Halo 3 is like a thrilling action movie that is constantly in its climax. Once the campaign begins it doesn’t hold back. Lulls in the action are minimal, set pieces are plenty, and the action is constant. You would think this would get old after a while, but Halo 3 does not overstay its welcome. Clocking in at an average of 8 hours the time flies by. The story is admittedly pretty lackluster especially in comparison to Halo 2. Instead of setting up characters like the Arbiter, fleshing out the motivations of the Covenant, and establishing the lore of the Forerunners and Flood, Halo 3 opts to stick to its guns--literally. We just blast our way from one set piece to the next leaving any desire for lore or character development to take a backseat. Mechanically, it plays a lot like Halo 2 but improved. The new brute weapons, addition of the badass Spartan Laser, and the new equipment feature add to the already break-neck pace of firefights. The new vehicles were a blast to ride around in as well, especially my new personal favorite the brute Chopper. In the end, Halo 3 is a thrill-ride that leans into fast-paced action but sacrifices depth and greater narrative. It is a blast to play but lacks that extra push that could take it over the top and complete the package.

The original Final Fantasy from 1987 is a nice little quaint adventure that served as a revolutionary stepping stone for what would become one of the largest JRPG franchises of all time. Given the history of this franchise and it’s current stature in worldwide culture, it is quite humbling returning to its core roots with the original title. It obviously has quirks that you can associate with older games from this era--an exorbitant amount of random encounters, a story that leaves out detail, a simplistic combat system, and mechanics that literally are so bugged they don’t even work. Even taking all of those things into account, Final Fantasy is still a blast. There is a kind of special magic that really works. Final Fantasy is a quaint, fun, simple adventure that impresses more with how much they accomplished with so little resources than it disappoints. It’s not an adventure I will want to return to anytime soon, but it is one I will remember.

FromSoftware, more than any other video game developer in the modern age, has influenced how I approach video games as a medium. I first played it back in college. My best friend had come over and we decided we would take turns playing this game that was notoriously difficult. He was already experienced with FromSoftware games while I was a complete newbie. I had seen Dark Souls before, but never committed to playing it. We decided that I would be primarily making decisions on our build and direction and agreed to swap control after every death. We popped the game in, got comfortable, and I began playing. Little did I know that this game would change how I interacted with my favorite medium forever.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew at this point that Dark Souls was infamous for its difficulty and I worried if I would enjoy such an experience. I mean, I had experienced annoying, tedious, or challenging parts of games before but never an entire game built around the idea of extreme difficulty. As expected, I died. A lot. Small mistakes, poor build choices, and general stubbornness were my undoing and I could feel the frustration settle in. But, as the game went on and as I saw how my friend was tackling each encounter and area, I decided to try and adapt. I began analyzing enemy movesets, played more defensive, picking and choosing when to strike with my blade and when to back up and see what the enemy had up their sleeve. I could physically feel myself getting better. By the time we reached Anor Londo, I was feeling fairly confident. Then, Ornstein & Smough happened…

My build was terrible. Probably the worst build I have ever created in any RPG before or since. I honestly half respect and half loathe my friend for allowing it to happen. It was a jack-of-all trades mixed bag as I tried to experiment with every little mechanic from sorceries to miracles to dexterity and strength weapons. By the time we reached Anor Londo, the build began to lose steam and you could feel it. When we finally reached the notorious duo of Ornstein & Smough, we were pretty weak. They tore us a new one. We spent hours trying to take them down, slamming our heads against a wall that would not budge. The sun began to set on the weekend and my friend went home, the fight unfinished. I could feel it. The frustration, the feeling of unfinished business, the looming reminder that I could not defeat the foe ahead of me. I woke up the next morning, went to my first college class of the day and proceeded with my normal daily routine. But, all I could think about was that fight.

When I got home I threw my bag down, grabbed a soda, and began going at it once more. It took almost all night. I failed. And failed again. And failed some more. But, I could feel incremental changes for each failure. A dodge here that could be timed earlier, an attack opening there. Finally, it all clicked. I kept the two in my line of sight, ensuring neither would get the drop on me. I kept them separated as much as possible, using the pillars in the environment to my advantage. I chipped away at Ornstein’s health bit by bit, dodging what attacks I could while conserving stamina. With enough time and careful use of Estus to heal in between their onslaught of attacks, Ornstein went down. Phase two began. It all came down to this. After another ballet of avoiding Smough’s most powerful attacks and his deadly yet awkward hammer shovel and scoop, he finally went down. I had done it! That massive wall that had blocked our progress for hours finally showed some cracks and I exploited them. I had finally broken through the wall that was Ornstein & Smough! I was ecstatic and overjoyed. It was a rush of emotions, the first time in a video game when I felt truly triumphant. As if there was a giant Goliath in my way that I took down all by myself. It was a feeling unlike any other.

From that point onward, I kept chasing that feeling. Ornstein & Smough forced me to re-examine my character's build and recognize its flaws. It forced me to recognize the flaws in my own skill and become better. It taught me to persevere even when all seems lost. I was transformed from that point onwards. When my friend next came over, I showed him what I had accomplished and we moved onwards to beat the game. I was legitimately proud of this achievement and decided I needed to prove myself more. When he left my house on the day we finished the game I immediately turned it back on, created a new character, and ran through the game again. This time, I would be all alone. When I reached the dreaded Ornstein & Smough once more, I was scared. They had easily been the hardest boss I had ever faced and I had only made it through last time by the skin of my teeth. This would be the true test to see if all I had learned actually paid off, if I actually got better. I beat them on the first try. I had proven that I could get better. This victory proved that I took the hard lessons as truth, adjusted, and improved. All of the deaths, all of the failures, all of the mistakes were not hindrances to progress, they were building blocks.

Fast-forward 7 years later and I have now beaten all games FromSoftware has put out since Dark Souls and even went back to play Demon’s Souls. I’ve played through Dark Souls multiple times and have finally, at the time of this review, achieved the ultimate goal of attaining the Platinum trophy in Dark Souls: Remastered. These games have become some of my favorites ever. After Dark Souls, I began always playing games on at least “Hard” difficulty if given the option. Part of this is to chase the high of accomplishment and achievement that Dark Souls gave me but also because I truly believe that the difficulty of Dark Souls is the reason why I learned so much about it. I only appreciate the mechanics, systems, level-design, and combat of Dark Souls as much as I do because FromSoftware forced me to engage in and learn all of these systems. You have to truly understand Dark Souls if you hope to complete it.

I only discovered how beautifully and expertly crafted this interconnected world was because they forced me to explore it. I only discovered how diverse and exciting building new characters could be because they give you so many different options to play around with. I only learned how to analyze an enemy attack pattern, find the correct times to heal, or even how to parry an attack because they forced you to learn if you hoped to defeat some of the game’s harder bosses. This isn’t even touching on the beautiful music, the crushing, oppressive atmosphere, and the deep lore that lies underneath it all. It is not a perfect game--there are sections of the game that are clearly unfinished such as Lost Izalith and its underdeveloped exploration where monsters are just copy/pasted in random areas all huddled together. There’s some jank involved with being an early game in the soulsborne catalog like no omni-directional rolling and some instances of the environment not behaving as you wish. The boss quality can vary from amazing to extremely poor. But, those flaws don’t matter in the long run. The main strength of Dark Souls is in its core mechanics, its amazing world design, and its intense atmosphere that still remains unrivaled.

Dark Souls holds a special place in my heart for being one of the most influential games of my lifetime. It completely changed how I view game mechanics, how I interact with games, and how I approach analyzing video games forever. Achieving the Platinum could be a tedious grind. Trying to get the Channeler’s Trident to drop is enough to make a man go insane. But, the achievement is worth it. It represents a recognition of what Dark Souls has done for me as a lifelong video game player and is a representation of my love and respect for this legendary game. It may not be perfect, it is not even FromSoftware’s best Dark Souls game let alone their best “soulsborne” game as the genre came to be called. But, for my personal gaming history, it is definitively their most important and it is an experience that will stick with me forever.