Seriously try and make it guess wrong by thinking of something obscure

While I think Dark Souls is the best ever made, or at the very least the best game made since Ocarina of Time, I cannot recommend this game to everyone.

Dark Souls will crush your balls into a powder and mix it in with your tears and drink it. It’s harsh and brutal at times. If you are unfamiliar with Dark Souls or have not played it yet, nothing can really prepare the level of difficulty and challenge you will face. You may say to yourself “I’ve played hard games before what’s the big deal?” Dark Souls is at a level of difficulty that is hard to perceive based on prior experiences with video games.

Sure there are harder games out there, the difference is Dark Souls is always fair. You die in Dark Souls because you fucked up. Other hard games (for example the new Ninja Gaiden 2) are hard because there are unavoidable cheap tactics by the enemies. Dark Souls challenges you to get better at the game. You will die over and over, but then it will click. You will figure it out and win. You will have a feeling of accomplishment that almost feels like a rush. “I did it!”

And when you think you have a part figured out you can still fuck up if you are not careful. That’s what I love about Dark Souls it remains a challenge even after you have it all figured out.

I think everyone should try this game. You should also have your friends over and watch you play. Or watch your friends play. Trust me seeing someone being tortured by Dark Souls is freakin amusing as hell. Be warned, Dark Souls is not for those who give up on games at the first sign of frustration. You will get frustrated. You will want to smash your controller and tv at some points. However, that is the point of this game. It designed to frustrate you off. Darks Souls as a game is quite aware of this fact. This is what makes the Dark Souls playing experience different than the typical game with a harder difficulty setting. Those other games just have parts that are difficult or is artificially difficult because of a combination of game mechanics working against you in way that does not seem intended.

Dark Souls is designed to be hard. Each encounter teaches you something about the game, a lesson you need to learn so you can use later. Darks Souls will give you a quiz you many times then present to later with a test. If you passed the quiz with an “A” you will do well on the test; you correctly learned everything you needed. If you failed the quiz, ironic that is helpful too. It means you need to learn something. 

However, in Dark Souls it’s when you pass the quiz with a “C” or “D” that Dark Souls rips you to pieces. You got the victory but did not learn everything. When that test comes up this is when you will punch a fucking hole in the wall!

On certain parts of my first playthrough of Dark Souls I was screaming so much my throat was sore. But it’s okay! There are other people experiencing the same pain you are. You are not alone in your agony, due to how online play works. You can see other players working on the same stuff you are as “ghostly spirits.”

It’s such a good game with smart design and great level design. Definitely a must play in my book. But if you are unfamiliar with Dark Souls (which nothing can really prepare you for it anyway) you really don’t know what you are getting yourself. That is until start working your way through tutorial level.

That’s right the tutorial level! The first things you do in the game that teach you the controls and how to play will destroy you.

It a Music and Game festival. Lot’s awesome video game swag you can purchase from vendors. I wanted to pick up some classic NES and SNES games at one of the vendors. They got a nice arcade with classic games too.

It’s at the National Harbor convention center this weekend. My only issue is I have no one that wants to go with me and it 40 bucks for a one day pass. Wanted to check out the bars too at the National Harbor.

My first impressions of Skyward Sword after two hours. More later when I play further.

In this video I explain how to take down a Mammoth early on in Skyrim and not have to worry about those pesky Giants. Requires a bow or magic.

I am playing the game on Expert, so it may prove to be even more helpful at higher difficulty modes.

Basically after beating Skyward Sword you are able to start a second playthrough that is a lot harder. I’m very excited about this. I will record a full playthrough of this and upload to youtube.

A full normal mode playthough just does not seem as interesting to me since most people will be playing the game in that mode anyway. I will still capture any interesting side quests or heart container locations as well as first impressions of the game.

• Enemies do double damage
• There are no heart drops or heart flowers (unless you have a particular medal equipped which gives you a very small chance of getting a heart drop)
• The Sheikah Stone gives you all the hint clips from the beginning
• A bunch of NPCs acknowledge the fact that you’re playing in Hero Mode and let you skip certain tutorials/explanations

Good stuff though. Especially about the double damage and no heart drops. If you do not already know, Skyward Sword enemies take off a minimum of one heart damage. This is unlike in past 3D Zelda games where enemies would deal a quarter to a half heart of damage. The damage dealt to Link in Skyward Sword is so much greater than previous Zelda games that you start out with 6 hearts instead of the standard 3. The minimum health was changed to keep the early game balanced and feel the same as earlier Zelda games, but also allow the game to remain somewhat of a challenge as you gain more heart containers.

One of the problem of enemies taking a quarter heart of damage in past Zelda games is, while the early game felt fine in difficulty, the later parts became trivial at about 12+ hearts. Thus there is no incentive of getting 20 hearts, unless you are a completionist or beating Cave of Ordeals in Twilight Princess.

Also, there is no ability to pause the action via opening menus like in past Zelda games. Selecting items and potions in your inventory is done in real time.

Speaking of potions, the game does not freeze enemies during the drink animation. Therefore, drinking a potion is risky because you are venerable to enemy attacks.

There is an item upgrade system and potion crafting in Skyward System, so this Hero Mode could prove to add quite amount more depth and replay value to the game.

There is so much potential in hero mode to make it more challenging. For example, since there is no heart drops, you could do a one heart (take damage until you are at one heart) and no potion challenge with no deaths. Stuff like that.

Can’t wait. Skyrim will keep me busy until then!

New concept are was released for Skyward Sword. This one was interesting to me. It’s a late game enemy or boss. His sword is like an “Evil” Master Sword.

Look at the upside down Triforce. It reminds me of the upside down cross ( Cross of St. Peter) which is usually associated with Satanism or the Anti-Christ. I think that is what Nintendo was going for here. Very cool.

It will be hard to pick a A Game of the Year.

My top 5 this year so far are:

1. Dark Souls

2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

3. The Witcher 2

4. Dead Space 2

Uncharted 3 this week.

Next week Skyrim!

www.youtube.com/user/SolidDave666

Just waiting for activation to start making money on my videos. Just to let everyone know I do playthroughs videos and tips for select games I play. All videos have live commentary that serve as impressions and review of the game. I also discuss the game design philosophies as well the gaming industry if I find something in the game that may be relevant.

I have a rough schedule in place for videos… .

October 25 - 31 : Kirby’s Return to Dreamland (Wii)

October 25 - onward: Battlefield 3 (PC). I will be uploading select multiplayer sessions

November 1 - 10: Uncharted 3 and Sonic Generations and maybe Lord of the Rings: War of the North (PS3).

November 11 - onward - Skyrim (PC). Know way can I do a full playthrough a week. I will play select sections of the game and show off quests, character builds, and mods.

November 20 - Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. I expect to get a lot of views from this playthrough.

I still need to finish uploading my Deus Ex playthrough. Had to put it on halt because Youtube has been screwy with upload errors and such for the past month and a half. I’m almost done with the game. I just need to upload footage sitting on my harddrive plus I have a ton of parts just sitting in private until I am done. What happened was I would upload footage and it will error out, or complete and not show up. So yeah, that is the reason my Deus Ex playthrough looks incomplete.

My channel is: www.youtube.com/user/SolidDave666

Played it 8 hours yesterday. So good and polished for being an early build of the game. Graphic are nuts on Directx 11 highest available settings.

The new price tag is $169. Which I have stated should of been around that price from the get go. Seriously it makes no sense to charge someone $250 for something they already have. But Dave it’s in 3D! Functionality wise it does nothing more than the DS I bought years ago for $140.

So why would one pay the price of PS3 to play games on a tiny ass screen, when I already have a tiny ass screen system plays games just fine? If one has $250 it makes more sense to buy a Playstation 3 to get the best home console HD gaming experience available. Same issue I have with the PSP Vita. How much sense does it make to play watered down games on a tiny screen for around the same price a real console.

If you are the type that travels or commutes a lot or you are away from home a lot, I understand then. But, it makes no sense to be sitting at home playing a portable console. I think most people when they are at home they are playing their PS3 or Xbox 360 while the portable console sits on a shelf.

And people thought I was crazy when I made this argument about the price point of 3DS and PS Vita. But I am right. Nintendo now sees their mistake.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword brand new Comic Con trailer. Some new footage. I spot a Goron!

I still laugh that Link is wearing Dockers.

Why do they have to milk everything? I will never buy a new Capcom game from now on until it is two years old. You may have fooled me for the past 20 years, but no more man. So pissed! Go fuck yourself Capcom.

What am I pissed about? I paid 60 bucks for Marvel vs Capcom 3 earlier this year, and later this year Capcom is going to release Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. I just hate console gaming even more now. This shit would never fly on PC. Buy another copy of the game just to get new characters. Why? Why didn’t just make the characters as a DLC patch? Oh right because then they would not be able to sell you unlocked features that are already present on the disc.

I did see this coming which why I never bought the DLC characters for MvC3, nor did I purchase Super Street Fighter 4 ( well I did know Capcom had the Arcade version in works, so I knew they would repackage it again). Still pissed though because I hate spending $60 games and not getting $60 bucks worth of value. Even more so when developers turn around and sell you an updated version of the game. Since that really says the original was an unfinished product. I take issue with purchasing unfinished products.

Microsoft conference will be first. I guess I’ll play some Black Ops until it starts.