A new Weekend Warrior has been added to the roster! This weekend was full of grinding and frustration from a game that is still loved today even though it’s a few years old at this point, Dark Souls. Oh, those of you who have played Dark Souls know exactly where this is going. Although, that is not the only game I played this weekend. I had a few extra bucks lying around my bank account so I decided to go to Steam and purchase a few games there were on sale. One of the games that I bought and played first though, was a little game called Depth.
These were two totally different games.
First off, Depth was a multiplayer game where you either took the role of a shark or human. If you were human, you and a team of other divers must protect this little bot named S.T.E.V.E. that collects treasure from the sunken ships. It’s sort of an escort mission. If you were to take the role of a shark, then your duty as a shark was to protect your treasure from the humans by eating them and destroying their little bot. Two sharks, four humans and a lot of lives. The round ends when the lives run out, the bot is destroyed, or the humans get all the treasure.
Now, Dark Souls is a whole different story. Dark Souls is a third-person action role playing game which is all about exploring & fighting extremely hard and tricky enemies. Now, I won’t go deep into the story of Dark Souls other than gameplay so I’ll just say that when I “transverse into the light” that it is the scariest three seconds of my little Dark Soul life. That means there might be a boss on the other end! Sometimes there isn’t but 85% of the time there is and that scares me because I don’t want to die and lose all my souls, which are experience points and currency that you carry around with you after every kill until turned in whether it is to level up or buy something.
Let’s start with the shark simulator (not really), Depth. I like to think Friday is the start of the weekend because you have nothing to worry about the next day (mostly) so I played this on a Friday. This game was more brutal than I originally thought it was going to be. I began to matchmaker and in no time I found a game where I was playing the role of the shark with my partner. The game started normally and I swam to where the divers were. I was not prepared for hearing the divers whelp out of terror as I grabbed them and tore them apart with my teeth. I have full gore on in the settings so I saw blood spew out of their stubs where their arms or legs used to be. I loved it. I know, what else should I expect from a game like this? Well, I enjoyed devouring my enemies as I grabbed them and quickly moved my mouse side ways to simulate tearing them apart. They got the best of me sometimes by planting mines which blew me up, catching me off guard causing me to yell a little bit in shock. Then, after we lost that round due to the shark team running out of lives, I was put on the human side. Man, wasn’t that nerve wrecking? When the shark is close to you, like very close, you have this sort of heartbeat sound that decreases or increases and causes all sides of the screen to blink which scared me. In an instant, you can be carried away by a shark which catches you totally off guard, your diver screaming for help as you try to save yourself in a last ditch effort by stabbing the shark’s nose. I managed to upgrade and get better weapons as the match went on but the feeling never left and I was killed off multiple times. Eventually, we won the match by stealing all the treasure and escaping with S.T.E.V.E.
On Saturday and Sunday, I played Dark Souls. One of the games from both last gen and current gen that is extremely difficult right? Well, I remember playing this on the Xbox 360 when it was free because I had heard of it before but nothing else other than it being very hard. Well, I played it for a few hours then gave up and never looked backed. Until recently. Xbox One now have it where you can play Dark Souls due to the backwards comparability feature and I decided to get back into it since Dark Souls 3 was coming out and I had already played Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin a little bit. Well, my fellow readers, it has been a frustrating time. Not only did I have to restart my progress since I was too lazy to go on my 360 and put my save files in the cloud so it can work on my Xbox One, but I also had to look up a guide online to help me get started and for a few pointers along the way. Yes, I am that sad and terrified of Dark Souls. Saturday, I was clocking in at 21 hours already. I had to fight the boss, the Four Kings, located in Undead Parish, which many of you know is such an annoying boss! If you aren’t fast enough in killing the bosses as they teleport in, you can be fighting up to four or five bosses at once. Anyway, at around level 68 or 69 I was like, “No, I can’t do it. I need to upgrade and level up.”
Let the grind begin.
In that starting area of Anor Londo, there are about 6 huge enemies with big spears and shields that give you have 1,500 souls each when killed off which gives you around 9,000 souls each run. So, that is what I did exactly. I would kill all of the enemies as fast as I can with my Drake Sword +3, then run back to the bonfire and rest which would reset all the enemies and I can start again. I eventually upgraded my strength which helped me wield a stronger weapon, the Dragon Tooth. Though, that was not going to cut it. Already around level 75, I kept grinding. Level 79, I kept grinding. I didn’t like meeting the soul requirements to level up exactly so I kept pushing until I had over 150,000 souls in my pocket to level up all at once. Finally, at around level 84 and clocking in at hour 29 or 30, after upgraded my strength, my endurance, and my vitality, I decided to have another go at the Four Kings. It wasn’t a cliche battle though, where I killed the boss in my first go. I died multiple times before I eventually got lucky and defeated them. I would dodge some of their upcoming attacks and stab them in the back rather than taking the blows in the face like I have been doing and not dodging at all. Probably would’ve been smart to begin with. Victory! Not quite. Killing the boss, allowed me to up open up new areas and one such area are The Duke’s Archives. This got the better of me for quite a while before I got deeper in. As soon as I was in, I was able to find another Fire Keeper Soul which helped me upgrade my Estus Flask to +4. I am now currently going through the Crystal Caves which are located outside the Duke’s Archives and they are getting the better of me. I keep dying and it’s frustrating! You readers know the feeling. And to think, I must do the process all over again when I continue with Dark Souls 2 and eventually Dark Souls 3.
It was a busy and tiresome weekend but in the end I felt pretty successful in my own personal way because I also managed to get some achievements while playing Dark Souls. I live and breathe for achievements. I also got to discover a new game that I might play a little bit more of this week, Depth! What games did you guys play this weekend? Was it as frustrating or brutal as mine was? Look forward in more writers sharing their gaming stories on Weekend Warrior.
