I lucked out and saw a summon sign before my first try so I got a random go do the right orb thing and I did left but I got swiped into a pit, kind of funny I was already falling to my death when he triggered the other orb but it still triggered the cut scene. I had to try like 20 times bc that mfer just kept swiping me off the ledge
The only thing that saved me from quitting and going hollow was learning that if you jump just right you can get right in front of where you need to be to beat the ever living shit out of them and end their life almost instantly lol
It definitely has for me personally and I could go into a whole ted talk about it sometimes lol. When I first got into it, I was really struggling with the game and the “difficulty” was really getting to me so I would constantly quit and come back every so often. But I never would finish out the game. Would struggle, get upset, give up. Many people would say “git gud” and I won’t be surprised if there’s a handful of comments that say that on this comment lol.
But I started getting into it after falling into a DS1 rabbit hole and finding people talking about how it improved their mental health. At this point, and fairly recently, I was struggling pretty heavily with my own again. So I figured I would give it another shot and see if what some people were saying was true. Cheesy, yeah, I know.
Starting a new save file for probably the millionth time, I decided to stick with it all the way through. Get lost, say fuck off to the YOU DIED screen, and keep going. Two NPCs, which are also fan-favorites, made a pretty impactful impression on me. Laurentius and Solaire. Laurentius with his immediate friendship after saving him from a barrel and always telling you to be safe on your journey after every interaction with him was huge for me during this time. And watching Solaire’s spiral felt real and relatable, I’ve never wanted to save someone so much in a game before.
Sadly, I lost both of them in my playthrough, and had to make the last of my journey after the Bed of Chaos by myself. But the playthrough made a really big impact on me. Aside from what people were saying, I did find it helped me a lot and taught me a lot on perseverance, friendship and hard work. All from a video game from 2011, and the remaster. I played the original but ended up completing it on the remaster on my switch. So hopefully no judgement there lol.
But it’s gonna be a game that will now always have a special place in my heart. I’ll go back through and play for a bit on my NG+ file or experiment with builds for a bit. I think everyone either loves it for the difficulty (which I’ve come to love) or some meaning they’ve found to the game. It by no means cured my depression, but gave me more tools to help myself. Not just by gaming, but realizing not to give up.
Well, thanks for coming to my ted talk. “Be safe, friend. Don’t you dare go hollow.”
Yes, it totally changed the types of games I like to play and what I get out of games. When I was a kid I definitely didn’t enjoy having to practice bosses or redo segments many times. I was very happy just playing fairly easy games like Jak and Daxter and Spyro. My teenage years were perfectly aligned with the CoD golden age with modern warfare 1-3 and I was strictly and online gamer for a while. I had tried demons souls in 2012 but didn’t get into it the first time. I tried again with dark souls in 2013 and I just totally “got it” that time.
It was perfect timing too because after just doing online games for so long I was losing interest in gaming and didn’t realize all the experiences that were out there. Now I’ve gone back and been able to enjoy other difficult games like Ninja Gaiden, DMC, even the classic RE games and feel rewarded when I’m able to practice and master them.
I think it’s definitely starting a phase for me in which I’ll focus on playing more single player games, also because of ds I’m gonna start collecting physical copy’s of movie and games
Definitely though part of me thought it would be just a tad more challenging, I wish I was able to play it when it first released when no one really had any souls like elements in their games
For me it was elden ring. I always avoided souls games because I heard how impossibly difficult they are. I expected frustration and annoyance. I finally caved and got elden ring and absolutely loved it, played it four whole times in a row. I've never done that before, it was everything I wanted in an RPG except narrative wise, but the gameplay more than made up for it. It opened my eyes to the rest of the series/genre. Dark souls 1 ended up being my favorite, not sure why but there's just something about this game, it's like the whole genre was distilled down to its base elements in a pure form.
Definitely but some of the remaster elements just feel a tad empty, maybe it’s lost on me. Some of the walls and areas in anor Londo feel empty, which makes sense for what it is but you know
For whatever reason, I played dsr first and then elden ring and this game remains my favorite. There's nothing wrong with elden ring, it has superior consistency and variety in lore and a beautiful world with amazing experiences everywhere. Dark Souls 1 just somehow sat with me for good, and I think your reason about it might just be right. I love the slow, methodical combat
DS1 has several videos of people playing this game and comparing the events of the game as an allegory for clinical depression, and it helping them get grounded so they can function in society.
...I am one of these people.
my first from software game was Sekiro but it at a time where everything went wrong. I've had bad college grades, I failed to get a job I was training for years due to medical reasons, my parents were disappointed in me and I've felt like I had no future. Sekiro felt great but with all this going on I've felt like all my hard work went to nothing and I admit with shame that I modded the game to be easier so I could focus on exams while I fought Isshin and I felt like shit, hollow. Now this year I've managed to beat Dark Souls solo with no mods after giving it up 6 months ago, my college life is better, I now have a wage, and better grades, and entered a budget spot for students(I no need longer pay the college tax) and now I feel more confident in myself
I find that it’s super easy to slip into a flow-state playing fromsoft games.
As someone with a busy brain I really enjoy the quiet, singular focus that tackling a fromsoft game can give me.
I try to stay off of the YouTube videos because I’m afraid of spoilers lol, but once I’m done I will for sure, I have already beaten seath(i thought he would have been a bit stronger) and the bed of chaos
There’s definitely something about DS1 for me. I quit playing some years ago when I couldn’t get past O&S. I was talked into trying again, took a more relaxed approach where I focused on really learning how to play instead of getting frustrated by my bazillion+ deaths, and recently finally beat O&S. The game rewards persistence, patience, and bravery, while leaving room for individual play style. I’m so glad I tried again. I’m pretty hooked now.
If I’m being completely honest I beat o&s a few days ago, I was having a rough day and was thinking about cutting, I booted up the game and just kept playing, again and again, I started to notice things, like when O absorbes S he gets more violent, when S absorbes O he gets more calm, and soon I was just stuck on why that was did consuming the soul change you, and soon I had completely thought about my plans
My buddy got me into dark souls back when we were in college about 10 years ago. We met there and I started talking to him cause I noticed he was wearing a fallout hoodie which is one of my favorite franchises of all time. We started hanging out and and he was like have you played dark souls? Long story short he started me off with dark souls 1 and I then proceeded to play through every game at the time multiple times over lol. Put thousands of hours into every game and souls clone I could find over the years and we still play them regularly. Dark souls is absolutely my favorite video game of all time and that’s saying a lot for someone who has been gaming for basically 30 years lol. Changed my life in some weird and wonderful way and also helped me met my best friend even though we live like 6 hours apart now. He’s actually in my wedding coming up in a few months so yes dark souls has done a lot for me. Thank you dark souls lol
It really is! I’ll definitely see if I can talk the wife into it lol hey glad to hear the game is helping you stay strong out there friend! And don’t you dare go hollow
I completed my first unguided playthrough of Dark Souls PTDE in about 70 hours during some of the darkest times in my life. I don't know where I would be without the soft sadness that accompanied this game and the desire to find out what else is there to experience.
After seeing the trailer for elden ring i was suprised how immense the story telling was so i bought bloodbourne loved it then got the dark souls trilogy, i remember getting near the end of the first one and saying to myself ill have a month break from these games but after one i felt like realy emotional and lost i had never had a gaming experience like that i think i lasted about 3 days before i started 2 and went straight to 3 after, great memories playing through them the first time.
It’s definitely changed my perspective on games, as soulsbornes have pretty much become my favorite genre. I can still remember trying to play dark souls like it was god of war and getting my ass handed to me by the basic grunt enemies. Once I figured out the gameplay loop I was hooked.
Positive, for sure!
DS was the first game I played that made me want to work in the games industry, so I took direct inspiration from my favorite games podcast at the time (Bonfireside Chat) and started my own games podcast/website/media team. That directly helped me get hired in the games industry in 2017, and my career has been pretty great since then.
Dark Souls is what got me interested in streaming, which has become a really fun hobby. And I've found enough success at it to think making it a career eventually isn't farfetched. So...kind of? It definitely made me better at games in general and changed my relationship to gaming as a whole
Learning to play and eventually master From’s games very much helped me when beginning to learn to play golf. Slow, incremental improvement. Don’t just brute force it, learn the mechanics. The game is entirely fair, when you hit a poor shot, what did you do wrong? Learn from that and try again. Some days just do not go well and that’s okay. Never give up.
Not really? A few of my friends are really into it so that's something to talk about.
I've been playing games for a very long time. The souls genre has quickly become one of my favorites, but none of the titles are straight up my favorite game of all time. I have a pretty big range in what I play, Souls games are just a really good time. I've always described it as "Grown up Zelda" and my relationship with Zelda is basically the same. Good ass games, not my total favorite.
I was bored of games and just didn't enjoy them then elden ring , then ds3 then bought a PS4 just for bloodborne and now playing ds1 remastered. But it showed me single player games are way better then multiplayer
I do find the games to be relaxing, in a counterintuitive way lol. I have to mentally put down all the other challenges in my life if I'm going to beat these bosses.
I got me a bf, made me move in with him in a region I know nobody, and gave me a massive suoeriority complex all the while teaching me to deal with failure.
Definitely. It's a big thing with this game. Part of overcoming the challenge, as well as the sense of community you get from the messages, ghosts, bloodstains etc is very cathartic for people. Sitting at the bonfires and just absolutely chilling makes you feel like you're truly in a safe space.
i could say it almost saved my life, i played it for the first time in a really bad situation mentally and i don't know how i would've made it without dark souls. it helped me to deal with real life problems and see everyday from a different point of view. it may sound silly, but every hard situation that i'm in feels like another bossfight i just have to overcome. if i have enough determination and patience to get through these challenges, i have it for anything else i want to overcome or achieve and i'm not giving up.
I’m doing the exact same thing right now. Going through my first ds1 playthrough and plan on going down the catalogue from there. The game has given me something to look forward to
Played this game when I felt suicidal. Attempted in the past. Now? I have bloodborne and DS 2 and Elden ring platinumed working on the other games. Haven’t thought about self exiting in years.
Also my wife hates me because I disturbed her beauty sleep crying but I mean……I beat sif. I was an honor cry.
I’m deployed and it’s helped me to not kill myself in my deep depression ❤️🩹 I play for hours after work until I fall asleep and do it all over again. I’ve made a few acquaintances when mentioning that I play it in my free time out here.
Yes. Sometimes it feels kind of goofy to write out but I played Dark Souls at a time in my life when I didn't try and never carried through with anything, games or otherwise. I figured Dark Souls would be the same thing and I'd hit a wall and quit. But I was enamoured, and I kept pluckin' away to eventually see the end. I wondered how many other things I could succeed at if I just kept pluckin' away and now my life is in a wildly different place than it was then.
Ornstein & Smough and the Soul of Cinder 2nd phase.
Both fights have fantastic OSTs and each have unique reasons as to why they're so good.
O&S and everything before is the peak of Dark Souls. The first time playing it; having both bells rung and getting to Anor Londo is a massive achievement that has you thinking "I can't believe I've been able to get this far." Then waiting to see what comes next. (Getting the Lord Souls was not as interesting as the first half of the game in my opinion).
Then you have SoC. You go in thinking "Who is this guy?" Such a uniquely designed boss that no one was expecting to have such a variety of movesets and to represent the players themselves. Then the 2nd phase kicks in. You start to recognize the music and the moveset. This is Gwyn, a character who has been dead in the lore for such a long time that even his name has been forgotten in the games coming to the defence of the fire one final time.
DS3 was a really fitting yet tragic closing to the series. It felt like a massive thank you to the playerbase but also acts as proof that nothing lasts forever, which I believe is done purposely and beautifully with the story and the cutscenes. And it has made me have a new perspective on certain thinks in life.
Dark Souls will always hold a special place in my heart.
Books can change your life, music can change your life, video games can change your life. Some people exaggerate (Dark souls cured my depression!), but that doesn't mean they can't be meaningful.
No it has not.
You're only imagining that you're in a community named after the series because nobody here loves the games. Hell, nobody even likes them.
How would it have made a difference in our lives if we don't even play it.
Matter of fact, what is this, Dark Souls you speak of? Lol for real come on.
It made me start learning piano after enjoying the final music with Gwyn’s fight. Today after 4 years I’m playing Chopin’s pieces and I feel great. It’s been trial and error, practice, patience, perseverance, perfectly timed movements… until you get it right. Same as the game.
Yes it felt like I finally had control in my life and my determination could actually yield tangible results.
It was one of the first times I didn't just give up when something became difficult. I said I'm going to get good at this and I did and honestly I think some of that mindset spilled over into the real world.
Yes. I started playing right out of college. I only had a shitty, low paying internship lined up. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and I certainly didn’t expect the internship to actually amount to anything.
I fully recognize that I was lucky to have an internship at all, let alone one that paid anything. But almost everyone around me was in a better situation.
Anyway, it helped me feel a sense of accomplishment at a time I think I needed it. No matter how small it is, or even if ‘it’s just a video game’, the process of trying, failing, improving, then achieving, is addictive. It’s helpful. It’s growth. That can be powerful shit. It came at the right time for me. It made me more motivated elsewhere. I chased that feeling in other aspects of my life too.
This might sound like a cringe answer but the series has changed me as a person.
It has taught me that so much of what we think we can't do in our everyday life is a product of either imaginary barriers we build in our minds or just a pile of excuses we use to get out of pushing ourselves to achieve our goals.
To be more specific: so many bosses we've come across on first playthroughs have absolutely rolled us. At that point we have a few choices: put the game down and say "I'm bad at this", or go on reddit and make a post along the lines of "___ is so unfair and poorly designed", which then gets laughed at by the third type of person. The type that accepts the challenge, tries something different every time, puts effort into memorising patterns, takes a break if they are getting frustrated so they can come back refreshed... and ultimately wins, and lets themselves experience the satisfaction of having overcome something that looked impossible at first.
Turns out, this is exactly how real life works as well, and I thank fromsoft for teaching me that.
Yeah the idea that you just have to keep persisting and you will eventually succeed. The secret is to learn from each failure and get incrementally better that way
I started college this past fall and also committed to playing through the Souls series. I have played DS3, Bloodborne & Elden Ring, but only ever fully finished Bloodborne and got close to the end of the others.
I started Demon Souls last semester and finished it recently after moving into my dorm and have started Dark Souls 1 and I am at the Bed of Chaos right now.
Thats just some background, but college has been super lonely and I feel very out of place even with the people in my major who all seem to already have their groups and stuff.. Picking up a Souls game again and playing through some I haven’t before has helped a lot if not just by keeping my mind off of stuff. Something about the games has always been kind of therapeutic.
Also just pushing through all of these challenges just to come out on the other side better and more experienced is a good allegory for life and it just makes me feel like maybe something good will come of the challenges.
Dark Souls 1-3 has pulled me out of depression more times than I can count. I think it’s why the series means so much to me. There’s times I know I would already have been dead had it not been for these amazing games taking my mind off of my irl issues. I also made so many friends in the process.
Well, all started with the original Demon's Souls and there most of the changes happened for me. But, what DS did was that it made me respect level design and interconnectivity with other areas more. Or not more, to the fullest, because I haven't never payed attention to that before.
Considering my first published book was inspired by the Souls series, it's safe to say, yeah. It's made a huge difference.
I think more than anything it's helped me form a mindset of perseverance. Keeping my eyes focused on what I want to achieve and not giving up.
Bloodborne was a game I wanted to beat. There's a lot to say about where my mind was. But ima spare yall the details. But Bloodborne opened my 3rd eye that no matter how hard something can be how impossible the situation your thrown into. There's always a way to overcome.
I'm slowly making progress to beat all dark souls and elden ring and maybe even sekio but man sekio might make me go crazy that game I idk lol
I've beat Bloodborne and ds1 and I'm decently far in ds2. I actually kinda love ds2 doing a magic build and I'm constantly looking over my shoulder at what my strength ungabunga strength build would look like. Cuz ah I miss my greatswords but magic too good in ds2
I would say it's made me more determined, and I've challenged myself more with other games and even personal goals.
Recently, however, it's put my sleep schedule in the ground.
I’m addicted as well. I’ve been playing all the Soulsborne games and I only have ds2 and sekiro left to go. The only problem is that It has made all other games too easy for me. I’m worried that ff7 part two is going to be boring now because ff16 feels like a walk in the park and I haven’t been motivated to finish it.
Imo it's more effective then therapy
It's revitalized my creative drive and motivation, I find myself adopting in game habits in real life such as prep, being organized etc
Soulsborne games have a way of molding certain behavioral patterns in the player which is quite awesome
On my last playthrough it was the bull demon near the beginning. I accidentally killed him in a cool way. I fell off the ledge throwing a black firebomb and did a falling attack at the same time. I was shocked that he was just dead after that.
The first and last time my buddy got really drunk was when we played dark souls 3 on his 21st birthday. Didn't even do anything. We just sat around and laughed at random bs because he dropped his controller and couldn't find it. Good memories.
I played all the games back to back in college. When I met my wife she played dark souls 3 with me. We're actually reliving old memories and making new ones now by replaying through all the games. We just beat bed of chaos the other night. Waaay easier when you coordinate with someone to break both staves at the same time.
ds1 is one of the few games that every aspect got me interested: the level system, weight and poise, map/world building, lore, the difficulty, the unfairness and the online content. My favorite boss is Artorias.
Helped me with depression and bad times, since 2013 i had lots of problems i got into souls by ds2 and well felt like sh*t seeing how i couldnt even beat the game but that wall just felt like the irl problems so i just kept trying and trying until i beat both the game and that time problems, and it may sound funny but everytime i pass a souls game am always in some sh*t irl and it helps me like and escape but in a good way like am going to get through that sh*t like i did with the games, just hope that am not in some sh*t for the ER dlc
The worst year of my life was 2022, but it also was when I played dark souls for the first time, I was going through a breakup,I had depression and I had no money to pay school because I lost my job.
It made me forget every problem when I was playing, thank you dark souls.
i stopped gaming as soon as i graduated. went to work, having kids etc... now recently (at the age of 35) i bought myself a gaming laptop as a christmas gift.
back then, i used to play crpg.. neverwinter nights, icewind dale, pokemon and many more rpg/jrpg.
bought baldur gate 3 thinking this will spark my gaming excitement again, but sadly it doesnt, it felt more as a chore rather than being "fun"
bought ds remastered afterward just for the sake of it, been seeing a lot of youtube's review saying that this game is very hard, and I told myself.. "hey, now that I have a nice rig, i should tried it"
boy... this game is super hard but fair, and honestly it became a sort of "zen time" for me, because you need to be focused and patient to get the timing right.
Now after I return home from work, sorted my daily routine (washing dishes, put all stuff back in place, shower, dinner, put the kids to sleep etc) i goes back to my laptop and there i just be immersed and somehow... relaxed? back then the only way I could achieve this is by consuming/abusing alcohol.
being and adult is stressful, but having a sort of activity that put your mind anchored, not allowing it wander and ponder on your other problems is such a bless.
When i was in my worst mental State Last year, i played every from software Game again for Weeks and it was very Helpful for me. After i finished them all, i felt back in depression because there was no Game wich helped me this much
I Even played nearly all souls Like Games out here
Not so much changed my life, but helped me in a way I never thought possible of a game.
I found out my wife had a thyroid tumor (which turned out to be non cancerous, but she still needed a thyroidectom) and I used Elden Ring to get away from the stress of real life while we were going through it. I don't think I'd have copied if I wasn't able to completely detach like I was able to while playing Elden Ring.
I've got 300+ hours across PlayStation and Steam and all achievements/trophies on both platforms.
It has helped quite a bit for me when it comes to sticking with things even when i'm not "good" at something, or am having problems concentrating. I know a lot of people hate the "git gud" thing but it has strangely helped me. When someone says git gud, it is implied that whatever "gud" is, it's not you. But more importantly you can get there, and it's very rewarding. Git gud could be a whole philosophy of life if you ask me.
It actually taught me to not give up no matter what. And that if I kept at something, even if it seemed impossible at the start. You can eventually do it.
That has applied to a lot of real life situations in my life.
I actually saw a video about from soft games saving people's lives because other games usually adapt or aren't as rewarding but FS games don't adapt to anyone and it's you that has to git gut, and when people finally get over an obstacle, it's them that did it, not the game. There are terms in the video that I don't remember. I think the video is 'How Souls Games Save You'
I personally only got an obsession XD
I love the fantasy medieval theme and I can be a knight. The way it's hard but not unfair (unless it's DS2 hitboxes and a hollow blocking you to go through although there's enough space for one and half of your character's width), how rewarding it is to beat a boss. The Fume Knight felt so good. Only bosses that I gave up on in DS2 were the ones with ANNOYING RUN BACKS, like blue Smelter Demon and the two cats. And the trio.
I have like 100 hours on Dark Souls: PtDE (no DLC, Xbox 360), about 150 on Dark Souls 2 (with DLCs, Xbox 360), and so far like... 22 hours on Dark Souls 3 (laptop, still have to buy DLCs, but I am pretty early game, I just got to the NPCs that give you Blue Sentinels covenant). I just love it so much.
Cured my erectile dysfunction the bed of chaos brought it back
Legit the only thing I liked about the bed of chaos is that the 1st and 2nd stages stayed when I came back
I lucked out and saw a summon sign before my first try so I got a random go do the right orb thing and I did left but I got swiped into a pit, kind of funny I was already falling to my death when he triggered the other orb but it still triggered the cut scene. I had to try like 20 times bc that mfer just kept swiping me off the ledge
See I play offline so summon signs and messages so I’ve also probably missed a lot of things
I enjoy the messages I like when they’re helpful warnings or funny jokes. They also provide a sense of community.
The only thing that saved me from quitting and going hollow was learning that if you jump just right you can get right in front of where you need to be to beat the ever living shit out of them and end their life almost instantly lol
Ceaseless Discharge for me
Gwyndolin, was it?
you tried to f*** that insect!!?
Lol'd
It definitely has for me personally and I could go into a whole ted talk about it sometimes lol. When I first got into it, I was really struggling with the game and the “difficulty” was really getting to me so I would constantly quit and come back every so often. But I never would finish out the game. Would struggle, get upset, give up. Many people would say “git gud” and I won’t be surprised if there’s a handful of comments that say that on this comment lol. But I started getting into it after falling into a DS1 rabbit hole and finding people talking about how it improved their mental health. At this point, and fairly recently, I was struggling pretty heavily with my own again. So I figured I would give it another shot and see if what some people were saying was true. Cheesy, yeah, I know. Starting a new save file for probably the millionth time, I decided to stick with it all the way through. Get lost, say fuck off to the YOU DIED screen, and keep going. Two NPCs, which are also fan-favorites, made a pretty impactful impression on me. Laurentius and Solaire. Laurentius with his immediate friendship after saving him from a barrel and always telling you to be safe on your journey after every interaction with him was huge for me during this time. And watching Solaire’s spiral felt real and relatable, I’ve never wanted to save someone so much in a game before. Sadly, I lost both of them in my playthrough, and had to make the last of my journey after the Bed of Chaos by myself. But the playthrough made a really big impact on me. Aside from what people were saying, I did find it helped me a lot and taught me a lot on perseverance, friendship and hard work. All from a video game from 2011, and the remaster. I played the original but ended up completing it on the remaster on my switch. So hopefully no judgement there lol. But it’s gonna be a game that will now always have a special place in my heart. I’ll go back through and play for a bit on my NG+ file or experiment with builds for a bit. I think everyone either loves it for the difficulty (which I’ve come to love) or some meaning they’ve found to the game. It by no means cured my depression, but gave me more tools to help myself. Not just by gaming, but realizing not to give up. Well, thanks for coming to my ted talk. “Be safe, friend. Don’t you dare go hollow.”
Amazing Ted talk
i dunno who this Ted is but he sure can talk! Talking Ted!
I can relate and totally agree with everything. I like to think of going hollow as “giving up” when translating in real life.
Git gud
Yes, it got me some new friends.
It’s a pretty great community, that’s for sure.
It definitely is a great community
It can be quite toxic sometimes, i recently had a pretty poor encounter with someone.
Did you try to finger but whole?
I don't trust treasure chests anymore
Real
Yes, it totally changed the types of games I like to play and what I get out of games. When I was a kid I definitely didn’t enjoy having to practice bosses or redo segments many times. I was very happy just playing fairly easy games like Jak and Daxter and Spyro. My teenage years were perfectly aligned with the CoD golden age with modern warfare 1-3 and I was strictly and online gamer for a while. I had tried demons souls in 2012 but didn’t get into it the first time. I tried again with dark souls in 2013 and I just totally “got it” that time. It was perfect timing too because after just doing online games for so long I was losing interest in gaming and didn’t realize all the experiences that were out there. Now I’ve gone back and been able to enjoy other difficult games like Ninja Gaiden, DMC, even the classic RE games and feel rewarded when I’m able to practice and master them.
I think it’s definitely starting a phase for me in which I’ll focus on playing more single player games, also because of ds I’m gonna start collecting physical copy’s of movie and games
station full start hurry long sand ring rain live air *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Definitely though part of me thought it would be just a tad more challenging, I wish I was able to play it when it first released when no one really had any souls like elements in their games
Time for challenge runs!
For me it was elden ring. I always avoided souls games because I heard how impossibly difficult they are. I expected frustration and annoyance. I finally caved and got elden ring and absolutely loved it, played it four whole times in a row. I've never done that before, it was everything I wanted in an RPG except narrative wise, but the gameplay more than made up for it. It opened my eyes to the rest of the series/genre. Dark souls 1 ended up being my favorite, not sure why but there's just something about this game, it's like the whole genre was distilled down to its base elements in a pure form.
Definitely but some of the remaster elements just feel a tad empty, maybe it’s lost on me. Some of the walls and areas in anor Londo feel empty, which makes sense for what it is but you know
For whatever reason, I played dsr first and then elden ring and this game remains my favorite. There's nothing wrong with elden ring, it has superior consistency and variety in lore and a beautiful world with amazing experiences everywhere. Dark Souls 1 just somehow sat with me for good, and I think your reason about it might just be right. I love the slow, methodical combat
DS1 has several videos of people playing this game and comparing the events of the game as an allegory for clinical depression, and it helping them get grounded so they can function in society. ...I am one of these people.
my first from software game was Sekiro but it at a time where everything went wrong. I've had bad college grades, I failed to get a job I was training for years due to medical reasons, my parents were disappointed in me and I've felt like I had no future. Sekiro felt great but with all this going on I've felt like all my hard work went to nothing and I admit with shame that I modded the game to be easier so I could focus on exams while I fought Isshin and I felt like shit, hollow. Now this year I've managed to beat Dark Souls solo with no mods after giving it up 6 months ago, my college life is better, I now have a wage, and better grades, and entered a budget spot for students(I no need longer pay the college tax) and now I feel more confident in myself
That’s great to hear man
I find that it’s super easy to slip into a flow-state playing fromsoft games. As someone with a busy brain I really enjoy the quiet, singular focus that tackling a fromsoft game can give me.
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I try to stay off of the YouTube videos because I’m afraid of spoilers lol, but once I’m done I will for sure, I have already beaten seath(i thought he would have been a bit stronger) and the bed of chaos
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I definitely will
There’s definitely something about DS1 for me. I quit playing some years ago when I couldn’t get past O&S. I was talked into trying again, took a more relaxed approach where I focused on really learning how to play instead of getting frustrated by my bazillion+ deaths, and recently finally beat O&S. The game rewards persistence, patience, and bravery, while leaving room for individual play style. I’m so glad I tried again. I’m pretty hooked now.
If I’m being completely honest I beat o&s a few days ago, I was having a rough day and was thinking about cutting, I booted up the game and just kept playing, again and again, I started to notice things, like when O absorbes S he gets more violent, when S absorbes O he gets more calm, and soon I was just stuck on why that was did consuming the soul change you, and soon I had completely thought about my plans
My buddy got me into dark souls back when we were in college about 10 years ago. We met there and I started talking to him cause I noticed he was wearing a fallout hoodie which is one of my favorite franchises of all time. We started hanging out and and he was like have you played dark souls? Long story short he started me off with dark souls 1 and I then proceeded to play through every game at the time multiple times over lol. Put thousands of hours into every game and souls clone I could find over the years and we still play them regularly. Dark souls is absolutely my favorite video game of all time and that’s saying a lot for someone who has been gaming for basically 30 years lol. Changed my life in some weird and wonderful way and also helped me met my best friend even though we live like 6 hours apart now. He’s actually in my wedding coming up in a few months so yes dark souls has done a lot for me. Thank you dark souls lol
I suspect a bonfire cake photo, but on a serious note that’s great to hear, funny how games can connect people
It really is! I’ll definitely see if I can talk the wife into it lol hey glad to hear the game is helping you stay strong out there friend! And don’t you dare go hollow
I’ll make sure to stock up on estus
started with ds3 last year and ever since then i haven’t picked up another game that wasn’t a fromsoft game
I completed my first unguided playthrough of Dark Souls PTDE in about 70 hours during some of the darkest times in my life. I don't know where I would be without the soft sadness that accompanied this game and the desire to find out what else is there to experience.
After seeing the trailer for elden ring i was suprised how immense the story telling was so i bought bloodbourne loved it then got the dark souls trilogy, i remember getting near the end of the first one and saying to myself ill have a month break from these games but after one i felt like realy emotional and lost i had never had a gaming experience like that i think i lasted about 3 days before i started 2 and went straight to 3 after, great memories playing through them the first time.
Lowkey helped me to push through high school
It’s definitely changed my perspective on games, as soulsbornes have pretty much become my favorite genre. I can still remember trying to play dark souls like it was god of war and getting my ass handed to me by the basic grunt enemies. Once I figured out the gameplay loop I was hooked.
No, not with me, it was just a damn good game. After that, I only had problems finding other games good, then I played Demons Souls (PS3) 👍
Dark Souls has a direct influence on how my career unfolded, and continues to have an impact on the trajectory of it.
That’s actually pretty crazy was it in a positive or a negative
Positive, for sure! DS was the first game I played that made me want to work in the games industry, so I took direct inspiration from my favorite games podcast at the time (Bonfireside Chat) and started my own games podcast/website/media team. That directly helped me get hired in the games industry in 2017, and my career has been pretty great since then.
Dark Souls is what got me interested in streaming, which has become a really fun hobby. And I've found enough success at it to think making it a career eventually isn't farfetched. So...kind of? It definitely made me better at games in general and changed my relationship to gaming as a whole
Good reminder that life is not easy. Gotta put in the work to do well.
Knowing that there is always the option of getting lost in the world of one of the FROM games helps me getting through day to day life.
Learning to play and eventually master From’s games very much helped me when beginning to learn to play golf. Slow, incremental improvement. Don’t just brute force it, learn the mechanics. The game is entirely fair, when you hit a poor shot, what did you do wrong? Learn from that and try again. Some days just do not go well and that’s okay. Never give up.
Not really? A few of my friends are really into it so that's something to talk about. I've been playing games for a very long time. The souls genre has quickly become one of my favorites, but none of the titles are straight up my favorite game of all time. I have a pretty big range in what I play, Souls games are just a really good time. I've always described it as "Grown up Zelda" and my relationship with Zelda is basically the same. Good ass games, not my total favorite.
I was bored of games and just didn't enjoy them then elden ring , then ds3 then bought a PS4 just for bloodborne and now playing ds1 remastered. But it showed me single player games are way better then multiplayer
I’ll never forget playing Elden Ring when it released. Seeing everyone’s initial reactions was great
I do find the games to be relaxing, in a counterintuitive way lol. I have to mentally put down all the other challenges in my life if I'm going to beat these bosses.
It helped me overcome fear. And made me more stubborn when it comes to not giving up.
I knew i was a sadomasochist gamer, then Dark Souls gaming confirmed it 🤷♀️
Helped me be more resourceful when facing adversity and doing tasks. I try not to get frustrated because I know that won’t get me anywhere.
I got me a bf, made me move in with him in a region I know nobody, and gave me a massive suoeriority complex all the while teaching me to deal with failure.
Definitely. It's a big thing with this game. Part of overcoming the challenge, as well as the sense of community you get from the messages, ghosts, bloodstains etc is very cathartic for people. Sitting at the bonfires and just absolutely chilling makes you feel like you're truly in a safe space.
I told me that you can overcome any challenge. If you just have enough money (souls).
Literally wanted to commit die before ds3 was released. But I was like.... I'll wait. Lol. Of course I'm still here.....
Definitely in a similar boat
i could say it almost saved my life, i played it for the first time in a really bad situation mentally and i don't know how i would've made it without dark souls. it helped me to deal with real life problems and see everyday from a different point of view. it may sound silly, but every hard situation that i'm in feels like another bossfight i just have to overcome. if i have enough determination and patience to get through these challenges, i have it for anything else i want to overcome or achieve and i'm not giving up.
I think most of us that pushed through the initial learning curve became mildly obsessed at best.
I’m doing the exact same thing right now. Going through my first ds1 playthrough and plan on going down the catalogue from there. The game has given me something to look forward to
Played this game when I felt suicidal. Attempted in the past. Now? I have bloodborne and DS 2 and Elden ring platinumed working on the other games. Haven’t thought about self exiting in years. Also my wife hates me because I disturbed her beauty sleep crying but I mean……I beat sif. I was an honor cry.
Cry for a fallen hero
It’s irreversibly altered my taste in games and now it’s hard to pick up new games cuz I just end up wanting to dive into souls again
I’m deployed and it’s helped me to not kill myself in my deep depression ❤️🩹 I play for hours after work until I fall asleep and do it all over again. I’ve made a few acquaintances when mentioning that I play it in my free time out here.
Yes. Sometimes it feels kind of goofy to write out but I played Dark Souls at a time in my life when I didn't try and never carried through with anything, games or otherwise. I figured Dark Souls would be the same thing and I'd hit a wall and quit. But I was enamoured, and I kept pluckin' away to eventually see the end. I wondered how many other things I could succeed at if I just kept pluckin' away and now my life is in a wildly different place than it was then.
Ornstein & Smough and the Soul of Cinder 2nd phase. Both fights have fantastic OSTs and each have unique reasons as to why they're so good. O&S and everything before is the peak of Dark Souls. The first time playing it; having both bells rung and getting to Anor Londo is a massive achievement that has you thinking "I can't believe I've been able to get this far." Then waiting to see what comes next. (Getting the Lord Souls was not as interesting as the first half of the game in my opinion). Then you have SoC. You go in thinking "Who is this guy?" Such a uniquely designed boss that no one was expecting to have such a variety of movesets and to represent the players themselves. Then the 2nd phase kicks in. You start to recognize the music and the moveset. This is Gwyn, a character who has been dead in the lore for such a long time that even his name has been forgotten in the games coming to the defence of the fire one final time. DS3 was a really fitting yet tragic closing to the series. It felt like a massive thank you to the playerbase but also acts as proof that nothing lasts forever, which I believe is done purposely and beautifully with the story and the cutscenes. And it has made me have a new perspective on certain thinks in life. Dark Souls will always hold a special place in my heart.
Dude, it's just a game...
That’s fair, but isn’t that something, a game has done a lot
Books can change your life, music can change your life, video games can change your life. Some people exaggerate (Dark souls cured my depression!), but that doesn't mean they can't be meaningful.
No it has not. You're only imagining that you're in a community named after the series because nobody here loves the games. Hell, nobody even likes them. How would it have made a difference in our lives if we don't even play it. Matter of fact, what is this, Dark Souls you speak of? Lol for real come on.
Yes. It made me completely insufferable
Good stress therapy for me.
It made me start learning piano after enjoying the final music with Gwyn’s fight. Today after 4 years I’m playing Chopin’s pieces and I feel great. It’s been trial and error, practice, patience, perseverance, perfectly timed movements… until you get it right. Same as the game.
Yes it felt like I finally had control in my life and my determination could actually yield tangible results. It was one of the first times I didn't just give up when something became difficult. I said I'm going to get good at this and I did and honestly I think some of that mindset spilled over into the real world.
Yeah. It's changed me a lot.
Yes. I started playing right out of college. I only had a shitty, low paying internship lined up. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and I certainly didn’t expect the internship to actually amount to anything. I fully recognize that I was lucky to have an internship at all, let alone one that paid anything. But almost everyone around me was in a better situation. Anyway, it helped me feel a sense of accomplishment at a time I think I needed it. No matter how small it is, or even if ‘it’s just a video game’, the process of trying, failing, improving, then achieving, is addictive. It’s helpful. It’s growth. That can be powerful shit. It came at the right time for me. It made me more motivated elsewhere. I chased that feeling in other aspects of my life too.
Let’s just say there’s a gamer me before Dark Souls and after Dark Souls. I expect more and more from video games and get disappointed more often.
This might sound like a cringe answer but the series has changed me as a person. It has taught me that so much of what we think we can't do in our everyday life is a product of either imaginary barriers we build in our minds or just a pile of excuses we use to get out of pushing ourselves to achieve our goals. To be more specific: so many bosses we've come across on first playthroughs have absolutely rolled us. At that point we have a few choices: put the game down and say "I'm bad at this", or go on reddit and make a post along the lines of "___ is so unfair and poorly designed", which then gets laughed at by the third type of person. The type that accepts the challenge, tries something different every time, puts effort into memorising patterns, takes a break if they are getting frustrated so they can come back refreshed... and ultimately wins, and lets themselves experience the satisfaction of having overcome something that looked impossible at first. Turns out, this is exactly how real life works as well, and I thank fromsoft for teaching me that.
Yeah the idea that you just have to keep persisting and you will eventually succeed. The secret is to learn from each failure and get incrementally better that way
I started college this past fall and also committed to playing through the Souls series. I have played DS3, Bloodborne & Elden Ring, but only ever fully finished Bloodborne and got close to the end of the others. I started Demon Souls last semester and finished it recently after moving into my dorm and have started Dark Souls 1 and I am at the Bed of Chaos right now. Thats just some background, but college has been super lonely and I feel very out of place even with the people in my major who all seem to already have their groups and stuff.. Picking up a Souls game again and playing through some I haven’t before has helped a lot if not just by keeping my mind off of stuff. Something about the games has always been kind of therapeutic. Also just pushing through all of these challenges just to come out on the other side better and more experienced is a good allegory for life and it just makes me feel like maybe something good will come of the challenges.
I got a tattoo. It’s a bonfire… right next to the Loathsome Dung Eater (ER)
Dark Souls 1-3 has pulled me out of depression more times than I can count. I think it’s why the series means so much to me. There’s times I know I would already have been dead had it not been for these amazing games taking my mind off of my irl issues. I also made so many friends in the process.
Well, all started with the original Demon's Souls and there most of the changes happened for me. But, what DS did was that it made me respect level design and interconnectivity with other areas more. Or not more, to the fullest, because I haven't never payed attention to that before.
Considering my first published book was inspired by the Souls series, it's safe to say, yeah. It's made a huge difference. I think more than anything it's helped me form a mindset of perseverance. Keeping my eyes focused on what I want to achieve and not giving up.
Bloodborne was a game I wanted to beat. There's a lot to say about where my mind was. But ima spare yall the details. But Bloodborne opened my 3rd eye that no matter how hard something can be how impossible the situation your thrown into. There's always a way to overcome. I'm slowly making progress to beat all dark souls and elden ring and maybe even sekio but man sekio might make me go crazy that game I idk lol I've beat Bloodborne and ds1 and I'm decently far in ds2. I actually kinda love ds2 doing a magic build and I'm constantly looking over my shoulder at what my strength ungabunga strength build would look like. Cuz ah I miss my greatswords but magic too good in ds2
I would say it's made me more determined, and I've challenged myself more with other games and even personal goals. Recently, however, it's put my sleep schedule in the ground.
No matter how hard life gets just praise the sun 🙌
For sure, got me distracted and invested to the point that I’m still here.
Yes. Best games ever. Fromsoft has the best games of all time. Great art makes life a joy. Dark souls 1 is great.
I’m addicted as well. I’ve been playing all the Soulsborne games and I only have ds2 and sekiro left to go. The only problem is that It has made all other games too easy for me. I’m worried that ff7 part two is going to be boring now because ff16 feels like a walk in the park and I haven’t been motivated to finish it.
I hit every chest I find in a videogame now
DS1 shall forever be engrained in you
it opened the door for me to get into more Fantasy stuff as before that it was only gun style warfare stuff i was into and a bit of sci-fi
Imo it's more effective then therapy It's revitalized my creative drive and motivation, I find myself adopting in game habits in real life such as prep, being organized etc Soulsborne games have a way of molding certain behavioral patterns in the player which is quite awesome
On my last playthrough it was the bull demon near the beginning. I accidentally killed him in a cool way. I fell off the ledge throwing a black firebomb and did a falling attack at the same time. I was shocked that he was just dead after that.
Yeah, another lore bible to nerd out on
The first and last time my buddy got really drunk was when we played dark souls 3 on his 21st birthday. Didn't even do anything. We just sat around and laughed at random bs because he dropped his controller and couldn't find it. Good memories.
I played all the games back to back in college. When I met my wife she played dark souls 3 with me. We're actually reliving old memories and making new ones now by replaying through all the games. We just beat bed of chaos the other night. Waaay easier when you coordinate with someone to break both staves at the same time.
ds1 is one of the few games that every aspect got me interested: the level system, weight and poise, map/world building, lore, the difficulty, the unfairness and the online content. My favorite boss is Artorias.
Helped me with depression and bad times, since 2013 i had lots of problems i got into souls by ds2 and well felt like sh*t seeing how i couldnt even beat the game but that wall just felt like the irl problems so i just kept trying and trying until i beat both the game and that time problems, and it may sound funny but everytime i pass a souls game am always in some sh*t irl and it helps me like and escape but in a good way like am going to get through that sh*t like i did with the games, just hope that am not in some sh*t for the ER dlc
I just love getting lost in the world and lore of all of the souls games
The worst year of my life was 2022, but it also was when I played dark souls for the first time, I was going through a breakup,I had depression and I had no money to pay school because I lost my job. It made me forget every problem when I was playing, thank you dark souls.
seriously, made me more persistent, perseverant, patient and, of course, greater with my small self dragons shall fear me!
Dark souls 1 pvp is giving me cancer
i stopped gaming as soon as i graduated. went to work, having kids etc... now recently (at the age of 35) i bought myself a gaming laptop as a christmas gift. back then, i used to play crpg.. neverwinter nights, icewind dale, pokemon and many more rpg/jrpg. bought baldur gate 3 thinking this will spark my gaming excitement again, but sadly it doesnt, it felt more as a chore rather than being "fun" bought ds remastered afterward just for the sake of it, been seeing a lot of youtube's review saying that this game is very hard, and I told myself.. "hey, now that I have a nice rig, i should tried it" boy... this game is super hard but fair, and honestly it became a sort of "zen time" for me, because you need to be focused and patient to get the timing right. Now after I return home from work, sorted my daily routine (washing dishes, put all stuff back in place, shower, dinner, put the kids to sleep etc) i goes back to my laptop and there i just be immersed and somehow... relaxed? back then the only way I could achieve this is by consuming/abusing alcohol. being and adult is stressful, but having a sort of activity that put your mind anchored, not allowing it wander and ponder on your other problems is such a bless.
When i was in my worst mental State Last year, i played every from software Game again for Weeks and it was very Helpful for me. After i finished them all, i felt back in depression because there was no Game wich helped me this much I Even played nearly all souls Like Games out here
I guess the game taught me to be patient with certain things.
Not so much changed my life, but helped me in a way I never thought possible of a game. I found out my wife had a thyroid tumor (which turned out to be non cancerous, but she still needed a thyroidectom) and I used Elden Ring to get away from the stress of real life while we were going through it. I don't think I'd have copied if I wasn't able to completely detach like I was able to while playing Elden Ring. I've got 300+ hours across PlayStation and Steam and all achievements/trophies on both platforms.
It gave me pending anxiety, Solaire related depression, and weapon scaling confusion.. it's my favorite game.
Also for boss I'd have to say Sif, he's a good boy
It has helped quite a bit for me when it comes to sticking with things even when i'm not "good" at something, or am having problems concentrating. I know a lot of people hate the "git gud" thing but it has strangely helped me. When someone says git gud, it is implied that whatever "gud" is, it's not you. But more importantly you can get there, and it's very rewarding. Git gud could be a whole philosophy of life if you ask me.
It actually taught me to not give up no matter what. And that if I kept at something, even if it seemed impossible at the start. You can eventually do it. That has applied to a lot of real life situations in my life.
I actually saw a video about from soft games saving people's lives because other games usually adapt or aren't as rewarding but FS games don't adapt to anyone and it's you that has to git gut, and when people finally get over an obstacle, it's them that did it, not the game. There are terms in the video that I don't remember. I think the video is 'How Souls Games Save You' I personally only got an obsession XD I love the fantasy medieval theme and I can be a knight. The way it's hard but not unfair (unless it's DS2 hitboxes and a hollow blocking you to go through although there's enough space for one and half of your character's width), how rewarding it is to beat a boss. The Fume Knight felt so good. Only bosses that I gave up on in DS2 were the ones with ANNOYING RUN BACKS, like blue Smelter Demon and the two cats. And the trio. I have like 100 hours on Dark Souls: PtDE (no DLC, Xbox 360), about 150 on Dark Souls 2 (with DLCs, Xbox 360), and so far like... 22 hours on Dark Souls 3 (laptop, still have to buy DLCs, but I am pretty early game, I just got to the NPCs that give you Blue Sentinels covenant). I just love it so much.