Finally the incessant whining of thousands of jaded gamers has been heard. We're the ones that cringe when we cross a check point, moan endlessly about button mashing, and are simply bored by beating high-definition bosses with the pattern based intelligence of Bowser.
No longer will we be forced to fight through linear content, with carefully crafted bosses that are designed to be killed, instead of to kill, or to fight perfectly placed groups of goblins, always in manageable mobs. It's once again time to enjoy a game not because it's a cinematic "experience" but because it forces us to ask ourselves that age old question - "How the fuck is anyone supposed to beat this?" - and answer silently through skilled play and determination, not by switching an option to "easy".
For far too long now difficulty and depth in mainstream games has been decreasing... what? I died? This is bullshit. I paid $70 for this game, I should be it's master and it should make me feel like a hero. Now I just feel discouraged, even angry that a mere game - something that's supposed to be fun - is causing me to feel... challenged. Quickly, to the Internet! This injustice must be documented... Unfortunately, the crybaby crowd pays the bills, so to speak.
But now it's our chance to show developers that we want games that are challenging by design, not by artificial switch. We want games that frustrate us sometimes or have to be figured out. We want games that allow us to actually feel the confusion and frustration of being thrown into a world without always knowing exactly what to do or where to go, instead of just watching it play out in front of us.
Whether or not I end up having the time and patience to finish it, I am glad that it's here. It's time for me to dust off my Xbox controller before smashing it to pieces in frustration, and hopefully for a younger generation of gamers, time for them not only to experience exactly what we mean when we say that games used to be hard, but also to find out for themselves how rewarding it can be to complete them.
I am of course referring to today's launch of Dark Souls. The follow up to 2009's Demon's Souls. Let's see if we can get this one a little further up the sales charts, so that From Software isn't the only developer that gets the message.
