A Field School in Lordran

As much as I am trying to push forward with an in-depth play through of Bioshock, there is another game that is rapidly ascending my list of my "Best Games According to Jacob" list.[The fact that this list isn't an actual, hard, written list is somewhat surprising to me...]

That game is Dark Souls.

Dark Souls is an interesting, mysterious and incredibly frustrating beast. The gameplay is superb, there's a great sense of achievement and progression, and PvP is exciting and tense. However, more than anything else, I've been drawn in by the lore. It's a dark, miserable, hopeless world full of sorrow, betrayal and misfortune, but goddamn if it isn't expertly made. Everything is presented in little puzzle pieces, which never really seem to give you a full picture of the game's world.



I was trying to think of how best to describe this type of lore, and wouldn't ya know it, someone had already come up with the best way to say it: A form of Archaeology. In his 2012 article on Forbes, "The Wonderful Archeology Of 'Dark Souls' Lore", Erik Kain basically put my thoughts to the page;

Discovering the story and history and mythology of this game is sort of like an archaeological dig. You dig up the buried ruins of Lordran, Oolacile, and the figures who give life and meaning to these places. But you dig them up in little, obscured pieces. You discover the world and its past through the opening cinematic, through brief snatches of dialogue with NPCs (some of whom you may never encounter on your first playthrough) and in item and spell descriptions.
It’s inscrutable and wonderful and perhaps it inspires curiosity and a sort of exploration of story that no other game really possesses. Like the rest of the game’s secrets, you will be hard-pressed to understand or even ask the right questions about the game’s lore if you don’t occasionally delve into these YouTube musings or hop aboard a forum or wiki. What other game requires this much collaboration in order to simply parse out its story? None that I can think of.

Seriously, If you like a good story, get invested in Dark Souls. Don't just play the game, get involved into the lore. Read the Wiki, watch the videos of VaatiVidya, enjoy it. 

Well, unless you hate spoilers...