Tag: personal journey | A Banana Peeled

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More musing about Dark Souls

Posted on July 15, 2022 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

Yesterday, I wrote a post about my original journey through Dark Souls and why I hated it by the time I finished it. I linked to the We are the Souls Reborn by ThePrud with Vaati at the end of it. As much as it moves me (which is a lot as it makes me cry every time I see it), the original moves me even more because there is a place where you as the player carry Oscar (the guy who throws the key down so you can get out of your jail cell at the beginning) on your back. It breaks me every time (the video I linked isn’t the original, but it has that bit in it). It’s replaced with you giving Oscar back his Estus Flask in the new version, which is cool, too, but not as emotionally touching.

It’s hard to explain what these games have meant to me and how that’s changed over time. When I finished the first game for the first time, it took me 150 hours including the DLC. Dan Tack ,formerly of Game Informer, stated confidently that it would not take anyone over a hundred hours to finish the game. Ha! I did not intend to take that long, but I’m terrible at the games. And everything took me ten times longer than it took most people.

I am not made for these games. Because of my spatial issues and slow reflexes, combat was grueling. My instincts were completely wrong for the game. I don’t know why I kept playing the first time, to be honest. The second half of the game was so painful. Each area was a chore, and making it to the boss was a nightmare.

The second time I picked it up, it was because the sequel was coming out. For whatever reason, I didn’t think I could tackle the second game without playing the first one again. This time, though, I knew what I needed to do and was not as flummoxed by the surprises. I mean, there were still new things, but I knew the right way to go and that I should be leveling things up along the way. And with a concerted effort–not willy-nilly.

To my surprise, it was a much easier ride and I was able to see the beauty of the game rather than just grit my teeth and move inch by inch at the time. By the time I was done with my second playthrough, I could see the beauty of the game. I could understand why it was considered to be one of the greatest games of all time.

Freeballing about the original Dark Souls

Posted on July 14, 2022 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

Let’s talk more about FromSoft games. We all know that I am a big fan and that they are my favorite games of all time. However, ever since my medical trauma, I’ve changed as to how I think about them.

Brief primer, I hated Dark Souls as I was playing it. It was so fucking hard, and it was relentless. There was something calling me to the game, but I played it all wrong because I knew nothing about it before I went in. I mean, I knew it was brutally hard, but that was it.

I started as a Pyro because I like fire. That’s the only reason. I didn’t realize until later that it’s considered the newbie-friendly class, but it was not friendly to me at all. You have to remember that I only played a handful of hardcore games before picking up Dark Souls, the Prepare to Die edition. Games like Borderlands, Torchlight, and Diablo III. jumping from those to Dark Souls is not advised.

I fucked up from the very beginning. I leveled up whatever felt right to me rather than having a concentrated build. I went the wrong way when I first got to Firelink Shrine (and I’m not relitigating the argument that it’s brilliant on the part of Miyazaki to make two of the three paths almost impossible to traverse), and I felt like I wasn’t making any progress.

When I reached the Bell Gargs, I was broken. I had accidentally punched Andre, and he was permanently aggroed. I could pay Oswald to absolve my sins, but it was a bit rich for my blood. Now, you have to understand that I was using the Battle Axe at +1 or +2. That is not enough to fight the Bell Gargs, especially when you were an utter newb like me. I was rapidly losing my will to play the game, and I didn’t know why I didn’t just stop. Nobody was making me play the game, and yet, I was too stubborn to give up.

I wasn’t too proud to summon, but I was running out of Humanity. I kept going until I got down to one Humanity. I made the decision that I would summon Solaire one final time. If I didn’t beat the Bell Gargs, then I would quit. With that, I suddenly felt light as I summoned Solaire and went into the fray one last time. You won’t be surprised to learn that we did it. I mean, I wouldn’t be banging on and on about it if I’d quit the game, would I? I was able to absolve my sin so I could use Andre again and move on.