So I found myself at the mall the other day while out shopping for the holidays and ended up walking out with a copy of Dark Souls.
I looked for it in the pre-owned games. Since it seems like it disappeared from store shelves very quickly I assumed it was a typical From' game with a way too small initial pressing that would end up being hard to find in the bargain bins and demand a higher per-owned price. There were older pre-owned games that had stickers just about 10$ beneath the stickers on the new games.
I looked and looked, and couldn't find one, then I turned around and there was a 20$ Greatest Hits version, new. I thought this is probably a promotion for the recent expansion which I've heard about. Though I couldn't find a new full-price expanded version anywhere, it may be a DLC only thing for all I know, assuming I didn't imagine it.
Anyway the cash register person informed me that there was a pre-owned version in the store, and asked me if I'd rather have it. I did tell them I was looking for a pre-owned, but something tells me the store makes more money if I buy the pre-owned. Anyway I have an irrational thing about buying Greatest Hits or whatever version, just because the boxart is always scarred in a way that I find intellectually insulting. And I am not even a collector kind of person. It just seems wrong to me and not something I want to encourage or have to think about when I go to play a game. So I took the pre-owned since it was not Greatest Hits...
The clerk had to walk over to the pre-owned area to retrieve the box, and I admitted that I was surprised the box was not among the prominently displayed games (it was in the bottom area setup like a book shelf, probably alphabetically sorted, but I did not think to look) and I explained that I reckoned the game was popular and would fetch a higher price (it was like 18$) and was a little taken back when the clerk explained that while it is a popular game, it is often returned immediately because most people find it to be too difficult to play. Needless to say I had to do a double take at the idea of "being too difficult" being a legitimate reason to return a game. Though I do remember at least one occasion when we were kids returning a game that was just absolute rubbish, so I reckon there must be a no questions asked return policy. To be honest I'm surprised returns for non-defective products is even a thing in this day and age. You gotta hand it to retail.
Anyway I reckon I will put some hours into this game before New Years just because television in the US is an absolute wasteland during the holidays. I don't really have time to mess with it right now due to Ex being in a crunch, but I did take a peek at it this morning. I kind of expected Dark Souls to be an improvement on Demons' Souls. If nothing else the concept of having a more open environment sounds liberating in theory. But I'd just hoped that From' would have more experience with the new format for Dark Souls. So far though I've found it to be incredibly underwhelming and definitely a leap down from Demons' Souls. It feels like only DS players are expected to pick up and play Dark Souls. If I'd not played DS I might not even have the attention span to bear with Dark Souls beyond the plain drab tunnel vision as hell opening area.
The elaborate creation myth freak show nonsense is as random and pointless as can be, and the dialogue and setups couldn't be any more goof ball... in other words feels like Demon's Souls. Visually the presentation is still nowhere approaching realistic. Every single surface bears a white glint that couldn't be less understated and might as well be pixie dust. I can't wait for the bricks to start climbing the walls
I made myself a curly haired hunter. The other costumes I couldn't bear to look at. The hair styles even worse. Demon's Souls had few equipment sets but at least they were iconic enough for the most part, if not accessorize-able.
I will stick it out, but its just boring boring boring. I don't know how King's Field could come to this. It's like a noble patriarch has died and the inheritance is just being pissed into the wind by his hedonistic clan of know nothings and no tastes
Yeah but whatever. If you have any advice for a person with little patience and even less time taking a stab at Dark Souls for the first time your input is welcome
PS: Probably my #1 peeve about these games is not being able to pause the game. Basically a quit to the title screen is required. And having to unplug my freaking PS3 to play it offline! That's nuts. Some how it looks like the copy I picked up is French Canadian... unless all NA copies were labeled in French and English. I'm actually kind of surprised that US games are not labeled in Spanish (Mexican; if there is a difference) and English nowadays. Anyway if I could I would've liked to play in French with English subtitles so to not have to suffer ridiculous video game vocals (in a language I can comprehend) but my guess is to do that I have to put the PS3 in French mode, and then the subtitles would be French too, which is more than I am am willing to put up with for this game. I'm just glad my PS3 uses the Japanese control scheme so that the dash/roll button is X instead of O
My bet to how a Quebec game ended up in Arkansas is the video game stores probably redistribute their pre-owned game wealth. Still French Canadian in Arkansas is weird, but I don't suppose that's a detail the retail chain could be bothered to deal with.