If people know Dark Souls, they think of it being a grimdark fantasy game that is relentlessly punishing. It’s hard AF, and all the bosses will destroy you. That’s the Cliff Notes version of how most people who don’t know From games well think about Dark Souls.
I’m not dissing people for that, by the way. They’re not wrong. The games are grim, dark, and utterly depressing at times. There’s a sense of nihilism* to them that can be disconcerting–even to me. I can see the hopeful spark in them–if I squint. But the darkness is pretty unrelenting. Here is my post from yesterday in which I waxed poetic about my love for the game.
That’s why the absolutely silly parts of the games are a blessing. Today, I was running through
*SPOILER*
the Grand Archives, which is a late game area because it’s a great farming area. I did it so many times in the past. You can clear around seventy K in one run through, which is a nice chunk of change. The thing is, there are these arms and hands that spring out of the books, and they can curse you if they touch you. They are everywhere!
The only way you can protect yourself from the hands/arms (and they’re a weird shade of purply-pink) is to dip your head in wax. Yeah, you read that right. There are pools of wax in strategic places in the archives, and there’s a prompt that says something like, “Dip your head in.” Did it say why? Of course not. Did it say what it would do? Nope! You were just supposed to trust that it was something you had to do because the game told you to.
Now, I will say that FromSoft rarely outright tells the player to do something detrimental (I want to say never, but there might be a case or two) , but I wanted to know why I was dipping my head in wax and making myself look like a candle. And to make matters worse, I lost my big hat in the process. Not literally as I still had the attributes, but it didn’t appear to be on my head any longer.
The enemies had the same waxy appearance (at least, the humanoid-looking ones), which made it even sillier. As you may guess, they are extremely weak to fire. My Chaos Bed Vestiges literally melted them. This will never not amuse me, by the way. Being a human candle, i mean. Especially as someone with a fondness for pyros. It just makes me laugh inwardly because it’s so goofy! But it’s presented so seriously, which makes it even more hilarious.
I’m also including the 90s trailer once again because it’s so damn funny. I love that the narrator is so serious as he’s saying the most ridiculous things.
I love this game more and more as I’m going through this playthrough. I’m in the first DLC right now, which I have to admit is not my favorite part of the game (either DLC. From likes to make them twice as hard for the ‘real’ fans, and that’s my least-favorite aspect of the games. Predictably the hardcore fans have declared the second DLC the best part of the game).
I will admit, I heaved a small sigh as I went into the first DLC because it was such a struggle for me in the past. The one saving grace is tha it’s a snowy area, which means fire works well. But, I will admit that I ‘cheat’ in this area extra hard. I use my Hidden Body/Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring duo so I can run around undetected (as long as I don’t get too close to the enemies/run by them too fast) so I can get the drop on them.
I even took on the big wolf that I usually just run by (for complicated reasons), and it was fairly easy. I ran through the first part of the DLC with ease, and I was very pleased with myself. I can do the first boss fight if I want, but i’m not sure I want. It’s very tedious and not that inspired. And it involves the aforementioned wolf.
There is actually only one mandatory boss in the second DLC. If you want to actually finish the DLC, I mean. Otherwise, you can just do the DLC as you wish. The boss of this DLC is one of those bosses From likes to include to show how hard they are. It’s the first time they’ve ever had a three-stage boss, and they did it in such a way that it really felt like a slap in the face. That kind of trolling, I’m not so fond of.
More tomorrow!
*Of course, this is my interpretation. Other people think there’s hope to be found in the games; I do not. To me, they highlight the futility of trying to change an abusive cycle without putting in any real emotional work. It’s like the argument that Ian and I have about whether Miyazaki cares about his players or not. Ian thinks Miyazki is like the stern, but caring teacher. They are harsh on you because they have faith in you and want you to succeed. It’s the “I’m going to break you so I can remake you” mindset, which is pretty prevalent.
Other people think that Miyazki hates his players and wants them to fail. They point out all the ways the From games just batter a player from start to finish. There is barely time to breathe within the game, and there is danger around each corner.
I keep coming back to the beginning of the game. There are three paths you can take once you reach Firelink Shrine. To the right is a cemetary of skellies that are ridiculously difficult for where they are placed. Going down the staircase gets you to a place with enemies you can’t hurt. And that can kill you in one hit (probably). The third path is going up with Hollows who will swarm you if you’re not careful. And are positioned such that they will annoy you ever step of the way.
Hardcore fans like to gush how brilliant Miyazaki is because the first two paths are so difficult, you’re clearly not supposed to go that way. The third path, while hard, is not on the same level of difficulty as the first two. Now, I played the game several years after it was releasaed, so I don’t know of the dialogue at the time the game was released. But I feel like the praise for his brilliance was somewhat retconned after he became better known for his games.
Here’s the thing. What is the one thing that people know about Dark Souls if they’ve heard of it at all? That it’s fucking hard. If you’ve never played any From games, then you have no basis to know what is too hard, especially “obviously too hard”. Almost everybody goes to the skellies in their first playthrough because that’s the way the game subtly leads you to go. And they are fucking assholes. They hit hard, and they prock bleed. They are the absolute worst.
But all I knew about the game was that it was hard, so I thought it was going to be that hard. Why wouldn’t I? It’s all anyone talks about when they mention Dark Souls.** I didn’t know what “obviously too difficult” meant! I do now, of course, because I’m very familiar with From games. But back then? I didn’t have an accuarate From difficulty meter yet.
**At least, it was. Now, people are more apt to talk about the exquisite level design, but back then, it was all about the difficult and how hard you had to be to play the games. Actually, now people have overcorrected and said that the games are not hard if you just know how to play them….Which, I mean, isn’t that any game? Anyway.