First Round! Dark Souls & Sword Art Online!

Hello again, so soon after I left last time ;) Well, in any case, I give you;

Dark Souls *Insert scary, eerie music here*

&

Sword Art Online *Insert inspirational, orchestral music here*

Speaking of music, here's a track you can listen to while you read :)

Dark Souls OST

I will just go right ahead and talk about the first thing on my schedule; Dark Souls

For those who haven't heard of it might believe that Dark Souls is an anime, and Sword Art Online is the game, but it's actually the other way around.

Dark Souls

I will try to do this with as few spoilers as possible.

Dark Souls is a game developed and published by the Japanese game company From Software (kind of an odd name). It is the "spiritual successor" of Demon's Souls. My brother turned 14 on the 13th of August, and I gave him Dark Souls as a present (Yes, see though my evil, processed scheme to let myself get the game, with the excuse that I am giving it to my brother *Insert evil laugh*). When I finally got a go at it, I was astounded by the difficulty you faced from the start. The controls were kinda tricky to get used to at first, and the lock-in system as well, as I tended to forget about it. The first mini-boss was a real surprise, and I was not expecting how powerful he was, nor how suddenly he would appear. I'll be honest, I died a lot before I got him down, but it was a lot of fun. The difficulty level was quite high for a new player, but it was the kind of difficulty which didn't make me ragequit (even though that doesn't really happen often, to be honest). The difficulty level was just enough to let you see the end of the tunnel, the little slit in the door you could slide through and just get down the enemy. In my eyes, the difficulty level was perfectly adjusted. Movement can be a bit sticky sometimes, and dodging can get mixed up with your manouvers, but this is all about practice. The monsters are innovative, a little like Final Fantasy, and the world looks beautiful, just like Skyrim. The combat is neat, but there is a lot of switching between your skills of you're a mage or a pyromancer (my favorite; btw, I really, really love the element fire). Anyways, I don't really know what game to compare it with, as it's got a bit of many. It is like a combination of Dragon Age, Skyrim and Final Fantasy. The graphics are amazing, and the storyline is promising. I will give you an update after I have played a bit more. My ranking of it so far would be *drumroll*

7.5/10

Why? The game is great, but I need to play it a little more to know for sure, but the promise is there. Graphics, great. Storyline, promising. Combat, alright. Movement, a bit sticky sometimes, and Magic, kick-ass! If you liked Dragon Age, Skyrim and/or Final Fantasy, this is a game you should pick up. Stay tuned!


Sword Art Online

Sword art online is an anime I just started watching, and so far, it kicks so fricking much ass. The animation is aboslutely exquisite, the storyline carries a hidden message about the future of gaming, and all gamers can relate to the hero. I will give you a quick summary of it. 

It's the year 2022, and gaming has reached a new level with the new Virtual Reality MMORPG game Sword Art Online. The hero, Kirito, finds himself trapped in the game with over 100000 other players. The reason why? Because the creator of the game has decided that after you have entered the game with the NerveGear, the VR machines, you won't be able to leave the game again, and if you die in-game, you die in real life as well. You can only get free if you complete the game by reaching the 100th dungeon floor. Kirito analyzes his predicament and decides to do something about it. Now what will he do...? To be continued...

In any case, the series looks amazing, and even only one episode got me hooked. I am definitely watching it through. Sadly, there are only 7 episodes out so far, but it is still ongoing, so there are more episodes to come (yay). This series is a must-see for all fantasy/sci-fi anime geeks ;) A very good anime so far. As with Dark Souls, I will give you an update later on.

Sword Art Online receives a solid 9/10, simply because I love it so much from the first episode >:D






I hope you enjoyed this review, and that you will look forward to the future content.
I will see you around.
=]

John