact purpose in life. These are vital in order to become a human again.] Three; You can will die, this will be occurring a lot throughout the course of the game.

The Lore
In the game, there is an ancient story that sets the stage for the adventure you embark on, it tells of how the world rose and how it came to be. (See below for the lore.)

In the Age of Ancients,
The world was unformed, shrouded by fog.
A land of grey crags, archtrees, and everlasting dragons.

But then there was Fire,
And with Fire came Disparity.
Heat and cold, life and death, and of course… Light and Dark.

Then, from the Dark, They came.
And found the Souls of Lords within the flame.

Nito, the first of the dead,
The Witch of Izalith, and her daughters of chaos,
Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, and his faithful knights,
And the furtive pygmy, so easily forgotten.

With the Strength of Lords, they challenged the dragons.
Gwyn’s mighty bolts peeled apart their stone scales,
The witches weaved great firestorms,
Nito unleashed a miasma of death and disease,
And Seath the Scaleless betrayed his own, and the dragons were no more…

Thus began the Age of Fire…
But soon, the flames will fade, and only Dark will remain.

Even now, there are only embers, and man sees not light, but only endless nights,
And amongst the living are seen, carriers of the accursed Darksign.

Now, if you just read that and have no idea what that was about, don’t feel alone. Most people didn’t really get what the main point of the story was, yet most continued playing it for the sheer pleasure (pain) of playing it. Heck, no one really questioned Super Mario Bros. when it first came out, they just played through it. You are fighting for something, but that “something” will be determined by you over the course of the game, whether you will follow the dark path or follow the path with the burning light of fire; it will be up to you.

Gameplay

As the gameplay goes, you will be a able to control you character from a 3rd Person PoV. It would be a bit difficult to attack a person if it weren’t for the lock-on system, which allows you to focus your attack at a specific character, whether it be an enemy or another player. Strategy is crucial in a fight, which is why it not really recommended using one weapon or spell (unless you really know what you’re doing). In order for one to win, you must learn how to balance your skills. Weapons and Magic, Speed and Strength, Vitality and Damage; all things thing that are come into play in battle.

If you spend most of your time as a “hollow,” you will only be attack by the AI’s. A rather lonesome world, but there are somethings that show you that you are not alone. Everywhere in the game you will find “player hints,” which are messages left by other players playing in the same area as you who will either help you along your journey (i.e. “Be wary of Fall,” “Treasure ahead.”) or will deceive you in your journey (i.e. “Safe Area Ahead” and then you find out there is a huge boss there.). In my experience, most tips were helpful, but never be too gullible, there are people out there who just wanna sit back and watch the world burn. As for player hints, you will also be able to see “ghosts” of players near your vicinity. While they are vague, blue and aren’t shown them in complete detail, they are actual players playing in the same world as you, going through the same obstacles as you and experiencing the same enemies as you. It gives you a sense of hope, that you’re not the only one going through this hell-hole. Near bonfires you will be able to see other players in full detail as they rest and repair their weapons and armour.

Along with the encouraging online features, there are other features that can sometimes discourage a player. Along your travels, you will find bloodstains. Upon standing near a bloodstain, you will have the option to press the interact button, by pressing that button, players will be able to see a recorded image of another players death that has occurred recently. The recorded image can show the player falling into the abyss, being eaten by a demon or even backstabbed by another player. The bloodstain itself has a timer in which it will eventually disappear, but it will be gone if the original player who died there goes back to the spot to collect his/her items.

During your travels you will meet other Hollows sent to this realm who slowly wither away until they become insane, until then they’re here to help you.

Visuals

Not only does this game have exquisite small details, but the grand views are really what grab your attention. Blending in a mixture of many elements, each world or “level” has it’s own unique style and atmosphere as too which the player will be playing in. Many times, you can find messages saying, “Gorgeous View” or “Amazing View Ahead” and they’re not just talking about Princess Gwynevere’s sweet chest. Haha! I mean, her chest filled with magnificent items. Right…

Overall, the visuals in this game go beyond anything I could have expected.

Sounds

For the most part of the game, it is without music during regular play when you are going about the free-roam world. The empty void of musiclessness is filled by the many sound effects that create a perfect scenery. You’ll find that those sounds can either create a harmonious and peaceful enviroment while others will fill you with fear and paranoia. You encounter music whenever there is importance in an area, such as the safe area you appear at the beginning of the game, the chamber of the princess or the large and climactic boss battles. All and all, the Dark Souls Original Soundtrack was very pleasing and is worth a listen.

Multiplayer

When the game first came out in October (USA), the co-op wasn’t taken so well amongst gamers. It was very difficult to play with friends, ever since the 1.05 Update in November, that problem along with many other glitches and bugs have been fixed and with that came a great boom in the Dark Souls community, more and more people have gotten together to help each other out in-game. Whenever alive, it’s possible to co-op with other players seeking to help out, but along with being alive you have a chance of having another player invade your world. When that happens, you must either deal with the invader a kill him off or make a run to the boss gate. It’s always a good idea to have one or two other phatoms assisting you, let them take care of it to save your own skin and make a quick getaway or take advantage and wipe that grin off their face by making a crude gesture after eliminating them.

Summary

All in all, this game was well worth my 60$, the gameplay is incredible, the multiplayer is outstanding when you get the chance to play with others and the replay value really gave me my money’s worth. Although there is no real sense of direction, it leaves the player to go out and explore to see what they can and can’t to at that moment. Dark Souls is a game that can let a player choose what to do, however they choose to do so and how their appearance will show in during the game and even during the video cut scenes. I would recommend his game to anyone out there who is interested and a great and challenging RPG that can bring any nostalgic gamer back to the days of the NES, and I can proudly say that Dark Souls deserves the Nintendo-HARD Seal of Approval.