This is the Dark Souls of “This is the Dark Souls of…” metacommentary
May 3, 2016 9:54 PM   Subscribe

 
kehehehehehehehehehehe

Ashen one...
posted by mysticreferee at 9:57 PM on May 3, 2016


Dark Souls is a metaphor for the way I don't want to ever play Dark Souls but I still find watching Dark Souls play throughs strangely relaxing and enjoyable.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:19 AM on May 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


Dark Souls is a metaphor for the Nietzschean transition from the old pagan religions and their glorious, aristocratic gods to early Christianity as a religion of sacrifice and pity, with Gwyn playing the role of lightning-throwing divine patriarch as well as (unwitting) Jesus and Gwyndolin standing in for Paul. Players are expected to develop Amor fati through repeated application of YOU DIED screens.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 2:17 AM on May 4, 2016 [9 favorites]


I feel like the radiohead metaphor precisely captures the games appeal for a certain, somewhat obnoxious, proportion of its fanbase.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 2:33 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


This seems like an appropriate place to note that the author, Pippa Ward, is now on the Crate and Crowbar podcast, which You Should Be Listening To.
posted by selfnoise at 7:37 AM on May 4, 2016


Speaking of, Aevee Bee on Twitter has been saying some extremely wise things about Dark Souls and its ballyhooed difficulty lately.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:38 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is like if someone wanted to make an interesting article talking about Dark Souls and said "Why bother?" one sentence in.
posted by demiurge at 7:55 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


It's more like somebody wanted to publish a silly Dark Souls piece in McSweeney's but got rejected and shopped it around to RPS instead.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:58 AM on May 4, 2016


The toddler with the sunhat one is my favourite. The games really do try very hard to encourage you to learn things. While their design has a great deal of empathy for what you are feeling, there is very little sympathy for your intransigence. Still, if you do something truly absurd, you will probably be rewarded.

In that sense, and others, I think that deep is a better descriptor than difficult.
posted by ethansr at 11:03 AM on May 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


It's more like somebody wanted to publish a silly Dark Souls piece in McSweeney's but got rejected and shopped it around to RPS instead.

Well... This is like someone who is a staff writer for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, and who therefore writes many, many things for Rock, Paper, Shotgun without having to shop them to RPS or anywhere else, deciding to write a lighthearted piece of metacommentary about critical responses to Dark Souls 3.

Sometimes a cigar, and all that...
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:09 AM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


RPS have lots of good Dark Souls stuff, just poke around a little.

For instance Alec just did a good piece on achieving understanding: A Novice Plays Dark Souls 3 (some trifling boss spoilers)
posted by Sebmojo at 2:26 PM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


To be clear, RPS is one of the few gaming sites I still bother with. But that was totally a McSweeney's piece.
posted by tobascodagama at 4:55 PM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


#keepmefiweirdinmay
posted by Sebmojo at 9:20 PM on May 6, 2016


« Older It's the largest fire evacuation in Alberta...   |   Moon Knights and Demon Bears Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments