The Meaning of Life [and Death]

   This quotation on life is possibly my favourite for no other reason that I relate to it like I relate to oxygen - I do not function without it: "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world.  This makes it hard to plan the day."  ~Elwyn Brooks White

   To my sober knowledge I have never sat around in a circle of friends and bothered to discuss the meaning of life. I believe that to draw attention to it will only encourage it to keep doing it's irritable 'spawning' thing, that and to say that life has a meaning worth discussing is to say that life also strikes for purpose. That implies a set agenda which is drivel of the highest calibre. Any one who has ever set foot in Halifax, England can tell you that life has no agenda there - it's just an unhappy accident that it's there at all.

   However I do believe in spending our brief time on Earth wisely before we are shoved off this mortal coil. That's why I've spent over 77 hours this last year sat on my arse in front of the television playing Demon's Souls. A game which knows a lot of about booting you into your grave then 'Boothill Graveyard', Tombstone, Arizona.

   According to numerous sources - Demon's Souls is incredibly addictive [not that I'd know anything about that, 77 hours is practically a casual gaming session before work for me these days]. It's wise to follow the health and safety advise of a break every hour or suffer the consequences of physical health problems such as sore eye's, bad blood circulation and of course . . .

 . . . screen burn.

   I'd like to take it a step further and say that breaks are also good for your sanity. You see, Demon's Souls is very much a game which treats you as kindly as a sadist North Korean army drill sergeant at boot-camp D.E.A.T.H. 

   Demon's Souls is a Japanese take on the European medieval world and all it's mythology. Any one who thinks they know anything about Japan is currently thinking this:

CEUUUT!!!

   Which is wrong. You should be thinking this:

CEUUUU-*VOMIT*!!!

   Easy to see how you would get those two sides of Japanese culture confused.

   This is a fantasy role-playing action game. Set in the land of Bolitaria, in a world upon which God on the first day decided to make a creature with a Soul, and on the second day a Soul eating Demon - for the sadistic shits and giggles. That;s just how God roles. Bolitaria was once a prosperous and beautiful country, a true role model for the rest of the world. Unfortunately the king was a big supporter of magic known as the 'Soul Arts' and accidentally awoke the 'Old One' from it's millennium long slumber so that it may cover the land in fog to eat the world one soul at a time . . .

   This game is not for the casual player. Unlike many other modern games of this generation which apparently don't expect the player to know up from down, sky from floor or their own genitals from a knob of butter they will walk them by the hand through a force fed tutorial of the controls by placing the player in a deliberately safe and orchestrated scenario. This patronising approach to games and those who play them is known in the industry as "broadening our demographic". Demon's Souls seems to look down on those other games with an air of disgust and superiority. Like a tutorials and difficulty settings are some thing that the underclass' do to make them selves appear more favourable, like dressing up a tramp in a suit.
    
   There was a tutorial, I think, though it was more like I'd volunteered for the Red Cross, instantly loaded into a cannon and fired into the middle of the war zone. I was reliving the beach scene Saving Private Ryan all over again except that it was ME trying to hold my entrails in whilst crying for my mother.

   I'll elaborate: I spent about fifteen to twenty minutes on the character creation menu. This is when you create an avatar [or a personalised character] for yourself to play with - a common feature of most modern role-playing games which helps make the experience more emotionally invested for the player. Happy with my massively intelligent, abs sculpted from rock super-hunk [an accurate representation of myself] I started the game. Within seconds of spawning a new character [naive and ignorant] I was warmly greeted by one of the friendly locals of Bolitaria who graced my n00bishness with a sword kebab administered straight through the chest plate. No problem I thought, round two . . .

   So, I re-spawned and readied my dagger in anticipation and wiggled my blade at arms length at the generic soldier who'd just brutally murdered me until it flopped over. The game rewarded me with precious Souls, the games currency and title. "Hooray!" I thought to myself, rubbing all those juicy Souls all over my face in ecstasy before being stomped on Monty Python style by the love child of Cthulhu and any guest from the Jeremy Kyle Show.

   Instead of re-spawning [the act of where your character is put back into the game from death] a whole two paces behind where I was I was instead being scrapped off the bottom of the Demons foot like a mushy dog turd and I found myself in a large and ominous looking room. It appears that the tutorial was over. And I had lost at it.

New Players Being Taught How To Dodge.

   This game is not your friend. It is difficult and grim and bleak and oozes hopelessness. The architecture is gothic, the creature designs are vile and entire games atmosphere reeks of despair. There is no map to refer to, no annoying fairy companion to guide your path or other party members to help you get back up when your down. Your responses must be swift and sharp. You fuck up - you die. Simple. You lose your hard earned Souls and restart at the beginning of the level, all enemies you've just killed back and ready to hunt our down. The only way to get back you Souls is to jump back into the frey and you do it again - but better! As Yoda says to Skywalker: You will or you wont, there is no try!   There is no quick-save and load options either, the game auto-saves almost constantly with a special kind of strictness reserved only for English super-nannies.
  
   Though the game it quite tough the control system is fairly well layed out and every button has its own important function that, unlike some other games, you will definitely use. This is massively important to the players enjoyability and survivability. Block, parry, basic attack, strong attack, roll, use item, change weapon . . . these appear to be a standard affair for the action game but when used in a timely fashion, with thought and wits, they will see you through the most brutish times and when they do can leave you feeling satisfied beyond measure. Knowing your controls, the enemies attack patterns, the environment and maintaining your health, mana and stamina are key. Learning is literally half the battle. There is no button mashing to be done here. Not unless you want your character to resemble a pin-cushion.

Demon's Souls Themed Mouse Mat.

   Of other elements of note, one is the daring and intricate use of death as a game mechanic. You see the game has FOUR states which you constantly fluctuate between - being alive and being UN-dead. This is not the same as dying but a consequence of it. You'll spend most of the game as an un-dead but should you happen to have claimed a Demon's soul for yourself you can revert back into human form. Being human is hard to maintain but has great advantages. The other two game states are white world and dark world. This is the ONLY time the game helps you directly and even then it's in a sneering and patronising fashion. Should you be doing pretty badly then the game slowly becomes easier, should you be doing pretty well then it only gets harder. The state of your worlds colour also has effects on the games narrative. Events will change. Doors open or lock. Friends become foes or vice versa.

   Though the feeling of isolation is prevalent throughout the game this is not entirely the case. Should you be signed into your PlayStationNetwork account, have recently killed an area boss Demon, are human and be standing in the right spot you'll be likely to find a glowing white signature on the floor. Activating this signature will summon to your game another playing from some where across the world with the mutual aim of overcoming the trials ahead. This use of co-operative game play is brilliant in its execution. Though the player whom is summoned will not progress in their world as you shall in yours they gain two things: Souls and experience. Both are an invaluable resource. Should you yourself feel like helping out another player you can drop your own signature on the floor at nearly any point in the game.

   And, of course, there is the dark half to this benefit of humanity: The chance to be invaded. The benefits of invading another players world include gaining their collected souls for yourself as well as stealing their precious humanity.

   Here is a video of a invading player engaging in a PvP [player versus player] fight against the worlds host player and two additional helpers.

   I've had some wonderful experiences with this game. Mastering the controls feels like a massive achievement and can give you some intense and epic battles the likes of which compelling you to get back up when you are inevitable put down.
  
   Someone once told me that the meaning of life is to discover yourself. Some one else told me that was utter bollocks and that the true meaning of life was to accomplice ones goals before ones end it met. Demon's Souls philosophy is that life is not for you, so why ask the question? It is brutish and short - to die and die and die and die again until you can navigate stepping out of your own front door without falling face first into bear traps or the gullet of some horrific nightmare creature.
   Thomas Hobbs would LOVE this game.

  

   This quote, taken out of context of course, sums up Demon's Souls perfectly for me: In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular.  ~Kathy Norris

   Now I'm off to go whip myself into a bloodied stupor and cut off my own fingers because if I don't Demon's Souls will demand another play through . . .