Okay, let’s be honest, if you’re playing / beat / threw your console out the window and / or tore your room apart playing Dark Souls – you have died. I can say that with confidence. Most likely, you even died at some point during the Undead Asylum your first time picking up the game. I did. I fondly recall picking up the game, and the woman behind the counter commented, “Good luck, I just can’t. Too stressful.” I made an awkward laughing noise and she continued, “Did you ever play Demon Souls?” I answered no, honestly. She continued, “Prepare to die.” There was a slight hesitation followed by an ominous laugh, “a lot.”
Easily within the first hour of playing, I understood what she was referencing. After two days of playing, I cursed her name and lost all forms of goodness and love in my heart. Like many others, I trudged on though, dying, learning, and conquering. The souls… oh the souls. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been really digging Dark Souls. I’m enjoying the difficulty, gameplay, and strategizing. All the frustration is really a compliment to the game. All the collateral damage to my apartment is bottled anger issues (perhaps discussed at a later time – kidding, mostly).
So here is a list of my top 5 personal favorite ways to die in Dark Souls. The term ‘favorite’ is grossly sarcastic:
5. Falling
Sigh. Yea, this one is mostly ‘user error.’ Sometimes I make a mistake and just, well, walk off a cliff. It’s not just walking, though. Sometimes it’s rolling. Sometimes I’m chasing a mob. Sometimes the mob is chasing me. My favorite of all time is meleeing a wall accidently and the impact pushes me backwards, so I fell to my death. It was funny (in the saddest and darkest way) the first time, but the second time was face palm and a temporary break from the game.
4. Traversing The White Light
So the action of stepping into the light doesn’t directly kill you. I understand that it is a game mechanic to enter you into a new zone. But then, sometimes, it’s an entrance into a boss fight. Which is fine! One should always be ready, well-stocked, saved, have your Estus Flasks full, and dump your souls into leveling or gear. Most likely, there will be a new type of enemy, a unique enemy, or a boss. In some situations, you need to complete an objective in the white light to clear the area or to even move freely in and out of the white light. If you die, you aren’t getting your soul orb back unless you go back in there. If you can’t handle that boss yet, those souls and humanity are gone.
3. The Surprise Mob
Dark Souls has its share of mobs hiding behind corners or behind breakable furniture. Those aren’t what I call the ‘surprise mobs.’ These mobs are the ones that hunt you down because you accidently – unknowingly aggroed them. The second part, of the surprise mobs, are the ones that fall off where ever they were supposed to be and attack you minutes later. My favorite mob in this category are the skeletons that throw the fire bombs.
2. The Mob I’ve Killed Flawlessly 1k Times Before
There are easy and there are difficult mobs to kill. Some take some learning and dying to perfect; others you figure out the first time. The mobs in this category are the really easy ones you’ve killed and farmed thousands of times over, but for some reason, this ONE time, they defeat you. An example is the spear and shield mobs. These mobs are so predictable – doing the same thing EVERY time. For some reason though, this ONE time you come across them though, you just fail. Fail and die. Truly unknown.
1. 5-2 While Trying to Get Your Soul Orb
Before you call me out for not having a true #1, if you’ve played Dark Souls, you know what I’m talking about. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more aggravating than dying while trying to get your death orb back. If you die during this period, you lose all your experience points AND currency (well they are the same thing really). You can literally lose hours of gameplay this way. If you didn’t spend your souls, you WILL lose them. The other thing you lose is humanity. Humanity is so rare that I feel losing even one is a headache in its self.
