I love Dark Souls games. I don’t think that’s a surprise to anyone who knows me. Back when I first started got into them, I played them years after they came out. That meant I normally knew the twists and turns before I played them. I didn’t have a PS4 so I thought I would never get to play Bloodborne. I watched several playthroughs so I ruined myself before playing it. It was still great when I finally did play it, but the thrill of discovery was gone. When I played Dark Souls III, I was playing it real time which meant that I didn’t know all the tricks of the trade before going into the game.
I watch outsidexbox even though I don’t have an Xbox. I started watching PlayStation Access recently even though I don’t have a PS, either. Or rather, I have one, but I don’t use it. They’re both British groups, which I like, too. They both do list videos once a week. One time, on PlayStation Access, it was called Massive Mistakes We Made That Completely Ruined Games about how they fucked up a game they were playing after many hours.
I was watching, half-listening, when I flashed on my own moment in a game where I ruined my playthrough. It was Dark Souls III, the first time I played it. I wanted to have an organic experience so I stayed away from the wikis as much as possible. I was enjoying the game, exploring everything along my path, when I got the option to Heal the Dark Sigil with the Fire Keeper in Firelink Shrine. This was something new! I had never seen this before so of course I had to do it. It cost a pretty penny (it costs more and more the worse you are hollowed), but I managed to scrape together all my pennies in order to do it.
Before I tell you what happened, let me explain what I had to do to get to this point and what NPC it involved. The ramification of healing the hollowing, I mean. Ok. Try to keep this straight. There is an NPC early on who you can have on your team. His name is Yoel of Londor and he’s a pilgrim/sorcerer. He offers to let you draw out your true strength, which is leveling up. If you’re like me, you don’t notice until later that there’s a new stat called Hollowing. And you get one per level you take from Yoel. Oh, spoilers. Obviously. So after five levels, he dies. Then Yuria from Londor shows up asking if you were mates with Yoel. She’s into dark magicks, which is right up my alley. I took to her quite quickly and she became my favorite NPC in the game. I talked to her periodically and we were becoming fast friends.