Unit 6: Task 2

Task 2

Dark Souls 3 is an action, RPG game in a league of its own. This game is very difficult and the lore behind the characters is very rich indeed and I believe this is what interests the players the most in the game. The content within the game tends to stick to the medieval, dark ages side of things. The use of swords and shields instead of guns and bullet proof vests, gauntlets and helmets instead of night vision and tech. The choice in content is pretty fluent throughout the game and everything is pretty much in the old ages of time. Where areas were lit up with candles and torches and buildings were decorated with paintings and curtains. The game heavily depends on faith and sorcery throughout which adds onto the fantasy side of things. On the other hand, another game which is quite similar to this game but uses different content is Bloodborne. Bloodborne is a Souls like game which fits the theme of Gothic Novels so to say. The environments are dark and the architecture is heavily inspired from Gothic decor. The image below is from Bloodborne, and to strengthen my view on the Gothic decor, you can see the designs of the lanterns and the fences to be similar to the 18th Century style.

The graphics in the game are quite intense, the detail on just the smallest of objects are defined and the environments are breathtaking. One of my favourite areas to spend time in is the Irithyll of Boreal Valley. The image below is a picture of Irithyll of Boreal Valley and it shows the sheer amount of detail that is contained within this area which supports my comment of saying the graphics are intense.

Where this environment is placed within the game is very rewarding to say the least. The area before this place is the Catacombs of Carthus. The Catacombs of Carthus is an underground area which you have to travel through and defeat the boss are to reach the Irithyll of Boreal Valley. The reason behind why I feel like the view you are presented with when you first see Irithyll of Boreal Valley is rewarding is due to the feeling, it genuinely feels like a breath of fresh air when you get outside of the Catacombs. Furthermore, the soft tones of blue and the night sky really make the environment look beautiful which compares to the environment of the Catacombs, dark tones, dusty and dirty. You can also see below, that the bones and the bricks are detailed in the catacombs, even though these are just object that the player would glance over whilst running through the area.

Music within this game plays a big part for the bosses. Each individual boss has their own unique music that plays in the background of the music. My absolute favourite boss music has to be the Dancer of Boreal Valley. The music which was composed for this boss fight suits the character and the fight so well. The music is just quiet enough at the beginning that they have amplified the dancers footsteps to create and build up a tense atmosphere ready for the fight. When you get the dancer to go into her second phase, the music intensifies and it does for most of the bosses throughout the game. The music is quite graceful and well composed, it correlates with her name and the way she handles the swords, she essentially "dances" with them further into the fight. Furthermore, when you receive her swords, you are able to perform the Dancer's Grace weapon art which allows you to "dance" with the swords too.

                                   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ21JRZKSK4

Another boss fight which has great music and sound effects is Oceiros the consumed king boss fight. Before entering this boss fight, you can hear wailing noises coming from the fog wall in front of you. These distressing noises make the player begin to feel a little weary on what lies ahead of them in that room. When the cut-scene is finished, you will hear a baby crying but yet, see no baby in the room. These sound effects can make the player feel uncomfortable or a little distressed due to the sound effects. The music which is played in the boss fight changes once you reach his second phase. The pace of the music changes when the boss changes.

There are carvings in the game which you can drop on the floor and it will play a voice. These objects are quite fun to use and is a great way to communicate with others players if you do not have a microphone or want to use a microphone. The sound effects which are made from these are quite amusing and I believe is a great way to lighten up the game, considering it is very difficult. There are 5 carvings altogether and the tone of the voice is the same however it is quite amusing to listen to.

Within the Dark Souls' games, the story isn't as easy to figure out as other games. The main objective of the game is to find and return the five Lords of Cinder to the thrones which are in the Firelink Shrine so that you can link the flame again. You are known as "unkindled". Unkindled means you are considered to be less of a being than an Undead. The five Lords of Cinder that you are set out to seek are Ludelth the Exiled, Aldrich, Saint of the Deep; Holy King Lothric (Twin Brothers), Abyss Watchers (Farron's Undead  Legion) and Yhorm the Giant. Each of the Lord of Cinder have their own lore to them which is speculated by fans,the evidence they base their view of the back story from is from snippets of spoken quotes which characters in the game speak. What I particularly like about how the story is implemented into the game is that, it is left to the players to interpret the story in many different ways. Looking through the armour descriptions and the object descriptions, it allows the players to determine the story behind certain characters, the aid of the descriptions and quotes is really what makes the story of the characters and the main narrative overall interesting.
The characters themselves are represented in different ways. The Lords of Cinder are represented in two different ways, 4 of the Lords of Cinder are bosses within the game and are placed in throughout the areas. The areas in which they are placed are areas in which they essentially "control". For example, the Profaned Capital is the place where the player fights Yhorm the Giant. The lore behind this place is that the Profaned Capital was the only place where a giant ruled over the humans and this giant was Yhorm. The only Lord of Cinder which is not a boss is Ludeth. He is already sat upon his throne in the Firelink shrine and you can interact with him to transpose boss souls (souls which are given to you after defeating a boss). At first, the bosses are portrayed quite negatively, as soon as you enter their room, they immediately try to kill you. However, when it comes down to it, they are just fulfilling their duty and once you have defeated them, you return them to their thrones in cinders.
You have to travel through areas to reach each Lord of Cinder and then you have to defeat them to get the ending. There are 4 different endings and how you get these 4 different story endings is by completing certain characters quest lines whilst travelling through all the areas and defeating all of the bosses.

The females within this game, I believe, are not stereotypical. Usually in games, the female features are exaggerated however, the females in this game, their features are not exaggerated. Furthermore, the females are not all stuck wearing skirts or dresses, they are also seen in armour. There is a character within the game which is the opposite gender dependent on which gender you chose for your character. This character is called Anri. With the character design, it does not accentuate on features at all, the only way for you to tell the difference between whether it is a female or male is the voice. Another female is Sister Friede. Her features are not exaggerated like they typically are in a few other games and what she wears supports where she is placed and her name. She wears the ordained set and ordained means to make someone a priest or minister. Yuria of Londor is another female within the game, she merges the two ideas together, she wears armour however she also keeps the feminine touch with the dress. However, there is meaning behind the dress. The black dress is worn to resemble a mourning dress. The images below are the characters that I have mentioned. The far left is Anri, the far right is Yuria and the image at the bottom is Sister Friede. Yuria and Sister Friede are actually sisters. We find out this information from a quote Yuria speaks.

"Ahh, our Lord and Liege.Twas the soul of my sister.
Elfriede...A poor wench turned to Ash, who would abandon Londor...
If thou wouldst, let it nourish they Lordship.
And in return, do her one small kindness.
Remember those who stayed by her to the end, in the shadows cast by fire...
And lastly, my Lord, take up thy rightful mantle, of usurper."

 

The fact that the story is quite open to the audience to interpret, I believe that this game was intended for teens/young adults to enjoy, the game is rated 16. Furthermore, due to the complex builds you create and the difficulty of the game, it strengthens my point on why I believe the game was intended for young adults. The system would just be too complex for children to enjoy, also the blood and enemies are too graphic for children to endure. The fact that the game is complex and difficult was something that was expected in this 3rd sequel of the game. What else was expected was a few similar features to DS1 (Dark Souls). Considering this was the 3rd and final game of the Dark Souls series, the expectations were pretty high. A lot of people were demanding certain features to come back considering a few features were missed out in Dark Souls 2. Furthermore, the Dark Souls series is quite a unique series so deciding that number 3 would be the final Dark Souls leave even higher expectations to make it the best it could possibly be. The expectations I had for the DLC were pretty high until they delivered it, then I was disappointed. What I had expected from the DLC was more bosses to fight, a few more areas to covers and lots of new lore to speculate. However, the DLC was short lived, it did tie up a few loose ends within the mountains of lore however, it was very short and only contained 2 bosses. The next DLC is out fairly soon and the expectations for this DLC is quite high. Lots are expecting that this last DLC should finally sum up the story of Dark Souls altogether as this the last DLC for the last instalment of Dark Souls. It is also expected to be longer than the previous DLC and contain more bosses, NPCs and armour.

The Dark Souls series is a unique game in its genre category. The games genre is Action-RPG, and the the typical action-RPG games are The Elder Scrolls series, The Witcher series, Diablo series and more. The character you play in this game, is completely your choice. You choose your appearance, you choose how far apart you would like your eyes, how big you want your nose, the colour of skin and so much more. This already is a difference compared to the other series mentioned.





















The Souls series welcomed a new spin-off to the ARPG genre. What this introduced was high difficulty for the players, ridiculously hard enemies to defeat, and not a linear story line. This series is quite punishing to players that die as you only have one chance to regain what you have earned IF you can reach your souls without dying a second time. Furthermore, in The Elder Scrolls series and other games alike this, they have quests in which you complete for rewards and to progress whereas, with the Souls series, there are quests BUT you have to figure out how they configure together. So the NPCS which are scattered about the game, all have their own quests for the player to complete, without actually giving them much detail on how to complete it.