After playing through many games for a week, I basically have a complete understanding of the plot of the game.
The remaining two weeks are more about studying some routines, or completing some content that was not collected during the previous main line clearance.
But "Dark Soul" is different. After the player clears the game for a week, he may not even discover much of the content of the game itself.
For example, players who play "Dark Soul" for the first time will rarely know if they don't read the guide. In fact, in "Dark Soul", apart from holding the fire and encountering NPC and player invasions, or shaking people to help fight the boss outside.
In fact, you can still summon NPCs in front of some specific boss rooms.
For example, in front of the boss room of Lothric Ice Dog, if you have defeated Brother Dao at the Fire Protection Sacrifice, you can take Brother Dao's spirit body to fight Ice Dog, and you also know Brother Dao's name: expert.
You can also see the spirit mark left by the summoned lion knight Albert before passing through the steps on the left outside the door of the big fat winged knight. Of course, this can only be seen by the player in the afterglow state.
When many players came here for the first time, they had already lost their remaining fire status due to the ravages of various mobs.
And in the world of "Dark Soul", there are also many things unique to arpg games, which are side missions.
But these branches need to be discovered and triggered by the players themselves.
And the more players learn about the side stories of these NPCs, the more they realize that this is a game full of despair.
The world view, story, and difficulty are all the same.
The first place where players start their adventure, there is a hooded thief named Grerit imprisoned under the high walls of Lothric.
After rescuing him, he will appear in a corner of the Fire Sacrifice, and you can get a prop from his hand, allowing the player to go to the undead settlement to find a woman named Loretta.
It may be his lover, it may be his relative, but it is obvious that this woman is his spiritual support.
In order to repay the players, the thief brother will go out to steal some useful things and sell them to the players at low prices, which is much more affordable than the old lady in front of the blacksmith.
But when the player went to the undead settlement, he accidentally knocked down a hanging corpse. After picking up the glowing relic, he discovered that the corpse was the person the thief was looking for.
Go back with the relics and tell Brother Thief.
'Ah...that's it...that woman...is dead. '
'Thank you. In fact, I have had this premonition for a long time. Well... I feel much more relaxed now. You can take this ring... just think of it as a thank you gift. '
The calm tone revealed despair.
After this, Brother Thief will help the player go out and steal things.
Every time you steal something, you can get some practical props.
The first time, the thief sneaked back with his own wit.
The second time you go to Irushil in the Cold Valley, if the prerequisites are met, the thief can still return safely and tell the player that an 'Onion Knight' saved him.
But the third time when the thief brother once again proposed to go to the royal city to work, the players agreed because of the gains from the previous two times, but this time the thief brother could never come back.
'Hey... listen to me, I want to steal some more things back. There may be something you want in the Royal City of Lothric. '
'I know... this city seems very dangerous, but I still want to go... '
'After all, I don't want to be just a humble street rat until my death. '
On the roof of the big library with the arakkoa, the player found the ashes of Brother Thief. Recalling the conversation between Brother Thief before departure, the player couldn't help but feel mixed emotions in his heart.
Obviously, after the thief learned about Loretta's death, he not only wanted to repay Ashes for helping him, but also had a death wish, so he put himself in danger again and again.
… … …
It is also the first time for most players to fight side by side with real living NPCs instead of spirit Onion Knights.
The first time I saw the Onion Knight, I felt that he was always dull and a little silly.
But at the same time, you can also feel his optimistic character and righteousness.
When he saw Ashes fighting the flame demon, he stepped forward to help without saying a word, and after the battle, he would drink wine with him to praise the sun.
Along the way, the Onion Knight had several interactions with the player, until he told the player something in Irushil.
That is, he has a mission, and this mission has the same goal as Ashes.
He wanted to personally send his old friend, the Giant King Yomu, one of the Sin Kings, on his way.
Because this is the promise he made, the highest promise of a knight's glory and friendship.
As the bell to wake up King Xin rang, Youmu woke up from his slumber and saw that his royal capital was in ruins, and his former people turned into mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Deep in Yomu's heart, in addition to self-blame, he also had a burning hatred for Chuanhuo. His hope did not come true but turned into deformed flames that swallowed everything. His soul also began to distort with this power, and his sinful karma The corrosion of the fire caused his mind to completely collapse.
Immediately, Yum abandoned the shield that had been with him for several years, and guarded the deepest part of the Sin City with a broadsword, paranoid and crazy attacking anyone who invaded his territory.
And the Onion Knight, Catalina’s Jack Baldo.
He will also fulfill the promise he once made and kill his former best friend with his own hands.
Stormbenders, two great swords capable of killing giants.
One is next to the throne of Yom in the Capital of Crime, while the other was given to his most trusted friend.
'Yum, my old friend! '
'Catalina Knight, Jack Baldo, has come to fulfill his promise! '
'May the salary king be with the sun! '
After the fierce battle, the body of Giant King Youmu was shackled, and the exhausted Onion Knight sat down on the spot, as if he had returned to the scene when he fought side by side with Ashes to defeat the Fire Demon for the first time.
'I'm so sorry! I always ask you to save my life. '
'However, thank you very much. Thanks to you, I can fulfill my own promise. '
'Okay, let's raise a toast together at the end. '
The Onion Knight once again gave Ashes a glass of wine he brewed, and they drank together.
'May your courage and mission, and my old friend Yum, be with the sun! '
'Okay, I'm going to take a nap. I must do this after the celebration party! '
'My friend... may you accomplish your mission safely. '
The two people met during the journey for different reasons, and the Onion Knight's mission has been completed.
Ashes will continue to fulfill his mission.
The Onion Knight sat there with his head lowered.
But this time, the Onion Knight did not snore like before.
It wasn't until the player walked away that a dull sound of something falling to the ground reached his ears.
All players understand that they will never see the Onion Knight again during the rest of the journey.
… … …
It can be said that there are too many characters in the game that players will remember deeply.
The discouraged brother who constantly spreads negative thoughts in the Fire Sacrifice was once a member of the Frank Immortal Team. However, after players continued to complete challenges that he considered impossible, he finally stopped being discouraged and decided to inherit the Immortal Team. The will of the team.
He no longer sought swordsmanship but pursued the power of dragons. After killing the ancient dragon, he obtained one-half of the glorious dragon stone of destiny, and finally ended up at the Frankling Temple where he and his teammates struggled together. .
Brother Fengxin, who picked up the sword again, took the undead element bottles of the entire team and fought a battle for dragon stones with Ashes. The winner had the power of the ancient dragon while the loser fell into sleep.
There is also the Saint, who shoulders the mission of becoming the Fire Girl. If she comes into contact with the Dark Dictionary, she will lose her mind and will only be eroded by the darkness in the end.
But if she hadn't learned the Holy Code of Darkness and finally became a fireproof girl, she would have become a machine that only knew how to upgrade players, waiting to die alone in a tower full of corpses of fireproof girls.
The knight guarding her, Igo, also felt that his mission of guarding had been completed. He first went to the dragon hunting armor to draw a white talisman to repay Ashes' favor, and finally returned to the dungeon where the Saint was originally to commit suicide.
Hero Guda, the Unknown King, the Two Princes... Whether they are bosses or NPCs, everyone has their own story behind them.
But these stories are also despairing.
No matter what you do, all you get in the end is tragedy.
Just like the name of the game, "Dark Souls", the more you learn about it, the more you feel that this world is so dark.
Originally, most players thought that continuing to pass on the flames in the end was the orthodox ending.
Because both Chen Xu’s official blog and the promotional trailer before the game was launched showed that the theme of the game is to spread fire.
But as players become more and more familiar with the content of the game, the other three endings besides Fire Pass have also been discovered one by one.
The ending is to put out the fire, plunging the whole world into darkness.
In the fire-stealing ending, during the fire-extinguishing ending, attack the fire-prevention woman and grab the embers that are about to go out.
In the ending of King of Wandering Souls, after rescuing Rondal's Pilgrim, he will draw out the dark power hidden in the player's body. Players who take this path will eventually gather eight rings of darkness, swallowing the flames at the end, and become The King of Wandering Souls.
Whether spreading fire is the right choice has become a major topic of debate among players.
Each of the four endings has its own player support.
Players at the ending of "Pass the Fire" believe that "Pass the Fire" is to convey the fire of hope. When the flame is extinguished, the world falls into darkness and is filled with ghosts. How can such a hopeless world be correct
Players who think that the ending of extinguishing the fire thinks that spreading the fire is a conspiracy, and just like the fire prevention girl said, there will definitely be new flames appearing in the darkness one day, and in the end, they can talk to the fire prevention girl. Let's stay together and fly together. If the world is dark, let's be dark!
Of course, some people think that King of Wandering Souls should be the real ending.
Even including the ending of Stealing Fire, many players believe that this is the real ending.
The reason is very simple.
After all, the ashes longing for the embers mentioned in this ending can be said to be consistent with the beginning of the game.
That’s why the ending is so good with narration and dubbing!
But no matter what, the plot of "Dark Souls" is fragmented and open-ended.
Therefore, there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, and each player has his own interpretation that he thinks is correct.
More and more players who have completed the game are like archaeologists, delving into the contents of "Dark Soul".
I hope to be able to dig out more credible evidence to prove that my point of view is correct.
Although Chen Xu did not release the content of Soul One, the existing related content is enough for players to imagine what kind of epic plot is behind it.
The more you dig, the more it makes players sigh.
Suffering at the beginning, this is the label of "Dark Soul", but as more and more plots and details in the game are missed.
Obviously, the so-called "suffering", "hardcore" and "high difficulty" cannot fully summarize the game "Dark Souls".
There's more to it than that.