I’m not a big holiday person, so I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Plus, genocide of indigenous people. That doesn’t sit well with me, either. But, Ian and I were set on getting turkey subs from Subway, which wasn’t open, despite Google telling me it’d be open until ten tonight.* We drove around to see if there was anything else open, and most everything was closed. Adagio’s Pizza Factory was open, however, so we decided to eat there for our Thanksgiving feast. We ordered an appetizer of Gruyere cheese and beer dip with pretzel slices, which was fantastic, and mac-n-cheese pizza with Italian sausage, which was uh-may-zing. I still have two pieces left, for which I’m thankful.
Anyway. I played Dark Souls for a couple hours after coming back, killing the Gaping Dragon. I cut off his tail, and I got the Dragon King Greataxe, which takes 50 strength to wield.** I fought two Black Knights, and one of them dropped the Black Knight Sword, which I mained during my first playthrough at the end of the game. It only requires 20 strength and 18 dexterity, which I acquired after beating the Gaping Dragon. It’s a great early game weapon, and I’ll be maining it until I get enough strength to wield one of the heftier weapons. I also got my beloved Greataxe which requires 32 strength. I love the Greataxe and mained it as a melee character in Dark Souls 3, I may use it when I reach 32 strength, but I don’t want to use it for the whole game. The Iron Golem’s boss soul can be made into the Golem Axe, which takes 38 strength to wield. I love me my axes so much, I think I’ll shoot to use them when I get the strength.
I’m planning on cutting off all the tails I possibly can. Crossbreed Priscilla, though Priscilla’s Dagger is dex-based, Seath the Scaleless, which gives you the vaunted Moonlight Greatsword, and Black Dragon Kalameet, which gives you the Obsidian Greatsword. I have the Drake Sword, which you get from shooting (with arrows) off the tail of the Hellkite Dragon, and the Gargoyle Tail Axe, which is from the Bell Gargoyle’s tail. That plus killing Quelaag solo are my Dark Goals, as Ian jokingly calls it, for this playthrough. I have a problem with wanting to go in many different directions when I play the games, so it’s hard to stick to my stated goal of doing a pure strength build. I’m determined to do it, however, or as close to it as I can get. Which means pumping all my points into vitality, endurance, and strength from here on out.
I can talk about Dark Souls forever, as you probably know by now. I’m trying to find a game to take its place, but it’s just not happening. You’d think I’d love the fact that there are several Souls-like games out there, but any time I play one, I find myself thinking, “I might as well be playing a Souls game.” I’ve tried hack-n-slashes, and they just seem tedious to me. I tried Ember, which is a RPG/hack-n-slash/crafting/plan the action of the members of your party hybrid. Once I figured out how to use my action skills, I did much better, but it didn’t stick with me. I should just go back to Torchlight, which I loved so much. Or, maybe I’ll try Diablo III again because Blizzard is always adding new stuff to it.
Dark Souls III is supposed to have one more DLC, and that should be the end of that. However, Bandai Namco, the publishers, own the IP, which means they may produce another Dark Souls game with or without FromSoft and Miyazaki. I really hope they don’t, but it has to be awfully tempting to them to crank them out one a year. If there is another Dark Souls game, I will probably buy it, even if it’s resentfully. Let’s put it this way. If it’s a FromSoft Dark Souls game, I’ll buy it willingly, but probably not enthusiastically. Dark Souls III is a great game, but it breaks very little new ground. It’s a return to the familiar, and it’s delicious comfort food, but I don’t think I want another helping. The problem with series is that you get pushed further and further into a corner with each successive sequel. You can’t stray too far from what made the series popular, which means each iteration is more familiar than the one before. Thus, Dark Souls III is a terrific game, but there were no mind-blowing moments in which I thought, “Holy shit! I have never seen anything like this before.”
I’ve played through DS III three times. Once as a pyromancer/mage; once as a pyromancer/cleric (miracle user), and; once as a melee character. I got the three endings, and I like the taking the flame for myself ending the best. I’ve done all the NPC questlines at least once, I think. I just found one last night as I was looking up something else. Fortunately, I was still able to do it at the end of the game, though the fight that ensued was trivial by that point. I have beaten all the bosses solo with one character or another except one. I tried him today, and I got further than I have before. He’s by far the hardest boss in any Souls game, by a long shot.
I hadn’t meant to write about Dark Souls, but while we’re on the subject, I also finished the DS III DLC, Ashes of Ariandel, three times. I have mixed feelings about the DLC, much more so than I do about the base game. The end boss is fantastic and very satisfying to beat solo. (With the help of the NPC summon who is meant to be part of the fight.) The optional boss is meh and harder to fight melee, btw. I liked fighting the NPC, Livid Pyromancer Dunnel, even though they pyromancy he gave me wasn’t that amazing. I love the snowy world, but I hate the hordes of enemies thrown my way. I don’t like being swarmed, and there are several areas in which that happens in the DLC. There are also a new kind of enemy, the Millwood Knights, who are an enormous pain in the ass.
It’s strange because I like many of the pieces of the DLC, but the sum is definitely less than the parts. I will say that the complaint it’s too short is bollocks. In my last playthrough, I was wearing ring/spell combo that makes me nearly invisible, racing through the entire area, not killing many enemies, and it still took a good three hours to finish the whole DLC. First time through took six or seven hours. That’s decent for DLC, so I’m not marking it down for that. There are cool new weapons and spells, and the level is properly byzantine. It’s just…it feels uninspired overall. I’ll do a proper post about my final feelings about Dark Souls III sometime in the future. For now, I’ll leave it at that.
Anyway, it’s snowing outside, but it’s not sticking. I’m snuggled on my couch with my cats sitting on top of the cushions on either end of the couch. (They’re above me, in other words.) I’m full of mac-n-cheese (and Italian sausage) pizza and sweet potato pie with Reddi wip. I hope you had a good holiday as well and are full of good food and love. I leave you with a video of Maru, one of my favorite cats on the internet, and his little sister, Hana. Enjoy.
*Last night by the time you read this.
**The Demon’s Greataxe takes 46. I also have that.