Looks like I wrote this ages ago. No idea what I was talking about but here it is
From last December onward, I decided to play Dark Souls remastered. After 2 months, I have finished Dark Souls 3 just yesterday (13/01/2019) (excludes Dark Souls 2). I want to provide my opinions as a player who struggled when first playing, and how it lead me to enjoying this game. Spoilers etc.
Background
Before I begin, I have to say that I did use a walkthrough. Hate me all you want, that was the key reason I enjoyed the game. I’ll expand on this later on.
My first experience with dark souls was years ago on PC. Via the family sharing option, I downloaded my friend’s copy of Dark Souls and tried it out. I knew there was a huge fan base and so I wanted to try it myself. From what I can remember, I didn’t get that far at all. I remember reaching the firelink area but then stopping. Not that the game was too hard, but the complexity of gameplay. What were humanities? What weapon do I use? What stat do I upgrade? Where the hell was I suppose to go next? While the game provided a huge customisation option on how you want to play, and where to go, I had no idea what to do and what was the best thing to do. It was at this point I lost interest.
The second experience with dark souls genre was Bloodborne. This was back when I first got a PS4 pro and borrowed my friend’s copy. The game looked amazing, but yet I didn’t get far at all. I spent a huge amount of time in the first area, too scared to leave the room, then realising you were allowed to die and get to the hub area. From my memories, I got to a street full of people, still too scared to move onwards in fear of death. Eventually I stopped playing as FF15 (the reason I got a PS4) came out.
Having another itch for dark souls genre, I started Dark Souls 3. The reason was due to it be modern. I didn’t know the story of dark souls, but I heard Dark Souls 3 was very good so I tried it out. Surprisingly I got all the way to Ithryll Dungeon, but again stopped after defeating yhorm the giant. I can’t remember why, but I did and never went back to it.
In general, compared to how I’m feeling now to back then, I don’t think i truly understood how to play the game. I never understood the idea of weapon stats, parrys, repose, enemy AI’s, and weapon upgrades. I was always worried what stats to increase, and what weapons to improve. The reason being was that I didn’t realise the weapon upgrades can be bought (to some extent), or how rolling was king. It was just me and my shield running full force into enemies and hoping to survive.
Remastered
The reason why I started playing dark souls again was due to it being on the switch. I was able to try it out briefly to the shrine again, but this time I actually really enjoyed it. Eventually I stopped and switched to playing on my PC. This time, I got through everything, and did all the DLC.
As I stated at the start, the key difference was that I watched walkthroughs first. I wanted to know where all the items were, secret areas, and suggested routing and stats. I didn’t watch boss fights though, and I didn’t follow the author’s class. Instead, I preferred using a quick simple sword, sticking with the straight sword and improving my dex. However, the recommendation of increasing endurance and vigor first really helped put me on the right track. Knowing where enemies were and suggested ways to kill them easily helped substantially.
Of course, I did die a lot. Just watching a video doesn’t make you good, you have to be good through multiple tries. I did numerous times due near the start. As I progressed through the game, I could definitely tell I was getting better and dodging and reading attacks.
Dark Souls had a online option with co-op available. I enjoy playing co-op with people, often opting to help people becoming summonable, especially when trying to gain more humanity. That said, I also disliked invaders, often going offline one I was kindled/embered.
As a result, I was able to finish the whole game including DLC and all optional bosses just before Christmas week.
Dark Souls 3
As soon as I finished Dark Souls, I was eager for more. I went straight to starting back up Dark Souls 3 again to see how much I had improved. Loading up my old save file, I was placed in area where I had no idea what to do (I had just finish Yhorm the giant but I didn’t know at that time). Instead, I decided to start again.
The first thing I noticed was how different it felt. Dark Souls was a much slower game in terms of movements. The enemies were much easier to circle around, and I didn’t need to roll as much. Dark Souls 3 movements were much more fluid.
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