For any of you who haven't heard of or played Dark Souls, there is one thing you need to know:
It is notoriously difficult.
The developers, FROM SOFTWARE, wanted to build a game that would challenge even them. The result of that became...
Here's a short list of what I've learned from this game.
1. Life Isn't Fair
Do you see this monstrosity? This is the tutorial boss, the Asylum Demon. And you what else? They drop this guy on top of you halfway through your tutorial, so while you're still learning all the buttons there's this sudden boss battle that the game doesn't tell you to escape from. After escaping you can gear up a bit more and get healing items, but there's a special reward for those few brave souls who can bring this demon on their first encounter. Dark Souls tells me one thing from this: Life won't be fair, but there's great reward for overcoming great challenges.
2. You Can Make Up For Your Mistakes
When you die (notice I said when, not if), you lose your humanity (more on that later) and any souls you've accrued, which is your money. You don't want this to happen, so when you die you have an "opportunity" to go and get it back, but all the humanity and souls are sitting back where you died. If you make it there and don't die again, you get back everything you lost, but if you die again... Well it's gone. Life isn't fair, but there is always an opportunity to make up for your mistakes.
3. Sometimes We Forget Our Humanity
See those ghostly wisps with bright eyes? That's humanity in the world of Dark Souls. It's the thing that everyone needs to stay human, otherwise you go around looking like this:
This is a Hollow. A person who is, or is on their way to becoming, a mindless zombie bent on killing the more sane. And the more you die, the more Hollow you become. In order to combat the ugly you consume humanity to become human again, but that comes at its own risk. You see, everyone needs humanity, so when you're human you're liable to get invaded by other players, other human beings on computers far, far away. And you may end up like this:
Nobody wants to be executed, but you do what you need to in order to stay human. Or do you? Dark Souls forces the question of "What is humanity?" upon the players through its mechanics. Do you retain your humanity and do what you need to do to survive, no matter the cost? Or do you allow yourself to go "Hollow," being a shell of who you could be?
In real life, these choices are not presented as obviously as they are in Dark Souls, but the point remains the same. We perceive that in order to achieve greatness one must do what is necessary. We consume our humanity. Or do we preserve humanity and don't use it to rise into power, and lay our future well-being on the line and risk becoming a "zombie"?
4. Despite All Challenge, Victory Is Possible
Dark Souls is a hard game, but a fair game. The rules and mechanics of how things work are well established and followed. Granted, the game likes to pull a few punk moves like hidden traps and enemies, but aside from the occasional prank, all is fair, albeit difficult.
Things may be hard now, but persevere, learn, combat the situation with all the skill and intelligence you can muster and the obstacle can be overcome. Now if only giant words proclaiming victory appeared in my life whenever I get something done.
