I don’t know where to start. The game’s content is quite heavy. I’m not even sure if I like it personally. I am not even sure if I want to replay the game. There are multiple endings. The themes (i.e. gender discrimination and child abuse, bullying etc.) can draw out uncomfortable emotions from some of its audiences. Like the themes from Silent Hill: The Message, the game is far from entertaining. The game provided a Content Warning disclaimer, which is nice. However, making a profit out of someone’s misfortune is hardly a form of entertainment to me. So if you are looking to play something fun, you won’t find it in this game. Instead, you’d find a well-made psychological horror game about a struggling cute, schoolgirl in a man’s world. No one really gets her. It’s so sad that she can’t even talk to her doll.
Please don’t kill your femininitybecause you hate your dad. Not all guys are bad...
As for me personally, I would rather laugh than cry. So I am going to put this game aside for now…until I am ready to go underwater again. I am so curious about the other endings.
What a pretty sad flower
P.S.
I am sorry for being vague. It’s a good game. I am speechless about the game for the most part. Maybe I’ll come back with a longer post. It will make SEO happy. 😀
I remember reading somewhere before the release of Song of Horror that Protocol Games wanted to make a true survival horror. My initial thought at the time was let’s see if they can genuinely make a good one. Personally, I haven’t come across that many horror games I considered great by indie developers (maybe I need to play more). The ones I liked were Detention and Soma, but even then, they didn’t leave an everlasting impression on me. And so, I was pleasantly surprised with this game. Not only did the developers achieve in building a suspenseful, tense horror game, but they also weave a good story into the gameplay without making it convoluted. The gameplay is also highly addictive.
Synopsis
On one Friday evening, as soon as Daniel Noyer comes home after a long day at work, his boss from Wake Publishing phoned him on the whereabouts of Sebastian Husher who happens to be an acclaimed, historical fiction author, and the shiny star of the publishing firm. Not only is the author missing but his manuscript has passed the deadline! Daniel, annoyed being as the errand boy, has no choice but to pay a visit to the Husher’s residency. From there, he finds the place abandoned with an eerie music box playing in the background. This mysterious tune will determine his fate. Will he find the missing author and the manuscript? Will he get his promotion that he so deserved?
Daniel is driving up to the Husher’s Mansion to retrieve the manuscript.
Gameplay
There are four difficulty settings: E.T.A. Hoffmann, M.R. James, Edgar Allan Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft. Even though the game recommends players to start on Edgar Allan Poe, I switched over to the easiest so I could learn how to play the game. Once I become comfortable with QTEs (also referred to mini games) and the puzzles, I move up a level. The reason is because on Edgar Allen Poe, the player will experience more permadeaths and encounter more QTEs than M.R. James mode. It can get annoying fast when you are trying to progress the storyline. With the easiest setting (E.T.A. Hoffmann), you could restart at a checkpoint without losing a character permanently. However, if you pick Daniel, you will have to restart the episode regardless of the difficulty settings because he is the main character. So, be mindful on which characters you choose to play on the harder settings. Not all characters are created equal, but they balance each other out.
If you look at his serenity attribute, he is not good at staying quiet when facing The Silence in episode II, but his strength is strong for blocking the doors.
Daniel has an overall balanced attribute, but even playing as him, I struggled blocking the door from the menacing entity.
As mentioned earlier, I take baby steps first until I familiarize myself with the structure of the game. The game will punish impatient players. Making loud, stomping sound will trigger QTE, which means potentially dying and losing game progress. As for the puzzles, some of them are difficult. For instance, the description to break the code in episode V is vague. All it has are some doodle drawings and a sentence that reads: “From highest to lowest, the seven numbers in the photo.” At first in my mind, I tried to match 7 numbers to 5 drawings. Now that I think about it, I can see the thought process. There are 7 people total, 6 in white suits, 4 standing up, 3 sitting down, 3 wearing glasses, 3 with mustache, and 1 in black suit. The code is 7643331.
Creepy doctors!
I was surprised that I didn’t need to complete the game on the reccomended difficulty setting. Once I completed the game on M.R. James mode, the H.P. Lovecraft mode becomes available. It’s there for those who want a challenge. Indeed, it’s challenging. Pressing the button to control your breath, heart rhythm and block the door will leave you panting. If you are hardcore, go for it, but it’s going to require a lot of patience.
SOUND
Speaking of sound, a horror game wouldn’t be horrific without the special sound effects. There will be times when I have to press the character’s head against the door to listen if there is something behind it. Failing to listen will kill the character. I died many times because I had the volume on low. So, I recommend playing the volume on high or with a headset.
Erica is listening to what’s behind the door.
I could hear the rumbling, whispering and the slithering sound coming from the mysterious evil entity also known as the Presence with the headset on. The funniest part is the jump scare moments. I found it quite funny when Daniel screams. Apart from the haunting sound effects, there are moments where I could relax and breathe normally. Occasionally, you’d hear the characters exhaling and making disagreement noises when something doesn’t work out such as trying to open a blocked door or failing to combine two items. It’s comforting. I also appreciate Dr. Berenice Prestegard’s calm and intelligent voice. Exploring the mental asylum is frightening, but she makes everything feels okay.
Dr. Berenice is terrified of the dark, but she is brave enough to sleep alone. What an oxymoron.
Visual
All the stages (episodes) are well designed and nailed the horror atmosphere to an extreme. Can someone please explain to me on what is the obsession with mannequins in horror games? Is it the secret ingredient to a good horror? I find that it’s becoming a cliché more than a tribute to classic horror games.
You can’t see it in the picture, but behind René Artigas there is a door chained up. One of the easter eggs. It’s a reference Silent Hill 4.
Anyway, there is the Husher’s mansion, the antique shop, the archive, the abbey, and the mental asylum, which have straight forward objectives if you know what you are doing. My favorite part of the game happens to be theantique shop in episode II. Whenever I feel threatened, I want to rush outside of the building into the rain. The sight and sound of the rain is soothing and it gives me the impression of fresh air. I like how balanced episode II is compared to other episodes.
The light shining on the rain is very pretty.
Conclusion
Do I recommend this game? Yes! Is this game perfect? No! They could have toned down the jump scares on Edgar Allan Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft mode. Secondly, some of the puzzles are difficult and don’t make any sense. Hard for hard sake is not my cup of tea. Thirdly, the H.P. Lovecraft mode is insane at times. There are moments I literally tiptoe in the game to minimize random QTEs. Lastly, the game freezes quite frequently on H.P. Lovecraft mode. It starts to feel like obtaining the platinum is more of a gamble than based on effort. Despite the flaws, I still enjoyed the game. What I love most is the thought process behind the gameplay, atmosphere, sound, story, and characters. All the playable characters have diverse, interesting backgrounds. I enjoyed the game so much that I shoot for the platinum trophy! That should say a lot about the game whether it is worth your time.
Now that I am back from vacation, I completed my first playthrough of Song of Horror. I am replaying the game because there are multiple playable characters, and each character has its own dialogue. Each time I replay the episode with a different character, I learn something new. I am enjoying the structure of the game. I will discuss more about the game in detail at a later time.
I hope I am not the only one playing the game. I enjoyed it that much that I plan to get a copy for PC.
As I was reading my older blog posts: My Thoughts on Art, Creativity and Blogging and What’s in a Name?, I realized I spent a lot of time writing for this blog that I don’t have time for other creative projects. I am trying to find a good balance without abandoning this blog entirely.
Like Erica from Song of Horror, I too would love to “spend the day here, chilling and playing guitar.”
With that being said, I am being more selective with games. Play games that I want to play and not just check off a list. Recently, I have been wanting to go back to PlayStation 2 games. One of them is Echo Night: Beyond, and the other is Shadow of Hearts. Playing Song of Horror made me appreciate retro games. They are more artistic and methodical than modern games, and oddly more therapeutic for my mental health.
I like challenging games and books but I am not that competitive, so I never understood how people can get an ego boost from completing so many books and games within a year. I’ve learned to accept that I prefer to do things at a slower pace. I can see myself savoring Song of Horror. The game is challenging enough for me to want to platinum it, but I have not decided yet. Apart from gaming, I am trying to finish Germinal by Émile Zola, so that I can focus on Monster, the manga. You might see some upcoming thoughts on these two items. Lastly, I am going through old posts and updating them, so you might see that as well. Of course, some might say no one actually cares about these updates. I like to forewarn my readers for consistency purposes because I am one of those readers who notice the little detail.
When I was a little girl, I found a doll sitting on the high shelf at a drugstore. It came with 4 dresses. I wanted the doll so bad. I remember pleading with my mother that it was the only thing I wanted for my birthday. After hoping and praying about it, my mother finally bought it for me, and I was so happy. I played with it all day. So when a game offers the ability to customize the color of your character’s outfits and doll them up, it makes the gaming experience 10 times better to me!
Code Vein, developed by BANDAI NAMCO Studios, was released in 2019 and is a great co-op/solo game with a lot of playstyle customization. If you are the type who enjoys trying out different weapons and codes (just another term for class) and changing your character’s appearance, this is the game for you. I wish there were more outfits, though. Some of the clothes look like lingerie…
Baristaserving drinks
My eyes are getting blurry. Is that a hot babe?JK JK
I hope you get my point. As for the story, I can’t remember in detail because it was that generic, and I played it years ago, but what I do remember was that it made me feel good. It’s about humanity. It’s about cooperation, service, interdependence, selflessness, etc. All the good traits that make humanity beautiful. It’s nice to play a feel-good game that doesn’t bash humanity.
It’s stressful always having to think: “Eat or be eaten” all the time.
Okay, what about the gameplay? Obviously, it took some parts from Dark Souls. Some bosses and monsters are a total rip-off done intentionally, but you can say the same about Dark Souls. It’s not like they originally came up with monster designs. I also think they drew a lot of inspiration from spending way too much time at the gentlemen’s club. The Executioner boss was quite comical. It’s not ideal for audiences like me, but nonetheless, they successfully imitate game design that has worked in the past by introducing something new. That’s why I think Code Vein is unique.
Overall, I enjoyed the game more than I expected, and those are the best gaming moments. When I find a game I enjoy, I feel like I hit the jackpot. However, what prevented me from totally loving it was the outfit designs and the edgy atmosphere. With that being said, I am on the fence with Code Vein II. It is one of those games that I am interested in playing, but I’m not in a rush to play. From what I remember, it was a fun co-op adventure game I played with my fiancé during quarantine.
I like the dancing emote in this game. It is really fun capturing these silly moments, and the soundtrack wasn’t too bad either.
I know it’s 2025, but I keep daydreaming about replaying my favorite games when I have a backlog to get through. Called it a video game freeze. I don’t like spending money for the sake of hoarding, especially when the economy is shaky these days. But that’s half the truth though. As my mother once said, you can’t eat video games. For more about my philosophy behind my small backlog, you can read it here: Rambling on Why My Video Games Backlog is Small.
Before introducing you folks to the demos I am currently playing, I’d like to express my gratitude for the cooler weather. September is a nice month. Summer is coming to an end, and that means I can drink hot tea. I am just excited to drink tea and play games! Without further ado, I introduce my list:
Haak
I can’t remember how I stumbled upon this game. Oh, wait, I remember now. I thought the artworks looked cool, so I watched the trailer and found out that I can try the demo. To my surprise, I enjoy the gameplay. It feels fluid. But I am not sure if I will purchase the entire game. There’s one pet peeve I can’t stand: the text’s sound effect. Perhaps I can mute it or lower the volume. Despite that little annoyance, I don’t mind playing a good metroidvania game, especially one that takes place in the wasteland.
Strange Antique
I enjoyed Strange Horticulture. It was a relaxing game to play at the end of fall about two years ago. I found the sound of the rain in the game quite soothing and enjoyed the gameplay. The game did progressively get harder, but it was not overly difficult. Likewise Strange Antique has a similar vibe. I don’t own any antique but I do admire those who collect them. There is a lot of story in an object–from the person who crafted it and to the person who owned it. As an art lover, this game is going to be a treat for this upcoming fall. This is one game I will eventually purchase but not on launch day!
Crow Country
My brother brought this game to my attention. In the past, my brother was the to go person for video game recommendations and his recommendations never failed me. So far, I enjoy the demo but found some minor flaws in the game design that could use some improvements. Trust me, I don’t enjoy finding errors. My job was a nightmare…Despite those little user hiccups, the game is still worth checking out. I will potentially purchase the full game when I am in the mood for old school survival horror.
Bonus Game
Before I forget, I do want to mention I picked Song of Horror to review for the Halloween tradition on this blog. Each year, I pick one horror game to review. It’s a fun way to celebrate Halloween and be festive. So far, I am enjoying the game. It’s creepy. I love the exploring the abandoned mansion and learning about the characters through their inner dialogue. I completed the prelude and started on Sophie’s episode as of Sept. 9, 2025. I can tell it’s a quality game that I am going to appreciate and would definitely recommend it to horror fans because I am currently hooked!
Hope you found something interesting in this list!
My journey is coming to an end. I defeated the final boss (Lord of Cinder). Also, I have defeated Slave Knight Gael, the final boss of the Ring City DLC. The lore is very interesting, so I decided to go on a 2nd journey to unlock ‘The Usurpation of Fire’ ending. There are three endings total, and I have already seen two of them. One was from my old playthrough.
In my previous blog post, I said I would discuss the Painted World of Ariandel lore (particularly Sister Friede) but by doing so, you must have some knowledge of the Painted World of Ariamis in Anor Londo, where you face Priscilla in DS1. The painted world in DS3 is linked to the Hollow realm of Londo. Similarly, Sister Friede is like Pricilla except harder. She represents death. So just imagine a cold world without warmth. It’s not very pleasant. I personally did not enjoy the snow area, and it wasn’t because I hate the level design, it’s because the bright light from the snow hurts my eyes!
It’s not bad. At least there are flowers.
Anyway, Sister Friede is one of the maidens of the Primordial Serpent and one of the sisters (Yuria and Lillian) who founded the Sable Church. The Sable Church offers salvation to the hollows who led unsavory lives. And what does hollow mean? It is when the undead eventually lose their minds. Just like Sirri’s grandfather, who became a madman. Another important point is that Sister Friede is ashen like the player. Her duty was to link the fire to prevent the world from dying; however, she chose rot over flames along with Father Ariandel. In other words, they want the Painted World of Ariandel to rot. If you have played Demon’s Souls, does she remind you of Maiden Astraea, a pure soul that turned to an Archdemon because God was cruel for abandoning the Valley of Defilement and its inhabitants to wither and die? It’s female compassion backfired, but oddly maternal. Can a good mother ever abandon her children, even if they are monsters? So, when a player defeated Sister Friede, the painted world became engulfed in flames for the better. The action I took as an intrusive player messed with my conscience a bit because I empathized with Sister Friede’s decision to choose rot over flames, but I also know it’s not right to choose death. What she wanted was a world that rot away eternally. Is that what you call peace for the hollows? It kind of sound like hell to me. In her circumstances, compassion was her weakness, and therefore, she was no champion of life at all.
Sorry, Sister Friede, for burningyour sanctuary.
Instead, a “cold, dark and very gentle place” might be better. And that where the Ring City fits in, which is different from the hollow realm of Londor and which I won’t go into detail. I do want to mention that I really like Yuria and Sister Friede as characters but I don’t agree with their worldview–the hollow way is not the right way. I guess that is why I like Sirris of the Sunless Realms and Shira, Knight of Filianore. I rather live in a world full of warmth than a cold, sad one even if I am bound to selfless duty. What can you gain from a selfish world?
A “cold dark and very gentle place” for the hollows I suppose.
There are some Elden Ring references I noticed in DS3, which led me to believe this game is a prequel to Elden Ring. In Elden Ring, rot is the cycle of birth and decay–like how flowers bloom then wilt. Whereas flames, it’s light, the source of life. We are dealing with polytheism with a mixture of animalism here. It just shows how complex the narrative is in the game, leaving room for a lot of interpretation. But I can theorize that the story of DS3 is about allowing the fire to fade for a new world order. So everything in the game is mournfully sad. Apart from the theme, I feel sympathy for these NPCs and may have to go back and explore their questlines. I accidentally killed Ringfinger Leonhard, who has a sad story. Well, everyone in the game is sad and broken.
Meditating in the storm. It shall pass.
I am not sure if I want to platinum the game. For your money’s worth, this game is timeless, on par with classic books. Unfortunately, not everyone will ever get to experience the story because it’s a challenging game that requires some dedication. Maybe one day, FromSoftware will make a Dark Souls novel? I heard there is an Elden Ring movie in the making. I am not sure how effective the story will be, though. Video games as a medium for storytelling are a unique and one-of-a-kind experience. It just makes the story so much more personal and definitely more rewarding to get through. I must confess that this game is so hopelessly dark. The next game I am going to play is definitely something lighter and cheerful. Hmm… or maybe I will go back and reread Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a book that reminds me that adults have it backward when it comes to living.
Before I start the boss fight with Sister Friede in the Painted World of Ariandel, I want to mention the bosses I defeated previously. These include Dragondslayer Armor, Oceriros the Consume King, Champion Gundyr, Ancient Wyvern, Lothric, Younger Prince, and the Nameless King. I did this before starting this DLC because I was no match for Sister Friede at level 45. I suppose there is a reason why players can access the DLC midway through the game. It was placed at the Cleansing Chapel Bonfire, which I still do not understand. I do, however, think there is a flaw in this edition. I cannot summon Slave Knight Gael (will do a separate post on story) during the boss fight. I have already summoned him for the battle with Prince Demon and progressed his questline. So, if you are playing this edition, I suggest you skip the DLCs. Return when you are at a higher level. Make sure to play the DLCs in order. It will save you time because the extra help from Slave Knight Gael is greatly appreciated. Of course, you can summon help if you play online. However, I couldn’t do that because I don’t have a PlayStation Plus subscription.
Oh boy, like Prince Lothric and Nameless King, those boss fights took me several runs. Sister Friede was the cherry on top! I guess never underestimate the power of the cold nun.
Is that Priscilla Scythe from Dark Souls? I love Priscilla!!! (phase 1)
The first phase was fine. The second phase was easy. The third phase was the most difficult. You can summon Slave Knight Gael. However, he will only appear during the second phase of the boss fight. As I mentioned earlier, you can summon him if you have not defeated Prince Demon in The Dreg Heap. I wasted so many embers because I kept running out of estus flasks in the third phase. In the end, like always, skill helped me beat the boss. I knew its pattern and dodged like crazy. I am not going to lie. It feels so rewarding when I beat her. I have been trying for several days! Of course, I do feel shame for invading her world. She did politely ask me to return to where I came from. But I am just so curious. A world without flames? What sort of world is that? Death? The curious cat in me has to know!
My curiosity pisses Father Ariandel off… (phase 2)
The image is a bit dark, but there were several moments like this when I almost killed her, but she got to me first (phase 3).
I won’t talk about the strategy on how I won the battle in detail. There are some good ones on YouTube: Gentle Needle and Loreena are ones that stood out to me the most. It was hard to avoid her when she goes into invisible mode. She swipes you with her scythe, taking a big chunk of your HP. What I did differently from other players was preventing her from going into invisible mode. I blast her with the Great Soul Spell before she even gets to disappear. Doing this helps conserve estus flasks for the final round. She was so quick and fearsome in the final round. My heart was pounding!
Lastly, I will mention the optional boss: The Champion’s Gravetender and Gravetender Greatwolf. This post is mainly about Sister Friede. The boss fight took me a few tries, but it wasn’t too difficult. By defeating it, you will unlock Undead Match. Perhaps this is where ‘PVP creed’ came from, where players are not allowed to use estus flasks during a duel. I like how the developer added this gaming mechanic. If players want to do PVP, there is a section for that. This is because not everyone wants to duel. Not everyone wants to fight to the death.
I burned the Painted World. Now all I have left is the final boss and the Ring City DLC. But first, I stop to smell the flowers before I go on a killing spree.
When I was working my way towards the Road of Sacrifice from the Undead Settlements, I was anticipating meeting Aldrich, the Saint of the Deep, also known as the Devourer of Gods. He is notorious for eating people (the undead) and, even more daringly, eating gods for pleasure in the most gruesome ways. And he doesn’t do it alone. He shares his joy with other twisted souls, “imbibing the final shudders of life while luxuriating in his victim’s screams (description from Aldrich’s Ruby).” So, when I reached the Pathway to the Cathedral of the Deep after defeating Sage Crystal, I thought I was getting closer. Oh no, I still had a way to go. I had to face the lesser twisted souls: Deacons of Cathedral of Deep, the Abyss Watcher, High Lord Wolnir, Old Demon King, Pontiff Sulyvahn,and Yhorm the Giant. Defeating Aldrich was the climax of the game. Like Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough from Dark Souls, the boss fight was difficult. It took me the entire day, after several runs, to finally beat a 5-minute battle. For one, I play as a sorcerer, and the boss was resistant to magic. So, what did I do? I switched to melee. Leveled up my endurance twice. Infused my hand axe weapon +6 to lightning effect because lightning is one of its weaknesses. Switched out sorcery’s rings for Chloranthy Ring, Estus Ring, Life Ring, and Dark Stoneplate Ring. For armor, I wore something light with high magic defense. I even allocated all of the Estus flasks (healing potion) to HP. Normally, I leave some for FP since I use magic spells. What I found comical was that I forgot to upgrade the healing potency of the Estus flask! It could have saved me time from trying to defeat the boss if I had upgraded it from +2 to +8, so I wouldn’t have to consume so many Estus flasks. Oopsie, that was a bit of a noob move! But in the end, it was the strategy that helped me defeat the boss.
Upon entering the boss fight, I ran towards it before it could blast its magic beam and perform its piercing rain arrow shots because it’s bad news for us players who do range attacks. The boss’s AoE is deadly. But what helped me in this battle was knowing exactly where it would spawn. For instance, if it is in the bottom left corner of the room, it will reappear in the upper right corner of the room, but it doesn’t always happen. I think I got lucky. Also, knowing when to reserve stamina (since running and hitting used up stamina) helped me defeat the boss. I let the stamina bar refill by not running toward the direction of the boss until it reappeared so that I could dodge and attack its tail as quickly as possible. Speed and damage are what it will take to defeat Aldrich. For better visualization, I include a video clip of my boss fight.
After defeating Aldrich, I learned that he had no fear of devouring the gods himself when he started ruminating about the fading of the fire. He envisioned the coming age of the deep sea (item description from Soul of Aldrich). It made me wonder why the fire was fading in the first place. And why was I transported back to the High Wall of Lothric to face the Dancer of the Boreal Valley, who happens to be the distant daughter of Pontiff Sulyvahn? Let’s backtrack a little bit here: Pontiff Sulyvahn is one of the earlier twisted souls I had to defeat. He is one of Aldrich’s cronies. He “imprisoned a god of the old royalty in the abandoned cathedral to be fed to [Aldrich] the devourer (item description from Souls of Pontiff Sulyvanh).” I must admit that I am a bit frightened. It sounds like they had a logistic, criminal system in place there. Do you know the saying “Wolves in sheep’s clothing”? That is exactly what Aldrich is, a supposedly upright lord with a dark appetite.
Dancer of the Boreal Valley, another twisted soul
Once I defeated the Dancer, I unlocked an area called Lothric Castle. It seems like she was either guarding or holding Prince Lothric hostage because I was asked by the High Priestess Emma of High Wall Lothric, in her last breath, to save Prince Lothric’s soul. She told me to tell Prince Lothric “that he must be. A Lord…” She didn’t get to finish her sentence, so I can only speculate that he must be the Lord of Cinder. And you are probably wondering like me…what is the significance of being the Lord of Cinder? Why is it important to the story? It has to do with the linking of the flames, the source of life, which is also the source of corruption. But that is just my educated guess for now, from all the sources I gathered in the game so far. Who knows what my conclusion is? So stay tuned, I still have more bosses to defeat and uncover their lore!
As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I decided to replay Dark Souls III, but I did not mention of all the games in the series why I chose the third installment, which happens to be my least favorite (at the time). The reason is that it’s the finale of the Dark Souls series; I would like to finally piece the story together and give it another chance. Plus the Fire Fades Edition include the DLCs, which will sate my “dark souls-craving fix” since I have not played the DLCs! And I must confess, 27 hours of trial and error, I am enjoying it more than I did back in 2016 when I first played it. Apart from the interesting NPCs’ questlines, the looting and exploring are one of my favorite things about the Souls game (If interested, you can read more about my thoughts I wrote a few years ago: Dark Souls: Exploring Is an Achievement).
So far, I have completed Cemetery Ash, Firelink Shrine, High Wall of Lothric, Undead and Settlement, Road of Sacrifice, Cathedral of the Deep. However, I decided it’s best to restart the game. I was not aware that giving the Pale Tongue to Rosaria (Mother of Rebirth) would cancel Sirris, The Sunless Realm questline, who happens to be the most interesting character that I feel most connected to. I don’t know why. Maybe I admire a woman in armor who has a purpose (This sounds like a potential topic for a blog post). I remember liking Selen Vinland from Demon Souls (PS3 version) too.
By now, you might speculate that it is one of my favorite video game franchises. I have so much to say about it. And no, I don’t like it because it’s difficult. Quite the contrary, it’s a fairly challenging game, which involves strategy. When I realized the flow of Dark Souls III (memorizing enemy positions and level layouts), it took me about 9 hours to reach the part where I had to restart the game (Cathedral of the Deep). I knew what I was going into, thus making the experience seamless. This game was always meant to be played multiple times. You will fail, and that is all right because there are multiple ways to meet your objectives. You will begin to see patterns. You will learn how to dodge. You will utilize the items in the game to survive. Most of all, you need to have good reflexes, and incredible amount of patience. I think it’s a fair game once you know its rhythm.
From the time I started drafting this blog post, I defeated the Deacons of Cathedral of Deep boss, the Abyss Watcher, and High Lord Wolnir. It took me about 24 hours compared to my first playthrough which I was doing horribly because I spent hours trying to hop into the Butcher’s cage to get to an area that allowed players to join the Mound Makers Covenant. I couldn’t initiate the sequence because I entered the boss fight with Curse-rotted Greatwood before speaking to the NPC located below the area of the boss fight. Pretty much starting the battle caused the ground to collapse and kill the NPC. It was so worth it to restart the game because my first playthrough was a bad run. If you follow the natural flow of the game, progressively you will get better at navigating its world. In addition, the guides available on the internet help, if you use it as a reference.
Apart from the gameplay, one thing I love about souls games is that it feels as if I am playing inside a fantasy book. Like reading a book, I became self-aware of my own actions. I remember after beating Dark Souls II (my favorite out of the series), I felt odd sitting on a throne. I started my character as a fairytale-like human, but it ended up looking like a monster.
I claimed the Throne of Want. Now what?
The realization of losing sight of humanity made me more humane in real life. A game that does that is not all that bad despite its dark theme. If you think about it, that’s why it’s called Dark Souls.
I have been daydreaming about Elden Ring (2022). Reminiscing about the adventure, the looting, and the side quests. The land in between is beautifully brutal. Then I remember writing a blog post about Malenia which I gave her a nickname: the Beautiful Rotten Flower. I was so consumed by finding ways to defeat her that, for a while, all I could think about was Malenia. I remember after beating the game, I felt drained. So when Shadow of the Edtree was released last year, I didn’t feel inclined to purchase the DLC. I am still on the fence about buying it because these games are becoming increasingly designed for cooperative play, which is a turn-off for me.
I remember my experience with Dark Souls III (2016). It is a pretty game but I didn’t like how fast the enemies were and there were more of them compared to Demon Souls (2009) Dark Souls (2011) and Dark Souls II (2014). All the later editions seem to gear toward the “git gud” PVP crowd, and that is just not my forte. I remember playing Bloodborne (2015) and some invader got mad at me for using healing potions. This person was expecting me to follow some PVP creed that I was not aware of. I just laughed it off. The person invaded my world and was expecting me to play by some external rules? That sounds so ridiculous. I was always more interested in the creative design than the social aspect of the game anyway. That’s why I am so grateful that you can play Souls games in offline mode on the console version (I am not sure about PC). If you were to ask me, my least favorite thing about the Souls game is the invasion. I don’t think I have ever invaded anyone’s world or voluntarily helped anyone defeat enemies. Well, there was one time I was automatically summoned to someone’s world in Dark Souls II because I was in The Way of the Blue Covenant. It’s an interesting gaming mechanic, and I learned that not everyone is an uncivilized brute.
Honestly, I miss the quietness of the earlier Souls games. That is part of the reason why I have been hesitant with FromSoftware’s latest installment Elden Ring Nightreign, which I heard is designed for cooperative play. Finding the right skillful people to play with feels too daunting. That’s why I shy away from multiplayer games and lean towards games like Dragon’s Dogma (2012). The pawn system fixes that issue. You can use other players’ pawns to assist you without having the actual player control the pawn in real-time. It’s an ingenious idea for those who want to play multiplayer games but don’t always have the time to find the right people to play with. Even if you do have the right people to play with, we all have lives and different schedules outside of gaming. As I am writing this, now I am curious about Dragon’s Dogma II.
Writing down my thoughts made me realize…oh why don’t I just give Dragon’s Dogma II a try despite the negative reviews? After all, I am an atypical gamer. So this game may be the antidote that will cure my adventure ailment. In the meantime, I am replaying Dark Souls III because I’m looking forward to capturing pictures without the HUD. It’s the beautiful flowers in the game that captivate me. A mixture of adventure and flowers is exactly what I need.
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