[ENG] Let's Talk About Souls!

(Following article contains my loose thoughts about Souls Series and Souls-like games it's not deep lore-analysis, not a guide to the game, just for clarity – these are my experiences, opinions and thoughts about the entirety of the series. If your opinions differ from mine – it's alright!)

(It's a lot of text with partially included spoilers like boss or location names so... Get yourself some hot chocolate or popcorn beforehand)

(Plus, take some things with a grain of salt, I am a long-time hard-boiled veteran and fan of the series so I can see some things really differently from what they really are)

(Following article will include lots of screens that I managed to capture and I feel proud of them, and yes - screens aren't consistent - sometimes there is a lot more text before the next screen, but I wanted to give appropriate screens instead of just cramping up the free space with some unnecessary ones)

Ahhhh, From Software. People who drew a very thick line between casual and hardcore gamers and brought the objectively 'hard' games back into the spotlight. Their first widely appreciated masterpiece – Dark Souls – became an incredibly strong basis for creating an entirely new genre of games called simply 'Souls-like' and... Well, many things were called as a 'Dark Souls of... (insert something here) – for example Cuphead – I often heard that this game is 'A Dark Souls of platforming games'... It's both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it means Dark Souls made a solid name and set some sort of difficulty standard among other genres and a curse because everything even teeny tiny bit harder than a typical game is called 'A Dark Souls of...'. And although Dark Souls was indeed an enormous success – many people seem to forget that there were a few games before their widely acknowledged masterpiece...

Long time ago there was a game called King's Field – unfortunately I haven't played it, but from what I watched and read – it was... To put it simply – hard. But it has also shown that From Software tried to create a distinctive line between two types of gamers right from the start. King's Field wasn't really recognizable, but their first game labeled as 'Souls' was a bit more...

Demon's Souls. A title released exclusively on PlayStation 3 and my very first contact with this series... Back then I really couldn't tell that this would be the start of an incredibly beautiful journey across the entire series. A journey filled with anger, denial, curiosity, comfort and a countless amount of deaths. The game is split into 5 worlds which you can access almost right from the start from the hub location called The Nexus. Each world has a different theme and visuals, as well as enemies and 'hardness'. For example – Boletarian Palace (first world) isn't very hard when compared to others, but first-time players will surely get decimated in Tower of Latria (third world) by enemies that require a bit more tactical approach... Or just incredibly high damage output to kill them before they even are be able to do anything. And lore in this game... Sweet everything, you bet that you can complete this game without really knowing who you are, what and why do you do everything, who and why do you slay and what is the whole deal with The Nexus... The lore is hidden deep within descriptions and very few scraps of dialogue that characters give you (who would've guessed that the answer to my existential question would be hidden within description of my Dragon Long Sword...?) - and that's the beauty – the game lets you piece lore by yourself, your beliefs, your imagination and your sole interest in the story – it's not forced down your throat or delivered on a silver platter. Although PlayStation 3 is long past it's former glory and PlayStation 4's spotlight is also slowly fading out with the new generation on the horizon – I still strongly recommend you try Demon's Souls either on some used PS3 or even Emulator – just to see the beginning of the Souls-genre and say hello to... Well – I think you can call it the grandfather of the entire franchise.

(Lordran)

Another one on our list is... The most critically acclaimed and considered as the best by many, the original Dark Souls. A game originally released in 2011 and back then it was... Kind of niche, not many people were engaged to it and even less devoted their time to exploring the lore of Lordran but as the years passed – the series gained enormous popularity and thanks to this title spawned a whole lot of other 'Souls-like' games (of course it's thanks to the whole Souls franchise not only the first Dark Souls, but it definitely had the biggest impact). Personally, I started playing this game when my life was... Let's just say in a dark place (but that's saying very gently) and I never expected this game to be such a coping mechanism for me – whenever I had a problem, whenever I couldn't stand something – I tried pouring down all this rage, anger, hatred and pain onto bosses I fought in Lordran and... My sweet Estus Flask, if it wasn't helpful. After a few years, I started creating a connection between Dark Souls and depression (Before anything further – I know depression is a serious topic and I am not a specialist, it's just my thoughts). Depression often attacks your own value, it keeps reminding you about mistakes from the past - whereas in many other games, player is shown as a great hero, literal one-man-army and unstoppable force. In Souls that hostile land mops the floor with the player, not giving you any moment of relief. Though we are 'The Chosen Undead' in Dark Souls - means nothing. We are destroyed and humiliated several times on our path. Game also reminds you of your mistakes by leaving bloodstains for other players as a warning - bloodstains will be constantly visible, showing our pitiful death and reminding you of your failure.

Undead in Souls become Hollow when they lose all hope, lose any dream or target to chase and strength, desire to fight on - people with depression aren't much different from that. They can only truly give up (I think I don't have to explain what that means...) when they lose all hope, any aspirations and dreams, any will and strength to fight on. Hollows lose memories about who they were and what they were trying to achieve, they became a (pun not intended) a hollow shell of a human they once were. Hollows can be found in places, they were visiting before death, doing the same thing as they were before giving up - soldiers are soldiers, farmers are farmers etc. People in depression very often become their own shadow, shell of a former self. They often are doing what they were before it hit them. Depression often causes that feeling, that wants you to give up, to stop fighting and just go hollow. Souls series aren't much different - when you're playing that, you can feel that the game wants to you to give up, to leave. But That's the point, you have to persist and overcome this or you'll get stuck in eternal loop before going hollow... Let's not forget about one thing - both in depression and in Souls, you can 'lose' after truly giving up. Every other opportunity isn't a loss. It should be taken as a lesson, a fuel for you to keep going. As one from the NPCs says - "Don't you dare go hollow..." - he doesn't want you to give up, he believes that you can do it! People in depression become hollow only in one opportunity. You can play Souls in two ways (kind of how you can deal with depression in two ways) - alone or with help of some friends. It's obvious that lone fight will be much harder. In Dark Souls there comes a moment, that decides whether the player will give up or will he find this 'spark' in himself, this fuel to keep him going and overcome that problem. Just like with depression - in the hardest moments, you either go hollow or you survive and that memory becomes painful, but powerful fuel for living and overcoming new challenges. 

Remember - every battle CAN be won, every step forward CAN be helpful, and every step out of the comfort zone CAN bring unexpected results! People in depression often do not reach out for help, they even reject the help because they don't want to be the burden or they want to prove something to themselves, that they can do it on their own - in Souls, many players decide NOT to summon help from other players, because just like people in depression - they don't want to be the burden and they want to overcome the challenges alone. There is a very thin line between believing in yourself and rejecting help because of fear, rejecting help from people, or even single person who really cares about the depressed friend. Lordran beasts are terrifying and they cause a strong sense of anxiety when you fight them alone, but just like with 'beasts of depression' - let's call them this way - you don't have to fight alone, there always IS, and always WILL be someone who wants to help you. In this hostile world of Lordran, you can find a lot of NPCs. Majority of them is cold, washed out from emotions, but particular few seem to motivate the player to keep fighting, to push forward and not give up. They aren't always next to us, but we feel their presence, their strength, their faith in us - just like friends in the most difficult moments of life - we feel them, feel their faith and presence even when they aren't anywhere close. I'll just bring up one quote from the NPCs - "When I gave you that flame, I gave you a part of myself... Please, take care of it." 

(Find your sun, your goal and desire - and strive to achieve it, don't give up easily)

Depression cannot be contained in a simple, general definition - because every human suffering from it, is a different story, different support and different 'beasts' to conquer, different decisions. Just like in Souls - every player will have different problems, will repeat different battles and will decide if he wants to call for help or not. Stepping aside from depression topic - Souls, next to already mentioned, can paradoxically help in controlling anger, anxiety, fear, aggression or reduce stress. Of course not destroy them completely, but allow you for a much greater control of those. Souls can also teach values like - pride, friendship, trust, confidence, endurance, tenacity, persistence in the face of difficulty and great happiness from small victories. For a lot of people, Dark Souls is just... A hard game, a difficult game, but for others... It's a thing that changes them from the inside, teaches them values that they never got to experience in life. It's a thing that can help control negative emotions in even the smallest degree. For others it's a 'reflection' of depression, an escape into the world so hostile like that created by depression, but maybe in this hostile land, in Lordran, they will find necessary strength and spark to stand face to face with their own depression and conquer it. For some people, Souls are the bigger support than what they expected to receive, and sometimes much greater than the help they already received... 

That kind of wraps up my entire feelings about this beautiful masterpiece – whenever I was facing legendary warriors like Artorias, Ornstein & Smough or even Lord Gwyn – I was on verge of giving up but I tried time and time again and conquering them... It was extremely satisfying. The game itself like it's predecessor has lore hidden deep within everything, but even if you don't devote hours of your life to piece the lore together... The three piano notes that go 'plin plin plon' during the final boss fight are almost guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye. Not only because these piano notes are emotional, but the music in this game is... Occasional, it almost only appears during boss fights – whenever you just explore, the only thing you hear are the empty echoes of your footsteps. Our final adversary is foreshadowed a lot of times throughout the game, we prepare ourselves for an epic fight but... The fight is epic, but it's also very sad – instead of facing a legendary warrior, we fight a hollow shell of a man who once was the very ruler of this land. 

("All of you, forgive me, for I have availed you nothing...")

Story of Artorias the Abysswalker is probably one of the most beautiful and tragic I have ever seen. It's a story about Knight and his loyal wolf Sif. A tragic tale of loyalty and inevitable defeat. Knight Artorias was sent to stop the Abyss but was consumed by it and in last desperate action, the final act before being totally consumed – he used his greatshield to protect his companion from the darkness and corruption of the Abyss... That's a very, very vague description of this story, but even if you aren't going to play this masterpiece... I recommend you check out both – The song about their story, with the beautiful usage of Artorias' original theme - Song of the Abyss ;and a deeper lore dive from someone much more competent than I am - Legend of Artorias (I will talk about Souls-inspired music and deep lore-videos much later)

The graphics are beautiful, but they enhance the overall feeling of hopelessness – the locations look... Dead (and not only because most of the enemies are hollow or undead), the color palette makes you feel like... There is nothing to save in this wasted world – of course there are exceptions to that (I look at you Anor Londo!), but for the most part – You will walk through this barren land with only your footsteps and weapon being the hearable sounds – I think that the Artorias and Gwyn themes are the peak of this game's sound design, but just because I say they are the peak, it doesn't mean rest are weak or something – far from it.

(Anor Londo - a beautiful and treacherous place, forgotten City of the Gods)

Although I love this game, it's hard to look at it without flaws. The biggest one being... The PC port was straight up busted – no configurable buttons, locked framerate, button prompts from Xbox 360 and infamous Blighttown performance just to name a few. Most of these things could be easily fixed with a mod called DSFix, though I really couldn't play this game with K&M and used gamepad for most part. This mod was kind-of necessary to truly enjoy the game without that many issues (of course we exclude glitches and all of that, but... If not for them – we wouldn't have so many impressive speedruns, would we?).

Plus there is legendary fight with Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough which was a breaking point for many players – it was a test, if you could conquer these two – you had what it takes to conquer rest of the game. In future games, developers try to repeat their success of this beautiful duo or the Bell Gargoyles (Belfry Gargoyles and Throne Watcher and Throne Defender from Dark Souls 2 – I look at you all, although the original Gargoyles were Maneaters in Demon's Souls) – the first time was the golden shot, whereas every future one was.... Well, just wasn't golden.

Aaaaand then there's a joke called Dark Souls Remastered – like, literally a joke – it's a bonus bonfire next to a blacksmith and DSFix natively applied. For a cost of 40€ (It was 20€ for owners of the original though I am not sure if it still applies). Do you hear me? 40 flippin' Euros for a bonus bonfire and a necessary mod applied. If you can't call it a scam then I don't know what you would call. To make it even worse, you can't even buy an original edition now (Well, you can from sites that sell keys but since Remaster's release, Original Version's cost skyrocketed to 80€). I mean, if Remaster would fix many of the flaws of the original, I think it wouldn't be that big of a problem (I highly recommend you watch this InfernoPlus video. A breakdown of Remaster and a showcase of how they didn't even bother to fix many of the flaws - Dark Souls Remastered Is Trash)

(Lord Gwyn, the one who waged a war with Everlasting Dragons and conquered them)

Despite all of this – Original Dark Souls was the my true introduction to this series and genre as I... Well, I completed Demon's Souls but wasn't really drawn to it or anything, but after playing through all Dark Souls parts, I got back to Demon's Souls and made myself an excruciatingly painful platinum trophy. I recommend with all my heart that you pick up this game and... Try not to look at it as 'Dark Souls' as a hard game and all, instead just look at the adventure, admire the lore – get immersed in this world. And considering you can't pick up original edition at a reasonable price now... Just get this accursed Remaster.

(Drangleic)

Then there is Dark Souls 2 and it's Scholar of the First Sin (SotFS for short) edition, often considered as a black sheep of Souls family. Creator of the original – Hidetaka Miyazaki wasn't involved in it's creation. Although this part is very often dismissed, labeled as the worst, as unworthy of being labeled as Souls title – I strongly disagree with all these opinions. Yes, this game isn't as good as other entries in the franchise, but it doesn't make it unnecessary or unworthy. And I say these words after being one of the people who dismissed this game for a very long time. It's a fact that it has too many unnecessary or uninteresting bosses, it's true that the best fights are hidden within DLCs but... The story, lore and characters still stand strong. It's usually said that Dark Souls 2 has no connection whatsoever with the first installment or the third one but I've learned quite recently that it's not entirely true. Some pieces have a small connection with the convoluted land of Drangleic. SotFS Edition changes the placement of enemies, items, adds new ones and contains all released DLCs. I have played through the both editions and... Though I liked them both, I think I much more preferred SotFS Edition. (I can't tell for sure if you had to buy DLCs for basic Dark Souls 2 as for some reason I could play them without buying anything more, it may be caused from having SotFS Edition installed but can't tell for sure)

(Eleum Loyce Cathedral, resting place of the Ivory King and the Old Chaos)

And although I loved all the DLCs, I think the 'Crown of the Ivory King' introduced one of the best written characters in the entire series next to the Knight Artorias and his great wolf Sif – the titular Ivory King – it may be even one of the most, if not the most positive character throughout the entire franchise. Ivory King was from a clan of warriors and yet became a brilliant king, instead of hiding behind his soldiers – he was the first to stand on the frontline and face the enemies. He knew that his queen is shard of darkness, drawn to him because of his power – and instead of banishing her or simply killing – he embraced her, turning darkness into light. This fricking madman – when he found a hole through which the Chaos was flowing out, he didn't build his throne room far away, hidden deep within his city – he built it right above the hole to be sure, that he will be the first to face whatever goes out from there. When he felt he was dying, he jumped down the hole to see if he won't be able to stop it once and for all... I... I look up to this man, he was both a badass and a man that was worthy of both being called a king and a hero.

(There are moments like this, where you just want to sit back for a second and take a deep breath before going further)

Recently I've been playing through the SotFS Edition once again on my PS4 and... Every single time I play through this part, I am even more sure about my opinion – this game isn't bad, it's also not a bad Souls game, it's just different from the original and... People had really high expectations to the sequel – thus the disappointment, I am not saying the game doesn't have some messed up logic (An iron fortress surrounded by lava accessed by going with the elevator upwards?! What?!) and many bosses that just don't deliver – but the game is as fine as it is! It allows for many builds (I'd risk saying that even more than the original because of introduction of Hexes)

Plus, the second installment in the series from what I've know was never beaten in a 'All Bosses No Hit Run' challenge and... It's really understandable considering the amount of bosses, locations, key items and random offline invasions. The suffering and immeasurable pain of Otzdarva who tried this challenge multiple times was very well documented in this video - 41 Bosses 0 Hits - He almost did it, I guarantee that the ending will be so painful to even watch that... I don't even want to think about all the emotions that were there.

(A moment of rest in a safe haven of Majula next to the Emerald Herald)

And this part is in my opinion the easiest one to Platinum while playing offline since you really have to farm only two things – Sunlight Medals and Bell Keepers Covenant where as in Dark Souls 1 you had to farm – Souvenirs of Reprisal, Sunlight Medals, Humanities and Eyes of Death (I may have forgotten about something, like about the fact you needed whopping 25 Faith to even JOIN the Sunbro Covenant – of course the requirement could be lowered, but the sole fact that 25 Faith was needed). And in Dark Souls 3 you had Human Dregs, Wolf's Blood Swordgrasses, Vertebra Shackles, Pale Tongues, Proofs of a Concord Kept (THIS IS PROBABLY THE WORST ITEM TO FARM, CHANGE MY FRICKING MIND), and Sunlight Medals. I am not going to even talk about Demon's Souls where you had to farm 14. 14 Different Upgrade Materials from which the 'Pure Bladestone' is a stuff of nightmares with it's laughably low drop rate, I consider myself lucky that I got one after 4 hours of farming whereas I've heard stories of people farming for few days straight and getting nothing.. Summa summarum – Dark Souls 2 is the most 'offline-farming friendly' despite Sunlight Medals being a bit of a painful task to do.

And I think Dark Souls 2 solved the NG+ Problem in the best possible way because... In other installments, NG+ is just bumped up difficulty – here it's not only that – there also new Red Phantom Enemies, new enemies in general in places they weren't before, unexpected twists during boss fights (like Red Pyromancers during Lost Sinner fight) – tell what you want but I think DS2 made NG+ the true NG+ instead of just a small bump.

Difficulty or rather lack thereof can be a bit irritating (which can be seen for example during final boss fight), but it's widely considered to be the easiest of the Souls Family. Although... I think that if Dark Souls 2 was your first encounter with the franchise, you will still consider it as the hardest. I think that the first Souls game you will play, shall be the hardest one. You can get SotFS Edition really cheaply on both PC and Consoles so there really is no reason to not try this.

(Irithyll of the Boreal Valley)

Ahhhh, Dark Souls 3 also known as The Return of the King (Yes, it was a Lord of the Rings reference) as the Miyazaki took the lead once again, giving us the appropriate continuation to Dark Souls 1. Third installment had a lot of fan-service going on, the simplest example – the hub area is called the same as in first part – Firelink Shrine; during final boss fight you get to relive the fight with the tragic Lord and even the divine Anor Londo makes a return, but this time it's really worn out and pale in comparison to the original. And that's just very few examples of how this game was made both to be an appropriate sequel as well as satisfy the thirsty fans.

Whereas in the first part we were The Chosen Undead; in the second – Bearer of the Curse; in the third one we take control of someone called Ashen One/Unkindled One (these names are used interchangeably) – long story short, Ashen One is someone who tried to link the flame in the past but failed to do so and now is brought back to life to try and link the flame once again.

This part introduces three (well, technically four) different endings, although one of them has really specific requirements to fulfill and without small help of a guide it can be quite hard to get.

Bosses make a glory comeback with Nameless King taking the lives of countless Ashen Ones before you! Plus weapons are more unique and 'complicated' due to Weapon Arts – each weapon can make a special move – some more, some less powerful – but often they just look cool as hell and are fun to use. 

The mana system, from the times of Demon's Souls also makes a comeback! In Dark Souls 1 and 2 you had limited amount of spells you could throw before resting at the bonfire, but here you can spam spells as long as you want if you can replenish your mana constantly (Ashen Estus Flask is here to help!)

Dark Souls 3 has received two wonderful DLCs – Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City. Once again they introduce one of the hardest bosses in the entire series but... At this point it became a tradition that the toughest encounters were left for DLC – even Knight Artorias and Manus in the first part were locked behind the DLC wall. Back to the topic!

In the third part, the DLCs weren't as hidden as in previous installments which in my honest opinion is a good change. Ashes of Ariandel – access to DLC can be found as soon as within first 5-6 hours of the game (considering you are playing through the game for the first time) – Ariandel is a cold, snowy land where everything tries to kill you. I mean, normally everything tries to kill you but here even frozen trees are against you. But! If 'the hardest bosses' in the game don't convince you, maybe the fact that main bosses of DLCs are the only ones with three phases during the fight in the entire game will. Except the Ringed Knights from the second DLCs, Ashes of Ariandel introduces Crows of Ariandel which were annoying as hell. And if I have any complaints about this DLC, I think Sister Friede is a bit too fast boss for Dark Souls 3 fight tempo and rhythm, but on the other hand she was one of the easier bosses to cheese when you got a grip on it so...

(This is probably the best screen I've captured in one of my playthroughs)

The Ringed City – love letter and a bittersweet goodbye for the entire series. To access this DLC you have to trek through almost the entire game or finish Ashes of Ariandel – and even after getting into the DLC, you have to pass through the incredibly painful areas and infamous Angels before getting to the titular, majestic Ringed City. Not even 5 minutes pass before you will have your corpse pierced with at least two dozens of arrows. This DLC makes it really clear that it's not gonna go easy on you, or maybe rather... It will be even tougher than most of the things you have met to this point. As you walk down the City, you see the true face of it, the disgusting and filthy creatures hidden deep below the high walls. You can meet a archdragon here called Midir. Darkeater Midir. Not only is he strong and fast with his attacks, he also has the most HP of any boss in Dark Souls 3 on New Game. Almost whopping 16k points of health which you have to chip down (This boss is optional, though reward from it's Soul can be worth the time – Frayed Blade, probably the best katana in the game with wonderful Weapon Art. Although it needs 40 Dexterity to even wield so...). But there is a boss with similar amount of health you cannot skip if you want to finish this DLC – Slave Knight Gael, holding almost 15k of health points. But before the fight – the setting. Encounter with Gael is created in one of the ruins at the World's End – a place, where all past kingdoms (like Drangleic) collapse into one, it's the end of time – a barren, wasted land with nothing but sand and ruins wherever you guide your sight. This fact makes the boss arena not only very large, but also very... Tragic. Because – fight with Gael should be the final encounter in the entire franchise, a bittersweet goodbye to this beautiful series. But the fight itself... Oh my... It's split into three phases, but it's a beautiful dance between two warriors fighting at the end of everything. Gael is powerful and swift, with wide range of attacks that constantly change and evolve through the phases. Like – look, during the last phase most of his attacks are followed up with a combo and every hit from a combo releases homing red skulls. Add to everything that there is a furious lightning storm around the entire enormous arena. The Ringed City gave us the hardest bosses in Dark Souls 3, one of the hardest bosses in the entire franchise and Miyazaki used this final DLC to deliver the last strong punch right in the faces of the fans.

Before anything else – I want to take a second to look behind and see what made these games as appreciated as they are excluding the obvious 'difficulty' factor.

First of all – they made it natural to explore the convoluted lands of Lordran, Drangleic and Lothric in any way you wanted (Well, Dark Souls 3 was a bit more linear here at the start but shhh) and... Nothing held you by the hand or told you beforehand that 'This area may be too hard, return later' – no, you had to experience it on your very own skin before thinking that this zone probably isn't the right way to go.

Second of all – Variety of builds – from the simplest strength and dexterity builds, to supportive miracle casters and one-shoting pyromancers – the game almost never punished you for leveling up certain stat (with very few exceptions) – even when you think you messed up, you could always change your build a bit to fit the new 'playstyle' and maybe discover something that you would never think of in the first place! Plus this variety allows for a huge replayability. The same replayability created an amazing speedrunning community around these games (bugs and glitches combined with their knowledge and skill create an amazing combination that is incredibly satisfying to look at) as well as various challenges – Dark Souls Trilogy back to back No Hit? Done. Dark Souls All Bosses Soul Level 1? Done. - Almost everything you could think of was possibly already done.

Third of all – The story. Dark Souls series only give you very cryptic introductions and the very basic foundations of the story – if you wanted to learn more for yourself, you had to piece it out from the item descriptions and very few dialogues you could find. It was like a puzzle, and once you figured something out... It is an amazing feeling, plus there can be as many interpretations as you can think of – some more or less appropriate to the core of the story. And... Many items you find in worlds of Lordran, Drangleic and Lothric are found on corpses, showing you how many tried before you and have fallen to their demise (of course these aren't players but rather just models placed my the developers, but it really boosts up how you perceive these treacherous lands)

Fourth of all – Sound design and boss fights – As said before, music and sound design in Souls series is... Well, mostly isn't. Music only appears during boss fights or certain cut-scenes. Boss fights are the peak of this game, very often they will smack you to the ground many times before you will conquer them, but when you do... Holy, if the sudden dopamine shot isn't beautiful then I don't know what can convince you.

And finally, fifth of all – Dark Souls communities on Reddit or other forums (I will talk about it later, but I have to mention it here briefly) – paradoxically, Dark Souls is one of the most harsh, unfriendly games out there, it's community is very often welcome and helpful – giving you some sense of appreciation and solidarity of many people, just like you, each with different problems but all of you connected through these experiences.

I think these are the most important factors that made the Dark Souls franchise so appreciated and acclaimed games of recent years. All of these factors are more or less related to other games I will write down here (For example Sekiro could be an example in 'Variety of builds' as there aren't many different choices of your main weapon, you can only change your prosthetics and... Well, that's mostly it)

(The day rises upon Yharnam...)

Bloodborne is one of the most acclaimed games From Software has released, next to only Dark Souls 1. It's surprising, considering it was released exclusively on PlayStation 4. I waited for many years to play this game, but once I went to get my console, the very first thing I did was ordering BloodBorne and... I do not regret anything, I have completed this game multiple times since I bought it and got myself a Platinum relatively quickly (Mostly due to the fact that you didn't have to farm as much, excluding a bit repetitive Chalice Dungeons). The setting is completely different from Souls – you could say that Souls had these 'medieval' vibes, with all these castles, kings etc. Bloodborne on the other hand is often referred to as 'gothic masterpiece' because... Well the setting is purely gothic, from architecture to the weaponry and the institutions.

There aren't that many weapons in this game, but each one can be 'transformed' to access wider range of attacks and transforming weapons can be used during combos to maximize the damage output. The overall combat is much faster than in Souls franchise, the sole fact that you don't use the shield to parry enemies... You use a gun. A fricking gun – shooting a bullet at the right moment parries the attack. Duh, when you get damaged you have a short while to regain the lost health my damaging the enemy back. The flow of the combat here is wonderful and really rewards the highly aggressive playstyle. Another argument of this playstyle is... Whereas in Souls you had Estus, which was constantly refilled at bonfires – in Bloodborne you have Blood Vials that don't replenish, instead they drop from enemies or can be bought in the hub location though... Buying them in my opinion is a really desperate measure since it takes your Blood Echoes that you could use for leveling up

Many bosses have a really deep connection to the entire lore. That saying – it's not like bosses didn't have depth beforehand, but in Bloodborne you can meet daughter of one of the bosses, asking when either her mother or father will return – this father is Father Gascoigne – one of the very first bosses you will encounter and... If you manage to complete the daughter's storyline, you will receive very tragic ending where she tries to find her parents and ends up dead in the treacherous streets of Yharnam...

Locations are beautiful – but I think the I have to tip my hat to either Hunter's Dream which is a hub area of the game or Byrgenwerth and the lake with reflection of the moon – I like them both, but constantly changing Dream and a caring Doll in there wins my heart.

(I will liberate you of your wild curiosity...)

Bloodborne received one DLC called The Old Hunters and... Once again the tradition stands – the hardest encounter (but also the best ones) were here – Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower; Ludwig The Accursed and... Orphan of Kos. The Orphan is probably the most relentless, powerful and aggressive boss I have encountered in a really long time, although he is parryable – you have a really small window for it. Plus you really have to be careful about healing, his relentlessness doesn't give you many moments to peacefully drink that sweet sweet blood. Not to mention the gargantuan HP bar and ruthless attacks that can even leave high-leveled character (180-200 in my book) in one to two hits. My conquering of this cosmic beast was a really lucky one, I had no Blood Vials left and Orphan needed to be hit twice or thrice more. After he knocked me down, I was left with barely any HP – literally, I couldn't see the bar and I've decided to take a risk of striking into rushing Kos. I think my heart has stopped for a second there when the attack managed to connect and Orphan fell dead. The locations in this DLC are as beautiful and twisted as Yharnam if not more – the entirety of Fishing Hamlet, the Astral Clocktower, the Hunger's Nightmare – I loved every single one of them and was kindly surprised that this DLC can painfully punish even the farmed out character. Not like Souls DLCs didn't do it, I just felt they were a tad bit more forgiving with that.

If there is one game I truly recommend you get on PS4 – It's Bloodborne. I mean, there are other games like God of War, The Last of Us, Uncharted Anthology... B-but if I had to choose I would get Bloodborne. Case closed.

(No screens in Sekiro segment. Not that this game doesn't have beautiful locations or cut-scenes, but with my graphic settings I couldn't find a single appropriate one)

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – the most recent release from From Software, released in March 2019 and it once again brought the certain discussion to the table. Discussion about 'Should the games have an easy mode? /// Sekiro needs an easy mode!' etc. I know there is a lot of hatred about pre-orders, but Sekiro was the very first game in my career that I've decided to pre-order half a year before release. It was risky, game could go wrong, could be delayed, could not deliver – anything but... After it released, I didn't regret a single Euro spent on this and I played for 11 hours at day one. Paradoxically the game from creators of the Souls series may be the hardest one for the fans of Souls series. You can't dodge-roll from most attacks and use invincibility frames (i-frames) for advantage, here dodges don't work that way – you have to parry everything away. And... I, having a Souls mentality tried for the first few hours to dodge everything, dying in the process countless times – and I would probably drop out of this game if I didn't try to slowly change and adjust to the pace and fighting style of Sekiro. I am so glad I did because... It's probably one of my favorite games in recent years. Both Sekiro and Bloodborne were awarded with Game of the Year Awards (not sure about Souls series) – in both cases I really understand this and I am really glad that these games received so much appreciation.

Sekiro means one-armed Wolf in Japanese which is really fitting name for our protagonist.

Unfortunately there were no DLCs released for Sekiro despite many theories and ideas of what DLC could be about. A bit of shame, but with 4 endings and satisfying combat mechanic I think it's alright – after all there is a small chance that DLC could be immensly disappointing. A small chance, but chance nonetheless.

Experience points and currency were separated into two, but one thing hasn't changed – you lose part of both when you die.

Combat system is split into two – Health meter and posture meter, and very often you will aim for the posture to finish the fight quicker or just... Just be able to finish the fight. When posture meter is full you can deal a killing blow – but usually the fight isn't finished then. Bosses almost often have at least two health bars, meaning you have to deal two killing blows to finish the fight. When you die, you can resurrect but... Think what you want, this doesn't make the game any easier. The game will check for a few times how well and if you learned how to parry – there are certain boss fights that are just plain parry-fests, after which you have to swiftly counterattack before parrying again. If you can't – these bosses will test you time after time until you learn how it works, and once you do... You should prepare for another test because... Just because you think you got a grip on parrying mechanic, doesn't mean game will go easier on you or won't check if you really know how to do it.

Prosthetic tools really spice up the combat – just imagine you're fighting with a wild, relentless bull, you dodge it's charge and burst some firecrackers into it's face before slashing into this massive beast – and that's the most basic example of combining 'Shinobi Tools' and normal fight I can think of! But prosthetic arm isn't only fighting addition, thanks to this From Software managed to create a lot more of vertical exploration than in any previous title – mainly thanks to built-in grappling hook and a lot, I mean a lot of places you can just pull yourself onto.

Oh, and there aren't other weapons, armor or character creation – you get what you get in the first several minutes of the game (excluding other Shinobi Tools and Mortal Blade).

If you are just starting your adventure through the From Software games, I think it would be good to get Sekiro as the first since it's much easier to turn your mentality from Sekiro to Souls rather than Souls to Sekiro, I know something about it. Bloodborne could also be a good option with it's much faster and aggressive combat in comparison to a bit slower and methodical style of Souls.

Alright, so we're through the whole From Software arsenal (except for one thing but I will include this later), but there are also few games that were highly inspired by the Souls formula and often are called Souls-likes...

(Castle consumed by Amrita)

Games like Nioh – it's a game developed by Team Ninja known for their Ninja Gaiden, which was in itself pretty tough so calling their Nioh a Souls 'rip-off' is... A bit of an insult in my opinion since they already had their fair share of difficult games. Anyway – Nioh takes place in a feudal Japan and manages to beautifully mix the historical facts and gaming fiction – for example you have real characters like Tokugawa Ieyasu or Oda Nobunaga, but I don't remember if Japan was fighting with demons called Yokai for something called Spirit Stones. But then – I didn't even study the history of Japan that much so who knows, maybe something like this has happened.

I must admit, Nioh was the first game that broke me – after I completed it, I threw it away and wasn't keen on playing through it again. Year has passed, I picked it up again with a lot more patience and experience and played through the main game and all DLCs around 3 times, to NG++++ - then I got a bit bored.

Combat mechanic of Nioh is... Oh my sweet everything, there's a lot of it – you have several weapons to choose from – Swords, Dual Swords to something called Tonfas and Kusarigamas – each weapon has few unique fighting styles, what do I mean by that? You have 3 stances in Nioh – Low, Middle, High – Low is weak but fast; High is strong but slow and Middle is something in between – managing all of these in heat of a fight to maximize your damage output and combo can sometimes be insane. The flow of combat isn't interrupted that much thanks to one simple thing – After purchasing a skill, you can restore some stamina by dodging at the perfect timing (For example – you burst your whole combo down a boss and if you time your dodge correctly, you can restore almost all of your stamina and burst another combo and so on, though it needs a bit of practice – it's satisfying). Sole learning of all possibilities of your preferred weapon can take up to several hours, and... Though it's a fact that you can trek through the game on a middle stance without many problems, I prefer learning my weapon and be able to make some stupid crazy tricks while carelessly dodging everything and restoring my stamina. But everyone likes something else so.

There are also Guardian Spirits that when charged up and used – enhance your weapon with certain element, with completely new moveset, with boosted up damage and you yourself being completely invincible to any sort of damage for a short while. They also offer small passive benefits like more Amrita from enemies, a bit of a damage boost and so on.

There is Amrita (An alternative to Souls) and Money, the difference is you don't lose cash after death. But until (and if) you retrieve your Amrita from the place of your death, you won't be able to use your Guardian Spirit.

(In the midst of war)

You can read the massive descriptions of characters, enemies and bosses in the Glossary that slowly gets more and more filled as you play the game – the lore isn't as hidden or cryptic as in Souls series, for the most part you know what's happening and what are you supposed to do – plus the gargantuan descriptions help you understand what's going on and who is who.

The game isn't open world like everything I've mentioned before, it's separated into missions. But you will spend a lot of the time in the World Map, sorting through the loads of equipment. The game literally rains with various equipment and often you have to check if something's good or is it just better to sell/sacrifice certain item (Difference? Selling gives you Money; Sacrifice gives you Amrita).

The game was released with 3 DLCs – Dragon of the North, Bloodshed's End and Defiant Honor – each one introducing new locations, enemies, challenges, Guardian Spirits and sometimes even weapon types. DLCs follow the ending of a main story and tell a connected story that should be played in order – Dragon > Defiant Honor > Bloodshed. I am really glad I gave this game a second chance after a year of hiatus, because if I didn't – I would miss on so much content and incredible bosses I wouldn't even know about!

(Sweet Liberation...)

On March 13 there is Nioh 2 coming up on PS4 and I am almost sure I'm going to pre-order Deluxe Edition of it to already have access to DLCs when they come out. Crucify me or not, but I am not a fan of pre-orders and when I do them, I am almost 200% sure I want to do this on my own responsibility – if I will be disappointed – well, tough luck. But this time I know I won't be. There was an open beta of Nioh 2 for everyone to play and... I am already in love with this game – more weapon types, character creator, Yokai Form, bosses, defiled altars... I am ready to get my ass whooped once again.

There is also a weird game called The Surge. A futuristic dystopian tale. It received mixed opinions and just like the opinions – I also have a mixed feelings about this game and... I won't write as much as about it as about previous games because... I felt this game is too barren, that it deserves so much more, that it had so big potential.

Combat mechanic – it's clunky and sometimes a bit uncomfortable, animations are a bit wooden (Okay, okay, calm down – the main character was bound to a wheelchair and probably still gets used to his Exosuit but... I dunno, I think that this clunkyness would only be at the start where we barely know what is going and not during endgame where main character should be at least a bit familiar with the suit) and... There is a lock on system – you can lock on different parts of enemy's body – right leg, left arm and so on. And there are armored and unarmored part – by cutting the armored part away we can get ourselves a new armor piece or a new weapon, but by attacking the unarmored part enemy takes significantly more damage.

Armor is divided into Operator, Goliath and Sentinel classes – each one having a different effect, some are more tankier than others, some allow for faster movement and so on.

Weapons are divided into five sub-categories – One-Handed, Staves, Heavy-Duty, Single and Twin-Rigged Weapons. If you want to be jack of all trades, you will do nothing, it's really better to focus on one or two weapon types from the start and use them if you want to do any meaningful damage in later parts of the game.

The game contains DLCs which I haven't played so... There's not much to tell about here.

Boss fights are unique and interesting, gotta give credit where credit is due.

I really wish I could tell something more about this game, but for the most part I was incredibly bored, I tried being interested in the story or combat mechanic but I just couldn't. It's not like I don't recommend it, but I'd rather get it when the price is really low.

Although I haven't played the sequel – The Surge 2 – from what I've heard many sins of the original were fixed and the game is actually enjoyable with a bit more polished combat mechanic so... I hope to play through the sequel one day and maybe change my mixed opinion about the series because of the first part.

(This is one of the best if not the best screen I've captured in my Dark Souls 3 gameplay)

And now time for a few words about the games I haven't played yet but really hope to do so at some point! (I think I don't have to tell that there won't be a lot of this since... I haven't played them, duh)

Code Vein – often called Anime Souls, from what I've heard the game is pretty good, with varied boss fights and weaponry as well as locations and soundtrack and it's probably on the top of my 'Souls-like' games that I want to play.

Immortal: Unchained – mix of Souls and shooting, but the game received mixed opinions due to many mechanics that were simply made in a wrong way, unamusing story and bosses and weapons that were useless from a medium range which forced you to rush into enemies which in effect caused more and more unnecessary deaths.

Elden Ring – and that's the next game From Software has announced, I patiently wait for any more information about this game since... There isn't really much to say about it now, but it's generally known that Hidetaka Miyazaki joined forces with George R. R. Martin – I am really eager to see what this collaboration will bring!

(This very harsh graphic shows all of my Platinums and 100% in Souls Games, as well as the date in which the Platinum was received and how long it took. Some may call it incredible waste of time, some may admire this - but - I gave myself a goal I wanted to achieve at some point, and slowly but surely I managed to do it!

Also, if someone would ask why there are so big hour differences between SotFS and Original Dark Souls 2 for example - it's because I played the enhanced version as the first and since I knew what to do, I was able to do everything much faster

And yes, you see correctly, there is just a month of difference between Nioh and Sekiro as well as that I managed to 100% Dark Souls Remastered within first few days of it's release

Once again, think what you want but I am fricking proud of it and I plan to welcome Elden Ring to the family once it comes out)

As I said, Dark Souls has a really supportive and warm community, it can be seen for example on Dark Souls subreddits – most of the posts there are simple posts that 'I HAVE BEATEN [insert some boss here]! FINALLY!' or 'This game saved my life' or fan-arts. And although everyone gets a bit annoyed after seeing seventeenth post in a row titled 'This game saved me' – I can't complain since I understand these people very well. And even though it's slightly annoying, the community is so helpful, grateful and warm that... It's simply amazing.

(Sit down, take a rest)

And it's not only shown in subreddits – sometimes I got invaded when playing through the games, so instead of a fight I just dropped Humanity/Human Effigy/Ember (depending on which installment) for the invader. He simply took it, bow down as a simple sign of 'Thank You' and left my world. Or sometimes when I dropped one of these items, he approached me and dropped two of them before leaving... Such kind acts in these treacherous and hostile lands are simply heartwarming.

Modding community is also incredibly strong in this game, the simplest example could be this blessed DSFix for the Original Dark Souls. But I am not talking about it here, I am talking about incredibly large mods that change the entirety of the game, everything you've known about these games – for example Daughters of Ash and Scorched Contract for Dark Souls 1. I haven't played the Contract, but from what I watched it's really amazing and makes already 'hard' game even more difficulty and painful. But I have played through the entirety of Daughters of Ash – it was really refreshing, it often punished me for being so cocky – I thought that since I know most of the game I can be cocky, but this mod proved me otherwise multiple times. If you're thirsty for more content after completing the main storyline, I recommend you pick up these two mods and search for some more yourself – these mods really add a lot more hours into already long game. There is also Augur of Darkness but... I haven't played it nor watched a lot of it so I can only tell that it does the same thing as Daughters of Ash – changes everything you think you've known about this game.

BUT! The discussion about the Souls community wouldn't be complete without honorable mentions. I'll just give you some links to check out – some of them are songs inspired by Souls and some of them are Lore explanations and analysis.

Aviators - Song of the Abyss – Song about Knight Artorias and his companion Sif, with beautiful usage of Artorias' theme and the lyrics that present the tragic story of a legendary warrior

Aviators - Undying – Song about Sekiro and it's curse of immortality, fast paced just like the game

Aviators - Requiem for the King – Song about Ivory King and his both tragic and heroic story, his sacrifice and desperate attempt to finish off the Chaos

Aviators - Here Come The Ravens – Song about Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower, telling her story and horrors she has witnessed in the Fishing Hamlet

Miracle of Sound ft. Aviators - A Thousand Eyes - Song refers to insight, eyes that 'open inside' and allow you to see more...

Souls and Blood - Eyes of a Firekeeper ft. Laura Intravia – Song, a story told from a perspective of a Firekeeper and her fear of eternal darkness in this ruined world

Dark Souls 3 - Lore of the Main Bosses – Lore of the main adversaries in Dark Souls 3 – nothing more, nothing less.

Explaining the First Half of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice's Story – What does the first half of Sekiro mean?

Prepare to Cry Remastered ► The Legend of Artorias the Abysswalker - Tragic story of Artorias which is almost guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes.

And finally, the most beautiful homage to the entirety of Dark Souls Trilogy, including many well-known personas in the community like Otzdarva or LobosJr. Almost hour and a half of beautifully narrated story, connections and how it all began and ended - Project: Dark Souls - The Complete Story of the Dark Souls Trilogy

I am a huge fan of Aviators so I highly recommend you check out his songs, VaatiVidya is generally considered as the lore king in the Souls community, not to mention his voice is soothing so it's really calming to listen about the lore. But though he's considered the lore king – The Ashen Hollow has his fair share of lore videos too.

And it wouldn't be fair without mentioning Otzdarva, LobosJr and everyone recognizable in the Souls community. There are too many of them to include, but each and every one of them deserves at least a bit of appreciation for their patience and endurance.

Also, if you like boss rankings (not only about Souls!) and listening to the critique of design of some bosses or appreciation of a job well done - check out theDeModcracy

I think that wraps everything about my relation with the Souls franchise as well as Souls-like genre, I recommend and hope you will get attached to this series as I did or maybe even much more!

Remember my friends, don't you dare go hollow...

Kind Regards,

Wing.