"Did we open the game the wrong way?"
Hannah looked at Zack, completely confused.
Something just felt… off about this game.
"I have no idea either!"
After thinking for a long time, Zack finally squeezed out that one sentence.
How was he supposed to know?
Sure, it was kind of fun watching Hannah get completely wrecked by Iudex Gundyr just now.
But honestly, judging from how badly he did against that crystal lizard earlier, he probably wouldn't do much better himself.
This Iudex Gundyr guy felt like he was in the same difficulty tier anyway.
"And that burial gift… what's the point? I used it and just turned into a stone block? That's it?" Hannah was also a bit speechless.
She had already given up her seat, and now watched as Zack used that starting gift—the tree branch—only to see a transformation completely different from what she had imagined.
In her mind, it should have been some kind of transformation charm.
And since Dark Souls was listed in the store as a dark fantasy game, she imagined it would have elves, dwarves, dragons, goblins, and other fantasy races.
A tree branch would obviously be linked to elves, so she thought that using it would turn the character into an ancient elf with maxed-out stats and skills.
But in reality?
It just turned you into a stone block, and the moment you got hit, you turned back.
The gap between her expectations and reality was way too big.
Respawning at the bonfire, this time it was Zack's turn to control "123" in the game.
But right away, he noticed a serious problem.
"All the small monsters on the road are alive again!"
Seeing the undead walking around ahead, Zack was stunned.
He had assumed the bonfire was just a save point.
He thought dying and coming back was basically loading the game. But clearly, that wasn't the case.
Resting at a bonfire also revived all the enemies on the path.
Even though he hadn't played much yet, Zack already felt the difficulty heating up.
The path from the first bonfire to Iudex Gundyr's boss room wasn't long, and it was actually pretty easy.
But this was just the start of the game!
If the later areas worked the same way, and he died on the road without lighting a bonfire, wouldn't he have to run through everything again?
By accident, Zack had just discovered a truth about the game.
Still, even though he was surprised, he didn't dig deeper—he just figured it was a normal difficulty feature.
For now, the biggest challenge in front of him was that boss called "Iudex Gundyr."
When it was finally his turn to play, he didn't rush straight to the boss.
Instead, he explored the Cemetery of Ash to make sure there was no second path.
That's when he confirmed it—this Iudex Gundyr guy was the tutorial boss!
"Didn't the in-game tips teach how to parry with a shield? I remember seeing in the online launch event that Mr. Lucas parried this boss in the live demo and took off a huge chunk of its health!" Hannah offered some advice from the side.
"But my shield… I don't think it can parry!" Zack said, looking at his broken wooden shield.
He let go of the button, and his shirtless "123" charged forward with the little wooden shield in hand.
As for parrying bare-handed—there was no hint about that in the game's tips, so Zack had no idea it was possible.
And honestly, even if he did know, it probably wouldn't help much.
"I'll try again. I think using two hands might boost attack power." Holding his little chicken-leg weapon and his broken wooden shield, Zack decided to give it another go.
Carefully taking down the undead along the way, Zack soon reached the boss again.
This time, the stone gate was covered by a thick white fog.
When he got close and triggered it, the character stepped inside, and Zack saw that Iudex Gundyr was no longer in statue form.
He was now holding a halberd, pacing back and forth. On the ground not far away, aside from the red bloodstains left by other players, there was also a green mark—the souls Zack had dropped when he died earlier.
"Alright, let's have a fair fight!" Switching to two-handed mode and using a battle cry, Zack saw a new sword icon with a plus sign appear under the status bar in the top left corner. Clearly, that meant his attack power had gone up.
Canceling two-handed mode, Zack bravely charged forward.
"He is great with the halberd!"
"Let me have a sip of that orange juice with pulp! A sneak attack? That's cunning!"
"This lousy wooden shield! One hit and my stamina bar's empty? What's so great about winning just because you have better gear… Coward! Drop your weapon and fight me barehanded!"
The room was filled with angry, frustrated shouts.
A minute later, the familiar scene appeared on the screen again, with those same three words.
Zack's face grew tense.
"This game is… so hard!" Hannah finally sighed as she looked at Iudex Gundyr, who had only lost about a quarter of his health.
Hearing that, Zack instinctively nodded.
"How is this Iudex Gundyr so strong? It's like Lü Bu come back to life—who could possibly beat him? Is Nebula Games trolling us? Did they mess up the game's stats?" Zack said, still shaken.
Dark Souls had really hit him hard right from the start—like, really hard.
He had never played a game like this before. This was just way too hard!
"Probably not. A big game like this would definitely be tested before release. And remember the presentation? They showed how parrying with the shield seems to be an important skill. If you succeed, you can do a big counterattack and take off a lot of health!" Hannah guessed.
Zack, who had just gotten up to give up his seat, suddenly had a lightbulb moment. It was like a flash of lightning cleared away the dark fog in his mind.
"I get it! I understand now! So that's how it works!" Zack said excitedly, like he'd just solved a tough high school problem.
"Remember the character they showed at the presentation? A knight! He had a shield, sword, and armor. It's not just a class—Dark Souls probably links difficulty with the class you choose!"
"Why can't the Deprived's small wooden shield parry? It's to make it harder for the player—you have to rely on dodging and rolling to beat Iudex Gundyr. But a knight starts with better gear, which makes it much easier!" Zack said, brimming with excitement.
Hannah thought about it and realized it actually made some sense.
"Should we start a new save then?" she asked.
"Absolutely!" Zack said, feeling proud and confident, like the clouds had just cleared.
As a gamer, Zack was clearly experienced.
Except… it wasn't completely right.
The way he thought about the problem was correct, but the answer… maybe not so much.
(End of The Chapter)
---
Read +100 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
Free Tier can read 3 advanced chapters
---