Dear Potaku readers,
Greetings from gloomy Undead Burg!

I’ve been in the Undead Burg for a good week now, and boy, I just can’t bring myself to leave. Although, it would be more appropriate to say that I can’t leave. The denizens of the Burg are none too friendly, and I’ve been killed by each one of them at least several times. Shot down by snipers I wasn’t paying attention to, getting my defences broken, and impaled on a spear, fire bombed to death by those other guys (you’d think I’d learn the name of the enemies, having fought them for an entire week!).

When I die, I wake up at the Bonfire, all nice and cozy and warm. I stand there for a few seconds, sigh, and head out once more. And those denizens are always there to greet me again. At least they’re consistent!

One time, I smashed some barrels and found a staircase leading into a building. It was a whole new section of the Burg! To think I’d missed it for so long! There was a merchant by the building. I bought some fire bombs off him, but left pretty quickly, because he was a bit creepy. He reminded me of another man who I once tried to kill, but that didn’t work out so well.

Sometimes I find messages from fellow visitors. They’re very brief messages though. Most of the time they say ‘good luck’. I wonder why.

With every (well, almost every) try I get closer and closer to leaving. Now, all that stands in my way is the Taurus Demon. I don’t think he wants me to leave though. He pulls this really angry face when I get near the exit, and he starts flailing his arms around and yelling in some strange way. I think he’s shouting ‘don’t leave me, Pants!’ but it’s difficult to hear because he starts killing me.

I’m gonna get out of here one day. It’s a nice place, if you’re into that undead vibe, but there’s so much more of the world I’d like to see. I hope you’re well, Potaku readers.

Until next time!

~Pants

Dark Souls is a game that requires patience, and that’s never been my greatest virtue. I like Dark Souls because every kill, against even the most mediocre of skeleton mooks, feels like an accomplishment. But I hate it because, one week later, I can say I’ve made no progress at all despite investing several hours into the game.

I’ve learned a few things about myself playing this game. Most importantly, I’ve learned just how impatient I am.

It’s been at least a week since I first entered Undead Burg. I’ve built up a rhythm, I know who to kill and when, what I can avoid and so on. And that has been a lot of fun. I feel like I’m studying my environment, knowing it intimately instead of just blitzing through it. But I’ve come to know that feeling for several days, and it didn’t seem to be helping at all.

So, after a week, I started rushing.

I grew sloppy in combat. Mashing the attack button. Ignoring enemies I thought were pointless. I simply stopped paying attention. And as you can probably expect if you’ve played Dark Souls, the result is that I died a lot more. I wasn’t watching enemy attacks, I was getting shot from behind by arrows. I was dying earlier and more often.

I’ve got to be patient. And more than anything else in this game, that’s going to be the biggest challenge.

I’m so used to racing through games. Sometimes I’ve had to stop myself and say ‘no, you’ve made too much progress today, and you need to slow down’. The opposite, that I’ve made no progress, is actually pretty difficult to accept. Coming out of a two hour session with this game and saying ‘well, I’m exactly where I was two hours ago’, is as fascinating as it is depressing.

I have a few New Years resolutions, but only one of them is gaming-related: finish Dark Souls. This is my quest to learn patience, and I want to share that experience with everyone as I go, both as a motivator, and as a chance to tell a story.

Hopefully, I’ll be out of Undead Burg by next week.