How Dark Souls are literally genius
Author by Minh Nguyen
Not all humans are equal. Some humans are literally more equal than everyone else.
I copied it from a quote in a famous "non"-fiction novel, except I prefer to use "human" as it is more direct and unacceptable.
In the world, with 8 billion humans and countless trillions of other creatures, we—just little souls—try to make a spark in this Universe through our tiny existence.
In my tiny existence, I’ve experienced a few things—not quite much but kind of weird—in this era. Someday, I realized that I consumed more than what I’m supposed to in order to live an ordinary life.
The internet era is breaking the world surrounding us, making us live in multiple dimensions at a time, belonging to many worlds but never feeling fulfilled or whole. I struggle to find my mission.
Been a young man, I have been a gamer, a wibu, and also I enjoyed books, film from different culture, historical, philosophies, or political just to find meaning to fill the hole in my heart, but still, I denied to live my physical life. I felt like I'm a failure. I prayed and searched for meaning, for purpose. And at the same time, I lost my sense of purpose in the way long.
Losing myself and founding myself over and over.. I start this article to state my determination, my milestone, my legacy... a calling from my unique gift that has yet to be delivered to the world.
Through my passion and my wisdom—shaped by gaming—I have a deep thought that I must share.
And I found a genius in Dark Souls. I want to share how this creative world can actually reflect our own.
---
The best thing about Dark Souls is that it has meaning. In the game’s story, you face countless hollows—creatures who can’t die but lose their minds and hope. Then I realize, if I play and give up, I become one of them, called being Hollow, staying there to attack everyone on their path.
Sound familiar? Have you seen any hollows before? I’ve been hollow sometimes in this game, and sometimes in real life. It took me years to get my mind back, and that’s where the hope started.
In Dark Souls, at the very start of the game, you can see yourself as a hollow in a cage. Then someone drops the key. You’re called by fate to get up from your cage, grab the key, open your asylum, and walk a bit more until you meet the big boss guarding your cage, ready to smash any dumbass who dares to play this friendly game.
And there’s an open gate where you should just run for your life.
Then you grab your armor, shield, and weapon to smash some weak foes—hollows—and learn how to use your weapon well. With a shield to block attacks, you’re ready to fight the boss. You take advantage from above and plunge an attack, cutting down half the boss’s health bar. A few more slices, and you’re free to open the gate and start your far more miserable journey.
That's how you open the first stage of this game.
------------
We start the game as a hollow, not with a character choice at the start. Like, you’re called by an awakening—a voice, act, book, or some key—and you choose to grab that key to start moving in the very first stage. Ready to fight, you’ve been caged by a big boss managing you and other hollows, which I call Conventional Wisdom.
After awakening, you encounter the boss and challenge them, fighting back. But with a broken sword, you won’t damage them much, while their smash grounds you. (They even have small wings to fly out of your reach.)
But there’s always an open gate—technology, the internet, a way out—where you find your full equipment of who you used to be, what you left unused, right in your place. Your childhood always leaves a hint.
Your weapon is the skill you excelled at but hid away.
Your armor is the identity of who you’ve chosen to be.
Your shield is what you’ve used to protect yourself.
Then, you meet others trying to stop you: relatives, friends, cousins, neighbors, peers—those who keep you in this environment. They’re all weak and hollow, easily beaten by your old power.
Now, you face the big boss again. This time, you learn to know their moves and take advantage by assaulting them from above. Then you can finish them quickly, realizing they had only a few moves. That’s when you’re free—mentally free—to leave and truly begin your journey.
Sometimes, like in the game, this process can take time. But once you know how to deal with it, it takes only minutes to break free—that’s all your progress. Soon enough you will come to relize. The only thing holding you back is the hollowing of your own mind.
-Minh Nguyen-
