Dark Souls 2 - Death, Patience and Persistence

Demon's Souls came out in 2010 as a PS3-exclusive title and a notoriously difficult game, with many praising it as a genuine challenge. Dark Souls, its spiritual successor, was then released in 2012 and stood as a testimony that the developer had no intention to tone down its difficulty. Unlike most other games out there, Dark Souls' hard difficulty had been taken positively by the gaming community and received critical acclaim.

So naturally, when the sequel Dark Souls 2 hit the shelves, it stayed true to its roots, but not only that, it was also made available for all platforms. Compared to the first Dark Souls' PC port, Prepare to Die Edition, Dark Souls 2 is much more polished. It's technically much more stable and more PC-flexible too! From Software really did live up to their words about making a stable PC version of the game. It was one of my most anticipated games this year, and so I finally got my hands on it.

One of the various locations in Drangleic.

Most importantly, Dark Souls 2 is said to be more difficult compared to the previous two games. Now, I have never played Demon's Souls, since it's a PS3-exclusive title (I don't own any console) and I don't think I played Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition long enough to evaluate it accurately, but reportedly, Dark Souls 2 is more punishing and less forgiving than the previous two. Yes, I hear you and you heard me right; an already difficult franchise has been made more difficult.

But for now, I'll save the talk on the difficulty for latter. There are so many things I have to say about this game, the good and the bad, but let's start with what it's all about. Dark Souls 2 is set in a non-linear fashion, albeit not entirely open world. You're one of the many undead looking to free yourself from your curse. This leads you to the undead land of Drangleic, the shadow of a once great kingdom. Now it's populated by hostile undead who have souls that you're going to need to free yourself from the curse and regain your humanity.

Majula is the only non-hostile location, acting as a hub where you deal with traders and level-up.

Just like the first two games, Dark Souls 2's storyline is intentionally vague but you can learn more and more about the tales and history of the realm by talking to NPCs and through the various items such as weapons and armors that you find in-game. The problem with the plot being vague is that it'll eventually leave you clueless on what's going on and why you're supposed to do whatever you're doing at the moment. A few times I asked myself, "Why am I the chosen one? Why do I deserve this curse?"

I can't deny the fact that the vague story of Dark Souls 2 will leave curious players intrigued, but not everyone likes having to learn everything themselves. The NPCs aren't much of a help either. Personally, I'm sick of hearing the Emerald chanting "Seek, seek, seek" like a broken toy everytime I talked to her, it stayed it my head for hours. Although you can learn more about the game and the realm of Drangleic by observing and reading items information, they rarely, if ever, give you any clear picture on what's going on in Drangleic. Several armors also tell you the tales of warriors and races but they don't seem to have anything to do with the story.

Should have been a map instead.

Scattered all around Drangleic are bonfires that function as checkpoints. In order to activate them, you will have to lit them. After that you can rest there to regain health but this causes the area enemies to respawn. However, after having been beaten several times, they will no longer respawn, giving you the freedom to explore the area. Not only the bonfires function as checkpoints, but also as fast-travel portals as well. The bonfire mechanic is pretty creative and has its own symbolic aura, but unfortunately its functonality feels a bit unpolished, at least it is to me, especially when it comes to the fast-travel system (update: apparently, the disconnected feel is because of the story's vagueness).

One of the new features introduced in Dark Souls 2 is; as mentioned beforehand; the fast-travel system which can be accessed via these bonfires. However, the interface of the fast-travel portal has a very obvious flaw: in the fast-travel menu, levels are presented as picture thumbnails, making it seem as if they are separate levels instead of parts of the same world. In other words, the interconnectivity between each levels make you feel like they're taking place in different and barely-related world instead of being set in the same world. If only the use a map-like menu instead, the interconnectivity of the vastly different environments will be more obvious. Dark Souls 2 is supposed to be an open-world game set in a huge realm, it is important for players to feel like it really is.

The best location, period.

I must admit that one of the biggest letdowns was the realm of Drangleic itself. Just like I said, they don't feel connected. They lack the sense of dread and the frightening atmosphere that Dark Souls had. The level designs sometimes don't make sense. Honestly, I can't imagine why would someone wanna build a castle with the design of the Earthen Peek and the Iron Keep. The Black Gulch also has a very terrible design. Maybe the developers should have done more homework by observing other games such as Serious Sam the Second Encounter, which, in my opinion, has the best and most epic level design in all of gaming.

Anyway, back to Dark Souls 2, in order to progress through the story, you will have to beat bosses at the end of every location. There are boss fights that you can skip, nevertheless this makes the journey feel rather incomplete. Therefore, as for me, I'd rather fight all the available bosses than leave them alone. Every victory grants you the soul of the boss, which you can trade for boss weapons. However, if you already like your weapon, you can keep the boss soul instead or "break" it into soul memories. I'll save the talk on boss fights for later.

To tell you the truth, boss weapons are rarely useful. Even if they're statistically more powerful than ordinary weapons, they're heavy, highly demanding, hence rarely worth it. You better stick to whatever weapon you feel comfortable with instead of opting to boss weapons just because they're boss weapons. As for me, I used the greatsword and shield that I found early on until the very end of the game. They may seem weak initially, but once upgraded several times, they're really kickass.

Got something to say about me, you weak warrior?

Souls are the main currency of the game. You obtain souls by defeating foes. Souls can be used to buy weapons, armors and other various items that you're going to need to survive. Souls are also crucial to level up. Leveling up in Dark Souls 2 is not based on the experience system. Each time you level up, you are given the opportunity to increase an attribute and you're going to have to spend a certain amount of souls. So, you can increase as many level as you wish, provided that you have enough souls.

There are multiple of character classes in Dark Souls 2, but I strongly believe that the joy of the game lies on the melee combat. Playing as archers, sorcerers or any other ranged character in general doesn't make the game any less difficult. Okay maybe it does make the game less difficult for the most parts, I'll be completely honest here, except for some boss fights, but mostly yes, assaulting from a distance gives you less of a hassle but it gets monotonous after some time, unless you are really the type of player who enjoys fighting from a distance. If that's the case, then trust me, try experimenting with a melee character this time.

A well-timed screenshot of a well-timed dodge.

From my point of view, playing as a melee character truly provides you the appropriate experience and gives you the complete "feel" of the game. Timing is the bread and butter of Dark Souls 2, and this is especially true if you play as a melee character. All actions have to be timed correctly; disobey this rule proves to be fatal. Your attacks, dodges, etc, they all need to be timed properly. Actions such as replenishing your health can leave you extremely vulnerable, so extra precautions have to be made all the time.

Most games I've played prior to Dark Souls 2 are pretty much very forgiving when it comes to vulnerability. In fact it's not even an issue. We are not afraid to get hurt in other games, because who cares to dodge when their character is unrealistically strong and tough anyway? But that's not the case here. The chunk of health taken by a normal shot in Dark Souls 2 is as much as the amount taken by power shots in other games. Usually, it takes 4 to 5 damage to kill you. For bosses, it takes around 2 hits, sometimes 3. Don't be surprised if you have to try 10 to 15 times to beat a boss.

Time or die.

But of course, as you level up and possess better armor, the enemies that used to kill you with 4 hits now will need more than that, so they possess less threat. Regardless, there will always be new enemies that are stronger than you, and from the start til the end of the game, you can always be killed with 2 to 3 hits because, as I said, there will always be enemies that are as strong as, or; more frequently; stronger than you. There is no point of time in which you become too powerful. No way. The best way to stay alive is to time your attack correctly and know the foe's moving pattern well.

A lot of people say that your main enemy is in fact, patience. Yes, that's true. But another enemy within yourself that you have to face is... cockiness. Yes, it's pretty much the same thing as patience, but then again it's a different thing. Don't ever get cocky. Yes, there are enemies that used to easily kill you, but now that you've got better weapons, you start to underestimate them. But make no mistakes, those ghouls that you can kill with a single hit can still do the same to you. I sometimes catch myself being too cocky, but by the time I realize that, it's already too late. The foe is already swinging and I have no time to dodge away from my mistake. The screen declares "You Died", and I have nobody else to blame for that other than myself.

The game is fucking difficult, especially if you've been used to fast-paced hack and slash. For new players, such as myself, it's hard to get a grip on the game. I remember dying multiple times within the first 5 minutes in the beginning area, and I cursed the game for being "impossible" and "cheating". But the difficulty isn't the nonsense kind of difficulty. It's a sensible and also very encouraging, at least for me. As I keep on playing, I realized that this game is as close as it gets to "realism". This is actually the first game that I was actually glad that it has been made very difficult (save for the exploding mummies which are basically there because somebody just want to troll around, or something).

You will have to face some gigantic enemies (video screenshot).

As you progress, you may begin to wonder if Dark Souls 2 notorious difficulty, which was initially frustrating to you, is actually overrated. The thing is that it isn't. The game never gets any easier as you play. It's just that you begin to adapt to the difficulty since Dark Souls 2 gives you no other choice but the default difficulty which is equal to the hard difficulty of other games. And that's one of the most beautiful things about Dark Souls. For most games, playing this hard a difficulty will make most of us restart with a lower difficulty, or perhaps quit for the impatient. Instead, Dark Souls 2 leaves you no choice. Like it or not, you have to play it under that difficulty.

And this is exactly how the game gets you battle-hardened and makes you a player more patient than before. In the end, you won't be bothered by that "I'm playing under hard difficulty" mindset. In the end, it's all about doing it right and this how you adapt and play the game with a little more ease. But thinking that Dark Souls 2 is wearing of its difficulty is a big mistake. You'll get cocky and the next thing you know, you're dead.

Observe and apply.

Death is a central theme of Dark Souls 2. In most games that I've played, death is rarely a vital mechanic. Normally, death is just... well, death. There's nothing more to it. You die, you respawn and you repeat. Most of the times, your current actions are no different from the previous ones that got you killed. This is the reason why we die over and over again in most games: death does not teach us anything. It rarely costs anything, save for games such as Borderlands but even then, death does not mean anything much. Death is something we take for granted. Worse, death can be a huge discouragement for us to continue playing those difficult games that fail to use the death mechanic properly.

But death actually matters in Dark Souls 2. Let's make it very, very clear once again: Dark Souls 2 is a difficult game. Here you'll be seeing the "You Died" screen hundreds of times with your character lying lifeless in the background. But unlike most games, death is Dark Souls 2 does not become a discouragement for you. Instead, it works as a lesson. Another game that creatively uses death as a teaching mechanic is Limbo. Death works almost the same way as it is in Limbo in Dark Souls 2. Each death says and means something. "This is what you get for being cocky." "This is what you get for not timing your attack properly." "This is what you get for not bringing enough poison cures and managing them correctly in your inventory." The more you die, the more you learn. Hence, the more improvisations you make and the more prepared you are for the worse.

"We are the Grim Reapers for the undead! Why are you so stubborn? Die already!"
"It takes more than the three of you to finish me (getting cocky now eh)!"

But hold on your horses! Perhaps, if you haven't played Dark Souls 2 yet, you might be thinking that, for once, death isn't a bad thing. You're wrong. Make no mistake; Dark Souls 2 will never make things go easy without a price. Death in Dark Souls 2 comes with a price; in fact much heavier than in those other games that make you pay for dying. The first and obvious penalty is that each time you died, your maximum hitpoints will be reduced until it reaches 50%. This makes it significantly easier for you to be killed later on. You can, however, regain your humanity and reset your maximum hitpoints back to 100% by using certain items, which are hard to find. Death also results the loss of all souls that you have collected prior to that death and you have one chance to retrieve those souls. If you get killed on your way, those souls are forever lost.

Yes, you're not going to like dying often, but you will. But as much as it is a pain to die in Dark Souls 2, still, its benefits overweigh its disadvantages. Yes, I know, we don't like to die. I don't either. After so much effort spent accumulating souls, it's so frustrating to die and lose them all on the spot. Having to get them back is a tough challenge in itself. If you somehow died on the way to retrieve your soul, that's it, forever they're gone. But you see, the risk acts a lesson for you. This game wants you to die painful death multiple times. But it doesn't want you to die in vain. It wants you to feel glorious each time you succeed, so that you can look back at all your other efforts, all the lessons you have learned and all of your losses.

I've seen your kind before...

Some boss fights can be pretty epic, but emphasize on some. A number of bosses in Dark Souls 2 don't look threatening, such as Jabba the Hutt boss (not real name) which looks as cartoony as a boss out of the Binding of Isaac. Then there's the giant rat and the rat boss. These are two different bosses in two different areas, and they're both rats. Rats, the most generic in video games! Worse, they developers actually recycled some bosses from the first game. Even the movesets are completely identical! Besides that, some bosses that you've beaten also reappear somewhere else as regular enemies. The only bosses that awe me were the dragon bosses, especially the one that was initially friendly, until you provoked it. Same goes with the intimidating-looking Mastodon warriors (which, unfortunately, are not bosses).

I finished Dark Souls 2 after 75 hours of struggle and grinding. I died 438 times and accumulated a total of 3 million souls, including those that are forever lost. In terms of the combat system and difficulty, yes, I would say that Dark Souls 2 is actually pretty magnificent. It is difficult, but it's a smart kind of difficult. Technically speaking, Dark Souls 2 runs really smoothly, a testimony that From Software can really keep a promise. It's not so visually impressive though. The lighting is somewhat static, but the game still looks magnificent and hauntingly beautiful at times. I actually have a lot more to talk about, but let's drop it here and talk about it in some other post.

Dragon fights are epic.

Dark Souls 2, however, lacks that real sense of dread of being trapped in a mysterious realm, which made the first game so immersive and absorbing. This sequel feels far less atmospheric; the world doesn't feel connected at all. Another flaw is obviously, the recycled and not-so-intimidating bosses, which luckily only the players of the first game will realize (if you haven't played either Demon's Souls or Dark Souls, then you should be fine). I will elaborate on the flaws later, when I'm ready.

But for now, let me say that regardless of these flaws, Dark Souls 2 still managed to win me over with its combat system. Yes, of course the combat system is basically the same as Dark Souls', but now it's much more polished (especially camera smoothing!). The controls are also great for the PC. For me, it's rare to find a game with a melee mechanic this good. Sure, it's unresponsive at times, regardless, it's forgivable. This game is definitely for those people who have huge heart and don't mind countless grinding for a complete satisfaction.

I'm not going to put any rating to it, because I'm afraid I might either overrate or underrate it but I'm just going to say that this is a game that you should at least try at some point of your life, especially if you're a patient person who likes bitter challenges, appreciates good punishments and likes nothing more than a great reward. Even if you've played the previous Souls games, you should give this sequel a shot. If accomplishing something truly tough thrills you like no other, then Dark Souls 2 is definitely for you.