kicking and screaming and crying and pounding a hole through my wall because I couldn't use the Burial Blade on my first play-through but otherwise I feel like this may be the single most perfect FromSoft game I've played as far as its mechanics and narrative are concerned; this is the Soulslike where the ambient storytelling of trying to piece together a bunch of little clues from item descriptions, snippets of dialogue and environmental clues felt the most satisfying. The combat is at its peak, the rally system is a fantastic way to make the more highly paced combat work, and god!!!! Every trick weapon!!! Every piece of armor!!!! They're all fucking fantastic!! My only real complaint, and the thing that keeps it from being a 10/10 in my book, is that I feel as if my time in the base game was spent waiting for a boss that would actually blow me away, and that just never really came. There are highlights! But by and large I feel like the really good fights lie in The Old Hunters, and honestly? I'm cool with that.