DarkSoulswields a few other sorceries of note. Fall Control preventsfall damage. This is a useful aid, but it comes with a limitation. In all Souls games, beyond a certain distance, a fall kills theplayer, regardless of their health. Fall Control doesn't protectagainst this terminal damage. Another sorcery combo is Magic Weaponand Magic Shield. The former adds the player's Adjustment stat asmagic damage to their weapon, while the latter improves the player'sshield's magic resistance. These spells would be valuable, exceptfor their short duration. Magic Shield only lasts fifteen seconds,while Magic Weapon lasts for sixty.
In Elden Ring the playerexpends a portion of their Focus Point or FP bar to cast spells. InDark Souls, each spell has a specific number of casts before it mustbe recharged by resting at a Bonfire. Weaker spells, like Soul Arrowhave thirty charges, while the best spells, like the Crystal SoulSpear only have four. You'd still rather have those four thanthirty. Sif, the Great Grey Wolf, fell to three Soul Spears.
I played Dark Souls withSorceries and a weapon, Velka's Rapier. This rapier is attuned tothe player's Intelligence stat, which is the source of Sorcerydamage. Magic is powerful enough that it feels like a gimmick. Butit is also clunky to use. The range of spells gives the player anadvantage against enemies, but casting a spell causes the player tostand stationary for a short time. They can't dodge or block duringthis time. As mentioned above, sometimes spells don't function likethey should. But when they do, they inflict massive damage againstall but magic resistant enemies.
On this playthrough I played DarkSouls: Prepare to Die Edition, theoriginal version on the PC. This version is no longer available forpurchase on Steam. It's been superseded by the 2018 DarkSouls Remastered, and no longer supports online play. The lack of other players, even the white messages, lent the game amorose air. The greatest feeling of Dark Souls is theinteraction with other players through messages (even if half of themare crude jokes), the bloodstains, the summon signs, and theinvasions. The lack of multiplayer also eliminates the use ofCovenants. These were a favorite element of mine. Despite existingin Dark Souls III they were eliminated from Elden Ring. Eachcovenant has a goal, such as the Warriors of Sunlight. Their goal isto help others in Co-op defeat enemy bosses. Or the Forest Hunters,who invade any player that enters the Darkroot Garden.
The lack of multiplayer has renderedHumanity largely useless. These consumables reverse hollowing. InDark Soulsthe player is a Hollow. To become human the player consumesHumanity. Only when human can the player summon another player inco-op, or invade another player. The player can still spend Humanityto Kindle Bonfires. DarkSouls uses healingflasks, called Estus. Each Bonfire resupplies the player with fiveEstus charges. Sacrificing Humanity at a Bonfire Kindles it. AKindled Bonfire refills an additional five Estus charges per Humanityconsumed, to a maximum of twenty. This allows a player to boost abonfire near a boss to have extra healing.
Dark Souls, unlike EldenRing, includes weapon durability. This is a mechanic I hopedisappears. It adds nothing to a game. Every so often the playerhas to remember to pay a small fee to fix while resting at a bonfireto repair my equipment so it doesn't break.
Dark Souls also lacksmany innovations of newer games. Jumping is possible, but itrequires running before taping the run button. Despite thedifficulty of jumping, and the lack of a jump button, mastering theodd controls is critical for success. This is complicated by theroughness of terrain. It can be difficult to negotiate, and theplayer regularly gets stuck on roots, small stones, or other debristhat isn't supposed to interfere with their movement. Visual effectshinder the player's performance.
Visual effects are an attempt to createa believable setting. In my memory the realms of Dark Soulslooked fantastic. In reality, they haven't aged well. It can'tcompare to the grandeur of Elden Ring. The game isexceptionally dark, making it difficult to see. It looks like theplayer has a spotlight on them, so only objects nearby are visible. Everything else is in shadow. Dark Souls contains anumber of large empty spaces to walk through. At the time theyseemed impressive, but now they are boring. And don't get me talkingabout the lava that nearly burned my eyes out. Visually DarkSouls is a dated game. Thematically it contains more horrorelements than Elden Ring. Environments overflow withdead bodies, skulls, dismemberment, and horrific monsters, thoughthese are shrouded by poor visuals.
While I died quite a bit, DarkSouls still felt easier because of my experience with laterFromSoftware games. Enemies seemed to be delayed in reacting to theplayer, with poor visual range. They were more predictable forparrying than later games, but I wasn't able to take advantage ofthis with the sorcery build.
On the other hand, Dark Soulscontains more gotcha tricks than exist in Elden Ring. Anyone who has played this, remembers the Blowdart Snipers ofBlighttown. These guys fire nearly invisible darts that inflictToxic, a particularly potent form of poison. Toxic effect is certaindeath unless the player has a cure.
Then there are the two silver knightsin Andor Londo with Giant bows. As the player runs up a long exposedramp, they take free shots. A single hit knocks the player off intoan abyss of certain death.
And finally, there are the Catacombs. In this location, Skeletons come back to life every time the playerkills them. There are two solutions to this problem, but it seemscrazy that Dark Souls never explains how to permanentlydefeat them.
The best part of Dark Soulsis definitely the DLC. It is so much tougher, but with a feeling offairness. It also contains three of the best, but toughest bosses. I died fifteen times to the Four Kings and ten to the Bed of Chaos. These were regular bosses, and the losses felt frustrating. Theenemies weren't fighting me, just doing their thing, and I died. Thefirst was a boring hack and slash without much action. The secondhad a strange victory condition. But my ten deaths to Kalameet, fiveto Knight Artorias, and twenty to Manus were great. Each of thesefelt like an epic battle, against a Dragon, a Knight, and a darkmonster respectively.
In Conclusion,
I had fond memories of DarkSouls. Having played it I still enjoy it, but I recognizethat it may no longer be a game that everyone should play. It hasmany rough spots, though I imagine the remaster ironed out the visualweakness. I miss some of the mechanics of the original Dark Souls. It was more multiplayer focused, with covenants and better playerinteraction. But, some mechanics, like weapon durability, are bestabandoned on the scrap heap. Elden Ring is a refinedversion of its predecessor that has lost some of the charm, butgreatly improved compared to the original. I would recommend tryingDark Souls if the player has played Elden Ring and islooking to explore the original material. But for the realexperience, I would recommend a weapon, not sorceries.
