Dark Souls 3: Challenge Runs

Today I learned that I can beat every single boss encounter in Dark Souls 3 without dying.

It's everything in-between those that can go fuck off.





I've run into a problem: Once it sunk in that you can't really die(at least it's never permanent, there's no real GAME OVER situation), all of the tension of playing Dark Souls kind of... left.  Just vanished.  It can still be frustrating to lose, but I don't feel like there's anything at stake.

So I've tried doing No-Death runs.  To very limited success.  Maybe I should give myself a bit of leeway?

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I could use a self-imposed number of lives.  Or maybe I only count deaths that happen in boss fights.  Maybe in these games, I have to have a Ring of Restoration equipped when I die in order to keep playing.  Maybe I can die as many times as I like, as long as I retrieved my souls where I died, represented by that big, glowy green sphere.

I dunno.  Something that will push my limits.


Challenge runs of games in general interest me.  Playing a game in ways that take you outside of your comfort zone.  Playing a game in ways you never would have otherwise.  Maybe using a certain gag or novelty weapon the whole way through, or the no-deaths thing I've talked about.  The success and popularity of "Nuzlocke Runs" of Pokemon games show I'm not the only one who's into this sort of thing.  And like Nuzlocke, it can give you an excuse to produce content via Let's Plays.  It can turn a solitary activity into something worth sharing.

It's all quite masturbatory, I admit, but maybe that's why I like it so much.


I tried doing that on this blog with Final Fantasy V a while back, and then... I completely forgot to come back to that game. Oops. If I ever get back to it, I'll probably just start over.

In any case, this is what I've been up to when I'm not lost in existential dread.


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~A.H.