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.
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