6 Days of...Dark Souls II!

Why I haven't posted in 2 months...

I've been ignoring this blog for some time, during which I've been busy with other things. Where laziness takes hold, life is my excuse. It's not a very good one since writing gives me great joy and I've been replacing the time I want to spend writing with a poison that has been slowly eroding my soul. Recently though I've had the desire to come back and revisit my project here, and I'll do my best to keep it going. I'll put this out there right now, DOTA 2 was my poison of choice. It took a majority of the time that I wanted to spend writing about games and threw it down the chute while being flamed by strangers and wasting may hours researching optimized builds that in the end didn't help me at all. 

However I've come to the conclusion that I'll not get better at DOTA any time soon. The personalities that I encounter there are not encouraging in the slightest either. It is few and far between where I meet somebody that makes the effort worth while, and even then it is only time until they become the poison I so hoped to avoid. So moving on to Dark Souls II, I was glad to leave behind the ability to speak openly to my partners. 

How Dark Souls II helped me recover

I will go on record right now as saying that I am biased, I love the Dark Souls franchise. I demonstrated this quite clearly with my review on Dark Souls. I consider the games to be complete, lacking for nothing that they did not attempt to include. This isn't to say that Dark Souls II includes everything that should be in a game, for that would be impossible. However they do establish a very clear cut view of what they want to accomplish at the starting gate, and every turn thereafter delivers completely.

Challenged for the right to live.

When I began Dark Souls II I was met with a generic idea of a life left behind and the cursed path which I am compelled to follow. This was reiterated to me by a band of witches that delivered me a message about my doomed life as an undead walking a solitary path, with nothing else to do but complete it and begin a new cycle or fail and be replaced. It is clear to me that my life is now not my own but a piece of a larger picture that will not hesitate to replace me.

So began my journey into a desolate waste of a former kingdom with undead, dragons, giants, and death waiting around every corner. I personally played a character specializing in hexes, a form of dark magic which is new to the second game in the series. Starting out in the small town of Majula, which would be more aptly described as a few small huts where undead merchants peddle their wares for souls.

From there the quests began, and I was filled with a sense of dread for what was coming. I died many times and followed many paths, all ending in the same place. This journey was taken silently and not taken lightly, but along the way spirits of undead present and past silently assisted in taking down the beasts and giants that stood in the way. 

This silence, eerie in the extreme brought a sort of brotherhood with it. It was understood that we all would endure the same torture and persist through our failures. Success would only come with time, and with time we all would become more hollow. This was all communicated with silent coordinated combat, overcoming the obstacles that would define our experiences until they slowly faded into their own world. Again to be lost to their isolation until the need arose to summon help in their own world, to form the bonds of silent cooperation and complete the circle. 

This truly is the way that games should be played, with pure intentions and lacking the corruption that human communication can bring. 

Always moving, never to hollow

The future of the blog.

Just for today, I wanted to write about how my experiences with Dark Souls II felt. I will be reviewing the game and all of its aspects later. This was just my general feeling during play which I believe is the most important part of the game. Too many times it's easy to just sink into the challenge of "beating" the game, but Dark Souls II is an experience that should be considered. It's been to me unlike anything before it, and shows me a different way to play. One where I can just enjoy the challenge of what's been placed before me and share it with another person silently. I consider this it's greatest achievement. 

If you liked the personal narriative let me know and I'll format some other posts like it. I might just reiterate my entire journey like this. Telling my story and putting into words the journey that we all face but do not articulate. It would be a pleasure to do so.

(If you had a different opinion or a new video game to suggest, leave a comment below! If you want to recieve regular updates, follow me on Twitter @SimonGolden)