For the past year or so I feel like I have been living and breathing Dark Souls. Really ever since the first trailer for DkS2 was shown. There's just something special about this series that others don't have. The games could kick your butt all day long, but that only drives you to keep moving forward. If you keep playing and progressing, eventually the game will get into your blood. At that point other games just don't seem as fun or rewarding to play.
I really got hooked when I finally beat Dark Souls 1 for the first time. I'm not sure why it took me so long to finish it though. I played through Demon's Souls when it first came out and really enjoyed it. Then Dark Souls 1 came out, but for some reason I didn't buy it right away. I waited until the game hit the $20 price range before finally purchasing my copy. The first playthrough was very brutal though. When I first got to Firelink Shrine I went straight to The Catacombs. I spent hours in that dark place trying to make progress with no luck. I finally got the hint that I shouldn't be in there and needed to work my way back to the entrance, but that felt like a long ways away. I didn't play the game again for months.
At some point I came across EpicNameBro on YouTube. His channel is mainly dedicated to the Souls series and has a lot of really great videos. Watching his walkthrough of Dark Souls 1, when he went down to The Catacombs, I was interested to see his strategy for that terrible journey to the first boss. It took him maybe 30 seconds to get there thanks to a shortcut.......*mind explosion*. Later on he pointed out that at a certain point in the level you wouldn't be able to progress any further without a certain item. An item that you don't get until much later in the game..........*mind explosion*. Thank the Sun I didn't progress any further in that level!
That was really an eye opening experience and it motivated me to get back into the game. I fought my way out of The Catacombs and made it back to the starting point with a new perspective on the game. Once I beat the game I was hooked and immediately started my second playthrough. After finishing that I went through Demon's Souls again. I took a little break after that to play other games, but the Souls series was usually on my mind. After the first trailer for Dark Souls 2 was shown my hypemania was running wild brother.
As the release date for DkS 2 got closer I didn't want to be rusty so I played through the first game two more times. Then finally the game released and I've really loved my time with it. The first playthrough blind was awesome! Having that feeling again of not knowing where to go or what's around the corner was great and every enemy kicking my butt. The little pigs in Majula wrecked me when I first arrived there haha.
After the first playthrough, I immediately started my second run and started my third run after that. I got past Shrine of Amana and I knew I had to take a break from the series. I'm beginning to feel the burn out coming and so it's time for me to slow down. Not just from playing the game, but watching videos on it and discussing the game in forums every day. I've been praising the Sun a little too much.
You would think this would be a great opportunity to hit that ever growing backlog of mine, but nope. I just finished a run through of Batman Arkham City yesterday. I'm getting an itch to play through Deadly Premonition again now. I'm also thinking about Fallout 3, GTAV, Red Dead Redemption, MGS3 Snake Eater and Bioshock as well.
If you're even slightly interested in the Souls series I highly encourage you to give them a try. This series has definitely become one of my all-time favorites.
Umbasa!