Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Review

Well, after playing the Soulsbourne series relentlessly (and I'm STILL playing by the way lol!) I finally got round to recently buying the latest offering from the creators behind the Souls and BB games (i.e. From Software) and got Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Now, Sekiro is quite a change from the games that went before as instead of a swords and sorcery or victorian gothic approach we know have a game that is set in 16th century Japan (albeit a heavily fictionalised and fantasty based version).  So, this really is quite a departure from the previous games of From Software. However the question is to be asked...how does it stack up in comparison to the acclaimed Soulsbourne games? Well, let's find out...

And I will mention a bit about the plot below, so the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY (By the way this was taken from the Sekiro Wikipedia page)

"In a re-imagined late 16th century Sengoku period Japan, warlord Isshin Ashina staged a bloody coup and seized control of the land of Ashina from the Interior Ministry. During this time, a nameless orphan is adopted by the wandering shinobi named Ukonzaemon Usui, known to many as Owl, who named the boy Wolf and trained him in the ways of the shinobi. Two decades later, the Ashina clan is on the brink of collapse due to a combination of the now elderly Isshin having fallen ill and the clan's enemies steadily closing in from all sides. Desperate to save his clan, Isshin's grandson Genichiro sought the Divine Heir Kuro so he can use the boy's "Dragon Heritage" to create an immortal army. Wolf, now a full fledged shinobi and Kuro's personal bodyguard, loses his left arm while failing to stop Genichiro. As he received the dragon’s blood from Kuro three years prior, Wolf survives his wounds and awakes in an abandoned temple. In the temple, he meets the Sculptor, a former shinobi named Sekijo who now carves Buddha statues, and Wolf finds that his missing arm has been replaced with the Shinobi Prosthetic, a sophisticated artificial arm that can wield a variety of gadgets and weaponry...".

And its from here where Wolf must start his dangerous journey to try and rescue his kidnapped lord and get revenge over Genichiro...

THOUGHTS

Well, I really had high hopes for Sekiro as I'm such a big fan of the Soulsborne games, however I'm sad to say that for me personally, Sekiro is a bit of a disappointment and it fails to live up to the expectations of the exceptional games that came before it. The game did receive alot of acclaim however on its release from critics and there are still plenty of fans of the Soulsborne series that enjoyed it also, however unfortunately I just wasn't one of them. And the reasons I won't fully go into here but I felt overall the game lacked interesting areas and the bosses and standard enemies lacked appeal and there are of course plenty more I could say but I will save them for the flaws section.

GAMEPLAY (This section will be split into sub-sections just so you know!)

Well, as for the gameplay, Sekiro while it has its differences to the Soulsborne games, it stills shares the same non-linear structure where you can explore different areas rather than having to fight each area in succession. The game also shares similarities to the SB games such as healing and check points, as here in Sekro and I will go into more detail on them below.

COMBAT 

However that aside, Sekiro does largely depart from the Soulsbourne formats in most other respects and this is especially the case regarding the combat because here instead, Wolf will use his katana to attack an enemy's posture (or their poise) and continue until its broken and then Wolf call perform a deathblow attack to finish them off. However this will vary when it comes to the boss fights because Wolf will be required to perform at least a couple of deathblows to finish them off as they have larger health pools. Wolf can also deflect attacks from enemies but this does of course come with a penalty as they can also break Wolf's posture to land an attack of their own. Wolf can also perform stealth attacks and sneak through areas to takedown enemies from behind or from above.

SKILLS 
 
Wolf will also throughout the game earn XP points for taking down enemies and based on these points, he can upgrade his skills and these tend be a mixture of defensive and offensive skills. As Wolf progresses in the game, he can earn more points and enhance his skills as he will access them from the idols he travels by.    

TOOLS AND ITEMS

Sekiro similar to the Soulbourne games, has its own share of tools and items to be found throughout the world. Starting with the tools, well you may notice of course that in Sekiro, Wolf only has one primary weapon which is his katana but once he obtains his prosthetic arm, he can pick up a number of accessory weapons that can be attached to the arm to help him take down his enemies. As an example there are Shurikens, which are ninja stars that Wolf can throw at enemies, flame-vents, which are used to set enemies on fire, loaded-spears, which Wolf can stab foes with them and loaded-axes, which again Wolf can use to stagger enemies to help him land a deathblow.

There are also plenty of other items in the game that are of much use such as different sugars that when Wolf consumes them, he will gain different boosts such as reduction in physical/posture damage or an increase in his attack power. Other items include balloons, which when Wolf crushes them will again provide different abilities such as receiving more gold from fallen enemies, or increased chances of getting discoverable items held by enemies also.

ENEMIES, MINI BOSSES & BOSSES

As for the game's enemies, they are mainly comprised of a mix of humans, beasts, ogres, apes, lizards, dogs and many, many more. The human enemies tend to be members of opposing Samurai clans and tend to attack you with katanas, torches, bows, guns and even canons. The mini bosses however tend to be a bit more unique in that there are so many to be found in the game and they tend to have two health bars, which involves Wolf landing two successful deathblows to finish them off. The main game bosses however will have larger health bars and can have up to three at the most and pose a greater threat to the player. Bosses and standard enemies can also perform perilous attacks that deal out alot of damage, which Wolf cannot block however he can counter them with a skill move (Mikiri counter) either that or he will have to jump back to avoid them.

IDOLS, VITALITY AND POSTURE

Moving onto the game's travel system, which are the idols that are very similar to the bonfires and lamps that were used in Souls and Bloodborne as Wolf will find these idols throughout the game's world. The idols similar to the bonfire and lamps in SB game, act as checkpoints for the player and will restore Wolf's health fully aswell as his health items. At the idols, Wolf can also upgrade his skills, his vitality if he has the right items and his posture aswell as purchase Spirit Emblems that are used to utilise his prosthetic arm's tools and determines how many uses he can have of each tool.

As for Wolf's vitality and posture, these can be upgraded gradually throughout the game but in order to do so, Wolf will have to fight a number of mini bosses to do so as he will obtain items called prayer beads that will let him increase both these stats. Wolf will also need to obtain four beads to upgrade his vitality and posture by one level and there are 40 beads to be found throughout the game. Wolf's vitality bar can be found on the bottom left of the screen whereas his posture bar is on the bottom centre area of the screen, which will fill up as he is attacked and reduce as it recovers.

RESSURECTION AND DRAGONROT (Warning: this next section is kind of a spoiler!) 

Another aspect of the gameplay is of course connected to the title where Wolf can actually die...twice which means if he is killed once in combat, he can be ressurected once more before finally dying and the ressurection stat can be fully replenished whenever Wolf rests at an idol. However there is a big penalty that can be incurred if Wolf keeps dying and that is dragonrot, which is an illness that certain NPCs in the game will contract as a result of Wolf's repeated deaths. Wolf however can cure the dragonrot via the use of blood droplets and he must do this to ensure that the NPCs recover and he cannot proceed with their questlines until he does.  

GRAPHICS AND MUSIC

As for the graphics, well this is easily From Software's best looking game to date as Sekiro is stunning game visually speaking and the environments are both rich in detail and varied as Wolf traverses many different areas such as temples, sewers, dungeons, open fields and of course fortresses. The character models are also pretty good although they are primarily better for the main characters but not quite so good for some of the enemies in the game as they can tend to look a bit goofy! But overall this game is very easy on the eyes in terms of its visuals.

Moving onto the music, the game is scored by Yuka Kitamura, who worked on the Soulsborne games aswell and overall its a pretty good score, which to its credit sounds very different to the scores we are familar with in the SB series. The score however doesn't quite scale the heights of the very soundtracks in the Soulsbourne universe but it is still a very fine one all the same and its mini-boss theme alone is well worth the admission price even if it is a bit overused throughout the game!

FLAWS

As for flaws...yep Sekiro has its share but I would like to just say that some of them maybe based on my opinion, so please don't feel like I am hating on the game in this review but more just I am stating my thoughts on the game's drawbacks.

So, for starters I would have to that I felt that the game's areas just aren't that interesting to me as you tend to do alot of running round, stabbing enemies via stealth or outright parrying followed by deathblow, open doors, operate lifts etc and that's about it. Now I have to say that you did the same in the Soulsborne games but in those games the visual design as such really compelled you to want to check out these areas and what they might but with Sekiro, I really didn't feel this way about the environments. 

Another issue is maybe to do with the whole setup of the game as you are very limited in terms of building your character's stats as all there is available is your vitality and posture aswell as your ressurective powers (based on how many enemies you kill or when you reset the world at an idol). Now to be fair, Fromsoft here did decide to go with a skill tree system where you can unlock many different attacks and defensive maneuvers and that does offer some variety to the combat in the game. But that aside I just feel the stats and attributes of the player are far too simplified here for them to be that appealing.

Then we get to the consumable items as there are simply too many of them to be found in the game and similar to some of the Soulsbourne ones that can be pretty useless! As an example one of the most common pickups from fallen enemies are ceramic shards, which you can use to attract the attention of individual enemies (similar to pebbles in Bloodborne) but here they aren't that effective at drawing your opponent over to you. I also felt that some other items of use weren't dropped enough such as pellets, which can restore your a moderate amount of your health (similar again to lifegems in Dark Souls II) and the fact you can only hold three of them at one time is also quite annoying.

Another big problem I had with the game was to do with the mini-bosses as there are simply too many of them and some of them are pretty challenging, which to be fair is expected in a From Software game. Now quite a few of these bosses are optional but they are also fairly essential to getting prayer beads to upgrade your vitality, which means you need to keep fighting them over and over until you have defeated them in order to get just one bead! So, if you want to farm up to get the beads you could be in for a frustrating time if you want to do so.

As for the main game bosses to be honest I didn't get through this game in its entirety as I lost interest just as I started fighting the third main boss, Genichiro and by then the game's difficulty level and combat mechanics had really worn off on me. And that for me is the big difference between the boss fights in the Soulsborne games as fighting them was frustrating for sure at times but it also felt rewarding and a challenge worth taking on, however in Sekiro, fighting the bosses just feels like a major chore as they really aren't that much fun by comparison. Sure you will put in the effort you will defeat the bosses but for me there is no real sense of reward in doing so (but hey that's just me!).  

I also had an issue with alot of the NPCs in the game as majority them really don't have much in the way of personality with the exception of maybe the odd merchant and the sculptor but there are no real standouts in this game like there are in Soulsborne games. Here there is no equivalent of Solaire, Patches, Siegward or Eileen the Crow in Sekiro and that's a pity. Further to this, while I do think its great that From Software finally gave a playable character a voice and more than one expression (just about anyway!) I felt that Wolf has barely any personality either and at times he just comes across as a bit of an abrupt dickhead when talking to people which really makes him somewhat unlikeable.

Another niggle I had with the game was to do with when Wolf dies the first time during a boss battle or standard enemy combat you get the choice of letting him die or ressurect, now I appreciate the "die" option is there if you have had enough but I still think that is an option that shouldn't be included and I will tell why. So, the reason why I think the "die" option isn't a good idea is because during a couple of boss fights I accidentally pressed the "die" option button (L1 on the PS4) and it simply ended the fight when I didn't want it to! So, I just think it would have been a better idea to have simply give you only the one option to "ressurect" and keep on fighting as you will be pretty annoyed if you accidentally hit the die button and were in the middle of a decent attempt at a boss.

And last of all is a problem to do with how when you fight mini bosses and if you run out of the area you fight them in, their health bars with automatically reset! Now, this happened to me in the chained ogre mini-boss fight as I had removed one of his health bars with a deathblow but tried to distance myself from him a bit and when I came back into the area, his health had fully reset itself again! So, while I do appreciate it the game will reset the bosses's health if you run far away from the fight, its still a bit of a cheat if you give a little distance and have already taken away one of their health bars!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, I have to unfortunately conclude that Sekiro for me personally is a disappointment and I hate saying that given how much I enjoyed the Soulsborne games and have put literally hundreds of hours of gameplay time into them over the last year or so. However with Sekiro, I found when I was playing it that I had enough after playing for only and hour or an hour and a half tops, which told me there and then that this game just wasn't living up to its predecessors.  The game areas also feel a bit stagnant to me and not that interesting to explore and the NPCs and even Wolf himself lack much in the way of personality or appeal for an audience to relate to.

Don't get me wrong as Sekiro does have quite a bit going for it with its beautiful visuals, intriguing Japanese setting, I also like the idea of the combat simplified down to using just one primary weapon rather than having almost too many weapons to choose from like you have in the Souls games. Some of the game's combat is also pretty intense and the prosthetic Shinobi tools are also a pretty neat touch. I also even like that the game gives you the choice to start new game plus rather than force you to start it after you having defeated the final boss in the game (which you are forced to in the original Dark Souls and Bloodborne). Another thing I quite liked is that From Software FINALLY gave players an option to PAUSE THE GAME while you were in the middle of fighting or at any point while playing for that matter! So, this alone is another plus for Sekiro.  


However, I have to admit that this review is based on what I had played of the game and as I mentioned, I only got up to playing Genichiro and by then I really felt like I had enough and the game just wasn't for me. Dark Souls and Bloodborne are tough acts to follow but unfortunately for me, From Software just didn't quite cut it here.

So in conclusion, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is by no means a terrible game but at the same time it just isn't a great one either and its a game that might split certain fans of the Soulsborne communities down the middle (or maybe not) but for me it just wasn't what I hoped it would be. If you love your eastern Japanese fighting games such as Nioh or Ninja Gaiden, I'm sure this will have its own appeal to you but if not then its game you will have to take a chance on and personally it just didn't do it for me.

Anyway, so that's it for now and I hope if you are a fan of Sekiro and read this that you don't hold it against me as its just my personal opinion and if you love Sekiro, that's great. In fact, I might just give it another go somewhere down the line in future but I think I will wait until the game's prices come down on the PS store before I do. 

So, I will be back soon with another post and until then its bye for now!

Top 10 Dark Souls II Themes Part 2: No's 5 to 1

So, here is part two of my list for my pick of the top 10 themes from Dark Souls II, with so many boss themes to choose from its been pretty hard to pin them down to just 10 but there has certainly been plenty here.

Anyway, so with that said let's take a look at the themes that made it into the top 5.

5. Skeleton Lords 

At No.5 is the theme for the Skeleton Lords, which is admittedly a pretty silly boss fight but actually surprisingly quite an enjoyable one that involves ALOT of running around an arena being chased by alot of skellies! In fact this fight actually reminded me alot of the Deacons of the Deep boss fight from Dark Souls III, which is also kind of fun in a daft way!  

Anyway as for theme (again by Motoi Sakuraba) by heck its a real cracker and I just love the way it kicks in and right from the get-go this one really does grab you. Its a great mix again of orchestraion and choral voices and it even has a section that I believe is played on a harpsichord (but I might be wrong about that!) that gives the theme a Renaissance/Baroque feel to it. But its the choral section that really stands out in this track as its just great as it so well composed.

So, while the Skeleton Lords is a pretty silly boss fight that isn't much of a challenge (albeit a fun one nonetheless) it has one of the best themes in the game and its more than deserving of its place at No.5 in the list.

4. Vendrick

At No.4 is the theme for King Vendrick, who must rank as the saddest character in Dark Souls II and this is actually one of the most downbeat and emotional themes in the game and it also happens to be one of the very best (composed again by Sakuraba). 

As for what's so great about it, well I think I just love that rather menacing opening sequence but its then followed by a really sad section, which perfectly captures the hollow shell that Vendrick has become as he wanders aimlessly around a crypt, dragging his sword and it takes some doing to aggro him before you fight. Its actually one of themes in series that get me a little emotional I have to admit as Dark Souls II is surprisingly perhaps the most upbeat of the three Souls games but Vendrick's reveal of his fall from grace is unquestionably the game's most poignant moment and this theme nails this to perfection.

So, Vendrick's theme is both sad and haunting and it really stands out as one of the very best in the game that more than deserves a place here in the top 5.

3. Old Dragonslayer 

So, at No.3 is the theme for Old Dragonslayer, who is a boss that appears to be wearing he exact same armour as Ornstein from the original Dark Souls game and his theme here is without a doubt a real cracker.

As for the theme itself it was composed by Yuka Kitamura and its another of those themes that just grabs you straight away and its a wonderful mix of orchestration and electronic music but it just has a great sense of urgency to it and it keeps building itself up in the early stages so well. The mid-section of theme is quieter but again it slowly builds itself up yet again with the choral voices and the horns building up the tempo before it bursts into action game.

The only disappointing thing about the theme here is its again used for a pretty mediocre boss as the Old Dragonslayer, is just a poor man's Ornstein as he really doesn't present a very interesting challenge in the game and Ornstein and Smough worked so well as a fearsome duo but the Old Dragonslayer on his own just isn't that appealing.

Despite this though, I just think this is easily one of the strongest themes in the game and it deserves its spot at No.3.

2. Fume Knight

So, in the runner-up spot is the theme for my personal favourite boss from Dark Souls II, the Fume Knight, who can prove to be a pretty stern challenge in the game (well until you get used to his moveset that is!) and appears as a DLC boss.

But what about the Fume Knight's theme?  Well in a word, its awesome! This theme totally grabs you by the throat and sucks you right into the fight and it starts with such an unusually menacing sound from the choral voices but its then followed by its wonderful main theme section, which again captures the danger of the fight and a sense of impending doom as the Fume Knight is certain to seal your fate time and time again!  However what I really love about this theme is the mid-section as it kind of really departs from the rest of theme and it gives it a slightly poignant feel before it returns to its main section again before finishing off with its doom-laden choral voices and its main part again. 

Overall, I just think that the Fume Knight's theme is just as towering as its boss in the game and its superb mix of orchestrations and choral voices and by heck just a great theme, which probably doesn't get the love that it might deserve from the Souls community (at least I think!).

So, for these reasons I think the Fume Knight more than deserves the runner-up spot.

And that means my pick for the best theme of Dark Souls II is....

1. Sir Alonne 

Yep! This one of course will come as no surprise as the theme for the DLC boss, Sir Alonne, speaks for itself as it stands on its own as one the very best in the game if not the whole series and it has a real epic feel to it that makes feel like it belongs to Dark Souls III's soundtrack! 

Sir Alonne must easily ranks as one of the most frustrating and challenging bosses in the game but his arena is without a doubt one of the most elegant in the game as you fight him in a room with an impeccably polished marble floor and his tough and somewhat unpredictable moveset makes him quite a test in the game.

As for his theme (again by Yuka Kitamura) its just great, it kicks off perfectly with a choir and then the orchestration starts and its the choral voices that really make this theme work so well as they often provide the backbone of some of the finest themes in the Souls series and this one is no different. The early section orchestrations are also wonderful and the fight's mid-sections for the choir are great too. What's also refreshing is the theme does have quite a bit of emotional weight to it but it never feels downbeat or melancholy at any time, instead it captures the excitement and danger of the battle against Sir Alonne.

So, for me, Sir Alonne's theme stands out as the very best in Dark Souls II as its perfect mix of orchestral strings and choir voices and it basically is just great and it is a very deserving winner for this list.

Right, so that's me for now and I will be back again sometime soon with my pick of tracks for Dark Souls III, which overall is a tremendous soundtrack, so there will be plenty to choose from for sure.

So, till then its bye for now!      

Top 10 Best Dark Souls II Themes Part 1: No's 10-6

OK, so its time for my look at my pick for the top 10 themes from Dark Souls II, which I think had a much better, more varied soundtrack then the original game (even if the game wasn't quite as good as the original!). So, there will be plenty to look at here and sift through to find my picks for the 10 chosen tracks.

So, with that said let's dive in and take a look at No's 10 to 6 on the list...

10. Burnt Ivory King

So to start off at No.10 is the theme for the DLC boss, Burnt Ivory King, which was scored by Yuka Kitamura (who went to be the chief composer for Dark Souls III and Sekiro) and its an excellent one for sure as it really has quite an epic feel to it and a great intro that pulls you in. In fact you could say the theme has a certain sadness to it but at the same time its a very cool epic sound, which is a fine mix of electronic and orchestrated compositions.

The intro and the middle sections are definitely my favourite parts of the theme and it helps that the Burnt Ivory King is one of the cooler bosses from Dark Souls II, so its not like we had yet another mediocre boss with a great theme (although unfortunately there are still quite a few of those coming up!). 

Anyway, so I really like the BIK theme as its epic feel and its orchestrations and elecotrnic synth combo work very well together to make it worthy of being a top 10 track from the Souls II soundtrack.

9. Ancient Dragon 

This next theme on the list is for the Ancient Dragon boss, who is purely an optional one as you don't fight him until you have aggro'd him enough for him to fight, which is generally considered a big mistake as he is far from easy!

As for the theme itself it was composed this time by Motoi Sakuraba (still the chief composer on Souls II and the original Souls too) and its a really good theme overall with a pretty dramatic and strident opening, which strongly implies that you have made a BIG mistake in aggroing one of the game's toughest optional bosses!  The remainder of the film has some great rising moments from the orchestrations and again it has a pretty good mid-section. This is one track that has alot of variation, which is certainly one of the things it has most going for it. 

However the only snag with this score is that the Ancient Dragon boss himself is pretty mediocre and rather dull as he's just a giant dragon who flies around a bit and the only unique thing is that he can breath fire underneath himself (well that and he crushes you to death if he lands on you!). So, it really is another case of a bland boss with a theme that is too good for itself to be utilised with such an underwhelming albeit intimidating foe.

Still that aside, this is an excellent theme with plenty of variation and one of my favourites from the main game.

8. Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin

At No.8 is the theme for the final boss of the game, Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin and its actually a big fan favourite in the Souls community and its easy to see why as its beautifully haunting poignant one at that. 

In fact I would probably go as far as to say that it echoes the sounds of Gwyn's theme in one or two places with its haunting piano although it does sound quite different. However, perhaps why this theme is so good is that it maybes captures the spirit of Aldia once was when he was human and he is a fascinating character in the game, just a shame he is such a crap boss! However, if you can forgive that then I still think the final choices your character make in Dark Souls II are probably the best in the whole series. You have a chance to either take the throne at the end of the game and keep the same cycle going or break free from that and take your own path and turn your back on throne to walk an unknown road. 

So Aldia's theme is undoubtedly excellent and one of the best in the game and its easy to see why so many fans like this one. I think to be honest there are still alot of better themes in the game but I still really like this one myself and think it deserves it spot on here at No.8.

7. Ruin Sentinels/Smelter Demon/Blue Smelter Demon

OK, so at No.7 is a theme that is so good it was actually re-used no less than three times in the whole game for three different bosses (well two of them are virtually the same boss!). So, this theme was initially for the Ruin Sentinels boss but was later used for the optional duo bosses of the Smelter Demon and the Blue Smelter Demon.  The Ruin Sentinels are an OK boss but nothing special whereas the Smelter Demon is one of the best bosses in the game but his counterpart, Blue Smelter Demon (or Smelty 2.0 as he is also known) is not so great and just pointless revamped version.

However, the theme itself (again by Yuka Kitamura) is an excellent one overall and it really oozes quality from the start but of course its best part is the choral section, which is brilliant and one of the best in the game. It is however one of the shortest themes in the game or at least the version I've listened is just over 2 minutes in length but there are actually extended sections that appear in the game that I haven't heard on the versions circulating Youtube!

Despite this though, the Ruin Sentinels and Smelter Demons theme is definitely a real highlight of the game and it stands out strong as one of the best from the game.

6. Darklurker 

So, at No.6 is the theme from for the boss that is Darklurker, the secret hidden boss in the game and the theme itself is terrific and has its own chilling sound to it that sets apart from alot of the other tracks in the game. 

The theme itself was composed by Motoi Sakuraba and its a great mix of orchestral strings and choral voices (once again!) and the instrument that makes this track is the harp that plays throughout it. But what really makes this theme so great is its awesome mid-section, which has a really eerie, menacing quality and I just love it for that alone.

So, yep Darklurker is certainly one of the best themes to feature in Dark Souls II and its one I can certainly listen to time and time again.  

So, that's it for part one and I will be back soon with the my second part where I take a look at the top 5 themes from Dark Souls II.

Till then its bye for now!

Top 5 Best Dark Souls Themes

OK, time for another post and this one is a bit different as I will take a look at my pick of my favourite themes from the original Dark Souls, or if you like Dark Souls 1 and I will be looking to do this with the other games in the series that includes Bloodborne (can't speak for Demon's Souls though).

Now I must admit this is a bit of a trickier list for me to compile as I personally think that the original Dark Souls soundtrack was frankly the weakest of the three Souls games (not counting Demon's Souls again here). Having said that however there are still some very fine themes in this game for sure.

So, with that said let's take a closer look at my pick for the top 5 themes from the original Dark Souls...

5. Four Kings

So, at No.5 is the Four Kings theme, which is one of the later bosses in the game and they can be pretty challenging it has to be said. And this track really has a sinister feel to it and I always really liked the way it kicks in and you can feel the intensity of it right from the get go as this is always a pretty intense battle. Written by Motoi Sakuraba, who was the main composer for the original Dark Souls game, he employs his usual heavy choral themes and some pretty intense and dramatic sounding strings.

So, the track for me really gives off a sense of an adrenaline rush when you are facing off the Four Kings and its certainly one of the best tracks from the soundtrack.

4. Great Grey Wolf Sif

At No.4 is surely a fan favourite, which is Great Grey Wolf Sif that remains one of the most poignant boss fights in the game as you fight the dog of its once beloved master, Artorius and this theme certainly captures its poignancy. The theme itself is more reflective than the others and is a nice break from the more choral heavy stuff in Sakuraba's other themes with some female operatic singing (by the way you can probably tell that I am no music critic!).

So, the Great Grey Wolf Sif theme is a fan favourite no doubt and it has good reason for it being so as it certainly is one of the most memorable themes from the game.

3. Ornstein and Smough

At No.3 is of course the theme belonging to the single most infamous duo in the Dark Souls series, Ornstein and Smough and its certainly a very fine one that stands out well from alot of the other themes in the game.

The theme again comprises of some fairly heavy male choruses but its also a good mix of orchestration too and I always liked how this theme kicked off and what you could describe its actual "chorus" being its best part as you try and take down the mighty duo. And the theme incorporates itself very nicely into the actual battle itself and never feels out of place (like just maybe one or two boss themes in Souls series might do maybe???).

So, again its pretty memorable theme and one that stands in the game and is worth putting on the list at No.3.

2. Knight Artorius

At No.2 is the theme for the DLC boss, Knight Artorius and this is definitely one of the standout themes from the game and the start of the theme is so recognisible to any fan of the Souls series.

The theme itself really has a strong sense of foreboding and is pretty haunting sounding as you are taking on a tormented knight, corrupted by the abyss who was once one of the prestiged knights of Lord Gwyn. So throughout you have a theme that deals with that conflict of Artorius's anguish, which you certainly get from his howls throughout the boss fight in between spraying abyssal fluid everywhere! Honestly that dude Artorius needs to get that seen to as he left quite a mess! ;-)

Anyway, so yep that all said (and frankly not much said about these themes I have to say) Knight Artorius theme is an excellent one and is easily one of the best in the game.

So, at No.1 is....

1. Gwyn, Lord of Cinder

Yes, so at No.1 is the theme for game's final boss, Gwyn, Lord of Cinder and it is frankly the best theme in the game by a country mile and one of the very best from the entire series.

And what is so surprising about this theme is you are going in to face the final boss of the game, step in through that fog gate and you expect a big dramatic orchestrated piece of music to finish things up... but instead you get this really sad and poignant piano piece as the great Gwyn proceeds to kick your ass with his big flaming sword! And I must admit at first I thought: wait THIS is the final boss theme of the game??? I initially felt it was not suited to the fight at all but on later reflection, I think its perfect for the fight as it signals the end of an era for Gwyn and he fights to try and cling onto what he had built and here you come to take it over.

As for theme its just a beautiful, haunting piece of music and the simplicity of the piece also it makes it even more effective and it shows that you don't always need big booming orchestras and choirs singing in the background, somtimes just one piano can evoke much more emotion and it sure does with this track.

So, for me Gwyn, Lord of Cinder's theme is hands down the best theme in Dark Souls 1 and it packs a big emotional punch and more than deserves to take the top spot here. 

Right, so that's it for my pick of scores from the original Dark Souls game, next up will be my pick of my favourite tracks from Dark Souls II, which will be a top 10 list given the large amount of bosses in the game and for me overall its a much stronger score than the original (just my opinion of course!).

So, until then its bye for now!