One of the most addictive games I've played in a long time.. For the wrong reasons.
Demon's Souls was in my eyes, one of the greatest games of all all time and not just for the fair but difficult gameplay it offered. No, that game also had some of the most memorable music you'll hear only in boss fights that served as a neat treat for the silent atmosphere the levels offered, a simple concept for your plot that encouraged the player to bring life to the world by the use of their imagination and what little details the story had, music that ranges from your epics to the slow depression that made you realize that your demon hunting began making you the worst Demon of all.
Always quenching your undying thirst for souls.
Fast forward two years and Dark Souls on the other hand....
Now I won't go as far to say that it is a abysmal game but... wow.. just wow...
From Software.. I can't thank you enough for not only creating one of the most confusing, poorly balanced, and the least uninspired games I played since Fallout New Vegas. You had to literally also do it in such a way that is yet highly addictive..
But where should I start you might ask? Simple, let's look at that FANTASTIC storytelling that really left my scratching my head at the end until I view a rather well done series on Youtube known as "Dark Souls Lore".
Set in an entirely new land known as Lodran, you're a chosen undead whose jailbreaks his way out of the Asylum thanks to the help of a knight dropping you a key and handing you the Estus Flask, assuming you'll be the next one to link the Bonfires. Now sparing any real spoilers, you do manage to escape after killing the rather easy tutorial boss cleverly named "Asylum Demon" (with the help of a enormous crow taking you to Lodran) and that's were you set off in your epic quest. Now you must think "Gee wiz.. That sure sounds like something I can look forward to, what's the big deal with you buster!?"
Here's the deal.. Unlike Demon's Souls where you had to gather scraps of info and make your own interpretation of what happened to Boletaria. Dark Souls insists on you trying to find scraps of info that are scattered da&* near EVERYWHERE, just so you can piece together this epic story that was lying there for you. It doesn't even offer the decency to interpret the plot of this story, all it boasts in the intro is "A bunch of gods really hated dragons. They killed of all the dragons minus the scaleless one, and something about a bonfire or age of fire dying out". No my friends, you really don't get the chance to interpret the story, you just need multiple playthroughs with this game or watch a whole series on Youtube just to grasp this story.
It's a shame really because the story was quite well indeed. Just badly executed in my eyes.
The visual department is a mix bag. When I'm thinking artistic side, I think of the love and effort given to all the weapons design, armor, shields, locals, etc. Your environments range from dense forests, to a massive city with a beautiful sunset, to poisonous swamps, and even a place filled with streaming amounts of lava pouring down to the environments. This might not be nothing new to the average player of RPGs but trust me when I say it's artistic standpoint is something to just stop and view occasionally.
Not the same for the graphical departments I'm afraid.
First off. The textures in this game basically scream low res when it comes to the environments. Animations looks stiff and downright laughable considering how a character could execute ninja flips in full rock armor yet swing a 10 pound sword like it's a 10 year old trying to swing a sledgehammer. Also, great coding there From Software. I love it how my armor or weapons magically penetrate my shield or even the ground when I'm doing whatever action that isn't just standing still.
So with all of that said, lets dive into my favorite main course of any game.
The gameplay
To simply put it, it's like taking a bite from a sweet apple if there were razor sharp blades hidden inside the thing. While I'm proud to say that this game isn't meant for someone who relies on constant, detailed tutorials, while tossing in a plethora of new toys for you to play with. It breaks my heart that the combat is such broken garbage that it makes the likes of Skyrim's skill trees look perfectly balanced. This game will punish you if you try to be evenly balanced with all forms of combat known as melee, magic and miracles. I'm not saying that it will make the game slightly harder, I'm saying it will ram it's steel boot up your posterior just because you want to get the most out of what this game offers. Either it's up to you to invest those points on using weapons that are twice your size, increasing the miracle power of WOTG so you can spam it more like the cheap prick you might be on PvP, or on magic that ignores shield defense capabilities. It doesn't even help that the game stutters like crazy when the action heats up, and the enemy can somehow sneak in damage while you're defending yourself.
Boss fights go all over the map. Some fights like the Iron Golem and Asylum Demon are pathetically easy, where as to the Bed of Chaos will want you to tear your controller to a million pieces with the area falling apart at random. To further mention, the music for the boss fights can't even hold a candle to Demon's Souls and the combat literary drowns off the uninspired music most of the time. The only two soundtracks that are worth of mentioning are the Asylum Demon and the final boss in the game but that's because one is blasting the trumpets like crazy, and the other was just a piano playing a simple moody tune. Not that they're bad or anything but they are memorable just for standing out compared to the majority of the bosses's music.
As for PvP. It's broken, laggy, full of fights where you'll be outnumbered by people who backstab you, and taunt you but this is also where the game truly gives you a sense of reward. Killing of a group of overpowered players by your own hands while you taunt your fallen foes will offer you a sense of great accomplishment, much more than any boss fight you can think off. You have 9 factions to join, all of them with their own unique benefits whether for co-op, PvP invasion, or for your single player experience. If you put in plenty of time learning the mechanics in this section, you'll be having quite a time that I guarantee you'll have a hard time putting down.
When you really think about it, is Dark Souls worth buying? It depends, if you want to find a game that will beat you in the worst way possible but offers a sense of reward you just can't find anywhere else, buy it. Looking for a game that is the true spiritual successor for Demon's Souls? Skip it or just find it for $30 or less just to really get your money's worth.