So I have been playing Dark Souls 1, and have really been forming my final thoughts on the game. So far I have completed the game once and got to O&S in NG+, I have started another character too and I am nearly there. But with this time (80 hours) I have really been forming my final opinions on the game. So I am just gonna lay out what I got from this game.
1. Story
Tackling the story of Dark Souls is no easy feet, this is bolstered by the fact that the lore of Lordran and the DS universe is not explained plainly. This juxtaposes DS' contemporaries like Skyrim and other Western RPG's. The story is told through the environment, vague dialogue that is told by the characters and what the player makes of the story. The story has been slowly uncovered by a fantastic community that has a never-ending stream of new ideas and concepts. The story has been told vaguely so that the player may question their actions without really knowing the consequences. The story is left aside and the game bothers more on the combat, and through the combat you can optionally learn more about the world.
This type of story-telling is very rarely seen and is a very unique feature.
2. Combat
'Prepare To Die' a phrase that seems ubiquitous in the Dark Souls combat, you WILL die at some point, somewhere, and well… you only have yourself to blame. See the combat in Dark Souls does not get easier the more you level up, the combat is realistic and gritty, it provokes the player to make careful movements and commit to every single one of their commands. The combat demands high focus from the player or else… some is lost. Souls, they are a never-ending resource that is given out with each kill in Dark Souls, yet when we die we rage, we shout, we get angry. This is the game teaching us a lesson about loss; though we may always get another chance, you must seize the goal before it is too late.
When you die you drop a bloodstain; this carries all of your Souls and Humanity that you had on that life. You get one chance to get it back, so you employ tactics and you tread carefully or else all is lost. However, many times I have ran through everything and well… it often is a failure, the game wants you to slow your mental speed down in order to adjust to the game's difficulty, the consequences are dire.
3. The ending
The ending of Dark Souls made me feel empty, but maybe that is what it is supposed to do. After all this time, building your character up, baring the trials and tribulations that the game offers you, all you get is two endings:
1. Offer your soul to kindle the first flame for a little longer
2. Speed up the darkness and begin The Age of Man
These two endings are not supposed to be happy, they leave you feeling kinda worthless. But maybe that is what you were! Were you really needed? Did your actions actually matter? If the Chosen Undead was never 'chosen' would there be any difference in the ending? In my opinion; no. But then I started New Game + and I felt alive again, I felt I was ready to take on the evils that Lordran had once again. And in the middle of writing this, I realize that I have just explained to myself what I thought about Dark Souls! I started off so aimless but yet I just figured out why I love Dark Souls!
Dark Souls is about second chances, a juxtaposition of our own world, it shows us what we could have done right and allows us to do it, but it all comes at a cost, a cost of out lives.
