I Have Become Embered (The One About Dark Souls 3)

A beautiful night for hunting monstrosities!

First, my apologies for being MIA for a while; I've had a big helping of life smack me in the face on top of investing +70 hours in Dark Souls 3, so I've been a bit preoccupied!

I gotta say, the masterminds behind Dark Souls 3 have really outdone themselves.  After investing as much time as I have, which I have defeated every single boss, I can say that this is my favorite entry in the Dark Souls Trilogy.  The boss battles are challenging, the puzzles are clever, and the locations are gorgeous.  Jolly cooperation is the best of the series, and PVP is exactly what you'd expect from Dark Souls; entirely unpredictable, yet fun and grueling.

Which is why I'm somewhat upset with some of the community bashing/trash talking arguably the best entry in the series.  This doesn't seem to be coming from the "core" Dark Souls fans; it's coming from people who are either new to the series or casual players.  Mind you, there's nothing wrong with either player type...if it were nearly any other game, I would consider myself a pretty casual gamer.  And I was new to the series at one point (having dropped in at Dark Souls 2,) so I will relate to some of the new gamer frustrations with the game.  What I cannot relate to, however, is the nonsensical whimpering of those who simply don't "get it."

I would like to say that, to those claiming the game is too "easy" and made for a wider audience; you obviously didn't continue to play after the final boss fight.  This was experienced first hand by one of our members in our online group, or clan, which they now must go back through the game on a much harder difficulty and fight these monstrosities for the first time.  If you're speed running through the game to collect the best gear/armor and not spending time reading the lore and exploring literally every single nook and cranny, I feel that you're doing it wrong and should be playing more linear games (Lords of the Fallen may be a good alternative for you...not kidding...I love that game!)

The crew and I enjoying some Jolly Cooperation!  (I'm the middle back character)

This is a game full of challenge and reward...if you're willing to invest the time.  Even with as much as I've put in, I have barely scratched the surface of the underlying story.  The crew and I have done very minimal guide look-ups, only referencing the bare minimum while still maintaining the sense of awe and wonder the series is so famous for (I will admit, however, that I did look up one boss battle, but I was getting STOMPED.)  At end game, you're main hurdle is finding a good fight via PVP.  If you're finding that to be a breeze, it's time to up your game to New Game Plus.

And in regards to the complaining about stats, frame rates, etc, they're all trivial things.  The stats work near exactly as they did in the last entry, and, if you're not able to best your fellow "Embered One" in PVP because they maxed out one or two stats, you have some character leveling to do.  The frame rate rant, in my opinion, is bogus as well; with as many giant creatures, multiple minions, and up to six PVP-ers in a world at once, 30 fps was the obvious way to go to avoid issues.  Mind you, this argument is for the vanilla launch, so the horrible experiences players are having with patch 1.04 aren't being debated here.  But players knew of this before launch if they paid attention to anything that was published beforehand.

While it may be irritating, I'm not letting the whiny, yet very vocal, few cast a shadow over an excellent game.  Regardless of your previous experience with the Dark Souls series (or lack of,) this is a phenomenal game that is more than worthy of your time...I plan on investing plenty more of mine before moving on!

If you'd like, I invite you to check out my YouTube page, TheStarSmasher, or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for regular updates, pics, videos, and random nonsense!  Also, there will be a central hub for everything soon (a dedicated "website," if you will,) which I will be sure to update on soon(ish)!

Over The Top

Recently, I finished watching one of my favorite anime series for a third time: Gurren Lagann.  The plot is fairly simple; two guys, who've been literally living under rocks (OK, it's an underground city) find their way to the surface to discover that it's crawling with monsters.  Surviving is rough in this wasteland...unless, of course, you happen to stumble upon a giant robot suit.  Things get intense rapidly, and the show continues to escalate the battles to insane heights...such as a battle involving hurdling entire galaxies at each other.

This had me thinking; why aren't there more games like this?  Crazy, over the top, nonstop action would be killer, if done well.  What I mean by that is that it would have to be entertaining enough to keep my attention longer than 10 minutes, as well as have enough story and depth that would leave me wanting more well after the final boss fight.  

There are a couple of games that go after this idea, like Mad World and Deadpool, but none embody the idea I'm going for quite like Asura's Wrath.  From free falling from space to fight a giant tentacled monster, to destroying a god-like being that's bigger than the planet (and that's just the first 20-30 minutes!) this game keeps the adrenaline pumping throughout.  The story is surprisingly good and in no way detracts from the action.  My only lament is that it has a big focus on using the "rapidly tap the A button to defeat the monster" mechanic, but it's forgivable after watching the title character completely demolish anyone and everyone that stands between him and revenge.

I'd like to see that idea taken to the next level.  A game that offers crazy amounts of action, a solid story, and a combat system that's on par with other action games...possibly along the lines of Devil May Cry.  I want to see two overpowered characters clash in an epic battle that's going to shake the planet to its core, then shrug it off like it's nothing because, "OH NO THE EVEN WORSE BAD GUY IS COMING!" but I want it to involve a little more than mashing the same button over and over.  

With the flood of military shooters and medieval RPGs, we need something else tossed in the mix.  Yeah, I like a good round of Call of Duty, and I will always enjoy dying many times in Dark Souls, but I believe we're well overdue for some more insane action games.  Imagine what a company like Capcom or Blizzard could do with such an idea...the hi-jinks and battles would be grand, to say the least!  

Destiny's Fall From Its Own Golden Age

A year and a half after launch, the MMO/FPS shooter Destiny is starting to feel barren.

I am a die hard fan of Bungie; I've conquered every single Halo game to date (except Halo 5...I only own a PS4 right now, sadly) and I was stoked when they announced Destiny years before it launched.  I was lucky enough to participate in both Betas, and, while some were a bit underwhelmed, I was enthusiastic; SPACE MAGIC!  SPEEDER BIKES!  GIANT TANKS!  What could possibly go wrong?!

And I've conquered nearly every challenge in game since then; I've done each raid except King's Fall on Hard, participated in a LOT of Iron Banner, and sometimes, when I feel like putting myself in my place, dare to fight in the Trials of Osiris.  My light level, at max, is 314, which isn't too shabby at all.  I'm one trophy away from 100% completing the base game (I just am too lazy to search for all of the Ghosts, honestly.)

Destiny's first year was pretty exciting; we had both DLC packs "The Dark Below" and "House of Wolves" as well as the introduction of the yearly events (something nearly every MMO does, but I appreciate it nonetheless.)  And when they announced The Taken King, I was jumping for joy in hopes that we were going to be treated to several more fantastic experiences!  A chance to take on the father of Crota, the biggest bad-ass of the game until then, was going to be awesome!   But now I'm at a point where I turn on the console, scroll past the looming Oryx icon on the dashboard, and let out a, "meh."

Six months since The Taken King dropped, I have found myself in a rut.  I almost never play unless it's to participate in Iron Banner (and that's because I know I can get a group of friends to jump in) or Xur has that one piece of gear I haven't got from a random drop.  There's literally nothing new or exciting going on, and that's frustrating given that I paid for the collector's editions for both Destiny and The Taken King (no regrets though, my Dinkle Bot is pretty freakin' cool, as well as the book with Cayde-6's notes.)

Bungie has made a few attempts to keep the community interest, adding speeder bike racing for a few weeks and a ho-hum Valentine's Day PVP event, but, beyond that, its been dismal.  Even right now, I'm looking at a text message from a friend wanting to know if I'd care to jump into a fire team and run the daily challenges, but those are, at this point, boring.  I have done nearly everything, and I'm only a few items away from having every exotic for my main (EXO TITAN FOR THE WIN!!!)

Honestly, the only thing that keeps me coming back is the fact that there are so few games I can play with 6 friends cooperatively on PS4.  Say what you will about the many flaws of the game (still waiting on a fix for the run button -_-) Bungie got co-op with friends right.  Yeah, there's a lack of match making to pick up a random person to help clear a raid after someone drops out...and that is very frustrating not to have when a person drops out an hour after starting, but I've learned to keep a big list of friends, just in case.  Which is another positive for me; I've met a lot of really good players and made some pretty cool friends as a result.

We keep in touch here and there, but it's not the same when you're coordinating a group to take down huge robots and platform jump across disappearing platforms (and we have some great one liners, like, "The F@$%ing walls are made of rubber!!!")  Some of our clan have been playing games from their back log (I've been trying to play catch up on Pokemon Omega Ruby,) some have been playing other FPS games, like Call of Duty or Battlefield, and a very select few are still holding out hope for Destiny on a regular basis.  They continue to fight for the Traveler and the Tower, and I commend them for their continued efforts; I was right beside them from day one.

So, since we're pretty positive that there's going to be a lack of content until Destiny 2 arrives, what does that mean for a Titan ready to smash the Hive back into their holes?  It probably means that I'm going to have to be OK with one of two outcomes; either continue to be OK with the grind and deal with the lack of content so I can spend time with friends, or hang up my Suros Regime & try and con my group into migrating over to other cooperative games.  The thing is, I don't want to be OK with that outcome, but, given the lack of exciting new content combined with dwindling support for issues from the initial launch of the game, I'll probably find myself migrating over to "The Division."

That is, until Destiny 2 arrives.

The Emerald Herald Or How I Learned To Love Dying So Many Times

In the hardcore gamer circles, there are several games that are legendary for their difficulty; Ghosts n' Goblins, Mega Man, the original Castlevania...and the Dark Souls series.

To most, the idea of dying multiple times before getting any sort of reward is an instant turn-off.  Why trudge through a game with such a painful and brutal learning curve when you can hack and slash multitudes of enemies in games like Dynasty Warriors or Lord of the Rings: War in the North?  If it's known that a game is going to make you want to slam your fists through the wall and send your controller sailing across the living room, why bother?

Well, for me, it's the love of a challenge.  The trend with games has been seeing a larger casual audience, and so, must be playable to a wide variety of people.  In ye olde 8 bit days, you didn't get a choice from "Beginner" to "Hard", you just played the preset difficulty.  Patience was a requirement, since most games had little instructions on how to defeat a boss, or what upgrades you could potentially get.  You invested not just money, but time into these well crafted levels, memorizing enemy patterns and hidden dangers while losing lives and restarting from square one.  And when you defeated the final boss, you were excited to brag to your friends.

This is where Dark Souls comes in (more specifically, I'll be making reference to Dark Souls 2).  You're given a chance to customize your character's appearance and class, choose a few starting items, and get to go through a brief tutorial level.  After that, you're on your own.  Things like stats and equipment aren't explained, and you have to know how you want to play in order to effectively level up.  Even if you know that, you must collect a large number of souls: which, if you die (and you will, many, many times) you lose them all.  You're given one last chance to revisit your death bed to regain them, but, should you die again before that point, they're gone for good.  Enemies aren't dead forever, like in most games, and they will respawn many times to kill you in gruesome ways (one of my first deaths was by an ogre, by the way...grabbed me and bit off my head).  Even if you get good, and you go through and attempt to farm enemies for souls, the game will eventually take out enemies, meaning the total number of souls you can gather has a cap.

To the casual gamer that may be looking into the series, consider this your warning: you're going to rage.  And you're going to rage many, many times, because you ran right through a door that happened to have three undead soldiers that jump you.  Or you opened a chest that happened to sprout teeth and killed you in one shot.  Or you fell off a bridge because you didn't see that well placed hole.

To the hardcore gamers, the ones that do things like play Gears of War on Hardcore solo, or Zelda with only the starting hearts, this game is for you.  The level designs are amazing, the traps are delightfully evil, and the ever present chance of being invaded by a random gamer will keep you on your toes.  At the time of this post, I've personally invested over 55 hours into the game, and I'm nearing the end (I probably have another 5-10 to beat it, not including extras).  I've literally obsessed over this game: my wife is wondering if I'm going Hollow or not myself.  But my mage is fairly fearsome, and there's a large sense of pride and satisfaction when you defeat a boss and become that much stronger as a character.

 It's not like other games, where you feel overpowered from the get go.  The game constantly reminds you of your place: you're a human, afflicted with a curse that no one ever cures, fighting off evil wizards, swarms of giant spiders, and the awesome dragons.  Other games would let you kill such creatures with a few simple button commands or a flurry of sword swings, but Dark Souls makes sure to keep you grounded by killing you off with moves other games would let your survive (like that ogre biting my head off...I was also destroyed by a mimic, and a giant that stomped me with his feet).

I'd also like to take a moment and suggest the strategy guide if you're going to invest time into the game...I rarely buy one for anything other than my collection, but this one is a must if you want to discover everything post game and for New Game + and ++ (and the guides to some of the boss battles are handy, I must admit, but I at least give it a few tries before resorting to the book).

If you're the kind of person that rushes into the heat of battle, flailing your sword or casting spells with reckless abandon, then skip this.  If you're willing to practice the sacred art of patience and aren't afraid of learning from death, then you should, nay, NEED, to pick up this game.  But be forewarned: once you get into the Dark Souls games, you're going to be disappointed with most games afterwards, and there's no turning back once you're hooked.



"For the curse of life, is the curse of want.  And so, you peer...Into the fog, looking for answers."