With the new "Death Mode" update, many Firelink players became very interested.
After all, it's been almost a month since "Dark Souls: Age of Fire" was released.
Compared to last year when the first "Dark Souls" just came out, "Dark Souls: Age of Fire" may look even harsher with its maps and settings at first glance.
But that didn't stop those players who had already awakened their special gaming talents.
In fact, the crueler it looked, the more excited they felt!
Because of that, all kinds of maps and video guides appeared much earlier than in the last game.
For example, in the first game, reliable guides only started showing up near the end of the second week.
But in "Dark Souls: Age of Fire," guides for the Asylum Demon, Firelink Shrine, and even part of the Undead Burg outside the city were already available on day one.
Not even a week had passed before some hardcore players already cleared the first playthrough.
Even though they missed a lot of side quests and hidden content, the main route and most boss strategies were already figured out.
Later on, with tips like grabbing the Father's Mask, the Halberd, trading shiny stones with the crow, and upgrading the Halberd to +4, people were starting the game with a 449 attack stat. With these guides, many players cleared their first run way earlier than expected.
Like the Taurus Demon on the Undead Burg walls—players with "pure love warrior" builds showed their anger by using dual Halberds on the second floor to one-shot him. Finally, everyone got to feel the joy of instantly killing a boss. The experience was excellent.
A lot of players even joked that with setups like this, "Dark Souls: Age of Fire" basically turned into a hack-and-slash game.
So Lucas decided this was the right time to release a brand-new mode.
After enjoying the easy fun, players had to taste that familiar Dark Souls pain again!
......
Just like all the other Dark Souls players, Ben and Zack were also analyzing this new "Death Mode."
"This Death Mode looks really tough! And there's even a first-kill achievement. That means it won't be something you can beat easily!" Ben shared his thoughts.
"Of course. For normal players, the random mode is still more fun. And in 'Dark Souls: Age of Fire,' since the maps are all interconnected, I think random mode will be even better," Zack said.
In the first game, the random mode was already very fun. But in "Age of Fire," since the maps are fully connected, Zack felt the random mode would bring an even stronger experience.
The choices are much wider. After all, random mode is meant to work together with the maps to give players more freedom.
In "Age of Fire," if you choose to start with the Master Key, once you leave the Asylum and reach Firelink Shrine, you have so many routes: the Undead Burg, Catacombs, New Londo Ruins, Valley of Drakes to Blighttown.
With random mode, every choice brings huge surprises!
"And depending on different weapons, the system will also adjust some stats for balance. That means you can't just crush everything with overpowered gear. It's all about skill. Even if your gear isn't great, there will be adjustments. But each playstyle will still have its own traits," Hannah added.
"And what about items? Aren't there buff items? This mode should allow items, right?" Wells reminded them.
"I don't know about that, it wasn't mentioned in the update notes. I'll just have to test it in the game. Perfect timing, it just finished downloading, I'll give it a try."
Looking at the freshly downloaded new version of Dark Souls: Age of Fire on his computer, Ben clicked into the game.
Although the previous game also added this "Death Mode," since the new one got the update first, Ben decided to experience it in the latest game.
Of course, there was another reason too—recently Ben had only been playing Dark Souls: Age of Fire. Even though it's the same series,
the battle system hadn't changed much.
But there were still small differences here and there, the kind you could only describe as "the feel of it."
Lately Ben had also been playing Getting Over It, so naturally he was more used to that.
He hadn't touched the previous game for almost a year, so his hands were already a bit rusty.
Inside the game, his save file was only just starting New Game+, currently at Firelink Shrine.
His equipped weapon was a +5 guandao.
As a dedicated "class skipper," the guandao was his lifeline!
As for people saying it's no good in higher NG+, well, he'd leave that problem for when he actually got there.
The entrance to the new mode was easy to find. Right next to Crestfallen Guy's crumbled ruins, there was a huge gray boulder.
As he approached, an interaction prompt appeared on the screen. Ben pressed it, and a UI similar to the warp screen from the previous game popped up.
"You can pick whichever boss you want to challenge. But the bosses have different levels of difficulty… Wait a sec, why are all of them big-name bosses? What, the High Wall Taurus Demon doesn't even count?!"
Looking at the boss selection screen, Ben couldn't help but shiver in disbelief.
Just look at this lineup of bosses:
Artorias, Gwyn, the Witch, and the Black Dragon.
Where was the very first Asylum Demon with the giant butt? What about the Taurus Demon?!
Just because they were minor bosses, they didn't even get included?
Unbelievable!
"Pick the softest persimmon" was the saying, but here there wasn't a single soft one. They were all spiky durians. How was he supposed to pick one?!
While Ben was silently struggling and complaining to himself, Zack, who had been watching him hesitate, urged him on:
"Ben, pick a boss already! Hurry up and see how this new Death Mode plays!"
"What are you rushing for? I'm just thinking about which boss would be best to fight." Ben tried to justify his hesitation.
"What's there to think about? You won't be able to beat any of them anyway." Zack replied.
Ben: ...
Was that really necessary?!
If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything!
Ben shot Zack a fierce glare, then turned back and decided to challenge his favorite boss in this game—Artorias the Abysswalker.
Not just because he looked cool, not just because his backstory was epic.
But also because, out of all the bosses he could pick, Ben felt Artorias was the most reasonable one to fight.
Even though he had died to him plenty of times before,
he eventually figured out that all it took was dodging Artorias's charged thrust and big jump slam, then striking during his recovery. As long as you didn't get greedy and kept an eye on his buff, the fight wasn't actually that hard.
The only unknown now was what kind of monster this boss would turn into under Death Mode.
(End of The Chapter)
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