Dark Souls III - Top 9 Hardest Bosses - No's 4-1

OK, so welcome back to my list of my pick for the top 9 hardest bosses in Dark Souls III and again these are based on the difficulty I encountered with these bosses myself rather than so much popular opinion.

So, let's continue the countdown for these hard-ass bosses...

4. Soul of Cinder 

So, at No.4 is the final boss of the game, Soul of Cinder, who after the first two underwhelming final bosses of Souls 1 and 2, more than makes up for this, as this guy is a pretty tough customer to face in any game never mind the final boss.


As for what makes Soul of Cinder so tough??? Well, it comes down to his highly versatile moveset as SOC is a combination of all the Lords of Cinder and anyone who has linked the first flame, so he takes on all their abilities. So, here you will see Soul of Cinder attack you with a mixture of melee, sorcery, pyromancy and miracles. Not only that but he is very agile and his attacks are pretty aggressive and relentless as he barely gives you any time to heal up before he attacks you again, which can be very frustrating to say the least!

So there are two phases in this fight and in his first phase, Soul of Cinder will mix up his attacks using all of the above, so if you get close he will hammer you with melee and if you back up he will assault you with sorcery, pyromancy and miracles. In the second phase however, Soul of Cinder will adopt the moveset of the final boss from the first Dark Souls game, Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, which includes a brutal six-hit combo and his explosive grab attack (literally!). 

So, I really have to admit that I struggled quite a bit against this guy and as a final boss he is fitting challenge and I often found myself burning through my estus too quickly to be able to get his health bar down enough to get near victory. I also found this boss incredibly difficult to take on as a melee option given his varied moveset and the ferocity of his attacks, so you have to get good at your rolls and evading his attacks. In the end I was able to finish off this boss using pyromancy (Chaos Bed Vestiges spell) but it took quite a bit of time before he finally went down as I must have had at least 30-40 attempts!

In summary, Soul of Cinder really is a pretty brutal boss and he is a worthy challenge to end the game and the Dark Souls III series with and he more than deserves his place on this list.

3. Aldrich, Devourer of Gods

Up next is this guy...Aldrich, Devourer of Gods...oh God indeed!

Yep this guy has to be the most difficult mage boss in the entire series. Period. Aldrich has the most potent magic attacks of any mage boss and indeed even any boss in this game as they are pretty devastating and when you go into this fight if you are not prepared then you in for a very tough time.  Aldrich himself is a cannibal by nature and his physical presence is a mixture of three different enemy bosses from previous games (one of them being Gwyndolin, another mage boss, who appeared in Dark Souls 1).

So, what makes Aldrich so difficult??? Well, put simply Aldrich's attacks hurt...alot! In fact when you go into Aldrich's arena he most likely can insta-kill you right off the bat with his most deadly attack, which is a volley of magic arrows, which will annihilate you if you get the full brunt of them and that is what happened to me in my first attempt at this guy! Aldrich also has other attacks that do brutal damage, especially his soul spheres, which he can fire off up to six times and two of them alone will wipe you out! Aldrich also can deal enormous melee damage to your character with his scythe staff, which if you get too near him to the front, he will clobber you with it and it will take a big chunk off your health in the process!

And the question has to be asked??? How do you beat this guy??? Well, this is something I struggled with really badly as it must have taken me near 100 goes before I finally took him down and I even began to wonder if I could ever beat him! To beat Aldrich however what I would suggest is wearing armour with the best magic defense aswell as using blue bug pellets to increase your magic damage absorption.

And the key to beating Aldrich is that you need to get behind him and attack his tail, which can be difficult as he moves around alot and he also burrows himself underground after you attack him for a bit and he reappears on the other side of the room!  Also when he does his magic arrow attack you need to run right behind him in the first phase and in the second run away from him as the arrows fly down in different directions. So, I would recommend using either pyromancy to finish him off (great chaos fire orb works well here) or even buffing your weapon with fire or lightning resins as he is weak to both of these elements.

So for me, Aldrich was a horrendously difficult boss, who gave me no end of trouble and after about three days of trying, I finally managed to take him down and his brutal magic attacks alone make him a very challenging enemy to beat and he more than deserves his spot on here.

2. The Twin Princes: Lorian, the Elder Prince & Lothric, Younger Prince

And then at No.2 we get these two guys...the Twin Princes...oh my God!

It actually has to be said that I had a tough time deciding between who of the top 2 bosses were tougher but in the end I had to put these two guys in the runner spot but only just! The Twin Princes themselves as a boss are a mammoth challenge and are not only one of the hardest bosses in the game but one of the hardest bosses in the entire Souls series!

Yep these two guys gave me no end of trouble in my initial playthrough and they had me almost throwing my controller out the window and yelling expletives at my TV and calling these guys all the names under the sun (and over it!).

So, what makes these two bosses SO difficult?  Well, let's take a look at the two princes first, who are both crippled and can't walk, so they crawl around on their knees throughout the fight (well Lothric actually sits on Lorian's back in the second phase) and this is because they are victims of the curse bestowed upon them. So, in the first phase, Lorian will teleport around the room (and its Lothric that is doing all the teleporting with his miracle powers) and try and whack you with his firey greatsword, which deals major damage.

However, after the first phase and killing off Lorian, Lothric will then join in the fight and use his magic powers to ressurect his fallen brother and piggyback on Lorian, who will revive and continue to try and hammer you with his great sword as the two of them teleport around the room. And to make matters worse, Lothric will join in by using his magic attacks on you, which include homing projectiles and soul spheres and if you kill off Lorian, Lothric will just keep reviving him and the fight will continue.

So...as you can imagine I had a horrendous time trying to deal with these two as they use the ultimate cheap shot tactics of teleportation, hammering you with firey great sword swings and miracle magic spells to try and finish you off! And yep I must have spent almost five days trying to take these guys down (yep five whole days of attempts!) and tearing my hair out in the process!

As for how to defeat them??? Well, in the first phase you basically need to just kill Lorian using either melee attacks or pyromancy, miracles or sorcery (which can be trickier) and I found playing as a pyromancer that it was quite easy to kill off Lorian using Great Chaos Fire Orb or Chaos Bed Vestiges spells. In the second phase however you really need to change over to using melee attacks because to end the fight you need to kill Lothric and as Lothric sits on Lorian's back you NEED to get behind Lorian to attack him. So, you can either keep attacking Lorian until he dies after which Lothric will fall off and then try and revive his brother and then strike Lothric as many times as you can, or you can keep trying to get behind Lorian and attack Lothric as much as you can. This of course is all easier said than done and is complicated by Lothric using an AoE miracle (which I think is Wrath of the Gods) which causes a blast that will deal damage to you if he suceeds in reviving Lorian.

So, I would for this fight recommend using a fast straight sword weapon such as the longsword to get in fast strikes or even katana of some kind that dish out fast strikes and good damage. You can also buff you weapons with magic or lightning to inflict damage on Lorian however Lothric only appears to be vulnerable to physical strikes and nothing else and seems to have a larger health pool than his brother, which is funny when you see how skinny he is!

In summary the Twin princes is unquestionably one of the toughest bosses in Dark Souls 3 and indeed the whole series and its ultimately the teleportation aspect that really makes the fight challenging overall. However despite the anger and frustration I felt after being beaten so many times, I must admit its a pretty good boss fight and one of the best in the game and it more than deserves the runner-up spot.

So, now onto the toughest boss of the game at No.1, which is...

1. The Nameless King

Yep at No.1 is this guy the Nameless King. The Nameless King...or his accurate name: well there are too many you could call him but how the Nameless Prick (sorry about the language!).  

Now when it comes to gaming there are plenty of challenging bosses out there and plenty of frustrating and difficult challenges to overcome but THIS guy takes the biscuit barrel and runs away with it! The Nameless King had me in fits of anger and frustration like I have never encountered with any other game boss in history as he is incredibly, infuriatingly difficult to take on as a boss and thank God he is an optional one in the game as I would have no hair left if you had to beat him to complete the game!

So, why is the Nameless King the toughest boss in the game??? Well, I have to start by saying I found this fight to be a little bit gimmicky in its difficulty, particularly in the first phase as it relies heavily on using annoying camera angles to knock off your concentration and disorientate you, which leads to plenty of deaths alone. In fact I'm just getting angry thinking about those bloody annoying camera angles and the trouble they caused me in this fight!  Secondly, in the first phase the Nameless King is seen riding his dragon (King of the Storm) and he will repeatedly try and hit you with his large hyrbid sword-spear weapon, which inflicts major lightning damage aswell as physical damage. Now these attacks can even result in insta-kills and I was killed four times with NK's charge attack right at the start of the fight and his lightning attack can virtually do the same! And to top this off, his dragon will also start breathing fire at you and if you are in his way this can also one-shot you.

As for the second phase...oh God! This is where the fight becomes even more difficult as after you kill off the Nameless King's dragon, you will take him on in combat and he is no joke whatsoever here. And the Nameless King's attacks include a mixture of spear slash combos, lightning spear slam attacks (that cause Area of Effect damage) aswell as aerial swoop attacks all of which can deal MAJOR damage. He also deploys an lightning attack from the sky in his second phase, which can roll to avoid or block with your shield but this will also cause alot of damage if you get caught in it.

So, with all that said you can imagine the difficulty I faced in trying to beat this guy and it took me 193 attempts before he finally went down (yep I counted them as I just had to given his reputation!) and it took me 17 attempts before I even reached the second phase! And the main problem I often encountered was that this guy alone must be the cheapest boss in the history of gaming because he repeatedly cheap shots you with his spear throughout the first phase, which can result in insta-kill or death by lightning attack or just a melee spear slam!

And in the second phase I found it very difficult to time my rolls to evade his attacks as he often would knock me into the ground with spear thrust/combo attacks or his spear impale move, which also can take a generous amount off your health! So, this fight really did up to one of the most frustrating experiences I have ever faced in gaming history!

As for how to beat him???? Good question! Well, I found in the first phase the best strategy was to get as close to the side of the dragon's neck as possible, so you can evade the majority of NK's spear attacks but you can still take damage from his lightning spear attacks though as they have an AoE impact. I would also suggest that you roll either side of the King when he swipes his spear at you left and right to avoid take big damage either that or stay down if you get hit once. You also need to kill the dragon in the first phase of course, so for that I'd recommend using a weapon buffed with lightning as the dragon is highly vulnerable to this and I opted for the Lothric Knight Crossbow and lightning bolts to finish it off.

Also if the dragon does hit you with his flame attack and you have enough health, just stay down and DO NOT try to get up because if you do you will take even more damage and most likely die. Again to mitigate the fire damage here I would highly recommend boosting your fire defense by using red bug pellets, flash sweat (a pyromancy fire defense spell) or some other fire resistance item. 

In the second phase, its simply a case of getting good as timing your rolls to avoid the Nameless Dick's attacks (and I'm being polite here!) and get your hits in just after NK has finished them. I also found that ranged attacks work quite well against Nameless and in the end I used the pyromancy spell, Chaos Bed Vestiges to kill him off, which is a powerful projectile fireball that hits its mark pretty effectively but melee is a different matter altogether!

So, for me the Nameless King remains the hardest boss in Dark Souls 3 and is an incredibly frustrating and punishing fight that will test any gamer to the limit (and if you said you beat him easy then you must be lying surely!). However there is no denying it is a really intense battle with awesome cutscenes and an excellent music track (which is way lighter in tone to the rest of the Souls 3 soundtrack!). And its the mixture of annoying camera angles, cheap shot spear attacks and the King's brutal second phase that add up to make this an extremely difficult fight and one that deserves to take the top spot.

Right, so that's it for now and I hope you have enjoyed this list and I will be back soon with another post, which will now of course not be before November (its nearly November already! Unreal!).

So, until then its bye for now!

           

Dark Souls III - Top 9 Hardest Bosses Part 1 - No's 9-5

OK, so I have finally finished playing Dark Souls III (the original game that is and not including the two DLCs although I have almost finished one of them) and I figured it was high time I did a list covering the toughest bosses from the game.

Dark Souls III sure has its fair share of tough bosses but it also only had 19 overall (plus another 6 from the DLCs) so I figured I would keep this list down to a top 9 rather than do a top 10.  So, just to clarify this list will cover only the bosses that featured in the original game and not the DLCs as I have only played two of them so far (i.e. the two bosses from The Ashes of Ariandel DLC).

The list will also be based on the difficulty I personally encountered in playing these bosses, so there might be one or two surprising choices and/or omissions from what you would usually see on these lists.

So, with that all said, let's grab our swords, enter that fog gate and take a look at these badass bosses from hell...

9. Vordt of the Boreal Valley 

So, to kick off the list is a surprisingly difficult boss early on in the game, Vordt of the Boreal Valley, who gave me serious trouble in my second playthrough as a pyromancer, this boss repeatedly kicked my ass time and time again before I got by him!

As for the boss himself, Vordt can be found in the High Wall of Lothric area in the game and he is a beast like creature, who was once formerly a Boreal knight but is now seen sprouting some metallic armour and carries a big hammer (yep another hammer boss!). Vordt essentially comes at his opponents with a series of slash and strikes attacks in the first phase but in the second he will then go into a charge attack mode, which the player must avoid at all costs or risk being killed outright and he also breathes out frost, which can frostbite you.

So, basically the trouble I had with this boss was not realising the best way to defeat him was to use the deep battle axe, which utilises dark damage and I instead used a longsword, which proved pretty inefficient against him and ended up getting killed over and over again as I struggled with his second phase attacks.

And this brings me onto the best way to kill him is of course to use the deep battle axe and get underneath him as much as you can to get your strikes in but this can be a little more challenging in the second phase when Vordt goes into psycho charge mode. However if you stick with him and also use green blossom herbs to boost your stamina then this should become an easier fight.

However just because the trouble I had with him, I figured he deserves a place on the list here and especially going in as an under-powered character early on, Vordt can still provide a stern challenge for a new player. So, for these reasons, Vordt deserves his place on here.         

8. Oceiros the Consumed King

At No.8 is this rather surprisingly tricky boss, Oceiros the Consumed King, who is a blind dragon that can be found in the Consumed King's Garden area of the game and is also optional and not required to complete the game.


Oceiros however despite being optional still can present a fair challenge as a boss and he also remains somewhat unique as a boss as he is quite chatty in the game as you hear him talk about an imaginary or invisible baby for the first part of the fight. However in the second phase, Oceiros starts to go nuts and runs rampant around the room as he charges at you, spits out frost breath that can curse you and essentianlly can massive damage if you get in his way.

So, it has to be said I did struggle with this boss quite a bit in my first playthrough as I managed his first phase ok but his second phase is where the real difficulty lies as Oceiros becomes frenzied and very aggressive as he charges you again and again and if you get the caught in it you are in big trouble.

So, suffice to say that I ended up dying to this boss quite a bit more than I would have liked to have as he proved quite tricky when it came to evading his frenzied charge attacks, which can seriously do alot of damage. In fact I have to admit that if there any bosses in a game that involve you rolling carefully to dodge their attacks, I usually suck at it, so you can imagine it took me a bit of time to try and get my timing right well enough to get my hits in and finish him off!

As for strategy well simply its a case of the old cliche of "get good" at rolling to avoid his attacks and getting your damage in just at the right times and also use a shield with good stability just in case you do get caught out by Oceiros's frenzied rage, which can easily two shot you.

So, this guy is definitely a tricky customer and one of the more tricky bosses in the game for me and not one to be underestimated.

7. The Abyss Watchers

 













Next up are The Abyss Watchers, who for me were the first legitimately tough boss in the game as you will be given quite a stern workout here as you face a bunch of clones of the legendary knight, Artorius (who appeared in the first Dark Souls game).

The Abyss Watchers can be found in Farron Keep and basically comprise of a series of knights who all look the same and fight each other to the death, however as one dies another pops up and they keep on fighting. So, this is what you have to look forward to as you soon find yourself being two against one, however to make things a little different, a third Abyss Watcher will show up and they will fight the other watchers instead. This then helps take the pressure off you a little as you can choose to attack the other Abyss Watchers instead.

Now surviving the first phase of this fight isn't too difficult but where the real difficulty lies is in the second phase where a single Abyss Watcher rises up and starts attacking with higher levels of aggression and this time he uses flame attacks to inflict serious fire damage. Surviving the second phase of this fight is where the real challenge lies indeed as you have to try and manage your health and stamina as this fight can really sap both quickly.

So, as for how to cope with the Abyss Watchers??? Well basically I did summon for this fight but ultimately the NPCs again were all killed before the fight even ended, so I found myself having to defeat the firey Abyss Watcher in the second phase myself. In short, you are best using a good shield with fire resistance and I will also recommend using the flame stoneplate ring, which provides decent fire defence, failing that I would also suggest using Red Bug Pellets, which also provide fairly good resistance to fire. Again in this fight you really need to manage your stamina and get in your strikes whenever you can, which is best when The Abyss Watcher(s) have their downtime between attacks but the attack windows can be fairly short making this difficult.

So, for me The Abyss Watchers was a real indicator for the difficulty that would lie ahead in the game as things would only get tougher from here and for that these guys deserve their place here at No.6.

6. Pontiff Sulyvahn 

So, at No.6 is a boss, who I actually originally had left off this list (rather stupidly!) and that boss is no other than Pontiff Sulyvahn.  The Pontiff himself is a large imposing figure, who was formerly a sorcerer but became corrupted by the Profaned Flame.

Now the reason I had left him off the list is because I always was able to summon two NPCs for his fight, making him significantly easier to take down. However on another playthrough I did (as a cleric in which I mucked up several questlines so I deleted it!) I was only able to summon one NPC and by God it was a completely different fight and one which I seriously struggled with!

As for what makes Pontiff so tricky???  Well, the guy has his share of aggressive attacks and they are hard to get a read on as he tends to mix them up and they are also quite long and sweeping in style and yep they deal out ALOT of damage! Pontiff also at around half way through his health bar will enter a second phase (yep that dreaded second phase!) and produce his own clone, which carries a series of pre-emptive attacks, which the real Pontiff will then also perform on you.  So, this all adds up to a pretty tricky fight!

As how to deal with Pontiff Sully? Well, in my cleric playthrough (I mucked up!) I actually wasn't able to beat Pontiff with just the one NPC summon but I came very close though but with the two summons he is MUCH easier to take down. So, what I would suggest for the fight is to get those two summons to make your life easier (and don't mess up Anri's questline like I did as she is the other summon I failed to get last time!).

However NPCs aside, you need to time your rolls to evade Pontiff's attacks and keep rolling to his left to avoid them and when he produces his clone in the second phase, try and kill his clone as fast as you can and your are best using a buffed weapon for this (either use magic or lightning) as this clone is largely immune to physical damage. You should also take note that if Pontiff has enough health left and you have killed one of his clones then he will try and summon another, so you need to keep killing his clones over and over until you can get Pontiff's health bar diminished completely.

So, overall Pontiff Sulyvahn is a boss I really underestimated here initially as he can prove to be a serious handful and definitely one of the tougher bosses in the game. Thankfully there are summons there to help make this fight way easier but if you go in alone or just with the one summon you are bound to be in for a tough fight.

So, apologies for initially leaving Sully out of the list as he really deserve his place on here at No.6. 

5. Dancer of the Boreal Valley 

Next up is the deadliest female boss in the game (well except maybe Sister Freide in the Ashes of Ariandel DLC?!) the Dancer of the Boreal Valley, who can be found in the Hall wall of Lothric area of the game but you fight her just inside the entrance of Lothric castle.

So, why is the Dancer of the Boreal Valley such a difficult boss??? Well, it simply comes down to just how hard this boss hits as she can dish out some MAJOR damage to your character if you aren't wary (or even if you are wary!). And the Dancer's most devastating attack comes in her first phase where she performs a grab move, where she literally grabs you and you get impaled onto her sword, which is basically a one-shot kill if your health bar isn't high enough!  Her second phase is no joke either as the Dancer will pull out a second sword and start swirling them around the room, which can inflict large amounts of damage again if her hits connect with you.

As for how I got on with this boss, I have to say in my first playthrough as a pyromancer I managed to kill her off quite easily with dark pyromancies, using Black Fire Orb, which wiped her out fairly quickly as she is weak to dark. However, I did another playthrough as a melee character where I struggled against her big time as I failed to get the timing on my rolls right to evade her attacks, which as I said hit pretty hard!

So as for strategies, well its another case of getting good at timing your rolls to avoid her attacks and roll through them and when she attempt to grab you back way off! In fact there is a ring in the game, which could prove a good help in this fight, which is the milkus bloodring that gives you room for what is called invcibility rolling, which is where you can roll more efficiently to avoid enemy attacks. So, basically get your rollls down, back off when she does the grab attack and get your hits whenever you can after she has finished her own attacks. However, I would still suggest using pyromancy to kill her or ranged attacks as a melee approach definitely provides a greater challenge against this boss.

However, one thing I definitely would say in defence of this boss is that she does has a very nice curvy figure and a great butt! ;-) 

So, The Dancer of the Boreal Valley definitely deserves her place on this list as she can prove a stern challenge especially for melee characters and I would say unless you get good on your rolls to avoid her brutal attacks, you will be in for a rough time with this one.

Right, OK so that's it for now and I will be back soon with Part 2 of the list.

See you soon...

Dark Souls III Review

Right, well its time for another review and apologies for being so quiet on the review front of late as I've been busy with other things with one namely being the subject of this post and that is the action role play game, Dark Souls III.

Dark Souls III is supposed to be the last game in the Souls series, so given its high quality predecessors this game would have a lot to live up to but does it???  Well let's find out.

And below I will mention a little about the story but not too much but for the sake of it, I will issue the usual warning...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD! BUT NOT TOO MANY!!

STORY

So, I will quote a bit of the story line from Wikipedia just to save myself a bit of time...

"Set in the Kingdom of Lothric, a bell has rung to signal that the First Flame, responsible for maintaining the Age of Fire, is dying out. As has happened many times before, the coming of the Age of Dark produces the undead: cursed beings that rise up after death. The Age of Fire can be prolonged with the linking of the fire, a ritual in which great lords and heroes sacrifice their souls to rekindle the First Flame. However, Prince Lothric, the chosen linker for this age, has abandoned his duty and instead chooses to watch the flame die from afar.

The Ashen One (your playable character) an Undead who failed to become a Lord of Cinder and thus called an Unkindled, rises and must link the fire by returning Prince Lothric and the defiant Lords of Cinder to their thrones in Firelink Shrine..."

THOUGHTS

As a sequel and what is a conclusion to the series, Dark Souls III is an excellent and gripping game similar to its predecessors even if it doesn't quite reach the heights of the previous two games, its still a great challenge and will provide players with many hours of fun and frustration! I've still not quite completed the game as of yet as I write this review but I am certainly quite far into the game and in some ways its the most challenging game of the whole series so far.

It also makes quite a few references to the previous games throughout and brings back a few things that were missing from Dark Souls II, so it stays more faithful in a way to the first game than the second.  Despite this though, the game has plenty of new features and challenges to work through, which I will get to as the review goes on.

GAMEPLAY BASICS

The gameplay mechanics here are very similar to the first two games with the usual third person perspective in use here and your character do the usual running, jumping, attacking etc but I will mention more about that later. Your character has a similar inventory system as before in Dark Souls II where you can access your equipment and items. The HUD (heads-up display) is also similar with a red bar for health and green bar for stamina but this time round there is a blue bar, which is for what's known as "Focus Points" which are reserved for casting spells and carrying out special moves with your weapons. Focus points or "FP" also featured in the first game in the series, Demon Souls (the predecessor to Dark Souls).

Throughout the game you will also be able to upgrade your various stats such as your vigour (health), endurance, strength, intelligence and faith. These stats can be upgraded with the number of souls that you claim from fallen enemies and the requirement becomes higher each time you level up. However not all the choices of character have the same starting stats as they will be based on their different skillsets, e.g. a warrior's main stats will fall under strength and endurace whereas a sorcerer would rely more on intelligence and a cleric could be a mixture of faith and intelligence.

Similar to the previous games, the player will also rest at bonfires, which act as checkpoints throughout the game and through the main bonfire at Firelink Shrine, the player can also upgrade their health recovery items, Estus Flasks at the bonfire with the help of additional items (known as Estus Flask Shards). The shards are spread throughout the game and can be obtained as the player progresses, which will see them end up with 15 Estus flasks in total. Estus flasks this time around are a little different as with the introduction of the FP system, you also get blue coloured flasks called Ashen Estus Flasks, which will restore your Focus Points for casting spells and using specific weapon skill moves. The player can also through Andri, allot their estus flasks between using one for restoring health and another for your focus points.


WEAPONS

The game also has a very similar number of weapons to the first two DS games with a large selection available such as swords, bows, axes, halberds, spears, throwing knives and firebombs in addition to sheilds and armour. All the weapons and shields can be upgraded through the game's blacksmith, Andri of Astora (who also appeared in the first Dark Souls) at Firelink Shrine (also from DS1!) which he will do via the use of different types of material known as titanite, which come in different shapes and sizes. The player will also have to meet certain strength and dexterity requirements to successfully wield these weapons, which they can. However this time around you can no longer get your armour upgraded unlike in the previous games, which is a strange move I have to stay but well hey ho.

Of course the game also features options as before for sorcery, pyromancy and clerics all of whom can cast sepells via the use of specific items, such a staff for the sorcerer, a pyro glove for the pyromancer and a chime for the clerics. The spells for sorcery generally require intelligence to use and the miracles require faith, which you will need to upgrade as you go on in the game. Again these items can be upgraded by the blacksmith Andri with the use of titanite or if not some other materials, so they can increase their power and damage output.

COMBAT

The combat system is pretty much the same as before but with some slight changes with the main one relating to the FP system, where a player can perform a skill move with their weapon, which could be a weapon buff or a specific enhanced type of attack. The player can as before also lock onto their enemies to keep track of them in combat although this isn't always 100 percent reliable as you can tend to lose sight of them at times, which automatically cancels out the lock-on! Another big addition this time around is the inclusion of liberal amounts of blood gushing from your enemies as you hit and kill them, however if you don't like that you can turn the blood settings off.

ENEMIES

The enemies in the game are very much varied and can range from being a minor nuisance to being downright brutally difficult! As usual there are a mix of enemies from the previous games such as the standard hollows, sekeltons, basilisks (who can curse you, which ends up killing you!) aswell as the return of the black and silver knights. However there are of course plenty of new enemies aswell some of which can be very challenging while others more straight forward but you always tend to fight the enemies will get tougher as the game progresses and DS III is no different here.

So, this time around we get new enemies such as the really annoying Ghru, who come in different varieties and can cast a poisonous mist at you aswell as smother you to near death. There are also other enemies such as the loudmouthed fat female Evangelists, who cast spells at you and can cause heavy damage with their large spiked clubs. And later there far more challenging enemies such as Pontiff Knights, who can hit hard and fast with curved swords. Then there are stranger enemies that include the Jailers, who can attack you with soldering irons and use lanterns that when lit red can reduce your health bar down to near zero! So, these new enemies can be quite annoying and challenging all at once for sure!

RINGS

Another key aspect of the game similar to the previous ones is the use of rings, which all give the player different abilities throughout and like Dark Souls II, you can now equipment four rings at once. Some rings will give you the ability to boost your attacks, especially for pyromancy and sorcery whereas others will allow you boost your overall health or discover more items or increase you resistance to hazardous things such as poison, toxicity, frostbite (new to this game) and curse.

It also recycles one or two rings from the original game such as the Dusk ring (increases spell use) and of course the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring (I think!) that cancels out any noise you make when you move, which is very useful sneaking up on enemies.    

NPCs & SUMMONS

As before, in Dark Souls III, there are plenty of non-playable characters (NPCs) for you to interact with as the game progreses and some of which become merchants who will sell and trade items with you. However some of the NPC merchants require you to save them from capture in order for them to make it back to Firelink Shrine to trade with you. As for the summons, similar to the previous games, you can summon certain NPCs to help you in the boss fights but in order to do this your character must use an ember so that the summon sign will appear. 

HOLLOWING

The hollowing process (which always happened when you died in Souls 1 and 2 and it left you looking more zombie-esque) is different this time around to the previous games in the series because in this game when you die, they will not go hollow, so their appearance will not change and become more ameciated like it did before. However you can still become hollow in this game by gaining an item called a dark sigil, which is supposed to increase your "inner strength". Hollowing can also be reversed with the use of an item called a purging stone (which was used to remove curse in the first Dark Souls).  I've not tried the hollowing option myself so far in my playthroughs though so can't comment on the hollowing process.


BOSSES

Again just like the previous Souls games, DS III has its share of bosses to fight although they had reduced the number that appear after the excessive amount that appeared in Dark Souls II. So, this time round there are only 19 bosses in the official game but there are an additional six more in the two DLCs for the game.  As usual as in the previous games, the player will take on these bosses by stepping through a fog gate into an area where they will fight and they cannot leave until the fight is over.

And once again, the bosses provide some of the main challenges of the game as they can vary in difficulty as some or fairly easy whereas others are incredibly difficult but that's just par for the course with Dark Souls. The bosses feature the usual mix of the human, demons, monsters, dragons and other beings that will really test your reseolve.

I won't really go into any detail on the bosses as such here but there are definitely some very testing ones to be found here and two in particular I have to say are the among the toughest bosses in the entire Souls series! I won't say too much about who they are but they have both given me unbelievable amounts of trouble in playing this game! In fact I will do a top 10 or 5 list of the hardest bosses from the game fairly soon, so I can bitch about them more! ;-)

GRAPHICS 

As for the graphics...well this is where Dark Souls III is a bit of a mixed bag as in a way the game sees the series take a bit of a step back in the quality of graphics of the previous two games (the remastered editions I mean of Souls I and II, which look great). And the disappoitment I have in the graphics mainly relate to the character models, which look like they belong to a previous generation console! So, there are certainly quite a few characters in the game that do look a bit basic and under developed aswell as some enemies.

However, having said all that Dark Souls III is still a pretty fine looking game in the graphics department when it comes to its environments as they actually do look quite stunning and with great detail and texture to structures, buildings and the general environment. In fact I'm sure the PC version of this game will look even better as you will be able to switch on anti-aliasing (which smooths out jagged edges in games). Your character also unlike the previous can also get all messy as they go through areas such as poison swamps or indeed just water, they're clothes will get all mudded and wet, so its a nice touch that they added this in.

So generally speaking the graphics are pretty good but just a little lacking in the character model department.

MUSIC

As for the music score it is primarily scored by Yuka Kitamura with some contributions by Motoi Sakuraba who composed in the first two Souls game and overall this is an outstanding score with plenty of highlights contributed by both composers. And the score has a real epic and emotional feel to it on a greater scale than the previous games with the tracks all primarily for the boss fights.

The standout tracks for me are Pontiff Sulyvhan, The Abyss Watchers, Twin Princes, Dancer of the Boreal Valley, Sister Friede to name a few but the very best two tracks for me are The Nameless King and Slave Knight Gael themes, which are both outstanding in different ways but both are undeniably brilliant pieces.

If there was one criticism I could level at the score maybe is that it does have a somewhat repetitive feel to it with its extensive usage of choral singers and operatic singing and the score itself can be a bit of a downer at times. However, none of this really detracts from what is largely a terrific soundtrack with superb contributions by both Kitamura and Sakuraba. 


FLAWS

As for flaws...yes Dark Souls III isn't perfect.

For starters there are some frustrating omissions from the game such as the ability to upgrade your armour, which is pretty daft if you ask me as you could upgarde it in the previous so why take that option in this one??? It makes little sense to me as upgrading armour was one of the key components in helping fight the bosses in previous games but here they decided to forget all that, which is annoying.

Another thing that bugged me was to do with the whole idea of Andri, the blacksmith being the go-to guy to upgrade your estus flasks and NOT the bonfire keeper! I mean what is all that about??? However you can upgrade your Estus flask's strength at the Firelink bonfire yourself, so it makes little sense as to why you would need Andri to do the rest. In fact it would have been much easier to have you upgrade your stats, allot your estus flasks between health and FP ones at the bonfire yourself without even relying on Andri to all that in the first place! It just makes things less convenient for the player and involves alot of tedious toing and froing between areas.

I also missed the idea of life gems being in the game, which appeared in Dark Souls II, which were a great back-up for your health when you had run out of estus flasks. However I guess the game makers decided the life gems were a bit of a cheat and make the game a bit too easy (even though Dark Souls II was still tough with them!) so you had to go back to using estus flasks alone to make things more challenging.

Another annoyance is to do with how the game makes farming for titanite shard pretty difficult early on as they are pretty sparse in the game until a bit later on and you of course need 2 to upgrade weapons to +1, 4 for +2 and 6 for +3. After this again you are forced to wait until you can upgrade your weapon using large titanite shard (which upgrades your weapons to +6) until later on in the game, which can make facing certain bosses quite difficult. And of course don't get me started on the wait you have before you can upgrade your weapons up to +9 as you need titante chunk for that and that is also pretty sparse in the game too even later on! So, the whole titanite upgrade process does get quite frustrating but again no doubt it was deliberate on the part of the makers to make life tricky.

And this brings me onto another area of frustration about the game, which is to do with the limited amount of alternative items to estus flasks that can replenish your health and while there are some they are always available in a limited capacity. So, as an example in the game you have an alternate health restoring item called divine blessing, which will restore your health completely and cure any poision/toxic effects but they are available only in limited amounts. So, if you are going into a big boss fight and find you are burning through your estus flasks too quickly you are left with little or no viable alternatives except these occassional ones, which to be honest really sucks in this game.

And then of course we get to the NPC summons for the boss fights, which it has to be said that the summons in this game SUCK BIG TIME! When you go into a boss fight you tend to find that the summons get killed all too quickly leaving alone to fight some tough bosses with more health and arguably stronger attacks. In Dark Souls II we got treated to some pretty awesome summons that were a big help in the boss battles and you had good old solid Solaire in the first game but here they just get wiped out pretty easily! So, this makes for a pretty frustrating time of things regarding summoning, which should have been way better here.

I also wish there would have been more options to top up your focus points for casting spells as there will be times in boss fights or indeed enemy areas where you will run out of FP until you get back to a bonfire. However there is one item that can do this in the game called hidden blessing but they are available in limited quantity, which kind of sucks it has to be said.

Then there is of course the issue with the game's blood options, which I am OK with to an extent as you see the animation of blood flying from your enemies when you attack them and vice versa (a la Bloodborne style). However my main grip here is with the blood option turned on, your character ends up with a bloodied face but instead of the blood being red its black! So, instead the character looks like they are covered in tear or soot and it looks silly! In the end I turned off the blood as I thought my character looked naff with black blood (or soot if you like!) all over them.  

Another problem I have with the game is to do with volume of the enemies as there are some enemies in the game that are WAY TOO NOISY!!! Yep, there are quite a few enemies that screech like hyenas such as the female hollows who carry lanterns, the tree enemies in the Painted World DLC area and of course the Ghru, who screech loudly when you kill them (OK they are pretty funny the way they screech I admit!). So, I do wish that they turned down the volume just a little bit on these enemies as the previous games were never like this and it remains an annoyance.  

And last of all is to do with cursing (not swearing!) in the game, which appears to do nothing in this game other than kill you and that's it with no other after effects! Now in the previous games when you were cursed it actually did something to you when you were resurrected at the bonfire as in the original game, cursing halved your life and in the second game it increase your level of hollowing by one each time. However here apart from death, the curse has no other effect so to me I think it was just a pointless inclusion in the 3rd game, which I think was just added for the sake of consistency with the other games.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Dark Souls III is an excellent conclusion to the Souls series and it is packed with plenty of gripping and exciting combat and stern boss fights that will keep you thrilled and frustrated in equal measure. The game does still have its faults but its testament to the quality of the series that this game is still as good as it is. So, suffice to say Dark Souls III is a game that is still as addictive and long lasting as the previous ones with near endless replay value and is well worth checking out.


So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post hopefully quite soon.

Till then bye for now!

Doctor Who - Survival "If we fight like animals...we'll die like animals!!!"

OK, so its time for another post on this blog and apologies for not doing as many as I would normally do this year but other things get in the way at times (usually laziness!).

However today I decided its time for another review and this one will be on a rather special Doctor Who story (well in a way) as it is the last story from the original series run back in 1989 and the story in question is Sylvester McCoy's swansong, Survival. Now, I've never been very keen on this story but I decided to give it another chance to see how it is after all these years.

So, is the last story of the original Doctor Who series a disappointment???  Well, let's find out...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, the story begins with the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) returning to Ace's home, Perivale, as she is keen to find out how her old friends are getting on. However things are not what they appear to be as there is a mysterious black cat hanging around, targetting humans and making them disappear into another dimension. Ace also discovers that most of her friends have disappeared, however the Doctor is more interested in the strange cat's behaviour as he tries to track it down. Ace however soon falls victim of the cat herself as she is transported to another world where she is chased by one of a race called the Cheetah people.

The Doctor meanwhile continues to try and track the cat and as he follows up to a brick wall, he is soon accosted by a local keep-fit instructor, Paterson (Julian Holloway) who the Doctor and Ace run into earlier but they are soon also transported into the other world where they are also hounded by the Cheetah people. But its not long before the Doctor stumbles across who is really behind all the disappearances, who is none other than his old foe, the Master (Anthony Ainley) who wants the Doctor's help to aid him in his escape from the Cheetah world, which is on the verge of destruction...

THOUGHTS

Well in the past I've never been so keen on Survival as a story in general, however after giving another go, I found myself quite enjoying it and now think its a good one, which is a fitting end to the original series and as McCoy's swansong its a very decent way to go out.  Its just a pity after this that the show would then be cancelled even though it was never properly announced but by this time the ratings of the show had really gone down and the powers that be at the BBC decided it was time to call it a day on Doctor Who.

However, it has to be said that the story itself has quite alot going for it as it was written by Rona Munro went on to become quite a successful tv and theatre writer.  The story also has quite a menacing mood to it throughout, particularly in the first episode which has plenty of mystery to it and the reveal of the Master is well handled as the first cliffhanger. Also as a three parter, the story never lags and its pacing is pretty taut throughout and its also another on that let's Ace's character stand out as she tries to reuinte with her old friends and later on falls under the influence of the Cheetah people.

PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for the performances, well they are all excellent here as a fine cast give this story their best.

For starters, Sylvester McCoy is excellent again as the Seventh Doctor and by his swansong he had become very self assured in the role, as he plays the Doc with a sense of goofy charm but also there is always underlying seriousness to him aswell.

As for a few of McCoy's notable scenes, there is the one where the Doctor tries to grab the mysterious cat but the fitness instructor, Sgt Paterson stops him. So, Paterson grabs the Doctor and says "Now, what do you think you're up to?! I've had complaints!" and the Doctor asks "What's it got to do with you?!" and Paterson says "Neighbourhood watch". The Doctor dismissively says "I've got no time for that! I've got to catch that cat!" but Paterson restrains him and says "You're public nuisance!" the Doctor struggles and says "Will you leave me go!". Paterson however says "Now don't yourself into real trouble!" and the Doctor suddenly presses his finger against Paterson's head, who falls to the ground unconscious. The Doctor then reiterates what Paterson said to him earlier "One finger can be a deadly weapon!".

Another good scene is where the Doctor and the Master have their final confrontation which begins in Perivale but they are soon transported to the Cheetah people planet, which by then is disintegrating.

So, in the scene in Perivale the Doctor catches the Master tries to pick the lock of the Doc's TARDIS and the Doctor sneaks up behind and says "Good hunting?!" and the Master says "Yes it would seem to easy. It seems we must always meet again" and they begin to circle each other as the Doc says "They do say opposites attract".

WARNING: THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS FEATURE SPOILERS!!

So, after a few taunts, the Master grabs the Doctor by the throat and they are suddenly transported to the Cheetah planet, which is beginning to destroy itself. The Master then says to the Doctor as they struggle "Welcome to my new home, Doctor!". However, the Doctor manages to force the Master down onto his back and he grabs a skull and lifts it above his head but then notices the Cheetah people disappear around him. So, the Doctor snaps out of his rage and says "They've gone! What am I doing?! We've got to go! We've got to stop!" and the Master says "You can't go! Not this time!" and the Doctor tells "Yes, we can!" and the Master tells him "Escape to what?! I don't choose to live like an animal!". The Master then grabs the Doctor by the throat again and tells him "You should have killed me, Doctor!" and then the Doctor yells the most memorable line of the story "IF WE FIGHT LIKE ANIMALS, WE'LL DIE LIKE ANIMALS!!!" and he is suddenly transported back to Perivale.

And last of all is the scene where the turns up behind a teary eyed Ace, who had picked up the Doctor's hat and umbrella and she is wearing his hat but then he suddenly takes it from her and says "Mine, I believe!".  Ace then asks the Doctor of the Master "But the Master?" and the Doctor says grimly "Who knows?" and then with a cheerier tone he asks Ace "Where now to, Ace?" and Ace says "Home" and the Doctor a little puzzled asks "Home?" and Ace cheerily says "The TARDIS!" and the Doctor smiles and says "Ah yes!".

And so the Doctor finishes with his memorable little speech as he puts an arm around Ace and they walk off together. So he tells Ace "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea's asleep and the rivers dream, people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice and somewhere else the tea is getting cold. Come on, Ace, we've got work to do!".

Sophie Aldred next up here in Survival probably delivers her very best performance as Ace in the show as she is terrific in this story and she shows Ace's courage, humour and vulnerability as she is taken over by the Cheetah people.

And I will mention a few of Sophie's scenes that include her first one where the Doctor and Ace arrive in Perivale on a Sunday, much to Ace's disappointment. So, Ace, disgruntled tells the Doctor "You had to pick a Sunday, didn't you? You bring me back to the boredom capitol of the universe, you pick the one day of the week you can't even get a decent television programme!". The Doctor then says to her "As I recall, Ace, we came here at your request" and Ace grumpily says "I just said I wondered what the old gang was up to, that's all. You didn't have to bring us here. You could have dropped me up in town. I could have phoned. I just wanted to see what my old mates were up to. You didn't have to have the guided tour!". The Doctor then asks Ace "What's so terrible about Perivale?" and Ace says "Nothing ever happens here".

WARNING:NEXT PARAGRAPH IS A SPOILER!!!

Then there is the scene which is the cliffhanger of episode two (which is a pretty good one!) where the Doctor tells Ace, Paterson, Derek and Shreela, while trapped on the Cheetah people planet that they will wait for next one of the them to change into a Cheetah person and they will then get back home. So, suddenly in the scene we see one of the Cheetah people, Kara arrive on her horse and Shreela shouts out "Look!" and Ace with her back turned from the other says "Oh yeah. She's better. Doctor look!" and she then turns around we see her eyes are now yellow! Dun dun!

Another good scene is when Ace in the final episode tells the Doctor how she feels as the influence of the Cheetah comes and her eyes keep going between yellow and normal. So, Ace tells the Doctor "Its weird, Doctor. I think I like this place. I like it. I feel like I belong here" and the Doctor says "Connected" and Ace says "I'm a bit scared. It feels exciting!" and the Doctor asks her "What do you feel?" and Ace says with excitment "I feel like I could run forever! I can smell things as clear as pictures!". The Doctor then asks Ace "Anything else, Ace?" and she says "Well, I'm starving, Professor!".

And lastly there is perhaps Sophie's best scene where she shows Ace's angst and desparation as she faces the Master and struggles to control the hold that the Cheetah planet has on her. So, in the scene Ace has the Master set his thugs on her as they approach her she is aware of the animal instinct in her and says to herself "I must not fight. I must not fight! Help me! Help me! WON'T SOMEBODY HELP ME???!!" and then all of a sudden, Kara appears out of nowhere on her horse to Ace's rescue.

Anthony Ainley next is excellent as the Master and here he gives his best performance in the role as his depiction of the Master prior to this had always been quite hammy but here Ainley really scales back the ham and produces a more restrained and chilling take on the Master.

So, to mention a few of his scenes there is the one where we first properly see the Master as the Doctor has been transported to the Cheetah people's planet and he is pushed toward a tent and the Doc is soon face to face with his mortal enemy. So, in the scene the Master simply says to the Doctor "Why, Doctor. What an unexpected pleasure!".

SPOILERS COMING UP IN NEXT PARAGRAPHS!

Then there is the scene near the end of part two where Midge has transformed into a human version of the Cheetah people with yellow eyes and fangs and he growls and the Master holds him by a chain round Midge's neck. So, in the scene the Master grins and explains "You see, Doctor, you did help me. You kept these others alive just long enough to serve my purposes!". The Doctor then urges the growling Midge not to listen to the Master "Midge wait!" but the Master laughs and says "Don't worry, one of these others will become a Cheetah animal before you. You can escape in your turn. Or are you too squeamish? Only the animals of this place can leave, Doctor, because they carry it with them!". The Doctor then pleads with Midge "Midge, listen to me!" but the Master laughs mockingly and says "He doesn't remember his name!" and he looks to Midge and says "Midge, go home!" and the two of the disappear in a flash.

And last of all there is the scene where the Doctor confronts the Master for the final time (in the story anyway!) and in the scene the Doctor catches the Master trying to pick the lock of the TARDIS. So, in the scene "It seems we must always meet again!" and the Doctor says to him "They do say opposites attract!". The Master then taunts the Doctor by saying "But this is the end, Doctor. You see it. It's a power. A power from that planet. It's growing within me. Are you frightened yet?!" and the Doctor says "No". The Master taunts the Doctor more and says "You should be. You should be. It nearly beat me. Such a simple, brutal power. Just the power of tooth and claw. It nearly destroyed me, a Time Lord. But I won. I control that force, Doctor. And now, at last, I have the power to destroy you!".

The Master then grabs the Doctor and the two of them are transported to the Cheetah planet again, which by now is collapsing around them. So, the Master says to the Doctor "Welcome to my new home, Doctor!" however as the Doctor almost succumbs to his primal rage in nearly killing the Master, he stops himself. So, the Doctor then says "I can't do this! We must go!" and the Master shouts "You can't go! Not this time!" and the Doctor says "Yes we can!" and the Master says "Escape to what?! I don't choose to live as an animal!".  The Doctor then shouts "If we fight, we'll destroy this planet! We'll destroy ourselves!" and the Master gains the upper hand and grabs the Doc by the throat and he shouts "You should have killed me, Doctor!".

Julian Holloway does very well in his role as the tough fitness instructor and ex army Sergeant, Paterson, who ends up getting trapped on the Cheetah planet along with the Doctor and the others.

And Holloway has some good scenes aswell but I will just mention just his first one where he does a self defence class and two of them fight each other with Paterson having a go at the winner for not beating down their opponent hard enough. So, as the winner of the fight, Stuart, says "But I already beat him, Sarge!" Paterson taunts him and pokes at him "Oh, you think I'm too hard, do you? Pushing you too hard, am I? Have you ever heard of survival of the fittest, son, eh? Have you ever heard of that? Life's not a game, son. I mean, I'm teaching you the art of survival. I'm teaching you to fight back. What happens when life starts pushing you around, son, eh? What're you going to do then?!!". Stuart angrily tries to hit Paterson, who swiftly grabs Stuart's arm and he restrains him and Paterson satisifed says "That's better!".

So, as the group leave the class, the Doctor and Ace, who were watching and not too impressed approach Paterson and the Doctor says "Survival of the fittest?! That's a rather glib generalisation, don't you think? Survival for what, Misterer?" and Paterson tells him firmly "Sergeant Paterson. You show me a better way of living and I'll give it a go!".

Lisa Bowerman also does pretty well in her role as Karra, one of the Cheetah people, who befriends Ace but she remains largely hostile to everyone else around her.

So, I will mention just one of her scenes quickly such as the one where Ace and Karra become friend and they travel together and stop at a partly eaten corpse. So, Karra tells Ace "Good hunt. Good hunting" and Ace says to her "You kill people. You eat people!" and Karra says "When I'm hungry I hunt. When I hunt, I eat". Ace, rather troubled by this asks Karra "Would you eat me?" and Karra says "There is meat here" but Ace reiterates her question "Yeah, but if there wasn't, would you kill me?" and Kara looks at her and asks "How fast can you run, sister?" and Ace tells her "Fast enough" and Karra smiles and says "Ah, that would be a good hunt! Are you hungry? Come and eat".

Will Barton next is also pretty good in his role as Midge, who is transported to the Cheetah world also and falls under the influence of the Master in the process.

And just for time I will mention one of Will's main scenes where by this time he is well under the influence of the Master and in the scene he turns up at his old gym wearing a shiny suit he addresses some of the members there waiting for Paterson's class. So, Midge says to them "Waiting on the Sarge? He's been held up. He asked me to have a little chat with you. I learned a secret today. The secret of success. Thought I'd share it with you!".

So, Midge then walks around and addresses the group loudly and says "It's common sense, right? It's just the way of the world, right? Survival of the fittest. Get rid of the deadwood, let the wasters go to the wall, and the strong will inherit the earth. You and me. Do you hear what I'm saying?! Do you know what I'm talking about?!".

And the last few I will mention are Sakauntala Ramanee who plays the part of Shreela, one of Ace's friends and she does pretty well in the role but for time I won't really mention her scenes here (sorry Saka!). David John is also not too bad in his role as Derek, one of Ace's friends, who is transported to the Cheetah planet aswell. And last of all I will mention are the comedy duo of Hal and Pace who make a surprise appearance as two shopkeepers and also provide some good moments of humour as you would expect.

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the direction, Alan Wareing does the directorial duties here for what is the last show of the original run of the Doctor Who series and he does a fine job overall and he keeps the overall tone of the story as being quite dark and menacing but it also has its own share of humour and he does a fine job at balancing that. Wareing himself would later go on to direct episodes of various drama series such as Casualty, Holby City (same thing??!) Wyclyffe, Emmerdale and Coronation Street.

As for the music we are treated to an excellent score here by Dominic Glynn as his music here is absolutely perfect for the tone of the story and it is quite menacing and creepy aswell as very atmospheric. The music itself featured as part of the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who CD set release and the score was even released in full on CD, which is what it deserves as its definitely one of the best electronic scores from the McCoy era, which again puts the cheese fest of Keff McCulloch to shame!

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws...yeah Survival has some worth mentioning.

For starters I had a bit of a problem with understanding the whole problem as to how the Master ended up on the Cheetah planet as I'm not sure that is explained in the story (or was it??!) and what he was hoping to really find there? Although of course knowing the Master, it would be unlimited power of sorts! However in the end, the Master struggles to keep himself from falling foul to the influences of the planet.

I also thought there were one or two other silly moments such as the scene where the Doctor is caught up in a bike challenge with Midge, which ends up badly for Midge who dies as a result. However, the Doctor of course survives and he ends up with his head jammed into an old sofa out in a rubbish tip and to be honest its a pretty silly moment and it feels like a bit of a cheesy gag to throw into the story and wasn't really needed.

WARNING: SPOILERS COMING UP IN NEXT PARAGRAPHS!


I also had an issue with Karra turning up on Earth to help Ace against the Master, however the Master ends up fatally stabbing her and she ends up lying in Ace's arms as she is dying but at this point she has suddenly turned human! I mean what is that all about?! Its another thing in the story that's not explained and it left me pretty flummoxed as to how Karra would suddenly go from a feline cat one minute, to a human being in the next!

And last of all you have to ask the question: What happened to the Master at the end of the story?? In the end he and the Doctor are struggling with each other on the Cheetah planet, which is destroying itself by then but the Doctor manages to escape leaving the Master seemingly to his fate. However, when the Doctor returns and reunites with Ace, she asks him what about the Master and he says grimly "Who knows?". I'd imagine that the Master would have also been transported off the planet aswell to somewhere else and once it was destroyed that the planet's influence on him had been banished. Now that might be the case but in the end we are just left to guess.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, after not really enjoying this story for years, I was plesantly surprised by Survival when I rewatched it and found the story has alot going for it. The script is well written by Rona Munro, the cast are all in excellent form, particularly McCoy, Aldred and Ainley who provide some of their best performances and the music score is excellent and is both sinister and atmospheric.

So, overall, Survival was a fine swansong for the final season of the original run of Doctor Who and it was a great pity that the show didn't know its own fate at that time of its broadcast but it would be another 16 years before the show would properly return again to our screens (the 1996 TV movie notwithstanding). However this was still a strong end to the McCoy era and to the old show after its lengthy 26 year run. 

SIGN OFF

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back sometime soon with another post, possibly a Dark Souls related one as I have been played the final game of the series, Dark Souls III, so might get a review done for that.

So, till the next one its bye for now!