#592 Dark
Souls (Playstation 3) – Fall 2015
Now this was the perfect Halloween game, and I basically spent the month of October playing it. Out of the Fromsoft Big Seven (Dark Souls 1-3, Demon Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring) this is the one I enjoy revisiting the least; it's dark, grungey, muddy, and just generally the least-sexy of the lot.
That said, it's still one of the best of those games from a world design standpoint. Everything clicks here. After playing the hell out of Bloodborne and Scholar of the First Sin a few months previous, I was willing to go back to PS3 yet again to play what came before.
Wasn't sure what to expect with this one, or how playable it would be with the lower-res, lower-FPS visuals. Well, once I got used to the system downgrade, it was fine, and it very effectively captures the retro vibe of challenging games on the NES, SNES, PS1. It doesn't hold your hand, and it's all about finding your way through an interesting series of interconnected levels. In short, it feels like a GAME, and it steps back and lets you PLAY. Which both seem obvious, but they weren't a given anymore by the 2010's.
I could very clearly see that this was made by the same people as Bloodborne, with the same design philosophies and quirks running rampant. The world design in this game managed to be even more cohesive and sensical than the two games I played previously; I mean they really landed spot-on with the game layout here. It might have the best area layout / overall world design of any game I'd played since Super Metroid, and that's saying a lot. It has a lot in common with Super Metroid too. Both are all about unlocking shortcuts and finding the next elevator that'll bring you to some new unforeseen section of the labyrinth.
Anor Londo is one of the most gorgeous (and interesting / thoughtfully-designed) areas I've ever seen in a game, which is why it got #1 in my Ranking The Dark Souls Areas. Players who make it this far without giving up might start to realize why this game/series/developer are so special. This game is far more than the mainstream narrative of "super hard game where you die a lot". Nope, it's not that hard (I finished the game at level 1 as a Pyromancer, in like 15 hours, and I'm not great or anything). You are likely to die a lot though. The game doesn't let you off the hook easy, and you have to fight for your wins.
I also need to talk about the DLC. Artorias of the Abyss is one of the best DLCs of all time, no doubt. It's the only DLC this game ever got, but it adds so much. Basically a postgame to the main game, and a much better way to go out than the largely-incomplete late parts of the main story. This game knows how to make people Feel, and nowhere does it do that better than in the AotA chapter of the game.
Favorite Tune: The file select / character creation theme. It's so serene and always puts me back in the headspace of when I first played through this.
Most Memorable Part: Retracing the steps of Knight Artorias as he tried to fight The Abyss and ended up succumbing to it. Then avenging his death by defeating the Father of the Abyss, with the help of Artorias' faithful dog. One of those subtle stories that the game tells with actions rather than words, and it comes through strongly.
Saddest Part: Fighting Artorias' dog, the Great Grey Wolf Sif, who is now as big as a house. He patrols the grave of Artorias, missing his master. During the fight, Sif picks up Artorias' sword with his jaw and swings it about, doing very similar movements to what Artorias did. It's a rare fight in a video game that you don't really want to "win". At least Sif returns (physically or as a spirit, I don't know) to help you with the final fight.
Favorite Boss: Taurus Demon. The first real boss of the game is pretty slow and basic, but it's got an incredible battle arena. It's high on the castle wall, with ramparts and battlements, and a stormy sky in the background with sun rays piercing through. Just an incredible-looking boss battle visually.
Most Overrated Boss: Ornstein and Smough never gave me much grief and I found them overrated; be even a little overleveled, or bring Solaire as an ally, and they're no problem.
Favorite Class: Pyromancer. Can both fight and sling fire spells, a good combination. Also the easiest class by far to beat the game at level 1 with, since Souls can be invested in strengthening the Pyromancer Flame instead of levels. It'll go up fast since Souls won't be being split with other things. Since fire spells scale off of the Pyromancer Flame, they can get powerful while you're still at level 1. Any other class type would be nerfed as hell by staying level 1, but not Pyromancer. You still end up being a glass cannon in every sense. So...just don't get hit.
Toughest Part: Four Kings was always the toughest fight for me in the base game because it's such a DPS check. If you don't finish each one quickly, they pile up on you. To me, this fight is what people think the Ornstein and Smough fight is. However, I can see how some people would have it be the other way around and plow through the Four Kings (which attack one at a time if your DPS is high enough) while struggling with O&S for whatever reason. That's one of the funny things about these Fromsoft games, everyone seems to have a completely different experience in terms of which bosses give them a tough time and which ones don't.
#593 Final Fantasy XIII-3: Lightning Returns (Playstation 3) – Fall 2015
Since the second game didn't sell well with the new protagonists, they brought back the FF13 protagonist in full effect for this one. And it proceeded to sell even less well. People just didn't want Fabula Nova Crystalis, no matter how fabulous it was. Regardless, I liked FF13-2 more than the first and this one was also solid (if very different). While FF13-2 is similar to Chrono Trigger, this one is similar to Majora's Mask. Extremely similar. Right down to the main hub zone having four other overworld zones branching off of it in four directions.
Best Thing About It: The various outfits. There are lots (and lots) of outfits Lightning can acquire and wear; they put way more of a focus on the dress-up component in this game. Some of the outfits are pretty great, like the references to other Final Fantasy games. FFX-2 Yuna was a real winner, and even came with the Brotherhood sword.
Worst Thing About It: Alas, much like Majora's Mask, the timer-to-the-end-times is off-putting to a lot of players until you get used to it. There are ways to slow it down and once you figure out your path you're good. You also keep most of what you get each cycle (like levels), so it's got better QOL than Majora's Mask where most resets are an actual setback. In this game I barely even noticed the time-resets in the grand scheme of things because I always had some new goal in mind. It's kind of an experimental game, but it works.
Favorite Outfit - The maroon dress. I had Lightning rocking this look with her badself for pretty much 80% of the game, and it really helped me get the platinum trophy by making the game so damn elegant to play.
#594 Castlevania:
Circle of the Moon (Game Boy Advance) – Fall 2015
The infamous "dark" Vania game that launched with the GBA. On emulator it looks good, though, and that's what I used to play it. Now you can play it on Switch and the darkness is fixed there too. IGA wasn't actually involved in this game (though I still count it as an Igavania with the rest of the Hexology). The people who made this were clearly going for making it a sequel to Symphony of the Night, and they did what they could. While it doesn't measure up to that game on any level, it does land all the basics, and has plenty of things to farm while powering up your character.
A lot of people swear by this one and have very fond memories of it. Since I played all of the Vanias together and way later in time, I don't have any nostalgia for this one and don't think it holds up to most of the rest of the Vania Hexology on GBA/DS. However, it is better than Harmony of Dissonance. And, as far as GBA launch titles go, this might be the best of the bunch. Here I was finally playing it, 14 years after it came out. Sometimes things take a while.
Post HERE.
#595 Castlevania:
Harmony of Dissonance (Game Boy Advance) – Fall 2015
For a series with such tremendous music, this one having an NES-like honky-tonk soundtrack was pretty bizarre. That and the washed-out bright neon graphics both turned me off to this one pretty much right away. It deserves some credit for really emphasizing the whip again after several games where the whip was "just another weapon". This is also the only game in this hexology where you actually play as a Belmont: The protagonist here is Juste Belmont, who inexplicably looks more like a vampire than most vampires do.
Did he get changed to a Belmont super-late in development or something? Well, in any case, this was IGA's big return to the series after not being around for Circle of the Moon. The first thing they did was brighten the game up considerably, after how dark and hard-to-see the previous game was on GBA hardware. Unfortunately this just created a new problem, as this game is TOO bright and poppy. It's the worst of the Hexology, as noted in my Ranking the Igavanias post. However, even being the worst of these games, it's still a good game and worth playing if one is running the series.
Favorite Thing: The afterimages that trail behind you all the time are pretty cool, and were an inspired nod to Symphony of the Night. Not sure why Juste, a human, has them, though. He isn't Alucard. Why was he a human again? Why wasn't he just Alucard?
Main Issue: The game has two castles that you warp between, and they're both extremely similar. It's the Dragon Quest VI parallel world issue all over again. It's twice as easy to get lost when you have two worlds that are so similar.
What Were They Thinking: The soundtrack. It's horrendous, especially compared to all the other games in this series.
Post HERE.
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