Dark Souls Playthrough Week 1

Day 1

So where am I? Some dark room. I just - I just woke up and I’m in - in a cell. There's the key. It feels like maybe it's just the first time I've been here, but perhaps I've been here for a week, three months. It's - it's kind of hard to say. I don't - I don't know. It's just an anonymous room.

My face has become something unfamiliar. As I use the key to escape the cell, I begin to explore the rest of the prison. What I found was just as horrifying as the decor of my former room suggested. Mindless rotting corpses were animated and hostile, lining the halls like potted plants, adding their own rank smell to the structure’s atmosphere. It wasn’t long before I discovered a dying knight that provided some insight. The knight asked me to do him a favor; apparently I have what’s called the Darksign, and it is said that an Undead marked as such must ring the Bell of Awakening. Looks like I’m going on pilgrimage to find this Bell, in his dying breath he asked me to promise I would for him.

Finding a weapon and quickly discovering how to fend for myself proved a useful tactic as the mobile decorations became more aggressive towards me. Upon entering the main wing of the Asylum, I encountered some sort of monster at least 15 times my own height, and filling out nearly the entire room. Every lumbering step seemed to destroy more of the already crumbling room. The monster quickly spotted me and landed a crushing blow that nearly killed me. Regaining my balance, instinct kicked in and a bright orange flame erupted from my hand, quickly tossed towards my foe. 

The monster was slain; otherwise I wouldn’t be here to write about it. Leaving the asylum and heading up to the peak, I was quickly abducted and flown off to this new world. The world of Lords, in this, the Age of Fire, it seems serene despite the amount of undead crawling around. Luckily the first “person” I’ve encountered has given me more information on the Bell of Awakening; it appears to be two bells, not just one.  The first one I decided to tackle was the one atop the mountain in the Undead Parish. Unfortunately the elevator is out, so I’ll have to hoof it.

Well that didn’t take long. Five minutes and a skeleton reanimated in front of me then shoved its scimitar right through my ribcage. I didn’t even have time to put my shield up. I don’t know how I am still alive; I just seemed to wake up at that bonfire back at the shrine with the helpful (yet creepy) guy. It might have something to do with that “Darksign” I have.

Trying another route, the zombies are a bit easier to defeat than the skeletons, but one ran me off a cliff. As I ascend the ramparts a second time, I made it all the way up to another bonfire when another who looked similar to me appeared. Washed in red, he attacked me, swinging his sword ruthlessly at me. I ran. There was nothing more I could do. I tried throwing a few fireballs at him, some bombs, a throwing knife. Nothing was even scratching this guy. Unfortunately as I was running back down the paths, I lost my footing and fell over the edge of the cliff.

Dying proved to lose my attacker. Though I wouldn’t recommend it every time, the pain still exists despite the whole “never dying” thing. It seems I end up waking up at the last bonfire where I rested. Continuing along my path I encountered a giant bull-demon thing. I don’t know how else to describe it. Similar to the large dragon in the asylum, its blows were crushing. What was worse was that there was limited space to dodge the tremendous attacks atop the rampart walls.

 

After dispatching this demon, I found myself at a bridge. Before traversing I stepped off to a balcony to see the view. Joining me was a Knight named Solaire. He requested I take one of his stones, in case I required his assistance in the future. Upon this meeting I disembarked across the bridge, already dreading the fight I could see looming ahead. Before making it halfway across, a screech split the sky, shaking the very foundation of this fortress I was traversing. Suddenly I was washed with fire; staggering to my feet, I managed to duck down a staircase underneath the bridge as I see the large red form of a dragon swoop over me and perch at the end of the bridge. 

Another wave of heat erupts from the stones above my head. Even below the bridge, it feels as though my face were near a furnace. I must press on. The dragon is now blocking the way, luckily it appears that there’s an alternative route under the bridge. Still a little burnt from the dragon’s attack, I decided to fire an arrow at its tail (which had been hanging off the edge of the bridge) to teach it a lesson. The dragon didn’t even notice! I continued my assault, eventually its tail fell off; A portion of it had, at least. It was quite study, so I decided to use it as a weapon.

Another bull demon (only this one slightly smaller) appeared to be intentionally blocking my route again. I quickly discovered its aversion to stairs and used it to my advantage. After suffering more stabs and claws I finally make it up to the Parish itself. I walk in the front door, to be greeted by three large ghouls with shields. All three quickly accept me into the center of their group and indoctrinate me into their club with a few stabs to my abdomen. Waking up again, I make my way back, being sure to take the side entrance this time.

Instead of being greeted by the same three gentlemen, I discovered a larger house-keeper, whom donned a shield as tall as himself, and swung a very large axe. After dodging two blows and luring him outside, he proved quick work with the Drake Sword I had discovered. Gazing up at my goal, the bell-tower, I could not believe the progress I had made just in one day (or how many times I had died within that same time-span).

After forcing my way past a wave of zombies and some sorcerer ghoul, I made my way up to the roof of the Parish. Close to the top, I discovered a strange white text emblazoned across the ground. The text was physically glowing, like nothing I had seen before. Upon touching it briefly, I felt a warm, comforting, wave shoot up my arm. The text itself began to glow brighter as the façade of Solaire slowly emerged from the ground.

Recognizing him as an ally, we stepped through the haze and onto the bell-tower roof. Not making it halfway across, one of the gargoyles atop the bell-tower let out a terrifying screech. The stone figure came to life and jumped down, throwing tile off either side of the roof. As soon as I get my shield up, the gargoyle is back in the air, swinging its tail at me (which has a giant axe on the end of it, mind you). After hurling a few fireballs and letting solaire distract it, the counterpart on the opposite end of the bell-tower becomes animate and joins in the fight! Luckily Solaire was skilled enough to distract both of them long enough for me to finish them. Allowing me to ascend the tower and ring the first Bell of Awakening. This marked my refuge for the night.
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                The game I chose to monitor is Dark Souls.  Dark Souls is a gothic style, open-world, action role-playing game. This game, developed by From Software is the successor to Demon’s Souls. The game begins by showing a short cinematic explaining the overall lore for this world that the game takes place in. There was once darkness covering the land, as well as dragons. When fire was discovered, dead souls used the fire and found Lords, who killed off the dragons. Now anyone that dies is taken to await the end of the world, and the Lords rule, despite the fact that the flames are fading to embers. That’s where the player comes in. An undead marked with the Darksign, the player’s character is destined to be a champion, if he/she can get past the terrifyingly difficulty of the levels. The game was designed to have a high-risk, high-reward system. This can actually detract from the plot at times, leaving players frustrated and uncaring to the details that only compliment the lore, who just want to defeat the next boss and get the next cool weapon. Because the plot is minimalistic in this sense, it gives the players the ability to create their own narrative that is the game. They are controlling and leveling up a character in an unforgiving environment, which will develop the character’s strengths and weaknesses, or failing that, provide a lot of frustration.

                I chose this PS3 title, because I wanted to write my own parallel narrative to my game experience. I had purchased this game last October, and fell in love with the scenery alone. The beautiful landscapes and intricate detail that goes into even the darkest of corners is simply astonishing.  That coupled with one of the deepest sets of lore and the most flexible character class system, makes this an auto-pick for me. Because of the game’s difficulty level, the game has minimum 60 hours of gameplay. Instead of basing my project off of supposed hours (because I don’t know how quickly/slowly certain sections will take) I have broken the levels/zones up into chunks that will allow me to better pace myself to beating the game within the quarter. I’m really excited to find out more about the game’s history now that I’m focusing on it directly to fuel my narrative.