Will MMO Players Ever Embrace The Difficulty On Display In Dark Souls?
Dark Souls is arguably one of the most intriguing franchises of our generation. It arrived on the scene with clunky controls, a rather poor user interface and inventory system but still managed to capture the hearts of millions of players from around the globe. Dark Souls has become more than a single title release or a growing IP, it has become a building block for the future of gaming. Despite its many flaws on a very basic level the game manages to deliver an experience all too rare in today's industry, a challenge. Whether you love or loathe the insanely intense boss battles, difficult encounters or morbid game world, one cannot deny the popularity of Dark Souls and what it means to its incredibly dedicated community. If there's one element that's completely lacking in the MMO scene its difficulty. I have played practically every major MMO release in the last 15 years and dozens of lesser known games that have come and gone in that time. As I struggle to recall memories from gaming of yesteryear I struggle to recall a time where I, as an individual player, actually struggled with any of the content. The traditional MMO only really offers severe levels of difficulty in two different ways, and even then one of them doesn't count. The only challenges I've ever experience in an MMO is end-game content and attempting to defeat foes way outside my level range, and the latter is designed to be impossible to avoid the breaking of vital progression routes and in-game mechanics. Many of today's MMORPG end-game systems feature challenging scenarios but these are quite often squished quickly as the community learns the fastest and safest way to down that raid boss. Even still, the challenge posed in an individual battle of ability and wits is an entirely different experience to that of a group encounter. Even it achieved nothing else in its lifetime the Dark Souls franchise has proven that you do not have to build to please the masses. The developers intentionally aimed for a hardcore player base and they consciously made decisions to make many of the elements incredibly difficult. What was the result? The MASSES of the hardcore players swarmed the game and made it a best seller. MMO developers could really learn a lesson from the success of Dark Souls. We don't all want hand holding fantasy RPG's with wizards and elves, and we don't all want ridiculously convoluted RPG's that you label as sandbox because of the lack of polished features and any form of structure. Give us something to test our ability, something to push us the the very edge of our gaming sanity. Have you ever had to stop playing an MMO for a few hours because you came across that boss you just couldn't take down? Outside of end-game can you honestly say you've ever felt that huge rush of self satisfaction and achievement that follows an epic boss struggle in Dark Souls? I sure can't and I'd challenge anyone that says they can. Will we ever see a developer that is not afraid to avoid targeting the masses to deliver an experience actually worthy of our time and ability? I sure hope so.Leave a comment
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