Dark Souls - the end to a perfect day.

I'm trying to think of the last time I was in a mad lust for a game.

Batman Arkham City kept my days long and tiring because it took a while after release to get in. Dead Space 2 would probably be the last game that had me foaming at the mouth waiting to play it.

Well for the last couple of days it's been Dark Souls that's been keeping me restless and wanting.


Since I picked up the PS3 last week, I've been itching to find something on it that mind blasts me, God of War 3 was a nice offering. Playing through it on hard was one of the most rewarding challenges I've had in gaming for awhile. But just from what I've read and seen of Dark Souls, I know this is the game that will make or break me.

I'm always bitching to my friends about finishing games to early, or how games just aren't challenging enough... well it seems that From Software had me in mind when it decided to unleash it's latest bloody rampage.

Previously popular for such titles as the Armored Core series, From Software made quiet ripples that turned into raging rapids when it put out a game called Demons Soul a few years back. That game was noted for it's massive open world to explore and brutal unforgiving combat.

Dark Souls bosses are mad

Well fast forward to 2011 and From Software has decided to revisit this formula to bring us Dark Souls, a game which IGN writer Keza MacDonald had this to say about:

The fact that it even exists at a time when gaming is trending more and more towards cinematic experiences designed to entertain rather than challenge is remarkable in itself. Its world is made up of dark secrets and oblique mythology which feed your curiosity rather than satisfy it; the deeper into it you get, the more fascinating nuances expose themselves to you. How on earth did a game like this come to be?

I liked reading that...

There's a great interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki, game director of Dark Souls over at IGN.

When I get my hands on a game I really like, there's nothing more I love than tearing into every little piece of it. Learning and mastering (and I mean really mastering) the combat system, or exploring all the areas and finding hidden places, and bragging about how I play it better than you!



At the heart of it Dark Souls is a dungeon crawler, but with a massive world that's filled with areas to explore, but no real quests and shit to tie em together. From what I've read, you have the land of Lordan which is made up lots and lots of regions and areas populated by dungeons and castles and swamps and canyons and forests and whatever else... all of which are in turn populated by blood thirsty nasties that want to kill you. There are boss type characters that roam these areas, just hanging with their minions talking shit about you.

Each one of these bosses take a certain tactic or game-play to defeat, and discovering what it is, is what Dark Souls is all about. If you think that you can just hack and slash your way through it, it's gonna punish you for your ignorance. Even the games slogan is: "Prepare to Die"

I farkin love this trailer

The thrill and push for exploration is to find new areas and greater challenges, but at the risk of for-certain dearth. Combat in Dark Souls is said to be precise and unforgiving, requiring you to master every move and use it accordingly. There are NPCs through out the game who give you fragments of a story and clues to what it is you need to do to survive, but don't think Skyrim friendly NPCs, this is a world that's designed to kill you... not praise you as its saviour.

In stark contrast to, say Bethesda's gorgeous worlds, which exist for you and you alone, Dark Souls is pretty indifferent to your presence. You exist to be crushed (or, less frequently, ignored). If you're there to save the world, nobody seems to care much. - IGN

This is less of a jolly romp through a fantasy world and more of a fight for survival in a horrify nightmare that's fun to muck around in. It's here to scare the shit out of you and see what you're gonna do about it, all the while letting you explore and find death at your own pace.

The PS3 collectors edition is what I'm going to order. It comes with a kick ass art book, game guide and sound track... and pain... lots of pain.


I've been watching so many videos and reading so many things about the game, that I wanna just buy a coma till next pay so that I can skip this week and order it. Then I'll need to buy anther coma until it arrives. I hope it gets in before my birthday.

Check out this Awesome class trailer with great clips from the game:

And then?

Greetings fellow Survivor!

Man have I been busy these last few weeks. The broadcasting house I work for launched a television station last month, which meant lots and lots of long nights of work for me, cutting trailers and doing graphics.

But things are finally settling down now.

I don't mind working late, it sort of comes with the job I do, but come on man... I've got games to play and horror movies to watch!

...And a Girl friend to pleasure.

So what was I doing when I wasn't chained to my editing suit?

I took a trip to the west last week. A really good friend of mine came into Fiji from Aus for a few days and we spent the whole time out and about. Lots of drinks and late nights ending with a trip to a nice beach resort. I love the beach, but I'm shit scared of the ocean, funny that.

We stayed at this nice back packers place in Nadi, swimming the afternoon away and spending the night having beers by the pool, before going out in a drunken state to hunt down some BBQ at 1 in the morning. It was an awesome trip and something I really needed, esp after the hours of late nights at work. My GF came along with us too so it was an nice little getaway for the both us. She had a pretty hectic few weeks herself at job. But nothing she can't handle ;P

View from our room at the resort

I picked up Batman Arkham City a few weeks back, that games been a lot of fun. As anyone who visits my blog would know that one thing I love more than horror movies and video games is Batman!


The games been hyped to death online so I'm not gonna be doing some bullshit review for it. But know that it's the best Batman sim ever. The graphics are great, the gameplay is farkin amazing and it's a lot bigger than Arkahm Asylum. I think Rocksteady, the developer, is doing an amazing job with the franchise and I wish more people that handle Batman outside of comics would learn from them. (I'm looking at you Nolan)

I bought all the DLCs for it too which lets you play as Robin and Nightwing, and adds a few extra maps to the game.

I also picked up a nice HD screen for my PC which goes well with all the shit I watch and play on it.

And last weekend I got my self a PS3 which was pretty cool. It was even cooler how I got it.

I saw the trailer for Last of Us online and then cried myself to sleep because it looked so farkin mad but is a PS3 exclusive. I have a pretty good pc and 2 dead 360s but no PS3, and I thought to my self "maybe I should get one."



Then that afternoon I was having a few beers with my friends when one of them mentioned that his brother in law was selling a ps3 with some games.

Now a PS3 sells for about a thousand bucks here in Fiji and the games locally range from like 200 to 300 bucks.

Yes ... no shit. that's how farkin ridiculous it is. Even if you convert the currency and add shipping, it would not come to that much. That's why I do all my game shopping at Mighty Ape.

But any way, when my buddy mentioned the PS3 for sale I immediately jumped at the chance of buying it. I figured it would make a good Christmas gift to myself.

I was gonna pay for it out of my next pay, but then that Friday we had a Christmas party at work, and I won the award for "Staff of the Quarter" which is sort of like "Employee of the year"but split into four winners through out the year.

That award came with a good bit of cash which went towards the PS3 :D

Ah the fates... they weave in my favor.

I have to admit though, when I first got the PS3 set up it was a little under whelming. I was mucking around with Killzone 3, which was one of the games that came with it, and it just didn't live up to the hype I had seen of it online. Another let down was Uncharted. I got part 2 for it with the console and I was really looking forward to partake in the epic action adventure everyone has been raving about, but instead I got endless cut scenes with tiring quick time events and 'hold your hand' platforming.

I am such a shallow gamer, I want to play... I don't want to watch 5min cut scenes.

The game that saved the buy was Infamous. That also came with the console, along with GTA 4. If it wasn't for those two games I'd have to punch myself in the face.

But then just the other day I went into town and nearly dropped dead when I found God of War 3 on a store shelf for $99. It was a platinum edition, but even those things sell for millions here.

When I went home and fireed God of War 3 up, I suddenly saw what all the fan boys were giggling about. Up until then I didn't really care for the PS3 over my 360, but God of War 3 has to be one of the most delightfully awesome games I have ever played.


The graphics are farkin mad, and the story is epic/ badass. But the action... shit man, how could I have gone so long without playing this monster.

I've never played a God of War game before, but it has to be like one of my top 5 games at the moment, and the most different from my current top 3 games which are Doom3, Dead Space and the Silent Hill games.

Dark Souls

Now I'm loving the PS3 and am excited right now about going home to play it. Next up I wanna get Dark Souls for it. Sort of looks like Skyrim on evil demon forged drugs. It's a darker adventuring game where the focus is on combat, very very skilled combat. I've heard that some folks spent up to 400 hours on the damn thing to finish it. Exploring a slightly horror themed fantasy world is something that has my name written all over it.

Dark Souls

Tomorrow will be a fun afternoon. My friends and I did a secret Santa thingo and we're exchanging gifts over beers :D

Hope your weeks going awesome, if not... then make it awesome; it's farkin Christmas week man.