Recent reviews by Doctor Quark

I'm going to level with you. This was my first Souls game, and I suspect that may be this is my favorite of all the Soulsborne games. A few friends of mine tend to cry foul at this, having pretty strong opinions on Dark Souls II that haven't changed much over the years. It's not really a secret by this point that this is the only game in the franchise that lacked Hidetaka Miyazaki's direction, and along with a troubled development cycle, many would agree it came out of the oven a little undercooked. I'm not inclined to disagree - every now and again I return to it and run up against design decisions that briefly make me consider putting my controller away for the day. But I do return to it. I've played through it the most times of any Souls title. I've spent a lot of time mulling over why, and I think I've finally come to a conclusion.

First, let me tell you what it definitely isn't - the misguided emphasis on difficulty. The level design, aesthetics aside, is fairly haphazard and oftentimes linear. This didn't have to be a huge dealbreaker on its own, but enemy placement is largely designed to turn any interaction into a chaotic brawl that never feels like an even fight. Your foes often come in numbers, hiding in closets or around corners. They sometimes pelt you from afar in places with no cover or vantage points, or wait for you to commit to squeezing through a tight chokepoint before approaching you. If you want to survive, you'll be forced to carefully bait enemies out to keep fights manageable, and learn to memorize every little trap and ambush. This turns gameplay into a slog at times, and some levels - I'll refrain from naming names for the uninitiated - are legitimately painful affairs even once you know what you're doing. This design philosophy of quantity over quality even extends to some of the boss fights. In addition, there are a couple of other unfortunate choices made with respects to balancing gameplay that tarnish the experience. Your dodge roll - a staple of the Souls experience - comes with an uncomfortably low number of invincibility frames by default. You'll find yourself getting hit by moves you swear you should have dodged until you invest a fair number of experience levels into your Agility stat, which was a contentious change, to say the least. What's more, a Soul Memory mechanic was added that keeps track of the total number of souls you've collected over the course of your game, regardless of whether those souls went towards leveling up, gear and items, or went down the drain after a few bad runs. As this number influences random matchmaking, you'll often find yourself encountering antagonistic players who are ostensibly less mistake-prone than you. You'll also have trouble engaging in cooperative or competitive matchmaking if you're too far outside of another's summoning range. There's a sprinkling of a few odd issues - questionable hitboxes, obvious bugs, low-res textures and what have you. How all of this is going to affect your feelings towards the game is largely subjective, but I do feel comfortable in saying this much: Dark Souls II definitely doesn't have the thematic strength or immersive level design of its predecessor, and that combined with the aforementioned issues does make it the objectively inferior game. And yet...

There's a strange sort of fairy-tale charm to Dark Souls II that I don't think any of the other Souls games has. It slips slightly out of the darker end of the fantasy pool and more towards high fantasy, which is almost immediately noticeable when you first step into Majula, this game's stand-in for Firelink Shrine. It's a lonely, dilapidated seaside town in a constant state of twilight, that enchanted me very quickly as the somber music filled in to greet me. On the whole, and despite the way the game sets you up to fail, the immediate tone of our little sequel feels somewhat more hopeful than before. You'll encounter a wider variety of locales than in the first game, which runs the gamut from "fantasy kitchen sink" to "straight outta Dark Souls I". While things feel more disconnected, it does lend itself to a somewhat curious feeling, like wandering through a dream. On that note, while a lot of criticism has been leveled at the narrative's relative lack of nuance, I really must say that I quite enjoyed the story DSII had to tell. There's a lot of interesting themes that are played with, some genuinely moving dialogue, and Scholar of the First Sin adds a much-needed pinch of mystique. It also has something of an oddly nostalgic feel to it, wearing its King's Field influences a bit more openly than the original did. In light of that, I found myself watching the credits roll satisfied with my journey. And after that, I was actually quite eager to go through it all again - the world is more satisfying to explore the second time around, and there are a myriad of secrets and treats to pick over if you're willing to search every nook and cranny (and maybe consult the wiki once or twice).

I think it's the little things that keep me coming back to Dark Souls II. There's a certain angle to its aesthetic that is a refreshing change of pace from the crushingly moody tones of its brethren. The game world is still massive, and really gives the sense of a sweeping fantasy epic as you play through it, especially due to the relatively open-ended progression. There are things such as powerstancing and the broad pool of weapon types and spells that give this game a lot of replay value, especially if you're invested in the player-versus-player aspects. A few of the NPCs have joined my pantheon of favorite Souls characters, and the DLC has, in my opinion, some of the best moments of the whole franchise. And it does still have some legitimately awe-inspiring locales and boss fights. All in all, Dark Souls II has a sort of pleasant warmth to it, almost like a homemade cup of coffee - perhaps a little burnt, just a bit too sour, but I wouldn't want to start my morning without it.

I wholeheartedly adore this game, in spite of its flaws - and make no mistake, it has flaws. But every game does. Don't let the most scathing reviews scare you off of giving it a chance, and if you couldn't stomach it before, I humbly invite you to give it another spin sometime. This may not be the Dark Souls sequel everybody wanted, but it is unabashedly a FromSoftware game, and there's a lot here to love because of it. And while it warms my heart to see that public opinion on the game has softened somewhat over time, I want you to come to your own conclusion.

Nothing could replace the original Dark Souls. In light of that, I think what they managed to make here was unique enough to stand out, for better or for worse. Every time I come home to Majula, I can't help but feel it was mostly for the better.

There really isn't a whole lot that I can say about Dark Souls that hasn't been said before, but I did want to share my personal feelings on the game that might help sway somebody who's been on the fence about it.

As an outsider, when you first hear about Dark Souls and its kin, the first thing people almost always talk about is the difficulty. It is indeed a challenging game, and being released in an era where games seemed reluctant to punish you too harshly for fear you might stop playing, that surely contributed to its success. There are a few rare moments where the game drops any pretense of fairness, but it is by and large a game that rewards patience and careful play, and one that I genuinely believe anybody can overcome given enough dedication.

However, after several sequels, remasters and rereleases, spiritual successors and imitators, the difficulty really isn't why Dark Souls deserves your attention. It wasn't the real reason back then, either. Rather, it's the way the trials the game presents you with tie into the world surrounding it that made the game truly special.

Grim, dark fantasy worlds are something that had existed in video games before Dark Souls, plenty of which are contained within FromSoft's own catalogue, including its immediate predecessor Demon's Souls. However, I don't think the concept had ever been so wonderfully realized before this game's release. Lordran is a hollow husk of a once-great kingdom that is filled to the brim with horrors of man and god alike. It is a land of the downtrodden and the damned, and the few sane denizens that remain here cling to what little hope remains in a dying world. You arrive here with little more than blade in hand and a prophecy to fulfill, and you will realize quickly that there is a reason it is still nothing more than a prophecy. But in spite of the hardships and the despair, Lordran is still beautiful, and somber reminders of its past glory patiently wait for you to rediscover them. Each bonfire will be a beacon of relief, and each time you see "VICTORY ACHIEVED", you will find yourself wanting to keep pushing forward in spite of all the frustration you had to suffer. The game will test you, and will reward your triumphs with a moment's respite and an invitation to explore another dark corner of its realm, with the unspoken guarantee that an even greater challenge will stand in your way before long. Or you will give up, and join the rest of the crestfallen hollows that populate the realm. Never before this game has the relationship between narrative and gameplay been so intimate, and an argument could be made that it still hasn't been topped over a decade later. If you have even a passing interest in Dark Souls - even if it doesn't seem quite your cup of tea - even if you normally hate "hard games" - even if you feel like you already know all there is to know about it after years of hearing its name praised - I insist you give it a try regardless. I fell in love with it and I believe you can too.

As a final note - while the game exists on many other platforms, I presume you're viewing this page because you want to play on PC. Bandai-Namco has done their utmost to ensure Remastered is the only commercially-available version of the game you can play. Some may insist on a "purer" experience by playing earlier versions of Dark Souls or at the very least suggest waiting until you can find a cheaper price on digital storefronts. While I'm not a fan of all the changes made in Remastered, nor do I much care for some of the publisher's business practices, this is still Dark Souls. If it's your first time playing, I think $40 is more than reasonable for what you get in exchange. But if you have an older console laying around, you can assuredly purchase a used copy for dirt cheap elsewhere. Vote with your dollar, but I think the game holds up anywhere you can find it.

I've been playing Final Fantasy XIV since the Heavensward patch cycles. Now that 6.1 is near at hand, with 6.0 having wrapped up a storyline that many have been following since the birth of this game, I wanted to share a few of my thoughts on it in hopes that it will help somebody in deciding whether or not this game is right for them. The first time I tried, however, I ended up blowing straight past Steam's character limit for reviews. In light of that, I'm going to attempt to be as succinct and honest with my feelings about XIV as possible, because I frankly think the game is deserving of it after all the time I've spent with it.

Let me start with this: If you're coming here looking for novel or compelling gameplay, just turn around now. FFXIV's greatest strength is arguably its accessibility, which comes very much at the cost of any real depth. As of the time of writing, you have nineteen fully-featured combat classes (and Blue Mage) that, given sufficient story progression, you can fully experience on a single account without ever needing to revisit character creation. All of these jobs have distinct aesthetics and lore, and anybody willing to invest the time can readily learn how to play any or all of the jobs well. Some are more complicated than others, but none of them are so in-depth that they're out of the average player's reach. And so long as you're willing to invest the time in leveling and gearing each one, switching between them is as simple as pressing a button. With all that in mind, and alongside a rapidly expanding amount of solo content, you can explore 99% of what XIV has to offer in just about any way you choose, with the last 1% comprising the hardcore aspects of the game that will ultimately demand no more of you than your patience and a tight-knit group of friends. That's all great! But on the other hand, you have entirely linear character progression devoid of builds, skill trees, unique gear, open-ended abilities that allow for emergent gameplay, or pretty much anything else that would give the game any kind of spice or depth. The game also places a heavy emphasis on "roles" and equity within those roles, ensuring that party composition is almost always strictly enforced and no particular job is going to outshine another. The Final Fantasy the Fourteenth experience ultimately amounts to pressing your shiny buttons in a specific order and avoiding glowing puddles of death. Once you reach endgame, the most you can do to make yourself stand out is to master your job's rotation (which leaves little room for optimization) and swap a few pieces of gear or stat gems to eke out a few more points of damage when learning the fight is no longer a concern. Again, none of this is inherently a bad thing; the gameplay is easy to learn and only slightly harder to master, which means this is a game that anybody can play and much of its popularity can assuredly be attributed to this. But if you came here looking for a game that will challenge you and exhilarate you, look elsewhere.

Of course, the other major component of FFXIV is its story, and boy does it ever have one. You're looking at hundreds of hours of text, dialogue, and cutscenes, and that's just the non-optional stuff. It's very proud of it too; progression in the game is directly tied to progression in the main story, meaning if you want to play the newest and hottest content, you're going to have to see this tale all the way to its end. Sure, you could spend an exorbitant amount of money on the obligatory "skip-the-story" cash shop item, or mash through every single text box and animation, but no matter what, it's always going to be lurking there beneath the surface, leaving you without context for just about everything you see. For some people, this is going to be an immediate turn-off, no matter how good the story is, and that's why I feel inclined to lay that out for what it is. XIV takes a real gamble on trying to present a JRPG story in the same vein as its brethren, and whether or not that gamble pays off is very much up to the individual to decide. I'm not going to spend time breaking the narrative down, as somebody else out there has assuredly already done a better job of it than I ever could. But I will say this: while the story didn't grab me at first, by the end of the road, I was very much invested, to the point where I knew I couldn't possibly walk away from the game until I had at least seen the conclusion of all I'd been witness to. I still have my reservations with the way Endwalker resolved some of the longest-running plot threads, but I was emotionally with it right up until the credits rolled. The world is wonderfully realized, with scenic locales, fun characters, and writing and lore that clearly have a lot of love put into them, all wrapped up in a dressing of Final Fantasy fanservice that sometimes tries a bit too hard but is easy to love regardless. The current free trial lets you play up to Heavensward, which is where many agree the experience starts to see a real uptick in quality; if you can make it to the end of that and feel like you've been enjoying yourself, I feel confident in saying you won't regret riding the train all the way to the last station.

There's one big thing I really can't overlook, though, and it's the fact that FFXIV is still an MMO, for better or for worse. While I've already mentioned that the game does a solid job of helping to cure your alt-itis, there isn't really too much else I can say it does better than its contemporaries. Glamouring ensures you can easily curate your character's appearance, and there's a lot of items to play around with, though you're still dropping ten dollars on a Fantasia if you ever want to make more than superficial changes. The core gameplay loop is the classic "run duties ad nauseum each week until you cap on endgame currency, then spend it until your stats stop increasing", which only grows in tedium depending on how many jobs you intend to kit out. You'll deal with long queue times for duties, you'll deal with salty groups, you'll tear your hair out trying to get your foot in the door of player housing, you'll deal with long content droughts between patches knowing full well the next .X update will largely be more of the same, and if you plan to stick with it, you'll have paid a few months worth of rent to Squeenix in subscription fees and cash shop purchases by the end of it all. Yet with all that being said, of all the MMOs I've played in the intervening years, few are such a pleasure to simply exist in as XIV. It has a genuinely great community with an abundance of friendly players who are more than willing to teach you how to play, and it's all surrounded by a fandom which celebrates every aspect of it to an uplifting degree.

FFXIV had always been something of a guilty pleasure game for me. It did a lot of things, but I could never say that there was anything it had going for it that hadn't been done better elsewhere. The gameplay is accessible but in no way exceptional. The story was fun but it wasn't exactly award-winning writing. As an MMO it managed to buck some of the most annoying trends of the genre, but ended up being just as bad if not downright regressive in some other respects. It is and will probably always be, some monumental shift in the direction of the game's development notwithstanding, the game I have spent the most time with that I also have the hardest time recommending to anybody. This game is an investment; it asks for your time, your money, and the keys to your heart, all while promising you an adventure like no other. And while I can't say it delivered in every way I had hoped it would, I will still say that 4500 hours later I don't regret my time with FFXIV, and that's got to be worth something. I dunno if I'll ever go back, but if you asked me to, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.