My first experience with Dark Souls was an iffy one. I got it as a birthday present and I had heard how amazing it was. Usually when tons of people rave about something, I later find out that it's decent, but greatly over-hyped, and that was my entire thought process playing for the first time. I played a knight with the Tiny Being's ring. I figured that setup would make me an unstoppable mass of awesome, but dear lord was I wrong.
I got through the Asylum fine enough, but it wasn't until Firelink when I got into real trouble. I had no idea where to go, and the place that looked the most legit to me was the graveyard. Naturally, I got fucked. The sad part is that I blamed it on the game and refused to play because I thought the difficulty was cheap. I even told people that it was shit for a while. So I sold it.
Months later it came out on PC and was packaged with DLC. I don't really know why I decided to pick it up again. but I did, and this time I decided to do it right. I looked up guides and I learned that everything I was doing was wrong. I found out that heavy armor produces fat rolls, and that changed everything. Now I was cranking the game naked with a claymore and spider shield. I slowly began to realize that the game isn't all that difficult. I slowly realize that the game is...fun...
Months later it came out on PC and was packaged with DLC. I don't really know why I decided to pick it up again. but I did, and this time I decided to do it right. I looked up guides and I learned that everything I was doing was wrong. I found out that heavy armor produces fat rolls, and that changed everything. Now I was cranking the game naked with a claymore and spider shield. I slowly began to realize that the game isn't all that difficult. I slowly realize that the game is...fun...
This is the part where I just rant about what I love about this game.
Morality
In almost every game that comes out today it has some sort of morality system thrown into it. Bioshock, Mass Effect, inFamous, Dishonored, and so many other games. It's really annoying to be put into almost comical situations in which you are forced to decide whether to do something dramatically good or evil. In Dark Souls you constantly make game changing decisions without even knowing it. The game doesn't prompt you with a choice wheel for ever encounter you have with someone or warn you that your choices will effect the outcome of a game.
I remember one the first encounters I had with an NPC was with Knight Lautrec. He was lounging in a cell in Undead Parish and I was so uncertain what to do with him. He sounded well spoken and warm-hearted, asking me to free him from his prison after an unfortunate turn of events. Do I trust him, I pondered. I mean, he's in prison for a reason, right? But this place also looks kind of shady, so maybe the evil guys locked him up?
Eventually I decided to free him and he thanked me and gave a maniacal giggle. Then I wasn't so sure about letting him free. Later I returned to Firelink and spotted him chillin' next to a cliff, so I decided to have another chat with him. He said that he was grateful and let out another evil laugh. I felt really bad about letting him out, so I ended up stabbing him in the back repeatedly until he died.
The cool thing about this is that I decided to do all this by myself. The game never prompted me on what my options were or what it recommended, it just let me play the game. I could have killed him immediately after opening his cell, or I could have opened it and left him, or just never opened the cage. Whatever I end up doing, it was me deciding naturally what I wanted to do.
I remember one the first encounters I had with an NPC was with Knight Lautrec. He was lounging in a cell in Undead Parish and I was so uncertain what to do with him. He sounded well spoken and warm-hearted, asking me to free him from his prison after an unfortunate turn of events. Do I trust him, I pondered. I mean, he's in prison for a reason, right? But this place also looks kind of shady, so maybe the evil guys locked him up?
Eventually I decided to free him and he thanked me and gave a maniacal giggle. Then I wasn't so sure about letting him free. Later I returned to Firelink and spotted him chillin' next to a cliff, so I decided to have another chat with him. He said that he was grateful and let out another evil laugh. I felt really bad about letting him out, so I ended up stabbing him in the back repeatedly until he died.
The cool thing about this is that I decided to do all this by myself. The game never prompted me on what my options were or what it recommended, it just let me play the game. I could have killed him immediately after opening his cell, or I could have opened it and left him, or just never opened the cage. Whatever I end up doing, it was me deciding naturally what I wanted to do.
Cutscenes are used sparingly
The intro cutscene is basically the only one longer than 30 seconds in the game. When you complete objectives or fight certain bosses the game shows you a short cutscene of what you accomplished, and what you need to do next. It doesn't bore me with constant plot details and exposition, it just subtly guides me in the right direction and the rest of the story is told through short conversations with NPCs in game. Not that I don't mind story driven games with lots of cutscenes, it's just refreshing to have a game that really utilizes interactive storytelling.
C0-op is hard to achieve
I love how in this game in order to play with your pals you need to go through a process that fits the universe. Most games you would just pop in into someone's world and there would be no explanation as to why that makes sense. In Dark Souls you have to summon your friends as phantoms and they have restrictions as to what they can do. In the Dark Souls universe it feels like it fits perfectly and I wish more games would have a stylish way of bringing friends into your game. The only thing that sucks is trying to summon someone ten times before it actually works.
Stats
Remember in Diablo 1 and 2 when you could customize each stat you wanted to make your perfect character? Remember when Diablo 3 took all of that away? I do. The RPG genre now doesn't really want to confuse players with stats and what not, so they just get rid of them. I love how in this game you can make whatever build you want and feel like a champion. Want to be the fastest sword swinger in the west? Crank that dex, bro. Don't want to fat roll when you wear armor? Puts some souls into your endurance and have a gay ol' time. There are no real classes and you can use any spell or equipment you find in the game as long as you have the stats for it. Awesome.
Summary
I love this game.