Dark Souls (Days 10-12) - First Full Run - Wrapping up, NG+, and a Retrospective

That’s it. We’re doing it. Yup. No more waiting. I’m getting this out of the way and it has been a long time coming. What exactly are we doing? We’re finishing my Dark Souls blog! You know.. the game I finished over a year ago? I think I have to explain myself a bit, so here goes.

Last year I was streaming my first full run of Dark Souls and writing a blog, with highlights and death compilations, after each session. The series culminated with me finishing Dark Souls and its DLC during the GB Community Endurance Run, albeit with no blog. UNTIL NOW! So what exactly happened? Well, you see, Twitch has a library of music that is acceptable to use in your streams without having them muted in the archive. I was using one of these songs and they only after my final sessions did they decide to start muting the VODS. Well, I put in a request to have them unmated and while waiting, the VODS were taken off the archive which I forgot would happen so quickly. That really deflated my enthusiasm for the blog because one of my favorite parts was working on the videos for you guys (and just for me). It was especially deflating because it was some of the most fun I’ve had streaming with the community, and IT WAS THE ENDING AND DLC!

So I never wrote the blog and I have been telling myself for the longest time that I would come back and finish it, but y’know… life and stuff.. Well we’re going to finally conclude this blog series and get this weight off our shoulders. There won’t be any videos and the structure might be different because I’m working off memory, but that’s okay. We’re going to try and be concise about the final sessions and put in a sort of retrospective on my time with Dark Souls, now that I’ve been away from it for so long. So, what do you say you join me in this final leg and cross the finish line with me? Let’s do it!

But first, as always, here is a list of all the lessons we’ve learned playing through Dark Souls that I feel have me better at gaming in general:

Lesson #1: Expect the unexpected.

Lesson #2: Maintain your composure and always be aware of your surroundings.

Lesson #3: Analyze your enemy.

Lesson #4: Sometimes the best defense is a good (and smart) offense.

Lesson #5: Do not handicap your tactics based on your assumptions that something will or will not work.

Lesson #6: Fight on your terms.

Lesson #7: Explore new areas if you feel that you are stuck.

Lesson #8: Use the environment to your advantage.

Lesson #9: Never underestimate enemies; every enemy deserves full attention and stratagem.

Lesson #10: Don’t keep doing the same thing expecting different results… Yeah yeah, I should have been smarter than that.

Lesson #11: Don't waste too much time worrying being Dark Souls-ed, you can always recover.

Lesson #12: Always watch your back. Always!

Lesson #13: If you're not getting many story beats, you're probably not trying hard enough.

Lesson #14:Never forget that vertical attacks are king and should be used as often as possible.

Lesson #15: Don't play the game, or any game, angry. It will only make you worse at it and make it a worse experience.

Lesson #16: Pillars are your best friend.

Lesson #17: Just do what needs to be done.

We left off last time defeating Seath the Scaleless in one of the most exilerating fights I’ve had in Video Games. It was something special. So we pick up from there and this is where my memory will start failing me, and I start being vague. The order of events escapes me but what we did was go back to defeat the Four Kings, killed Gwyn, and completed all of the DLC.

Traveling back to the Four Kings was our first task and what a task that was. First of all, the puzzle of using that one ring to even enter the kings is clever. Fighting them... not so clever. I didn’t feel there was much of a puzzle here. This fight consisted of dexterity, focus and heavy rushdown. It required aggressiveness in a way the other fights did not, because if you fail to take down a King fast enough, his buddies would show up to wreck you. It took some time but after finding a nice combination of magic resistant armor that would allow us to face them, we managed to take them down and move on.

Gwyn was quite something. Killing him would be the final milestone. The end. The culmination of everything we were working towards (or so we thought). This was an interesting series of.. not events.. not emotions.. but… well let me just explain it. He wasn’t the most difficult but I fought him without heeding one of my early lessons. I had been constraining myself to assumptions of what was and wasn’t possible. After quite a few attempts and finally killing him by rolling and attacking carefully, I had found out that he is considered one of the easiest bosses. Why? Because you can parry and reposte him quite easily. Why had I not thought of this? The community was great because not a single person of the 60+ watching had spoiled the tactic. They let me fight him all by my own wits. We’ll talk more about the community later.

I called it a night after Gwyn because I had been told that to play through the DLC, I would have to reach a certain section of the game through New Game+. I did just that the next day so I could stream the DLC. Three new bosses and some of the best bosses in video games, they were. Artorius, Manus, and Kalameet.

Artorias was one of the most fun bosses to fight because he was humanoid and fought with a sword. It felt like a true duel between two knights. His moveset had him jumping all over the place and rushing my face down hard. He was extremely difficult for me to figure out but eventually, he too was downed. I had much more words to write about Artorius when the fight was fresh in my mind, but there’s not much I can say anymore.

Manus was next and was a test of perseverance. His combos were downright brutal. It was damn near impossible to avoid surefire death most of the time because of the extremely tight windows of dodges necessary. It also just destroys your will because it’s not just an immediate death, no. He would trap you into a full combo that would become unblockable after the initial hit. At least, that’s how I remember it. He was downright fierce. The hardest boss in the game, hands down, because of his speed, reach, combos, and varying moves.

Being the true culmination of Dark Souls bosses, of course he had a puzzle aspect to him. A ring that we had found earlier, which we were confused about, ended up being the key to avoiding lethal damage from some of his attacks. When I found this out, I had so much hope.. but that hope was quickly destroyed after multiple attempts at the boss that ended just as badly as before; only this time, I had no unsolved puzzle to blame.

This was truly a test of perseverance and determination because boy did it feel like it took forever. I felt my spirit dwindle after every loss. No matter how much progress I felt I would make, there would be stretches where it felt like I had regressed back multiple attempts. Luckily, I had a couple viewers keep me going. I couldn’t let them down and knew that no matter what, I wasn’t going to quit. I don’t remember much about the fight that saw his health bar reach that oh so beautiful 0 mark, so there’s not much I can say about it.

You know that moment in movies or shows where the hero finally takes down the biggest threat to the world? Specifically the ones where the hero has been training for it for an excruciatingly long time and dreaded facing it? You know how they sometimes seem like they’re just glad it’s all over and lack to convey any excitement they might be feeling? Yeah, it was like that. I know I was excited and showed some of it, but more than anything, I was just glad for that to be over after the grinding necessary for that fight. To make matters worse, I had to grind humanity that would be needed for the fights, since there aren’t saves to load and get your resources back. It was over and I knew there wouldn’t be anything more challenging than that fight.

Manus was done but Dark Souls was not. I had some words with the giant archer, who’s name escapes me (did I already use that phrase? Ah whatever, I’m on a roll with writing this blog, so let’s just keep powering through), and he told me something along the lines of it being the time to take down the dragon that had we had run into earlier in the DLC. Then he sharp-shots Kalameet (the dragon) from some range with all the badassery to match his size.

Kalameet was quite frustrating. This was definitely a fight that would require quite a bit of experimenting to find the right tactic. A lot of his moves would one shot me and I had no idea how to approach the fight. I soon found a weakness of his which was aggressiveness. I had to stay close and use some movement that initially seems dangerous, but proves to be very safe. Once I had figured out the necessary movements and positioning, it was only a matter of endurance and precise timings. The thing about this fight was that I remember feeling like it was also one of the most fun and rewarding, but I don’t remember exactly why. I know he was quite touch while trying to figure him out, but I don’t exactly have a memory directly linked to the feelings of accomplishment with him. Does that make sense? It’s hard to describe but I know I actually had fun with him.

After that, I wrapped up by fighting Sif and Gwyndolin. I had avoided wanting to fight Gwyndolin because I wanted to stay loyal to the Dark Moon for PvP and Role Play reasons, as much as possible. But I wasn’t going to leave any boss fights behind; no way. The fight with Sif was probably the easiest. A wolf with a sword in his mouth is… well.. tight as fuck. It was pretty sad, too, for story reasons, after defeating the DLC. I had gone back in time and saved him, and he recognized me. Gwyndolin was just annoying as all get out, at first, but he’s one of those bosses that you just figure out and dispatch. Hide behind walls, rush over to him, and kill him. A pretty cool setting, though, for a fight.

And that was that. Dark Souls: Prepare to Die was in the books. After listening to how brutal of a test this game is, how it’s a crucible of sorts to gamers, and having to give up on it my first go round, I had finally taken the beast down in all its glory. And not only that, I had defeated some of the hardest bosses in New Game+. To this day, I hold this as one of my greatest gaming achievements and along the way, I had discovered one of my favorite games I have played.

The lessons a game like Dark Souls teaches you can be carried not only into other games, but into life as well. Throughout the blog series, I compiled a list of lessons learned. Take another look at those and see which ones could be applicable to the world around you. It’s quite amazing. Sure, some of those lessons are learned elsewhere, maybe even in other games, but it doesn’t take away just how great of learning experience Dark Souls is. And that’s what makes the game such an awesome experience the first time through. At every step of the way are puzzles and traps meant to frustrate you and push you to the edge of your limits. Just as a tough mentor, it doesn’t extend a hand to help you up when you fall; it stands in front of you and pushes you back down every time you try and get back up. But it does so consistently and allows you to find your solution, and when you finally do, you can feel the game giving you an approving smile as you apply it throughout the rest of the game. Bit by bit, you add onto your experience, and bit by bit, Dark Souls piles more on top of you, until you finally overcome everything it has to offer and look down to see a mountain that you had just climbed.

I have this weird feeling with it now where I don’t feel a desire to go back and play it again. I know the draw with the game is that there are many viable play styles that draws the players to many run-throughs, but that’s not me. I feel like nothing will match that first experience and even if subsequent playthroughs were enjoyable, I would constantly compare it to my original experience which will never be matched. This is something I experience with most games that I have a strong emotional connection with, and if there’s one thing Dark Souls plays with, it’s your emotions. No, not in the same way that a game like Life is Strange might, but in a way that it manipulates the player into playing with their own emotions. It’s truly a roller coaster. No, I don’t have a desire to replay it. Instead, I find myself chasing the dragon of excitement that Dark Souls was. It was a long time before I had played a game that had felt so right. In a time of oversaturation of generic games, Dark Souls stands out as a near perfect instant classic and it’s no wonder it garners such a cult-like following so committed to their craft.

There’s so much more to say about Dark Souls and it’s amazing level and world design, mechanics, deep yet subtle story beats, but it has all been said before, so I’ll spare you. My sentiments match most of the praise the game typically receives. I’ve since beaten Dark Souls 3, plan on playing Bloodborne, and am undecided about Dark Souls 2. We’ll see where gaming takes me. Dark Souls 3 was a ton of fun and the bosses were amazing in design, but I just don’t think it matched my experience with the first game. They’re both amazing games and I think everyone’s first experience with the series will always be their best, because of just how amazing the consistent mechanics are. From Software has created something special that will forever be remembered in game. It also helps that I had the drive of streaming and was able to share the experience with the community.

It's the first game I had streamed a full playthrough of, and it made it that much more enjoyable. Getting to share achievements with others is always great in an undescribable way. It’s even better when you get to do it for a great cause. The last few sessions of streaming were part of the Giant Bomb Community Endurance run that fundraised money for Penicls of Promise. Though, I had not raised much money, I did raise some, and that felt like I was part of something important. I was able to make a difference while enjoying one of my hobbies.

Because I had been playing through the middle of the night, I was able to be featured on in the Giant Bomb chat stream which garnered over 60 viewers during my attempts at the final boss of the game (Gwyn). Getting to beat the game base game in front of my largest audience, the community that I respect and brings me a ton of entertainment, made everything feel right. It is a moment that I’ll always remember as why I love this community. We can come together, push ourselves, keep each other going, and work towards a good cause. I didn’t get to take part this year, unfortunately, but one thing is for sure. I’ll be back.

Thank you everyone for your support during my First Full Run of Dark Souls. Ya’ll kept me going and even if my blogs and stream reached only a few consistant viewers, everyone that took part for any amount of time made the experience extremely more than what it would have been without you. You kept me positive and kept me going, and I enjoyed sharing the frustration and excitement of it all.

Until next time, have batman!

The archives of the full run are only temporary on twitch so they are indefinitely archived on YouTube as well. Included in my channel are most attempts at the boss fights (thus far) and larger enemies, and highlights. I’ll most likely be including death compilations only in these blogs and will make a full death compilation available on my page once I finish the game. Below are the links to my pages if you want to subscribe and follow along.

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtJjnxQwdCO6L2FbmytTGqA

Twitch Channel: http://www.twitch.tv/flashflood_29/

Thank you for reading and watching!

*Blog 1 (Day 1 and Streaming) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-1-and-streaming-highlights-included/112403/

*Blog 2 (Days 2 and 3) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-2-and-3-first-full-run-w-highlights/112488/

*Blog 3 (Day 4) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-4-first-full-run-pvp-and-boss-desig/112549/

*Blog 4 (Day 5) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-5-first-full-run-w-highlights-story/112603/

*Blog 5 (Day 6) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-6-first-full-run-w-highlights-death/112674/

*Blog 6 (Day 7) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-7-first-full-run-oands-lautrec-stra/112886/

*Blog 7 (Day 8) - http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-8-first-full-run-nito-and-glitches/112972/

*Blog 8 (Day 9) - https://www.giantbomb.com/profile/flashflood_29/blog/dark-souls-day-9-first-full-run-seath-in-one-and-t/113041/