A Journey Through Drangleic: Revisiting Dark Souls 2

Hidetaka Miyazaki has had quite the impact on gaming hasn't he?

If you don't recognise the name let me help you out a bit, he is the man credited with the creation of the "Souls" franchise.

Exactly.

So, we can agree.

He has had quite the impact indeed.

But, just so we are on the same page, let me show you quite how meteoric his impact has truly been.

Miyazaki's tenure at FromSoftware did not get off to the most explosive of starts, Demons Soul's (The first game in the franchise) never hit the two million sales mark, certainly not a disaster, but hardly a smash hit. However, a decade on from Miyazaki's "Souls" debut, and his success and influence are impossible to deny. The Dark Souls trilogy alone has hit 30 million units sold, not accounting for Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, or Sekiro Shadows: Die Twice, the other games he has directed for FromSoftware. "Soulsborne" is now an entire genre unto itself, taking its name from the games that created it, much as "Metroidvania" did so many years ago. Of course games in the "Soulsborne" mould are obvious examples of Miyazaki's influence, but his work can be felt in less direct ways across the sphere of gaming. For example, Hollow Knight is a breakout indie hit, in which the player controls a small bug investigating the ruins of a once great civilisation, and if you've played any of the Dark Souls trilogy you don't need me to tell you how that has been at least in some way inspired by Miyazaki's work.

If you want a single example of just how massively Miyazaki's works have impacted popular culture, take a look at Star Wars, or more precisely the best selling single player Star Wars game of all time, Jedi: Fallen Order. The game hit the 10 million sales mark within less than half a year of release, exceeding sales expectations. But, I hear you cry, what was the gameplay like?

"‘Jedi: Fallen Order’ Is Definitely Baby’s First ‘Dark Souls,’ But In A Good Way"

That is a headline taken from Forbes, and I think I have made my point.

Hidetaka Miyazaki has had quite the impact on gaming.

And he's not done yet.

Elden Ring is coming out soon. Maybe. Not really. Possibly. Does it still exist? It's been a while. But this presents something of a challenge to me. You see, I am a massive fan of the entire genre, and of From Software's phenomenal series in particular (I platinumed Bloodborne you know), but I have something of a stain on my record. Much as I would like to say I have beaten every boss in every FromSoftware release, I cannot dear reader, for that would be committing the most heinous crime of lying on the internet. So, which game is standing in the way of this (somewhat) impressive achievement?

Hello Dark Souls 2.

I am going to beat every boss, I am going to finish every area, and I’m going to give Laddersmith Gilligan every penny I can, that absolutely hilarious bastard. I'm going to bring you along for the ride, because Dark Souls 2 truly is one of those games where its much more fun to see someone else go through it as opposed to playing it yourself. Along the way, I number my deaths, which I will add into the write up below along with a counter, to keep track of what truly is the greatest enemy in the series. My money's on gravity, but we will see. Right, I guess all that’s left to do is to actually play the game.

Oh no.

The Build

Not many games try to kill you before you build your character. Dark Souls 2 is many things but fucking around it is not. I like the giggly old ladies who appear to have been happily gossiping away about how useless the player character is before you interupt them. I do agree with you, but it just hurts to hear someone else say it. Now onto the big stuff, what’s my character going to be? What’ll be his thoughts, his strengths, his innermost desires, and firstly and most importantly, what will be his name?

Please welcome Big Chris.

He started as a deprived, because who needs weapons when you're rocking these GUNS

So, my way of playing these games is roughly the same as how an angrily toddler uses playdoh. I’m not going to be dealing with one of your fancy pyromancers or poncey wizards, it’s just too complex by half. Big Chris, named in honour of a man that saw a bolder and decided to deal with it via uppercuts, is going to be my quintessential character. He’s going to find the biggest club he can, and smack everything until it stops moving. Sure, his big beefy body will be turned into pate a lot, but Biggus Christopher (Name on his birth certificate) is going to show us those aren’t just vanity muscles. I hope.

1. Death by ledge. What'd I say.

Unfortunately Big Chris can't read, otherwise he'd definitely enter the super hard covenant. Honest.

After nearly perfectly navigating Things Betwixt (Sadly huge drops can’t be punched to death), Big Chris has made it to Majula. He’s looking a bit green, but hey it's character building stuff, dying. Majula’s atmosphere is excellent, I didn’t fully appreciate it the first-time round. It’s got a lovely serene mournful quality, perfect for some much needed respite after I undoubtedly end up getting eaten by one of those bloody ogres. We take a quick pit stop to up our strength (Of course) with the Emerald Herald, and away we go.

Big Chris is far from a coward, but he looks across to the beacha and he understands fear

Big Chris refused your daggers, and your bows and anything that doesn’t make a “thwack” sound. Having deathlessly punched his way to the midpoint (I'm really proud of this), he treats himself to a club. Simple and thick. Much like its owner.

Big Chris, here trying to work out which end to hold the club

2. Successfully made it so far without dying again, only to be firebombed to death after getting cocky. Dark Souls 2 doesn’t want me getting any big ideas like I’m “good at the game”.

3. Ledges. The eternal enemy. A Hollow Knight may have gotten the kill, but the ledge was the MVP here.

4. The same Hollow Knight, the same ledge, and the age-old mistake of trying to drink an empty estus flask.

Victory at last, but at what cost? Well, a couple of thousand souls honestly.

5. How does a hammer blow up gunpowder barrels? I guess it's just a REALLY good hammer.

Top ten photos taken moments before disaster

6. So you can fight the 2nd boss, the Pursuer, before his boss arena a bit later on. I was sure sure this time I'd beat him. The fact that there's an entry here shows how wrong I was.

7. I hit the chest, figured it was not a mimic so it’d be safe to open. Sadly, it appears to be a lot more “crosswbowy” than I was anticipating.

8. Rush in recklessly as a tactic probably needs to be retired at this point.

Feel like there’s a “lend me a hand” joke to be made here, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that’s a bit obvious.

Despite a fair few stupid deaths, Big Chris steadily makes his way through the area. The atmosphere again is excellent, and the hollowed knights attacking the long dead giant is a great detail. Finally, I came across the only living big fella in the place. The Last Giant is a good boss, and I’m a big fan of him ripping of his own arm to try to beat you to death. You may have been angry, but you’ve never been tearing your own limbs off angry. Big Chris wins out in the end though, however he can’t help feeling a pang of jealousy. A giant’s arm looked like the best club in the game, and he doesn’t even get to use it. Let’s move on before he tries to tear off his own appendages.

The Last of the Giants: Beaten, No deaths

Nothing quite like losing to a boss when you've got them down to low health, except maybe squeezing lemon juice into a paper cut

9. I certainly feel pursued

I remember the Pursuer being hard, but blimey I really am not doing much damage. Big Chris gets knocked down once, but as the old proverb goes, he gets back up again (Never gonna keep him down) and he’s ready to try once more. I run back to the Pursuer (Shouldn’t he be coming to me?) and I beat him second time round. I believe that does it for the Forest for the moment, and I have to say it’s given an excellent second first impression. Dark Souls 2 is certainly nailing the whole mournful isolation which I really love about that series. Great escapism from my current situation, of well, happier isolation.

The Pursuer: Beaten- 1 Death

So that’ll be it for part 1. So far, so good both in terms of gameplay (9 deaths is very good by my standards) and enjoyment. Maybe I was too harsh the first time around. Maybe this will shoot to the top of my Soulsborne rankings. Maybe they’ll have removed the Shrine of Amana. A boy can dream.

Don't expect that intelligence stat to change at any point

The Stats and Rankings so far

(Areas and Bosses ranked in quality, types of death ranked by number)

Areas

1. Majula (0)

2. Forest of Fallen Giants (8)

3. Things Betwixt (1)

Bosses

1. The Pursuer (1)

2. The Last of the Giants (0)

Types of Death

1. Hollow Knight (4)

2. Height (1)

2. Explosion (1)

2. Bosses (1)

2. Non- Boss Pursuer (1)

2. Trap Chest (1)