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.
The remaster came out in 2018, well after the second and third game came out. In addition, the remaster on PC wasn’t that different from the Prepare to Die edition. It was crisper, yes, and the shinies were shinier, but that was about it. The console people did not like it when we PC players said that, but it’s true .We already had 60 FPS and HD. There was very little reason to buy it for PC, but I did, anyway. Because of course I did.
In the video I’ve included, he’s doing a fist run. He’s buffing his fist with fire. I did not know you can do that. I love that I can still learn things about the game even though I’ve played it dozens of times and platted it. That’s one thing I love about the games–there are so many secrets that the devs are perfectly content to have you not see.
There is a tree in the middle of Blighttown called The Great Hollow. It’s behind two invisible walls. It’s a platform section that you have to carefully go down. And it’s best to have the Lordvessel so you can warp back rather than platform back up. There’s nothing at the bottom of the tree other than a hydra and an ancient dragon (and its covenant). But it’s really cool to see.
And, if you follow Siegmeyer’s questline, you have to go down to Ash Lake (the area at the base of the tree) and find his lifeless body on the ground with his daughter standing next to him. She is mournful, and it’s very sad. But, you get a Titanite Slab, which is the highest upgrade in the game. There are only three in total.
When I went back to the game in the Remastered version, I got to Andre and he was dead. I mentioned that there was a hacker who decided it would be fun to go around killing Andre in people’s games because of course he did (and I’m pretty sure it’s a he). Could I have done the game without Andre? Yeah. Did I want to? No. So I started over and got back to Andre in a few hours.
This goes to show how far I’d come in the years since I played the original the first time. I couldn’t help but remember how I accidentally punched Andre the first time I played the game and was devastated until I could scrap together enough Souls to have my sin absolved. This time, I just decided to start over like it was no big deal. I felt bad for n00bs, though, because it would have been so shattering.
I made the decision to play offline for the rest of the game. I adhered to that until the DLC, I think? I’m not even sure if I went online for that. I breeze through the game without a hiccup and was pretty pleased with myself by the time I reached the end.
It was amazing to look back and see how far I’d come. I went from 150 hours the first time I played the game to maybe 50 hours and doing everything in the game this time around. I rolled through the game as a strengthcaster, rocking my Zweihander +15 and all the best Pyromancies. Black Dragon Kalameet from the DLC was my personal nemesis in the DLC the first time around. I could not find anyone to summon, so I had to do it on my own. At that time, I was using the Battle Axe and was probably +12 or so. Pyro is useless against him as are all the buffs.
In the Remastered run, I went in with my Black Knight Greataxe because I had read he was weak to Black Knight weapons. I also had the Giant Shield because it has 81 magic absorption. I had the Mask of the Father to raise equipment burden, and I was ready to go for days. Instead, it took me like six tries and was no big thing. In fact, Manus was the hardest for me that time around, which isn’t unusual. He’s a hard boss in general. I had a lot of trouble with Artorias the first time, but not ever since.
It’s funny. No matter how many times I play the game, I still remember the first time when I was so miserable as I played. I don’t know why I kept going because normally, I quit things if I don’t get immediately. But there was something about Dark Souls that kept drawing me back in, and I’m glad. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.