The deaths that keep on coming

So, I thought playing Dark Souls would be hard.  I was right.  But there's another game out there that I'm playing that's even harder.  In a way.

Before I even started playing Dark Souls everyone told me how hard the game was and that I should be prepared to die a lot.  Since I usually die a lot anyway, I figured it would be 10x worse than normal for me.  Sure enough, when I started that game I started to see how brutal it can be.  It took awhile before I got my first death, but after that they came along at a steady pace.

It's not just the deaths that are bad.  It's how tough the game is to play, survive and manage your attacks and defense.  It's one thing to die a lot, but another to be aware of when you've lost stamina and need to back out of a fight for awhile to regroup and recharge. 

And then there's the blocking.  It's one thing to hold a shield up and just wait around until the enemy starts hacking at you.  You're protected and you don't take the damage you know is coming.  In Dark Souls, blocking doesn't work that way.  You have to time your parry skill at just the right moment.  If you're too early, or too late, you're going to take a lot of damage.  And there's nothing you can do about that.  Each enemy has a different attacking style and sometimes several variations of moves.  It's not always easy to figure out the best time to activate your parry skill.  It ends up being a lot of trail and error.  With error usually leading to death.

But while I'm finding Dark Souls tough to play, and I'm dying a lot, I think there's another game that I'm having more of a problem in right now.  What game could that be?  Rayman Origins.

Eh?

I know that sounds weird because Rayman Origins doesn't come across as a brutal or unforgiving game like Dark Souls does.  But apparently I die a lot more in that game than I have so far in Dark Souls.  In the video that I editing last night, and should go up this week, I had 25 deaths alone in about 23 minutes of game play.  That's not good odds if you ask me.  And what's funny is that I wasn't keeping track of my deaths while I was playing.  But at the end of the video I make a side comment that "I must have died 25 times".  Turns out I was spot on.  Who know.

Some of those deaths were stupid on my part.  Either because I wasn't paying attention or because I had trouble doing something right.  Other deaths were because the game made getting something, or going somewhere almost impossible to do unless you do it perfectly.  So I guess the game can be unforgiving.  But it's not known to be like that.  Dark Souls, on the other hand, has that for a reputation.  You know what you're getting in to when you play that game.

I thought Rayman Origins would be a fun, light, easy game to play that would break up the brutal nature of Dark Souls.  Turns out Dark Souls might be the game that breaks up the frustrations and agony of playing Rayman Origins.  I still like the game and will continue to play it.  I just hope things get easier.  But so far, it doesn't look like it's going to turn out that way.  No matter what game I play, the deaths are just going to keep on coming for me.  Over and Over again.