Progress Report - I have branched off and explored more after failing at the Basin and the Garden. Found a new section of the Burg to explore.
The game is turning a corner, with some resistance. I'm starting to find more and more of what makes Dark Souls a game that so many people like. The general gameplay loop is starting to sink in, and each life is falling into a familiar rhythm. Find path, explore, get surprised by new [thing], die. Return to new space, explore, overcome [thing] repeat. It's an addicting cycle that gives a good sense of both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. The intrinsic reward of saying "Hell yes, I can now clear this area consistently with only using one flash, instead of the 7 it took the first time" is a cool-ass reward itself. When you add the extrinsic reward of just general 'progress', you have a good feedback loop.
The intrinsic reward is what's important here, because it's a fine line between that "Finally!" and "Finally...". The line between excitement over the progression, and dogged frustration at getting past an obstacle is something that I think Dark Souls gets right more often than it doesn't, so far.
For example, the times I bashed my head against the Gargoyles, before I got my movement and dodging patterns right led to an exuberant "Finally". My experiences in both Darkroot areas is bordering on the ragged "finally" of never having to see those areas again.
This vaguely touches on the first thing I want to talk about today. The Engagement Curve. In games, movies, or media in general, we deal with an engagement curve. This curve is a general line for the intensity or how engaged we should be for any given moment in the movie. If something is constantly escalating, you quickly burn out, because the energy levels keep rising and rising and eventually you cannot keep up.
Think about a concert set that is laid out like this. The first song is one of the popular tracks of the artist, one everyone knows. This gets people into the show and amped up and they go along with it. They follow this up with one of their newer tracks, one that isn't quite as popular or as beloved. This takes the energy down a peg, to let people recover. Depending on the overall arc they want the show to have, they could peel it back a little more, but with a shorter song. If you put two long songs back to back, people could start to feel that the show is starting to "Drag". After the step back, you kick the energy up again. In the penultimate track, you play a longer ballad, before finishing with your biggest, most bombastic track you've got left.
In Dark Souls, your engagement curve is on a shorter timeline. Thing explode into a flurry of action, then you have a beat when either you die or everyone else in the area dies. This repeats ad infinium, with big spikes coming from ambushes, one-off traps, or boss fights.
I want to compare this to the engagement curve of a different game I've been playing lately: Persona 5. There are two tiers of play in Persona. The first is your Adventure-y, dungeon dive-y, turn-based RPG stuff. This has your typical curves of spiking once combat starts, and dropping once you end the fight. It gradually works its way up as you burn through resources and go through the attrition of exploration. The final spike comes with the boss fight and conclusion of the arc. When you're not in the dungeons, your engagement curve is much shallower, with your spikes coming from interacting with your named PCs and advancing the plot, with the come downs coming during transitions, interstitial text message or class scenes, or even just shopping for supplies. The game gives you a very clear indicator when you're switching from one form to another aesthetically. Not only do the dungeon areas look twisted and warped and use a darker palate than the regular world, but the music changes its tones and palates, and your characters get entirely new outfits that automatically get equipped.
Knowing engagement curves help keep you from burning out or from getting too bored with the game. It's a good tool to know for anyone looking to tell a story as well. It's fascinating how the different genres attempt to engage their audiences. Hell, the engagement curve might even be a determining factor in what the genre is!
The other thing I want to talk about with Dark Souls is the level design. The map folds back onto itself in an interesting and clever way. Honestly, it's one thing I want to praise the game for. With how much you're moving around areas, and moving from zone to zone, it's really easy for you to lose your mental compass and map. Then the game pulls a trick that takes advantage of that.
I mentioned earlier that I was in the Berg, and mentioned a section near a Bonfire called the Napalm Superhighway. That bonfire is pretty special so far, as the game has doubled back onto that place 2 times. You can access it through normal progression, then after clearing one area, you drop a ladder that takes you back there. Then, after more tricky navigation and advancement, a nearby door that was locked opens, and you can now access your new area from that same bonfire. This works so well because the game uses twisting landscapes and paths, and verticality as part of the advancement. You get so twisted around by making little turns and going up and down elevation, that you don't notice that you're so close to a previous area you've explored. The Elevator in the church is a great example of this.
This doesn't work if the game has a map. Full stop.
If the game gives you a map of some sort, like you might expect a game of this nature to give you, this sort of design wouldn't carry the same impact. It would still be clever, and good design, but it would not be such a relief to unlock a random door that you saw earlier, right next to a safe location. Not having a map can be frustrating though, especially when you don't know where to go.
Long story short, more games can do more with less like this.
I'm turning a corner with the game. I'm having some fun, it's enjoyable enough, and I have some options when things get too tough. The game is still difficult for me, and makes some design choices that I'm not super keen on, but I'm current feeling alright with my decision to play this game. If I stop right now, and never play another second, I'd consider the Remaster a decent value at $30.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Is this progress? (Dark Souls Part 3)
Progress Report: Saw Butterfly boss once, and Hydra a few times.
We've hit the wall.
It's not to say that I haven't made progress since I last played. I explored a lake area with some spectres, I found the route to a boss, a Blacksmith, and lit a few bonfires. That''s real, tangible progress.
I've just hit a point where my normal tools aren't working.
Last time I talked about strategies that people like to use to carry them through. I ended up using a lot of the Estoc combo I had mentioned in that post a lot, but I'm not happy about it.
Why?
Because I couldn't get anything else to work.
In the Darkroot Garden, immediately near the Bonfire. I died. I died a lot. I had used the Estoc at first, because it had a it had a jab attack, so it could hit things in the narrow pathways. It worked... Kind of.
I then switched to the Longword, and that worked. Kind of, but a little worse.
I tried spamming my magic to get through, but that left me resource depleted for the next area.
I could never get through without taking hits or using flask, and in the next area, I encountered some big rocky friends. I tried the Estoc... It didn't work. I tried the longsword... It didn't work. I tried the Morningstar, which worked a little better! But only for those specific enemies, and there were others in the area. My big heavy magic spell did wonders, if they weren't shielding.
I couldn't get anything to stick effectively enough, so I resorted to my Estoc, now a +3, and my spells. I finally managed to sneak around most of the area, not aggroding or activating some enemies that kept cornering me, until I saw the boss. And got show down rom 75% health to dead in one go.
I tried to get back to the boss. Trust me, I tried. But I kept getting funneled back into the extra enemies and dying.
Funnily enough, on my way back to the Blacksmith, after a disastrous spell there, I stumbled upon a branching path I had missed. This path would lead to the basin where I would experience something similar. I'm still tilted from the Basin, so I'm just gonna say that these hitboxes might be busted.
I don't feel like I wasted my time though. Not entirely.
Like a lot of games, I at least learned something as I played. Whether it was getting more in tune with the rhythm of my combos, or the enemy positions, or even the layout of the paths. This isn't anything special. Many RPGs have you do this for boss fights, where you will wipe repeatedly and have to redo the fight with the knowledge you had gleaned from your previous attempt. First Person Shooters do this with enemy placement all the time, especially in games or levels where you have to ascertain where a special unit, like a sniper, is hiding so you can avoid trouble.
Dark Souls uses this as almost a mandatory education. Your primary school education, as it were, is learning where everything is, and knowing your loadout inside and out. How fast will your shield come up with this loadout? How far will your roll go? How fast will it start? How long does it take for you to have control again? How far does your weapon reach?These feel foundational to the game, not from a design perspective, but from something else I can't quite place. You don't NEED to know them to progress, but it feels like you SHOULD. I'm not sure if this is due to the game trying to tell me something, or if it's due to how I'm hardwired.
There are all sorts of stories where game mechanics that people love are a result from a mistake, such as combos in Street Fighter 2 and Wave Dashing in Super Smash Bros Melee, that end up leaving a mark on a game. Every time I play a game that's a little rough, and a little clunky, I end up second guessing if something clever is intentional. Does Dark Souls control a little heavy by design choice as a means of conveying something, or by mistake? I'll never be able to tell.
Let's do a lesson review of what I know.
- Outside of a bonfire, there is an alcove with enemies waiting. They can be blocked, but their range is surprisingly long, and they can subdue you if you get to close.
- The splash range on one enemy's ranged attack is always bigger than you think. Approach with haste and caution.
- Stop trying to engage everything in melee. You have 12 Strength and 25 Intelligence. Use your damn spells instead of hoarding them.
Homework for next time? Calm down, take a breath, and re-evaluate after some distance. I find I play better when going in with fresh eyes, instead of after a few failed attempts.
We'll see how that goes.
We've hit the wall.
It's not to say that I haven't made progress since I last played. I explored a lake area with some spectres, I found the route to a boss, a Blacksmith, and lit a few bonfires. That''s real, tangible progress.
I've just hit a point where my normal tools aren't working.
Last time I talked about strategies that people like to use to carry them through. I ended up using a lot of the Estoc combo I had mentioned in that post a lot, but I'm not happy about it.
Why?
Because I couldn't get anything else to work.
In the Darkroot Garden, immediately near the Bonfire. I died. I died a lot. I had used the Estoc at first, because it had a it had a jab attack, so it could hit things in the narrow pathways. It worked... Kind of.
I then switched to the Longword, and that worked. Kind of, but a little worse.
I tried spamming my magic to get through, but that left me resource depleted for the next area.
I could never get through without taking hits or using flask, and in the next area, I encountered some big rocky friends. I tried the Estoc... It didn't work. I tried the longsword... It didn't work. I tried the Morningstar, which worked a little better! But only for those specific enemies, and there were others in the area. My big heavy magic spell did wonders, if they weren't shielding.
I couldn't get anything to stick effectively enough, so I resorted to my Estoc, now a +3, and my spells. I finally managed to sneak around most of the area, not aggroding or activating some enemies that kept cornering me, until I saw the boss. And got show down rom 75% health to dead in one go.
I tried to get back to the boss. Trust me, I tried. But I kept getting funneled back into the extra enemies and dying.
Funnily enough, on my way back to the Blacksmith, after a disastrous spell there, I stumbled upon a branching path I had missed. This path would lead to the basin where I would experience something similar. I'm still tilted from the Basin, so I'm just gonna say that these hitboxes might be busted.
I don't feel like I wasted my time though. Not entirely.
Like a lot of games, I at least learned something as I played. Whether it was getting more in tune with the rhythm of my combos, or the enemy positions, or even the layout of the paths. This isn't anything special. Many RPGs have you do this for boss fights, where you will wipe repeatedly and have to redo the fight with the knowledge you had gleaned from your previous attempt. First Person Shooters do this with enemy placement all the time, especially in games or levels where you have to ascertain where a special unit, like a sniper, is hiding so you can avoid trouble.
Dark Souls uses this as almost a mandatory education. Your primary school education, as it were, is learning where everything is, and knowing your loadout inside and out. How fast will your shield come up with this loadout? How far will your roll go? How fast will it start? How long does it take for you to have control again? How far does your weapon reach?These feel foundational to the game, not from a design perspective, but from something else I can't quite place. You don't NEED to know them to progress, but it feels like you SHOULD. I'm not sure if this is due to the game trying to tell me something, or if it's due to how I'm hardwired.
There are all sorts of stories where game mechanics that people love are a result from a mistake, such as combos in Street Fighter 2 and Wave Dashing in Super Smash Bros Melee, that end up leaving a mark on a game. Every time I play a game that's a little rough, and a little clunky, I end up second guessing if something clever is intentional. Does Dark Souls control a little heavy by design choice as a means of conveying something, or by mistake? I'll never be able to tell.
Let's do a lesson review of what I know.
- Outside of a bonfire, there is an alcove with enemies waiting. They can be blocked, but their range is surprisingly long, and they can subdue you if you get to close.
- The splash range on one enemy's ranged attack is always bigger than you think. Approach with haste and caution.
- Stop trying to engage everything in melee. You have 12 Strength and 25 Intelligence. Use your damn spells instead of hoarding them.
Homework for next time? Calm down, take a breath, and re-evaluate after some distance. I find I play better when going in with fresh eyes, instead of after a few failed attempts.
We'll see how that goes.
Saturday, January 26, 2019
The Daily Mix 'n Match (Dark Souls - Part 2)
Progress report. Since the last post, I have beaten the Taurus Demon and the Gargoyles. Last thing I did was ring the bell. Te vods would be on my Twitch channel, but I accidentally deleted the one where I defeated the Taurus Demon, I think.
Dark souls does some interesting things with it's level design. It's very conservative with its space, and relies on clever use of doubling up to connect everything. A few times, I've found myself going "Oh, I wonder where this goes", and find myself back at a familiar place, but a new route is opened. Instead of fighting back through the hordes of enemies, I have a convenient path to progress.
The main thing I wanted to talk about today is the concept of a First Order Optimal Strategy. In many games, you can develop a single strategy that can carry you through the game. For example, in Final Fantasy VI, characters can equip two Relics, which are accessories that can provide buffs, status immunity and other effects. You could put the Genji Glove, which lets you equip two weapons to attack twice, and the Offering, which reduces your attack damage a bit, but lets you attack 4 times. A single attack command will attack 8 times with this combination, and the damage can far outstrip the reduction you'd receive. Put this combo on a fast character with powerful weapons, and you can shred encounters.
A First Order Optimal Strategy is one that can carry you through a lot of a game. This Can be a great thing! If you're looking to get through a game and experience the story or to get back to a specific location after restarting. It can also backfire. If the game takes a sharp turn in enemy type, difficulty or in the event of a competitive multiplayer game, patches change the meta, your options are to either adopt a new strategy, or use your current strategy as a cudgel and try to power through.
Dark Souls can be much the same way. I'm sure I can take the Longsword/Sorcerer's Staff combo through the rest of the game and not have an issue. I mean, the sword has a big sweeping attack to help zone enemies, and a thrust attack to help with narrow terrain. What's not to love?!
But that's not how I'm playing.
The Sorcerer's first real weapon is the Dagger. It's weak, but fast, has a lunge attack, and has a sweeping arc. The range on the attacks are limited, but if you can get up into an enemy, you dan stagger them with a flurry. I ran that with the Sorcerer's Staff so I can cast magic from range. My initial FOOS, that carried me well into the Burg, was tag enemies that looked tougher with a spell from range, and then waited for it to come into dagger range to flurry them down. This is still an effective strategy. I just don't want to use it anymore.
These FOOS strategies can be very personal, for example, someone may find that first spear and use that for hours, while someone else can roll with Dagger, Staff and Shield, like I did. For any given situation, it may not be the most optimal strategy, but on average, it may be. Let's say for the next 3 zones, the average 'effectiveness' of a Spear is 8, 3, 9, each out of 10. While it may not be the most effective in the 2nd area, it may not be worth it to the player to switch to a new strategy for that section. So here, they may use their tried and true strategy to power through, even if a Morningstar would be more effective.
I wanted to cover this, because it was something I was thinking about after I stopped playing last night. I was evaluating the types of strategies I have been using for the game, and I realize that I like to switch my strategies up. I enjoy swapping things around.
... Within some criteria.
I have a base set that I like to use. It's a 1h blade and shield, with my second main hand weapon being my casting tool. It started with a Dagger, then a short sword, and then a longsword. I am also willing to completely drop my main weapon for a situational specific weapon, or if I'm finding myself grinding my nose into a wall. In the cathedral, I ended up swapping out the Longsword for a Spear for one specific enemy, because the attack animations for the Longsword weren't helping me, and causing more troubles. Once I would get past that enemy, I could switch back to my base. If I do not have a stat to let me use a weapon in one hand, like a Halberd and for the longest time, the Spear, I don't use them.
Period.
I feel that it puts me at a disadvantage. When I am able to use a weapon, I will test it out at the Bonfire and see if I like how it feels. I had just picked up the Estoc last night, and it looks like this is going to be the weapon for the time being.
Why did I spend so much time talking about something that led nowhere? Well, I don't know. I was thinking about FOOS strategies and trying to feel out how I utilized them in my playthrough so far, and where I was willing to break from the core strategy I set. It's nic to step back and just evaluate the paths I've taken so far.
We'll see what the next stretch goes.
Dark souls does some interesting things with it's level design. It's very conservative with its space, and relies on clever use of doubling up to connect everything. A few times, I've found myself going "Oh, I wonder where this goes", and find myself back at a familiar place, but a new route is opened. Instead of fighting back through the hordes of enemies, I have a convenient path to progress.
The main thing I wanted to talk about today is the concept of a First Order Optimal Strategy. In many games, you can develop a single strategy that can carry you through the game. For example, in Final Fantasy VI, characters can equip two Relics, which are accessories that can provide buffs, status immunity and other effects. You could put the Genji Glove, which lets you equip two weapons to attack twice, and the Offering, which reduces your attack damage a bit, but lets you attack 4 times. A single attack command will attack 8 times with this combination, and the damage can far outstrip the reduction you'd receive. Put this combo on a fast character with powerful weapons, and you can shred encounters.
A First Order Optimal Strategy is one that can carry you through a lot of a game. This Can be a great thing! If you're looking to get through a game and experience the story or to get back to a specific location after restarting. It can also backfire. If the game takes a sharp turn in enemy type, difficulty or in the event of a competitive multiplayer game, patches change the meta, your options are to either adopt a new strategy, or use your current strategy as a cudgel and try to power through.
Dark Souls can be much the same way. I'm sure I can take the Longsword/Sorcerer's Staff combo through the rest of the game and not have an issue. I mean, the sword has a big sweeping attack to help zone enemies, and a thrust attack to help with narrow terrain. What's not to love?!
But that's not how I'm playing.
The Sorcerer's first real weapon is the Dagger. It's weak, but fast, has a lunge attack, and has a sweeping arc. The range on the attacks are limited, but if you can get up into an enemy, you dan stagger them with a flurry. I ran that with the Sorcerer's Staff so I can cast magic from range. My initial FOOS, that carried me well into the Burg, was tag enemies that looked tougher with a spell from range, and then waited for it to come into dagger range to flurry them down. This is still an effective strategy. I just don't want to use it anymore.
These FOOS strategies can be very personal, for example, someone may find that first spear and use that for hours, while someone else can roll with Dagger, Staff and Shield, like I did. For any given situation, it may not be the most optimal strategy, but on average, it may be. Let's say for the next 3 zones, the average 'effectiveness' of a Spear is 8, 3, 9, each out of 10. While it may not be the most effective in the 2nd area, it may not be worth it to the player to switch to a new strategy for that section. So here, they may use their tried and true strategy to power through, even if a Morningstar would be more effective.
I wanted to cover this, because it was something I was thinking about after I stopped playing last night. I was evaluating the types of strategies I have been using for the game, and I realize that I like to switch my strategies up. I enjoy swapping things around.
... Within some criteria.
I have a base set that I like to use. It's a 1h blade and shield, with my second main hand weapon being my casting tool. It started with a Dagger, then a short sword, and then a longsword. I am also willing to completely drop my main weapon for a situational specific weapon, or if I'm finding myself grinding my nose into a wall. In the cathedral, I ended up swapping out the Longsword for a Spear for one specific enemy, because the attack animations for the Longsword weren't helping me, and causing more troubles. Once I would get past that enemy, I could switch back to my base. If I do not have a stat to let me use a weapon in one hand, like a Halberd and for the longest time, the Spear, I don't use them.
Period.
I feel that it puts me at a disadvantage. When I am able to use a weapon, I will test it out at the Bonfire and see if I like how it feels. I had just picked up the Estoc last night, and it looks like this is going to be the weapon for the time being.
Why did I spend so much time talking about something that led nowhere? Well, I don't know. I was thinking about FOOS strategies and trying to feel out how I utilized them in my playthrough so far, and where I was willing to break from the core strategy I set. It's nic to step back and just evaluate the paths I've taken so far.
We'll see what the next stretch goes.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
So I'm Playing Dark Souls (Finally) - Part 1
After avoiding the Souls franchise for years, I've finally decided to take the plunge. My initial hesitancies were caught up in both the usual suspect in the difficult, and in one more abstract, the fan base. I tend to balk at fan exuberance and exaltation of a game, especially when I already have other factors that keep me from playing it. It took some prodding from friends and acquaintances, but I finally started up the game the other day, and played a few hours. And boy, what a few hours they were. What does that mean?
Well, I don't know.
I still don't know how I feel about the game. The game is still difficult, where every mistake opens you up for some sort of severe punishment. Yet it's also not as difficult as I expected. Sure, there have been some hangups and walls, but nothing feels completely insurmountable. It feels like you can figure everything out, from the menu full of stats that makes the JRPG fan in me nod in recognition, to the attack patterns of an enemy in a tight corridor.
Yet.
I'm currently rolling a Sorceress and I've been walled in the Undead Berg. Part of this was self-inflicted, as I spent dozens of attempts trying to clear the large Knight guiding an optional pathway. Other parts have felt a little rough, with the area boss, and a bridge I have started to think of as the Napalm Beatdown Highway, with some deaths in these areas feeling unavoidable. I could go back and soul grind to help try to just overpower the challenges, but something about that doesn't feel right. Maybe it's my preconceptions about what a Souls game should be instead of whatever it actually is.
This game feels muddy. Not just in its aesthetics and design, but in it's play. It feels very slow and deliberate, where every swing or dodge is a commitment. For example, parrying completely invalidates an enemy's attack, and opens them up for a huge counterattack, but the wind up on the parry animation is just a hitch longer than you'd expect. If you miss the parry, you could be missing two thirds of your HP bar in a few seconds.
I'm till not sure how I feel about this game. I can see the luster under the grime. I can see what people like about it, but I'm still approaching this game's at arm's length. The hesitancy and caution has helped in my gameplay, the first time I hit a new area, but it also means I'm still unsure how I feel about this. My hope is that by writing as I play the game I'll be able to figure things out through thee writings.
Well, I don't know.
I still don't know how I feel about the game. The game is still difficult, where every mistake opens you up for some sort of severe punishment. Yet it's also not as difficult as I expected. Sure, there have been some hangups and walls, but nothing feels completely insurmountable. It feels like you can figure everything out, from the menu full of stats that makes the JRPG fan in me nod in recognition, to the attack patterns of an enemy in a tight corridor.
Yet.
I'm currently rolling a Sorceress and I've been walled in the Undead Berg. Part of this was self-inflicted, as I spent dozens of attempts trying to clear the large Knight guiding an optional pathway. Other parts have felt a little rough, with the area boss, and a bridge I have started to think of as the Napalm Beatdown Highway, with some deaths in these areas feeling unavoidable. I could go back and soul grind to help try to just overpower the challenges, but something about that doesn't feel right. Maybe it's my preconceptions about what a Souls game should be instead of whatever it actually is.
This game feels muddy. Not just in its aesthetics and design, but in it's play. It feels very slow and deliberate, where every swing or dodge is a commitment. For example, parrying completely invalidates an enemy's attack, and opens them up for a huge counterattack, but the wind up on the parry animation is just a hitch longer than you'd expect. If you miss the parry, you could be missing two thirds of your HP bar in a few seconds.
I'm till not sure how I feel about this game. I can see the luster under the grime. I can see what people like about it, but I'm still approaching this game's at arm's length. The hesitancy and caution has helped in my gameplay, the first time I hit a new area, but it also means I'm still unsure how I feel about this. My hope is that by writing as I play the game I'll be able to figure things out through thee writings.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)