I’ve been rambling about FromSoft games for the past several posts, and I’m currently musing about what they mean to me. I’m also deciding whether or not I’m going to continue playing them after Elden Ring.
As to the latter, it’s not a question of whether I want to continue playing them or not, but of whether my abilities will allow me ta play them much longer. I already can’t play some of them, well, one of them for sure (Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon) and one I’m pretty sure I can only play with great difficulty (Sekiro). I may not be able to play it at all. I could list all my issues with it, but I’ve done plenty of posts about that. (And remember, I still rate it above a 9 if I had to give it a number.)
Here’s my latest post about my time with the original Dark Souls. I’m musing about it because I’m playing the remaster again for the first time in a while. I play it the same way every time, and I marvel at how much easier it is now. I can traipse through it fairly easily, and I get indignant if scrubs kill me (because it’s embarrassing when it used to be just normal).
You’ll never guess how much easier it is when you know the game like the back of your hand. Orders of magnitude easier. It’s funny to watch people play these games with people who don’t play these games because the people who don’t play the games are always amazed at how much the people who do play the games know said games. In the video I included below, Rosie (the one guiding) is the resident FromSoft expert. She is guiding Ash (under ridiculous circumstances) and Robert S. Pearson (the host of the series) is pompous, grandiose, and comes up with difficult tasks for the others to do in various video games.
The main gist of this challenge was for Ash to make it to the first boss, Phalanx, in a certain amount of time on a fresh save. If she saw an enemy, she had to fight them. If she ate a grass, she had to put on a jumper (sweater), and there were nine of them. If she died, a minute was taken off the time (which I think was 45 minutes).
She hadn’t played the game because she was told not to (probably for this challenge). It was going to be her Christmas game, so she found it especially painful that she had to play it for this challenge.
It was hilarious beacuse by the end, she was wearing all nine jumpers. She looked like she should have been rolled out of the studio because she was so round.
Anyway. Rosie was telling her every hidden enemy, every trap, every obstacle in her way befoe she (Ash) reached it. Robert S. Pearson was exclaiming over how Rosie knew everything, and I had to laugh. Rosie said it was the way you play the game, Robert S. Pearson was incredulous, but it’s true.
I will say there are a few areas I don’t know as well in Dark Souls beacuse I don’t go there. The Valley of the Drakes for one. But in general, I can navigate the game with my eyes close.
I’ll give a small example. From Firelink Shrine, you go to the left (as you face the staircase going down) and up the stairs. There is a Hollow Warrior waiting, and once you take care of him, another will jump down from the next stairs going up. As you fight him, someone chucks firebombs at you from above. Normally, I run up the second batch of stairs and take care of the firebomber before doing two more Hollow Warriors up there. Then I go back down and get the Hollow Soldier at the end of the area before going back up and through the sewer. There’s a rat to your left, nad then a door to your right (well, further down and to your left once you start walking). The sewer keeps going, but there’s a door that cannot be opened from this side. Go up through the door and there are a couple more Hollow Warriors waiting for you. Staggered, so if you take your time, the first will run at you, but the second will hang back. Past them, there is another of their ilk with a firebomb and another Hollow Warrior hiding in the door to your left (as you face firebomber).
Backing up, there is a barrel on a little platform/ledge that you can roll through and off the edge. To your left is a dead end. To your right is a bridge with Hollows hanging off it. I don’t do this path all the time, so I’m not sure exactly the layout, though I know there are two sets of hanging Hollows and some rubbish (literally an item you can pick up).
As I’m playing, there’s a “yep, coming up on four crystal golems now” running through my brain. It’s like a narrator commenting on my actions, which is weird, but acceptable. As I said, there are areas where it’s a tad fuzzy, but in general, I know every inch of that game.
So I understand the theory behind the reason for making people walk across the map. I understand having no map. I don’t like it, though, and I was so relieved when it was not a thing in the subsequent games. Andy from Oxbox likes to say that one reason he hasn’t gotten into FromSoft games before this was beacuse they did not respect his time (not sure he played anything other than the first), and that’s one thing he loves about Elden Ring.
No grueling boss runs that were worse than the bosses themselves. It’s funny because Dan Tack, when he was with Game Informer, used to say that nobody cited the boss runs as one reason they loved the games (as to why he had no problems with them being cut out of Elden Ring). Au contraire, mon frere. There are plenty of people who consider the boss run integral to the experience. I have read the forums; it comes up from time to time, mostly from people who are purists (gatekeepers).
I find it unfathomable weird because first of all, people differ on what you absolutely have to do in order to be a true From fan. I have read the following about what makes someone a filthy casual when it comes to From games: using a shield; going all-in on strength; magicks; dual-wielding; over-leveling; Haveling it up; and everything else. As I’ve said several times, the only right way to play the games is to one-bro it, nekkid, and wearing a blindfold in real life. I just added the last for this post.
I’m done. More later.